AUTHOR'S NOTE: Finally, I'm getting out the next chapter. This one is the longest by far so hopefully people understand why it took me two weeks...
Eiko wasn't sure what the people were thinking right now. No doubt, they were very confused, frightened, and trying to make sense out of everything. She wasn't sure how many people had survived being "unfrozen". Perhaps all…perhaps none…but at least some people were brave enough to return to the pagoda after her "grand thaw". Other townspeople, near the periphery, began to venture inward, curiously looking at the castle and the air itself.
Rumors were already beginning to swirl about, and they only intensified when the few castle servants and officials willing to start moving around in the palace again or the citizens brave enough to look inside saw the hime returned…clad in the most shimmering, perfect ice. She truly did look like a yuki-onna now, and that caused some measure of fear for a time…but after a short while it began to subside. Until now, everyone had suspected that the queen had been behind the winter. The rumor had gone out that this was all her doing, that she was a demon who had wrought this on them through unworldly powers. Yet as they saw her now…some of them began to wonder. Wasn't the queen missing during the time of the winter? And now that it was over…were they not seeing her standing before them again? It caused at least some measure of doubt…
The older sister knew Akiko had "her work cut out for her"…but Eiko was counting on her now to try and make sense of everything that had happened and explain it to Arender-ken in a way to calm everything down and reassure everyone. She realized it might very well be her sister's first act as queen. Eiko had gotten through this alive and was now fully "herself" again…but she wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to enjoy that.
After all…only every single one of her past lives died at the hands of Shitakarahi…and things were worse than ever now.
The Jido-no-Hogu-sha knew exactly what to do once they were up and the sisters were reunited…raid what was left of the pantry. While the soup from earlier had strengthened them, they realized they hadn't been much help last time. Fortunately…or perhaps unfortunately…even if Shitakarahi and Itachitoko possessed a way to kill them instantly, they would rely on straight "firepower", literally. It seemed they preferred to revel in their strength…or, perhaps, did not have sufficient power to "focus" it yet. At least they hadn't in the last battle. That might change here. The bottom line: they couldn't afford to be as "useless" as they were with Hachiro. Eiko may have assumed the role of the snow goddess, but she needed all the help she could get.
Jiro thought that himself as he ate whatever he could without stuffing himself, and then rushed back to the hime. Much to his pleasure, now that Eiko had accepted her identity and no longer saw herself as a monster, he was able to finish his staff as his own soul stilled. Still, he had gotten around one fear only to be faced with a greater one. He knew as well as Eiko that they had almost no hope of getting through this alive. The gods were still "frowning" on her, after all…until that damn "riddle" got solved…and the demon had to be stronger than ever after he had at least 12 hours of his power "unrestrained" to grow with…
Still…they couldn't give up. And he refused to give into despair. What more, he was going to intervene again. He wasn't going to try and stop Eiko from doing her duty…and he knew what had happened last time he did…but he was going to try to stop this. Try to help. Try to find a way to keep him gone for good and keep this from repeating itself.
He remembered what he swore to the gods…what price he might have to pay as a result… It might cost him his life.
But so be it.
Somehow, Eiko would survive the battle this time.
Everyone was reassembled within an hour, just as the first few people were getting bold enough to try and come up to the local nobles. That was their cue to go. Eiko met up with the Jido-no-Hogu-sha as they came back from the pantry, and together they moved toward the front gates and into the interior courtyard. Both Osamu and Akiko were behind them the whole time, right up until they emerged out front. At that point, Akiko rushed forward to Eiko's side.
"Can you please reconsider letting me come with you?"
Eiko looked to her, but her stare was firm. "…Akiko, this time, no matter what, you have to stay in Arender-ken. The people need you right now."
"They need you too!" She retorted. "You were always a better noble than I could ever be!"
"I wouldn't sell yourself short, Akiko."
The younger sister looked up and saw Nobuyuki smiling at her.
"After all…you were the only noble who knew your sister was innocent all along, and no matter how much you were pressured, even by the emperor and shogun's men, you refused to stop believing it. I'd say that shows you have more character than most nobles."
Akiko blushed a bit at that, putting some hair behind her ear, but then resumed. "Yes, but-"
"Arender-ken needs a ruler right now." Eiko cut off. "People need someone to bring back order. I want to do it…but this isn't about me or our royal family, Akiko. I'm also the Yuki no Megami. I have another duty in the capitol…something only I can do. So you have to be here now."
The girl hung on. "But-"
Eiko cut her off by making her look more stern this time. It actually made her go silent.
"…I am the daimyo for this region, Akiko…and I'm putting my foot down on this. You are not coming this time. I'm sure you're thinking the moment I turn my back and run off you'll find some way to get there with or without my consent…and I'm not going to try and imprison you this time…but I'm asking you to please just stay here. Because I can't afford to be distracted for even an instant against Shitakarahi. And the first thing…the very first thing he's going to look for…is someone I love to attack so that I leave myself totally open. You won't be 'helping me' by coming, Akiko…you'll be helping him. So please…tell me you'll stay behind."
Akiko was silent. The way Eiko talked to her at this point was a mixture of being a loving sister…but also a commanding queen. As the daimyo, all in the province were subject to her will, including her younger sister. She wanted to protest further…but this time, with Eiko looking at her imploringly…not out of personal fear or doubt but out of pure concern…the way she spoke as a commanding woman…she realized this was somewhere she didn't belong, as much as she hated it.
"…Promise you'll come back?" She finally asked.
Eiko's face didn't change.
"…You know I can't make that promise, Akiko. But you coming along wouldn't help me keep it any more than going by myself. There's one thing Hachiro taught us both…the end of the story isn't always 'and they lived happily ever after'. But if I don't stop him and you don't live…either today or in 300 years there'll be no happy ending for anyone."
Akiko didn't look terribly comforted by that. Eiko knew it but there was little more she could offer. She didn't want to lie about her chances. In the end, she forced herself to smile a little.
"…But I promise I won't let Shitakarahi win, or Arender-ken fall. Not even death will stop me from doing that."
The younger sister held, but tried to smile just a bit. "…Could you at least promise to try your best not to let it come to that?"
"Even if she won't," Jiro spoke up from nearby, getting the attention of both of them. "I promise I will. Eiko may not promise that she'll come back, Akiko…but I promise I'll get her back here. So don't worry."
"We all will." Takara spoke up with a smile. "So there's really no need to worry."
Akiko held a bit longer, but on seeing all of the Jido-no-Hogu-sha smiling back at her and reassuring her, in the end she was able to smile too.
"…Alright. I believe you." She then frowned and pointed. "But I'm going to hold each and every one of you to that."
Osamu leapt and cheered. "Let's get going and save…um…summer, I guess!"
"Sorry, Osamu…but you're staying here and helping Akiko out." Eiko answered.
The "new" snow kami frowned. "But…I'm your last minister left, Lady Eiko."
She smiled at him. "…And I hope you get to minister to me again, Osamu…but too many have died already. Besides, you like Akiko, don't you?"
"Well…yeah…"
"And you'd be willing to help her just like you've been helping me, right?"
"But…Lady Akiko isn't about to face off against a bit scary ball of fire and a guy who looks like an oni…"
The snow hime sighed, trying to think of a way to get around this. Luckily, Jiro stepped forward.
"Alright, Osamu. You can come."
Immediately, the sisters and the Jido-no-Hogu-sha looked to him in surprise, while Osamu gasped in delight. "Really? Yay!"
"But first," Jiro interjected. "We need to make sure there's enough food still in the kingdom for everyone after that big winter. So go down to the pantry and count how many grains of rice we have, alright? Then come after us."
"You got it!" Osamu cheered, before turning around and beginning to rush back into the castle. "I'll be done in no time so just hold up for five more minutes!"
As he vanished back in the threshold, Eiko couldn't help but chuckle a bit, and then looked to Akiko. "He's still a bit 'odd looking', but he'll be fine. He can pass for a human now."
"Don't worry…I'm not about to let anyone harass him." Akiko smiled back.
Takeshi exhaled. "…Alright, now that that's all settled, let's get a move on." He said, turning his head back out. "Satoru's not with us, so we've got a long way to go to get to Kyoto…normally at least several days and maybe over a week, and that's on horseback, so…"
He trailed off, his eyes focusing on the horizon. The others soon looked as well.
Far and away, on the edge of the rolling hills and mountains, a red light was glowing.
Akiko turned her head. "…Dawn? But…it's the middle of the night…"
Takara gulped. "…I don't think that's dawn…"
"Or, at the least, a dawn coming from the sun that we all know…" Nobuyuki stated.
"If that's really coming from Kyoto…and we can see it from here…" Eiko exhaled. She paused a moment, and then turned to Jiro. "…I honestly don't remember the scope of Shitakarahi's powers, but…was he always that powerful?"
Jiro grimaced. "…No, and that's what's frightening me. I have no idea what's going on over there but it's safe to say while your power was restrained things got bad…"
"That means we can't afford to waste time getting there. If he did this much in twelve hours Kyoto will be a cinder long before we get there." The Ghost Hare stated. He looked to Nobuyuki. "…Please tell me you got a crystal or two left."
The Jolly Bear shook his head. "It'll take decades to make more, but even if I could it wouldn't get us as far as Kyoto."
The Tooth Dragon shrugged. "Sorry…but I'm not like Satoru. I can't change into a real dragon and carry us all…"
Jiro exhaled and looked to Eiko. "…Alright, 'Yuki no Megami'…time to see if our little lessons together got you to think up more ideas."
The woman paused a moment. She seemed to think over things for a short while, as well as the scope of her powers. Finally, she exhaled. "Well…this isn't terribly 'original'…but I don't think I can create something that can fly yet. I'm not willing to try at this point…"
She held out her hand, extended a finger, and began to trace. An icy wind soon whipped by the group, but it only lasted a bit before it passed, and then formed a large vortex in front of the group. Soon after, it grew in intensity, generating snowflakes from the air, but then split into a series of smaller vortexes. The wind picked up and the snow increased, making more flakes, and then making them come together and condense. Soon after that, they rapidly took shape and formed solid objects, before creating five tremendous foxes, bigger than any horse, made of snow…each one flicking about nine tails. They soon sat and turned to look to the five of them.
"Snow Tenko*…huh…even I can't tell if you made 'the real deal' or just constructs…" Jiro said as he crossed his arms and grinned at them.
"Even I'm not sure…" Eiko answered slowly as she looked them over, the snow foxes calmly staring back and waiting patiently. "At any rate…I made them fast and clever on purpose. They'll take us as far as Kyoto…and then they'll run to the mountains and dwell there. Since these ones are newborns and haven't lived 1,000 years…the other Tenko might consider them 'cheaters' if they try and live among them… They should be able to escape anything Shitakarahi tries to throw at them though…and be faster than any horse or bird, not to mention strong enough to pull even Nobuyuki."
The big man chuckled. "Heh…I used to clonk kitsune on the head who tried to steal my honey when I was younger…but I've long since forgiven and forgotten."
"Well, mischief makers and me always got along just fine." Jiro said as he ran forward, stuck his staff in the ground, used it like a pole vault, and launched himself onto the back of one tenko. The fox seemed to take it calmly enough…and even almost flashed a toothy grin at the frost kami.
The others rapidly got on the backs of their own mounts. They were ice cold to the touch, but their own body heat didn't seem to 'warm them'. Although they looked like they were made out of snow, it was unclear whether or not Eiko had actually made them fully 'real'. At any rate, they did all seem enough like real Tenko. Even with Eiko, their creator, they seemed to merely 'consent' to let her ride. Soon all were on.
"Good luck, everyone." Akiko said. "…I'll see you all real soon." She threw in after a pause.
Eiko looked back to her, hesitating for a long while, but then managed to smile.
"Yeah. Don't worry…this will be over today. I promise."
With that, she looked forward, and the snow fox immediately took off. The others soon left as well, and both Takeshi and Takara cried out as they were nearly flung from the beasts at their sudden surge of speed. Jiro, on his part, leaned in and countered it, and soon marveled at how, in an instant, they were already out the gates and over the bridge, back on solid ground and running through the bulk of Arender-ken. However, in spite of that, he looked ahead to the flaming 'dawn', and thought of Eiko's last phrase to her younger sister…
One way or another… He mentally added.
Remarkably…the trip couldn't have taken more than two hours.
Jiro hadn't had the luxury of meeting too many full-blooded Tenko in his day. After all, they were far too clever and mysterious to waste time just showing themselves off to anyone, even other yokai…or, he supposed, in his case, kami. However, he was glad to learn that their legendary speed was right on the money. Even with the burly Nobuyuki on one's back, they traveled at a speed that seemed impossible to fathom. He would claim that they were practically "flying"…except that would be a disservice to the speed. Even flight wasn't nearly this potent or quick. It seemed as if they were simply being propelled by the hands of gods themselves. Jiro wasn't sure how many forests, valleys, mountains, or even towns they moved through, but if anything, mortal or immortal, had managed to spot them during this trip, they most certainly would have seen nothing more than a blur.
As they went along, naturally, the sky grew brighter. Far faster than any dawn could. Perhaps it was due partially to the speed of the Tenko…but Jiro knew full well what it really was. After all…he could sense it as they got nearer. The sheer evil…sheer malevolence…of the fire demon. Gradually, the whole sky began to turn light. But it wasn't like midday. Nor was it like a sunny desert or an afternoon light. The sky simply filled with a light like fire. And as it did, the heat began to grow again. Dry, harsh, and oppressive…it seemed the snow foxes were keeping them cool just by allowing them to ride on them.
They actually began to slow toward the end, and Jiro saw why. The country abruptly changed. It turned to ash. Not everywhere…but definitely in a broad, far-ranging path that stretched for miles in either direction. It was only possible to see the limit when a mountain was close enough to look up the side. It looked a lot like a forest fire had come through…and very recently, naturally. He could see the feet of the Tenko getting "ashy" as they brushed past the charred remains of grass and plants. But a bit further…and even those had turned into ash. The "forest fire" slowly became more of a volcanic flow in terms of how much was completely burned…and getting hotter…
At that point, the Tenko halted, stopping abruptly and yet not throwing the riders. At once, they looked behind them and gave a snort.
Eiko looked up to the others. "They're not going any farther. They say the ground and air smells 'off'."
"That goes without saying…" Takeshi grunted as he got off his fox. "It's been stinking of ash for miles…" Soon after getting off, however, he paused on seeing his fox still staring at him. He frowned and grit his teeth as he held a fist in his face. "…Scram, you. Just because I'm a hare yokai doesn't mean you're getting a nibble."
Jiro couldn't help but chuckle as he got off his own. Why not? This was probably the last laugh he was going to get all day. And not just because of what they were headed into. Just setting foot on the ground, which was still rather warm from having been freshly burned, made him feel uneasy. By now, they could start to make out the tips of flames on the horizon. Kyoto wasn't much farther at all…
Nobuyuki sniffed the air himself as he got off. The others soon followed, and the Tenko, not wasting an instant, turned and bolted for it. He made a face. "The scent is not just ash… It reminds me of rice balls…"
Takara looked around her a little, and then bent close to the earth. She brushed away some of the ash and uncovered a burnt stump of what was a reed plant. She frowned and looked up. "A rice paddy. This whole area must have been some of the emperor's fields…or at least those of the citizens of Kyoto."
Eiko looked confused as she turned about. "…Burning rice fields? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense…" She looked to Jiro. "In all of my previous incarnations, Shitakarahi always arose by bursting out of that statue I imprisoned him in, and never before. And you said he was buried under the western edge of Kyoto, right?"
Jiro turned and gave a nod. "Yeah."
"…Has he ever tried to burn rice fields before?"
"Not unless he was burning everything else with it." The Laughing Frost frowned. "And I still don't think he has his body back yet… This is odd. He's never used a proxy or avatar before…and he's never been this slow and deliberate… Something tells me he learned more about how his power works over the last 300 years than simply how to seal yours. I only wish I could figure out what…"
"Figure it out while we move." Takeshi answered, pointing to the horizon again. The group looked and, much to their displeasure, they saw a little more than flames on the horizon. They also saw the tip of a great burning fiery ball…like a second sun.
"I don't think we've got much time left."
Things swiftly got worse.
It wasn't long before the group was running just to keep from getting "hot feet", and needing both Eiko and Jiro to periodically "cool" the ground to let them keep going. From there, they needed to simply "ice" the path so they wouldn't keep stopping. Blacker and hotter earth emerged, indicating, as they went on, that who had done the deed had progressively gotten stronger. Not only that, but ruins and wreckage began to glow red, and finally began to burn softly…indicating they were getting closer to when the culprit had struck last. There was no sign of life anywhere. And as they went on, the ash became foul and the scent of smoke began to make them cough. Yet all of this was ignored in view of the fact of the giant, burning, red fireball they were nearing. The heat was growing oppressive again…stifling…deadly… And the giant hellish fire was getting larger not just from them getting closer, but from the fact that it was growing… It was already massive. To those who had never gotten a true glimpse or appreciation for the size of the moon, it must have appeared to be that big…but in reality it was nearly the size of a mountain, hovering low in the sky.
It filled Jiro with ever increasing fear as he had to exert more and more of his power to stay cool. He hadn't seen it that big since Shitakarahi first appeared…and Eiko only won that battle due to him being totally unprepared…
Finally, the group came to a hill. They moved to ascend that first. It was fairly steep, and would have provided a good view of the rest of the lay of the land going into Kyoto. They could get a good glimpse of everything that was going on before heading in. With Eiko still in the lead and Jiro close behind, they rushed up the mound and straight to the top, right to a rather steep scarp leading back down below and then to the city spread far and wide, filling the valley as far as the eye could see.
