Disclaimer: I do not own Taimanin series.
Five Days Break - 16
The whole trip had been quiet since Kotaro returned to his body in one piece. No sign of enemies coming, the forest remained still for a while.
Feeling numb all over the body, Kotaro limbed away. He was dragging his feet to the desolate hidden town and had the crimson blade supporting him like a cane.
This was the result of his body not having used to Senketsu's esoteric style.
BOOM!
An explosion broke the eerie silence.
He approached the stone staircases leading to the top of the hill. The shrine could be seen burning by the Dark Flame, Ingrid had woke up and she made it out the Ashen Tree. The locked door kicked off its hinges when he was about to make his way up there. Half of the broken part flew all the way to the staircase and went past Kotaro as he stood out of its way.
A figure stood at the foot of the tree. Upon seeing her, Kotaro let out a sigh in relief. There was Ingrid in a whole new appearance, the white cape and the symbols on her exposed skin was an unfamiliar sight to him. However, the existed knowledge of the right eye had prepared him enough not to give into surprise.
"You made it!"
"Fuuma." Ingrid muttered, their gazes met.
Her eyes slowly turned wide in mild shock, and Kotaro could only scratch his head awkwardly while he tried to find the right explanation. Him being alive was not the kind of revelation she would expect after the stunt he'd pulled in her dream.
"Were you...?"
"Again. It's a long story." Kotaro said.
Sparks of Ingrid's Dark Flame formed across the giant trunk of the Ashen Tree. Hers and Grenier's power was burning it from the inside out. The sky had begun to change. As deep night showed noticeable traces of twilight, the chaotic event had finally come to an end.
"Halt! Do not approach!"
A new problem arose. Kotaro flinched at the sudden raise of her voice. Ingrid pointed the sword at him with a scowl fully spread on her expression.
"How do I know you are not the Ashen Tree scheming another fraud to trap me?"
Their reunion caused her doubt, Kotaro didn't anticipate this situation. Steady steps cautiously taken, Ingrid closed the distance with her weapon prepared to make the initial attack at any given sign which looked suspicious to her.
Kotaro remained still on the spot. If he moved back or in any direction, that would give her unnecessary misunderstandings. The crimson blade was in his grip, he wouldn't let it go unless she wanted him to do so.
"Drop your weapon."
Speak of the devil, there she had it. Kotaro slowly placed the sword on the ground next to his feet and pushed it away.
"While being so silent? You could have started explaining something to me."
"You are under the impression that I was gone, I can tell you why I'm still alive. But I'm not going to do anything to provoke this situation."
The Hell Knight Sword reached his throat and stayed merely inches away from a chance of decapitation.
"Explain away then. Prove yourself as the Fuuma Kotaro I knew."
"As you can see, my skin is not hardened. You can...uhm, pinch it to check the elasticity."
Rejected. Asides from the sword eager to slice through his neck, Ingrid refused to get closer.
"Unlike them, I bleed."
Biological difference, the fastest way to show her he is one hundred percent legit. Kotaro bit the corner of his lip and let the little red flow dripping down the chin. With this, Ingrid could pick up the metallic smell. Neither Kuchiki, the wooded creatures and the Ashen Tree had it.
Ingrid's gaze softened, a part of her doubt was clear. Kotaro made good progress.
"How should I know you are not another fabrication created to fool me?"
Easy question.
"Didn't you get your power back? Plus, the damn Rotted Tree is burning in your flame."
Swearing added to make his remark more believable. The Ashen Tree and Kuchiki both thought of themselves with a holier than thou attitude, they couldn't afford to insult themselves.
"Fair point. But it is not enough."
That wasn't enough!? She could arrive at those facts from it!
"Your ability, show it to me."
"Eh?"
"Reveal what lies behind that eye." Ingrid repeated. "That way I can be sure what in front of me is not an illusion."
While Kotaro stood dumb-struck at her demand, the sword moved from the neck to his face.
"That's...I..."
The simplest thing he could do was to open the eyelid just like Ingrid'd wanted. Depending on what she sees in it, she may come to believe him. To her, it was an easy request she expected him to follow. But to Kotaro, it turned out to be the most difficult problem at the moment.
The Nameless Evil Eye was unresponsive, it closed shut, locked by an invisible weight. It didn't matter whether he wanted it to work or forced it, the eye wouldn't listen. Kotaro literally couldn't do anything to it. The only explanation he had for this was the eye undergoing a cooldown period. Then again, that was just a guess.
"I can't." He revealed. "It doesn't work."
Ingrid tightened her grip on the sword. This was about to become another dilemma he has to overcome.
"Whether this eye opens or not, I'm still what I am, the weakest Taimanin. Ingrid, if for some reason you haven't trust me yet, I'll step out the way and you can go on with what you're doing. This will be our separate ways."
