"Mina-san! Please fall in line and drop the tickets into the box in the middle..", spoke Kasumi through a voice amplifier at center stage. "The show will start once we all kindly settle down."
Thousands of Player Characters snaked through numerous lines around a small box in the middle of the concert grounds. Once reaching the small container about the size of a travel bag, the spectators dropped their previously troublesome tickets into it. It may have seemed that everyone has calmed down all thanks to Kasumi's soothing voice and guarantee that the concert was still on, many whispers and murmurs of concern still echoed throughout the open area however.
"I can't believe the cult got us that easily..", one of the townsfolk pointed out.
"It's scary if you think about it..", another one mentioned.
"Yeah, they can just do that all the time with that power.."
"If the Fujiishima Squadron wasn't here, we'd be left for dead.."
"It's amazing yet disturbing how powerless we are against that kind of magic."
Seated resting not far from where the conversing bystanders were, Jax could not help but eavesdrop on what they were talking about. It caused an unbearable irritation similar to feeling like he had to desperately find a way to scratch the itch. That powerlessness the locals were talking about got to his nerves so much he could not contain the disappointment forming in his crumpled expression. It led him to glare at a boy nearby who was wearing an awkward mix of glasses and Orcish armor and busily ushering the crowd to their designated lines.
"I was actually fighting him, huh?..", pondered Jax as the world inside him quaked in anger. "All this time I thought I was fighting a cultist.. then Chizuru-chan shot me. Suddenly, the cultist was gone, and otaku-san is there.. dammit! How did I become this weak?! And how was he not affected by that spell at all?!"
Jax slammed his hands on the ground, startling everyone around, and stood up. Keeping his gaze at Seijurou, he approached his arch-nemesis with some heaviness in his footsteps, causing the ground to rumble a little. As soon as he reached his greenish armor clad rival, he slammed his hand on the smaller boy's shoulder and pulled to make him face him.
"You..", growled Jax with veins flaring in his eyes.
"Eh?..", reacted Seijurou while wide eyed in confusion. He took a step back.
"Xi-kun!..", Satsuki interrupted out of nowhere, bringing the atmosphere's temperature back to a bearable chill. As the two boys' gazes gradually fixed on her, she smiled at Jax with her usual eye closing smile. "Are you here to help guide the people to their lines? If yes, then that's thoughtful of you.. we could really use a hand."
Satsuki's luminous expression somehow dispersed all the darkness inside Jax's heart. He just simply let out a long sigh after that and forced a faint smile on his rumpled face.
"Of course, Satsuki-chan.. I'd be glad to help you..", replied Jax. However when Satsuki and Seijurou went back to their stewarding duties together, malicious thoughts began to flow back into his mind. He stared at the two as he processed his thoughts. "So, you think you've won Kinjou Satsuki by holding your ground against me, huh, otaku-san? Dammit all! I wish I was conscious when I fought him.. I've been looking forward to smashing him to bits for so long.."
After a few moments of thinking things through, Jax started to usher the people himself. But he still kept a close eye on the two who were not too far from him. "Just you wait, Erida Seijurou.. I'll have that rematch with you no matter what."
While things seemed to have calmed down in the town's center, there were still some minor issues yet to be taken care of on the hill south of Shizuoka. As the arrival of General Yoshiki and Colonel Hayama sparked the beginning of mass arrests of cultists throughout the vicinity of the ruined mansion, Daimyo Atarashi and the cult leader remained in the now cramped up hole which used to be the basement. Shinsuke and Aya were tasked to neutralize and extract the two but were having some slight complications.
"Atarashi Daimyo-sama, you are under arrest..", demanded Aya as a sinister looking black fireball went past her from below. "Surrender quietly and cease your useless resistance.. or else, we shall take drastic procedures."
Atarashi shot another one of those dark orbs. "Never! I shall give my life in the name of the Shinigami!"
"Atarashi-kun, it is time to let go..", whimpered the old cult leader as he sat down leaning against the wall with all the injuries. "Thou has not called forth your soul."
