Garud brushed his hair back with his fingers. He had seen this person before, but only because he was with Kurama at those times, and Garud was always watching him. Garud walked in silence, but made sure he was within shadow distance of Kurama. He wanted to be as ready as possible, just in case his charge was attacked.
The sorceror decided not to ask any questions. Kurama had it all planned...or so he hoped. The black cape fluttered slightly, as Garud walked along with the group. He noticed some were moving away, to do their own thing, but the guardian was more preoccupied with protecting the Raigaki wielder.
Smiling, Garud muttered to himself,

"Better follow Kurama, because he follows trouble."

((Ah, looks like it's still alive.))

Koyuki followed closely behind Kurama and Drak, a move which she had never forseen herself ever committing. Nevertheless, Kurama was a magnet for those subliminally seeking a quick and painful death, something that Koyuki's predicament required she engage in early and often. Following Kurama would draw out her prey like no other bait. Still, the demoness needed to act somewhat civil in the presence of mortals such as Nadare Kitari. Those humans still attached to the ways of magic would certainly prove useful.

"Pride," Koyuki said softly, "Something I have have grown accustomed to with leaders for a long time. I have found that it is rather beneficial to present a gift before a discussion, to evoke a more cordial response. I assume you humans have considered this strategy in advance?"

((Truth be told, there's quite a bit of bueracracy among evil. Lawyers come from somewhere.))

"Yes, Kurama, you did end it all. You ended a lot of stuff."

Drak fell a bit behind Kurama, doing his best to not give off the impression of glaring. It was tough, especially since his eyes were hidden.

Kurama let out another sigh. It seemed he'd been doing that quite a bit lately. It was Drak again. No matter what he said, how he tried to explain it, Drak would simply not listen. The gaijin constantly blamed Kurama for the overthrow of his country. When the Westerner's country was being attacked, Kurama had to make a tactical choice between staying to fight the war, or continuing on to the final piece of Talkatz.

The destruction of the European country is evidence enough of Kurama's decision. Drak now had a grudge against the samurai.

Kurama never came right out and said it, but he didn't truly believe that Drak blamed Kurama for the overthrow of his kingdom. From what he could remember afterwards, Drak's father had given his son a choice between staying in their kingdom and taking the throne, or continuing his quest with Kurama. Drak had chosen Kurama, and as such wasn't there when his country needed him.

He assumed that Drak was mostly guilty about his own decision, but instead of blaming himself, he simply took his aggression out and the next guilty thing, which was Kurama.

Well, time healed many things, and only time could tell whether this bond would be healed again.

"Actually, he doesn't want us to give him anymore gifts. The last time we met, I had offered him a musicbox carved from a pure block of jade. It took weeks to find enough of the mineral to carve. Then Takin had input all the gears and other mechanical things. It sounded great. But when he found out that Takin had helped make it, he threw it out the nearest window. He told us that as long as I remained in the company of Takin, he would never accept gifts from us. He probably figured that Takin would put bombs in them, or something."

Kurama looked up at the government building. It was the most ornate and extravagent building in Kyoto. Servants and traders were constantly walking in and out of the grand gates.

"Which is why I would never take a high-power rank. If it comes with such fear of others, there'd be no point."

Raze bought himself a cattle and hauled it off into the woods, assuring the seller that he'd a wagon out there. It felt good to buy his food, he still had not gotten used to the fact he needed to slay the living in order to live. Of course, in truth, that is what everyone does in a sense, but their fellow humans? When he himself was some kind of abomination?

He preferred eating non-human souls thus, and usually went for cattle whenever he had money, or perhaps they didn't keep watch very well. He remebered once being hunted by a group of villagers in revenge of their goats. Chupacabra he was not.

He stabbed his claws straight into the heiffer's skull, killing it instantly and noiselessly. Sure, someone may find the carcass later, but he'd most likely be gone by then. As it's life poured out, Raze opened the coat and pulled down the cloth, inhaling his nourishment.

Beef. It's kinda what's for dinner.

Raze headed out of the woods, hoping to return from a different location than he went in. Suspicion was best avoided.

