A long time ago, a man named Thomas Jefferson, a scholarly colonist in the Americas, once claimed to be a Deist. He believed that God made the universe, then, like a clockmaker, sat back and watched dispassionately as it ticked and tocked back and forth, not interfering in human affairs. It was not out of cruelty, rather it was because God had to manage the clock itself so much that he couldn’t spare time to deal with the little things (such as our petty human problems).
Had he met the Thirteen, who were basically were in control of aspects of the Creator’s power, they would’ve laughed in his face. In fact, the holder of the Edge of Eternum (whose name ironically was the same as his artifact), which DID control time, did time travel back to the 1700’s with the express intent of laughing at him as he shared this view at a scholarly symposium. Due to the fact Edge was invisible, he had engendered nothing but looks of confusion as the learned men in attendance looked around, wondering who laughed.
In any case, Jefferson was so very wrong. The affairs of Man were of intimate importance after Man had traded Eden for the Knowledge of God, and thus it fell to those worthy souls entrusted with facets of his Divine Power to oversee Man, and make sure that he did not try to usurp his position of importance for areas he was not meant to bear.
To that end, the Thirteen, who had once been Sixteen, had a falling out in their ranks, and had banished three of their members over that very issue. To wit, after Angelus and Darkness had blown up Tokyo for Man’s arrogant Xeroxing of the Witch Blade, Angelus and Darkness were banished to a neutral pocket dimension called the Other Realm as punishment because the other Thirteen didn’t believe the decision to do to Tokyo what Man had done on a similar scale to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 had been wise. In fact, most of them were incensed that they had taken such independent action without as much as a warning to their colleagues. And even after their banishment the Powers of Order and Chaos still retained the ability to influence the Witch Blade and the Thirteen, upon hearing they cursed every idiot human to karmic death for Trespassing upon the realm of the Divine, saw no reason to interfere. After all, that was inherently more sensible a punishment on Man than the Tokyo Fireball and thus they did not intervene. However, soon after the legitimate bearer beat out the pretenders and destroyed the bulk of Xeroxed Witch Blade based machinations the Thirteen realized they had possibly made an even greater error. As the Witch Blade was tied to Angelus and Darkness, it’s last blast of phantasmagoric power had cracked the door of its parents cell, and now it and some of the now legitimized Clone Blades were on Earth once more, for purposes the Thirteen could make fairly educated guesses about, most of them actually positive sounding, but this obviously concerned them all nonetheless. Thus, they decided to meet as a united front to discuss what potentially could be a grave dilemma indeed.
The place they decided to meet was actually in the same shelter where Marry and Co. had hunkered down until the shrapnel quit flying. Since everyone in the building was watching newscasts of the aftermath, the Thirteen, in human form and non descript civilian dress picked an inauspicious corner of the building, whereupon they sat seiza style in a circle, and calmly discussed the Fate of Mankind. Presiding over this group of oft cantankerous, ridiculously overpowered reality warping badasses was Lord Migura, wielder of the Sword of Life. He also happened to be regarded as the most even tempered and sage amongst their numbers, hence his role as the unofficial chair of their meeting.
Edge was first to speak, “It seems that Angelus and Darkness have managed to crack the cell bars enough their servants now walk in greater number amongst the rest of humanity, and seeing as those biomachines called ExCons have yet to totally eliminated, it would stand to reason that the Witch Blade bearer and the Clone Blades are now working under our disgraced colleagues, seeking to eliminate the last of those stains on mankind’s conscience.”
The Aqueous Stone bearer, controller of the domain of liquid, politely asked, “But is it good that humanity is now even more knowledgeable about the Divine Powers? I know it’s a bit late to put the genie back in the bottle, but that does strike me as a valid concern.” As he finished the wielder of the Spear of Destiny, a woman given to snarkiness, snapped, “A little late to angst over that, isn’t it?”
Migura raised his hand for calm, and said, “I’m inclined to believe Edge on this matter. The cell doors of the Other
Realm has yet to be forced by Angelus and Darkness, though by now this is possible. Also, it bears mentioning that most of the Neogenes created by the Trespasser Furumizu no longer inhabit this Earth. Given their ties to the Witch Blade, it is safe to assume that they were taken with the True Bearer at the time of her would be demise, and that they are now with Darkness and Angelus. It can also be inferred that since some of the former Clone Blades were sent back with the True Bearer, they must have been forgiven in exchange for their service. This said, I’m inclined to believe their motives are at least not hostile to humanity, if not outright benevolent. As he finished, the bearer of the Compass of Destiny, Daemon, raised his hand.
“That’s some fine supposition, Migura, but to be frank, we really don’t know shit about their true motives.”
Migura had never been totally keen on Daemon’s bluntness, but conceded the point. “Quite true.” then asked him, “And what do you propose, Daemon?”
“Recon. Actually get in the goddamned weeds and figure out what the fuck is going on. I personally think the Witch Blades are here just to clean up loose ends, which I don’t personally have an objection to, and hell, we kinda want to do that too. However, we’ll need to confirm it for ourselves. Anybody got any mortal henchmen nearby they can spare to check this out?”
Migura actually did, though that party was already commencing different operations on his behalf, and thus it would be difficult to utilize his services at present. No one else had any agent nearby at present to do this task, thus they all shook their heads.
“Shit, guess I’ll do it.” said Daemon
“You sure you can blend in?” asked Quattro, the wielder of the Bloodsword, with deliberate irony.
Daemon knew his associate was poking a not so subtle jab at his boisterous demeanor, so he lowered his voice, and told the aforemented douche bag, in an eerily polite voice,
“Kutebare, Quattro-san.”
The gentleman whom Daemon had told to go fuck himself was about to give him a severe asskicking, but Migura quickly intervened and told Daemon to go already. Taking his cue, Daemon calmly walked out of the building.
That done, Migura shared a look with Shizuka, the Scythe of Death bearer, and was relieved to see he wasn’t the only one potentially scared shitless by the thought of unleashing Daemon on the mortal public.
(Just after the end of the last episode, an hour before noon)
Meanwhile, back at Marry’s place, much more mundane things were happening. After the shock of discovering that Masane was alive and well had passed, she gave her fellow boarders (as well as Takayama) a retread of how she survived, and that the creators of the Witch Blade had revived her and the other former Clone Blade bearers, on the understanding that they would destroy the ExCons and retrieve the last Neogenes Angelus and Darkness had missed.
The reaction to these revelations was interesting, to say the least. Yuusuke simply sat spellbound by the story he would never be able to fully tell. Marry and Naomi merely listened, not comprehending the full importance of what was going on, but getting the idea Masane had a titanic task on her shoulders. Cho was busy ogling the ladies, who by now had their wardrobes augmented by the other boarders, and looked fairly normal, which did not hide their attractiveness in the least, but it was obvious he had heard everything, and was mentally thinking of ways he could aid Masane in her task. Michael didn’t seem to either be confused or even acknowledging, he simply listened impassively, his eyes taking on a mournful edge as he realized Masane and her friends were still in harm’s way. Reiji still maintained the stoic man routine, though he was furiously mentally rewriting all the information he thought he knew about the Witch Blade, now realizing how little he, Douji, and the NSWF had known. In fact, had they known this, he would’ve have lobbied very strongly they shouldn’t have even considered Trespassing, and his conscience was flagellating itself for the foolishness it had failed to speak more loudly against.
Once Masane was done, she leaned back in her chair, looked around the room at her subordinates and friends, and then asked the elephant in the room, with deliberate irony,
“Apparently, I’m dead now. How do we go about informing the world otherwise?”
Nobody could answer, mostly because that question provoked some deep thought. In fact, the very thought of not only announcing that Masane was back from the dead, but that stuff fit for a comic book series written by guys who liked big boobed women who kicked ass in stripperific armor actually sounded pretty crazy. Thankfully, observing the current world from a detached perspective, this was not as crazy as it sounded.
