Vortex World,
Naha City Highschool Third Floor
Kagatsuchi 1/8 Waning
"There's no way this is going to work."
"It's gonna work. Trust me."
"Like hell it is! What are you even going to do with it if it does work?"
"You'll see."
"That just solidifies the fact that its not gonna work."
Tenchi paused as the reached the base of the third floor, looking at Ryoko with a sigh. "Listen. It's gonna work. I know it is."
Ryoko narrowed her eyes, glaring down first at Tenchi, then farther down the hallway they emerged into. Half of it had collapsed under the weight of the floor above. What remained showed eyes peering at them from around debris, rubble, and windows. The pirate narrowed her eyes and brought a hand up.
"Hold on." Tenchi grabbed her wrist. "The floor's already pretty bad; it might collapse beneath us if we cause any unnecessary damage. Let's just grab what we need and run back upstairs."
With a growl the space pirate dropped her hand, but called forth an energy blade nonetheless. "You just want to see if your hypothesis is correct." She grumbled.
"No!" Tenchi exclaimed.
Ryoko sent him a look.
"…Yes…" The youth grumbled.
The demon lord heaved a sigh. "Fine…let's make this fast. Where's this janitor closet you spoke of?"
Tenchi pointed down the hallway, and Ryoko sent him a flat look as demons and spirits of all shapes and sizes crept into the hallway. "And you don't want me to blast them into dust." The space pirate stated.
Tenchi winced, but held his ground. "We can't risk it. You can fly. I can fall gracelessly. I have a horn growing out of my neck, not wings, Ryoko."
"Maybe you can just jump good. Ever think about that?"
"That would require some kind of solid ground beneath my feet." Tenchi retorted. Sighing, the teen curled his hands into fists. "We'll…just need to be careful fighting our way thr-"
The sound of particles separating.
Tenchi looked to where Ryoko had just been standing and found the space empty. His eyes widened, and he looked around in wild alarm. "Ryoko!?"
He heard a loud whistle from further down the hallway and looked to see the cyan-haired woman waving leisurely at him near the turn in the corridor. The demon inclined in the air, putting her arms behind her head as she looked at him lazily.
"Hey, what gives!" Tenchi exclaimed, and glanced towards the spirit nearest to him-a will'o'wisp-that grew emboldened by the elder demon's departure.
Ryoko shrugged. "I'm doing my part," She said, "to ensure the floor doesn't collapse." She flipped in the air, shifting to languish like a cat in the air, feet kicking idly. "You need the experience fighting off other demons anyways. I'll wait for you here in case the floor collapses. I'm rooting for you, good luck Tenchi!"
Tenchi stared at the woman in shock. This…bitch. He thought, and was spared the grief of speaking his thoughts aloud as the will o' wisp lunged at him. The beast had surprising mass given it's miasmic body, and Tenchi yelled as he was knocked to the ground. The teen thrashed, punching the creature in its malevolent face, and watched the creature recoil at the strength behind his blow. With a snarl he rose to his feet, lunging at the creature with a savagery he'd gained in his fights with Raidou, and heard the beast bellow its death cry before fading into a mist of red light.
His next opponents, two kodamas, came at him as the youth recovered. One of them raised its hands, and on instinct Tenchi dodged backwards, narrowly avoiding the zan wind spell which his own temporary partner had demonstrated. Its partner lunged at him, and on reflex he punched it, the creatures tiny body colliding with his fist in a head-on collision. The little creature was sent hurtling back towards its partner, who's hands were up in mid-cast, and the two collided with the nearby wall with twin cries of pain.
Tenchi ignored them both, his gaze falling on the preta and feeling his skin break out in a cold sweat as he remembered the feeling of his foot piercing its' sibling's gut. He paid for the hesitation as the preta lunged at him, teeth sinking into his shoulder with vicious savagery. Tenchi screamed in pain, lashing out at the beast in primal rage as his fist connected with the being once, twice, three times and the pain gave way. The teen ripped the creature from his body and threw it towards the nearby window. The glass shattered, and the lad didn't have time to watch its three-story descent to the ground below before he once more was engulfed in a blast of wind. It knocked him off his feet, and the demi-fiend hit the ground with enough force to see stars. Shakily, he scrambled to his feet, and saw both of the kodamas' charge him.
The air hissed, and Ryoko appeared behind him, energy sword in hand as she sliced the both of them in twain with a single swing. Her expression looked bored and exasperated, yet Tenchi could feel the heated anger radiating off her as she destroyed the two spirits.
The two dissolved into more of the strange red-light mist, and Ryoko sighed, producing a medicinal pill from…somewhere and tossing it at Tenchi. "Keep your health up. You're looking a little red, Tenchi."
Tenchi caught it, and looked at his hands, which had indeed once more taken on the ill red glow from before. He looked back at Ryoko, dry swallowing the pill as he climbed heavily to his feet. His shoulder throbbed mighty, and he could feel liquid seeping from the bite in the shoulder even as the wound healed. "What happened, get bored of watching me kicking so much ass?" He asked and found his voice trembled.
"Nah." Ryoko replied. "I got bored of watching your ass get kicked."
"You were a lot nicer in the cave, you know that?" Tenchi asked.
"That's only because you've never spent any real quality time with me when free." Ryoko retorted, and smiled. It was bloodthirsty. "Now lets see how well you manage this time." She held the sword out in front of her.
"No fair."
Ryoko looked at Tenchi.
Tenchi crossed his arms. "No fair." He said. "You call this even? I don't have a lightsaber but you do. Let's see you take them on with nothing but your fists."
Ryoko stared.
Tenchi glared.
"Tenchi Masaki, are you challenging me?" Ryoko finally asked.
"You think you can't do it?"
The space pirate's expression darkened, her golden eyes glittering dangerously. Then she smirked, and without a word turned away, the sword vanishing from her hand as she stalked down the hallway.
Tenchi watched her go in growing apprehension. I…shouldn't have said that. He thought. I can almost feel the hostility coming off of her. He thought, and slowly crept after her, keeping a small distance between the two of them in case he needed to turn and run.
Something lept at the pirate from within the hallway, and as Tenchi yelped, Ryoko turned and caught it with one hand. At first glance, Tenchi thought it was another pixie. Small, feminine, with similar transparent wings to that of the four pixies he'd seen on the upper floors. A second glance showed it to be something else, however, as Ryoko's grip on it began to tighten. Its flesh was orange, the eyes large and birdlike, the outfit a Chinese dress rather than a Japanese yukata. Ryoko's squeezed, and it screamed in terrified birdsong.
"Oy, Bitch, leave my girlfriend alone!" Another larger form rushed out of the hallway-a large paper entity with a face comprised of small cut outs in the paper. It flew at the woman in rage, and Ryoko sidestepped, still holding her prey captive. The paper monster, a shikigami, twisted to face the space pirate, and the woman flinched as she was engulfed in electricity. "Let her go!" It screamed.
Ryoko hurled the strange fae-like creature at the shikigami, and the creature caught it with a grunt, its body curling around the tiny entity as if it were a large pillow to absorb the blow.
The little creature screamed in enraged birdsong, pointing and screaming at the demon lord, who raced towards them both with a snarl. A kick sent the fairy-creature into oblivion, and the space pirate grappled the shikigami, tearing it to literal pieces as the beast screamed in pain and terror.