Blue Kimono (Kiyomi Matsuraba)
The Blue Kimono stayed silent, deciding that it was simply best to watch and wait. She randomly looked to her right and saw someone staring back at her. A platinum blonde woman in a brown kimono carving a doll. Their eyes met and the woman nodded. Kiyomi returned her attention to the road. Well, at least one of the other girls now knew Kiyomi was with Kurama. Takano would find a way to spread the word.
-----
Violet Kimono (Rio Ikage)
"So something's going on up at Talkatz's old place, hmm?"
"Yeah," confirmed Rio, Sanaka and Kaoru to her side. "Looked like a large gathering of demons, but we didn't want to get close enough to find out. I highly doubt that we would be their target, anyways."
Mika nodded. As far as any of the girls were concerned, nobody here had enemies that knew where the facility was. Yuna was supposedly dead by now, and Velna had agreed to help them restore magic to the realms. And unless Kiyomi had used the bargaining item sent with her when she went to infiltrate the prison, no human knew of their location.
"So, where are Tsubasa and Chizuru?" Rio asked finally.
"Tsubasa is probably still at Sanctuary, looking for answers to the problem of magic degeneration. Chizuru is still with Lady Velna, teaching her fish the art of being sneaky and spreading messages."
Rio remained in the room.
"Nothing from Kiyomi, either."
Rio still seemed to be waiting for something.
"What?" Mika turned around in the chair to look at the busty blonde.
"I'm bored."
"Well, find a way to entertain yourself, I guess."
When Rio grinned evilly, Mika knew that she just said something dumb. Unfortunately for her, Sanaka and Kaoru knew what was going to happen and decided to be scarce. Rio extended her hands and slowly approached Mika, Rio's fingers moving rapidly.
"Ohhhh, Mikaaaa..."
Mika cringed. She knew this was going to happen. She regretted taking that long break today, thinking that somehow, the extra hour would get her the breakthrough she needed to get the homunculus going so that it could restrain Rio, but it was just Mika and Rio in the room.
"Why me?"
-----
White Kimono (Tsubasa Hirasaka)
"It has been a long time, Tsubasa. Would you like some refreshments?"
"No thank you, Hinako."
Tsubasa gazed outside of a window while Hinako was getting changed with the assistance of two shrine maidens. None of the girls had come to Sanctuary since the day of Yuna's betrayal, and that was over two years ago. Sometimes, they wanted to go, but Tsubasa didn't allow it, not wanting to let Yuna track them to this place. The old castle, the facility, and this massive shrine were the only places they had to take shelter. The old castle was already the new domain of Lady Velna, and the facility wasn't secure. Sanctuary was perhaps the only refuge the girls had.
Hinako had changed a lot, obviously due to the degeneration of magic. In the past, her shrine was attacked and she was infected by a demon's venom. The venom would have transformed her into a monster. However, it was the power of her magic and the assistance of Shizuka which stopped the venom from consuming Hinako completely. Regardless, roughly half of Hinako was...damaged in some way. The venom was later determined to be magical in nature, and with the degeneration in magic, in wouldn't be long before Hinako would be fully restored again.
"One of the benefits of the magic degeneration," Tsubasa noted to herself.
"Did you say something?" Hinako asked. She was fully dressed and the servants had left the two in the room alone.
"Not really. I'm just happy to see you finally defeating your illness."
"And that's what you came to see me about, isn't it?"
It was times like these that Tsubasa believed Hinako could read someone's mind. Hinako hadn't been told anything. Not about the death of Talkatz or the degeneration of magic. But then again, Sanctuary relied on magic as well. "I'm surprised you didn't come to me about this sooner," Hinako continued.
Tsubasa shrugged. "The demon realm has been in an uproar since Kurama destroyed Talkatz. The problem with magic dying has only made the situation much worse. We're counting ourselves lucky even though we stand to lose so much of our own power when everything comes to an end. That's why I'm here, actually."
It was then that Tsubasa began recounting everything that had happened up to this point. About them having to flee from their base of operations. About taking up residence in Yuna's old facility. About Kiyomi and Lady Velna. Even about Tsubasa's artificial leg. Hinako listened carefully. When Tsubasa was complete, Hinako nodded a couple of times.
"Quite a lot has transpired, I see." The Head Priestess said finally, joining Tsubasa at the window. "We've been hearing things about strange creatures entering the human world from the demon realm. This comes from our customers, so there's no way I could get further information from them. However, I believe them to be demons that are being affected the most by this degeneration of magic as you call it. We've also noticed the difficulty that we're having with our own abilities and it is affecting our sales. Regardless of the fact that the death of magic will mean that I can become beautiful again, I would like to see magic restored myself. It may not be to my benefit, but I inherited this shrine, and I'd sooner die before I become forced to close it down. Besides, you girls still need a hideaway in case things go wrong."
"We can help you keep the shrine going," Tsubasa said, gesturing to the gift of gold that she had brought along. "Even without Lord Kyne, Lady Shizuka, or their forces, we still have their personal fortunes. Money isn't an issue as long as we have a place to fall back to. Anyways, I'm suddenly kinda hungry. Is it too late to ask for a meal?"
"Certainly not," Hinako said, smiling. "And we can talk of old times. It has been two years after all."
Tsubasa and Hinako sat down to eat, catching each other up on events in the demon and human worlds.

