Chương 36: Interlude Gyutaro/Kagura - Why do Weapons Talk so Much?
"You're out here, again."
Gyutaro turned to the man who spoke to him. Gildarts was always an imposing figure ever since he first encountered the monster in the form of a mage. The demon had thought he figured out mages one second and then he was greeted with the insanity of his reality once again. It was beyond maddening to know that even Gildarts might not be the worst this new world had to offer; after all, he had been blindsided by the potential of mages every time he met one. He would be foolish to disregard the possibility that there wasn't a mage out there to match or surpass the feats he saw from Gildarts.
It is insane to think even he exists. Humans should not be this strong.
[They're mages. I do not relate with them in any way. Just like I do not relate with Demons.]
{Mages are just weird Humans, just like our wielder was once a Human.}
Gyutaro tapped the hilt of his [Zanpakuto], shushing the voices that rang in his head. It had become often enough that they got in the way of his thoughts, but they were not that annoying. They spoke similar to his own prejudices and thoughts enough that he did not mind the voices too much.
"Did you need something from me?" Gyutaro asked, bowing his head and hunched upper body at Gildarts in respect. The man wasn't that tall, but the demon had seen how he had simply evaporated a giant sea serpent with a wave of his hand, so he was a little concerned that he might offend the mage.
"Nothing, no worries." Gildarts said hurriedly. He chuckled good-naturedly, running a hand through his red hair. "And please, stop bowing. I get enough of that from all the Rune Knights. I swear, it gets so stuffy all the time with all the ass-kissing."
Gyutaro raised an eyebrow at that comment but nodded in understanding. He had experienced something similar when he and his sister ran the red light district before; where plenty of people tried to curry their favor with pretty words and promises. They probably annoyed him more than the Hashiras ever did.
"I understand." Gyutaro said, raising his head to meet the gaze of the mage.
[I wanna fight him.]
{You're mad.}
[And you're not? Get over yourself. We're two sides of the same coin.]
Gyutaro twitched at the sudden conversation.
"Something wrong?" Gildarts asked.
"No," Gyutaro said with a frown, tapping the hilt of his [Zanpakuto]. They had been speaking more frequently, and he had been getting used to their constant interruption of his thoughts. "Just a headache."
"Right… got it." Gildarts said, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm serious." Gyutaro said, expecting a follow-up that never came.
[And we are ***** ** ******]
{Idiot, he can't even hear that yet.}
Gyutaro winced at the sudden static that rang through his thoughts. It happened every time the duo tried to tell him their names, and no matter how many times he listened to it –and he tried many times– there was no sign that he could understand them.
"You know, I don't think I ever thanked you for all the help in taking care of Erza when she goes to sleepover with her friend." Gildarts beamed, clearly trying to sidestep the sudden grimace from the demon. Gyutaro knew for a fact that he misunderstood something.
"I am just upholding the deal you made with our guildmaster."
"Yes," Gildarts smiled, drawing out the word uncomfortably long. "Buut, I still hear stories from a couple people that Erza seems to always have a good time in Evermont. Truly an accomplishment for such a city, right?"
Gyutaro sighed harshly, feeling like this conversation was dragging on. "Did you want something from me?"
"Me? I just wanted to make conversat–" Gildarts started, but his voice trailed off as Gyutaro just gave him an unimpressed stare. "Fine, fine… I wanted to get to know you more. There's very little information about your guildmaster as well as all his little members. I was interested in where he found two seemingly powerful mages that were loyal to him. Sorry, if I intruded."
"You do not look like someone who is sorry."
"Do I?" Gildarts questioned, rubbing his head with a wry smile. "Its hard to do, I guess. Don't you have people who you want to protect from more… unsavory places and people?"
"Of course– No, I did…" Gyutaro found himself stuck as he thought over Gildart's sudden question. He had answered immediately, knowing it was Ume on his mind. However, Daki was not Ume.
"Tough memories?"
Gyutaro scowled, forgetting who Gildarts was for a second. "Like someone like you would know. You seem to have everything you could ever want."
And Gyutaro meant that. A rather large part of him was envious of Gildarts. The mage was powerful, assured of himself, and safe in his position. The man seemed as if he had everything the world could ask for. Gildarts reminded him of those he saw when Daki and he were running the red light district; people who just chased pleasure endlessly without a care in the world.
"If you think that, then I should be doing a good job. Haha." Gildarts chuckled, shaking his head. "Do you think I had everything from the beginning?"
