(Japanese safe house of the Thirteen, Location undisclosed)
There were Sixteen in all: The Angelus, The Darkness, The Spear of Destiny, The Bloodsword, The Rapture, The Wheel of Shadows, The Stones of Terra/Aqueous/Ember/Aero, The Sword of Life, The Key to the Gulf, The Scythe of Death, The Compass of Destiny, The Edge of Eternum, and The Witch Blade. These artifacts were fragments of the Creator’s power, given power to choose worthy bearers to stay the flow of evil and maintain the Holy Balance. These artifacts had tipped the scales in many wars, changed the fate of civilizations, and continued the stalemate between Good and Evil. And their bearers, knowing the sheer gravity of the power they wielded, had decided to do their best to keep these blessed tools out of the auguries of evil.
As said before, only the worthy could use the holy relics, but the forces of evil could summon demons, commit foul sorceries, and could harness the will of evil to pervert the pure, and the Thirteen feared what might happen if the Divine artifacts were to be copied, and distaff bastard childer made to challenge the Creator’s will, thus throughout history, they affected many lives and many civilizations, sometimes committing acts so gray as to be deemed black to stopgap Evil from perverting the Divine.
Their intervention was such that Joan of Arc, one of the bearers of the Witch Blade, had been declared a heretic and sentenced to a farce of a trial by their agents, who were in all actuality using the trial as a smokescreen to officially edit out of any official records of “La Pucelle’s” Holy Blade, substituting a legend of a blessed sword whose location was given her by the Archangel Michael, as a cover so the real Witch Blade would not pass into evil hands. It was only at the end of the trial did The Maid learn of their deeds, and accepted her reputation’s death at the stake, once she learned that in her death, the magic gauntlet she once wielded would be kept safely away from the English warlords who still sought to subjugate her people. It should also be said that once this was established, they reedited the court records once more, selectively retconning the portions of the truth to clear her name, as they were not without guilt for its necessary but grisly deed, but as for regret they felt none. To keep it and the other artifacts out of evil’s hands was a task that demanded the line must be crossed to even preserve the line’s existence, and their members were more stalwart than the Knights Templar in this goal.
Sadly, their track record was far from perfect. Not too long ago before the present, the holder of The Darkness, Jackie Estacado, was overcome by his power and forced himself on the Witch Blade bearer Sara Pezzini, consummating a child with an act of evil that went against the very nature of the Witch Blade, though if blame must be assigned, the bearer of the Darkness was not sufficient to resist the overcomance of Chaos. Thankfully, the incident was denied disaster by a temporary splitting of the Blade, shielding its bearer and its successor from the horrific if unintentional aftereffects of the violation of the Divine contract between Blade and bearer to never be party to an act of evil. They had dropped the ball on this incident, and more like it, truth be told, but when they could intervene, they did, and it was with this incident they decided to become as knowledgeable about all events occurring on Earth to better serve as shield against further incursions on the sanctity of the Divine.
That said, Migura and the other members of the Thirteen had convened in a rather opulent yet secluded summer home they had long ago established for discreet rendezvous and temporary internment of parties requiring their protection while in the Land of the Rising Sun, and were currently gleaning info from some officers of the JSDF, who owed them a metric ton of favors after the Thirteen had intervened to save their asses from a crazy necromancer whose racism and revival of a terrorist zombie army threatened to make the Home Islands more lethal to foreigners than China during the Boxer Rebellion.
“So, Major, what can you tell us about the JDSF’s stance on the situation regarding the rogue ExCons and the reappearance of not only the Witch Blade, but some of the former Neogenes, who seem to bear non self destructive copies of the Blade?”, was Migura’s opening statement after the back history of Douji and the NSWF’s involvement had been sufficiently covered.
Major Kouji Nagare, who served in the S-2 (Intelligence) wing of the Japanese Self Defense Force was here on behalf of the JDSF, and didn’t even look perturbed at the question as he blandly answered,
“Well, the JDSF has never really been able to effectively investigate the incidents leading up to the reappearance of the Witch Blade, mostly because Douji and the NSWF kept throwing obscene amounts of money at the politicians in the Diet, obstructing us from even entering the city of Tokyo to investigate. Since most of those corrupt bastards are now without their sponsors, that has been rescinded, and the few decent people in the Japanese government have relented to allowing the JSDF to be the public face of the cleanup operations in Tokyo, because as you well know, not only do we owe all of you a great debt, the bribing assholes who made any investigation we might have launched difficult are gone, and the JDSF will be working on the Thirteen’s behalf to clean up what Douji and Furumizu started.”
Angela, bearer of the Spear of Destiny (and resident tsundere of the Thirteen) snapped back, “That’s good to hear Major, but why the hell was the Witch Blade even allowed to fall into the hands of these bastards in the first place?
Migura intervened, “Calm yourself, Angela. After the blade passed from Yuri Miyazono, it seemed to have vanished from the Earth, despite our best efforts to track it, but then again, we are only human. At any rate, it fell into the hands of two mega corporations for a time, both of which were apparently willing to go to a lot of effort to shield their agendas from the public, and who managed to do the very thing we oppose without us even knowing it. Given that, it is fair to say that we could not know about what we were unaware.”
Major Nagare spoke up again, “And besides, from the inception of their retainer of the Blade, we had no idea what they were doing because they passed cash out like candy and had some clever cover stories. The Great Quake was even plausibly explained away by a massive natural gas explosion and a dormant fault line colliding at the worst time, and even we were hoodwinked for quite some time, especially given that topographical studies of the area revealed remnants of both. We also had no idea about the actual construction materials of the ExCons because when the JDSF turned down Douji’s product due to their insufficient information as to their construction, Douji effectively froze any further information we would have gotten from their already tight lips. And as I said, we were strangled by crooked politicians and reams of bullshit.”
