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The student
Teleporting is... well, a strange experience. I'd gone through it once before, all too psyched on my chance of killing Midori -ironic that we had her to thank for at least having a chance to fight- to fully realize what was going on. But this time, well, I was a bit older and not as emotionally invested in bringing down Mio Yui and was expecting it to feel a little different.
It wasn't really. One moment we were all assembled in the streets of Tokyo, and then the next...
“Huh. Anyone want to put a wager on how long until we start getting accosted by punks in leather jackets and with bad hairstyles?” Asuka scoffed.
We were all standing in the center of a cul-de-sac a small suburban town, with houses lining both sides of the street in front of us. Even in the light of the full moon, it seemed rather picturesque and something out of a history book.
Tsukuyomi stepped out, walking down the road a short ways before looking around. “This wasn't what I was expecting at all. It's just so...”
“It's certainly not what you'd expect for some link between those of the Profound Shine and those of the Gou Kurosou to be, would it?” Kerrigan spoke up before walking away from the group as well. “I'm not saying this can't be connected with some grand plot of doom at all or anything. I mean-” she turned around back to us all. “It's not like-”
The color drained from Kerrigan's face rapidly, as if sensing something had suddenly just gone very, very wrong. She didn't even need to vocalize this, we just knew. I found myself turning to the others, wondering what could happen, how things could take a turn for the worse so soon.
Oh... god...
We were all so stupid.
Horoki was the first to shout out. “Minako!” After that, we all began to scream out other names in fear, hoping they were still somewhere in earshot. Not including Iris and Midori, we had come here as a group of sixteen. Tsukuyomi seemed the most confused and shaken by all of this, the god on his hands and knees in front of us all and lost in his own thoughts while we all did a quick headcount.
Eight people. The three Regalia girls, the previously mentioned god, Kerrigan, Ikki, my father, and myself.
Where had everyone else gone?!? The last time, Saori, Shot, Kerrigan, and I were all together, so what could-
I heard a sound of a footstep, and judging by the silence that fell on everyone else I guess the feeling was mutual. I was reaching for my kendama almost on reflex as we all finally got a good view of the individual.
She looked normal enough... then again, so had pretty much everyone else we'd ever run into that knew how to actually fight. She had short, curly black or blue hair -the lighting made it difficult to tell- and even in the wintertime she was just wearing a jacket and jeans. She also wasn't trying to win us over at all with even the most empty and forced of smiles.
“... You're probably wondering about a lot of things now, aren't you?” The girl's expression grew more smug as she bowed down in front of us. “That's okay. It's understandable.”
“... Let me guess,” Akane said. “Mio's been planning this for a while, hasn't she?”
The girl craned her neck forward ever-so-slightly. “She's been planning this all ever since that August day a little over two years ago. And right now, I have to admit she's still playing all of you like a well-tuned instrument. Which is kinda demeaning to me, in a way...” she laughed. “I get to mop up all the riff-raff that Tsubaki couldn't care less about.”
“So you're another Construct?” I asked while switching my kendama to its scythe form. “And you think you can take all of us on by yourself?”
The Construct shrugged. “But I'm not alone. Far from it.” She opened up the palm of her hand, showing us all the empowering markings of the Gou Kurosou before she looked down at it. “'Coordinate'. For a while I would always feel bad, wondering what I could do with my abilities. I also used to really loathe Mio too.” Something flashed across her eyes. “Of course... that was before that day in January.”
The ground began to shake, cracking around her more and more before something horrific simply burst through the ground at us.
“And that was the day-!” Massive, flesh-toned tendrils burst out of the ground around her. “That was the day I realized what Mio had planned for me from the very beginning!”
“Good. Still there.”
My quarters were as I had left them, a rather spartan affair of a cot, a dresser for casual clothes and my on-duty uniform, and a large chest at the base of my bed that could store any number of things. Such as the thing I needed.
Manfred's subordinates had not liked the fact I had killed their patron. But when you vow eternal loyalty to a freak like that the relationship is going to unequal and rocky even at its best. Without their own personal beacon of leadership and charisma, the stress had proved too much on them all.
It was disturbing how much control one vampire could have on so many people. But then again, that's how they operated, manipulation by psychological or mystical means to sate their own desires.
The absurdity of that made me laugh. After all, I was an incubus, and it wasn't like those didn't have an image out there too.
Midori appeared next to me with a quizzical look on her face. “Some little safety net for yourself?”
