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Chapter 63: The Vanquished
Last Updated:
2023-12-16 21:08:33
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“I tried calling out to the Ayakashi in the hope that she would not be a sore loser and bring me back to the human dimension. No luck. I thought I could shout myself hoarse but she would never come because I had in fact exorcised her from her old haunting ground. Instead of fellow students celebrating me as a hero, I had never felt more isolated in my life. I had a nagging feeling this was the fulfillment of my earlier wish to be swallowed by the earth, to disappear. I certainly hoped it wasn’t some kind of monkey’s-paw deal, or the part of the lore about someone having to take over the Ayakashi’s accursed existence. “It was cold comfort that I now had all the time in the world to study my environment. Like I first observed, it was a pitch-black womb, but it wasn’t an oppressive, crushing darkness like how the Meikai Abyss would’ve felt. It wasn’t the icy darkness of polar night either, which you two have had a taste of. It was simply… nothingness. Like the black neutrality donned b
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“The exact same thing happened. There was a muffled whoosh like that of air exploding, or bits and pieces of me scattering and then I felt another sensation of reverse plopping. My brain must’ve made up the feeling for such an unnatural experience. “I spun around and called out to the kunoichi, hoping this time things would be different and she would hear me. I hounded her like a street casanova but she acted as though she was deaf or I had gone mute. I knew the second hypothesis was false because I could hear my own voice. As much as I hated to admit it, everything pointed to the explanation that I had replaced the Ayakashi and I was now on an altogether different plane from the rest of Wani Academy – perhaps even the rest of Pan-Terra. Terror and panic were gradually winning against my forced positivity. “The kunoichi was knocking on a door with a number above it. It took a while for another female student to answer. The second one looked disheveled like she’d been sleeping in
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“Nevertheless, another part of me felt oddly conflicted about running out of time and everything going back to normal. I wasn’t sure I was ready to give up my extraordinary circumstances just yet. I mean, I hadn’t completely tested the span and limits of my unexpected abilities. Think about it. I was probably the only Slayer in the world who had defeated a ghost and ended up in an in-between realm. Apart from the obvious goal of scientific research, I had plenty other things I wanted to do before I lost my newfound freedom.” “Really?” Aki asked. “What things?” “Well, for one, I had to make a quick trip to the school library.” “The library?” Aki echoed. She admired Sasha’s devotion to study but wondered if it wasn’t a bit much. “Oh,” Sasha said, guessing what the other two were thinking, “it’s not what you think. You remember the numbers the Ayakashi gave me right before she disintegrated? I had figured out what they were. They were book call numbers.” “Call numbers? That can’
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“My invisibility lasted a full week. During that period, I alternated between wearing my Type B uniform and my overly formal battle surcoat, even though no one could see them or appreciate my sense of hygiene. I of course could’ve walked around school butt-naked, but I’ve dreamt enough times of being discovered without clothes on in public that the thought of risking it thoroughly frightened me. I didn’t even know why I bothered because I didn’t sweat and neither of my sets of clothes ever got dirty in The Maw. That was probably heaven-sent now that I think of it because I seriously suspect that, at that age, my sense of hygiene stopped at getting changed regularly and didn’t include doing my own laundry. “I didn’t mind having a vacation. I was glad to be away from the rigors of study. Still, I continued to attend some of my classes. I just found it impossible to do oral participation and always sat in the back because I didn’t want to distract my classmates and call attention back to
