Chapter 58: The One the Spirits Call

  Chiaki slid her sword back into its sheath. She wouldn’t say the demon was done, but the assault would end it in time. Even now the berry bushes were still burrowing through her, their roots seeking out the soft dirt beneath her feet. The shoots that speared her grew as well, branches breaching and growing, leaves unfurling. It wasn’t quite a flower arrangement, but that was what she was aiming for—an arrangement of torturous death. The Grass House would finish this demon off, giving her a chance to assess everything that had changed.

  “Hoka?” She called out. No one answered back.

  She wished that it surprised her, but there were people at the center. That meant something happened to the girl. Osheandre’s reiki didn’t flow through the domain, so L’vay hadn’t hurt her… but, that didn’t mean the faerie did no wrong. Could she assume her side still had the advantage, or had the tables turned?

  Chiaki looked toward where the wolf rested, then at the paralyzed demon, staring with teary eyes at Yuzuko. This demon’s skin said she was fully transformed, and yet she was incapacitated, no more able to fight than her defeated leader. Had the wolf done this? If so, how? Who was she? Was she alone, or was she an ally of the dragon boy?

  “So many questions,” Chiaki murmured to herself.

  Her eyes went to the liquid tree next. Syd could tell her a lot about it, but, from how Yuzuko attacked, she knew it had something to do with energy. It was probably why malevolent spirits had cropped up too. Could she destroy it, or was there a failsafe in place?

  “Do I have time to look for Syd… No, the travel spirit's magic will fade before then.” She drew her sword again, feeling the echoes of reiki from too many spirits reaching out to her, offering an alternate answer.

  Many of them could resolve it without putting another person in harm, but the domain was already vulnerable. Between Yokumori, the malevolent spirits, and whatever the sect was doing, any bit of reiki she channeled would act against its recovery. So, was her only option to destroy it herself?

  She chuckled. If it killed her, she'd regret not saying goodbye to Syd and Hoka.

  Despite that regret, she progressed, ready to put all her power behind her slash. She stopped then, as her senses flared, warning her of a great whirl of reiki behind her.

  She turned fast, prepared to push back another spirit. Instead, she found it whirling around Yuzuko, a glowing vortex of pollen, darkening as it poured down the funnel. She did not waste a second, calling on the domain's power, dropping seeds into her hand. She threw them like wrathful knives and they turned quickly into shoots, stabbing through whatever lurked on the other side.

  Or so she thought until they splintered and were tossed away. The whirl stopped and as pollen fell, she saw that blue-skinned demon standing next to her own corpse.

  “How!” The word came sharply as if it were an offense itself.

  Where Yuzuko had been scantily dressed before, crystals covered her now, lying close together like scales. She looked at her other body, now no more than empty flesh, and shook away whatever horror came from the sight.

  “You can resurrect a demon by amplifying magyeon, right?” Yuzuko answered. “And my magyeon was all I had left. You..!” Her voice broke as the word came like an accusation. “You desecrated my body, making me no different than the dirt. Without remorse. Without hesitation. You inflicted something that you'd never inflict on a mortal. You wouldn't even dream of it!”

  “Are you really going to act indignant like you didn't bring this upon yourself? Was I supposed to offer mercy after your invasion?”

  “You are the exact reason humans should not rule this world. No mortal should! Nothing that so disrespects the nature of living energy!”

  Chiaki sneered, “Do you hear your hypocrisy? Or is this only reserved for demons?”

  “Spirits will come and go, but each demon has a name, a life!”

  A thousand spirits called out in objection, their reiki ringing like bells in Chiaki’s ears. Each wanted to prove this demon wrong and she almost wanted to let them. But she had to stay firm. While Yuzuko would never understand, Spirits were alive like forests, and coral—an ecosystem that shouldn’t be disturbed. Chiaki would preserve that ecosystem, and defeat her with the Grass House’s power, again and again until resurrection was a nightmare.

