Elsewhere, Keith and an injured Sokka were dealing where the group was preparing to attack, this time they weren't just swinging their weapons blindly. They began to encircle Keith at a slight distance, floating slowly around the circumference of the circle with Sokka at its center.
"What are they thinking now?!"
"Boy, the string! Cut the string that binds for those trapped!" Sokka shouted.
"String?! What're you talking about?! I don't see anything like that!" But Keith unexpectedly understood the meaning behind Sokka's words. He could clearly sense that there was something, although unable to be seen normally, like a fine thread-bound around their bodies. That sensation must have been strands of black. But this wasn't any ordinary string, as it had to be ridiculously long. Almost like extremely long and thin strands of metal.
The other ends of the string that bound the group wrapped around Keith's arms and legs as though it had a life of its own. The group spun around him, enveloping him tightly...
"Dammit!"
Frustrated at an attacker he couldn't even see, Keith swung his strong arms in an attempt to shake off the threads that bound him along with those at their ends. But the string-bound him securely and would not let go.
"Shaking off those girls is useless, Inuyasha!" Sokka spoke sharply. "it comes from behind those girls... from somewhere much farther away!"
Sokka squinted intently. Though invisible to normal eyes, by utilizing his magical powers he was trying to make out the string.
"Ohh, behind the girls, huh?" Keith smirked.
"Then isn't their puppetmaster kind of an idiot? Even if I can't see them, I can still drag out the person on the other end!" Keith grabbed the string attached to him in a bunch, relying on feeling to tell where it was, and pulled with all his might.
But his plan failed. He had expected some resistance when pulling, but there was none. It was like he was unraveling thread from a spool...
"Come on"
When pulling as hard as he could don't work, Keith was flipped over on his back and slammed violently into the ground.
Getting up quickly, Keith examined his surroundings with a severe expression. He didn't know who he was up against, but this person who could manipulate people from the shadows was a more formidable opponent than he first thought.
Sitting on a pine tree branch on the outskirts of the village, Twyla chuckled. That half-daemon had just tried to drag her in. He'd had a good idea, at least.
"It's too bad for you that the spider in my Kushi no Kago can grow." Even from this distance, Twyla could pick up on the half-daemon called Keith's movements. Even without being able to see him, she could infer his actions from the feedback from the String in her "Kushi no Kago".
It was like the string attached to her fingertips was acting as nerves. Thanks to her forcing the village group to encircle him, Keith's body was already sufficiently bound in black.
"Now then, I suppose it's about time I took your head." Twyla began to manipulate the many strings attached to both hands into a cat's cradle figure. Bending and extending her fingers, extending and bending, like playing an intricate tune, finely and delicately.
The right middle finger, left pinky finger, right thumb... now her Kushi no Kago had carried the half-demon's body into the air.
Left ring finger, right middle finger, index fingers of both hands... the half-daemon was bound to the trunk of a thick sandstone.
Right pinky finger, left thumb, middle fingers of both hands... oh, look, now the half-daemon can no longer move.
"All right, this will do." She firmly tied many strong strings about his neck.
"All right, let's take off his head with a nice, clean-cut!" Twyla gathered together the countless strings intricately tangled between her palms. With a breath, she quickly spread her arms, pulling the strings taut with a great amount of strength.
The sense of something thick being sliced through reached her fingers. "....?!" Twyla frowned.
"Commander" a voice coming from her ear.
"Yes what is"
Inside the lobby with the captives, a soldier contacted Twyla while surveyed a section of the lobby, where Shiro, Romelle, Lian, Liem, and Billy along with several others for a taken prisoner.
"We have surveyed the lobby for more prisoners, should we search for other sectors."
"Yes," Twyla commanded as her crossing the Great tree of Balto off the list, the underground home for the rebels for the past two hundred years would be a great victory for the Galra empire and for Emperor Zarkon.
"Take our prisoners to our camp, where they will get the proper punishment that they deserve"
"Yes ma'am, Vrepit Sa!" the soldier following her orders.
"Vrepit Sa!"
"Hm? This feeling... That wasn't the sensation she was expecting when cutting flesh. She'd cut through something tougher...?
"I know, it's that Stone I had him tied to!" But Twyla was sure she hadn't made a mistake, she'd made sure her hair was tied around Keith's neck. So for it to have cut only the tree rather than his neck would mean...
'Does that mean that this called Inuyasha is more resilient than I thought?" Twyla gave a little chuckle.
"How interesting! Getting something easily was boring, something you had to work for had more value and was all the more precious".
"I'll get his head for sure". Twyla got an excited chill down her spine just thinking about how she might go about that.
"Oh man, I thought I was gonna die for sure." rubbed his hand over his neck, which had just before been wrapped in overgrown hair, and panted.
Sokka could only be amazed at Keith's strength. "If you were an ordinary human, you would have certainly lost your head."
The sandstone that Keith had been bound to be currently chopped up and scattered about the ground like a boiled daikon radish. "I'd thought that thing was pretty sturdy, but it still ended up like this."
But it didn't look like the mastermind behind the hair was about to give up. This time, he could see several of the rebel men come floating in the air, bearing weapons in their hands. "Oh great, more of 'em. I'm not making any progress." Sokka suddenly teleported Keith and him onto an unknown location.
"Hey, old man, where did you take us" Keith demanded as it was dark.
"To my workshop" Sokka explains, using his magic to light up the workplace. Before sitting down to rest
"Why here, I mean you can see the string, can't you?! Show me where the boss at the end of those is!"
Sokka frowned. I am injured, and even if I was not, I cannot see that far. That is why I have been telling you to call for Shiro from the start."
Keith pouted with a snort. "So he can see 'em?"
"Yes." Sokka nodded deeply. he only knew the samurai beside himself who held enough power to be able to see the string and Shiro was one of those people.
Sokka point toward the outside "Shiro is where he needs to be, you must deliver it, the quintessence Crystal"
"The crystal!" Keith said.
