Event Horizon & Leila - Kaori's Story: Episode 5 - Private

Enemies:
Strong - 41
Boss - 5
Goddess's Boon Lineage: +100% Jewel Gain
Golden Lacrima: +25% Jewel Gain

---

The adventures with Leila had been cut short on account of her leaving as quickly as possible. Kaori had her lava hawk deliver her a message stating

'Leila,

When we last spoke, you left before I could say anything and I could tell you were troubled by something. Understand that you are, by all means, anything you wish to be. You may call yourself a celestial wizard if your definition of one matches, but mine does not. I never judge others based on my grading scale for myself, otherwise I'd have very few allies. I'm not so 'amazing' as you think I am. Many of my spells explode on me, or suck out more magic than they should... My magic is only capable of killing, and hurting those around me and yours can be used to help. I'm able to restore old things, but I cannot make anything new. I didn't tell you about my spirits because I didn't anticipate needing them, not because a lack of trust.

If we ever meet again, I look forward to seeing how much you, Golem, and Megumi have grown. I anticipate seeing your wondrous magic in the works, and finding out if Golem had even made a name for himself. I'd also like to see Megumi's magic, even if it's perceived as useless. As far as I can tell, both of you are just as good as I am, even better, when it comes to magic. I... admittedly, am still learning how to control it. Till next time

Kaori Lareci
Saint of Passion'

The letter received no reply however, which had left Kaori with one less ally to call on when needed. In the time after that, the ninja had gone through a variety of trials that eventually lead to her requiring medication to keep her emotions in check. During that time, things elsewhere in the world had gone to hell. In the Spooky Forest, Samira had been given the location what currently is a crater, but before that was a laboratory studying Celestial Spirits and synthesizing them. That facility had been dealt with by a certain celestial wizard and her bird faced spirit, but much farther away in the country of Bosco similar experiments had been going on... This laboratory wanted to create a spirit that was stronger than the Celestial King, but could be controlled perfectly. Their magic experiments had gone completely unnoticed in the country since no one, or at least very few people, could use or sense magic. The country was famous for their machines, as well as their lack of wizards. Their experiments had been going fairly bad with no successes until one day, they were able to recreate his image but the being they made had none of his power. Upon trying to destroy it like the others, he killed them all and expanded a barrier around the facility that kept almost everyone out... This was when Bosco had learned that the place had been doing some sketchy research but they didn't know the full extent of it. Upon sending in a small force to cross the barrier, their leader watched as his squad all died before getting within five kilometers of the barrier and realized why there were so many dead plants. Closer observation had made him aware that the barrier was actually getting larger over time. It was a slow pace, but if it kept up all of Bosco would be a graveyard.

The surrounding countries had been given word of the issue and in response, most of them had agreed to help. Midi stayed out of it since their government didn't want to owe the Lareci clan anymore favors than they already did, and Sin... well, good luck getting demons to help stop Armageddon. Over the couple weeks that the governments had been throwing things at the barrier, only one person had been able to cross the field of death. He was a partial celestial wizard who primarily used gravity magic to support the few contracted spirits he had. Unfortunately, as quickly as he made it into the barrier, he was killed by... something. He didn't have any chance to explore the facility, and so, Fiore's magic council had been asked to do something no one, not even they themselves thought would be asked... Bosco had requested them to fire the etherion cannon on their own soil to destroy the barrier and whatever was below it. A week had passed while the magic council argued over the subject, but had come to a majority vote that it was in the best interest of the world to do the action. A waver was signed that Bosco wouldn't wage war over the Etherion Cannon's firing, and within an hour, the cannon was looming over the country. The barrier didn't even budge when it got hit, not a single ripple, not a single crack, not even a fracture was seen and the governments had lost hope. One person, a college student who had been following the news of the event had hired a mercenary to get a message directly to Minstrel's government recommending they send a Celestial Wizard team to take care of the issue. There was no questioning anything for them, they were desperate and had dispatched a messenger to every guild hall with a notice for the job offering a magic tome, and a large sum of money for the destruction of the barrier and everything within it. Every last messenger came back reporting that they were attacked by an unknown man wearing black clothing and a grey mask, but none of them were injured. He stole the notices and left them alive with a warning not to send anymore. The government was standing beside themselves as they had no more hope... With no wizards within the country and a masked man ensuring no letters got out of it, they had nothing to do to stop the destruction that was sure to come...

---

A bird with crimson feathers and a brown tube on its back had been flying overhead in search of a specific horse drawn transport. It had been flying for several days after leaving Hosenka, and after its long travels it had found it. The transport had been resting for whatever reason, restroom, food, just because- it didn't matter to the vulture. The large condor had flown down and landed next to a man made of metal and showed him the tube on its back before letting out a loud squawk. Within the brown tube would be the rolled up paper containing the request from Bosco... "Attention, all wizards! As you read this letter, the fate of Bosco hangs in the balance. A strange barrier is expanding that's killing anyone who gets near it, and the only people who can get close are Celestial Wizards. If you're able to summon a Celestial Spirit, please, we beg that you aid us in destroying whatever's behind that barrier. The country of Bosco offers a great deal of wealth, as well as criminal pardons to anyone willing to stop the destruction we foresee." was the main text of the flier. The reward listed was rather large, a hundred grand and a priceless book that'll make the wizard's magic stronger. The location of the barrier was given, along with an official looking seal at the bottom right of the page to prove its authenticity. The vulture had let out another loud squawk as it was expecting a treat for having flown so far, and would begin pecking at Golem if he didn't provide one.