I walked over to the chest and fiddled with the combination lock for a few moments before it popped off. Opening up the chest, I gave a relieved sigh. My Algol armor, safe and sound.
Once again wearing the armor I had spent nearly a year testing and improving on, I felt a little more confident as I walked through the halls of Jun's castle towards the exit. Midori was still tagging along with me, although keeping out of eyesight most of the time. I was fine with that; the less time I spent looking at her, the less time I spent getting reminded of the hell she had put my brother and everyone else through.
“We need to find a friend of mine. They'll be able to help.”
“Keston, that's pointless. You're the only demon aside from your brother that was empowered by the Hallowed Prisms. And granted, you still have the Prism that killed Manfred, but the two of you won't accomplish much together.”
“This person isn't affected by a Destiny dictated by the Profound Shine because they are entirely separate from that power.” I paused, turning to the ghost. “How familiar are you with the Hakkeshu?”
“The what?”
I snorted before continuing walking. So even people like Midori didn't have all the answers. “She's her own entity. She also has powers comparable to most gods and she was the one that clued me in that things were going to be happening. As for finding her, well... that part's going to be a bit difficult. But I'll make due. After all, I think I have a good grasp of how I can find her.
“Good. We've arrived.” The main entrance was in front of me, the doors still open to let any chance stragglers leave without having to actually do any thinking. I walked through to the outside world; a twisted reality more at home in the confines of a horror novel than in real life. The sky was jet-black, with large, yellow eyes with slitted pupils looking down at me, while the ground was dry and powdery.
It was amazing, the kinds of aesthetic choices people chose for decorating their own little plane of reality.
Atha, I was going to find you. No matter, I would.
As far as I can remember, the last time that we ran into a giant force of nature that could crush any one of us with a simple thought was during the run-in with Chizuru. And I had the fortune of getting back up thanks to Iris and ending that quickly and with little trouble.
This was... this was entirely different.
The gigantic tentacles tore through the ground more and more as we all dove for cover, Tsukuyomi releasing bursts of light to ward them off as Akane mimicked the actions. They didn't do much other than buy us some time, but then gunshots rang out, the Construct gasping in pain as bullets tore through her clothing. The tendrils stood rigid before spasming, and I turned to see that both Ikki and Johan had both brought along handguns.
Well, when you didn't have any fantastic weapons or other empowerments you had to make due.
“... Who... would've thought-”
She fell forward onto the ground, whatever monstrosity she had been using likewise collapsing too.
A moment passed as we all looked at Stroheim and Higashi as they both placed the weapons back inside their coats; probably had shoulder holsters.
“She talked about 'coordinating'. Seemed foolish for her to just leave herself open like that.”
“So what are we going to do now with all this... stuff... in the way?” Horoki asked as she pointed at the closest tentacle with her sword. “Just hack through it or what?”
“... ha ha ha ha...”
Before any of us could even do anything else, Johan and Ikki opened fire again on the Construct's body. It didn't take long for us to realize that wasn't working as she stood up again, even as her body was struck by more and more rounds of ammunitions. One of the tentacles swung at us from the side, only to be momentarily stopped by the violet flames of Asuka's magatama.
“This... this is just perfect!” The Construct roared in victory. Her entire body looked more like it was going to fall apart any second now. How the hell was she doing this? “I've got the chance to finally test out just what I can do when push comes to shove!”
The tentacle's momentum returned in full, only for it to be cut to ribbons by the efforts of Horoki's giant sword and Akane's cutting attacks. The Construct seemed barely fazed by that as she laughed.
She's got something planned, Iris told me as I felt Dai Makai form over parts of my body. How is she even doing this?
I narrowed my eyes before looking at Tsukuyomi. “We might need to hold off attacking right away. Doing that would get us nowhere.”
I didn't know where Zien or I were, but I could tell right away that something had gone wrong. Nobody else was around, leaving us in alone in the middle of a dark, frozen field. For all I knew, this was all some elaborate trap and Tsukuyomi was in fact under the whims of Destiny too.
“It's been a while, hasn't it Construct? How's life been treating you? Feeling better after last month?”
With that kind of tone, I was half-expecting Mio to be the one standing in front of me, but instead it was a girl with long and wavy black hair. She looked only mildly impressed I was still among the living before shrugging.
“Who are you?”
The girl looked down at the ground for a moment, grinning before kneeling down and clumping some snow together to make a snowball.
“I asked you for your name!”
“... I remember all the fun times I had when I was a little, Construct. It was so nice, being a little girl with a loving family. Then one day... I realized something horrible about myself. Ah, there we go.” The snowball was complete, and she stood up and began playing with it in her hands.
