Okay, so here's another chapter that is here far earlier than expected. This one in particular had me up for about 13 hours or so, and if I ever do something like that again please slap me or take my computer away, because boy did I exhaust myself (which isn't good when you have to be up at 6AM for work the following day). That being said, another chapter for you all to enjoy.
As John and Aya continued on back to the Tengu Village, the two of them had begun talking about what they'd just seen, or rather, Aya was more interested in how this would help her get an interesting article.
"So I assume you've run into a...bone dragon before?" Aya asked with her notepad in hand
"I have, and we're going to need the other tengu's help if we want to take it down." John said with a nod
"How many you expecting we'll need?"
"Well, if it's you and me going, that drops the number down to twenty-two others."
"T-twenty-two!? Is thing really that strong that we'd need twenty-four people in total?"
"Well, it comes down to twenty-one if I can convince Sanae to help out. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"That's...okay, that's fine and all, but I don't know if Lord Tenma would be willing to give us that kind of manpower."
"We won't know unless we try. I'm gonna head to the shrine and see if Sanae is there, can you fill in the proper people while I'm away?"
"Sure, I'll handle that." Aya said flying off towards the village while John continued onward towards the shrine. Upon landing he was greeted by Suwako who was playing with a frog near the entrance.
"Hey there Son-in-Law! You're done with the tengu already?"
Ignoring her, John asked her if Sanae was here. Which, luckily for him she was, having just returned from some shrine work at Reimu's place (according to Sanae, Reimu's shrine was so rundown, that at times she simply couldn't stop herself from going over there and tidying the place up).
"John what's wrong?" Sanae asked "You look troubled."
"Troubled is putting it lightly. Sanae, I was wondering if you were up for helping me with some extermination?"
"Oh my, youkai extermination?! Sounds fun~!" Sanae said brandishing her gohei in excitement
"Uh...not necessarily." John said a bit put off by her eagerness to kill youkai
"Then...what is it?"
"A dragon..."
"WHAT?!" Both she and Suwako exclaimed in shock
"Look Son-in-Law, killing dragons isn't a joke, you can't just go around saying something like that without a care in the world." Suwako said in a chastising tone, it was almost like she really was his mother with the say she spoke to him
"Look, it's already dead, so we're just putting it back to way it was!" John protested
"What, so it's a zombie dragon?" Sanae asked
"No, it's a bone dragon. I've seen one before in my travels. We're gonna need at least twenty-four people to take it down for good, and I was wondering if you were willing to help out."
"Well..." Sanae said thinking it over "It is dead already...and I assume if its left there, it'll only cause trouble for everyone on the mountain down the line."
"That's the general idea." John said "So are you in?"
Looking over to Suwako, who gave a small nod, Sanae then nodded in turn "I don't mind helping, but where are we going to get the other twenty-two people to help us?"
"Well, we've got Aya helping out as well, so that's taking the number down to twenty-one. If we're lucky Aya can convince Lord Tenma to lend us some tengu forces to help out."
"That may be difficult..." Suwako said with a nervous laugh "Those tengu aren't too crazy about endangering their own if they can help it, heck, it took us years to get that tramway greenlit."
"You really think it'll be that hard?" John asked
"We're about to find out." Sanae said as she pointed up towards the sky
As if on cue, Aya appeared in front of the three, a serious look on her face "Hey John, I need you back at the village. You've been summoned by Lord Tenma."
"Really? Why does he want me, you explained things right?"
"I did, but I told him that you'd know more about that bone dragon than I would, so he called for you specifically."
"Alright then...Sanae, you're with me, you deserve to be there if you're gonna be fighting as well."
"Okay, let's go." she said taking to the skies.
The three of them made their way back to the tengu village, and once they touched down, John took notice of all the looks the three were getting.
"Whats up with them?" John whispered to Aya
"Well, you're a human, and you've been here for one day and you've got Lord Tenma calling for you. That's gonna turn a few heads."she whispered back "Just keep cool, when we get inside, just treat Lord Tenma with respect and it'll all go smoothly."
"I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. I've never met Lord Tenma myself." Sanae said with a nervous chuckle "I hope I don't cause any discomfort by being there."
"Don't worry, if he treats you wrong, then we'll fight it ourselves." John said resolutely
"B-but."
"You don't treat someone whose trying to help you with contempt, it won't do you any favors in the long run."