---

Kaori was in her room learning to play the flute when a certain genie with dreads had appeared in her room with a letter in his hand. "Ey, I got dis letter for you. Home dog asked me to make sure you get it. Anyway, I got a record I gotta get back to so I'll catch you later." he said before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Kaori had read over the letter with a blank expression and remembered the facility from the Spooky Forest. Her eyes narrowed and she set the flute down on her bed to begin walking to the laboratories on her ship. Once there, she found Doctor Zhong sitting at his terminal decoding more research notes with Eagle doing the same on the other side of the room. "Hey Zhong, do you know anything about other facilities performing the same experiments yours did?" she asked the man, who promptly stopped his work to reply. "Me only know one, but no surprise if others try. Celestial magic strong, make good money selling as weapon in wrong hand." Kaori had looked over to the members of Eclipse Team and decided they're better off staying out of this one. She walked over to the intercom and dialed a specific number to a member of her crew who was known for using celestial spirits. "Get ready to launch, you're finally getting to test our new toy." she said and released the button before making her way to the shuttle bay.

---

Samira would hear a gentle tapping on her door while she was going about her business. Upon opening the door she'd see Kaori standing there with a robotic look on her face, her normally ruby eyes were a dull shade of red and lacked any form of emotion... it was like she was a corpse. Kaori held out the letter she received and gave it to Samira and said "I believe this is related to the facility from the forest. Doctor Zhong doesn't know anything, but he did mention that exploring Celestial science isn't limited to just one organization." Her tone was still fairly emotionless, but it wasn't as bad as the last time she saw Kaori a couple weeks back. "I also had an adjustment made to my medication. The original pill was segmented, so it gave me all of the medication at once. My new pill has a reduced amount of the suppressant, and it's layered instead of segmented. I receive small amounts over the course of a long period, which reduces the effect. Unfortunately I have to take anxiety medicine, two steroids, and another pill to mitigate the side effects of the other three- but..." Kaori's eyes looked at the ground and she grabbed one of her arms nervously, a sign that she did have some emotion this time. Kaori stepped forward and hugged Samira. "If it stops you from avoiding me, I don't care. I'll be leaving for Bosco tomorrow at noon to deal with this, I hope you'll come with me but I won't hold it against you if you don't..." Kaori was still hugging Samira if she hadn't pushed her away when she vanished, and sure enough, the White Mermaid would be docked waiting for Samira at noon the following day if she wanted to come along.

Enemies:
Strong - 41
Boss - 5

---

Kaori was sitting in the cargo bay when Samira had shown up a bit after eleven in the morning. She didn't say anything since she knew Samira would show up. It wasn't that she was predictable or anything like that, Kaori's instincts told her she would come. She was sitting on the workbench facing the other wall, opposite the actual work bench. As always, she looked beautiful, almost too perfect to be a real human and some would confuse her for an extremely life like doll were it not for her breathing. The only thing that took away from her beauty was the pair of lifeless orbs seated in her face that lacked any signs of the old Kaori being present. The doors to the cargo bay had closed as Anhur had entered, but Kaori hadn't moved at all... She was sitting with her arms resting on her legs, body arched so her arms supported her upper body's weight and she stared at the ground without blinking. If Samira would try to get her attention verbally, there would be no response. If she touched Kaori, she'd find herself in a rather strange situation...

The world around Kaori was far different from the real one. The night sky was above her and stars twinkled vibrantly amidst the dark background. An aurora danced across the sky, radiating its multicolored hues on the water's surface. Small ripples radiated from Kaori's feet where they rested on the ocean's surface. Kaori was looking at a the horizon where the heavens seemed to meet the sea. "Is there a reason you asked for me?" she asked in a soft, but blunt tone. "We wanted to challenge you." a disembodied voice replied just before light blue particles began spiraling around a single point, creating more ripples that faded away as they got too large. A pair of green feet inside black dress shoes appeared and began forming legs where the green transitioned into pale skin. A light purple, flowing dress had begun forming with a black belt under where a pair of breasts had formed, still covered by the dress. The being who materialized had the pale skin of their arms transition to green hands, making Kaori think she had some form of connection with nature or poison. Her face was very cute and had gentle features, light pink lips, and azure eyes with the same colored hair. A pair of antlers stuck straight out of her head like sign posts, and she had ears resembling an elve's ears. Behind those, but a bit further up on her head, was a pair of pink fluffy bits that only served to make her seem cuter, and not in a lesbian sort of way. Kaori didn't hesitate, she simply said "I accept." The woman had looked at Kaori and tilted her head to the side out of curiosity. Her expression was very static, a type of doll like expression of aloofness that was perpetually frozen in time that did nothing to her overall beauty and added an air of mystique. "You don't want to set any rules?" she asked out of bewilderment. Normally, when people fought others, they set limitations to tip the tide of battle in their favor. Kaori had said "Of course I do..." which made Query, the spirit challenging her, think 'Typical.' which had changed to more bewilderment at the rule listed... "One rule, don't hold back- I won't."

