Chapter 117
Minaki dashed at Cyclone and tried to throw a spinning heel kick to Cyclone's head while he was sitting, Cyclone continued to stare with shock as Minaki's heel came closer to Cyclone's face.
Minaki's kick was close to landing when in one fluid motion time stopped, Cyclone got up while grabbing Minaki's leg and pulling her towards him, Cyclone grabbed the back of Minaki's head with his other hand and slammed it into the ground, resuming time. Minaki's face remained unchanged.
"I can use my tokeigan again.. it seems there is a time limit.. and however long I use the eye.. is how long I have to go without using it.. good to know." Cyclone noted as he looked down at Minaki, whose face was being pressed down by Cyclone's hand, facing the left.
Cyclone widened his eyes as Minaki stared at him through her left eye, her sharingan activated. Cyclone snapped.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED DEAD!" Cyclone yelled tearing into Minaki's left eye.
Minaki wailed an inhuman wail as her eye was ripped out. Cyclone stood up as he breathed heavily. Cyclone smirked and opened his hand to look at the eye.
FWOOOOOOSHHHH!!!
Cyclone's hand and entire arm burst into flames!
"ARGGGGGHHHH!! No! It's not real!" Cyclone said as he calmed down and watched the hallucination flames go away.
Cyclone looked back at Minaki and was once again caught off guard by what he saw.
Minaki's was on her feet now, but her neck was bent as if it was broken and the left side of her face cracked away revealing wood and what appeared to be flames in her eyes underneath. Minaki stared at Cyclone through her sharingan.
Minaki suddenly reached up and grabbed her face, tearing it off! Cyclone jumped.
"Wh-What the?!" Cyclone let out.
Minaki's face resembled a wooden mask, her kimono slowly transforming into a wooden and tree bark dress. Minaki's hair had also transformed into fire, her eyes still dead, clearly she wasn't even human anymore, if she even was to begin with.
"Wh-What did Burusu's power do to her!?" Cyclone yelled.
Minaki's head shot up to Cyclone's surprise. Minaki finally spoke. Staring at Cyclone with her sharingan, she said,
"Wake up."
Instantly Cyclone felt his chest sink, it felt like he was being pulled back through a vortex or portal. Cyclone yelled as everything faded black and then... Cyclone's eyes shot open to a beautiful view.
A massive forest, with a large tree in the background, covered the entire landscape. It was easy to forget it was such a beautiful sunny day while being trapped in that blinding blizzard. Cyclone looked around in a panic.
"Wh-Where am I? Is this The Highland Forest?" Cyclone asked, attempting to move, but he couldn't.
"Ugh!! Why can't I?" Cyclone gasped.
All of Cyclone's body was fused into a tree, minus his head. Cyclone looked around and saw hundreds of trees that looked the same way, except entire faces were on them, their eyes closed. There were faces of men and creatures from factions all over the island.
"Is-Is that going to happen to me?! I have to get out of here!" Cyclone yelled.
Cyclone attempted to use his fire form, but his nen wouldn't channel.
"I-Impossible!!" Cyclone yelled.
Cyclone attempted to use his Tokeigan but the eye only takes the user as far back in time as when they last regained consciousness, that is why picking an initial time period to go back or forward to when activating the eye is so important. A fact Cyclone was ignorant to.
"You-you're kidding?!" Cyclone yelled, becoming aggressive. Cyclone breathed in and out to calm himself down until a soft tapping of a staff interrupted him.
Cyclone watched as an older man walked before him. The old man had a long grass beard and wore an old "regal" outfit made from sticks and moss. The old man's staff was a long stick with a yellow energy encased at the top of it.
"He-He must be the head of this faction..." Cyclone said.
The old man finally stood in front of Cyclone but to Cyclone's surprise, the old man just stared at him with dead eyes. Cyclone stared back with confusion.
"Are you the king here? Do you lead the Watchers? I can explain! I'm an archeologist here to study your island!" Cyclone bargained.
The old king continued to stare into Cyclone's eyes. The old king was not fooled, the truth was in Cyclone's eyes. The old man payed very close attention to Cyclone's eyes in particular, Cyclone noticed.
"Wh-What? Are you curious about my eyes? Well, I can't tell you about these unless you let me down! I think that's a fair trade. I can tell you're no fool, you understand the power in these eyes." Cyclone said, before his eyes widened so big veins began to appear.
The old man was revealed to be staring at Cyclone through Minaki's sharingan. Cyclone was at a complete loss for words.
"Forget Life Force and FORGET BURUSU! Whatever the hell is going on here is the REAL concern!" Cyclone yelled to himself as the old king lightly tapped his staff and Cyclone began to fuse with the tree.
"N-N-NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU OLD BASTARD!!!" Cyclone yelled out as the old man slowly turned away, never taking his eyes off Cyclone in the process.