"..."
"..."
Crackles from the burning Tree interfered their silences.
"There is no need." Ingrid eventually lowered her sword.
Before Kotaro could earn himself a sigh of relief, she shortened their distance.
"What...?"
Her sword put away, her arm reached out, hand curved into what looked like she was about to place a vice-grip on his face. Surprisingly, Kotaro didn't let his corneal reflex kick into his instinct. He watched it coming closer and closer despite having a slightest jolt of panic.
Poke!
She poked him softly in the cheek.
"Hm. It seems you are not one of them." Ingrid stated in a half-amused tone. "This is real flesh."
She poked his cheek a few more times and gave it a pinch, with a little bit strength applied.
"Ouch!" He whined harshly. "I know you're just checking but you don't have to be this roughed!"
"You are real." She confirmed. "I believe you now."
"I am real. This is The Real Me, alright!"
Kotaro rubbed the spot where she had gave a slight squeeze. Ingrid snorted as she watched his reaction.
"I thought you could handle a pinch from me, you are not wrong about being the weakest."
"Well, if this much is enough to persuade you, there's nothing else I can do about it."
"Like I said, Fuuma. You ought to work harder, you should not be proud of keeping such a title."
"Noted." He nodded at the most common advice everyone has constantly gave him. "By the way, I'm glad you made it out."
They looked back at the withering Ashen Tree. More sparks of Dark Flame had risen around the trunk, columns of smoke began to rise past its peak.
"It is not over yet."
Eye widened, Kotaro snapped to her words.
"It's not?"
"I found a hacked cocoon at the chamber, by the throne. Whatever inside it was long gone before I wake up. I am going to chase after it."
The Ashen Tree was gone, its consciousness had been destroyed. If the thing managed to split its mind at the last second and escaped, it wouldn't be able to make it far in this vast forest.
"Wait. A cocoon next to the throne."
Memories flashed at the mentioned object. He recalled the sight of a pale old man wiggled in pain, struggled to drag his wooded, dried up body toward the preserved corpse of the priestess.
"Ingrid! Was there a body of an old man in that room!?"
Ingrid shook her head.
"The hacked cocoon was only thing stood out to me. Other than that, I had found nothing."
Kotaro paled. Hearing the corpse went missing brought up a dark thought. This whole thing was nowhere near an end.
"Kuchiki is still alive." Kotaro muttered in disbelief.
The realization was too late. The chain of events finally entered the last phrase. The ground beneath them suddenly became weightless then rebounded at full force. A massive earthquake struck where they were standing.
Kotaro caught the crimson blade just in time a crack appeared under it. Their chance to leave was robbed clean as the stone staircases collapsed. Struggling to keep his balance in the violent quake, Kotaro lost his footing. The earth broke apart under the shrine and spread toward their spot. Kotaro tried to jump over the gap with little momentum, he barely caught the edge. However, the rift continued to expand, surface slid off, drifting into the abyss below. He found nothing else to grab on.
Still, Kotaro didn't let the situation get to him. He had no more need to worry about being struggling alone without help.
After all, he has a companion right here.
"Fuuma!"
Leaving no room for hesitation, he kicked the falling surface and caught a hand reaching out from above. She got a good grip on his.
"Thanks!" Kotaro shouted his gratitude in the bombing noises.
Ingrid'd kept her balance stable as she pierced her sword to the ground and used it for support. He trusted her not to slip off even though the area around them was on the verge of breaking apart.
"This place won't hold."
The ground shaking made it harder for her to pull him up. Ingrid observed the chaos around them, there was nowhere else they could go. Kotaro had an idea, Ingrid could use her power to do a great jump and land in a much safer area.
"We have to jump!"
"Then let us jump." Ingrid seemed to catch on the idea. "Down there."
"Down? Wait wait wait! That wasn't the idea! Ingrid, WAIT!"
They were still holding hands, she didn't think twice about pulling him along with the jump. Kotaro wasn't prepared for this alternative plan B, his blank mind didn't even manage to get that far into her intention.
No room for hesitation, Ingrid leaped into the abyss while he screamed in panic.
"The branches are moving!"
At her warning, he noticed the giant tree limbs rising from the darkness of the underground tunnel. One was coming their way, the fall ended shortly as they landed on top it. As the branch continued to advance toward the sky, Ingrid effortlessly regained her posture. Kotaro almost choked and lied flat on the roughed surface, the giant branch was moving fast. It was no different from a high speed elevator without walls to conceal the elevated pressure.
Ingrid looked unfazed in the heavy air. However, she grimaced at the destruction of the entire forest. The rising roots and branches broke away the soil and buried everything.
