Chapter 50:
In a lab within the base
"YOU FILTHY MORTAL ONCE I'M FREE I WILL MAKE SURE TO SUBJUGATE YOUR AND YOUR COMRADES TO SUCH HORRIBLE TORTURE THAT DEATH WOULD BE MERCY!" Volf roared in pure rage as he thrashed around his bindings in his cage and the talisman on his chest glowing brightly, shocking his body.
The lab was very large, filled with various chemicals, books on alchemy, ancient magic, and finally papers containing his notes on the philosopher's stone scattered everywhere. Then there were large custom made cells with strong enchantments to keep the anomalies from breaking out. Finally on the upper layers was a mechanical humanoid body with the face of a handsome young man, a red gem in its chest and seven transparent cords in its back.
The cages contained Darkira, Espeon, Zeraora, Ajatarmon and the darkus having the largest cell with all of them being in a state of stasis. Gerold didn't know exactly what these creatures were but he was revealing in the new discovery. Especially when they all had high aptitudes in magic and how powerful they were. He was just glad they discovered them before their rivals. But the one under the sea was still giving him anxiety and hoped the master knew what he was doing.
"I'm glad to see you still have so much energy but that's enough of you for today." Quill chuckled as he looked at the four armed demon wolf who growled at him in anger as the talismen on him glowed. He tried to fight it but the chains drained a lot of his energy letting the piece of paper put him to sleep. Suddenly one of his dolls appeared from his shadow.
He had to say he was proud of his achievement only very few alchemists on Earthland have been able to make a somewhat sentient life especially modelling it after such a powerful mage. The only one who could come in mind was Duke, though he hated to admit he was far from completing the model in front of him as he did not contain Kage's full power. He just saw it as a minor setback and improvements on him later.
"Professor intruders have breached the base." The shinobi informed him.
"What! How did they find us!?"
"I am unsure but they consist of the shogun of lightning, the imperial soldier Ritsu and two out of the three female mages have all arrived." This made the professor narrow his eyes as his greatest invention has yet to be completed. He still needed more souls from the Kitsune.
"Wait, you said two out of the three mages from Ishgar are here, does that include the boy you reported about?"
"No just the god slayer and the girl."
Quill thought about it and it was highly likely the boy was somewhere in the base probably looking for the creatures before him. This was bad as project red stone has yet to be completed as he still needs the kitsune to gather more souls for the philosopher's stone. He knew none of the members were powerful enough to face the threat they were facing.
He touched the wall and got a scan of the base; he was a huge contributor in its construction using his alchemy, leading him to have some small control over it in some sections. He saw the intruders Kage spoke of which were four more sneaking around the hideout seemingly making their way towards him. He cursed as two of them were the champions of the Phoenix Talon guild, and a white haired boy who matched the description of the boy he heard about.
"Kenji, your assistance is required in section 8." He spoke through a communication lacrima.
Somewhere in the base
BOOM!
"DAMMIT DON'T LET THEM GET THROUGH!" A goon screamed but was knocked out with a kick from Kazuki.
"T-They're monsters" A ninja spoke as his back was pierced with sharp backs by sharp feathers.
"Y-You think y…" The other member was silenced by Salem slamming his foot at the back of his head, planting him to the ground.
"Security in this place is horrible." He commented and turned to the left and so seven more ninjas ran towards them. "ROOAAR!" He turned his head into the Rathalos and shot a strong beam of fire blasting them.
"Well you quit the aggressive one aren't you." Akira commented as she looked at Salem who raised his eyebrow and pointed at the victims of her feathers. "Touche. Though how did they specifically know we were here I thought they would have gone straight to the other team?"
"They must have a good sensor in their ranks or someone is closely connected to this base." answered Kazuki.
"Hmph thought they would be a bit stronger than this, especially considering they're part of the biggest dark guild in the country."
commented Tekashi as he looked at all the knocked out members in disappointment.
