The liquid seeped like blood from their host's mouth and eyes, but poured down in a river of sickening black, with veins of magenta. Birds like ash and tar emerged like the swarm of an angered hive from Ja'far, Mahad, and Vittel. They created three paths that gathered at a core, visibly growing and taking solid shape. Like clay molding, morphing grotesquely from a sphere, extending out to form heavy legs, a broad torso, arms, then protrusions like mantis claws curled from the blades of its back before, at last, the head taking form in the shape of a beast. Horns curled like a ram to match its features, but with red eyes, that was a predator in all sense.
Neither Sinbad, Dragul, Hinahoho, or Sakura could fathom the sudden twisted turn of events. How had three humans been morphed into this?
"Don't do such things in my dungeon!" said Valefor. "At this rate, the depravity will spread."
Valefor was the only one who could speak with understanding, but no one thought to contemplate his words as what stood before them was deafening.
A hand-decorated with sharp claws curled into a fist that slammed into the stone floor of the dungeon's treasury. A shock wave comparable to an earthquake erupted that knocked almost everyone off their feet and they were left in fear and awe as the curtain of dust fell to show the massive hole.
Dragul trembled, from the display of raw power. "All this from one blow?"
"How could this have happened? What is this exactly?" Sakura's question would have hung in the air, had Valefor not chosen to catch it.
"This is dark magic. It leads humans astray from the great flow and turns them into magical beasts. Its strength depends on the men it was based on."
"Why did they become like that?" Dragul asked. He couldn't recall what would lead the assassins to turn into this beast when they were together most of the time in Imuchakk. There was a sliver of fear as well. That if he didn't find the answer to this question, then he may be at risk of suffering the same fate. A paranoid hypothesis, yet that's what happened when fear was thrown over the mind.
"That magician," Valefor hissed at the memory of Falan. "Without a doubt, she had something to do with this."
The back arms of the creature lifted and swung like a blade across the room, slicing through the pillars of stone.
Dragul didn't want to wait for another attack, and he drew the magic weapon to shoot at the beast but his attack was deflected by a shield in the form of Sinbad. The golden-eyed boy had his arms out protectively, not realizing that his back was bare to the dark magic creature.
"SINBAD!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION?"
His intent was clear, Sinbad wanted to save the three trapped as the core for this monster. But Dragul was not willing to stand on the edge just to speculate if there was hope.
"They're my comrades!" Sinbad was still recovering from the shock, but with heavy arms, he stood firm. "I won't let you kill them!"
"Sinbad! What are you doing? Don't you understand the situation?!"
"THEY'RE MY COMRADES." He repeated.
When the kunoichi realized that Sinbad and Dragul were going to argue about this amid battle, she decided to step in. Pushing Hinahoho out of the beast's reach that had extended past the laws of physics.
Sakura wasn't having it try another attack. Her fist strengthened with her chakra as she pushed hard on her feet, getting head-on with the creature. Her body flipped forward to get higher when it attempted to grab her and she landed elegantly on its arm. She rushed the monster and looked straight into its eyes before her fist collided between them. The force was powerful enough to knock it through the air and crash into the walls of the treasury. Granting a short reprieve.
"Don't destroy my dungeon!" Valefor complained and her only response was to glare viciously back.
"What are you doing Sakura!"
"Hurry up and kill that monster!"
"SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!" The scream frightened all of them into a short moment of silence."Is there a way to turn them back?"
"Well…."
The djinn took a moment longer than Sakura liked and she expressed that by stomping her foot hard enough to crack the tiles of the treasury. "TALK. Or I'll bring this dungeon down with that thing!"
The way the djinn shifted his body, tilting his head with thought made it obvious that he was contemplating whether he had anything to say about the situation. Sakura wasn't even certain that Valefor would have an answer but this had to do with magic and djinn's certainly knew a lot more about the concept than humans would.
"The captured humans are connected to the core of the magical beast, its feeding on their magoi. As far as I can see from the magoi's flow, the nucleus is probably located in the chest. You can destroy it with one powerful precise blow to the core. That may separate those three from the beast."