The vibration eventually stopped. From where they stood, Kotaro could see the hidden town reduced to the size of his phone screen. They were at one of the highest places near the peak of the burning Ashen Tree.
What the hell did this mean!? The Tree had become a soulless empty shell, it could no longer be alive without a consciousness. But the body was still functioning, its roots and limbs continued to expand at the behest of something else.
"This is his doing!"
Kuchiki shared a connection with the Tree, he was planning something by awakening the dying body of the Ashen Tree. But how did he gain control of it? Where could he be?
The night sky had turned to an eminence shade of violet. Kotaro squinted his eye staring through the faint smoke paint in the color of the twilight, he couldn't get a clear view of it.
CRACK!
They froze at the blood-curling sound. At this point, it was so disturbingly familiar it drove an unpleasant feeling into Kotaro's core. A large crack was made at the bottom of the branch. It spread. It burst. It exploded and poured out a ferocious stream of wooded creatures. The phenomenon didn't happen at a single branch, it also occurred everywhere in the domain of the secluded forest.
From above, the creatures fell from the body of the giant limbs. From below, they crawled to the surface and rushed to all direction.
"Those things are spreading? Are they're trying to leave this place!?"
Kotaro had a hunch like that, and he would prefer it to be wrong.
The sea of wooded creatures spawning into existence was the last remaining number of victims the Ashen Tree and Kuchiki had collected throughout the centuries. Now, they appeared, coming out of places where they had been buried as an attempt to define themselves as the last chances to reach the world beyond the hidden forest.
This is bad.
"Crap! Kuchiki can swap place with any of them at will. If this many reaches past these mountains, there will be chaos!"
Kotaro wasn't sure how far the invisible pathways built by the Ashen Tree's bizarre blessing can expand, but he definitely didn't want to wait and find out. In case Kuchiki was using this crowd as a mean to escape, it would be extremely difficult to track him down. At that point, it would be no different from finding a needle in a haystack.
They can't risk that outcome. He absolutely must not let that situation become a reality. The wooded creatures were running. However, they were not very fast due to the condition of their body structure, there was still time to consider all the possibilities.
Come on, Fuuma Kotaro. Take a moment to calm down and think. Certainly, there are limits to Kuchiki's ability, controlling a huge mass like this requires more than just a blessing. Technically, Kuchiki was replacing the Ashen Tree's role, gaining its authoritative status in some ways. There was only one thing in this place that could help him harness its ability.
"The Ashen Flower."
Swallowing petals of that flower will evolve his ability, and the one place where he could find it was...
Kotaro looked to the burning giant tree, left eye focused at the peak of that otherworldly being. The rising smokes were overwhelming his vision, he had yet to see past it. But he was sure that so-called sacred place was where everything had started.
"From the look of it, you seem to have figured something out." Ingrid spoke up as she noticed the tension on his face.
"It's just a guess, Kuchiki could be at the top of the Ashen Tree. That's where the Ashen Flowers bloomed and harvested in the past."
"In that case, the best course of action here is to go after Kuchiki, is it not? We will hunt him down, execute him and all this activities will be stopped for good."
"Yeah, but there's no telling when he will transfer his soul to another vessel and rebirth in it. If that happened, he would just slip away with a new body. We don't have enough time to locate him among the creatures."
He pointed at the moving creatures below.
"So, the biggest problem right now is them. We can't let those creatures get out of this forest. If we lose even one while Kuchiki is still at large, it's going to turn into a disaster for both humans and demons."
She folded her arms, contemplating with a slight frown.
"It seems all we have left are desperate measures. The Ashen Tree is gone and yet, nothing has changed."
Hearing that, Kotaro gritted his teeth in frustration. This was a desperate situation for both of them. At the same time, burning everything to ashes was the only thing they could do. Not a lot of options available.
"Fuuma, what is your suggestion?"
"Deal with the mob first, then Kuchiki. It doesn't have to be in order though, we can do both at the same time."
"Using the Dark Flame, my power, to take out the mob." She added.
Kotaro nodded.
"Ingrid, your flame is our best bet. Thankfully, those creatures are slow, it's our advantage and you can wipe them out with it, better safe than sorry."
"It is against my taste to destroy a beautiful nature such as this. But so be it."
Ingrid readied her sword. The white cap and her long hair fluttered strongly in the wind. Before approaching the edge, she turned to him with a faint smile.
"Knowing my flame will burn indiscriminately, you will still fight together with me in this battle, yes? Now that your ability has awakened, I would like to see it in action once more."
Kotaro raised an eyebrow at her. The startling look on his face gradually made way for a thin smile in return.
Even in this circumstance, the warrior instinct in Ingrid resurfaced. She needed to see him stand up against the enemies one more time for a good observation. She wanted to witness the kind of power that could draw a connection to the Dark Flame's origin. She wanted to see him use it. She wanted to determine how capable Fuuma Kotaro has become with his newfound strength.