"Wh-wh-wait!" The shikigami screamed. "I give! I surrender! I'll even work for you, just don't kill me!"
Ryoko paused in consideration, and Tenchi could hear the soft rip of paper under strain. "Ryoko, hang on, let's listen to him!"
"Yu-yu-yeah!" The shikigami exclaimed. "Lets-lets listen to the runt! I'll do whatever you want, just let me live!"
The space pirate scowled, and a deep rumble issued from her chest.
Tenchi stepped forward. "C'mon Ryoko, have a little mercy! Look, I'm sorry I challenged you, but that doesn't mean you need to torture anyone!"
"I wasn't planning on torturing anyone. He called me a bitch and now he's too chickenshit to stand up for his 'girlfriend' that I just killed." The pirate huffed. "He's not worth the paper he's made of, if you ask me."
The shikigami wailed in terror.
Tenchi winced. She did have a point. For all the magic the creature seemed to wield, the little birdsong girl's death had gone almost completely unnoticed by the paper creature, his cowardice leaving him not only begging for his life, but servitude to them as well.
Still…
"He might be useful though." Tenchi argued.
"Yeah!" the shikigami cried.
"He could tell us more about this world,"
Yeah!"
"Or help us navigate it!"
"You bet I can!"
"Besides, we need to leave this place, and that means getting past Forneus. We might need more allies to bring him down."
"Absolu-wait, what!?"
Ryoko sent the teen a thoughtful look, then looked back down at the demon tangled in her arms.
Her smile was feral and cruel.
"You're right Tenchi!" She exclaimed. "We could always use more bodies to throw at whatever awaits us on the first floor. Thank you for the allegiance, Demon."
"I-It's Shikigami…of the B-Brute Clan." The paper seemed to swallow. "I'll serve you, b-but don't count me out just yet!"
Ryoko smiled. "Welcome to the team, Chickenshit."
The paper beast cringed.
Tenchi sent the woman a disapproving glare. "Be nice. Let's not call him 'Chickenshit'."
The shikigami sent Tenchi a grateful look.
Ryoko looked at him unamused.
"He's a giant mass of paper. 'Spitball' or "Trash' would be better."
The demon crumpled in Ryoko's arms with a low moan, and Ryoko let out a cackle. "I'm too much of a bad influence on you." She said, and then released the creature. "Alright Spitball, I may have beaten you, but you follow Tenchi's orders now, got that? He's the one who spared your life, not me."
"Hey, you got it Lady, I ain't gonnna argue with no one!" The spirit all but flew towards Tenchi, placing the youth squarely between itself and Ryoko. "Call me whenever you need me Bro, just…could you not call me Spitball?"
Tenchi glanced over his shoulder at the creature and frowned, recalling his swift abandonment of the orange not-pixie. "…We'll see." Maybe Trash was the better name for it. Like I'd ever do that to anyone I knew. He thought.
The foreigner's face, coupled with the grisly, emaciated corpse that had been Ryoko's body, flashed across his eyes. Inwardly Tenchi winced. …Okay…maybe I do kind of get it…He thought, and felt a lump of guilt settle in his chest.
The Shikigami vanished in a pillar of violet-white light, and Tenchi looked back to Ryoko.
Ryoko stared, and cyan brows pursed together in concern. "You okay?"
The youth stared for a moment longer, then dropped his gaze. "…Yeah, I'm good. Let's keep going."
I was like that. He thought, chasing after Ryoko as the woman floated down the hallway. He spied more demons in other classrooms and down the encroaching hallway, and felt a fresh anger grow in place of the guilt. He glowered at them, directing the anger at himself towards an outside source, and watched as several of them hesitated, and some even retreated. They reached the end of the hallway without further incident, and as Tenchi peered down the adjoining passage he saw little else.
Ryoko came to stand beside him, and the jog turned into a more casual walk as they neared the small janitorial closet. I was like that-like the Shikigami. He thought, opening the door and staring at the small sink that rested inside, the old mop bucket, the brooms lined neatly against the wall, and the small metal rack of shelves that stood directly across from him. But not anymore. He decided, and stepped inside. I refuse to let myself do something like that again. I'll be stronger. As a person or as a demon, I don't care. But I'll become strong enough to stand in the face of whatever threatens myself or the people I care about. He glanced back at Ryoko, who floated up to examine the upper shelves in open curiosity. I'll do better this time. I won't run away.
"Tenchi," Ryoko looked down at him, then held up a bundle of nylon white rope. "Is this what you're looking for?"
"Huh?" The teen roused from his thoughts, blinking owlishly. "Oh! Yeah, that's it!"
Ryoko narrowed her eyes at the bundle, then tossed it down to the demi-fiend. "It's plastic." She stated.
"Well, yeah…it's nylon." Tenchi caught it easily, then placed it under one arm as he swung his pack off a shoulder, unzipped it, and stowed it inside.
"Plastic doesn't do anything against electricity."
"Electric tape does." The teen moved further inside, ruffling through boxes in search of the particular tape. "I mean…I know this isn't a repair closet or an electrician's room but-hey! Rubber gloves!" Tenchi crowed, pulling the black rubber gloves out and showing them to the space pirate. He smiled widely. "These might still work if the rope doesn't!"
Ryoko sighed, rubbing her temples as she crossed her legs, sitting in the air in exasperation. "Tenchi, I keep telling you, it's not gonna work!" She exclaimed. "You are not going to just tie the damn sword to a rope and swing it around like a mace!"
"It will and I am." Tenchi stuck his tongue out at her as he stored the gloves inside the bag beside the rope. "And it's gonna be awesome and you're gonna feel sooo stupid when it works!"
Ryoko sighed, looking at the youth with exasperated affection, then shaking her head ruefully. "Fine." She consented. "What does rubber tape look like?"
"A roll of black tape about…thirty millimeters or so in width?"
The two scoured the room yet came up empty-handed. Cleaning supplies, bleach, scissors, even a multi-tool, yet no electric tape was found.
Tenchi pocketed the multi-tool with a sigh. "Oh well…It's still a pretty good haul. Let's head back upstairs."
Ryoko hummed her agreement, and the two slipped out of the room. The corridors had become oddly calm and quiet, and Tenchi looked around in suspicion. "What gives?" He mumbled. "First they can't get enough of us, now everyone's fled the coop."
"It's Kagatsuchi." Ryoko mumbled, and Tenchi looked up at her. The woman's eyes were drooping, and Tenchi paused, frowning as the woman clutched her head. She looked tired, exhausted even, as if she might collapse at any moment.
"Hey, Ryoko, are you okay?" The woman landed and brought a hand against the wall, leaning against it as she clutched her head, and Tenchi grabbed her shoulder.
"Feel light-headed." She mumbled. "Kagatsuchi's eyes are closed…I need to rest…" She shook herself violently, startling Tenchi, and looked at the youth with feverish eyes. "Shikigami, now." She said, and despite Tenchi not summoning him the beast appeared in a pillar of light similar to the one which it had vanished earlier in.
Tenchi looked at the entity, which also seemed to be acting strangely. It drifted docilely in the air, as if unaware of its own summoning.
