章 9: Chapter 9
After they'd appropriated their weapons from some unlucky Samurai, The group now approached the area where the shrine had been said to be located. They travelled on horseback for quickness, and as such had arrived at the Shrine's location in almost record time… though, when they arrived it soon became apparent to them that there wasn't much to find regarding Kira's true nature, only a bunch of straw bundles standing up like an indian camp home.
Not wanting to go in as one big mass though, Oishi quickly ordered them to scatter around the place to see what they could find pertaining to this suspicious mystery surrounding Kira. Just from what they'd heard alone, his nature seemed way too suspicious, and the two foreigners hoped to GODS that this wasn't as bad as they had feared it was going to be.
Whilst they trotted around the place, the group looked left and right as Shiro, Jinako, and Ushi kept on looking around for any clues. However, with the lack of progress came the growing frustration and, as such, frustration wasn't something Shiro had found himself able to handle very much. Eventually, it boiled over as he scratched the side of his head with his teeth gnashed. "Ugh, this is pointless. How can we find something if we can't even see it?" he questioned, hearing Rashomon growling in agreement within the back of his head.
Turning her head to him, Jinako smiled weakly at him in an attempt to calm him down. "You've got to be patient Shiro, it's what all people have." she told him. She had known from experience that the guy was a simple man, and thus he didn't do too well when things got overly complicated. He just didn't know why things had to be that way all the time, which was why when things become that way, it would irk him. This didn't mean he was an idiot though, proven by how he passed through the puzzles of her Mind back then, but he preferred the simple things.
Proof of this came when his eyes showed her that her words didn't have the desired effect, if anything it combined with their lack of progress made Shiro's agitation worse. "And it's taking too damn long, how are we even sure the rumors are true?" he questioned, scowling.
This time, Oishi glanced back at him as he proceeded to reply. Although he couldn't really scold the white haired male for his words since those feelings had been welling up inside himself for a while now. It was only through the white haired foreigner that he had been able to vent some of them. "Some are, some aren't Shiro, we can't be certain unless we find it."
"I have half of mind to burn this down-whoa!"
When the boy made to reply, a startled sound escaped his lips which got mixed with a similarly sounding neigh from his mount, the two of them nearly falling over had they not gotten their balance back at the last second. Something which quickly drew the others attention as they regrouped with him. "What is it Shiro?" Jinako questioned worriedly.
"Nothing just some damn rock Blackjack almost tripped on-?!" Shiro began to reply, when he noticed something. When Blackjack kicked a rock away with one of its hooves, Shiro found himself surprised when he had seen it to be quite... long.
"What did you find?"
Whilst he heard Oishi's question, Shiro didn't answer as he dropped from Blackjack's saddle, then proceeded to dig through the dirt with his hands. Pretty soon, he had dug enough to unveil the rock's true identity, and true to his thoughts, it wasn't a rock at all, but a bone. A HUMAN bone at that.
Seeing this, the girls and Oishi grew just as surprised as the boy, before they jumped off their respective mounts joining him on digging. After a while, the group wound up finding various parts of the skeleton, including the body, legs, arms, torso, and head.
Picking the head up within her two hands, Ushi brought the skeleton head close to her before she said. "Huh, this is a peculiar skull..." she muttered.
Her words brought a confused frown out of Oishi as he tilted his head in confusion, a matching frown on his lips. "What do you mean Ushi?" he questioned.
She turned the skull around to show them as they had their breath hitched when they saw it. It was the brand, the brand of sacrifice that Shiro has on his neck. None of the Japanese natives had known it's significance, but Shiro and Jinako did, they did OH so well with the latter whispering their thoughts out loud. "So it's true he really did turn into... an Apos-"
"AAAHHHH A GIANT CENTEPIEDE YOKAIS!"
However, none of them were prepared for such a loud shout to come their way from one of the Ronin, prompting them all to collectively gasp as they turned a full 180 degrees behind them. There, each of them saw something which would haunt them for the rest of their lives… if they even survived this night, that is. There, looming over them like a living breathing phantom, looked to only be a Centipede-like creature, it's size being pretty GARGANTUAN in scale. Looked like it could wrap around tall buildings with ease, but not only that but it also had a humanoid face shaped like that of a woman in the centre of it's head. The entire thing had a black carapace over it's long body, whilst the centipede head which had been below the humanoid face, had four glowing eyes, long antennae and a large mouth filled to the brim with razor sharp teeth.
Needless to say, the Ronin that had seen it had understandably flipped his lid, alerting the rest of them.
'Yeah…!' Shiro thought as he ignored the burning pain which got spawned by his now bleeding Brand, favoring gripping his Kurogane in a ready position whilst he had quickly made Blackjack flee from the scene so it didn't get caught in the crossfire. Inside his mind, Rashomon growled in anger and bloodlust as he made the following mental declaration. 'This definitely looks like a freaking Apostle…!'
No sooner had he thought this, the beast lunged forth at them, screeching a screech which would have shredded through everyone's eardrums had they not covered their ears. Although this soon proved itself to be a bad idea still, since this distracted them from running which resulted in multiple Ronin (including their horses) being bitten through and dragged underground with the beast. Nobody needed to know what had happened to them with the bloodstains and the shredded body parts that the beast left in its wake being a perfect indication.
One of the surviving horse-mounted Ronin cursed up a storm as he, along with the rest, tried to rein in their rides (save for Shiro whose Blackjack remained as calm as ever). "S-Shit! It got some of us!" he bellowed
"All of you, escape from here! We still need to avenge our master!"
"YES, MY LORD!"