"Yes the crystal, the Galra must be after it"
"Why should I give it back to him, he chose to give it to me."
"Really because to me it's the other way around, haven't you forgotten our conversation"
"Yes, I mean no" Keith said, defenseless and now unable to send out the right answer.
"Life is not always kind or perfect, but what we do with them that counts"
Before answering back, a detonation shook them all. Bits of the ceiling rained down, the rumbling continued in other areas. It wasn't a firefight that had gotten out of control or an old grenade losing its cap, the subterrane was still under attack.
"Those beasts, they're here," Sokka said.
When orders came over the communicators that the last pocket of resistance within the subterrane had been cleared out, the leader of the Galra men relaxed considerably, he was listening with pleasure to the proceedings on the captured group when one of his chief guest gunnery officers called to him.
Moving to the man's position, the leader stared into the workshop.
"Wow, this place is amazing" The officer's hand hovered over a computerized gun in his hand.
"I know right, it's too bad we have to destroy it, Commander Jia"
"Yeah but it would be nice, we're going to be heroes, getting rid of the rebels"
He turned away, to see the satisfaction of people, captured ones and material coming from the plaza, glare from exploding panels, and erupting circuitry reflected the craziest armor of the lead Galra sentries as he was leading survivors ahead.
Among them were Shiro and Romelle who has a binding that locked their hands behind their backs was primitive and effective. The constant attention the squad of heavily armed troops flavored Stats with might have been out of place for one small creature, except for the fact that their lives depended on delivering the prisoners safely.
When they arrived at the new site, they force their prisoners when became that they do not walk away from the brutality they committed when shoved one of them when he deliberately slowed his pace.
"Keep moving"
The hallway they eventually emerged into was still smoking around the edges of the smoldering cavity blasted thought the hull of the workshop, the stones look like glass from a two-story building showed at the far end of the tunnel, bridging space between the hidden or the found.
Using the last of his magic, Sokka hid along with Keith, to avoid the enemy that was right there next to them. But Sokka's order to Keith was simple ''save them, the people and your friends."
Keith glanced at the rubble that surrounded them, seeing the prisoners line up like cattle send shivers down to Keith's spines. "But how they don't bother me at all"
Sokka seized his shoulder "are you sure about that."
Shiro and Romelle did as ordered. Everyone murmured and growled about what's going to happen to them now, there wasn't anything to be done when one of the men contacted his communicator.
"The next set of prisoners have arrived at checkout 1, awaiting for processing, please contact confirmation"
"Stats, stats" Stats shouted as he was Slapping his arms at the soldier.
"Hey knock it off"
Shiro snickered at the scene, while
lying on the ground, planning what to do next, Shiro could hardly express how terrible his situation is, it's hard to imagine that this not even real... That just a little while ago he was on Earth, the injury that he'd received from being cut by Twyla's string was the only reminder that what happened on Altea was real.
"Hey tell your buddy to knock it out" the soldier ordered him.
"Ok" Shiro suggested as he didn't react, nor was there the slightest shake in his voice.
"Waiting for confirmation to continue further"
"That's a go-to proceed, but I advise you to double-check, Commander Twyla just touched down and has already dealt with an insurgence"
Upon hearing that, Shiro wondered that they were talking about Keith, Twyla's image reappeared in her mind, when she remembered how she attacked them and thrown him off his game, he got goosebumps.
Mistress Centipeetle, Sendak, and Twyla... In only days, just those three had come after the quintessence Crystal, an unbelievable number of Daemons were no doubt hunting down or in Galra's case declaring war on people, innocent people.
"Standing by"
"Did he just say that Twyla is hunting down an insurgence?"
"Oh, who knows? You know she mind-controlled a bunyip to lay down the law within swamp villages, now. You know how it is"
Hearing him say, Shiro suddenly felt guilty not just going back home like that but not only that he just finished off up a monster that belongs to Twyla, no wonder these people are getting attacked.
"I got to do something" Shiro through as he returned to his senses. That's right, Keith!? That's why I figured I might as well go home." On top of that, he never wanted to do with me, too! His stomach churned just thinking about it, he'd never met anyone so violent, ill-mannered, ill-tempered, callous, and unreasonable! But at the same time, he was lost and needed help.
But first thing first, how to deal with the Galra soldiers who sit and wait, feeling bored out of their mind. "What is that place, anyway?"
"Uh, I don't know special about this place. I don't ask questions".
"Why"
"Did you not know that Commander Twyla captured a dozen rebels and put them under her control just to make a point?"
Shiro took a final look at the place, trying to find weapons before they all become prisoners of the Galra empire for good.
Filled with resolve, he crawled away from the distracting eyes of the guards who deciding on what to do, like they wanted to completely rid the existence of that other world.
"Hey what are you doing," Romelle ask Shiro?
It looked like It was already settled, anyway, since there was no way for him to go back into a prisoner and lose another limb in the process. Having to gain gained a new arm is long enough.
"Hey, what are you doing"
The soldiers walked over there looking for an attack him with police brutality
But at that moment...
Crunch crunch crunch... There was the echo of rough footsteps inside the workshop, stepping on the Crystal-like Glass.
...?!" Who could that be... but when Shiro turned around, he couldn't believe his eyes.
Somehow, Keith was there. And he already looked mad.
"Identify yourself!"
"Hey... who told you that you were welcome here?!
"Keith?" Romelle couldn't believe that Keith had come to come to their rescue. "Why are you here?"
"What's it look like I'm doing"
As the soldiers were giving a warning shot and stepping closer to him, katydid the same when he delivered a shock of pain erupts dead center of his face, where the hard knuckles of the officer's fist graze the bridge of his nose. The barest tap cracks the bone. He cries out, reflexively covering his face with his palm as blood gushes from his nostrils.
"Hey. We told you to get out of here" the soldier ordered planning to attacked but Keith grabs the Trooper's arm and twists it until it snaps, then slams him down. Then he grabs the other Trooper's head and smashes him down on the ground repeatedly.
