Amala Network
Kagatsuchi: Masked
Location Unknown
Within walls of golden honeycomb, two pairs of footsteps fell as Kiyone raced down a corridor rife with a river of Magatsuhi. Beside her, keeping an easy pace, raced Pascal, his lips peeled back in a snarl as he panted alongside his master, his ears turned backward as he listened for the onset of footsteps that spoke of danger.
Fortune remained fickle with them, granting human and beast luck in avoiding danger, yet just as swiftly taking it away as they scrambled for…an exit, a reunion, a fortuitous rendezvous with a kindly demon or a still-living mortal. For Kiyone, it was with anxious relief that she raced down a left t-intersect, narrowly avoided an incorrect path meant for other travelers, and found a room with an antisocial, if helpful spirit, that granted them a small bit of its own Magatsuhi in exchange for the two of them to 'fuck off'.
The energy had been a blessing in disguise, and even Shuten was awake and recovered from his previous bout with the elementals. Yet the oni's return brought with it a sobering reality; Kiyone and her team were on borrowed time, outmatched by the denizens of this place, hunted by a bull-headed horror that looked like it could rip her in two with a simple tug and a wildcard of a demon that made Pascal's haunches rise.
Pascal barked a warning as they approached a staircase. The ex-detective slowed to a halt as she glanced at the beast, finding the hound tense and wary. Distress mounting in her breast, the woman took a step back, resting a hand on Pascal's shoulder and feeling the vibration of a low growl work its way up her fingers and into her hand. "What is it?" She asked, her own voice a whisper as she drew Chamrosh and unlocked the safety. "Demon?" She pointed the GXP blaster to the ceiling, one finger resting on the trigger as she prepared herself to shoot. "One we know?"
"NO."Pascal warned. His nose twitched. "RABBIT."
The woman's brows creased together. "Rabbit?" She asked, "Like a hare? Or like a demon?"
The hound's ear flicked, tail swaying with slow uncertainty as his hackles rose. His gaze remained centered on the staircase. "DO NOT KNOW." He revealed. "SMELLS STRANGE. LIKE RABBIT. LIKE MJ."
At that Kiyone perked up. "MJ?"
The demon hound tilted his head to one side, then the next, his expression perplexed. "RABBIT-MJ?" He asked.
"What, you think he was cursed or something? He always struck me more as a hawk or a wolf myself." The ex-detective grumbled. "Did he run into the Fey and get his name stolen or something?"
"NOT KNOW," Pascal said. "SCENT STRONGERER."
"It was a rhetorical question." Kiyone sighed. "Do you mean it's getting stronger?"
Pascal glared at her. "SAID."
Kiyone tried not to roll her eyes. "We'll work on grammar lessons later." She muttered and narrowed her eyes. She could hear something in the stairwell, coming towards them and growing stronger by the second. Muffled voices; they almost sounded human. Was it really…?
"..un…"
Quick steps racing down the stairs. Pascal shifted in front of Kiyone, bowing before her to avoid obscuring her line of sight.
"…run…"
It didn't sound like Yosho.
Something lept through the stairwell and over Kiyone's head before she could react. "RUN!" The Hare of Inaba roared. "Gozuki's on me tail! Do ye wan'te die?! RUN!" The daemon was off and fleeing back down the corridor before Kiyone could get so much as a solid glance of him, yet his words hit her all the same as Pascal wheeled, head dipping and crashing against Kiyone's legs as he knocked her onto his back.
Kiyone released a shout, then clutched at the beast's fur as the hound began to run, leaving her with a full view of a blue-white armored tail and a massive, filthy hoof touching one of the stairwell steps. "Oh shit." Kiyone hissed, and on instinct wrapped her legs around Pascal's waist. She felt something painful dig into her jeans and ignored it, her gaze traveling up as another hoof connected to a hairy, red-brown leg, appeared next. Then came the massive kanabo, the wood splotchy in some places from where it had grown wet, the steel spikes wet with drying red flecked with white. A hand gripped the stairwell railing, the palm alone, Kiyone noted, larger than her head.
Steam filled the hallway, and the daemon dipped into the hallway, its head bowed and angled to avoid catching the threshold against its horns. Bovine ears perked up as a red eye the size of Kiyone's fist found her.
Gozuki bellowed and chased after.
"Fuck!" Kiyone roared and fired at the beast. The first shot went wild, her aim askew as Pascal raced oward. The second one clipped the daemon's left shoulder, causing a grunt but doing little to stop him. The woman grit her teeth. The way we're moving makes it difficult to aim. I can barely even correct at this angle, and the fucker's massive!
Gozuki lunged at them, thrusting the kanabo forward. Kiyone screamed, Pascal dodged left, and the weapon swept high to one side, skimming over the woman's head as the ex-detective bowed over the hound, her cheek pressed tight against the rough bone plate covering her daemon's haunches. She could feel the cool air of the weapon's passing brush across her ear, and felt a cold shiver race down her spine.
We're going to die at this rate. Kiyone thought. "Chamrosh, I need your help!" The sharpshooter called, and heard a shriek in her mind as the tiny spirit responded. She perceived with her mind a pair of wings, small at first but growing massive, rising from her weapon, the appendages wrapping with a boneless, serpentine flexibility up her arm and to her shoulder, coating it with white, translucent feathers. Kiyone stared at it in alarm. "Oh, what the fuck?" She breathed and felt her temple pulse with a strange pressure. "Chamrosh?!"
