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| - Exiting the portal, the group gazed upon the domain and source of the Crimson Sovereign race—a demonic appearing castle. The sky was a haunting crimson, and the clouds were pitch black. Thunder crashed down from the sky at a never-ending pace—this wasn't a good sign. Still, none of this put them off, as they marched forward. Zakura felt an almost nostalgic feeling welling up in his mind. G-Gah…A throbbing feeling rang in Zakura's head, beating uncontrollably. It was as if something was calling him. No…it was the same feeling that he experienced as he was drawn to Yukiko and his first trip here. He felt as if that power was beginning to bloom inside of him. This force flowed directly into his brain, and his sight was painted crimson, as if giving him directions. Obliging this sensation, Zakura did all he could to get to this destination; breaking from the group. "What the heck is this place...?" Dyan gasped as they were thrown into the air upon entering this new dimension. "Is there even a term for this?" "Eldritch Location?" Ikimoshi supplied helpfully. "What?" Dyan tripped over the word she sent at him. "Ok, no more internet for you." Nika chimed in an excited tone, somewhat surprised that she found another troper; "TvTropes is great for quotes~" She even had her own Troper page and everything. Lisette glanced around. "You know; we should follow that rosy haired idiot. He probably knows his way around the place better than we do." Touma growled, responding, "Damn little runt...Only I can call Zakura 'rosy haired idiot'!" He prepared to fight her for a moment. "I challenge you to a duel; to decide who can call him such!" "No!" Dyan's voice echoed throughout the area, deep, loud, and commanding. He wasn't going to let Touma hurt the girl...wait what? Was he beginning to get protective? Not good. Lisette grasped Dyan's pants legs tightly with her small hands. "Why, thank you, Dyan." Touma crossed his arms haughtily, turning away, responding, "Fine! Then only I can use the nickname. No exceptions!" Nika clapped her hands, catching everyone's attention. "Enough chit-chat, more walking~" With that, she picked up the pace in falling. They continued to fall, and followed the signature of Zakura's spiritual energy. I beat manual searching, like how having favorites beat typing in the search engine. Landing upon the barren earth with a *THUD!* the group quickly entered the castle. Slowly, the group traversed the demonic castle. How cliché—the whole thing screamed 'EVIL' that it was hard to take seriously, if not for the fact that it was actually quite terrifying—chains with meat-hooks hung from the ceiling, the paintings were terribly damaged, and grating sounds resounded from the walls that sounded almost like human screaming. Yuuki's senses perked up, as if she had an inbuilt 'Zakuradar'. Using this sense, she ran forward through the halls. Touma sighed, "...Come on." Dyan let the two girls down and looked around. "This is entire thing is like some manga I've read." Dyan sighed, sounding exasperated. "Everything is so obviously evil, it's like they're not even bothering with subtlety anymore." Isshō let down Kagome, who thanked him. "I'm gonna have to agree." He said, taking a look around as well. "You think villains would have a better hideout." Yuuki sighed; "This isn't a villainous hideout at all- at least not anymore. Now, the Emperor of the Crimson Sovereign race resides here and aims to establish a bevolent rule over all. So, despite the creepiness, it's honestly not a bad place; nor are they bad people." "Then the least they could do is revise the decór." Dyan replied. "I mean, seriously..." Nika took this chance without any problems. "So, you're not a fun-guy, ehhhhh~" Touma applied his palm to his forehead in exasperation, sighing, "...Anyways, let's just enter." Entering the next room, what they saw before them was a three story-high set of stairs, with a small altar the end. "...Come on, let's hurry it up. It's just up here." "Ever been here before?' Dyan asked curiously as he stopped Ikimoshi from touching random objects around the castle Halls. "You seem to know where you are going." Yuuki nodded in comfirmation. "Yeah...Some time ago...That amount is hazy, however...I can't remember if we have a proper timeline or not..." She placed her middle and pointer fingers to his lip, deducing that... "We keep moving forward, and we don't touch anything, we should be fine." "Did you hear that?" Dyan shot at Ikimoshi, who shrunk away from a gargoyle she had been about to take. "So, you're sure the ruler is benevolent?" Isshō asked, since this place was still giving off vibes. "...Yeah. He's a good guy, even though the lengths he goes to, are a little...let's say, unnerving." Yuuki responded, before stating, "Wait a minute, you know this already Isshou! How the hell did you forget!?" "Necessity of Character Prominence?" Isshō replied, shrugging. "Maybe I was seeing if you remembered." Dyan was about to open his mouth to ask what was going on, but shut it again. He'd rather not know. Yuuki sighed. "...Never mind. Let's just keep going." Trudging up the stairs, the group noticed a white-haired man indentical to Zakura fighting alongside Zakura himself, battling a series of armoured suits. "D-Damn things...You dare to disturb the peace of my world!?" "Armored suits come to life...?" Dyan was