"Whoa," Shiro said, looking at the young man in amazement as the flurry of vicious blows Keith unleashed on the men. When he paused to wipe his brow with the hem of his black shirt, Shiro cleared his throat.
Keith whipped around, startled. "So how long Shiro? How long have you been standing there?"
"I mean, where did you come from?!"
"I was right here at the other time, stupid."
"What are you doing? Why did you save me? ..." As he was speaking, Keith began to look increasingly upset.
"We need you. We need the samurai". Keith pulled off the quintessence Crystal that was stuck to the shoulder of his clothing and put in Shiro's hand. "I should've given this back to you. I don't know how but you knew that I never what it and I knew that. But I was stupid. And a jerk and I almost got everyone killed. And I'm sorry!"
Shiro froze in place "You're not any of those things. I mean I'm an outsider who just learned all this overnight. How do you know you can trust me now?"
"I don't. But I hope I can. I feel like maybe you're here to help me learn to be a better person and hopefully help you find your way home"
"Hold it right there!" Romelle stood in Keith's way with a stern expression.
"What?" Keith glared at her with surprise but angered eyes, but Romelle didn't flinch a bit.
"While I'm surprised you're still here but you could ve taken the crystal at every time, why didn't you"
Keith hesitated, he didn't own Romelle an answer, he wasn't interested chatting with her like a friend and yet, something told Keith that Romelle actually trusted him and interest did what he had to say.
"I just... I just don't want to run away or think that I'm just a coward" Keith said as he turns away from them, "if I run away now, does prove that everyone was right about me before I get the chance to show what I'm truly capable of"
Keith stopped had he ever shared something that important with someone else that deep.
Shiro's face lights up, "well, I'm glad you're still here, wanting to dry"
"Yeah sure whatever just don't tell anyone I said that," Keith said, going back to his loner attitude.
That's something that Shiro has to work on but will keep trying, but when he happened to look back at Keith, a single strand of black was wound about the shoulder of Keith's crimson clothing. It was thin, but long, and extended out of the workshop and down the hall. His heart began to pound could that be Twyla's manipulation?! But it couldn't be...
"Keith, look"
"Look at what"
"You... can't see it?! Look, right here!" When he reached out to grab it, the strand extended and tangled around Shiro's hand like it had a mind of its own. "Ah!" he tried to shake it off in a panic, but the back of his hand was cut and began to bleed red.
"Shiro, why are you bleeding...?!"
"She is still here!" Sokka and the others looked at him, startled.
"He's right, I'm... the only one who can see this!" With a strong uneasy feeling, Shiro darted out of the room.
"Shiro what's wrong?!" Lacking the time to answer Romelle or Keith, he flew down the hallway, the string extended down the hallway and out the entrance to the outside.
"There's no way strings this long can be normal!" The string was connected to every part of the subterranean. When he rushed into the outside, Shiro stopped suddenly at what he saw, countless strands of long hair were waving about in large bundles like spiderwebs. "Twyla's string...! It came following us all the way to this world!
Keith followed close after her and spoke with a surprising tone. "So I guess Sokka was right that your eyes are the only thing you've got going for you, huh."
"Look, you..." Romelle glared at him, frustrated at his tone. "You brought some pretty unwelcome baggage with you!"
"What, it's just one strand".
"It's not just one!"
"When Shiro said that, "guys"
"What's going on?!" Lian and the others came running, looking worried.
"Don't come in here!!" Shiro yelled,
"He's right," Sokka said, getting assisting by Billy.
"As long as Twyla and her armies are still here, The great tree would never be safe"
Yes, bad things, all right. No matter what, he had to stop it here. If he let that Twyla taking over, there really would be no stopping her.
But she certainly seemed to be in the process of taking over. The bundles extending from everywhere were increasing in number and speed. Hundreds of thousands of writhing, squirming bundles were bursting out like a fountain.
Keith! In front of you!" One of the bundles extended like a tentacle and attacked.
"Here?!" Keith swung his dagger randomly. Though he cut a few of the hairs and they fell to the floor, other bundles of hair immediately came after him, wrapping around Keith's arms and legs and lifting his body into the air.
Relying on the sensation of the bundles of hair touching him, he ripped them off one after the other. "These damn things!" But even after ripping them off and throwing them on the floor, the string continued to move and repair itself. It then formed itself back into a bundle and attacked again.
"No good... there's no end to them! There has to... there has to be something..." Looking around, Kagome saw something shine for a moment.
"You see it"
Shiro turns around to see Sokka holding his sword and removed from its sheath
"I believe this belongs to you"
He held out the hilt to Shiro, he took it.
And suddenly go back what he saw, It was a single strand sticking out. It was just another one of them coming out at the center, but it was giving off light. "Ah! Was that... no, it had to be" Shiro was certain. That's the main one controlling the others!
Shiro rushed to the glowing strand, avoiding the other attacking. "this one!"
"There? You found it?!" Keith swung his dagger blindly again, but as if it was teasing him, the glowing parts briskly avoided his dagger.
Shiro gripped the main one in two places with both hands, then firmly ran his upper hand along with it. "Ow...!"
A sharp pain ran through her as blood flowed out. The blood ran down the black ones
Using his sword, Shiro sliced through the string that had been rendered visible by His blood.
Instantly, the strings that had been attacking fell to the floor as though they had lost all life, then vanished with a hiss.
"It's finally over..." Romelle exhaled in relief, while Sokka racked his brain.
"Not quite, Twyla knows where we are, she will contact the empire"
Not to mention this was Shiro's fault, to begin with for killing the Bunyip... When he thought about that, Shiro's mind was already made up.
"Don't worry, we're going to stop them" he said as he rushed to the outside.
"you sure about that, you seem to have a good idea of what's going on."
"Maybe I have maybe I don't, but I can't let this go on, you may don't have to come with me." When Shiro spoke, Keith removed the quintessence Crystal without a word and draped them over Shiro's head.
"The crystal it's more than some beautiful Jewel. It's stronger than basic armor."