She heard a growl in her mind, then felt her afflicted arm begin to itch. "Chamrosh, what's going on?" The itch intensified, and Kiyone cried out, clutching the limb beneath her chest as Gozuki readied himself for another thrust. Pascal wheeled around a corner, and the demon vanished from sight. "Wait, Pascal, this isn't-" Kiyone began, only to feel the strange and nauseating pull as the duo were teleported away.
They reappeared three corridors back, and Pascal slowed to a trot, panting as he looked back at Kiyone in concern. "MOM?"
"I don't know." Kiyone pushed herself up with her left arm, bringing the right to bare. "I don't—Chamrosh is—" The itch burned into a fire, and the pressure inside her forehead intensified to a painful thrum. The teal-haired woman cried out. "It's like the nails." She moaned. "What is…" Her words faded to a whimper, and the woman clutched her right wrist.
She felt feathers, warm and soft, beneath her fingers.
The ex-detective sucked in a long breath through her teeth, releasing it in a slow, controlled hiss. Chamrosh? She tried and heard a soft trill in her mind. She looked down at the GXP blaster. She could see where the organic appendages emerged from the cool titanium alloy above the weapon's grip. The woman bit her lip. "Chamrosh…let me go."
A sharp, rebellious cry from Chamrosh.
She watched the serpentine appendages tighten and felt the pain along her right arm flare with fresh fire.
Kiyone hissed with a wince. Why won't you let go? She asked. Is this you or me?
This time Chamrosh gave no response.
Pascal whined. "MOM HURT?" The beast stopped, looking past his bony shoulder guards at her with worried green eyes.
Kiyone swallowed a lump in her throat, anxiety mounting in her breast. "I-I don't know." She said, and shook her head. "We-let's keep moving before Tiny finds us." She drew in a shuddering breath. "We'll…backtrack. Back to where the kid was. If-if he's not there, we'll see if we can find another route."
"DANGER." Pascal warned.
Kiyone nodded. "Danger behind us too." She reminded, "Let me-let me off."
"I CARRY." The hound insisted. "MOM HURT AND SLOW."
The woman sighed. "For once I'm not gonna argue that one." She muttered. "Let me at least shift so I'm not facing your ass."
Another worried whine from the beast, and Pascal laid down, licking his nose as he observed the woman readjust on top of him. Once Kiyone was settled, the woman scratched the daemon behind the ears. "Thank you." She murmured, and pressed herself against the hound, gripping him one-handed as she curled her right arm beneath her. The woman took a deep breath. "Let's get out of here before anything else finds us."
The two backtracked in silence towards where they'd met the demi-fiend, Pascal's footsteps the only sound within the quiet corridors. With it came a strange disquiet; a sense of unbelonging, a haunting sense that something wasn't quiet right in the network long and abandoned corridors hound and human navigated. There were no more daemons; it was as if what remained had either fled or been consumed. They found no one else either, and the sudden desolation made the hair on Kiyone's neck stand on edge. "It's…like an airport." She muttered aloud, letting her voice fill the strange stillness of the hallway. "Or like…a neverending hallway in an empty hotel. A liminal space." She shuddered. "What is it doing here? What are we even doing here and how do we get out? There's got to be a way, right?"
The room they'd left the demi-fiend in was empty. The bloodstains which coated the wall and floor were new enough to have not dried, and the sight of their moisture sent a chill down Kiyone's spine. "Is that…" She fell silent.
"ERTHYS." Pascal clarified, and sneezed, licking his nose nervously. His ears folded back. "SMELLS BAD. MAGATAMA."
"You mentioned that before." Kiyone eyed the walls before her eyes landed on something near what was left of a corpse. "Magatama like what? Like what Thor puked up?" She pointed toward the object, and with a huff Pascal reluctantly approached it, dancing around it with a concerned growl as they moved within a foot of it. The woman patted one of the hound's plated shoulders. "Let me down big guy. I need to investigate a moment."
"DANGER." Pascal warned.
"Oh trust me, I'm aware," Kiyone replied, swinging a leg off the hound and sliding off his back. "I know better than to fuck around with Juraian Keys, but it looks like the kid ditched it." Clutching her right arm, she approached the Juraian sword hilt, kneeling to examine it and being mindful of the crusted blood that covered it. The woman narrowed teal eyes. "Strange, I've seen my fair share of Juraian weapons before, but I've never seen gems incorporated into them. It almost looks like crystallized Magatsuhi." Hesitating, she reached for the nylon rope tied around it, jerking her hand back as her fingers brushed the cord. No sparks triggered on the weapon, and with a deep frown, the woman grabbed it with her left hand, hoisting it up and staring in surprise as the coded tool dangled lifelessly before her. "Of all the strange bullshit I've seen, I gotta admit I ain't never seen someone pull this off before. The kid's either a genius or the stupidest son of a bitch I've ever seen to be packing heat like this."
She'd seen criminals stupid enough to disarm and attempt to steal coded Keys from Juraians before and had filled out the reports detailing their deaths to higher-ups. She'd watched Juraian officers ordered into depositing their Keys to the GXP armory in exchange for a simple pistol due to their lethality when separated from their coded host, and the collateral damage they could do on a shared ship or in the heat of a chase. In her mind, the things were dangerous liabilities; tools designed for Juraian military or royalty and meant for lethality, not for self-defense on a large space station containing an amalgamation of alien races like the GXP.