Like its asleep. Tenchi thought, and glanced back at Ryoko, whose eyes began to flutter as she leaned her weight against Tenchi. "Hey, Spitball, wake up!" The teen exclaimed.
The shikigami stirred, its paper coils shuddering at the name which had disturbed its rest.
"What the hell is going on?" Tenchi demanded, "What's happening to everyone?"
"Kagatsuchi is dark…" The Shikigami mumbled. "I have no desire to move. I just want to rest…I can rest when its dark, not when its bright…It's brightness burns, but if its dark I can rest…"
"Is this affecting everyone?"
Leaning against him, Ryoko's knees buckled and gave out, and the woman's eyes rolled to the back of her head as unconsciousness seized her. Tenchi dipped to a knee, guiding the space pirate down to the ground carefully. Her head came to rest on his shoulder, and he heard the woman sigh as she curled up like a cat against him. Tenchi looked at her with open concern, and shook her shoulder lightly. "Hey, Ryoko, wake up. Wake up!"
The woman mumbled something, but otherwise did not react.
"Shit." Tenchi hissed. He looked around, yet outside of the three of them, the hallway remained deserted. The hitoshura's heart began to race in his chest, and the youth grimaced. "Ryoko, c'mon, wake up, please!" He shook her shoulder again, this time with more force, and watched her own face scowl as she roused.
A moment, and her eyelids fluttered, the golden orbs within dark, glazed, and unseeing. "…Run." She mumbled. "Kag…to…" Her eyelids fell once more, and she was gone again.
"Jeeze…" The youth slipped carefully out from under her, leaning the woman back against the wall and watching her head droop forward.
"C'mon Tenchi, what are you going to do?" He whispered loudly, "You can't just leave her here." He looked around once more, feeling exposed and vulnerable in the hallway despite its quiet emptiness. The youth began to perspire. Is this affecting everyone? All the demons in the area? Is that why no one's around?
It was a risky gamble but…Tenchi sucked in a deep breath. "Fuck it." He growled, kneeling and scooping up the woman in his arms.
She was light. Lighter than he expected. Lighter than she had any right to be.
Or I've gotten physically stronger. Tenchi thought, and looked back to the Shikigami. "Um…how did…how do I…? Fuck, I wish this was easier. How did Ryoko summon him? How can I send him back?
"Wish it was as simple as that Pokemon game. 'Shikigami, return' or something." The teen muttered.
A pillar of light enveloped the entity, and the shikigami vanished.
Tenchi's eyes bulged in their sockets. "No way that worked." He said, then shook his head, dismissing it. "Screw it. As it turns out, I'm a fucking genius at demon summoning." He adjusted his grip on the woman in his arms, letting her head come to rest against his chest. "Come on, lets find some place safe to hole up."
Vortex World,
Naha City Highschool Fourth Floor
Kagatsuchi 1/8 Waxing
"Ah, back so soon I see." The Silver Haired Demon smiled, and Ryoko spied the barest hint of fang in her mouth. "And with your first taste of raw Magatsuhi as well." The woman reclined in the air, staring at her with sharp, intelligent violet eyes. "Tell me, Chousin Daughter, do you enjoy the taste of its power?"
"What do you mean?" Ryoko narrowed her eyes at the demon, bristling at the stranger's tone. "And who are you? This is the second time I've seen you!"
"You'll need to find me on the physical plane first." The woman wagged a finger at her. "You need to prove you're worth the investment before I grace you with an identity." She smiled, eyes laughing, and Ryoko had the vague sense that the words were in jest, that she was just the latest in a strange game for the demon before her, and found herself growing angry at the stranger. She bared her teeth in a snarl, and the stranger laughed. "My, how fierce the little Chousin Daughter is! Tell me, Tengu Student, what will you do to me? What threat lies behind those cute little fangs, Tiny Kitten?"
The Demon flicked a finger, and Ryoko felt herself spun in the air. When the void of vortex worlds which surrounded them stopped spinning, she found her surroundings strange, alien, the colors off and muted and her vision deteriorating into blurry nearsightedness. A fuzzy shape moved into view, and she smelled (danger, lightning, chaos, destruction, Entropy) and felt her ears press flat against her head. She hissed, and swiped at the limb which picked her up by the scruff of her neck, growling fearlessly in the presence of this great threat.
The Demon laughed. "Spicy one, aren't you?" She teased. "Tell me, do you enjoy this form or one closer to that of your sister? Or perhaps you prefer crow wings and fox tails?"
She felt herself tossed in the air, and felt her body mutate in response to the Demon's words, first growing wings from a feline body, then feeling the tail divide once, twice, thrice into eight tails, then expand more until she lost count. Her vision cleared, and she wanted to scream, yet all that came out was feline's yowl.
"Now, are you ready to hold a conversation like a human? Or shall I continue speaking to you as the animal you emulate?"
A pitiful whimper escaped her throat, and the Demon chuckled. "Very well. Perhaps you'll pay your elders the respect they deserve now. Though I suppose I should expect nothing less form the daughter of the Rouge Sisters." She clapped her hands, and Ryoko was herself again, free of fur and feather once more. "Remember that, Child." The Silver-Haired demon pointed at her. "You reside within a vortex world now; your form is mailable, unlike your little hitoshura. Like the humans who have survived the transition with you, it may melt, mold, and mutate to better accommodate the world you form. You will need a strong will if you wish to maintain what you view as 'you'.
"Why are you telling me this?" Ryoko wrapped her arms around herself, feeling exposed and vulnerable after the unwilling transformation. Kagato did such things like that; threatened her disobedience with examples of his powers. Once he'd turned an arm to stone, and she'd had to cut it off when the stone flesh began to spread up towards her shoulder like an infection.
The ease with which this one had so easily taken away her form terrified her.
"Because there is potential in you." The Demon reasoned. "Like that Rebellious Child, I see something in you that others have either wasted or failed to see. I want to see what happens when that withered weed blossoms its first flowers, but first I must see if the weed is even worth nurturing after the neglect and abuse its suffered." The Demon straightened in the air, violent eyes sparkling within a deep tan face, and the woman smiled. "Besides, you remind me of someone dear to me…but on the other side of the coin. Not a demon attempting to be divine, no, not you…instead I find myself with a divinity-cur trying to be the demon she was raised to be. Marvelous. Truly Marvelous."
"I don't understand what you're talking about." Ryoko muttered. "I am a demon. A destroyer of worlds, a scourge of the galaxy. There is nothing divine about me."
"Oh?" A silver eyebrow rose in amusement. "Is a force which destroys planets anything if not divine? A object of sanctification, a harbinger of change, a tool of a force far greater than any mere mortal can fully understand?"
Ryoko was silent, and the Demon laughed. "Sup well form the chalice of Magatsuhi." She said. "For in its chambers rests Power. The Power of Will. The Power of Change. The Power of Control." The woman smiled. "The Power of Reason, and all of Destiny at your fingertips."
"What will you do if I do find you on the physical plane?" Ryoko asked.
"Mentor you." The woman shrugged.
"You mean you aren't now?"
