Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Three
"Where did you come from?" Smiling, the Kaoru imposter crossed her arms while her posture remained relaxed. "Hard to miss a fire lizard as large as you." Hopping down from the ledge of the roof, the woman stepped without care across the spread wings or fingers of the unconscious tengu. The low growl already rumbling the salamander's throat strengthened in cadence as he watched. One of its clawed feet stepped back cautiously, however, placing him directly and protectively over the body of the daitengu. "Not that it matters. Care to fight with me?" Her knuckles cracked as she pressed one fist into the palm of her other. The manic light in her dark eyes was unsettling. "I just can't seem to get enough of fighting. Probably because making other's bones snap was so frowned upon when I was still alive. I always knew I'd been born into the wrong time. Whenever this is, the world seems to be a lot more fun."
Though still what the salamander would consider at a safe distance, the woman was quicker than he expected. Only the instincts his creator had woven into his protective runes saved him from being struck. Fire burst in a fan outward from his position and slammed the imposter backwards across the rooftop. Burned, but obviously well-experienced, his opponent allowed the momentum to flip her so that she landed on her feet. Crouched, but still smiling, she kicked off from a pile of bodies to attempt a second attack. Dodging was his best course of action, as fighting a hand-to-hand combat specialist placed him decidedly at a disadvantage. That, however, would mean Akira would take the hit in his place. Inherently built to act as a guard, the salamander would not abandon the daitengu.
A wall of fire roared into life between them and blocked her advance. Quick and nimble, the imposter Kaoru shot to one side to avoid the barrier, and the salamander followed. Buffeting his wings against her shoulder he knocked her to the floor, but the vice grip of her fingers around his barbed tail swung him in an arch over her head. Spitting flames to dislodge her touch, both of his large wings snapped in one strong downstroke, throwing him into the air and away from her. The contortion of her face said she was starting to have less fun with his brand of fighting.
"Don't run, you coward!"
Her foot came down to grind on the face of one of the defeated tengu warriors, and the protective instincts woven into every fiber of the salamander's charm screamed in anger at her continued disregard for others. Screeching like a fierce bird of prey, blade-like thorns of semi-solid lava pierced upward out of every exposed inch of the rooftop. They each stood at waist-height, and were sharp despite the dullness of their substance. Not one touched a fallen tengu, but the thorn-like bramble they created left the woman nowhere to comfortably stand. Perched back on the ledge, her hand covering one of the wounds she had suffered from a lava blade, the woman scowled at the salamander as he alighted once more before the daitengu. Slowly, the lava shriveled until it disappeared, and was replaced by soft rings of protective fire around each tengu in sight.
X
Trapped within the confines of his own internal fear, Akira cowered inside his childhood room, hiding from the raised voices just outside of his door. Both hands covered his ears from the angry shouts and tearful screams; from the shattering of glass and crash of wood. He was helpless. Powerless. Ugly. He was the cause of his mother's pain. He was the reason for his father's rage. Abruptly, the door broke open and their fight spilled into his room. His mother's screeching became clearer, her voice begging to leave Akira alone. He was just a child. An innocent, weak child. The wardrobe was yanked open, and a large hand appeared to grab him by the arm.
"I'm sorry, Father! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Apologizing only to appease him, pleading as the only thing his three-year-old mind could come up with to save himself from pain, Akira stumbled into a prone position before his mother.
"Shut up! I am not your father! Nothing so ugly could be mine!"
"What are you doing?" The wicked whisper slivered across the vision, disrupting the sound like the low toll of a bell.
"No!" Lunging forward, his mother took the brunt of the fist his father tried to bring down upon his head. Blood splattered onto the floor, but her arms remained tight around his tiny body.
"Mommy!" Tears sprang to his eyes, and he began to sob. "Stop it! Stop hurting my mommy!"
"This isn't what you fear." Again, the out of place whisper breathed into his ear.
"Get out of the way, you stupid whore! You're still young enough to give me a real son! I never should have let you keep this thing!"
Peeking through the gap of his mother's elbow, Akira's stormy eyes caught sight of his father's features, and the scene froze as if paused by a remote. It was not his father's face he saw on the man standing over them. It was not his father's face twisted into a vile expression of rage and sick pleasure. It was his own.
"There it is."
Removing himself carefully from the rigid embrace of his mother's arms, Akira stood, his body no longer that of a child but of a full-grown adult. Face-to-face with his worst nightmare, his brows twitched with sorrow. The mirror-image grinned, its teeth black with sludge. Everything else faded away, leaving Akira facing himself in a world of darkness.
"You are your father's son. No matter how much he denied it." A chuckle gurgled from its mouth. "The same rage and weakness runs through your veins. The same disgusting desire to harm others. You think you can make a woman happy? With your ugly face and tainted DNA?" Mocking laughter fell flat in the void of his fear-induced vision. "You'll have an ugly baby, and she would hate you for it. And what about you? Do you think you could be a better father? What example do you have? You don't know what to do. You're weak, doomed to repeat history. It's inevitable."