Upon Oishi declaring this, each of the surviving Ronin quickly began fleeing in the opposite direction that the beast had come from, all the while it howled and screeched as it constantly resurfaced and surfaced all over the place like it were knitting the ground together. Its many legs scraped through both air and dirt, each one looking more like long blades instead of insectoid limbs as it cut and tore at everything that came before it using them alongside it's Mandibles.
At this point, the whole place had become one big war zone, with the whole place becoming covered in fog which limited the various Ronin's vision as they desperately tried to flee from the 'Yokai' as they only knew it as, which could only be considered understandable since they A, didn't have the same knowledge as Shiro and Jinako, as well as B, they had knowledge of the ōmukade, a giant centipede from their native land's mythology. In that myth, this beast had been said to have been large enough to wrap itself around entire mountains, its body impenetrable to most attacks. Hence, why even those who had swords didn't believe they could take on such a beast.
Still, after it surfaced once more, catching a Ronin with one of his antennae that it used like a Tendril, the giant Centipede held the Ronin before it's humanoid female face, which gave a sick smile of sadistic pleasure as it swung it's Mandibles, slicing the Ronin in half before using it's spare antennae to grab onto the lower half. It then proceeded to shove both halves into it's centipede mouth, chowing down with gleeful delight on it's humanoid face which also moaned in almost sexual pleasure.
Afterwards, it looked down at the retreating Ronin and noticed the ones in the front being Jinako, Oishi and Ushi. A sickening giggle escaped the female face as the whole thing lunged down towards them, intending to take a bite out of the trio at the same time so that the rest would become disorganized and chaotic, making them easy pickings for the creature. However, whilst it got halfway across the necessary distance between it and them…
"Got you, bitch!"
"?!"
A loud gasp escaped the female face belonging to the monster, as Shiro suddenly fell down from above with the Threads of Rashomon retreating into his back, a sign as to how he had gotten up there in the first place. With a roar, he had slammed into the monster with the intent to stab into it's female face with his Kurogane, though the beast managed to shift it's head to where the Spear only BARELY pierced through its shell at the last second.
'Shit! This fucker's got good reflexes…!'
The boy thought this and, through summoning Rashomon from his left hand in it's claw form, shot it to the ground beside the retreating Ronin to push it away from them, resulting in it crashing into the ground instead of it's intended target.
Glancing behind her, Jinako noticed this and quickly yelled out for her comrade. "Shiro!"
She would have turned around to go assist him, however his words that he yelled out seconds later halted those intentions in their tracks. "Go! I'll handle this bitch!" After he yelled this, Shiro flipped off the monster's form whilst avoiding the lunge attempts of it's multiple antennae, slashing at it's Mandibles whilst he fell with Kurogane before landing on the ground, sliding to a halt. Rashomon also retracted into him once more, though it resurfaced in it's multiple Threads form in readiness to aid it's master.
"...Alright! You just survive this, you hear me?!"
"...Heh…" Shiro just HAD to smirk under his hat at those words as Jinako shouted at him as she continued helping the Ronin get to safety. His eyes glimmered with bloodlust which gradually took hold, replacing his earlier shock as he gripped Kurogane intently, his lips curving into a grin matching that of a shark whilst Rashomon growled in bloodlust once again. "Who does she think she's talking to? Surviving is pretty much a special skill of mine by now...:"
Back with the retreating Ronin, Jinako and Ushi rode on opposite sides of Oishi, the former having ridden atop one of the horses that had lost it's rider in the initial attack since Blackjack had been said to only listen to Shiro, his one true master. It had been a rather… enlightening experience, riding a horse like this, but one which she welcomed nonetheless since she could use the experience for future happenings.
Whilst they rode for their lives and those of their fellow warriors, Ushi looked on over towards Jinako with slightly narrowed eyes. "Jinako!" she yelled out.
"What?!" Jinako yelled back as the group got their cohesion back under control, though with that ambush they only had under 5 armed men left.
After a couple seconds, Ushi yelled out the following question. "You know what that thing was, don't you?!" Though, it sounded more like a statement than anything else.
"Is this REALLY the time for interrogations?!"
"You and Shiro, I noticed that you two were the most composed when we were talking about the rumours earlier! Then with how Shiro handled that beast before! You two know something, don't you?!"
Oishi, having suspected something like this from the moment he had heard Shiro's words when he'd offered his gratitude, resorted to solving this debate between the girls with his own interjection. "We can talk later! Focus on escaping right now!"
"YES, MY LORD-UGH, SCATTER!"
Just as Ushi declared that. She sensed some killing intent and the source rapidly closing in on their position, prompting her to quickly alert the rest of the Ronin. This command came just in time, for just after the group split into two lines with Jinako and Oishi leading one whilst Ushi led the other, a SECOND creature came down from above and smashed into the spot they would have ridden in otherwise.
"?!"
"ANOTHER ONE?!"
"A SECOND BEAST! LOOKS LIKE THE FIRST ONE!"
Oishi declared this after the group reformed, then looked at the full appearance of the monster that was attacking them. Like the last one, it looked like an extremely large Centipede, it's width being 4 meters wide whilst looking completely armored, with it's upper armor being dark blue and the lower armor being light blue. It also possessed a humanoid face, this one being more masculine, as well as seemed to be contained inside the mouth of another head.
Looking at it herself, Jinako used her senses and identified the Demonic Power which ran through the beast, which made her curse under her breath. 'Great! ANOTHER Apostle! Why didn't Vishnu tell us about this?! Did he not know there was a second one, or was this one made with a Beherit more recently?!' the girl wondered, instead of freaking out and wasting precious energy. Plus, without Shiro's help, it would seem like it fell upon her to help the others get out of this alive, heck she could still hear the sounds of Shiro battling the other Centipede in the distance. "Crap! Looks like we aren't getting away without a repelling operation!" She called out to the other Ronin. "You guys, follow my lead and we'll be able to escape this!"