"My my, I didn't peg you as the chivalrous type." Aya joked "Are you planning to make some moves on the Moriya shrine maiden now as well?"
"I-I'm not doing that!" John said with a small blush "I just think that Sanae is a sweet girl for doing this when she has no real reason to!"
"Whatever you say. We're here." Aya said dropping her teasing act
The building that Lord Tenma resided in was about three-stories tall and unlike all the other wooden buildings that littered the tengu settlement, this one was far more ornately decorated, with numerous golden trimmings as well as several wind chimes hanging from various edges. It was also a distinguishing red, and not brown like nearly every other building within the village.
"Huh...quite the place." John said looking it up and down "Let's hope this goes well."
Walking up to the door, two guards wearing red masks with long noses stopped him with the swords they held in hand.
"Halt, what is your business here?" one of them asked in a commanding voice
"Uh, I'm John Graham, I'm the human who Lord Tenma called for." John replied
"Ah, of course. You're welcome inside." the guard said dropping the bass in his voice and letting him pass, However, he brought the blades up again in regards to Sanae and Aya
"Halt what is your-"
"Goddammit "Shouji you know why I'm here, I was just in the building less than an hour ago." Aya said in an exasperated tone
"Fair enough, but what about her?" he said pointing to Sanae
"They're both participating in the talks. In fact they're both instrumental to it." John said looking at the guards "Is it fair to think of them as my guests?"
"...Very well, but should she cause any trouble it falls on your head Aya."
"W-why me?"
"Because you got that human here in the first place, and the shrine maiden too."
"Yeah yeah, whatever, just let us through."
Acquiescing to her request, the guards lifted their blades and let them proceed. "Man, they always have sticks up their asses." Aya grumbled "Follow me, I'll lead you to Lord Tenma's office."
John and Sanae let her take point as they were lead along, several tengu stopping to stare at John and Aya as they walked along.
"Do they really have to stare so much?" Sanae whispered "It's kind of unnerving."
"Sorry, many of the tengu here don't leave the mountain, so to them, you're actually the first two living, breathing, humans that they've ever seen."
"I see...sure wish they didn't treat us like a walking zoo though." John mumbled
"Again, I'm sorry..."
Before long, the three reached a singular office on the top floor, the entire thing being just as ornately decorated as the outside was. Wasting no time, Aya lightly knocked on the door.
"Lord Tenma, it is I Aya Shameimaru. I've brought the John Graham with me."
"Enter." Came a muffled voice from behind the door
Stepping inside, John took stock of the office, it surprisingly wasn't as ornately decorated and seemed more practical, with several file cabinets stacked against the wall, as well as a small book shelf as well. The young looking man sitting at the desk was wearing a white outfit, somewhat similar to Aya's, although, unlike the red hat she had, he instead had a long-nosed red mask like the guards hanging on the side of his head. Behind him was a singular window allowing some sunlight into the room.
"Welcome, you're the human that Aya lobbied for being allowed into the village." Tenma said calmly "And the Moriya shrine maiden as well? What brings you here?"
"I've been told of situation, and John asked me to help in defeating the bone dragon."
"I see...that mountain goddess probably wants us to owe her one. How troublesome." Tenma sighed
"Kanako has nothing to do with this." John said with a surprisingly serious voice "Sanae is here because I asked her. She could have declined, but she didn't."
"...I see. Well then, please John, fill us in on this 'bone dragon'."
"Right then I-"
"S-sorry I'm late!" came a voice bursting into the room. The girl in question had white hair, white ears, and white tail. She wore a white long-sleeved shirt, with a black skirt that ended with some red highlights at the bottom. On her head was a small red hat similar to Aya's. On her back were a shield with a red maple leaf and large scimitar-like sword.
"Ah, Momiji, I'm sorry, we almost started without you."
"It is no problem Lord Tenma...I take it this man is the human who found this beast I was told about?"
"Indeed, he was just about to go into detail about it. As the person who somehow missed it, I figured you'd want to know about it."
"Y-yes sir..." John couldn't help but notice that this Momiji girl seemed pretty down-trodden about that, it was almost like she'd let down someone immensely important to her.
"Right well, that thing out there is called a bone dragon. I've fought one before and I was hoping that you'd be willing to allow some extra troops to come along in subduing it."
"I see..." Lord Tenma said closing his eyes "Tell me, do you know where it came from exactly? A dead dragon, still moving around is unheard of."
