And you’ll be granted power
“Enough to crush them?!” Naizo’s tone shook as he responded eagerly.
Indeed
“They killed my father…” He muttered. “I have to do this for him—for the legacy of the Nagao!”
Accept my demands
My Covenant with you
--
“You’re finished, Mendo!” Rokshasa lunged forward after he’d caused his opponent to stumble and thrusted at his enemy’s midsection.
Mendo narrowly sidestepped, losing his balance.
Rokshasa reacted by swinging in the opposite direction with just his right hand clutching the handle of the weapon as he moved to behead Mendo.
A faint aura suddenly engulfed the champion of the Meiziki, and his form shifted swiftly enough to flash before Rokshasa’s eyes as his ax sank into the earth! Rokshasa carried his momentum and lunged forward while reaching out to grab his opponent with his free hand as his ax dragged along behind him.
Mendo’s form flashed once again.
The wide blade of the odachi soared down into Rokshasa’s arm, cutting in between the plates of protection and severing the samurai’s forearm from his bicep with a clean slice!
--
“I accept!” Naizo shouted.
35
Home Is Where The Hatred Is
BLOOD GUSHED from Rokshasa’s dismembered extremity, and the samurai cried out in agony to the disturbed laughter of Mendo.
“I spared you this fate voluntarily… and yet you chose it in the end.”
“Dammit…” Rokshasa gazed at the ground while indulging his rage enough to overcome his pain. “I’ll win this! N-no matter what!”
“Rok!” Mendo started to scold. “The Meiziki aim to build a better world—one meant to support the needs of the people independent of bureaucracy! You may be a great warrior, but only someone Awakened can lead this city into the future!”
Rokshasa unleashed a feral growl before he ran toward his opponent, his weapon still dragging as he began building the momentum to strike!
“For the Nagao!” He bellowed and slashed a horizontal arc through the air.
Mendo deftly slid under the attack and, with only a rapid movement, he dismembered the samurai’s right leg and came to stand as his enemy collapsed to the ground in an expanding crimson lake.
Rokshasa started to crawl in Mendo’s direction, and he used what was left of his amputated arm to push himself forward while stubbornly carrying the ax.
“Tsk… So persistent…” Mendo expressed disappointment and was nonchalant about having disfigured his former pupil. “You would have made a great addition to the Meiziki—and had you actually Awakened… Hmph.” He looked at the crawling figure of Rokshasa in disgust before walking away from him as he nonchalantly declared:
“The Nagao have fallen.”
--
The monitors around us flickered before shutting off completely as Dejinden hovered near to Naizo, and the entity’s composition collapsed before forming itself around the heir for a moment.
I moved to step in—to stop Naizo from giving up everything, but Abul shouted, “No! … Let him have what he wants.”
I shook my head despondently. “Rokshasa… he didn’t know about Awakened humans. That’s why Mendo’s so strong.”
“With the Elder dead, only Naizo remains to execute the plan…”
The two of us looked to the Nagao heir as he knelt down and seemed to shiver as Dejinden stepped away.
My intent has been fulfilled
I take my leave
“You’re not here to kill me?!” Abul responded in amazement.
I reminded him, “The Nagao have already lost. The Shikon no longer have a stake in this.”
Dejinden’s form dissipated in an aura surrounding him, an essence containing a breeze into which he quietly disappeared.
“He’s left us to deal with a much more dangerous problem.”
Naizo issued a piercing wail as he stood with renewed vigor! However, his body had been altered.
A series of branded inscriptions were littered across his bare, pale skin. His eyes became blackened spheres as a transformed Naizo howled thunderously at me, affixing his focus on his new prey.
“Without his soul, Naizo is an abomination.” Abul warned. “You’re going to have to take this one.”
“What?!” I glanced back at my companion as my new opponent drew close.
Abul was attempting to recover while on his knees. “It’s our last chance to make it through this! If you don’t think you can do it… there’s another op—”
“No.” I turned to confront the transformed Naizo, understanding already the thoughts waiting to be uttered in Abul’s mind.
Naizo’s body had become ataxic, his extremities shuddered and stiffened at abnormal angles as he groaned and moved to swing at me with an enlarged arm! I dodged the attack easily, but the abomination’s movements increased; he swatted at me once again, except, this time, black claws sprang from his knuckles, tearing through and severing most of the digits on his hands as a result!
He growled before rotating to thrust at me with both claws as I struggled to move away from his grasp!
Naizo kept getting faster, and he finally caught me with a slash to my right side before leaping as he brought his other spiked extremity toward my face for a killing blow!
I reacted by awkwardly but swiftly leaning forward before delivering a solid jab to Naizo’s disfigured head!
“Die!” I exclaimed and tore into my opponent by hurling my fists with more intensity as I landed consecutive hits.
The abomination became staggered as I continued to pummel him, and finally I finished the assaulting combo with a concentrated strike to his lower abdomen!
Naizo issued a screeching noise before collapsing and simultaneously throwing up an obscure, necrotic substance.