In the present day and age, shit that would have been labeled science fiction in earlier times was now international fact. Most militaries now had some version of bipedal heavy armor robots augmenting their conventional militaries. Prosthetics and cybernetic body parts on par with stuff from “Ghost in the Shell” now actually existed to varying extents. Plasma and laser based weaponry had already been refined to workable technology, and many of the improvements to AI coding and genetic augmentation that had seemed a pipe dream barely 20 years ago were not only real, but had already progressed to the point where some genetic diseases were already losing ground on their efforts to slay humanity. In fact, though Man had yet to conquer the common cold, people with full blown AIDS were able to survive five times as longer now thanks to the currently existing immunodeficiency tech available to medicine. Hell, the rail gun technology that had captivated early Western mecha anime fans was now standard kit in practically every ABM (Anti Ballistic Missile) defense in the world. Given the above stated, Masane coming out and telling the world about a semi sentient magic gauntlet that turned women into lethal killing machines didn’t seem as crazy as it would have barely a few years ago.
Unfortunately, there would still be a massive stir, and while everyone was ruminating on this, Marry’s bar phone rang. Asagi was nearest, so she answered it, and after a second handed it to Masane.
“I did what you asked, Amaha-san.” answered the disturbingly quiet voice of Nakata. Masane detected a note of sadness in his voice, so she decided to inquire politely about his situation.
“Well, in the chaos you stopped, some cops died in the line of duty, including my boss. The city is still putting itself back together, so I’m now acting Police Chief due to being the most senior in rank.” he answered, not sounding happy in the least.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” said Masane in genuine concern, guessing correctly Nakata was tore up about the loss of his brother officers.
“Thanks”, he replied, seeming to collect himself, “I had the NSWF and Douji premises put under surveillance by the first cops I could get available, and we’re shooing away reporters from getting in, having declared each building under seal until we have the manpower to investigate them formally.”
“Good.”
“I also checked out your story in regards to the “Neogenes” no longer being at the NSWF complex, and there is no one there. The Douji building is also totally abandoned, and I plan to have the place staked out around the clock, just to see if anyone besides either you or us is interested. Finally, while I still have more than a little problem working with non police to help me do my job, I decided, especially after all the craziness that just went down, I’d rather have the only people who can stand up to those remaining monsters on my side.”
“Thanks.”
“I also wanted to speak with you some more, regarding your plans.” continued Nakata, who was now sounded fully like his old self.
As soon as Masane told him of her desire to go public with her not being dead, Nakata’s reaction was a little uptight, “Look, I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”
“Huh?”
Nakata sounded like he usually did when bitching at Tozawa, “The city is still putting itself together, every Douji Group higher up has apparently gone AWOL, and we’re going into double shifts just to make sure this town gets re glued back together. I’m begging you here, hold off!” As Nakata finished his little panic attack, Masane pulled a Takayama and decided to bitch slap (albeit gently) Nakata in the face with some unassailable realities.
“Fine, but I will have to do so eventually. The ExCons are still a threat, and I want to inform the public of our mission to kill them all, and our intention to cooperate with you guys.” Masane completely understood Nakata’s position, but knew that the longer they tarried, the longer the ExCons would go after the remaining Neogenes, and the longer the public would not know that the Witch Blade was something they had no need to fear (and the news wasn’t really helping to clear that up much).
“I know. Just let us get this place back to something resembling sanity first.” responded Nakata somewhat more mildly, who had obviously been expecting Yuusuke Tozawa-level resistance.
“For now, deal.”
With that, Nakata hung up, breathing an audible sigh of relief as he did. Masane heard this (as did everyone else as the phone was on speaker), and wondered what the hell to do next.
Barely eight feet away, an invisible Daemon pulled his head from Marry’s wall, then walked away until he reached a nearby alley. Making sure no one was around to freak out, he rematerialized, kind of annoyed that even after all the years he had the Compass of Destiny, its reality alteration powers still made him a little ill. Shaking off the nausea caused by shoving his face through a tightly latticed coherent atomic mass (read: a wall), he thought over what he had just learned.
Most of it was good news, actually, and to his pleasant surprise, Migura and Edge had been even more right than they dared to hope about the intentions of Angelus and Darkness. Hell, not only did he agree what they wanted to do was a good idea; he was willing to endorse it. Unfortunately, it was the fact they were going public that was making the nausea come back.
For millennia, those blessed with the abilities of the Divine had often fought in the shadows, not unlike the American superhero Batman fought a war against criminal scum by moving into their own lairs and kicking their asses on their terms. Going public would’ve not only attracted too much attention, but would’ve let far more humans than the Thirteen were comfortable with know a shortcut to using the Divine Powers existed. Hell, it was bad enough the forces of darkness kept throwing their side enough superpowers from time to time, so no one needed some dickhead mortal on a power trip getting his hands on one of the Divine Artifacts and raising more Cain then Abel. That said he wasn’t so sure that the going public thing was wise.
On the other hand, he could see their point. Some evil idiot assholes had forced the issue, and disclosure would probably mollify some of the more panicky masses at this point, and the PR bonus it would give the good guys probably would have the tactical benefits of not only flushing out the Neogenes (whom Angelus and Darkness were apparently were trying to save from being threshed like wheat), but let the public know the remaining ExCons were being dealt with decisively. In that respect, he thought it a good idea.
In any case, he knew he’d better get back to the others in a hurry and let them know what he found out.
Back inside Marry’s, Takayama felt a vibration from his cell phone. To his surprise, it was from Segawa, finally, and he had included a brief text message:
“C U AT TSH”
For most people, that message was like reading Greek, but Takayama knew exactly what it meant. Segawa needed to speak with him urgently, and he wanted the meet at “The Sleep Hole”, Hiroki’s somewhat crude moniker for the surprisingly Spartan office apartments Douji had leased out for their company personnel. Unlike his villa outside town (which would need repairs), the office provided digs were as Segawa aptly identified: holes in the wall one could sleep in. He and
Segawa had had clandestine meetings there before, back when Douji was having his branch investigating possible leaks of Douji industrial secrets to rival corporations, and due to the fact the walls of the office apartments were spiked with enough anti bugging devices to make the American CIA weep in frustration, it was the ideal place to make sure their conversations weren’t being tapped.
It was also a place he hadn’t even told Masane about, mostly because it was (a) unimportant, as the lease on the place was obviously ending as soon as Douji’s fate was more certain and (b) he never got around to telling her. That said, he also realized he hadn’t showered and changed since last night, and his body felt like he’d been bathing in his own sweat. He made his excuses, merely saying Segawa needed to talk with him, which was taken at face value, and he made his way out the door, headed for the van he had yet to return (not that it much mattered, but whatever), and drove off to “The Sleep Hole”.
On his way across town, he now saw the aftermath of the war he had helped fight, and it wasn’t a pretty image.
Most of the I-Weapons had been blown the hell up, but some were still mostly intact (in form if not function), and as he passed clearly spooked construction workers and impound officials take the remains to be interred until they knew what the hell to do with them. Takayama wished he could just tell them all that the I Weapons were no longer the threat, because (A) pretty much all of them had been destroyed by himself or Masane and (B) they weren’t a hell of a lot of them to begin with.
Making a mental note to do that later, he parked his van next to Segawa’s trendy little sports car, and walked up to the apartment complex. His “estate” was ground floor, and he found it unlocked, which wasn’t a surprise, as Segawa had a key and he didn’t keep anything in there he was worried some prick might try to rip off.
As he walked inside the apartment (which was really one big room with a bathroom attached, he found Segawa sitting at one of the chairs in the kitchenette area, and as he entered, he found Segawa had laid out a fresh set of clothes for him, and had even provided some toiletries, which Segawa handed him with a wordless smile. As Reiji headed for the bathroom to, as the US Army once delicately put it: “shit, shower, and shave”, he found himself oddly grateful that even though Segawa wasn’t even under his employ anymore, he was a considerate human being.