Angela merely shot the man a look of annoyed contempt, and at that point Hiroki Segawa, who was serving as the moderating influence, raised his hand. Migura gave him the floor, and he said, “I should also mention that on top of the preexisting lies, bribery, and outright extortion by Douji, the NSWF under Furumizu put on an elaborate show for the Japanese government, essentially paying for much of the restoration of Tokyo out of his own pocket to spare the politicians already corrupted by Douji from having to surrender the public’s money to do anything. He also more of less bought out all of the Child Services in Tokyo and replaced their members with cronies of his choosing, so while Douji was hiding the truth about the ExCons and I Weapons, he was hiding the existence of the Neogenes, and apparently they were pretty successful in keeping the truth from getting out at the zenith of their powers.”
No one contested these words, and Migura thought that, in fairness, that that didn’t explain in full why they dropped the ball so badly, but the sad truth of the matter was they had overextended themselves at the time. Having assumed the Witch Blade would eventually turn up, they had monitored a bunch of other fires, as they were devoted to keeping the balance between good and evil, and that covered incidents outside of the Divine Artifacts as well.
In fact, in recent history their agents had been working overtime through their agents in the Church to prevent the reincarnation of a power demon by a fallen ex-missionary of the Church, intervened in a war over the Holy Grail, lent technical support to forces fighting vampire incursions in Germany and Japan, and had stopped some fool with a god complex from ripping open a hole in the void between dimensions and potentially using it a blackmail tool to get the nations of the world to capitulate to his demands. Given all the insanity they had been preoccupied with, it wasn’t much of a surprise that complacency, lack of hindsight, corrupt bastards, and lots of shit to do had allowed some assholes to pervert one of the Divine Artifacts and damn near blow up a city twice, and continue doing so for six plus years.
(Set almost a week after the events of Episode 3)
As Reiji Takayama sat at his villa, recently repaired, he was reading the latest newspaper, which, combined with what had happened ever since Masane had gone public, merely reaffirmed what he already knew.
Chief Akira Nakata had given a press conference after the ExCon attack, which had the effect of making the police look good as well as the Witch Blades as he informed Tokyo he had deputized them to legally serve as part of the Tokyo Police’s anti-ExCon task force. Considering that Masane and her crew had obscenely high popularity ratings after having unmasked the conspiracies of some power and money obsessed maniacs, and had effectively punched out Tokyo’s equivalent of Cthulhu, it was fair to say that getting out of the area had been hairy after the ExCon was destroyed. Somehow, they managed without leading the press to Marry’s front door, and the girls were lying low, waiting for some of the excitement to bleed off. In the interim, several events of extreme importance were forcing him to make a decision he had asked to sleep on.
Hiroki Segawa had quietly convinced the holders of the plurality of the Douji stock to turn over their stock to him, as a cover for themselves. The week before the Battle of Tokyo, most of the Board of Directors had seen which way the wind was blowing, and had already made plans to flee, and Segawa, having cottoned to this during his sub-rosa spying, quietly approached these individuals and convinced them to make him the major shareholder as they fled, which would distract the law from them to investigate this anomaly, which would buy them additional time to escape. He told them he had a good supposition why they were trying to run, but pointed out (falsely) he had no smoking gun proof, and as a courtesy to the fact Douji had given him such an elevated position, he was going to emulate his boss and take a bullet for them too. Impressed and too overjoyed to have a scapegoat, they turned their brains off and went along with this, not realizing they were stooges in a massive gambit pre setup by the Thirteen and JSDF. After they fled, ownership passed over to him, and before this information went public, he already turned ownership over to the JSDF (who by law had the ability to subsume military industries in the event of criminal allegations against said company had been levied), and considering they had overtly been trying to build a case of Douji selling weapons to unfriendly nations while covertly getting the proof, this just worked out great, as they could save Hiroki’s ass by declaring him as their mole (he was) who was giving them information on Douji’s dirty deeds (he was and did), and they could do so while adhering to the letter of the law and scoring a major coup for themselves, their allies (the Thirteen), and by extension keep the Witch Blades and Takayama available to help them, with their roles now legitimized and given official sanction. All of this had culminated in an article stating that the JSDF had assumed control of Douji and were planning to use it as military frontline base to proactively handle the ExCon problem, that is, after the Tokyo police had investigated the place.
He also had told Masane about what Segawa had told him, and he had confessed he had his doubts, His cell phone began ringing. “This is Reiji Takayama speaking.”
“I assume you’re still thinking about the offer I had Segawa propose, correct?”
Reiji sat bolt upright, realizing the man on the other idea was probably Segawa’s boss, “Yes, sir, I have.”
“Have you made your decision?”
“Tentatively, yes, but I’d like to know what exactly you plan to do to assist the police and the Witch Blades in eliminating the ExCons before I commit myself.”
“Perfectly understandable, Takayama-san. My colleagues and I were wondering if you could join us for a business meeting at my hotel suite.”
He asked where it was, and the information was obliged him.
“I’m assuming you’d like this meeting now, sir?”
“Why not? Time, as the saying goes, is of the essence, correct?”
“I’ll be coming over, but I’ll be bringing Masane Amaha with me, is that alright?”
“By all means. By the way, you can call me Migura.”
“Arigatou, Migura-san. Give me an hour or so, will you?”
“I’ll be waiting.”
(An hour later)
He had picked up Masane from Marry’s, informing her that he had been invited into a meeting with Segawa’s bosses, and he wanted her to attend it with him, as its contents were relevant to her, and she agreed to go with him, though he was fairly sure this meeting would not entail any danger on either of their parts.
As he and Masane arrived at the hotel complex, he had no idea that the Thirteen had had a currently invisible Daemon scout ahead for him and relay that info for the others. At any rate, a valet appeared soon after he arrived and told him he had been expected.