As the daimyo of Shizuoka continued his relentless casting of his dark magic, Aya and Shinsuke hid from the black mage's line of sight to avoid the spells. Aya groaned in frustration as she glared at her Helm.
"Why don't you just put an end to this, kaichou?..", asked Aya while crouching on the floor a distance from the hole. "You can nullify those orbs, right? Or we can just simply raze everything to the ground."
"That is a negative, Aya-neechan..", answered Shinsuke while he shook his head. "He's using 'Void magic'.. I can't block that since the nature of that spell vacuums anything in its path.. and we can't kill them since we need them for interrogation."
Aya let out a long and tired sigh. "Then, what can we do?"
"We wait..", replied Yanagi as he watched the orbs float upwards successively. "Those 'Void Orbs' move slowly, so it needs to be casted continuously.. but it takes a lot of magic points to make one since it's a near master level spell. Sooner or later, Atarashi will have to stop.. that's when we strike."
Shinsuke was right. It was very evident in Atarashi's face, which profusely broke cold sweat. He grunted in both pain and fatigue while making more Void Orbs in succession. Supposedly, it only took a single hand to cast one. However, the daimyo was already using both alternately as if it was evidence enough that he was nearly depleting his magic and maybe more.
"My son, that is enough..", whispered the cult leader. "The soul reaper himself has no need of your soul yet."
But Atarashi remained in merciless battle mode. "He may not need it.. but I am willing to give my soul up for the cult."
"Is that so?..", a devilish smile suddenly formed on the old man's face. "If you are willing to give your soul to the great harbinger even if he has no need of it.. then maybe I shall reap your offer myself."
The cult leader stood up clumsily and placed both palms facing upward near his chest, an "Upload Hand Gesture". Suddenly, Atarashi halted his spell casting and turned pale as snow all over as if the blood in his body left, followed by his pupils losing its color. Power surged into the old leader's body, making him levitate.
With the floating black fiery orbs gone, Shinsuke and Aya nodded to each other and rushed towards the hole. However, something prevented them to come any closer right after that.
"Upload Necromantic Ritual ninety nine..", announced the old cult leader a very vile sounding but extremely high level incantation. His skin began to corrode revealing a skull face with purplish glowing eyes under his hood as he floated towards the sky with a malevolent black explosion. With his bony hands holding up the Upload gesture, he revealed the name of the spell. "Lichdom.."
All of a sudden, the recently apprehended cultists woke up from their slumber and was flung with blinding speed towards the emerging "Lich". It would be rational to think that they would have slammed towards the ground with such abruptness, but they instead, landed standing straight and formed a semicircular position under their master. What made it even more eerily disturbing was they all looked lifeless like how Atarashi was from the beginning of the necromantic incantation. Not only that, violet streaks of energy steadily flowed upward seeping through the seemingly undead cult leader.
"Oi! Yanagi! What the hell is up now?!..", demanded Natsuo as he remained stunned with the current string of events.
Yoshiki Mizuki, who was currently trying to restrain one of the undead looking cultists, gasped in dread as her prisoner growled at her like an untamed beast. She immediately demanded to fix the quickly complicating dilemma. "Yanagi-senchou! Get this situation under control at once!"
Unlike Yoshiki, Hayama's arrested criminal slipped past him quickly. He inquired in slight confusion of what was going on. "How're they able to move that fast? Please get to the bottom of this, Yanagi-senchou.."
It was a different story for Rika, however. She knew exactly what was happening while she watched corpses emerge with life from within the bowels of the earth. As she trembled wide eyed in terror, she ordered everyone with all her remaining resolve. "Retreat, mina-san! Regroup! Multiple hostiles approaching from everywhere! This is really bad.."
As the bewildering chaos erupted on top the hill south of Shizuoka, things seemed to have settled down at the concert grounds. Oblivious of the misfortunes at the ruined mansion, all the spectators have finished disposing of their tickets and awaited excitedly for the start of 3K's show. Satsuki, who shared the same feeling as the rest of the audience, was already wearing her cherry blossom themed yukata with her auburn her tied up to a bun as patronage to the summer event.