"Are you sure?!" one of the Ronin yelled back as the beast chasing them once again tried lunging at them, only for Jinako to pull out one of her Axes and throw it like a boomerang towards one of its eyes. It successfully cut through one of them, leaving the beast to howl as it crashed to the side of its intended target, the Axe returning to it's master's hand.
"Does that answer your question?!"
The Ronin nodded his head, mentally sighing in relief even as the beast got back up, a wound over it's eye that would likely scar, before it screeched and chased on after the two.
'Hmmm, looks like this fucker will be more problematic than I thought…'
Back with Shiro, he dodged a Tail stab from the absurdly long Centipede before him by flipping backwards, then jumped up onto the creature's body. He then ran along it whilst switching out his Kurogane for his Nightingale, repeatedly shooting at the creature's face whilst peppering the legs with his Rashomon Threads without mercy, The sweet smell of sliced legs filled his nostrils thanks to all the damage that he had been doing, prompting him to smirk in some form of self-satisfaction whilst he ran.
'Not only is this Carapace super hard to damage unless I apply my Rashomon into play, but it also appears that it has high speed regeneration, too. I COULD use the Brahamastra to blow this thing to kingdom come, but that must only be used as a last resort due to the damage it'll pose… plus, i'm not sure if the others will have escaped the blast radius in time either…' Shiro thought whilst he ran, flipping, twisting and spinning along the long body when it twisted itself around like a spiralling sausage to try and knock him off. Not only that, but his use of Rashomon allowed him to slice through the legs he approached so that they wouldn't be able to cut into him.
Though, thanks to the beast's body being so absurdly long, Shiro felt like he was hardly getting anywhere even as he jumped across various body parts to the beast's face.
Something which the beast had anticipated as it moved itself out of Shiro's movement path instead of lunging forwards, much to his surprise before Shiro grunted when he felt it slam into his side with enough force to rival a car crashing into someone, resulting in him being sent crashing into the ground below…
Though, not before the beast's eyes widened when it felt various gashes form across it's centipede head.
'Guess I'll… have to rely on Rashomon… for the time being…' the boy thought as he got back up to his feet, gripping his Nightingale tightly whilst he looked up, Rashomon retreating into his Coat before coming back out as its large beast head form. It growled and hissed angrily at the enemy, it's lightning bolt-shaped eyes glowing with sinister intent before it opened it's maw to show off its many sharp fangs, prompting the massive Centipede to hiss back.
To respond to this, Shiro felt Rashomon's urging desire to rip into this enemy so he let it, snarling as the beast lunged towards him with the intent of finishing him off at long last. An intent mirrored by him as Rashomon lunged forwards too, a fierce roar escaping it's maw as it opened said maw wide for a chomp. However, just as the two made to strike one another the Centipede quickly shifted it's position like some form of strafing move, allowing it to wrap around Rashomon's Tendril like form whilst using it's many legs (ones which Shiro hadn't destroyed yet, which was still many), before lunging down with the centipede head intending to bite off that of Rashomon.
'Not today!'
However, it forgot about Shiro, who applied his Mana Burst to his Arrow and pumped it chock full of energy, way more than usual which both intensified and enlarged the flaming arrow. As such, when he launched it, the Arrow flew more like a beam up towards its target, the ground around Shiro cracking as it formed a crater from the force of the release alone. Unfortunately, the large Centipede managed to avoid a direct hit to it's face… though on the plus side, the attack still got one of it's Mandibles by severing it from the Centipede head it had.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
A loud screech, one filled with raw fury mixed with searing pain, escaped it's maw as it glared down at Shiro, the one responsible for severing its Mandible from it to which the boy simply smirked in a rather insane manner, making him look less like a human and more like something warped by its own insanity whilst being trapped in an insane asylum. "Yeah, you're mad, aren't you, you piece of shit filth?" Shiro muttered, his smirk widening into a full blown grin (think the Guts smile from Berserk) whilst he pointed up towards it with his free hand. "Like that? A simple human, a mere MORTAL, managed to wound your oh so mighty self, ya damn Apostle! Looks like humans CAN indeed hurt you if they have the desire to, so how'd ya like that!"
Seeing it's chance, Rashomon growled as it lunged forwards and bit down into the Centipede's carapace, it's strong and powerful jaws quickly devouring the material in its grasp which forced the Centipede to screech in pain and anguish as it quickly released the Sacred Gear in an attempt to get away from it's reach. Although it refused to let that happen as Rashimon quickly gave chase with the intent to rip through that hole in it's side entirely.
SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP!
The sounds of its jaws snapping in an attempt to bite into the Centipede again filled the air as Rashomon hunted down the massive beast's body, mainly going for the space where it had bitten previously… before Shiro mentally sent an order to it which made the black best glance down towards the other parts of the Centipede's body. As such, what could only be described as a grin fitting only for someone who had dove down into the depths of psychotic madness crept across its face (Shiro honestly didn't realize it COULD grin like that, if at all… even he felt a bit anxious looking at his own weapon's grin), before it lunged down and bit into another portion of the Centipede's body, legs and all.