"I guess this is Yosho's." Kiyone muttered. "But what are these gems? They look too…I guess artificial to be Juraian. Juraians are war-hippies; they get their hard-on from nature and conquering the galaxy in Tsunami's name like Coronzom before her. Everything is organic. Nothing is…perfect like this is."
Pascal groaned. "SMELL STRANGE. POWER. EAT MAGATSUHI."
Kiyone glanced at him. "It does?"
"GEMS." The beast drew his lips back in a snarl. "BAD-STRANGE. NO LIKE."
The woman eyed the sword hilt with pursed lips. "I don't either." She muttered. "But…I don't think it's a good idea to leave it here either." She ignored Pascal's whine, carefully looping up the extra nylon with one hand and folding it over itself into a messy knot. "If we can find Yosho, he might be able to use it." With a tight grimace, the woman slipped out of her backpack and unzipped it, slipping the weapon deep inside around the rest of her possessions and being careful to leave the rope on top where there was no chance of the hilt zapping her.
Zipping the bag back up, Kiyone slid the pack back onto her shoulders before returning to Pascal. "Let's get out of here before we run into something else." She rubbed her right arm, cringing at the strange sensation of feathers and the leather that rested beneath it. "With any luck, we'll either get out of here or reunite with MJ, but I don't think we can afford to stay in one place for too long."
Pascal huffed his agreement, kneeling down and watching Kiyone crawl back up his back. He rose when she patted his shoulder and turned, making his way towards the exit.
The door opened.
And Kiyone felt her heart drop into her gut as she found herself eye-to-eye with Gozuki. "Ah shit." She said, and watched the demon's face break out in a perverse parody of a smile.
"A damn good chase, but like all good things, it's gotta end sometime." The behemoth squeezed himself into the room, his frame so massive that it left little room for Kiyone and Pascal to maneuver around. "You had me going there; clever using the Network paths to your advantage. Most intruders I seen ain't got the brains to figure it out." The creature's nostrils flared. "You a weird one, ain't ya? You smell almost divine without that other daemon with you, and so much like Death that I'd think you were an Underworld resident. You in good with one of the Divine Deaths?" He looked at her, his head tilted to one side.
Kiyone grimaced, Pascal backing them both up. "Not that I'm tracking."
Gozuki grunted, "Are you a Divine Death?" He asked. "I didn't notice it before during our chase, but you reek of divinity." His eyes darted to Kiyone's right arm. "You got a Death Dog and a divine weapon fused to ya. You hiding your true nature from me?"
The ex-detective's eyes darted to her right arm and back to Gozuki. Divine weapon? "I've been told my nature's divine," She said slowly, "but I couldn't tell you much else."
The ox-headed demon shrugged. "Damn shame. Your aura's almost repulsive the way it shows. You ain't good eats, and I could get in a lot of trouble fucking with another Divine Death."
A lump rose in Kiyone's throat. "You gonna let me go then?"
Gozuki snorted. "Nope."
"Fuck."
"Yep. Sorry Babe, but business is business, and if you ain't a Divine Death, I got news for you-you're dead." He shrugged, hoisting the weapon up onto one shoulder. "I'll make it fast though. You know, just in case you are one and just don't know it. Sometimes its better to ask forgiveness than permission, in my line a work. Yama-sama will understand."
He moved towards her, and with a snarl Pascal retreated. Kiyone brought Chamrosh up, aiming the barrel at the center of the daemon's chest. "Don't do it." She warned. "This thing will tear right through you and leave a hole the size of my fist in your chest. It's not worth it."
Gozuki paused, one ear flicking as he regarded her. "Cute." He said. "But I gotta job to do, and I still need to take care of your buddy too. Now we can make this easy or hard: put your toy down and let me clobber you so fast you won't know what hit you, or fuck around and draw out your own suffering. Given your aura, I'd prefer the first option, but I'll settle for the second."
Pascal growled. Kiyone could feel his fur bristling beneath her. "Hold me steady." She told him, voice quiet as she aimed down the sights, finding her vision free from any obscurities the feathers might have brought on. "I need a good shot."
The beast lowered itself, tense and ready to move at the slightest opportunity, and Kiyone pursed her lips, her finger moving to rest lightly on the trigger.
Gozuki snorted. "Hard way we go." He said. "They always love the hard way. Ah well, Yama-sama can't say I didn't try." He took a step forward, and Kiyone fired.
The blast was bigger than any GXP laser was designed and physically capable of doing, thrice the diameter of the bore, less a fine laser and more an explosion of energy. It had a kick that wasn't present before, and Kiyone almost lost her grip on Chamrosh as it bucked in her hand. The shot tore from the small weapon with a vengeance, searing the surrounding air with a roar as Gozuki dodged left, kanabo coming down on the blast in a futile counter. The weapon exploded on impact, leaving the daemon in gape-mouthed shock as he stared at the shattered handle.
Gozuki looked at Kiyone in horror.
Kiyone stared back, equally flummoxed.
"Motherfucker." Gozuki swore.
Kiyone fired again, this time ready for the recoil, and watched the daemon's left shoulder explode in a hail of blood and bone as the creature tried to dodge. Another shot, and Gozuki dove at her, his face curling into a mask in inexplicable rage and pain. She missed, and Pascal lurched to the far right, throwing the detective to one side and narrowly avoiding the demon as Gozuki swiped at them.