As Takayama showered, though, he had a sneaking suspicion there was a reason behind Segawa buttering him up this time, and though he knew Hiroki wasn’t stupid to Masaya Wadou levels, he was well aware Hiroki was a pleasant, affable, back stabbing bastard, albeit one who had his uses and didn’t mind a servant’s role.
He finished wiping off an entire night of grime, changed into the semi casual attire that he had been given, and finished shaving in record time. That done, he exited the bathroom wearing a white button shirt, blue and white striped tie, black slacks, shoes, and sports coat, not to mention a smile at the fact he no longer felt like the smell of a horse’s ass.
As he sat back down in front of Segawa, who had been thumbing through his daily planner, Hiroki asked him, “Are you feeling alright, sir?” said in a surprisingly gentle tone. Obviously, he hadn’t heard about Masane’s revival from the dead.
“Now that the I Weapons are gone, never better.” was his monotone response.
“Well, I did have some important news for you, sir, but before I begin, you’ll be pleased to know that Wadou is now in the custody of the police, who immediately turned him over to the custody of a secure mental institution as soon as the appropriate facility reopened.” This was said in same tone that Hiroki used when informing him of his daily schedule, but the mischievous look in the younger man’s eyes told Takayama he was enjoying Wadou’s fall from grace and into insanity rather a lot. Reiji had to admit taking that smug snake down had been satisfying, but considering all the hell Wadou had caused beforehand (and the mess he had to look forward to helping Masane clean up), this news really didn’t cheer him up. To his credit, Hiroki immediately changed the subject.
“I found out that not only have the Tokyo Police put both Douji and the NSWF under seal, but it seems that the entire senior leadership of the Douji Board of Directors, save for yourself and Wadou, have all fled the country, and are currently wanted for questioning regarding the incident the news is calling “The Battle of Tokyo”. Apparently, you are not considered wanted, especially since the news has pretty much made to out to be a silent hero quietly fighting against the corruption inside your own company.”
As Segawa said this, Takayama found himself oddly annoyed. Any jackass could have guessed the above, and it wasn’t normal for Hiroki to inundate him with so much easily deduced trivia. This merely confirmed in Takayama’s mind Hiroki was building to something. So he remained silent, seeing what Segawa would say next.
“On a personal note, are you planning a funeral service for Ms. Amaha?”
That question Reiji had not been expecting, but he had expected her to enter the conversation at some point. Resolving to keep his mouth shut on the truth till he found out what Hiroki had on his mind, he allowed his poker face to slip briefly, looking obviously emotional (which he hoped wouldn’t give anything away) and allowing a few cracks in his monotone as he quickly said,
“I really don’t want to talk about it.”
At that, a pregnant pause filled the air, and Hiroki seemed to wait for a second, as if wondering what he should say next, then he continued,
“Very well, sir.”
It was at this point the suspense was getting frustrating, and Segawa’s cageyness was starting to irritate him, so he asked mildly but firmly,
“You had something you needed to tell me, as I recall.”
Segawa’s face took on a solemn look, and then he looked his former boss squarely in the eye and said, “I’ve been a working as a mole for a third party for quite some time now.”
“Who?” he asked evenly,
“I’m working for a group calling itself the Thirteen. The Witch Blade is the embodiment of the power of Balance, and its creators, Angelus and Darkness, are living embodiments of Order and Chaos respectively. That said, some of the other holders of the Divine Artifacts, as this group calls them, hired me about a year ago to keep tabs on the Witch Blade, the activities of Douji and the NSWF, and your efforts to stop the ExCons.”
He paused for a minutes, and seeing Reiji’s mien was still parked in neutral, continued.
“I have been authorized to inform you that not only are they quite happy with your efforts to curb further abuse of the Witch Blade, but your battles against the ExCons and I-Weapons have not gone unnoticed, and my immediate superior, Lord Migura, is hoping to thank you personally.”
Reiji somehow wasn’t surprised yet another party had been watching his activities besides the NSWF, Douji, and the Tokyo Police, and though this information was surprising in content, he was able to restrain himself from showing it. Instead, he adopted his trademark sarcastic monotone as he replied,
“That’s nice to hear, Segawa, but don’t you have more to say?”
“Of course. The ExCons are not all dead, and the Thirteen are going to be rounding up some other mortal contacts to keep a close eye on the situation, and eliminate the rest of them.”
Reiji knew this was the part where in the sequel to a movie, the hero from the first would probably sigh in frustration the threat from the first wasn’t completely over, but he kept up the neutral mien instead and asked,
“And that’s where I come in, right?”
Segawa didn’t immediately answer; instead he picked up his daily planner, opened up the change pocket in the back, and extracted a Douji business card, which he handed to his former boss. Reiji took it, and noticed it had a safety deposit box number on it.
“What’s this for?”
“Well, as a sign of good faith, that is the last stable hiding place of the Witch Blade research done by the Douji Group. Shortly before I left the premises, I copied the entire relevant computer datum, and then infected the servers with a virus that would cause the servers to essentially sterilize themselves. Inside that box is a 10 terabyte hard drive with all the data collected on the Witch Blade and Clone Blades up until before last week, and my employer personally wanted me to give you the only remaining copy as assurance that they are NOT in any way planning to continue or allow Douji or the NSWF’s idiocy.”
Takayama wasn’t sure how to react to that statement, but inwardly, he relaxed, knowing that this was pretty good proof of this Thirteen group’s bona fides, and thus he was in all certainty holding the key to the last remaining record. That said, Hiroki then asked, almost offhandedly,
“So, how are Ms. Amaha, Ms. Sohou, and the other former Neogenes doing?”
To his credit, Takayama didn’t flinch, but his guts nearly resembled an ice cube. Realizing that Hiroki somehow knew his hand, he decided to lay down his cards.
“Not bad, considering they were all dead at one point. How did you know they were alive again?”
“Well, when I dropped off Wadou with the police, I ran into Inspector Nakata. I gave him the information on the locations and bank accounts of the other Douji board members, and asked him if you and the others were alright.
Apparently, he was so grateful for my assistance he informed me that you, Masane, and her friends were at Marry’s.
I have yet to inform Migura-san of this information, and I was going to wait until now to ask if you would mind.”
To that, Reiji had an immediate answer, “Look, Segawa, Masane is planning to publicly save you and your bosses the trouble by doing the job for you soon enough, so don’t bother. Also, I’m afraid I can’t tell you how the hell Masane, Reina, and some of the other former Neogenes are back, but they also are here to destroy the ExCons. Also, I’m not opposed to anyone who wants to kill ExCons, but I do reserve the right to hold my judgment until I meet your employer.
Hiroki actually grinned, “Well, it’s good to know our interests aren’t in conflict.”
Reiji gave him his own smile as he rose to leave, “Agreed. Shall I go recover that information now?”
Holding up his own car keys, Segawa replied, “Allow me, sir. I’ve even taken the liberty of getting a nearby car dealership to have a replacement car ready for you to replace the one Wadou’s I-Weapon trashed.”
While Takayama was getting some revelations, the folks at Marry’s had been getting some revelations of their own. An aunt of Naomi’s had called, informing her that her mother had been injured in the chaos following the attack on Tokyo, and was now home, and would need someone to tend to her while she recovered, and said aunt couldn’t avail herself long term to do that. That said, Naomi informed Marry she’d have to leave way earlier than expected, and thus packed up her things.