The Demon laughed raucously. "By providing snippets of wisdom? By sliding you small bits of a puzzle you cannot yet even comprehend? Sweet Child, you take me for a Tengu!" The laugher slowly died, and the woman wiped an eye, as if the space pirate's words had brought her to tears. "Ah, but you've made me laugh. A blessing, truly, for these are hard and stressful times, even for one such as me. No Sweetling, these words are only snippets. True mentorship comes when you display the Will of a Demon. Than perhaps I shall change you as That One was changed to a divinity. And when those Rogue Sisters gaze upon you once more, let them weep in their own errors. Perhaps you may even help this universe and be their end."
"Why?" Ryoko asked. "You said-I'm a daughter?"
"Even one created may see its creator as a parental figure. Not that man you call Master, no, for he is a Thief of Always, but the one which came before. Yet she is perhaps the most ignorant of her own place, despite her knowledge. They came form a Shadow Vortex to this universe, ignoring the Laws laid down by Divine and Demonic; they are the cancer which laid waste to the universe you once knew, and though humans sped the process up, they are the true source of entropy which brought about your universe's end."
The woman continued. "Yet you are born of this universe, even as they are foreign to it; a vaccine to fight off the virus, if you choose. And I would see that primed, for there is a great power that comes with you-with it."
"I'm tired of being a tool for others."
Another laugh. "Sweetling, know this: We are all tools to something else. No one is free of that. The magatama is tool to the hitoshura. The hitoshura is tool to those who stand with Reason. Those with Reason are tools to their Divine Sponsors. Their Divine Sponsors are tools to Reason. And that Reason is a tool to Kagatsuchi, who rules this world." The woman smiled. It looked feral. "And that Kagatsuchi is a tool to a Will far greater than most, yet even it is only a tool to the Divine Computer System. And so the process continues."
"Then who are you a tool for?" Ryoko demanded.
The demon smiled. "My own World, and those demons which dwell in it, some would say…but in reality, I am and always will be a tool to the Infernal Computer System. The real question is, Sweetling…who do you choose to be a tool to?"
"I don't—"
"—know…" Ryoko mumbled, and felt herself rouse as the feeling of eyes came over her. Groaning, she shivered and curled up into a tighter ball, burying her face in her arms to hide herself from eyes she could not see as her consciousness grew stronger. Gradually, the feeling faded, and with a shuddering breath Ryoko opened her eyes and lifted her head. For a brief and terrifying moment, she found her vision nearsighted, and then her eyes focused on the world around her and the stairwell corridor snapped back into focus. "Where…"
She jumped as electricity flashed across the floor above her, and rose to her feet tense and alert. Tenchi. Tenchi's missing, where-? She rose and teleported up the steps, hiding against the granite stair banister as she peered around the corner.
Her jaw dropped.
"No fucking way." She breathed.
There stood Tenchi, the Hitoshura in all his glory, swinging a nylon rope over his head as he glared at the kodama who floated across from him. The Shikigami was at his side and floating well out of the rope's radius. With a yell, he swung the rope forward, and Ryoko watched in dazed disbelief as the tenchi-ken tied to the other end of it sailed into the heedless kodama. She winced as great bolts of electricity entrapped its body, and the creature spasmed, unable to scream before it perished, disintegrating into red energy. Though Tenchi didn't seem to notice, Ryoko watched the red light float towards the teens body, absorbing into the bright blue light of the bands before fading from existence.
"He fucking did it." Ryoko murmured. "He fucking did it!"
Tenchi turned at the sound of her voice, and then smiled victoriously at her. "If it works its not stupid!" He crowed. "I fucking told you!"
"You fucking told me…" Ryoko mumbled, too dumbstruck by what she'd just witnessed to argue with the boy.
Gathering up the slack of the rope, Tenchi turned and walked over to her, the tenchi-ken dangling harmlessly from the other end, which he held well away from him. "I was practicing while you were out." He said. "…The movies make it look a lot easier than it actually is."
The space pirate stared at the sword and rope. "How did you even…"
"Very carefully." Tenchi replied. "The gloves didn't help. I thought I could protect myself with them, but they just got in the way of trying to secure the rope. I thought I could hold it but…well I can, but I can't activate it. So I tried first tossing it at other demons, which sort of worked, but then I realized I can't throw for shit, and so then I started swinging it from the rope!" The teen beamed in pride. "I was really bad at first. But my aim has gotten so much better between then and now. I'm only missing like…two times out of five now rather than five times out of five!"
Ryoko brought a hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her nose. Then she chuckled. "Desperation is the key to ingenuity." She said, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You're right, I was wrong. Good job Tenchi."
The boy beamed at the praise, and Ryoko wondered if perhaps his face might split with the amount of pride emanating from him. "Thanks!" He chirped.
"What happened?"
The smile faded, and the hitoshura grew serious at once. "I don't know." He stated. "I was hoping you could tell me. One minute you're conscious and talking to me, the next you're talking about 'kagatsuchi' and passing out on me." He shook his head. "I tried to wake you up. Nothing worked, and I didn't want to try anything crazy in case it hurt you."
"…Thanks." Ryoko said. "Sorry about…whatever it was. I don't…" She closed her eyes, trying to recall her last memories prior to the dream. "I remember…relief." She said. "Something…something wasn't watching me anymore, and my body was so relieved that it just…collapsed."
"Something similar happened to the other demons." Tenchi admitted. "I was able to carry you up here without anything coming for us, but it was really freaky. It was like…all the demons I passed were just-dead. In sleep mode. Straight up unconscious." Carefully, he slipped his bag off his bare shoulders and slipped the sword inside, leaving the excess rope out as he zipped the bag back up. "I thought maybe we could make a run past the demon on the first floor, but then thought better of it; I didn't know how long all the demons might be out and the last thing I want is for it to wake up while I was in the middle of slipping us past it."
"How long was it?"
"I don't know." Tenchi replied with a shrug. "I think it was like…an hour maybe? Closer to two? My internal clock isn't really working like it used to."
The shikigami came up behind them. "It's Kagatsuchi, who watches over this world." It explained. "What you felt was a 'blink'.
The duo looked at the demon. "A 'blink'?" Ryoko asked.
The demon's entire body dipped and bobbed as if in agreement. "Yeah." He stated. "Kagatsuchi watches over all. Kagatsuchi is all seeing. Kagatsuchi takes days to blink, and when his eyes are closed our nerves can rest, and so do we as demons, free from its gaze if only for a time. When Kagatsuchi's eyes are wide open, we grow wild and rage, for his scrutiny is intense and drives us mad. It blinks."
Tenchi and Ryoko shared an uneasy look. "I didn't feel anything." Tenchi said.
"You are a demi-fiend." The Shikigami reasoned. "One with the body of a demon and the soul of a human. Humans are unaffected and unaware of Kagatsuchi's gaze. We are not."
Ryoko frowned deeply. "So…I fall asleep like you do?"
"Is it not agonizing to be under the scrutinizing gaze of the all-seeing constantly?"
Ryoko thought of Kagato, the space pirate's frown deepened. "Well…yes."
"So is it not natural to rest once those are are no longer on you?" The shikigami implored.
Ryoko was silent.
Tenchi spoke up. "You mentioned that…when this thing's eyes are wide open, it gets crazy?"
"It does." The shikigami's voice dropped to a whisper. "Madness overtakes us. Anything to stop the gaze. Anything to release the anxiety. Anything to stop the madness."
"What does that mean?" Ryoko demanded.