Since the eye was still closing shut, it might not be the right time to consider her interest. Kotaro didn't think he'd really want to entertain the idea anyway.
"Heh. It's doesn't work like that." What he said. "There's still a huge gap between us. One way or another, I will be a burden to you."
"By yourself, you'd held up well against the enemy throughout the night." She responded. "I do not think of you as a hindrance."
"It's not what you think, Ingrid. It's what I think about how I will eventually be in your way if we both head down there together. You won't be able to fight with your all." Kotaro shook his head. "We definitely can't have that."
She thought about his words carefully. Soon, she understood the unspoken intention Kotaro had no need to lay out.
"You want to split up?" She eyed him, somewhat doubtful and not entirely agreed with the decision, if any part of it was true. "While I handle the wooded creatures, you will confront Kuchiki on your own?"
Kotaro didn't deny it.
"This can work, Ingrid. Lowering his chances of escaping as much as you possibly can and I'll try to narrow down his location at the Tree. Also, I can make it count along the way."
"I believe that pseudo-immortal monster still has much to answer for what he'd done to me."
Her voice filled with disdain. A Hell Knight holding onto the promise of delivering execution would not be so kind toward those who has gone past the point of being irredeemable. The thought of giving Kuchiki a well-deserved judgement had crossed her mind since the beginning for all the detestable things he'd done.
"I'm sure you'll have your chance if he decides to escape using his rebirth ability."
Crack!
Attention instantly shifted, they stuck closed to each other putting up their guard.
More of the same noise were popping all over the giant branch. Shortly, a horde of wooded creatures surrounded them. Kotaro briefly gave a quick scan for a familiar face in the crowd. Kuchiki wasn't among them.
"These things reacted to our presences, which means he noticed us." Kotaro speculated.
"So instead of showing himself directly to us, he truly believes that an army like this alone can stop me. Good, the more he offers these mindless minions, the easier for us to diminish his chances of survival." Her sword raised high. "It is time I answer to that coward in kind."
Kotaro ducked and she made a wide swing.
Dark Blue Flame exploded at the top of the branch, spawning circles of Hell Fire around them. Many succumbed to the boiling heat and became ashes within seconds. Some were falling to the forest below. However, the bodies was destroyed, leaving sparks of tinder to ignite the next thing its touched.
This was great! Ingrid would be just fine as long as her flame is active, the wooded creatures wouldn't be able to get anywhere closer to her. If Kuchiki decided to engage in a battle with her, she wouldn't give him an opening to attack.
Now, it was up to Kotaro to do his part.
"Alright! I'm going. Ingrid, open the way, I'll run through it."
She didn't respond.
"Ingrid?"
He looked back and met her eyes. She was giving him the look of disagreement. Ingrid had yet to be all in with the plan.
"It is fitting that I should come with you to the Tree. We can end things quickly." She suggested.
"I get that you want to settle things with Kuchiki once and for all. But that's not ideal. We'd risk the chances of him escaping through one of those things." He explained. "It's just us and only you can handle their numbers."
"My strength is more than enough to defeat him."
"No." Kotaro firmly rejected. "One of the strongest Hell Knights or not, you will only slow him down, he would just pop open a crack in another vessel and crawl out like nothing happened."
The Ashen Tree was artificial but that didn't exclude its otherworldly nature, the blessing Kuchiki received from it made him a strange phenomenon outside the norms.
"Even if his body is destroyed, his mind will continue to live on as long as a vessel exists to inhabit it, doesn't matter what forms or shapes."
"It seems to me that you have come up with a way to permanently incapacitate him."
Kotaro tapped the blade strapped to his belt.
"This weapon can cut him down. Kuchiki can turn into a ghost, become an abstract being or abandon the physical realm all he wants, the blade still reaches. At this moment, I'm the only one who can use it since it bears the hatred for demons, you see."
"I do not see the point of you engaging this battle alone." She argued. "If that sword is the only mean to defeat him, surely you can see the efficiency in having me as your support to drive Kuchiki into a corner."
Kotaro sighed, he appreciated the thought. However, her approach wouldn't cover much ground.
"Supposedly we went to the Ashen Tree to fight him as a team, and by the worst luck, he was no longer there." He shrugged. "We'd realize we'd just been giving him all the time he needed to make a couple getaways."
"My flame-"
"Supposedly you scorched your way to the Tree and blasted its entire existence with it, Kuchiki might probably transfer his consciousness to somewhere else outside the range of the attacks."
Her eyebrows twitched.
"You are confident that you can face the monster by yourself?"
"It's not about confidence. It's necessary, we'll leave no gap for Kuchiki to pull any of his tricks."