I turned to Zien in confusion and hoped to get an answer. After all, her whole ability revolved around that. Instead the Construct was staring in disbelief and horror before the woman continued again.
“My name, if you need to know, is Tsubaki Watanabe. Of course your friend there is in such abject horror of seeing me stand here, right now, she probably isn't even capable of thinking, let alone warning you of the dangers you're in.” Tsubaki slowly began walking towards me, throwing the snowball up in the air and then catching it as it came down repeatedly. The field suspiciously grew brighter and brighter as she continued to approach me. “If you're scared and want to summon your armor, go right ahead. It won't make a bit of difference.”
Zien's hand lashed out and grabbed my wrist, diverting my attention back over to her as she looked at me in desperation.
“Don't play her game. Please. She's-”
“Now now, you pathetic vestige of Kei Kimatura's intentions,” Tsubaki mocked before stopping about ten meters in front of me. “You're of absolutely no consequence and I'll be dealing with you in a moment.”
She moved fast, but her charge wasn't as coordinated as her attitude had made me think. I guess it was the instincts of a runner guiding me as I shoved Zien away. “Eclipse Transition!” Without holding back I let loose the light of the Brilliant Luminescence, surprised all the same when Tsubaki slid around it before swinging around into a roundhouse. I caught the attack, but Tsubaki kicked me with her other leg and flipped away as she smirked.
“... So... that's the manifestation of your Profound Shine...” She threw the snowball away. “How pathetic.”
“What?”
“Minako!” Zien shouted. “You need to get away from her!”
Tsubaki turned her head to her, pointing a finger at the girl. “Oh, shut up you stupid Construct.” Her finger glowed before a shaft of light was fired from it. Without thinking I threw myself in the way of the attack, the power behind it blasting me backwards as there was an flash of light.
“You can't win. There is simply no way for you to win, Construct,” Tsubaki said as it began to die down. Was was left speechless as I saw Tsubaki standing there in a pristine and beautiful white gown, with a quartet of angelic wings behind her.
It... it was so much like my old armor's design...
“Surprised?” Tsubaki tilted her head with a gleeful smirk as a tsurugi blade appeared in her hands. “I expect that you should. After all, when you get down to the very beginnings of your origin, I'm the whole reason you exist!”
She lived in Kyoto, and her only friend was one Minako Yuki. The real Minako Yuki, not the trashy and pathetic Construct standing before me today. Of course, Minako had a lot of other friends too, such as Akane Kirishima, but that's all not really important.
However, there is another little girl that's important to this: me. Little Tsubaki Watanabe was always a happy girl too, loving to have fun in this world and live life to it's fullest. Unfortunately, that was before the day she discovered her powers.
The day she discovered that she had the power of the Profound Shine, that she was the original Candidate for Amaterasu. And she feared what would happen to her because of this power and how her life would never really be hers anymore.
You can imagine her joy when she was approached by a wonderful and noble person: the real Minako Yuki. She didn't want to know how Minako knew of her plight, she just wanted to know how they could help her.
The solution was simple: there was a predestined path all laid out for the Candidate of Amaterasu. It didn't matter who, it just depended on them being the most viable Candidate. Minako's solution: make a Construct based off of her, with a Darkness inside her so pure, so infinite that it would crave the Light. It would emulate the powers of the Profound Shine, to the point that it was an even more viable Candidate for Amaterasu than the original human!
Naturally Kei thought this idea was horrible, but she eventually still complied. Minako and Tsubaki both got what they wanted, Tsubaki being free to live her life however she wanted while Minako herself went into hiding, leaving her family behind with nothing but a copy. A copy that might have remembered almost everything about her save for these few events, but there was just something off about her. Perhaps it was her soul, so entirely different and meaning different ideas for the future, leading her to grow distant with all her friends over the course of the before...
Well, you can fill in the blanks from here. Can't you, you pathetic Construct, made only to make my life easier!”
That...
That couldn't be true.
I wasn't even in possession of the original Profound Shine?
Nothing about me prior to that day when Mizuki saved us all, nothing about me had been in my control?
I felt the coldness of metal against my throat, Tsubaki using my distractions to approach me and hold her sword against the side of neck.
“... Why... why would Mio do this all in the first place? What would she have to gain from this?”
Tsubaki glared at me. “Her name, the name she's had to abandon for ten years now, is Minako Yuki. And when you die, and when this is all over, she will finally take back the name that should be hers and hers alone!”