Clutching Pascal tightly, the woman took aim and fired at the behemoth again, catching the daemon with a glancing blow to his left arm and forcing Gozuki into a retreat. "Fuck bitch!" Gozuki roared. "When could you pack such a punch? That ain't human!" He cradled his crippled left arm, now red with blood that rose and dissipated into magatsuhi. Keeping himself angled towards the human and her beast, the demon retreated towards the exit, his expression a tight grimace of terror and agony.
The ex-detective kept the weapon level with him. One shot and I can end it. She thought. Straight in the chest, finish him off, then I won't have to worry about him anymore. She took a soothing breath, leveled the sights against him, and reaffirmed her grip on Chamrosh. Nice and steady boys. She prayed, Keep me nice and steady. Her finger rested on the trigger and began the slow squeeze backwards.
A violet light tore through Gozuki's right arm, and the daemon shrieked, collapsing on both knees as the limb was cleaved from his shoulder. Kiyone froze, and beneath her Pascal growled, edging the two of them away from the daemon as much as they could.
Something slammed into Gozuki's back, and the demon went down with the pitiful cry of a wounded animal.
Tenchi Masaki, the hitoshura in all his glory, stared down at the wailing demon with an impassive face, then looked up at Kiyone with eyes glowing red.
Pascal whimpered, ears pressed flat against his head.
"Oh…shit," Kiyone whispered and screamed as her right arm exploded with agony anew. Pascal snarled, Chamrosh shrieked.
And the Demi-fiend, lost in the throes of a magatama-borne Curse, entered the room, engulfed in an aura of wickedness.
Something was calling her.
A sound, a song, a summon.
Like the melody of a siren, it rang across the expanse, traveling against the lulling push and pull of the void she found herself in and ringing in her ears, sweet nectar for her soul that was too alluring to ignore.
Drifting in the infinite abyss, she let the current pull her to and fro, in and out, up and down and around without rhyme nor reason, content to listen to the harmonious call and allowing the Tide of Oblivion to guide her to the Source.
Lost in dreamlike wonder, she began to hear words, wishes, prayers. A soft babbling brook of whispers filled her mind with gentle white noise. It had been long since she'd sensed such sounds, and lazily, like a leviathan stirring in the deep, she allowed herself to focus on it and found the process taxing and laborious. Her strength, once infinite, had sapped with time's passage, and as the words rose to her mind she found them strange and alien; a foreign tongue which she was slow to adapt to.
Yet the desires of those who called to her transcended the barrier of language, and though the words were strange, it brought to her mind images of Intent, of Will, of Magic.
I hear you. She whispered, and saw images appear within her mind's eye. Beings, spirits, people. I see you.
She was rising through the planes now, descending from the highest high of Kether and working her way down, passing through Chokmah in its Divine Masculinity and into Binah with its Divine Femininity. Through Chesed and its Actions of Mercy, down to Geburah in its power. She drifted past Tipareth, and observed the beauty of its Balance, before leaving it for the elated sensations of Victory withing Netzach. Through Hod in all its Splendor she went, and down once more to Yesod, and its Foundation of Being upon the world.
She arrived on Malkuth, the Physical World, and remembered the Vessel prepared for her.
As before, as always, it was a damaged shell; one whose ego had surrendered to the sanctity of the Void as it underwent its repairs, and was left not so much empty as in a state of torpor. The ones who'd called to her surrounded it, one cradling it within his arms with a love that eased her heart. There was a minute, vague sense of familiarity to one of them, and she wondered when she'd known him; which life, which world, which plane that led to their reunion here in this world beyond time, beyond being, beyond existence.
She looked back to her familiar vessel, one which had called to her time and time again and to the Other Half trapped within, finding it wounded but whole. She nudged it, and sensed a flicker of recognition.
You've returned. It whispered.
I have. She told it. Allow me to take over.
It obliged without protest, its illumination fading into gentle translucence as she slipped inside the vessel, expanding to fill it and feeling for the first time in centuries the physical amalgamations of a body. She felt the soul within entwine with her, not so much cast aside as joined with her, guiding her, easing the transition and preparing her for the overload of information guised as pain that came from the vassal's damaged areas. She felt once more the thrum of raw energy course through her body, tasted blood and iron and Magatsuhi on her lips, and smelled the sharp scents of man and demon and youkai. She could feel someone holding her hand, could feel the Magatsuhi being channeled from the person into her being, feeding her, granting her succor, and revitalizing her once more.
She grabbed the hand holding hers with her free one and heard a cry from in front of her. She pulled the limb towards her, using it as leverage to hoist herself up, and felt the onslaught of raw information collide with her consciousness as the Other Half filtered it into something manageable.
She took her first breath and felt elation fill her being with such intensity it was almost painful, felt the renewed beat of her heart and wanted to sob with glee, and opened her eyes to a world once veiled from the full extent of her senses.
She released the arm of the Soul She Once Knew, and stood, steadied by the winged youkai at her back.
With a face hidden by a veil from the world of Man and Spirits, The Kami, The Heavenly Demon of the Masaki Shrine took a deep breath, and surveyed the creatures which had summoned her.
