crescendo2

DARK CRESCENDO, CHAPTER TWO

Falling Shadows

All relevant copyright information is on Chapter One.

The music included is "Night Bird" from Toaplan's V-Five/Grindstormer, composed by Yuge Masanori. The MIDI was sequenced by J.B. {sugawara@dges.tohoku.ac.jp}. There are various other shmup themes at his site {http://www.dges.tohoku.ac.jp/~sugawara}.

***** Somewhere on the Kii Peninsula, Japan, 10:12 a.m. (2:12 a.m. in Sweden) *****

Flushed with exertion, Kagura Chizuru re-entered her house after her morning bicycle workout. Usually, she preferred to sleep late when she could—that is, until 10:30 a.m. However, this day, she'd had a premonition that she would do best to start a bit early. After taking off her helmet, she went back to her bedroom, wondering whether or not she could get away with going back to sleep without her conscience bothering her. Then she noticed her telephone's voice-mail was activated. Her curiosity piqued, she activated the playback.

When she heard Varrius's message, she was immediately glad she had woken up early. It was a bit early to call Varrius back, but the sooner she thanked him for disclosing where one of the Orochi shrines was, the better…

***** Thien Mansion, 8:03 a.m. *****

Yashiro inched backwards, recoiling from the warrior approaching him. He knew who it was, certainly, but he still wasn't planning on getting too familiar.

"Come, Yashiro," the warrior whispered. "Your duties come to a head. Return to the fold."

Yashiro was at a loss for action. He knew he couldn't defy this monster…but he so loathed obeying it. All he could do was run away…

…but he still ran right into his opposition. He screamed as the fighter grasped his throat. "Your choices end here. No more can you ignore your duty." Yashiro saw the face of his enemy, and screamed again…

"YASHIRO! WAKE UP!"

Yashiro suddenly sat upright in his bed, chill sweat streaming down his face. He looked around him with fear in his eyes, but became calmed when he saw Shermie and Hunding on one side of his bed, and Chris on the other. "Oh, man, I…geez, what a nightmare."

"I can imagine." Shermie shuddered, clutching the lapels of her gown. "The first of your three screams woke me right up. Chris and Hunding were lucky they were already awake." She bent towards Yashiro, with obvious concern written in her face. "What was the nightmare, Yashiro-kun?"

"I…I…" Yashiro slumped forward. "I can't relive it." Hunding noted something odd about Yashiro's aspect as he spoke this…like it was retelling the story, and not experiencing it, that was now terrifying Yashiro…

"Well, no need to tell us now, Yash." Chris paused to greet Varrius as he rushed in, his hand full of papers. "Why don't you come with me, Shermie, and Hunding to the ponds? That's where we'll be catching breakfast."

"No…no thanks. I need some time alone. I'm sorry."

A frown formed on Shermie's face. "You're sure about this? Being outside will do you no end of good."

"I'm sure of it. I just need to be by myself."

"Okay. Your loss." Shermie beckoned to Hunding and Chris. "I guess we get all the fun to ourselves." She turned to Varrius. "If your business will allow it, please see to it that Yashiro-kun doesn't drive himself crazy?"

Varrius nodded towards Shermie. "I will be only too happy to help him should he need it. Besides, I've got to get everything I learned about our assassin friends sorted out completely." He brandished the sheaf in his hand as he said this.

"Then let's get started, shall we?" As the party left Yashiro's room to prepare for their trip, Hunding reflected on the way Yashiro had looked when he refused to recount the nightmare, or join the fishing party…

I know what presses on him…and I fear for what this presages. But how can only he be cognizant, rather than all or none…?

Varrius watched as the trio left, then turned to Yashiro. "Interesting…I've actually gotten you alone almost at the beginning of your visit. I thought I'd have to wait a few days."

A sheen of sweat began to rematerialize on Yashiro's forehead. "What…what did you want me for?"

"Yashiro…we know. Hunding and I knew about the true nature of you three even before you came here. In fact, part of the reason we wanted you to come here was to do something about you being connected with the Orochi Alliance…"

***** Campsite of Heidern's warriors, 8:17 a.m. *****

"Oh, man…another 45-degree day?"

Clark smiled at Ralf's complaint. "Where do you think we are, Spain? You withstood being here for four days—don't tell me you can't take another. Yeah, the fact that the helicopters got delayed by a day is an annoyance, but I doubt we'll have any real problems."

"Come on, Clark, the sooner we get to do some real work in Burma, the better! I want action!"

Clark grinned and shook his head as he rose. "Ralf Jones, the twenty-year-old encased in a body nineteen years too old." He then began looking around…"Hmmm…where's Leona now?"

"Not very far. Daydreaming once again. At least you're the one on guard duty." Ralf gestured to the stones where Leona lay, gazing into the cloudy sky, memories blazing through her…

I remember it again…

The machines bear down on me, looking to scorch me, tear me, shock me…

Two dragonfly mechs rush me from above. Their charge ends not with me, but with a Voltaic Launcher.

A lobster-type charges at me, sweeping the ground in front of it with the maser cannons it has for antennae. A single Ground Saber towards its claw shears it in two.

It is so easy to handle these machines, with a glorious festival of fatal sound. Moon Slashers, Voltaic Launchers, Rebel Sparks, Ground Sabers, even my own, unaugmented gauntlets…all reduce the terrorist drones to so much scrap.

Then, I hear it. The scream of a young man.

But who lives in this part of the Amakusa Islands?

I move towards the scream, near where the robots were apparently radiating from.

It is there that I see the carriers which brought the machines in. And two human figures, one a samurai in black and white armor, the other a young man, just barely in his teens, that the warrior is threatening with his swords…

My rage explodes. I charge the samurai, my Orochi blood boiling in anticipation of another's death and agony, my conscience barely restraining it. The samurai hears me, and turns to face me, his swords ready.

And they are strange swords, hewn of crystal, silvery runes glittering with a dull light. But what matters is the battle.

The samurai makes for an incredible fight. His swords create energy flares in a terrifying variety. I am brought down many times.

But I still persevere. Even he falls to the Voltaic Launcher and Ground Saber. Finally, he retreats…but for how long?

I approach the child, who is shaking with fear. I hear his murmurs…"What destiny do you mean…why must I die?…"

Then he sees me. He does not become any less apprehensive. "Don't…don't hurt me…I was just exploring…" He looks to where the samurai retreated. "Why did he have to choose here to begin his attacks?"

Before I can even soothe the child, something about him awakens…hideous memories…are they even real?…

My hands and face stained with blood…my mother's blood…

Goenitz's victorious laughter…

My father trying to bring me to a place of refuge…Goenitz finding us…my father confronting him…

But now, I remember the words…

"As a Hakkeshu, Gaidel, you bring great shame by mating with free-willed filth to create an unnecessary half-breed."

"The time of the Marids, and of Orochi, is over, Goenitz! Do you forget who I'm descended from? As far as I'm concerned, the original Yagami made the right choice!"

"Orochi, and Orochi alone in the universe—yea, the multiverse—decides what is right, wrong, good, evil…and I, as the Son of Anshar, shall show you the power He has decided I shall wield…"

And I cannot bear to think about what happens then…

Then I see myself in a helicopter, with Ralf and Heidern looking on in concern. I blacked out just after meeting the child, and Ralf saved me just as the samurai returned. I ask them about the boy; they have not seen him.

Even with my misfortune, the mission was a success. Although the samurai escaped, all the mechs and carriers were destroyed.

But I still wonder what truly happened back there…

"Come on…where the hell are you?"

Leona stirred from her recollections on hearing Clark's voice all the way down the slope. Is there someone here? She walked towards the top of the slope, where a smiling Ralf was already kneeling.

"Poor Clark," Ralf chuckled. "He thought I was annoyed with the cold? Since he doesn't like children, he's going to know how I feel…but at triple strength!"

"But what's going on down there?"

"We heard a disturbance down there while you were daydreaming, and we saw what was apparently a child. Clark volunteered to check it out. Now, he probably wishes he ha—"

"AAAGGGHHH!!!"

Leona and Ralf rushed down the slope a ninth of a second after hearing Clark's scream. Once they reached the bottom, they saw what had caused him to scream. Clark, quite obviously in a daze, was kneeling and clutching his side—where his jacket was smoking. Before him, apparently the source of the blast, was…a young boy, maybe twelve, thirteen years old. And he seemed hideously evil for his age. The fact that he was wearing a violet version of Goenitz's uniform, and an eight-rayed octagonal amulet, didn't help matters any…

Ralf shuddered. "Another Orochi…?" Then he noticed Leona quaking with fear. "Leona…is something wrong?"

