Part 4: The Labyrinth of Amala
Amala Network
Kagatsuchi: Masked
Location Unknown
In the depths of an artificial labyrinth, something massive roamed. Its walked haunched over, its shoulders scraping the sides of the walls as a pair of massive horns, worn smooth from abrasion and abuse, ground white, keratin marks along the yellow ceiling. Around it, the hallways and rooms of the Amala network shifted and distorted, at times appearing, at times disappearing, at times sending the daemon backward or forwards or up or down. It mattered little.
It was merely a guardian, appointed with its sibling to guard the pathways from Interlopers and to prevent unwanted spirits from settling within the sacred space that was its domain. Once an Interloper had attempted such a feat, a human had stumbled across one of the massive Hidden Treasures and had fused with it. The resulting creature had brought disaster and dissolution across not only the Amala Network but the interconnected Vortex World as well. A request had been made of his master then: to provide guardians to the Network in preparation for the next transient dimension to prevent such a disaster from occurring again.
That had been eons ago.
Now, it maneuvered through the Network with the aptitude of one who knew it better than its own palm, who allowed the shifting connections of the Network-almost like firing neurons within a brain-push and pull and tug and shove it from one location to another.
The Network was a living vessel, and it was the white blood cell placed to defend it.
There were new scents in the air.
It inhaled deeply, and watched a hallway manifest before it.
This way. The Network whispered, and knew its sibling was hailed as well.
With a low, deep groan, it sauntered down the new hallway, a Minotaur after a Theseus unaware he was hunted.
"Ten…chi?" Ryoko clutched her head as she sat up, cradling it with a grunt as she looked around her. Nothing but a yellow hallway met her gaze. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything held that same low, deep yellow color of honeycomb, except…
With a grimace, she pushed herself to her feet. "The floor is alive." She mumbled, and leaned against the wall with her left shoulder, watching as something almost imperceivable flowed beneath it. "Magatsuhi?" She murmured, and checked her head again, patting it over the cowl which covered her head and feeling for hot or wet spots which might indicate a deeper trauma. When nothing serious met her inspection, she straighted, examining the walls with harsher scrutiny.
Honeycomb-textured walls, but the floor was…not glass, but something similar. Translucent. Below her feet she could just make out the deep, red flow of a river of Magatsuhi, heading away from where she stood. "Well…this is new." She pursed her lips, and took a hesitant step forward. The floor held above her, and she could feel no trace of the Magatsuhi river absorbing into her. "Thank the stars for some blessing." She stared at the floor in distaste, and looked behind her, finding a wall of honeycomb before her. "So…we went through the Amala Drum. I know that. We weren't holding hands because I still haven't figured out the molecular disassembly and reassembly of the Terminal, and neither of us want to wind up accidentally fused." She paused. "So…where the fuck am I and where's Tenchi?"
Nothing but a deafening silence-like the Soja, like the cave-met her ears.
She winced, and felt her arms rise in gooseflesh. "Hiji?" She pointed, and in a flash of violet light the karasu tengu appeared. The space pirate released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, sagging visibly at the sight of her old friend. "You're okay. That's a relief."
"So I am." The tengu nodded. "We are…no longer in the Vortex World, Ryoko-sama."
"We aren't?" Ryoko looked at the youkai sharply.
Hiji nodded. "I have heard only rumors of this place but…it seems we are in the Amala Network."
"The Amala Network?" Ryoko repeated, "Like…not the Terminal room or the drum but…"
"But the labyrinth which connects all of the Terminal Rooms to each other." Hiji supplied. "I have heard only rumors of it, however from what I know of it, the Network is what allows the Terminals to transport other entities across locations; it is not a true teleportation but rather spirits diverging themselves of their physical shells to become Magatsuhi, where they follow the paths within the Network to their end destination and rematerialize."
"Like the flow of electricity on a circuit," Ryoko mumbled. "But then…if that's the case, how am I here and where's Tenchi? Did he make it to the end destination?"
"I have no answer," Hiji replied. "I know only the terminals have recently grown weak because of the activities of some young goddess messing about, and that the terminal has grown prone to malign events as of late."
Ryoko sighed. "I wish you'd said something sooner." She muttered. "This would have been nice to know before jumping into the terminal."
"I was under the mistaken assumption you were already aware, Ryoko-sama. My apologies."
"Don't worry about it." She mumbled. "Next time speak up though. I'm more out of my element than I think you realize; this isn't the Mountain anymore and you already seem more informed than me." She sighed, then glanced up sharply. "And stop calling me that!"
"Do not ask for the impossible, Ryoko-sama." There was a note of humor in the old crow's voice.
The woman eyed the youkai with a flat expression. "Glad to see you missed me so much." She said and had the distinct impression the crow spirit was smiling at her beneath his mask. She sighed, then dropped to one knee, observing the gentle flow of Magatsuhi beneath her. "So…if I'm understanding you right, this isn't just Magatsuhi beneath me."
"Agreed," Hiji said. "It is a river comprised of other traveling spirits."
"Well, that's not disturbing at all." Ryoko sucked in a deep breath. "I feel like I could have gone my entire existence never knowing that bit of information." She climbed to her feet. "If I find a way out of here, I'm not certain I'm comfortable using the Drums again knowing I'm reduced to…that."
"Is it different from what happens when you teleport?" Hiji asked.
"It is," Ryoko said. "This is…unless I'm wrong, it's like Tenchi and I and whoever else is using the Network all mixed like droplets in a river, traveling downstream and diverging on different paths based on our different destinations. When I teleport it's just…me. Or me and whoever is with me. We're separate like…like bottles filled with water thrown into a river; there's a barrier preventing us from merging with everyone and everything else."
"So you maintain the boundaries of the Ego rather than let it dissolve into the Void." Hiji observed. "Interesting."