  She drew deeper from that power and it transformed her, turning her dark hair green and growing a wreath around it. Grapevines weaved around her arms, and apples grew around her waist. With this power she could feel the reiki in every seed, awaiting her will to grow into something new and fierce.

  “All that power just to depend on the same tricks?” Yuzuko glared at her.

  Chiaki sheathed her sword as a sugarcane stalk grew in front of her. She offered a prayer of thanks, and broke it free. Testing its weight, she decided it would do. She held it like a sword, and moved.

  Yuzuko was no faster than she was before. As Chiaki crossed the gap, the demon’s eyes widened, still too slow to watch her move. The sugarcane came around with a thunderous whack, smashing hard into her side, splintering as it bounced off.

  The demon’s right arm fell, water sliding down it to form a liquid whip.

  Chiaki sidestepped and batted grapes at her, smearing Yuzuko’s arms, vines growing to bind them behind her back. She struck hard three quick times next, the sugarcane coming back stronger each time it broke. But only ever strong enough to make the demon move.

  “You’re not going to break them!” The crystals grew and tore the vines. Yuzuko spun into a slicing vortex.

  Chiaki grew the sugarcane to vault back, and the vortex sprayed out as the demon came to a snapping stop. Droplets splashed upon her but Chiaki still raced back in.

  Yuzuko pointed, and smiled from ear to ear. “Converge.”

  All the droplets came now, trapping Chiaki in a ball.

  “That wolf would tell you I feel the energy on my skin, but with these crystals I always feel it.” Yuzuko strode forward and touched the ball's surface.

  Chiaki didn’t know what was coming, but she grew the sugarcane to push herself free.

  Far too late.

  Before she could escape she was struck by lightning, her skin burning as she broke free. She crashed down to a knee, and Yuzuko split the water, riding in after her. Stalks shot up into the demon, catching her under the chin, arms, driving into her side. These were harder but they still didn’t break the crystals. They tossed the demon high though, letting Chiaki tremble to her feet.

  She swung and a fungal garden sprouted where Yuzuko fell. The demon rose with water whips tearing her free, her eyes hot as grace fell to savagery.

  “That won't break them either!” She roared as water cascaded down her body.

  “I wasn't aiming for your scales,” Chiaki replied, and was shocked to find that her voice was hoarse.

  The cascade whipped around like six lashing tentacles and broke into droplets as Yuzuko let out a strangled shriek. She stumbled back, holding her throat, seized by violent coughs until she coughed up blood. Her eyes burned even hotter as she glared at Chiaki.

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  For her part, the spirit guard hardened the sugarcane again and redoubled her assault, descending into a barrage from which the demon couldn't escape. The attacks still glanced off her, but the fungal garden growing inside her kept her in place. Chiaki didn't stop, however, each failed strike making the sugarcane regrow, each regrowth making it stronger than steel. Five times stronger, ten, fifteen? Past twenty she lost count, but despite Yuzuko’s violent hacking, it was never enough.

  Suddenly, scales encased the demon and brightened with a blinding flash. The smell of burnt flesh clogged Chiaki’s nose making her skip several paces back. She stayed on guard as she tried to fight the scent. Yuzuko's cocoon began to crack, then fell away from charred flesh on the mend. If her nose hadn't confirmed it, her eyes definitely would have. Yuzuko had burned herself down to the core, flash igniting the colony within her.

  The ruthlessness gave the spirit guard chills, making her waver for the first time as she readied the sugarcane again. A demon able to resurrect itself, willing to be its own undoing just to win a fight? This wasn't a battle, it was the desperate struggle between hunter and beast and as attrition took its toll, she could feel the roles reversing.

  But Yuzuko began to sway, so it was time to end that thought.

  From the sway came a fast and strong twirl, washing water in a crescent from her right. Chiaki bounced over it, a mushroom throwing her into a backwards flip. She needed to get close again but that water spun into a wave and crashed down. She dodged that, but not what splashed on her, acting as a magnet as Yuzuko made her point.

  “Converge,” she called and the ball reformed.