One of the three, a nekomata in a humanoid form, approached her and knelt, bowing low. "We need your help." He said, and she could feel the desperation emit from him in waves. "Please, we would not have called you if it was not so dire; the hunter is of Yomi, and between the three of us we have not the strength to combat it."
The Kami regarded him in speculative silence, then observed his companions: behind her, a karasu tengu, who shifted to stand beside her, a massive black wing at her back to stabilize her as she recalled her sense of balance. The tengu bowed his head, and with the feel of his feathers at her back she sensed more: awe, adoration, love, and above all else trust. She looked to the final member, a human who, as she faced him, looked away, clutching his left arm protectively to his chest. If the nekomata's desperation rolled off him in waves, than the human's emotions, made all the more powerful by the mortal's emotional shell that resided beneath the physical skin, crashed into her like a tsunami.
Fear, distress, suspicion; the vile emotions made her nauseous. She reeled and felt a hand at the small of her back as the tengu supported her. "State your will." She said, and the words that rose from her were in a language different from those of the trio before her.
Confusion crossed the faces of those present, and she studied them all, watching as they shared uncertain glances before the tengu stepped forth.
He knelt before her. "Kami of the Masaki Mountain," He began, "Please grant us safe passage through these corridors. Protect us from the daemons that would harm us. Allow us to reunite with those we've been parted from and allow us to reach our destinations whole and unharmed in mind, body, and spirit."
The Kami nodded and looked at the remaining two. "You share his will?" She gestured to the tengu.
The man and nekomata shared a look. With no small amount of hesitation, the cat daemon nodded.
The Kami inclined her head. "Thy will be done." She said, and slipped away from the three of them, peering first one way, then another way down the hallway. Finally, she looked beneath her and to the heavy current of Magatsuhi below them all. A corner of a lip curved up in a slim smile, and The Kami dropped to her knees. She touched the ground and could feel the heavy pulse of energy beneath her, and with a deep, soothing breath, eased her hands through the floor and into the ley line of power beneath.
Her essence, not so much the physical shell she inhabited but the spiritual body closer to her true self, touched the red current and found the Magatsuhi absorbed into the vassal, channeling up the fingers, through the hands, into the arms and to her core. She sighed at the familiar presence of energy, sensing the minds of thousands of entities whisper sweet nothings into her ears, their own desires, wills, and intentions touching her consciousness and merging with her own.
She felt the physical vassal adapt with it, contorting, growing, shrinking, merging with the daemons and their concept of 'self', passing along the body but for a brief moment in time before the ego once more joined with the void of her mind. Feathers, scales, flesh of odd colors, fangs and claws and tails of all types, spread across the Vassal with an itch of pleasure before fading away as quickly as they spawned.
Somewhere behind her she heard a shout, sensed a wave of terror rise behind her, and rose, the Magatsuhi rising out of the ground with her with the current's redirection. She turned to observe the source, regarding the trio behind her in curiosity as her mouth elongated into a canine's muzzle, only to harden into a raptor's beak the next.
She observed them in that moment, then began to walk, on two legs, on four, on eight, on wings, past them all, and sensed them press against the corridor, afraid to be near her, afraid to touch her, afraid to be touched.
The Kami of the Masaki Mountain paused just long enough to jerk her head towards the hallway, come, before she continued down it, trailed by a living current of Kagatsuhi and the daemons it was comprised of.
Yosho, accompanied by two distressed Youkai, trailed after, wary of what had just been summoned and aware of one secular thought that roamed through his mind in a mantra.
That's not Ryoko.
"Oh shit, oh fuck." Pascal, his belly low to the ground, scooted Kiyone backwards to the farthest reaches of the room, his ears pressed tightly against his skull as a high whine met Kiyone's ears.
The teal-haired woman didn't notice, clutching her right arm tightly to her chest as she panted, her shoulders trembling with pain as she laid half-collapsed across the hound, her ears screaming with the endless echo of Chamrosh's shriek.
Her arm felt like it was on fire. It burned with such savagery she feared she'd find the flesh melting if she so much as glanced at it, and yet all the ex-detective could do was ignore it to her best ability as the Hitoshura walked before her.
The demi-fiend stared down at Gozuki's crumpled form with an impassive stare, and beneath Chamrosh's cries Kiyone could make out the desperate keel of a wounded animal cornered by a predator.
The youth stepped on the daemon and seemed to tower over the behemoth, as if he had grown larger than the room itself in that simple act. A strange, deep violet aura, so dark it was almost black, engulfed the teen from head to foot, lapping at the youth's limbs in an all-encompassing black fire.
A ball of violet plasma manifested in the boy's right hand. He squeezed it into a fist, and the chaotic energy jettisoned out in a sword-like beam. He lashed out in a horizontal slash, and Kiyone flinched as Gozuki's screams grew deafening before fading into a low, painful moan. Then even that fell quiet, and a terrible silence filled the room as Magatsuhi flowed into the Hitoshura, slipping into his brands with such density and force in that moment that they glowed red.
The youth sighed, and the brands flared before fading to their original blue glow.
I need to get the fuck out of here. It was hard to breath. Hard to think between the pain, the shrieks, the fear. I need— The Hitoshura's head snapped up, and Kiyone felt her heart skip a beat as the glow of red met her own terrified teal. Part of her wanted to laugh; I can't see his pupils.