Gyutaro cocked his head slightly, confused at the sudden change in topic.
"I was a little too talented in magic when I was a kid, you know. A genius, you can call me." Gildarts praised himself shamelessly. "But you saw what my magic can do… It is not that happy when you're born into a town that doesn't see magic that often. My parents abandoned me pretty early, so I had to live on my own. I couldn't control my magic, and I couldn't get close to people for fear that I could simply make them evaporate."
Gyutaro pursed his lips as he listened to the mage. He could understand some aspects of the man; someone who just wanted someone to be close to.
Gildarts continued, "Fairy Tail was– is my family. Its funny, you know. I thought I could start a family of my own, but even the woman I loved more than the world slipped through my fingers, too. So, thanks. I'm glad I look happy to you."
Gyutaro felt the retort die at his lips as he saw the smile on the mage's face. It wasn't pained nor sarcastic. Gildarts' smile was sincerely happy; as if he believed it was a good thing that Gyutaro mistook his intentions. The demon suddenly felt a little envious in a different way. Here was a man who the world seemed to break down again and again, but he didn't fall in the way Gyutaro had.
"Ah, I don't really need pity or anything. Just treat it like I'm rambling, really." Gildarts hurried to speak. "I just wanted to talk to you a bit."
"...why?"
Gildarts rubbed his cheek, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well, I just felt you needed someone to talk to. You looked a bit lost, so I figured I would pass the time and try to clear your thoughts."
Gyutaro raised an eyebrow, confused. "I am fine. I can pull my own weight in whatever fight we get into."
"That's… not really what I meant. I am saying you remind me of, well– me, I guess. The me who wanted to find something to cling onto."
"Cling onto? Me?" Gyutaro asked, incredulous. He had gained some semblance of respect for the man, but now it quickly turned to annoyance. His face twisted into a snarl. "I am not some case for you to fix."
"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that–"
"You're experiencing depression."
Gyutaro and Gildarts turned to the new arrival. Gyutaro recognized him as the new doctor, Stein, that Locki had recruited somehow. The stitched up man had unnerved the demon the first time he had laid eyes on him, and even now Gyutaro felt something primal in him scream as Stein locked eyes with him.
"We were having a moment…" Gildarts whined slightly but made room for the doctor.
Stein pushed his glasses up his nose, reaching up to grab the oversized screw on his head and turning it twice. "I could guess that much. However, it would appear that you fail to reach the heart of the issue. He," the man pointed at Gyutaro. "Is experiencing a form of depression."
Gyutaro frowned. "I am fine."
[Even I know that is a lie. The rain here gives you away.]
{The demon speaks as if he is not part of the problem.}
[Stronger than you'll ever be.]
{You little–}
Gyutaro rubbed his brow, angrily tapping his [Zanpakuto]. He had already guessed that the voices seemed to envision themselves as a demon and human, but that only made it worse as the two could not get along.
Still, their argument mirrored his own conflict. Gyutaro was a demon. Nothing could refute that statement. Yet, now he had to live like a human. It was something he struggled to understand and adapt to from his years upon years of life as a demon; as a creature who preyed upon people without a care in the world.
Gyutaro knew it was still a bit of a shock. His sister seemed to adjust to the crazy reality where magic was real, but he realized just where he stood in this new world: he was now the prey he had looked down on before. He chased strength, but it was never good enough. He chased technique, but Gyutaro was never talented like Kagura.
And so, he had to continue his chase for the ephemeral level where he was safe again, trying desperately to pull himself out of the insanity he surrounded himself with.
"I do not have time for this." Gyutaro said, trying to slip past the two.
"And when will you have time?" Stein asked, ignoring the demon's attempts to escape the conversation.
"Hey, hey, let's not make a scene or something." Gildarts cut in, trying to play peacemaker.
Gyutaro just shouldered past the two, keeping silent. He smacked his lips angrily as he made his way into the ship's lower decks, and he frowned as he saw more of those Rune Knights steer clear as he moved through the corridors of their ship. The demon paused as he caught his reflection on a small porthole.
Messy green hair, shark-like teeth pulled into a scowl, and angry yellow eyes glared back at him. He didn't even know why he was so angry; everything just seemed to annoy him as he tried to adapt to his new situation.
Gyutaro eventually found his assigned room. Its windows were boarded up and the bed was strewn into a mess of sheets like he had left it. The demon carefully closed the door and sank into the bed as he propped up his [Zanpakuto] against the bed frame.