That was surprising in Romelle's eyes. Keith was... she'd thought he was violent, selfish, cruel, quick to anger, inelegant, and ignorant of others, but here he was looking out for others including his owner, and lending back the crystal. To think he was actually capable of kindness. It was surprising, but she was still happy about it.
"Th... thank you.... but you keep it" The words came out of Shiro's mouth so naturally.
But his reply was nothing to be happy about. "Ya, but is only because you have such a weak hide."
The corner of Romelle's cheek twitched as Shiro replied, "thank you".
"Yeah, You're the weird one. I'm normal!"
Without replying, Keith gripped Shiro's shoulder. "All right, let's go!"
"Right!"
The three of them left the area with great vigor. This was the third time that had entered this place since they were captured. But this was the first time they went into it of their own free will. They rapidly fell into the deep darkness below.
Even so, after using the Horngazel, they left the great tree into the cover of darkness.
Romelle frowned. "so what changed your mind, Keith".
"What you mean"
"I mean something obvious changes your mind! Was it, Shiro".
"None of your business, okay we are importing job to do"
"Keith's right, we need to stop them or else the tree becomes another Target to them"
"I'm right, no one has never agreed with me, Oh well" oh well, at any rate, he had to work together with him, even if Romelle hates him, back to the village. Sokka had said that this man was the only one capable of finding the mastermind behind that damned plot against the rebels.
It wasn't just that he was apparently Allura or Takashi's reincarnation that he didn't like him, but because he was straightforward, strong-willed, and kind to the Bone, something Allura once had but carrying the patience that Takashi once had too.
Even if He had no interest in relying on his beyond his absolute need to, but in order to get what he wanted, he'd have to bear with it.
Shiro asks the group to find a safe place in the swamp, in case they don't make it back. then followed that insufferable woman's energy. The energy had led to a base, a similar one that Sendak has.
"So she is here, huh!" he'd said as he preparing to fight, "let go".
"Keith no"
Following Shiro's voice, Keith's mark suddenly glow, which it was relieved, everyone
"Ow, seriously I was about to attack them"
"I know you want to face them but we have to actually think and not draw attention to ourselves"
"So you're saying that we can not randomly, especially that woman is after us?" Keith asked as they see the base.
"That's right. She's already dozens of rebels under her control, she's still chasing us," said Shiro.
"So what do we do" Keith raised his voice, but Shiro went pale.
"First things first we have to deal with bundles of string that Above us!"
With that the group dodged blindly and sensed some kind of attack strike the base, caring nothing but a sword, a dagger, and a staff and started to ran.
Keith could tell that there was some kind of long, thin objects around his body. There seemed to be a multitude of string stretched about this swamp.
"Show me the source of this! I'll rip its master apart!" But before he could even say that, Shiro had already been gazing into the darkness of the swamp.
"I can see one glowing part in the middle of the stretched string around the swamp. It must be the same one I saw in the tree. That one must be the mainline controlling the base
"So?"
"So if we head in the direction the mainline is coming from, I'm sure that's where Twyla is!"
"Which way?!"
"This way!"
The group took off in the direction Shiro pointed. He pushed off the ground hard, leaping high into the air with the speed that split the darkness. Soon, flickering light appeared in front of them.
"What is that?"
"it looks like we found missing people," said Keith, frowning. It smelled like blood. The scent of people... dead ones.
When they got closer, there were three bloody corpses around the base. All three had their arms and legs tie, two of them were on the ground while one of them was hanging off the ground, caught in a web. From the looks of it, they were rebels.
The strewn around this place was visible even to Keith. It was stained red with the blood of these men. "She captured them from battle, these guys had some bad luck."
He didn't know exactly what happened, but it looked like they'd tried to fight back, only to have their limbs getting chopped off one after the other.
"Huh?" Keith was alerted to something odd. "No matter where I look, I don't see any humans".
"You're right, I don't see any of them," Romelle said.
"She took them away" voice soundings so horse.
"One of the rebels is still alive," Shiro said, Hearing his murmur, Keith turned around. "What you mean".
"She took the humans who have daemons, she said that they are needed for a special project".
"Where are they!" Romelle said to the injured one, crouched down, completely covered by his story.
"At the center, you must hurry"
"We will" there's no need for communication, Shiro knows what they have to do, Shiro stood up. "Come on let's go" Shiro stared straight at Keith and Shiro with a resolute expression. His look was so severe that everyone almost wanted to unconsciously flinch.
Keith looked at Shiro intently. "Even if you have a sword, with your skill there's no way you could hit anything." He'd said deliberately, but the woman didn't move.
"So what! If I practice, I can hit something!"
"Are you sure about that?"
"I will!" The anger in her tone revealed a strong determination.
"Wow, he is unreliable, he's got more guts than I thought." Now that he thought of it, back at the tree, Shiro had injured his own hand in order to show him where the strands were, he wouldn't have been able to do something like that if he didn't have any courage.
"That way!" Shiro said energetically, pointing into the forest. "The shining main line goes that way. We have to hurry!"
"R... right!" Romelle and Keith follow his lead onto the darkness of the night.
When he saw the mangled victims in the base, Shiro felt a shock like his heart had been ripped out. "While I planning to go home, this sort of horrible thing has been going on...!"
These people must defend their home from a losing battle to save lives, and we're trying to protect their homes and families. Alternatively, they may have been gathered to discuss rebuilding their homes, or other sorts of dreams they wanted to make a reality.
Either way, it was all wiped out from the moment they got captured.
The thoughts of their family, their dreams for the future, had all been severed. Twyla had sought the quintessence Crystal, but they'd gotten caught in a trap that she'd set for Shiro and Keith. They were collateral damage.
"This is my responsibility, too..."
Although there was nothing he could have done about this, he was the one who brought back the quintessence Crystal but wanted he'd gone home. he'd just run to a safe and comfortable place where he wouldn't have to care about what happened in this world.