"You…really aren't human…are you?" Kiyone stared at the daemon known as Tenchi Masaki with horror. The words died in a whimper as the demi-fiend turned to face her fully, and took a step off the corpse.
Pascal snarled and backed them up, pressing himself against the wall as the youth walked towards them. The hound's fur bristled, and beneath the growls, Kiyone felt more; a vibration, a tremble of matching fear the woman felt throughout her own body.
The ex-detective looked around, hair whipping across her face as she searched for an escape. Yet the only exit was the one blocked by a corpse, the one which the hitoshura stood before as he grew closer.
"Oh hell no." Kiyone panted, and grimaced as a fresh surge of fire lanced up her arm. She could feel her shirt sticking to her, damp with sweat-either from fear or pain. "I am not picking a fight with something that just made minotaur steaks. I am getting…the fuck out of here…even if I have to make an exit myself!" With a tight grimace on her face, she turned to the wall parallel to them and grabbed her right arm, raising it with all her might. The movement made her muscles scream, but silenced Chamrosh, to some relief. She took aim at the wall and fired, and watched with dread as the energy scattered and dissipated against the yellow honeycomb surface.
"Oh come on!" The woman screamed, and fired again. The result was the same, with no visible damage to the wall. Kiyone glanced over her shoulder and found the demi-fiend paused, observing her more in curiosity than aggression.
Yet even a curious coyote was still a wild and unpredictable animal, and Kiyone wasn't about to risk herself getting mauled. She turned back to the wall and braced herself, her heart racing so hard she could feel it in her neck. I need more power. This isn't enough and the kid could still kill us at this rate. Chamrosh…Pii'na Ananael…please, I'm begging you, grant me strength.
Her brow felt warm.
Her chest tingled.
She heard a growl in her head, different from Chamrosh, and as the light danced off the metal of an ankh, a strange eye of an unnatural blue-and-violet shade peered out at the world.
Power surged through her body and down into her arm, and the woman shrieked as the phantom feathers condensed into something physical, each throbbing with their own exquisite pain as if each were its own barb buried in her flesh. The feathers bristled with her cry, and a rainbow of eye spots appeared at their fletched end. They glowed in a million colors at first until gradually Magatsuhi appeared, drawn to their glow from the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the corpse, condensing onto the feathers like bloody dewdrops before being absorbed into the mutated limb. The barrel of the GXP blaster surged with bright, violet-white power, and as if possessed Kiyone's arm lifted anew.
"Divine Shot!" She howled, and heard three howls-Pascal, Chamrosh, and one she did not know-cry with her.
A surge of energy larger than Gozuki, larger even than Thor, surged forward in a wave of power. The world brightened to white, and Kiyone felt the recoil strike her so hard she was flung from Pascal, the blast propelling her backwards until there was no more. She hit the floor and rolled, felt her consciousness roll with it, and laughed at the sheer absurdity of it all: the power behind the blast, the recoil of an energy weapon, the physical feathers that had sprouted from a dyed blue leather jacket, and the sudden exhaustion which overcame her, as if the strike had stolen every bit of energy she had left within her being.
The light began to fade, and Kiyone had just enough time to see the outrageous hole left behind, and the demi-fiend's encroaching feet before she slipped away into oblivion.
The mutations had at last faded from the entity that possessed the space pirate's body. In its place, however, Yosho found himself following red footsteps, not blood but that same strange energy The Kami had taken, along the path the group were escorted down. He watched in silent trepidation. The footprints are energy. The energy rises and dissipates. The footsteps vanish. Sometimes he'd catch his reflection in the steps. Sometimes he thought he saw eyes, or limbs, or feathers, or sprouting horns. It's alive but fading too fast for anything to emerge.
The corridor shook with sudden discordance, throwing Hiji into a wall a Yosho and Koneko fought to keep their balance. Koneko was successful, but the mortal had to drop to a knee to maintain his center of gravity. Ahead of them, floating six inches off the ground, The Kami paused, looking over her shoulder at the three beings unaffected by the sudden shudder of the structure.
"Tsalilhul." She said, and as quickly as it began so too did the ground's shuddering end.
"An explosion?" Yosho asked, and looked around at his companions, checking that they were okay. He missed The Kami's nod.
Somewhere far off, the ex-prince thought he heard another voice, Mezuki, echo, "What the fuck?!" Followed by the thunder of footsteps fading in the distance.
The man sighed with relief and rose to his feet, observing the others. "Lets get moving." He said, "It sounds like our pursuer will be distracted for a time. Let's not waste the opportunity to place some distance between us."
"What caused the explosion though?" Hiji grunted as he braced himself with his staff and climbed to his feet.
"With any luck, none of our wayward companions," Koneko muttered, and glanced at Yosho with a tight grimace.
Yosho frowned, then looked back at The Kami. It hurt his eyes to look at her; a physical pain that made his eyes tear up as if he was staring into the sun. In reflex, he looked back down to the ground, observing his reflection in a red footprint. A bubble rose from its center, condensing into an eye that stared at him with a horizontal pupil.
It popped. Yosho flinched.
"Are any of our companions in the direction of the explosion?" He asked.
"Heam."
The man closed his eyes. I don't understand. He glanced back at Hiji, who seemed to have the most luck interpreting the possessed pirate's words.
The tengu sighed. "Of course they are." He muttered, and Yosho wondered who else the tengu and pirate might be traveling with. "We must go towards the explosion then, Kami-sama, if we are to reunite with our own.