There was a lot of uncertainty in Valefor's statement. An obvious theory but it was something that they were going to have to try. It was clear who needed to deliver this blow and cut the connection between the beast and the three assassins.
Sinbad held up his sword, "Alright, I just have to-
The beast Sakura knocked down stood across the other side of the treasury, a tendril of black whipped from its body and wrapped around the blade of Sinbad's metal vessel taking it from him and landing in the much larger hand of the beast.
"Without this, you're powerless now correct?" A bittersweet tone giggle maliciously, before the source emerged from the open hand of the creature, taking the form of Falan. "How are you doing? We meet again."
Without the sword and Baal's power, they wouldn't be able to cut through the monster and get the three out. Dragul was more taken back by Falan's appearance, after he had watched Valefor destroy her body with magic, leaving behind a nesting doll form. Yet here she was again like a weed.
"Falan," called Dragul "So it was you behind all of this."
He went to attack but the magician moved out of his reach "Yes, my real body is in Parthevia right now I'm working as a direct magician under Lieutenant General Barbarossa-sama."
Dragul gasped "My brother?"
"Captain Dragul, my bad I forgot you were promoted by two ranks," Falan said through bitter words laced in venom. Even with a mask, her eyes showed a wicked smile.
"What?"
When Falan spoke her voice was no longer her own, now rough with a lower octave, like grains of sand falling.
"It means you're already considered someone who died in action, Junior!"
"That voice!" Dragul exclaimed with recognition but fearfully wanted to confirm. "Is it you big brother?"
Like a microphone, Dragul's brother Barbarossa spoke through Falan's form. "Failed to capture the first dungeon, and still not able to capture the guy who cleared it. It's a disgrace that can't be pardoned in the noble Drakon Family. Regarding my wife Serendine, did you think I wouldn't notice that you favored her? I disregarded all your follies as a child but that ends here. Die gracefully."
Dragul was paralyzed by his brother's words, each hitting him like poisoned arrows that he couldn't tear his gaze off the floor or remove the expression of absolute terror and dread from his normally calm demeanor.
Falan was handed back the reigns and she didn't have anything better to say."Both you and they are nothing but sacrificial pawns. You have nowhere to return to."
The beast moved in to attack Dragul who was on his knees scorned and unable to summon the will to escape, to live. Hinahoho on the other hand didn't allow the hand to swipe its target.
"NOW." He yelled, looking in the corner from above.
Sakura and Sinbad leaped into the air and went for the creature, the pink-haired kunoichi with her strength punching the beast on its head hard enough to crack off a horn and disorient it. While Sinbad went for Falan to retrieve his sword, running along the arm like it was an unstable bridge.
Leaping onto the wall, Sakura glanced at Dragul. "Don't give up here you idiot! If you've still got someone out there worth keeping safe, then fight to survive!"
"What sweet words for a soon-to-be corpse." Hissed Falan.
"Like you're one to talk!"
With Falan's appearance and Sinbad's metal vessel being taken hostage, Barbarossa's monologue had been the reprieve Sakura took to plan out a quick counter on their enemy. Hinahoho would distract the beast and Sakura and Sinbad would take back Baal.
The creature recovered too quickly and Sinbad momentarily lost concentration, he ended up in one of the hands coming from the creature's back. With bone-crushing strength, it became to grip tighter on Sinbad, like a python. Sinbad cried in pain and the sensation of the attempt to grind his bones to dust.
"Sinbad!" Sakura ducked when another hand came at her, despite the swiping and quick motion she was able to determine the position and easily avoided them.
Falan snickered at the spectacle. "A king's candidate that cannot even call upon her metal vessel will never defeat my puppet."
Sakura smirked, "Who said I was?"
The creature let out a shriek, its snout wide revealing the chain of sharp teeth as Dragul plunged his sword into its head, blackbirds fluttering from the superficial wound.
"Barbarossa! I won't hand princess Serendine to someone as wretched as you! For her highnesses sake, I will send you to the next world!"