As he and Masane were led and then ushered into Migura’s hotel suite. As he entered, he saw a conference table with a few people of varying nationalities, some of them indeterminate, like the Caucasian looking gentleman at the head of the table with the heavy lines around his eyes who seemed to be the leader, as well as an additional middle aged Japanese gentleman at Migura’s right hand who was in plainclothes but appeared to be of military background. As he approached the table, Migura pointed to two empty chairs at the other end of the table, which Takayama and Masane took. As they did, the Thirteen introduced themselves, and Migura introduced the man beside him, “This is Colonel Daisuke Toijira, of the Japanese Self Defense Forces, and he is commander of the nearby Niitaka base, and a longtime supporter of our activities, not to mention an old friend of mine.
Introductions were exchanged, and Migura took the floor again, “We have long since lent our assistance and that of our subordinates to the Japanese government, particularly their government ever since the Second World War and we are both cooperating on a joint venture to form a team to eliminate the remaining ExCons. We understand that you and your comrades”, indicating Masane, “have a similar mission granted you by Angelus and Darkness, and we do not wish to prejudice that. Instead, since we share the same goal, we were wondering if your forces would join hands with our own so we may both reach the goal of protecting humanity as we both intend.”
Colonel Toijira took the floor from here, “Hiroki Segawa has been under the employ of the Thirteen, who have been helping us build a case against Douji, though we we’re persuaded not to interfere with their mission because they wanted to not only effect a total disgrace of Douji, but they wanted their agent to be in a position to recover all the evidence we’d need to unequivocally give the JSDF the impetus to seize the Douji complex and hand up all the evidence we’d ever need to make our case solid as a rock. We were going to take over Douji, turn it into a military contracting facility for the JSDF, and we wanted not only the Witch Blades to assist us in eliminating them, but we wanted to grant you” indicating Takayama “titular control of this organization, especially considering that it will prove to the public that not only were you trying to eliminate those monsters, but now your activities will have the legal sanction of the Japanese military, and this will also, as a precautionary measure, serve to prove to Angelus and Darkness that you have fully repented of your former dealings with Douji, and that your activities and ours do not run afoul of their own anti-ExCon efforts.”
Takayama didn’t know what to say, so he simply remained silent as Lord Migura continued, “As they say, they are indeed dedicated to preserving the Holy Balance that you and Amaha-san fought to preserve, and their mission overlaps with that of my own colleagues, who hold the other pieces of the Divine Powers. You fought our mission when we sadly we’re negligent in our duties, and we’d like to offer the resources of my colleagues and that of the JSDF to eliminating the remaining ExCons.”
To that, Takayama couldn’t resist a look of shame, which Migura gently chided him for.
“Takayama-san, we do not hold you at fault for your former complicity. You turned away from Trespass and did the right thing. You turned your knowledge and skills for good instead of continuing evil, and that’s why we invited you here. We want you to join our team, and help eliminate the ExCons to expiate the sin of Trespass and possibly give your own conscience some clarity.”
“If I do join, what would you have me do?”
Migura added, “It seems our colleagues Darkness and Angelus have decided to take care of the Neogenes and the disposal of the ExCons, so we’ll be acting as observers and providing assistance as well, as we too wish the sins of Douji and the NSWF to be eliminated.”
Takayama was silent for a moment, then, “If all that is true, why did you give me the only copy of the Clone Blade research?”
Migura: “Good faith. That research is going to be vital in destroying those monsters, as the details of their construction should be essential to their destruction, but to prove our good intentions, we gave you the information first to prove our good will. Obviously, we will need to retain that knowledge to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, but as I said, we wished to prove our bona fides and our sincerity.”
At that, he informed Masane, “I also would like to thank you for all of your efforts on humanity’s behalf, and sincerely wish to express the regret we all feel for any suffering you may have borne as a result of being the latest bearer of the Power of Balance.”
Masane rose from her seat, looking at Migura critically, replying, “Thank you, but since the Witch Blade made me grow up as a person, and made me realize that there are things worth fighting for, I wouldn’t trade what happened to me for the world. I was able to reunite with the man beside me, I was able to come back to my daughter, was able to allow those who died of that madness another chance at life. Whatever pain I bore to get here is irrelevant, as I gained a lot more out of it, and though I’ll help you and your allies destroy the ExCons, I don’t see this power as a curse, and I will use it in defense of the innocent not only because it is what I’m supposed to do, but because I want to spare anyone else that misery you speak of.”
Everyone in the room was a little shocked at Masane’s stark honesty and conviction, but the first to reply was Migura, who told her in a somewhat chagrined tone, “I now know why you were picked as the latest bearer, and I’m sorry if my words were indiscretionate.”
Masane switched instantly from being solemn to nonchalance, waving his Migura’s apology off as if it were no big deal, and he and everyone else rose as the meeting was apparently drawn to a close, and the Colonel took an attaché case he had apparently been holding, and slid it over to Reiji. As he took it, Migura informed him it had some information he might find interesting. This doubled as a sign this brief little rendezvous was over, and Migura bade him and Masane goodbye, and that they would be conversing a lot longer a few days later. With that, Masane and Reiji took their leave.
As they left, Migura turned to the others, saying wryly, “I guess I can recall Daemon from his spy duties now.”
One of the women chuckled, “Why not. Mankind has just gained some new paladins to protect them.”
The male beside her chipped in, “That remains to be seen, but I’d tend to agree.”
Migura decided to conclude the meeting, but not before telling the assembled, “I guess Pythagoras was correct: The greatest event in the history of a man’s soul is his decision to do good or to do evil.”
On that note, the meeting ended, leaving the weight of those words hanging like a cloud.
(later in the same day)
Takayama had showed up at Marry’s and immediately told the Witch Blade nakama he had something important to share with them that couldn’t wait. Despite the fact Reina was currently learning to add a little randomness to her cooking with Rihoko, while Maria played the role of taste tester, and despite the fact Shiori and Aoi were currently sequestered off in Reina and Shiori’s room having some girl-girl (not that type) bonding over their respective girl-girl (in that way) relationships, Masane telling them to assemble in her room for the debriefing was enough, and after Asagi was woken from a catnap, they all met in Masane’s room, where Takayama produced the attaché case, and informed everyone of his meeting, and it’s respective players.