The Kami grunted, and Yosho looked up just in time to see her wave them onwards.
They ventured down three more hallways and down a set of stairs, free of malice or hostility. They spied elementals of all likes observing their passing in silence, retreating when The Kami turned their way. Signs of battle appeared as scorch marks, blood, and magatsuhi, and Yosho felt his stomach tie itself into a knot.
A snarl, a howl, and something large exploded into the hallway in a blur of fur and fire. It collided with the opposing wall with a high, canine whine, and Yosho's blood ran cold as he recognized Pascal's crumpled form. On reflex he drew his sword, slipping past The Kami as he dipped into a defensive stance Thor had taught him for Myrkur's use.
"Pascal!" He called, and a green eye rolled towards him. The beast rose on shaking legs, and with a high whine, it limped over to him.
"HITOSHURA." The hound said. "RUN. DANGER."
"Where's Kiyone?" Yosho asked.
The demon hound looked back over his shoulder. Yosho followed his gaze.
The ex-prince could make out an approaching form through the dust and debris. Vaguely human, but covered in brands that glowed a brilliant blue the same shade as Tenchi-ken when active. Its eyes glowed red, and it paused to observe the man and his comrades.
Pascal growled, "GIVE MOM BACK!" His fur bristled, making the behemoth look twice as large.
Another step through the dust, and Yosho found himself face-to-face with Tenchi Masaki, his grandson back from the dead in a form so similar, it hurt, so alien, it terrified him, and was left frozen in shock.
"Tenchi?" Yosho-Katsuhito-breathed, and searched his grandson's face for any inkling of the boy he'd known a lifetime.
The demi-fiend stared back in silence.
"Boy, what's happened to you?" Hiji's voice rose behind him, and the Hitoshura tilted his head to regard the crow. The tengu sounded apprehensive.
"Hiji, is that…?" Koneko trailed off.
The Hitoshura observed the group in silent contempt, and Yosho felt his heart clench as the demi-fiend met his gaze. Its not him. He realized, and felt his chest knot with a level of tension that left him ill. Without thought he turned to gaze back at Ryoko, at the thing that had become Ryoko, and felt himself break into a coldsweat.
They're alien. He realized. Both of them. Whatever's possessed them…they aren't…they aren't human any more.
They're of the Void now.
A whisper, a breath, a strange thought which came without prompting and chilled Yosho to his core.
His instincts screamed, and without thought he whirled, brining Myrkur up as a burst of malicious, violet energy came racing towards him. He caught the alien power against the massive sword's crossguards, and saw red haze of his grandson's eyes. "Tenchi—"
The youth lept back, and Yosho dipped into a defensive stance, one foot sweeping back to center his stance right as the youth lashed out again in a Juraian stanza so heartbreakingly familiar Yosho wondered if there wasn't some piece of his grandson still living inside the demi-fiend's body. He lashed out in a diagonal sweep, and Yosho parried, using skills practiced and mastered across the centuries to twist up and into the teen's guard. He brought Myrkur's pommel up to the teen's face in one of the newer techniques taught by Thor, and saw a snarl of pain flash across the Hitoshura's face as metal connected.
The Hitoshura retreated, face bruising, and not daring to give ground Yosho chased after him, watching the teen suck in a deep breath.
Pascal collided with his side, and the ex-priest with knocked towards the hole in the wall as the demi-fiend exhaled a long breath of frozen air. Thee man crashed to the floor, and heard the demon-hounds pained yelps as he was momentarily engulfed in ice. "Pascal!?" He cried, and crawled onto his knees, looking over his shoulder and watching the beast break through his ice prison.
"SAVE MOM." Pascal whimpered, and lunged at the Hitoshura despite his injuries, a breath of devastating pink-red flames emerging from his maw and racing down the corridor towards Tenchi. The youth retreated out of sight, and as Pascal chased after him The Kami followed in his footsteps, a silent phantom unbothered by the violence wrought before it.
Koneko appeared outside of the hole, peering after the group with heavy trepidation before diving inside after Yosho. On nimble feet he hopped over to Yosho, kneeling down beside him. "Are you well?"
"No." Yosho said, and heard the hoarse tremble in his voice. "Was that…?"
"I don't know, Yosho." Koneko sounded anxious. "Truly, I do not." He hesitated, and then said, "He…he smells like it. But…not."
Yosho held his silence, staring back into the corridor and meeting Hiji's red gaze as the youkai peered inside. The tengu said nothing before continuing on.
Yosho clenched his jaw and felt something pop painfully. Breathing deep through his nose, he lumbered back onto his feet, his right hand clutching Myrkur in a death grip. "Lets find Cadejo." He said, voice tight. "Pascal is buying us time."
Koneko nodded, and the two surveyed the room. The massive corpse was what first caught their gaze, and for a moment Yosho mistook it for Mezuki. There were more of them. He realized. Did Kiyone do that? Or was it….whatever is wearing my grandson's skin?
"Yosho." Koneko pointed, and with some reluctance the ex-prince tore his gaze from the body, finding Kiyone laying near the opposite end of the wall.