"Well...the only place I've seen it before is a place called the Crystal Tower." John replied
"Crystal...Tower? I don't think I've ever heard of that before, and there's nothing like that in Gensokyo I'm sure."
"It's in a land far away from here."
"But then how did it get here? I didn't notice it at all, it didn't even reek of death." Momiji said
"That I don't know." John said with a shrug "All I know is that it's here now, and just leaving it alone is no good for anyone on the mountain."
"On this we agree, how many troops would we need to send out?" Tenma asked
"Well, if you'll allow Aya and Sanae to accompany me, that takes it down to twenty-one of your finest."
"Twenty-one? Really?" Lord Tenma said with a raised eyebrow "It's only a single dragon, and from what I heard when I sent Momiji out to confirm if it actually exists, it's not that big all things considered."
"You're right in that regard, however, it'll have a numbers advantage on its side if we don't go in with the right number of people."
"Numbers advantage?" Aya asked
"Yeah...it can kind of summon the dead." John said with a nervous laugh
"You're kidding!" Tenma exclaimed, only to met with a blank look from John "You...aren't kidding."
"I wish I were."
"Dammit all...and considering how much hunting and such goes on in the mountains from us, it'll have more than a fair share of bodies to pull from."
"Something like that I guess. Though, when I fought it, it didn't have to worry about that. It just...summoned skeletons to attack."
"That...that's not possible." Sanae said sounding concerned "H-how are gonna do this then?"
"Easy, the sekeltons are extremely brittle, they'll go down easy enough." John said with a smug grin "We just cannot have the skeletons touch the dragon or the dragon die before the skeletons are dead."
"Why's that?" Tenma asked
"Well, if the skeletons touch the dragon, it'll...hmm...to put it bluntly, it'll suck the life out of us."
"That does sound bad...and if we kill the dragon first?"
"Then the skeletons will bum rush the dragon all at once and we are not living through all that life drain at once, and if we do it'll be by the skin of our teeth."
"This is far more serious than anticipated. Very well, I will grant you twenty-one of our finest warriors. Is there anything specific you wish?"
"Er...excuse me Lord Tenma..." Momiji said "If you would allow it, I wish to help. It is my fault I did not notice this monster sooner, as such please allow me to correct this mistake by assisting in its extermination."
"Hmmm, very well."
"I don't mind it, the more help we have the better. I just wish the girls weren't mad at me, then I could call on them." John sighed
"Girls…?" Tenma said with a raised eyebrow
"Uh...nothing, problems at home that's all." John said rubbing his head awkwardly
"Ah I see, pissed off the wife I take it?" Tenma said chuckling
"Th-they aren't my wives yet!" John sputtered out
"They? Oh my...I haven't seen something like that in a long while. Though I do recall reading something in Ms. Shameimaru's paper about you getting planning to marry some women you work with. Oh right, speaking of...name your price."
"My what?" John said
"Your price. I believe that if what Ms. Shameimaru said is true, then you usually deal in favors, Originally you were to receive something small for the menial work I had you doing, but this is something far bigger than expected. To that end, I will see to it that you are justly rewarded. Let it never be said that we tengu do not give out proper rewards when they are warranted."
"Uh...well, I didn't really want anything? I just want to get rid of that monster before anyone, tengu or otherwise gets hurt."
"You are...far more kind than anticipated. I suppose then, I will simply do this: Should you prove successful in t this undertaking, then I will grant you permanent access to the tengu settlement."
"L-Lord Tenma! Are you sure about that? No human has ever set foot in-" Momiji started
"Furthermore...I will allow you and anyone working under you to conduct business with us...if you're willing."
"L-LORD TENMA?!" Momiji exclaimed
"Do not worry, for this man we can make an exception. Here he is laying his life on the line along our own warriors. This bone dragon is terrifying creature, much more so than anticipated, to that extent, something like this is a paltry reward when compared to what he's doing for us."
"I see...very well, as you wish Lord Tenma."
"Now then, I will consider this meeting adjourned, I will gather the other twenty warriors needed. We shall commence an attack on the creature at dawn. Any objections?"
"None here." John said
"Anyone else? If not, then you are all dismissed!"
"One thing Lord Tenma..." John said just realizing something
"Yes?"
"So when you said I can conduct more business after this...would you be willing to uh...not let any of the girls up the mountain? If only for a while?"
Looking at him with a knowing grin, Lord Tenma nodded "Of course. I'll make sure your women won't get up here to tear your head off."