…
“So what are you going to do then? Kill me right here?”
“Naturally. Granted it's a miracle you're still alive, but I'm not surprised, to be honest. You wouldn't have gotten where you are today without an unbreakable determination.” Tsubaki slowly twisted the sword, it's blade nicking the bottom of my chin as I tried to stay perfectly calm. I wasn't going to get out of this if I panicked.
“Most of your friends are probably at the mercy of Hinata. She's one of the best, to tell you the truth. It was a stroke of genius, I have to admit, to have Tsukuyomi trace our location. Unfortunately,” Tsubaki leaned close to me. “You miscalculated. The power of the Gou Kurosou's had an attracting force on those connected to the Profound Shine, whereas the effect is muted to a degree for those connected to the Great Sea of Evil. And as for you two-”
“Three.”
Tsubaki didn't turn her attention away from me as she answered Zien. “Oh? Who would that be?”
… Of course...
“Someone who just needs an opening.”
In the space of time it took for Tsubaki to realize what I had done, it was already too late for her. My clawed left hand grabbed her sword effortlessly and twisted it away from me as I punched her straight in the face, knocking her away without her precious weapon. Her wings opened wide and she caught herself in the air, but she could only growl in anger as she held the right side of her face.
“You...” the entire field began to begin to shine brilliantly as she finally moved her right hand. I could see in her eye a glint of red and was willing to bet I had burst a blood vessel or two in the process. “I'm NOT going to-”
“You're going to think this out very carefully, Miss Watanabe.” Said a figured as she stepped past me, holding a glowing crystal in her hand. It was Shot. “After all... I have this.” As if Tsubaki didn't have a good enough view already, Shot lifted the Hallowed Prism up further.
“... How the hell did you-”
“I've been empowered by the Great Black Ocean twice now,” Shot snapped. “Once by Kei in an act of benevolence, and again by Mio in an act that was anything but. I wasn't exactly close, but with your laser light show it was no problem tracking you all down.”
“You've still got nothing other than that Prism,” Tsubaki said back.
I smiled as I lifted up her tsurugi blade. “And you're currently without your weapon.”
That didn't seem to bother Tsubaki much as she stayed focused on Shot and smiled. “You weren't here then when the Construct girl warned Minako's copy, were you?'
Shot slowly slid backwards, raising up the Prism as one would a knife. “What's that supposed to mean?”
“This.”
I saw movement along the ground before suddenly something struck my arm forcefully, causing me to drop Tsubaki's sword as Shot screamed out in pain. She was tackled by Zien, and in the contrast with the girl's dark hair I could finally see it.
White birds, small enough to fit in the palm of your hands.
The ground below Shot and Zien was being stained with blood as Tsubaki laughed again, getting my attention as I saw four of them surrounding her. “This, Construct... is a kind of power you could never understand or come close to. Just as your appearance is based off of Minako's, your powers are based off of mine. Your friend is a little incapacitated, leaving you at the mercy of someone who outclasses you.” she raised her arm and pointed at me, each of her little birds poised to attack. “Hell, even the other Construct knows you're out of your league.”
She was confident, wasn't she? She was also being very, very stupid.
“I'm not going to lose to you here.”
“Unlikely, Construct. Your powers are derived from mine, so anything you can do, I can do better.”
Again, Tsubaki was being very, very stupid as my sword was released from the slit in my left gauntlet, blade first and then the handle. All she did in response was hold out her other hand as her own sword appeared in it.
“You're the one out of your league, Tsubaki. Let me ask who this, before I end this: how many times have you fought?”
“Come again?”
“I expected as much.” Inexperience would always be a greater handicap than a lack of power.
I threw my sword straight at Tsubaki, the girl retaliating with a burst of light and all four of her little familiars attacking me. I was under the wire here, but I was not going to let Shot and Zien down. I fired off a single pair of beams of light, each one crashing into my spinning sword. The attacks were spread, crashing into the birds as the screeched in pain, also forcing Tsubaki on the defensive as I charged and picked up my sword again. “TSUBAKI!” I shouted as an array of thin, vane-like wings opened up behind my armor. I jumped into the air, taking flight as I slashed at her. “I'm not going to lose to you or anyone else working with Mio!”
Our blades crashed together before she knocked me away, looking surprised at these developments. I could see her hands tighten around her sword, furious that I wasn't going down as easily as she would have liked.
