Soldiers of Light ch.8: "Welcome...to Vance Island!"
 

Kurama slept quietly as the airship flew through the air. Puffs of smoke curled out from some of the sides, and it made a little clattering sound every so often. Takn grumbled as he flew. If they had given him more time and hadn't forced him to get it up so quickly, it wouldn't be in such shape. His baby was hurting. Oh well. He'd fix it eventually.

Meanwhile, back on the Island of the Barrier, the still living members of Team Evil left what remained of the temple. They counted their losses, and weren't happy about them. And then, something happened that made them even unhappier.

As they stood in their group, a monk walked up to them. He walked slowly, with no rush in his gait at all.

Raikotsu turned and, seeing a stranger, raised his palm. His new Onikaze move erupted from his hand, and flew at the monk. The monk held up his own hand, and grabbed the Onikaze at the end. If the monk had any capability to smile, it probably would have. The Onikaze ended, the monk managing to block it with his hand.

That's when Team Evil noticed that every footstep the monk made in the soft earth was beginning to rot and turned black. Even the very aura around the monk was tainted.

"So...what happened?"

The monk seemed to whisper it out, but they all heard it. It echoed in their brains, making sharp pains in their mind.

White Kimono (Tsubasa Hirasaka)
Tsubasa kneeled more to hide her disgust at the creature than anything else. "An underestimation of our human opponents, my lord. A setback that we will work tirelessly to recover from, and we will recover from these mistakes in very little time indeed, my lord. We...didn't expect to encounter demons fighting alongside the wielder of Raigaki. Please pardon us this once and we shall not fail you again."

Pyros landed on the deck of the ship, and curled up into a little ball. Despite his desire to see if Kurama was alright, Pyros was exhausted from a good week's work of effort with little sleep. Being superfit allowed for many days of hard work, but after a while the mind starts to weaken instead of the body. Pyros closed his eyes, and rested.

"So, the unexpected happened? And why was that?"

The monk's eyes never moved, but some strange look moved to Chikane. She could feel it, and it made her skin crawl.

"Could it be because you took actions that did not help the mission? Like fighting a wizard instead of seeking my legs!"

Chikane began to cough. It was getting hard to breathe.

"Could it be because you exchange parlor tricks with a prancing robe instead of breaking the barrier?"

The arteries in her eyes grew along the edges, become distinct and clear. The veins in her body began to swell and pop up under her skin.

"Or could it be by being a worthless mortal with mortal weaknesses. And as such, prone to mortal death?"

Tears of crimson flowed down Chikane's cheeks. The veins under her skin burst, and began to flow from her sweat glands. Her eyes puffed out, she gagged for breath, and a few moments later, she was gone. The monk turned back to the rest of the group. The monk body was already beginning to rot due to the taint contained within.

"The rest of you were not so worthless. The necessity simply hasn't been instilled in your minds yet. Tell me. Anyone know why now, of all times, I would want my body back? When I could simply wait out the life of the Genkai?"

White Kimono (Tsubasa Hirasaka)
Tsubasa internally restrained herself from thoughtless and fruitless action against the Demon Lord possessing the monk. "My utmost apologies, my lord, but I believe our orders were to acquire the pieces of your vessel by all means possible and to do it quickly. Reasons as to why were left to our collective imaginations. I assumed that it was because another human who can master the cursed Raigaki now walks this world."
Incidently, Tsubasa felt that she had somewhat taken the lead of the situation. Mika shouldn't have to answer to Talkatz at all. Yaburu was no even a fraction of a demon, and Raikotsu and the others were injured somewhat more than Tsubasa was. Tsubasa didn't spare a glance to see if Mika was healing them. She knew that Mika was kneeling as well. In most cases, either Yuna who was the current commander of the Kimonos or Shizuka would be present before Talkatz, but Yuna was an angel and Talkatz wasn't supposed to know that she even existed and Shizuka was presumed dead by all, supposedly killed by Tsubasa herself during a duel.

Kirakiri restrains himself from pointing out that all attempts to eradicate the Genkai line over the past thousand years had been unsuccessful. Instead he contents himself with voicing an informed guess. "Because of the coming new age?" he asks.

The shapechanger has not lived for almost half a millenium by being ignorant of the world around him. The information gathering resources he has at his disposal are considerable. Even so, he has heard little more than disturbing rumours. Still, this may have the reaction he is looking for.

Garud now stood outside Kurama's door. He was hungry, and tired, but could not care less. His charge was more important than that. Kurama was sleeping, and Garud felt a need to watch over him. If something had happened on board, then he must have only a small distance between the two.
Aproaching the window, he whispered to himself.

"What now? what could the legs of Talkaz have any importance to us? Unless we are going to destroy it, I see no need. Oh well, I'll be here if anything happens."

He looked and down below, the wizard could see some comotion going on. He took in his breath hard, and his heart was pounding out of control.