  Yuzuko surfed in and Chiaki shook her arms, growing out grapevines that pried her free. As Yuzuko made contact she pulled the water back and swirled it in blades around her arms. She danced after Chiaki, swinging them, shredding through the sugarcane’s skin each time the spirit guard parried. It left the weapon a half gnarled mess, forcing her to discard it before it became a liability.

  Wrapping vines around her arms instead, she brought those up to block, deflecting and driving blows aside, making their dance more frantic. It was then that mushrooms grew over the vines and blasted spores as Yuzuko shredded them. A glint flashed through Chiaki's eyes as panic filled the demon's. Before spores could rest, Yuzuko forced crystals through her neck, sending them up in smoke with lightning spewing out her mouth.

  For a moment, her body stopped.

  In the next she was after Chiaki again, charred flesh healing, spinning blades turning into sharp whips. They bit harder than the blades did, tearing out starbursts of vines to wound the flesh beneath. With gritted teeth Chiaki had to dodge instead, and that put her at the mercy of the demon's pace.

  Yuzuko danced, all arms, hips, and legs, whipping out and whirling waves around. Spins were slicing funnels that stopped and became spearing jets. Droplets Chiaki thought she could ignore bounced up and became knives, coming at her as Yuzuko made a performance all her own. Worst was that it wasn't enough to avoid their fine razor cut, she had to avoid their splash as well.

  Chiaki was down to her final moments, final breaths as she tried to catch them. So, with one of Yuzuko’s lashes she split an apple from her waist, using vines to flick its seeds. She ducked fast as trees burst into existence, hitting Yuzuko like an explosive battering ram. Splitting another fruit she tossed the seeds through the air, raining several trees down. The crystal scales could do nothing to stop that. If the shards at Chiaki's feet didn't say so, then the blood pooling under the trees would.

  Good, but that attack did not come without a toll. Chiaki was so exhausted she could feel the fingers of possession trying to take hold. Her breath came slow, her chest was heavy, she bled from myriad wounds and didn't quite feel like she could lift her arms. When was the last time she had a fight this hard? Would she survive long enough to see another, or would the Grass House take her right as Yuzuko was born again?

  Well, she could at least say no to the last one.

  Reiki swirled atop the pile of trees, once more giving the demon flesh. Except her right arm, that stopped short of fully forming. She noticed it and made it regrow, but that error gave Chiaki an epiphany. The demon had been transmuting reiki into Magyeon, but now it was clear that she couldn't tell that different reiki flowed through this domain. Yokumori, the Flesh Merchant, the malevolent spirits that attacked already. All of their reiki was at the core and Yuzuko’s process couldn't transmute them at the same rate. She would always be able to resurrect, but through doing so she was distilling the spiritual energy, returning things to how they should be.

  Which meant Chiaki could win.

  All she’d need was her sword, which she withdrew now, and the apple she now split with her other hand. As the seeds fell into her palms she met Yuzuko’s eyes. Unlike her, the demon seemed little worse for wear. This fight could go on for several more days and she’d never show any signs of fatigue. Chiaki supposed that explained how demons had ruled for so long. Before Jade Wardens learned to sap their power, what could any mortal do against this? Despite even her own showing, the answer eluded her, but she’d at least show herself how mortals had survived.

  Bracing herself with a breath, she charged, watching as Yuzuko danced her ribbons back, speeding up as she leaped from the trees to meet the charge. Chiaki’s sword came down with a clink and a quake as it bounced off of Yuzuko’s scales. The demon danced, lancing ribbons at her, quick footwork keeping her a step ahead. Her sword still moved all the while, dragging against the scales, searching for the chink between them.

  Yuzuko spun into a vortex that forced her back then cast the water down and surfed after.

  A wave rose above the demon and crashed hard into the ground. It was aimed at Chiaki but she skated aside fast, running up on Yuzuko and slashing at her side. It still did no damage, it still did nothing to stop a tail of water from whipping around. Chiaki ducked beneath it and slashed for her shin, failing even harder to stop her, but wrapping grapevines around her leg.