Michael got a similar message, his being more of the “tragic promotion” sort. Due to his being on the surfing circuit, he had tried to get more fashionable living arrangements than he had at present anyway, but his sponsor was a bit short in the cash flow department as far as housing went, so he had elected to stay here. Unfortunately, one of his fellow surfers had died last night, leaving his sponsor no choice but to accept Michael back to the more fashionable digs he had always wanted, though to be fair, Michael wasn’t exactly thrilled to get this at the expense of someone else’s life, though since he’d have to leave when the year ended anyway, it was for the best, and not only did he pack as well, he offered use of his vehicle to Naomi so she could get a ride without having to pay for public transportation. Since Marry was currently out with the other ladies getting some shopping in, Masane, bored out of her mind, decided to help out, even using her powers to do such mundane things as move some furniture around, after the Witch Blade informed her a former bearer had done the same thing. Tozawa and Cho helped out too, both a little sad their long time neighbors were departing, though this was somewhat blunted to Cho by the fact some disgustingly hot women were taking their place, and Masane nearly had to deck him for groping her ass (which had been ridiculously exposed in her armored form, even with the alterations to it) during the furniture moving.
In the meantime, soon after Naomi and Michael exited stage right, they got an unexpected visitor.
“Sorry about earlier, Amaha-san, but I’ve had a lot of stress lately.”
Masane looked over at Nakata, who was now seated across from her at one of the tables in the bar section, looking like hell, and sighed, “I know the feeling.” As she said this, a look of confusion crossed her face as Nakata pulled a leather folder of some sort out of the trench coat he was wearing, and plopped it on the table, gesturing for to open it. As she did, she saw some paperwork with the heading “OFFICIAL DEPUTIZATION RELEASE FORM”
“What’s this?”
“Well, considering that you and your friends want to do a public service, and wish to do so at out behest,
I thought it’d be way the hell less aggravating on both of us if you were officially deputized into the Tokyo Police.”
“You want us to become cops?”
“Not exactly. This form is what we use when we recruit citizens who wish to go undercover for things like drug and prostitution stings to make it all legal. This gives your activity legal sanction under the authority of the Tokyo Police Department and the legal system in general, which means that we can provide official support to your anti-ExCon activities and your people are fully authorized to join police in their investigations, as long as I approve of it beforehand.”
“I see.” said Masane, realizing the gravity of what Nakata was handing her. “I do have to ask, why are you helping me like this?” hoping he wouldn’t treat her like she was asking a stupid question. Ironically enough, the frazzled look Nakata had been sporting transformed into a sympathetic one, as he replied,
“Recently, I saw shit I thought was reserved for TV shows and videogames come to life and cause a bunch of innocent people and loyal cops to die, and the worst part is that I had no power to help stop any of it. Apparently, you, and I reluctantly admit, Tozawa, were trying to do what I couldn’t, and you fought an entire army to defend the good people of this town, and for that, you have my thanks, because now those corrupt assholes at Douji’s are finished, the NSWF can no longer commit the hideous atrocities they were committing on human beings anymore and you filled in all the holes I haven’t even been able to explore yet. As far as I’m concerned, you and your friends signing this paperwork is a formality. In fact, had you decided to go kill every last ExCon anyway, I don’t think I could’ve found it in my heart to arrest you for vigilantism. This way, however, makes it 100% legal.”
As he finished, Masane looked down at the fine print, which wasn’t much, frankly. It merely reaffirmed everything
Nakata had just said, and had a space for her name, which she signed. As she did, she realized there were a few more identical forms in the folder, which she realized were for the others. As she finished, he told her, “I have to get back to work now, so just bring that by whenever you’re ready to tell the world what you’re gonna do. I’ll be releasing a press release immediately afterwards telling everyone that you’re working on the police’s behalf.”
With that, he turned to leave, but stopped and looked directly at Masane, a mournful look darkening his pallor, and said, in a voice tinged with sorrowful understanding
“Muraki got turned into one of those monsters, didn’t he?”
Masane mind was instantly reminded of the anguished, inhuman form of the former cop, begging her to end his existence, and she told Nakata quietly,
“His soul is at peace now.”
To that, Nakata looked like he was fighting tears as he resumed his walk to the door, saying in the grumbly voice men use to avoid weeping,
“Thank you.”
As Nakata’s spirits rose, so did the expenditures the ladies were racking up at the nearby mall, which was surprisingly busy considering the whole damn town had been under attack almost a day ago.
However, to be fair, most of the exorbitant expenses were justified. Most of these ladies didn’t have any actual wardrobes, toiletries, or personal possessions of their own and besides, Masane had given them access to her bank account (which was rather well off, actually), and as the phrase went, the best money spent is someone else’s.
For about an hour, they had bought nothing but clothes. Reina and Shiori had to assist Aoi and Maria, whose experiences shopping were almost nil, and after having bought necessity items such as undergarments (utility, not lingerie, at least for now, to Shiori’s consternation), pantyhose, socks, and hair accessories (as Aoi and Shiori liked the ponytailed/braided look), they then turned to personal clothing selections, and made a few discoveries.
Reina and Maria actually bought similar outfits, both even buying the exact same business wear attire in different sizes, a realization that actually unnerved them both. Aoi seemed to have a yellow-orange fetish (though her more formal outfits were sensible colors). Shiori was a fan of light blue, and pretty much based her wardrobe around said color, picking other colors only if they added or enhanced her color of choice. As for Asagi, she seemed to have a biker/Goth fetish; her wardrobe looking like a fusion of the closets of Danny Zuko from “Grease” and Triana from “The Venture Brothers” though as far as formal attire went, it was sensible, albeit blacker than the dark spot in a black hole.
As for bras, this proved to be rather entertaining. Reina and Shiori already knew their sizes, hence they didn’t have too much trouble picking out the appropriate chest wear, and Maria had a little trouble, but Rihoko went to bat for her and informed the saleswoman that Maria wasn’t very experienced at buying bras and had been using hand me downs for quite awhile, after which things went much more smoothly, with said saleswoman even giving Maria a full run down on how to pick the best chest supporter, even recommending a few sports bras she might wear if she didn’t want to bother with worrying about exact measurements too much. For Maria’s part, she found herself grateful to Rihoko, and her guilt complex was growing in regards to her former ill treatment of her, and Maria resolved to do something to make it up to her, and wondered why Rihoko was so easily able to forgive someone who tried to kill her.
Asagi’s experiences were hilarious, given that she kept picking the wrong sizes, until Marry stepped in and gave her Top Supportage 101. As for what Rihoko had to get for her mother, she realized nothing available could contain those melons, so she discreetly pulled the sales lady aside and asked her if they could special order in her mother’s size. Dazzled by Rihoko’s uber cute demeanor, the sales lady wrote off a website address of a lingerie and specialty underwear maker who catered to that very issue. That settled it was Aoi’s experience that provided much simultaneous comedy and heartbreak.
Due to her shrinking violet personality, Aoi had a massive inferiority complex, which had extended to her cup size, and as the girl forlornly kept looking at the bra padding and the training bra section, it took a combination of Maria telling her she looked beautiful despite her chest size, Marry telling her it was actually good she would not have to suffer as many backaches and chest pain, and Rihoko again working her mojo on the now overly cooperative saleswoman that finally netted Aoi some bras that definitely weren’t A cup size (though admittedly not by much).
Once that was over, the quest for toiletries began, and it proved equal parts mundane, amusing, and revealing of few interesting individual feminine factoids.
Feminine deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, razor blades, etc. were the mundane part, but the beauty products were where it got interesting. Reina wasn’t all that fanatical about her appearance, though Shiori nearly swooned as Reina bought and later applied some ruby red lipstick. Maria found the concept of feminine products abhorrent for some reason none could decipher (though it was because she hated how Furumizu had tried to turn her into a living doll, as the rest correctly surmised later), though Aoi looked more adorable than a basket of newborn kittens with some blush on, which contrasted nicely with her pale skin. Shiori herself apparently went a little crazy in the powder and lipstick department, whitening her face and bluing her lips, up to the point of looking of looking like a very busty, brown haired Four Murasame cosplayer. As for Asagi, she discovered her dark colors predilection extended to her facial beauty ideas, so accordingly she went for the black lipstick look, which coupled with the dark leather jacket and pants she had bought earlier, were really making her look Goth. She even mused about getting a tattoo, though to everyone’s relief, no such facilities existed in the store.