Chuckling nervously, John left the building with the others in tow, he decided to head back to the shrine with Sanae, while Aya and Momiji would help with gathering up able-bodied soldiers to help out. At John's behest, he asked for a few healers if any were around. With a nod of agreement, he and Sanae flew off towards the shrine, where Suwako was waiting.
"So, how'd things go?" the frog-like girl asked once the two landed
"The tengu agreed to help. Hopefully we can take the bone dragon down without trouble." John said
"I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous now, especially after John explained what it could do."
"Oh? What's that?"
"Just raising the undead, you know that kind of thing." John said casually "We should be fine though. We've got Aya and the other tengu backing us up."
"I see, but just in case, you two should have one last night together in case either of you dies." Suwako said
"O-one last night?! I-I don't intend to die Lady Suwako and I'm not going t-to do that with him!" Sanae said blushing
"Most people don't intend to die, but I'm just sayin' just in case that does happen, you'll want something to remember John by. A baby or two isn't-"
"I'm going inside!" Sanae shouted walking past her
"You've got to stop teasing her." John said sighing as he tried to hide his own blushing
"Maybe, but I got one bit of advice for you Son-in-Law." Suwako said looking at him
"Yeah what's that?"
"You better keep her safe." Suwako said suddenly sounding menacing "If she dies...if she gets hurt...I don't care where you run...I don't care who you go to. I don't care if I have to turn hell or heaven itself upside-down…I'll find you, and it won't be pretty when I do. Understand?"
Her voice was cold enough to cause John to freeze up for a second, he was so used to Suwako being cheerful and carefree, to see a legitimately intimidating side of her was quite unprecedented.
"Y-yeah, I understand." John muttered
"Good! Now go in there and give Sanae the night of her life! Really put the moves on her!" She replied, returning to her normal tone of voice, almost as if the last few seconds didn't even happen.
Sighing to himself, John walked inside, deciding to strike up some conversation with Sanae. The two had continued on talking about their experiences from the outside world, but with the battle with the bone dragon so close, Sanae couldn't help but ask about what other things he'd seen in Eorzea. While John had revealed to her that XIV was a game, she couldn't help but be enraptured with how he spoke of the place. He spoke as if it were very much real, but then, looking at the bracelet on his hand, perhaps it was? He'd explained to her that it allowed him to access the jobs from the game and he couldn't do that if he hadn't gone there in some capacity. Her train of thought was broken when he made mention of the goblins though.
"Wait...they fought over cheese?"
"Yeah, they did. It's a big deal for them, I won't even begin to understand why." John said shrugging his shoulders
"I...see. I have to admit I'm a bit jealous you can recount all this. I had thought the online games weren't worth getting into. Perhaps I should have given XI a shot all those years ago."
"Yeah, I feel the same, I've heard a lot of good things, though some of the XI people who migrated over were a pain in the ass."
"Really? How so?"
"All I'll say is, if you see someone who was really into XI, don't bring up Fenrir and how he's handled in XIV."
"I take it people weren't happy?"
"That's one way to put it. Internet rage and all that you know?"
"Ouch, sounds terrible."
"It is, and it's part of the reason why I never hang around the official forums."
The two continued on like that until Sanae had gone to prepare dinner. As usual once it was finished they were joined by Suwako and Kanako with the latter two making jokes and urging John and Sanae to get busy later on that night...even with the impending battle coming up.
"Lady Kanako, Lady Suwako please." Sanae said in a tired tone "Will you stop with this?"
"Why should we? It's only a matter of time, besides, you went out of your way to make a way better dinner than usual for John didn't you?" Suwako said with a smug grin
"I-I did no such thing!" She replied with a blush
"Really? Why did you seem so chipper then and I'm sure I saw you worry more than once about if he'd like it or not~."
"G-gah, that's...well...wouldn't you be worried about if your guest would like your food?"
"Well then, what do you think John?" Kanako asked
"It's...well I'll be honest, it's pretty great. I'd say this even gives Yuuka a run for her money." John said plainly "The fish is made just right, the rice is perfect, and the meat is cooked perfectly. I definitely could see someone wanting to come home to this every day."
