Zero's dog 16
There was a brief silence in the room. Then Louise abandoned her position next to Kotaro and dove behind the bed. Eleanor's face had flushed bright red and she'd begun to grind her teeth judging by the sound emanating from her. Guiche's attention was shifting nervously between Eleanor and Karin to where Louise had fled. Julio had amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Young man," Karin ordered coldly, "Repeat that last part."
"What? Vice-Captain of the Undine Knights, so?"
"I've heard some interesting things about you, Vice-Captain. Like how the corps was just re-established recently, by a mysterious hero who bore the ears and tail of a dog and ended the conflict in Albion in one day and a likewise unknown foreigner with bright red hair. Sound familiar?"
"Yeah, we called it Ala Caerula, though yer Queen is calling it Knights of the Undine."
"And you're also my daughter's familiar?"
"She summoned me," Kotaro showed off the runes on his left hand.
"Little sister, that's great," Cattleya took steps toward the bed where Louise was hidden.
"Louise," Karin spoke with maternal authority, "Get up here. I have questions for you too."
The petite girl was upright in the time Kotaro took to blink, "Yes, Mother?"
"What have you heard of Viscount Wardes? The last contact I had with him was before the Princess Henrietta stopped by here for the Familiar Evaluation Ritual."
Louise went white, her gaze fixed on Kotaro.
"Dead," the Inugami stated flatly.
"And what makes you think that, Familiar," Eleanor spat contemptuously.
"Because I took that ridiculous feathered hat off his corpse after I killed the traitor."
Karin gave a cold glare before saying, "You two are going to tell me everything that has happened. Everything."
Kotaro woke shortly before dawn. The previous night had been spent in the diorama sphere for several sessions as Karin interrogated the two of them. She'd learned everything: Kotaro's origins, Louise's affinity, their misadventures, everything. When it was all over, the hanyo had decided to wait for the de-age pill to wear off, only to learn the one Louise gave him was a 'Colbert prototype' and her intent was to knock him out again with it to spare her own dignity.
Even after three days in the diorama sphere, the de-aging effects were showing no signs of wearing off. After looking for the ermine in charge of the pills only to find the little white rat was nowhere to be found, the pint-sized hanyo turned to the Professor for an aging pill. The pill he received from the excited researcher was green instead of blue and smelled of feet and gunpowder. Needless to say, he turned it down to wait for the effects to wear off.
As Kotaro was in the process of waking, he became aware of fingers moving slowly through his fur. As he'd chosen to sleep outside, the use of his dog form presented itself as a way to avoid being disturbed. As he became alert, he became aware of the overwhelming, familiar presence. With a yelp, he leapt back from the person who had been stroking him.
The pink-haired woman withdrew her hand partially, before calling in a soft voice, "Don't be frightened. I won't hurt you."
"Too damn similar," Kotaro muttered to himself as he resumed his human form to find the defective magical drug had worn off at some point.
"Beg your pardon?"
"Nothin'."
"What is it I'm doing wrong, Kotaro?" Cattleya asked, "Mother and Elder Sister and Louise, you act normal around, well, what's normal for you I guess." She paused. "But when I'm around, you act like a cornered animal, why?"
Kotaro remained silent.
"I understand animals better than people most of the time, but you're different. You…" but she was cut off as a violent coughing fit came over her.
Ignoring the instinctive terror the woman instilled within him, Kotaro rushed to her side. He held her in support that she wouldn't fall over. Ten seconds later, the fit ended.
"Thank you," Cattleya told him as Kotaro drew away from her, concerned expression on his face. She wiped her hand on a handkerchief. The narrow sliver of red tainting to white cloth did not go unnoticed.
"You, okay?" Kotaro managed to get out, hesitant to touch her, though whether out of instinctive fear of her presence or fear that his touch might cause her to break, he knew not.
"Yes, I'll be fine now. Henry, let go of him."
Though he'd not noticed, Cattleya had a tiger with her and when Kotaro had moved to support the ailing woman, the creature had seen fit to protect the woman by latching on to the hanyo's arm, with its teeth. The hanyo gave the beast an amused look before growling subtly.
Henry held his ground for a moment but released the hanyo's arm with a frightened hiss before fleeing. Cattleya was rather shocked. Henry rarely got protective around her and when he did, nothing short of Mother's presence could make the tiger flee in fear. This stranger who was Louise's familiar, there was something different about him, apart from having canine in his ancestry. He was frightened one moment, and the next, he was exuding enough presence to scare off a violently protective tiger.
"How…" she started.