To that, Reina raised her hand,
“So, let me get this straight. You met with the bosses of an organization dedicated to doing what we’re doing, and they offer us membership in exchange for being able to help us out?”
“Yes, Ms. Sohou. That is correct.” replied, Reiji, voice deadpan but eyes smiling as he parodied a grammar school teacher, which prompted Reina to giggle uncontrollably. No one else thought it was that funny, but Reina, having knowing Takayama during his most prevalent “stick up the ass” years, found it hilarious.
At any rate, the comedy ended, and Takayama opened the attaché case, finding several leather clad binders. Opening one simply marked “Mission”, he read off the charter of the proposed anti-ExCon taskforce, which was interesting in an intellectual way, but couched in such banal bureaucratese that even he had to fight the urge to fall asleep (and he had BEEN a bureaucrat), but after the agony ended, it turned out to be little more than what he had been told at his meeting, albeit in a very boring manner. As he finished, he actually saw Asagi pantomime (or not) yawning, Shiori’s eyes were wondering as if she were stoned, Masane was twiddling her thumbs, Reina was actually trying to prop her eyelids open with her fingernails, and Aoi and Maria were leaning against each other, eyes half shut, looking like two dead trees supporting each other’s weight.
After seeing that, Reiji decided it would just be better to pass the rest of the info around, and thus everyone played shuffle with the binders. This went on for the next thirty minutes, as all parties reading the info (or merely skimmed in some cases) found it ranged from as boring as the mission statement to as interesting as some of the stuff in one binder labeled “Historical Record”.
Apparently, the Thirteen hadn’t just intervened to stop the Witch Blade and its affiliates from being abused. They had also been involved in stopping the rogue director of anti-Black Magic subsidiary from going ax crazy and using the drained magical essence of witches as some kind of super soldier serum. Also, they had helped some kid who could literally kill anything wipe out some creepy nightwalkers calling themselves the “Twenty Seven Dead Apostles”, courtesy some second hand help via the Church.
On a saner note, some of the other binders had less lurid material. One, simply titled “Administrative Subsidiaries” listed some sub organizations of allied to the Thirteen such as the Kansai Magic Association, the STN-J, the Shin’i Youkai Investigations Agency, amongst various other organizations that apparently handled everything from aliens to body snatching eldritch abominations from parallel universes. Just browsing the list gave the assembled a pretty good idea of how small a fish they were in a very chaotic pond. Asagi even joked that Earth should have a big neon sign hanging over it, saying,
“ALWAYS DOOMED.”
Considering how painfully close to the truth the joke actually was, no one could bring themselves to laugh.
The binder detailing the histories of the Witch Blade, the Angelus, the Darkness, and the Divine artifacts immediately grabbed Masane’s attention, and as she read about some dick named Kenneth Irons who apparently was Wadou’s predecessor, and how he tried to screw over former bearer Sara Pezzini, she heard the Witch Blade tell her,
“Sara was a bearer I was actually pretty close to. Maybe you’d like to hear about her sometime?”
“I actually would like that.” Masane thought back. Hell, not only was it nice that the Witch Blade gave her advice, but upon finding out Sara had been a NYPD cop and a single mother at one point meant that maybe the Witch Blade could probably tell her how Sara apparently balanced the scale of work and child. And, considering that the fate of humanity was at stake here, Masane was willing to welcome any pointers she could get.
That said, she decided to go check on her daughter, and after excusing herself, she headed back downstairs, where Rihoko was currently cleaning up the kitchen. Saying nothing, she wordlessly walked over and helped Rihoko, words suddenly failing as an emotional icicle impaled her chest. As they finished, she sat down at the table, fighting a sudden urge to weep.
“Mom?” asked Rihoko.
Masane turned her chair sideways away from the table to face her daughter, and the dam burst. She embraced Rihoko like a child would their teddy bear, and like Rihoko’s father, she too started sobbing. She had willingly died for her little Riko, and the fact she could be by her side once more had sent her into shock for awhile, and now the stunned feeling wore off, the emotional sandbags were at this moment blown away, and as Masane continued to cry, Rihoko understood why her mother was crying.
“I love you, Mom. When you promised to always be with me, I knew you’d keep it, so don’t cry………”, and as finished saying this, she shifted her shoulder up slightly so Masane could cry on it, and Masane felt a second wave of tears erupt as she realized the true blessing she held in her arms, and an austere smile crossed her face as the sobbing eventually subsided, as she remembered this was literally her second chance, and Riko would never need to want for love again.
Meanwhile, in her mind, the Witch Blade was overcome, and in a quiet recess of her mind, all he could think about was his own parents, how hadn’t been able to sense them for so long, and he wept to himself over the beautiful display of love he felt honored to be witness to, and he thought as loudly as he could in his parents’ direction,
“Mother………Father………I missed you so much.”
That’s when he heard the voices of his father, obviously as emotional as he,
“We know, son, and we love you.”
And his mother, through sobs, added,
“We were fools to burn so strongly with anger that we shut you out of our lives. Please……………forgive us………
“I forgive you, and mother………father…………I’ll always love you, no matter what.”
(one day later, mid afternoon)
Yuriko Mazaki was known to be a quiet young lady. She had a job as a botanist in a flower store; she lived alone, had very few friends, and was more of a shrinking violet than the flower itself. She also had a secret that caused her great pain.
She had been one of the first of Furumizu’s Neogenes, and he had treated her like she was special, and had literally given her a home and family (the other sisters). For the longest time, she had thought this happy state of affairs would last forever. After it beat being an orphan whose own mother essentially abandoned her, and when Furumizu adopted her and promised her a loving family, she couldn’t be happier.
