Chapter Eighteen - Murasaki Shion
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[Timeline 4 / May 17, 2021 - The Pacific Ocean]
It's the third day that we've been without food, and we're slowly running out of clean drinking water.
The Saplings didn't have anything for us to eat. We considered eating them, but we didn't want to incur the wrath of Fauna because last I checked, pissing off a god by killing their kids wasn't the best idea.
Fishing for food is out of the question, because we don't have any nets or rods, and the ship scares off any fishes that swim close enough to the surface for Gura to catch.
So we decided to just continue heading for Lembeh island while keeping our eyes out for any islands on the way. But we've seen nothing so far, it's just straight ocean as far as the eye can see.
"Kiara! Spot anything yet!?" I call out to the phoenix, who's flying above the ship, searching for an island. "Nothing!" She shouts back.
Shit. We're getting closer and closer to Lembeh island, and we still haven't found anything to eat. If we reach Lembeh island before finding a meal, then we'll be fighting Laplus while running on fumes, and that's not exactly ideal.
"Amelia." A voice calls out to me. I turn around to see the the voice was Nerissa, who's walking out onto the deck. "Nerissa, what's up?" I ask, faking a smile to feign confidence. I can't have my crew thinking I don't have everything under control, it will only cause panic and anxiety.
"I just asked Gura, and she said that she's willing to try diving deeper for fish." She says as she stands next to me. "No way, that's too risky." I immediately shoot the idea down. Gura's weak and hungry right now, if she tries to dive deep into the ocean, there's no guarantee that she'll be able to swim back up.
"Then what are we gonna do? Sit and wait for another island? We'll be at Lembeh island soon." Nerissa makes a good point, but I can't risk losing anyone yet. "Just wait a few more hours, and then we can try your plan." I respond. I told her this yesterday, Nerissa's probably running out of patience with me, but I seriously can't let Gura do something that risky.
"Two hours. If we don't find an island in two hours, then the shark's going under." Nerissa says frustratedly before storming off into the ship.
I chose Nerissa to be second in command so I can have someone who'll push me to make the difficult decisions, and yet, I can't bring myself to listen to her. "Sigh. What kind of leader am I?"
But I'm not like her, I can't have anybody dying on my watch, allies or enemies.
"Amelia! I found an island! It's at our ten o' clock!" Kiara shouts from the skies. At last, we've found an island. "Did you hear that Shiori?!" I shout up at the bridge, and the pilot gives me a big thumbs up.
The ship turns around and makes its way towards the island in the distance. We've got a minute or two before we arrive, enough time to deliver the good news.
I walk inside the ship, entering directly into the ship's living room-esque cabin. Everyone's gathered around, all of them either chatting or relaxing on the couches.
"Attention everyone! We've found an island!" I shout bombastically, raising my arms to draw even more attention. "Weally!" Bijou shouts excitedly, infecting everyone else in the room with that same excitement.
"That's right! So that means we don't have to do anymore risky procedures, right Nerissa?" I say smugly, and Nerissa just turns away from me and scoffs, "Humph, guess so."
"What's the sitch, Ame? That island look particularly bountiful?" Gura asks, joking around by using 'big girl language.' "Indeed it does." I respond fancily, though I haven't actually seen the island yet.
"That's great! I'm just about to die of off the ol' case of tummy empty." Gura exclaims in relief as she holds her empty stomach. "Don't forget that you're one of the reasons that we're in this situation to begin with." I shoot back with a little spite. "Hey, the past is the past. Let bygones be bygones an' all that." Gura says, raising her hands as she literally waves off my comment.
"Oh, by the way." Gura says, her voice suddenly becoming soft and gentle. "You doing okay buddy?" She asks as her face goes from confronting to comforting.
"You've been asking me that everyday for the past three days, of course I'm okay." I respond, quick to dismiss Gura's concern over me. "Right, sorry about that." Gura apologises, and the mood between us quickly becomes akward.
Gura must have seen me crying after Kronii told me about Lui, Iroha, and Haato's deaths because she's suddenly become so worried about me. She's never talked to me about it, but I'm pretty sure that she did see me. It's sweet that she cares but, I really don't want her to worry about me. I mean, I'm supposed to be the group leader and all.
And I wasn't lying when I said I was okay. I haven't completely gotten over their deaths, but I've somewhat come to terms with them now. Though, I still can't forgive Kronii for her disinterest in it all, that's just simply inhuman.
