Chapter 26: Hakuryuu's Purpose
"Dwell within me, Zagan!" Hakuryuu says and the eight-point star glows brighter as half of his body begins to turn into Djinn. "Fight to… the end… Seek… revenge…"
"D-Djinn Equip…?!" Alibaba questions as he steps back in shock and Hakuryuu steps forward before he swings down his transformed spear on the ground where the group stood as they quickly jump away.
"What is this?" Aladdin questions.
"Hakuryuu! What are you doing?" Alibaba questions when Hakuryuu swings his spear at him which Alibaba dodges.
"Apparently, that one still seems to be the sole child among them. Now… fight for Madaura!" Madaura says as she goes further back through the doors behind her with Orba and two pirates.
"Madaura, she's–" Aladdin about to follow Madaura but Hakuryuu gets in his way before he about to stab him with his spear until Alibaba protects Aladdin.
Hakuryuu then jumps away as he creates an X causing a creature to come out.
"What?!" Alibaba questions and the group jumps away as the monster about to attacks them and then Vulpi cuts through it. "What's up with this monster anyways? Where did it come from?" He questions as he stares at the killed creature.
"It's Zagan's power." Aladdin says as the creature disappears and Alibaba looks at Hakuryuu.
"Zagan?"
"By Djinn Equipping one half of his body, he's closer to the level of an Actual Djinn and so it's not just plants he can even grow the microbes in the air." As Aladdin explains, Hakuryuu lifts his spear as the blade glows purple creating more creatures to attack the group.
Hakuryuu then jumps into the air as he spins his spear and then the creatures come out of the circle with Hakuryuu points at the group by holding his spear like a bow and arrow.
"Zaug Al-Adhra!" Hakuryuu shouts and shoots the creatures at the group but they jump away from the monsters' path. Once Aladdin lands back on ground, he puts up his borg as the monster hits the borg. However, smoke begins to form as Aladdin's borg begins to have cracks.
"Aladdin!" Vulpi calls out as Alibaba goes to help him as he transforms his sword.
"Amol Saika!" Alibaba shouts and cuts the creature causing its body to disperse revealing Hakuryuu diving down towards him with his spear ready but Alibaba blocks his attack with his sword. "It's no use, Hakuryuu! Doesn't matter if it's a Metal Vessel. Amon's Sword will still slice it!" Instead of cutting through the blade, Hakuryuu puts more pressure onto the spear causing Alibaba to go down on one knee. "Wh-Why can't I cut through?" Slowly, Hakuryuu's spear glows yellow revealing that Hakuryuu is using "Magoi Manipulation?" He questions and pushes the spear forward before Alibaba runs to his right to escape Hakuryuu, but Hakuryuu chases him.
"It was you! It was you! It was you! It was you!" Hakuryuu shouts as he swings his spear at Alibaba as Alibaba deflects each swing.
"This guy… he's strong!" Alibaba thought and steps back. "I can't believe he raised his martial arts skills to this level… No wait, that's not the only thing! Why… are you going so far… to fight to the death like this, Hakuryuu?"
As Alibaba stares at him, blood comes out from Hakuryuu's hand from gripping onto his spear so tight.
"IT WAS YOU!" Hakuryuu shouts as he swings down his spear and Alibaba blocks the swing when Alibaba notices steam coming off between his sword and Hakuryuu's spear as cracks appear on the blade of the spear.
"Now it's cutting though?" Alibaba questions.
"The membrane is dissipating." Aladdin points out.
"He must have reached the limits of Magoi Manipulation." Morgiana says and Hakuryuu begins to pant heavily but continues to attack Alibaba.
"It was you!" Hakuryuu shouts before he swings his spear once more as Alibaba clashes his sword against Hakuryuu's spear when gust of wind blows around the room along with the dust clouds. "It was you! It was you who turned Mother… Wasn't it?!" He questions. "There's no question! It's all your fault that Mother… It was you who turned my mother!"
Hakuryuu keeps pressuring Alibaba as he shouts out when Alibaba cleanly slices the blade of Hakuryuu's spear causing the broken blade to spin around upwards as Hakuryuu stares at the ground for the moment before collapsing along the blade as Hakuryuu's body turns back to normal.
"Hakuryuu-san!" Morgiana calls out as she, Aladdin, and Vulpi rush up to him to check his condition.
"Don't worry, he's just unconscious." Aladdin says.