“... You're determined. And you know how to make the most of your fleeting powers, Construct. But-”
Tsubaki flew at me, readying her sword as I did the same. As we met, I swung my sword down only for it to go through empty air. On reflex I spun around with the momentum, seeing Tsubaki bearing down on me again. I raised my arm up to deflect her sword, but the girl grabbed my hair with her other and and slammed my head against her knee before kicking me to the ground.
“Sometimes there's just too great of a difference between the strengths of the combatants.”
I rubbed my cheek, unsurprised to find blood there as I stood up again. This was going to end ugly if I didn't play my cards right. Getting back up to my feet, I pointed my sword at Tsubaki. “But I've still just beat you.”
“That's ridiculous! What could you do-”
“I've already done my part,” I responded. “Zien and Shot are gone now. See for yourself; and don't worry, I won't be using that to try to get an opening.”
I counted the seconds down before I heard Tsubaki growl in frustration. “What good is that supposed to do, Construct?”
… For the sake of everyone, let this work.
“Because Zien's with Shot. She can help her track down the others. And they all know where we are. If we keep this up... I might... just barely lose... But in the meantime they'll be on their way here. And you won't be able to beat them all. Not by yourself.”
Just by looking at her, I could almost hear Tsubaki screaming on the inside.
“Do you want to take that chance? If you leave, you lose nothing. On the other hand-”
“JUST SHUT UP!”
Tsubaki's hand glowed white again as she released a burst of light at me. Halfways expecting that, I was already in the process of dodging when she attacked and I kept running even after I thought I was clear of the light.
It struck the ground, and there was a brilliant flash. Tsubaki was cursing me all the while.
After a short period of time, the light died down, leaving me alone in the field. I was in the process of catching my breath, but that was before I saw the after-effects of Tsubaki's last attack.
She had blown a hole in the ground, leaving me standing directly adjacent to a titanic crater.
… Zien hadn't been joking when she said she was dangerous.
“DAMMIT!”
The full force of one of the tentacles smashed into me, the only thing keeping me from being crushed being the humongous Kusanagi blade. Even then, I was still smashed into the pavement fifty feet away, my entire body aching in pain as I tried to pull myself up.
This fight was... ridiculous. Over the course of the fight, the Construct had been shot with guns, impaled by my sword and Giselle's scythe, been a victim of the Ya Kumo, cut apart by Akane's claws, and generally just been ground into the dirt.
So why couldn't we beat her? No matter what, whatever pathetic remains of her kept getting back up and continuing to fight?
“It's only a matter of time!” the Construct laughed as I saw another tentacle come swinging down to crush me, only to be stunned momentarily by Asuka's violet flames. Taking advantage of that tall, I rolled out of the way as quickly as I could. A half-second later, the tendril smashed into the ground inches away from me. “This is all just a gleeful game of attrition!”
Dammit... why couldn't we beat her?
“You're all out of your league! At long last you're finally in a no-win situation! You're all at my mercy, and your time's finally run out!”
Maybe it was all some kind of mutual realization, but a silence fell on all of us all. The only sound was the heavy breathing of the bloodied, mutilated Construct.
And then an amused chuckle of a man and a woman.
“... I think I have it figured out now,” Kerrigan suddenly declared, causing us to all turn back to her and Tsukuyomi. The woman herself had a hand on her forehead, and she began to laugh more and more as she looked up at the Construct. “Let me ask you something, Construct. What is it that you 'Coordinate'? Is it the will of all of humanity?” She smirked. “You don't have to tell me if I'm right or not.”
“That would be my department,” Tsukuyomi continued. “And now it's pretty obvious.
“Determination. That is one of the greatest abilities of a human: the unbreakable determination to overcome all obstacles. And supporting you and your abomination right now are the wills of over six billion people... the kind of determination that would let you keep getting up no matter what.”
“But...” another voice rang out as Iris appeared. “What would happen if some infinite blackness were to empower an attack and serve as a gap all that support could not hope to cross?”
“T-that's preposterous!” The Construct snapped. “There's no way that you could all just figured that all out! There's just no-”
Tsukuyomi cut her off with a wave of his hand. “On the contrary,” he said as Iris's phantom entered the body of the god. “You just confirmed it all for us.”
One burst of light, parts of it light-blue and other parts jet-black, was fired from the God's finger, blasting through the Construct anticlimactically. She didn't even have time to utter anything before she collapsed to the ground, her monstrosity shriveling away into nothing in a matter of seconds.
“I-it's over?” I asked wearily. All I got was approving nods. “Good. That's... that's a relief.”