"That's a good thing Takashi-kun, at least our mission will be less troublesome than it's already gotten."
"So where do we go next Salem-san?" asked Kazuki.
"Well…" Salem grew an anxious expression. "Of course they're underground." He sighed in frustration.
"How do you know that?" asked Tekashi.
"You can say I'm an expert in tracking them." He answered.
'Oh a secretive one huh' Akira smirked in amusement but decided not to dive into the matter now. "So what method are we going to go underground?"
"Let me help you with that." They heard a voice run across the hallway and with that the floor reacted the water and the group fell into it.
With Akira
Akira descended to the bottom, she brought out her wings and gently glided to the wet ground.
The first thing she noticed was that it looked like she was in a watery cavern with the sound of dripping water echoing through the walls, the ground covered in slick moss and algae, humid air but the environment wasn't what really caught her eye. No it was the giant frog with a large mouthed, testicles, three arms and a metal collar around it.
"Just what in the world!" Akira spoke in surprise as she looked at the frog staring her down and roared in fury causing a burst of wind which knocked her off her feet and she took to the air. "So this is what that those two deal with."
With Kazuki
As Kazuki landed safely on the ground and scanned his surroundings he seemed to be in a cave of sorts with the source of light being some eerily candles. On the roof where the bloody remains of men in chains. He sensed the Ethernano around the air and it was filled with so much malicious dark magic.
His instincts flared as he sensed something fast coming his way so he brought out his katana blocking the attack. He looked to his attacker and saw it was a tall very pale skinned woman hanging provocatively on a spike rock on the ceiling. She had black hair, pure black eyes with red iris, red lipstick, and a revealing kimono.
"Hihihi~ I love mysterious and strong mysterious men. I can tell we're going to have some much fun with you~." She licked her lips showing off her black tongue and launched at the ninja who readied himself for combat.
With Salem and Tekashi
As the two fell Salem turned into his demi-owl form and quickly but gently caught Tekashi with his talons and they gently floated towards the ground. He sensed someone in the room and turned his head 270 degrees from left to right scanning the person and his surroundings.
The underground chamber was immense, with a ceiling really high. Its walls, fortified with enchanted steel and stone, were built to withstand the tremendous energy of fierce battles. Thick, ancient tree trunk-like pillars were scattered throughout, adding structural support and creating a maze-like atmosphere.
Dim, flickering lights cast eerie shadows, revealing scorch marks and deep gouges on the floor and walls evidence of past ferocious encounters.
"Ah nice catch." thanked Tekashi but the head turning really caught him off guard.
"No problem but damn dude are you seeing this room though?"
"Yeah and I have to say it's impressive they somehow managed to build all this underground. It's like a labyrinth of sorts if you think about it."
As soon as they got to the ground a giant fireball but then rocketed towards them. Salem's brained worked fast as he was about to use his Teostra form to eat the attack but he noticed that there was some dark magic mixed and he ain't no way he was pulling a Natsu on this so he quickly shifted into sea serpent form and fired a water blast from his mouth. Teakshi also acted and quickly performed a strong wind based attack with his palm.
"Damn not bad!" They heard a deep voice and they saw Kenji. He wore a red open suit with his slightly unbuttoned shirt, black shoes, red tinted glasses and was smoking a cigar.
"Have you been sitting up there this whole time waiting for a dramatic entrance, that's so cliche my guy." Salem gave him a thumbs down and booed him.
"Hmpg everybody's a critic with no knowledge of the game." Kenji jumped from the pillar and landed on the ground on his feet making a crack on the ground. "Of all the champions Phoenix Talon sent, why did it have to you?" He sighed in disappointment.
"And why is that a problem?" tekashi asked.
"I was expecting a hot female champion like Solara but whatever." Kenji sighed as he scratched the back of his head.
'So he can mix individual magic types with the rings.' Salem thought as he looked at all Kenji's rings with Interest as eight out of nine of them oozed magic power.