He felt such a coward... At this rate, even more, innocent people will be killed or captured, he absolutely could not allow that, they have to hurry and find Twyla and defeat her!
Shiro firmly gripped the sword as run with Keith and Romelle, who cut through the wind with a howl when moved. Previously he told Keith "I'll practice", but tonight he had to make sure he hit his mark without the benefit of practice.
Honestly, he had no confidence he could hit anything. In the battle to come, it didn't look like there was anything he could do outside of seeing Twyla's strands. That's why, confidence or not, he had to do it.
They exited the center of the base and began to climb an unknown part.
While he'd only seen a scant number of Twyla's glowing strands in the base, where they were coming from all directions and were definitely all headed in the same direction. To where Twyla was.
"Keith, Romelle be careful. We're close!"
"Yeah. You don't have to tell me twice"
When Shiro nodded, a loud "ZA ZA ZA" sound was heard. Ahead of them beyond a large rock, thousands of strands gathered in a large bundle and attacked them. They twisted and waved like tentacles.
"Dodge to your right!" Keith leaped to his right and dodged the attack that he couldn't see.
"This time to your left!" Shiro somehow managed to dodge that one, too. But the bundles continued to press forward. So quickly that there was no way to dodge them even if he could see them...
"Ah...!" A bundle of strands that suddenly appeared beside them swiftly wound its way around Inuyasha's wrist.
"ha!" The bundle of strands dragged Keith into the air and lose balance from the abrupt movement and was thrown to the ground.
"Dammit! Let go of me!" He somehow attempted to slash at the attacking bundles while suspended in the air, but new ones extended from them one after another, and with him trapped, they dragged him behind the boulder in front of them.
"Keith!!" Shiro looks up and frantically chased after him.
Beyond the base was a strange landscape. It was like a valley surrounded by sheer cliffs, bathed in the brilliant moonlight, with a giant cocoon-like object lightly floating. The cocoon looked to be woven of strands. And to be more accurate, the cocoon wasn't floating.
The strands extending out of it in several places, attached to either side of the cliff and supporting it.
Romelle swallowed some saliva. "Is that... Twyla's hideout?!"
Keith was right next to that cocoon. He was hanging in the middle of the air in the base much like the cocoon, thanks to the bundles wrapped around his arms and legs.
"Keith!" When he tried to call out to him, he heard a delighted-sounding woman's voice.
"Oh my, I've caught some splendid prey."
Shiro and Romelle reflexively hid when they took a look, it was Twyla, as they thought. Twyla was freely manipulating the strands of black attached to her fingers, and with a poise befitting a star circus performer, she danced through the air, landing on one of the thin threads supporting the cocoon. And like a child who just saw a toy someone bought for her, she stared at Inuyasha with shining eyes.
"Oh, what gorgeous body... You must be Keith."
"you're Commander Twyla, eh?" Even captured, Keith still hadn't lost his confident attitude. "Why do you know about me?"
"You've already gained quite the reputation amongst us Galra in a few days, especially what I heard from Sendak, you really left a mark on him"
Shiro gasped at Twyla's words. "Sendak....?! This girl knew about him"
Thinking about that, Shiro completely misread the situation, he thought that he was the one responsible for the attack on the tree but Sendak all along.
"So what's Sendak heard about me?" Keith asked, and Twyla chuckled.
"That the half-daemon has become the servant of a reincarnated man, and is trying to protect the quintessence Crystal"
"Wha?!" Keith was outraged. "You think I'm that idiots' servant?! Like hell!!"
"Wh, what's with calling us an idiot!?" Romelle shouting. "I mean we're helping him"
But then again, Shiro knew that Keith would feel not like being called a servant.
"Oh, you're not?" Twyla wondered with wide eyes. "Well, whatever you are, you're in my way. That's why I figured I'd kill the two of you first, then collect these at my leisure."
Twyla reached into the cleavage of her black costume get her weapon and shouted, "oh boys"
On her command, millions of soldiers surrounded Shiro and Romelle reflexively. In a way, it shows her dominance.
"Oh boy, first Keith calls us idiots, now this" Romelle shouted.
"Oh, I'll be taking that"
A single strand moved quickly and slipped into Shiro's neck, taking hold of the chain containing the quintessence Crystal.
By the time he'd noticed, the Crystal was already in Twyla's hand. Who begins to flaunt it in front of Keith.
Keith stifled his anger and glared at Twyla as he put the Crystal away.
"Kill me...? Hmph, as you could..." As he said that, he tore apart all but one of the binding that holds him with his strength alone. "You're gonna regret showing that off in front of me!" As he shouted, he rushed at Twyla, dangling from the one remaining bundle that he hadn't cut.
"Oh my." Twyla skillfully manipulated the strands attached to her fingers, quickly fending off Keith's attack, then produced a red comb from beneath her sash.
With that comb, she briskly swept up the nearby bundles of black strands. Then, as though she'd put her own will into the comb, the surrounding bundles of hair began to writhe and grow, wrapping around Keith's arms, abdomen, and legs. Much more plentifully than before.
The binding him constricted tightly and began to swallow him up until Shiro lost sight of him from her position. However, even so, Keith never stopped resisting. "Tch, what a pain," he grunted, his face contorting.
"Hmph. I'm surprised you're not dying just by being constricted like that. Looks like you're too sturdy to be killed all alone." Twyla grinned and drew the gun at her hip.
Twyla's violet body sped through the moonlight like a swallow, the sound of the gun made a blaster sound of red, giving off a cold light. She made a clear shot across Keith's chest, spraying bright red blood.
"Keith...!" Shiro wanted to cry out, but he just barely contained himself. He simultaneously felt fear at having to confront Twyla and great anger. Even though he could tell himself various reasons why she should just show herself, what Twyla was doing was the same as Mistress Centipeede or Sendak... no, much worse.
"She's going to kill him," Shiro told Romelle.
"Well what are we supposed to do"
At any rate, he couldn't just keep staying in the background, they got to do something to save Keith...!
