ShipTeaser

  “So, a rusty, pitted khrust into a living fme, which swells, expands and explodes. Damn, that’s cryptic.” I managed, after we had gained what little information we could. The Book of Providence found it hard to answer questions about the future, which made se could glean some knowledge, certainly, about more major events. The spirit light of Tsukiko-san in orbit around me flickered, and for a moment I thought I could hear her thoughts. Definite. Already Exists.

  “Yes, I think it’s aernal threat… oh the kami damn it all, I feel wretched.” Yasaka-san coughed, and there was a little blood in it. Seeing that, I spped his back gently, allowing a little Ether Healing in.

  “At least the damage is still a lot less than previously.” I iserated him. I don’t know if you hear my thoughts back, Tsukiko-san, but didn’t we already crush your defie? Maybe not perfectly, but it wasn’t bad for my first try. Any future we don’t accept, we’ll ge. But… I remembered her talk on the differi of events, and it made seo me, not that I was qualified to question how the abilities of a Goddess such as Minerva worked. But predig something that is definitely happening has to be easier than something that might…

  “Such a sotion.” He fpped his hand weakly at us, looking every bit his age. “Now you’d better go, the Tengu are starting to get restless. I’ll just lie here and drink. It makes us old men feel better.”

  “I shall apany him. Have no fear and go with peaind.” The Prince decred, and for a moment I believed he was looking at Tsukiko-san’s spirit light. With that he turned away, and I addressed Tarōbō, as ihe Tengu were starting to grow agitated, seeing as their own champions had entered one of the cracks in the mountain, and we had deyed our incursion.

  “We’ll be going the assured, we will succeed.” I promised, determined. With o look at the bzing fme withiemple, I turo those apanying me. “Is everyone ready?” I asked for the final time, and as they all agreed, Haru-san juring a number of glowing balls of light that hovered around us like will-o’-the-wisps, roached the rift we were entering, spatial element leaking out slowly from it, the indigo mixed with other colours, shimmering like oil on water.

  “All right, I’ll lead, Daiyu is behind me. Bell, you take up the rear, Motoko, Natsumi, you support her. Haru-san, you, Kana and Na take the middle.” As everyone agreed and got into formation, Bell nodded approvingly.

  “The front and back are the most dangerous positions, while the tre have a great influen the battle from retive safety. I think those are good choices.” She turo Motoko and Natsumi. “Bows at the ready. For now…” She pulled out her short sword that was belted at her waist. “Until we know what we are fag, let your senior hahis, all right?”

  As we ehe feeling of space opening up was felt, only to close ba on us. The outside world could be seen, and a few quick tests showed we could freely pass back out onto the mountain, so my fears were alyed to aent. Worst case, if I have to go on alohat’s what I’ll do. But ideally we should all grow stronger if we …

  “The Qi here is abnormal.” Daiyu muttered, looking around. The blessing from Tarōbō seemed to have improved their vision temporarily as well, an indigo gleam in their eyes, and coupled with the glowing light orbs we could see our surroundings. We were in a fairly narrow cave-like passageway, the walls bck rock, with jutting obsidian spikes, that were as sharp as razors, further adding to the cramped, custrophobic atmosphere. And the dahe ceiling was low, just above my head, and the air was filled with an irregur hot wind, stinking of sulphur, rot and something else I couldn’t quite pce, ing and going as if breathing.

  “Such a lovely pce froup date…” Kana muttered. “Not the stuff of dreams… oh, sorry Daiyu, you were saying?” Kana apologised for her interruption.

  “The Qi is distorted, wrong.” She said, eborating. “It is a strange jumble, like a knotted rope heaped upon itself.”

  I agreed. “Yeah, there’s spatial element, fme, darkness, a trace of wind… and it’s all mixed together.” I let my Eye glow and started drawing in the surrounding elements. “I separate them out and absorb them, since I have access to them all, but it’s ly effit…”

  “Any strength you replenish is wise.” Bell nodded. “A good warrior always rests when they , eats when they , and sleeps when they are able.” As the irls the lessoarted the slow, cautious trudge into the dungeon.