Most of her days in his care had involved her simply growing up alongside the other girls Furumizu had adopted, some young girls, some women, but all were, as she understood it, related to him, courtesy of something called “gene splicing”. She had no idea what the term meant, but as long as she had a family, she didn’t care. She and her sisters had even occasionally been called into his room some nights, where they got to sleep with him, where he would hold them and tell them how special they were to him. At one point, she had gotten this experience, and she had his hands all over her, and him telling her he wanted to know every fiber of his special child. She had been scared, but she trusted him, content in the knowledge someone cared for her.
Suddenly, this happy state of affairs came to an end. Father had come into her room one day and told her that she would no longer be useful as a Neogene, and informed her that he was cutting her loose to make her own way in the world. She was barely an adult at the time, no skills or possessions to her name, and when she tried to tell Father she would do anything to be “useful” to him and stay, she suddenly saw him angry for the first time, and the last thing she remembered was a needle roughly jabbed in her arm, after which she soon passed out.
She awoke three days later lying in a hospital bed, most of her memories gone, and all she could remember telling the nurses and doctors’ attending her was her name and that she had been abandoned by her father, whose name she couldn’t even recall. While recovering, she had been informed she had been sexually abused, and strange substances not meant for the human body were found in her bloodstream, and when asked, she found she couldn’t account for it. When asked if her father was responsible, she felt an immense nameless terror that sent her into hysterics, forcing the doctors to have to sedate her, more or less confirming their suspicions that she was a victim of abuse.
She had spent many weeks in the hospital recovering from withdrawal from the poisons in her bloodstream and regaining her strength, and a counselor at the hospital had managed to get her to open up enough that she remembered she was good at raising plants, as well as some disjointed memories of having a bunch of sisters that she missed dearly. She still hadn’t been able to remember much else, and the counselor had helped her get into a communal shelter for abused women, where she managed to get her current job tending to the plants in the flower shop. She was still painfully shy, so she worked in the back of the store, tending to the flowers, and the old woman who ran the place, a Ms. Kaede Nozami, knew of her history (as she was the grandmother of the hospital counselor), and merely watched over Yuriko, quietly hoping some day that she could open up.
Meanwhile, she continued to quietly work away, finding, if not peace, contentment in his work, hoping one day her memories might return, and she could know why she had been abandoned.
(later that evening)
Maria was bored.
Aoi was bored.
Asagi was bored.
The floor of Marry’s was board. And trying to figure out what type was a pretty lousy way to alleviate boredom. That said, they noticed that even Rihoko, whose cheerful demeanor usually lightened up the room, was listlessly cleaning dishes with the fire and verve of an unconscious pothead. Masane was currently off at Takayama’s, ostensibly to review the briefing materials, but Asagi couldn’t resist commenting on how she didn’t believe they’d quit “reviewing” until tomorrow morning’s reveille.
That thinly veiled innuendo barely elicited a reaction, and Maria, remembering how she used to throw tantrums over not being able to get what she wanted, decided instead to act mature, so she calmly approached Reina and Shiori, who were currently continuing their culinary education at the hands of Marry (who had been roping them into helping her run her place of business), and asked politely,
“Mom, could we go take a walk?”
Reina immediately turned away from where she was kneading some bread dough and immediately said, “Sorry, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
That said, Maria decided maturity could screw itself.
“But it’s BORING!”
Shiori, who had just finished digging through the cabinets for some yeast, popped around, looked at her, and gently admonished, “You heard your mother.”
Maria was about to fire back that Shiori wasn’t her fath- , but that comment never left her mind as the unpleasant connotations associated with that word came back. Thankfully, Asagi saved the day yet again,
“It’s a quiet night, there aren’t a lot of people out, and we just want to get some air, okay?”
Reina was about to say that Masane wasn’t around to okay the decision, but realized that the request was basically harmless, the girls could take care of themselves, and as long as they didn’t go too far, it should be okay.
“Fine. Be back in an hour.”
With that, Maria, Aoi, and Asagi turned to leave. As they did, Marry, who had been directing Reina and Shiori in how to make pizza, asked, “You girls really sure they’ll be alright?”
Deadpan, Reina and Shiori raised their Witch Blade covered wrists simultaneously.
“Good point.”
Meanwhile, at Takayama’s……………
Contrary to Asagi’s opinions, Masane and Reiji were NOT commencing affairs not of state. In fact, not only were they reviewing the material they had been given, but Masane broke the news to him that the Witch Blade could talk.
“Really?” he asked, though they both knew he wasn’t really surprised.
Masane told him how the Witch Blade couldn’t talk during the years Angelus and Darkness put a curse on it, and Reiji listened with rapt attention. He was about to ask what the Witch Blade had told her, before it asked Masane if she’s be willing to let it hijack her voice box temporarily and tell him personally.
[I was given the power of speech by my parents so that I might serve a guide to my Bearer.]
Takayama blinked. He was in full stoic mode tonight, thus he had a pretty high resistance to being rattled, but he had to admit to being freaked out watching Masane’s eyes adopting a glazed look as a male voice spoke out of her mouth.
[You okay, Takayama-san?], asked the Witch Blade, noticing this.
“I think he’s a bit weirded out to hear a guy’s voice from a lady.”
“Ah. I’ll let you take it from here.”
That said, Reiji watch her snap back to normal, and before she opened her mouth, he said, “I think I’ll just take your word for it from now on.”
That said, Masane told him about the Witch Blade’s offer to tell her about its former bearers. Reiji thought for a moment, and then asked, “Why don’t you write it down?”
“Huh?”
“You know, the Witch Blade has had a long and fruitful history, serving Justice, and now that its existence isn’t much a secret anymore, it might be good to have a public record of the Justice it has striven to uphold.”
Masane had to admit to herself that maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea.
Meanwhile, back in the city, skulking around like the gutter trash he had been in life was an ExCon. Like the thug he had been in life, he carried a switchblade, looking for some dumb bitch to shank.
In life, he had been a low life, two bit mugger who had a misogynist hatred for women, but considering he had sexually abused by his mother, sent to live with some bitchy aunts after mommy dearest was caught, and his one attempt at a girlfriend was using him as revenge on another guy, it wasn’t much of a surprise he had a loathing of the fairer sex.