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“’Tis a sin tah suffer such a numbskull as ye live,” Captain Fang said, “but it appears we be a perfectly even match. Ye know as well as I do ’tis futile tah resort tah our mother element.” The pirate could barely stand in his exhaustion and was leaning on his sabre. Sasha was also down to his last reserves of energy. He was poised low on the ground, ever ready to strike with his shinobuken held horizontally in front of him, his left hand behind. “Were we in a trainin’ dojo where ye’ve been raised,” the captain said, “no one would claim victory… BUT HITHER IS NOT A DOJO!” Captain Fang thrust his amputated right arm and released the harpoon on the end of it. As a matter of fact, Sasha had earlier grabbed a handful of salt when he tumbled forward across a drying pan. Now he swung his left hand from behind him and flung the salt to the captain’s eyes like a sumo wrestler purifying the ring. Sasha felt a certain amount of pleasure when he heard the captain utter a pained squeal. In a s
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Aki leapt from roof to roof. Her tabi boots touched the tiles lightly before pushing off. She was harnessing Karamijutsu (Body-lightening). Without warning, a tile she was stepping on broke and she slid straight down to the edge of the roof, only managing to grab the gutter in the nick of time. She was dangling there when Yuriko appeared on the incline, just a few feet away, crouching and fanning out a set of throwing knives. Apparently, she had launched a projectile that broke Aki’s foothold. “Fancy a prince tah rescue ye, princess?” “I’m not a princess,” Aki replied through gritted teeth. “I’m a SLAYER princess!” With a back flip, Aki brought herself upside-down with her legs spinning in a wheel kick. Yuriko held her forearms up in an X shape and the casings of her katars blocked the kicks. Aki landed right in front of her. They were soon locked in hand-to-hand combat; something rare for Stork Slayers who emphasized defense over offense, evasion over brute strength. Yuriko projec
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From the strong rocking movements, Aki could tell they were on a small boat. Her captors were using oars. All at once, the bag was pulled from over her head and the wind coating was removed from her mouth. “Get your stinking hands off me or I swear you’ll lose them!” Aki blinked to adjust her eyes. It was still night. Have they arrived in Dragon’s Horn already? “Spoken like a true warrior-princess,” said a familiar voice. Aki couldn’t believe it. She strained her eyes in the dark. “Temujin?” she blurted out. “That’s right. It’s me.” “But I thought…” “I had some help,” he said, gesturing to a second figure behind him. Aki let out a frightened gasp. In the pale moonlight, she could make out the Dark Emperor! “Oh, don’t be alarmed!” Temujin said. “It’s just my master, Koumori-shishou.” To Aki’s great consternation, the Dark Emperor swept back his hood and took off his iron dragon mask. An old man with slanted eyes and a long wispy beard like a mountain goat’s was beaming at her
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In the afternoon, after their cheerless and tasteless brunch, the captain came down to the brig to grace them with his presence. Aki was right, the four most important people on the ship were: Captain Fang, the Dark Emperor, Kosano and Yuriko; in that order. But because they were pirates, it was easy to imagine incessant politicking among the last three. The entire crew was of course curious about the young Slayers who had kicked their butts, but they were under strict orders to stay on their posts and perform their duties. Nevertheless, Aki recognized Zaterra and Ganzorig; the first was endlessly cutting his nails with a dagger. Temujin also noticed his cork backpack slung on Zaterra’s shoulder. “Hey, that’s mine!” Temujin shouted, gripping the dragon-bone bars of his cage. “Finders keepers,” Zaterra replied and stuck out his tongue. “Give it back to him!” Aki demanded. “Be yer companions knowin’ yer secrets in this here bag?” asked Kosano. Temujin fell quiet. “Cat got yer ton
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They were held in separate cells down the ship’s brig. Aki’s and Sasha’s were adjoining while Temujin’s was across from theirs. Each cell had an additional feature. For instance, Aki’s had a water barometer to monitor the slightest change in atmospheric pressure if she attempted to form winds inside the ship. Sasha’s had a quicksilver thermometer to keep the room temperature in check. Last, apart from confiscating his flint and steel, the pirates put Temujin in a cell with the fire-proof bones of a red dragon for bars. In case the prisoners showed any signs of defiance by using their powers, the pirates also had a weird-looking contraption like an electrically charged spear. Sasha figured it was a weaponized version of the Leyden jar. If it touched their prisons (the conductor), it would discharge tens of thousands of volts. This last piece of technology suggested a link between the pirates and Tamerlane’s research on the fifth element, but all of them pointed to the fact that the cap