After that, they were about to go home, but Reina insisted on entering an electronics store on the way out, where she got a digital recorder, to the confusion of everyone but Shiori, who explained that Reina had always been a very observational person, and she liked to record memorable experiences diary style, and it had actually been a gift from Furumizu to her, an incident Shiori noted with irony that could possibly be called one of the few times Furumizu had done anything remotely selfless, which, considering he was more prone to mind raping the metaphorical dog as opposed to petting it, was a rare exception to his character.
That done, the ladies brought their purchases to Marry’s van, whose tires looked like they were about to explode once all the parcels were loaded, and the ladies made their way back to Marry’s. On the way back, Maria had Aoi on one side of her and Rihoko on the other, and surprised them both by throwing an arm around their soldiers in a group hug like arrangement. Rihoko and Aoi actually returned the favor, and Maria felt her heart break a little as it started to dawn on her that maybe, just maybe, the impossible was happening.
She was truly starting over, and she was truly forgiven.
In a hotel located somewhere near the outskirts of Tokyo, Migura and company had given some false names and paid for some rooms for the next couple of weeks, and Daemon was currently in Migura’s room, spilling his guts.
Migura listened quietly, silently enduring Daemon’s curse word laden narrative, and when he finished, he looked his colleague square in the face and asked, still finding it hard to believe despite how reasonable the account sounded,
“Do you really believe their intentions are genuine?”
“Honestly, as ridiculously convenient and unlikely as it sounds, I actually do believe it.”
Migura closed his eyes for a few moments, then spoke, “Daemon, given your opinion and what I have heard, I’m inclined to believe they are truly acting in good faith, but as we are not sure to what extent Angelus and Darkness are playing in this, I’m giving you the authority to test this promise of theirs, as long as you do so with discretion. If their word is truly their bond, I would be willing to convince the others to leave the Witch Blades to do as you have learned, which I too think is sensible, though I’ll admit I still believe this sounds too easy and ideal for our purposes.
“Truth be told, it’s probably true or bullshit, but I guess I’d better go and make sure, right?”
“Agreed. I’ll tell the others what you’ll be doing. Report back to me once you have ascertained their purpose, and inform us immediately if anything unexpected happens.”
At that, Daemon nodded and turned to take his leave.
(Around 3:00 P.M)
The girls had gotten back from the mall (as it wasn’t very far from Marry’s anyway, where they were updated by the waiting Masane on Nakata’s visit and the deputization forms, as well as the fact Michael and Naomi had abruptly had to move out. Marry actually took the news phlegmatically, actually grateful in a way that they had the space to now comfortably house everyone without forcing already existing tenants to double up. Reina and Shiori were given Michael’s old room, while Aoi and Maria were given Naomi’s old room, and Asagi would be doubling up with her, which Asagi lodged no objection to. They heard Takayama pull up, and as he came in, he informed them that Segawa had given him some highly important news he was going to discuss with them later. That out of the way, Masane had the other ladies sign the forms, while she tracked down Tozawa, who had disappeared into his room soon after helping Naomi and Michael pack.
She knocked, and he told her to come in, where she found him sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at his cell phone, as if it could decide the fate of the world. As she noticed this, he asked, in the voice one would use before proposition someone to attempt bungee jumping over the Grand Canyon,
“How would you feel about me telling Kyoko you’re not dead?”
Masane was a little stunned, but recovered adroitly,
“How about I do you one better?”
With that, she proceeded to inform him she was ready to go public, and that she wanted him to ask Kyoko to set it up. To that, Tozawa’s face lit up like the sun, and he immediately punched up her office phone number, his face animated with excitement with the journalistic awesome he was going to be the catalyst for. After a moment or so, he asked the secretary to transfer him to Kyoko, who answered a few moments later, sounding a little tired.
“Kyoko Sakaki speaking.”
“It’s me, Yuusuke.”
She was obviously trying to be pleasant, but the harried feeling was obvious in her tone as she replied, “Look, Yuusuke-kun, I’m afraid I don’t have long to talk, so-“
“I have some information about the events of last night, or to be exact, a more complete follow up to that information.”, he replied in complete seriousness. He rarely, if ever sounded completely serious, so he knew this would get her attention.
“What exactly have you found out?” she answered after a pause, as the sound of her picking up something to write on could be heard through the receiver.
Barely able to hide the glee in his voice, his affected seriousness slipped as he said,
“You announced someone’s death a little early last night.”
It took a few seconds for it to register, but when it did, Kyoko’s shocked voice asked back,
“You mean……?”
“She’s right here.” he said, handing the phone to Masane, who casually said,
“Hi Kyoko.”
The other end of the phone was quiet for a full five seconds, before Masane had to hold it away from her ear as she heard Kyoko damn near scream, “YOU’RE ALIVE!!!!!” and the rest was inarticulate due to Kyoko’s excitement.
After she regained her composure, Masane told her, “Not only me, but some of the former Neogenes are alive as well, and I was hoping you’d be willing to set up a TV spot so we could tell the world what happened last night.”
Again, the phone went silent for a few seconds, before Kyoko regained her composure, and told her excitedly, “I’ll let my bosses know you’re coming!”, and abruptly terminated the conversation to do just that, and while Masane was a little aggravated Kyoko didn’t ask her when she wanted to do this, she figured they might as well make it official in the press since the cops were already covered.
With this decided, Masane asked Yuusuke to come with her to the front, where she quickly informed everyone what she planned to do, and before they could say anything, she told them what she had just transpired, and before they could remark good or ill, she said,
“Nakata asked me to wait until I got this all legal, and now that ink is on paper, I don’t see any point in waiting. Besides, Kyoko didn’t even let me set this up for when we were all ready, so I guess we’d better tell the world what’s going on now” was Masane’s concluding statement, it’s ruefulness masking a hell of a lot of anxiety.
Some of the others thought it was a bit sudden, but they were all acutely aware Masane had been given the dead man’s switch to them in a literal sense, and while none of them believed she’d do it on a whim, they also remembered they swore loyalty to her in exchange for a second chance at terra firma, so as a body the former Neogenes tabled their objections and nodded in acknowledgement.
That said, Masane asked Yuusuke to deliver the deputy forms to Nakata (and give him a heads up on their plans), while herself and her troops plus Takayama piled into his new car and drove over to the TV station, not knowing that an invisible Daemon, who had been listening, realized he’d better keep on their tail, jumped on to the back of the car and held onto the fin on the car trunk lid for dear life, thinking to himself,
“I hope this action movie hero shit is worth it!!!!!”
Thankfully for the petrified Daemon, they didn’t go too fast, make any sharp turns or do anything crazy, which was just as well, as Daemon felt his bladder control almost slip several times due to recent discovered phobia of high speed transportation minus safety harnesses of any sort. That said, as soon as they got within a block or two of the Tokyo News Network building, he jumped off by the time they reached a stop, and decided to make the rest of the way on foot, which he was praying was way the fucking hell safer than hanging onto the ass end of a motor vehicle.
As he started walking, the Compass of Destiny showed him something very interesting, thankfully diverting him away from his newfound fear.
Meanwhile, the Witch Blade nakama soon arrived, and not wasting any time, they got out, though not before Masane donned a hat and some sunglasses, just in case she was spotted early, though Asagi apparently was unable restrain a snarky comment that anyone who knew Masane’s chest wouldn’t be fooled for a second, which had everyone, even Reina, fighting smiles. It also served to temporarily lower the anxiety level for a few moments.
As they got inside, Takayama calmly approached the front desk, where he asked a receptionist (who apparently hadn’t remembered him from previous news footage) if he could speak with Kyoko Sasaki, but never got an answer to that statement as he heard someone run towards them.
It was Kyoko, who had just stepped off an elevator, had immediately seen Masane, recognized her despite her disguise, and had just broken wind to run up and hug her, totally unconcerned about anyone else as she fiercely whispered,
“Thank God you’re alright!”