"Don't start examining me like I'm some science project," Ryoko growled. "Anyways, let's go. Maybe there's an exit that will let us out and we can reunite with Tenchi."
"Very well." Hiji nodded. "Call on me as you need. If it is all the same with you, I would like to conserve as much energy as possible in case you need me."
"You think something is here?"
"I do not know, and I have no desire to find out," Hiji replied.
"Fair." The Demon Lord planted a hand on one hip. "Alright. Thanks for the info Hiji. I'll call on you if I need anything else."
The youkai nodded before vanishing once more in a flash of light, leaving Ryoko alone once more in the sterile silence of the Amala Network. At least I know I'm not alone. The pirate thought, rubbing her arms in a self-conscious hug and keeping an eye on the Magatsuhi as she followed the flow of Magatsuhi down the hallway. I'm not sure what I'd have done otherwise.
She heard a strange warble behind her, not dissimilar from the sound her own body made between transportations as the atoms re-stabalized, and turned to the noise, finding a door had appeared behind her. The woman frowned, examining it, and then looked to the floor. A small portion of the Magatsuhi had diverted to flow towards the door. With a scowl, she approached it, finding it opened at her touch and revealing a separate hallway that veered off in two separate directions. "Is the Network changing because of the current?" She asked aloud, allowing her voice to comfort her by filling the silence and hearing it bounce off the tall honeycomb walls around her. Sighing, she moved onwards, picking a direction at random and heading down the right path. A flash of light, and she found herself before the door again.
"What."
Blinking, she looked around, reorienting herself as she proceeded through the door again. The same path rested before her. "Okay…so…either I'm on an alternate path or I was just told to 'fuck off' by whatever powers that be. Will it happen again if I go left?" Making her way down, she tensed, bracing herself for any sudden teleportation and sighing when the hallway continued to a T-intersection. "Okay, so…does that mean that certain pathways are only open to me because I was using the network to travel?" She looked behind her shoulder. "Was that right path the wrong way for me? Or was it something else?" Approaching the T-intersetion, she dropped once more to one knee, observing the flow of Magatsuhi with scrutiny. Did one direction have a stronger 'current' than the other?
"…I can't tell." She grumbled, then shook her head. "Fine. I guess I'll just need to figure it out through trial and error." The silence of the Amala Network bore down atop her in deafening quiet. It reminded her of the cave. "…Great."
Choosing left once more yielded her back to the door she'd come through, and the woman felt a knot of frustration build in her chest. "Ooookay. Deep breaths Ryoko. So far it's only two ways and you already know which direction to go. Right then left. Take it easy, it's not worth getting angry over. Save it for the first demon who mistakes you for an easy mark." Sucking in a deep breath, she moved on, returning to the T-intersetion and heading left. The length of the hallway stretched on for a small eternity, yet off against the horizon Ryoko could just make out a small figure. "Is that…?" She moved towards it, her lips pursing in a deepening frown as more features became evident. "It's humanoid, I can see that, but…it doesn't look like Tenchi…"
The dress was wrong. Tenchi still wore his brown hantan jacket. This one's jacket was made of a black and shiny material. The hair was longer too, and they carried a massive broadsword and a large backpack on their back the likes of which Ryoko had never seen before. But then why…
She paused a small distance from the stranger, whose back was to her, and inhaled.
Why did she…know them?
The stranger turned and Ryoko felt her blood run cold.
"Impossible…" She heard the man breathe. There was a cat on his shoulder. A brown nekomata with markings reminiscent of the one that sometimes appealed to her while imprisoned in the cave.
For a small eternity, time ran still as Ryoko stared at Yosho in shock, her pulse racing from her heart and up her neck into her skull, down her limbs, and to the tips of her fingers. "No way…" She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it, to scream at the horror of running into her warden here of all places, to find him alive or in a state similar, existing in a world outside the Vortex World in all its absurd, murderous madness. "No fucking way." Unbeknown to her a smile spread across her face, cruel, cold, and bitter as she met his burgundy eyes with her gold.
"Ryoko…?" There was disbelief in the man's voice, and though it was small, yes, she could sense it, an undercurrent of something else, something more: Fear.
And oh how she relished it.
You could have pretended you didn't know me. She thought, I would have let you go. It would have been so easy to just lie…and I'd have believed it without a second thought. What kind of cruel entity would have allowed us both to not only survive the end of the world but to meet again in a place hidden from Kagatsuchi? I would have thought it too large a coincidence and moved on. But you couldn't, could you? You'd lie to the world to hide your face, yet with me, you were always the most honest…hateful….bastard. A captor full of torment and cruelty when I could do nothing to stop you.
Perhaps the cards were finally laid in her favor.
She took a step towards him, savoring the growing trepidation on her old enemy's face as he stepped back. "Well…it seems Fate is in my fortune after all." The words came out in a husky purr. No Tenchi to witness this…for his sake, I'll make it fast. She held a hand out, and felt energy gather in her palm. She gripped it, and felt the comforting ejection of its manipulation into a plasma sword.
"How are you here?" The man took another step back, and the nekomata hopped off his shoulder, landing on the ground with ease as it looked up at Ryoko with a hiss, twin tails thrashing as its fur stood on end. "Are you-were you part of the world's end?"
A knife of hurt anger struck her. Yosho blamed her for this?
She had wanted her freedom, her body, her independence from the cave and all its cold and hurt it brought. To be able to roam without fear of prosecution or attack or fear in a world that did not know her, and to enjoy the company of the youkai which had become her family. To leave Earth in peace and return to the cosmos with her sister and explore the universe and it vastness in quiet existence.
She had never wanted the world to end.