"What the hell was Hakuryuu talking about?" Alibaba questions and Aladdin suddenly stands up.
"Hey! We've got to go after Madaura!" Aladdin exclaims but notices the pirates are blocking the doorway that Madaura left as the others also see this.
"Guys." Vulpi calls getting their attention as she walks forward. "Can you guys buy me some time?"
"Vulpi?" Alibaba calls and nods his head. "All right."
The group charges the pirates as Vulpi stands in the middle of the fight and closes her eyes as her body slowly glows. As Aladdin, Alibaba, and Morgiana fights the pirates, they also pushing them back near where Vulpi is and she shot her eyes open.
"It's over! Try to resist the holy chains... Shining Bind!" Vulpi shouts as a large seal of light forms on the ground around Vulpi as draw divine energy from her surroundings before rising into the air to manifest the collected energy around her through the glyph, creating a large and extended blast of light. The pirates within the glyph are lifted into the air with immense force until the seal is dispelled, and they are thrown away as the user floats back to the ground.
"Wow…" Alibaba says.
"Vulpi-nee, when did you…" Aladdin trails off as Vulpi turns her head at the group.
"We have to hurry and catch up to Madaura!" Vulpi says and they all nod before they go through the doorway that Madaura escaped. As they run through the corridor, Morgiana carries Hakuryuu with his arm over her shoulder and comes out to see the Actian ships are in front of them.
"Is that the Actian Navy?" Aladdin asks.
"Yeah. Once they heard that a Sindrian merchant ship had set off to take out the pirates, I'm guessing that they finally got off their butts." Alibaba says.
Suddenly, Orba cut through the net that has trapped Madaura and the other pirates and the water bubble before he uses his Magic Tool. This causes the Actian soldiers to fire at him as Orba watches the arrows inching towards him when a burst of flames gets in front of Orba as it burns the arrows. Once the flames die down, Alibaba gets in front of him.
"Both sides, put down your weapons!" Alibaba shouts and turns to Orba. "Time to back off. You've got to surrender." Orba stares at him for the moment before turning at Madaura who has her head down causing the boy to hang his head and close his eyes and finally dropping his sword.
~Later~
At the port
All the pirates and Madaura are captured and brought to the port as the group and the unconscious Hakuryuu come with them. Now the group stares at Hakuryuu who is lying under the shed with his broken spear at his side.
"Mother…" Hakuryuu mutters.
"Do you think that maybe the spell hasn't worn off yet?" Morgiana asks.
"Let's let him rest up for a while, okay?" Aladdin asks.
"You're right." Vulpi agrees and looks back at Hakuryuu.
Then they walk towards the crowd as they see the pirates who are crying with the Actian soldiers are around them.
"What's going to happen to those children?" Morgiana asks.
"They'll probably get thrown into prison. After that…" Alibaba trails off.
"But some of them are such little kids…" Vulpi points out.
"We're going to transport her now." A soldier says catching the group's attention and the children calls out to Madaura as the soldiers takes her.
"Madaura! I don't want you to go!" Orba exclaims.
"Madaura!"
"It's going to be all right, little boys." Madaura tells them.
"Madaura!" Orba calls out.
"Come on." The soldier says as he pulls the rope when a rock is thrown at him.
"Kill her…" A woman says as everyone at the port sees the people glaring at Madaura. "That woman… Kill her right now!"
"That's right! Kill her! After all she's done to us, why the hell are you transporting her?"
"Give me back my husband!"
"Give me back my wife!"
The people chants 'Kill her' as they walk towards Madaura before they all beat her up.
"Th-this kind of this…" Morgiana trails off.
"We're stopping them!" Alibaba says.
"Right!" Aladdin agrees when they see Hakuryuu running past them towards the mob.
"Hakuryuu." Alibaba calls as Hakuryuu swiftly takes out a soldier's sword and stops in front of the beaten up Madaura as he points the sword at them.
"Hold up." Hakuryuu says.
"Wh-who the hell are you?"
"Hakuryuu-oniisan!" Aladdin calls.
"Don't tell me he's still under that spell…?!" Alibaba questions.
"Oh, my little boy! You came to save me, didn't you? Hurry, come to me… Come to your mother." Madaura asks and Hakuryuu turns to her. "Come here… You're such a good boy. Little boy… Little boy… Hakuryuu!"
