Chapter 113
Holy Land of MarieJois (903 years ago)
"Amazing Grace" echoed throughout the Holy Land as Captain Lowery and the young Marine's caskets, both with World Government flags draped over them, through the Holy Land to the cemetery.
Lowery's wife rode with the young Marine's mom on the back of a horse drawn carriage, both holding pictures of their sons. The newer recruited Marines lined the sides while veteran Marines walked behind the caskets. Some Marines cried, others saluted, and others just stared at the caskets, wondering how this happened. Above all else though... they were angry... and they wanted revenge.
On a balcony of the Holy Mansion, St. Mars, Ethan, and Topman stood with the two newly appointed elders, St Bison and St Cotter. St. Bison wore a hat with long horns and had a big bushy grey beard and short hair. St. Cotter wore a brown suit and had long flowing grey hair with no facial hair.
"We are terribly sorry your inauguration had to be postponed for a funeral." St. Topman said.
"It's fine. Even insects have to mourn a loss in their colony." St. Bison said.
"Who will replace Lowery as our inside guy?" St. Cotter asked.
"Clearly those Marine officers are too weak to deal with what is going on at The Mainland." St. Ethan spit.
"We'll have to send one of our own. With even more men than before." St. Saturn said, "Call for Holy Knight Ju Peter. Word is his body has been acting strangely since we sent him to first deliver the news we wanted to meet with Nika." Saturn said.
"And what about that other elder? Ubois? Didn't he go missing?" St. Cotter asked.
"Apparently so." St. Topman said.
"I'll call for Ju Peter to go get him." St. Cotter said.
"That won't be necessary... You both are his replacement, he was going to be killed when he got back anyway, whether Nika said yes or no to aligning with the World Government..." St. Mars explained.
"Understood." St. Bison said.
The elders continued to watch over the funeral from a balcony high above.
Shadow Island
Cyclone and Collector walked through the old Shogun's castle, given to Cyclone when he was appointed Shogun.
"How will we be getting to The Mainland your excellency?" Collector asked.
"We'll be taking the vulture. We'd be seen a mile away if we approach by ship and have to deal with whatever killed those two Marines and did whatever they did to Ubois." Cyclone said, "Remember, this island harbors Burusu's power, we can't take anything or anyone there lightly." Cyclone said.
"A genius plan your excellency!" Collector said.
Cyclone looked at a map he stole from the Shadowkin. The island was massive. 5 different environments surrounded the outside of the Unwelcoming Desert, which surrounded Nika's kingdom. Each area was ruled by a different faction. Nika's kingdom sat right in the middle of it all. The kingdom itself was just a giant castle with square tops, a watchtower that could monitor 360 degrees stood tall on the entrance to the castle, another part of the castle wrapping around it almost as if protecting the base of the watchtower. There were definitely going to be some sharp eyes in that tower.
Nika's throne room was most likely the small square room with a triangular roof that sat on top of one of the flat head castle towers. There was another taller watchtower behind Nika's castle that had a looping staircase so big it looked like a snake had wrapped itself around the tower. There was also what looked like an arena in the back.
"Nika's kingdom is the giant castle smack dab in the middle of the factions surrounding it. The Shadowkin were kind enough to have all of this already labeled for us. The only problem is there is no location for the Undead." Cyclone said.
"So how will we find them, your excellency?" Collector asked nervously.
"It's very easy Collector, there is no territory for the Undead because they don't have any territory on land, it's more than likely underground. Where underground is the problem im trying to figure out... I'm afraid we won't be able to figure that out on our own, we'll need to mingle with the locals." Cyclone said.
Collector sighed.
"That sounds like constant fighting waiting to happen." Collector concerned.
"We won't be doing any fighting unless we absolutely have to. We can't go stirring up unnecessary attention and end up not being able to move around in plain sight." Cyclone said.
Cyclone and Collector continued to walk through the dimly lit castle.
"The elders are going to send someone else to meet with Nika and more than likely search for Burusu's body. Time is also ticking with Tore as well. He'll definitely go to The Mainland, you understand why that cannot happen." Cyclone said.
"Of course, we need to make sure he doesn't get wrapped up in something and we have to waste time searching for him too." Collector said.
Cyclone nodded.
"Good." Cyclone said.
Cyclone and Collector eventually ended up outside behind the castle and walked up to Cyclone's giant vulture as it sat perched on a rock with a mask over its eyes to prevent it from flying away. Cyclone and Collector jumped on the back of the vulture and Cyclone removed the mask. The vulture screeched and immediately flew high into the air, away from Okino island.
Cyclone looked at the map.