Query had looked at Kaori and put on a gentle smile. "Understood." she said and vanished every bit as fast as Kaori. she reappeared in a low pose at Kaori's waist with a fist preparing to impact the ninja. Kaori's palm smashed the fist, redirecting the attack down and she then dropped to her water's surface to try and sweep her feet. Query had foreseen the attack and jumped, going for a front facing mid air spin followed by her heel to Kaori's head. Kaori vanished and reappeared in the same spot after the kick missed, an attack Query hadn't seen coming. Normally when ninja vanished, they went for an attack from behind rather than returning to the same spot. Query had seen she miscalculated, and was about to be punished for it... Kaori's first hit was a palm thrust to the horned girl's stomach, followed by a second one with the opposite hand. Kaori lifted her leg and dropped it on Query's head, sending her to the water's surface on her back with enough force to make the solid seeming surface splash. Kaori vanished and appeared over top her and began rapidly punching her stomach countless times. Query had vanished as Kaori went for a single powerful hit, and reappeared behind Kaori with enough time to hit her in the back and send the ninja flying. Kaori vanished and reappeared near Query where the two of them began trading hits. Kaori's hand went for a shoulder chop but was blocked by Query's wrist. Query tried countering with a knee kick to Kaori's stomach but was stopped by Kaori's hand just before the ninja vanished and appeared for a spin kick mid air that was blocked by Query's arm. Amidst the constant stream of vanishing, and reappearing just to have their attacks blocked, Query had said "You're strong." in an impressed tone. Kaori had replied by saying nothing at all, only fighting harder only to have her attacks blocked more. "You told me you wouldn't hold back." Query said calmly while blocking more of Kaori's attacks. A counter attack had finally hit Kaori's stomach and sent her sliding backwards across the lake. Kaori formed two shirofune to attack with but (if Samira had touched Kaori) Query would say "Hold, we're no longer alone. I wish to pause our battle till later please." to which Kaori would agree. Samira would hear those couple lines of dialogue before Kaori returned to reality. If Samira had ended Kaori's battle early by touching her, Kaori would stand up and bow to her before walking to her room and closing the door to finish in private.

If Samira hadn't touched Kaori, then the battle would continue with Kaori splitting off to form ten versions of herself that all began vanishing and reappearing, cutting Query until the original had ran her through. In this scenario, Query would say "I acknowledge your strength, and I'm sorry for making you do this. My name is Query, my gate is Enigma. I'd... like to form a contract." the azure haired woman said as the wounds on her body began vanishing. Kaori walked up to her and pulled the spirit into a warm embrace that made Query's eyes fly open. Her arms were trying to fan out, but were held in place by Kaori's arms that were wrapped around her. "Thank you, Query. I enjoyed that battle, and look forward to fighting alongside you." Kaori said softly to the spirit before planting a gentle kiss on her cheek and taking a few steps back, to which Query was left with red cheeks from. By the time the fight was over, the ship had a visual of the barrier not far from them. However, the ship had stopped moving. "Sorry Miss Kaori, but judging by all those dead trees down there, this is as far as I can go. I'm no wizard, let alone a celestial one..." Salty's voice came over the intercom. "That's fine, we can take things from here. Sammy, meet me in the cargo bay please." Kaori said back over the communication line. Since the conversation was broadcast over the speakers, Samira would know it was time to go.

In the cargo bay, Kaori was at the machine that Samira saw Ikuchi set up. On the screen Doctor Zhong was shown. "There you are, I'm sure you remember Doctor Zhong from the original facility. Doctor Zhong-" "Herro Miss Nassar, I hope you do well." he said as Kaori was preparing to re-introduce her. "Sammy, would you mind summoning Janus? It seems we'll be needing him for this." Kaori said as the screen changed to a black one with a picture of the area from a bird's eye view. Once Janus was summoned, Kaori would tell Doctor Zhong to begin the explanation. "As you know, only Celestial Spirits and Wizard can enter death radius. Janus get you to barrier, you go in collect information and make facility explode. Bring data back for research, I find what they doing and why they no succeed." A certain blonde haired girl pushed the doc aside and Eagle said "We performed a high density scan of the place while you two were on your way. The damn place is a maze, but I was able to located a really weird energy on the second level. Also... there's another of those portals..." "Portal similar to last one, not know if work or not- spirit powerful, most likely failed." Doctor Zhong chimed in. "I'm sending you the map, sorry we can't jump in on this one cap." Eagle said and Kaori's phone chimed after receiving the map. "Thanks, that's plenty of help." Kaori turned to Janus with her dead eyes. "Our mark is five kilometers out, would you mind opening a portal please?"

Once the portal was open, Kaori would bow to Janus and thank him. "Samira, don't enter first... or get close to it... please." Kaori said before Sammy could enter the portal. The last time Kaori had seen Samira enter a portal, a sword came out and Kaori didn't react too well to it. If Samira was looking in Kaori's eyes, she'd notice a bit of black encroaching on the red portion meaning that her darker half was getting ready to intervene, meaning she was having a reason to think it was necessary. Kaori would walk through the portal first and poke her head back in saying "It's safe." and the black spot going away shortly after. On the other side of the portal, it seemed they weren't alone as Kaori had sensed someone approaching. She looked at the woman with furry ears and blinked a few times. The magic felt... familiar-ish, definitely different, but slightly the same... Kaori began looking into the person's past and didn't have to go far to find her name. "Leila." Kaori said as the woman had fully approached them. Kaori walked over and placed her hand on Leila's cheek with her dull, dead, ruby eyes glowing slightly. "You seem to have had an awakening, your heart feels stronger- you'll get far with your new resolve." Kaori said calmly before asking "How is Megumi's slime magic progressing? Has Golem found a name for himself, and are they both doing well?" Whatever her response, Kaori would nod and say "I see." before turning to Samira. "Sammy, this woman is an ally from a while back. Leila, this is Samira- the strongest Celestial Wizard I've ever come across and one of my most treasured of friends. If you'll excuse me, I have to call in someone..." Kaori would say and take a couple steps away from the women to let them talk if they needed to. Kaori wasn't sure if they'd ever met before and wasn't going to try and find out.