Hakuryuu smiles before he lifts the sword and decapitates Madaura causing the people who see this have shocked look on their face at Hakuryuu's action.
Soon, the Actian soldiers covers Madaura's body as the pirates mourn for her.
"Why? Why did you do a thing like that?" Alibaba questions Hakuryuu as the group are away from the pirates as Hakuryuu is leaning on a wall.
"That was me executing the leader of the pirates. It was what the people wanted as well. And besides, wasn't our objective to come wipe out the pirates?" Hakuryuu asks.
"Even so…"
"Of course, it's also true that I was somewhat delirious from her spell. She looks just like my own mother to me."
"Like your mother? Then why?"
"That' is the reason. I remembered. That my mission is to kill Al Thamen's witch… who defected to my uncle's side, and seized control of the Kou Empire… To kill my very own mother!"
"Your own mother…?" Vulpi repeats.
"That's right. When I asked my mother to confirm that she killed my father and brother, she didn't deny it. It was at that moment that I made up my mind. That I would be the one to protect my elder sister's life… And… And I also made a promise to myself. That no matter what, I would kill the witch of Al Thamen… Ren Gyokuen! She was quite similar to the Great Holy Mother. Not caring the least about her own children. Such a woman shouldn't be allowed to live."
"Are you saying that's why you killed her?" Alibaba questions.
"Either way, she was a criminal on her way to the scaffold, wasn't she?"
"That might be true. But what you did… weren't you just settling a personal score?"
Vulpi turns her head hearing the soldiers' voices when Orba charges towards them with a sword in hand as he heads towards Hakuryuu.
"Hakuryuu!" Vulpi calls out as he jumps back when Orba about to stab him and grabs Orba's hand.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Orba says when the group sees his right hand that doesn't have the hook.
"Orba!" Alibaba calls.
"Revenge for Madaura… I'm gonna…"
Hakuryuu quickly takes his sword and smacks Orba as he slides back to the pirates.
"What are you talking about?" Hakuryuu questions as Orba sits up. "How many people did you kill in this village? Some of them were women, weren't they? They were someone's mother too… Yet those are the words you spew the instant your own mother is killed? Don't you find that to be just a little too self-serving?" Hakuryuu continues as the other pirates glare at Hakuryuu. "The truth is you were starting to realize the truth, weren't you? The fact that the Great Holy Mother was only using you!" The group gasp at Hakuryuu's speculation. "Why were you kidnapping all those children? Wasn't it for the purpose of grooming them as pirates and lining that woman's pockets? Did any of you gain even one thing from all that? There's no reason to grieve. After all, you guys were never loved in the first place."
Alibaba quickly goes to Hakuryuu and grabs his hand that has the sword and brings it up.
"Hakuryuu!" Alibaba calls making him stop saying those things and both of them glare at each other. Hakuryuu then takes his arm back and walks away as he throws the sword at the ground with Aladdin, Vulpi, and Morgiana watch him leave. "Come back here, Hakuryuu!"
They watch Hakuryuu walking away with his things as he disappears from their sight.
"Come on, let's go." Aladdin, Vulpi, and Alibaba turn as they see the pirates are towing away with their heads hang down. "Get moving, you little brats!"
Just then, in Aladdin's eyes, he sees black Rukh coming off from the pirates' bodies causing him to widen his eyes.
"But that's…" Aladdin thought and quickly gets ready.
"Oh no! I have to stop them!" Aladdin exclaims.
"Wait up, please!" Alibaba asks as he stands in front of the soldier.
"What do you want?"
"Please hand those pirates over to us." Alibaba requests.
"What did you say? Aren't you overstepping our authority?"
"No. Our country bears at leave half of the responsibility for those pirates. After all, it was a ship under royal orders from Sindria that was attached by the Great Holy Mother."
"Sindria, eh?"
The soldiers thought for a moment and agreed on Alibaba's terms and by the time when all the pirates are on Sindrian ship, most of the pirates are hurdled together and still mourning for Madaura.
"Sindria?" Orba questions.
"Right. They agree to take custody of you guys. I'm sure that somewhere in Sindria you can make a live for yourselves. For now, that's all I can do…" Alibaba says as he approaches to Orba and puts his hand on his shoulder but Orba shrugs his hand off.
"Don't touch me! We're Madaura's children! We're not going anywhere!" Orba exclaims and the pirates agrees with him.