"Look," Kotaro interrupted bluntly, "I can see you've got questions, but I have to know if you need help first. Coughing blood ain't a good sign, ever."
"How very kind of you, Mr. Familiar, but there is nothing that can be done for my condition," Cattleya replied sweetly, invoking an involuntary shudder of fear from Kotaro, "But what about you? You seem to be suppressing great fear."
"You just remind me of a terrifying person," Kotaro said quickly, "One whose smile can brighten a day or bring crushing guilt to a saint without any visible changes. And she has a leek…"
Kotaro talked with Cattleya for an hour before anything else happened. Kotaro heard something drop beside him and picked it up. A gauntlet. Cattleya's eyes flashed fear briefly as her gaze shifted behind the hanyo.
"So you accept my challenge," a voice spoke from behind him. He turned to see Karin standing in full armor, minus one gauntlet.
"What, no," Kotaro answered, "I told you last night I don't fight girls, what makes you think I'm saying 'yes' now?"
"The gauntlet, Kotaro," Cattleya whispered, "By picking it up after she cast it at you, you've accepted her challenge to duel."
"Well, ain't that just perfect," Kotaro growled as he looked back at his challenger, "But I have some rules to add."
Within half an hour, the rest of the knight corps arrived at Vestri Court, grumbling about being woken so early. Dawn still had yet to arrive, but it would be soon judging by the sky.
"What are you doing Kotaro, and why did you wake all of us so early? And what's with that square in the dirt?" Guiche grumbled irately.
"If I have to fight Louise's mother in a duel, you all have to watch. And this square is the 'ring' that the duel will take place in."
"What!?" Guiche's form lost all indicators of sleepiness when he heard 'Louise's mother' and 'duel'. "You know she's Karin the Heavy Wind, right? As in, former head of Tristain's Manticore Corps and one of the finest Wind mages ever produced?"
"Oh, not the second part," Kotaro said and he made the ring narrower, "There, that should give her a better chance, if I have less room to dodge sideways. The rules are that a loss is determined if one of us leaves the ring twice, is out of the ring til a ten-count is reached, or is knocked unconscious."
Louise was a little torn between rooting for Karin or Kotaro. Her mother had always been a pillar of strength at home, never showing any weakness. But Kotaro was summoned by Louise herself, he was a reflection of her. "What are these new rules for, you've never done this in any of your other fights."
"Well, with both of us being so strong, if the way you hold Karin's power is anything to go by, I figured we should use rules of my home to duel, unless a lot of property damage is okay. Is it?"
"NO!" many members shouted in unison.
"Okay, then. Guiche, you start counting if I leave the ring, Louise, you're in charge of Karin."
A great beast landed near them. It was the size of Kotaro's ancestral wolf form, with large bat-like wings, a body shaped like a lion, and a tail ending in dozens of quills. An armored figure slid off the back.
"Aww," Kotaro whined, "Can't I fight the manticore instead? I don't get to fight beasts often."
"No," Karin answered firmly, "Now how will this work out again? Explain the rules."
After another minute of explanation by Kotaro, the duel began. Karin opened with a wind lance, thick as an adult's leg, fired at the hanyo. Instead of dodging, Kotaro rooted himself to catch it like he had caught the instructor's spell in the first week. The massive spell collided with his outstretched hands and Kotaro felt himself being driven backwards by the sheer force the lance carried. Also he felt dozens of cuts trailing across his palms, despite his Ki-hardened flesh.
"One…Two…Thr…" he heard Guiche speak before realizing that he'd been pushed out of his end of the ring.
He may not have willingly accepted the duel, but Kotaro was going to see it through, even if it was easy to simply throw the fight. Digging in, Kotaro expanded the Ki in his limbs and squeezed the tip of the wind lance. The thing was too wide to simply snap in half like Kaita's wind lance, but compressing it weakened it enough for it to dissipate.
"A classic wizard type," Kotaro remarked, "Pretty good, but is it enough?" He used shundo to close, followed by an open-handed uppercut. But there was no contact. Like in his fight with Mei Sakura at the Mahora Budakai, the attack was merely to throw the opponent with air pressure. His palm stung from the effort but Karin was sent airborne.
Before she landed outside the ring, her descent ceased. As she reoriented herself, several smaller, faster wind javelins flew at Kotaro from different directions. He dodged most of them but the last one grazed his cheek.
"Impressive," Karin applauded, "You are indeed skilled, however…"
Kotaro was running out of ideas. The air pressure wave failed and his creativity for relatively painless attacks was lacking. 'I guess I'll have to use THAT.' He resigned himself.
"Karin, I'll give you one chance to surrender with dignity," Kotaro offered.