"Hmmm... it appears the Ogryn control a massive snowy reigon called the Yowling Tundra to the southeast of the Kingdom, The Wretched Woods are immediately next to it at the South of the kingdom. The Skinwalkers control that area. The City of Nroc rests all the way to the west of the kingdom. The Blood Soaked mountain range separated the woods and the city. Looks like Nroc is where The Lizard People are. A few miles to the Northwest of the city of Nroc looks to be called The Stormwind Pass but that appears to be no man's land. Once past that, there's a forest on top of a mountain..? The Highland Forest it says it's called, guarded by The Watchers, it's on the North of the island... a massive firey reigon takes over from the Northeast to the East of the island called The Netherflames, supposedly guarded by The Demonspawn." Cyclone ran down.
"What faction do you trust has information on Burusu's whereabouts your excellency?" Collector asked.
Cyclone rubbed his chin.
"The Watchers seem to be the best option from what I can see. They have the second best bearings over the island, besides Nika's kingdom, they should have some good information." Cyclone said.
The two continued flying until they came out of the clouds and looked over the gargantuan island. Every territory Cyclone mentioned could be seen circling the kingdom, with a massive desert surrounding the kingdom itself.
"Looks like that desert is another reason no one has attacked his kingdom yet." Collector said.
"The Barbarios" control that entire desert. They and the desert are supposed to be the very first line of defense for the king if anyone decides to attack. It doesn't look like much from the air but these territories are massive we need to be on our Ps and Qs here, and not get wrapped up in any unnecessary mess." Cyclone explained.
Cyclone looked out towards the water, no Marines.
"Good, they haven't mobilized the next team of Marines to come here yet, we still have the time advantage." Cyclone said confidently.
"YOUR EXCELLENCY!" Collector yelled grabbing Cyclone's attention.
Cyclone hurried and looked behind them to see a gigantic beast chasing them. The beast was a mix between a bird and snake, with long red hair flowing wildly in the wind.
"What the hell?!" Cyclone yelled, dodging the monster's fire breath.
"WHERE THE HELL DID THIS THING EVEN COME FROM?!" Collector yelled, reaching in his bag.
"JUST GET IT OFF OUR TAIL!" Cyclone yelled as the vulture continued to dodge the fire breath. Collector began to swing his unholy chain in a counter clockwise motion, attempting to build up unholy energy.
"YOUR EXCELLENCY! I CAN'T CHARGE ENOUGH POWER IN TIME!" Collector yelled.
Cyclone sucked his teeth and looked towards the island. The Highland Forest could be seen perched on the mountains from the map. There were so many trees it was impossible to see inside the forest even with it being day time.
"There!!" Cyclone said, "We're over our destination! I'm going to help you get the power you need to get that thing away from us!!" Cyclone yelled, focusing his clock eye on Collector's chain. Collector immediately began spinning the chain at a very rapid rate picking up power quickly!
"O-OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH!" Collector yelled, "I think it was too much!"
"JUST THROW THE DAMN CHAIN!!!" Cyclone yelled as the flying beast opened its jaws to eat the two. Cyclone looked back as Collector yelled and threw the chain and ball at the ice dragon.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!
Unholy magic exploded in a giant blue ball of fire and magic high in the air over The Watcher's territory. The beast was blasted back for miles before it began to fall back towards the island. At the same time, Collector and Cyclone were blasted off the vulture and fell towards the ground themselves!
"NO! WE NEED TO LAND IN THE MOUNTAIN FOREST!" Cyclone yelled.
There was nothing the two could do as they fell past the Highland Forest and towards the cold snowy ground below. As the two got closer to the ground, the clear skies became foggy and cloudy as they were falling right into a localized blizzard!
"DAMN IT!!!" Cyclone yelled as he and Collector continued to fall into the snowy ground.
All throughout the island, different factions and civilians reacted to the explosion. Some saw the giant firey explosion, others only heard it, it didn't really matter who saw or heard what, the problem was the same. The people and factions from all over the island knew someone had just arrived unannounced.
Cyclone eventually woke up with Collector being frozen solid. Cyclone used his nen aura to keep himself warm. Cyclone looked around the snowy wasteland with his byakugan. There was no one around for miles. Cyclone couldn't even see the mountain range anymore. Cyclone wanted to scream with frustration but a distant sound stopped him.
Dong... Dong...
It was a bell. And it was close.
"Where there's a bell there's locals..." Cyclone said, putting his hand on the frozen Collector.
Cyclone used his nen to unfreeze Collector.
Dong... Dong...
"GAHHH! Thank you your excellency! I was-"
"Be quiet. Let's go find the source of that bell before we lose any more time!" Cyclone said.
Dong... Dong...
