Teen Titans - New Gen; Tokyo Knights –
/
Chapter 4: Express Line Fright-mare
/
The faceless demon had goons as well to keep the vassal of the goddess preoccupied. Kaede cursed her luck. Aya was busy being given an enchantment by her contracted. A bit of shadow, and the ninja – daemon took to the floor.
"Just how can she get by –
"Hush, commoner." Sniffed Iyori – chan. "Aya – san is rather skilled in the art of deception. Better than a fox."
"Why –
Iyori waited until she could hear the screaming voices of dead soldiers. Opening the hatch, the moon eared spirit had Kaede tense up. "You made a mess." Iyori tutted. "Aya – chan…we are all set?"
"Yes, mistress," Aya nodded, a bit of demon miasma dripping from her suit. "The coast is clear to rescue your partner."
Kaede batted her eyes to the degree of violence as the demons lay twitching. That cat…. had claws. Aya and Iyori kept quiet and peeked through the door slowly as it lay shut only for a brief second. They made their way to the next car, while seeing more demon blobs and one was movibg and tyalking. The rest did not, Kaede noticed. Iyori seemed nervous about getting too close as her voice moved to plant an incantation. Aya's fingers grew sharp as she bolted after. Kaede got the chance with Iyori to go through the next door.
"Another dead path??" Kaede noticed this too. They were trapped, and the cars could go on for miles. "We are inside a barrier." Iyori panted, looking ill."
"What is wrong with your partner?" Kaede turned to Aya as she went to collect the girl. "This miasma is strong. This train is a vessel, the true master of it must be very powerful to have winded my lady so quickly."
"I am fine, Aya – san." Iyori grumbled and covered her lips. She was sure that something was attacking her psychically. Aya was a spirit being. So too was Kaede. Hopefully, Ami was not falling prey to this toxic air…
/
Ami covered her mouth and coughed. Haru in her human guise looked over the air with a sniff. "Miasma, likely too strong – Ami! We have to leave! Ami?"
She was weak, and the faceless conductor was on its way back. ~ My mistress requests a sacrifice! We have deemed that the train will dispose of anyone not allowed into her realm. Ah…you two. ~
The demon pointed at Haru and Ami. No surprise.
"We…she is very sick."
~ The mistress does not care. Human illness cannot harm her. Notice; her meal tickets are all resting!! ~ The faceless monster pointed to the rest of the victims. Ami groaned and saw that every last person was in the same state as her. "No…you'll hurt them –
~All must be among the river Sanzu before they can have their happy end on the other side. ~ The being said before using its goons to pick up the two guardians in the making. ~ The mistress will see you, for you have been chosen! Be glad, you will not die as quickly if she wishes to have you join us. ~
/
Kaede sensed danger up ahead, Iyori was looking miserable. Practically…
"Wait!" Kaede shouted at Aya as she opened the next train car door. A spiral of webs and tendril like wiry vines attacked them. The webs so sticky that Iyori had to summon fire to burn them off of her clothes. "N….no….no…. stay back!!!" She screamed as more vines came after the three. Aya ran to her contracted and morphed into a being with a raiment and a staff in hand. ~Iyori – dono!! ~
Kaede reverted to her form with ears and tail. Not holding back. "What is this train?? Who's running it!!" A vine was ripped by her fans' blades. If only Haru had been ok, she could sense the younger in trouble….that meant Ami….
Aya did not speak as the daemon took up Iyori in her arms and they fled. Kaede bounded after. Seeing fire and bones crushed like an elephant graveyard. "What is this place??"
~The lair…. ~ Aya growled.
~Of my mistress's sworn enemy. ~
/
Riding by plane was safe. It was….
Raku was a nervous wreck and he had to stop and breathe. He asked for mints. They failed. He read; he got headaches. It seemed that being half human had made all off the possible as John just chuckled about the boy's air sickness being natural to the dreaded "mortal" experience. "You wanted to revoke god – hood, so this is your purgatory and mine." He took a sip of a bit of stomach medicine and Raku was relieved he was not alone…. except for the nausea as he flew for the nearest restroom and at fifty – thousand feet.
The last thing John heard before he dozed off was the sound of a woman yelling at a teenager for vomiting all over her shoes.
"Human life is a bitch, lad." John sighed and drifted off. The meds had better work…hero on duty or not. He'd be damned if Bruce and the League ruined his cat nap.