More of the wooded creatures came up. Ingrid continued to swing her sword while Kotaro stepped out the way, the Dark Flame blazed everything around them.
"With your condition, fighting that monster alone does not sound plausible at all."
"Are you worried I won't make it?"
As if Kotaro had hit the nail on the head, Ingrid's stern expression made room for another emotion he couldn't quite catch on as she quickly turned away and struck another coming wave of wooded creatures.
"For being the weakest Taimanin, you spoke such brazen words. I would assume nothing as you ought to be well-versed in this type of situation."
Her back faced him, Kotaro couldn't tell what sort of expression she was making.
"But as companions, there is also nothing that forbids me from having such thoughts."
He blinked twice. Hm? Hm!? Did she just admit that she was worried about him!?
Before Kotaro indulges himself further to the question, the circle of Dark Flame spread to both sides, leaving a single path leading straight to the burning Ashen Tree.
"Fine. We go along with your plan, Fuuma."
Ingrid decided to open the way for him. It was the same unshaken, solid tone of voice. The slightest change could hardly be noticed had Kotaro not see the way her ears flushed.
"Now hurry!" Ingrid urged. She was aware of his curious gaze fixing on her. "More of them are coming!"
He sprinted forward, passing the flame as quickly as he could before the next wave of enemies rises up from the cracks.
Alone, she finally let out a long sigh that had been suppressed in his presence. She would turn around to look at his silhouette becoming smaller in the distance and soon gone from view as the hideous faceless creatures staggered slowly in front of her.
Ingrid recalled the look in his eye just now. It resembled the same expression he had had when they faced each other in her dream. No doubt it'd already happened during their Go game, and that was yesterday.
Unlike the young Taimanin she'd met at Tokyo Kingdom, not a shred of fear was visible in her companion. After a single night, Kotaro has emotionally evolved to the point he could stare at her back in the face and casually retort in their banters. To Ingrid, such behavior has no repercussion as long as the person knows not to overtread their own boundary. Kotaro understood that about her and was willing share their mutual respect.
Perhaps, his mentality growing stronger was due to the awaken of his ability. Or it was simply a slumbering part of his true nature emerged at the worst turning point of everything.
Nevertheless...
...the next time we face each other, you won't see fear in my eye, Ingrid...
Kotaro has kept his words.
Thinking about it, Ingrid couldn't help herself anymore. She broke into a giggle fit. Despite the wooded creatures all fixed their unseen gazes on her, Ingrid wouldn't mind showing her genuine feeling.
"Oh, it is truly impressive how determination alone can make one so formidable."
The wind began to pick up, she kept back the flowing strands of her hair. Now, Ingrid would continue her part of the plan. As the creatures advanced, she sliced the ground beneath her feet, cutting the giant branch in two. The big climb crashed the earth, set aflame and the leftover of the horde bore the same fate. Her landing within the rising fire was light as a feather, her cape flung as she threw another swing of her sword and commanded the burning to spread. Kuchiki's mindless puppets one by one felled as dust.
"Hell Knight Ingrid, here to grant you all a quick end." She announced. "None of you will escape this place."
Her heel pressed to the ground and vanished. Dark Flame mixed together with gusts of hot breezes and traveled to a different area of the forest, where a large group of wooded creatures were moving. She reappeared among them, weapon thrust to the nearest foe and let her power explode.
All was wiped out in an instant.
The crimson blade went past another enemy for the second twentieth times. Kotaro lost count the first time when a series of explosions raided the forest. Ingrid was doing a great job at reducing the wooded creatures' number.
There was a bit of shaking that almost caused him to slip. Never mind! Kotaro got it all under control. After a while, he finally reached the foot of the Ashen Tree. Nothing major has happened yet. Although there were difficult moments in the way. The wooded creatures had been somewhat aggressive and persistent with their grabs, but thankfully they didn't get any smarter with their new boss in charge. Those were easy to dodge.
As the giant branch originally came from underground, Kotaro had to slide down the steep slope on its body, climbed up the cliff of the collapsed surface, parkoured his way through a couple huge cracks and arrived at the shrine, what was left of it.
The right eye was still closing, showing no sign of active sensation. Adrenaline rush may have helped him pull through it all, Kotaro was still glad the trainings at Gosha really prepared his physical prowess for this one occasion.
Those obstacles seemed like the pending of a climax battle. He'll see about that, at the top of the Tree.
Ingrid's Dark Flame had yet to fully engulf its large trunk, some parts of it were left unscathed. It wasn't like her power didn't work, it was a long and slow progress. The Ashen Tree's body was just that toughed.
Quickly, he circled around the Tree by following the narrowed path. Good! The wood boards and the rope were intact. The flame hasn't spread to the back of this Tree yet.
And unsurprisingly, a few creatures were there, waiting to intervene him.