And from here, they could see the full measure of the wrath of the demon.
A sixth of the city was already burned to the ground or burning. It was clearly the result of a path having been "blazed". Once could tell from the literal "path" of the fire and how it fanned out from there. Intense blazes and smoke billowed to the sky. The sounds of screaming and crying out were everywhere, echoing all through the valley. Far above, hovering over what looked like the main castle, the giant flaming sun raged with such heat that even from here, with the right gust of wind, the group felt they'd be singed. Yet it consented itself to simply shoot out blasts of fire every now and then, setting a locale on fire. If the people were lucky enough, the rays would only obliterate a house. If not, the streams of fire would race through a street and set a whole line of houses partially ablaze. With the horrendous heat, there was no water anywhere left to put out any of the fires. People had to abandon their homes and flee…risking succumbing to the smoke, heat, or more fire coming from the hellish sun. Many of them fell…while others were fleeing in such droves that one could see crowds of people running down streets.
The worst was centered around the "path". There were several "hot spots" along it, where the flames and destruction spread farther than normal. Seeing this, Jiro realized those had to be "battle sites". He knew there were standard defenses within Kyoto to hold off invading armies. Five of those lines of defense had been broken, but there were only three large orbs indicating a battle. He realized the army had to withdraw for the latter two. By now, the shogun himself had to be present in court, along with his greatest and most noble samurai. The fact that they had retreated meant that the first three battles had been straight up massacres, with no one even leaving hope of defeating Itachitoko. Otherwise the men would have died rather than surrender in the second two. They had to be falling back to the central palace. The emperor may have only been a figurehead, but he was a symbol for the nation of Japan. The shogun wouldn't let him die…and would likely die in the process of trying to protect him.
Even far below them, near the base of the valley, they could see families, and even soldiers, fleeing as fast as they could…none of them realizing there was no escape. They were all too panicked to even look up at those on the hill. To be honest, the group was having a hard time not staring at the devastation themselves.
"It's…it's horrible…" Takara murmured.
"I knew that thing was a demon, but this…" Takeshi grunted as he shook his head. He looked to Jiro. "…This doesn't even make any sense. That big ball of fire isn't anywhere near the west edge of Kyoto. It's just hovering right over the castle and frying anything that strikes its fancy. I mean…look at that!" He pointed out. "It could turn the castle into a cinder in ten seconds, but it's just burning the people! It's letting Itachitoko march up to it on foot and roast everything he can in the process!"
"This is…almost mindless…" Nobuyuki added, gesturing out around. "Look! Spots of ash and fire there…there…and there…all external to the town. Rice fields."
"He's trying to starve everyone…" Takara suggested.
"No." Eiko firmly answered, causing everyone to look back to her. "I may not remember Shitakarahi, but if he wanted the people to starve then the first thing he would do is return to full power and then bake every crop in Japan to death and boil every lake to kill the fish, based on what Jiro told me."
"She's right." Jiro answered. "He did that on purpose…struck them first… But why?"
"Terrorism, perhaps?" Takeshi asked. "Fill the people with fear and panic? Let them think even if they win they're in for a long, hard rest of the year?"
Nobuyuki crossed his arms. "Odd that he would resort to terrorism when he possesses enough power to defeat any mortal army…"
"At any rate, we can't waste a second longer. The entire army can't stand against that man, let alone the demon." Eiko answered. "Let's head down there and-"
"Look out!" Jiro suddenly cut off.
And with good reason. Abruptly, a section of the tremendous sun gleamed…before one of the deadly fiery rays headed straight for the five of them. Although they were still well outside the city limits, the shot was aimed right for their location, meaning to strike right in the center…at Eiko herself. Shocked, the woman quickly brought both of her hands up, and summoned forth an icy gale so sharp and frigid that it nearly choked the three non-cold-based individuals among them, but as they cringed and headed back, they didn't dispute it as the tremendous beam, easily large and hot enough to incinerate them all in an instant, slammed against the area of cold that Eiko generated.
"AH!"
Instantly, the woman shouted and dropped to one knee as her construct, barely having time to condense into wintry energy, suddenly buckled inward and nearly shattered. The deadly heat surged in so much that everyone could almost feel their hair start to burn, and for a moment thought this was it. It was only because Eiko bit down, grit her teeth, and forced forth the full power she possessed that she held it…but even then it pushed harder and tried to get in deeper and finish the job. She strained, quivered, and buckled…but she kept her hands up and kept focusing, generating more and more cold energy both to try and spare everyone around her from burning as well as to force the attack back…yet for all of her power she put forth and drew out…the beam wasn't repelled…
Yet finally, after a few deadly seconds, the beam cut off of its own accord. The moment it did, and the cool feeling from Eiko's power washed over them, she exhaled, dropped her hands…and collapsed to the ground.
The Jido-no-Hogu-sha quickly began to rise, but Jiro was first as he gaped at her. "Eiko!"
In a moment, the frost kami was at her side…already his heart aching with a horrible fear that it had happened just as quickly and abruptly as before…but on reaching her, she moaned and stirred. She was already trembling, as if she had strained her muscles to the limit, and she looked sore and drained. Worse than that…she winced as she held her hands up. Jiro looked to them…and, to his shock, they were blistered.
"Ow…" She slowly moaned as the others arose. Seeing her in this state, they soon surrounded her as well.
"Your hands…" Takara spoke anxiously.
Takeshi looked back up into the sky, still seeing the heat ray "retreat". He sneered. "Damnit. You'll have to put everything you got into this from the get-go, Eiko. If that little ray of fire from that big ball of death did that to you…"
"She was using everything she had." Jiro cut off.
Takeshi turned to him in stunned surprise, but Jiro merely put his hands around Eiko and drew her up. She moaned one more time, and then shook her head.
"I…I'll get used to it…just in a few minutes…" She stated slowly. She managed a weak smile. "I mean…compared to my past lives…this is nothing, right?"
Jiro kept his frown and looked up to the others. "That wasn't comparable to her past lives. A little flare like that would have to be narrowed and focused to hit her in the past. This time that spread out shot alone nearly overwhelmed her. I don't know how it happened…but Shitakarahi is stronger than ever."
Nobuyuki grimaced in response. "Do you mean to say that the heat he tried to attack us with just now wasn't anywhere near as strong as he could be?"
Eiko looked up to Jiro, growing more tense on hearing all of this, fear starting to creep into her. It was obvious from the frost beginning to collect on the ground around her. As for the frost kami…Jiro paused for a while, but finally exhaled and nodded.
The Jolly Bear frowned. "…In that case, what just happened was him 'toying' with us." He grunted, looking back out to the flaming sphere. "I'm not sure if he can see everything from that sort of orb…but he at least was expecting us to come here, and he could see us when we got here. He targeted us on purpose…with an attack designed to show us how little we are compared to him."
The group was silent on hearing that. They all looked to one another. Jiro himself lost his "angry" expression…and began to look fearful. He had never expected this…had never thought something so simple could give Shitakarahi so much power. With this much at his beck and call…even the Yuki no Megami couldn't stop him anymore. She always "won" by discharging all of her life force into raw power at him after taking a fatal blow…but now…he realized that wouldn't be nearly enough. Not against this power he could sense as well as had experienced firsthand. What could be done?
After a while, Eiko exhaled, and then began to push up and off of Jiro. He looked to her, even as his mind continued to work, and the others did too.
As for Eiko, she winced her blistered hands once more, and then looked forward to the city.
"…Everyone else stay back." She flatly said. "After all…this is between me and him anyway."
She began to step forward.
"And just what do you plan to do about him, your highness?" Takeshi called out.
"Stop him or die trying." She answered without turning.
"No, Eiko! This is crazy!" Takara shouted. "You'll be killed!"
Eiko stopped walking at that. However, she didn't turn around. She slowly exhaled. Even as she did, far below, at the base of the hill, the first group of escapees reached them. They soon ran right on by, not even looking up, but Eiko looked down to them and sighed.
"…Then history will just repeat itself forever, I guess." She slowly answered.
Nobuyuki took a step forward and fixed a solid look on her. "Jiro said it himself, Eiko. He's stronger this time. You might die for nothing."
"I'll die for nothing if I stay back." Eiko answered. She gestured around. "Look…look all around you. You see the people fleeing for their lives but there's nowhere to go. All of Japan is going to become a volcanic hell. Maybe all of the world. People are dying every minute we stay back. If I can even weaken him…stall him for even a few days…it's a few days more of life that these people will have…that you all will have…and days that only I can give to anyone. I'd say that's worth my death."
Jiro stared anxiously at her…realizing what she was saying…realizing what this meant. At once…pain began to flow into him…the memory of things he had felt many times before and feared each and every time he would feel again. He began to rise. "Eiko…you can't-"
"Jiro."
Cut off, the frost kami stood still. Slowly, the woman turned and looked to them at last…looked to him.
She was smiling softly…and tears were running down her cheeks.
"…It was never meant to be. Not then. Not now. Not ever." She slowly said. "…I'm sorry."
It felt like a knife in the heart. Jiro was cut to the quick…thinking he had just seen her survive one horror only to let fate repeat itself once more. He raised his hand to speak…just as Eiko turned to leave…
When a noise rang by them…a scream. This was enough to shake Jiro out of his funk as well as distract Eiko, and they, along with the Jido-no-Hogu-sha, turned and looked down to the ground. They saw one of the townspeople fleeing the burning city, herding two children along, looking up and screaming.
"It's a yuki-onna! A demon!" She shouted on seeing her. "We've escaped a flaming hell just to run into a frozen one! It's the end!" She soon grabbed her children more fiercely and ran on.
Takeshi's teeth clenched, and he actually looked enraged as he went for his kunai. "Ungrateful human… This woman is about to give her life for her and her brats and this is how-!"
"Takeshi…let it go…" Takara began to shush, running into him and grabbing his arm before he did anything he would regret.
Jiro, however, heard this…and looked to Eiko. For a moment…he saw the "old her" return, her face slumping, unhappiness and feelings of being hated and unloved flood her…
And then…for the first time in thousands of years…it began to click.
The frost kami looked up, back to the city. Back to all of the individual fires. Back to Itachitoko's stomping into the central capitol. Back to the people screaming and running, each one stricken with fear…and more than fear. Despair. Hopelessness. Dread. Feeling nothing but panic and terror…
But not just that…
Everything the Jido-no-Hogu-sha could do…the secret to their power…
…That's how.
That's what they meant by telling me they had to 'break the pact'.
I get it…I get it!
Eiko sighed, and turned to move off again…but didn't get a step before Jiro advanced on her and stopped her with a firm hand to her shoulder.
"Wait!"
The woman exhaled and tiredly looked to her. "Jiro, I'm sorry…but this is how-"
"Quiet and listen!" He cut off, so sharp Eiko immediately did so. "I know how to beat him…for good!"
At once, the woman's mouth loosened. The others immediately went in as well. As for Jiro, he began to smile as he looked back to them.
"They told me that this wouldn't end until humanity 'broke the pact'…and I get it! I get why he keeps coming back! Why Eiko has to keep being reborn to stop him again and again!" He pointed at her. "Eiko was the only one who never 'agreed to the deal' in the first place! Thousands of years ago, she was the only human in her tribe that wouldn't make the deal! She let her people make it, but she wouldn't! That's why the gods listened to her! That's why they gave her the power to defeat him…because she begged them on behalf of the people! But none of them ever 'repented'! They never went before the gods and said they were wrong to shun winter in favor of eternal summer! And that was part of the deal! To this day, everyone…" He gestured around to the people below as well as the city. "Everywhere…they all still think winter brings nothing but death and misery and summer is the time for life and happiness!"
"But what does that have to do with 'the pact'?" Takara asked. "None of these humans worship Shitakarahi…"
"They don't have to do it 'directly'." Jiro answered. "They do it by continuing to hate winter! Look! You saw it yourself! They call Eiko a monster even to this day even though she was given her power for the purpose of helping them! He has to be getting energy from every human that ever cursed winter and made offerings for a longer summer… Even if those offerings were made to 'benevolent' gods and spirits, he still 'gets something' out of it…"
Takeshi scowled. "That doesn't make any sense! He's been doing this for millennia! He'd be stronger than ever from that…"
"No…" Jiro answered with a head shake. "No…because he's only been using that power to free himself from imprisonment… He must get only a small amount from that. Where he's getting his power now is from what he's been doing ever since he start 'meddling' with all of us. All of this." He gestured again. "Think…why did he cause me to forget who I am, but still brought me out to meet with her? So that Eiko would grow up in total fear her entire life, would meet me, pair with me, and then we'd get into that fight like we did on the mountain and make us afraid that we would lose each other! So that she would make a winter in the middle of summer that would make everyone hate and fear it more than ever! So that he could get a proxy in the form of Itachitoko and have him slowly burn up the city bit by bit and drive out the emperor and the shogun! You get it?"
Eiko lowered her head and thought a moment. The others likewise paused, thinking about all of what Jiro said. Yet after a moment, Nobuyuki raised his head.
"…Fear." He stated gravely. "He's feeding off of fear."
"Not just fear." Takara added. "Despair…hopelessness…desperation…"
Eiko raised her own head. "…Because I always stopped him as soon as he awakened, he never had a chance to generate fear and dread…he always was 'underpowered'…"
"Now he's made thousands 'fear and hate winter'." Jiro went on. "And by doing so…he's made himself stronger and Eiko weaker. I know what we have to do in order to beat him for good…to make Eiko strong enough to surpass him. We have to get people to 'embrace' winter…to wish for it as much as they'd wish for any other season…to love it as a part of the natural order."
Eiko grimaced on hearing that. "…That's impossible, Jiro. We can't make everyone in the world 'love winter'…especially not now…"
"And we don't have to!" Jiro said with growing enthusiasm. "Eiko…you're a god! He's just a demon who's siphoning off 'leftover praise'! You can make far more use out of it! We just have to get people's spirits up! We have to get them to feel positive energy! To make them forget the despair the demon is bringing and give them hope! Happiness! Fun!"
"How on earth are we supposed to do that?!" Takeshi nearly shouted. "Especially now!"
Jiro merely turned to the Ghost Hare and smiled. He said nothing else. However, as Takeshi looked to him…he slowly began to understand. Takara and Nobuyuki did so as well. The Tooth Dragon blinked, but then smiled a bit as she began to flutter in the air.
"…I get it. This could work. I mean…our power comes from positive energy…then that means that Eiko's might too…and it might weaken his…"
"Heh…never thought my greatest battle would rely on making people happy…" Nobuyuki chuckled as he rubbed his beard.
Eiko, however, looked to Jiro…traces of hope in her eyes. "…Do you really think so, Jiro? I mean…it sounds almost as childish as a children's story…but are you trying to say that just by making people 'happy' and getting them to see me as something 'good'…I can beat him?"
The frost kami turned to her, still smiling.
"…Maybe the gods didn't abandon me." He said. "Maybe they made sure I'd fall in with the Jido-no-Hogu-sha on purpose…right for today."
The snow queen paused a bit longer. But on seeing Jiro smile back at her, his own fear having ebbed, and seeing the other members of the Jido-no-Hogu-sha, even Takeshi, start to smile and look confident…it began to bleed over onto her as well. She actually began to smile too.
"…It beats me sacrificing myself for nothing." She stated. "I'm with you. What should we do?"
"First…stay on the edge of town." Jiro answered. "Start making the most 'pleasant' heavy snowfall you can. Make sure it's as 'pretty' and 'soft' as you can. Use it to cool off the city and start putting out the fires on the exterior. Then start walking in…smiling…happy…something that no one would mistake for a 'yuki-onna'." He looked to the other three. "As for you guys…start doing what you do best and getting people's spirits up."
"What about Itachitoko?" Takeshi spoke up. "I hear what you're saying, Jiro…and, to me, that means Shitakarahi had that withered old weasel stomp into town to spread as much fear and panic as he can. And offing both the emperor and the shogun would do a lot of that…"
"I know." Jiro answered, then grinned. "That's why I'm going to go defeat him right now."
This caused no shortage of surprises, as the young man whistled and began to run to the edge of the scarp, intending to jump off and head to the city.
"Jiro, you can't!" Eiko called out. "You'll be killed! You couldn't beat him before and he might be stronger too right now!"
As the frost kami got up his staff, ready to "ride" it into the city, he paused and looked back…still smiling.
"He only beat me because he made me forget 'what I do best' for a moment. Right now…I'm totally in my element." He answered. "…Trust me. I've got this in the bag."
Not far from the city periphery, some of the "late arrivals" from the edge of town, the ones who had seen fire and heard screaming without knowing the cause, began to come down the street. There was no adult among this lot…nor was there a single stitch of new clothing. Rather, this was a gang of "urchin" children, sons and daughters of poor families or poor soldiers who had died and left them orphans to make whatever living they could off of scraps and charity within Kyoto, and often hiding to avoid the wrathful gaze of the guards of the city who didn't want them "littering the streets". Living among ruins and abandoned houses, or gutters and public works, they had nothing and nowhere to go save the streets…and now even those were being taken from them when fire burst forth down the alleyways and flushed them out like "human rats".
Now it was every child for himself or herself. They ran down the main roads as fast as they could along with the rest of the citizenry. But many were hungry and sick, and the heat was so oppressive that many had faltered and stumbled. A few had older friends or family members to support them, but many were left to "sink or swim"…or, perhaps, in this case, "fry or fly". None of the "loners" could afford to look out for anyone else. They were too stricken with fear and panic. They only had themselves to rely on most of their lives, after all, and now they were the only ones who could get them away from the hellish sphere breaking over the city, covering everything with fiery light and horrendous heat…
Then, suddenly, while running…darkness swept over them.