"Heh, nice shot." Even with a gaping wound in his chest, Keith still hadn't lost his lofty attitude.
"It's so cute when you act tough," Twyla chuckled. "It's a good thing, too. If this wasn't able to cut you, I wasn't sure what I would have done."
Keith was still putting on a strong face, but Twyla figured he was only bluffing. Pretty soon he'd start crying and begging for mercy. But she won't give him any mercy. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you have a?" she said to her honestly, what an unlucky half-daemon. If he'd just let his head get chopped off when he was caught in her 'Kushi no Kago', he would have just died rather than having to go through all this pain.
But at then when she was appearing for another shot, she heard a "swoosh swoosh" sound of something whizzing through the air. "Hn?!" It was the sound of flying arrows. Surprisingly, Yura's "Kushi no Kago" that she had just been boasting about disappeared as though it had been touched by a hot flame as soon as the sword touched it.
"Who's there?!" She turned towards where the sword had come from, and a man was atop the base with a sword drawn. A man with a white garment draped over her body. That was...
"The reincarnated samurai!" Back then, he'd supposedly be captured and then send off to Sendak, but at some point, he must have escaped.
"Guards" she shouted, but to her surprise, all the men were knocked out by a certain woman, "hey lady" before she knocked out a guard in front of her.
"Go to the people now and leave this place and never come back!"
"You got a task ahead I'll give you that but really intend to try wiping out my entire 'Kushi no Kago'?
But Shiro's aim was somewhere else completely. Somehow, he had hit Twyla's precious cocoon.
"Ah!" It was her lair that she had painstakingly woven into a beautiful ball of hair. The strands struck by the sword at the bottom vanished, and the numerous humans and their daemon that had been inside hanging out of it by strands.
"Are those" When he saw the people, Shiro let out a shriek, whereas Twyla became furious. "don't worry they are still alive". She had quite the nerve to say after destroying someone's precious collection in such an undignified manner.
Even so, Shiro was a bother or Romelle. It wasn't just that he could see the Kushi no Kago, he could also dissipate the string and destroyed her precious lair. Contrary to his outward appearance, it appeared she held strong magical power.
"These must be the people that soldiers mention people before..." Among the hanging from bodies the nest, Keith spotted some people that still had still daemon attached.
Even though he hadn't been able to see them before, thanks to Shiro's sword hitting them it seemed he was now able to see them.
"Don't worry, you'll be joining them shortly," Twyla said with a smile.
"Oh?" Keith gave her a challenging glare.
"How nice. The man is stubborn and willful, the string strong and supple. Not to mention he has so much beautiful black hair. It's going to be so fun to play with."
But before she could take Keith's head, there was one thing she had to deal with first. Twyla changed her target to the samurai. She saw Shiro's frightened face and sharply swung her red comb.
"You there, samurai! If you're so scared, you might as well die!"
Whoosh! Flames spread down the string attached to the comb. They headed straight for him.
"Aaah!!" Shiro let out a pitiful cry as he was instantly engulfed in flames.
"How do you like my daemon blood art? You'll burn down to the marrow."
The flames burned high and low, fluttering like a dance.
"Feel nice? That's punishment for almost destroying my plans. By flames beautiful enough to enrapture. Beautiful enough to burn you alive." smiled in satisfaction, then turned back to Keith. Now to make his head hers.
"Shiro" Keith shouted as he saw him engulfed in the flames of Twyla's blood art, despite handling all the pain up until now in a collected manner, his face showed signs of distress for the first time.
"Oh, how interesting." Twyla loved watching someone being forced to show emotion. She preferred watching anger, sadness, and hatred, however.
"There aren't even bones left of that man, that was too bad Sendak wanted him alive" She figured she'd try saying something to prod him even further.
As she'd expected, Keith shouted, "You bitch! You are going to pay for that" which pleased Twyla immensely to see him boiling with anger.
Are you sad that that woman is dead? Aww, poor thing." Naturally, it's not like she actually felt sorry for him. Twyla generally had no understanding of feeling "sorry" for anyone other than herself. "Don't worry. Soon enough I'll be sending you to the next world to join her!"
When Twyla rushed at him with her drawn gun, Keith curled the fingers of his right hand. The sharp claws glinted.
"Hah, still trying to resist" thought Twyla, but, Twyla made an unexpected move. He stuck those sharp claws into his own chest. Keith was startled momentarily to see his bloodstain his clothes.
"Don't tell me he's so upset at that his death that he's trying to kill himself",
But that wasn't it. Keith drew his blood-stained fingers from his chest and shouted, "Take this! Daemon blood art, blades!!" and swung down his right arm.
The spray of blood flew through the air in a crescent shape.
"Blades of blood?!" Twyla hurriedly tried to dodge, but she was a moment too late. The blades of blood came flying with a howl and sliced off Yura's sword-wielding right hand at the wrist.
"...! My hand..." Twyla looked at her right arm, which now had nothing beyond the wrist, and felt a bit sad.
Romelle felt sorry for her that this had happened to her and that she knew what was like to deal with that guy.
"Heh, without your hand, you can't control your hair, either."
Keith's words stung her heart. "You... should play nicer with girls." As she said that, Twyla put the red comb from her left hand in her mouth.
"Man she's really tough," Romelle said, looking at the battle. "But he... should play nicer with girls."
Keith glared at Twyla as she placed the red comb from her left hand in her mouth. You deserved it for what you've done to either a man or a woman!, Attacking their homes, interrupting the swamp, is unforgivable"
Twyla held the comb in her mouth. She dragged her left hand along the comb. It seemed she was combing through the bundle of strands entwined about her left hand.
Then, the people hanging by hairs from Twyla's nest began to chatter their teeth. "...?!" Twyla moved the comb further. Her nest began to collapse. The multitude of people, holding knives writhed within the long ones and came charging at Keith all at once.
A torrent of hair like an avalanche or tsunami pummelled Inuyasha.