As it felt this, the Centipede howled once again, lunging down towards Rashomon with the intent of biting into it whilst it tried to break free of it's hold, only barely managing to when the black creature willingly let go so it could jam itself into the side of it's centipede head. A loud growl escaped it's lips as, with a strong jerk, Rashomon ripped off a portion of the Centipede's face, causing it to howl out…
Until another arrow, similar to the last one, pierced through the entire head section, blowing apart pretty much everything underneath the creature's humanoid face.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Honestly, Shiro couldn't help but chuckle in amusement every time he and Rashomon tore away at this thing, since this feeling represented the first time he ever TRULY got the chance to fight an Apostle… and potentially WIN the confrontation. All his other times fighting had been against the spirits drawn by his Brand, not to mention that he hadn't fought the TRUE Apostle which had been responsible for Jinako's mother's death yet, that one would be reserved for her daughter so she could get some closure. Thus, seeing that he could finally, FINALLY become these things worst nightmare like they had been to him during the Eclipse… yeah, he felt REALLY good right about now.
With the way things were going, Shiro felt that if he got at least one more shot in, he would have been able to defeat his first Apostle since the Eclipse…
But then, after ripping away and thwacking his Rashomon, the Centipede howled as it dove to the ground, burrowing itself inside.
'WHAT?! OH, FUCK THAT!'
Shiro internally raged when he saw this since he knew that the beast was trying to get away. Quickly, he began peppering it's form with energy arrows supplied with ample power from his Mana Burst skill, adding on Rashomon's various attempts to grab onto it to stop it from leaving only for the beast to spiral itself out of the way each time. As a result, The beast completely burrowed into the ground and escaped the area, leaving behind only a single hole where it had escaped into.
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'... FUCK! SHIT, DAMMIT MY PREY GOT AWAY FROM ME!' Shiro raged internally as he retracted an equally furious Rashomon into him. His Sacred Gear felt just as unsatisfied as he did, he could feel it furiously grumbling within the back of his mind as Shiro gritted his teeth, putting his Bow back into his coat as he walked on over to the hole. Kneeling before it, the boy looked down to see how deep it went… and he couldn't even see the bottom. 'Looks like I won't be able to go after it from here, either. Not with Rashomon nor with the amount of power I have left… SHIT!' Out of fury, Shiro punched the ground beside him hard enough to dent it and make a small crater.
A few seconds later, he raised his hand whilst standing upright, forcing himself to calm down by doing some breathing exercises. A few moments later, he found himself back into a semi-reasonable state of mind, allowing him to think rationally. 'Alright, as much as I want to go after this fucker… it would be best to regroup with Jinako and the Ronin. Perhaps we may have to inform them exactly what we're dealing with, too just so we're all on the same page.' he thought, internally regretting not informing everyone sooner. If they had, perhaps this could have been avoided, this trap…
Yeah, he had figured this to be a trap laid out by Kira as soon as the battle had started, since it only made sense that way. Kira would have been the one who had benefited the most, and if the rumours were true then he had likely been one of the Apostles which had attacked them. This was something which Shiro believed, but it wasn't like he had any concrete proof, though that would change once he and Kira finally met for the first time since Rashomon would eventually start raging in his mind in bloodlust and desire for a rematch.
To that end, Shiro once again summoned his Blackjack to his side. Once the horse had came trotting over to him like nothing had happened, a temperment which many divine horses seemed to have shared according to Karna, Shiro quickly flipped himself onto Blackjack's saddle. With that done, the silver haired male lightly kicked his horse whilst snapping the reins, thus he began riding off towards the direction Jinako and the others had run off to. Since he had been able to get the Centipede away from them, Shiro had anticipated that the others would be recovering their strength in preparation for their next move...
...Turned out, he was wrong.
A while later, Shiro arrived to where his companions had been located thanks to his sensing of Jinako's energy… though, what he did NOT expect to see was how the area now looked more like a cataclysmic disaster.
Across the ground, lay a few dead Ronins whose bodies looked like they had been savagely ripped apart whilst they had still been alive. Not a nice way to go, but it would seem that Ushi and Oishi were wounded but can still fight, the same being said for Jinako too. Looked like they had been through hell regardless of his intentions, then. Thinking this, Shiro dismounted from Blackjack before proceeding to jog on over to them, his footsteps alerting them to his presence as they turned to him. As he approached, Shiro looked towards and spoke to Jinako. "So it also escaped too?"
Jinako nodded her head, a frown marrying her features. Whilst she looked to be much more damaged than the others due to having taken the brunt of a lot of its attacks, Shiro admitted that she looked like she'd handled herself well. "Yes it did, Shiro. Looks like there was more than one here though, since not long after you got the first one, another one came to take its place. That second Apostle was tough though, we almost managed to get the upper hand but it escaped."
Now THAT got his attention. A second Apostle? And considering the shapes of her wounds Shiro believed it to be a similarly shaped one to the one he'd fought before, but with a few differences which indicated that it had been slightly shorter than the one he'd been battling. Still, this made him grit his teeth whilst rubbing the back of his head in annoyance. "Damn it, that sucks… looks like the intel was a bit off in terms of accuracy, then.." he mused, before heaving a sigh as his arm fell to his side, the other pocketing itself inside his Coat. "Oh well, no matter. It won't be hidden for much longer then, though this does pretty much confirm something: Kira must've known about this and set a trap for us."
At this, the half indian girl nodded her head in agreement, having come to a similar conclusion to her companion. "Maybe so, Shiro."
Just then, the sound of footsteps reached their ears, making them glance to the side and notice that Ushi had walked up to them. The look in her eyes though, it had a hard edge to it with a side dish of accusation as she made the following statement. "Alright you two must've known about this." she said with a frown, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Something which caused the two to blink in surprise whilst Oishi frowned at the rudeness the half-chinese girl was showing to their companions. "Ushiwakamaru." he stated sternly in that lecturer/father tone.