"This is the Captain, is JH-7 ready for launch?" she said into her iLac, to which the operator replied "Firing the hill billy on your position." and a minute later, a loud explosion was heard as a man in a massive, ten foot tall, metal suit had slammed into the ground. His first sentence was delivered in the most hick-billy accent imaginable and clearly highlighted where in the world the man was from... "WOOOO-WEE, you sure do know how to throw a part cap! So, that there's that barrier over yonder what kill folk?" Kaori had nodded in response. The man immediately turned to Samira "You must be Sammy what Cap dun sed so much 'bout. Cap toll us 'bout yer looks, but seein ya I must say you sure are perdy. My name's Johnny-Hughe, but most folk just call me Hughe an I gotta say it's an honor to finally meet you miss." He said through the speakers in the suit and extended the machine's hand to shake Samira's. At the same time, Leila would feel something tackling her to the ground while squealing. "OH MY GOD, I CAN'T EVEN- SHE'S TOO CUTE!!!" the voice shrieked while hugging Leila's head and rubbing it. "I'M KEEPING HER!" she shouted, to which Kaori replied "No you're not." The one holding Leila's head was Kaori, but she had black eyes instead of ruby ones. "But-" "No." Kaori interrupted. "Can I at least cuddle her?" "No." "Pet her?" "No." "Make her my-" "Definitely no, now go back where you belong." Kaori said in a more forceful tone, though, she still had no expression at all... "You're no fun." the dark Kaori said and looked at Leila before putting a kiss on her head "Don't you go to far, I want more time with you." she said before vanishing. Kaori turned to face the barrier and began walking in with Hughe behind her... on the other side was eight Paladins, two for each member of the team... "Out...standing..." Kaori said sarcastically. Not even five seconds and a fight was already beginning. "I've got the two in the middle." Kaori established.

Enemies:
Strong - 32
Boss - 5

---

Everyone had called their opponents and Hughe decided he'd just tackle the two remainders. While he was a celestial wizard, all his spirits were worker type spirits- carpenters, masons, welders, and all that good stuff. In his mech suit, Hughe had the edge on the paladins since the suit was made for fighting badass magical beings. One of the paladins he was facing had begun rushing after Leila, but was instantly hit in the helmet by a fifty caliber steel bullet that sent it flying backwards. "You ain't goin' nowhere skippy, yer ass is mine!" he shouted and let off another round, hitting the paladin in the helmet. He accidentally hit it in the eye hole and killed it off, ending his test run of the JH-7 suit's firearms prematurely. The other paladin had hit him in the back with its claymore, but the blade only bounced off the armor since slashing attacks were particularly shitty against plate armor. The spirit went in for a stab, but Hughe turned around and grabbed the sword befor punching the paladin in the chest with enough force to bend its armor. The paladin released his or her blade- the armor made it hard to tell which, and leaped back just in time to be crushed by Anhur. "Well shiyt... that ain't no fun, now I gotta- OH SHIYT!" Hughe exclaimed when a large, two headed snake shot out the ground below him and sent him and his suit flying. The snake turned to attack Anhur but the sound of a chain gun going off was heard and the snake's head took a round that didn't even crack the scales on it. The snake turned around and began going after Hughe who began firing two chain guns from his suit's arms that made the snake begin slowing. He could be heard screaming a song in his hick-billey accent "BE-HE-LUM! FUCK YEAH! Commin' again TO SAVE THE MUTHAFUCKIN DAY, YEAH!" before quickly switching to shouting "I LOVE MY SECOND AMMENDMENT RIGHT! WOOOOOOOOO!!!" with youthful exuberance. The snake had managed to get in close and tried to take a snap at him while the other head began firing poison darts. "YOU GOT A PERDY MOUTH!" he shouted before sending a rocket straight into the incoming jaw and blasting it apart, leaving only one head. The second head continued firing at Hughe's mech, each and every dart bouncing off the armor since it was basically like firing straws at a brick wall- and not the sturdy plastic ones, the crappy plant ones. Hughe activated the magnet on the suit's hand, pulling the paladin's sword he dropped early to it and moving towards the snake that kept firing in hopes it'd work. "Now don't move too much big feller, just gone take a lil'bit off the top." he said just before getting close enough for the snake to try and bit him. He grabbed the snake's fang and pulled the head to the ground before cutting it off. Once the fighting was over he'd look at the other girls and say "I'm aweful sorry ya'll done saw that. 'Ol Hughe gets a bit nutty when playin' with his toys." in a humble hick-billy way.

---

Kaori vanished and reappeared trying to slash her opponent and getting a quick check of their armor, seeing not a scratch appear she vanished and reappeared behind them. 'Yup, it's sturdy.' she thought to herself. Query had seen the attack and knew that Kaori was only testing its strength, and that she wasn't seriously trying to cut through solid metal with a two man sword. Kaori had reached into her satchel and pulled out a pistol and fired a couple rounds into its chest, each being stopped by the armor. 'Yup, it's also thick.' she thought and put the gun back. At this point, the two armored units had recovered from seeing Amaterasu and was able to see Kaori enough to come after her. She didn't break a sweat while deflecting their attacks, all the meanwhile examining their attack patters. The problem with this fight was that Kaori was a spell sword, and they were also spell swords but there was a critical difference... Kaori wasn't armored, and her enemies- the paladins, were covered from head to toe in thick metal. 'Let me fight them.' a voice called in Kaori's mind, one she'd never heard before. Kaori continued blocking attacks and seeming to be on the defensive (she really was) while she conversed with the new voice in her head (totally not crazy). 'Who are you?' Kaori asked with an emotionless tone that was unfitting of someone in the heat of battle. 'Call me Ira, my gate of Calamity.' the voice replied. Kaori felt a key forming in her free hand and she clenched it, not letting that distract her from vanishing and reappearing to attack the paladins. 'I'm free anytime, just don't summon me somewhere boring, mmkay?' she said, her voice was friendly and sounded like she was the kind of person who just wanted to have a good time. Kaori vanished and reappeared several feet away with the two paladins immediately turning to charge at her. She held the key out and said "Open! Gate of Calamity, Ira!" A silver magic circle appeared with hundreds of baseball sized fireballs shooting from it that sent the paladins flying back a couple feet. From the portal a girl shot out and hovered in front of Kaori. She had dark red hair and a pair of antelope horns sticking straight up from her head. She wore red clothing that, while revealing, didn't allow any viewing of her truly private zones. On her legs were a pair of boots that ran up to the middle of her thigh starting black at the toeas and gradually changing to the same red as her outfit. The gloves she wore ran to the middle of her forearm and were colored exactly like her boots.