"You guys…"
"Otherwise… we won't have a reason to exist anymore…"
"Orba…"
"Yeah…"
More black Rukh come out of their bodies as Aladdin gasp at this.
"But Madaura's dead now. She's never coming back to life…"
"That's right. You can't change anything that's happened." Alibaba says causing the pirates to glare at him. "But the futures of these other pirates here will depend on you from now on."
"What did you say?" Orba questions.
"You're the oldest brother, aren't you? I can see how much the other kids look up to you. If you say thing like, 'There's no reason to exist,' everyone will believe you and I want to stop that from happening!" Orba notices tears on Alibaba's face. "To do that, I need your help! And you've got to get that through your head!" Alibaba then kneels at Orba. "You understand, right?"
The pirates and Alibaba cries out as Aladdin sees the Rukh are back to normal. Later, Aladdin, Vulpi, and Alibaba watches the Sindrian ship departs back to Sindria.
"That worked out, didn't it?" Aladdin says.
"But in the end, I had no choice but to lean on Sinbad-san." Alibaba says and he looks down. "I guess I don't have any power to speak of, huh?"
"We've both got to work hard at it, huh?"
"Yeah…"
Ryuko then sees something and turns its head and Vulpi notices this.
"What's wrong, Ryuko?" Vulpi asks and turns around to see Morgiana standing behind them. "Morgiana." The two boys turn around to see her after hearing her name.
"Where's Hakuryuu?" Alibaba asks.
"He's already left town. He set off for the Tian Shan Plateau on his own." Morgiana replies.
"No way… Without even saying goodbye?" Aladdin asks when Alibaba quickly walks to where Hakuryuu went and both Aladdin and Vulpi catch up to him. "Alibaba-kun?"
"That guy… he's a lot like Cassim. Who killed his hateful father to protect his little sister… He's got the same eyes as him." Alibaba says as he stops his tracks with Aladdin and Vulpi.
"The same eyes?"
"If he ends up killing his mother too, he's totally gonna regret it! That's why I've got to stop him!"
"Wait, Alibaba-san, calm down!" Vulpi says as Alibaba about to walk again but Morgiana grabs him to stop.
"Please wait." Morgiana says.
"What is it? I've got to go to him and…"
"I beg of you… Please!" Morgiana cuts Alibaba off as she pleads and then Aladdin grabs his turban.
"Then I'll go instead. Would that be okay, Mor-san?" Aladdin asks.
"I'll go with you." Vulpi says and Aladdin nods before he and Vulpi flies away on the turban with Ryuko following them.
As they fly towards the town entrance, they see Hakuryuu walking down on a path and Aladdin commands his turban towards him.
"Hakuryuu-oniisan." Aladdin calls and Hakuryuu turns around.
"Are you really going off now?" Vulpi asks and both she and Aladdin jumps off the turban as it wraps around Aladdin's head.
"Alibaba-kun was really regretted." Aladdin tells him.
"I see." Hakuryuu says.
"And besides, we can't just say goodbye like this…"
Aladdin-dono…" Hakuryuu cuts him off. "I'm about to ignite a war that will split the Kou Empire into two. When that happens, will you lend me your power as a Magi?"
"Hakuryuu." Vulpi calls getting his attention. "Asking for that is impossible for Aladdin."
"King Sinbad has already told me that he'll join forces with me. You're allies of Sindria, aren't you?"
"But…" Aladdin trails off unable to answer Hakuryuu's question.
"I had a feeling this would be your reaction. You're different than King Sinbad. In what way exactly, I'm not quite sure…"
"I do want to help you because you're my friend and I'll be there for you whenever you're really in trouble, but don't you think that you might be obsessed with revenge?" Aladdin asks when the wind blows through them and Vulpi holds her hair back. "I was taught that battles that were started out of revenge can only bread more sorrow. Isn't there any wat to extinguish that vengeful soul that's binding you?" Hakuryuu stares at Aladdin which causes Vulpi to step back. "A-Anyway, let's go back to where the others are!"
"Aladdin-dono…" Hakuryuu calls and looks at Vulpi. "Vulpi-dono, all of you have done so much for me over the last few months. I really enjoyed my time with you. As someone who's only ever opened his heart to his elder sister, it actually feels like I've made some friends. But that time is over now." He says and bows at them. "Thank you very much."
Aladdin and Vulpi watch Hakuryuu walk away down the path.