At once, the children halted in their tracks. Not out of confusion or relief…but more fear. They thought it meant some colossal abomination was casting its shadow over them and ready to eat them. Yet as they looked up…they were amazed to see thick, dark clouds falling over the heavens instead, quickly blotting out the area of the fiery sky over them. For a moment, they wondered if this was smoke or more devilry…yet at the same time felt a cool, refreshing breeze blow over them, brushing back the horrendous heat. Feeling that immediately made them relax at least somewhat. Even if this was more doom…it was better than being fried by that demon sun.
The temperature dropped quickly after that. In truth, it dipped to below freezing, and puffs of white mist began to come out of the mouths of the children. But they had been running so hard and dealt with such horrible heat…it was welcome. And it made them pay a bit more attention and put their fear off a bit longer…
Soon after…it came. Heavy snowfall began to come down, thick in a cloud of fluttering white. It wasn't coming down "quickly", like a blizzard would…but in no time at all the air was thick with flakes. Big 'poofy' ones, like lazy white bees, rather than the type that was finer and would layer quicker. This kind was more of an 'insulator' even as it fell. As sharp and cold as it had turned, this was 'easier', and not as bad as normal. Soon it landed and began to gather on the ground…and gather quickly. More quickly than it should have. In only a minute there was already an inch on the ground, and in two minutes there was another.
The street urchins were stunned. They looked around confused at this sudden change in weather…not realizing what it was doing. The thick snowfall was not all over Kyoto…only on the edge right now…but the end result was to fall so thick that it blocked out any view of the horrendous heat and horrible flaming sun. It actually turned the evil day back into night. But it did more than that. Once that was blotted out…it filled the air with a "new" light. The snowflakes, big, poofy, and white as they were…were also acting like millions and millions of tiny mirrors, and were reflecting rays of white light around in them like a magnificent prismatic display. To the surprise of the urchins, the world was soon filled with white and blue light…and as they looked up they saw a sky, a world filled with nothing but dazzling white flakes. And in spite of the cold, which was still a welcome relief from the heat, they were in awe.
Being orphans, winter was normally a bitter, miserable time for these children. Living on the street desperate to find places to keep warm and dry, suffering from a lack of travelers with money and food to spare, they normally feared and hated it. However…that was before they had been subjected to this horrendous, flaming nightmare. The heavy gentle snow wasn't harsh or "cruel" this time…but merely gently falling and filling the world with beauty and even "magic". As it covered the blackened, dried out streets with fresh snow, and the fires beneath it began to be smothered by the white curtain…it actually seemed pleasant…even beautiful…
"Hey there!"
The children turned and looked, and were a bit surprised at what they saw. A rather tall, burly man, bearded and looking rough, was at the top of a short hill just on the outskirts of town, just visible within this "region" of snow. He waved to them, and then immediately leapt down on his back, and with a merry shout let himself slide down the hill, running down on the snow. Once he was at the bottom, however, he perked up and waved.
"Where are you all running to?" He shouted. "There's nothing to fear! The Yuki no Megami has come to deliver this city!"
The children blinked in response to this, all of them looking rather confused. After all…no one in Kyoto or in the rest of Japan had ever heard of a 'Yuki no Megami'. And in light of what had just happened to the city, as well as this sudden change, they were more confused and anxious than anything else. However, in spite of the large and imposing figure of the man…the way he laughed and smiled, the warm and jovial air about him…combined with the almost 'magic' snow whirling around them…their fears did not return. In fact, they ebbed a bit.
"There is magic in the air!" The big man continued, holding his hands out and laughing as he swirled around. "Can't you feel it? Look to the sky! Let the wonder of this snowfall fill you! Then watch as great things happen!"
A few of the children still looked tense. They uneasily looked to one another. Others actually drew back, nervous about this man, wondering who or what he was and what he meant. However…there were a few children among them who did not. Some of the younger ones. One, in particular, looked to the sky as told. He stared at the falling snow…and watched as it didn't seem completely "random", but beautiful and swirling…dancing even…reflecting glittering white and blue light down. He stared on at it…as his own white breath seemed to swirl up and dance around as well. And as he stared on…for a moment…his fear and confusion left him. Seeing the swirling snow, feeling the refreshing breeze…for a few seconds, it filled him with nothing but wonder…
He felt something at his feet.
Blinking, the child looked down, and then let out a gasp of surprise…and delight.
"Everyone look!"
The children turned, and were a bit stunned at what they saw. The small orphan among them suddenly had a brand new kimono and tied at his feet, which he readily picked up. Compared to his own clothing…ratty…dirty…falling apart…it was a marvelous gift. He was soon excited as he snatched it up.
"Hey everyone!" Another called.
The children looked again to another small child, this one a girl grinning as she held up a pair of new shoes just her size…wonderful for her as she had been going weeks in bare feet.
"How did you get that?" One called.
"…You think the 'Yuki no Megami' gave it to her?" Another suggested.
The children hesitated a moment…but, at their age, the world was "simpler". They didn't allow thoughts of trickery or potential "standards" into mind. Soon, they began to look into the sky as well. That alone wouldn't have done it…but it didn't need to. The fact that some of them had seen the gifts appear meant that they were already filling with more "wonder". The snowfall just sealed the deal. It wasn't long before all of them were beginning to see gifts materialize around them, not toys or games…but things they, as homeless orphans, had genuine needs for. Maybe clothes, shoes, or a hat…or something like tools or baskets that they could use to gather their own food by helping to work fields, or to catch fish at the rivers. And as these came…the enthusiasm began to spread. The joy began to grow. A "glow" almost seemed to come around the children which made them impervious to the cold. On the contrary…the storm seemed to grow more beautiful and gentle. And as a result…the children began to go from being standoffish to actually appreciating it…even loving it…
The thoughts of the Yuki no Megami…a benevolent snow goddess…began to enter their minds and fill them with hope and wonder…
Not only that…but as other children began to run up, along with other families, into this "small island" of beautiful snow in the midst of the all-consuming heat…they stopped and noticed this. They were confused at first. Even stunned or bewildered. But slowly…a few children among them saw this…and began to fill with the same wonder…
"Come on!" The big man laughed as he ran back for the hill. "First to the top is 'King of the Hill'!"
The orphans, growing more enthused all the time…not seeing this 'winter' as something cold or harsh but magic and even welcome…ran after him with enthusiastic looks.
"Daichi! Just leave it!" The little girl whined from the front door.
However, her older brother wouldn't stop. He continued to dig away at the rapidly mounting snow as fast as he could and, as soon as he exposed some of the blackened ground, he began to dig away again. "No! Come on, Hikari! Help me!"
The little girl continued to look anxious, turning back to what was left of the smoldering ruin of the house. Her parents and older siblings were all salvaging whatever they could and putting them in a cart, but then getting ready to get out as fast as they could. There was no point in staying anymore, after all. That monster had burned their home to the ground and set their fields on fire. They were all nearly burnt to nothingness and the rest of them sure to perish from the heat that the horrible flaming sun was giving…until, by some miracle, the sky covered and an icy cool breeze came through, followed by heavy snowfall that put out their house and what was left of their farm. Yet it was no good. They had lost four fifth of their crop, the same as their neighbors, who, in the glittering, reflective snow, Hikari could see were packing up as fast as they could too. The snow was the final nail in the coffin. It might have put out the fire, but a sudden 'winter' was no better than a hellish summer. It would kill what was left. Yet Daichi, the youngest son, refused to give up. Even now he was digging through the mounting snow, trying to look for daikon that were still worth preserving…and finding nothing but ash. The fire that had come through had burnt down into the lower layers of the ground. It would ruin everything for years and years to come… Their father had already declared them "doubly cursed" by both the fire and snow.
But still he clung to hope.
Hikari whined. "We have to go, Daichi! Look at the snow! It'll ruin everything that's left!"
"Then we've got to save all we can!" Daichi shouted as he continued to dig in another pile of snow, trying to get to the ground where another radish was. "We've got no food to travel with!"
"Dad said it's all gone! There's no point!"
"There's got to be some left!" He maintained as he got to the ground level and then dug deeper…and found only more ash. Not deterred, he went to another pile and dug in that. "This snow has to mean there is!"
"It's just another curse, mom said!"
"No, it's not!" Daichi shouted as he dug more furiously…and found more ash. Still, he went elsewhere and dug again. "It can't be! It's a gift from the gods! It's here to help!"
"Good thinking, kid. Never give up hope."
The voice popped up right next to Daichi, and he quickly forgot what he was doing and turned…just in time to see a cloaked man seem to finish arising from a shadow right next to him. He recoiled in fear and shock. Hikari, who had indeed seen him "spring out" from the shadows, let out a cry and retracted a bit.
"Hey there…easy." The figure said as he raised a hand. "I'm one of the good guys. Honest."
The children didn't seem to notice that. Daichi began to retreat, clearly eyeing him with suspicion. Hikari, on her part, looked ready to open her mouth and cry for her parents. The hooded figure noticed this and realized that his appearance was a bit too shocking. Too "dark".
"…Please calm down." He said after a moment. "I really don't want to have to do this…" He moaned afterward.
However, Daichi looked ready to bolt for it. Hikari began to start making a noise that was the start of a scream. He just looked too "foreboding". Realizing this, the figure sighed.
"…Just this once."
With that, he brushed back his hood…and both kids stopped what they were doing and gaped. The man didn't have regular ears at all…but two long, fluffy, rabbit ears.
A moment later, Daichi's frown broke out into a snicker…a giggle…and finally a laugh. Hikari, on her part, forgot her scream and gasped in delight.
"Look! It's a Usagi man!"
The man grit his teeth, barely containing his embarrassment and anger. "Nousagi…Nousagi!" He nearly shouted back. "I'm a hare, not a rabbit! Anyway, forget that…" Shaking his head, he calmed down, and then pointed to the ground. "Hope's never a bad thing to lose, kid. You can't give up on it…especially on a day like today. It's not going to disappoint. Try digging just one more time and you'll see what I mean."
Daichi continued to laugh a bit, but calmed down as the hare man spoke to him. He realized that he was telling him to keep digging, and he was pointing right to a fresh spot. The boy hesitated a moment…but he had believed all along that he could find something. Therefore, he bent down and started to dig through the snow again. As he cleared it down to the dirt, he at first saw only more blackened earth. He looked up to the man, but he continued to point. With that, he looked back down and kept going. As he did, Hikari, finding a desire to touch the fluffy ears, began to run out to them as well. Daichi, on his part, dug into the ashy ground for a moment, finding nothing green, no stems, and…
Something hard.
The boy froze. A moment later, he more eagerly dug, clearing the area around what he had found, and slowly began to expose something rather large and white. He blinked in surprise and kept digging, as Hikari came up to him. Seeing him so eager, she leaned over and looked, and soon marveled at what he was doing, just as the boy was. Daichi cleared a bit more, and then reached out and grabbed the sides of it. It took all the strength in the young boy's body, but the ground was burned and loose…and so he was able to yank it up.
Hikari exclaimed as Daichi fell over from the force…yanking out a daikon radish the size of her.
"Wow!" She exclaimed. "That's amazing! That's the biggest one I've ever seen!"
Daichi, on his part, pushed the monstrous radish off of him and quickly got up to his knees, marveling at it. He looked back to the hare yokai and blinked. "Did…did you…?"
"Don't thank me. Your own hope did it…" He answered, before pointing to the sky. "And a little help from the Yuki no Megami. The fire that came through here burned all the soil and carried the nutrients into the smoke…but her snow caught it and is bringing it back down, making it soak back into the earth. Now don't stop there. Both of you…look for more. I guarantee there's more of those. Keep hoping for finding some and you'll find them."
Hikari lit up at that. "Really?!" Immediately, without any warning, she took off for another patch of snow and began to dig. "I'm going to find a bigger one than you, Daichi!"
The boy turned and looked, a bit confused at all of this…but it didn't last. After a moment, growing more eager, he soon turned and ran to a patch of snow as well. He began to dig into it. In the end, he turned up nothing there, or in the next spot…but Hikari's second spot found something.
"I got one! I got one!" She said as she grabbed it and began to grunt. "Ugh! It's heavy! Come help me, Daichi!"
The boy stopped his own digging and looked to her, and soon ran over. Both siblings working together worked at it a bit…and finally pulled up another daikon…even bigger than the last.
By the time the two had pulled up five of them, the other family members noticed, and other children began to come to ask how they found them. Soon they were digging too…even laughing and cheering as the beautiful snow fell down around them. Although the ground was covered…somehow it didn't get any "thicker" on the fields as they worked. Their neighbors noticed this…and after a time…one of them decided to try digging at their own ruined soil…and soon let out a joyful shout…
The fishermen were stunned, not knowing what to make of what was happening. A little while ago, the hellish sun had appeared and began to rain down fiery death and heat upon not only the city, but the surrounding water. To the horror of the fishermen, as large sections of the city were enveloped in flames, the water they were on began to simmer and boil, soon sending up the cooked remains of fish floating and threatening to smother them with the heat. The men thought of rowing away to cooler waters, but there were those with families who wanted to row back and be with their families. The "single" ones complained they were as good as dead with the hellfire burning overhead, while those with relatives began to get enraged, and fights had broken out that nearly resulted in men going over the edge and being boiled to death. But before it could get too bad…the sky filled with darkness, and soon an unnatural cold and snowfall just as potent as the fire washed over them. The hellish sun vanished from view, being replaced with millions of glittering flakes.
No one knew what to do now, as the ocean rapidly cooled, and then froze. In spite of how cold it had to be to freeze seawater, the men were only a little chilly from it. Yet that didn't take away their fear. By now, some were panicking. The bolder ones thought the frozen water might be hard enough to step onto and run back to the shore with, especially when inches of snow soon began to pile on top of it as well, but even they were hesitant. None of them knew if they were in the midst of a new level of a curse or a sudden blessing, and the lack of knowledge filled them with more fear. Eventually, the sensation began to win out that this was something else supernatural and fearsome…perhaps that they had been killed by the heat and had been whisked away to some form of afterlife. Even the few men among them who were willing to go ashore with or without the others were fearful, not to mention realizing, whether it be fire or ice, their boats could be ruined and there would be no way for them to have a livelihood or to get their family's away from the city…
Soon, arguing was breaking out on the boats again.
"I've decided! I'm running for shore!"
"Are you nuts? We don't even know how thick this ice is! What if you fall in?"
"I've got three kids back there!"
"And what good will you do them if you die?"
"Shut up, you coward! You can stay out here and freeze if you want, but not me!"
"That's right! We'll all freeze if we just stay out here!"
"But if you got back to town, what then? Either you'll burn to death from that demon eye or get turned into ice! Look how cold the water has to be to freeze like this!"
"If you're going, at least help us break through enough to get the boats free first!"
"To hell with you! You're willing to just leave me and my family behind!"
"And you're willing to ditch me after I pulled you back in the boat the last monsoon! I thought we were all in this together? I thought we always helped each other out in bad weather?"
"This isn't 'bad weather', you fool! It's an apocalypse!"
"You son of a-"
"Boys, boys!"
The fishermen, once again about to grapple and fight, paused in the middle of what they were doing and turned to the voice…only to react in a fresh wave of fear, this one universal. There was a young woman before them, decked in clothing set with feathers, but also fluttering with shimmering wings…clearly not human. Although her look was innocent enough, simply frowning in an almost pout at them with her hands on her hips as she fluttered.
The men were in stunned silence for a moment, more at her appearance than anything. After a moment, she kept speaking.
"Look…" She gave her wings a rest and alit on the ice. "It's solid. You can all go back to shore now. And you all should, even if you don't have families to take care of. It's not like you're going to get your boats out now, anyway. Why aren't you happier? That horrible heat is gone. The fire that ruined the fish and threatened to kill you all has been washed away by the Yuki no Megami. What are you scared of?"
The fishermen were quiet. Considering everything that had happened that night, one of the last things they expected was for a strange flying creature to come before them and to start asking them questions like this. It really made them forget their anger for a few moments and simply gaze in puzzlement. Yet after a time, one finally spoke up.
"What are we scared of? You're obviously some sort of yokai fluttering in front of us…the world went from a fiery hell to the coldest winter on record…and you're asking what we're scared of?"
"One second the water is boiling to try and choke us with steam and the scent of dead fish!" Another shouted. "The next it's turned into ice so thick the boats won't even shift! You expect us to just be 'fine' with all of this?"
The woman frowned a bit more and stamped on the ground. "Aren't you hearing what I'm saying? This winter has come to help you! It put a stop to that demonic fire and saved your livelihood! This ice may be thick, but is it breaking any of your boats? And it stopped the boiling from killing the fish, didn't it?"
"Who cares? Having a sudden winter is just as bad as having that sudden heat!" One protested. "And it might be just as foul and evil!"
The individual didn't change. "I don't believe you… You should be thanking your lucky stars…seeing that this actually helped you."
She pushed off, and soon was in the air again, fluttering once more. This time, she got a bit closer.
"Humans…every day they have less and less faith and hope in things. I've seen it for hundreds of years. It seems the more time goes on the less they believe in anything 'magic' or 'incredible'." She went on. "I know full well there's a time to grow up, to take responsibility, and to think like 'adults'…but you're taking it too far. You see something bad and then you 'hang onto it', let it warp your view of the rest of the world. You always err on the side of 'badness'…as if everything out there could be 'out to get you'. You weren't always like this…"
Suddenly, to the surprise of the men, she flew forward, and whipped out a jitte from her side, seemingly from nowhere. The men tried to react, but she was too swift for them, and dashed up to each one, tapping them on the teeth with the end. It was a bit jarring…but not painful. More of a surprise than anything. And since all he been "open-mouthed", none had a defense for it.