"I cannot say." The shikigami said. "The madness affects every demon race differently. The Dark Races become so mad that we can commune with them safely. Most others become so crazed that they are filled with bloodlust and cannot be soothed. The most dangerous demon is a demon encountered under the full might of Kagatsuchi's gaze.
"Is there anything we can do during that time?" Tenchi inquired.
"Be the strongest demon."
"Anything else?" Tenchi looked distressed.
"Hide where they can't find you. Bar yourself up…" The shikigami glanced at Ryoko, "…but not with a demon. Alone, if you don't want to fight. What comes is bloodshed, death, and might."
"Are you saying I'll go mad?" Ryoko demanded. "Bullshit."
"Can you be sure you won't?" The Shikigami countered, "After already being affected to Kagatsuchi's eyes closed?"
Both Ryoko and Tenchi were silent as they looked at each other with mixed emotions. Their thoughts, in their silence, shared as they both recalled the Battle at Funaho, and the madness which had so plagued the space pirate.
"He's got a point Ryoko." Tenchi spoke up. "You mentioned something about eyes being closed before you passed out."
The pirate looked at him in surprise. "I did?"
"You don't remember?"
The space pirate shook her head. What she remembered was the White Haired Demon, nothing about this 'Kagatsuchi' or 'eyes'. Ryoko bit her lip. The concern "When will we know?"
The creature stared at Ryoko with a strange, solemn expression. "You'll know." It said. "Trust me, you'll know."
Ryoko grimaced, then turned back to young man beside her. "Tenchi…" She began.
The demi-fiend shook his head, then looked up at her with false bravado. "We'll figure something out." He said. "You didn't-you didn't harm me last time, though you could have." He said with a smile. "We just gotta be on the lookout for anything that might be a sign of things to come, then find a place for me to hunker down. I bet there's even some way around it-some place that's-that's hidden from the eyes where you won't be affected by it. We just need to find it."
"I don't want to accidentally hurt you though." Ryoko argued.
"And you won't." Tenchi said simply. "You're the Guardian Demon of the Masaki Shrine, remember? You've been watching out for me and mom since mom was a child. This-this world isn't going to change that. I know it."
Ryoko stared at the young man before her, uncertain how to process the multitude of emotions running through her at the teen's words. Part of her wanted to cry. Another part wanted to scream. A bigger part wanted to embrace him. Yet the space pirate did none of them, instead bowing her head, a small, wane half-smile on her face as she took strength in her lone companion's words. "…Thanks Tenchi." She said quietly.
A hand slipped into hers, and she looked at the young Masaki in surprise as the teen gave it a comforting squeeze. "We'll get through this." He said. "If I can get through turning into a hitoshura, you can get through this-this 'blink' thing. And I'll be right beside you through it."
The woman squeezed his hand back, unable to voice her thoughts. Her grip was tight, scared, and desperate, yet in that moment, Tenchi Masaki's hand was warm, strong, and comforting.
"Let's get out of here." He said. "Before these 'eyes' open fully and we have that bully demon on the first floor going apeshit on us."
"Yes." A final squeeze, and Ryoko released the teen's hand. "Let's get going. Time waits for no one."
Vortex World,
Naha City Highschool First Floor
Kagatsuchi 1/8 Waxing
"I don't see anything." Tenchi whispered as they crept down to the stairway and onto the first floor. The youth slipped into the corridor, his expression grim and suspicious as he looked back and forth through the hallway. "Looks like we're safe for the moment."
Ryoko floated above his shoulder, a grim look on her face. "I can feel it." She stated.
Tenchi looked up at her. "Feel what?"
"The demon everyone else mentioned." Ryoko replied. "What's his name…Fornicate?"
"Forneus." Tenchi's cheeks warmed with a blush. "That's-no, never mind." The woman looked at him with innocent curiosity, and for the life of him, the demi-fiend was uncertain if she'd made a joke or if the space pirate had been serious.
Maybe seven hundred years in a prison on an alien world will do that. He thought, and was struck with a sudden insight. Japanese probably isn't even Ryoko's native language. You'd never guess it though with how well she speaks it.
The space pirate raised a cyan brow, but otherwise thankfully didn't comment on his blush. "I can feel his presence." She said instead. "The ones we spoke with on the upper floor were right; Forneus has a good deal of power. Not as much as the demon at the shrine, definitely not as much as the Devil who released me, but a good chunk of power." She ran a hand through her spiky hair, then gazed down at her wrists. "This would be easy if I had my gems." She whispered. "I could blow him away without a second thought and we could be on our way." She sent a sly grin to Tenchi. "Or, I cold just phase us through the walls and we could leave…"
Tenchi looked at her with a start. "It'd be that simple?" He asked.
"Sure." Ryoko shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing is stopping me right now and the coast is clear. What's to say we can't just walk through a wall and leave?"
The hitoshura pursed his lips, grabbing his chin thoughtfully. "That's true…" He muttered. "It'd be a whole lot easier than fighting this guy, whatever he is, and I'm not sure I want to fight something that might be stronger than either of us."
The Demon Lord sent him a look. "I'm sensing a 'but'." She stated.
The teen winced. "Well…so many demons and spirits are stuck in here because of him." He said, "And not all of them are bad-the kodama, the pixies…they're all stuck in here with those darker demons like the preta and will o'wisp because of him." He looked up at Ryoko in earnest. "The pixies saved me when I first woke up. They could have left me to die, or worse, just out right killed me-I don't think I could have done anything against them and High P-but instead they saved me from a whole group of pretas and explained some things to me. And one of the kodama…" He fell quiet, recalling his failure to aide the small, youthful spirit. "I don't want them to stay imprisoned here. We might as well be escaping jail and leaving them to rot when they helped us out."
"So rather than a prison break, you want to kill the Warden, is that it?" Ryoko asked, and the smile on her face became vicious. It was a scary smile, when Tenchi beheld it, one which craved violence, mayhem, and death.
And yet…
A part of him, he found-just a small, tiny part of him-found himself enthralled by it.
At length the young man nodded, his expression determined even as his heart skipped a beat. "Yes." He said. "I want Forneus out of the way. No one deserves to be imprisoned in an cell block and fighting for their lives."
"Are you up for killing Forneus?" Ryoko asked. "Truly? What I'm sensing is power, but not necessarily darkness like the preta and will o' wisps have. It's likely that Forneus will be intelligent. Someone who can communicate with us." Ryoko stared at Tenchi with solemn, critical eyes. "A person. Are you up to killing someone or something like that?"
Tenchi took a long breath. "The demon at the shrine…Grandpa called him Duke Aym…was like that. It didn't make him any less dangerous, and at the end of the day he was still slain."
"By me." Ryoko reminded him. "And then when I was not fully in my right mind. You will be. You won't be fighting in defense for yourself, your grandfather, or me. When we go to him, it will be an offensive strike; we know next to nothing about this demon outside his name and the fact that he's powerful, and so we need to strike first, fast, and hard if we want to survive the encounter. He is stronger than you are and his power rivals my own right now without my gems or the absurd amount of-I think it was magatsuhi-which had been fed to me back at the Shrine. We both run the risk of serious injury, even death, if we decide to challenge him as we are now. Are you ready for this?"