"He…he's like the boy I rescued…but not quite…" Leona quickly steeled herself and gazed at the child. "Who are you?"

The boy apparently just noticed his new guests then. "Who am I?" His eyes flashed with a hellish red. "I'm the current Son of Moloch. You, on the other hand, aren't much if you're willingly working with these…" He spat the words out. "Free-Willed slime."

Ralf scowled at the child. "Oh, so Clark and I are slime, is that it? Listen, kid, you might want to show some respect for your elders!"

The Son of Moloch snarled at Ralf. "A true Marid respects no Free-Willed!" He began to create violet fires in his hands. "You're nothing more than the Kami's blasphemies against our Lord Orochi."

Ralf and Leona drew back in some alarm when the flame formed. Ralf, however, quickly regained himself, and grinned. "Listen up, o high and mighty Son of Moloch, if I remember correctly, as of KOF '96, three of your kin are in their graves! And unless you move it—now—Leona, Clark, and I are gonna kick your arrogant behind from here to Madagascar!" Clark, for his part, had finally recovered from the Son of Moloch's attack on him. The set look on his face indicated that he would be only too happy to help Ralf out.

Leona, though, wasn't quite ready to fight just yet. "Ralf, Clark…wait." She took a single step towards the fire-wielding Marid. "Tell me something, Son of Moloch. Were you ever in the Amakusa Islands in the past year?"

The Son grinned. Ralf thought he would be sick from seing such an evil grin on someone so young. "In a way. But despite my knowing you somewhat, I'm going to put your friend there on the spot for challenging me…and for daring to classify the traitors Mature and Vice with my holy nature!" He then gestured to the ground. "Or rather, we will."

Ralf crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "And who's this 'we', all of a suaaaAAHHH!!!" Ralf found himself vaulted back to the slope. As Clark and Leona watched in dismay, the very earth Ralf had been standing on rose up to six feet, and grew arms and legs, and a face of pure malice. Ralf felt his jaw go slack as he saw the monstrosity that had just made an appearance. "Good God…what is that!?"

"An earth tenma," the Son of Moloch said. "The tenma, you see, are the elemental arm of Orochi's armies, and one can easily overpower four humans. So you shouldn't really be a problem." He then spoke to the tenma. "Deal with the sunglassed human. I have other plans for his comrades." The tenma nodded, then began to lumber towards Clark.

"CLARK!" Leona shouted her comrade's name in alarm as she and Ralf rushed towards him. Clark, for his part, merely dropped into his battle stance as he prepared to do what he could against this monstrosity. He was pretty sure he could lift this horror—it probably wasn't that much heavier than Chang Koehan, and Clark had dispatched the flail-wielder with ease in the KOF '95…

"HEY! Did I say you could help him? Did I?" The Son of Moloch threw a burst of fire in front of Leona and Ralf, which quickly grew into a wall of light violet flame. The two mercenaries managed to stop themselves just before striking the fire. A few moments later, the flame began to shimmer and change, resolving itself into a vaguely sea anemone-like form, complete with a multitude of tentacles. The top of the entity then bent down as though to look at its new opponents.

Leona and Ralf looked at each other, communicating their thoughts to each other instantly. Another tenma.

Ralf pulled back on his glove and stared at the fire tenma's maw. "Okay, buster, you're gonna find out what 'fight fire with fire' means!" He quickly created a sheathe of cool spiritual fire around his arms to avoid getting scorched, just as Leona was creating similar sonic guards on her arms and legs. He didn't get to do anymore when he felt a pair of feet clamp onto his left ribs. The next thing he knew, he was being swung away, courtesy of the Marid's Heavenly Malice attack. Leona tried to pull Ralf back, but the fire tenma swung several tentacles in the way. Leona leapt back, and tensed up. She would have to fight her way through the monster.

Ralf picked himself up to find himself staring at the Son of Moloch. The Marid wasted no time, screaming a battle cry as he drew back, and held and pointed his fist at Ralf. Almost immediately, several blasts of violet fire came flying at him. Ralf threw himself to his right, then spun into a Gatling Attack. He listened with satisfaction as the third strike smashed into the Son's jaw. Smiling, he followed up with a foot sweep which knocked the Son prone, then rushed forward to Vulcan Punch him before he could get up.

In the meantime, the two tenma had been getting quite a battle. The earth tenma, Clark had found, was a pretty simple fighter, just trying to hammer punch or punt him…although those certainly contained a lot of power, as his aching arm, which had received only a glance from a kick, was telling him. To his amazement, the tenma was both incredibly heavy, and impossibly agile, making any lifting rather difficult, but even so, not impossible. Leona, meanwhile, was trading blows—successful and attempted—with the fire tenma. The tenma's tentacles' habit of darting everywhere forced Leona to rely on quick gauntlet stabs and the occasional Moon Slasher, while her own speed forced the creature to forgo power for quickness. They had been maintaining an evenly matched battle—until Ralf tried to Vulcan Punch his Orochi foe. At that moment, the fire tenma withdrew its attention, except for a couple of tentacles, from Leona, and belched from its maw several fireballs. The blasts fell in a fan, and one succeeded in striking Ralf. The impact knocked him down, and allowed the Son of Moloch to get back up safely.

The Marid stared at Ralf, with glee and hate shimmering in his eyes. "It ends here for you, human abomination. You're going to be the first to fall before our holy power."

"We've got to talk to you about your definiton of 'holy'!" Ralf rushed at the Marid, and stopped to strike him with a backfist. Unfortunately, the Son had already ducked down to continue his attack, in the form of a few brief low kicks, two rotating punches, and finally a spinning, flame-augmented uppercut. Ralf managed to pick himself back up, and saw his enemy already beginning a slide kick. Enjoy the surprise…"RALF KICK!" Ralf performed a spinning jumpkick towards his foe, aiming his feet directly at where his head would be when he rose. He connected, but not hard enough to prevent him from righting himself in midair. The Son ran to the landing Ralf and proceeded to immediately jab his hands at him, each strike washing him with violet fire. At the end, he kicked Ralf away, then quickly shot a wake of fire with one hand, heavily impacting the soldier. Ralf was not able to get up.

Clark looked back from his battle with the now-weakening earth tenma on hearing the last attack, and blanched on seeing his defeated commander. His cry of dismay was cut short by an explosion at his feet knocking him down. Quickly rising, Clark saw that the tenma had adopted a new tactic—shooting explosive crystals from its head. Clark rolled away from the next crystal, and to the tenma. Wasting no time, he summoned all his ki into rushing towards and grabbing the thing, hoisting it over his head, and preparing his new attack.

The Son watched this, and the standoff between Leona and the fire tenma, with amusement. "Okay, what are you planning on this time? Make it quick, before I show your friend his species's destiny."

"RUNNING SLAYER!!"

The Marid swallowed hard as he saw Clark run at him, holding the tenma as though it were a spear. He slipped away just before Clark smashed the demon where the Marid had been.

You're still not safe, Orochi—Clark ended his plan of using the tenma against the Son when he noticed the other battle's progress. Namely, Leona was starting to tire from her endless parrying of the fire tenma's tentacles, and evasion of the blasts it occasionally belched forth. Clark immediately picked the dazed earth tenma up again, and rushed with it at the fire tenma. The fire tenma was so absorbed in battling Leona that it never noticed its impending doom, until Clark actually scored his strike, releasing the earth tenma just before making contact. The earthen demon flew forward, carrying the fire tenma with it, straight into the hill slope. The force of the impact shattered the fire tenma into so many foul embers. In the process, the creature's heat suffused instantly into the earth tenma, causing it to explode into rubble.

Leona stared at what was left of the two tenma for a few moments, then turned to Clark. "Thanks, Clark. I somehow get the feeling that if we had fought for just a few more minutes, I'd be nothing more than ash."

Clark grunted his affirmation as he turned towards the disbelieving Son of Moloch. "Well, if we don't want Ralf to experience that sort of fate, I think we'd better do something about this kid!" The two mercenaries charged him as one, ready to punish him for what he had done to their comrade-in-arms.

"I guess I can't kill you now…but I can keep you from doing the same to me." The Son pointed at Clark and Leona…

…who immediately fell to their knees, covering their ears and screaming with agony as a horrid, deafening keen sounded through the air. The Son, obviously unaffected, watched without any reaction except a slight smile. "There are reasons why we like sound tenma. Their amorphousness, their ability to go through anything…and, of course, what you're now experiencing." The smile widened as he felt a whirlwind begin to form behind him—the air tenma that had, like the sound tenma, remained hidden until now. The Son quickly begin shooting thin rays of violet fire from his fingers into the ground, making a pattern of charred grass. He picked up Ralf's unconscious form, and stepped into the air tenma. The tenma suspended them in its eye, and flew away with unbelievable speed. A few seconds after the Marid escaped, the sound tenma ended its trill, and likewise flew away from the battlefield.