And about Suisei, I- "Attention all passengers, you are now safe to disembark as we've successfully arrived at our destination. Thank you for sailing with Novella cruises, we hope that your trip was Shiori-mazing!" Says our pilot from the ship's PA. Looks like we're here.
Everyone inside the cabin steps out onto the deck, and looks around at the island in front of us. It's your typical tropical island, palm trees, green grass, blue skies, and a giant wizard tower in the centre of it all.
"What the bleep is that!?" Bijou shouts in suprise as she points at the giant stone tower. "Woah! It looks... important!" Gura says, staring at the the magical building in awe.
"It's pretty obvious that this tower belongs to a mage, don't you think?" I say as I look analytically at said tower. Wow, everyone's so fixated on this tower right now.
"That's right, it must be a wizard tower." Ina informs us, grasping her chin as she drops her knowledge. "A wizard!?" Gura exclaims in immense shock and excitement.
""We're gonna check it out!"" The twin demon dogs shout before they jump off the ship and run onto the island. "Hey! Get back here!" I shout, trying to stop them. But they just ignore me and continue to merrily run towards the island's wizard tower.
"I'm coming too!" Gura shouts excitedly before jumping off the ship and following the twins. "Gura! Not you too!" I shout, but the Atlantean pays me no mind as she continues to run along.
"Don't worry Ame, I'll look after them." Nerissa pats me on the shoulder before chasing after the three reckless girls. "I'm going too!" Kiara shouts before she sprouts flaming wings on her back and flies into the sky.
"Wait up! I'm going with you guys!" I shout at the two birds as I run after them. But before I can get off the ship, Nerissa turns around and stops me. "You stay put! Who else is gonna take care of the rest of the crew!?"
"Sigh, I guess you're right. You guys stay safe, okay!" I shout as I wave goodbye, anxiously watching my party members depart.
Guess I just have to trust Nerissa and Kiara. I really do hope they'll be okay, (and not get attacked by an evil wizard).
"And that's why Inugami Korone is the strongest member of Hololive." Shiori concludes her explanation and me, Ina, and Bijou all nod our heads in agreement.
"Amelia!" A shaky voice shouts from in front of the ship. A quick glance off the side of the deck shows that the voice belongs to my second in command, Nerissa Ravencroft.
She looks exhausted, and she's covered in bruises and scratches. Her clothes even look like they've been singed by since sort of flame. Just what happened inside that tower?
"Nerissa! What happened to you!?" I frantically ask as I jump off the ship and run towards my wounded comrade. "Huff, puff. There was a girl... in the tower. Huff, she attacked us... and captured the others." She explains with exhausted breaths.
Now that she's up close, I get a serious look at her injuries. She's bleeding all over, and her wounds look unnatural, most likely caused by something that wasn't a traditional weapon. Something like, magic.
"Let's get you onto the ship, and you can explain on the way." I say as I hold onto her waist and wrap her arm around my shoulder. "I'm sorry Amelia, I couldn't stop her... she was just, too powerful." Nerissa apologises as she limps along.
"There's no need to apologise, just tell me about who did this to you." I try to comfort her. There's no use in wasting time feeling sorry about what happened, our best option right now would be to get as much information as we can and plan a rescue attempt.
"Nerissa!" / "Newissa!" / "Woah!" Ina, Bijou, and Shiori just disembarked, and they rush towards us after seeing Nerissa. "What happened to you!?" Ina asks, anxiously looking at Nerissa's injuries. "I was getting to that." Nerissa replies.
"When the five of us arrived at that tower, we were greeted by a pink haired maid. Gura and Kiara recognised her, said her name was Aqua?" Aqua!? What she doing here? And how is she related to the person who did this to Nerissa? "She invited us inside the tower, and there was another girl inside. I recognised this one, it was the Arch Magus, Murasaki Shion."
"Did you just say Shion!?" Ina asks, getting completely caught off guard by this reveal. "That's right. She offered us a meal, and while we were eating, she attacked us." Nerissa explains, a furious look forming on her face as she recounts the events.
"Wait, why would Shion attack you?" I ask. I'm so confused, why would Shion attack other members of Hololive? Is she working with Laplus?
"I don't know. But she did, and she captured the others. I was just barely able to escape back to you guys." Nerissa explains as we slowly walk to the ship's stairs.
"Hey, think you can walk up?" I ask Nerissa as we stand in front of the metal staircase. "Yeah." She responds timidly.
*tunk*
*tunk*
*tunk*
We slowly walk up the stairs before moving into the cabin where we set Nerissa down on a couch.