A bright flame moved around her as she charged the two paladins, hovering while accelerating. The paladins got up just as she got near and both took another set of fire balls to their armor, instantly leaving red hot patches from where they were hit. She flew high into the air and held her hands up, causing thousands of flames to appear before dropping her hand and making them rain down like meteors. Each and every one of them exploded upon hitting the ground and the paladins, forcing the men to stay down. Ira slowly descended, stopping in front Kaori and looking at the two armored units with a type of scowl. She held her hand out, forming a massive fireball that lit the ground around her on fire just by proximity and made the ball tiny... smaller than anything she'd fired before to the point where it went from being larger than Hughe's mech to the size of a pinball ball, and by doing so, released enough heat to make Kaori shield her eyes. The small orb was like a tiny sun, maybe even hotter since it was compacting so much energy into something so small. The paladins were slowly getting up as the orb finished shrinking at the tip of Ira's finger, finishing at being three millimeters in diameter and giving off so much heat that the ground below her had already turned to molten glass that was evaporating. The orb was released, sent flying forward and as soon as it touched the first paladin it exploded with enough force to tear both of them apart and enough heat to make their armor turn to steam. Ira turned around with a bright smile on her face and floated close to Kaori, putting her face within inches of the ninja's. "Did I do well!?" she asked in an excited tone. "Yes, very much so." Kaori replied causing the spirit to float backwards while twirling and convulsing slightly. The spirit then fist pumped the air while screaming "ALRIGHT!" in an overjoyed voice, proud that she was able to make a good first impression. She began flying around Kaori while asking "Can I stay out? Please??????" to which the ninja allowed. She had to admit she liked this spirit, she was dangerous, but so happy it was almost contagious- Kaori even put on half of a smile before putting the facial expression away.

---

Once all the enemies were gone, the sound of someone screaming "AMA!" was heard and the Kaori with black eyes was hugging the spirit. She gave Amaterasu a kiss on the cheek before returning to hugging her tightly and her original self with a sweat drop running down the back of her head. Kaori had her first expression of the day, absolute bewilderment as to why the hell her dark self was showing affection to Amaterasu. The dark Kaori vanished upon getting a hug in return, leaving even more questions. "Amaterasu, did you drug her?" she asked with a seemingly serious tone, then again, it was the same time she had for everything else she said this day. With that business over, Kaori turned to face a path made of broken concrete that lead from the road to a door to the facility. She looked at it and noted that it required some sort of key card to gain access, and Kaori didn't feel like blasting a hole in the door and attracting every enemy within to that one spot... "So, anyone have a key?" Kaori asked and Hughe promptly aimed his hands at the door getting ready to fire. "I'll take care of this." Ira said with a worried expression while floating towards the door. She pressed the tip of her finger to the door and the whole thing, including the alarm box inside, turned bright red and melted to the floor. It was a quiet method of entry so Kaori didn't complain...

The facility was decorated in corpses and smelled of death. Blood spatters were everywhere, and there was a spot on the ground from where a man was dragged away trying to use his fingers to dig into the metal tiles and leaving a trail of bloody claw marks. Just before passing a spot after a few minutes of walking down a straight hall, the wall panel burst out letting a corpse that was stored behind it fly out and land directly in front Kaori. Hughe had instinctively pointed his gun at it and nearly fired, but stopped when he saw the rotted flesh and lack of movement. "Fucking jumpscares." he said while lowing his weapon. After even more walking, they came to a room with many computers. Kaori pulled out a stick drive and began working on getting the data while there wasn't anyone fighting... which is when she should have knocked on wood. From the ceiling four things dropped covered in black skin. They had the same eyes Kaori had, ruby in color and had twin tails- but the rest of them screamed literal demon... They were supposed to be Celestial versions of Kaori according to the logs she just conveniently cross and began reading. "Sammy, trust me on this, use Kali to keep one busy and Amaterasu to attack!" Kaori shouted upon reading the info. They weren't as dangerous as Kaori, but they had telekinesis which means Amaterasu alone wouldn't be enough. "I can handle one on my own, Summoner!" Ira shouted, and Hughe was already getting ready for the national anthem of fuck you town. "Keep them off me if you can, I need to make sure these files get copied- which means keeping debris away from this console!" "Right!" "Yessum!"

Enemies:
Strong - 32
Boss - 1

---

The battle between Hughe and the demonized Kaori had ended pretty damn fast. She tried hitting him with a flying object, but the computer she tossed had shattered upon impacting his metal suit and he replied by pointing his gun at her and blasting her heart out. He had then looked around to see everyone else fighting still, but no one had afforded him an opportunity to quickly end their fight without risking putting a hole in them as well. He opted to move out the way and stand at the side of the room while keeping a lookout for anything else that might become problematic. Ira however wasn't having such an easy time. She had got a single fire ball off before something hit her in the stomach and sent her flying back, impacting the wall but not falling to the ground. She floated out the way quick enough to dodge another flying office chair, but the demon had used that time to get in as close as possible and nearly got a swipe off on the spirit's neck. Luckily, Ira was one of the higher ranking spirits who was very agile with a damn good reaction time and was able to dodge the attack with a backflip in air. A fire orb was fired that hit the demon in the stomach and sent her flying back while also creating an opening for Ira. She lifted her hand and hundreds of fire balls had formed, upon her dropping the hand as though she were cutting the air all the orbs launched themselves at the demon and completely destroyed it.