"Stop." The soft, firm word was full of compassion, and the vision flew into a fit of rage. Its arm lifted to attack him, but Akira caught it by the wrist easily. "That's enough." Black sludge dripped from the figure, and plopped onto the ground at their feet. "You're only what I fear. That doesn't make you real."
"I am realer than you think!"
"No. You are only real if I allow you to be. What you are is a guide, to make sure I do not become what I hate." Taking a step back, Akira bowed at the waist. "For that, I am grateful."
X
Black sputum ejected from Akira's mouth and nose as he vomited up the globule of miasma. Coughing, he gained his feet quickly, but stumbled to find the rooftop covered in fire. Dozens of tengu lay strewn about, each untouched by the flames but still covered in the miasma. Casting his stormy eyes towards his right, Akira found the salamander standing guard between him and the imposter Kaoru. Her face was clearly displeased with the predicament, but was also half burned and bleeding.
Retrieving his katana slowly, Akira stepped up next to the salamander and gave the creature a brief nod. "Thank you for the assistance." A snort accepted his gratitude, and the golden eyes of the fire lizard snapped back over to the imposter.
"No one has escaped that power before. Not that I really care." The woman sneered and wiped at the blood oozing into her eye. "Why don't you call off that ball of flames and give me a real fight?"
"Are you saying that because you're losing?" The salamander huffed, as if laughing, and one side of Akira's mouth tilted upwards. "It's hard to fight an opponent that doesn't play by your rules, is it not?" The displeasure on their opponent's features darkened, giving away her weakness. Though skilled at fighting hand-to-hand, it appeared that she was at a disadvantage when fighting an opponent from a distance. Sliding his bared katana back into its sheath, Akira straightened his spine and released the suppressed aura of his daitengu powers. A full foot taller, his legs more closely resembled a crow with fearsome taloned feet and his black wings were so massive they draped more like that of an eagle. Retrieving his red mask from the folds of his robe and placing it firmly over his face, the force of pressure surrounding him thickened menacingly. "Since you have already proven that you are not interested in a fair fight, it would be foolish of me not to follow his lead." Irises now of vivid red, Akira broke left at the same time the salamander kicked to the right.
Three shots of fire spit from the salamander's maw, forcing their opponent to dodge, while Akira conjured a ball of energy that promptly destroyed the ledge she had been standing on. Still quick on her feet, the fake Kaoru made them chase her, whereas before she had been the one to initiate. Like cat and mouse, they attempted to pin her down, and the longer the fight drug on, the deeper the scowl grew around her eyes and mouth. Just when the salamander was about to close in, the bloodied and burned young woman threw her arms out and then jerked them straight up.
All around her, every single tengu trapped within the miasma of her death power snapped to like lifeless puppets controlled by string. Clenching his teeth to cut off the fire meant for her, the salamander instead screamed in distress while bowling through more than five of the unconscious bodies. Tangled up with them and vulnerable to an attack, the salamander was saved by Akira swooping in to pull him free.
"I am not enjoying this." The sour note in the woman's voice was edged with anger. "You made me use this power against my will."
Once more on the rooftop and at her level, Akira and the salamander were grounded by their inability to take flight without harming the tengu now under her control. Eying his own men cautiously, Akira stepped around the now upright tengu slowly. "You can control them?" Following close at his back, the salamander's head aimed straight towards their target hidden behind the layers of tengu she now used as shields.
"Not really." Hiding herself within the crush of bodies, the imposter Kaoru pressed her spine against one of her captives, the smile finally returning to tilt her lips to one side. "I can control the miasma inside them." Twisting in the opposite direction away from them, she moved on silent feet amongst the maze of tengu. "It's kind of like yanking them up by the insides of their skulls. Might or might not kill them. Who knows."
"Release them!" The demand was angry, and the woman taunted him with a laugh.
"Never learned that part. Sorry." Seeing an opening, the woman ducked around the closest body and shot towards Akira's back with murderous intent. A second before landing her elbow to the soft spot at the base of his skull, the salamander appeared without a sound, and flattened her to the concrete rooftop. The fire lizard's jagged teeth locked easily around her throat, and the crush of his jaws decisively ended the fight. As one, every upright tengu dropped sickeningly to the ground, and the miasma dissolved into microscopic particles before dispersing into thin air.
Pushing up the red daitengu mask, the massive aura of the Tengu Clan leader released, and Akira sighed. "I was hoping to spare you from having to finish her." While golden eyes peered up at him silently, Akira squatted next to the salamander and placed a hand on his bloody snout. "I know she is not Kamiya-san, but she looks like her. That must have been hard for you." An uncomfortable hacking noise coughed up from the salamander's open mouth, and a chunk of blood vomited onto the imposter Kaoru's legs. A little taken aback, Akira wiped his hand off on his pant leg. "Or perhaps not." Standing, Akira bowed his head. "Either way, I am grateful for your assistance in freeing my men. But why are you not with Kamiya-san? Has something happened?"