The momentary distraction had caused Falan to lose her faculties, and Sakura did not miss this chance. Her feet kicked off from the wall and she was in front of Falan. Her movements were too fast for the other women to track and she took back the metal vessel that was not hers.
'Impossible!'
"W-WHO ARE YOU?"
With the blade in hand, she sliced through the magician's neck in a clean swoop. There was no blood splatter or sign of flesh, just smoke, and ash that vanished to reveal a wooden doll.
"None of your business."
The time was set, as Hinahoho reeled back his Harpoon one arm extended towards the creature fingertips at its chest from the line of vision. Eyes set with determination and void of fear, unlike when he faced the rampaging unicorn. Hinahoho used his magoi to enhance the speed and raw power of his attack and sent it through the creature holding Ja'far, Mahad, and Vittel hostage.
Black burst sprouted from the opening and dispersed slowly shirking the creature until it spat up three figures, freeing Sinbad from its grip as well. Sakura and Dragul caught the four as they fell. Looking over for injuries.
Despite his injuries, Sinbad was able to move. He went to look over the three that had finally been released. "Are they alright?"
"They're breathing." Dragul checked their pulse. It didn't take long for them to wake up.
"Are you alright?" Sinbad asked them placing his hand on Vittel's shoulder
"Yeah. It felt as if some evil spirit flew into my body,"
"That's rather accurate." Sakura smiled.
For a moment, they could feel relief, but the conclusion had not yet been reached. Something made clear when Ja'far appeared to awaken.
"Are you okay?" Sakura asked
Ja'far seemed slightly dazed still but he nodded as an indication making the pinkette smile in relief. She was about to embrace the boy when a discomforting feeling at the proximity made her stop.
'My king something is not right!'
Right after Ja'far's body lifted into the air, his eyes flashed blank and in the center of his chest, a dark light became the opening for more of those black birds that appeared. It gathered and shifted high above. First a clawed hand and then the face of a familiar evil creature.
"That thing again...?" Dragul stepped back in horror. His thoughts drowning with the possibility that this magical creature could never be destroyed, that they were dealing with something immortal. Meaning they would soon be forced to expire.
"Chief!" Vittel called in distress.
"No." Sinbad gasped looking up; everyone else had as well and they were equally horrified at the sight of the demon that had been destroyed not only minutes ago resurrecting before their eyes. It was like being inside a never-ending nightmare where a content ending was impossible and all they wanted to do was wake up from an uneasy rest.
Falan's voice rang through it "This time, I created it by using just one body as its core for the source of power. Besides, it looks like this boy had already started falling into depravity. The best material you could ask for as a core."
"This time this child himself will become the core. In other words, defeating this demon means killing this child!"
Sakura was trembling as she searched her thoughts for answers; if there was one thing she had learned it was that situations that only seemed to offer one option were usually a deception. Merely appealing for the easy way; to give in to the inevitable but after all this time she knew that there would always be another way, a better way. You just had to create it. There was no such thing as defying fate but there was such a thing as shaping your own.
'Naruto...you taught me that.' Sakura looked down at Ja'far's form 'I will not let this boy die!'
Sinbad walked up in front of her on the other side of Ja'far; when he looked down Sakura noticed something.
'He's seeing something the rest can't.'
He was going to do something dangerous and Sakura couldn't let him do it alone. Now was not the time to dwell on the consequences. Sakura reached forward to the source of the creation of darkness. She was following Sinbad into the abyss.
"Don't!" Valefor called, realizing that the intention was to pull the boy out from the inside. A feat that would likely result in failure and casualties. "A human body can't handle the strain!"
…
…
…
Even with her armor, Sakura felt the weight of Sinbad's hand in her own as they fell through the fog around. Their senses obscured.
"Don't let go," Sinbad told her as they began descending into the unknown. Flashes of images that were not their own, memories contaminated their vision. Men with their faces covered but emptiness in their eyes the angle appeared as if they were giants, then Vittel and Mahad in the same clothes as the men knees bent in respect, two faces more obscured and blurry but certainly a man and women, a blade painted with blood in hands so small it couldn't clutch around it.