He had turned to crime as a way of venting his frustration. His favorite tactic was to go find a random female passerby, drag her ass into an alley, threaten her at knife point and let her know how much of a filthy bitch they were, then he’d take any money they were carrying, sometimes taking their ID or driver’s license as a trophy. For the most part, the money was a bonus, and his violence towards women was mostly for the evulz.
One day, though, proved to be his last. It had gone all too well. The bitch complied, and when he told her to pick up her dropped purse, and hand him her money, she bent down, and appeared to doing just that.
Then irony made him her bitch as the woman yanked her own blade out of her purse, and buried it right in his chest. She missed his heart, and the shock made him drop his own knife, which allowed her enough time to grab it, and kill him with his own blade.
That had been his last memory, and one of the few he retained as an ExCon. Unlike most ExCons he not only retained most of his former life’s memories and human will, he had even realized that he was somehow half alive, but now was far more powerful, which he used to full advantage to brutally shank bitches like he’d done in his first life.
Tonight, he was hunting for some new prey, and he spotted some waifish little bitch leaving a flower shop and saying goodbye to some wrinkled old bitch. As she walked away, presumably to go home, he decided to stalk the bitch, waiting for the perfect time to strike, thinking to himself,
“I’m an axe crazy knife nut, and I’m fucking loving it!”
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the woman hating psycho, the three junior Witch Blades were walking around the block, and had been engaged in discussion over some facts all three wanted resolved.
Maria flat out asked Aoi what made her so lovable, and Aoi told her that not only was Maria the only one who had been nice to her (aside from Furumizu, but he didn’t count), Maria actually valued her for her, and not as a potential DNA jar. Maria was more than a little touched by this, and told Aoi she didn’t really have a lot of hang-ups about having a girl having feelings for her (given the fact that in her first life her and Aoi had indulged in some mutual groping), and told Aoi she wasn’t ready to have full blown sex yet, but she definitely valued her affections. Aoi literally made squeeing noises at this, and the mush factor got so high that Asagi pantomimed sticking her finger down her throat and puking in mock disgust.
Aoi then asked Asagi why she had defied Maria so much the first time round. Asagi told her bluntly Maria not only refused to accept good advice, but she had acted like a dumbass, thus following her orders was idiotic. Maria, oddly, agreed with Asagi, acknowledging that Asagi was correct, and telling her that one of the reasons she wasn’t giving orders this time round, or attempting to was partially because Angelus and Darkness designated Masane to have that role, and she wasn’t really any good at it, now that she was sane enough to think about it.
As for Asagi, she asked the other two what their plans were after the ExCons were all dead. Neither of them had thought that far, but Asagi had, even telling them that now they weren’t in danger of going crazy and getting mind fucked, she wanted to maybe get a boyfriend, learn how to drive, and generally enjoy life the way most other people did. This immediately prompted Aoi and Maria into silence as this possibility had yet to occur to them.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
The terrified scream of a young lady echoed across the street from a nearby alleyway, and this immediately interrupted any reverie they might have entertained. Transforming, they hauled ass for the alley. Once there, they saw some seedy looking asshat in a soiled leather jacket, black pants, and a week’s worth of stubble holding some girl at knife point, telling her to shut the fuck up, bitch, and give me your fucking money. She didn’t have any, and before she could disappoint him, he noticed Aoi and Maria.
“Who are you crazy bitches?!”
Maria gave him a slasher smile as she and Aoi unsheathed their blades and she told him,
“Your worst nightmare.” and actually waited a beat before adding,
“Bitch.”
The thug’s switchblade looked like a thumbtack compared to their ridiculously long pig stickers, but the dumbass merely tossed aside his now paralyzed with fear victim, and leapt backwards, trying to get some room to maneuver, but that idea was shot down as he felt the flat edge of a sharp blade pressed against his neck.
“And what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The thug was so shocked; he dropped his knife and raised his hands in surrender. Asagi, who had surprised him, merely shoved his ass to the ground, spitting on him and snarling,
“Don’t try this shit again, dickhead.”
With that, Aoi picked up the now petrified girl, and they took their leave.
Meanwhile, back at Marry’s, Reina was worrying about the junior members of their nakama, especially because their hour was nearly up, and Marry found it both disconcerting and amusing to watch the normally calm Reina pace back and forth like an expectant father.
In fact, Marry was more than a little surprised about all the ladies Masane had brought back with her. Aoi was a meek little waif of a girl who seemed deeply attached to Maria, and basically was the quiet one. Maria was kind of quiet herself, and Marry kept wondering why Maria kept wearing a guilty look from time to time in Reina and Rihoko’s presence. She knew they were related to each other, but it did worry her that Maria seemed to be reluctant to open up to her mother and sister. As for Rihoko, she was currently tuckered out, sleeping like a log upstairs.
Shiori was like an older and slightly more outgoing version of Aoi, and she seemed to be infatuated with Reina, which merely confirmed in Marry’s mind that not only was Shiori a lesbian (as apparently were Maria and Aoi, come to think of it), but Reina was apparently bisexual, seeing as she did have a daughter with Takayama (not that these revelations actually bothered her, as they seemed to be fairly discreet about it). However, it was Asagi who really commanded her attention.
She had gathered that all the girls had escaped in one way or another from some crazy science cult of some sort, and not only did it strike her as interesting that Asagi seemed the least shell shocked, it also worried her, seeing as Asagi seemed almost apathetic and distant. So, acting on some bizarre motherly instinct, she found herself trying to mother the girl, and found out Asagi really hadn’t been exposed to the concept of a mother, and had at first been apprehensively to her efforts. Once the ice broke (when they went shopping for bras), Asagi had later thanked her for the help, and she seemed to warm up a little, though her clothing was still rebellious and her manner deadpan, bordering on smart assed.
