Journeys of Time 28: Return of the Spirit Warrior
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As the morning arrived with its shining golden sun rays, Juna woke up early and headed out to check on Maria and Kin, who had slept in the same pen as the Divinescales that night, finding it quite a surprise when she arrived to witness that one of them was in the process of giving Kin a tongue bath, while Maria was sitting and laughing at how Kin was just letting it happen. But to Juna's delight, or maybe discontent, it was happening as Kin was still dressed. Deciding to be polite, Juna cleared her throat to announce her presence, "Good morning, you two. It is time for breakfast."
Maria and Kin looked over at Juna as Maria smiled, "Hope you got some blood here. I could go for some right now." Kin froze up at hearing that, but Juna was calmly looking at her with a smile, "If not, you can drink of mine." Maria was taken aback by the offer, having expected Juna of all people to be too refined for such behavior. "I might take you up on that offer then."
Deciding to not wait longer, they headed back to the main building, just as Tenchi, Peridot, and Hildegaard arrived, Tenchi looked at Kin with a smug grin before Maria stepped forward and looked at Tenchi's arms before looking at the eye, screeching softly, "Tenchi! Why do you have another cybernetic arm, and why do you have a cybernetic eye too? And why wasn't I aware of this? You got some explaining to do." Tenchi sighed before filling Maria in on how she had lost the other arm due to a wyvern biting it off, while her eye had been boiled in the eye socket after a shard of hot metal punctured it, and how her tail had been torn off by a Mezian lycan during a hunt with her dad.
The anger on Maria's face and the fire in her eyes would have left anyone with a weak mind unable to keep control of their bowels, but in front of everyone present, Maria lifted one of her hands and punched Tenchi's muzzle hard enough to dislodge one of her fangs, an action that none of them expected.
There was a loud growl next to Tenchi after the punch was delivered and as Maria looked at Hildegaard she felt a punch from a fist of pure ice hitting her with enough force that her muzzle opened up and one of the fangs came loose and drove itself a small bit into Peridot's neck, causing her to gasp before Tenchi looked over at Hildegaard, about to deliver a reprimand before Kin growled lowly, making Tenchi freeze up like Hildegaard had yesterday. "Okay, enough! It happened and we cannot dwell on the past like this."
Tenchi was surprised at how Kin was so calm at a moment like this, before Kin broke that calmth, "Now sis, I want you to apologize to your big sis MarMar." Maria froze in place before Tenchi looked at her, "Wait, you told her?!" Kin giggled softly, "She did. That is so cute!" Tenchi covered her face before Peridot smiled, "Awww, Ten-Ten is shy." Kin began to giggle more, "Ten-Ten and MarMar!" Peridot smiled before pulling the fang out of her neck, which had already healed up, and handed it over to Tenchi, "Your trophy."
Maria looked at the fang and then looked at Tenchi, "Also, I do remember someone used two very 'nice' lines back when they were young." Tenchi didn't like where this was going and as Varani and Janch had arrived too, she was even more uncomfortable before Maria smirked. "One of the first things she said was jal'jun'gaja'macjha, which means honorless elderly fucking tree." Varani's face showed that she wasn't happy to hear that, but things would get worse. "And then she asked me what jal'jun'gaja'zart meant." Janch called it out with a burst of laughter, "That is what your big black mom was, Tenchi! An honorless, elderly, fucking mortal!" Varani grabbed both Tenchi and Janch by the horns, "That's it! You two are grounded for the next week!" Janch growled under her breath, "Gaja'jun'tea." Tenchi looked at Janch before Varani growled, "I am not a fucking elderly slut!"
The breakfast went without much of a difference other than Tenchi having to eat gaceocha fruits and Janch having to eat garancza berries, something Tenchi openly had objected to as garancza berries were her favorites. But the peace would soon be broken as a dark red dragoness came crashing through the dining room door, panting as she looked up at Vana, "Mom! When I was returning home from Glacial Garden with the last of the shipment of herbs, I saw an entire legion marching towards this location!" Vana got up and looked at the dragoness, "Corohn, who are they?" Corohn looked at Vana before growling, "The army of the dead."