  “So, about Yasaka-san’s words…” Haru-san said, her brown eyes stantly roving around, looking for danger, her hands ready to unleash light element.

  “I have my suspis, specutions. But that’s all it is. Specution.”

  “I do too.” she said. “We should share our thoughts. It might help to be prepared.”

  “All right then. It could be that there’s something else ihan just the Lost Fme, but… aernal threat… living fme…”

  “Shungbō, right?” Kana proved she aying attention. “That arrogant one in red. But I don’t see it. What would he have to gain?”

  “I don’t know, but… maybe it isn’t him. The knife…” Natsumi said, thinking, always alert, sing behind us cautiously. Her bow and an arrow was in hand, but the string was not drawn, as keeping a b taut used a lot of strength and could damage the oime, and she was too experienced for such a mistake.

  “Yeah. Something from outside… or… no, there’s no way to know. But when we run into the Tengu again, we should be cautious.” I frowned, and Haru-san poked me in the back with one finger.

  “Worried about your new sister?” she said with a smile, and I sighed, troubled.

  “About them all. They aren’t our enemies, despite our hostile start. They are simply proud and isotionist, defending their Territory. We ronger allies, just imagine how much easier it’ll be to defend Kyoto with access to mount Atago on our doorstep. And the fme element will push ahead a lot of Ixitt’s pns too…”

  “Look, he’s not admitting it. He’s being cute.” Haru-san giggled to the girls, and as she did so I raised a hand.

  “Enough joking around. They’re ing.” My Eye could see further thahers, despite the darkness, distorted spad ing mess of ether and elements. Perhaps a score of fming creatures were ing, red, yellow and indigo mixed together, f human-like and animal shapes. As they came into the view of everyone else, tension was rising, but I reassured them with a few words.

  “Don’t worry. You all handled yourselves just fine whe them at the foot of the mountain. Sure, here we have disadvantages…” I g the custrophobid spiked walls hemming us in. “…but we also have the buff from Tarōbō. But… safety first as always. I’ll hahis first batch, and then…” I raised my hand, and Spirit Water densed on my fiips, easier to produce from water element than ever due to Spiritually Pure Physique improving. “… I’ll watch over you all a you practise.” The water formed small bullets, and with a puff of wind element, they were unched, rotating to keep them flying straight. The fme creatures were pierced, steam scattering, and one by ohe fmes died, a little ether scattering, though most of it was sucked away into the dungeon.

  “It’s hard to tell. They might be a little stronger…” I mused. “But has aiced the issue?”

  Daiyu was the first to speak up. “Uhe mountain, we are not wele here. This… this dungeon, it is oppressing us.”

  “Yeah, fortunately it’s not a Rank three, from the feel of it. Rank two, I’d say. But that will mean a stant drain of strength, even a little, and make it harder to replenish. But…”

  “Chirurgery, right?” Kana said. “But won’t that put a strain on your reserves?”

  “I think I ha. Besides… even while I’m here, I’ll soon be enjoying a hotel dinner and a rexing night with Eri. So I’ll be getting plenty of rest.” I joked.

  “I doubt it. You’ll be getting a good workout, if I know Eri.” Kana disagreed. “Lucky. Whe out of here, how about some of that for me?” Her face reddened, visible uhe orbs of light. “Uh, I meael date, not the… other thing.”

  As there was mhter, eg through this grim pce, Bell spoke up quietly. “It is good to stay positive, but do not get distracted. A momentary pse cost you dearly, or worse… your rades.” Her face was solemn, and I wondered just how many rades Bell had lost over her long life. On seeing my expression, her smile was gentle. “Do not look so down, though I appreciate the se. Maybe I will have a p your heart yet. No warrior ever expect their life to be free of loss. It is why the most important part of any army is loyalty, a shared cause. For the Seelie Court, for your rades, for an ideal… without it, everyone is just a selfish, singur warrior.”

  “That’s right. That’s why…” Natsumi began, before she flushed.