Leona and Clark managed to pick themselves up, rubbing their ears while extricating their faces from their pain-contorted forms. "Good God," Clark murmurred. "Where do the Orochi come up with this sort of thing?"

"Hell," Leona replied bluntly. "They get them from home—RALF!!" Leona ran over to where the Son's last attack had blasted him. Clark, realizing instantly that neither the Son nor Ralf was present, followed Leona. Where Ralf had been, there was now only a message of burnt grass and earth:

Daughter of Hecate,

For too long, you have consorted with and imitated the Free-Willed. Such a blasphemy against our Lord Orochi cannot go unpunished. Therefore, I have taken your friend to His most holy shrine on Marstjällik as a sacrifice to His glory. If for any reason you wish to see him before we bring upon him all that he or any other Free-Willed deserves, utter the words at the end of this message to trigger a portal that will take you to a place in Hallstavik, where you will find others who will be most willing to take you to the shrine. You may bring your other friend—we would be only too pleased to have more Free-Willed blood with which to write Orochi's most glorious name across reality.

Clark shuddered as Leona knelt and scanned the arcane words written after the last part of the message. "This guy is really eaten up by hate, isn't he? He's as bad as Goenitz. But…what does he mean by 'Free-Willed'? Does he mean that he gave it up to Orochi?"

Leona nodded. "I've had recurrent dreams where Goenitz appears to me, ordering me to leave humanity and devote my entire being to the service of Orochi. And each time, he warns me that free will is fatal to the perfection of reality that 'Lord' Orochi seeks. It's so strange, that the followers of Orochi see their evil as the ultimate good…"

"Heh. That particular idea's nothing new. Ever read 'Mein Kampf'?"

"I think I'll keep away from it, then." Leona quickly straightened up. "Now, I know this is likely a trap for us, but this is the only way we have to rescue Ralf. Hopefully, once we use the portal, we'll be near the people the Son of Moloch said will transport us, but not right in their midst. That way, we can tell whether or not subdual will be necessary."

"If I hadn't known the circumstances of how you became Heidern's daughter, I'd have thought you inherited his caution genetically." Clark smiled as he stepped up to Leona, who was already uttering the mystic phrase in the message. As she spoke the last syllable, the area of the message quickly dissolved into pure energy, then reformed into a shimmering, vertical portal. Clark and Leona wasted no time in going through.

***** Thien Mansion, 8:25 a.m. *****

"I assume you've heard the, um, 'popular' views on Orochi?"

"How can I not have?" Yashiro paced the balcony like a confined tiger. "Those stupid zealots actually preach it! 'Orochi will cleanse the world of humanity.' 'Only we are truly worthy of any kind of rights, including the right of existence.'" Yashiro made exaggerated poses as he uttered the quotes. "Well, I know that they're fools! What kind of purity denies even the possibility of the unworthy becoming worthy?"

Varrius shuffled through his papers again. "Well, my group and I still don't quite understand all of the Alliance's motives. Although from what we've learned of them, for most of the Alliance's history, those 'zealots' you hate are the kind that have always been foremost."

Yashiro leaned on the balcony's railing. "That must be why Lord Orochi gets such a bad reputation."

Varrius sighed as he squared his papers. "Forgive me, Yashiro, but given what the Alliance does, I can't see at all why you'd want to follow their god!"

"He needs vindication from the zealots. As for the zealots themselves…" Yashiro smiled. "I hope they all go the way of the one who got killed a few years back in Metro City. Killed by a criminal—now there's irony! So much for being safe from the 'rabble'! They can't even remain safe from the real rabble!"

"Be that as it may, there is still the matter of how we're going to keep your not-exactly-friends from crashing the KOF '97 tournament. From my group's records, I've already figured out where their greatest shrine is—and fortunately for us, it's in this nation. The next step is to work out how to either destroy them—although I assume you'd rather the shrine be left intact—or at least keep their plan from coming about."

"As much as I hate my superiors, I think it best if we just keep them from doing their plan, without killing them...or at least, the part of the plan that involves them killing any fighters they can." Yashiro's eyes unfocussed as he looked in the general direction of Marstjällik. "I never knew that that shrine was so important. Maybe there, we can get those zealots to see the true means of bringing purity to this world."

"I still don't relish the thought of having to help bring a goal of any Alliance member forward, even one as noble-hearted as you. Perhaps I am prejudiced by the idea that the other members must be getting their quasi-mahou from some source, and that the most likely source is Orochi itself…"

"Don't worry so much." The Orochi rocker smiled at Varrius. "I already know of a lot of people to ask Orochi to spare once He awakens. You and Hunding are already on that list."

"Well, thank you, but…"

Varrius's sudden silence concerned Yashiro. "Varrius, what is it?" Yashiro's question was immediately answered by the powerful wind blowing across the balcony. As he looked upwards, he saw the source: a massive windstorm, suspending in its eye a violet-haired woman in a militant, light blue dress, surrounded by sparks.

"I think one of your zealot friends decided to make an impromptu visit. Along with an air tenma."

The woman glared at Varrius and Yashiro, then quickly flipped out of the tenma. As she brought her legs down, electricity focussed around them, creating an arc that narrowly missed Varrius as she landed. "You will refer to this 'zealot'", she hissed, "as the Daughter of Kingu."

Yashiro yawned. "Give me a break, m'lady. What do you want here? I can defend the faith just fine, thank you. I don't need your flawed arguments to get in myaAAAHH!!" Yashiro was knocked to the ground by the sphere of energy created by the Daughter.

"Flawed. Hmph." The Daughter turned to Varrius. "Leave. Now. I will not have some vile sorceror making things difficult for us."

"Vile? I don't practice mahou." Varrius summoned flanges of lucid energy around his hands. "Although, if you want to be difficult, I can show you precisely what I practice."

"It is your balanced nature that makes you vile! Die in the name of Lord Orochi! Now!" The Daughter jumped into the air and kicked at Varrius, right under his guard. As Varrius recovered, the Daughter pushed at Yashiro. "Leave the balcony, but wait for me within the mansion. I have need of you, but not this sorceror."

"I'm not going to let him fall to you."

"THAT'S AN ORDER!!" The Daughter hopped up a bit, and did a twinned kick that struck Yashiro back onto the mansion's floor. "Never forget that we define your existence, not just Lord Orochi."

"PRISMATIC BOLT!" A blast of multicolored light smashed into the Daughter's back, forcing her to kneel in pain. Varrius directed his voice to Yashiro. "Just go find Hunding and the others! I can hold this Marid off long enough for the wood elementals to get here! Go, now!"

The Daughter watched as Yashiro hesitated, torn between loyalty to his superior and to the first person who proved to not automatically kill Orochi's followers, then ran towards the mansion's doors. She then turned to the air tenma. "Have the other two tenma head off the elementals. You keep Yashiro busy yourself." She sneered at Varrius as the tenma flew off. "Who's going to be warned, again?"

"I can see this will be a problem…have at you!" Varrius rushed forward, and kneed the Daughter in the stomach. The Daughter grimaced, but still managed to chop her arm down on Varrius's head. Varrius fell, but used his momentum to roll away from the Daughter. As he rose, he called "No, not today, hateful one. MIRAGE DANCE!" Varrius disappeared in a burst of light. As the Daughter tensed for his reappearance, six images of him reappeared around her on the balcony.

Okay, which one are you…Making a guess, the Daughter did a head kick at the image behind her and to her right. As she did, the image shattered into motes of white light. An instant later, she received an uppercut from the real Varrius, who had been to her right, but in front of her. She snarled in rage as she rose, and flipped forward, striking down with her feet, one after the other. Varrius hopped away, and tensed his hands as he cast a spell. The Daughter, seeing this, leaned forward to use a Star-Rending Whip…a little too far…

"MIRAGE BARRIER!" Varrius released the spell, creating a wall of light motes in front of him, their forward edge just hitting the Daughter, and therefore disrupting the Whip before she could even complete it. Grunting with pain, the Daughter flinched back, giving Varrius just enough distance to drive a kick into her chest. "You should be the one to leave here," he murmurred as she lay on the ground.

"No…you shall certainly fall, in Orochi's name." A palpable buildup of electricity was gathering around her.

Varrius shuddered, and prepared another Mirage Barrier. "It shall not be. Even if I do die, you still cannot win, not so long as the very universe cries out against you."