His words caused Sanae to blush even harder as Suwako laughed
"And just think Son-in-Law you'll get all that in more when that little wedding of yours happens. Gotta admit it's kinda funny that we could end up with some ties to that moon princess and that vampire though." Suwako said
"Well, I suppose a big family wouldn't be all bad. Playing with the children could be quite fun, and having more hands around the shrine is always useful." Kanako said downing some food
"I can't help but feel the two of you are deciding my future for me." John said in a deadpan tone
"You make it sound like you find Sanae completely undesirable." Suwako retorted
"I-I didn't mean it like that! I mean, we've only known each other for a short time, jumping into marriage that fast is a bit much isn't it?"
"It is for you young folks anyway. Back in my day, when you found someone you liked, you didn't spend all this time going on dates and buying the other person things and then breaking things off only a month or two later. All of that came after you laid your feelings out in the open and got hitched, minus the breaking up part of course."Suwako said through a mouthful of food "Besides, and be honest Sanae, are any of the men of that village even worth your time?"
"W-well...I suppose you're right in that regard." Sanae said with a defeated look, it was true, the men of the village were well...all pretty boring more or less. They had nothing interesting about them, the guards there were boring for sure, and none of them, not a single one had really been into any of her hobbies like anime or science. Hell, they couldn't even comprehend science when she tried explaining it to them. John more than met that criteria when compared to them.
"Look can we just...think about all this? Marriage isn't some decision you should make without serious thought." John said with a sigh
"That's funny coming from you. I heard that your marriage to those women was quite sudden." Kanako said smirking
"It was and I'm pretty sure if I attempted to back out, they'd skin me alive."
"That and you find the idea appealing."
"W-well I wouldn't..."
"It's okay, you're a young man, this kind of thing must be a dream come true for you...and really Gensokyo is the only place it could possibly work out."
"R-right..." John replied, he didn't want to admit that she was somewhat correct, especially after he'd seen the girls in the bath. That was a...well, it made the idea of being married to them a lot more appealing for sure.
Dinner continued without anymore joking at Sanae and John's expense and with the sun having long since set, he quickly bathed and went to bed early. Of course, with the idea of a fight coming up so soon, he couldn't exactly sleep, and late into the night, he heard the door to his room slide open.
"Er...John, are you awake?" Sanae whispered
"...Yeah, you couldn't sleep either?" John said sitting up
"Well...something like that. If it's okay with you, I was wondering something?"
"What's that?"
"Well um...I was a bit cold in my room and well...perhaps we could share a bed tonight to keep warm?"
A part of John wanted to scream, to shout 'what the hell are you saying' but perhaps it was because he was mentally exhausted or he just didn't care enough to do that, but all he replied with was a simple nod of affirmation.
Sanae, from what John could make out in the dark looked positively elated at the idea and scooted up close to him under the blanket. John had to admit that it did feel pretty nice to sleep with someone like this. Back home with the others, it usually just became a hodgepodge of bodies piled up together, but with just him and Sanae, he could feel the warmth of her body. The steady heaving of her breath and the rhythm of her heartbeat were enough to finally lull him to sleep, the same thing applying to Sanae as the two talked for a little bit, each attempting to comfort the other about the fight ahead before finally feeling tired enough to finally drift off to sleep.
Of course, this was all ruined in the morning when John woke up to see that he had his hands around Sanae's body, with her lower half pulled up against him. Needless to say her being so close triggered a certain reaction that he was none too proud of. Thankfully, Sanae hadn't woken up yet.
"Crap crap...gotta calm down." John muttered getting to his feet. A quick look outside showed that the sun had only barely come up, so he and Sanae weren't late thankfully. He quietly made his way out of the room after getting dressed, hoping to maybe splash some water on his face and calm down. But of course, things just couldn't go his way, and he ran into Suwako.
"Oh hey you're up and-oh boy..." Suwako said looking at his pants
"Looks like someone is happy. I'll go grab Sanae, maybe she can take care of that."
"W-wha? No, look this is a natural male thing and Sanae is sleeping and I managed not to wake her up and-"
"Wait, what do you mean you managed not to wake her up?" Suwako said before her mouth curled up into a smile
"Oh I see...I didn't think you'd two actually take my words to heart. Good on ya Son-in-Law."
"It's...we didn't do anything, she just was cold and so we talked for a bit and-"
"Cold? John, Sanae has a heated blanket."
"E-eh…?"
"Ya know, one of them blankets you can heat up to keep warm at night."
"But then she..."
"I think she just wanted to snuggle up with her husband-to-be." she teased
This revelation, caused John to blush a lot harder than expected. "I...but...she..."
"Have fun with the dragon~!" Suwako called out walking down the hall, leaving John to contemplate what all occurred.