“Tavon… get away from him…”
I took some steps backward and felt petrified in terror upon watching the body of my enemy convulse and display the pallor of someone close to death. Blood began to well from a thin crevice that formed in a ring around Naizo’s neck before the skin attaching his head to his neck was sheared away as an elongated, exposed mass of flesh extended from between the abomination’s shoulder blades.
Naizo’s face had contorted and been enlarged to fit his growing frame, and his head began writhing disturbingly, making it seem as though he’d become akin to a monstrous worm that uttered incomprehensible lamenting. What Dejinden had left behind was a creature determined to evolve and consume everything in its path, the true corruption of Naizo’s being made manifest.
The head lashed out toward us, smashing itself across the ground in an attempt to devour one of its prey. Naizo then whirled his neck back around and toward me as he tracked my evasions with an intelligence I didn’t expect.
The monstrosity’s immense maw dwarfed my figure as he pursued me relentlessly. I avoided his next strike and turned to do what I could to stop him…
He loomed before me, still evolving and changing into a repulsive, skinless snake whose body was populated with both humanoid as well as serpentine eyes staring out at nothing.
Naizo froze in place, and I was so astonished by those lifeless orbs that I barely paid attention to Abul’s screaming.
“His subconscious is the only thing there—but I’m in that thing’s head… You’ve gotta move now if you want to survive!”
I sprinted forward prepared to finally attack my enemy, but Naizo recovered too rapidly before lunging at me and knocking me across the room using the side of his head.
Desperation rang out in Abul’s tone as I struggled to stand: “Forget about fighting him! You’re going to have a make a covenant with me!”
I took a moment to catch my breath. “And… become like that.”
Naizo was rushing toward me again, his head tasting the air as the abomination approached.
“If you serve me, I can share my po
wer with you!”
Naizo crashed into the wall behind me just as I narrowly dodged and was then forced to sidestep another attack as he slashed at the air in front me with one of his malformed claws. I rushed in to punch him with enough force to stun the monstrosity as he issued a sound resembling choking! I glanced back at Abul and declared firmly. “No. I’ll find my own path to real strength.”
The serpentine neck curled around and aimed the head in my direction as he glared at me angrily. Before I could react, the head—now completely transformed into the likeness of a snake—lunged toward my position and—!
It halted before me, the creature’s teeth surrounding and threatening to impale my frame.
“Tavon…” Abul pleaded breathlessly, focusing while utilizing everything he had left.
“Finish it.”
I nodded solemnly at the demon, who was on the verge of fainting from exhaustion, and then I anchored my stance before concentrating as every muscles fiber in my body activated in support of my next attack. Darkness wrapped itself around me; this one had to count!
I launched my knuckles into the center of the creature’s jaws, rocking the abomination back and leaving Naizo unprepared for when I grasped the top of his maw with one hand and balled my other hand into a fist. I shoved it through the creature’s left eye socket!
I retrieved my blood-drenched arm before swinging my body around and swaying with the beast’s momentum in order to shift to its other side. From there, I blinded the abomination in its other eye before the creature screeched and at last was able to throw me from itself!
I thudded against a wall before I was knocked out complete.
--
Humans are weak
Destined to suffer for their frailties
Elder Nagao abandoned the future because of his inadequacies
And my beloved spawn has failed me
Dejinden’s voice. It resonated in my mind.
--
I thought I’d died.
When I started dreaming, it was a vision containing depth, a message waiting for me in the afterlife. It didn’t seem possible for a human to prevail against the machinations of a demon, and so… while I was conscious in a dream world, I accepted that we’d lost.
Abul appeared in a forest sparsely populated with sizable oaks decaying from a lack of sunlight. I looked around and noticed that I’d seated myself beneath a particular tree among dense piles of autumn leaves.
My friend strolled up to me and said:
“You’re alive?”
I opened my eyes.
I couldn’t move, but I could see a weary Abul looking down at me with a bandaged stump that had begun to regrow into its former state. I was back in the real world.
“Tavon? Can you hear me—”
“Yeah…” I grunted and felt immense aching all over. “But… I can’t get up.”
“Then Dejinden was right about you all; humans are weak.”
“Shut up.” I rested my head back and closed my eyes again.
“We won, Tavon. When you have time… come see what Naizo became.”
I felt no remaining strength and simply eased myself onto my side to see the slimy carcass of a fanged slug. The corpse had shrunk in stature, appearing much smaller than myself now.
“He,” I tried to speak, “gave up his soul.”
“Naizo was fighting a losing battle, and, as the prince of a clan, I can understand the pride he most likely felt. But we couldn’t sanction an operation like this, Tavon.”
“You’re… a demon who moralizes?”
Abul glared at me darkly. “We’re not all savage animals. Just stronger than you.” He smirked.
“We’ll see.” I responded defiantly but smiled regardless.
“The Nagao have been destroyed…” Abul paused. “I can’t help but feel some responsibility for the Elder taking his own life; Elder Nagao knew how to interpret his son’s last call, and Naizo remained oblivious until the end.”
I sighed, “They all went down fighting.”
“And everyone we knew is dead.” Abul’s expression was serious. “Get up, Tavon; our work’s not finished here!” He scowled. “Don’t you remember who I am? You’re in league with the Shikon Prince.”