Tenchi stared at the woman with resolve, his face grim as he examined her face. While Ryoko looked ready to fight, he could see a deeper level of concern buried in the depths of her golden eyes. Concern for him. This is why she had me fight all those demons in the hallway. He thought. If I can't fight…if I can't kill, then…like High P said, I'll die. She's afraid for me. She-she thinks I'll hesitate. That I'll be too slow, too defenseless, and that it'll be my end. And she's right. He took a long breath. I ran away once. Once from Ryoko, and she's not only by friend, but family too. I faced the Goetia at Funaho, but even then I was scared-I was on the defensive the entire time, and I don't know if I could have attacked him if the opportunity presented itself. Most of the demons I've killed here have been of the Dark Race, and seem incapable of higher reasoning. He gripped his hands, forming them into fists. But I need to be strong enough to attack first. I can't be reactive if we do this. But I can't just…run away from this fight either. It's not fair to the other spirits locked up in here.
At length, the youth nodded. "I'll fight." He said. "I'll give it my all, and we'll take him down together."
"No hesitation."
"No hesitation." Tenchi said firmly. "We…we kill him unless he seeks mercy. That's my only ask. If he seeks mercy, we give him the benefit of the doubt."
Ryoko narrowed her eyes. "That will get us killed, Tenchi."
"I don't think so." Tenchi said thoughtfully. "It brought the Shikigami over to our side. If we listen, I think other demons will join us if we grant them a boon as well."
The space pirate pursed her lips. "…The first demon who takes advantage of our lowered guard to attack us ends it." She stated. "Demons are like humans-like space pirates; they can lie as much as speak the truth, and some will only lie to you if they know it works to their advantage."
Tenchi nodded. "That's acceptable." He reasoned.
The space pirate nodded. "Then lets get going while the hallways are empty." She said, "I don't want this demon catching so much of a whiff of us until its too late."
They found a docile, hag-like demon hanging out near the entrance. The entrance itself had been caved in, the ceiling collapsing upon the entrance and scattering student shoes across the area. What was once clean porcelain was now cracked and dirtied, and the shoes laid in a discarded assortment across the floor; an uncomfortable reminder of what had once been, and was now no longer. "Oh?" The hag crowed, turning a sunken face up towards the duo and revealing a mouth with too little teeth. Her eyes were hidden, obscured by a long, wooden, itatoba grave marker. "What have we here? A hitoshura and…my, what are you, Dearie? The creature peered up at Ryoko, black lips peeled back in a gummy smile from beneath a cascade of white hair. "Strange, I haven't encountered one of your ilk before." She sat curled up beneath her hair, naked as far as Tenchi could tell but clutching a pile of white death-shroud kimonos to her person like a strange assortment of blankets.
"I wonder that myself sometimes." Ryoko muttered.
"Well, no matter. Worlds like these are marvelous at revealing what was once secret. You need only seek it out. Tell me, would you like a fortune? I can give you one for a good price."
"Not really." Tenchi stepped in. "We'd actually like to know about Forneus, if you have anything.
"Forneus?" The woman tilted her head to one side, and Ryoko shot Tenchi a glare. "Forneus…Forneus…Ah yes, I know of the demon. A small-time Goetia is he. Friend of Decarabia, who is a fair bit stronger, though their Reasons do not align. What do you wish to know about him?"
"Name your price first." Ryoko stepped in before Tenchi could voice anything further.
The Crone cackled. "Ah yes, yes, yes. While I know not what you are, I see you hold a bit of wisdom. Nothing is ever free in this world or any other. A fair price it will be. One hundred macca. No more, no less."
Ryoko pursed her eyebrows. "Macca?"
"Oh! I know! I got some while you were out from some of the demons I was fighting." Tenchi dug in his pockets, and came out with some coins. "It seems to be some kind of currency." The demi-fiend knelt beside the hag, and offered the coins out to her. "Is this enough?"
The spirit moved a bony finger onto the youth's hand, moving several coins towards herself and pushing others away. Then she swept the pile into her hand. "This is enough." She stated. "Forneus is the Thirtieth of seventy-two Goetia. He is a Great Marquis with twenty-nine legions below him, and is a great sea monster. You would do well to have any demons whose strengths lie in plasma or electricity within your ranks if you wish to escape this place; He has taken up residence in the cafeteria of this building, and guards a collapsed wall which other demons have used to flee out of." The demon cackled. "But beware. A child of the Sea he is, and his strength lies in the cold and icy depths of the ocean which is his domain." She turned her face to Ryoko. "If you wish to survive the encounter, take advantage of his weakness before he learns yours."
Frowning, Tenchi pocketed the renaming macca and rose to his feet, bowing formally to the entity. "Thank you for your wisdom, Grandmother."
The entity cackled again. "And such a polite young demi-fiend, too!" She crowed. "Perhaps if you survive the fight and escape from this place, we shall meet up again and I will join you. It's so rare to find such respectful children in this day and age."
"Thank you for the offer, Grandmother. We intend to defeat Forneus and allow the other demons who are stuck in here to leave."
"Well you've chosen a wonderful time. A group of Fae led by a High Pixie passed me not long ago stating a similar intent. You'll want to join them; their magic is powerful but they are physically weak. If you can draw Forneus' attacks away from them, you may have an easier time defeating him."
"I see. Thank you again." A sense of urgency overtook him, and he grabbed Ryoko's hand. "Come on, let's go-I'm worried about the faeries." At Ryoko's nod, the two ran off.
The Hag, Old Lady Datsu-ba, watched them go and waved her goodbye. "Have fun storming the cafeteria!" She cried. "Such a sweet young couple."
Vortex World,
Naha City Highschool Cafeteria
Kagatsuchi 2/8 Waxing
"Gotta admit Witch, you got me good with those girlies of yours. Shame they tasted so good; you should'a brought more of 'em with ya!" The beast cackled uproariously, a grinding, crashing sound like the waves breaking against a sandbank. "Too bad ain't none a' them left now. Guess I'll need to savor you. Your Magatsuhi will be particularly delicious after the grief you caused me."
The demon swam through the air, hovering high above the small, tiny woman before it. A massive creature, at least ten feet across from nose to the base of its tail. Its body was similar to that of a massive deep sea eagle ray, yet its maw sat forward like the jaw of a tiger shark. Its belly was white, its top a great grey-black covered in darker spots. A humanoid body appeared to be fused to the top of it, the head-its eyes, glaring at the world with an ominous blue glow, a second pair of large fish-eyes resting below it at the bridge of its maw. Its arms stretching the length of its fins, where the fingers seemed to spread batlike to the edges of its flesh.
It was a hideous creature, a fusion of man and beast, twisted and warped into a creature of nightmares as it leered down at the wounded and dying High Pixie before it. The tiny creature was small, yes, but she radiated more Magatsuhi than any other demon Forneus had come across in the dilapidated high school. The only thing comparable had been that damned Human he'd been to slow to catch; the Human alone would have fed him for months, especially if he'd been careful to keep it from expiring-the creatures could be a source of near-infinite Magatsuhi so long as their fragile physical bodies were kept alive.
That Forneus had let such a precious creature slip from his fins remained a sore and open wound for him. Though to be fair…this foolish High Pixie did lessen the burn. She'd been a fool to think she and her tiny nest of pixies could take him on. They were tiny and weak, if numerous; their magic stung like a nest of hornets, but a quick use of his own unique spell, Icy Death, had frozen over half of them and killed what was not frozen. Only the High Pixie had survived the initial attack, holding a higher magical tolerance than her younger kin.