An aggrieved sigh trailed from his dry lips.
Gyutaro didn't really spend a lot of time in his thoughts. He didn't like to think of everything; he just liked to move when he wanted to. It reminded him of when he hid inside his sister's body, coming out only when there were Hashiras to kill and people to eat. Times were simpler. Things were divided into enemies and his sister.
Now, every situation felt phenomenally more complicated to the demon.
Gyutaro patted one of the pockets on his cloak, finding the sub-orb that Locki had given him. Without him realizing it, the orb was in his hands, and the demon froze before he sent a signal through.
He paused to review what he wanted. Did he desire someone to help him sort out the mess in his head? But Locki definitely had problems of his own? Did he really take into account the problems of someone else before his own? What if he ruined whatever plan Locki had and got his sister in danger? Why did that matter in the first place?
"What do I even want here?" Gyutaro questioned aloud. He had been given a miraculous third chance at life, but he didn't even know what to do in this one.
For once, the voices in his [Zanpakuto] were silent as if they had been waiting for Gyutaro to ask such a thing. The sword seemed to ring with his words, silently judging him as he stared at the closed door of his dark room.
It was only when dawn broke across the horizon that the demon moved. Not because he had made a decision, but because Rebecca –their lookout– had spotted their destination, the Tower of Heaven.
~~~
Kagura wandered around the void she found herself in. She didn't know how long she had been there, but she knew it started ever since Validator had eaten something it shouldn't have. The girl felt she would have to have a talk with her friend about that; from her time in the Tower, indigestion was a terrible thing to experience.
As the girl was deciding on what punishment she could inflict on a sentient sword, Kagura felt a tug in a certain direction. It was barely noticeable, and it was only due to her bond with Validator that she even felt anything. However, she felt the fear trickle through her bond with the Pokemon.
Panic immediately filled the girl as she rushed in the random direction. Her feet bounded through the void at an unprecedented pace before she arrived at an odd scene.
Validator hovered around a blood red spear with its red tassel wrapped around the shaft of the other weapon. The spear itself didn't do anything other than to float there, but Kagura could feel it brush off Validator's attempts to absorb it, causing cracks to slowly form in the sword-body of her friend as well as fraying the tassel that connected the two.
The girl knew this was Validator's way of evolution. It needed to absorb metals and materials then fill them with its own Ghost-energy until they were tied to the Pokemon's existence. She had read her guildmaster's booklet on Ghost Pokemon, so she knew that a Honedge's evolution to a Duoblade was something that each one considered a great honor and opportunity. They would seek out dangerous or cursed metals and weapons to bond with to grow powerful, but such an action often resulted in the Honedge biting off more than it could handle.
Kagura worriedly stared at her friend, wondering if it would ruin Validator's honor for her to step in. Oftentimes, Honedge's considered honor greater than their own lives.
"So you are the owner of this… creature?" A melodic female voice echoed through the void. Kagura looked around only to narrow her eyes at the red spear.
It was expertly crafted with only violence in its creator's mind. Kagura could practically taste coppery blood in her mouth as she looked over the weapon. Its bladed end was at least a foot long while it was over six foot in length and sported a sharpened point where the butt of the spear would be. Odd, vein-like structures wrapped around the shaft of the spear like blood vessels, and Kagura felt like the whole weapon seemed to be crafted from some beast or monster.
With her senses, Kagura tasted blood and water on her tongue as she looked over the spear.
"Please don't hurt Validator." Kagura asked carefully. She had no idea what was going on, but she felt that whatever ghost had attached itself to the spear was responsible for the state that her friend was in.
"Vali… dator? That is the denomination of this monster, yes?"
Kagura frowned, stamping down on the instinctive retort to defend her friend. "Validator is not a monster. She's my companion."
"It is merely fragments of a ghost held together by a mystery and some… what is that?" The voice seemed a little confused as it spoke, and Kagura felt her heart tighten as it described Validator so plainly. Whoever they were, they didn't seem to hold Validator's ghostly state in high regard.
"I know Validator might not be the most presentable, but!" Kagura bowed low, clenching her fists and teeth. "They are my friend and companion! Please do not hurt them anymore! If you want her to stop, then I will persuade her to stop."
"... I suppose this is the opportunity that being had mentioned. Tell me, girl, do you have any way to kill immortals?"