After the following few minutes had passed, I managed to position myself in a stable kneel.
“Tch,” Abul snorted, “The Awakening must have wreaked havoc on your body; you might want to rest up for some days, my friend.”
“I’ll… keep that in mind.”
Standing required too much effort, so I stated flatly: “This is all I can do, Abul.”
He exhaled with irritation. “For you to speak to me at such a position of weakness—when you’re the one who saved us!”
Abul offered me his hand and found himself even more burdened when the entirety of my body weight fell upon his as I concentrated on getting adjusted to walking again. The demon supported me while cursing as he all but carried me over to a chair overlooking the Citadel as it drew close on the horizon.
Abul was out of breath; he slowly walked over to grab a chair of his own before seating himself beside me. He rested his ankle on his knee and interlocked his fingers behind his head while yawning as he allowed himself to relax.
“You know what this means, right?” He said.
“No. I haven’t given much thought to it. I passed out, remember?”
“Of course.” Abul rolled his eyes. “Tavon, it means we’re for sale!”
I thought he’d gone insane.
“I see that you still don’t quite get it, but I’ll explain: Nagao stole big ship from Uesugi, T—”
“I get it.” I managed to utter in response as I felt soreness continued to spread; the view of the Citadel was too beautiful for me to have paid any attention to the demon when he first spoke. “We’ve got all the ammunition now,” I said, “but what do you plan on doing with it?”
“Well I’m not going to blow up Meiziki, that’s for damn sure!” He exclaimed while shaking his head in disappointment. “Such a stupid plan…”
“We should go to them.”
“Suddenly you wish to aid our former enemies?”
“Not enemies.” I replied. “They defeated the Nagao—”
“We defeated the Nagao.” The irritation in his tone rose. “Meiziki didn’t take the heir, but we did.”
“And that’s why we should make a peace offering.” I stated. “We’re the reason the Fourth Quadrant didn’t spiral into war—”
“That’ll be much, much harder to explain to them than you think.”
I shrugged. “We’ve got nowhere else to go and a cruiser stocked with explosives; you don’t think they’d appreciate all the help they can get?”
“I supposed you’re right.” Abul folded his arms. “My father is the only other Shikon left, and he’ll retire with a new syndicate in place… that leaves me, and I don’t have the family support I once took strength in.”
“You’ve got me.” I smiled.
“That may just be enough if you can punch a demon into submission.”
“Then it’s settled?”
Abul nodded resolutely. “We go to speak with the Meiziki…”
--
In order to make it through customs, Abul was once again forced to use his abilities to control any human presiding over the paperwork originally given to Naizo. The demon manipulated his way past the inquiries of several, and we soon became one of their quickest visitors as vacuous-looking clerks waved us off while bearing a generally lost expression.
Abul was a mediocre pilot, someone who had learned everything he knew about operating cruisers through Naizo himself. The two had been close once, long before the heir decided that he was above everyone else, but their relationship had enabled Abul to maintain relatively safe passage through the Mid-City. Most of the areas were unfamiliar to him, but he’d taken the exact same route with his family for years and knew it from memory as he recklessly cut people off on the hyp
er rail and didn’t seem to mind taking up as much space possible on the main highways. Some of my energy had returned, but I failed to completely control my body.
“You’re awake now.” I remember him saying while concentrating on a series of cameras offering a complete overhead display of everything around us. “Not fully, but you retained some of what you gained in those moments we were fighting to survive.”
“What will happen to me now?”
He pondered something in the distance. “The way power manifests itself is unpredictable at best…” Abul turned to me and smiled. “But you have the opportunity to become stronger than you ever have been.
“A gift Rokshasa always wanted for himself…”
--
We landed amongst a gathering armed crowd that surrounded the massive cruiser as it hovered toward a steel platform.
The two of us had agreed that heading toward the Nagao shrine was our best bet, as we were unfamiliar with the Meiziki’s native territory and realized that the rival syndicate would have taken over our home anyways. Sure enough, we exited the vessel as we were accosted by Meiziki thugs who’d been equipped in plated armor as they aimed both swords and guns in our direction. I attempted to walk forward but ended up having to come to a halt as the pain in my body came to a peak.
“Hey! What’s wrong, guy—keep moving!” One of the thugs approached before Abul’s rage was quickly triggered.
The demon infiltrated the gang member’s consciousness and commanded him to drop the shotgun he’d been carrying and to walk toward Uesugi territory. His colleagues gasped in terror as the thug mindlessly followed his orders and ignored all others in the surrounding area.
“Where’s he going?! Hey—soldier, get back here!” Some of the Meiziki chased after him.
“They’re… one of them!” Another member exclaimed loudly.
“Like the boss? –Hey!” A Meiziki thug shouted to me. “You know the boss? You here for M?! Let our guy go!”
“Everyone shut up!”
Mendo’s voice echoed above the crowd as he emerged and began striding toward the two of us with determination. Abul finally relinquished his hold, leaving his former victim completely bewildered.
“What?” Mendo inquired as he approached. “Come to reclaim Nagao’s honor?”
Angelos Odyssey Page 64