"No…" The purr fell in to a deep, low growl, her anger mounting like a comfortable old blanket. Aaah, yes. The anger. The rage. It returned now in full force, and the pirate opened herself to it like a lover, languishing in the raging flames it stirred in her chest. She'd forgotten it. She'd allowed herself to forget between the cave and freedom and the Vortex World and Tenchi.
Now though, like a siren's song it came calling, and she found herself under its thrall once more as it whispered sweet oblivion in her ears. "But I survived it. And so did you, unless you're a spirit." She paused, and pointed the plasma sword towards him. "Shame. Either way, you'll cease to exist before I find a way out of this place. That is a promise."
A tight grimace appeared on Yosho's face. "I have no desire to fight you." A hand reached for the massive sword on his back, gripping the handle with a hand that seemed to glow golden with the reflected yellow light of the Network.
"Well that's too damn bad." With a smile that was closer to a snarl on her face, she launched herself at the man and found the hallway engulfed in flame as the nekomata howled. The fire, red-white with heat, contorted, warped, and formed into the yawning maw of a feline, and before the pirate could react she found herself engulfed in searing flames.
The fire was intense, hotter than the flames of previous opponents, and feeling it lick her clothes and sear not just the fabric, but the cowl, she teleported backward, escaping the maw singed but otherwise unharmed and finding Yosho's back towards her as he ran the opposite direction.
"Motherfucker!" She roared and raced after him. "Get back here and die, Coward!"
"Get back. I won't warn you again." The COMP flashed across her right eye, listing out a series of stats portraying the strange, humanoid daemon before her. For a moment it obscured the vision in her right eye, the list of text interfering with her depth perception as she took careful aim at the creature with the MKIII. She could hear Pascal snarl beside her. She could hear Chamrosh shriek in her mind.
MAJIN HITOSHURA
NEUTRAL/UNALIGNED
ELEMENTAL PROPERTIES: UKN
WEAKNESS: UNK
STRENGTHS: UNK
ATTACKS: UNK
THREAT LEVEL: HIGH
The word "HIGH" flashed across the secular HUD in warning, and Kiyone felt the hair rise on the back of her neck. This is bad. She thought. I need to find a way out of this room. If I could just get past it, I could make a break for it, but with it hovering at the threshold…
Before her, the Hitoshura raised his hands. She saw his palms were branded too, and held the same, ethereal glow as the rest of his body. "Look, I'm sorry but you need to believe me when I say I wasn't with that demon. I was traveling with another person, yeah, but not-not whatever you killed." It almost sounded like he was speaking Japanese. Had Belldandy done something to her COMP when she'd been examining it? There was a weird, hollow echo in her right ear from where the device was translating the words, but even without it, she could hear what sounded very close to Japanese. It had the slight drawl of an Okinawan accent like Yosho's, but with an underlying, vehement growl that wasn't…normal for a human.
It made the hair on her arms stand straight and stiff.
Still, he was communicating with her, which was more than what that other daemon, the Earth Elemental, Erthys, that had attacked her had done. The woman pursed her lips. She didn't want to fight if she didn't have to, and despite the daemon before her being a high threat level,his shape and form and body language were all so human that she might yet be able to talk her way out of the situation.
If he was indeed telling the truth.
Kiyone licked her lips. "Okay," She said, "If you really weren't with that demon, then you'll have no issue backing out, right?" The weapon still raised, she took a step forward and found the Hitoshura did indeed take a step back. The woman nodded. "Good. I don't want any trouble, you don't want any trouble. You said you weren't with that creature, and I'll take your word for it." The spirit stepped into the hallway, arms still raised, and Kiyone followed him out, feeling Pascal close beside her as the beast snarled at the daemon. "Stay where I can see you. Any strange moves and you'll have a hole in your chest." She warned and only half-believed her own words. She'd seen demons that could repel fire and lightning and bullets but had no indication as to what this-this demi-fiend was capable of. She had an inkling of what Alice, a Fiend could do, but had no reference as to what changed between a Fiend and a Demi-Fiend or the true dangers each had.
And that unknown scared her more than if she knew what he was capable of. Chamrosh's attacks might bounce off his chest for all I know. She thought. Pascal might bite him and come away poisoned or worse. I don't want to fight him. He doesn't seem to want to either.
"You got a name, Demon?"
The entity flinched at the title. "…Masaki, Tenchi." He said. "May I have yours?"
Masaki? Didn't MJ say he had a grandkid named Tenchi? It was too big a coincidence. Yet something made her pause. He's not human. Even if say…he did somehow survive…people don't just become demons. Not without…not without giving up their humanity first.
He looked so human though. Like a kid barely out of his teens.
Humans don't have brands that glow. A piece of her warned. Humans aren't labeled "Hitoshura" in the COMP.
They weren't. She'd seen that with Yosho and Keiichi upon their first meeting. They both were labeled "HUMAN" by the device. Not "MAJIN HITOSHURA".
Humans weren't labeled as a high-level threat.
The Hitoshura stared at her with anxious golden eyes, and Kiyone was overcome with a sense of deja vu, when another humanoid creature had stared up at her with similar eyes and had asked her name and smiled and laughed and asked her to die for her. The woman squared her jaw. "…Cadejo." She said.
"I ah, I see." The demi-fiend laughed nervously, his eyes darting between her and the MKIII in her hands. "Ah…you said-said you were looking for someone?"
Kiyone held her silence.
The hitoshura, Tenchi, swallowed. "Um, I uh, I'm lo-looking for someone too." He stuttered. "Ah, maybe you've seen her?"
"Maybe I have." Kiyone said. The weapon never wavered from its target.
Another anxious laugh. He acts like he's human. Kiyone narrowed her eyes. Another demon wouldn't have flinched if I kept the gun up. They don't know what a gun is and aren't conditioned to react in certain ways to one aimed at them. They don't see them as weapons or threats, but this one does.