However, Ushi didn't let that tone affect her judgement as she turned on him, her frown deepening as she pointed her hand at the two foreigners. "Lord Oishi, I've been suspecting this for a while now. These two know what that creature is, I know since they didn't react nearly as visibly as the rest of us. They even had the courage to fight it head on instead of running like the rest of us. It's obvious at this point that whatever those things were, they weren't anything like the Yoka,i since neither of them even looked like any." She explained, to which Ronin started whispering to one another on how they too began to notice these things, now that she had brought them up. Turning her head back to the two foreigners, Ushi frowned as she spoke sternly. "So tell us, what is going on here? What are those things and how do you know so much about them?"
For a moment, Shiro and Jinako looked at one another, opening their mental link and discussing what to do. On one hand, they felt like they'd lose the trust of the Ronin if they didn't tell them which would result in their search for the now TWO Apostles to become much harder. However, if they tried telling them, then they may get in trouble with the Hindu faction not to mention that there might be those among them that would try to become an Apostle themselves… essentially becoming another Griffith in Shiro's eyes, anyways. In the end though, they came to a conclusion, closed the link before looking back to the others. "... We'll tell you what it is, but you must keep it a secret because some people would do what we are about to say for more power." Jinako stated, seriously.
Hearing this, Oishi frowned at the sense of secrecy he felt here, but looking at their eyes told him that this was something that HAD to stay this way. Thus, he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement whilst stepping beside his adoptive daughter. "..... Alright, I swear on my honor and my lord too that I will not tell anyone." He declared, glancing at his men who nodded in agreement, same with Ushi. He then turned his gaze back to the foreigners, his eyes hard now. "Now speak."
Shiro's tone had been just as hard as the older man's own as he responded instead of Jinako. "You won't like it. Alright, what those creatures are... they're called Apostles." he told them, a frown on his lips.
At this, each of the Ronin blinked in confusion, Oishi the most. "An apostle? By that, do you mean Jesus Christ's direct discipline?" he questioned, wondering what something from the Christian pantheon had been doing here.
Oh, if only that were actually the case, Jinako internally mused as she shook her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "Hah no, not those types of Apostles." She said, her gaze telling Shiro to let her deal with this. "These Apostles are basically former humans who either use a Beherit, an egg with misformed face." She explained, gesturing to the direction they had come from. "What we found there, was the remnants of a Beherit's activation… which means that it was the site for an Apostle's birth."
Confusion swept through the remaining Ronin, until one of them gasped as he remembered something. "Wait, Kira had that kind of egg when he wore it as a charm." he exclaimed, quickly pulling out a notepad and, after someone gave him what looked like a stick with ink on its end, quickly scribbled down a VERY messy drawing of what looked to be an egg… although the sight alone unnerved pretty much every Ronin present, even Oishi.
However, Shiro and Jinako IMMEDIATELY recognized it, for although the drawing had been a messy one, it had indeed the shape of a Beherit. None of them could mistake the misshapen body parts on that egg shell. "Yes, that's the egg, also known as a Beherit, also known as 'drops of primed water leading to another world'. These suckers, when their wielder is in absolute despair, allow them to summon the God Hand, a bunch of POWERFUL Apostles that bend the laws of reality themselves and are damn near omnipresent, meaning they can see multiple futures and manipulate history to their benefit. But like everything becoming an Apostle has a Price, and in this case the price is simple: In order to become an apostle…" For a moment, Jinako took a few deep breaths, she may not have been present for one of those things, but Shiro had, and what he'd told her about it was not pretty. Still, she managed to get out the last part of her sentence. "...they have to sacrifice their loved one in order to become one, and those who are offered as a sacrifice, are thereby Branded like the skull Ushi found." she explained.
"What?!"
"That is barbaric!"
"How could anyone do this?!"
Of course, hearing that got the various Ronin roaring in outrage, horror and disgust. Especially Oishi who had been a man of honor above everything else. Jinako nodded her head, perfectly understanding their feelings on the matter since they practically mirrored her own. "Exactly, which is the reason why it must be kept a secret. You can imagine what people will do when driven to the depths of despair, that's how one starts becoming an Apostle. In their despair, they're willing to do anything to escape it, even sacrifice those dear to them and pretty much 'lose their empathy' to become one. The Hindu pantheon has been fighting them for so long now, mostly keeping themselves isolated from the outside world in order to contain them within their borders. Now however, since they are appearing throughout the world the trimurti and the hindu gods will have to act quickly, since they can't hold back anymore."
Finally finished with her explanation, Jinako leaned back on her spot on the ground, allowing them to digest this new, horrifying revelation. Ushi had been the one to find her voice first, and that had only been possible due to the new revelation in her mind. "I see, then that means…" she began to say, though trailed off at the end due to being unable to say it.
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on the person's perspective, Shiro filled everyone else in whilst looking the least affected out of all of them. Made sense, considering what he had been through. "Yes, it's likely that Kira is now an Apostle, likely having sacrificed his father to gain the power that he has." he remarked, scowling deeply, his eyes burning with a crimson light not unlike that which his Sacred Gear sported.
"Sweet Amaterasu and her divine sun, that's why Kira's father was not with him!"
"What can we do, lord Oishi?"
As he heard this, as well as the panicked whispers from his men, Oishi stayed silent before he spoke. "It doesn't matter whether Kira is an Apostle or a monster, he will be stopped by either my hands, Ushiwakamaru, or others. He will die, and I swear that on my honor, I will not stop until our honor is restored! WE ARE NOT COWARDS, WE HAVE FACED MANY YOKAIS AND MONSTERS! ARE WE GOING TO RUN AWAY BECAUSE OF THIS?!" He shouted to the rest of the Ronin…
Who quickly gave their response.