Leila's fight had taken the longest, though, not that much longer than Samira's. It had turned out that Kaori's advice had yielded good results once Kali had hit the field and took the pressure off Amaterasu. Leila had trapped the demon inside ice using an absolutely brilliant plan, and Samira's spirits had obliterated their demon with Kali being a distraction and Amaterasu finishing it. Ira had begun flying around Kali "Ooooh! This one has four arms, that's really cool!" she then gave Kali a hug. If she would try to hit Ira, she'd fly back and say "Hehe, not a happy camper huh?" with a bright smile on her face. Kaori found it amusing just how cheery she could be while also intentionally toying with Samira's spirit. She then hovered over to Amaterasu and poked her cheek. "You're shiny... Summoner, can we invite her for a sleep over? She'd make an invaluable night light, and seems much cuddlier than the salt goddess over there." she said, referring to Kali as the salt goddess and exposing her inner troll. "To be quite honest, I wouldn't mind having both of them over." Kaori replied while typing in command prompts. "Seriously!? We can have a sleep over?!" Ira exclaimed and put on an even larger smile. "I don't see a problem with it. We'd need to plan it out, but let's handle one thing at a time." she replied. Ira had agreed while also floating near Leila, smiling from ear to ear while playing with her horns and releasing a small giggle.

The sound of something clanking was heard coming from one of the halls. "Good, he made it so we don't need to hunt him down." Kaori said calmly. The sound of the armor was heavier than the paladins, and judging by the record of the last log she saw, there was only one thing in the building that wore armor... and it was now approaching. The log didn't give any details as to its capabilities, but they did mention around the time of its creation the other celestial spirit failures began vanishing at random. A being in samurai like armor with a crazy mustache had entered the room... the celestial king. Kaori yanked the chip from the console and got ready for the fight ahead. Ira had floated backwards, knowing the king was a melee fighter and a direct counter to someone like her. Hughe however didn't know this little detail and began opening fire on the king who raised his arm and blocked every single round from the chain guns. He then turned into a bolt of light and punched Hughe in the torso of his armor with a light-fire mix as though he were taking elements from the two strongest spirits in the facility, Amaterasu and Ira. Hughe flew back and slammed into the wall hard enough to force the suit to shut down. Kaori took note of that strength and vanished, reappearing and slashing the armor in the torso before vanishing. "Burn." she said, and the armor immediately turned white hot but the king showed no signs of pain. Ira began firing fireballs, but they didn't phase him and it seemed like he was turning his attention to the source of the most celestial spirits in the room... the one true celestial wizard.


(OOC: Let's have the king last a bit, I wanna use him for an excuse to bring Aquarius out.)

Kaori grit her teeth at the situation... She didn't have the emotional capacity to heavenly form, one of the many drawbacks of being medicated. Kali had gone off and attacked without thinking and gotten herself consumed. Libra was a powerful zodiac spirit who undoubtedly was skilled with her blade, and there was that frostfire wall of Leila's that stood in the way as well. Samira had used an ability they both shared that allowed them to wear their celestial spirits as armor, or clothes in Samira's case- but Samira had never seen Kaori use this ability as such. Kaori had always used that ability by using her spirits as weapons, and that's exactly what she did when she manifested a naginata in her hand and charged forward. A hard kick off the ground had sent her flying over Leila's frostfire wall and to the other side where Libra was and she kept running past her to meet mustache face. "Give back Kali you failed experiment." Kaori said in a nearly emotionless tone, the same tone she'd used with everything thus far. Kaori made a swing with the weapon and hit the armor of the king, a red pulse of energy shot up the shaft and to the blade at the top before exploding and sending the king flying back to the wall. He hit it hard enough to form a crater from the bent metal panels, but he simply pulled himself out from the crater and came after Kaori. Kaori had blocked his sword with the blade and noticed he was beginning to inhale while feeling her connection with Mammoth weaken. "Gate close!" Kaori shouted, causing the weapon to vanish from her hands before it could be eaten. She then felt the metal clad fist hit her stomach, causing her to spit blood from the power before sending her flying back straight through Leila's wall which burned through her clothing in place and left burns as she passed through, kept going, and hit the wall on the other side of the room and spat up more blood. Like a banana skin, she peeled off the wall and hit the ground without moving to get up. For the first time, Samira had witnessed Kaori lose... "Summoner!" Ira shouted while moving to Kaori's side and leaving the battlefield.

Kaori opened her eyes after a good ten seconds and began getting up slowly, her back hurt like a bitch and she frankly was getting annoyed... which... actually was a good thing in this situation. In the ten or fifteen seconds Kaori was passed out, the king had engaged Libra in battle. While fifteen seconds of fighting didn't seem like much, such wasn't true in reality... Every second felt like an eternity in battle, and each and every motion, each breath, each strike, each block, each thought had all meant the difference between life and death. However, their battle had ended as Kaori came back to reality as the king had gotten tired of playing with Libra and taken to consuming her... Kaori's eyes turned fierce and her medicine was unable to hold back the level of anger she was feeling. She shot up, reaching both her hands out and summoning two straight swords and shouting "Shirofune!" before vanishing and reappearing in front the king. She moved in to attack and make a cut but her arm was caught just before she was lifted up to meet the king's eyes, and then Kaori was thrown. Her determination was greater than anything and Kaori flipped mid air, landing on the wall and forming a small shuriken in her right hand that begun glowing while spinning. "Tengoku no sutā..." Kaori said and made the shuriken begin spinning and growing quickly to be larger than she herself was. The room began getting increasingly hotter and hotter and the shuriken burst into white flames, something indicative of a demon slayer even though Kaori wasn't one. Kaori pushed herself off the wall and performed a spin in the air, shouting "...sekai o moyasu!" before throwing the shuriken and letting it rip through the air. Kaori landed on the ground and began lifting all of the computers in the room with her mind as she rolled forward to a stop, standing next to Leila and Samira. "Kaminari!" she shouted, making all the computers glow white and begin sparking with white lightning. They all began flying towards the Celestial King, right behind the shuriken.