"Salem-san leave this one to me." Instructed Tekashi .
"You sure?"
"Yes we don't know what they're doing and planning with these creatures and like you said before we can't afford to waste any time." He explained.
"So you mostly just want to fight the guy one on one then?"
"Well yes mostly." The martial artist admitted a bit sheepishly.
"Oi Oi Oi. You really think I'm just going let you just walk out of here kid." One of Kenji's rings glowed and a red baseball bat appeared on his hand. "I heard about you, the mysterious kid with take-over magic who has the power to permanently kill those strange creatures that Ryuzen and that quake professor has been interested in and killed one of."
"K-Killed what do you mean killed. What the fuck are you talking about I didn't killed any of them." Salem spoke in utter surprise.
"HA You honestly don't know they said I one of them died from a high of venom which was injected in his body." Kenji chuckled.
"Salem-san are you o…"
"I-It's fine I'm cool and besides they deserved it those bastards killed an innocent man in cold blood widowing his wife and leaving his children without a father." Salem sighed in a coping tone as he pushed his feelings aside and he remembered the conversation he had with Morrigan about this topic to get his head back in the game.
That got both men a bit at the reaction, especially Tekashi who was surprised the young teen just brushed off the fact he killed someone so easily but he of all people shouldn't be in the position of judge.
"HAHAHA you're a really interesting kid Salem-Chin."Kenji smirked in excitement, got in a stance with his bat and eyed the two.
Tekashi quickly launched a quick wind palm attack at Kenji who countered the wind attack by swatting it away with his bat though wind attacked was used as a distraction as Tekashi was in front of Kenji and launched a strong claw strike towards his stomach sending Kenji sending flying across the room. Salem took rabbit mode and dug his way out of the room leaving the two men to the battle.
Tekashi didn't stop the attack as he appeared behind the gangsta throwing a strong axe kick. Kenji quickly blocked the attack with his bat but the pressure from the attack sent him rocketing to the ground in which he landed on his feet cracking the ground.
"Tornado Strike!" Tekashi performed a drop kick as wind surrounded him, forming a tornado heading fast towards Kenji and the attack connected, causing a cloud of dust.
When it cleared there was a strong earth barrier between him and his opponent which impressed Tekashi as he had been breaking huge boulders for training since he was a kid but to his surprise his feet sank into the barrier till his knees. Before he could burst out of it Kenji quickly appeared beside with his bat clotted in lightning and delivered lightning quick body strikes paralysing the martial artist and Kenji finished it off by tuning his bat into stone and delivered a heavy head-shot sending Tekashi across the room slamming through two pillars and halted on the third one.
Tekashi quickly got up from his position with his forehead bleeding.
Two of Kenji's rings glowed and multiple baseball sized fireballs surrounded with lightning hitting towards his opponent, who did dodged and with his impressive speed Tekashi quickly closed the distance between them.
Kenji tried to land a brutal swing but Tekashi caught the attack and delivered a quick claw strike to the face followed by a strong spin kick sending Kenji in the face who caught the attack then electrocuted Tekashi making him grunt in pain and slammed him to the ground hard. The wind mage recovered quickly and used his legs to throw a blast of wind to the gangsta's stomach knocking the air out of him and sending back a bit.
Tekashi flipped to his feet dodged to swings from Kenji and tried to counter with a claw strike to the body and so Kenji got in a defensive stance with his bat though Tekashi quickly switched his hand in a knife formation and wind surrounded it and cut the bat clean in half surprising taking Kenji thus taking off guard.
"Tempest Axe!" Tekashi performed a wind clotted axe kick to Tekashi's shoulder blades, sending him to knees on the ground making a dent on the floor.
"Dammit that bat was expensive!" Kenji groaned in frustration as he grabbed the hit shoulder blade
"You're very strong, I'll give you that but you should make it easier on yourself and give up just give up. You're not much for me with that kind of sluggish way of fighting." warned Tekashi.