As much as he wanted to figure out what possessed her to act that way, John pushed it out of his mind, it wasn't important now. What was important was taking care of the bone dragon, he just needed to focus on that.
The sun began to peek over the mountain as John waited out in front of the shrine, Sanae finally appearing in front of him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I don't usually wake up this early...and um...you left?"
"Uh yeah, sorry. I just uh...needed a walk." John lied
"Oh, I see. Well, let's get going." Sanae said taking to the skies with John following behind her, once they reached the entrance of the tengu village, the two of them could see Aya and Momiji standing in front of twenty other tengu behind them.
"Good to see you're here." Aya said as they touched down "I was afraid that we'd have to go on without you."
"Sorry to keep you waiting." John replied "Is this everyone? How many healers did we get?"
"Six I believe. Will that be enough?" Momiji asked
"That's perfect actually. Should we get going now?"
"I'd say so, we can explain the plan once we get there."
Nodding in agreement, John and the other tengu made their way to where the bone dragon resided. It was indeed in the same spot, having not moved the entire time. If one had seen it for the first time, they would probably have mistaken it for statue with how still it was.
"Ugh, it's hideous." One of the other tengu said
"Right, so here's the plan." John said floating in front of everyone. We'll need someone whose good at keeping the enemies attention. They'll keep the monster's attention on them, we'll beat on the dragon for a while, but once the skeletons appear we'll break off and kill them. Make sure the skeletons remain a good distance apart. Once they're all down, we'll kill the dragon. We should only have to repeat that process about two or three times.
"Er...why three times?" One of the tengu asked raising his hand
"It'll get back up at least three times." John stated matter-of-factly
"WHAT?!"
"Hehe...yeah may have forgotten to mention that, but don't worry. If we stick to the plan then it's no problem at all. Now then, who wants to initiate?"
There were several looks among everyone present before Momiji boldly stepped forward. "I'll do it, I should have spotted this thing sooner, so I'll gladly be the first to go into battle to make up for it."
Nodding, John motioned for her to go ahead. The wolf girl wasted no time in flying towards the monster, ready to engage it. The bone dragon let out a loud roar as it saw Momiji barreling towards it, swung one of its massive claws at her, only for it to be deflected by her shield
"Alright everyone, lets get in there!" John exclaimed, the tengu all letting out battle cries as they joined the fray. John for his part landed on the ground, before making a decision to transform into something far more appropriate.
"Well it is a dragon...time to use the job that specializes in killing dragons." He muttered before a light engulfed him and he was now covered in black armor, that had several spiky protrusions on the forearm and shoulders. On his back was large spear that had a dazzling glow surrounding it. The Areadbhar, the dragoon relic weapon of 3.0 that had an item level of 270. This was the most powerful weapon in the game right now, and John was eager to test it out. All those off days spent grinding for it and the other relic weapons was about to come in handy.
He jumped into the fray (literally) as he began attacking the bone dragon's backside, the attack causing it to roar in pain, sparing Momiji a bombardment of the red and black mist it so often spat out.
"Keep it up Momiji!" John called out as one of the healers magically patched her wounds. The dragon swung it's tail, knocking some of the other tengu away as John managed to jump over it. Thankfully, it did minimal damage as the to them as they quickly got back to their feet, and continued attacking it.
"I-I think it's getting tired Momiji called out as she parried another of its attacks "It's movements are slowing!"
"Then that means..."
Sure enough as John turned around to take a look several skeletons began to appear almost out of thin air.
"Just as we discuss earlier everyone! Kill them far away from one another!" John shouted as loudly as he could. Backing off from the dragon, he jumped over to a skeleton that Sanae had just attacked, jamming his spear into it.
"Hanging in there Sanae?" He said
"I'm doing okay, but we can't stop now!"
Nodding in agreement the two split off from one another, killing the skeletons one by one as they slowly made their way towards the bone dragon. Things were going well as the skeletons were well spaced out and they were all dead…except for one that'd managed to slip through and was dangerously close to the dragon. Too close for any of them to defeat it.
"B-brace yourselves!" John called out as the skeleton touched the dragon, it instantly was absorbed into its body as a sickly red and black aura filled the air.
"I-IT HURTS!" Aya cried out, doubling in pain
"It feels like it's sucking the life out of me!" One of the tengu yelled
"K-keep it together, Kill the dragon now and we can patch ourselves up!"