/
The flutter of wings had a rather concerned spirit and demon to return to the nest of the one meant to free her as she was summoned. Ageha; a dark butterfly demon that had a long history as she gazed through the crystal scenes in each facet of her wings. Dark lashes and red streaked black hair hid not her glee. A prediction of the times, she smiled with ruby red lips and a chuckle. ~Ah, the little mage is back…. Jorogumo – sama will be pleased. ~
The door to her mistress's lair opened to reveal the demon conductor, Ami and Haru, who had let her ears pop out since the miasma was too thick to avert here. ~AH. ~ Lady Ageha fluttered over to the hostages. She went to touch Ami's scalp, then pulled her hand away which was now burned by a solar speck. ~A God's ally?? We must then warn Lady Jorogumo. Tie down the prisoners. I asssume the meal is prepared in the other car? ~
The demon bobbed its long-jawed face and was surely not a dead man tonight. ~Ye – Yes, mistress! The captives are all saved…. but…one had to die –
Ageha let her mouth open as a proboscis hit the demon and began to drain him dry. ~You. ~ She let go as the heap turned to dust at their feet. Ageha pointed to the next goon as he soon appeared more alert and spoke, while the other still had not gained this honor. ~you are in charge of the other spawned batch of followers. Lady Jorogumo will not lose her lunch. Next time, confront me. If you do not…. ~ Her eyes became wide as a hundred eyes appeared on her face to spook the fox kit below.
~Catch my drift?? ~
~Y- yes, Ageha – sama! ~
She smiled and looked at the fox next. ~An interesting find….you are the god – girl's follower? Her familiar, maybe? ~
"I…. I'm family, and you must let us go! My sibling will not like what you are about to accomplish."
~And what, little kitsune, is that? ~
"A sacrifice. A human one, to an evil demon from the realm of Yomi." Snarled and rather afraid Haru. "Of the underworld."
/
Kazuya sat by and watched the world turn. He hopped into an elevator at the biggest firm of offices he could find. Disguised as a person from the office upstairs, the kitsune god of the human world made his way past a woman of exceptional grace as she chided her companion. The man, a dark-haired CEO with an air of mystery, eyed the fox from down the hall as Kazuya followed and bowed in a mild mannered way to the beauty he was trying to steal time away from. She just turned up her nose and ignored the men as her day continued.
~ A princess, is not a secretary. ~
"That may be so, but it means I can make up for not protecting Lori in the past."
" Ehem, that was…. her?"
"Yes." Shoji answered dryly.
Kazuya blinked. "My, my…." Her grinned like a tiny devil. "You were that infatuated with one touched by A's voice all that long ago? Gods…. does she hate you, losing our touch…Veravakumu –
"My title here is as, Takahara Shoji." The dark-haired male snapped from by his own desk. " Why did you come here again, Kaz?"
Ever since Inari had swapped sized to fight with Athena of his own will against the other realms of spirit and the earthen plane, Shoji was indeed cautious about what information the kitsune god had to bring. He wandered as he pleased and watched EVERYTHING.
The white-haired fox frowned, knowing he hated that nick name most of all. "My sources say that… we were breached. By a large force of dark energy. Here, in Japan."
"I...this isn't a first time?"
"Not since the attack by the dark being of recreation." Kazuya spoke of the formless entity that the chosen kids had banished. "The being however is from these soils, and wishes to exact revenge on being defeated in Edo; the era of Shinto's full rise and the emperor's long stay in power. This being was said to have been betrothed to a lord of the court and ended up almost killing the emperor to gain precedence in the court. Its face was only documented of that but a lovely maiden - who has but one wish."
" Who defeated her." Shoji knew the answer and he didn't like those odds. "They're not ready to face a high – arch demon lord or whatever you are calling it. But… Are you saying –
"The demon is without name." Nodded the kitsune lord. "All that should be known, is that the descendent of that lord and the grandfather; an influential half human called… Abe – No – Semei (old trope but what the hell) was in fact cursed when they were small to see the unseen. However, they also fought the demon in the court's halls and defeated them. Upon the man's run in with a messenger of the demon, he was told that all of his children soon after would be cursed with the touch of death and the sight of the death of those around them. The current head is in danger from these sources. Which is why, I went to go ahead and find a way to allow our guests from London –
"Wait…. wait…" Shoji stopped the fox. "You called HIM into this??" Shoji almost transformed into Verra at that sound of breaking glass in his mind's eye. His eyes were near lost in this thought, that John would even want to return to Japan on a business trip since that day.
"Why not?" The kitsune lord shrugged. "Constantine has a new protégé that cannot be harmed by her power. If Ami is to do as her ally and guardian Goddess, as a vassal of the sun deity she must do all she can with us to protect the last child born to the Abe – No – Seimei, line….as " Abe-no-Seimei no norowareta saigo no shison."
"The Last Great Cursed Descendent of Abe – No – Seimei."
/
Wow, so it led to this…my mind is abuzz because I already know what comes next! Find out!
/
Ami had to open her eyes