"And if I refuse?"
"I'll use a forbidden technique that I've only used once before."
"Have I seen it?" Chamo asked from Cattleya's shoulder. The woman seemed curious about the talking ermine but said nothing.
"Yes, Chamo, it was created by the Invincible Idiot to fulfill the dreams of men."
"DAT technique? But Bro, if ya use dat technique with so many people around someone could die."
"What technique?" Eleanor huffed, "Don't keep us in the dark, Vermin, tell us."
"Sorry Lady, but y'll know if Bro uses it."
Louise had a bad feeling growing in the back of her mind.
"No," the Heavy Wind answered.
"So be it," Kotaro stated with finality taking a stance, "The world is within my left hand…"
Karin wasn't going to allow her opponent to prepare. She cast a funnel of razor wind at the stationary Kotaro.
"My self is within my right hand…"
As the wind closed, it was slowed by a creature bearing a shield. The being had a paper talisman on its brow. Standing beside it was another Kotaro, holding two more talismans.
"I am a window, through which, I view both. Combine!" Kotaro proclaimed as he activated Kanka. With a slight wave, both his doppelganger and shield demon vanished. The razor wind continued its path towards the hanyo and crashed against the aura and dissipated.
"I warned you," Kotaro said as he crouched, one hand on the ground, the other drawn back, and vanished. An instant later he was behind Karin, spinning into a standing position. His Kanka aura vanished.
"Ya' DID learn dat technique, Bro."
"He didn't do anything," Eleanor argued before seeing discomfort on her mother's face. She looked back to Kotaro and saw him holding something.
"Is that?" Cattleya started to ask.
Louise groaned.
Karin la Valliere turned to her opponent, her face a blank mask, though there was some color rising in her cheeks.
"Missin' somethin'? It's called the 'Silent Stripping Technique'. I believe these are yours." He held out a pair of dark lacy panties.
The reactions were split. The girls cycled between blushing and glaring. The boys, between blushing and gaping. Guiche's expression as he looked at the duelists seemed to scream 'Run you idiot, that's Karin the Heavy Wind'.
There was a pause before Karin waved her spell sword in a short, rapid 'swish'. Her opponent was sent flying until he collided with the stone wall.
"That's twice, I win," Karin stated as she picked up the panties Kotaro dropped.
(Mundus Magica: Mahora time)
The heavily muscled man paused from his daily exercise of defying laws of reality by merely existing.
"Someone just used a Rakan patented technique. I'll have to charge them when they do it again, or when I see them. Twenty million drachmas should be reasonable."
"Ow, worth it," Kotaro voiced as Julio wrapped a bandage around an arm. An hour had passed since the duel.
"It had better have been, your arm was broken in three places and Duchess Valliere ordered the staff to not heal you. I thought you were smart, but that was just stupid of you."
"But the look on her face, priceless, ow."
"You also embarrassed Miss Louise in front of her family," Julio said sternly, pulling the knot tight.
Kotaro's breath hissed. "Well I'll be fine in a couple hours. The only trouble Louise might get is from the blonde screecher. Her mom should have realized my abilities surpass hers, and the other sister will merely wonder how I do it."
"That's not an excuse," the heterochromatic boy said as he began to leave the room, "By the way, I just received word from my master, we should go and meet Miss Tiffania today. Go fetch the Corps, I'll find Miss Louise."
It took considerable time to gather the scattered members. The Katie and Montmorency both gave him earfuls about his actions, Reynald lectured him about logic in combat, Malicorne and Guiche barely managed to stammer out their desire to learn the 'Silent Stripping Technique' through blushes, and Styx asked with a straight face. Kirche merely flirted a little and Tabitha remained as stoic as ever.
Finally around noon, everyone had gathered and Julio had brought Louise. They walked out of sight of the academy before Louise invoked her artifact.
Just before the 'relocate' Louise paused. "I don't know where that is."
"Here, give me a shot." Focusing on an image of the stream where he had met the half-elf, Kotaro barked, "Relocate."
It took several attempts but they managed to arrive in Albion. They looked winded and considering that their previous relocate had put them in freefall hundreds of feet above the ground, they were all fine.
"That's the last time you use this," Louise pulled the Key from Kotaro's grip.
"We're here aren't we? Oh and by the way Tiffania is a half-elf, but she's pretty sweet and caring. So don't freak out at her ears…or her…" Kotaro trailed off.
As Guiche, Montmorency, and Malicorne tried asking why they'd not been informed sooner, and Reynald questioned the logic behind the entire thing, Louise had caught the end of Kotaro's sentence.