That said, it amused her that Reina, whom she had seen act very taciturn (and occasionally dictating certain things she had experienced or been told into that recorder she always carried), was now wearing a groove in the floor, doing what any ordinary mother would do and fretting about her children. As she watched Shiori try to reassure her they’d be alright, she idly wondered where her remaining male tenants were, before remembering Yuusuke was helping out Kyoko’s massively enlarged workload by being her late night assistant (and maybe more than that), while Cho was currently in his hacker cave of a bedroom, watching porno (what else was new?). Speaking of that, it had simultaneously amused and scared her that a day ago Cho groped Shiori’s ass, and she transformed, unsheathed her blade, and threatened to make him a eunuch.
Watching him almost soil himself was pretty hilarious.
Meanwhile, back with the junior Witch Blades, they had de transformed and were now trying to calm down a very shaken young lady, who was currently twitching like a leaf and hyperventilating. Asagi and Aoi kept telling her to calm down, but to no avail.
What did work was when Maria, taking a page from her mother’s book, hugged her, and gently told her it would be alright. The girl suddenly started to relax, and as she held onto Maria, calming down, Maria felt an odd feeling in her chest.
“So, this is what it feels like to have someone comfort you”, she thought, remembering she felt just like this when Reina forgave her in the Other Realm. As the other girl finally stopped shaking, she asked Aoi and Asagi to look out for any trouble while she sat on the sidewalk with the girl they rescued and asked her name.
With a mild bit of stammering, “Y-Yuriko Mazaki.”
“I’m Maria Sohou. Are you hurt?”
“N-no……just a little scared.”
“That asshole won’t get another chance to hurt you.” said Asagi, voice cold enough to emit frost.
Yuriko clammed up at that, and before Maria could tell her to shut up, a light bulb came on in Yuriko’s head, as she remembered something she had seen on the news.
“You guys were on TV, weren’t you?”
Maria smiled, “Yes, we were.”
Her next question shoved a dagger in their hearts and twisted it.
“Was that man Furumizu my father?
Back in the alley………………
The thug couldn’t believe he had been so terrified of some bitches, but having seen those blades, his memories of getting shanked to death flashed in front of his eyes, and all he could do was panic.
Now he was able to think again, rage had replaced fear, and an unnatural light burned in his eyes as he got up. As he did, a powerful feeling of energy infused him, and somehow, he could sense the very bitches that had stopped him.
He laughed as he calmly walked out of the alley and resumed stalking his prey.
Those bitches were gonna pay!
The horror had not yet passed, as Maria, Aoi, Asagi, and Yuriko walked towards Marry’s, where Maria told her quite possible Sister they might be able to find out the truth. As they walked briskly there, Yuriko told them her story, and Asagi, Aoi, and Maria felt their inner horror grow as what they remembered matched the description of the man Yuriko called “Father”.
“He told me I was special, then he told me I was no longer a suitable Neogene, and he jabbed me with a needle, and then I woke up, and I couldn’t remember anymore. Why did he hate me?” Yuriko finished, almost stumbling over her words as she realized that she was possibly talking to members of the family she had once known.
“That bastard was using you, Yuriko.” growled Maria. “He told me the same things; told I was special, gave me attention and felt me up, telling me I was perfect, all so I could be his fucking DNA receptacle!”
Yuriko squeaked in fear as Maria’s anger temporarily exploded, but relaxed as Maria regained her composure. As this happened, Marry’s came into view.
Meanwhile, the ExCon had by this time fully transformed, and was still moving slowly towards his objective, murder on his mind and hatred in his heart, feeling himself needing to kill and maim, and not giving a shit why, just knowing he would be cutting some more dumb bitches who were stupid enough to fuck with him……………
Inside Marry’s, Reina’s plans to scold the girls for worrying her died in the womb as she saw them bring in a young, frightened young lady with solemn, serious expressions. Just as she was about to ask who Yuriko was, Yuriko looked at her, and suddenly felt a blank spot in her memories reveal itself as she said in surprise,
“Dr. Sohou?”
Reina’s mouth fell open in shock. The only associations that title ever had for her was amongst her professional scientific associates at the NSWF and Douji, and with the-
“You’re a Sister?” she gasped, sitting down from the shock. Marry saw that as a good opportunity to exit, stage left, not understanding what was going on, and realizing she probably wouldn’t understand, and she quietly headed up to her room. Meanwhile, Yuriko proceeded to tell her story, and towards the end, Reina’s eyes widened with shock as she realized who the young woman was.
“You were the one the rest of the Sisters always called “quiet little Yuri”, she said after a moment, sadness evident in her voice.
Yuriko didn’t remember this, but instead sat there quietly, a feeling of peace returning to her as she realized the sisters she had once had she was back with again.
“I’M GONNA CUT YOU BITCHES!!!!!” screamed a malevolent, somewhat metallic voice outside.
“Is that that asshole we had to pull off Yuri-“, was what Asagi started to say, but got no farther as their Witch Blades all glowed with energy, begging them to transform.
They all knew what that meant.
“Stay here, and let us protect you!” Reina commanded as she and the others transformed. As they did, Yuriko saw they looked scary, but decided to trust her Sisters, so she nodded as they rushed outside to take the ExCon down. Meanwhile, Marry and Cho popped out of their rooms, wondering what the noise was, and Yuriko pointed outside to where the Witch Blades were assembled and said in a quavering voice,
“My Sisters are protecting me.”
Outside, the Witch Blades were in a line formation watching the ExCon step into view. As it did, Maria, Aoi, and Asagi all realized it was same guy, but he looked different.
His arms and legs looked like the corkscrew innards of a manual pencil sharpener; his head was shaped like a crab. One arm had a huge claw with massive pincers, and the other a huge, serrated blade. As soon as it saw two more had joined the party, it made a contented noise, then charged forward, blade raised.
The Witch Blades scattered as he lashed his claw and blade out alternatively, screaming murderously, then he looked inside Marry’s, where he saw Yuriko, and laughed,
“FOUND YOU!”