She continued to speak as she did. "There was a time when you'd be in awe of snow… How'd you'd love hearing it coming down…or would stare out the window and marvel as it filled up fields and valleys…or would laugh at seeing your own breath turn white… It was a time when the world was 'simpler'…when everything in it was new and fresh, and you still believed in magic and spirits and that everything in it was filled with wonder. Can't you remember?"
The fishermen were silent, still wondering about who this person was and why she had done it. However…unknown to them…the tapping of their teeth had "enhanced" their memory…made them think back to earlier times…simpler times… It wasn't enough to force them to remember anything. But to the select few among the group, the ones who were bolder, who had more faith in the stability of the ice, who thought that maybe this winter was actually a "good thing"…things began to stir inside them.
One man in the lead suddenly lost his confusion, and blinked. Seeing the dazzling snow fall all around…he remembered years ago when he was out in a forest at morning during a winter's day, and all of the sudden the sky broke…and filled the air with thousands of flakes. Looking up through the trees, seeing them all…he remembered what it felt like to see that for the first time. It was just like spring with the cherry blossoms, only now transposed to months earlier…
Another remembered sitting next to a window with his own deceased younger sister. She died only two years later from illness…but before then he remembered taking her to the window and letting her watch the snow fall down, and she, in turn, had been in total awe of it. She dragged him outside and said for them to mold the snow together to make a gigantic rice cake for the rabbit in the moon, one so big even he would come down and eat it…and that made him laugh so much that he stayed out all day with her…
Yet another remembered going out on the ice the first time with his father. He was nervous at first. He couldn't see how anyone could cross the big lake. But on seeing himself standing firm, he marveled at it. He was able to walk right out to the center of the lake and see nothing but open sky for miles and miles around. Not only that, but his family cleared off a path, and then he was about to "scoot" around on his worn sandals, gliding all over the ice any way he wanted. He never remembered having so much fun before that…
And as more people remembered these happy things…remembering how they felt…they remembered what they used to believe in. The power of spirits and gods…imagining little kamis floating on each flake…or yokai making "jingling" noises when the sound went through the icy trees…and thinking that the powers that be had transformed the world…but most of all, at that age, remembering how they loved and embraced these times…seeing them as something that comforted them, not made them fearful.
When that happened, a few of the men up front, ones who were willing to go out before, felt strengthened…even happy. Not like they were going to run into their possible deaths but that everything was going to be fine…that there was a higher power out there that was on their side and helping them now, not leaving them to more death and chaos.
With that in mind, one of the men grinned, and suddenly ran to the edge of the boat, leapt over the edge, landed in the soft snow on the ice, and then began to run back to Kyoto. The other fishermen were surprised for a moment, before two more of them ran up to the edge, jumped out, and did the same. One of them even gave a happy shout as they did so. Another laughed.
Seeing this, a standoffish one held, but then began to remember the sounds of laughter and enthusiasm from when he was a child…and he too began to smile before leaping off the edge and running as well. Not long after, more began to join up with him.
Far over the city, the great flaming sphere continued to grow larger and brighter by the minute. Unseen by the eyes of mortals, a great flaming eye was deep inside it, searching about for more despair to unleash. Like a hungry predator, it gazed over the great city for whoever was gathered or huddled in fear, whoever was clinging to hope or holding out…and unleashing its wrath upon them. And each time it did, it felt its power grow larger and stronger. The only place it left out from this wrath was the path that Itachitoko was taking, and the main palace itself. It left that all to him. There was no hurry. He was brimming with more power than ever. He wasn't even trying to vent it all yet…but he was already at his strength as he was before when he first encountered the Yuki no Megami and surpassing it. Part of the reason he lost was because he wasted so much trying to incinerate the country. Now…he would keep it in check until he was ready to burn the world. And until that time, the woman could do nothing to him… Even converting her own life into her power now would avail her nothing…
So what in the world was she trying now?
He thought his last attack made it abundantly clear how futile her defiance was, and for a moment he drank more of her despair…a flavor he had indulged in greatly as of late and yet was the sweetest taste he had ever tried…only for it to vanish. Now, instead, she was generating the most powerful winter blizzard she could manage and had surrounding Kyoto with it. Slowly, it was moving inside.
He wondered what in the world she hoped to gain from this. Her power was nothing compared to his. All he had to do was release a bit more and he could evaporate her winter entirely and vaporize her clouds and snow. And then he could destroy her with his next move. Although she was concealing herself in her storm…her very nature was loathsome to him. He could find her like a human could find rotting pig dung...follow the repulsive stench. It would take only a moment to snuff out her life. That last "taunt" had proven that. The only reason he let her live was to give himself more of her despair to consume…and yet she wasn't producing it…
She's up to something… The demon thought as he looked into the storms. Those are annoying. Perhaps I should just swat her like the fly she is right now…
Just as he began to feel for more power to do so, however, the thing saw something below him…a small blip of icy blue light. Something just as foul and irritating to him as the woman was, just a little less so. He shifted his gaze downward…and soon saw that little gnat from 300 years ago riding his staff through the heat-covered town, and going straight for the main palace.
What in the world does that fool think he's doing? If the Yuki no Megami herself is nothing to me, what does he think some worthless frost kami can do? Is he actually going to try and defeat Itachitoko after how badly he lost last time? I could annihilate him without even trying…
Yet, the monster paused on thinking that.
Then again…I vowed to let Itachitoko have Japan to himself, yet I have little need for a minion so weak that he cannot destroy one little frost kami… And mortals have such propensity for weakness…
Maybe I'll just "enjoy the show"…
With that, Shitakarahi turned his gaze on Jiro…and away from the city…even as the snow storm continued to draw nearer and slowly increase in power of its own…
The shogun himself had made an appearance now.
He had little choice…pretty soon it would either be that or nothing.
The castle within Kyoto had several outer walls leading up to it in addition to the city walls, but this new opponent had smashed through every last one of them with what could only be described as hellfire. This didn't appear to be a man at all, but rather some hulking fire demon. They had noticed him early on, when he started destroying the rice fields outside of the main city. On seeing the fire and smoke, they had assumed it was a raiding party or the like, and a team of soldiers were sent out to deal with him…and were promptly annihilated. Only two of them were spared to go back and relate what happened…how this was a single individual responsible, and how he destroyed them all with fire that turned them to ash in instants, even the skeletons. As they mounted another assault group, the monster reached the first set of gates and burned them away into nothingness, leaving nothing but molten pools where the iron and other metals used to be. The wood elements were vaporized.
Following that, the monster had come into the city to the tune of the flaming sun appearing overhead, growing larger, hotter, and more nightmarish by the minute before it began to rain down flaming death at random. Yet the worst was the original monster, who, without pity or mercy, incinerated everything in his path. Not just humans, but home and livestock and water sources. With his heat, wells dried up, entire streets were gutted with fire, and not even the innocent who only wanted to escape were spared his wrath. Although the city had gates and walls in layers, they only slowed him down long enough to burn through him. Direct fighting was useless. Men would burn to death before they could even stab him and then disintegrate into nothing. Arrows were also useless. For far away volleys, he would see them coming and burn them away with waves of fire or simply increase the heat around him until they melted down before they could hit him. Closer ranged arrows fired more directly might work, but he kept the area around him in such heat and flames that no one could get close without their own skin beginning to burn. He was like a walking furnace.
And now, he was melting down the last set of gates. These ones were made purely of iron, and yet they were eroding away faster than ice in a blast furnace, shedding slag all around them. The shogun, realizing that he was only killing men for nothing trying to stop this foe earlier, had pulled back most of the reserve men he had brought with him to court, and now a good thousand strong were ready, with five hundred bracing themselves to fight here and another five hundred on every level of the palace, acting as bodyguards for the emperor. Again, he was just a symbol, but he was a strong symbol. He couldn't let him fall…even though he had no idea how he was supposed to stop it. It was all he could do to keep himself standing firm now, hand on his sword hilt, girt for war…and feeling the horrendous heat seeming to char his skin as well as those of the other men as he stood at the ready.
The trees in the garden were already withering, some smelling like they were beginning to smolder. The streams had dried up. Older and weaker soldiers were passing out. Ones that were too close to the gate suddenly screamed as their clothes burst into flame, and then then ran back. The archers had tried to send volleys over the wall, but now the heat was growing so bad that the bows were splintering when they were drawn. The shogun ordered them to save them…to shoot the enemy directly as soon as the gate was down. Yet he had no idea if that would work any more than blades would… If only they had horses, he could risk a charge. Yet that too was impossible. The animals had already spooked and ran like wild stallions long before the demon man drew near. It was down to them.
Finally, the gates collapsed. They had been melting so much that they broke their fastenings and sloped to one side, and gravity did the rest pulling them down. Immediately, a rush of heat came over them like a flaming fire…all emitting from a hulking, monstrous humanoid with twisted, almost "oni" features, a massive hawk-like nose, nearly red skin, and brimming with muscle. His face looked similar to an old man, but his body was young and vigorous. Although the heat was nearly unbearable and it was all but impossible to look, the archers fired wildly at the figure.
Not one arrow landed. The fiend only grinned as roaring fires lunged up in front of him…enough to burn the first few rows of soldiers and totally incinerate the first row, causing the survivors to turn and flee. But the heat was enough to obliterate every arrow long before reaching him. As for the surge in heat, it made the bowstrings snap and the bows themselves wither and crumble. Nearly overwhelmed by heat, the men rapidly began to pull back. Even the shogun was forced to shield his face and take a few steps backward. Needless to say…a third of the final defense broke immediately. And the shogun, barely having enough courage of his own to stand, was the only reason many of the others stayed. There were other brave samurai here like Nakamura…but by now the shogun realized that this thing had already destroyed him as well as many other good men…
The thing had burning red coals for eyes…and they soon focused squarely on him.
"You always claimed to be a man of honor…and yet I knew I wouldn't find you until right here, 'my lord'." The demon man spoke in a human voice…although it was deep, raspy, and sounding just like it barely "qualified" as human. "Stand aside and maybe there will be a place for you in the new order. I could use you, at the minimum, to keep other fools from trying to rebel."
The shogun merely clenched his teeth, ignoring the wording as he swept his hand at him. "Away from here, demon! You are not welcome in these gates! And you shall not harm the emperor! Back to the hell from whence you came!"
In response, the grin of the fiend only grew as he stepped forward through the threshold.
"Is that supposed to be your 'ward' against me? Why aren't the rest of the onmyoji out here giving a proper one? That's right…they ran and hid like cowards, because not one of them ever had true faith in the spirits or powers that be. If they had, they would have gained this power for themselves long before I did. And yet…you always looked down on me and my powers and predictions. Tell me, 'my lord'…" He hissed as he came to a halt, holding his arms up and making a pillar of flame arise from his body.
"Do you believe in my power now?!"
The nearest men began to char at this and fled, breaking again, reducing those who were still standing to just half. Those who remained shielded themselves, trembled, and shrank back. The shogun himself felt the horrendous heat surging from the thing, knowing it could destroy him in an instant, and feeling the urge to break as well. Yet as he recoiled and shielded himself…he managed to keep looking into the bright, demon fire…
And saw the face.
When he did, the rest of the words clicked…and his own determination turned to confusion.
"…Itachitoko?"
"Ah good…you remember." He hissed back as the flames subsided and his arms lowered. "After all, I sure do. I remember all of you sickening butchers with your little cleavers…none of you having a brain between the lot of you…clinging to all of your stale traditions while the world changes and your opponents exploit your honor at every turn…and always, always mocking me. Calling me a charlatan…a fraud…a disgrace to the kingdom… Well…now you're going to see just the full extent of my power first-hand…and if you're fortunate, I may let some of you live long enough to see the new order…the one where there is no more need for samurai or shogun…just the one true Emperor of Japan…the dynasty of Itachitoko!"
The shogun was stunned. He had no idea how this had happened…but he knew that this had to be the onmyoji he mocked and wished nothing more than to throw into the mud of the street for months. He had clearly made a pact with the powers of darkness, and had been reborn as this "thing". It was not only shocking…but insulting. To have such a weak, miserable, pile of avarice such as him be behind all of this madness. And yet, he realized he spoke the truth. The shogun could not advance a single step. Even now he felt his hair beginning to twist and his skin continue to burn. Any closer and he'd be burned into nothingness. Whatever power he had obtained…it made him invincible. His courage was shattered. There was nothing he could do to this fiend…and nothing his men could do either. Even those still standing were beginning to lose their resolve. Their weapons started to lower. Their faces filled with terror...
All Itachitoko had to do was say the word…and they would forsake both the shogun and the emperor and pledge fealty to him. They would kneel right here and now…
And he had no idea what to do about it.
However, before his fears could get much worse, and he too gave into the despair, even as the monster continued to gather more flame to himself…
He heard laughter in the air.
"The Dynasty of Itachinotoko? Let me guess…free mortars for everyone**? One week a month is spent hunting mice? Are all bath houses being closed in favor of cleaning yourself with your tongue?"
Everyone registered surprise at this, including Itachitoko. However, after only a moment, his grin turned into a tooth-filled scowl.
"That little brat…"
A moment later, to the tune of a stream of frost, Jiro came around and landed right in the path of Itachitoko, between him and the men huddled back in fear. From this range, anyone would normally be burning away…but Jiro was bringing his "A-game" from the start…emitting as much cold as he could to keep him not only comfortable but "casual". After all…that was all part of his plan.
At any rate, he didn't care much for the shogun or his men even as his cold gave a refreshing breeze over them. All he needed from them was to be a "good audience" if this was going to work…
…Assuming it did work, that is.
"I think you'll need a bit more fur to be a proper King of Weasels, Itachinotoko." Jiro snickered. He pointed to the top of his own scalp. "Particularly up here. Don't know if you noticed, but you long since burned up that piece of goat hair you were using for a wig."
The man grit his teeth. "You sure are smug for a miserable little weakling kami. I already proved you're nothing to me once, boy…or whatever you are. And now even that sickening slut you love isn't around to protect you from me. I could destroy you in one blast…but I think I'll make you suffer first until you beg for forgiveness." He grinned a bit wider. "Or maybe I'll find that pale-faced whore you love so much first and have my way with her in front of you before you die…"
Yet as he said this as a threat…he noticed something odd.
Not only was Jiro calmly standing there and smiling, the other men behind him were beginning to smirk. In spite of their fear, some of them were beginning to make smiles, and even hiding them.
That was because, unknown to Itachitoko, as he had been rambling…a snowman had formed behind him that was a likeness of him, only with a big, goofy "weasel head" on top…and he had exaggeratedly pantomimed everything the real Itachitoko had done.
The man blinked, then grit his teeth. "Are you so crazy that something about that statement amused you? Did I perhaps do some permanent damage in our last battle?"
However, at this point, people were beginning to snort, for the snowman continued to exaggerate even more, his eyes going "googly" and getting a nose so oversized he had to "file it down" to keep moving it. Itachitoko, realizing they were looking by him, turned around…just in time to see the snowman evaporate into a mass of snowflakes that were either vaporized by his heat or went to the ground. Hissing, he turned back.
"What are you planning? Is this your idea of a sneak at-"
The men were starting to chuckle now, and he turned around again…once more seeing a flurry of snowflakes…just having missed the fact that the snowman had reformed, this time holding up a sign pointing at him saying "Weasel Man" in big kanji letters.
"Exactly what are you planning, you miserable brat? I am the embodiment of fire! I could annihilate you all with-"
By now, they was a great deal more laughing, because the snowman had reformed again, this time with a sign saying: "My nose is this big because I had a lot of dirty thoughts as a boy." Again, Itachitoko snapped around…and saw only snow.
"What are you trying to do?!" He screamed as he spun back around. "Frustrate me?! You have any idea how bad-"
He snapped around without warning…but still missed the snowman holding a sign that said: "I went bald because I slept with a kappa. She was the only one who wanted me and she hung herself after it was done." The men's fear was fading now, and they were laughing out loud at this point. He snapped back…only for the snowmen to break into a whole chorus of weasels who began to dance and jump and taunt him behind his back. He flipped back around, and saw only snow, then back forward…and they resumed. He did this numerous times, growing more angry and more frustrated with each turn. His body got hotter and hotter, and the flames grew more and more around him…increasing the heat…but also no longer focused. Jiro had to use a lot of his own power…but he managed to keep the images coming and solid.
Finally, Itachitoko moved fast enough to catch the snow weasels forming kanji letters by joining together to spell: WEASEL MAN. Screaming in rage, the demon man aimed his hand up and fired a ball of fire out from it that obliterated the snow weasels into nothingness, and sailed on by to blast a sizeable hole in the wall surrounding the palace as well. After that, he spun back around one last time.
"I have had it, you sickening brat! Now you're going to…"
However, Jiro wasn't paying attention. He was smiling cockily, hefting up a large snowball up and down in one hand.
At that, the old man sneered. "…That's what you plan to do next, stupid boy? Hit me with a snowball?"
Jiro didn't answer. He merely took careful aim, cocked back, and then flung the snowball forward right at Itachitoko's face…and although it melted away, something kept coming in strong and sharp with an edge on it…which impacted solidly with his forehead and dug into his skin. A small spurt of blood erupted, and the old man clutched for his brow and staggered back in pain, while the men behind him laughed even more than before.
"Oops…I had wondered if I accidentally put a rock in that one…" The Laughing Frost mused. "Silly me."
The old man didn't even bother responding this time, he merely snapped both of his hands forward and blasted forth with a column of flame. Quickly, Jiro snapped into the air and flew to one side, and the men behind him had to cease their own laughter and break for it, for the fire kept coming and annihilating everything in its path. Luckily, it didn't do so long, for Itachitoko wanted the frost kami now, not them. He immediately looked to the air and fired out more flames.