"So, what do we do now?" Bijou asks as we get Nerissa settled. "We get our teammates back of course!" I shout. It's a no-brainier, of course we shouldn't just leave them behind.
"That's impossible." Nerissa says. "Me and Kiara couldn't even give her a scratch. So what makes you think that you could beat the Arch Magus?" Nerissa pessimistically asks us a rhetorical question.
"I agree with Nerissa, Ame. If we're being honest, there's no way the four of us can beat Shion." Ina makes a point, causing me to seriously think and let the hopelessness really settle in.
"And what are we supposed to then, just leave them behind!?" I shout at Ina, the fear I feel manifesting as my raised voice.
Ina quickly recoils back in shock. "You're right, I'm sorry." She says meekly as she backs away from me. Shoot. I didn't mean to get so upset. "No, I'm sorry."
What's gotten into me? I've never lashed out at someone like that before, especially not at a friend. I'm probably just stressed and hungry. Yeah, that's it.
Suddenly, I feel a hand pat my shoulder. I turn my head and see that it's Shiori, who's standing behind me. "Hey, Ame." She whispers softly. "Why don't you just rewind time?"
"I could rewind time. But what would we do after that?" I ask Shiori rhetorically. "Uh, I don't know, run away?" She responds sarcastically.
"Run away? And then what? We still have no food, so we would either sail around for hours looking for something to eat, or we would fight Laplus on empty stomachs." I explain, and Shiori thinks for a bit before responding. "So what, are you gonna try to steal food from a freaking wizard!?"
"No! You idiot, I want to know why Shion attacked Nerissa and the rest, and hopefully defeat her so we don't have to rewind time at all." I explain. Kronii said to avoid reversing time unnecessarily (like to beat a six year old at Mario Kart, for example), because reversing time too much might cause a hole to rip in the space-time continuum.
"So it's decided then. We're gonna try to save those four from the most powerful witch in the world." Shiori lets go of my shoulder as she stops whispering, speaking out loud so everyone can hear.
"Are we weally doing this?" Bijou asks anxiously. "Yeah, we are. But don't worry, I have a plan." I say, trying to encourage everyone.
"Let me guess, this 'plan' is somehow related to that watch hanging around your waist." Ina asks me playfully. "Yeah, how did you know?" I chuckle, playing along with Ina's joke. "'Cause you say that every time." She replies snarkily.
What? Do I really do that?
"You're making a big mistake. Shion can kill you before you can even put a finger on that watch." Nerissa warns us a little harshly. She's probably right, Nerissa witnessed Shion's power first hand, so she knows just how powerful the Arch Magus is.
But I need to know why Shion is doing this. Why did she drag herself into us and Laplus's fight? I need to ask her why. Just a few questions, and then I'll rewind the clock.
"I'm sorry Nerissa, but I've decided that we're going." I tell the injured songbird determinedly. "Hmph, you never listen to your second in command." Nerissa scoffs as she smiles resignedly.
"All right, everyone! Let's go!"
"This is first time I've seen a wizard tower up close." Ina remarks as she looks up at the looming tower in front of us. It's multitude of floors casts a large shadow over us, further emphasising it's foreboding nature.
The tower looks sort of medieval, being made entirely of stone bricks and having a giant wooden door smack dab in the entrance. Though, it doesn't look very old. There isn't anything growing on the sides of the walls, and said walls aren't very dirty. So, either this tower was constructed recently, or it's very well maintained.
"So... who's knocking?" Shiori asks. I then look around at the other girls, who just blankly stare back at me. Looks like nobody's gonna step up. "Sigh, alright, I'll go." I say as I begrudgingly walk to the tower's front door.
I slam my fist into the tower's large wooden door.
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
"Murasaki Shion! Open the door!" I shout, making sure my voice is loud enough to be heard over the sound of the door being banged.
...
Nothing. I raise my hand up, ready to knock again. And right as I'm about to slam my fist down, the door opens, revealing a familiar pink haired maid.
[ Minato Aqua - Modest maid ]
"Heee!" She squeals, ducking and covering her head with both arms. "Huh?" I exclaim in confusion as I watch the sheepish girl curl up. "Oh." I just remembered, I had my hand raised up when Aqua opened the door. She must have thought I was gonna smack her or something.
"Uh... you can come in now." Aqua says meekly as she slowly puts her arms back down. Without a word, the four of us walk into the circular room. We were now inside the domain of the Arch Magus.
The room is a complete circle, with a large staircase coiling around the sides of the walls. And placed right under the stairs are bookshelves filled with hundreds upon hundreds of books, which are probably filled with magic spells or potion recipes. In the centre of the room is a large dining table, which is lined with plates filled with unfinished meals.