"Ah, ni-nice to meet you, Cadejo-san." The daemon said. "Um…I'm, I'm looking for my friend who ah…she um, also looks human. Spiky cyan hair, yellow cat-eyes, and-and she was wearing a blue an gold stripped dress. We were trying to go to ah, Miebashi through the Amala Drum."
Kiyone nodded but said nothing.
"Ah…I um, I woke up here?" Tenchi tried. "I…I don't know where I am or where my friend is. I uh…I heard a shout and thought it was her, but I ran into you instead?" The words came out a question, and the detective recognized the youth as nearing his limit, growing desperate as he tried to convince her he wasn't a threat.
The woman pursed her lips. He's telling the truth. He's anxious and isn't lying as far as I can tell; anxious enough to tell the truth, not scared enough to tell me what I want to hear, and it lines up with MJ and me-we were also trying to reach some place via the Amala Drum before waking up separated in this place. Question is…does he know more than what he's saying? Or is he a victim of circumstance?
"Say I believe you." Kiyone's voice was low and level. "And we're both looking for someone. What do you plan on doing now that you've seen me?"
"Nothing!" The demi-fiend exclaimed, and the shout made both Kiyone and Pascal bristle. "No, seriously! I don't want to do anything to you! I'm not-I'm not trying to cause trouble and I just want to find my friend and get out of here." He looked at her with a hopeful expression. "Maybe-maybe its the same for you?"
"Maybe it is." Kiyone kept her tone neutral.
"Look-I was-my friend and I were trying to reach another human." Tenchi revealed, and Kiyone narrowed her eyes. "Wait-she's a friend! Kumashiro Sakuya! She was-she was a classmate of mine before I became like this!" He gestured vaguely to himself. "I-I'm trying to help her and her gang out! She and some other demons were trying to start a community and Miebashi Station but it isn't protected from Full Kagatsuchi and I found a place that is!"
"That so?" Kiyone's voice was cool. "And where's this place supposed to be?" Does this mean he was human? Or was he a demon under the identity of a human? Hell, for all I know, he killed Tenchi Masaki and stole the name and face for his own purposes. He's quick to name another human but hasn't dropped the name of his missing 'friend'…
"In Minatogawa Stateside Town." Tenchi replied. "The Assembly of Nihilo has some kind of barrier set up that negates Kagatsuchi's influence, and its supposedly run by a human. I'm trying to reach Kumashiro-san to let her know she'll be safe there; the daemons don't attack humans there."
"What a convenient location." Kiyone murmured. "Almost sounds too good to be true." The Assembly of Nihilo though…Thor had accused her, Yosho, and Morisato of coming from such a place originally. So the name checked out.
"Th-that's why I went to investigate it for Kumashiro." Tenchi stammered. "She's my friend and I just want to make sure she's someplace safe." The daemon sent her a hopeful look. "I-I promise you it's safe. They have a policing unit that keeps the peace and ensures demons aren't attacking each other outright. There are stores and inns and even a bar. They have rules you need to follow to be allowed to enter and everyone, regardless of race or species or alignment, follows them."
The ex-detective stared at him with a tight frown. Then with slow reluctance, the woman lowered the MKIII, inhaling deeply. She heard Chamrosh growl, and stroked the grip with a thumb as if trying to soothe the spirit attached to it. "I'll take your word for it-for now." She emphasized and watched the hitoshura sag with relief as he dropped his arms. A hand moved to rest on Pascal, and the deep growl faded as the beast licked his nose, staring at her with a soft whine before returning his gaze to Tenchi.
"Thank you." Tenchi breathed. "I-seriously, I don't know where I am or what happened to my friend and-and this place is weird. It…doesn't make any sense."
"What do you mean?"
"Before I ran into you, I was trying to navigate this place and…I kept getting I guess…teleported? I'd go down one hallway and find myself two corridors back, or I'd walk to one area and the floor would just suddenly…open. Not like, 'breaking' but like…" Tenchi shrugged helplessly. "I can't explain it."
"I see." Kiyone murmured. "I'll need to be careful then." She eyed Pascal, who thrust his head under her arm in a quiet demand for attention, and let it rest on his forehead above the third eye. I may need to return Pascal to the COMP if that's the case. Last thing I need is for the two of us to be separated. To the hitoshura she nodded. "Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep it in mind. Let's go Pascal."
"Wait."
Kiyone paused, looking back at the youth with suspicious eyes.
Tenchi held his hands up to his chest, palms up to show he was not a threat. "I mean…you were attacked by another demon, right?" He asked. "Would it be safer for us to travel together? At least until we find our friends again?"
With anyone else it absolutely would be. Kiyone thought. But three out of four lost 'kids' I've run into have tried to kill me-maybe even succeeded. I'm not sure I want to risk a fourth attempt.
Still…that demon that had attacked her had been strong. None of Pascal's nor her own attacks had shown any kind of weakness, and Shuten had been knocked out when it had repelled one of his own attacks back at him. Though she was loath to admit it, she and Pascal had defeated the Erthys by the skin of their teeth. And that had only been one. There will be more roaming in packs I bet. Can I afford to not travel with backup?
The woman grimaced, biting back a groan. Of all the times to be separated from Yosho. She glanced at her HUD, watching as "HIGH" threat level continued to flash in warning to her. At length, she sighed, and nodded. "You have a point." The words were tight. "Fine. Let's go search for our friends and get out of this place." The woman pointed at him. "But I will say this once: If you try anything that causes me to doubt your sincerity, I'm feeding you to Pascal, do you understand?"
She doubted her team could take on the hitoshura together, let alone Pascal alone.
Yet the hitoshura remained nervous, and nodded regardless. "I-I understand." He said, and swallowed.