In the Other Realm, much like they had done for Takayama, Angelus and Darkness looked at each other in deadpan and muttered that it was the least they could do.
Back on Earth, Masane gently disengaged herself, and asked Kyoko if everything was ready, as she had something to address on TV she couldn’t tarry about with. Kyoko immediately turned professional and led them to the elevator, where once inside, she told them she had already informed her bosses about the breaking news, and they were ready to make an emergency news announcement on TNN at Kyoko’s word, as her superiors were just as interested to hear Masane as they were in breaking Pulitzer worthy news, which was ironic, as they were in Japan, but no one brought that up.
The rest of the ride up was silent, and as they got off on the production floor (the 15th), they followed Kyoko to a pre-setup camera room, which already had a blue screen and TV personnel already waiting, who immediately snapped to attention as they saw their recently arrived guests, and though they quickly resumed their work, and any moron could tell they were as geeked as Yuusuke and Kyoko to be part of this upcoming piece of news making history.
As Masane got on the stage in front of the blue screen, she felt a huge case of butterflies as she followed Kyoko’s instructions on where to stand, how and where look at the cameras, and how to wait and recognize her speaking cue. As she did, the Witch Blade, deciding Masane could use a little reassurance,
“Masane, you’re telling the world the truth it needs to know, and that you plan to be a warrior for their safety. Not only will you do fine, but you do me and my parents’ great honor as my bearer, so show no fear. Besides, if it makes you feel any better, I’m nervous too.”
This gave Masane a great sense of relief, one she would need shortly.
Meanwhile, the TNN network officials in another part of the building had the banal news clips they were playing recapping the events of last night and the talking heads’ guesses as to what was true and what was not was interrupted, and one of Kyoko’s bosses delivered the following message from his own office as TV screens across Tokyo tuned to TNN changed over to his office,
“We here at the Tokyo News Network interrupt our usual broadcasting to deliver a special news bulletin. The woman seen last night dealing with the renegade Douji “I Weapons” is here in our studios, along with some of the alleged Neogenes as identified in previous broadcasts, and who now wants to go public with what really happened, and is apparently planning to reveal the full truth of what has really been going on.”
“We are now cutting to the studio where the alleged bearer of the weapon known as the “Witch Blade” is now.”
In the studio, the camera lights switched to Green, and Kyoko nodded from her place behind them. Clearing her throat, Masane opened her mouth, trepidation evident in her voice as she said,
“People of Tokyo, I am Masane Amaha. The woman you saw last night fighting the I Weapons was me, and I am here today to tell you the real truth about what happened…………
Back at Marry’s, a stunned Cho, Marry, Rihoko, and recently returned Tozawa watched Masane transform into her Level 2 Witchblade form, and as she did, held up her gauntleted fist, the glowing jewel of the Witch Blade visible.
“What you see here is the Witch Blade, which is what gave me the power to fight those monsters, and was what the Douji Group and the NSWF foolishly meddled with, which not only led to citywide assault last night, but also caused the Great Quake six years ago, which is where I first received the Witch Blade…………
Akira Nakata watched his office TV, both shocked at Masane barely waiting past his deadline to go public, and at the horrifying truth of why the Great Quake occurred. To find out that it had been caused by those fools meddling with an ancient power far beyond their comprehension enraged him……………
By now, Masane had reverted back to her Level 1 form, but still continued to speak, unmindful of the awed WTF looks on the production crews faces as they made damn sure they were getting a very good recording of the present unfolding events,
“And even after the Great Quake, they did not stop their foolishness.”
She paused for a second, holding the Witch Blade up again, eyes blazing with fire as she recalled the horrors she had been living witness to.
“And what those madmen didn’t realize that they had been messing with not just a magical gauntlet, but a living being that was made to bond with humanity as a weapon to fight evil, which in their greed they replicated so they could use its powers for their own material gain. Soon after the Great Quake, the blade bonded with me, and lay dormant for the next six years, while Douji continued their idiocy and made the ExCons and I Weapons, machines fused with the remain of human corpses powered by copied Witch Blades as weapons of war, while the NSWF had an even more sickening purpose behind their meddling…………
Reina watched Masane passionately speak to the world, anger at Furumizu’s sickening genetic abominations evident as she described them and their horrifying goal……………
“Unfortunately, during those six years, Furumizu and Douji were able to hide their activities, even while Douji’s own creations started going rogue and started murdering people, some of them Furumizu’s Neogenes, and some just ordinary people, but instead of abandoning their efforts, those imbeciles continued making these horrific weapons for the continuance of their own greed!”, and Masane actually spat as if her disgust was literally physical.
As Segawa watched TV back at his own apartment, he watched quietly as Masane described how the Witch Blade’s power manifested, and that Takayama had hired her to eliminate the rogue ExCon’s…………
As Masane was about to continue, Takayama walked into the picture, looked straight the camera, and continued for her, eyes locked on the viewers of tens of thousands of TV around the city,
“I did exactly as she claims, and at the time, I did so not only to preserve Douji’s reputation, but because I have a conscience, and watching innocent people die was something I couldn’t abide, so I hired her on as part of my staff to help my team in their task of eliminating the ExCons. I should have done more at the time, but to my eternal regret”, and at those words, he could no longer face the cameras, “my conscience wasn’t strong enough…………”, and with that, he walked off screen, leaving the floor for Masane to continue, while he leaned against the wall away from the camera, his composure faltering severely as the guilt for his sins assaulted him, and he forced himself to continue facing his past as Masane continued.
As Kyoko watched the woman she had struck up a friendship with pour out even more horrifying truths, like how Furumizu had taken his genetic altered humans and used them like disposables to capture the Witch Blade, how the Neogenes were mostly children and orphans taken from Child Services (a revelation that horrified her), who were corrupt minions of his who had almost turned Rihoko back over to him for more genetic experimentation in the quest to fulfill his insane ideals…………
“And through it all, neither Furumizu nor Douji learned their meddling was wrong! They continued to let the body count of innocents and their own grow higher and higher, all in pursuit of their own gain, despite the fact what they were doing was leading to even more deaths! Reiji Takayama had by this point fully turned away from helping Douji and tried to obstruct their continued meddling, but the corrupt fools above him refused to listen, too blinded by dollar signs. And Furumizu even kidnapped me at one point to further his own twisted goals as well as trying to kill one of his own genetically modified offspring for developing enough humanity to realize the evils she was helping commit, and had her executed in cold blood for actually having a conscience!”
As Masane recounted Reina’s unhappy fate, tears started streaming down Reina’s face as she recounted the horror.
Angelus and Darkness watched from the Other Realm as Masane continued to tell the world how both sides had foolishly continued their Trespass, and their hearts truly went out to their chosen bearer, hoping that in the truth the remaining innocents would be swayed from any more attempts at madness forever……………
“Unfortunately, nothing could be done. Douji Director Masaya Wadou was determined to continue sowing the seeds of Destruction, leaking information about the forces trying to stop the madness to the media to discredit Takayama so he could bolster his own ego, then tried to kill the man even after he removed himself from Wadou’s presence as a threat! I was barely able to stop it, and I had to call on more power from the Witch Blade to stop the monster Wadou unleashed, which drastically started shortening my own……………
Tozawa realized Masane was editing out a lot, mostly for reasons he wholly agreed with, but he was wondering how much the public could hear of what she was telling them before they found every last asshole who had started all this and decided to lynch them all……………
“……………and not long after all that, the weapons that had been rebelling under their control finally went berserk, and that bastard Wadou, trying to silence my efforts to stop his madness, had me demonized as a rogue ExCon, and while everyone evacuated, he all but abandoned the city to destruction, and me to die.”