"These are the child's memories." Baal's voice was loud in both Sinbad and Sakura's heads.
"We are entering his subconscious; be cautious my king," Beleth warned.
"Talk to him," Baal told them "You must save this child at all costs!"
"If he falls into depravity he will be trapped forever in everlasting darkness," Beleth stated. "And you will be devoured by it."
Finally, they landed, despite their long fall, it was a soft one.
"We have to find him," said Sakura.
"Well will," Sinbad promised, squeezing her hand, refusing to let go.
"It hurts..."
A young boy with white hair trailed across a vast area of nothing, his feet leaving behind footprints of red. His heart filled with despair and agony as he sobbed with each step. Until finally he could no longer walk along the endlessness.
"I can't take it anymore. Mother...father where are you?" he cried before letting out a cry "Where are you!?"
Another figure appeared in front of the young boy, a much angrier and darker version of himself looking down at him with disgusted eyes.
"Stop whining already! Stop crying, you wimp!" His voice was harsh like a razor.
"I-I can't take this anymore..." Ja'far sobbed "I want to go home."
The dark figure grabbed him and shook him "Home? Just where is that place? Quit being a fucking cry-baby! Didn't we...kill our mother and father with these hands!? We're someone who was born into the organization. We had to kill them one day. It was the only choice we had... to survive. We had no choice."
The dark figure replicate of Ja'far moved back as his harsh voice grew soft and vulnerable "We had no choice...In the end didn't we manage to survive?"
From a distance not too far, Sakura and Sinbad watched the two Ja'far's sob.
Sakura was always quick to cry or so she's been told by many and as far as she knew it was true but that was because she had seen too much tragedy and sorrow to not. She believed she had two options when it came to situations like this. It was either cry or close off her heart.
And she was incapable of the latter. For a kunoichi it was pitiful.
"So that's how you've lived a painful life," observed Sinbad "While deceiving and contradicting yourself."
The darker Ja'far glared up at the two with hatred "Shut up. Just what can you understand?"
"You're right." Sinbad said, "We can't understand it."
Sakura stepped forward in front of the child "But, I do understand what it means to lose someone you love and blame yourself. I always know what it feels like to feel as if you don't have a place in this world."
There was a glimmer of someone in Sinbad's eyes after Sakura said that. He just noticed now that she was crying as well.
"But...that doesn't mean you should give up on living." Sakura said her voice shaking "It doesn't mean that you won't be happy again."
Sinbad and Sakura each took one Ja'far and hugged them.
"If you have no place to go," Sinbad said "I can give you one. I'll become your reason to live. So stop deceiving yourself already. I mean you've already crossed your path with me."
Sinbad's words not only had an effect on Ja'far but Sakura as well. There was an odd feeling in her chest building to something she couldn't place.
They were back in the outside world, Sakura and Sinbad sided together as they continued to reach for Ja'far. Sinbad was pulling with his arm wrapped in blue scales like armor, his djinn Baal shielding him from the poison of the black rukh. When she looked at the source of the darkness, that's when her senses became strung to a conclusion. Momentarily, Sakura forgot herself, her safety, and her concerns. Her eyes dulled, and that's when she felt the pulse of life from her headband. Her body warmed with the feeling covering her slowly, shifting through her body, her hands trembling as they were reshaped under a beam of light and magic.
'Spirit of strength and discord, come forth!'
It was the first time she had ever called upon her djinn's power, a new sensation of power different and yet so similar to chakra. Her hands wrapped in armor, the material hard as the most precious metal, fingers like talons that glistened with promised severity.
On the outside where Sakura and Sinbad's bodies were physical, the two had partially djinn equipped with their arms transformed. Lightning and fire fell on them as they destroyed the darkness within the boy.
"Don't you die on me Ja'far!" exclaimed Sinbad
"Wake up!"