Kiyone nodded. "Let's get going then. What direction did you come from?"
Tenchi pointed.
"Right, lets head the opposite direction then since you didn't see anyone that way." She paused. "…You out front where I can see you."
"Alright." Tenchi moved past Kiyone, hugging the wall as he took as wide a berth as possible around Pascal, who lifted a lip to reveal the row of sharp teeth along his jaw. The hitoshura eyed the beast with open wariness, then began to walk down the hallway.
Is that horn growing out of his neck? She hadn't noticed it before. "By the way," She began to walk behind him, Pascal glued to her side. "What's your friend's name?"
"Oh, ah…Ryoko."
"Ryoko?" Kiyone's eyes widened, and for a moment she forgot herself, stopping in the hallway in shock. To her credit, her tone remained light and airy.
"Yeah. She and I have been traveling together since the world ended." The youth ran a hand through his hair. "I hope she's okay." He said. "I'm really worried about her. She's-she's the closest thing I have to family in this place." He glanced over his shoulder at Kiyone, and the woman took note of how he had to angle his neck so as not to stab himself in the shoulder. "…How about you?" He asked. "What's your friend's name?"
"MJ."
"Em Jay?" Tenchi repeated. "Weird name."
"He's come to terms with it." Kiyone replied, and watched as the youth turned forward once more.
"You think they ran into each other?" Tenchi asked. "I…kind of hope not, if I'm honest."
"Why's that?"
"Ryoko isn't really the best around people she doesn't know." The youth admitted. "She's…had a rough life, so she's slow to trust." The youth scratched the back of his head. "She's gotten better, but waking up in a place like this isn't doing her any favors, you know? I don't want her picking a fight with another human."
"Is Ryoko…human?" Kiyone prodded, and watched the demi-fiend shake his head with rising dread.
"Ryoko is…Ryoko." He said, and Kiyone caught the long pause he held, as if debating on how to define her. "She's…I guess the Holy Demon of the Masaki Shrine." He confessed, and Kiyone felt her heart sink. "She ah…was imprisoned in the family shrine some seven hundred years ago, but has been serving as a kind of…guardian spirit, I guess, since my mom was a kid. She's been watching out for me since I woke up in the Vortex World as a demon."
"I see…and you were human once?"
The youth nodded. "Ryoko saved me." He said. "I woke up…changed, but, well…alive I guess." He looked back at her. "If…you can call this 'life'." He stared at his hand, where the brands pulsed with an alien blue light, and Kiyone fell quiet as the teen turned back, continuing down the hallway in silence.
Disturbed, Kiyone followed after him.
Yosho, you better watch your ass. She thought. If this really is your grandson and your old prisoner is here…I don't think this is going to become the happy reunion you'd like it to be…
Before her Tenchi stopped suddenly, holding a hand out to stop Kiyone in turn. "Hold on…" Tenchi murmured.
Beside her, Pascal sniffed the air, and a high whine escaped him before a deep and ominous growl rose in his throat. Kiyone noted the hound's behavior and looked back at Tenchi. "What is it?"
"Something's coming." Tenchi took a step back. "Something big." He took another step back, almost running into Pascal, and Kiyone looked past him down the hallway.
The woman squinted. "Is that…a minotaur?"
Tenchi laughed nervously. "I-I was thinking Gozuki myself." He said. "I-I don't think the minotaur owned a kanabo."
Ahead of them, standing at close to ten feet in height, its frame so massive it had to stoop and tuck itself in to squeeze through the narrow corridor, stood a massive, muscular demon. Its flesh was deep and angry pink, dressed in the rusted old remains of a samurai's armor worn to a dull and smooth sheen. Two massive horns protruded from its bull head, the tips worn smooth from where they'd scraped against the ceiling. In its right hand dragged a massive spiked club, one almost as large as Pascal stood tall and lined with pointed iron studs. It stared at them with eyes that glowed a vibrant blue against its angry skin.
Its nostrils, complete with a lead ring through the center, flared as it inhaled. "I SMELL INTRUDERS." It rumbled. Its ears flickered, and then it smiled; a repulsive, unnatural action less of a human's smile and more of a bull's lips pulling back in a long, unnatural expression, revealing massive, yellow teeth. Bits of gray matter speckled their surface and clung to black-spotted gums. "IT HAS BEEN LONG SINCE I'VE ENTERTAINED MYSELF WITH MORTALS." It's eyes gazed along the group, and seemed to focus on Kiyone. "LONGER STILL SINCE I'VE SUPPED ON A WOMAN'S FLESH." The kanebo rose, and the demon caught it's lip with the meaty slap of an ogreish hand decorated with pointed nails.
"Run."
"What?" Kiyone looked at Tenchi.
"Run!" the youth roared.
Kiyone didn't need to be told twice. She turned and fled, Pascal close to her side and hearing Tenchi fall in step behind her as, farther off, there came the bellow of a bull before the daemon Gozuki charged after them.
Yosho had no earthly idea where he was going.
He ran towards one corridor and found Ryoko in front of him, singed, a snarl on her face as she lashed out with the energy sword. He lept back, hearing the hum of its energy, and where he landed the floor opened up, swallowing him whole.
The man fell with a yell, clutching Ol' Koneko protectively against his chest and found himself in what he could only assume to be the floor beneath him. Not wasting any time, he rolled to his feet and raced in the opposite direction he'd been running, just catching Ryoko's mane of blue hair as she began to phase through the ceiling to look down at him. There came a sound like the shifting of particles, and the man turned to it, fearing it was the pirate and instead staring in bafflement as a door materialized before him. Without a second thought the prince threw it open and dove inside. The room revealed itself to be another splitting hallway, and not thinking-there was no time for that-he ran on instinct, diving right and squinting his eyes shut as he prayed to any kind deities listening that the hallway wouldn't spit him back out in front of the space pirate's path.