Kin, Maria, and Juna put the food in their throats before Tenchi got up and ran past Corohn, "You will be introduced to me later, for now, I got a queendom to defend!" Corohn looked at Vana in confusion before Kichiro stood up and walked over to hug her, Corohn began to cry tears of joy, "My son. Who was that?" Kichiro smiled before whispering to her, Corohn's eyes growing wide as saucers as the rest of the warriors of the tribe ran out, "THAT'S MY WHAT?!"
A fair distance away on an open field, Tenchi stood ready with her blade while staring out over the horizon as more and more joined her, just in time to witness the horde of undead soldiers coming marching towards them with weapons ready to fight, all led by two knights in shining, black armor. Tenchi growled to the others, "Stand back, I will have a word with them."
When the horde was within audible range, Tenchi called out loudly to their commanders, "Alexander! Lyra! Why are you coming here with a whole horde of your soldiers? Are you planning to bring us onto our knees?" Tenchi didn't let them leave her sight for a second, but in one single blink of an eye, she noticed one of them was gone before a soft voice spoke near her, "Yes, we are." Tenchi wasn't ready for a point-blank triple strike from her former master as she flew to the back of the entire tribe with Alexander following her close and soon scratching along the surface of his blade, "Bring forth the realms of existence, Ryujin no Orochi!"
The three blades appeared in his hands and tail, allowing him to proceed with spinning quickly, "Hantei! Judgment of Heaven!" Tenchi knew what was about to come, but to her surprise, he had grown in his skills as four elemental orbs floated around him and each strike passed through one of them as she felt herself losing control of her arms, legs, muzzle, and tail, "Hotei no Shimon! Four gates of Court!" Tenchi knew she would survive the last strike, as it was always like this with the innocent ones, and soon the blade touched her throat, "Jikko! Sentence of Execution!"
Tenchi and the whole of the Frostclaw Tribe were shocked as the blade passed through, but Tenchi felt the control coming back to her body as she fell forward and remained completely unable to move, but Alexander looked at them before sheathing his blade, "Densenbyo! Epidemic!" Suddenly more of the Frostclaw Tribe and even their wyverns fell into the same state as Tenchi had, leaving only Maria, Kin, and Juna standing as Alexander smirked. "Well, well, ain't this a surprise? Guess you are the worthy defenders."
Kin's eyes focused on the Frostclaws laying unmoving, her mind screaming in anger before she turned to face the entire army, clapping her hands together, "Rejuvenating Sunlight!" The powerful spell spread across the Frostclaws before they slowly stood up Maria charged right in with her guns at hand, firing rapidly and even holstering her handguns before pulling out a shotgun, unleashing a hail of pellets that sent every soldier in range down for the count, but Alexander seemed to reflect all of them and using the army as a sacrifice for it, all without any remorse, proving he had overcome his weakness from the past.
Kin and Juna saw this as an opportunity as they looked at each other and nodded before Juna drew a rapier from her belt running at her uncle, who barely managed to dodge the quick lunge attack from Juna, much to his surprise. "Well now, someone has learned a few tricks." He lifted a foot and was about to strike Juna when a shield of light took the impact, making him look at Kin, who had formed the shield to protect her. "A defensive spellcaster, a rapier-wielding duelist, and a gun-toitering vampire. A very odd, but interesting combo here."
Juna attempted another lunge, but found the rapier to be cut short by him before he jumped back and struck the ground, suddenly sacrificing his entire remaining army before Maria attempted to screech to break his focus, only for her to cover her ears as a loud screech filled them, "Song of Dead: Eternal Choir of Torment." Kin growled before lifting her hands to form a massive ball of sunlight that soon came flying at him, but like with Maria, the attack was turned against her when Alexander's blade struck it and converted it into a dense crescent of light that went towards Juna, who was unable to move away in time.
It would have been her end, if Maria had not jumped in front of her to take the full power of the crescent blade herself, leaving a deep cut across her chest as Juna gasped out and Kin walked over to check on Maria, "Why did you do that?" Maria looked at them before sighing, "I felt I needed to protect you both." Juna looked at her before tearing up, "Why? I don't wanna let someone that I love like you two end up hurting yourselves to protect me."