"NO!"
"ARE WE GOING TO DIE WITHOUT AVENGING OUR LORD?!"
"NO!"
"THEN ON MY NAME OISHI ASANO AND MY LOYAL RONINS, WE WILL MARCH FORWARD UNTIL DEATH CLAIMS US!"
"YEAH!"
That little victory cry roused the morale of his men, resulting in the man raising his sword arm up high with the rest of the Ronin following suit. As he watched this as well as the unified war cry that they let out into the night skies above, Shiro then saw an illusion that replaced them with the Band of the Hawk, the setting turning into their camp when it had been in it's infantile stages, and instead of Oishi, it had been Jamal that looked at them with determined face. 'Jamal...' the boy thought to himself, stunned at the similarities he had been seeing before he closed his eyes behind his blindfold and opened them, seeing the Ronin once more.
"Well said, Samurai." A voice was heard booming around them as they looked left and right before a light shone in the night skies above, one which caught everyone's attention before a horse descended down before them. It had a rider too, one whom they managed to get a view of when the horse landed before them, a brief sound escaping its snout as the rider himself calmed it down from the landing. The rider himself turned out to be a man wearing ancient japanese armor with no torso armor to protect him, a Bow in his hands that looked so magnificent that looked like it was crafted by a god. His head was covered with a helmet that looked like a demon to intimidate its enemies. Seeing the Samurai, he got off his horse that was covered in armor before one of the Ronins recognized him. "Its-its... It's Lord Hachiman!"
Then everyone got onto their knees as they bowed down to him except Shiro and Jinako as they still Stood . He goes to them as he speaks. "I have been watching you all for a while when trying to restore your honor, even still being ordered by the Elder to not to. You won't rest until you have restored your honor. I am impressed by you and your Ronins motivation so I grant you swords from the Takamagahara to help you on your journey." He brought out his hand as a magic circle appeared before them. When it vanished, swords appeared before them floating in the air as they all looked in amazement.
Whilst they did so, Hachiman's gaze landed upon Ushiwakamaru, his eyes widening briefly before a look of happiness formed in them. "Ahhhh looks like my line is still going." he spoke, confusing the Ronin.
One of them even asked him for clarification on his words. "What do you mean, Lord Hachiman?"
Hachiman, God of War, nodded his head in Ushi's direction as he addressed the question aimed at him. "It means that girl is my descendent, part of my line and... hmm, what's this? Ahhhhh, what a wonder. it seems that not only are you my descendent, but also Minamoto no Raikou's as well."
"?!"
The others were stunned at the revelation where Ushiwakamaru's line comes from, especially not only that she is a descendent of a god Hachiman, but a hero as well. Jinako looked happy that she wasn't the only demigod there is, whilst Shiro just remained unimpressed as he was not interested in this type of stuff.
He then looked at Jinako and Shiro before he spoke. "Daughter of Ganesha and descendent of Surya, we will speak again when the situation is clear. You two deal with the problems that are at stake in our territory. For now I must leave, good luck Samurai, you all will earn a place in heaven when you die." He then disappeared with his horse as they looked at the spot before seeing the swords that Hachiman gave them. They started walking to them as they all gathered the swords before all the Ronin in their group got them.
Then, they began to wonder how they could carry all the spare swords for those who weren't with them at the moment. Fortunately, Jinako showed them that she knew a basic storage spell to help them, earning their thanks as she stored all the spare ones in order to give the swords to Oishi's group.
Afterwards, Oishi then declared that they will stay here for the night and go to the farmhouse where they can meet with the rest of the group, to which all of them agreed. While some of them were wounded Jinako offered to help them by feeding them some recovery dangos which can heal their wounds, but the backlash took form depending how fatal the wound is. If it was too deep or too fatal then she couldn't heal them which upsetted her, though the Ronin assured her that it wasn't her fault. After all, they'd chosen this path, so they would see it to its conclusion no matter where it took them.This did result in calming the Demigoddess down, but she remained sad all the said that she couldn't have healed all of them.For those who had fallen, the Ronin made graves for them so that they could rest in peace.
Meanwhile, Shiro remained with his horse as it was laying down on the ground, resting with him. At the same time, Shiro had Kurogane leaning diagonally on the horse's back behind him in case any Apostle or enemies came to attack them in the night. It wouldn't be the first time they did so, according to his past experiences, so he wanted to be ready. Part of him even anticipated the burning pain that his neck would erupt into when the Brand acted up, so he could vent the frustration of letting his prey escape.
Whilst he nonetheless took this rare opportunity to relax his body a bit, his ears twitched when he heard someone coming to him which prompted Shiro to raise his head. Upon doing so, he saw Ushi walking to him as they stared a bit before she sat by him which raised his eyebrow before he turned his attention away from her before she spoke. "...Thank you."
THIS caught him by surprise, proof being how he looked at her like he was looking at an alien. "Eh? You're thanking me? For what?" he questioned, wondering what she had thanked him for.
Soon enough, she gave him the answer she had, looking down at the ground. "For….. standing up for me, back when I was a Half Breed before discovering I was from two royal lines, one belonging to lord Hachiman and the other….. Raikou, even though I'm half chinese."
Ah, he then remembered what she was talking about. When he had defended her from that guy who had been reluctant to take her along with them on this quest. Perhaps that had been the first time someone other than her father who had shown her compassion, with Jinako also being that kind of rare person. "Ehhhh, maybe your family went from chinese to Japanese, what does it matter?" he remarked, not really seeing why she had some concerns over something so trivial.