"Figures."
Crimson blade unsheathed, Kotaro used minimal movements to strike them, particularly the heads. The sword came through the hardened skin like cutting papers, Kotaro barely felt the impact of the blade on his enemies. It was a short work.
He grabbed the rope and pulled himself up along the nailed boards. The abnormal height of the Tree didn't give him an easier time. He stayed cautious the whole way to the top, expecting an ambush.
But nothing came up.
It was a long and smooth climb until he reached the burning portions of the Tree. The utility belt didn't have a mask, Kotaro had to manual between saving his breath to conserve the stamina and avoiding suffocation by smokes at the same time. This was what it feels like to charge into a burning building without supplementary oxygen.
When the end of the rope was within sight, Kotaro added more strength to his steps and pulled himself up the ledge, lying half-spent at the foggy peak. The unwelcoming exhaustion was predictable, Kotaro couldn't afford a short rest while everything was at stake. He had a solution to this. For a Taimanin, it came off as a desperate measure.
Taken a special med-kit box from the belt, Kotaro peeled off the cap to see two distinct needle-less syringes. The size fitted into his palm, one was green and one was orange. These were the products made and distributed to Task Force members by Shinjou Yuuna and Hanasaki Yozora.
Shinjou-sensei's advice on using this was only for the emergency. Kotaro had no choice, the current situation demanded him to use it.
He took the green syringe and injected it to the side of his neck. The effect occurred immediately, Kotaro felt a bit funny as the liquefied herb was flowing through his body.
It worked fast. Too fast!
His brain had a jolt like someone gave it a flick. His heart experienced a phantom shock over a sudden raise of electrical impulses. His body burned up shortly and returned to normal. Kotaro heard clearly the steady rhythms inside his chest.
The exhaustion was gone, he couldn't feel the fatigues anymore. The side-effects didn't show, the green potion did wonder.
Gathering himself up and backed to the matter at hand, Kotaro approached the darkness of the Ashen Tree's peak. The sky had been brighter, sunlight not yet revealed and the smoke was dense. Kotaro wasn't worried, his normal vision had been trained in the dark.
He found himself walking on a flat surface. The ground was paved into an even level, highly mismatched with the roughed exterior of the Tree. There were traces of soil, dried leaves and scattered pieces of clay pots. Each of the step repeatedly echoed the crackling noise. Someone had come up with the idea of creating a garden at the top of the Ashen Tree and was fond of it. Kotaro imagined they would spend their time leisurely doing that while they were waiting for the next Ashen Flower to bloom.
It could only be Kuchiki.
Two blurred figures finally appeared as Kotaro arrived at the center of the peak.
The wind rose, clearing up the smoke. The violet shade of twilight shone upon old man Kuchiki, who was cradling the lifeless dried corpse of the priestess.
The last Ashen Flower bloomed next to them.
But Kuchiki could no longer have the heart to bat an eye at it, the resigned look on his face described a powerlessness that drown the atmosphere in a somber mood. Being brought out of the state of being preserved, that ancient body now appeared many fractures. Her hand, which held within his, crumbled to dust. Her head and torso, which gently placed on his arm, shattered and collapsed to the ground.
Kuchiki's fist trembled, his head lowered to the ground, to where the worn robe of the priestess was left as the only proof of her existence. His whole body shook in the weeping that came afterward.
There was nothing left of her that could be saved. For a thousand of years, that hope Kuchiki clung on remained a horrible illusion, groomed by another monster's whisper.
Kotaro stood watching from a distance. He would let Kuchiki mourn for a bit. He would do nothing to a broken man, who had made himself a monster out of despair and lingered affection. If the pseudo-immortal monster still had a piece of humanity left in him to reconnect for a moment, Kotaro would let him have it.
"WHY!?"
Shockwaves roared from his scream, pushing all the foggy smoke away. He threw his face up and shot Kotaro a furious glare. Kuchiki couldn't shed a drop of tear, the change made in his body had caused him unable to cry like a human would.
"Tell me! Why!? Why am I not allowed to save my beloved priestess!?"
"Because she is long gone."
"Her soul became whole with the Ashen Tree! With its blessing, I could have saved her! I would have been able to bring her back to life! Why am I not allowed that chance!?"
"Because you took away million of lives in exchange for a false hope."
Kuchiki didn't listen.
"We were so closed to the Golden Age! We were so closed to the coming of the Eternal Spring! She would have lived! We could have had a beautiful ending together! Why are you stopping me from reaching that wonderful vision!? Why did you destroy my deity!?"
"Because all this time you've been listening to a monster's whisper. The damn Rotted Tree only used you to make the entire world its playground for food. It gave you an empty promise."
"Its divine powers are REAL!"