Yet this time, Jiro stayed calm. True, there was no Eiko here to defend him…or to distract him. He was free to go back into his "fun" element, and began to use his style of "free-flying" to let Itachitoko blast into the air again and again…and hit absolutely nothing. So long as he was mad and trying to smack him with straight up "force"…there was no danger of being hit.
But I can't do this all day… He said, before swinging his staff down again, and sending a storm of snowballs right into Itachitoko's face. The heat that the man was producing was more than enough to turn them all into steam before they got there, but following the one that left a nasty cut over the bridge of his nose, he winced and looked away, letting them form a curtain of "steam" in front of him instead, obscuring his vision. He held back and let it clear a moment, then swiped it away and looked about…and soon fumed again.
Jiro was nowhere to be seen…at least, not clearly. Instead, he was surrounded by dozens and dozens of Jiro "snowmen". None of them were moving, but all of them looked casual, grinned, laughed, or were posed in otherwise mocking positions.
The onmyoji hissed again, looking around at them, knowing that Jiro had to be hiding among them…
When he suddenly felt a ball of slush smack him in the back of the head. It was a rather light impact. After all, his heat was still melting quite a bit, but at the moment the bulk of it was focused into his hands, and a specially "cooled" ball by Jiro was cold enough to stay in one piece until it hit him in the back of the head and erupted. Instantly, he whirled around…
And saw one of the statues was twice as big and wasn't Jiro at all, but a goofy looking "weasel man".
Roaring in anger, Itachitoko snapped about and fired off a column of flame, obliterating it and turning it into a cloud of steam…only to get smacked even harder in the back of his head by another snowball. The snowball wasn't any bigger…it was only that his power was all focused forward, and therefore not able to protect him as much. What more, being pasted again was causing the people around him to laugh again. In spite of the threat that Itachitoko represented…they were starting to see this entire thing as not so much life threatening and more like a spot of fun…
Again, the onmyoji turned, and this time saw a statue with an angry crow chasing after a statue of Itachitoko, apparently wanting his "beak back" that he used for a nose. Screaming in rage, Itachitoko shot out and annihilated this and, still bellowing, forced his body around to start annihilating each and every statue of Jiro one by one, turning each one into boiling steam with a blast…
And, as a result, didn't see the real Jiro shoot up behind him. With his power so much behind him, Jiro was able to get close enough by exerting his max "coldness", and by sheathing his staff in ice as well. At once, he reached out with the crook, latched it around Itachitoko's pants, somehow burned yet undestroyed in the midst of all of this chaos, and then instantly generated a dozen potent ice cubes which he dumped down inside before letting the waistband recoil.
The attack aborted immediately on feeling Jiro, but it was too late as the ice went down Itachitoko's pants, and with his power directed to the front of his body, he couldn't help but feel them. Soon, his eyes widened, and he cried out as he soon ran around in a circle, shouting out in alarm. His power actually recoiled as he began to dash around…a fact that Jiro immediately exploited, although the onmyoji didn't realize. He was too busy crying out and grasping for his pants.
The men around him laughed even louder.
Finally, to the tune of another pillar of flame erupting around him, Itachitoko stood his ground and once more melted away the ice. His red eyes blazing like gleaming coals now, he snapped around once again, and found Jiro standing rather close, arms crossed behind him, innocently smiling.
"Oh, come on. It's not like your balls could get any smaller from getting a little cold in your nether regions."
Itachitoko quivered in rage…as the men laughed even louder.
Jiro tapped his chin. "Right there. A free one on me."
The onmyoji didn't need a second prompting. Roaring almost like a demon himself, he reared back one of his massive forearms…
Only for the sudden swing to cause him to fall backward, and then slip and land on his back with a large thud.
Jiro had used the opportunity to ice the ground while Itachitoko was thrashing around. Even with his full power going into it, he could barely keep it cold enough to stay solid, and it was only due to thousands of years of practice that he could do it now. But he didn't want it "entirely" frozen. By being slightly melted, Itachitoko made it slipperier than ever. And, as he correctly guessed, his new muscular body was so oversized and ungainly, and he had so little experience in a fistfight, that he had fallen right on his back rather than even threw a punch.
"Oh, so close." Jiro taunted. "Well…not really, but you've got to have some respect for the aged, right?"
The laughter boomed again.
Itachitoko roared again as he tried to snap to his feet…but it was no good. As he snapped around on all fours, he immediately slipped and fell again. Growling, he scrambled up off the ground only to fall flat again after that. He soon began to flail and thrash about in rage, and as a result only flopped around like a fish.
"Can I get some tea while I'm waiting?" Jiro calmly asked as he kept standing there. "Because I'm getting a little bored standing around here. I can get you a mouse or a vole or whatever it is you weasels eat while I'm at it…"
"Damn you!" Itachitoko screamed as the crowd burst into more laughter than ever. By now, some of the men who had run off in fear were coming back, hearing the laughter…and they began to join in as well. As for Itachitoko, all he had to do was focus his heat around him and he'd vaporize the water and ice and have firm ground to stand on in an instant. But in spite of his rage and heat he was pouring out, it was enough for Jiro to keep frozen beneath him, because he was too mad to think about using his power to keep his footing. He only thought of focusing it to try and swipe that look off of Jiro's face. On that note, he suddenly tore his arms up and fired more blasts of heat at the frost kami's head…but Jiro didn't even have to dodge. With no footing or balance, he simply slipped and let every heat ray go "wild".
"Hmm…and here they say weasels see better at night…" Jiro mused aloud. "Then again, I have a hard time understanding how you can see anything around that big nose of yours… Will it help if I shout out to you where I am? Or I can get a kid to lead you by the hand if you need it…"
Bellowing again, the demon-empowered onmyoji finally slammed all of his limbs down and shot himself off of the ground and to his feet, before he shot forward, surging right at Jiro. For a moment, he grinned like a madman, seeing he was finally up, finally ready to attack…and he reared back his fist for all he was worth and put all the power he could into it, meaning to smash Jiro down with one punch, to turn him into nothing but bloody ash…
The young man continued to stand there with arms crossed and smiling as he saw the flaming, horrible avatar come right at him…and then lightly pushed off with one leg, simply sliding to one side.
"Whoops, too late. Changed my mind."
Itachitoko only had a moment to gape in surprise…before he went right by Jiro and slammed back down on the ice. And with the speed and power he was putting out, he proceeded to slide right across it and straight for the nearest stone statue in the garden. He gaped and tried to stop himself…only to flail around and actually put on more speed until he smashed his head right into the base of it. To add more insult to injury…Jiro had instantly put a huge pile of snow right on top of it…and his impact shook it off and buried his upper torso in it. Between his lack of focus, the strength of his slide, and the fact that Jiro was keeping it cool…the old man ended up in a pile of slush.
The crowd, which was growing larger all the time, laughed even louder…some even applauding. Slowly, it was beginning to come over them. Where before they had nervously laughed or snickered…their fear was evaporating. Their despair was fading. This object of horror and fear was now becoming nothing more than amusement. Through Jiro's power, even the thought of all of the destruction and evil he had wrought was being forgotten by laugher…by fun…
A moment later, Itachitoko finally exploded from the snow, screaming in more rage than ever, and glaring furiously at Jiro. Soon he shouted out a string of death threats…
But failed to notice that the snow around him was melting more slowly, staying "liquid" longer this time, and that his own fires were "subsiding"…
Directly above, Shitakarahi continued to watch this unfold, and was not pleased. He didn't step in yet, and he had no "definite plans" to. After all, it wasn't just the fact that Itachitoko was proving himself to be ultimately as inept and weak as any mortal. It was that his ambition was a bit too much for him. To be honest, a part of him had always hated the thought of "sharing power". Out of all the lands in the world he was willing to cede, Japan was the least of them. That was where his hated foe emerged from and where he drew the bulk of his power. If this little gnat was able to rid him of the old fool, so much the better.
However, his gaze was so much on the battle…he was blind to all else.
As the storm continued to grow, continued to blot out more of the hellish sun and smother the fire and death, there were changes over the city. In one corner, two hundred kids were now playing with a big man, as he wrestled with them and challenged him to the city's biggest snowball fight in years. At first it was just the orphans who flocked to him, especially as the cries began to spread out that he was giving free gifts. But soon it began to spread to others, including families who were fleeing the city. The children began to tug on the clothes of their parents to go over to him so they could join in the fun. At first, the parents were scared and demanded they run. This was no time for fun or play, not when death was coming upon them all. But on seeing the beautiful snowfall…the peaceful night…and, most of all, the laughter and fun the children were having, banishing all darkness, fear, or terror…it began to "infect" them. They first flocked to the big man and the "grand game" just thinking it had to be safer there if everyone was so happy, but from there…they only began to grow in happiness and calmness themselves. They looked up and around, and each one thought they had never seen a snowfall so beautiful…had never seen winter as a season of peace or comfort. But they did now, on seeing how happy everyone was…and soon began to spread it…
Elsewhere, spreading just as quickly, people were returning to the fields rather than running in panic. Some were even bringing out wagons and carts and loading up a bountiful harvest that should have been impossible, but, they believed due to the magic winter, was actually looking at a record. Their despair had turned into joy. And the more people searched and the more hope they had, the more they found. Even children who looked in places that had already been searched found cabbage, radishes, and even rice. Not just in the ground, but huge bushels of it bound up in the most unlikely places. And the more the hope spread, the more farmers began to find it. At first they looked in just a field or two, but as children called out finding them further away, they spread out. Some were dancing in the snow for joy. Others praising the Yuki no Megami for the unexpected 'winter harvest'…
As the winter went deeper and deeper into Kyoto, it brought back more who had fled it or held back as well, led on by a strange winged creature who was making them remember happier times…times in which they believed in magic and benevolent spirits and that good always triumphed and the powers that be were not cold and distant but watchful and guarding. Their fear began to diminish as memories of more carefree years filled with hope and joy flooded into them, and as they ran back to their families and loved ones, even their neighbors who had fallen behind, they felt growing "newness" to them…growing wonder and amazement at the falling snow, as if they were seeing it for the first time. In spite of the fears and dangers that had set upon them, sensations of hope and joy were flooding through them now…desires to forget the fear and danger and play happily in the snow with their families and enjoy the world and life…
And the effects continued to spread as the three responsible went into the city and led everything onward, spreading more hope and joy as they went. It began to spread of its own accord, however, all underneath the heavenly snowstorm. And even those deep in the center of the city, still seeing the hellish sphere and the heat welling out from it, heard the sound of laughter from the palace itself…and began to feel hopeful as well.
And as that happened…the heat from the sphere slowly stopped growing…and then began to ebb…
While he didn't notice the growing power of his opponent, when it came to his own power starting to lessen...Shitakarahi became aware of it fairly quickly. Then he looked down, and finally became aware of the fact that his hated foe was hiding in the storm…yet her own presence was growing stronger and more loathsome to him…
He had stayed on the sidelines long enough.
Time to finish this joke... He thought to himself before sending off a ray to his "burial place"…
Itachitoko tried to charge at Jiro again, still roaring and bellowing like a mad ape, only to slip and slide on his own two feet and smack back into the ground. Jiro, on his part, was smiling calmly and easily gliding on the ice. The onmyoji bellowed and fired more streams of fire at him, but they not only missed with ease, but they forced him back along the ice with each blast…until he slid right into another wall. As a result, a heavy torch sconce that was sitting there…and happened to have its moorings made extra brittle by a sudden cold wave…snapped clear loose and fell down on his head. The resulting "clang" wasn't just loud…it was painful and drew more blood, which rapidly began to stain his scalp.
Fuming with anger…but also breathing rather hard, he managed to shoot back up to his feet and, wobbling a bit both from the ice and dizziness, he pointed a claw at Jiro and snarled.
"I swear you will-"
"I swear you will-"
The man froze. He saw Jiro pointing his own hand at him and speaking at the same time, with a voice mocking him.
"What do you think you're-"
"What do you think you're-"
Again, he was perfectly mocked. Soon, Itachitoko's face began to turn red.
"How dare you-"
"How dare you-"
"You little brat!"
"You little brat!"
"Silence, you fool!"
"Silence, you fool!"
Itachitoko fumed in rage, quivering all over, flames erupting off him again. Jiro merely shrugged.
"Well, when you're so predictable, it's kind of hard not to mock you…" He trailed off, however, and blinked, looking to the side. "Say…what's that on your cheek?"
The demon-infused man, in spite of his anger, looked in the direction…and a snowball landed in his face a moment later. There wasn't even anything special about it, and it took a second or two to melt.
"Sheesh, now you're falling for the oldest tricks in the book." Jiro said with a head shake.
Sneering again, Itachitoko tried to surge forward, only to slip again…this time due to spheres of ice having been formed under his feet and causing him to waddle around, struggling to get his bearings. And as his feet repeatedly slipped around him, Jiro whistled and calmly took one step to the left and let him go right by before crashing into an ornamental tree. Soon after, icicles came down and fell on his head one after another…making sounds like an instrument playing "Sakura".
The laughter roared. By now, the men weren't even scared anymore, and those in the palace had come to the openings and were looking down, enjoying the whole show. The laughter and "fun" continued to increase. And, as a result…the world was changing. Although the winter storm that Eiko was making hadn't officially encroached on the palace yet, the area was getting cooler. The unbearable heat was becoming manageable. But most of all, for all his anger and frustration…Itachitoko's power was slipping with each new bellyful of laughter. Jiro's snow was actually making contact with him. His streams of heat were setting fires when they missed him but not melting anything. His heat was beginning to subside…leading Jiro to use less and less power to cool himself off. But not only that…the old man was wheezing now. Panting and sore, and slowing down. Demonic muscles or no, he wasn't used to straining himself this much. And the more power he put out, the more Jiro managed to turn it around on his own head. He was actually weakening.
As the old man peeled himself off of the tree, leaving some burning in its wake on the bark, he turned around, panting, wheezing, and sweating now (somehow through his own heat), and glaring at Jiro. "You smug little wretch… You're nothing but a coward!" He managed to bellow as soon as he had enough air. "I know the truth! You're weak! Miserable! Feeble! That's why you're running around instead of fighting me like a man! Just like the whore you love, you can use your little 'tricks' all you want, but in the end you're still weak!"
Jiro merely grinned and gave a snort as he crossed his arms behind his head and balanced his staff on one shoulder. "Boy, do I wish you were in Arender-ken when the last guy was here who thought Eiko was weak… The truth is, I've just been having a good show around here, Itachinotoko. But yeah…I was starting to get a little bored and thought of wrapping this up, but I figured I'd humor you a little more. However…"
His smile suddenly faded…and his look became so dangerous that even the furious old man gave pause.
"…I'm getting tired of you insulting my lady, and it's time for me to protect her honor."
At once, a hard block of ice appeared at Jiro's feet, and he proceeded to uncross his arms, grab his staff, swing it down like a thresher, and smack the ice cube up and right at Itachitoko's head. He moved so fast and sudden that the old man was actually a bit shocked, but then quickly crossed a huge forearm in front of him to guard. It hit and shattered, but he still gave a mild cry, for it had edges sharp enough to cut him again. Still, he lowered his hand and meant to bellow again…but didn't get the chance.
The moment Jiro had hit the ice, he had dashed forward, using his own ice to slide up to the huge man, and generated a very large and dense ball of ice on the end of his staff. The moment Itachitoko removed his arm, Jiro was on him, underneath him, and swung the end of his staff up to smash and shatter the 40 pound ball of ice under his chin, jarring the man's head up and knocking him senseless.
Jiro didn't let up. Coating his own legs with solid ice, he twisted his staff around, planted it in the ground, and then brought one leg up to deliver an icicle-crusted kick into Itachitoko's side, digging in, drawing more blood, and shattering it enough so that he felt it in his kidneys. Moving like a bolt, he quickly sheathed that leg in ice again, launched off the end of his staff, and delivered two more kicks across the side of his head, raking more cuts into it and smacking his skull down with each one, just as it had leaned back. Snarling, the onmyoji swung a fist at the frost kami, only for him to push off of his staff and take off into the air, easily dodging the blow, and encrusting both of his hands in thick gauntlets of ice before giving the man two more "one-two" punches across the face, breaking the ice to do so.
After the sudden beating, the man was dizzy…but nevertheless took another swing at Jiro…which he nimbly ducked under and let fly over his head, before shooting forward and driving his fist deep and hard into his solar plexus…enough to where the hulking man buckled and gagged under the power of the blow, bending over. Swinging back and pivoting onto one hand, Jiro raised his legs and delivered a double kick to his face, causing his head to snap back and the man to stagger backward. Following that, he quickly reared up, snatching his staff up with him, encased it in ice, and then slammed it against the man's head one way and another, snapping it back and forth with each blow.
Hissing, Itachitoko let out a snarl before shooting forward with both arms in a "slap" to try and catch the frost kami in between, but he answered by dropping down to the ground, sliding under his legs, and, as he went through, icing over one of his hands to drive forward and give him a solid blow to the package.
As he slid on by and stood up behind him, the flames died further as Itachitoko gagged again, clutching for his body while falling to his knees. The Laughing Frost gave a chuckle.
"I'm not a real 'samurai', Weasel Man. I'm not afraid to fight dirty by striking a low blow…"
He planted his feet afterward, holding his staff up as it began to glow an icy blue, taking aim.
"Or shooting my opponent in the back."
He gathered his power a moment more…and then fired another beam of cold energy. The hulking man barely had time to cry out before the intense beam slammed into him, not only tearing his flesh and driving pain from sheer force into him, but coating him with ultracool ice as he was thrown off of his feet, carried through the air, and smashed into one of the walls of the castle. Jiro continued to fire from there, quickly covering him, the wall section, and everything around him with jagged, deadly ice.