"Why is she making me uncomfortably warm?..", thought Seijurou while he stared in awe at his partner with a slight blush from a short distance. However, his indescribable pleasant sensation vanished the moment his gaze turned to the person beside her. He glared at Jax, who was uncharacteristically sheepishly giggling beside his teammate. "And look at that ape acting all kawaii in her presence.. ugh, makes me want to puke."
Without him noticing, Seijurou's feet began to move forward on its own. There was this irresistible sense of having to settle things first that made him approach Jax.
"Oi, you have a minute?..", called Seijurou Jax out.
An irritated expression formed on Jax's face before looking at Satsuki with a hint of worry. For a date to be interrupted by another person was especially rude for a girl according to his beliefs. But Satsuki just flashed her usual smile and assured Jax. "Oh, don't worry about me! I'll just be here, Xi-kun!"
Jax forced out an uncomfortable looking but endearing smile at Satsuki before he walked off towards Seijurou. A complete transformation towards the dark side of things engulfed him the moment he turned his attention to his glasses wearing classmate. "Make it quick, otaku-san. Let's not keep my date waiting."
Seijurou looked his gargantuan rival in the eye. "You were going to say something earlier."
"Eh? When?..", asked Jax with a little squint. Then, he realized he did approach Seijurou earlier when they were ushering the townsfolk. "Oh that.. none of your business."
The moment Jax turned his back on him, it was Seijurou this time who pulled his arch-nemesis' shoulder back to face him. "Unfortunately for you, it became my business the moment you called me out earlier. Don't you want to know why I fought you?"
"Keep your filthy hands off me, otaku-san..", grunted Jax as he swiped Seijurou's hand. He sneered and gave his attention eventually. "Fine.. I'll chat with you. I though you didn't want to fight me.. so what gives?"
"Let me tell you have poor defending.. always open, saru-san..", taunted Seijurou. "You're lucky you went up against someone who can't attack."
"So you're bragging now? Let me tell you I wasn't fully conscious.. it doesn't count, fool."
"Oh, but it does.. you were still fighting with your battle skills."
Jax sighed with a bit of frustration. "I don't see the point of this blabbering. Get to it already."
Seijurou closed in on Jax with a stern look. "What would you do if you suddenly found out you tried to hurt Kinjou? Would you have the guts to face her again?"
A sense of dread immediately went down on Jax the moment the thought occurred. His fiery expression turned to that of worry as he asked. "Did.. did I harm Satsuki-chan?"
"As if you could..", answered Seijurou plainly blunt, causing Jax to almost pop a vein. "But still.. there was a small chance you could have. I've prevented you to be in that kind situation.. that's why I chose to fight you instead."
Those words should have given Jax a sense of ease. However, it only ticked him thinking his most hated person in the word had his back in a dire situation. "What gives you the right to meddle in things between me and Kinjou Satsuki?! Fuck off, Erida Seijurou!"
"I have every right. You should go back to her now.. it's been a minute..", replied Seijurou blankly as he started to walk away. He waved without facing Jax as he disappeared into the crowd. "I swore to protect her in my mother's name.. well, at the very least, her happiness. She's happy when you're around, Xi Jaejin."
Kind words ironically displeased Jax even more, most especially if those came from Seijurou. But before he was able to shoot harsh statements back, a blinding glow suddenly emerged from the middle of the open grounds. The box containing the "ward tickets" was emitting an inexplicably bright black flame.
"What the fuck is it now?!..", exclaimed Jax the moment the dark energy caught his gaze.
Without any hesitation, Seijurou ran towards the source of the sinister magic. As soon as he arrived at the scene, a small but shining black orb greeted him with small electric charges sprouting all over it.
With everyone around bewildered by the sight before them, only Seijurou approached the orb. An uncontrollable urge made him reach out with his hand for it. However, something stopped him from touching the ball of magic within millimeters from his fingers.
"The ground under it is vaporizing..", pondered Seijurou as he pulled his hand back. "No.. it's being sucked in.. this is 'time space' magic.. Void magic!"