"Ugh! Get off me!" He swung his hand, knocking out the people that charging him. He destroyed them one after another as they continued to press in.
Until Keith sensed a lethal force rapidly approaching behind him. He hurriedly turned around, and a sharp pain ran across his shoulder.
"Eh...?!" He'd been shot. Blood was spraying out. When he looked, he saw that Yura's right hand that he'd cut off earlier was flying around holding her gun. Twyla was undoubtedly manipulating it with some invisible strands.
"So close. Just a little more and I'd have had your head." Twyla looked at Keith regrettably. "How about another go?!" She moved the fingers of her left hand nimbly. Her right hand holding her gun came flying.
Tch." Just as he clicked his tongue, a heavy shock and a sharp pain pierced his back. Twyla had used his momentary distraction by the people to manipulate her right hand and blast him through the back with her gun.
"Now now, where are you looking?!" Twyla made a large sweeping motion with her red comb. The people charged from all directions, wrapping Keith's body in bundles and swinging him around.
"Dammit!" Keith gritted his teeth. He wanted to fight back, but with the bundles and Twyla's right hand, Keith's body was tightly bound and he was becoming unable to move.
"Hmph. So you really are half-baked," Twyla mocked while approaching him. She delicately placed her red comb in her sash and said, "You poor thing."
With a face that didn't show a bit of pity at all, she reached into her cleavage and gave him a glance of the containing the Crystal. She was just teasing him with it. "You wanted to use this to become a real daemon, didn't you."
"A real one " Romelle thought, has she wondered if why Shiro wanted to give him the crystal. He uses it he really wanted, so why didn't he, because he knew he knew that Keith never wanted the crystal.
She came close and gazed at Inuyasha haughtily, holding a gun in her left hand. "Now don't move. If I don't get a clean cut on your neck, mine record won't be perfect" Twyla said with a glimmer of a smile, raising gun high above her head. When she swung the sword down, the trigger sound coldly in the moonlight.
"No, you don't!" Romelle put all her strength into her right arm. As if someone like her could cut off Keith's head! What a joke!
Thunk! She'd through her staff straight through her chest. "Nice throw, Romelle," Shiro said, remark
Twyla's eyes went wide. Romelle's right staff was sticking out her back. When She retracted the staff, Keith could see the gaping hole in Twyla's chest that he could see the mountain through.
Suddenly, there was a gunshot stuck through the back of his hand.
It was Twyla, she had pulled the trigger through his hand. Even though she had a gaping hole in her chest, she was unperturbed. "You, how brazen of you. Sticking your hand in a woman's chest right after meeting her."
He stared in disbelief as Twyla wiggled the fingers of her left hand, manipulating the blood-stained string.
The containing the quintessence Crystal that she had clutched in her right hand lifted into the air, falling into the ground.
"Hmph. Looks like you won't be getting the quintessence Crystal while you were at it. You should quit while you're ahead."
"Where is it?!" Keith searched frantically. "Where is her weak spot?!"
"Hm?" Twyla scowled abruptly. It seemed like she was feeling the hairs on her left-hand tug at her on their own.
Twyla turned around and gasped.
When Keith followed her gaze, he saw White cloth fluttering in the wind. Since it had been used to attack Twyla earlier, Twyla's nest was no longer a ball, but a scattered mess of separate streams of black string. The white cloth was in the process of scurrying up one of those streams.
Keith knew what it was. The white cloth was the cloak of the samurai. Shiro - the one who was the reincarnation of both Takashi and Allura- was boldly climbing the nest.
"Him again!" She should have burned to death!" Twyla said in a low voice. Her face was unlike any she had shown until now: grim. Repairing for the kill.
Preparing to murder.
"He's got a task ahead of him. Does he really intend to try wiping out my entire 'Kushi no Kago'?"
"How do I take this thing down"
"I think with this" Romelle said, displays the sword that she got from Shiro's room. The sword that he left behind.
Shiro looked at the sword and this time things would be different. "Okay! Let's do this!"
With that Shiro's aim went somewhere else completely. Somehow, he had hit Twyla's precious cocoon of blackness.
"Ah!" It was her lair that she had painstakingly woven into a beautiful ball of black strings, the string struck by his sword at the bottom vanished, and the numerous bodies that had been inside hanging out of it by strands.
When she saw the people, Romelle covered her mouth with her hands, whereas Twyla became furious. She had quite the nerve to say to do that after destroying someone's precious collection in such an undignified manner.
Even so, Shiro was a bother. It wasn't just that he could see the "Kushi no Kago", he could also dissipate the string and destroyed her precious lair. Contrary to her clumsy outward appearance, it appeared she held strong spiritual power.
"The people that soldiers mention to us before..." Among the bodies hanging from the nest, Keith spotted Daemons, it was clear that the people are still alive.
Even though he hadn't been able to see them before, thanks to Shiro, hitting them it seemed he was now able to see them.
"That's right. And you'll be joining them shortly," Twyla said with a smile.
"Oh?" Keith gave her a challenging glare.
"Oo-hu-hu, how nice. The man is stubborn and willful, the black strands were strong and supple. Not to mention he has so much beauty. It's going to be so fun to play with."
But before she could take Keith's head, there was one thing she had to deal with first. Twyla changed her target to Shiro and Romelle, she saw Romelle's frightened face and sharply swung her red comb.
"You there! If you're so scared, you might as well die!"
Whoosh! Flames spread down the hairs attached to the comb. They headed straight for Romelle.
"Romelle, lookout" Shiro shouted as he pushed her out of the way.
"Aaah!!" Shiro let out a pitiful cry as he was instantly engulfed in flames.
The flames burned high and low, fluttering like a dance.
"Feel nice? That's punishment for destroying my lair by flames beautiful enough to enrapture, beautiful enough to burn you alive."
Twyla smiled in satisfaction, then turned back to Keith. Now to make his head hers.
When Keith and Romelle saw Shiro engulfed in the flames of "Onibigushi", despite handling all the pain up until now in a collected manner, Keith's face showed signs of distress for the first time.