He cut off a moment later, letting out a pant of his own from his discharge of force. Both he and the crowd gathered stared and looked. The icy aftermath of his attack was so cold it actually was generating small flurries around it, and all was silent for a few seconds.
Yet then, a crackling was heard, and one by one the pieces of ice in the center began to shatter and fall away. However…they didn't "explode" as they had previously or turned to steam. Only a few light steam clouds were arising from it as they fell away. Beneath it, wheezing, panting, and looking exhausted…even shivering a bit in spite of the heat still coming off of him…but no flames…the onmyoji picked his way out.
Even his muscles looked a little smaller as he staggered forward, almost stumbling out of the ice, and then to the flat ground. Even there, he looked up, weakly making fists again, but continued to gasp and shiver as he looked up to Jiro.
"How…how are you…do…doing this?" He managed to say after a moment. "I beat you easily…before…"
"Only because you got me 'out of my element', Weasel Man." Jiro answered with a smile. "I'm surprised you didn't know better. You get your power from despair…but I get it from happiness. Seems I wasn't just a prankster for the heck of it, eh? It actually empowered me. On that note…"
He again narrowed his gaze as he got his staff in front of him.
"Time to put you back in your element."
With that, he took off for Itachitoko again. In spite of his weakness, even coldness, the demon-infused man balled his hands into fists and stood up straight. Sliding on the ice, Jiro was on him in an instant. He swung out one fist, sending out fire as he did so…and the young man simply ducked under it. He brought his other fist around to try and cross him, but Jiro merely swung his arm out in a blocking gesture and, in spite of the size of it, deflected it to one side, and brought his staff forward to drive it into Itachitoko's chest, charged with blue.
At once, the onmyoji cried out in agony as he went rigid, his arms and legs stretching out, his back arched, and his head craned to the sky. He bellowed like a beast one more time. The blue aura from Jiro's staff rapidly spread out and spread "through" him, penetrating into his flesh and enveloping him both inside and out. It started in his heart region and quickly went out across his torso and then his limbs. Much as had been the case with Eiko and Hachiro, the man's entire body was criss-crossed with blue light. Yet in spite of that, traces of fire began to erupt as well from all over his body, through each blue crack. They didn't burn long. Rather, the icy light seemed to "push" against them, compress them, and force them down into red lines that were behind each blue light…turning him into a mixture of the icy blue cracks and the "contained" fire in dots. And as that happened…Itachitoko began to change.
The coals in his eyes slowly dimmed, turning from red fire to dull…and then separating from there to become white with pupils. His muscles seemed to ebb away like gas taken out of an inflated sac. His remaining fire was smothered, and the heat emanating from him vanished, quickly surrounded by Jiro's cold instead. His body withered as it shrank, no longer young and healthy but old, gnarled, and twisted. As more and more of his body "lessened", the only thing left was his oversized hawk nose. As the lights began to recede back to the staff, taking the "fire" with them, all that was soon left was a wiry old man…pure flesh and blood…and maybe some bruises and cuts too from the beating he received.
As the light went into the staff, Jiro snapped around and pulled…yanking out what looked like a flame from Itachitoko's chest, causing the old man to fall in his knees. The fire raged and cast about and spit like a fire that was being doused with water, but also thrashed as if it was almost alive and "clinging to life". Jiro paid no mind to that. He merely held it up, hovering it on the end of his staff, surrounding it with cold. He watched it as it flickered about a moment, before focusing a bit more, and coated it with ice crystals. They quickly grew "inward", and he almost thought he heard the flame "cry out in fear", but then be utterly smothered.
Exhaling a bit, Jiro paused to look around. By now, with Itachitoko's power gone, his own had chilled the whole area. The fires around the palace had died, frost was against the panels, and a light flurry was falling…in spite of the flaming sky and orb overhead. Yet no one seemed to notice that. They all just looked up and marveled at him. As for the Laughing Frost, he turned and looked to the side.
Itachitoko was back to his wretched old self, and now had his arms around himself and was shivering violently. Somehow, he managed to look up at Jiro in what was an attempt of defiance, but also showed fear.
"C-C-Curse you…little b-b-brat! You'll p-p-pay f-f-for this! My mas-s-ster will give me even more p-p-power! Then I'll-ACK!"
Jiro pasted him in the eyes with a snowball, causing him to recoil and clutch for his eyes. On bare skin in a mortal body, that snowball had to be rather painful. Following that, Jiro took his staff and waved it at the ground…instantly encasing him up to his armpits in ice. The old man let out a yipe, and went rigid…before he began to shake even more violently.
"There we are. Now you're so cold you can't give any more backtalk." Jiro said with a smile. He leaned in close and grinned right in the freezing man's face even as his skin began to turn white, and then blue. "I'll let the shogun and emperor decide what to do with you. They may be mortals, but I think they can think up a nicer, longer, torturous death than I'm capable of. You'll make sure to tell me when they break you out of this ice if your legs snap off with it, won't you? Because I honestly don't know what will happen. Thanks, Itachinotoko!"
The old man was left desperately trying to mumble his real name, but his teeth were chattering so much right now that he actually called himself "Weasel Man" as he shook all over. Jiro, on his part, gracefully pushed off with one leg and slid back. His staff crossed over his back, and he nearly turned to wave hello to the men and women watching…
When he felt it.
At long last…the horrendous flaming power casting about became "distinct"…far to the side of town.
He had retaken his body.
Jiro exhaled at that. Now was where things got really tense. Time to see if all of this could help them prevail against more than a mere "minion"… He worked fast. He only looked to the men watching him for a moment, and then gave a wink and a grin before waving his staff at them. After that, he spun around and quickly "slid" out, back through the gutted gates that Itachitoko had left in his wake. As he went, he quickly swung his staff around him, causing thick ice to grow up in his wake, filling the breach from the broken gates and soon solidifying and thickening. In no time at all, the "gate" was back and then some as he sealed off the way with thick ice that reached all the way to the top of the wall.
After that, he iced over the ground a bit more to let him slide further out…but it wasn't long before he couldn't make any more that didn't immediately melt and vaporize. With that in mind, he quickly wrapped himself in as much cold as possible, even as the heat grew larger and more intense around him. Soon, whatever wasn't already burning or burned around him lit aflame and began to roast steadily. Jiro paid none of it any mind. He was feeling the source…and soon, even with his power, the heat grew rather oppressive. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel scared too, looking up to see what was responsible coming.
He looked bigger and "darker" than ever before…more so than he had ever had in his past incarnations. Even his first form. The giant flaming orb overhead looked a bit smaller now…burning a little less…but, to his displeasure, it was still much hotter than it was during his first appearance. And soon, the cause slammed down in front of him…likewise burning and raging more than ever.
Shitakarahi in his molten, magma form.
As the demon slowly raised its head, the eyes coming from it seemed to try to burn Jiro just by looking at him. He was sweating quite a bit now just from being this close to the monster…but also from beginning to feel genuine fear. He had taken "hits" from this thing before, after all. And now that his memory was coming back…he was starting to remember his torture while imprisoned with him. They weren't memories he wanted to recall…
"So…you defeated the 'student'…" Shitakarahi began to say as he started to rise. "Ready for the 'master'?"
Jiro didn't answer…just tried not to remember what happened 300 years ago as his face lost its smile and his staff braced in front of him.
Yet even as he did, something arose around both of them…something that made Shitakarahi look up as well. Far down the lane leading up to the palace, a raging, blinding wave of snow, looking almost like an avalanche, bore down on the two of them. The demon turned and looked, just as it reached them. Rather than sweep them both away in an icy deluge, the cloud rapidly wrapped around both of them together, surrounding both in a swirling blizzard. Yet that was only a moment…just long enough to blot out the sky and anything else, before it expanded around both of them and spread to a distance…creating a wintry "enclosure" surrounded by storms, snow, and cold. Everything inside was dark and cool, while outside…only a great white cloud was visible to the world.
Shitakarahi looked at all of this, and then looked forward again, as did Jiro.
"Very clever…"
There was no answer save howling snow and wind for a moment…but then something began to emerge. A dark shape walked forward, feminine and clad in a kimono. Moving forward a bit further, it emerged out of the storm and into the clearing.
Eiko's eyes were already focused on Shitakarahi, and one of her hands was up and pointed at him.
The demon, in turn, fully turned to her and gave his back to Jiro. The frost kami wished very badly that was an opening…but even now, he could sense that it wasn't. If Eiko got the chance to "cool his exterior", it might be possible for him to land a hit or two that the monster would actually "feel"…but the fact of the matter was the greatest contribution he and the Jido no Hogu-sha could make to the fight had already come and gone…energizing the people with positive feelings.
As the queen came to a stop, the demon's teeth barred.
"You think I didn't figure out what you were planning?" He hissed. "You were going about this city trying to 'steal' my power and add to yours. That's the real reason that you did this just now…" He raised a claw and gestured about himself. "Keep anyone from seeing the flaming demon responsible for all of this and drive them into further despair. I'll give you credit for cleverness…but you were stupid to think the only reason I hadn't stepped in before now was because I was 'foolish' and blind to what you were doing.
"The fact of the matter is I can feel the disparity between us shrinking…so I intervened while it was still large enough to where I don't need to worry. What more…the heat I'm radiating off of me would vaporize this snowstorm in an instant normally, so the only way you're maintaining it is by keeping your focus on generating it. Add to that the fact that you've been training only a few days instead of a few years as your past lives did…and do you really think even after having frustrated most of my plans that you can finally 'triumph'? The only solution for you is to die sealing me away like your past lives did…assuming you can even manage that. And even if you do…"
The monster gestured behind him, right to Jiro. The young man showed nothing, but sweat a bit more at that.
"I'll just take the one you love with me yet again. In 300 years, you will once again have forgotten everything, and I'll just do everything again…drive you into pain and misery again and again, for all eternity, until your immortal soul finally 'breaks'…"
"And I see what you're doing." Eiko shot back. "You're trying to drive me into despair so you can have more to feed off of. But that's one way I always 'beat you' through all the ages. No matter how much you tried to scare all my past lives and how you hung the thought that I was going to die over their heads, I always still managed to seal you away, didn't I?"
The demon paused on hearing this. Jiro began to step back, realizing this wasn't his time to "make a move", but he couldn't help but smile a bit at how she "got him" with that comment. He only hoped that didn't make him mad. Lots of bad memories were coming to the surface…about how this had played out again and again…
"…Enough talk." Shitakarahi spoke after a moment. "Let's do what we came here to do, my foe."
At once, with almost no advance warning, the ground underneath Eiko exploded into magma with the intent of burning her away into nothingness. For a moment…Jiro thought it had succeeded. He hadn't had a chance to tell her about that, after all… Yet the snowfall and coolness that she had brought with her had brought her a precious half second, and she quickly aimed her hands down and froze beneath her. The end result was launching her into the air like a strange "magma geyser", but she cooled off the lava before it had a chance to singe her. Not giving her a chance to "breathe", however, Shitakarahi held up a claw and let five different streams of fire rip out from them and straight for her. They didn't follow a "straight path" either, but rather seemed sentient in their own right, even sprouting flaming "snake heads" which "sought her out".
The woman quickly leapt off of her perch, just as the fire snakes smashed into the pillar, and both ripped it apart and melted it in an instant. Yet Eiko went sailing right for the demon, both of her hands out, summoning her power, and soon unleashing a pair of ice beams right at him. Shitakarahi seemed to be expecting it, however, and quickly leapt into the air, unfurling his burning wings, and using his power of flight to carry him far above the range of the woman. Eiko herself was forced to quickly shift her hands down and generate a pile of snow beneath her, rapidly creating a cushion to keep her from a hard impact. Yet seeing her at the mercy of inertia, the monster overhead used the moment to open his mouth wide and unleash a blazing, blinding beam of fire right for her. If it touched it would annihilate her…
Eiko tensed on seeing that, no doubt feeling the searing heat before it struck, but she quickly rolled onto her back, aimed her hands up, and fired beams of cold to counter it. A moment later, she cried out as the fire slammed into it, immediately making her arms buckle, sending jolting pain throughout her body, and letting a wave of fire blast all around her. She kept a "zone of cold" about her, but it was all she could do to maintain it as the heat vaporized the snow about her and began to melt the ground away into magma. Meanwhile, she strained and sweat as the demon lowered his elevation and applied more and more fire… She felt her body quivering and stressed, felt the magma about her continue to glow and to start running into the hole she was in… It seemed it was just a matter of time…
When, gritting her teeth, she managed to move one of her "pinkie" fingers…and a lance of ice formed in the air above Shitakarahi, the tip long and dangling near his neck. A moment later, she swung it down, and it cast right for it. Snorting, the monster snapped his head off of Eiko and let his beam of fire shoot around and annihilate it. Seizing the chance, Eiko quickly summoned more power to make a wedge of ice form "beneath her", actually pushing her body up into a stance, and then quickly ran for it, causing more ice to freeze the magma under her feet. Following that, she applied more of her power to make a "walkway" for her to run on, allowing her to get elevation and off the ground. As for the monster, he whirled back to her, meaning to discharge the blast again, when she held out her hand and sent a storm of snowflakes right in his face. He ignored those at first as they blasted against his eyes, nose, and mouth, but as he took a deep breath…he suddenly gagged. Those hadn't been snowflakes, but tiny "diamond dust" shards, and by inhaling to breathe fire, he had drawn it into his magma "lungs" and choked. Apparently, the cold she gave off was enough to make them entire and cut into his throat to irritate it.
Giving a dull hiss of annoyance, the demon finished gagging and looked to her as she continued to run, seeming to move in a large "arc" around him. However, he glared at her only a moment before he exhaled again…this time letting out a cloud of hot ash, some of it still gleaming, to make a cloud right for Eiko's path. The woman reacted in surprise…a bit to Shitakarahi's annoyance. Most humans were stupid enough to see a "weak" cloud like that and assume it was safe to move through…not full of particulate matter that was burning hot. So he failed to "catch her" like that. Nevertheless, as she tried to cool it, it still struck her and sent rather warm bits of ash into her eyes and lungs, and soon she cried out and gagged, inhaling more in the process, and bent over and shielded herself.
Jiro tensed below on seeing that, thinking she made a fatal flaw. Instantly, the demon surged at her, raising a massive fist meant to crush her and the "icy bridge" she was making around him. The woman was blinded and stunned, and so she seemed like an easy target. But just as the fist began to come down…suddenly, without moving at all herself, she "shot along" and continued to make an ice bridge, carrying her out of the cloud of foulness and letting his fist sail by and smash through nothing but ice. Her own bridge had more "supports" so she didn't worry about falling, and soon, out of the cloud, she cleared her throat and cracked her eyes open.
The demon paused, and looked to her feet. Both were "braced" in ice…and it seemed her power was "pushing her along", preventing her from needing to actually move her legs.
None of her past lives ever had a move like that…
"Clever…" Shitakarahi hissed, before opening his mouth and discharging another blast of fire.
This one threatened to blast Eiko and destroy her bridge at the same time. It came so fast and sudden, and she was still recovering from the last move, that she had no time to react. Instead, she tried to run forward to overshoot it. She managed to do so…but the blast annihilated the bridge behind her, shattering her path and sending her falling for a moment…flailing all the way. Yet she swung out her hand again…and a pillar of ice rapidly grew underneath her from the ground and "caught her". While she was still running and getting her balance, the bridge formed again before her. Growling, Shitakarahi raised both hands and sent out not five but ten of the "fire snakes", each one lashing out faster and stronger than ever. Soon, they were annihilating everything around her, and shooting for her as well. As the bridge she formed rapidly broke into sections, in spite of her best attempt to create columns to keep it together, one blast caused such thermal shock that it actually erupted, launching her into the air.
Yet even as she rose and flailed again, she managed to reach out one hand for the ground and brought up another pillar to intercept. The demon nearly rushed forward to smash this, until he saw the woman put something else in her other hand…a length of ice chain with a mace head on the end. She quickly swung it around even as she went higher into the air and, as she descended and alit on the new bit of ice, tossed it forward like a sling end. The demon merely looked at this, and then stood his ground…increasing his heat, bathing himself in flames, and ready to show her just how little this attack meant to him.
Moments before impacting the fire, however…the monster got a shock as the mace head suddenly grew ten times as large and far more thick, blasting through his flames and smashing him in the face. It lost none of its "momentum" from this gesture, and still crashed into him full force, actually jarring the demon's head to one side and sending him reeling back. As Eiko quickly made not one but two "bridges" to run on this time, the burning monster was knocked partially to the ground, and spat out a wad of molten blood.
Yet he soon recovered, showing some distinct anger now at how another "new move" had caused him pain, and soon the flames peeled off of his body and began to form balls of fire all around him, each one burning so hot they were gleaming to the point of blinding. A moment later, and they all rocketed out at both Eiko and her multiple bridges. Each one that impacted immediately exploded, sending fragments of magma everywhere. The daimyo reacted in shock, and was hard pressed to counter the furious assault. The woman wasn't nearly as "motile" as Jiro, and so she was mostly running short distances and jumping as best as she could, randomly and wildly generating as much ice around her as she could to try and keep her balance. But Shitakarahi was bombarding her with so much fire, and each explosion was rocking her while sending up flaming, sizzling chunks of debris, that it was all she could do just to keep her footing. Soon, the flaming explosives got too close, and she was forced to bring up her arms to start generating ice shields to try to keep it back…
That, however, was the monster's cue to once again open his mouth and discharge another flaming blast again, larger and stronger than the others, which slammed back into her shields and her current bridge, blowing both up in waves of heat that immediately made some of the ice boil. Some of those sizzling fragments came back and splashed on Eiko, melting through her own ice kimono and being held close to her skin. As the force ripped her back, she actually cried out in agony…before slamming into one of her own ice bridges. Jiro gaped again on seeing her actually crumple around it, wondering if that had broken something serious, before she went to the ground like a stone. She didn't have the senses or bearing this time to protect herself. She slammed down against it and lay there.