"HOW CLEAR DO I HAVE TO MAKE MYSELF?" The Daughter suddenly took off into a ground-level, soaring, vertical kick, her entire body covered with electricity. Unable to respond in time, Varrius was knocked back and carried forward by the attack. His scream of shock was cut off when his head struck the balcony's railing. The Daughter sneered at the unconscious sorceror. "We will make the universe recognize that it needs Him to be perfect." With that, she turned away, and walked through to the mansion's doors.

As she exited, she saw that the tenma had done their job well. Evidently, four wood elementals had attempted to reach Varrius, but hadn't made it before the two electricity tenma she had brought had blasted them into embers. The tenma themselves, ever-shifting masses of energy streams and ball lightning, were flanking the air tenma suspending Yashiro in its eye. Yashiro was anything but happy with the circumstances he was in.

"Why, Daughter of Kingu? What's the point of this attack?"

"Believe it or not, we can rescue Orochi right now. Today, if everything goes right, we can return Him to this world."

"WHAT? But we need the KOF tournament to acquire enough energy to pull Him back from His prison!"

"Not anymore. We found the Onyx Samurai in this country. The Son of Kali is sure to get his daisho, which will do well as a catalyst. One busy battle at the Marstjällik shrine with the daisho prepared will be enough to bring Orochi back."

Yashiro struggled futilely inside the tenma. "Couldn't you have just invited Onyx's friends? Yasuhiro, Sukune, Wadi'a, Garlon, Whisper, Kazuo…the list goes on! That's more than enough with the daisho!"

"It would be…but you and your two comrades are still needed at the shrine to guarantee the rescue's success, and the presence of the Daughter of Hecate will not hurt. With you at the shrine, I know your friends will not fail to pursue, along with Hunding and—if he wakes up in time—Varrius. The Son of Moloch has also assured me that Leona and her allies will also be present. It will be a great battle, a worthy herald of Orochi's return to this world that needs His purifying touch so much."

Yashiro felt his head and throat grow cold with terror. "You…you promised that you wouldn't involve Shermie and Chris this heavily!"

"The promise cannot be kept. It was valid at first, but that ended when the tournament became superfluous." The Daughter gestured at the two electricty tenma, who then flew away, back towards Marstjällik. "When they reach Marstjällik, perhaps you can choose then to introduce them to our faith."

"Our faith? My faith, probably, but yours? You don't know anything about purity." His face twisted with disgust. "I still pray that when Orochi comes, He will show you what true purity is."

"Your words are foolish." She jerked her head towards the mansion. "Now, let's go. We have to await Varrius's friends, who must be rushing here by this time." The air tenma obeyed, and followed her, carrying Yashiro, into the mansion.

***** During the above… (around 8:30 a.m.)*****

"Woo-hoo!! One fish fry tonight, all invited! And a contest to decide who does the better fry, Hunding or Chris!"

"We're right here, Shermie. Who are you trying to invite, the woodland animals or the elementals?"

"Hunding…work with me…" Shermie went back to eyeing the six-strong string of fish she was carrying back to the mansion—the largest catch of the three strings, compared with Chris's four and Hunding's five. "I swear, that lake has better fishing than any place I've tried in Japan. Only the fish market does better with its supply!"

Chris chuckled. "As you'd know from plenty of experience." He turned to his uncle. "Miss Seafood Maniac here visits the fish market twice a week. She's gotten to be known as one of its most persistent bidders."

"Hey, you want the best, you've got to have the will to make sure you actually get it."

"If you don't mind getting the restauranteurs annoyed at you." Chris looked back at where the mansion would be—the thick woods were obscuring it from view. "This is certainly a lot nicer than Japan. Maybe we should move the band here."

Hunding groaned. "Look, I can take the music, but the elementals are another story. They tend to be rather sensitive to sound."

"Well, I could hope…" Chris's downcast expression only lasted a few moments. "I'm glad I finally got to meet you. I would have preferred to see you years ago…but how's a kid supposed to get out of Japan when his immigrant parents are dead, and he doesn't have legal-age guardians yet?"

"I understand perfectly why we could never have met before. And believe me, I'm glad about how well you turned out. Experience has simply taught me to be wary about youth. So much fury, scorn, angst…but so long as there is still a sizable number of youth like you and your two friends, I think society will survive."

"Wait a minute." Shermie's smile disappeared. "Hunding, you just said something about 'elementals'. I know you're a sorceror, but…are there really elementals around here?"

"Oh, yes." Hunding looked to his left, at which point his eyes widened in surprise. "And speak of the devil…two of the wood elementals are coming this way!" He brought a hand to his chin. "But what could they possibly want? They're usually pretty staid. They don't come to me for much."

Shermie and Chris followed Hunding's gaze, and saw what was, at that point, the strangest sight of their lives. Two humanoid figures were heading their way—figures obviously made of tree bark and leaves, and incredibly tall. Animate trees, in fact. And each one was holding a human in its leaf crown…

Shermie turned to Hunding. "I guess they found some intruders, and want you to talk to them." Her eyes shimmered still with disbelief at what she had just seen. Chris's eyes were still glued to the two plant beings.

About a minute later, the elementals reached the trio, and carefully lowered their captives with their branches, dropping them just above ground level. As the captives began to pick themselves up, one of the elementals spoke, its voice vibrating from the tree bark it was being channeled through. "We found these two wandering the domain's outskirts. They were evidently seeking help for a friend of theirs, so we decided to bring them to you for questioning."

"Well, if you wanted to be helpful, you could have let us climb down, instead of being dropped," the male captive growled. He and the woman both appeared to be soldiers. He then turned to Hunding. "I'll assume you're Mr. Thien. As far as I can tell, these two aren't tenma, so I'm guessing you're the 'help' the Son of Moloch was talking about."

Hunding started at the mention of the Son of Moloch. "'Son of Moloch'? You know of—"

"I…I don't believe it." Shermie, Hunding, and the male soldier turned to Chris, who was staring in shock at the female soldier. "You're the…the one who saved me…in the Amakusa Islands…"

The female soldier, for her part, was herself not believing what she saw. "Impossible…you look just like him…but I can tell—"

The male soldier grabbed Chris by the collar of his shirt. "Well, well, we thought you said you were going to be at Marstjällik. So, Son of Moloch…WHERE THE HELL IS RALF?!"

"'Son of Moloch'? Marstjällik? What are you talking about?"

"Clark! Put him down! That boy is definitely not the Orochi we met!"

Clark looked at the other soldier as he put Chris down. "You're sure, Leona? He looks and sounds like him…although his outfit certainly changed…"

"No." Leona shook her head. "Trust me, I could feel the Son of Moloch's aura. This is not him."

"Um, excuse us." Clark, Leona, and Chris turned to Shermie. "Could someone please tell us what's going on here?"

"I have a feeling I know," Hunding muttered. "Assassins, probably, and worse than the ones I warned you and Yashiro about."

"Assassins?" Clark raised an eyebrow.

"Direct from the Orochi Alliance."

"'OROCHI Alliance'?" Shermie and Chris spoke together. Neither of them sounded very comfortable with the idea.

Hunding sighed quietly. "I was afraid of this…you two are not going to like hearing this…"

One of the wood elementals suddenly turned towards the mansion, somehow conveying shock without any kind of face, save for its eyes. "I think you'd better save the Orochi explanations for later, Sir Thien. Two other elementals just found a pair of electricity tenma near the mansion."

"TENMA?" By now, the color was draining from the faces of Shermie and Chris.

"Yes. We think a Heavenly King, probably the Daughter of Kingu, is attacking the mansion. We cannot speak any more—we must leave to help our brethren now." The two elementals ran towards the mansion with blinding speed.

The five humans stared after the elementals, their minds reeling with shock. Clark finally broke the silence. "Okay…now I'm sure you're not with the fire kid."

A different thought woke Shermie up from her shock. "Oh, no…assassins…Yashiro and Varrius are still at the mansion!" She began to run down the path, dropping the now-forgotten fish, and beckoning the others onward. "C'mon, we've got to hurry!"

**********

"I don't believe it…" Shermie stared in shock at the remains of the wood elementals she and the others had just happened upon. "I didn't think tenma existed…but I certainly never imagined that if they did, they would be capable of this…"

Hunding rushed to the open front doors of the mansion. "I'm not surprised so much, since I know firsthand how elementals and tenma hate each other. It's only to be expected that they would fight each other until one side or the other was completely destroyed."

"Well, where's this Daughter of Kingu?" Clark entered the mansion right after Hunding, followed by Chris, Shermie, and Leona. "The Son of Moloch used tenma, too, so I'm guessing she's in with him."

