(Thursday, 16th of Lover's Harp Moon, 2021)
Riding Sleipnir, Jack made his way towards the castle on the hill, with Jojo clinging onto his back while her head laid on Jack's shoulder. Leia had a cable connected to the back of her neck, which was plugged into Ebony Horse's control console. Sleipnir rode towards the castle in the dark of night, only to be illuminated thanks to the lanterns above. Even with the giant lanterns hovering overhead, the path towards the giant flower's castle was dark and hard to make out. Ebony Horse rode slightly behind Jack, carrying Luna and Rasputin on its back and Leia riding inside its cockpit. The darkness of the path before Jack made it almost impossible to see ahead, but Ebony Horse had headlights, so it helped some. Weirdly enough, Sleipnir didn't appear to come across any obstacles. That is until Jack saw a massive boulder up ahead. Sleipnir didn't stop though.
"Sleipnir, you may want to stop!" Jack began sweating as Sleipnir ran towards the boulder. "I don't feel like dying today!"
Sleipnir kept on rushing towards the boulder, and Jack braced for impact. With his eyes closed, Jack wasn't sure how many seconds passed, but Jack slowly opened one eye to see that the boulder parted in half. Jack looked on either side of him to see that the boulder was split perfectly in half, creating a kind of path for Sleipnir. When Sleipnir ran out from between the rocks, the rock suddenly pieced itself together. Sleipnir's ability appeared to be the ability to part any obstacle that stands in its way. Meanwhile, Ebony Horse just crushed the boulder underneath it's massive foot.
"How much farther until we reach the castle?!" Luna shouted from the head of Ebony Horse. "My ass is starting to hurt!"
"We have arrived." Leia's voice came from Ebony Horse's mouth.
True to what Leia said, the four have arrived at the castle, or five if one counts Sleipnir. The castle before Jack looked like a massive palace with an even more massive tower, with the giant flower shooting out from the tower. Leia disconnected herself from Ebony Horse, and used her jetpack to shoot herself upwards.
"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" Jack asked his team as Rasputin landed on the ground, while Luna fell face first onto the ground. "We can use Ebony Horse's cannon to blast a hole in the palace."
"I don't think that will be a wise idea, at least until we find out where Princess Hina is." Leia scanned the entire building. "There are at least 10 samurai on every floor, accompanied by 5 ninjas. There are 5 floors, and Hina is on the top most one, with one other person holding a very powerful object. Luckily, it appears that he's alone with Hina, talking to her."
"So you're saying high levels of violence and destruction won't work this time?" Jack asked, and Leia nodded. "Well, I've exhausted every tool in my arsenal. My hand magic focuses on utility, and its few offensive spells can cause collateral damage."
"I should be fine, since my holy light magic doesn't cause collateral damage." Rasputin had golden electricity covering his hand. "Still, some backup would be nice."
"I'll use Red Riding Hood and Stone Cutter." Jack summoned the red cloak and pickaxe in your hand. "Luna, you win?"
"Yeah, you guys are gonna need my luck!" Luna pulled out her revolver and Jack noticed an attachment you didn't notice earlier, a rabbit's foot keychain dangling off the hilt.
"Very well, I'll wait for you all to cause a distraction, then I'll rescue Princess Hina." Leia suggested, and the rest of them agreed to the idea. "I wish you three luck."
"Thanks Leia, we'll need it." You thanked the girl before Luna suddenly smacked Jack in the arm. "What was that for?"
"I AM THE LUCK!" Luna shouted whilst pumping her hands up into the air.
Lucky for Jack's group, everyone was inside the building, leaving the outside completely unguarded. Jack, Luna, Rasputin, and Jojo all got ready for combat. Jack got Stone Cutter ready, and was only going to summon Little Daylight or Fire Maiden when Jack finally knew that Princess Hina was finally safe. Jack four reached the door and he decided to do some planning.
"Okay guys, here's the plan-." Before Jack could explain anything, Rasputin punched the door so hard it flew off its hinges and gained the attention of everyone in the room. "-That was not the plan."