Instead, he found himself in a four way intersection and froze, observing them all with equal trepidation. "Straight!" Ol' Koneko yowled, spurring the man into action as somewhere behind him, Yosho heard atoms re-materializing behind him.
The ex-priest swore and sped onwards, running as fast as his legs could carry him and for the first time since swapping out his robes finding himself grateful for the jeans he wore. The fabric clung to him more than the flowing pants he used to wear, and the fresh aerodynamics of it became a lifesaver of as he raced forward.
Clinging to the backpack like his life depended on it Ol' Koneko yowled, and several fireballs manifested behind the duo. "Draw your sword!" He screamed. "I can't hold the Demon Lord back and we won't have many other areas spacious enough to swing it!"
"Tsunami bless it." Yosho hissed, turning to face the direction he'd come and slipping off first the sword, then the backpack in one swift, fluid motion, depositing one near a corner of the intersection as he slipped the sword from its sheath. "Alright Myrkur, I'm relying on you-don't let me down now." He whispered to it. "Keep me and Ol' Koneko alive."
He thought he heard a hiss in his mind, followed by dark and ominous laughter.
It sounded like his voice.
Don't think about it. He told himself. Now's not the time. Any other time but now-Ryoko is—
A swish of particles materializing on his left, and on instinct he raised his sword, just catching Ryoko's blade in the crossguard.
"Well long time no see, Handsome." Ryoko purred. "Oh I have missed you. What a treat to find you alive and in such good health! Tell me, did you miss me?" The pirate wore a savage, cruel smile on her face that set her face alight with malevolence. She bore her weight down on him, and with a grunt Yosho arched Myrkur down, throwing her weight off him as he retreated, raising the sword before him in a short guard.
"I must say, I'm torn." Yosho retorted. "I have no idea whether to embrace you or slay you! Tell me, who did your wardrobe? You look like any number of the elderly throwing themselves at me on the daily when I pose as an old man!"
For a moment his words caught the pirate off-guard, and had the situation not been so dire Yosho would have laughed at the startled exasperation which flashed across Ryoko's face. "What, you too? Is everyone going to call me a freaking Babushka?" She muttered.
"Is that what you're posing as nowadays?" He asked, keeping his sword up and aimed at the pirates chest as he focused on her. "A babushka? Tell me, do you also live in a house on chicken legs? Should I call you 'Baba Yaga'from now on?"
Ryoko narrowed her eyes, and her lips peeled back in a snarl as her left hand went back, gathering fresh Magatsuhi and firing it on him. Yosho reacted without thought, bringing the blade up to block it, and sensed rather than felt Myrkur deflect the attack.
"You got a new sword." Ryoko observed. "You finally went full native, did you? Or did you pilfer it from a dead body like how you stole my gems from me? And whatever did happen to that wonderful little toy of yours, anyway? The one which held my gems?"
Yosho grunted, and narrowed his own eyes, looking over the top of his sword with rising anger. "Last I checked," He began, "It was with my grandson that he might interact with you peacefully!" With a roar, he lashed out, the sword meeting and then breaking through the simple energy sword. Startled, Ryoko retreated, teleporting back several feet as she placed distance between them both, observing him with wide, bemused eyes. The stray Magatsuhi was absorbed into Myrkur, and rather than let the demon lord see his own surprise, Yosho held the sword out towards the pirate in challenge. "Not that it seems to have done any good." He growled. "I must be cursed to have survived in the same world as my prisoner in a land that rejected what remained of my closest family."
For a moment Ryoko opened her mouth to speak, and then just as quickly closed it with a snap. "Damn shame." She growled, "Maybe it's retribution for keeping me locked up while conscious in a cave for seven hundred years with your tree's roots carving its initials in my heart!" She snarled. "And don't forget, it could always be worse. Your grandson could have been reincarnated as a demon like me." She hissed. More energy gathered in both her palms, and she launched first one, then the other toward him, a pincer attack designed to get through his defenses. Instead, the man ducked low and rushed forward, half-sliding as he thrust his sword at the pirate with a roar.
Ryoko caught Myrkur with not one, but two plasma beams, catching them in a cross before pushing them away and to his right. Yet his training with Thor had instilled in him new techniques, and rather than retreat the man stepped forward, bringing the pommel up towards the Demon Lord's face and forcing her back farther. When she dodged, he used his momentum to swing the massive blade back down, and narrowly missed slicing through the tail of the cowl that glimmered with starlight instead.
For a moment, he thought he caught a flash of fear in her face, and brought the sword back up, smirking at her. "You seem quite attached to your new wardrobe! Tell me, have you gone bald with the world's end?"
"Have you finally gone senile?" Ryoko retorted.
"Perhaps. You are quite alluring in your resemblance to an old witch-woman."
The woman's face turned scarlet, and with a roar, Ryoko lashed out at him with both blades. Yosho just managed to bring Myrkur up to block it before the pirate pivoted on a foot, drew one leg up, and bashed a foot into his chest. The man was propelled backward off his feet, his breath leaving him with a broken wheeze as he collided with one of the corner edges of the four-way intersection walls, then fell with a voiceless gasp onto his stomach. The sword clanged on the ground just out of reach with a metallic clatter, and seeing stars dance across his vision Yosho tried in vain to push himself to his knees as his back screamed in sharp agony. She doesn't have her gems. He thought, How can she be so powerful without her gems?
Was it that strange energy she had once absorbed from him? That same terrible red light that Thor had stolen from Keiichi when they had first met? Was it something else?