"We'd better split up to find the Daughter, Yashiro, and Varrius." Hunding rapidly indicated various parts of the mansion. "Leona, take the lower north wing. Clark, lower east. Chris, upper north. Shermie, upper south. I'll take lower south. Yell if you see anyone."

The five split up according to Hunding's orders. As he prepared to search his wing, Hunding had to take a deep breath. Of all the ways for Chris to learn the truth, THIS had to be the one…I don't feel prepared for all this. It feels like the Alliance has stepped up its schedule to reawaken Orochi, and I definitely don't want to meet that horror—

"SACRE DIEU, NON!!!"

Shermie's shout summoned the other four searchers to the balcony she had reached. When they found her, she was clearly paralyzed with horror and shock. The scene at the balcony's edge made the cause clear. Varrius was slumped at the balcony railing, beginning to stir. Yashiro was suspended in a small windstorm. And kneeling on the railing was the Daughter of Kingu…

…who, except for her outfit and violet hair, was an exact look-alike of Shermie.

"Shermie…" Yashiro whispered. "Please, take Chris, Hunding, Varrius…get out of here…"

The Daughter glared at him. "If they don't come, who's going to get you out of Marstjällik?" Even her voice was identical, although the tone was certainly wrong. She turned her gaze to Shermie, smiled, and dismounted onto the balcony. "At long last we meet, Shermie LeMieux, Chris Andersson…although I wasn't expecting this sort of reunion to come until the KOF tournament."

Shermie, for her part, was having trouble getting words out. "Who…what…how…" Chris's jaw was working soundlessly, and Clark and Leona were staring in shock. Hunding, on the other hand, merely looked at the Daughter grimly.

"You don't understand who I am, do you?" The Daughter chuckled grimly. "As much as I'd love to let Hunding, the traitor"—she favored him with a sneer here—"tell you, I'll save him the trouble. You see, Shermie…I'm you. No, that's not right at all. Actually…you're me."

"I…I'm you? But how can…?"

The Daughter hissed in disgust. "Maybe we shouldn't have given you Free Will—it's clearly addled your brains. Since you obviously can't figure it out, I'll tell you. You…are…my…clone." The Daughter spoke the last sentence with condescension dripping off each word.

"That can't be," Chris mumbled, still in shock from first seeing the Daughter. "You two may look alike, but I already know you're kilometers apart in personality."

"That's because of two things." As the Daughter enumerated her points, Yashiro renewed his struggles to get out of the air tenma, enraged at the way she was treating Shermie. "One, we had to give her Free Will so she would blend in with the rest of humanity—distasteful, but necessary. Two, almost all of her memories are false. Her existence didn't even begin until about two years ago."

"SHUT UP!" Yashiro tried to claw at the Daughter, but was thwarted by the tenma. "You promised that the secret would never be revealed! You said that you'd retire from the world permanently after the tournament, and let us live our lives!"

"Yashiro, the tournament is superfluous now. All promises are cancelled. I already told you all that. How dull has Free Will made you?"

"Secret?…Tournament? Yashiro…you knew?" Chris was looking at his friend in disbelief. "Why did you keep this from us?"

A pained groan directed everyone's attention to Varrius, who had finally regained enough strength to speak. "He had to…the Heavenly Kings are his superiors in…ahh!…the Orochi Alliance…"

"Will you be quiet?" the Daughter growled. She swiped her arm down on Varrius's head, knocking him prostrate and voiceless.

"O…ro…chi?" Shermie gazed at Yashiro, her eyes visibly brimming with tears, despite her hair. "Yashiro…why are you helping her?"

"I'm sorry, Shermie." Yashiro's averted his own gaze so he wouldn't have to see his friend's hurt look. "But it's the only way to purify the world from evil…Orochi has to be rescued from the prison the Shinji Forces trapped Him in…"

"ARE YOU CRAZY? Orochi's a murderous pseudo-god! Don't you remember Hitomi's book?" Shermie ran towards Yashiro—and rammed into a New Moon Thundercloud for her trouble. Yashiro stared in dismay as she crumpled to the ground.

"'Pseudo-god'?" The Daughter smirked. "My not-so-dear, ill-prepared clone, humanity is composed of fools, one and all. The pathetic wretches could never hope to understand Orochi's all-encompassing glory and power. Although Yashiro himself has problems understanding what purity is about, at least he knows that Orochi is not a monster at all, but the rightful God of All Realities."

"Rightful nothing!" Clark roared as he and Leona rushed her. The Daughter simply drew her hand back…

"FALL, MORTAL SCUM!" She thrust her hand forward, created a massive field of electricity around it, and blasted them back—Leona into Chris, and Clark onto Shermie, with enough impact to leave them all down for a half minute. She looked at the last unfallen warrior. "So, Hunding. This is the last chance I'll give you, although I can't speak for my fellow Kings. Will you return to us, or will you choose to be annihilated with the mortals?"

"I was never one of you," Hunding hissed. "I never could be. I am glad that I was born a 'throwback' in the direction of ordinary humans, whether because of fate or divine intervention. You will never, ever have my allegiance."

"Very well, Hunding." The Daughter flipped into the air tenma. "Remember, though, that this world was never meant to be. And those who dare to defy destiny…deserve only annihilation of body and soul." The tenma started to carry the Daughter and a very sad Yashiro away. "If you want to have any further words with either of us, then come to Marstjällik. You should have no problems finding the shrine."

Hunding watched as the tenma flew away. He only looked away when Varrius managed to grab onto the railing. "Hunding…I think I could use a few potions…not to mention access to the comm system…"

***** Outskirts of Hallstavik, 8:36 a.m. (again, during the above)*****

"Any sightings yet?"

"Unfortunately, no." Onyx's look of absolute annoyance was soon hidden as he put his kabuto and mempo on. "The Marids must be on to us—they made sure those mahou currents lasted two hours, so if they struck anywhere then, we wouldn't have been able to detect them. At least we won't have to blaze a path past the wood elementals Hunding is protecting his compund with. I did a remote scan of the place last night. I found the three Urien was thinking of, but their psychic signatures were too balanced to be actual Marids." He shook his head in self-annoyance. "I can't believe I didn't do the same back in the Amakusa Islands. Anyway, all we know now is that they're somewhere in Sweden. And if we're right, all three are based in one place."

A thoughtful look formed on Garlon's face. "Hmmm…are you absolutely sure we have to get all three? As I recall, if there are only one or two Marids left, there will be no way for the Orochi Alliance to restore their master."

Onyx attached his saya to his armor. "Well, we have to destroy at least two. That way, we have insurance in case the Child of Tlaloc, whoever it might be, proves to be a true member of the Alliance. But still, I would feel most comfortable in destroying all three. From what I know, none of them have reproduced yet, so we have a perfect opportunity to extinguish their lines forever."

"If you're that concerned, I'm amazed you haven't been killing every last Marid you see."

"I'm not worried about those who owe no allegiance to Orochi himself. They actually have free will, and are therefore useless to the Alliance." Onyx smiled behind his mempo. "Besides, anybody that can attract your affections…well, there's no way she could have such apocalyptic desires."

Garlon smiled and bowed his head. "I know Vice has your approval, Onyx. You didn't try to kill her after she defeated you."

"Well, it WAS my fault, what with my being overinsistent that she join us and—" Onyx suddenly stopped speaking, and cocked his head as though trying to hear something distant. Then, he drew his swords, crossed them horizontally, and slowly pivoted.

"Onyx…?" Garlon watched with fascination as strange energies flowed over his friend's crystalline swords, and the galena runes engraved in the blades pulsed with power. Onyx kept turning until he was facing northwest. Then, he lowered his swords, and turned to Garlon.

"Well, well, well…we've got one alone. The Son of Kali, I think. Twenty-eight kilometers northwest of here."

"Can we hope that he doesn't know we found him?"

"At least not because of Urien. Take my wakizashi—it'll attune the Ether Gate to the target location." Garlon accepted the short sword, and began casting the Ether Gate spell that would bring them to where the Son of Kali was.

***** Somewhere northwest of Hallstavik, 8:39 a.m. *****

"Gyah!" Garlon brushed a hand across his forehead as looked about the hills. "This place absolutely STINKS of mahou! Our Marid's here, all right. Ugh…he must have brought a portable shrine, or done a lot of…whatever it is that passes for their kata."

"And he's keeping himself pretty well hidden, too. He's nearby—my daisho are screaming his presence—but the mahou aura's making it impossible to pinpoint his location, or find any tenma he brought with him."

While Garlon and Onyx talked, a third figure smiled from nearby, waiting for the thaumaturgist to do what he hoped he would. He silently beckoned to the figure beside him, and instructed it to his desires…

"Well, nothing else can really be done just yet. Brace yourself, Onyx—I'm going to have to cast an Ether Storm!"