Though many of them felt sluggish from that attack, they continued attacking the dragon until it finally keeled over, the rest of the skeletons getting back up.
"O-okay everyone, down the rest of these so we don't have to suffer anymore attacks like that!" John called exclaimed
Having felt the brunt of that previous attack, the tengu did not let a single skeleton slink by as they killed them all.
"G-good work. Healers, top everyone off, as much as you can! Momiji, how ya holding up?"
"B-barely!" she replied blocking more of the mist with her shield
"Hang on, I've got you!" Aya yelled swinging her fan and blowing the mist away. "Healers get to it! We need to get back to fighting form!"
The healers did as told and scrambled to heal the wounded back up to fighting form. As the tengu became more invigorated, they continued attacking the dragon as it thrashed around in attempts to hit them while also trying to focus on Momiji who was constantly heckling it from the front. Like before the skeletons spawned again, began moving towards the dragon.
"Just like before!" John called out "Don't let a single one through!"
Roars of acknowledgment echoed throughout the area as the skeletons began to fall one by one. Sanae and Aya had doubled their efforts on killing the things as fast as possible, and when one had managed to break through all the fighting, John was quick to jump to its location and down it before it could get any further.
The young man had to admit that he was working up quite the sweat from the fight. Doing a 24-man raid in real life was far more troublesome than he thought it would be. Still, they had one more cycle to go before the enemy was well and truly dead. As the dragon died a second time, the skeletons all jumped to their feet, starting to make their way towards the bone dragon's corpse. The group fought on downing each skeleton as fast as they could. Once they had done that the bone dragon once again rose to its feet.
"T-this is the final assault right?" Momiji wheezed as she readied her blade again.
"Yeah! Just keep attacking it, no more skeletons should appear. If anything shows up, I want a couple of you other guys to hold them off okay?!"
"YES SIR!" John heard behind him
'Sir?' they were calling him 'sir' now? Eh, he'd just chalk it up to them getting caught in the heat in the moment. Whatever the case, John continued his attack on the dragon, using the various lance techniques he'd learned to try and fell the best as quickly as possible. A loud scream was heard as one of the tengu laid eyes on a large creature whose entire body was an eye, with two small wings protruding from the side, with a medium length tail. It's teeth razor sharp and looking as if it'd could easily rip through flesh and bone.
"W-what they are these-gah!" He grunted as one of them attacked him
"Keep those things occupied! If they're here, then that means this dragon is nearly dead! We defeat the dragon, we defeat them!"
"YES SIR!"
Again with the sir thing?
A few of the tengu had taken to distracting the monsters, drawing their attention away from the rest of the combatants who had begun to attack the dragon. Momiji had continued with doing her part, distracting the dragon so that it didn't turn around and begin wantonly attacking anyone in his way, she blocked an attack from his claws as she swiped at him with her shield before slashing her sword across its face.
"Please tell me this is the last time it'll get up!" Momiji wheezed out, she was becoming quite tired now, and the only reason she was able to continue going was thanks to the tengu healers who were keeping her topped off, but even with that, just as quickly as she was healed up, she'd waste the energy on this thing.
"Just a bit more! Sanae, Aya, really pour it on!" John called out
The two women began using some of their most deadly attacks, Sanae, even conjuring up what looked to be an image of Kanako as she slammed a large wooden beam into the dragon, causing it to roar in pain. Aya had sent another gust of wind towards it, not only dealing damage, but blowing away some more of the mist it shot out of its mouth. If things kept up like this, then they wouldn't need to worry about things getting worse. And then John heard an all too familiar noise…
SHING
"What the hell…?" John muttered to himself, if he was right, the sound he just heard was the sound of the limit break being ready. He wasn't sure how that had occurred at first, but then again looking around him, these was a party of 24 people total. Under his helmet, he let a smile creep across his lips, he couldn't believe he was about to do this.
He focused as he could feel energy begin to swell in his body. Above John's head, a swirl of azure energy shaped in the head of a dragon illuminated the area causing everyone to stop and stare, even the dragon had turned around to look at what was about to befall it. Raising his lance high, John leaped into the air, flying down at breakneck speeds before landing a hit directly on its neck. The monster being enveloped in the blue energy as it let out a death cry before falling to the ground dead. As it disappeared in a poof of black smoke, the other monsters the tengu had been fighting had instantly disappeared, leaving the other warriors to sigh in relief.