"Oh, how interesting", Twyla loved watching someone being forced to show emotion. She preferred watching anger, sadness, and hatred, however.
"There aren't even bones left of that man." She figured she'd try saying something to prod him even further.
As she'd expected, Keith shouted, "You bitch!" which pleased Twyla immensely to see him boiling with anger.
"Are you sad that that woman is dead? Aww, poor thing."
Naturally, it's not like she actually felt sorry for him. Twyla generally had no understanding of feeling "sorry" for anyone other than herself, "Don't worry. Soon enough I'll be sending you to the next world to join her!"
When Twyla rushed at him with her gun drawn, Keith curled the dagger of his right hand. The sharp dagger glinted.
"Hah, still trying to resist" thought Romelle, but, Keith made an unexpected move, he stuck that sharp dagger into his own chest. Yura was startled momentarily to see his bloodstain his clothes.
"Don't tell me he's so upset at that man's death that he's trying to kill himself"
But that wasn't it. Keith drew his blood-stained dagger from his chest and shouted, "Take this! Daemon blood art, blades of blood!! and swung down his right arm.
The spray of blood flew through the air in a crescent shape.
"Blades of blood?!" Romelle thought
Twyla hurriedly tried to dodge, but he was a moment too late, the blades of blood came flying with a howl and sliced off Twyla's gun-wielding right hand at the wrist.
"...! My hand..." Twyla looked at her right arm, which now had nothing beyond the wrist, and felt a bit sad. She felt sorry for herself that this had happened to her and that she couldn't forgive that terrible boy who did this to her.
"without your hand, you can't control your streams, either."
"He's right," Romelle said, looking at the bodies, "there is a chance we can save them" with that she started to run to the people, who were trapped.
Keith's words stung her heart. "You... should play nicer with people." As she said that, Twyla put the red comb from her left hand in her mouth.
"You... should play nicer with people," Keith said, glared at Twyla as she placed the red comb from her left hand in her mouth.
"The hell are you talking about?! What you've done is something unforgivable for either a man or a woman!" Romelle said
Twyla held the comb in her mouth. She dragged her left hand along the comb. It seemed she was combing through the bundle of black strings entwined about her left hand.
Then, the people hanging by black strands from Twyla's nest began to gather weapons from the down soldiers
Twyla when moved the comb further. Her nest began to collapse. The multitude of strands writhed within the longer stand of black and came charging at Keith all at once.
A torrent of people like an avalanche or tsunami pummelled Keith.
"Ugh! Get off me!" He swung his dagger, trying to cut the string that is connected to the people charging him. He destroyed them one after another as they continued to press in.
Until Keith sensed a lethal force rapidly approaching behind him. He hurriedly turned around, and a sharp pain ran across his shoulder.
"Eh...?!" He'd been shot. Blood was spraying out. When he looked, he saw that Twyla's right hand that he'd cut off earlier was flying around holding a gun. Twyla was undoubtedly manipulating it with some invisible strings.
"Hey" Romelle shouted as she was trying not to shoot the people.
"So close. Just a little more and I'd have had your head." Twyla looked at Romelle regrettably. "How about another go?!" She moved the fingers of her left hand nimbly. Her right hand holding her gun came flying.
Tch." Just as he clicked his tongue, a heavy shock and a sharp pain pierced his back. Twyla had used her momentary distraction by the mind control people to manipulate her right hand and try to shoot her through the back with her gun.
"Now now, where are you looking?!" Keith made a large sweeping motion with his dagger, charged from all directions, shouted "daemon blood art!"
Keith thought he could turn the tables on her, but the countless bundles of mindless-bearing moved between Twyla and Romelle like a curtain, acting as a wall to stop the people.
"Dammit!" Twyla gritted her teeth, Keith wanted to fight back, but with the bundles of black and her right hand, Keith's body was tightly bound and he was becoming unable to move.
"Hmph. So a Altean and Half-daemon really is just half-baked," Twyla mocked while approaching him. She delicately placed her red comb in her sash and said, "You poor things"
With a face that didn't show a bit of pity at all, she reached into her hands to look for something on Keith's neck, she found it, the quintessence Crystal. She starts teasing him with it. "You wanted to use this to become a real Daemon, didn't you".
She came close and gazed Keith haughtily, loading her gun in her left hand. "Now don't move, I didn't come to play nice I came here to complete a mission so that's what I'm going to do beginning with you," Twyla said with a glimmer of a smile, raising the gun high above her head. When she shot the gun, the sound glinted coldly in the moonlight.
"Hmph... quit jerking me around!" Keith put all his strength into his right arm. As if someone like her could kill someone like him! What a joke!
Thunk! He'd punched Twyla straight through her chest.
"What" Twyla's eyes went wide, Keith's right hand was sticking out her back. When he retracted his hand, there was a gaping hole in Twyla's chest that he could see the mountain through.
"that's what you get," Keith said as he did so. Suddenly, there was a gun stuck through the back of his hand.
It was Twyla. Twyla had put the gun through his hand. Even though she had a gaping hole in her chest, she was unperturbed. "How brazen of you. Sticking your hand in a woman's chest right after meeting her."
"She's... she's fine?! " He stared in disbelief as Twyla wiggled the fingers of her left hand, manipulating the blood-stained strings.
"You just don't know when to quit."
Where is it?! Keith searched frantically. "Where is her weak spot?!" Romelle thought as she was looking at the scene and fighting some people
But when Keith followed her gaze, he saw White cloth fluttering in the wind. Since it had been used to attack Keith earlier, Twyla's nest was no longer a ball, but a scattered mess of separate streams of black strings entwined. The white cloth was in the process of scurrying up one of those streams.
Keith knew what it was. The red cloth was the samurai. That man - the one who was the reincarnation of Allura and Takashi - was boldly climbing her nest.
"That man! She should have burned to death!" Twyla said in a low voice. Her face was unlike any she had shown until now: grim towards the man that she bought that died.