"The Lord doesn't require a plan!" Rasputin smiled despite all 15 people on the floor looking at him.
The entire first floor looked like one big room, with some wooden pillars here and there. In the middle of the room was a massive stalk, the stalk of the giant flower. All the samurai and ninjas glared at all of the small group, and Jack knew right away that this wasn't going to end well. Rasputin slammed both of his palms on the ground, and the entire ground began glowing a bright white flame, that was nothing more than just light. While it didn't actually do damage, all the warriors either stood on furniture or clung to the pillars to avoid touching the ground. Out of nowhere, crosses shot up from the ground to cut the samurai's armor in random places.
"Wait, I thought the Solian religious symbol was a sun?" Luna aimed her revolver into the room.
"It is, I just find the simplicity of crosses to be neat." Rasputin then rushed into the room with golden light covering his palms. "FOR THE GRACE AND MIGHT OF THE LORD!"
"YEET!" Jack threw Jojo at one of the samurai who was clinging to one of the poles, causing him to fall onto the ground.
When the other warriors learned that the light was harmless but the crosses were dangerous, they got off the furniture and pillars to charge at both you and Rasputin. One of the samurai raised his blade in front of Rasputin, only for the priest to force his palms against the samurai's chest. It was hard to tell thanks to the samurai's armor, but Jack saw the samurai's skin glow bright yellow before collapsing onto the ground. As for Jack, he was about to be cut in half by a samurai, but Jack used Riding Hood to summon a small marionette holding a shield, followed by another one holding a Lance to pierce the side of the samurai to cause him to start bleeding out. The samurai fell down onto his knees, and Jack's slammed Stone Cutter's hammer end against the samurai's face until he fell down onto his back, unconscious. A pair of samurai were about to stab Jack in the back, but Rasputin placed his palms against the back of their heads, sending a golden wave of energy through them before letting go, causing them to collapse. Luna was holding her own pretty well too, using her revolver to shoot down three of the remaining ninjas in quick succession before they even had the chance to draw their weapons.
"In the name of the lord, all of you shall be brought down to justice!" Rasputin slammed both his palms together in a prayer motion.
Meanwhile, the samurai that had Jojo launched at him was struggling to finally get Jojo off his face. Jack could hear the armor crack underneath Jojo's vicious bite and claws before he suddenly stopped struggling, and Jojo wiggled off. That left seven samurai left. They group themselves together to form a defensive position towards Jack and his group. In response to this, Jack summoned a line of lance wielding marionettes and sent all of them towards the samurai. While four of the samurai managed to deflect the lances, three weren't so lucky. One samurai was pierced in his shoulder, another in his thigh, and the last one was pierced in the foot. The three injured samurai still stood tall and ready to attack Jack's group should they get too close. Jack then summoned Father Time and made Stone Cutter disappear. Jack held the trigger and shot it towards the samurai in the middle, who was one of the samurai who successfully blocked the marionettes. The samurai cut the bullet in half after Jack fired it, but both the bullet halves struck both of his shoulders. Jack could visibly see that the samurai was now moving slower. While it wasn't much slower, it was slow enough for Rasputin to place his palm against the head samurai's chin, causing a golden jolt of lightning to cover the man, followed by the lightning branching out to electrocute the remaining samurai. All seven samurai collapsed on the ground at the same time Ebony Horse roared like an actual t-Rex.
"What the?" Luna asked while looking at the doorway, and she saw that Leia was giving a thumbs up. "I guess Leia rescued Hina."
"Good." Jack switched out Father Time for Little Daylight and aimed it straight up. "I've had an itch that only Little Daylight can scratch."