"HAHAHA!" Kenji laughed at Tekashi protraction confusing the martial artist. "All you 'professional' martial artists always have your heads high up your asses. Always thinking your fancy moves make you all think about that life." He quickly flung sand to Tekashi's eyes who stopped it with his hand but Kenji to the opportunity sweep his leg knocking off balance and followed it with a flaming uppercut to the chin sending him to the air but he quickly recovered as flipped and landed on all fours.
"You really are a low thug aren't you." Tekashi spat out some blood.
"I see you've never been in a street fight before anything goes." One of Kenji's rings glowed as another bat appeared but this one was black in colour with a golden dragon design.
The two launched at each other and began trading blows in a fast paced manner.
"Blazing Thrust!" Kenji quickly lit his bat in fire and thrust it to Tekashi's stomach who dodged it and as he spun he delivered a back fist to the face followed by an elbow to the stomach but was grabbed and tossed to the air. "Exploding home run!" Kenji formed a large fire ball covered in black markings forming a malicious grinning face and used his bat to rocket it towards his opponent.
"Razor Wind!" Tekashi back flipped making a wins blade cutting the giant ball in half and it exploded behind him landed on all fours like animal shifted stances but he looked up and the menacing form of Kenji loomed over him as he swung his bat but he got away causing the strike to destroy the ground.
Kenji followed with wild fast swings while Tekashi was barely dodging them. He finally managed to grab the bat and throw two quick kicks to the stomach and face, finishing it with a strong claw strike to Kenji's face, sending him to the air but he spun and landed on his feet. He quickly dodged the fist from Tekashi followed but a heavy knee to the martial artist's stomach finished off with a strong right jab sending him back and was about to smash his bat onto his head but Tekashi caught the strike leading the floor beneath them to crack from their struggle.
Kenji was overpowering Tekashi and the gangsta seemed so immersed in the power struggle that Tekashi swiftly let go of the bat moving out of its way sending it to the ground.
"Whirlwind Kick!" He made a tornado with his foot, sending the gangsta to a pillar destroying it.
Tekashi ran after Kenji with blinding speeds Kenji landed a heavy hit to Tekashi's temple sending to the ground which morphed trapping Tekashi then quickly and fully covered him to the neck and began to get shocked ruthlessly by high voltage electricity which was somehow in the rock.
"Like it normally lightning doesn't travel through Earth like that but years of practice let me combine the attributes of my rings like so…" Kenji spoke as he was touching the ground showing two of his rings of earth and lightning were glowing.
"With the scorching heat of fire, the heavenly ascending of lightning , and the strong sturdiness of mother Earthland. Tri Formation: Electrifying Meteor." He stabbed his bat in the ground and raised his right fist in the sky in which magic shot from three of his rings forming a meteor with a juvenile grin and clotted in lightning and sent it down towards Kenji.
"SHIT!" Tekashi cursed and his tiger tattoo began to glow as he flinched in pain with all the voltage running through body.
When the smoke cleared Tekashi was surrounded by a wind barrier with minor damage but his appearance was slightly different as well. His eyes were slit orange, tiger stripes on his face, and a white tiger tail.
"Star-Fusion: White Tiger of the West Byakko ." He mumbled as the shield burst making a burst of wind.
He crouched down and launched himself at extreme speeds with his claws out. Kenji was about to block the attack but Tekashi already landed the attack and was standing behind him.
"AAHH!" Kenji screamed as his shirt and jacket got shredded showing off his muscular upper body which was bleeding claws scratched his skin. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT THAT WAS ONE MY FAVOURITE SUITS!"He yelled in rage as his magic power began to rise and his muscles along with height increased. "So you finally decided to unleash your famous celestial spirit. NOW THROW THEM CLAWS!"
The two began zipping around the room knocking down some pillars and denting the ground.
"Blazing Cavern Trap!" Kenji hit the ground with his fist as rock pillars which were also on fire all formed around Tekashi covering the top with a molten roof to prevent escape and he clasped his arm and the scorching pillars to close in on him.