Immediately, the flaming demon took a bit to the air again, going into a hover, before raising his hand. In another moment, Jiro realized what he would do. He would summon a magma spike to impale her through the back…or maybe just consume her with lava. Looking to Eiko, he saw she was conscious, but she moved stiffly, shaking, clearly injured both from burns as well as trauma after that last move. Yet still…she snapped her hand up and aimed at the demon.
In response, his flame intensified, meaning to smack down whatever counter she managed. Yet no projectiles formed from her hand. No mace or lance. He held a moment, and then looked about him, trying to see what attack she was trying. For a moment, he saw nothing, and turned back to her thinking this was some bluff…before he saw it. It began to quiver all around him. Each piece started to move. And it was all about him…right under his nose…
The demon actually registered some surprise…as he saw that Eiko had been making her big "attack" this entire time. By circling around him, making that ice bridge, he was now surrounded by a half dozen broken bridges with columns of ice, to say nothing of the fragments. Jagged…heavy…and combined together to be something even he couldn't deny… He only had time to have his own burning eyes look stunned…before all of the pieces of ice shot "inward" and smashed together around his body, coming in and colliding so loudly that it sounded like a thunderclap, and it shook the ground and the foundations of the buildings themselves.
Far overhead, unseen by most of the city…the giant flaming orb distinctly shrank a dozen feet in radius before holding steady.
Jiro, in spite of knowing it was far from over, risked feeling a bit of enthusiasm. He wasn't sure how Eiko had managed it. Maybe her years of isolation allowed her to 'dream' even if she couldn't act. Maybe the combination of factors was making her more creative. Maybe…maybe now that she was accepting herself as the snow goddess…and that people were accepting her as well…it was increasing her power somehow…but she had managed to pull out a number of moves Jiro had never seen before, and it was effective. Everything they done had been. In spite of all of Shitakarahi's tricks and methods, she had actually managed to put him to his limit…started "taking pieces out of him". He was actually losing some of his energy… He was far from beaten, but with this latest move…so long as his body was cold…
The frost kami hoisted his staff as he looked around. The ice boulders that surrounded Shitakarahi, with him in them, collapsed to the ground. Yet inside, he knew that the move had "cooled" his body momentarily…left it open to something besides Eiko. He had to seize on it…and hopefully do a lot more, because he noticed they didn't have reason to "breathe easy" yet. As soon as Eiko had pulled off that move…she immediately sank back to the ground. He could tell her own power was at the breaking point. She wasn't just putting all of this effort into it. She was maintaining the storm as best as she could and trying to supercool all of her attacks so that they didn't simply evaporate before hitting Shitakarahi. Yet he saw something else as well that was encouraging…
Emerging through the storm, seeming a bit "frostbit", but no worse for wear…the other three came in. Nobuyuki stood tall as he stomped into the area, his body already transformed into a bear. Takeshi had already split his own kunai into ten as he hopped out of a shadow. Takara had both hands on her jitte and was tightening her grip as she flew out of the snow, wings going full speed.
Jiro spotted them, and immediately gave a nod. He didn't have time to explain that they could only afford to get in a few licks until Eiko managed to cool him again. Instead, he quickly dashed in.
Time for some payback…
As the frost kami darted inward, the ice broke apart, steaming and beginning to melt…but not nearly as quickly as it should have. Emerging from it, flames breaking out on him, hissing and spitting, was the full form of Shitakarahi. He snapped to Jiro as he neared, seeing the young man running right for him. Instantly, he snapped open his mouth and discharged a blast of fire his way, so intense that it melted the ground in its wake. Quickly, Jiro leapt to one side and iced his approach, then let his inertia make him continue to slide and near the demon. In response, the beast turned his head and blasted at his new path, but Jiro quickly made a "ramp" of ice nearby that he slid up and around, and then pivoted off to duck under the blast, some of his hair getting singed, and kept approaching. In response, with him nearly to him, the monster pulled his wings wide and began to heat again, raising both of his hands and soon firing off the ten flaming snakes again.
But he had fortunately forgotten something about Jiro over the past 300 years, that he had been "running forward" to try and help him forgot…the young man could fly. In an instant, he shot off the ground and went for the demon like an arrow bolt. The snakes thrashed around him too late, missing him completely, and as he shot by the surprised demon, he swung his staff around…and took only a moment to fill it with as much power as he could before "expanding" the end to become a deadly ice scythe, and swung it forward through his side.
Even in his current state, it was like striking stone…but Jiro had both speed and force in his blow, and it managed to cut into it and spill more of his burning magma blood. The monster actually bellowed in rage as Jiro went by, the heat from the blood alone making him dizzy…but satisfied at what he had done.
A moment later, Shitakarahi snapped around and flung a "fire bomb" at Jiro, and with his back to him, the young man managed to swerve to one side, but still cried out when the bomb went off nearby, detonated, and smashed into him with both flaming bits and heat, snapping him out of the air and throwing him to one side. Yet even as the demon did this, he heard something coming in from the side, and snapped to it…just in time to see the raging Jolly Bear bellow forward and swipe his claw out for his face…smashing him both with incredible force as well as the long nails. With his power, the demon's face barely shifted…but the nails managed to go in and rake for swipes across it, drawing more hot magma blood. Still bellowing, the bear swung his other paw forward and raked the other side of his face, able to knock his head a bit more and draw even more claw swipes of magma…
Furious now, as Nobuyuki reared back to slam him again for all he was worth…the demon shot out and seized him by the neck and, in spite of his side, yanked him off of the ground. Soon, the bear was bellowing, for even "cooled" the monster began to roast his flesh in his bare hands. He swung him around and smashed him hard into the ground. Once…twice…
Yet as he reared back to do so a third time, his fire increasing and his exterior becoming more "molten"…the Tooth Dragon flew in, gritting her teeth, ignoring his radiating heat, and smacked her jitte against one of his teeth as hard as he could before he could react.
"GAAAAH!"
Now, the demon bellowed in true pain as its fire flickered, and the sphere in the sky lost another ten feet in radius as it staggered back; its entire body writhing in pain and misery. Yet its anger flared with its pain, and soon it was igniting into fire more intense than any blaze mankind could make, and the raging flames caused Takara to cry out in pain of her own and recoil as he spilled back…unable to withstand the heat, and the monster, wracked with pain, raised its hands to sent forth the fire snakes again, the tips of its fingers cooling in order to do so for a split second…
And in that split second, the Ghost Hare erupted from the shadow Takara herself cast. In spite of the raging heat beginning to burn his own clothes just from being so near, he threw his kunais again. And while there was one "true" kunai that would have been melted away…the "phantoms" that it broke into were part incorpeal, and went through and forward toward the fingertips of each one of Shitakarahi's ten digits. He cried out again as more magma blood erupted from a bit of muscle and ligament in each fingertip being severed. The fire snakes "died" before they could even arise, and he bellowed in more pain as his fingers recoiled.
He wouldn't be doing that attack again…and the great sphere overhead shrank a bit more.
Unfortunately, with this sudden infliction of pain, the rage of the demon grew even farther. Takeshi barely got his original knife back before he quickly had to backpedal as the ground erupted, pillars of magma breaking out everywhere…a repeat of what happened back at the palace. The temperature of the area rapidly began to flare, and Shitakarahi stood his ground and summoned more and more heat to himself, his skin finally igniting again and flames beginning to pour off of his body. His face was tight with rage as magma ran down it, his crippled hands being held out to generate more and more heat. As it did…the storm around them began to lessen and thin out, receding. Fire began to gather in his palms as well. Jiro, who had managed to rise again, but was still sore from being struck by the debris, to say nothing of burnt, looked up and tensed. As the others recovered, they did too. He was breaking through the storm…and getting ready to unleash his full force on the city. He had to know that they were too powerful from what they had done, and so he was going to "tip the scales" back in his favor by letting the city see him in his full hellish glory…before he started burning it all down…
Yet before the storm could collapse and just as the fire was ready to launch, a "crackling" sound gathered quickly in the air…and some of the fiery light was beaten back by an icy blue glow. Shitakarahi, mad with rage, didn't notice this until now, but as he looked down, he saw Eiko, in spite of being tired and sore, managed to get to her feet, aim both of her hands at him, and fired off another tremendous blast of cold "energy". She actually wavered as she did so, and began to falter again, still pushing her limits. Yet she had also waited until now to do this…when he was summoning his power up and all around him…but not focusing it anywhere. He had left himself open. He barely had enough heat about him to "protect him" from the cold rays as they plunged through his heat and smashed into his torso.
The demon cried out again as he staggered back not one, not two, but five steps. He was forced to abort his attack and cross his arms in front of him again, and dig his feet in to withstand the power. Yet although Eiko weakened herself nearly to the point of collapse again, she forced her power on…and took a lot out of him too. His flaming hellish sun shrank dramatically, more of its power being spent, more of the world slowly getting "cooler". Jiro, able to stand again as the demon's heat was suppressed, managed to look up and out and saw his body cool again. Ice even briefly formed on his arms protecting him before melting again.
Press it!
Quickly, before the cold beam gave out, Jiro rushed in, again icing the ground to give him more momentum. He quickly spread his own power over his staff to coat it with ice, as well as spread it to the others to hopefully keep them cool…as they too ran forward and into the fray. In moments, Eiko fell, and Shitakarahi was free to look down again…but they were on him.
Jiro was first, and swinging his staff around like a bo, he brought it down heavy on one of the monster's claws for feet, letting out a cracking sound from his toe. He actually bellowed and recoiled, allowing Jiro to leap up into the air and swing his staff around in a circle four times, each time smashing it against the head of the demon. And each time…it knocked him a little more, and drew a bit more magma. As he alit on the ground, touching down again, Shitakarahi immediately snapped back and opened his mouth wide, ready to incinerate him…only for Takara to fly in and smash his teeth again. Once more, he aborted his attack and cried out as he backpedaled…and Takeshi used the moment to fling out his kunais again slice through the muscles behind his heel. Losing strength in his legs rapidly, the flaming demon spilled back and collapsed to his knees.
Quickly, he pressed his hands down and struggled to rise again…but Nobuyuki charged into him first, lunging forward with all of his power, and driving his thick skull right into Shitakarahi's…fracturing the crust that was his skin and causing him to spill back. Like a rabid animal, the Jolly Bear swiped his claws again and again at his face, hitting him for everything he was worth. And this time, the demon's head actually snapped one way and another, more magma blood sputtering out as he did.
Filling with rage again, his heat increasing, the monster took a fifth blow to the chin before spreading his wings up and rising to full height again, swinging one of his own long arms and claws for Nobuyuki. However, the Jolly Bear backpedaled…and swung to one side, revealing Takara rushing in again. Before the demon could react, he was struck in the teeth again, and once more cried out, paralyzed with pain and agony. With that, the Jolly Bear quickly hunched over…making himself a platform. Takeshi, having put up his knives, quickly rushed forward and leapt onto his back, and used him as a launching platform to leap for the monster's head. He cocked back a leg as he did so…while, at the exact same time, Jiro , having charged his staff with icy blue energy and thickened it as much as he could, came in from behind.
An instant later, Takeshi delivered a kick to the face of Shitakarahi that would have driven a fissure into a mountain, while Jiro struck him in the back of the spinal region with the strongest blow he could manage. Two resounding cracks went out as one as the body of the demon was bent into a "curly shape" from the two blows.
Both men landed and snapped back soon after. Takeshi's foot was now burned and he limped on it, while Jiro had nearly shattered his staff. Nobuyuki and Takara pulled back as well and watched. The demon remained twisted in a writhing, agonized position, seeming to be paralyzed for a second. Yet slowly, he managed to pull himself free of it, straightening his body again. While he looked in distinct pain…his heat was growing again, and his face was more furious than anything. He readied for another attack…only to stop again.
Eiko, quivering all over, had managed to rise…and had used her power to not only make a descending ramp of ice…but had put a massive, capped, spiked, battering ram of ice on top of it…and now she let it go. The huge, icy implement of destruction rolled down the ramp, and straight for Shitakarahi. The demon didn't have time to do anything before it smashed into him, ripped him backward, and actually yanked him back along the ground before crashing into the ruins of a wall segment with a resounding boom.
The daimyo staggered forward, gasping and panting. While it seemed as if those gestures should have been "easy" for her…she was still putting everything she had into each one. Nothing less would work against Shitakarahi. And in spite of the fact that the Jido-no-Hogu-sha were getting in their "licks", Jiro knew the only reason they were even able to land a blow on the monster was because Eiko's attacks cooled him long enough to enable them. Normally, they all would have burned away trying to even get close. And the truth was their own hits had "hurt" themselves, and they were getting tired too from all the running around.
The Laughing Frost looked to the sky. The sphere was diminishing more and more…but it was still there. He had no idea how much power he still had to spare. He was weakening…but so was Eiko. So were all of them… By now the hellish sun was roughly the size it was when he awakened normally…but Eiko's past lives had faced off against him at full power in these situations and still only managed a "draw". Now she was nearly out… He realized that the positive feelings they had made had done a great deal…but he began to fear it had only made them "even" at best…
Suddenly, the ice ram exploded, again the result of thermal shock. Flaming wings erupted from the wreckage, and a moment later Shitakarahi took off and into the sky…gaining more altitude this time. Yet he didn't try to attack the group. Rather, he went high overhead, running right into the thinning storm clouds and toward the open heavens…toward his own flaming sphere…
The group began to "knuckle up", drawing closer together, and looking nervously at this latest change.
"What's…he doing…?" Eiko managed to call out to Jiro.
"I don't know…but being up there, people can see him…" Jiro uneasily answered.
Shitakarahi continued to grow higher and higher, until he finally reached the flaming devil sun. By now, he was rather small from what the group could see, but they could still make him out for the most part. As they watched, he extended one of his claw-like hands and placed it against the sphere.
A moment later, the world rapidly grew cooler as the demon sun began to contract again, rapidly growing not only smaller but cooler. Night began to roll in again as the fiery day was erased, and Eiko's power grew in such potency that it nearly turned into a cold snap, forcing her to quickly retract some of her own power before it afflicted the group badly.
Takara turned her brow. "He's…stopping his own heat?"
"Far from it…" Takeshi answered. "Take a good look at him."
Jiro already had his eyes on him, and realized the Ghost Hare was right. He wasn't removing the sun just for the sake of losing it…he was absorbing the remaining power inside it. And the effects were instantaneous. Already, his body was covered in fresh fire and his skin like fresh magma. It was increasing in heat and power more all the time. His body actually seemed to be growing a bit larger as the sun shrank, and Jiro knew, with that much energy flowing into him, if he had been hurt before it had to be healing up now. Parts of his body were soon emitting so much heat and flames that they were as blinding as his previous sun…
"That can't be good…I thought we were winning!" Takeshi shouted, before looking to Jiro. "What's he doing now?"
"I've never seen him do something like this before!" Jiro answered. "He's 'tied' to that flaming sun he always makes, but this is the first time I've ever seen him absorb it before!"
"I don't want to scare anyone…but I can already feel him getting stronger than he was when we started…" Takara gulped.
"I don't need 'senses' to tell that…my skin feels like it's crawling as-is…" Takeshi grimaced.
"He's getting desperate." Nobuyuki stated. "He's putting everything he has into this… But unfortunately…I don't think we can withstand it…"
"I'm not sure…I can withstand it…" Eiko panted as she struggled to stand tall, and raise her arms again. "All of you, get back…I'm the only one who can-"
Unfortunately, at that moment, Shitakarahi finished absorbing the sun, and then heaved and roared…a voice easily heard through the blizzard…before he suddenly swelled in size. His previous injuries closed up as heat poured out from him, and his already nightmarish musculature grew worse as his wings grew broader and wrapped in flame. That wasn't all, however. The "points" on the wings suddenly shot out to the ground like his "fire snakes" did before…and immediately swelled to monstrous size. The group gasped and quickly moved to take cover, but it wasn't aimed for them. Each one impacted around them, surrounding them on all sides. The heat pouring off of them was so oppressive that they nearly began to burn right there…and would have if Eiko hadn't immediately surrounded them in her power. Even then…it was almost stifling. Yet even after that was done, the ground around them quickly lit up from the heat streaming into it, and soon eruptions of lava began to fire up all around them.
"Just like back at the palace…" Takara uneasily stated.
"Damn…if I could just see a shadow…" Takeshi growled.
"No good!" Jiro retorted. "If you get far from Eiko now you'll be incinerated in an instant!"
Another roar sounded over head, and the ground looked up….just as Shitakarahi snapped his head down and exhaled a blast of fire…quickly swelling bigger and stronger than any of the previous ones he had used in this battle. Gasping and gaping, Eiko quickly held up both of her arms, summoned forth enough strength to make her "light up" in icy blue, and then fired back. Yet as her beams went up and slammed into the heat…it simply pushed it back and kept coming. Seeing this, and feeling the heat rapidly increase, Eiko grit her teeth, dug her feet in, and applied more power. The beam slowed…but still came. In spite of her protection, everyone began to sweat bullets and feel like they were inches from an inferno. Eiko closed her eyes, grunted, and kept pushing…and finally managed to stop the torrential fire…a mere 20 feet from impacting.
And once there, she was locked in.