Pyros's 2nd retrospective, and then he actually does something!
 

Pyros was aware of the loss of magic. Not that he felt the lack of it himself, but rather, the thinning of it in the air. That and it seemed weak fire spirits seemed to cling to him nowadays, if there weren't any places of magic around.

Pyros was fond of the Demi-Pyros (We call them now flame sprites) , named so after their sire, Ifrit found them to pout alot, and immediately thought of Pyros. He gave them human shape, in a tiny form of Pyros, and they seemed to take to it quite well. He had asked Ifrit how they came to be, but all Ifrit would do is curse about travelers and their torches. Pyros had to admit they were quite adorable and friendly, the only fault he had with them is that they were quite zealous in their starting of fires.

Sure, it's cute when they light guest's smoking pipes, or brighten up the cathedral by lighting all the candles, but that would give them the desire to burn more. They started roaring fires in each of the fireplaces, then started roaring fires in the stove, the living room, the dining room, the curtains, the carpet, the entire cathedral, and then a few people. Shortly the entire city was burning, whilst the Sprites cackled at the flames as they hurled fireballs. Fortunately Pyros was capable of quelling fire as much as he was at creating it, and the town was saved. The Demi Pyros were taken back to the cathedral, where Pyros made them sit and think about what they did. A woman who was apart of the goverment knew better ways to deal with children, and spanked them soundly.

They disliked being treated as children (only because it meant that they were fettered and not free to do whatever they please) and soon built up a abhorrence to it, that lasted through the ages, even to when Kings lived as one for awhile.

Back on topic, Pyros was aware of the loss of magic. He couldn't tell what caused it, but it appeared that the source of Mana wasn't flowing into the world properly. It seemed to flow into the world alright, but then quickly drifted back to wherever mana came from. Pyros could only explain it in his mind as a stream of water (representing mana) falling onto a slightly bowled plate (representing the world) The water would normall fall onto the plate and fill it continuously, and the over flow would go back to where the water came from.

But now, it seemed as if the plate were tilted or off balance, the water more easily trickling off, leaving the world with less magic. It appeared to be tilting more each day, and while still water managed to collect onto the plate, it was losing it as much as it could regain. Which very well meant that at one point, the loss and gain would be the same.

This did not mean the world would be manaless however, as there were reserves that would not empty unless the "plate" were tipped completely over. It did mean that the world would be magicless. For the world takes care of it's mana supply, and if Mana were low, it would restrict the usage of it. Such as reducing the size and magic properties of magic creatures, and limiting the pool of mana spellcasters could tap.

It worried him a bit, for the loss of magic meant that some of the creatures he loved may become extinct, like the Demi-Pyros. But he did nothing about it. He was in a rut as of late. He had always wondered who he was, what he was, yet now he knew some of those questions' answers but was still confused.

Answers led to more questions, it seemed. He knew not what path to take, where to side himself. Should he care what happens on this world, as he is apart from it? Should he help others as his origin may be something holy? Or do evil as he is apart from what would make him be holy? Should he try and save this world from wicked fates and rulers? Or take Yuna's path and rule it as an asciended being?