The moment felt like it was frozen in time, when Kin looked at Juna, "Wait, what did you say? You love us?" Juna turned to face Kin before surprising her with a kiss, "Yes, I love you both and I want you both in my life. So don't die to my crazy uncle." Alexander laughed before moving closer, "How cute. At the doorstep of death, you are finally letting your hearts speak. Too bad it is too late for mercy now!"
Kin slowly stood up before growling, "You are wrong! Nothing is too late as long as valiant souls are fighting to protect something or someone they care about. And now... now I got two to protect!" Kin began to charge up with sunlight before calling out, "Maria, time to feed!" Juna knew what Kin was talking about as she offered her neck to Maria, who quickly bit down and began to drink the royal blood, the wounds slowly healing up on her with every drop before ending as Juna got up and looked at her uncle. "Time for a religious lecture, uncle. The All-Father was an almighty god in Norse mythology, just as the Creators are here! From him came Loki, the trickster god, and for us, that is Sas'Ha! And from Loki came the many kids who would fulfill different duties, but three of the ones born from the actions of Sas'Ha are now here. Kin Shimo, the light created to live in the darkness until she finally is let free. Maria, the darkness born from the undying loyalty of serving the righteous ones who others may look upon with disgust. And me, Juna, who stands in between them on a lit path forward and seeing the things in the darkness that I can enjoy along the way!"
Everyone gasped as Juna lifted a hand and suddenly growled out before levitating above ground and getting swallowed up by a massive wyvern of pure energy from her own body and taking shape of a Heartwing, only four times larger and making Alexander move backward and for Izae to watch in shock before the massive wyvern opened up its mouth to show Juna standing there and also how Kin and Maria were pulled into the energy and healed up, just in time to witness Alexander and Lyra joining together to become a fox priestess riding on a massive bat made of solar energy.
The battle took to the air quickly as both of them traded blows and Maria could help out by unleashing screeches imbued with energy from the sun itself, while Alexander and Lyra called down a sword of radiant light. "Fall to the light of the undead! We will have justice." Juna looked at the Frostclaws and then at Maria and Kin, nodding before she looked forward at their opponents, "Frostclaw Tribe! Give me your power!"
Alexander and Lyra noticed all of the tribe lifting their hands to gather up a massive amount of energy that was soon forming into a long javelin. The sight of the javelin quickly made both Alexander and Lyra call down a massive spear of light upon them, "Sun God Spear!" The action had been their downfall as Maria and Kin aimed at Juna, who soon thrust her palms forward. "Take this, the combined love, friendship, and honor of the Frostclaw Tribe! Ja'Narazi'Ri! Honor God Spear!"
The two energies collided before theirs absorbed Alexander's and Lyra's attack, leaving the massive bat to be punctured by the spear and for Lyra to fall off and break out of the form as she hit the ground, the bat soon turning back into the dragon everyone knew, with the excluding part of his chest now having a big hole through it and Juna stared in shock before he smiled at her. "You finally learned to see and trust with your own eyes, Juna. I am proud of you." With those words, the echoing scream from others rang out as he collapsed on the ground.
That night, Chaldoa came back from feeding the wyverns and looked at Tenchi as she approached, "Hey, how is Kin doing?" Tenchi looked at her and shook her head. "She is still with Juna, trying to comfort her after what happened to uncle." Chaldoa nods calmly and looked at her again. "And how was it to finally meet Corohn?" Tenchi rubbed her forehead. "I am still unable to believe that she is my grandmother and that Vana is my great-grandmother. But she got that feeling about her that she is knowing more than she shows."
Chaldoa nodded before asking the final question. "And what about Alexander?" Tenchi looked away. "He is still recovering from surgery. But from the sound of it, he has been exposed to something that seems to negate healing magic completely, so his days as a swordsman may be counted now." Chaldoa understood entirely why Juna was feeling like that, but she was knowing that at least now she had two that she could share her future.
The End.