Onyx quickly planted his katana in the ground and gripped the hilt tightly. Garlon began casting a spell, and as he chanted, a tight cyclone of magical energy formed around him, and began raging. Onyx felt the pull of the Ether Storm while safely anchored by his sword. Meanwhile, their Marid quarry grinned as Edward did what he hoped he would, and his ally began using the storm's pull to its advantage.

"How long is that storm going to have to—" Onyx stopped talking when he saw something glide from behind a cluster of rock on the mystic winds. It definitely wasn't the Marid—they most certainly were not eight feet tall, and did not resemble metallic, surrealistic mantises…

"GARLON!! We've got a metal tenma!" Onyx immediately pulled his sword out so he could deal with the monster before it could attack Edward while he was keeping the spell together. The tenma, for its part immediately lashed out at the samurai with its foremost claws, ready to rend his armor into tiny pieces—and him with it.

Edward stared in dismay as the metal tenma began trying to smash through Onyx's daisho. He quickly shut down the Ether Storm, and rushed forward with his cutlass drawn. Just in time to see his white-haired quarry emerge. The figure's outfit, somewhat like a more sinister, grey-colored version of his own outfit, left no doubt to his identity.

"Son of Kali," Garlon whispered. He held his cutlass at a ready position. "Are you prepared to fall away from the world you would subvert to a state even I would not accept?"

"Don't get your hopes up, Free-Willed monstrosity. Once I'm through, your soul will already be awaiting its own annihilation when Orochi reaches the afterlife planes." The Son grinned with anticipation as his hands began to pulse with a dull, steel-colored energy. "And you won't even die here. Given how great a foe to us you've been, I'll let you witness the retu—OOOH!!" The Marid's speech was cut off as Garlon inflicted a shallow slash on his chest.

"Be silent, Marid. Your insane master is not returning. After all, we'd like to have something to rule."

The Son of Kali responded with a sneer. "Your sanity is our insanity, and vice versa. We, however, have purity on our side!" He then threw himself into a shoulder charge.

Garlon was ready. He slid forward while making a powerful horizontal slash with his sword, calling "Shadow Shock!" The Marid grunted with pain as the blade bit into his arm, then found himself smashed to the ground as his foe slid away while slashing downwards. Growling with rage, he leapt into the air with an arm outstretched. He smiled as he saw that Garlon would not have enough time to avoid his grasp.

"GOTCHA!" Garlon found his equilibrium disrupted as the Son's grasp pulled at him. While he was trying to steady himself, the Marid grabbed his side, flipped over him, and finally hurled him into the air. He smirked at the falling swordsman. "Don't challenge our authority. It only makes your destiny that much more painful."

Edward managed a grin as he got up. "Destiny? What destiny? I guess you didn't hear that destiny doesn't exist!" He leapt forward, bringing his foot and sword's tip to bear on the Orochi's chest. The Son immediately pushed his arm onto Garlon's foot, deflecting the attack. Garlon followed by twisting in midair, then beginning a forward roll as soon as he touched the ground—his Black Swan Attack.

"Do you EVER quit?" The Son of Kali readied himself for when Garlon would stop his roll. "There's no use resisting us—your destiny was annihilation from your conception." He winced as Garlon quickly flipped out of his roll and slashed downwards onto him from the air. "So ultimately…" He grabbed the rising swordsman about the throat. "…everything you Free-Willed do…" He smashed him into the ground. "…be you good or evil…" The Son spun and slammed Garlon a second time. "…was fated to oblivion…" A third slam. "…myriads in advance!" Garlon found himself being flung from air to ground once more.

"That's it…" Garlon quickly picked himself up, and raised his sword high into the air. "BUNYIP'S CURSE!!!" Garlon faded from view, leaving the Marid looking around for him. He quickly figured out what had happened when he felt an excruciating pain strike parallel to his spine. Garlon had teleported behind him, planted the entire edge of his cutlass into his back, and used it to suck away a large portion of his ki. The Son of Kali collapsed to the ground, even then healing the long cut created, as Garlon used some of the stolen ki to heal himself.

"So how about it?" Garlon grinned as he stuck the tip of his sword next to his foe. "Do you give up? Do you recognize the goals of your master to be completely worthless? We will stop attacking if you do." He noticed that the cut he had made was already healed, and whistled in astonishment. "I guess that legend about Kali's lineage being descended from Antaeus was true…we could use someone like you in your ranks. We'll pay the cost of acclimation."

"You actually believe I'm going to accept that offer?!" The Son attempted a double sweep kick on Garlon, who merely leapt out of the way. "I will never betray Lord Orochi by helping the Free-Willed! Your own taint makes you unworthy to be cured of it!" The Marid did a low jumpkick at Garlon, who moved to the side, and prepared for more battle.

Meanwhile, Onyx was busily slicing the metal tenma up. While the entity's body was hard enough to break even katana and espadones, Onyx's mystic daisho were another matter entirely. Between the swords' power and Onyx's own agility, not impeded at all by his armor, the tenma was finding it difficult to inflict more than minor damage on the assassin. Therefore, it decided to try a new tactic.

"Come on, tenma, I've faced rakshasi more powerful than you, and lived to tell the tale." The tenma appeared to become angrier, even as it prepared its new plan. "Your poor master is about to die the—uh-oh." Onyx rolled to his left as one of the tenma's claws suddenly extended into a very thin, very long, and very sharp spike—sharp enough to pierce his armor like a sponge—and lanced through the air where he had been standing. In half a second, the spike had been extended, and retracted. "I was wondering when you'd do that. Unfortunately for you, I have a way to deal with this sort of thing." Onyx raised his katana as the tenma prepared to strike again. "Good night…JIGOKU YOKAZE!!" Onyx slashed down quickly into the air, and in the process created a few faint wisps of white ki where the tenma was. He jumped out of the way of the next spike immediately afterwards. The monster had just enough time to notice the wisps after recovering from its attack before they transformed into a large unholy rune, which blasted it away, and caused it to land in a tangle of metallic limbs. As it righted itself, Onyx rushed it with an aerial, swords-first drill, crying "Oni Kaze!" The tenma did its best to get its limbs into some semblance of a shield, but still failed to avoid most of the attack's cuts. As the last cut hit, the tenma collapsed into metal fragments and limbs, its structural integrity completely destroyed.

"Say hello to the scrap heap, tenma." His eyes glowing with triumph, Onyx walked away from his destroyed foe and looked to where Garlon and the Son of Kali were fighting. From what he could tell, the two were fairly evenly matched, but the Son was starting to wilt, especially given the very recent Spirit Shock and Bunyip's Talon he had received. "I think your master will be joining—" Onyx froze as he saw the tenma's remains quaver, then point a single limb in the general direction of Garlon…a single, glowing limb…Oh, no…"GARLON!!"

Garlon looked at Onyx as he finished a hilt smash to put the Son back down. "What's going on?"

Onyx was already running towards the tenma, katana ready to slash. "JUST GET OUT—"

Onyx's warning was cut off by the sudden discharge of energy from the tenma's limb—the energy from Onyx's own swords that had not radiated out of the tenma's body by then. The beam took only a few microseconds to hit Garlon, giving him no time whatsoever to evade it, and no time for Onyx to attack the limb. With a strangled cry, Garlon collapsed, unconscious before he hit the ground. An instant later, the limb fell down for the last time, disintegrating into tiny fragments.

"Edward!!" Onyx ran up to his fallen comrade and checked his pulse. "Edward, wake up! You're too important to our cause to die—"

"GO AWAY!!"

Onyx found himself hurtled back several meters by the point-blank Hoeru Daichi. When he got back up, he saw the Son of Kali holding Garlon up with his right hand, and using his left hand to keep the cutlass's edge at the assassin's throat. "You attack, he dies."

Onyx tensed, ready to attack the instant the Son let go of either Garlon or the cutlass. "So what will it take to keep him alive?"

The Son laughed grimly at Onyx. "Oh, I'd say a trade could work wonders here. How about this: I keep your friend here alive, and you give me…oh…how about your daisho?"

"My…daisho?" Onyx glared at the Marid. "You know how important they are to me. Find another trade medium."

"There isn't one." The Son pressed the cutlass a little further against Garlon's throat. "That's all I'll accept. I don't get the daisho, Garlon finds out exactly how sharp his sword is. So, which is more important to you?"