Little daylight had two triggers, one that fired the powerful assault rifle mode and the other fired a laser powerful enough to tear through a forest. Jack pressed both the triggers at once. The assault rifle barrel shot lime green bursts of energy like an actual assault rifle, but these bursts caused so much damage that it was like watching grenades blow up above Jack. As for the laser barrel, it took a moment before firing. The lime green laser engulfed the entire ceiling, and supposedly the room above. Jack's feet had to be planted firmly into the ground as he fired the powerful gun, with rubble falling all around Jack. Rasputin and Luna stayed close to Jack, but were slightly crouched to stay out of his area of effect. By the time Jack stopped firing, there was a massive hole through every single floor, and while some of the walls had cracks, none had collapsed yet. Jack could see that he destroyed the roof, allowing Jack's group to see the night sky. Weirdly enough, the flower was completely undamaged.
"So...you three are Hina's protectors?" A man looked down at the group from a part of the fifth story's floor that survived. "I guess Orochi and I will have to teach you all a lesson."
The man jumped down from the fifth floor and landed before Jack, and Jack got a better look at him. His attire consisted of a blue kimono that was draped over his thin and skeleton-like frame. His skin was so pale, it could have blended into snow if it weren't for his raven black eyes, hair, and martial arts movie teacher mustache. Jack's eyes were mainly glued on the chokutō-like sword, which appeared to be four feet long. Way longer than a sword like that needs to be.
"That's Orochi, a slayer weapon." Rasputin stepped in front of Jack. "They say only one cut is needed to kill your average person, so be careful not to be cut by I-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the mysterious man disappeared, and a cut appeared on Rasputin's side. The skin around Rasputin's cut suddenly began to darken and spread. Rasputin placed his hand over the injury and collapsed onto the ground. The man appeared in front of Jack, before the man could pierce Jack, Luna pulled her companion by the collar of his jacket away from the man. Luna then tried firing three bullets at point blank range, only for the man to duck beneath all the bullets, followed by him trying to stab the girl's head. Amazingly, Luna dodged.
"Damn guess I got lucky in that last bit." Luna was then pulled back by Jack pulling her hand to get her away from the man.
"You are quite the lucky girl, but your friend won't be so lucky." The man glanced at Rasputin, whose body was glowing a white color. "The poison will spread in a matter of minutes with healing spells, and in a matter of seconds without any spells."
"Luna, I have a very bad idea, get Rasputin and run outside." Jack ordered before making Little Daylight disappear. "Now, how about we switch things up, Beowulf, Lang!"
Amazingly, the Beowulf armor surrounded your body. The Beowulf armor was silver in color and was pretty dang heavym yet it felt durable as all hell. It's helm had a bear-like depiction. As for Lang, it was a Chinese glaive-like weapon with a black metal hilt and a black flame design along the blade.
"So, what's your name anyways?" Jack stared at the man before smiling sarcastically. "I'd like to know the name of the man whose ass I'm about to kick."
"My name is Kira, and I will be your executioner." The man then disappeared once again, and Jack stood on one heel so he could spin like a top whilst swinging Lang.
Jack's spin was suddenly stopped when Lang was blocked by Kira using Orochi. The man didn't look too phased by the attack, but was caught off guard by black energy suddenly jolting out from the blade from the sudden stop. Some of the energy landed on Kira's face, blinding him in one eye. Kira placed a hand over the eye, and Jack took this as an opportunity to grab onto Kira's long hair. Then Jack pulled the man's hair so his head so it would collide against Jack's armored knee. Kira was dazed by this, but quickly regained his composure and attempted to slash at Jack. Jack quickly used his arm to block the blow, ensuring it did not scratch any part of his skin. Jack attempted a thrust with Lang, but Kira jumped back.
"So those aren't mediocre weapons, they are the real thing aren't they?" The man then gripped the sword in his left hand. "Looks like I'll have to go all out, and use Unison!"
Jack watched as a dark green aura surrounded Kira, and he could see that he was in pain. Kira grit his teeth, and the skin that was holding the sword slowly but surely began to turn into green scales like that of a serpent. The scales slowly began to turn more and more of his body into scales, his wrist, arm, shoulder, and finally the left side of his face all turned to scales. What's more, his left eye turned into a serpent's eye. Jack wasn't sure how, but he could tell that the man wasn't compatible with Orochi, and this is what happened when someone wasn't compatible with their artifact.