....Yuna. His meeting with her troubled him. She had stated they were in the same boat together, but as he had seen, she was as different from him as night was to day. Those...abominations...that had the shapes and forms of men and women as well as looked like and fought like warriors on both sides of the conflict against Talkatz, but without souls. They were her creations, and he had cut through hordes of them before he met her. Pyros would not make those unholy things. Yet she was "fallen" and if Pyros was here that meant he was "fallen" as well, she said.

It was troubling, to say the least. Part of him wished he could just forget the conversation had ever happened. Part of him wished Nana was here. Part of him wished he had never been born. Part of him wondered if he'd been born.

But most troubled him, is that he had recieved a summons. A meeting, if you will, between the elemental lords. The message was short and simple, stating only that the meeting was about the state of magic. Pyros was unsure of many things, but at least he did know that he was the elemental lord of fire, even if he didn't care for it. Ifrit had asked him to take some responsibility, and perhaps this was a good time to try it. Perhaps this would give his mind a rest from his internal debating, and perhaps the others would have answers to some of his troubling questions.

Well he had decided it. He was going. He'd write down a message for Meta, pack up his armor and weapons, then wing to the meeting. But first....

<It might be a good idea to put out that burning forest out the window.> Pyros thought. The sprites giggled as the wildlife fled the blaze, which grew bigger every minute.

<And maybe take the Sprites along too.>

OOC: Finally a post!

The previous night

Ishumo lent against a tree, staring at the imposing building that stood just over the crest of the hill. He had followed the ninja all the way back from the snowfields to this compound. ”Hopefully, White Kimono is somewhere in that building, and hopefully she should know something”, he thought, and turned around to set up camp. The trees offered a lot of raw materials (i.e. shadows); he concentrated on forming his tent. He had lost most of his equipment at one point or the other as he tracked his quarry, needing to drop it for speed. The shadow of the tent flickered back and forth from existence. Angrily he pushed at it, and it formed. It’s happening again, but why now, now when I’m so close? I can’t break into that, [I] place like this. He stared at the ground for a while, and then appeared to make up his mind; he turned to the trees, and began training. Items appeared and disappeared rapidly, a suit of armor, a bright red insignia adorning the helmet and chest, a rolled up piece of parchment, a cutting of dark black silk. This went on for an hour, the items ranging in color, and complexity, after that he went over forms with his spear. A while later he collapsed on his sleeping bag, he fumbled with his mask for a second, and then took it off. He couldn’t remember when he had last recreated it, he recalled that it was sometime during that day so it shouldn’t cause any problems.

The next day

Ishumo was crouching on the ground waiting for the next patrol to pass by. He had taken a look at their clothes the previous day and had created a suit for himself; he was wearing it along with a suit that blended in with the surroundings over it. He saw a patrol rounding the compound, he waited until it neared, when they began passing he got up, and carefully joined them, in between the rearguards and the rest of the group. He quickly dismissed the camouflage suit, and was left with a suit identical to the rests. He continued with the group nervously until he saw that they were heading back to the compound. He shielded himself as best he could as he entered the building, so as to avoid the attention of the guards as much as possible. He was greatly relieved as he entered the building. Ishumo mentally ticked off the phase one of his infiltration. Now he had to leave the group. He couldn’t simply walk away; he was stuck between the former rearguards, and the rest of the group. He waited until they turned a corner, and, before the others could turn it, he crouched down into the shadow of the person in front of him and turned it into a suit that matched the walls, Most of the patrol looked the same from behind so his disappearance shouldn’t be noticed. He pressed against the wall as the rest of the patrol passed. Free of the group, he slowly and carefully made his way down to the bottom floor. In his experience the most important people were inevitably drawn to the top floor or in the case of this building, where the highest floor was the entrance, vice versa, and as far as he had seen, White Kimono had been quite important. He finally reached the top floor, he wasn’t sure that he had gone by completely unnoticed, but so far nobody had raised the alarm. Now he had reached the most dangerous part of his plan, he would have to check each room until he found White Kimono, He needed to hope he could do it quickly without any notice. He chose a door, and opened it.