The king cut the shuriken in half, sending the two pieces spiraling behind him and exploding spectacularly. The computers met the same fate... "Leila, Sammy- hold him back for a bit." Kaori said and took a knee while closing her eyes. While Leila and Samira were fighting, Kaori was having a meeting with her spirits... She was asking for their help, what she should do against the Celestial King's evil twin. Charlotte had told her to hold out for a bit while she went to find Aquarius, the strongest of the Zodiac spirits. Leila would find the Celestial King to be immeasurably more powerful than the demonized thing she fought earlier, and after much fighting even she wouldn't be able to best it. It had been several minutes Kaori was communing with her spirits when she opened her eyes. Whether Leila was already on the ground, or still fighting and struggling, Kaori would find her opening and shout "Switch!" to Leila and Samira to let them know it was time to swap places and let themselves rest.

Kaori had split into ten versions of herself all with white swords in their hands and vanished from place to begin attacking the king. Each appeared long enough to make a single cut, or block a single attack before vanishing again and repeating the process dozens of times over and over without rest. The king had been overwhelmed by the numbers for only a few seconds before he stomped the floor with his large metal covered foot and released a blast of light that destroyed all of the clones, leaving only one Kaori... the original. The king had kicked Kaori while she was in the air and sent her back towards the group, and pissing Ira off. The spirit began barraging the king with fireballs for days while forming the small sun at the tip of her finger. The king was able to resist the smaller attacks, but when the sun hit him and exploded it sent him not into the wall behind him- but through that one and the four walls on the other side of that. Ira quickly moved to Kaori's side again while shouting "Summoner! Get up!" and Kaori replying by slowly getting to resting on a knee while panting. "Are you alright, summoner? You need to stay back with the shiny person's summoner or-" the sound of flesh being torn was accompanied by Ira suddenly growing a horn from her chest... a sharp, long, thick, metal horn... Kaori's eyes narrowed at the sight, her heart stopped beating, and she felt sick to the stomach. Ira looked down as her eyes began looking as dead as Kaori's and a tear streamed down her face. "Well... I had fun at least." she said before being consumed by the Celestial King. "I-Ira..." she said weakly, still caught in the fact that one of her spirits was just consumed and she couldn't feel her connection any longer. Kaori was grabbed and thrown across the room, landing on the ground and not bothering to get up...

The words of the lost spirit began echoing in Kaori's mind as she saw visions of Ira's smiling face. "Let me fight them." "Call me Ira..." "I'm free anytime, just don't summon me somewhere boring, mmkay?" "Did I do well!?" "Can I stay out? Please?" "This one has four arms, that's really cool!" "Summoner, can we invite her for a sleep over?" And then the nail in the coffin as the world faded to black for Kaori...


While Leila and Samira had been obligated to resume dealing with the king, everything seemed to start moving extremely slowly as white mist began rising from the floor. Even the Celestial King had stopped moving and begun looking around... At first, there was no emotions, but soon something began rising in the room that indicated what was about to happen... Unhappiness? No, it wasn't unhappy, it wasn't mad, or angry, or anything so lacking in substance. There was vengeance in the air and an all encompassing wrath. "Ira..." Kaori said in a raspy voice as she began getting up, her body coated in the same white mist that filled the room. Her eyes were pure white instead of ruby, or hazel as they once were a long time ago. She stumbled as she got to her feet, but recovered quickly. The king turned to face her as she said "Ira..." once more, a tear running down her face and stopping on her chin before dropping. Kaori took a breath and as the tear drop hit the floor, the amount of wrath in the room increased a thousand fold...

Kaori's mind had returned to when she formed her first contracts, the words from the letter from Aquarius "Take my crew, and my ship. I'm no longer the captain... I've formed a pact with the Celestial King. He gave me a second chance, but at the cost of having to become a Celestial Spirit. My name is Aquarius, and this key is my own. Take it, and whenever you need a friend use it to summon me. We've avenged my crew, so I owe you this much." Everyone from the Arc of Destiny and each of her spirits were part of her crew. Each member of her crew were her responsibility, her family, her friends, and worth her life... every last one of them. She wouldn't stand for anyone harming any of them, even the most unhappy janitor received this treatment.

The tear hit the ground releasing a single 'plop' sound that seemed to echo through the room. The mist materialized into pure white energy that erupted outwards, exploding from Kaori and tearing the tiles off the ground and sending them not into the wall, but through it as she shouted "IRAAAAAAAA!!!" in a shrill, wrath filled tone. A burst of white light consumed the room that not even Amaterasu if she was still around, or Anhur would be able to look at directly. When the light faded, it revealed a six foot tall being hovering in the room where Kaori once was... She was wearing a white mask with no facial features, a white dress that seemed to be made of some type of energy as that energy was constantly dispersing into the air without end, and a white katana that had the same energy radiating from it. Kaori's hair was no longer in twin tails, but left to hang freely and some strands, the ones that were on the ground, flowed around as though she were submerged under water. It was longer to boot, and despite her hovering six inches off the ground, her hair was still laying on the floor with over a foot to spare. Samira had seen this form multiple times, each time when Kaori needed to use all of her best and most powerful emotions and it was no different. Love, friendship, happiness, joy, and conviction permeated the air in the room and everyone would feel one thing, one single emotion that overpowered every last one of them... Hope.