Black rukh screeched like and pitched a tone that would make the ears chime with pain, but the two persisted in dragging Ja'far back to the light. Their hands raised away from his body and the dark birds swarmed like angered wasps from their disturbed hive. They emptied Ja'far of their influence as they flew away
Ja'far opened his eyes, pulled back to the outside with Sakura and Sinbad's smiling faces meeting him. The birds were incinerated by the blue lightning and purple flames that erupted from the metal vessels.
Hinahoho, Mahad, Vittel, and Dragul momentarily became blinded by the brightness and heat that mixed within the dungeon's treasury but when it cleared they were met with a relieving sight. Holding onto each of his arms, Sakura and Sinbad held Ja'far, his eyes cleared with small tears gathered in the corner.
"How are you feeling?" asked Sinbad.
"Yeah." Ja'far choked back a sob, Sakura cradled his head to her heart sighing in relief.
"You guys!" Hinahoho and everyone rushed at them. They all laughed together when they realized their ordeal with Falan and the demonic beast was finally over, with only one matter left to be settled.
Saving a human from depravity. A feat that Valefor greatly doubted was within humans' capabilities, but two of them had just proven him wrong. They had cleaned his dungeon of the disgusting black rukh.
"Now, shall we decide who will become king?"
Hinahoho pushed Sinbad in front of him "Go...Sinbad!"
Sinbad looked surprised. "Hina?"
"Everyone here considers you as a king."
Sakura grinned and shrugged her shoulders "Fair is fair I guess."
Everyone got down on one knee and pulled their hands together before saying "Now forms a contract with the djinn. Our king."
Beleth seemed hesitant to see his master bowing to another djinn holder "My king..."
'It's alright.' Sakura told him. This may yet be another fatal flaw, but she could tell that she didn't crave this power as he had. Perhaps that was the same difference between her and the rest of her teammates.
Thus Sinbad proceeded to form a contract with the djinn and the dungeon Valefor was cleared.
It was like watching a slideshow, pictures going by, an instant change of scenery, except you were within the picture as it changed and would be left standing when the next one took over the slot. Bags of gold, jewels, and various treasures were laid freely among the group. The air was chilly but the sun was shining on them. Yet it was like a blessing to be able to enjoy the simplicity of nature, after returning from a dungeon.
Sakura was the first to realize it. Her eyes sharpened with alert, in turn warning the others. "Get up!"
It took well over seven seconds before the others realized the pit they stood in where the dungeon once laid had been surrounded on its perimeter and it was not by friendly bodies. People with veils falling over their faces, only revealing their bloodlust eyes.
"We've been waiting for you, Sinbad." Parthevia had been better prepared to take down Sinbad. Even going as far as to send an entire clan of assassins after them. But Sinbad was not deterred by this situation. Holding up his new metal vessel, a gold necklace set with a wide red jewel for Velefor and he was excited to show off his new power. As the assassin's first line charged, Sinbad called on Velefor's power.
It wasn't as they expected, their opponents collapsing before growing cold as ice covered the area like a cloth, and froze them in place. Only their foes and yet the ice did not touch anyone who had just left the dungeon with Sinbad.
"The power to stop everyone near with ice. But you can't stop long-ranged attacks can you?"
Sakura wasn't going to let him beat her to the finish line again, "Djinn of strength and discord come forth….Beleth!"
Her arms shimmered and sheathed themselves in armor, violet flames erupted with a wild heat that melted the cold planes of ice and snow.
"Wanna bet on that?" Sakura grinned
There was anticipation for an all-out battle, except the tides turned once more as the area filled again with people. It seemed as if the entire village of Imuchakk warriors had come to fight against the intruders to their land. Spears ready and spirits high.
"INSOLENT INTRUDERS LEAVE AT ONCE OR BE DRIVE OUT BY OUR COUNTRYMEN" The chief stepped up, centered by his men as they overtook the area of the assassins.
"We'll retreat for now but remember," The man in the veil glared over specifically at Ja'far, Vittel, and Mahad. "We don't leave traitors at large."