"Or her what?" she spoke over everyone, quieting them.
"Uh…erm," Kotaro mumbled as he became the subject of stares, "I mean…"
"Partner means her BOOBS," Derflinger popped up from his scabbard. Kotaro immediately slammed the sword back in.
"So, shall we go then?" Kotaro hastily asked and followed the stream he remembered from his previous trip to the White Country.
Upon seeing Kotaro again, a smile rose up Tiffania's face. Seeing his guests caused it to falter slightly. And terror crossed it when she saw Julio.
"MOON EYES," she screamed as she turned to run, "LEGACY OF THE DESERT DEVIL!"
Kotaro cast an accusatory glance at the priest, who shrugged with denial. With a sigh, the inugami caught up to the fleeing girl and embraced her.
"Tiffania, Tiffania," he murmured softly as she struggled, "Everything is alright. Julio isn't going to hurt you, we wouldn't let him. We just came to meet you, today."
The half-elf paused, wand in hand, and looked back at the corps, where Julio was receiving pointed glares on all sides.
"Can we find a place to talk?" Kotaro asked as he released her.
The 'talk' took place in Tiffania's cottage. Styx was the only one not present, having chosen to play with the children outside instead of listening to a 'boring' conversation.
Kotaro spoke of many things, culminating with the knowledge that Louise was affined to void and that they believed Tiffania was the same. There was a collective gasp, followed by fervent attempts of denial, but Louise calmly demonstrated a small explosion, with a sharp 'crack' and complaints silenced.
Before the others could start to bargain with Louise about calling her 'Zero' and 'Failure' in the past, Kotaro also stated that he and Julio were familiars of void mages, displaying his runes and advising that Julio do the same. This opened a whole new can of worms for the corps but before Kotaro could proceed a voice boomed.
"ATTENTION RESIDENTS OF HALKEGINIA. WE ARE KOSMO ENTELIKHEIA."
Kotaro rushed outside, searching for the source before finding it above. Up in the sky, hung one of the moons but it was different. Instead of the usual pink hue, it cast the image of a woman with violet hair. The woman's brow glowed with a radiance that Kotaro recognized as runes. He grimaced at the woman.
"THIS IS OUR COMMAND. TO TRISTAIN AND ROMALIA, SEND YOUR PARTS OF THE FOUNDER'S LEGACY TO THE TRISTAIN-GERMANIA BORDER IN THREE DAYS. IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY, YOU WILL SHARE ALBION'S FATE."
The focus shifted to behind the woman to show Albion's capital under attack by dozens of unidentifiable creatures, each with a glowing brow. In the background a giant earthen golem rose from the soil and took a step towards the woman.
The woman raised a hand, which was heavily adorned with rings and bracelets. One ring began to glow.
"GUARDIAN 'VI', RABBIT RAGS." Next to her, a giant ragdoll appeared. It towered over the woman and looked as if haphazardly stitched together, an exaggerated mouth and bulbous eyes gazing in two separate directions. As the name suggested, it was vaguely rabbit-shaped. And just like the other creatures, it bore a glowing rune on its head.
A moment after it was summoned, the stitches that held the mouth together began to snap and it turned towards the approaching colossus. Within an instant, the golem was reduced to rubble and dirt by a beam fired by the rabbit doll.
As those around him gaped in horror, Kotaro's mind was made up. Kosmo Entelikheia existed within Halkeginia and he was going to stop it.
Author's notes
Yeah, I'm sorry for the extended delay, having it out early August instead of early July. I've also been developing future chapters instead of this one because those were easier to plan out and also more exciting to write. Big plans, you know. Seventeen might take a little while as I figure out just what's going down, but I tell you now that Lifdrasil WILL be summoned within the next two chapters.
I'm a little iffy on the duel between Kotaro and Karin. Originally I was going to leave it open-ended, I've had a couple of people who wanted Kotaro to outright curbstomp Karin but it gets boring if one character always wins (unless they're Jack Rakan). The reason for kanka was to give a boost, not sure if it really boosts speed but for this fic it does.
Guiche's artifact is in fact based on the Silver Skin worn by Captain Bravo in Buso Renkin. Some one noticed a couple chapters back but I'm not sure if everyone recognized its description. Just google 'Captain Bravo' and you'll see what his Guiche's artifact looks like. If I can fit it in, one other artifact will be based on a buso renkin but it won't be identical like Guiche's 'Captain's Jacket/Silver Skin'.
Two things near the end, the moon and the bunny, come from another series. I want to see who can guess their origin. BTW 'Rabbit Rags' is a purely made up name but 'VI' isn't.
Until next time, please review.