"True..... So Shiro, can I ask what your purpose is?"
Shiro paused on the question Ushi asked as he began to think the past he was devoid of his true purpose in life, killing as a child mercenary merely as a means to survive. As a blank slate, he often finds himself seeking validation from those he respects most, content so long as "one person [looks his] way". He'd wanted to help his two childhood friends achieve their dream since, in his eyes, his blank slate meant that he didn't have a dream of his own. He had nothing to strive for, no goal to meet. For a while, he had been fine with that, lending his sword to a cause greater than himself.
However, the Eclipse had happened, pretty much burning all dreams that Griffith had gathered into nothingness for the sake of his own goal. All his companions, save for the comatose Brihanna, had been slain ruthlessly, used as nothing more than living sacrifices for Griffith's dream which included his friend Jamal. That resulted in the dream of opening an Orphanage in their home village to be nothing but a pipe dream now, there was likely no village even left to go back to, since everyone in that place had been slaughtered by the Apostles during that event.
After surviving the Eclipse, Shiro had become more vindictive, jaded and ruthless, wanting nothing other than to hunt down and slaughter any Apostle he encountered, and, more importantly, exact revenge on Griffith alongside the God Hand. At that time, he saved Jinako when she had been victimised in a similar manner to himself, and back then he'd only done so in order to help his childhood friend out of her coma. However, he hadn't anticipated her stating that she wanted to hunt them down like him ,for making her life hell for her. In the end, he began to speak after collecting his thoughts. "My purpose... is to take my revenge on God Hand, the Apostles and hunt them all down."
"How do you even plan to hunt them down? If what Jinako had said about how powerful they are is true..."
When Ushi asked him about that, Shiro looked up at the skies above with his blindfold-covered eyes narrowing behind it. "People are always boasting about how those things are 'invincible', but no matter what there is always a weakness in them, waiting to be exploited.Every armour piece has its own chinks, you could say." Shiro explained.
Ushi hummed as she took this information in, looking up at the skies above with him. "I see…. You know I was suspicious that you two were hiding something and now I see the reason why you hid this information. It definitely would make other people resort to sacrificing their precious ones for power, the dark lust for it in our hearts is that great. Kira was always an ambitious man, he would take anything for power, but to go this far... he's clearly lost his humanity."
Nodding his head at this, Shiro's mouth opened again. "Everyone has a darkness in them waiting to come out so that they can corrupt the unwary, so that they would fall into despair like what Jinako said. There is no light or darkness, not even grey, it's how people are."
"Then... how did you overcome the darkness in you, Shiro?"
".... its survival, my will. I continue to go to the darkness, but every time I do, I overcome it. I do so because if I succumb, it would make me no better than an Apostle. Tell me, do you know what a real monster is?"
Ushi blinked in confusion at this question as she looked back at him. "Who?"
"Us, humanity. Do you know why? Because we cheat, steal, slaughter, rape, or bully others. They think of themself as 'pure', but in reality it's the exact opposite since they're really doing it for selfish desires. The Church slaughtered the Witches because they thought magic was universally bad, killed many other beings because they think that they come from hell, even framed others because they thought it would corrupt them, but in reality they are already corrupted themselves."
Ushi stayed silent as what Shiro said was true. She couldn't deny it even if she wanted to, because she had been there, being abandoned shortly after her birth when she was child only because of some sense of honor and pride. If Oishi and his father hadn't found and adopted her, she knew she wouldn't have survived. She'd seen the worst in them when she was there. Ushi and Shiro were almost the same when one was betrayed while the other was abandoned. She then speaks. "It is true what you say Shiro, I just hope there are other people like Jinako, lord Oishi and lord Asano there in the world."
"We may never truly know for sure, Ushiwakamaru. Where there's light, there has to be darkness no matter how pure the light is."
"Indeed and also its Ushi."
"What?"
"Call me... Ushi, for short. Jinako nicknamed me a while ago… and I sort of liked it."
"... Alright, Ushi. Get some rest, you'll need it."
"I will and…. You too, Shiro."
Timeskip
They were all aware of a snowy forest as they all gathered up before Oishi spoke to the Ronin, each of them lining up in order when a scroll presented in front of them. Each of them wrote their name while chipping their finger before stamping on it to leave their bloodstains on it. Whilst this happened, Oishi declared the following. "When a crime goes unpunished, the world is unbalanced. When wrong is avenged, the heavens look down on us in shame, even our lord Hachiman when granted us the blessing of going there. We too must die for this cycle of vengeance to be closed. We will leave a record of our courage so the people will know who we were and what we did. Tonight, we will regain our honor and avenge our lord. None of us knew how long he shall live or when his time will come. But soon, all that will be left of our brief lives is the pride our children feel when they speak our names."
Ushi was the last to be on the line when she looked at others before they nodded at her for finally acknowledging her for not being a descendent of two royal lines, but a loyal retainer and samurai for being with them for so long. Even Shiro nodded at her in acknowledgement while Jinako gave her a caring smile as she smiled back at them before going to the scroll, opening her sword a bit as he put her finger at it before she stamps her blood on her name in the scroll before joining the others as Oishi picks up the scroll as he looks at them.
"Now... we are 47. The 47 Ronin."
Timeskip
At night time two soldiers were by the gate guarding them as they look in boredom.
"Man, why is it that we were assigned to this place, wish I was with them enjoying the weeding."
"Suck it up man, we were randomly chosen by this moment, that's how it is."
"....(SIGH) I guess you're right maybe we should-hmmm?"