"It shouldn't have existed in the first place! Neither the Tree nor its so-called blessings belong here!"
"I JUST WANTED TO BRING MY BELOVED BACK!"
Another shriek, another shockwave shot out. It hit Kotaro in the face, but he didn't backdown, both feet planted firmly where he was standing as he braced the raging gust of air head-on. His hand'd already gripped on the sword handle.
"Then stop pretending you are sane."
A drastic change happened to Kuchiki. He dropped the enraged expression and went blank. He didn't put on a façade, it was his true emotion on full display as he became silent at those simple words.
"You can never possibly understand what I have been through." Kuchiki grunted a harsh tone. "You can never imagine what I have endured for so long."
The pale hand reached for the Ashen Flower and plucked it off the ground with a forceful snap. While holding that flower required delicacy, Kuchiki had stopped showing the special care it wanted. He no longer saw it as a precious gift. As of now, to him, it was a mean to an end.
"The thought of losing her forever clouded my mind every single day, every month, every year, for centuries. I lost my village, I'd lost everything on that damn day. The priestess might have lost her flesh and blood, she still had her soul. She shared a connection with the Ashen Tree, she lived on within our deity. She was the only person I had left. The Ashen Tree granted me the ability to rebirth myself, I saw that as a saving grace, as a chance to one day reach her and return her soul to the body. And in order to do so, the Ashen Tree must achieve rejuvenation."
Kuchiki had yet to chew on the petals. However, his body was undergoing a transformation. The ability he obtained from a long time ago activated, turning him back to a youthful look.
"AAaahh!"
It wasn't his first time, Kuchiki had done this on many occasions in the past. He clutched his head in the imaginary pain that overwhelmed his mind. He had abused this ability and it was taking a toll on him.
"I didn't go this far by foolishly clinging on a false hope. I'm aiming toward a future that is possible for the both of us!" Kuchiki in his prime repeated the harsh tone. "I continued to devote myself to the cause. I sold my soul by doing the God's bidding. I casted away my humanity so that I could revive the Ashen Tree to its former glory, to the time when its power transcended beyond life and death. Just so that it would bring her back to me, just so that she could bloom beautifully by these flowers once more."
Kuchiki shoved all the petals into his mouth and swallowed them all in one gulp.
"But now, what choice do I have in the matter!? If my God considered me as a pawn then so be it. It was my choice to serve my deity. But oh no! You just have to be a nuisance! You just have robbed me of that future we envisioned! So what if I am a mad man!? So what if I became a monster!? So what if I am a lunatic to you!? Everything I did, I did it so I could see her again!"
His form shrunk, his buffed hardened muscles became slim, his large back shifted to a small build. Kuchiki had undergone another change in appearance, he was now younger, right about Kotaro's age. The wound on his chest was gone, it healed back to normal.
"Thanks to you, all of that effort is up in smoke." Kuchiki addressed the burning state of the Tree. "You see, I am letting loose the rest of our followers. This will not be the Great Ashen Tree's last stand. This will be the way to carve our existences into the world!"
Kuchiki threw his arms to the sky and declared like he wanted the whole world to listen to those words.
"As I have consumed the last Ashen Flower, I will be the second coming of the Ashen Tree! I will become a God in its place! I will bring forth the new world by my own hands!"
He accursedly pointed a finger at Kotaro.
"Now, you. I will never forgive you and Senketsu for what you both have done, Fuuma Kotaro! Once I am done with you, the Hell Knight is next. You all can be fertilizer to me as repentance!"
Kotaro showed no reaction to the threat.
"You know." He spoke up. "All I'm hearing is a mad man's rambling. Do you expect me to feel bad about your story?"
Taking his steps forward, he confronted the ashen monster face-to-face.
"You're already a thousand years old, Kuchiki. It's time to give it a rest."
The pale monster gritted his teeth with rage. The boiling attitude of a younger age momentarily took over his half-broken mind. But Kuchiki didn't strike first, he was a cunning man by nature. On his back appeared a system of invisible pathways, which he used to transfer his consciousness freely to the remaining vessels. He knew what Kotaro feared of the most in this situation. Kuchiki had all the means he could use to get off the peak, appear somewhere else and run off to the world beyond the hidden forest.
"You ought to respect your elder, little rascal."
"Well, you're too much of a menace to earn it."
Kuchiki was confident in his advantage. He was faster, stronger and better in a reformed body and with the blessing improved.
"Lift even one finger and I will be gone in a blink."
He believed Kotaro won't be able to do a thing in this moment. The young Taimanin could only lament on the fact that he was no matched to the one who has ascended to the Ashen Tree's ruling position.
Kotaro closed his eye.
The monster took it as a sign of giving up. Pale fists clenched hard as he was about to knock the head off Kotaro's neck.
BOOM!