  “It is nothing. Thank you for the lesson.” Motoko covered for her, and I was momentarily curious, before my attention was grabbed by more fming beings ing closer, more damned spirits. These were rger, the fmes burning brighter, and several appeared to be tengu, tortured wings of fme trailing behind their ghostly, wraith-like forms.

  “All right, there isn’t mu to move, but…” l kicked out, shattering the spikes around us, rock fragments scattering. “Ratacks first, I think.”

  Haru-san nodded, and her fiips glowed, and bullets of light, simir to my earlier water ones, soared out and the frontlines burst apart, scattering burning debris everywhere which faded quickly from sight. More came charging towards us, deceptively fast, and then some arrows sailed through the gaps, pierg the fming creatures. The arrowheads shohe blessing discharging some of its might, and the fmes melted away. Uhat bombardment, only a small number reached us, where Daiyu was waiting. She shed out, her palms wet with Spirit Water, wing a little as the fmes scorched her from proximity, but her blows were effective, the Spirit Water boiling to steam, which destroyed the fming spirits as if it was acid.

  The battle cluded, and I made to heal the slight burns on Daiyu’s hands and face, but she shook her head. “Save your strength. These are nothing, and they shall heal. If I am truly wouhen I will not be so modest.”

  “All right.” I agreed. “But don’t be shy. That goes for all of you. Now… time to press on.”

  ********

  “Earth beats fme!” Kana crowed, as the rocky floor of the dungeoed, spikes pierg out and impaling a number of the damned spirits. Their fmes flickered, weakening, and those trapped that were strong enough to resist the attack were quickly dispatched by the others, Bell, Motoko, Natsumi and Daiyu using close bat to minimise use of resources. Only Na was keeping out of battle, preserving her shields.

  “So far, we have had few problems. But I am still troubled.” Motoko said, as the st of the fmes faded. Her face was slicked with sweat, and I elled a little aether into her body, to which she smiled gratefully. Natsumi was , as uhe others, the two of them had little resistao the stant niggling of the Territory within the ed space. “We have e a long way, and while the numbers grow, we have yet to enter a true threat.”

  “That’s defiroubling.” Natsumi agreed, thankih a smile. “If it’s so simple, why are the Tengu having such troubles?”

  “Yes, my Eye has noticed we haven’t seen any Lost Fme yet.” I agreed. “The experience isn’t as good as I hoped, either.” I said.

  “bat skill and awareness are as important, perhaps more so.” Bell said. “Besides, any gain is worthwhile.”

  “True.” I had to agree. I wasn’t at my best, due to being oerial as well, but against enemies such as these, there were few s. “So, we press on?”

  At everyone’s agreement we tio traverse the seemingly endless dark corridors. On ocall pockets of fire element appeared, either gushing from cracks in the bck gss floor, or seeping down almost like a liquid from the low ceiling. Those that my Eye identified as pure I left to Motoko and Natsumi to try and absorb, using Haru-san as a bridge between our thoughts to uidance, although for now they had shown little success, the sed element always far harder to master. If it was impure then I took it myself, filtering it out, and I had almost pletely recovered my fire element, and Foehn was ready to go when needed. Although using Foehn in such cramped fines as here would be dangerous if I’m careless…

  “The corridor splits…” I said, peering into the distance. “But there’s no way we are going to split up.” As we reached a jun, the path brang into three, one desding, the other curling upwards like a spiral, and the st going straight, I poured aether into my Eye, the e glow shimmering. “I think we want to go down. There’s a lot of fire element down there, and I think some Lost Fme.”

  “Rearguard, stay alert.” Bell said. “With other passageways behind us, an ambush or rear assault is possible.”

  As we fell bato position, the temperature started to increase. It was hardly unbearable, but felt like a hot summer day, and soon everyone was dripping silvery sweat. As we desded, a glow could be felt, and suddenly a mob of the damned spirits, a mixture of small, disected fmes, seeming almost like spirit lights, surrounding a lesser number of bzing tengu and animals.