"What the hell was that?" Aya asked appearing next to John
"Dragonsong Dive." John replied casually
"Why didn't you do that sooner?!" Sanae exclaimed from behind him
"Sanae, you don't just waste a limit break at the start of a battle...well not in this instance anyway. Besides, it takes a while for the energy to build up to allow me to pull that kind of stunt off."
"I...see. Well is the dragon truly dead?"
"I hope so." Momiji said heaving "I...don't think I want to do something like that ever again. Keeping the enemy's attention like that is quite taxing."
"But hey, you pulled it off, and that's what's important! You'd make a fine tank I'm sure." John said patting Momiji on the back
"A fine what…?"
"N-never mind, I just mean to say you did great. Let's get a headcount, make sure no one is too hurt."
The others agreed with him, and the next hour or so was spent with John and the other healers making sure that the tengu warriors who had joined to help out were okay. While there were no casualties, that widespread attack had definitely done a number on everyone. Needless to say that they were all tired and John could feel exhaustion creeping up on him as well.
Once that was finished, they all returned to the tengu capital where Lord Tenma had been waiting
"It's good to see you all back." Lord Tenma said calmly "How did things go?"
"There were no casualties my lord!" Momiji replied with a tired smile "However, we're all quite tired, fighting that thing was a lot more troublesome than expected...we didn't expect it to revive two more times after we killed it."
"It did what?!" Lord Tenma
"Yes...someone forgot to mention that little tidbit of information." She said giving a pointed look towards John.
"S-sorry, I forgot to mention that. But it all turned out well enough." He said bashfully
"That it did. As per our agreement John Graham, from this moment on, you are considered an honorary member of the tengu. You are free to come and go as you please, as is the same for anyone under your employ. And don't worry, I'll make sure that personal agreement between the two of us is kept...we can't have you getting dying on us after all."
With that Lord Tenma walked off, leaving many of the villagers and other soldiers to whisper at the proclamation that Lord Tenma had made. For John though, he was just tired. They'd only been fighting for a few hours, but he felt as if he could sleep for the entire day. Since there was nothing else he was needed for, he decided to do exactly that, heading back to the shrine with Sanae and falling asleep for the rest of the day.
The next few days had been nothing too out of the ordinary. John had decided to continue helping out the tengu, mainly sticking with Aya and gathering intel in case any more strange enemies showed up. Thankfully, all was quiet, which for Aya was a good thing, as she already worked out an article highlighting the encounter with the bone dragon. Interestingly, there were no fantastical elements here, but instead the article was pretty factually solid, paying respects to all who were involved, even if there was a bit more emphasis on the tengu who helped out, John couldn't find it in himself to blame Aya for that.
Of course, Aya had spread the paper around and when she hit the human village, Kogasa and the others had heard about it, and attempted to get through to where John was. Thankfully, Lord Tenma really had kept his end of the deal and they were stone-walled from passing through. While the group of women were powerful together, they couldn't hope to beat the sheer numbers that the tengu had on their side and so were forced to retreat. Upon hearing that John couldn't help but shudder in fear...perhaps it was best that he wait it out just a tiny bit longer? With that having happened it was rainy morning when he'd decided to talk with Kanako.
"So John, how have things been so far?" Kanako asked
"Fine for the most part, but man I miss my computer, I've been falling behind in raiding and I can't take it anymore!" John exclaimed
"Er...right..." Kanako said with a nervous chuckle "W-well, I've word from the kappa that they could use some help. They're at the river at the base of the mountain, so why not go help them out?"
"I guess that'll help me get my mind off things." John sighed "What exactly do they need help with?"
"Oh nothing too crazy I'm sure. Probably just want some extra hands for whatever new machine they're working on."
"Wait...they work on machines?" John asked perking up
"Indeed, the kappa are probably the most technologically advanced group in Gensokyo."
At this, John's smile grew wide, maybe they'd have a computer he could use? He wouldn't know just hanging around here.
"Alright then, next stop is the kappa." John said grinning madly
You know it's kind of funny now that I think back. The bone dragon in XIV really is a simple fight when you get down to it. Nothing notable outside of the skeletons spawning happens. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'm not sure if I'll end up getting a third chapter out in such a short time frame, doing so twice sort of exhausted me. But hey, who can say if that'll be the case eh? Thanks for reading and I hope you've been enjoying the story so far. Oh yeah, and in case I end up not putting anything out closer to the 25th. Merry Christmas and have a good holiday!