Masane had to stop for a second, too overcome to speak as she remembered when certain death (of the unnaturally sped up variety) had been an axe she had known would take her away from this world, but she swallowed hard, and forged ahead, tears falling like rain as she fought sobs to say,
“But I refused! My daughter was still in harm’s way, and I couldn’t let those monsters continue to exist. As well, some of Furumizu’s Neogenes, driven insane by their deteriorating Clone Blades, tried to kill me, but I fought them too, unwilling to let the Witch Blade’s power be used for more senseless acts of evil. During the battle, Reiji-sama assisted me, and helped me take down a sizable fraction of the I Weapons, but they just kept coming, and that’s when I decided to remove myself and the Witch Blade from this world, and take those abominations with me……………”
Masane paused, almost gagging on a sob, letting that sink in for a moment, and then she continued.
“But incredibly, instead of death, I wound up in another world. I met the parents of the Witch Blade, who were not only glad I refused to let their child be further abused by the greed of Man, but revived me and some of the former Clone Blades and sent us back to this world to eliminate the remaining ExCons, and rescue everyone else victimized by Furumizu. They had been sealed away in that place, unable to defend their child, and told me as fellow parents they were glad I had done what they could not, and as thanks returned me and some of the former Neogenes to this world, and charged us with the mission of destroying all remaining ExCons, and it was also so the other Neogenes who had defected from Furumizu could atone for the roles they played-“
At that, the other Witch Blades stepped into the picture and stood beside their leader, and Reina stepped forward first, eyes almost as watery as her leader’s as she said “I am Reina Sohou. I was the chief researcher on the invention of the Clone Blades, and it was my foolishness that not only led to the Witch Blade becoming a tool of evil, but I was also responsible for helping that madman with his eugenics experiments. I defected when I realized the doom I had helped cause, and after I realized the Clone Blades were driving their own bearers to madness and eventually killing them.”, and as she finished this, she transformed, then she continued,
“But Furumizu just wasn’t going to let me leave. He drove my daughter Maria, a Neogene like myself into madness and had her fight and kill me. At the time, Masane’s daughter was in my care, and in the insanity that demented bastard I once called Father had inflicted on my daughter was such she was willing to slaughter another child just to get to me, and I couldn’t let that happen, so me and my daughter fought-“
At this point Reina’s transformed face was laced with guilt so obvious it seemed to physically age her as she managed to finish with, “-and my life ended that day, or so it seemed. After Masane’s would be sacrifice, the Witch Blade’s creators sent me back with her so that I could atone for the sins I committed against them, and against man, and I swear before all of you now I will never be party to that kind of madness again.”
With this, she knelt by Masane’s side, face downcast like a knight submitting to her liege, and Shiori transformed, her countenance as solemn and guilt ridden as Reina’s as she added,
“I am Shiori Tsuzuki. I was a former Clone Blade bearer, and Reina-sama was my closest friend, but when the Blade took my sanity, to my eternal shame, I became her enemy, and Masane and Reiji Takayama had to put me down, for I had ceased to be human and had become a monster. I too was given a chance at redemption, and I too serve Masane’s mission to destroy the ExCons and atone for my sins.”
As she finished, she knelt on Masane’s other side, mirroring Reina.
Maria stepped forward next, with Aoi and Asagi by her sides, and they transformed, with Maria having to fight an urge to cry as she said, “I am Maria Sohou. As my mother said, I had been turned into the dagger Furumizu used to kill her, and I was also to be the vessel for his fantasy of being “reborn”, as he believed his own mother was imperfect, thus I was to be a genetic DNA jar for him to be brought back again as a-“
She abruptly stopped as her disgust overrode the calm she had started with, and in a voice dripping with angry contempt, snarled,
“-perfect being. I managed to resist his control long enough to kill him, as I refused to continue being that bastard’s puppet, and I was sick of watching him use my Sisters like pawns in his sick games!”
She managed to regain her composure, and
Sadly, the Clone Blade I had been infused with had started to destroy my own mind, and I became no better than the monster I had called “Father”, even using my best friend Aoi Nagisa and Asagi Watanabe”, putting a hand on each girl’s shoulder as she said their names to indicate which was which, “as pawns to retrieve the Witch Blade.”
She paused again, sorrow replacing anger as she was about to recount the pinnacle of her maddened first life.
“I didn’t even know why I wanted it, but the brainwashing and the deterioration brought about by the Clone Blade had utterly destroyed my mind, turned me into an amoral killer, and not only did Masane have to put me down like a rabid animal, my leadership got the two you see beside me killed. Thankfully, we were all revived and given a second chance to right our wrongs, and the three of us also pledge to make amends and hunt down the remaining ExCons, defending not only my sisters, but everyone else Douji and Furumizu made unwittingly suffer.”
With that, she and the other two knelt as well, their face downcast, leaving their commander, Masane still standing.
From where she stood, Masane allowed the fire to fully burn in her eyes as she finished her pronouncement,
“And above all else, let me issue a warning to all who covet the Witch Blade’s power: This is not a tool, but a living being, created to serve Justice, infused with the power of Order and Chaos to banish evil, and anyone else who attempts to use it for evil will be dealt Justice by the Blade itself!”
As Masane finished, the Witch Blade’s jeweled inset, as if to punctuate the point, glowed like a torch, bathing the room in crimson light, as if affirming her words.
At the hotel, Lord Migura and the rest of the Thirteen (save Daemon) watched the broadcast end, and as they sat in quiet shock, now knowing what Angelus and Darkness planned to do; they wondered what would happen next, except for
Migura, who was silently thinking,
“A noble mission you have set yourself too, bearer of the Power of Balance. We shall soon see if there is steel to your words.”
Daemon had been watching Masane and her friends make their statement on a TV just outside the station, along with a huge crowd that had gathered outside the TNN building, looking like a curious (and rather awed/shocked/frightened citizen like the rest.
However, that was about to change. During his trailing of the Witch Blades, he had discovered a dormant ExCon nearby, a young man who looked like he was homeless, who was apparently was reeking of the smell of week old refuse, and judging by how lethargic he had been, he had probably hadn’t even left the city during the evacuation. Said ExCon perked up as he passed by, but went back to sleep as soon as he realized his guest, while bearer of a power, it was not that of the Witch Blade.
Ironically enough, Daemon had used that to his advantage, by altering the signal the ExCon was receiving to be as if he was a Witch Blade bearer, but making it weak enough the ExCon was merely curious, not enraged into action, and as Daemon saw Masane and her friends finish their pronouncement on the news; he changed the ExCons perception again, causing him to notice the signal of Masane and her friends (which Daemon had been masking throughout their TV appearance), stirring the bio machine to pop out from behind the car he had been waiting behind, and transform into a vaguely knight like appearance, with what looked like a diving helmet for a skull, the chassis of a grey armored car for a body, a blade the size of an office desk for one arm, and a long tentacle like appendage for another.
As the ExCon flipped out and tore ass for the TV Station, with the crowds nearby noticing and trying to get away, Daemon managed to slip away and merge with a nearby wall, where he decided to see if Masane and her friends were really going to do what they said, and kill the motherfucker.
If not, he would have to call in the rest of the Thirteen, and even more shit would fly. And he was sure his colleagues would be seriously pissed.
Meanwhile, in the studio, the cameras had gone off (and the Witch Blade’s light dimmed with them), and Masane exhaled, unmindful of anything else but her own conviction. She had just informed the world of the mission she had been given, and she would-
-and her solemn reverie was cut off as she heard screams from outside. Before she could even ask what was going on, she heard someone on a speakerphone in the background yell something about something attacking the station.
“What’s attacking?!” asked Takayama, his stomach tying up in knots as he realized he did know.
“An ExCon!” shouted back the voice of the TV exec who was reporting this from his office window a few floors down.
“Damn!” cried Masane, who realized they had to stop the bastard, but they were currently in a skyscraper, thirty floors up-
“Masane! I have the power to fly, you know.”
“What?!”
“I can give my bearer any weapon or tool they might need to carry out their mission, thus I can give you wings. Your friends can do this as well!”
That said, Masane had a plan. Turning to the now petrified Kyoko, she asked, “Where’s the nearest exit?”