Yet that was fine. Forneus was angry still, and the tiny stings of the pixies had agitated him greatly. Had he not used his own magic, the tiny creatures very likely could have overwhelmed him, and Forneus could not have shown his face to Decarabia if such a humiliation ever occurred.
He wanted to savor this one's death.
As she looked up at him with terror-stricken lilac eyes, the Goetia knew that the High Pixie was aware of it too.
Below him, the small Fae struggled to right herself, her wings mangled, torn, and useless, her armor dented, and in some places rusted from where his spell had so damaged the metal. She sneered at him rebelliously, though the fear remained evident on her face. "Zio!" She screamed, and her voice was hoarse. A bolt of lightning struck him hard, and the Goetia recoiled with a snarl.
The high pixie coughed, and blood came to her lips. She grimaced. "That's it." She whispered. "I'm out. I have no more mana." She dug into her armor, her hand slipping out and bringing out the last of the hydration packets given to her by the hitoshura. It wouldn't do her an ounce of good; not now when she had no mana, no little sisters, and no will to live, but at least she could die with a small ounce of comfort, however meager it was in the wake of this monster. She ripped it open with her teeth, too weak yet to use her hands, and brought the packet to her lips. "Blueberry." She mumbled, and sighed. When last had she had a blueberry? When she'd been a tiny pixie herself, no doubt, living in a world thick with humans. There had been a little boy back then. A boy and his mother…they could see her and the others in her nest, and sometimes would place fresh blueberries and strawberries and melon out for her and her little sisters to enjoy. Those had been wonderful times, and she and her sisters often found ways to pay the small family unit-a mother, a son, and a father yet incapable of seeing them-by tending to the house when the family was away and chasing off the more negative residential youkai and spirits which took undue interest in them.
Ah, but then the mother had passed away, and in his grief, they little boy had ceased to see them. The offerings never came as often after that, though sometimes, during the holiday season, they were treated to smaller offerings.
The High Pixie closed her eyes, remembering the soft features of the mother and child. The mother's unusual burgundy eyes. The gentle, soft brown eyes of the little boy, who ran around with a tiny ponytail which more closely resembled a rattail than anything else.
They were gone now too. Gone like her girls, who had trusted and relied on her. Gone like the world she had grown up in, a Fae brought to the East with Missionaries and who settled in a strange land of youkai and samurai.
And soon she'd be gone too.
Well…perhaps it was for the best. She could not call herself a true High Pixie if she allowed her nestling sisters to be murdered by a Goetia. If Forneus didn't kill her, than surely King Oberon or the Queen Titania would see to her execution.
She closed her eyes in acceptance of her fate, and prayed it would be fast.
In the distance, someplace far away, she thought she could hear voices, and wondered if it wasn't her little sisters coming to welcome her to the Underworld. Rebirth was possible there, she'd heard, though it was a long and lengthy process to crawl oneself out from such desolation.
And then she heard…swinging?
The Fae blinked, and looked around, certain she was imagining it. No, no, she was absolutely hearing something whirling on a rope, like a lasso.
Above the great demon, Thirtieth of his name, Great Marquis Goetia Forneus, a rope swung forth. The High Pixie followed it with her eyes, confusion warring with desperation as she spied something attached to it.
Tenchi-ken landed firmly on Forneus's back, and a torrent of electricity sprung forth.
The Goetia bellowed with pain and rage, his body spasming as the current arched from his back and to his tail, up his back and down his fins, bright blue bursts of plasma dancing his his mouth and down his throat.
The High Pixie stared in awe at the display of magic, wondering if by chance a local Megami had either taken pity on her or had grown cross with the Goetia. Then a demon-unlike any of the races the small Fae had ever encountered before, appeared before her in a hiss. "You-" The High Pixie's eyes widened as she recognized the Demon Lord from the Roof, yet her words were cut off as the woman knelt, grabbed her, and hauled her off the ground. The world dissipated in a dizzying display that made her already weak stomach that much more nauseous, and then reappeared near the entrance to the cafeteria.
Bewildered, the Fairy looked around, finding the Hitoshura at their side, holding the other end of the rope which was currently shocking the life out of the Goetia which had so easily decimated herself and the fifteen young pixies who'd braved the first floor with her on a mad dash to freedom. The youth held a solemn, dark expression on his face, and part of her heart sank at the sight.
So he had grown intimate with the killing arts, than.
Perhaps it was just as well. No demon could live a life free of murder in a land such as this. It was inevitable, yet still…her heart broke at the realization.
"Eat this." The Demon Lord passed her a medicinal pill-the very same one which the High Pixie had passed to her not even a full Cycle prior. "Can you use your magic?"
The Fairy swallowed the pill and felt her strength renewed. Yet still she shook her head. "My mana has been drained." She said, "And my physical prowess is limited."
The cyan-haired demon grunted, then glanced at the Demi-fiend. "Tenchi, do you have a Chakra Drop in that bag of yours?"
Without taking his eyes off the Goetia, the teen unshouldered the bag and tossed it to the Demon Lord. "I can't afford to take my eyes off him." He said. "You'll need to dig through it yourself."
The taller demon said nothing, but similarly dropped the bag at the High Pixie's feet. "Dig through it, find anything that will up your mana, and start zapping the shit out of Forneus. We're bringing this fucker down." A ball of red energy, unlike anything the Fairy had ever seen before, gathered in both of the woman's palms, and she fired them, one after the other, out towards the water monster.
The demi-fiend yanked on the rope, dislodging it from the entity, and something sailed back towards him even as the balls of plasma raced towards the creature. Both struck true, tearing through the flesh as if it were paper, and as the teen re-wound the rope for another swing, the Demon Lord once more vanished from sight.
She reappeared over the Goetia, another ball of plasma in hand which this time she squeezed. The ball elongated to a beam of thin light the width of her fist, and with a roar she stabbed downward into the creature's back.
Forneus screamed and spun in the air. "Get off of me!" He howled, "mabufu!" The air chilled around them, forming pinpricks of ice which hurt to breath.
The boy screamed out towards the Demon Lord. "Ryoko, teleport away, now!" And the Demon Lord vanished once more as the ice condensed around them. For a moment that felt like a century, High Pixie found herself frozen in a bone-deep chill, and then the spell broke, freeing both herself and the hitoshura from their brief imprisonment. The Demi-fiend shook his arms, but otherwise seemed none the worse for wear, and High Pixie finally found the Chakra Drop which they boy seemed to have.
She swallowed it in a single gulp, feeling it cling to her throat like sludge, yet slowly felt her mana reserves come back to her. "I hate chakra drops." She muttered, and beside her the demi-fiend once more began to swing his strange weapon-like a makeshift sickle and chain with no sickle-vertically on one side. "Shikigami!" He called, and on the other side of him, a wasps-nest of paper appeared. "Hold it off while I get ready, both of you! Focus on electrical attacks! We need to keep him stunned!"
Any other time, the Fairy would have scoffed at the orders; she was not to be ordered about by someone outside the Seelie Court, yet time and death had changed that perspective, and now came only the desire for revenge and atonement. "Hey, Paperball!"