"Dude, what the hell are you doing?!" Jack shouted at the man while he began getting nervous.
"Accepting Orochi's power!" Kira then disappeared from Jack's view in a flash of speed, and Jack knew right away that he was going to pull the same crap as earlier.
Jack spun around again, and while his glaive was blocked by Kira using Orochi once more, he quickly ducked and pierced at Jack's side using Orochi. Jack couldn't react in time, and the blade turned the skin around the injury black, like Rasputin's. Jack tried stabbing Kira using Lang, but out of nowhere, Jack heard the sound of hissing. Jack looked at Kira's hair, to see all the hair on the left side turned into black mambas.
"What the shit?!" Jack jumped back to avoid the serpents' lunge at him. "You good bro? Like I hate your guts for kidnapping someone I've known for only a day at most, but are you sure we don't need to run you by a doctor or some shit?"
"Silence round eye!" Kira slashed at Jack horizontally, and you ducked underneath the blade.
"Wow, using racial slurs now?" Jack was disappointed as he jumped back away from the man. "Not cool."
Jack wasn't sure why, but he was able to ignore the poison, and it wasn't even spreading that much compared to Rasputin. It must be an effect of Beowulf. Jack jumped over a slash that was meant for his legs. Jack was confident that his prosthetic could handle the slash, but it was better safe than sorry. Jack slammed his glaive downwards, but Kira side stepped and pierced Jack's stomach. The blade came out on the other end of his body, and Jack coughed up blood. Lang fell on the ground beside Jack as he was lifted up by the blade. Black poison began spreading through Jack's body as he could feel the poisoned parts slowly spread throughout his own body.
"How odd, the poison is spreading more slowly." Kira then looked Jack dead in the eyes. "No matter, you will be dead soon anyways."
Somehow, a black and green, menacing aura surrounded Jack's body. From Jack's left arm, a phantom-like arm emerged and slashed Kira's face before standing still after the swing was completed. The slash caused a massive scar to run from cheek to cheek, and blood to leak from his face. Jack looked at the phantom-like hand, and saw it had a massive hook. Kira removed the sword from Jack's body and jumped back from his body. Jack stood weakly on both his feet, and a human-like entity emerged from Jack's body, with both hands defensively wrapped around Jack. It looked like a scarecrow, with the left hand taking the form of a large hook and the right hand having long claws.
"The hell are you?" Jack questioned the unknown entity, and it didn't respond, it simply stared at Kira.
"Protect…the Hero…says…the Emperor…" The phantom spoke in a raspy, rustic tone.
"Do you have a name?" Jack asked the scarecrow, but Kira interrupted before Jack could get an answer.
"What the hell are you talking to?" Kira pointed at Jack with a confused expression. "There's nothing there?"
"Huh, so I guess you're like a ghost, only I can see you, huh?" Jack asked, and the entity nodded its head. "Okay, let's take this ass down."
"Confident boy, how do you plan to do that?" The man watched Jack raise both his hands.
"There was a reason I dropped my weapon." Jack then got both his hands ready in a snapping position as the poison reached his neck. "I needed both hands free for a new spell, Switch."
Jack snapped his fingers, and the poison left his body completely. Before Kira could figure out what happened, the poison appeared inside of his body, crawling up his body before the phantom left Jack's side. The phantom launched itself at Kira's body before using its hand of claws to hold the man's neck in place. The phantom stretched their hook hand outwards before violently slashing the man's neck with one swing. Kira's head soared over Jack before landing on the base of the stalk. The blood of the man's wound seeped into the plant. With the destroyed ceiling, Jack could see that it was dawn, and the morning sunlight was shining onto a blooming flower with rainbow petals.
"Guess that's one ingredient, what are the odds?" Jack looked up at the flower before his ears picked up the sound of chewing.
Then Jack saw Jojo eating Kira's head.