Onyx fumed inwardly, hating the deal he was given. I don't want to think about what he wants to do with my daisho…and yet, Edward's life is on the line. I don't know if he'd appreciate being saved at the cost of our cause…the frown beneath his mempo, however, became a smile. But, perhaps I can save Edward's life, and still get my daisho back. My o-yoroi can tell me where the daisho are if I'm not actually wearing or wielding them. Once I sense where the daisho have been taken, I can call up Sukune and Wadi'a so we can raid the Marids' base, get my daisho back, and finally bomb the Orochi Alliance into oblivion…

"Very well, Son of Kali, it's a deal. You'll have my daisho. You will, of course, have the saya, too, so you can actually handle them without roasting your less-than-worthy hands." Onyx sheathed his daisho, untied the saya from his o-yoroi, and laid them on the ground. "Now, let go of Garlon."

"Done." The Son dropped the assassin and sword unceremoniously, then darted forward and grabbed the saya. He grinned at his prize, even as the sheathed daisho pulsated furiously at being held by a Marid. "Thank you so very much for your cooperation."

"Don't mention it…again." Especially since I should be thanking YOU for leading us to your base. Onyx hoisted Garlon over his left shoulder, and held the cutlass in a ready position in his right hand. "Now, please leave now. We'll be stuck here until either Garlon wakes up or some of our comrades show up with transportation."

The smile on the Son's face started to unsettle Onyx. "Actually, that's not going to be a problem in the least."

"What are you talking about…?" Onyx's question trailed off as the air suddenly turned into a windstorm, then turned into a screech of shock as he and Garlon were swept up into a tornado—or rather, an air tenma. "What kind of treachery is this?"

"No treachery. All we agreed to was that if you gave me your daisho, I wouldn't kill Garlon. I never said anything about not taking you two prisoner."

"Errgghh…I can't believe I was so short-sighted…" Onyx did not get the chance to say any more, as the air tenma threw him out of itself with enough power to, despite his kabuto, render him unconscious when he hit the ground.

The Son of Kali sneered as the tenma picked him and his unconscious foes up. "And you call yourself the Dark Disciple of Air…"

***** Northern Sicily, Rose's compound, 8:45 a.m. *****

"Well, everyone's accounted for…except Mai, that is." Siobhan shot a glare towards Mai's quarters. "Of all the days for her to sleep in, she chooses a tournament practice day!"

Dudley was taking an opportunity to look at the cookbook Siobhan was using. "Actually, from the looks of this recipe, the smell of breakfast should get her up."

"Just promise me you won't try to help," King muttered. "One English cook matches many cooks…the ones who spoi—"

"{AHEM} "

"Lay off of him, King. He is not to blame," Siobhan said as she measured a cup of milk, "for the lack of imagination his culinary forbears had. Besides, quite a few of the recipes do fine. Like I said, not much imagination, but certainly not poison."

"Siobhan, I thought you knew that English cuisine is poison for French tongues."

"Hmmm…Dudley, why don't you take over for a while?"

Dudley caught the evil grin she was giving King. "With pleasure, miss. It's been a while since I've had the opportunity, so I'll be happy to get back into practice."

Siobhan untied her apron and handed it to him, then sat next to a somewhat nervous-looking King, adjusting the clasp of her cloak as she did so. "Please, King. If you're going to build up resistance to a toxin, you've got to sample the toxin first." King looked even more worried. "King, this isn't cowbane we're talking about…"

During all this, Rose was looking on with bemusement, and Andy was trying desperately to keep from laughing. "Until two days ago, I'd last seen Siobhan when she was a little child," Rose said to Andy. "Tell me, is she always like this with her friends?"

"Not really, just King and Mai. She usually needles Mai over her taste in music and clothes—unsuccessfully. With King, it's more like two women making light of each other's culturedness."

"If I have to eat an Englishman's cooking," King grumbled, "I'll be cultured all right—like a yogurt."

"Hmmm…what?" A sleepy-eyed Mai finally appeared at the kitchen's doorway. "Did you two start engaging in the high-class wars again?"

Siobhan looked over her shoulder. "About time our future daimyo showed up…" Her voice trailed off when she noticed Mai's attire—a tank top and shorts. "And with as little fashion sense as usual. Mai, it isn't that warm outside."

"Guess again. I heard the radio forecast. If I heard it right, we've got a halcyon day today."

"Mai, halcyon days are in autumn, not winter. Besides which—"

Siobhan was interrupted by an insistent ringing from elsewhere in the compound. Rose immediately perked up. "It sounds like I've got a call. If you'll excuse me…" She left the kitchen, and reappeared half a minute later. "Dudley, I need you over here, too."

Dudley raised an eyebrow. "I see. I guess you'll be finishing the cooking, after all, Siobhan." He untied the apron and handed it back to her.

King whooped in joy. "I'm saved!"

As Dudley and Rose left the kitchen, Siobhan growled "Fine. Dudley's still cooking dinner."

"What is this about, Rose?" Dudley asked.

"Our caller is a friend of yours and mine—"

"Varrius? He's calling here?"

"Yes, I am, my friend." Dudley swiveled to see the vidscreen displaying a rather damaged Varrius. "I hate to say it, but it's pretty urgent that I call in your favor as well as get Rose's help."

Dudley frowned. "What happened to you, old chap? Someone thrashed you rather well."

"What happened was an Orochi V.I.P. It's imperative that we get all the help we can to stop her and her friends. Let's just say that Gill and I both want them out of the way—how can you save a world that no longer exists?"

"The…the Orochi Alliance?" Rose began to look pale. "But…I thought you said they were planning to attack the tournament—"

"The Daughter of Kingu said that the tournament became superfluous. I don't know about you, but that tells me they found a way to step up their timetable. I've contacted Kagura Chizuru, and she's already rounding up Kusanagi Kyo and Yagami Iori. You're the only other two I can really rely upon for help—as much as I'd like Gill to send in Necro and Twelve, they're kind of busy on other assignments. They'd never reach Marstjällik in time. As it is, there are already two hostages at the shrine. So I ask of you, will you help us?"

Dudley frown became deeper. "Two hostages, you say? I'll be glad to help you rescue them, and maybe teach this 'Orochi Alliance' a few lessons in ethical conduct."

"I will join you also, Varrius. You may have joined an enemy, but I know that your particular purposes are not antagonistic to us at all." A gentle smile formed on Rose's face. "I think we can convince the other fighters here to help as well."

Varrius blinked a few times. "Other fighters?"

"Yes. Shiranui Mai, Andy Bogard, Siobhan Conaghan, and King all came here with Dudley to practice for the coming KOF tournament. They are certain to want to help put the Orochi down again."

"Excellent, excellent!" Glee shone on Varrius's face. "That will bring the warrior count on our side to fifteen! We'll enjoy an almost five-to-one advantage, assuming the tenma are leaving the shrine alone—which they always do. Thank you, thank you!" Varrius could be seen inputting commands into a keyboard. "I've just sent a Wyvern gunship to pick you up. It'll get to your compound in thirty minutes. From there, another thirty minutes to reach Marstjällik. My party will rendezvous with you there. Varrius Cicolini out!"

As the vidscreen winked off, Dudley and Rose looked at each other. "Well, " Rose said, "it looks like our practice session just picked up in importance. We'd better tell the others right away." The two warriors rushed back to the kitchen, where Siobhan was just starting to cook the first set of pancakes.

"Well, you two look tense," King noted. "Was the message that troubling?"

"I'm afraid so. My friends," Rose began, "I have received word that the remaining Heavenly Kings are trying to restore the Orochi entity at Marstjällik, in Sweden."

All four warriors stared at her in silence. Siobhan was the first to break the silence. "Well," she muttered, "I guess that means we're going to be practicing with live targets…"

"I take it that means you've already decided to help?"

"You'd better believe it, Dudley. Not just because I don't pass up opportunities to rescue humanity, but also because I've been waiting for an opportunity to fight a supernatural force like the Alliance."

"Still want to re-enact Shirasu's fight with Ambrosia, hm?" Mai grinned at her friend, but the smile dissolved into seriousness when she turned to Rose and Dudley. "There's no way I'm not going to help put the kibosh on an evil cult. I know I can do this—I've survived Isawa Yasuhiro, for crying out loud! Count me in!"

"That's two," Dudley said. "Anyone else?"

Andy was the next to speak. "I, too, will not let ones as evil as the Orochi Alliance prosper. Besides which, I will not abandon my fellows from the Clan where deadly battle is concerned, especially not my fiancée—"

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!!!" Mai squealed as she leapt out of her chair and embraced Andy—and nearly knocked him over, much to the amusement of Siobhan and King.

Andy managed to loosen Mai's arms enough to avoid risk of suffocation. "As I was saying, I'll go to Marstjällik also. Um, Mai…you can let go now."