"I'LL KILL YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!" Cyclone screamed with all his might as the old man continued to walk away.
The old king walked into the trees and out of sight as Cyclone's face, eyes closed, was now apart of the tree along with many others.
Stormwind Pass (Ferrol's Tundra)
Back in the harsh blizzard below the mountain, Collector woke up next to a tree. It was a fir, but it wasn't a giant monster, it was only about 9ft tall. Collector slowly got up while holding his head.
"What happened?..." Collector hissed, then panicked.
"Wh-Where is Lord Cyclone?! And what happened to that monster?" Collector asked while looking at the fir. Collector's eyes widened at the realization.
"Th-That fir! Did the monster revert back to a regular tree?!" Collector rubbed his head and scratched his chin.
"I need to find Lord Cyclone first and foremost! I'm not worried he's in danger, who on this island could possibly defeat his excellence?" Collector said, holding up a lantern and looking around.
Dong...
A bell sounded in the distance.
"That must be the fir monster! I got knocked out fighting that monster with his excellency, wherever that monster is, Lord Cyclone is! I have to follow that bell!" Collector said as he began walking.
Donnnnnnnnnnnng...
The bell continued to toll.
Collector walked a bit before he finally saw a giant shadowy wall in the fog.
"There's the base of the mountain! I don't know where the fir is, but that's good! That thing was freakishly powerful!" Collector said.
Collector stared at the shadow in the fog and began walking towards it. There was truly a wall that Collector noticed, but it wasn't the base of a mountain... just a little off to the side, there was a heavily deteriorated sign that read,
THE CITY OF NROC WELCOMES YOU! But "Welcomes you!" was scratched out by what seemed to be a giant claw.
The Wretched Woods
Holy knight Ju peter, and his marine troops behind him, marched through the Wretched Woods. The Secret Order surrounded the Marines as their first line of defense. Richart walked with Ju Peter, all that could be heard through the forest were mainly crickets, crows, and cicadas. The woods were covered with blood red leaves, these also leaves covered the ground and at some points covered the path entirely in leaves making it easy for someone to get lost.
Ju Peter had stopped watching for the skinwalker energy as it had disappeared a little after the army walked into the forest.
Ju Peter broke the silence.
"Mr. Richart, allow to me ask you something." Ju Peter said.
Richart looked at Ju Peter.
"Yes?" Richart asked.
"What do you know about the source of power on this island?" Ju Peter asked.
Richart was slightly surprised at the question.
"Well.. while I don't know exactly what is responsible for the creation of Life Force, I know for a fact that the Shadowkin and Ogryn are involved." Richart said.
"Why haven't you gone after either of them if you know they're involved for a fact?" Ju Peter asked.
"Are you kidding?! The Ogryn are savage beasts with the intelligence of a kitten! Just killing, raping, and mutilating for the sake of it!" Richart said, terrified.
Ju Peter made a slight disgusted face and kept walking, looking around.
"The Shadowkin also roam the island directly across the water, so they are out of our jurisdiction." Richart said.
"They "roamed" you mean." Ju Peter said.
Richart became surprised.
"Wh-What do you mean?" Richart asked.
"The Shadowkin were wiped about the day before you all met up with Ubois. All of them." Ju Peter said.
Richart panicked in his mind.
"Wh-Who killed them?! We-We needed at least one of them for interrogation once we worked out transport between this island and Mr. Ubois's!" Richart said.
Richart lowered his head.
"There's no way we could interrogate an Ogre either... most don't speak and the ones that do are complete buffoons..." Richart felt defeated, their only real chance at figuring out the source of life force was gone, or so Richart thought.
"We have a suspect, he knows what the source of power is and He's on this island looking for it as we speak." Ju Peter said.
Ju Peter pulled out a picture of Cyclone the Marines took and showed Richart. The very first WANTED poster.
Richart grabbed the paper and looked at Cyclone's image as he stared demonically at the camera, At the time, Cyclone thought he was being shown "a snail winking" unaware the snail took a picture.
WANTED: "SHOGUN" CYCLONE
"He looks like a demonspawn in human form... this man really knows the truth about Life Force?" Richart asked.
"Apparently so. I'm telling you this because I want your Secret Order to know you're allowed to arrest him on sight." Ju Peter said.
Richart folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
Understood, Mr. Ju Peter." Richart said.
The group kept moving through the forest.
"You said these skinwalkers used to be men and women, can they not turn back?" Ju Peter asked.
Richart crossed his arms.
"Unfortunately.. and we have not yet discovered a way to cure these men and women from their affliction.." Richart said.
"Do they remember who they used to be?" Ju Peter asked.
Richart looked at Ju Peter.
"Absolutely! That's another sad thing about not being able to change these men, women, and creatures back.." Richart said.
Ju Peter looked at Richart.