Some of his classmates who were at the venue arrived shortly after Seijurou. Like the audiences who were just staring in awe at the magical ball, the members of class 2022 were stunned in disbelief upon seeing the spectacle. Satsuki though, approached carefully.
"Get back!..", boomed Seijurou the moment his partner took a step forward. He stepped backwards without batting an eye on the thing. "I don't know what spell this is.. but it'll probably blow up anytime."
"That's a 'Black Hole'..", an unfamiliar voice of a girl spoke to the first years through Shinsuke's thought projection. "It will suck everything in and grow in size until it gains enough power to blow all of you to oblivion."
The choice of words of the unknown girl's voice caused gasps of terror among the ranks of the scared to their wits first years. But knowing who the person was and her reputation of being bluntly morbid, Satsuki kept her cool and asked her senior. "Fuyunami Rika-senpai! I'm glad to hear your voice.. but is there a way to dispel this thing?"
"I'm also relieved that one of us 'Seven' is there..", answered Rika while she summoned more of her wraiths to counter the many undead rising on top of the hill in the south. "Unfortunately, that spell is too advanced to be reversed once casted. Get everyone out of town quickly but safely, Satsuki! You're in charge there now, got it?"
Satsuki took on a more serious expression, closed her eyes, and let off a long sigh. "Understood, senpai!"
Translation Notes:
Void Magic – literally meaning "magic of nothingness". It is sometimes called "time space" magic because it is the realm where time and space do not exist. Therefore, using it eats up anything that has time and space save for summoned creatures that frequently travel in the void realm and are immune to it.
Lich – an immortal and undead creature born of a Necromancer's life cycling magic. It is said that its power grows in proportion to the number of its undead thralls.
Monogatari Concepts:
Origins of the Lich – believed to have been created by Necromancers as early as when the branch of magic was born. Necromancy is believed to have been conceptualized right after the Blank Century when death spread far and wide all throughout the world. Powerful conjurers during this period desperately sought out ways to bring their deceased loved ones back to life, only to be disappointed in its results as only the decomposing undead were summoned. However, their resolve to pursue this research never waivered and eventually, they found a way to bend the rules of life to beat the inevitable coming of death. Some Necromancers were able to find the key to immortality at the cost of their humanity. The concept of the Lich was born.
Today, Necromantic magic is not exactly forbidden in many lands, but some are in Jihon, especially when it involves tinkering with souls. Jihonians strongly believe in the inevitable cycle of life, and bringing back the souls of the dead would only cause suffering to the once living souls themselves. Consequently, the quest to immortality of being a Lich is even more forbidden. In Jihon, "Lichdom" is considered as one of the many forbidden spells.
Character Description:
Fuyunami Rika – a third year and one of the seven members of FSG's Round Table. She currently occupies the Helm's second right hand seat, meaning she's ranked fourth in the table, sort of a middle child, you know. I created this powerful character for the purpose of filling out the seats of the strongest of the protagonist's school, of course. But it doesn't stop me for making the character interesting.
Out of the Seven, Rika is the only mage aside from Shinsuke, focusing mainly as a conjurer. Although Gouro usually teases her that she's a necromancer because of her creepy summons, she's not and genuinely abhors the practice. She in fact, hates it so much that she obsesses about it to the point of knowing so much about its spells. Her name if translated to English literally means "always strong winter wave" (quite appropriate for her cold personality).
Rika's below average temperature of an attitude doesn't necessarily translate of her hating everyone. She's just like that. Her bluntness is usually misinterpreted by many except for those who know her. She could be very graphic and morbid with her words, which can also bring up a lot of misunderstandings. However, she does have a strong sense to protect the good from all evil.
It is very rare to see Rika out of her black robes or school uniform. But whenever you spot her in trendy casual clothing, you wouldn't think she's actually one of the most powerful mages of the nation. Her hair is a short icy blue with bangs partially covering her indigo eyes. Many have made a mistake of not addressing her as a senior since she looks more like a middle school student. She stands at 151cm and weighs at 40kg, a petite but adorable senpai who loves blue bubblegum ice cream.