His attempts to charge inside though were stopped as Shiori body checked his ass, knocking him off balance, while Aoi and Shiori joined in, smashing the bastard in the head with the flat end of their blades, trying to drive him back. Miraculously, the ExCon held its ground and swung its claw like a flail, knocking them both aside, and then turning again to go for Yuriko. He was then intercepted by a bladed high heel to the face by Maria, who upon landing, jumped forward to slash at the ExCon’s throat.
She was blocked by its blade, and she got smashed into the ground by the claw arm. The ExCon laughed as he raised his blade to slit this bitch in half, but as his blade came down, his sword was intercepted by Reina, who was parrying his attack, but barely, screaming,
“WAIT!!!!!”
The ExCon pressed his blade against her own, feeling her sword being forced aside by his own. As he proceeded to force her blade aside, he asked,
“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, BITCH?”
As he said this, the sword he had parrying turned into an energy blast that knocked his ass backwards by about 15 feet. As another blade appeared in Reina’s hands, glowing with raw energy, she charged the fallen ExCon, screaming,
“YOU DON’T DESERVE TO KNOW MY NAME!!!!!!”
Filled with bloodlust and motherly anger, she jumped over his body and proceed to slash downwards, trying to slice his body in half, the ExCon’s claw shot up, burying into her stomach, and as the ExCon forced his body to a standing position, his claw grabbed the stunned Reina and smashed her into the pavement as well.
Fearing he was about to do to her what he tried to do to the still stunned Maria, the others charged forward, hoping to overcome him with sheer force, but to their horror, his claw fired an energy blast that blew them all away. As it did, Reina recovered long enough to see the ExCon rare back, about to kill her.
In that moment, Reina knew fear, but not for herself. This monster tried to kill her daughter, and wanted to kill a defenseless girl, much like Maria (when driven insane by Furumizu) had been when she had to defend Rihoko. As the blade arm came down, Reina knew she couldn’t die and leave them defenseless.
That’s when she felt a gigantic energy field from her Witch Blade surround her and explode in the ExCon’s face.
From inside Marry’s, Yuriko had been tempted to run outside and offer herself up as a sacrifice to save Reina from death, but just as she was about to, light surrounded her fallen form and blew the monster away. As the light started to fade, she and everyone else saw Reina, and their jaws fell open in shock.
Reina and her armor had changed. Its normal pink tones had suddenly darkened to a deep magenta, and her normally blue body markings were glowing crimson. Her hair was now platinum white, and she now wielded two blades. Her shoulder and leg armor now was covered in spikes, and most impressive of all was the fact she bore a force field the color of her armor that completely enshrouded her body, which was crackling with energy, and her back now sported two metallic wings that seemed to emanate their own power. As her foe got up, Reina, who was now floating above ground, merely staring impassively as the ExCon sized up his new threat. Seconds later, it charged, screaming it usual lines about how it was gonna cut her, but Reina merely floated sideways, clothes lining the ExCon with one of her blades, saying just loud enough for everyone to hear,
“The day you raised your blade to slay innocents was the day you forfeited your life.”
Despite the fact he had pissed her off, the ExCon decided to resume his attack on Maria instead, and charged for her position, and though she had just about got over her dazed feeling, the ExCon wasn’t going to give her time to recover as it charged her position.
“NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!”
As she said this, her wings spilt into many bolts of energy that flew at the ExCon and started slashing away at its body. Despite being energy, each strand of power felt like each cut he had ever given a woman, and as the death he was feeling from the thousand cuts was adding up, he broke free of the energy cloud and ran for Reina, planning to kill her and run.
His blade smashed against her energy field, as did his claw. The look of Reina’s face reminded the ExCon of the woman who had killed him as she used each of her blades to slice off his arms with almost contemptuous ease. The ExCon didn’t even have time to scream, as her force field flew forward, knocking it to the ground, and as it looked up at Reina, all he could see was his first killer as his second plunged one blade into his body, then the other. As she withdrew them, the light faded from the ExCon’s eyes as a final scream of pain and terror emanated from its throat.
As it died, so did the energy field, and as Reina sank to the ground in exhaustion, her transformation faded as she collapsed, and the ExCon’s corpse glowed with energy, then with a flash, disappeared from the face of the Earth.
Yuriko made her way outside, having watching the monster die at Reina’s hands and Reina’s subsequent collapse. As she and the Witch Blades made their way over to Reina, bright light enveloped the entire area, and they all heard the voice of Angelus,
“Fear not, Neogene. I am The Angelus, and it was on the orders of myself and The Darkness that your life be saved.
The Witch Blades stopped in their tracks, as did Yuriko, as Darkness’ voice joined Angelus.
“Yuriko Mazaki, you were abandoned and abused by the Trespasser Tatsuoki Furumizu and taken from the family you had always known, and our servants saved you from the abominable creations of Man.”
Yuriko didn’t know what to say, and Angelus continued, “We would offer you sanctuary, child, that you may regain that which was lost, and you may bond anew with thy sisters.”
“Y-you k-know where my s-sisters are?” she replied, feeling terrified and excited to know her family still existed.
Darkness voice could be heard, “Yes, child. They are guests in our domain, and we would offer you a place at their sides so that you may have what was taken from you, and that your mind and heart might have the solace of happiness with those who love thee.”
Yuriko looked at the other Witch Blades, who merely nodded in affirmative, and Yuriko answered their voices.
“I-I accept your offer.” she managed, feeling tears of happiness flow down her cheeks.
As she said this, the lights grew to blinding extremes, and as they faded, Yuriko was gone, and as the lights faded, they all heard Angelus say,
“You have served us well, and may your service in our names save more innocents from the sword………………”
As her voice faded with the lights, the other Witch Blades, now de transformed moved to help the tired Reina up, and as they helped her walk back to a now stunned Marry and Cho, a smile resounded in their hearts as they now knew Yuriko’s unhappy past was to be reconciled.
And somehow, they later discovered, Rihoko had slept through it all.
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