Sitting at the head of the dining table on the opposite side of the entrance, is,
[ Murasaki Shion - Arch Magus ]
And right behind her are Gura, Kiara, and the Abyssgaurd twins, who are all binded by some kind of glowing chain.
"Welcome to my tower, everyone. Care for a meal?" Shion asks with a cheeky smile as she sits smugly in her chair. "Cut the crap, Shion! Why did you attack my friends!?" I'm not playing any games, I need to know why Shion would do this.
"You don't have to be so unfriendly, Amelia." Shion says, pushing her chair back and standing up. "How about... we play a little first!" She shouts, extending her right arm forwards. "Lightning strike!"
Shion's hand begins to spark, and I instinctively dive to my right, attempting to dodge the electricity by rolling out of the way.
*Crackle!*
*Boof!*
The lightning bolt swiftly flies past me, crashing into the giant wooden door behind me and completely destroying it, sending embers and splintered wood flying out.
"Shion... why?" I ask as I slowly stand back up. I don't want to fight another member of Hololive. I don't want to fight another friend.
"I'm sorry, Amelia. But I have people to protect, myself included." Shion says determinedly as she brings her floating spell book in front of her.
It looks like there's no other choice. I'll have to fight another Hololive member, just like Suisei did a few days ago.
No! I'm different! I can change things!
I swiftly grab the pocket watch hanging around my waist. The pocket watch... the watch..?
Where the hell is my watch!?
"Looking for this?" Shion says teasingly as she dangles my watch from her right hand. "What? How did you..." I exclaim in complete surprise, trailing my words untilI I lock eyes with Aqua.
"I'm so sorry, Amelia."
"Give it back!" I shout at Shion, grabbing the firearm in my coat, and,
*Bang!*
Pulling the trigger, aiming for the witch's right hand. I'm not worried about using my revolver, 'cause any damage Shion might suffer now will all be healed once I rewind time.
"What!?" My bullet was blocked by Aqua, who intercepted it with the handle of her mop. "You shouldn't underestimate my maid, Amelia. She is a member of Hololive." Shion says smugly as she opens her spell book, flipping through the pages as she looks for the perfect incantation use against us.
"So we're really doing this?" Shiori remarks as she opens her own book, picking a page from it and ripping it out. "Just watch and see, Amelia. I'll show you the power of Mumei's chosen." Shiori says confidently as she brings the ripped page in front of her face.
"On April 14, 1912, the Titanic crashed into an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean." Shiori says calmly, and then suddenly, she and Shion disappear.
"What!? What just happened!?" Ina asks nervously as she looks around for the two book users. But they're nowhere to be found, Shiori must have teleported them somewhere.
"This is Shiori's ability, the Temporal Field Trip. It's an attack where she brings you to a certain point in history and forces you to experience it firsthand." Bijou explains.
"So right now, the two of them are on the Titanic as it's sinking!?" I ask, shouting in suprise. If Shiori's on the Titanic too, then wouldn't she take the same amount of damage as Shion? And how will the two of them come back to our time? Are they stuck in the past forever?
"This is strange..." Bijou remarks. "Shiori always traveled back to our time right after she activated her ability. But she's taking a long time to come back."
"So Shiori can come back to our time wherever she wants?" I ask Bijou. "That's right, but maybe she got stopped by Shion when she tried to, and now she's stuck in that time." Bijou proposes.
"So can they ever come back to our time?" Ina asks. "Yeah, they can. Shiori and her target automatically return to the present ten seconds after The Temporal Field Trip is activated." Bijou replies. Ten seconds, that should be any moment now.
I carefully watch Shion and Shiori's original places, waiting in anticipation for them to arrive.
"Ah!" The two of them instantly reappear in the places that they were in ten seconds earlier, both of them looking like they sustained damage.
But Shiori looks a hundred times worse than Shion. Her clothes are torn, and she's covered in deep looking cuts. She must have been hit by a spell launched by Shion, who received just a few minor bruises from Shiori's attack.
"Is that all you got, civilisation chosen?" Shion says mockingly as she looks at Shiori. "Damn... I didn't think about protective barriers..." Shiori says to herself as she tries to regain her composure.
Shiori's out... what do we do now?
Ina opens her own book and flips through the pages. "I'll take her out!" Ina says assertively, faking confidence. "Alright, show me what the Ancient One can do." Shion says excitedly as she gets ready to face off against Ina.