"Byakko Celestial Art: Hurricane Claw!" He spun rapidly making a tornado destroying the pillars. When he stopped Kenji was nowhere in sight so he closed his eyes focusing on using enhanced senses of hearing and smell.
"Byakko's Celestial Art: Heavenly Roar!" Tekashi roared like a tiger as a large tornado blasted from his mouth towards Kenji who barely dodged.
The two ran at each other with Kenji's bat covered in dark and fire magic while Tekashi's hands were covered in the Byakko's wind.
The two attacks clashed with each other with both men pushing hard. Kenji head butted Tekashi getting woozy a bit then tried to sweep Tekashi's leg but he raised his leg avoiding the attack but the gangsta tried to recover a high spin kick which was blocked leading to a strong claw strike to the face causing a claw cut across his face. This barely fazed as he spun and rocked Kenji across the making growl in pain.
The two got into a fast paced close combat with Kenji's claws and Tekashi's bat making shock-waves with each contact. As they clashed, Teakashi finally managed to break Teakashi's guard.
"Heavenly Gale Uppercut!" Tekashi landed a strong upper cut to the chin backed up with and the strong wind pressure blew a large hole through the roof. "Byakko Celestial Arts: Gale Lotus Strike!" He twisted his body and performed a double claw strike which was in the shape of a tiger head made by wind and delivered a heavy hit to the ribs sending smashing through the wall.
"D-Damn I-I t-think you broke some ribs." Kenji coughed out some blood as he shakily got up revealing his bleeding torso and spat out his golden tooth. "Great, now I'm going to have to replace that."
'Tch that damn body enhancing magic ring.' Tekashi growled but noticed that Kenji was running out of steam. "This ends now!" He launched at gangsta with his claws out who barely dodged the attack but Tekashi made a quick recover by flipping and kicking the air propelling himself back at his opponent with wing magic gathering around his claw while the said gangsta also jumped at him and lit his bat in fire and lightning.
When they clashed an explosion and the two engaged in close combat once more but they were much slower and more winded than before. Kenji smirked noticing his opponents movements where more wild and less coordinated so he sent a strong and reckless palm strike which was dodged but used earth ring blasted a mud ball on to his opponent's face getting distracting him which lead Kenji to rock him in the chin with a rock hard fist sending him to the air. He jumped after him with four of his rings glowing.
"Black Dragon's Electrifying Magma Smash!" Kenji' landed the hit on Tekashi's stomach hard with his boosted strength and a large eastern dragon made of black magma covered in black lightning engulfed him sending two to the ground destroying the floor.
Tekashi was on the floor badly burnt and barely conscious coughing blood with his clothes burned with the only renaming where his trousers which were a bit scorched as well.
"'Your one tough son of a bitch I'll give you that." Kenji twirled his bat and pointed it at the wind mage as he took out a vial containing a green substance. "So you still want to go tiger-man?"
"Of course that last attack barely tickled." Tekashi snared as he struggled to stand up with his body slowly healing and got in his low tiger stance even though he heard a crack making him flinch in pain.
"Hm hold on. Yo boss, how are you… What do you mean mission over it's been eight years your just ending just like that. Aw come on boss I was having a great fight. But… FFFiinne but I got a great present for you." Kenji spoke to no one and Tekashi looked at him like he was more crazy than he thought. "Well this was fun Tempest Tiger but I got places to be and people to meet."
"You honestly think I'll just let you go?" growled Tekashi and coughed up some more blood.
"Ha! You really don't have a choice. Man I was hoping to battle Salem-chin once I was done with you but do me a favour and put in a good word for me to Solara. Sayonara!" Kenji flipped off Tekashi and the ring on his finger glowed, warping from the area.