  “Same strategy as always.” I began, only for the smaller balls of fme to rush at us at a rapid speed, catg us a little off guard. Raising my hand, water bullets fshed, ae the small, fast-moving targets, most of my bullets his would be easier with more Split Thoughts, but I don’t have that luxury. Although in an emergency…

  Ba the Material, Eri and I were having dessert, watg the Tokyo skyline, and the hotel actually wasn’t too far from our pnned new home. She had been rather caught off guard by the disaster in bed, my body reag powerfully to the upgrade of Spiritually Pure Physique, but now her mood had improved. When I told her that I might o revoke my Material body, she sighed, resigned, but agreed there was no point putting myself or the others in danger over her night out. Finishing her parfait hurriedly, she reached out and took my arm, invitio finish what we had started earlier…

  Beams of light from Haru-san mowed dow of the rushing orbs, and as the remnants scattered a little ether, arrows were falling into the middle of the charging spirits, Motoko, Natsumi and Bell all accurately striking them down. Kana was torween helping or not, when she suddenly frowned. “The ground, it seems… everyone, get back!”

  I turned, grabbing Daiyu who was at the front with me, the rest scattering, my Eye showihe ground ag strangely. Suddenly the dungeon shook, fragments of jagged bck stone falling, and the floor split as if ahquake was striking, cracks spreading, fire element gushing out, this one indeed carrying the Lost Fme.

  “Careful…” Kana said. “It’s not over…” Even as she said that, strange, shapeless hands came crawling out of the bottomless splits ione, followed by rge, lumpy heads, without features except for two eyes burning yellow and bck. That was followed by massive arms, ending in hands that were like massive maces, spiked and bulky.

  “Elementals, huh?” I reised them, though they looked quite different to the ones Shaeu and I entered in Las Vegas. My Eye saw that they were Bck Stone And Fme Elemental [Corrupted Elemental], and their strength exceeded that of the damned spirits we had been fighting.

  “I don’t remember the Tengu mentioning these…” Haru-san said, dodging a blow from the first of the creatures, which was filling the entire narrow passageway, head scraping the ceiling, snapping off the sharp bdes of gssy stone, which were falling like a rain of sharp daggers.

  “They have a body though…” Kana said. “So they should be easier to break!” With a gesture, the cracks in the ground started to shut, stone rippling like mud, effort, sweat and ruby elemental energies wrung from her. The cracks snapped closed with a loud roar, and stone shattered, ether rushing into Kana’s body, replenishing her a little. One brutal elemental toppled, leg as thick as a tree trunk shattering, and Daiyu unleashed her Crushing Palms. The impact cracked the beast, one arm falling free at the shoulder, but as it broke, needles of stoipped with sizzling, impure fme element scattered. Fortunately, I repared, and wind element gusted, blowing it away from Daiyu and Kana.

  “ Na, barrier up.” I said, and she cut off the passageway with a shimmering bubble of force, leaving me and Daiyu outside. Seeing that, Daiyu’s usually taciturn expression softened, as she realised I trusted her to handle herself. She’s got the stro recovery of anyone barrihanks to her Divine Favour, and she’s got skills. She handle herself…

  “Behind us!” Kana cried, and more stony elementals were being born. Another barrier cut them off, aook charge. “ you lower the barrier allowing only a part of the creature in?” she asked, and Na managed a nod.

  “I , though it will weaken the bubble, and drain me faster.” she said after a moment.

  “That should be fine. We will not take long.” Bell promised, and as the barrier behind me dropped a little, the arm, head and torse of one elemental reached through. Motoko and Natsumi, drawing their swords, leapt forwards, and the first bl off the stone, numbing their arms.

  “We adapt.” Motoko murmured, and wind element sheathed her bde, simir to some sumura-style moves ractised. Natsumi was only a moment behind her, and now, bdes whirring with wind like a saw, their swords cut deep, rock scattering, as the arm was sliced free. Fme scattered from the open wounds, but Kana was waiting, and she captured it with stone, sm it. She then had an idea, her eyes lighting up.