The Shikigami looked at her. "Join your attack with mine. Strike towards the area where the Demon Lord stabbed him; we may be able to paralyze him together.
"You got it, Toots!" The Shikigami exclaimed, and the High Pixie almost directed her magic towards him instead of the Goetia.
Yet her heart cried more for the revenge of her fallen sister than it did at her anger for the demon's audacity at calling her such a name. Focusing her intent towards the large singed spot on the base of the Goetia's spine, once more the Fairy called upon her magic. "Zio!" And heard the spell echoed from the brutish shikigami.
A heavy burst of electricity, twice as condensed and brighter than the weaker Zio spell, struck the beast in his wounded back, and the demon fell bonelessly to the floor. "H-hey, you're a lot tougher than you look…" The Goetia muttered, and slowly picked itself back up, where it hung panting lackluster in the air. "No fair…I'll-I'll fucking kill you!"
With a roar, the creature twirled in the air. "Icy De-"
The Demon Lord appeared again, this time directly beneath the Goetia's gills, and thrust up, slicing into the delicate flaps with a terrifying ease. First the left pair, then the right, and the spell died in the Goetia's throat as it began to wheeze pitifully. Once more she vanished, appearing directly over the High Pixie. "Tenchi, now! He can't breath, finish him!"
Grimacing, his eyes filled with determination, the hitoshura growled and brought his weapon to swing over his head. At the peak of its momentum, he tossed it forward, letting the slack of the rope glide through his fingers. The weapon landed easily atop the Goetia's back once more, where lightning once again arched across its body.
This time there were no screams.
Just a sad, pitiful wheeze as the behemoth sea monster collapsed, its body disintegrating into the Magatsuhi it was comprised of.
When its body fully dematerialized into energy once more, the weapon fell to the ground with a clatter, and all that remained was silence.
"It's over…" The High Pixie whispered, staring with bright eyes at had once been the Goetia that had so easily slain her kin. "All this…it's over."
The Demon Lord landed on the ground, ignoring her as she turned her attention back to the demi-fiend, who looked at her with a pale face.
"You okay?" She asked him.
The teen stared at her, and at length shook his head. "I…I don't think I am." He said, and sucked in a long, slow breath. "That was…that was intense, Ryoko. Too intense." The hitoshura was shaking, the High Pixie noted.
"I know." The Demon Lord rested a hand gently on the boy's shoulder, and in that gesture the young Fairy was reminded of her own mentors, her own elder sisters, and the comfort and guidance they too had always brought her in times of challenge. "But you did good. You even got to save someone. It wasn't for nothing, Tenchi."
The lad sucked in a shuddering breath, closing his eyes meditatively before leaning heavily into the pirate's chest. The woman wrapped her arms around him, and for a moment they stayed that way, taking comfort in each other's intimacy. At length the hitoshura pulled away, sighing and nodding his head. "Yeah." He breathed out. "You're right. Thanks." He looked over to her, and the Demon Lord followed his gaze. "Are you okay?"
The High Pixie stared in confoundment, then bowed her head. "I have failed my sisters." She said quietly. "And as such, I have failed my Court. You'd have done better let the Goetia slay me; I have forsaken my responsibilities in my heedless attempts to slip past him."
"Hey now…" The demi-fiend began, only to fall silent as his taller companion raised a hand for silence.
The Demon Lord approached her, then looked down at her, arms crossed. "So you failed." The woman agreed. "And you know this. The question is now…with the one who slayed your kin now dead, how do you plan to live the life you have left?"
The Fairy stared up at the demon in dumbfounded silence. She bit her lip, then looked away. "I cannot show my face again in Court." She whispered.
"Than don't."
"I have no where else to go."
"Than roam free of any Master."
"I have no one left to turn to."
"That's not true." The hitoshura spoke up. "You helped me back when I first woke up. And…I'm really sorry about the others but…that doesn't mean that you can't come with us if you have nothing else." He invited. "Ryoko and I…we don't know this world like other demons do. You seem pretty familiar with it already though, and any guidance you could provide would be greatly appreciated."
"I cannot." The High Pixie replied. "It is banned by the Court-"
"Who cares?" The Demon Lord, Ryoko, said. "By the way you talk about it, they'd lock you up anyways if they saw you again, so what's stopping you?"
"I…" The High Pixie trailed off, and Ryoko planted her hands on her hips as she looked down at her.
"Listen," She stated, "Regardless of what's happened, you've been granted a second chance at life. What's done is done, and nothing you do will change or bring back the lives lost. Yet the question remains…what will you do with the new life that has been granted to you? Will you scorn yourself and let that meager flame be snuffed out by the guilt of those you failed? Or will you press on to forge a new path for you-one which may yet honor the lives which were lain down for you?"
The High Pixie was silent.
"We've all been granted a second life." Ryoko went on. "But only you can decide what to do with it. Whether that's to lie down and accept death or to press on despite the adversity you will face is entirely up to you. But until you figure out what you want to do with your life, you may as well travel with us knowing you have at least someone watching your back as you ponder your fate."
"You…speak as if from experience."
The Demon Lord shrugged. "What do I know about adversity?" She stated. "I am a weapon, one designed since birth to destroy. My purpose was never supposed to be more than one of simple destruction and mindless chaos, and yet now I find myself walking a very different path. So too do you. Make of it what you will." She glanced over at the hitoshura, who was carefully placing his strange weapon-a wooden sword hilt wrapped in rope-back into his bag. "Let's go Tenchi. We're getting out of here before something comes to investigate what took out Forneus."
The demi-fiend nodded. "Got it." He zipped up the bag, only to pause and squinted off towards what remained of the Goetia's corpse. "Hang on Ryoko, before we go…" He jogged off, and Ryoko looked back at the High Pixie.
"I feel I have nothing left for me." The Fairy said. "So perhaps I will come with you…for a time."
The Demon Lord shrugged. "Do as you like. You are bound to no Master, and are free to seek out your own destiny. Just know that if you attack Tenchi…you renounce your life." The demon's eyes were calm, cool, and calculating, and despite herself, the High Pixie shivered.
"I understand." She stated.
The demi-fiend came running back to them. "Ryoko! Hey, check this out! It's one of the things that made me a demon!"
Ryoko looked to the lad, and Tenchi held the thing out, still dormant from where it laid curled up on its side.
"A magatama." High Pixie murmured. "To think Forneus was so strong that one of these manifested inside his body…He truly was a Goetia.
Ryoko pursed her lips, examining it but making no effort to touch the creature. "It's essence is cold." She said. "Like ice…I don't like it. Stow that thing away Tenchi, we'll need to figure out what to do with it later."
"Right." The teen pocketed the hibernating entity, then looked at the Fairy. "Have you decided what to do?"
"Yes." The High Pixie replied, and with a deep breath, hovered in front of them both, bowing elegantly. "I am High Pixie of the Fairy Clan. Thank you for assisting me. I would be honored to travel with you."
And the demi-fiend smiled. It was a gentle smile, so alike to that of a young boy in her youth. "Welcome to the team, High Pixie."
Comments of a Madwoman: With weapon in hand and allies at aide, the Hitoshura marches forth. Come what will, Heaven will bow before his might. Come what may, a Shadow is caste where Kagatsuchi shines Brightest.