OOC: I'll leave this up to you AB

Black Kimono (Chizuru Suzuki)
One moment, Chizuru, Mika, Rio, Sanaka, and Kaoru were in a bathing chamber, all naked, talking about missions and objectives and whatever as they cleaned themselves. The next moment, they were all frozen, a somewhat familiar individual looking in on them. Well, all of them but Rio. The two other Kimonos ducked down to submerge their naughty bits, while Rio stood up proudly and in plain view. Sanaka and Kaoru had their weapons out, ready to strike.
"Great," Rio began. "I was wondering when we'd finally run into one of the Old Vanguard. What have you sought us out for?"
It was a pretty bizarre sight. Rio Ikage, the voluptuous blonde of the group, standing tall with her hands on her hips, staring at Ishumo. Chizuru and Mika clutched at themselves and watched him nervously, and Sanaka and Kaoru, kunoichi soldiers of Tsubasa, made no move to hide their shame, instead holding their weapons and studying Ishumo carefully. None of the five girls screamed and behind Ishumo, four more individuals drew weapons but remained a safe distance away. Two more of Tsubasa's kunoichi, with the other two being Kiyomi's troops and wielding personalized magical weapons, inferno cannons.
"Well?"

The elemental gods arrived. Undine (Which was what they basically called her, as she often tended to go by other names, making her very annoying to summon up for these sort of things.) emerged from a spring. She had assumed the shape of a mermaid, for what purposes were unknown. On previous visits she had assumed the shape of a dolphin, a strange glowing angelfish, and a enormous bass fish.

Chloro and Golem emerged from the rich soil to Undine's left. Golem Was a large being made entire of the earth that crawled within the ground. Most wouldnt' think that a golem would look so, and this is because of a wizard who decided to name his humanoid rock monster in the old tongue, without care that there already was a thing called Golem. Chloro was a vain creature, and had blossomed into a current form that looked like a flowergirl. Not a girl who throws dead petals around on weddings (she hates those with a loathing) but rather her entire body looked like a little girl with roses for hair, a leafy dress, with flowering plumage serving as cuffs and decoration. She was rooted into the back of Golem, a partnership created when she realized the best soil could only be found within the Lord of the Soil, and because Golem was rarely one to give a damn about anything.

Lord Volt (who was also fond of changing his name) ran down a metal pole from above into the meeting room, and assumed a "thunderdragon" form, as it seemed really cool.

A raging whirlwind flew in from a hole in the wall and formed itself into Aeira, who perched herself on a specially made bird perch in the form of a Heron.

All were there, Except Pyros, and a few of the lesser deities(And The lords of Void, Order, and Chaos, but they never showed up anyway)

The lords each turned to the gateway of the flame, where Pyros was expected to burst from in a blaze. After a moment of silence, Volt spoke up.

"What are we waiting for? We've been standing here, for like, Forever!" Volt wasn't known for his patience.

Before Undine or Golem, with their almost endless patience could reply, The gateway of flame burst into being, And Ifrit bounded out. If giant beasts of flame could blush, Ifrit did at the sight of his onlookers, especially undine. "Umm...My master will be here shortly. He was slowed down by an inconvenience."

"What kind of-" Undine started to ask, but was quickly shut up as the Flame gate opened once more.

"HEY! Hands inside the flaming vortex at all times, Mister! OH NO YOU DON'T! No more razing small farming villages today! Don't give me that look? Do you want me to turn this vortex around? Look, just because my clothes are incapable of burning doesn't mean you should keep trying! Don't think I can't come back there missy!" Pyros roared in a fatherly manner.

At last he burst from the gate, Seen as the warrior wearing his shoulder armor and armed with his two swords slung along his back, his wings underneath a black shirt. The stunning visage ended with a flood bursting behind him from the flame gate. They heaped on out of the Gate and tackled Pyros, and before the gate had closed, he found himself covered head to toe with them.

Undine rolled her eyes. "I suppose we're all here then? Good. Let's start the meeting."
-------------------------------------------

Raze walked calmly down the streets of Kyoto. He was in good health, and seeing familiiar sights was calming. Plus, it was always good when he could walk somewhere without people screaming and rallying a mob against him.

It wasn't far to the goverment buildings where Kurama and the rest would be having their meetings. Hopefully the head of the practicioners of the old ways wouldn't mind his late arrival. Or mind that he smelled of those who were dead. And the fact that he was dead himself.