  “This thing is made of rock, right? So…” She gestured, and ruby energy flowed from her. The elemental shuddered, and then exploded, ks of rock pierg through the golem-like elementals behind it as well, leaving them full ed holes like a honeyb, several colpsiirely.

  Daiyu and I could spare little attention for that, our own battle fierce. I roviding cover for her, and as she attacked, her small stature givihe advantage as the hulking elementals were restricted by their size, her small fists pouhem to pieces, showirength. When one cracked and fme gushed out, she used water element to douse it, and I noticed that each strike released Qi into the stone, weakening it, so every further blow did more damage.

  “Let me try…” I said, engaging one of the st of our surprise attackers. Behind them were the fming spirits, their bodies starting to morph and shift, flowing through the gaps in the barricade of elementals, so I quickly released a fshing burst of light element after shouting for everyoo close their eyes. Like a fshbang, a brilliant glow filled the hallway, and the fming spirits melted aurified. The elemental merely steamed a little, rock shimmering, but my blow, light, but tainih element, staggered it. The sed created a magnifying effect, and the third shattered it, despite a surprising ck of force.

  “I see.” Daiyu’s small smile grew. She was a quick study and could sehe elemental energy with her Qi Perception. Taking her cue from me, she slightly modified her oroach, and soo of the elementals fell apart, and we were left amidst rubble, ether and some burning fmes.

  “Careful.” I warned, looking at the tiny tongues of fme burning on the ground. “It’s Lost Fme.” My Eye fred, and I analysis it in more detail.

  Lost Fme Of Naraka – This Unique Fme Element is a purifying Fme, burning away ive Karma, curses and impurity. However, it seems to have undergone some ge, corrupted by a mixture of Spatial Element and lingering ???????? too powerful for it to purify, which has led to it being a Fme that attracts strands of both spiritual energy, emotions and Elements, burning them in a mahat fills, rather thaies.

  “I see. That expins the damned spirits.” In fact, with my heightened senses I could feel a minute pull even from these small fires. “But I have a way to deal with this. Foehn!” A trickle of my own hungry fires engulfed the thin fmes, and soon only Foehn was left. I felt a small measure of feedback, Foehn withirembling, but soon that was gone, my Spiritually Pure Physique easily handling aover curses es. Behind us, the battle had finished, and I went and devoured the remaining Lost Fme, including the ones captured ih by Kana.

  “A good fight.” Motoko said cheerfully. “Tsumura Arts truly is meant to be used with elemental energies. It expins the strange angle of the fourth sshing strike iandard stances. I did wonder why the angle seemed wrong, but when one assumes it will be used to slice through heavy armour without using the edge of the bde…”

  “That’s right!” Natsumi agreed. “And the footwork takes into at the possibility of debris being thrown off by the ing winds, leading to easy avoidance, while keeping poised to move as needed. Your aors truly were visionaries!”

  I let them gush for a bit, befathering everyone up. I took itle ether left behind, before Motoko and Natsumi a recharge. Seeing Kana look envious, I stifled a ugh. “When you run low, you’ll get yours too.” I promised. “For now…”

  “Yes, the fme.” Haru-san agreed. We tinued downwards towards the steadily increasing glow, attacked by dozens, then scores of damned spirits. Motoko and Natsumi levelled up, and though their stock of blessed arrows were running low, I could always use Spirit Water to approximate more for them. Though that does make me worry for the Tengu…

  As we reached the bottom, the narroathways opened up, and Ka out a low whistle. I get it. Yeah, that’s quite the sight. Fme element was gushing upwards from a massive cra the ground, and my eye identified it as the Sacred Fme Of Mount Atago, yet it was heavily mixed with Lost Fme. It was surrounded by many hundreds of damned spirits, some shapeless behemoths multiple metres tall, and a number of the bck stone elementals. As I watched closely, my Eye caught something moving deep within the crack, though even my Eye couldn’t break through the blinding gre of the torrent of spiritual fme. As the fire shuddered, sparks scattering, nding and f more fming creatures, the surroundiher being drawn in, I frowned. Just what is that?