What has she been doing since the Vortex World's creation? He wondered, and got his feet beneath him, groping for Myrkur as the pirate stalked towards him. Has she become so dangerous with whatever she's been absorbing? His fingers brushed the leather wrap of the hilt. She's become stronger and faster from when last we fought. What has she done to herself?
Ol' Koneko jumped before him with a yowl, his tails two large, fluffy bristles that stood stiff and erect in terror. He arched his back at Ryoko, and Yosho heard him speak. "Demon Lord! Please, I beseech you, spare us!"
"Little late for that now, Cat." Ryoko growled, regarding the youkai with narrowed eyes. "You allied with the man you knew was my enemy and attacked me on top of that. Trying to appeal to me now is a fool's gambit and you know it."
"So I do." Koneko replied, agitated, "Yet I still beg your mercy, Ryoko-sama. We have struggled to survive in this transient world and can do little in reflex other than run or confront those who would harm us. We wish no violence towards you; we wish only to pass in peace."
"Funny, your human's actions seem to speak of a different mindset." Ryoko sneered, and despite himself, Yosho flinched at the raw hostility in the demon's tone. With a grunt, he got his feet beneath him, but only so much as to sit himself up, keeping his hand near, but not necessarily on Myrkur as he edged ever so closely to the weapon. His free hand draped across his lap, and with a grimace, he looked up at the space pirate, defiance in his eyes.
Don't speak. He coached himself, feeling the hair on the nape of his neck bristle with alarm as Ryoko's gaze darted from the feline to Yosho. Koneko is trying to ease hostilities, not aggravate and if you say anything you will destroy his attempts to appeal to whatever good side Ryoko may have. The demon's eyes were hard, two sharp, golden orbs that held the savagery of a yellow sun.
Yosho dropped his gaze.
"Tell you what, I'll make a deal with you, Cat." Ryoko said, "You live." The shifting of particles, and on instinct Yosho grabbed his sword, bringing it up right as Ryoko manifested above him. "You die." Sparks danced atop his blade, and the woman bore her weight down on him, bringing the two weapons close. He could feel the compressed heat of the plasma sword burn against his cheek, and the woman growled, drawing closer with her absurd, inhuman strength.
"And if…I refuse?' Yosho grit his teeth, using his own position so close to the ground to hold his own against the demon lord.
"You don't look like your in any position to live." The woman's eyes glittered ominously in the strange, yellow glow of the room, and somewhere behind them, Yosho could hear Ol' Koneko yowling a despairing plea to them both.
"Well that's…a damn…shame." Yosho ground out, leaning into the flat of Myrkur's blade and reaching into one of the inside pockets of his jacket. In the span of a second he had the ruger out and pressed against the space pirate's stomach. Kiyone had given it to him on a whim.
"If Chamrosh is awake and working again, I don't need the Ruger. You do."
He had taken it with trepidation back then, but now, he found the weapon a blessing in disguise. Once again it seems Cadejo has saved me. He thought, and though it was strained, he smiled. "I'd say I have plenty of authority to live." He said, and before him Ryoko paused, her eyes darting to the weapon at her stomach and back to him. "Question is, how much is your life worth?"
"Think some bits of lead will kill me?" Ryoko said in a snide tone.
"Only if they're enchanted with ice." Yosho smirked.
The space pirate narrowed her eyes. "You're bluffing."
"I've spent the past several cycles with two deities in a land where the strongest survive." Yosho retorted. "I watched a goddess manifest new bullets out of empty shells and enchant them with all manner of magic. I don't bluff."
"You think I can't take your head off before your finger pulls that trigger?"
"Do you want to find out?"
"So it's a game then?"
For a long time the two stared at each other in silence, a standstill between two ancient enemies as they waited for the other to act.
A tense, looming dread permeated the corridors. Even Ol' Koneko watched with bated breath, agonizing over the actions of the ancient enemies before him.
Silence.
Minutes ticked by to the tune of an eternity.
Yosho could feel himself sweating, the hum of the plasma sword scalding his cheek like the sun on a hot midsummer day. Before him Ryoko stood unmoving, as still as a statue, her eyes burrowing a hole into his consciousness as they glared molten gold into his retinas. He imagined he could feel her pulse, rapid and erratic even as she stood stone still, against the tip of the Ruger.
He wondered if she knew his pulse matched hers.
"I'm late!"
The silence was broken by a new voice, light, high-pitched, and panicked as something small darted into the four way corridor. "Make way, make way, what are ye up to? Holden up th' hallway like a traffic jam, make way!"
Though neither opponent moved, two pairs of eyes darted to the sound and back to each other. Neither, it could be said, could fully understand what it was they witnessed: A rabbit—no, a hare-its coat once a bright and brilliant white now stitched together in a patchwork of mismatched colors.
It darted up to the two of them, ignoring the nekomata that stared at it in bafflement. "Ye're in th' way ye are! Go on, the lot of ye, get!" It snapped, "This is no place tah be flirting! Don' ye know Mezuki is come'n round these parts?"
"We're a little busy here." Ryoko growled, her eyes darting back to the strange white rabbit and back to Yosho in fresh accusation. Is this some kind of distraction?
"Wait." Yosho said. "What do you mean 'Mezuki'?"
"Wha'd'I mean, wha'd'I mean, the gallant oaf says?" The hare tittered. "As if ye dunnah know? Th' 'orse-headed sonnofa bitch roamin' these halls? De ye have a deathwish? 'Ee's maken' 'is rounds now, ye sons a bitches! An' if ye dunna wan' to join his death count, ye best kiss and make up and be along now!" The hare knelt low to the ground before springing up and over the two opponents, dashing further down the corridor and out of sight.
Yosho glanced down the hallway the rabbit came from, the back to Ryoko. "I think," He said slowly, "We may want to take the White Rabbit's words into consideration."