"They all remember very well the life they lived before... except a particular six.." Richart said.
Ju Peter stared into the forest keeping his eyes on the trees and bushes just ahead of them.
"Nolrog is one i'm assuming." Ju Peter said.
Richart nodded.
"Yes.. Nolrog has always claimed he has no memories of who he was as a human." Richart said, "Another one of them is Lord Jambavan. He used to rule these woods. At King Joy Boy's kingdom he's called The Lord of Skinwalkers.
"How does a creature like Nolrog become in charge here? Why does the lord of skinwalkers not rule these woods?" Ju Peter asked.
"I'm afraid I don't know exactly what transpired sir... but Lord Jambavan truly ruled this place as a human, which hasn't always looked like this by the way. It was a beautiful forest full of every color of leaves you could imagine, all in one place. It was truly beautiful." Richart said.
Ju Peter kept staring forward.
"There was a fire 23 years ago, again, the same night the Shadowkin brought the power source responsible for life force to the island. The fire destroyed the entire forest." Richart explained, "Whatever happened, it was enough for Lord Jambavan to leave and join hands with King Joy Boy. Nolrog and his gang moved into these woods after their involvement in "The Missing Ten Incident."
"So this "Jambavan" rules with Joy Boy now?" Ju Peter asked.
"That's right! Lord Jambavan and Joy Boy are the strongest beings on this island. There is no debating this." Richart said.
"And exactly how strong do these things get? What's their limit?" Ju Peter asked.
Richart chuckled.
"Well sir, in terms of pure power and fighting ability they are the most powerful faction on the island. They don't fight alone either, which makes it even worse. They're savage beasts with the consciousness of men...they're far from stupid. Whether they remember who they used to be or not they still have some sort of consciousness... except them. "The Lords of the Land."
"Lords of the land?" Ju Peter asked, "More skinwalkers? What makes them deserving of the title?"
Richart nodded.
"Well, to be blunt... no one and I mean no one can defeat a Lord of the Land in one on one combat. It has never happened in the two decades they've been here." Richart said.
Ju Peter looked at Richart out the side of his eye.
"Lord Jambavan is the only Lord of the Land who maintained the usual traits of a traditional skinwalker, can still speak, manlike body, etcetra." Richart explained.
"The other Lords of the Lands do not speak and look more animal than they do man." Richart said.
"Where do these Lords of the Land roam?" Ju Peter asked.
"Lord Wyrm roams the Unwelcoming Desert, Lord Gyuki roams the Blood soaked mountain range, Lord Bakotsu is said to roam Storm wind pass but word around is he can be encountered just about anywhere if you're unlucky enough to encounter him... Lord Itsumade flys high over the Highland Forest, watching for intruders." Richart said, "And Lord Fengxi... roams these very woods."
Ju Peter began looking around erratically searching.
"You can relax yourself Mr. Peter! The Lords of the Land are not enemies! On the contrary, they actually help maintain balance over the island." Richart said, "If anything happened to any of them... I can't even think of what would happen to the structure of this island! Even King Joy Boy had a problem getting them to relax when he fought them decades ago." Richart said.
Ju Peter looked at Richart through the corner of his eye once more.
"And how... is one changed into a skinwalker to begin with?" Ju Peter asked.
Secret Order knights kept looking around as Mordecai kept the forest lit with their torches. Marines nervously listened to this entire conversation but that was the question that they wondered and feared the most.
Richart stopped and looked at Ju Peter. The entire army came to a hault.
"I guess I'll get right to it. You can become a skinwalker in a few ways... but the most dangerous way... is if a skinwalker cuts you." Richart said.
Ju Peter squinted with anger and slight nervousness.
SPLAT!!!!!
"UGAGH!" A Mordecai yelled as he was shot through the neck with a hook and yanked into the forest. Blood splattered over the Secret Order and Marines. Ju Peter's eyes widened and Richart gasped, grabbing his giant hammer. Everyone's attention was focused on where the cloaked man was dragged away.
"RUSH EM BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A gurgly voice said.
The army of knights and marines barely turned around as massive gang of skinwalkers, led by Nolrog, rushed them from the bushes and trees.
Time appeared to slow down as the army tried to face the skinwalkers before they were blindsided. Ju Peter and Richart slowly turned around.
"I-I HAD THEM IN MY SIGHTS AT THE BEACH! WHEN DID THEY-?" Ju Peter gasped.
"They're savage beasts with the consciousness of men... they're far from stupid." Richart said
Ju Peter had stopped watching for the skinwalker energy as it had disappeared a little after the army walked into the forest.
"DID THEY... CONCEAL THEIR LIFE FORCE AND CHANGE LOCATIONS?!" Ju Peter screamed to himself.
Nolrog and the skinwalkers yelled, smiled, roared, and screamed slowly as they closed in on their targets.