Kaori shot forward, her katana being blocked by the much larger Celestial King and her power being enough to force him back, sliding while trying to dig his heels in but failing to get traction. She slashed while their blades were crossed and the king kept on sliding back, blasting through a wall of computers behind him and then being sent flying the other direction when Kaori appeared behind her and slashed him again. This was the manifestation of Kaori's heart, an all encompassing level of passion that knew no equal. She vanished again and took a swing at the Celestial King upon reappearing that the king tried blocking with the armor on his forearm, a defense that before was adequate... A white line appeared that went through his arm, and then his arm, the part that was cut off that is, vanished into black particles. Kaori had slashed again, and the king used his sword to block this time and noticed that Kaori's had cut into it and created a chip. There was one name that Kaori was known by to members of her clan... Goddess of Passion, though she knew not why. It was because her passion was enough to shatter any defense, and break through to even the most vile creations and was the cause for many of their victories- many of her victories. The King had tried a desperate move and summoned Ira to his side, but the fireballs she fired at Kaori hit the dress and fizzled out. Ira had even fired her Solaris attack, forming the sun and condensing it to an impossibly small size before firing it at Kaori... and watching Kaori fly out of the explosion before cutting her in half. "I'm sorry, Ira." she said through her mask while doing so. At the same time, if Samira had heard it, she would feel that Kaori had also directed it at her since at one point she had attacked the green eyes woman as well- for a different reason though. She came after the Celestial King again and formed a second Katana to adopt a fighting style that used alternating attacks and rapid strikes. The king was skilled with the sword and had managed to block all of Kaori's attacks. His skill truly was legendary as after several minutes of constantly blocking Kaori, he countered her and sent her swords flying. He them went to try and stab Kaori, and Kaori threw a punched that hit the tip of the sword and filled his blade with her passion. The sword shattered at every part that touched Kaori's fist, turning to white particles as her fist shot down the blade until it reached the hilt. Kaori had though she'd won and let her guard down, and the Celestial King summoned Libra's sword and shoved it into Kaori's lung. He threw Kaori so hard that she ended up being pinned to the wall by the sword and was knocked straight out of her Heavenly Form. Blood ran from her mouth and the world was fuzzy looking to her. "It's over... you're options are to die now, or live long enough to watch me consume your spirits, or do both." the Celestial King said while approaching Kaori.


The sound of Aquarius's voice in her mind made Kaori put on a smile as more blood came from her mouth."Anata wa opushon... shi o wasuremashita... baka" she said between breaths, a golden key manifesting in her right hand. Kaori slowly held it up, revealing the zodiac key to the king with a large smile on her face. "Open... Gate of the Sea Shanty... Aquarius!" A golden magic circle appeared around the tip of the key and water began rising in the facility from out of nowhere. Naturally, the water was pure white due to Kaori's spirits being holy as well as Celestials. The water filled the lower levels of the facility, and stopped at around knee height on Samira and Leila but continued sloshing about like the sea on a good day.


From the water rose a man with red hair, a black cloak, tan skin, bandages around his stomach, and a fist made of solid steel... His golden eyes shimmered brilliantly before changing to cerulean eyes that continued to shimmer. Aquarius... the spirit notorious for being the strongest of all the keys. Their personalities had always been the same, stubborn, ornery, fearless, and extremely protective of their summoners and the spirits contracted to that summoner. Aquarius was the only spirit in existence that had a clause in his contract that permitted him to kill his summoner, and all the zodiac spirits knew of this clause... it was part of the agreement for becoming a Celestial Spirit and replacing the old Aquarius, a mermaid of sorts. The Celestial King had formed water around his hand and prepared to attack, but the water vanished completely and made him pause. The reason Aquarius was the most powerful was that he could create his element from the atoms in the air, and had absolute control over that element. The king was taking on the element of the strongest spirit in the room, which currently was Iron Fist... Aquarius made that strength his ultimate weakness. "You made a mistake touching my Captain bush face." Aquarius said before extending his palm in the Celestial King's direction as a condensed pillar of white brine. The king hadn't been finished by that, and Aquarius had raised his hand in the air like he was going to karater chop the king from over thirty feet away. The fight started with Kaori hitting his armor and using what seemed to be a fire spell, but was actually a curse that eats away at whatever it hits until that thing is too weak to function properly... His armor was no longer capable to saving his ass and when Aquarius dropped his hand and chopped the air, a blade of white water rose from the ground and cut the king in half. Ira, Libra, Kali, and any other spirit that was consumed reappeared in the room and the sword in Kaori's left lung vanished letting her fall to the ground from weakness. Aquarius had never left her side for the fight, a true show of how powerful his key was, and was able to catch her and carry her. Ira had quickly made her way to Kaori's side "Summoner, are you alright!?" she asked. Kaori had held her hand out and Ira held it with a desperate look on her face. "Can't kill me... need a damn army to kill me." the ninja said with a weak smile, she was truly exhausted. "Are you hurt?" Kaori asked Ira, to which the spirit shook her head.

A group of ten more Celestial Failures had arrived, and others were spawning but Ira needed to go as she'd run out of time. "Sammy, Leila- We need to get out of here. The barrier's still up, but once it falls this place is becoming a crater." Kaori said in her robotic tone, her emotions had returned to normal once more. Kaori was too tired to continue fighting, and Aquarius was busy holding his captain to clear the place out. "You two think you can manage clearing a path?" Aquarius asked, though, he knew they'd be able to do it. The sound of engines whirring had signaled Hughe was back online and he slowly got up and regrouped with his captain. "I reck'in we gottit." he said and prepared his weapons.


OOC: Translation: "You forgot about option 4... dumbass."