"No clan, here, but I've certainly got friends. Besides, I didn't get to have any kind of talk with Goenitz. His fellow lunatics should make for a good replacement." King rested her elbow on Mai's shoulder, the owner of which was still locking Andy in a bear hug. "As you can see, no one is abandoning this job."

Rose smiled, and looked towards where Marstjällik would be. "Very well, then. Our transport has been promised in thirty minutes. All of you who haven't already should change into your fighting outfits. Remember, thirty minutes!"

Siobhan chuckled quietly as Andy, Mai, and King raced off. "I guess it's a good thing I'm already in my outfit. I guess we'll be having breakfast on the transport. Although with more fruit than pancakes."

***** 4:50 p.m., café in Osaka (8:50 a.m. in Sweden) *****

Magatama…who came up with that name, anyway?

Yagami Iori scowled at the tiny wisp of violet flame in his palm. He knew perfectly well that what he hated was not the ability to use fire, but the kind of fire he had to wield. A fire that could potentially bind him, without warning, to the whims of the Orochi entity. Kyo, on the other hand…he could use his powers freely.

And as far as Iori was concerned, he had still done nothing to earn that blessing.

Meanwhile, Iori had suffered, both under his tainted power and his domineering father, to a degree nearly noone could possibly have known. And still, he had not been compensated…

Magatama, indeed…

The arts shared by the Kusanagi and the Yasakani actually never had a proper name. The name "Magatama" had been coined by the early Kusanagi, before Hiroto's Betrayal. Before the Kusanagi even started using the power of fire. At first, the Yasakani used strictly fire arts, the Kusanagi strictly swordsmanship. The Yasakani were unusual among the warrior clans of first millenium Japan in that they refused to rely on any boon other than their arts. They would not even wear magatama beads—the traditional talismans of fortune—except as decoration. The Kusanagi, having a friendly rivalry with the Yasakani then, could get away with joking that the other clan did indeed use magatama—they were just inside the warrior, and made of fire. The nickname stuck, even after the Betrayal.

For Kyo, the arts indeed seemed to be like magatama. For Iori, though, they seemed to be the reverse. Especially the Ya Otome.

Maybe, instead of killing Kyo immediately, I should inflict HIM with the knowledge of the Ya Otome…if there were any way of doing it…but he DESERVES to know what my pain is, dammit! For what we have had to experience, we each deserve the other's fate…

"Iori…?"

Iori did not look up, as was usual for him. "Yes, Chizuru?"

"Iori, we have to leave. For Hallstavik."

Hallstavik? In Sweden? "Why should I?"

"The Orochi may be about to emerge from its prison. Apparently, it will re-enter our world at Marstjällik. We'll be needed to contain it again."

Contain?…That means….I CAN GET SOME REVENGE ON OROCHI! "I'm listening."

"I suppose that's a first for you."

Iori felt a rush of blood and tainted ki as he heard…that voice. He whipped his head around to see…

"Kyo…" Iori bent his hands into claws. "Don't tell me Chizuru thinks you will be of any use here…"

"Iori, Iori, Iori…" Kyo shook his head in dismay. "Can you for once forget about killing me? We've got something important to do, as—"

"I know it's more important than killing you! Orochi's one of the only two things I hate more than you. That's why I'm willing to help Chizuru. Right now, you're of no consequence. So begone!"

"Much as I'd love to leave, Iori, that ain't possible. Remember, if Orochi is going to get the boot, all three of us are necessary—Kusanagi to defeat, Yata to seal, Yasakani to dispel. In other words, if one of us is not there and something gets screwed up, we're going to be Demon Chow, no questions asked. So get in gear and come on!"

"Very well…how long do I have to suffer your presence on the plane?"

"We won't be using a plane," Chizuru said. "I can teleport us straight to Hallstavik. We'll be flying to Marstjällik by gunship from there."

"Good. The less I have to suffer Kyo-kisama's presence, the better."

"So, let's go!" Kyo shouted, and ran along the street. As the others followed, Iori felt a kind of giddiness flow through him…

No mahoutsukai, no mercenaries, no spies…just Orochi and its agents…

…Orochi, this has been twenty-four years in the making. My hate toward you will bring your so-called purity to its knees…

***** Marstjällik, 8:54 a.m. *****

Yashiro was miserable.

No friends, no beautiful scenery, no music.

Nothing but a bleak mountainscape, an even bleaker shrine, and two of his hated superiors, the Son of Moloch and the Daughter of Kingu. The shrine was so holy that only Heavenly Kings could be there willingly. Tenma took off for the elemental planes as soon as they finished their business at the shrine.

Right now, the two Heavenly Kings were deep in prayer to Orochi, asking Him to give them the strength they would need to resummon Him to Earth, and purify it utterly. They were kneeling beside a well on the shrine's lower level, a beige, circular, stone platform surrounded by pillars with no ceiling. At the mountain side of the shrine, two curved stairwells led to the shrine's upper level, where Yashiro was standing, and Ralf was bound. In ceremonies, the upper level was reserved for sacrifices to Orochi.

Yashiro shuddered at the thought of what the zealots infesting his religion had done on that level in the past centuries. There's another good reason for rescuing Orochi early—we won't have to sacrifice the last Kushinada. In fact…noone may have to die…although if those three Hellish Kings die, I won't be too disappointed…

Yashiro looked at Ralf. He was still unconscious, and would probably still be so for quite a while. It looked like the boredom wasn't going to be alleviated for a while.

A swish of air alerted Yashiro to the arrival of the third King. The Son of Kali.

Yashiro's original.

As the air tenma flew to the shrine, Yashiro saw that the Son wasn't the only passenger. Inside, there were two other figures. Yashiro recognized them instantly from the descriptions the Kings had given him. The Onyx Samurai, and Edward Gargrave.

Yashiro laughed to himself. For all their vaunted power, the Kings didn't know everything. They still didn't know who the second high power beside Isawa Yasuhiro in the Seishukuu Tourou was. They didn't know Onyx's real identity. While Yashiro didn't know either, he felt comfort in knowing that his superiors definitely weren't perfect. He watched as the Son of Kali leapt out of the tenma, carrying a set of sheathed daisho. Yashiro's heartbeat quickened as he realized they were the Onyx Samurai's daisho. The tenma then spit out the two unconscious assassins, and immediately teleported back to its origin, the Plane of Air. The Son of Kali looked up, and immediately saw Yashiro.

"Okay, Yashiro, make yourself useful. Take these two mortals and put them into a couple of prison panels, like Ralf. I've got a pair of swords to ready."

Yashiro nodded—he knew from experience that it was fruitless to argue with his original. As he hefted Onyx onto his shoulders and carried him up the stairwell, he saw the other two Kings rise up.

"You have them," the Daughter of Kingu breathed.

"Lord Orochi, we are most grateful for the honor You have seen fit to give us," the Son of Moloch intoned.

The Son of Kali walked up to the well, and held the daisho out before him. By now, Yashiro had put Onyx's back to a prison panel. As they contacted, energy bands sprang to life around Onyx's torso and arms. Yashiro descended again to carry Garlon up. Just before the Australian was taken up, the Son of Kali began his speech, holding the daisho towards the well, hilts first.

"Great Orochi, Lord of All Purity, Rightful Heir of All Realities, behold Your most humble servants. All we ask of You is that You honor our presence by returning to this world in our midst, taking our blood and flesh and binding them to Your will…"

Taking our blood and flesh and…? Yashiro grimaced as he bound Garlon. GREAT choice of words. I wonder if that means Orochi will be reforming you from within…I know I wouldn't complain if that happened to you…

"…behold now the new catalyst for Your return. Accept our aid, that You may bring Your glorious form to this unworthy world, and scour it of all chaos, entropy, and corruption. Let this greatest of Your shrines, the Well of the Pleroma, give us a sign of Your approval or disapproval." With that, the Son of Kali tilted the saya so the daisho fell into the well. As soon as the katana's tip cleared the well's edge, the well flared with a pale blue light, which became a clear geyser that lanced straight to the clouds. The swords became suspended in the beam, and drifted up, stopping when they were about two meters above the lower level of the shrine.

The Heavenly Kings' faces were exultant. "Lord Orochi has given His blessing!" the Daughter of Kingu cried. "He will return when the first wave of His foes comes!"

"All blessings and glory to Orochi!" said the Son of Moloch. "Yea, I shall gladly surrender myself to His purpose, in the name of the one true purity!"

As Yashiro watched, he felt a dreadful forbodeing in his stomach. Lord Orochi…please, I beg You…come, but do not fulfil the rest of these zealots' wishes, even though they have enabled Your return so early…

Do not destroy humanity…

End Part Two.

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