"Shit." The man hissed, and raced over to the woman, kneeling beside her and checking her pulse. He felt a heartbeat, but it was light and erratic. "Kiyone, what happened?" He whispered, and checked her over, searching for any injuries. The entirety of the leather jacket's right sleeve was in shreds, looking closer to fishnet than proper leather. Why does it looks like something exploded out of it? He wondered, but found no injuries on the limb itself. He could see no broken bones nor see anything that might indicate any kind of deeper, unseen injury, and so the man carefully patted her cheeks, digging through his pockets for a spare medicine capsule.
He slipped it into the woman's mouth, tilting her head back to ensure she swallowed it, and after a moment watched the prior detective's eyes squeeze. She moaned and her eyes cracked open, her head rolling to one side as she saw first Yosho, then Koneko.
"How YyoU dOing Handsome?" She slurred, her eyes opening wider and leaving Yosho a full view of the uneven sized pupils. "DidNn'T KNOW Wau weRe so seXY naKeD."
Koneko stared at the woman, apparently at a loss of what to say. He looked at Yosho in no small amount of horror.
Yosho, uncertain of whether to be amused or equally horrified, gently drew Kiyone's face towards him with a gentle head tilt. "Cadejo, that's Koneko."
"YouR CaT'S A WAU!?" She exclaimed.
"…Youkai?" Koneko said. He sounded uncertain.
"It's an alien race that resemble bipedal felines." Yosho grimaced. "Please ignore her. She looks concussed."
"Should I be concerned?"
"For Kiyone?"
"No, for myself." Koneko retorted.
Yosho stared at the youkai for a long moment, then looked back at Kiyone. "Can you move?" He asked, "We need to go."
Kiyone grunted, her head rolling to one side and giving the man a eyefull of a bloodied scalp. He winced. Yes, she is indeed concussed. The prince glanced back at the hole, saw a flash, and little else. Somewhere he felt a vibration, and prayed it wasn't Mezuki. "Come on," The man carefully wrapped Kiyone's right arm around his shoulders, lifting her to her feet only to find the former detective sag against him, weighing him down with her weight. "Cade-Kiyone, can you support yourself?"
"How 'bOUght YOu suppOrT me, PrINcy?" Kiyone leaned into him, drawing herself in close, and for a moment Yosho considered the wisdom of dropping his concussed companion and chasing after the thing possessing his grandson's body instead.
It's certainly be less of a headache. He thought. "I don't have any more medicinal tablets on my person. They're all in my bag and I don't think this is a safe place to be searching for them." He tried to explain, recognizing the futility of his own words as the woman stared at him with hazy teal eyes.
"What the fuck is this?!" A voice, one which had grown painfully familiar since his arrival in the strange liminal space, rose from across the room, and Yosho turned to stare in rising horror as Mezuki stared down at the corpse before the room's entrance. The demon's equine jaw was parted in shock as he stared down at what had once been a companion, then back up at Yosho at his small gang with growing rage.
"Ah shit." Yosho said.
Kiyone stared at the demon in apparent confusion. "diDN't KNow this waS A DONKEY SHOW!" She exclaimed, and Yosho felt a piece of him die inside. "What YOu pacKING, Big Guy?!"
Koneko gaped at her, then at Yosho, and for a moment even Mezuki was shocked into silence, glowing red eyes bulging in their sockets.
"The fuck is a donkey show?" Mezuki whispered, then tossed his head as if to banish the thoughts. "You know what? No, no. Fuck this, fuck you all, and you," He pointed at Yosho. "Are going to be a bloody stain on the ground by the time I'm finished with you."
Kiyone laughed. Her voice broke. "WhATEVer yoU saY." She planted her feet, and Yosho felt the air around them both…tingle. As if it held a charge. He glanced at Kiyone, and though she appeared very much concussed, her face was set in stone, one of such determination that for a moment the man wondered if it had all been an act. The woman removed her right arm from around the man's shoulders, and raised it-and the blaster which she had never dropped-at Mezuki.
The arm swayed haphazardly, and Yosho grabbed it. "Hol me steady…" She slurred softly, and with no small amount of trepidation Yosho adjusted himself to stand behind her, guiding Kiyone's hand and holding it level at Mezuki's torso.
"What, were you the one who fucked up Gozuki?" The daemon demanded, and his red eyes narrowed with fresh vehemence. "Oh no, I ain't waiting for you to take no pop shots at me, Bitch. Fuck you!" He charged and vanished, and Yosho felt the charge in the air gather.
"Cadejo-" He grabbed her shoulders, recalling how easily Mezuki had wounded Ryoko, and thought he saw on the edge of his peripherals gossamer feathers condense around them.
"There!" Kiyone screamed, and pulled her arm to the ceiling. Yosho, grimacing, held it up with her, and above their heads Mezuki in all his massive glory appeared. He came down on them with kanebo raised high, and the charge in the air became overbearing.
"Divine shot!" Kiyone roared, and Yosho felt his ears pop before the woman before him slammed into him with such massive force that knocked the both of them to the floor. The man saw an explosion of energy surge from the Mk III that should not have been physically possible, and watched it consume the incoming daemon in a wash of bright light.
Then he saw stars as his head impacted the floor, heard his ears ring, and felt the world go dark.
Comments of a Madwoman: Don't google it.
Cathedral of Shadows:
Wau: An alien race commonly found operating within the Galaxy Police. They resemble bipedal lions. Kiyone and Yosho both have experience working alongside members of the race. Ol' Koneko, for his sake, has never interacted with them. One must wonder what might occur should any of them encounter the Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet.