On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

One Hundred And Fifty-One / Side Thirty-Eight – Kiku, The Widow of Nails

Up overhead the ghost that had invoked the horrible joining of minds was hovering, uncertain, the three remaining other spectres buzzing around her like flies, their translucent forms fading in and out of the light of the raging flames. I had used most of my fiery energies on calling the Foehn, but still had enough left to strike a fatal bow, no doubt. Perhaps it’s for the best… unless… damn, I still felt sorry for her and the cruel death she endured. If we could free her by defeating the lord of this Territory, perhaps…

As if reading my thoughts, Tillyae waved her conducting baton, ordering her ragged, exhausted musicians to play a slow, soporific tune, flutes, stringed instruments and gentle chimes combining to form a dreamy melody. Various shades of green light flickered over the burning shrine, and the spectres began to slow, their eyes drooping.

“No, I… I should…” the poor wraith-girl began, struggling to speak as the lullaby dulled her mind. She was not alone, the beetle kami seemed largely unaffected, but the priest began to slow down, his movements slowing, becoming erratic.

“Perfect. Debuffs for the win.” I declared. “Now stop your damn struggling, we are trying to help!”

“I… I would.” The priest muttered, eyes drooping, even as he still called more and more of the small bronze and green beetles to swarm us. “But she ordered us to fight, and…”

“Indeed, clik-clik.” The beetle was straining as he was stuck to the pillar, legs scrabbling for purchase, starting to crack the rocks Ulfuric had thrown up. “I wish for nothing more than to be freed. But the curse of her nails goes deep.”

“Be still.” Shaeula ordered, her befuddling winds blowing again, and for a brief moment the beetle halted, her power clashing with that of the nails’. “This-this WILL hurt, I suspect.” She had switched to the pink jade bells and her knife of light, pinwheels being useless for this task. Aether poured from her into the blade, a good portion of it lost to the suppressing force of the enemy Territory, and with a cry she swung at the greenish-black underbelly of the kami, light flashing, cutting through with a sizzle.

The kami responded with a shrill cry, jade runes illuminating the shell, trying to resist her intrusion. “Annoying.” Shaeula snapped. “It would be far-far less trouble to kill you. I wonder if Akio would gain-gain a class?”

Wow, that’s cold. Stone cold. Still, I can’t lie and say the thought didn’t cross my mind. Kami slayer… that’d be pretty badass… “Well, I’m not particularly pious, but now I’m working with the temples and shrines, I think I should avoid that particular honour. Speaking of…” wind whipped around me as I massacred the swarming beetles the priest was forced to conjure. “… if I can save you, will you join us?” I asked the priest, who was looking at me with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“Yes, I’d even serve akuma, devils, if they could get me out of this endless hell!” he slurred, the melodious tune keeping him suppressed.

“All right then. Here we go.” I raced to the side of Ulfuric, who was using his strength to keep the beetle pinned down. “Give me a boost?” I asked, and he nodded. Releasing his sword he grabbed me and hurled me upwards, to land on the carapace of the beetle. For a moment I stumbled, the green-runed surface surprisingly slick, but my high stats enabled me to quickly regain my balance.

“Shit, watch out!” the priest cried as he was forced against his will to attack me, but his movements were clumsy and lacking skill. I dodged to the side, seizing his wrist, and slammed a chop into his abdomen, winding him.

“Sorry about that, but I’ve no time to be gentle.” I cleared away another surge of the bugs while the kami trembled under me. Reaching for the nail protruding from his bare and bloody chest I grasped it, feeling a baleful chill as the grey energies leaked from it, numbing my grasp. Circulating aether to my hand, I pulled, tearing it free, and silver and grey blood gushed from the wound.

“Ugh… so much pain…” the priest gasped, so I poured more aether out, using Ether Healing to close up the worst of the injuries. His wound smoked, grey steam boiling from it, and he leaked out another groan, before touching the now-healed wound, a jagged star-shaped scar the only remains of his cursed injury. He looked at me, eyes wide in relief and wonder.

“Thank you…” he cried, tears leaking from his eyes in an endless stream. “I can… go home…” with that he vanished, no doubt returning to the Material plane…

********

Kiku emerged back into the Material, screaming in agony. Her arm was little but blackened bones held together with some tangled sinew and burnt gristle, the only colour other than black the glitter of her golden ring upon her skeletal finger. One side of her face was hideously seared as well, her skin a ruin. Hacking up char from her lungs, she wheezed in the cold air of her room.

The flames, such pain… the very fires of the underworld… he matches Kondou-dono for his ability to inflict pain… forcing herself to move she went to scratch her ring instinctively, only stopping when her fingerbone shattered into fragments of bone and ash, the ring dropping to the ground, bouncing off the floorboards with a gentle ting.

My … my wedding ring. My reminder, my keepsake… my seal… she bent down, ignoring her savage burns, picking up the ring with her undamaged hand and fumbling it on. It felt… strange. If my husband saw me wearing it wrong, he would chastise me… my husband, Kondou-dono, this savage bringer of fire… a long line of men had treated her cruelly. Still, her husband, he was gone now, and as for the others… she brought the ring to her mouth, teeth scoring the pitted metal. The ring even tasted different now, hot and smoky.

I must … must bring Kondou-dono the news. His domain will fall… Still, this is a chance, if only I can seize it...

Kiku staggered through the door to her room, biting her lip to keep moans of agony from leaking through her burned lips. The cold air of the Material was agony on her torched skin, and the pain at the death of more of her daughters was a niggling thorn ripping at her heart. Still, she was bound to serve Kondou-dono and represent his interests, so she quickly burst into his room, not even pausing to knock.

Kondou-dono was at his desk, feet up casually, watching something disgusting on the …tee vee. Such strange devices. The world has changed, yet men remain the same. He looked up in surprise as she burst in, his face twisting into a snarl of anger, but before he could explode with rage at her intrusion, he noticed the terrible state Kiku was in, her missing arm and scorched face plain to see.

“What the hell happened to you?” he asked, leaping to his feet. “You stupid wench, can’t I trust you to do anything right?”

Kiku looked at her master, defiant. Vile man. I have fought and burned for your depraved goals. But for men, a woman’s efforts is never enough, not until they are used up and tossed away. I have kept my most precious secret, yet… biting at her ring again she spoke around it, meeting his dark eyes calmly.

“I did warn you, Kondou-dono. I was unable to hold off the enemy alone. Without your majestic power, our forces were routed, and the shrine of the beetles will be lost.”

Kondou-dono looked taken aback by this news. “The shrine? But how? Our defences are strong, and they only have a few troops. Surely you should have been able to hold them off with what we command?” as he thought, his face darkened, fists clenching. “You haven’t forgotten your place, have you, woman? You didn’t let my enemies through, did you? If so, you need a reminder of what it means to defy me!”

Kondou-dono, you are a fool…. Argh! Pain slammed through her in waves, for a brief moment even eclipsing the pain of her burns. Falling to her knees she spat bile over the floor, only to rock back as Kondou-dono kicked her in the ribs. Again and again he struck her, until she finally managed to get the words out to halt his rampage. “There is no time for this, Kondou-dono. I beg you, unless you come now, all is… all is lost.”

“Damn.” He kicked her one final time, and leaving Kiku sprawled on the floor he closed his eyes, gathering his strength. “I can’t afford to lose my domain. I’ve built it up over this past month… without the power it gives me, I won’t be able to enjoy my entertainments so frequently… come, woman. I’m going to teach these fools the meaning of torment, and then you will enslave them for me, so I can make them understand what it means to go against me!”

With that he vanished, and with a reflexive bite of her ring, blood leaking from her knuckle, she returned to the Boundary. Kondou-dono was waiting for her, and at his glare she started following him towards Hisuikomushi shrine. She brought her hand to her mouth, biting down, only to slice off her finger. She shrieked in pain, blood and severed flesh falling away.

“What is it? Hurry, you stupid wench!” Kondou-dono snarled, racing through his Territory, drawing in the surrounding ether, a menacing presence forming around him.

My wedding ring… it’s gone. It’s not here. Her face twisted into a baleful expression, her burned face a visage of horror. It must have fallen when I lost my arm… I must, I need it back. Else… else… She gnashed her metal teeth angrily. They’ll pay. Every man who has hurt me will suffer. I’ll kill them all and leave their bones to linger unmourned under the sky…

********

“Many clik-clik thanks for releasing me from my enslavement.” The beetle kami chirped, struggling free of the slime and mud, cracked and brittle legs barely holding up its weight. “I feared I would remain a slave of the evildoers.”

Beside him Shaeula was looking exhausted and out of sorts, covered in foul, stinking fluids that had leaked from the kami as she sheared deep into flesh and gristle to remove the nail, which even now lay in pieces on the ground. Her hair was a matted mess, and her yukata was filthy. She could have dismissed and resummoned it to get it clean, but that presented other issues…

“I know.” Shaeula’s lips quirked into a tired smile. “I am indeed a fright. But it was worth it, was it not-not?”

“It sure was. a shame about everything else though…” overhead, the wraiths had fled, which was a relief and a worry simultaneously. I had no stomach for killing her again, after having shared much of her pain, yet to leave her alive was very risky, for her power was extremely dangerous. Worse…

Your Class, Conqueror, has increased from level 2 to level 3.

All around us the shrine grounds and buildings were ablaze, the Foehn spreading in golden torrents, while the heat from it had caused many natural fires as well, burring orange, red and blue. It was pretty… and pretty hot too, damn… ether flooded outwards as the flame spread, and I gathered what I could of it, perhaps half, refilling my aether and sending the rest back to my Territory. I guess that was the priest’s Anchor going up in flames…

Several other buildings had exploded during the few minutes Shaeula had been busy hacking away at the beetle. I had taken what I could, but even now the drain on our strength continued, indicating that the Territory still belonged to another. It’ll be that bastard who hurt and killed the ghost girl, I just know it…

Taking stock of our forces, I considered our next move. The metal-wielding woman had been hurt badly, but perhaps she could recover, given time. even though I was exhausted and low on flame and wind, Shaeula and I had replenished our aether as the shrine burned so we were combat-capable. Perhaps Grulgor might even end up joining us. Still, Not everyone is okay…

We had suffered casualties, new orbs draining a trickle of aether from Shaeula and I, but they had been lighter than they could have been, most of her kin remained alive. Still, most of the survivors looked drained and weak, while the beetle kami and his few remaining attendants were extremely worse for wear. Meeting my eyes, Ulfuric nodded.

“You are quite correct.” He rumbled, interpreting my pensive expression correctly. “Most of our forces are spent. If we are to continue, only those of us with power remaining should go deeper, the remainder should retreat to our Territory.”

“Yeah, no point taking on further losses. I know that the weaselkin can be restored, but even so…” we had a quick discussion, and soon it was agreed that only Shaeula, Ixitt, Ulfuric and I would press on, trying to finish the battle, or at least do as much damage as possible. The Kamaitachi and several of the mages insisted they were strong enough but we needed some capable fighters to protect the retreat so in the end they acquiesced.

“It pains me to see my shrine burn.” The kami said mournfully, as many of the weaker, more drained troops were carried to his back. Watching the shrine consumed by the flames, the creeping Foehn fuelled in part by the plentiful elemental wind that the shrine possessed, it let out a great sigh. “To be forced to seek help from another shrine will weaken my divinity, as did having the consecrated grounds stolen by clik-clik another..”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can reclaim it and rebuild. Now, go to Shirohebizumi shrine. Rest up and wait for our return.”

As the drained procession filed away out of enemy Territory I turned to my allies. A bolt of aetheric light flew in from the distant Sniper Emplacement, but I was now counting the rough timing so expected it, the bolt sailing past and detonating harmlessly amidst the flames and rubble. Looking in the direction it came from, which was closer to the heart of this Territory, I gestured with my retrieved spear. “That way, I guess!”

********

I must retrieve my wedding ring… nothing matters more than that. Kiku was extremely angry, not helped by the fact Kondou-dono continued to berate her for the failures, when clearly it was her master who was neglecting his own responsibilities, too eager to indulge in his brutal pastime of abusing women to defend his own domains. The man who burned her, despite being a monster, cruel as any other man, at least he stood at the front, his own body on the line as well as the poor girl who was his wretched slave.

Up ahead they could see plumes of silver and black smoke rising, multicoloured flames roaring into the heavens, matching the dark auroras of the Boundary sky for colour. Kiku concentrated, and could feel four of her daughters remained, including the special girl, the one called Haru. Only four left… how saddening… of course, her spirit made contact with others, but they were not her daughters, no, merely a hidden dagger she had kept, waiting for her chance, for one… less than wise… order.

“Fuck, so many assets destroyed.” Kondo-dono clenched his fist and waves of agony radiated out from him, staggering Kiku and a few of the replacement orcs they had gathered on-route to the inferno that was their shrine. “And the shrine is a write-off as well. It’ll take me at least a week to recover from this. I’m going to make whoever did this fucking pay. They’ll beg for death, but even when you enslave them for me, I’ll make sure they suffer endlessly.”

As they reached the edge of the shrine four figures rushed out of the flames and smoke. Both sides froze, shocked by running into each other suddenly, before everyone sprang into motion. It is you, brutal bringer of flame. And your poor girl. The others… disgusting beasts little better than those Kondou-dono already commands…

“Are you the fuckers who have done this? I’ll have to thank you personally.” Kondou-dono spat. Then his eyes brightened as his gaze strayed to the befouled Shaeula, bells in one hand, both pinwheel handles clutched in her other. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise. You like it filthy do you, girl? Well, I’ll give you all the dirty fun you could want, paying for your sins. You can watch.” He scoffed at the suddenly furious man who led them.

“Go fuck yourself, rapist, murdering bastard.” The man answered coldly, his spearhead glittering with emerald energies.

This is all very well, but… my wedding ring… she gnawed at the stump if her finger, her eyes staring nervously at the inferno behind her enemies. I must retrieve it, else my husband shall never rest in peace…

 ********

Seeing the return of the woman I had burned with Foehn was a shock, though she still looked terrible, scorched and missing an arm. The other one though… It’s his face. I saw it reflected endlessly in the painful memories I shared. That’s the bastard who has been hurting girls. My grip tightened on my spear, and I fed wind into the bluesteel head, conserving my flame for when it was needed. Well, no matter what, I’m not offering YOU any alliance… some crimes can’t be forgiven.

“Well, this is a pleasant surprise. You like it filthy do you, girl? Well, I’ll give you all the dirty fun you could want, paying for your sins. You can watch.” The bastard said, leering at Shaeula, who met his obscene gaze with her own flat stare. My anger, which was already smouldering, was now an inferno. No-one was allowed to threaten my girls. Nobody!

“Go fuck yourself, rapist, murdering bastard.” I snapped back, my voice arctic. “You enjoy abuse, huh? Well let’s see how you enjoy having my spear rammed up your ass.”

“Brave talk for someone who will be kneeling before me soon enough, watching as I tear the dirty clothes off that cutie and… woah, careful now.” he sneered, stepping backwards as both Shaeula and I attacked with blades of wind. Ether surged around him, and they shattered, striking a shimmering barrier he had called out.

“Take him!” I cried, darting to the side, while Ulfuric took the other flank. Shaeula and Ixitt were better at range, so hung back, pinwheels whirling towards the bastard.

“Do something, you stupid, unless bitch.” The man snapped at the widow of nails.

“But, my wedding ring, without it I…”

“I DON’T CARE!” he roared, his voice shockingly loud. Suddenly it was like I had run straight into a wall of lava, my body started convulsing as pain seared my nerves. “You can get your stupid ring after these fools are dead or gone, not before! Why do you need it anyway, your husband is long dead, just bones and dust? I am the only man you need now!”

Ulfuric had also staggered, equally afflicted, but he powered through, though his movements were clearly ragged, uncoordinated. The widow had also fallen, but she clawed herself upright, spitting brackish blood, before unleashing massive spears of metal, fouling the wires of Shaeula’s pinwheels before they could reach the bastard and dissect him. “Your will, master. I shall retrieve it when we are done.” she moaned, bubbles of blood and silvery spit dribbling out as she shook, pain still knifing through her.

Shit, this is really bad. Is that his skill as an Astral Emperor-candidate, or did he learn it? I’m starting to feel Exposition-san cheated me a bit… my thoughts ran wild, trying to distract me from the boiling pain. I focussed only on his face, that sneering, smirking face that the poor girl saw as she was suffering. The pain I felt would be worth it if I could smash it in, and maybe she’d be able to rest in peace then, rather than being a tortured wraith.

Ixitt opened up with his clockwork bolt thrower, and the bastard stepped back, the bolt narrowly missing his face. His concentration broke for a moment, so I surged forwards as the pain diminished a little, pouring aether and wind into movement.

“That was close, without my handsome face, what would the ladies look at when I’m on top of them?” he sneered. “And no, no you don’t!” he channelled aether, and a massive weight slammed down on me, halting my movements and forcing me to the ground, landing on my knees. I tried to resist, but aether was slipping from my grasp and empowering his attack. I felt stronger than him I was sure, but with he support of his Territory he clearly had the edge. “Kneeling in front of me. It suits you. Now stay there and wait, I have more fun company to address.”

As Shaeula had cried out as I was tossed to the ground, the scum was looking at her, his gaze predatory and disgusting. Ulfuric was entangled with nails and spears of rusted iron that the burned lady was throwing, and Ixitt was too far away to assist, so they merely had to look on helplessly as a lash of force formed in his hand.

“I’ll make sure you are incapable of anything but watching first. This is for the damage you’ve caused to what’s mine, you fucker. Capturing that stupid priest and his domain wasn’t easy, and now it’s all gone up in smoke!” he lashed out, whip striking. It had little physical presence, but the mental one…

Shit, shit… hurts… fuck… hurts bad…

“Akio, I am-am coming!” Shaeula rushed forwards, swinging her bells and sending cascades of wind blades from all angles at him, but with his free hand he blocked all of the attacks with aether. Even so…

Oh gods… fuck… hurts… but Shaeula… isn’t … ugh… so easy…

Blood splattered, silver and red, as several deep cuts opened up on the man, his face laid open to the bone, while his arm whipping me was shredded open. As the lash disappeared lucidity returned to me, though I was still within the aura of pain he was giving off.

Forcing my screaming chakra network to function through the monstrous pain, I pulled wind from both my heart and lunar chakras, lashing out with the usual deadly strands. Metal sheared apart, and chunks of iron tumbled to the ground, Shaeula’s pinwheels spiralling free. An explosion rocked one side of the battlefield, Ixitt having blown up the handful of orcs with a detonating vial, and a second arched towards the man, but he swatted it away, fuming.

“Tenacious shits, aren’t you?”

“Indeed. You should-should be honoured!” Shaeula snapped, her pinwheels skimming low along the ground, wires suddenly leaping at him from both sides as they soared into the air.

“Feisty as well. But those are the best kind to break!” he roared, aether slamming the wires away. His gaze fell on Shaeula, and suddenly she fell, curled up into a ball, screaming in pain. “Have a taste of what it means to defy me!”

“If I had more earth energy remaining, I could… fight harder…” Ulfuric was suffering too, the widow constantly hemming him in with thickets of sprouting steel spines, and his lower body was pitted with wounds.

“I shall not-not… agh… bend.” Shaeula howled, her throat raw, small body trembling as the feelings I had endured rocked her, that of molten lead boiling her veins. “I am… ugh… a princess… of the Seelie… and… the bride… of ugh… Akio… and together…” the bastard was moving closer, a whip of pain in his good hand, and he flailed at her, the blow striking her petite back, jolting her body into spasms.

“Oh, really? Well, I do enjoy a bit of Netorare…” he grinned. “I’ll pay you back for everything a thousandfold. I won’t even kill you like normal. I’ll keep you alive as my toy.” He unleashed aether, and Ixitt was hurled away, before I was struck again, bones creaking under the impact. “You’ll forget all about this Akio soon enough.”

I let my consciousness drift inside, blotting out the outside, the terrible scene. I couldn’t move my body properly due to the pain, so I just had to go where there wasn’t pain, then somehow move my body that way… and I have to do it fast… Shaeula is in danger, she’s hurting, and I promised her there wouldn’t be pain in her future… Even within, the torture was crashing like waves, but… using the aether within me I turned off my pain receptors, a trick I had used before, though now with my Ether Healing it was far easier. This diminished the suffering a lot, but much of it wasn’t affecting the body, but my spirit… still, I dug deep, winding strands of aether around my spear…

Shaeula cried out several more times as she was lashed, before he reached out and hoisted her up by her collar, cloth tearing, exposing her shoulders. As he saw her slender body he grinned. “Come on, little girl. Let a real man show you how it’s done.”

“No… I think… I shall-shall… argh… pass…” Shaeula spat a mass of blood, a single wind-weasel emerging from her open mouth, a yellow glow leaking from it. The bastard flinched back as it flew at his eyes, shocked, and for a moment his control slipped, the searing torment I felt receding for a moment.

Now. I flung my spear forwards with all my might, so hard and fast I felt muscles in my shoulder tear, aimed at his heart. As the wind-weasel flew last his face, scoring cuts into his cheek, his head turned and he saw my spear flying his way. Releasing Shaeula, who fell to the ground, spent, he drew upon his Territory’s plentiful supply of ether once more, creating another shimmering wall.

“Nice try, but futile. Still, I appreciate a man who tries to protect his woman, it makes his look of horror when she is…” his words were cut off as the wind-weasel that he had dodged twisted back and detonated, the flame energies within feeding on the wind and forming a speedy arrow which pierced his face, flaring into a cloud of fire.

Nice. And now for my finisher… apt, too…

Using the aether I had attached to the spear I shifted it, just like I had against Shaeula. The Territory fought me, but I put my all into it, bleeding myself nearly dry. The spear winked out of existence, only to reappear, still powered by my mighty throw, inches from his back. It struck deeply, the wind energy within ravaging his insides.

Shit, missed his heart as he moved when Shaeula wounded him. Still… it’s a hit.

“Hah…” Shaeula rolled onto her back, shaking off the fading pain she was afflicted with, coughing more blood from her slashed throat. Even with her great control, keeping a wind-weasel in her mouth was a dangerous act. Looking at the spear jutting from his body, she called out to me. “… I remember that-that… move. I enjoy it more… when I am not-not on the receiving end of your… anger.”

The vile bastard stumbled, staggering away. He was clutching at his face, one side of which looked worse than the widow of nails did, the flesh incinerated. Pulling free the spear that impaled him, blood gushed from the wound, and he fell to his knees. As he did so an impact rocked his shoulder, as Ixitt managed to strike him with an attack.

“Well, I missed your ass…” I panted, staggering over to Shaeula and using what little aether I had left to start healing her poor throat and mouth. “But even so, maybe you understand a fraction of the feelings of the girls you penetrated against their wills. Make the most of it, because you are so dead the moment Shaeula is healed.” I was in poor shape, but even so, I could handle him now.

“Kiku, you worthless harlot!” the bastard screamed. “I don’t care what you have to do, use everything at our disposal. I want these fuckers gone! Die if you have to!”

Kiku, who was suddenly on the back foot, as Ulfuric had recovered from the agony he was subjected to, looked at her errant master, face expressionless. “But my wedding ring, I need it…”

“FUCK YOUR GODDAMN RING!” His scream was baleful, enraged. “Not until they are dealt with. OBEY ME YOU WHORE! FIGHT UNTIL YOU AND ALL YOUR USELESS GHOSTS DIE, OR THEY ARE DONE!”

With that he vanished, fleeing back to the Material, leaving behind my spear, the spearhead warped and cracked, and a large puddle of gore.

Shit, the fucker got away. Still, those wounds were bad, his Material body should be a mess right now…

“I did not want it to come to this.” Kiku groaned. “I had saved these for when Kondou-dono was vulnerable… still, when he orders, I must obey. Such has always been my fate.”

“That sounds… ominous.” Shaeula coughed, still in my embrace, arms around me, shivering as I worked on her torn flesh.

“Yeah, no kidding, and I’m pretty much bone dry of aether, only a bit of wind and flame left.”

Before Shaeula could reply, the air blew cold, and wraiths started pouring out of the ground, first a handful, then a few, then dozens, then scores…

Well, at least they aren’t more poor women, but even so… as the ghost horde thronged around Kiku in a milling mob of silent howls and screams, I realised our chances of winning here had just hit rock bottom. By the gods, that is a LOT of orcs…