Collector and Cyclone then began to trek through the snowy blizzard, disappearing into the fog.
HOLY LAND (Room of Authority)
"So you understand your mission..." St. Mars said.
SAINT SHEPARD JU PETER, HOLY KNIGHT
The blonde young elder kneeled in his Holy Knight armor.
"Yes, of course." Ju Peter said, "Lecnian King Burusu's body is of utmost importance. My mappers will map the island and we will call in regularly to report anything and everything we find." Ju Peter said.
The elders nodded in confirmation and pleasure.
"Also, there is a rumor going around that even so much as mentioning going after Ubois will kill you, as a man of science I find that hard to believe, but take it seriously just in case." St. Saturn said.
"We'll just chalk it up as he's dead." St. Topman added.
"They said the island did something to your body... is that true?" St. Bison asked.
Ju Peter looked at St. Bison.
"Permission to stand elders?" Ju Peter asked.
The Elders allowed it.
Ju Peter then stood and coated his arms, hands, and sword in a black coating.
"A-Amazing! What is that?" St. Saturn asked.
The other elders were stunned. Ju Peter ceased the coating.
"We are not sure... but our best guess is, if the Lecnian king's body is really powering that island... it's overflowing. Now just merely stepping on the island can awaken this power. Some of our senses have also been heightened to the point we can detect people or things we can't even see." Just Peter explained.
The Elders looked at each other.
"Astonishing... who knew insects could grow so strong... we need that power." St. Topman said.
"And you will have it." Ju Peter said, bowing with one hand across his chest, "We will leave for The Mainland immediately." Ju Peter said, leaving the Room of Authority.
Ju Peter didn't make it far before he jumped with shock, randomly at being able to hear a voice.
"Ju Peter!!" A voice screeched.
Ju Peter stopped in his tracks.
"If you run into either Muranaka or Ubois... KILL THEM!!" Mu yelled.
Ju Peter was shocked at the demonic voice but nodded his head in understanding.
"Consider it done.." Ju Peter said, walking through the Holy Mansion.
The Mainland (Ferrol's Tundra, base of the Highland Forest Mountain)
Dong... Dong...
Cyclone could still hear the bell through the harsh winds. It was closer than it had been for what felt like miles.
"The bell... I can hear it much clearer!" Collector said.
Cyclone continued to block his face from the snow and wind.
DONG... DONG...
Eventually the bell sounded as if it was right in front of them.
"Argh! Now it's too loud!" Collector yelled, "AHHHHHHH!!"
Cyclone looked back at Collector then back in front of him and couldn't believe his eyes. There was an immense fir, standing around 30ft tall, standing alone in the middle of the cold tundra. The leaves on its body didn't cover what looked like... antlers... on top of it, the leaves covered the tree's body as if they were clothes. Two large branches wrapped over the tree's "chest" as if hugging itself, trying to keep itself warm. Cyclone looked the fir up and down and finally noticed the bell hanging high up on the tree.
DONG... DONG DONG...
The bell was so loud now Cyclone didn't know why the entire island couldn't hear it. Cyclone continued to study the tree.
"How is this possible...? How or why is a single tree just standing in the middle of a blizzard?" Cyclone said as Collector noticed something.
"Your excellency! Look! Skulls!" Collector yelled.
Cyclone looked up with shock to see there were indeed skulls hanging from the tree, suspended by ropes that wrapped around the tree like a necklace and belt. There were 17 skulls on this fir... 17 deaths.
"But who killed them?" Cyclone asked himself out loud. Collector had begun climbing the fir to grab the ringing bell. Cyclone's eyes shot open with immediate shock to see the fir begin to move! The two branches wrapped around its neck unwrapped and came down to the tree's sides. Two giant hands with 4 "fingers" on each hand. The beast opened its white, pupil-less eyes and looked down at Collector.
Collector had finally made it to the bell, it was huge!
"It looks a lot smaller from down there that's for sure!" Collector said.
"GET DOWN COLLECTOR! THE FIR IS ALIVE!" Cyclone tried to yell, but Collector couldn't hear him. Collector looked down to see Cyclone waiving and yelling.
"Hm? Has his excellency noticed something?" Collector asked as he looked back up and almost screamed.
The giant fir was looking right at him.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Collector asked as the fir reached its other arm up and slapped Collector off of it with immense power!
WHAM!!!!!
Collector felt like every bone in his body was broken when he landed in the snow. It didn't take long for him to drift into unconsciousness. Cyclone looked back at Collector with slight fear as he looked back up at the fir that now stood tall in front of Cyclone ready to fight. Its mighty bell still sounding loudly.
FERROL "THE GUARDIAN"
Welcome to The Mainland.