No, I can't have Ina fighting. But how do I stop her? I'll have to find a way to beat Shion without getting Ina involved.
#
"I wonder why you guys weren't affected by the girl's ability." Gura says, looking at me, Ina, and Shiori quizzically.
/
"Then what about Ame? Why is she immune?" Gura asks, scanning my body with her eyes as she analyses me again.
"Maybe she actually is resistant to magic?" Bae suggests as she casually leans back in her throne. The room is quiet as everyone debates on Bae's suggestion, anticipation welling in me as I wait for someone's second opinion.
"Yes, it's possible." Fauna says as she looks down and evaluates me.
#
That's it! "Bijou, I want you to make Shion so depressed that she won't be able to act!" I ask hurriedly. We don't have much time until Shion attacks.
"Are you su-"
"Just do it!"
"Waaah! Aaaaah!" Bijou suddenly starts crying like a baby, or Kobo. "Guh!" I exclaim as I clutch my chest. Tears are rolling down my face involuntarily, and my head is getting cloudy. "So this is... Bijou's ability..."
[Emotional Prism: Sapphire]
Shion looks like a mess too, she's curled up on the floor crying. This is my chance, I have to get my watch back while Shion is disabled.
Ugh, it's hard to walk while my vision is clouded with tears. But I'm almost there, just a few more steps and I can rewind time.
"Aaaawaaaaauuuuugggghhhhh!"
What?! What the hell is that!? Behind me... I feel something sinister behind me!
I quickly turn around, only to see something straight from my worst nightmares. "Ina..." She's covered in the same black sludge as she was when Cthullu took over her body. "But I thought that Cthullu's awakening can't happen yet." The stars won't align for another week, there's no way that Cthullu can awaken, not when no one's even said the chant yet.
"You... you are the mortal who reversed time and stopped my awakening!" Cthullu growls spitefully, looking at me with pure bloodlust. "This awakening is not complete, but it will be more than enough to dispose of you!"
An incomplete awakening? So this is different from what happened during the battle royale.
"Uwooooohhhhh!" A ball of black energy forms inside of Cthullu's mouth. He's launching an attack, I have to find a way to turn Ina back.
Think, Amelia! What happened before Cthullu awakened!?
*Vwooooommm*
The ball of black energy turned into a laser beam, and it's coming this way.
*Booooommm*
I managed to roll out of the way of the blast, which flew past me into the wall behind, completely blasting a hole in it and the bookshelves in front of it.
*Vwooooommm*
It's charging up another attack... I need to think of a solution now. That's it! Cthullu only awakened after Bijou activated her ability, so that must be the cause.
*Booooommm*
Cthullu launches the beam again, but I swiftly dodge it. "Insolent brat! How about you just sit still and die!"
*Vwooooommm*
Quickly, while Cthullu is still charging their attack.
I run to Bijou and grab her by the shoulders, "Bijou, quick! Deactivate your ability!" I shout at the crying jewel. "Awaaah! Awaah! Awa... okay..." She's stopped crying, good. She cancelled her ability faster than I thought.
Instantly, the emotions I was feeling wash away, and my tears stop flowing. Shion is recovering too, and Cthullu...
Is gone. Leaving a human Ina out cold on the floor. "What a pesky little trick..." Shion says frustratedly as she stands up.
"What do we do now?" Bijou asks me anxiously. "I don't know..." I respond succinctly.
Ina and Shiori are out, and Shion has my watch. That leaves me and Bijou to fight against a basically full health Shion. There's no way that the two of us can beat the strongest witch in the world at our current level, which means that...
I have to surpass my current level.
With shaking hands, I grab the small white flower in my skirt pocket and bring it to my lips. "Here goes nothing." I say, saying goodbye to my humanity and my life,
As I swallow the Kirin's flower.
Author's notes:
Greetings peasants, Yur3i here. Today's chapter was quite intriguing isn't it.
I took a very long time to make this one, why? Because I was playing gatcha games all day. (Yay!) But now it's finally done and I can say that it's one of my favorite chapters.
When writing the beginning of this chapter, I had to cut a scene where Ame talks to Kronii and asks for food because it kinda dragged on for too long and it ruined the general vibe. There was also an All My Friends Hate Me reference in there, just wanted you to know.
And while I was looking for Aqua's character introduction card, I re-read a section of chapter 5, the one where Kiara fights Kibara, and there were so. Many. Typos. like, there was a line were it was like, "Ayame stands Kibara in the back." Not stabs, stands. How did I not notice that?
Anyways, that's all I have to say so, farewell peasants.