The Jido-no-Hogu-sha, helpless to do anything, could only draw as close to Eiko as possible. Jiro himself knew his own power was nothing compared to this. He looked to the daimyo and saw her putting everything she had into it…perhaps already converting her own life to try and stop it… Shitakarahi, on his part, merely continued to blast. He wasn't straining that much…able to keep bathing them in his hellfire. By now, every bit of energy he used had to be "taking some out of him", but he was so strong after everything he had done that even with all the work that Eiko had done, she was still outclassed when it came to this. Although she was pushing and struggling for all she was worth…Jiro knew this.
He knew if she had the luxury of focusing on him directly, she might be able to do it. But she didn't. She was trying to protect them from being incinerated, and she was trying to maintain the storm…and failing on both fronts. The wave of magma drew closer and closer and as it did the heat grew, weakening her further. It was slowly "speeding up"… But worse than that, the storm around them was still breaking. The buildings and building ruins were starting to become visible. Right now, Jiro knew, the only hope they had was if more people "supported" Eiko…but not only was there no other source of that, soon there would be a new source of despair…
Somehow, in spite of the attack, with him holding his mouth open and discharging fire, Shitakarahi managed to speak out to them.
"For all your work, you only postponed the inevitable. Choose how you wish to die, woman… Either fail in strength and burn to death instantly along with your friends…watch them slowly burn to death around you until you're all that's left…or simply wait until your storm fails and the people you worked so hard to 'encourage' fill with despair and hopelessness again…refilling my power and sealing your doom."
Jiro began to grow tense; not for his own life…but the fact that soon it was going to happen again. There was no way out of it this time. Eiko was focusing her power in too many different directions. She couldn't get in a "surprise move". But even if she could…they were dead. Nervously, he looked to her, but already saw her going to one knee as the fire overhead drew closer and closer…began to become burning…
"J…Jiro…" She managed to speak quietly. "I…I can't…can't hold…"
"He's on his last legs too, Eiko!" He tried to encourage her. "His power's fading!"
"Mine's…fading…faster…" She answered through grit teeth. "I'm…going to shift my power…make an escape route… All of you…get ready…to run…"
"No, keep hitting him!" Jiro answered. "Hold out!"
"He's right!" Takeshi shot back. "We can't escape him or finish him alone, Eiko!"
"But…he's still too strong…" Takara moaned back.
"Then I'll take it!" Nobuyuki shouted. "On the count of three I'll jump in front of the fire! My body may hold out long enough for the rest of you to flee…"
"We can't 'flee'! There's too much heat!"
Eiko continued to buckle and fall, hitting one knee. After that, the fire lowered further. Soon, they'd feel themselves light on fire again. Jiro knew they had to do something, but he couldn't think of what. The heat was so oppressive it was already draining them and his own cold couldn't stop it… He readied to put everything he had into it anyway…
When, suddenly, Eiko gave a cry…and stood back up again. The heat over them suddenly raised a bit, the cold around them pushed out, and the storm began to slowly "rebuild" again.
The group was shocked, but none of their shock matched that of Shitakarahi.
"Wha…what?! That's impossible!"
Jiro himself looked to Eiko, who managed to relax her teeth and open her eyes again, putting out more and more power…and slowly pushing the heat back. The magma flows began to die down slowly again. The others stared as well, and Takara blinked.
"Eiko…your…your power is increasing again! And his is going down!"
"Don't ask me how…" She grunted. "And don't distract me…I'm still putting everything I'm getting into this…"
Jiro stared at her a moment, and then looked around. Somehow, more people had to be putting their faith in Eiko. More people had to be filling with hope. But how was that possible when…
Then, he saw it. Right before the storm grew thick enough to blot out the city of Kyoto around them, he made out something filling the sky.
Ribbons of golden dust…spreading throughout the entire city…
Jiro quickly reached over and tapped Nobuyuki, then pointed to the sky. This alerted him and he looked, and when he did the others did too, and they saw it. It was almost inconceivable that Satoru could have emerged from his cocoon so quickly, reborn into a new body. Maybe he somehow managed to "speed along" his own rebirth, knowing the urgency of the situation. Or maybe Akiko was somehow generating enough positive feelings back in Arender-ken to power him up… It was a mystery to him, but it didn't matter. All that mattered right now was he was bathing the entire city in his special dust, hitting as many as he could, and each one the dust fell over, in the middle of this dark and stormy night, fell asleep and began to fantasize about their greatest hopes and dreams. They were teleported into a world of happiness and joy, one where there was nothing to fear and only wonders to behold. The surge of positive energy from such a thing was unmistakable, enough to push her "back in the lead".
Eiko continued to grow in power as she "reestabilished" the blizzard. Although she was sweating and groaning, she got enough to hold her arms up high and steady. And Shitakarahi, who began to put more and more of his own power into his beam, to where he too began to strain and struggle, and his own heat slowly began to fade…was unable to keep the beam from still coming. Jiro continued to watch the struggle and "examine" the power, and he saw while both of their respective powers continued to lose energy…Eiko's was now lagging significantly behind Shitakarahi's. His power was ebbing quickly…reaching even with Eiko. Then, at long last…he felt her power surpass his.
On seeing this, he finally risked feeling joy himself.
She's doing it…
She can win this time!
Shitakarahi's body began to "darken" again. Even the muscles he had just inflated himself with began to shrink. The divide between the two slowly began to grow…the look in the demon's face actually growing desperate. Jiro knew he had to do something soon or he would be doomed, like one of his surprise attacks…like making the ground go…
Oh no…
Jiro suddenly snapped his head to the ground. While the magma around them had cooled and subsided, and Shitakarahi had even drawn his power back from his wing tips…he noticed the ground right beneath him was beginning to heat up. In fact, it was doing so behind all of them…
"Break!" He shouted desperately.
The others, including Eiko, heard this, and wondered why he had shouted…but none of them held still. All of them split apart. Each dashed in a different direction. Eiko herself kept her arms up, wondering what this meant…when she managed to feel it. At odds with her nature, she felt intense heat at her feet. Quickly, she broke off her attack and swung a hand to the ground as she moved, quickly covering it with ice…before it exploded. Bits of magma and lava erupted like a volcano was blowing up, meaning to incinerate them all. Yet thanks to Eiko's last minute move…the lava cooled back into rocks the moment it issued forth. However, many of the bits were still hot, and everyone still cried out as they were launched into the air, thrown in every direction. Takara was launched into a tumbling spin before being smashed into the ground almost head first. Takeshi was caught by a boulder that smashed him into a free-standing wall. Nobuyuki braced himself as a rock column let out a resounding crack from smacking into his limbs. Jiro got the worse…the ground beneath him heaving him and smashing into him with such force that he was not only launched into the air, but stunned too much to fly…and as a result landed hard a moment later with a rough impact that hit him back and head first…dazzling him and leaving him stunned and sprawled out.
However, the one who did the best was Eiko herself. In spite of being at her own limit, she had cooled the ground beneath her far faster and stronger than the others, only being heaved a bit into the air. She still had to cut off her blast, and Shitakarahi immediately increased his power, pushing himself past his own limit, and firing again to quickly try and overwhelm her residual "cold energy" and then obliterate her. But even now, the queen wasn't letting her guard down fully. Her other hand went up and swung out, sending a ripple of lightning-fast mist right up for Shitakarahi's body. The demon was so intent on blowing her away now that he couldn't react or summon his power to guard. He could only stare as the mist separated on nearing him, condensed, and formed two large razor-sharp blades of ice that connected with his joints connecting his wings. To his shock and agony, magma blood…much cooler now…suddenly erupted from both sides as his wings were cleaved from his torso.
Bellowing in pain, Shitakarahi aborted his attack again before his body, robbed of even more power and bleeding freely again, began to fall to the ground. As for Eiko, she slumped, gasping and panting. That last move, combined with her "energy struggle", had been so intense that she could barely keep herself going. However, even now, her power was far greater than Shitakarahi's. There was a clear divide at this point. She only needed a moment to catch her breath and then it would be finished… The demon knew this even as he flailed and fell to the ground. She had just robbed him of even more strength. He couldn't regenerate the wings. And he wasn't sure he could kill her with another discharge of power. Even if he could, he was growing weak enough now to where the Jido-no-Hogu-sha might finish him…
Yet thinking of that made the monster stop flailing. While his burning face was filled with hate and anger…it looked away from Eiko. The snow god looked up to him, expecting him to be focused on her for one final attack, to put everything he had left into it. Yet instead she saw his eyes were elsewhere.
At the fallen body of Jiro.
Immediately, his teeth flashed wider as he managed to "adjust his fall" to aim for him, and then swung his body down with the intent of driving his whole body into his. He outstretched a flaming claw, putting all of his might into it, clearly meaning to "take him with him"…
Seeing this, Eiko's eyes filled with horror. "NO!"
The sound of Eiko crying out made Jiro grunt, and then crack open his own eyes. As he did so, still stunned and wracked with pain, he managed to see, and feel, a horrendous inferno headed right for him. Shitakarahi, the last of his power coming out, was bearing down on him with his claw outstretched, meaning to impale him. And he realized he couldn't dodge. His own power was failing. His body was too weak to move. He managed to pry himself off the ground a bit, but that was all as the monster neared him, its face wild and hellish…
When, suddenly, a icy blue blur shot in front of him, and he felt hands charge into him and shove him violently to one side. It was rather weak considering the power of a yokai, but for a human…it managed to shove him ten feet to one side. He actually tumbled a bit as he did so, rolling over and ending up on his back. He looked back to see what had happened, and caught a glimpse of Eiko…having run forward, stretched out, and having her hands aimed for him…
Before Shitakarahi slammed down on her, burying all five of his flaming claws through her torso in five different places.
Jiro's jaw dropped…but he said nothing. He couldn't. The world, for a moment, seemed to go silent as he saw her stretched out…pierced not just in the chest once but in five different ways. The fire and smoke began to pour over her from the monster…and all the frost kami could do was gape. The pain before inside him that had just begun to fade as his joy returned…now came back full force. The memories of seeing this again and again started to rush into him…
No…after everything we've done…it can't be!
Not again!
His lips began to quiver as his eyes shimmered. He couldn't move. Even with the hellish heat of the demon pouring over him, and the smoke filling his lungs, he neither tried to "shield himself" or moved to get away. He couldn't. He could only stare as he felt his own heart tearing in two…
Shitakarahi, however, was grinning more than ever.
"You think you'd be used to this by now, you little snowflake…" He hissed at him. "I really have to thank you. In the end, you ended up being a 'greater ally' than Itachitoko. You would think after you got her killed 300 years ago you would have learned…but it seems your inane affection for the half-mortal has served me well again. I knew all I had to do was go for you to get her to sacrifice herself. Look on the bright side…you finally put an end to our eternal struggle. In the end, all you managed to do for the woman you claimed to love is seal her doom and ensure my-"
Suddenly, the monster gagged, being cut off. As for Jiro…his eyes snapped open wide as his tears dried up…shock replacing his sadness.
Ten different spikes of ice had impaled Shitakarahi from behind and through the chest.
His body rapidly began to cool and condense around them, the "coldness" seeming to spread out as the spikes held firm, not melting or ebbing. The demon could only blink in astonishment, unbelieving what he was seeing. Yet after a moment, both he and Jiro heard a weak, yet firm, voice speak to them.
"He also…inspired…a few new 'tricks'…"
The two looked…and saw Eiko still in the exact same place she had been a moment earlier. She had fallen to one knee again, but she managed to look determined and keep her arm aimed at Shitakarahi, keeping the ice in his chest cold.
The demon gaped in astonishment for a moment, before he turned and looked down to what he had pierced. Jiro did as well. As the heat diminished, so did the smoke and fire in that limb. And as it went dead…it revealed an icy "statue" of Eiko in a perfect likeness, formed in the position of running and dashing out to push Jiro out of the way.
A decoy.
Shitakarahi's face continued to remain twisted in disbelief as the heat around him ebbed further, going from an inferno to a warm blaze. The light in his eyes began to dim. Suddenly, grunting, he raised his arm out of the statue and turned it to Eiko…
In a flash, although she cried out in pain from doing so, the daimyo raised her other hand, and blades of ice came out and severed both of his arms from his body. He tried to cry out, but only gagged, coughing up more magma blood. It was already condensing into rock when it came, and ended up solidifying down his chin and lips. Eiko's eyes were fluttering, and she fell back down to one arm, being forced to put her other hand down to brace herself. But her one hand remained positioned at Shitakarahi. His severed limbs fully cooled, and then crumbled, much as his unseen wings had when they landed. The rest of him rapidly continued to cool and solidify.
Weakly, he turned his agonized head to her. Talking was getting hard with his own blood thickening in whatever he had for lungs, but he glared hatefully at her.
"You…you can't…win… Humans…will always…be selfish… Will always…hate winter…and love summer…"
"It doesn't matter."
Jiro looked up to that again, as did Shitakarahi, and the weakening Eiko. He soon saw Nobuyuki coming forward, back in human form, with Takeshi at his right and Takara at his left. Even as that happened, he heard something "tingle" behind him, and turned just in time to see Satoru's new body…looking only slightly taller than the last one…emerge from the storm and walk right up to him.
"You see it now yourself." Nobuyuki continued. "The world doesn't have to love Eiko. Only a fistful of humans…ones filled with wonder, hope, dreams, and memories of childhood…can give her more power than all the despair you've managed to gather for centuries. And as long as we're here…we will ensure there are always humans that see the beautiful side of winter and embrace it, and her, completely."
Jiro blinked and looked up to this…knowing what this meant. However, he only saw the Jido-no-Hogu-sha turn to him with smiles, both of reassurance…and of support. The frost kami, seeing this, lost his own fear, his own joy and happiness growing. Managing a smile back, he grunted and pushed himself to his feet. As he did, he held his staff out, and once again summoned ice to the end of it…turning it into a massive hammer.
As for Shitakarahi, he continued to shrink and diminish, becoming his old "statue's shape". Finally, Eiko cut off her power to him. She didn't need to hold it anymore. The ice was more than cold enough to finish him. As he finished condensing, she raised her hand to Jiro instead, shooting her power into the "hammer" he had made, causing it to glow with power and turn so cold that it began to snow around Jiro as he advanced on the demon. As the monster ceased moving, his eyes dulling…frozen in one last look of fear…he gazed out tensely…even fearfully…to them.
"You…can't… I…I must…"
He could say no more. He fully solidified.
"Sorry, 'old buddy'." Jiro answered as he hoisted up the hammer. "The pact is broken. This is where the legend ends. See you in Hell. You've kept them waiting for you for a long time…"
The frost kami swung the charged weapon around and smashed it into the statue of the monster, transferring the essence of Eiko's power into it…and instantly shattering it into millions of pieces. The group shielded their faces as dust fragments erupted all around them, immediately being scattered to the four winds, and a resounding boom and echo went out that "blew away" the blizzard as Eiko finally released it, revealing the clear sky and city again.
As the thunderous echo faded…only a small pile of dust was left of Shitakarahi. Eiko's residual power immediately made a gentle snow fall all over Kyoto, with flakes forming "in thin air" rather than from clouds. The night sky was clear…lovely, dark, and deep…with just a tinge on the horizon of the true sun's light beginning to come. A breeze, cold…yet refreshing now…blew by. In spite of being summer, it seemed oddly "pleasant". People who had begun to gather around the storm, much more hopeful now, much less fearful, looked into what had just cleared. Those in the palace nearby looked down from the upper floors, staring at what was left in the wake of all of the chaos and rancor. And yet…the night was quiet and peaceful. The snowfall was not considered an abomination or horrible…but like some gentle, kind presence gently "hushing" everyone, reassuring them that the nightmare was over and everything was alright now.
The Jido-no-Hogu-sha, all weak to the point where they wobbled a bit, still sporting burns and fresh injuries, slowly exhaled. Eiko, on her part, closed her eyes, lowered her hand, and began to collapse…
Hands and arms kept her from doing so, grabbing her instantly and supporting her. She was gently lifted up again, but the arms drew around her and kept her up without requiring her to put in her own strength. The snow god was weak and drained…but she still lived. She let out a small noise, then turned her head up to who had grasped her. Her eyes slowly opened again…
And saw Jiro staring back.
The two just looked in each other's eyes for a moment. Both were too tired to do anything else. But slowly…they began to smile as they realized what they had done. It had taken thousands of years…prior to recorded history…but in the end they had triumphed. Shitakarahi was not only beaten, but beaten for good. What more…Eiko still lived and drew breath. After years of one "draw" after another, she was alive. More than that…after years of being forced to be apart again and again…after years of having to watch her die horribly again and again…the cycle was at an end. The "curse" was at an end. The two were finally together.
Realizing that, it wasn't long before Jiro began to cry again for a new reason even as he smiled wider and wider. By now, he didn't ever fully 'believe' this day would come. His heart and soul feared too much that he would be forced to watch her die forever… Yet slowly he realized that it was over. And Eiko, after having lived in despair and fear so much in her life, and having resigned herself to the thought that she could die like all of her previous lives…felt a joy in her heart that her soul had been subconsciously "unwilling" to accept for so long: that there was nothing left to fear…that her power had been a gift and not a curse…and that she could finally be with Jiro without a future full of dread and pain.
She began to cry tears of joy as well…until finally, in spite of her weakness, and hugged Jiro more tightly, and the two kissed more strongly and passionately than they ever had in their thousands of years of existence.
To be concluded...
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
* - "Tenko" is the proper name for a nine-tailed fox, a fox that has lived 1,000 years and has gained incredible power as a result.
** - In Japanese folklore, the rustle of a weasel sounds like six people hulling rice, and so it's called the weasel six-person mortar.