Their instant appearance made as much sense as their sudden vanishing, as the army of assassins turned to smoke and left nothing of themselves behind but footprints in the snow.
"It's over," Sighed Sinbad.
"For now," Sakura said back. Because somehow she felt that this was just the beginning of something. Something she had unknowingly stepped into.
The successful capture of Valefor's dungeon leads to another night of music, dance, and feasting throughout the village. Ja'far, Vittel, and Mahad were welcomed warmly and the former assassins adapted well to the cheerful dynamic that the celebration incited. Although they were hesitant at first it's hard to resist the hold of an Imuchakk.
The former Parthevian general did not join them. Not long after they returned, Dragul had taken off on his own after a somewhat civil farewell to Sinbad. He had something to return to, even if he was now exiled from his country.
With the dust settled again, Sakura was forced to face the reality of her situation. Just as with Baal's vessel, she was able to retrieve another shard but the mirror was still so far from being complete. That morning after things had calmed, Sakura left to stand on the outskirts of the village overlooking the ocean from an ice glaze. Having made several attempts to remember the words she had uttered that landed her here before.
She knew she had chanted something, and that had brought her to Imuchakk, rather it brought her to the shards. It was like waking up from a dream and trying to recall its details, everything slowly fades away from memory and you're left with a blur of images and confusion.
'Why can't I remember?' She fiddled with the frame, her fingers red as a result of standing outside from the early morning until the sunrise. Even then she didn't go back, her endurance well credited. Her mind however was so distraught with distraction that she hadn't sensed the presence behind until a heavy set of fur was draped over her shoulders.
"You're going to catch a cold standing up here," Sinbad said. He seemed unusually pleased with himself and Sakura knew it wasn't about his kind action. It was too gratified.
"What has you so happy?"
"We just closed a deal with the national chief. I have permission to start trading Imuchakk's goods and you have to congratulate Hinahoho too. He's finally marrying the women of his dreams."
Hinahoho had wanted to marry this woman, but he had to complete the ceremony and earn his warrior name to be considered an adult and someone worthy of her hand. She was the daughter of the national chief Ramemoto, that he and Sinbad went to see that morning.
Sakura tipped her head, "So you came up here just to get congratulations from me?"
He pouted. "You could at least pretend to be happy. After all, this means I'm on the path to achieving my dream."
The dream to become king. It was absurd and defied logic to Sakura, maybe not the concept itself but rather how deeply Sinbad believed he could accomplish this. In the dungeon, when he spoke of his determination and goals, he had a radiance that just captivated her every sense. And suddenly he was no longer an ordinary person in her eyes. It was as if any outlandish claims could be fact for him.
"Congratulations," Sakura said with sincerity. Imuchakk was an isolated part of the world and their people were just as cold as the environment when it came to dealing with outsiders. Imuchakk did not trade with the rest of the world, and what Sinbad would be offering was going to be a rarity that promised success.
"Are you going to take those three with you?" Sakura asked.
"Of course!" He responded. "They're my comrades, and so are you."
She smiled a little. Maybe he wasn't too bad.
"What are you going to do now?"
Her eyes drifted to the ocean, she couldn't go back and she didn't know what to do with the looking glass to send her forward. She knew that she needed those shards but there were still so many unknowns that she could only have one certainty and that didn't even have a solid foundation for her to stand on.
She must have been too transparent. Sinbad threw his arm over her shoulders and lightly shifted her head to him. Sakura would have landed her fist to his jaw, but Sinbad's expression was too shocking ad the steepness in his eyes anchored her.
"Come with me."
"What?"
"We're going to Reim to start our company. If you don't have a place to go, just come with us. I'm going to see the world and I'd like to have someone as capable as you by my side for as long as you allow."
Now her heart was racing, and she could feel her cheeks becoming warmer. His words were brazen but also sincere that she faltered.
"Okay."
Sakura hadn't understood at the time, the gravity of that single word and what it would be drawing her into. Or how she would be consumed by Sinbad's radiance.