A soft shriek answered him before the hair charm turned his head towards the South.
"If you need to get to her, then please go."
Golden irises glanced at him, nodded, and then hopped up next to the broken portion of ledge to take off into the city sky. Around Akira, the tengu began to stir, but a moment before he meant to turn his attention back on them, a flush of red from far off in the distant sky caught his attention. Fire illuminated the underside of the blanket of clouds, casting them in hues of red, orange, and hints of violet. Unlike the sun's quiet farewell to the day and transition into night, the splashes of color roared and spiked into life in angry succession. Like punches from the ground at the sky overhead. A violent clash was underway. One that was just as dangerous to the landscape as it was to the combatants. Which only added more urgency to Akira's mission to evacuate the city.
X
At the exact moment the barrier released, Kenshin had just suffered a near fatal blow from the Amaterasu. Feeling as if he had woken from a stupor, he barely managed to block the attack quick enough to save himself from losing a limb. With senses now sharpened, his powers flared back into life, filling him to the brim with energy, and Sano promptly fell back to sleep. Returning the Kagu-tsuchi to its resting place in his core, Kenshin caught the next strike from the feral beast made from a thousand fire demons cobbled together. Though twice his size and putrid like burning oil, Kenshin scowled up into its missing face in thunderous rage.
"Your flames are sickening and unclean. Such impurity should never touch the Kagu-tsuchi. Even to die by him."
With no regard to itself or its surroundings, the Amaterasu conjured a pillar of flames that slammed into the ground below and speared through the clouds overhead. The width of the flames consumed them both, but with his own fire rekindled, Kenshin barely felt the pressure, let alone any heat. Consuming the flames and converting them into fuel for his own, Kenshin's expression remained hardened like stone as the pillar abruptly disappeared.
"I will show you how a true fire celestial does battles."
Pulling in a slow, unhurried breath through his nose, Kenshin focused upon a point directly between them. A small flicker of violet fire popped into life and twinkled like the pinpoint of a star in the night's dark sky. As his breath released, the point grew and expanded into a swirling mass of intense burning gas, then kept expanding until it spanned the distance between their bodies. The miniature sun roiled and spiked with plasma, and far below their feet, the ocean boiled as a result.
The ball of flames expanded rapidly, devouring them both within it, before snapping back in on itself like a star in supernova. While Kenshin remained unaffected, the Amaterasu was half-pulled into the gravitational force, then thrown like a missile shot from an airstrike when the flames exploded. The ill-formed fire creature crashed through a fallen building, breaking it in half. Three seconds later and it propelled back out of the wreckage in cold, single-minded determination. Kenshin met it head on.
Each clash lit the dark grey of the clouds with flashes of color, and each spark whiplashed flares of power into anything within their immediate proximity. Despite it being mid-winter, the air sizzled with heat, and the sound of each impact from their fight boomed through the sky like meteors breaking the barrier of the atmosphere. Any glass still intact within the nearby skyscrapers shattered under the resonance alone, and the climbing temperature had already begun to soften the metal framing of the closest buildings along the coast. Even, or especially, those buildings that had been laid over by the fallen half of the Sky Palace.
Trapped beneath one such building that was now speared in twain, Prime Minister Aritomo Yamagata stared up through the gap and at the fire demons fighting temporarily over his head. Beyond them was the blessed freedom of the sky. A freedom withheld from him by the chains locking him in place. Dark eyes averted to watch in quiet contemplation as the rebar just within reach above him began to lose form, before then shifting to study the shimmer just overhead: a warning of high heat from the nearby battle. As an earth elemental, freeing himself would require little effort, were it not for those shackles cutting him off from the use of his powers. Noises from the fire demon's battle dominated his eardrums, but undercutting it were sounds of others screaming and shouting in distress for reasons unrelated to the battle of flames.
I will have to thank you later, Himura-san. If we are both alive then.
Lifting his arms over his head, Prime Minister Aritomo clenched his jaw and withstood the searing pain of their body heat in silence. Mere moments later, their fight took them elsewhere, but not before cracking his hardened skin and melting the manacles off his wrists.
When it was cool enough, he stood and swept the wrinkles from his clothing.
"Over here!" Voices closed in on his location, hinting there were search parties amongst the rubble. "Ow! Watch out! It's still hot!" A head peeked over the ledge of the building cautiously, but was preceded by a ridiculous span of spiky blonde hair. The man grinned down at him, though the Prime Minister did not recognize him, and waved a hand as if finding an old buddy. "There he is! Hello, Prime Minister!" The man tossed a look over his shoulder at someone else who had joined him. "Look. He did free himself after all."
The second man wasted no time in jumping down, his landing smooth and graceful, just as was his bow of greeting. He was a smaller man, but had a presence that was unmistakable.
"Greetings, Prime Minister. SaitÅ Hajime sent us to retrieve you. Our country is sorely in need of your military authority."
Nodding his head, Prime Minister Aritomo finished straightening the tie of his suit before tucking his bloody hands into his pockets. "Lead the way."