They looked in front of them as they saw a single person walking to them. Both men looked inquisitively at the person, as he walked towards them in black strange clothing, though the closer he got the more they grew weary. Finally having enough, they stopped person by telling him to halt. "Who are you? this is a special event for lord Kira as this is a promising event, where is your invitation?"
"My invitation? Let me see.... Oh, here it is." Shiro pulled out his Kurogane, slicing through the two soldiers in half before they could even speak while in shock. He then sliced the gate to open as he turned around. "Alright the gate's open, now come on!"
Upon hearing him yell that, the Ronins burst forth from their hiding places. They then charged to the gate as Shiro ran with them, it not being long before various soldiers saw them as they rang the alarm. "Enemies are here! Enemies are he-Urgh!"
He was shot by an ronin archer on the top as they all aimed at the enemy. Shiro, Ushi and the Ronins thus commenced slaughtering enemies left and right as he dealt with the front lines as the ronins were skilled enough to kill the enemy as they tried to go from the sides. Jinako was with Oishi as they all did the same as she was aiming her dango at the distance while killing them in close combat. The swords that Hachiman gave them were helping a lot as they gained the advantage over the enemy. A giant iron golem was there behind the set of samurais guarding what looked like their leader. As the golem walked to them they all walked back in fear before Jinako scoffed at.
"Oh, please."
She then shone bright enough to cover their eyes, it dying down seconds later before she activated her Godly Trigger. This prompted them to stare in amazement whilst she scooped up one dango as the golem got closer, prompting the Ronins to try to warn her. Although before they could say anything, she just smirked at them. "This piece of iron is nothing. Watch."
She threw her dango at the golem before it exploded at it, it was enough to dismantle it as the ronins stared at her in awe and the enemies were looking in horror as one of them then spoke. "A DEMIGOD!"
The warriors cried out as one or two of them, a man and a woman with mismatched eyes, were widened before she went up the wall as it left a long trail of clothes. Oishi then spoke. "Ronins split up! I will go to where Kira has fled while you keep the others busy!"
"YES, MY LORD!"
"You're not going alone, old man!" Jinako said to Oishi, joining up with him.
In response, he stared at her before he went and said. "Try and keep up will ya?"
"Heh, now you're just underestimating me, old man!"
They then entered the castle as Shiro was at the other side of the castle with Ushi and the Ronins as they slowly advanced their enemies…
GRAB!
"Eek!"
...before he grabbed Ushi as she squeaked in surprise. A second later, a thread from Rashomon came out from his coat and hooked to the wall. It then proceeded to pull the two of them up on top of it, before they landed on the other side of the walls. Ushi then got out of Shiro's grip as she glared at him. "Don't do that again unless you tell me, Shiro!"
Just like when he had done so with Jinako back within her mind, Shiro rolled his eyes as he continued forwards. "The less talk the more time we get." he stated, Rashomon's thread retracting into him.
"....(SIGH) why do I even bother?"
It was then a woman appeared before them, starting to walk on over to their position before seeing Ushi. When she did, her eyes widened in shock which got mirrored by the descendent of Hachiman… which all culminated in her and Ushi running towards each other as they hugged. "Sister, I knew that you and brother would come." the woman exclaimed happily, similarly feeling tears in her eyes.
Something which Ushi nodded her head in response to, similar teardrops building in her eyes. "Of course Lady Asano." She whispered back although Shiro heard it still. She increased her grip to further comfort the woman in her arms. "We are family, despite not being blood related."
As they tearfully hugged each other Shiro looked at them before his brand was starting to bleed which means that the Apostle was here.
Thus, it prompted him to look around, and it became a good thing that he did. The male's gaze landed upon a line of clothes which had been floating near them before Shiro took out his Kurogane as it started to come together before another woman appeared before them. She walks around before them. "I should've known that you foreigners would come for us, especially for joining the half breed."
"Hmph you Apostle can't hide from me, I know your after the branded people."
"It is true, just the feeling of being in the presence of a branded person….. Makes me feel like I want to devour you whole! I just can't control myself!" She then transformed into the same centipede that attacked them when they passed at the shrine as Ushi recognized it.
"It's the second Apostle!"
"Now you'll die knowing that sacrifice will bring nothing but despair!"
"You talk too much."
Ushi pulled her weapon and joined with Shiro as Lady Asano then got into cover before Shiro looked at Ushi.
"Are you sure that you can handle an Apostle like this?"
"It's not how I know, I WILL win against it, Shiro."
".... try not to die Ushi." Shiro declared with a growing smirk filled with bloodlust, his eyes glowing as Rashomon surfaced in it's Beast form, growling with bloodlust over his head.
Despite herself, Ushi formed a similar smirk as the two got into their battle stances whilst the massive Apostle's body pretty much burst out the castle since it wouldn't fit inside. "You too, Shiro."
クリエイターの想い 
Dark_Spider
Dark_Spider AN:
Hey hunter here, new chap is now here. Essentially, Ushiwakamaru is not just Raikou’s descendent but of Hachiman as well. For that God’s appearance, think of his SMITE incarnation (seriously that game has a LOT of Gods, it even has Tsukuyomi now!). Hope you like what we did, and if you have any questions let us know. See you next chapter.
PEACE OUT!
Ah man things are starting to get good!....... My name is Darklord bringing you another chapter of the story! Now if you noticed Ushiwakamaru is not the descendent of the original but the same as Hunter said. The reason why is because Ushi almost looks like Raikou when she is older. And just because she is chinese doesn’t mean she has a japanese bloodline. I mean come on, I bet some people were either chinese or japanese people who were their ancestors. So the appearance of the centipedes is Senior and elder centipedes from OPM. Alright thank you for reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you like and I’ll see you next time!
GOOD LUCK!
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