"Talkaz!" ,he hissed to himself.

Luckily, they were a long distance away, so he could only make them out as little dots, but he could identify that presence anywhere. Thank God we got out of there when we did.

Sanjuro stood on the bow of the ship clutching his right arm as his short hair tossed in the wind. He stared out into the vast distance before him, the world looked so tiny and insignificant below. I cannot fight in this state, all I've done so far is lost. The man in blue knocked me away as if I was nothing, and my love, she tried to kill me as well. What use am I as a Fighter-For-Hire, were you right all along brother?

******

Ishi strolled into the musty cave, it seemed like an ancient place. A powerful demonic essance lingered here. Ishi's nose burned in this place, not from the aura but from the stench of blood. "The shadow spoke no lies, a pity I killed him."

Ishi pulled a pipe from his bag and lit up some insence, he casually took a few soothing puffs, before strolling farther into the cave. His pipe shined brightest in the twilight of the cave, the light gently swaying along the walls as he made his way. As he strolled into a large cavern he took notice of the smell of blood once more, even through his inscence it scent surrounded him. His nostrils flared as he he spoke, "Is this stench all that Talkatz offers now, I was summoned here and now it is time for you to show yourself." He gripped the scabbard of his blade its subtle clicking rang through the cave, "I said show yourself."

********

Sanjuro watched as the clouds passed slowly past the airship, Even a cloud can overtake a ship of steel, The cloud began to dissapate slowly, Yet a cloud is only a cloud. This ship is steel, it will always be. No cloud can stop it. He looked down to his right arm, slowly tightening his fist until he heard the bandages stretch. I am a man of iron, no... I am a man of steel I need only the proper training to defeat my enemies. His thoughts turned to his current allies, who could train him to be the best, it was then he remembered Suzume. Demon-Spark, he stood his ground against my former love and he is but a man. I shall train with him.

Storming through the ship he quickly found Suzume whom seemed to be attempting to recuperate in peace, "Hey Demon-Spark!" Sanjuro boldly threw a finger towards the mans face as he stared at Suzume's eyes. "I wish to learn how to use swords from you, BECAUSE I SANJURO YAMADA, WANT TO BE A MASTER SWORDSMAN!"

(OOC: Lazy Man I think thats what Suzume would be doing but if you had something else in mind I can change it immediately.)

Vance slammed his fist onto the table. "Takin what third rate mapper did you get these from!?" He said angrily.

"My Friend made those maps himself! If you're so good with them why don't you have your own!" Takin retorted angrily

"I don't have the luxury of the storage space, what with being blown up!" Vance said as he searched through the maps yet again. "The proportions from the two maps are totally different. How can this peninsula go out this far here, if it only comes out this far here!"

"Don't ask me, I just steer the ship!" Takin responded angrily.

"And fixing it! Why dose the ship sound like it's falling apart?" Vance says rubbing his head in frustration

"Probably because she's barley holding together! We need to set down for repairs!"

"When we get to my land we can set down for as long as it takes."

"If you can figure out where it is." Takin responded sharply.

"You just keep heading south! I'll find it." Vance responds angrily. His head was throbbing and these maps were in fact terrible. It was likely they were done by two different people. Vance walks back over to the map shelves and scrounges around in the back, feeling something he pulls out a crumpled piece of paper way in the back. Uncrumbling it he sighs in relief. It was just what he needed. "Found the piece I needed. It was crammed in the back of these holes you call storage spaces."

"You don't like how I keep my maps you build the ship!" Takin retorted still angry.

"Maybe I will, when we get somewhere safe!" Vance placed it next to another map he was working with. He began to measure out distances. "Head west for a few minutes and then south again. That should get us on course." Vance leans back and rubs his head again. "What is causing this pain...." Vance thinks to himself. He wasn't the type of person to get headaches, ever.

"Yes Vance, tote that air barge, lift that air pail."

"Is this stench all that Talkatz offers now, I was summoned here and now it is time for you to show yourself. I said show yourself."

"Alright, I'll show myself" boomed a voice from the depths of the darkness infront of Ishi.

A wind swept through the cave and with startling speed Sendo was standing next to Ishi. Sendo was leaning on Ishi's shoulders with one of his legs crossed in the a perfect picture of relaxed power. His demonic visage creased in delight, his red eyes glowing with an unatural light and mouth mouth opened wide as he licked his lips.

"Your here for Talkatz, I'm here for Talkatz. But I don't think I can stand much longer without killing, your lucky to last this long, if I didn't have these recently aquired thirty thousand souls to keep me company I do believe I would already be feasting on your corpse"


If possible Sendo's smile grew wider as he finished "I don't think Talkatz would mind the death of one more human, especially if he's this insulting. You'll make a grand contribution to my chorus of souls, be proud as you join an everlasting work of art"