She shook like a leaf as she pointed in the general direction of the fire escape, and Masane ran for it, the other Witch Blades in tow, yelling to Takayama as she left, “We’ll deal with the ExCon. You make sure everyone here stays out of danger!”, and thinking to herself she was grateful Rihoko had stayed home.
With that, the Blades transformed, and true to her symbiote’s words, wings the color of their armor sprouted from their backs, the shape and consistency much like that of a gargoyle. As she yanked open the door, she realized they were on the left side of the building, and they’d have to fly around.
This thought occurred to the others as well, and Reina yelled, “What do we do when we see the ExCon?”
“We’ll try to surround it, and keep it from hurting anybody, and then as soon as the innocent people are out of the way, we kick some ass!”
At this, the Witch Blades nodded, and as one they ascended the railing of the fire escape, and with more than a little trepidation, jumped off.
The Witch Blade was as true as its word, for not only did they immediately take flight, it seemed that the Witch Blade’s power was what controlled their flight, not the wind, so the fear of falling was essentially nil. Wasting no time experimenting, Masane headed for the front of the building with others in close formation behind her.
Meanwhile, from Daemon’s unorthodox hiding place, he surreptitiously kept fucking with the ExCon’s perceptions of reality, causing it rage blindly, not hurting anybody, though it did cleave through some poor sap’s SUV. While this was going on, he pulled out his artifact, which showed the Witch Blades on an aerial inbound course.
Seeing as things worked out like he intended, Daemon smiled in a manner much like Light Yagami, even muttering,
“Just as planned.”
Meanwhile, on the ground, the ExCon was about to bust on in the TV station, senses addled but knowing what it sought to kill was close at hand. Unfortunately, unlike the police officer Muraki, this particular ExCon’s remaining humanity was somewhere between a myth and a joke, and as the people inside were preparing to flee for the elevators, they heard the following,
“SHOWTIME, ASSHOLE!”
It was Masane, descending like Death From Above incarnate as she landed just in front of the TV station steps, while the other Witch Blades landed in a star like pattern around it, hoping to not only surround it, but give any civilians foolish enough not to get out the way a convenient decoy. As their wings disappeared upon landing, their blades unsheathed from their gauntleted scabbards, and as the ExCon whirled around, confused, wondering which target to attack first, some dumbass teenagers who happened to be hiding next to the wall Daemon was hiding in couldn’t resist talking about how badass the whole thing looked. They weren’t the only spectators, as some of the more dedicated news people in the areas with more camera and steno pad and less self preservation were hiding in similar spots, their journalistic desires for an awesome scoop being fulfilled. As for everyone else who had been there, they ran like fuck for the hills and decided discretion was the better part of valor, and the cops arrived in record time to seal the area off, having been explicitly ordered by Chief Nakata not to intervene until the Witch Blades were done killing the ExCon, and like good troopers who knew they were way outclassed (as well as having been told that they had been officially deputized by Nakata to take down a threat they apparently could deal with far better than mere mortals), were more than happy to comply.
Meanwhile, Masane broke the brief tedium by running towards the ExCon, blade raised; delivering a first strike that would have been of decapitory force had the ExCon not raised its cleaver arm in time. Meanwhile, it tried for a counter attack with its tentacle arm, but considering the move was so badly telegraphed; Masane not only dodged it, her blade lopped the almost 20 foot long appendage (as it apparently could stretch itself) in half, leaving the ExCon roaring in pain. It didn’t have time to recover as Asagi, Reina, and Shiori struck its exposed flanks and rear, and though the blows were glancing ones, the monster was now aware it didn’t know where a strike would come from, though since it apparently lacked most of its former human brain power (though in life, it’s owner hadn’t been all that bright anyway) it wasn’t smart enough to assume a defensive posture and counterattack when need be, which left the asshole, who had renewed its charge on Masane, vulnerable to Aoi’s ranged assault, which consisted of her blade arm turning into an energy crossbow, and one of her shots glanced off its skull, around where orbital bone is around the left eye socket on the average human male. She didn’t pierce its skull, but the ExCon was temporarily blinded, and as it finally got a damn clue and assumed a defensive posture, Masane slashed at it furiously, trying to whittle down its guard, while yelling loud enough to be heard for a block or two,
“COME ON AND SATISFY ME ALREADY!”
To its credit, the ExCon managed to use its cleaver arm (which it had been parrying Masane’s assault with) to force her away, and as it finally managed to make her somersault into the TV station wall, Maria, who had been waiting for a good shot, used her blade (now turned into a miniature energy cannon), and fired directly into the ExCon’s back.
A scream that damn near broke windows echoed from the bio mechanical beast as a soft ball sized hole appeared in its gut, causing it to leak huge gouts of its clear crystalline blood. Unfortunately, this only made it more pissed, and it swung what was left of its tentacle arm, smacking Reina and Shiori into the air by a good twenty feet.
They managed to recover in mid flight and land safely, as they watched as prehensile tentacles emanating from the back of Asagi’s armor attacked in combination with a leaping sword attack to try and crash her blade through its brain. She failed to end its life, but did succeed in breaking its guard and the resulting hit resounded with enough force to knock the bastard off balance. The rest of the Witch Blades took full advantage of the opportunity, charging forward, blades glowing with energy, each slashing the unbalanced, punch-drunk ExCon deeply, each cut opening up huge wounds that were making it bleed out rather messily, and as it finally managed to break away from Aoi trying to sink her blade into its chest, the ExCon leapt backwards and tried to regain what little strength it had left for one last counterattack.
That’s what Masane had been waiting for, for as the ExCon leapt back, she leapt forward, blade held low, and as the ExCon reached her; she poured full power into her sword arm until it glowed like a light saber, and then drove it forward through its torso, immediately slitting upwards, throwing in an exploding energy blast for good measure as she pulled her blade out, arm quivering excitedly from the force of the magical ejaculation.
The explosion was rather intense, causing half of the ExCon’s earthly remains to disintegrate as the rest was blown all over the TV station front lawn. Thankfully, the explosion had been magically localized, so it faded as quickly as it started, and as the last bits of shrapnel fell, Masane retracted her still jittery blade, and was so caught up in her battle lust she actually threw her head back and moaned like she was in orgasm (causing everyone present to wonder if she was literally getting off on what she was doing). Blessedly, she regained her composure not long after, and to the amazement of the onlookers, the ExCons remains immediately crystallized (much like how a Clone Blade user did upon death) and one bright flash of light later, one so bright everyone in the immediate vicinity was almost blinded, the remains vanished, leaving not a trace in this world.
Barely ten minutes later, Migura and the others were still watching a replay of the events on TV, eyes dispassionate as they watched the combat prowess of the Witch Blades. As they continued studying the situation, too stunned to react, Migura heard his cell phone chirp.
It was Segawa.
“I did as you asked, sir.”
“Why didn’t you tell me Masane not only survived, but some of the other former Neogenes did as well?”
“By Takayama-san’s own request, sir.”
“I see. Has he shared our proposed offer with her or the others yet?
“I haven’t asked him, but it would be quite likely. After all, he and Masane are rather…………close.”
At that, Migura actually laughed a little. He too had a paramour he was intimate with, and knew all too well how close that bond could make someone
“Has he accepted our proposal?”
“He told me he was considering it.”
“That’s good enough. I’m sure this will work out, though. Anything I might want to do to make the decision easier, as it were?”
“Well, Ms. Amaha is currently living in a residence that will be taken down by the end of this year. She has nowhere else to go at present, and she has taken a liking to this location as far as I know.”
“This place is?”
Hiroki told him.
“I see. I guess I will have to lean of some of my more well off mortal contacts to rectify the problem, then.
“That would probably work highly in your favor, sir.”
“Thank you, Segawa-san.”, he said, ending the call.”
As the phone clicked off, Migura sat back in his chair, and as he relayed the update to his now no longer shocked associates, a smile appeared on his face as it seemed the pieces were falling in place for what was coming next.
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