"Um, I'm sorry?" Kagura fumbled, unsure. "I– I don't think I can, but I can ask my guildmaster…"
"I suppose it is one of the best chances I can get. Connection and amplification is all you can do now, but I suppose conceptual evolution is not something easy to accomplish in an instant."
Kagura blinked again. She wondered if the sword was related to Locki in how they would both spout random things as if she would understand them. "Sorry?"
"I suppose I can allow you the honor to bind me to yourself, but I do not wish that… Validator creature to subsume this spear. I do not understand the process of how it tries to conceptually elevate itself, but I can tell it wishes to devour this spear and my own shade attached to it. I can only permit so much."
"Um… I can see what I can do." Kagura said tentatively.
The black-haired girl grew nervous as she stepped forwards. Validator had stopped its evolution, but it was merely a brief halt before the final conclusion. She knew the Pokemon wanted to forge the spear into a sword like itself. However, Kagura wanted to respect the wishes of the shade within the spear itself, so she carefully reached out and grabbed the spear with her left hand and Validator's handle with her right.
Unlike how she connected to Validator, this connection felt a little thin. Validator's bond was a wide road that the two of them could pass their emotions and thoughts through seamlessly, but as her [Unison Magic] descended on the spear, Kagura immediately understood the problem.
Whoever the shade inside the spear was, they were still alive and she could only piggyback from the shade to them in an attempt to connect the two of them. However, the distance was too great for her magic to close. It was one of the reasons why Validator failed to subsume the spear and evolve; the Pokemon continuously tried to eat the curse and shade of the spear, but it could not completely take over the material as the person that the shade was based on was still alive and too far away to affect.
Instead, Kagura turned to the shade itself. Her magic bonded them closely as she fell into its memories. A god named Fate Severance offered its main body a [deal], and then darkness as it waited and waited. Then, a moment of clarity as Validator connected to it and they were back.
Kagura scrunched her face up in confusion as she went over the very brief memories and the bond between them strengthened. At the same time, Validator and the shade used her connection as a way to communicate themselves, and Kagura felt the evolution of Validator continue.
This time, where the Honedge would consume and repurpose the material and weapon, instead the two bonded together as Validator's original spirit and the shade of the woman in Gae Bolg mixed together. It was as if they were two separate people yet the same at one time.
Kagura didn't really know the specifics, but Validator and the shade were still separate connections to her [Unison Magic]. Still, it was as if the two seemed to merge together as separate beings in one body as Validator's evolution continued.
"Uhhh…" Kagura didn't really know how to process this. She decided to ask Locki later when she had a chance; he normally could explain this complicated stuff. Instead, she focused on the significant point in the shade's shared memories.
"Who is Fate Severan–"
"Don't!" Kagura held her tongue as the shade's voice echoed in a panic. She felt the palpable fear through the bond with the shade, and Kagura knew immediately that declaring a god's name was never a good thing to do randomly. There were only certain circumstances where such a thing didn't cause trouble.
Like reading an enchanted letter. Kagura frowned as she had that thought. She didn't know why that information was important.
"Don't say their name so casually, child." The shade spoke with clear trepidation. "Gods are not beings to be called so flippantly. It takes a special type of madman to declare them with impunity, and it appears that your world might still be in its own version of the Age of Gods, so it makes it doubly important to not be so casual."
"Got it…" Kagura clicked her teeth shut. Again, this seemed like something her guildmaster might understand more than her.
"Now, I suppose it would be a good time to train you while we wait for whatever process this is to end."
"Uhm… sorry about that. I know I promised not to let it happen."
"It is… while not fine, I suppose it is not as unpleasant. Your ability seems scarily related to one of the Magics I know of, and it is materializing this shade as a spirit tied to this spear. I predict I will not be able to use it as a medium once your... companion finishes its conceptual evolution; this shade will become its own individual. Perhaps, in time, this might prove to be a boon to what I want to ask of you."
"Oh!" Kagura bowed respectfully, hoping to gloss over all the confusing statements. "I will try to accommodate you!"
The shade chuckled darkly. "Even if that request is to kill me?"
Kagura frowned.
"How cute. Do not worry, you'll need to at least be as skilled as me before you can be worried, girl." The shade spoke softly as if she were a parent speaking to her child. "It has been awhile since I taught a student, though. For now, let's start with how to handle a spear-"
Kagura followed along as the spear told her how to swing her weapons to kill immortals. And slowly but surely, her actions and intent filled the empty vessel of the shade that she connected to.
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