Kuchiki flinched. The huge explosion from a distance startled him.
"Heh. Lady Hell Knight has been going strong at my followers. Soon, she will know how futile her resistance is."
BOOM!
Then, he realized the sounds was coming from far off by the edge of the forest.
Those resonances were different.
Explosions caused by the Dark Flame were loud but short. Yet, there was a ring of gentleness in it, its destructive nature focused more on burning away the target in a small time span, reducing everything quickly to dust.
But here, the bombardment rang with intensity. It scorched its way slow. Yet, it annihilated everything in its path while its voice reverberated a deep boom that continued on vibrating the air.
"By the Ashen Tree, what is going on?"
Kuchiki had his own question answered as more distinct noises entering the Ashen Tree's dormant.
It was the non-stop roaring of an engine running at maximum output.
It was the prolonging sound from two propellers going full throttle.
It was a military aircraft finally reaching the destination.
From within the opened door on its side, the large scope of a bazooka was aiming and trigger pulled, blasting wildly a downpour of fireballs. Following the assault, thunders could be heard striking the area even though the sky was clear. Strangely, next to the heat, an enormous ice glacier towered over a portion of the forest, freezing all movements.
To Kuchiki, the shocking sight was unusual.
To Kotaro, who was standing still with his eye closed, it was the moment he has been waiting.
"Fuuma-kun!"
"CAPTAIN! WE'RE HEREEEEE!"
The aircraft speaker echoed their voices clearly. The chaotic event approached the stage of climax.
The Sun has rise. Dawn begins.
The Taimanin Task Force is here.
"I see." Kuchiki smirked. "A whole group of your kind come here asking to be food, huh."
As he looked back at Kotaro, finger gun was already pointing directly at his head. Kotaro had made the Seal of Confrontation and moved without making a sound.
Kuchiki blinked in surprise. The split second of that normal reflex cost him a fatal mistake.
His whole face dented in by a ruthless impact.
His body has been strengthened up with hardened armor-liked skin. However, his mind wasn't as damage-proof, it had always been vulnerable. That one attack surpassed the physical realm. It didn't actually connect to Kuchiki's fortified body, it smashed him straight in the soul. It was not the trick of the mind. It was real, the pain that could have never been possible came in full-force. Hot and intense, bone crushing and brain shaking. It was like actual punch with steel-like knuckles grazing his skin.
After being knocked backward for a short distance, Kuchiki immediately covered his face. There was nothing dripping to his hands. The phantom pain that gave his consciousness the worst feeling ever almost fooled Kuchiki into believing he had a bloody nose and a swollen face as a consequence.
"Damn brat!" Kuchiki cried. He would jump at Kotaro and tear the young man apart. "What...?"
That thought in his head cut off. Kuchiki froze the moment he took notice of a familiar light from Kotaro.
"W-What is that!?"
[Crimson Art: Infusion]
Waves of Crimson Taima particles were flowing around Kotaro's fist. It allowed him to throw a straight punch that hit Kuchiki directly in the core, his soul.
"Kuchiki, I got no sympathy to a monster like you. I'm here to finish off what Senketsu has started."
Kotaro unsheathed the blade, both eyes were still closing. He was ready.
Kuchiki watched with his teeth grinding in anger.
Crack!
The effect that shouldn't be audible temporarily shot down his boiling temper. His head snapped back to look at the invisible pathways breaking and disappeared.
"How!?"
It was then, he realized the cause was right in front of him. Kotaro had only took out the blade from its scabbard. At some point, there was a sweep, a movement done incredibly fast that Kuchiki's enhanced vision couldn't catch up.
"A bit longer than an arm's length is just about enough to reach, huh."
Kotaro muttered something that made Kuchiki's blood run cold, if there was still some left coursing through his veins.
Kuchiki wasn't going to let that faze him now. He had confidence in the blessing, the regenerate speed and a system of million pathways he could use to break out to the world or tear the young Taimanin to pieces with number.
"Brat, you truly think you and your ninja tricks alone are enough to defeat me? It will not be like last time."
Kotaro disagreed.
He didn't survive the night and come this far just to defeat him.
As the fate of humans and demons was riding on the outcome of this battle, Kotaro set aside all the strategies that bounded him to his moral codes.
For once, he will let go of the way of the Taimanin and stick to the reckless bravery of a warrior. It was the only way he could make the best use of Senketsu's esoteric sword style.
He inhaled a deep breath and clutched the crimson sword tightly.
"To kill you."
At this moment, those words became the sole driving force pushing him forward. It was the only objective that surged his determination.
And that's...
"That's my strongest resolve."
The Nameless Evil Eye saw the morning light, for the decisive battle.
/
Author's Note: We're at the story's climax now.
Thank you for reading. Take Care!