  Chiaki snapped up and tugged, toppling the demon backwards. Yuzuko swirled into the fall and lashed at Chiaki’s eyes, the liquid coming so close they made them water. Still, she hit the ground and the spirit guard struck, swinging for the joints, finding them just as protected.

  Yuzuko pushed herself up, water flowing with her. She lashed and lashed and Chiaki danced back, snatching up berries with her grapevines, smearing them down her blade again. She slashed and sprayed the jam, aiming for the eyes herself. Yuzuko washed it from the air and kept going, her whips splashing up droplets around them.

  “Did you really think I’d let you have my eyes!” The demon danced the droplets into flying blades.

  “No,” Chiaki answered and rushed forward, catching her blade between Yuzuko’s teeth.

  The demon tried to pull back but it was already too late—a vine snaked forward dropping an apple seed down her throat. All it took was reiki now and Chiaki didn’t hesitate, sparking the seed as it left her range. This would be it! It’d explode her from the inside and the next resurrection would be the end!

  Or… it should have been it…

  But Yuzuko’s arms flowed up, trapping them both in a wave. The demon flowed out of it, but as Chiaki’s vines shot for the ground, the wave crystallized at its base.

  “Enough,” Yuzuko’s voice came muffled. “We’re done with this fight now.” Her hands went forward, palms out, touching the trap.

  Electricity was coming and there was nothing Chiaki could do. A thousand spirits begged her to let them help, but she could feel the change this time, her mind slowing and noting the way the energy became volatile. She almost closed her eyes; almost accepted her fate, when they caught someone passing through the pile of trees. They must have widened because Yuzuko turned fast…but not fast enough as claws swung around, slicing through her, making the wave drop.

  The claws kept coming as the wolf girl slashed and slashed, drawing no blood but piercing the scales all the same. No fluid movement could save her—the droplets barely forming.

  “Moonlight Surgery,” the wolf said with the same energy of a spell.

  Sure enough it must have been, for whatever she was doing was finally done—Yuzuko dropping to the ground, no more able to rise than she was to resurrect. Had it truly ended now? Had this myrin always been the key to taking the demon down?

  “Thank you,” her voice came humble, gentle, like she hadn’t just performed magic savagery. “For healing me and taking over the fight. I had no chance before.”

  Yuzuko clawed at the dirt, her blue skin fading to a human color, her cheeks wet with tears as she lay there. Chiaki looked at the wolf again, then chuckled to herself. How they had won didn’t matter, the final battle was finally over.

  Or…it should have been…

  As if a hole was cut in the air a rift opened and a man emerged. He knelt beside Yuzuko, his hair long and black, his skin a night-sky blue, his body covered in white leather so form fitting it could be skin itself. Something like a tattered banner draped over his shoulders and turned to smoke, coiling around him to become solid pants. Was this another demon? No, even if her instincts hadn’t said something, all the spirits were saying that this was different. The wolf’s eyes were saying the same.

  “Do not weep, Yoshiki Yuzuko. Demons have fallen before, even during the Serpent Dynasty. That was when their allies came in to take up the fight.” This stranger picked her up in his arms and walked her to the rift.

  “Rocwen,” Yuzuko said weakly. “How…? No… Save the others first.”

  “Truly noble. The Yoshiki Sect has inherited the dynasty’s will.” He placed her on the other side. “Don’t worry, I’ll save as many allies as I can, and leave no survivors behind.” Someone or something must have taken the demon from him. Chiaki knew she shouldn’t allow it, but her body couldn’t quite move.

  The rift closed and this Rocwen ran a hand through his hair. Finally he looked at her and the wolf properly, and she saw a visor with four golden eyes.

  “Daughter of the Spirit Princess. Child of Myri. I applaud you for surviving this long. The people of this era are certainly stronger than the ones I knew. However,” glitter…no, some sort of dust began foaming out of his hands, “Astral Edge.” Two blades filled them, the color of stained glass. “This era is off its course. Today I'll correct it...”

  [Chapter 58 ends…]