"You think I'm about to believe some talking rabbit?" Ryoko countered. "For all I know, he's one of yours—like the cat—and you're trying to pull the wool over my eyes."
"You think me so dishonorable?" Yosho bristled.
"Dishonorable enough to lock me in a cave for seven hundred years awake and with all my senses?" Ryoko said, "Abso-fucking-lutely, Asshole."
Yosho fell silent.
"The both of you, I beseech you, stop this." Ol' Koneko once more spoke, slinking towards the two of them with belly low to the ground. His ears were folded back. "I sense a demon approaching." The cat's twin tails were two large balls of fluff. "Its aura is powerful. I believe it may be too much for any of us alone to combat as we are now; we need to leave before it arrives; I believe the Hare was correct in its warnings."
"Fine." Ryoko said. "As soon as the asshole drops his gun."
Yosho snorted. "So you can take my head? I think not. Move your sword away first."
"As if I could trust you not to shoot me in the next instant." Ryoko narrowed her eyes.
Somewhere far off, Yosho thought he could feel a strange, steady vibration traveling through the floor.
His imagination, surely. The adrenaline growing too thick in his veins and affecting his perception.
"Well?" Ryoko growled. "What's it gonna be?
Yosho grimaced. "You're stubbornness will kill us both, you realize?"
The pirate smirked. "Maybe you." She said, "But then, that wouldn't be any loss now would it? I'll simply fade away when whatever's approaching arrives. You can play your favorite roleplay of "Heavenly Warrior" and provide me a nice distraction while I'm out of here." The woman smiled, revealing elongated canines. "Either way…whether you put down the gun or we wait here…I win."
The man's eyes widened, a blade of ice traversing his spine. "Would Tenchi want this?" He asked without thought, and to his surprise Ryoko visibly recoiled, as if struck.
"It's not about what he wants." The demon lord growled. "It's about settling a score."
"You would dishonor him so?" Yosho pressed, startled at this revealed weak spot and homing in on it. "You think this is what he'd have wanted? For the two of us to reopen the old wounds we suffered from each other and fighting to the death?"
A growl rose in the space pirate's throat. "And what," She snarled, "Do you know of what he wants?"
"You think I don't know my own grandson?"
Ryoko narrowed her eyes. "No."
Yosho bristled, offended on a level he'd never thought possible. "I know my own flesh and blood, Demon."
"You do?" Ryoko's words were snide. "Funny. Did Achika speak of me to you? Did Tenchi? Did you believe either of them when they told you legends of tengu and kitsune and kodama which rested deep in the woods? Or did you dismiss them like so many other fanciful tall tales, make-believe stories made by children who, in your eyes, held no agency in what they spoke of?" She leaned in close, disregarding the pistol which dug into her stomach. "They shared the same stories with you, requested the keys to my prison from you, shared everything about me with you, and you dismissed them. Did you know that Achika shared with me her growing crush on a young architect in college? Did you know she was afraid to introduce you to him because she feared you'd see him as soft? That I had to coach her to gather her courage? That she'd considered simply eloping with him?"
"You speak lies." Yosho hissed.
"Lies. You accuse me even now of such evils." Ryoko's smile was bitter. "No. I speak no lies. The Kurama Tengu instilled their honesty in me, and I have discovered just how painful truth can be thanks to them. I have no reason to lie at the end of the world. So now you will listen and you will suffer, from now until eternity, for the truth I curse upon you."
"OH, I LIKE THIS ONE." A bellow, high like a horse's scream, rose from further down the hall, making Ryoko pause. "I WONDER IF YOU TASTE AS SPICY AS YOU SOUND."
The two combatants froze.
Together, they glanced down the hallway and stared in horror at the massive demon that occupied it. Its flesh was a powdery, baby-blue, as if it had fallen into a vat of paint. Its eyes glowed an eerie red. Its garb was almost non-existent, consisting of little other than a soiled loincloth that may once have been unbleached cotton in a past life but was now so dark with filth it was little other than a ruddy brown. It stood tall at nearly ten feet, with a wiry body and a lithe profile that seemed at odds with its size. A human body. A horse head. It leered at them with a horse's smile, both lips lifted up and away to show its teeth. "AND A MAN TOO! WHAT A TREAT! ITS A TWO-FOR-ONE SPECIAL HERE IN THE AMALA NETWORK AND I AM BEING SPOILED!" It pointed at Yosho. "I WONDER HOW MUCH I CAN MAKE YOU SCREAM BEFORE YOU DIE. GOTTA TENDERIZE THAT MEAT BEFORE CHOWING DOWN! YOMI DIDN'T GIVE ME A LIONS HEAD, AFTER ALL."
Comments of a Madwoman: And here we see the roles switched, as Tenchi runs away with Kiyone and Yosho and Ryoko argue over their shared children.
Cathedral of Shadows
Erthys: (Worldwide) An earth elemental comprising one of the four elements. It represents "dry" and "cold" essences, two of the basic essences of which all things are comprised of.
Gozuki: (Buddhism-Japanese rendition) Ox-headed being tasked with keeping spirits in the underworld from escaping before their penance is finished. Works with Mezuki. The names differ depending on the country of origin.
Mezuki: (Buddhism-Japanese rendition)Horse-headed demon from Chinese Buddhist lore. He tortures the damned with lethal punishments, and when they are brought back to life, he continues their torture anew. Works with Gozuki. The names differ depending on the country of origin.
Hare of Inaba: "Known in Japanese as "Inaba no Shirousagi," it is a smart rabbit written of in the Kojiki, worshipped as a hare god. Wanting to cross the sea from Oki Island to the mainland, he had sharks line up in a row and crossed, pretending to help count them. But when he crossed and revealed that he was just using them, the sharks skinned him. He was healed by a passing god."