"'Tsh' Just where does he get those rings." Tekashi wondered as magical items relating to spatial abilities were extremely hard to come by. He flinched in pain but smiled at the great battle, as he went back to normal and began re-evaluating his battle to pick out his mistakes and know where and how to improve. "Damn he was a lot tougher than I thought he would be but what was that vile he was holding?"
With Salem
Salem burrowed off the ground into the room he saw the kitsune anomaly was in. He still found it strange that it and the Hina-Emma weren't in the room with the other anomalies, leading him to wonder just what they were using them for exactly.
After he turned to normal he looked around the room and could help but whistle at it as he looked around the area. It was huge with the ground filled with slightly tall white grass, a large sakura tree in the distance with its petals flying across the room and finally there was a pink mist surrounding the whole room. All this caused a comfortable scenario.
"Man they really went all out with these underground rooms?" He wondered as this whole base was bigger than he thought."I know you're their Kistune so stop playing games and come out."
"Kistune what we are talking about. Oh no don't tell me you got peer pressured into drinking lean again?" He heard a familiar voice making his eyes widened. A pretty black female 19-20 years old walked out of the mist.
"There ain't no way Jaz!" Salem said in surprise as he looked at the girl.
"Yes way Salem the Cat." She teased as she got near him. "It's been a while Purrkins
. I love your new look, it gives me Danny Phantom vibes." She gently stroked his hair. "But I really miss your amber eyes and cute dimples though." And with that he was back in his previous body. "Much better." She smiled brightly and hugged him.
"O-oh nah this is obviously an illusion." Salem backed away from her.
"An illusion." She spoke in a sad tone. "I guess you've been having such a great time here in Earthland that everything else in your previous life is so boring. Including me."
"N-No I…"
"I-it's okay Purrkins I get it fairy tail is a world full of magic and from what I've watched it's also full of beautiful women with supermodel like bodies that I don't even come close to how pretty they are from Erza, Mirajane, Lucy, and Irene."
"T-Trust me on this Jasmine you will always be top tier in my book. Hell even if Laura Matsuda was here I would still choose you over her." He flinched at how pathetic and cringy that sounded, and glad nobody was around to hear him say that.
"Oh Purrkins you're still such a big dork who's not very good with his words." She giggled as the pink most surrounded her and she was dressed like Laura Matsuda and tackled him to the ground and sat on his waist."I can feel you like what you see more now~. She began grinding him.
'Shit I can't control myself.' Salem cursed as he felt his body going numb as Jasmine continued grinding him a bit, getting him harder.
"It's good to see that I still have an effect on you." She came closer to him than kissed him square in the lips getting a gasp. Jasmine took this opportunity to shove her tongue in his mouth. Salem wrapped his arm around her and began kissing her back, getting a moan of pleasure from Jasmine. "I've wanted to do that for a long time~." She giggled in delight
"J-Jasmine I-I'm so sorry." He apologised, confusing the female and he pushed her off not too hard though and put some distance between them. He knew it wasn't real but he couldn't help himself.
"S-Salem please d-don't!" Jasmine begged with tears in her eyes as she reached out to him.
With that the image of Jasmine disappeared as Salem fully broke out of the illusion than going back to his Earthland look. He sighed in sadness but he couldn't for long as he focused on the kitsune's magical signature in the area.
"Alright Kitsune bring your nine tailed ass out or I'll burn this whole place to bring you out!"
On cue a beautiful woman came from behind the large Sakura tree. She had smooth pale skin, long white hair, fox red eyes,three whisker markers on each cheek. She wore a black kimono with a fur coat over it.
"I'm impressed you broke out of my mist's illusion boya~." She applauded while blowing some smoke and smirked provocatively. "You know we don't have to…"
"Enough with your nonsense bitch lets just do this I got places to be." Salem glared hard at her.
"Stupid brat you should have just given, now I'm going to have to do this the hard way. Which is a shame because you're kind of cute too~." The woman chuckled as she smirked evilly and her tails wrapped around her and in her place was a two story nine tailed fox with black-red fur.
"Finally lets fucking go!"