surprised by this. "It's like Harry Potter." Nika sighed. "At least...there's no Twilighdt reference~" Zakura turned around for the briefest of moments, responding, "Sparkle sparkle!" Such an action caused Yuuki to apply his palm to his forehead in exasperation, before summoning his weapon; to which Lisette copied in term. "...Just come on, we'll finish this and get back home." Dyan wanted to get this over with as much as they all did so he could leave and never see them all again. He raised his blade, releasing a fountain of energy from it, before swinging it, wordlessly releasing a massive Getsuga Tenshō that trimmed the armor's numbers down by more than half. Nika thrust her hand into the nearest pillar. Due to vector control, it appeared as if her arm had merged with it. As Nika screamed to the point of blood coming out from her throat, she disorderly swung her arm that was buried in the wall in the direction of her foes. In an instant, Nika converged together and controlled all the vectors. A *BOOM* echoed throughout the area. In that instant, the Earth's rotation slowed down by about five minutes. Her arm, having taken away the enormous energy of the Earth's rotation, converted it via vector control into a single demonic attack, dragging that energy into Soul Society. The forcibly gouged-out pillar was blown away at a horrifying velocity. The vicinity and area that served as an obstructing space between her and her foes were being destroyed as if they were waste paper, as the pillar shot forward at high speeds. Lisette emotionlessly casted a mid-level Kongōbaku and an Gaki Rekkō spell, one with her left hand and one with her right in order to halt her foes. With a mere thought, spiritual energy collected to form a triangle of shimmering golden light in front of the young woman's form. Then, through a mere touch, electric currents coursed through the spell, vibrating the original Shitotsu Sansen spell with the Hiryugekizokushintenraihō spell, providing a superior Bakudō effect as she enabled it to shoot towards her foes at tremendous speeds like a bullet. "Wow, they took care of them like it was nothing..." Kagome murmured, her eyes alight with energy as she watched the three unleash their attacks. "And here, I thought you guys were uncoordinated..." Yuuki remarked, "Hell no we ain't coordinated. We just hit everything in the vicinity and pray to god we don't hit each other." That was the truth and nothing but the truth. "Now, it'd best to stand back and let them do all the fighting." Meanwhile, Zakura and Tsukasa faced down the leader of the squadron. "I'll leave the real guys to Zakura and the white-look-alike, since he was who they seemed to be after..." Dyan jumped back to join his fellows, placing Zangetsu back on his back. "Lisette, you leave it to him as well." With a snap of the general's fingers, thousands of enormous collections of spiritual energy were released, all heading towards the two at immense speeds. Everything around them turned black, as in the darkness, thousands of arrow-like beams of light appeared. The general cackled maniacally as he sent each of those thousand arrows directly at Zakura and Tsukasa. Sticking back-to-back, Zakura flared up his spiritual energy which reacted with Tsukasa's own to protect them both as everything turned black. Using this as a distraction, the general shot down towards the two like a wild beast, intending to end their lives. Quickly, he knocked Tsukasa back, and as Zakura called his name, he held his blade to Zakura's head. As Tsukasa caught himself, he glanced up while the general swung his arms back to hit Zakura, but Tsukasa stood to his feet in a flash and blocked, though the general swung around to hit Zakura once again. Tsukasa pushed Zakura out of the way; receiving a strong hit with the spear-lance in his left side in the process. As Tsukasa fell, Zakura caught himself and leapt forward, grabbing Tsukasa's blade before slamming it into the general's chest. He there continued to smash the general around with the twin blades of the Emperor, causing the general to spin back. Zakura finished by crossing the blades, knocking the general down to the ground, deprived of his spiritual powers. Catching Tsukasa, both Emperors floated side-by-side as the two approached him. Tsukasa remarked, "...Tell me now, swine! What on earth were you planning to do...!?" The general stuttered, "Y-You see...With the power of the Emperor of the Crimson Sovereigns and the King's Stone, I could enter the dimension of the Soul King and replace him, becoming god..." Zakura spat, "Bah. Too cliche. Next time, think about who you're messing with, you old coot." Kagome's eyes narrowed, and she stepped back against a wall, phasing into it while everyone's eyes were focused on Zakura. Zakura turned around sporting a smile, responding as Tsukasa dissapeared out of sight and out of mind; "Well, I guess that just about clears things up. Now, let's get going, shall we?" Touma muttered, "...What about the general?" Zakura retorted, "Ehhh, leave him be. I'm certain he won't do any more evil anymore with that whalloping I just gave him." Yuuki sighed, "...If you say so." "That's finally it..." Dyan sighed with relief. "I guess that's all over." He looked over to Lisette. Since he was about to leave, it would be only appropriate to keep her around. He frowned, his face only slightly red as he walked over to her. "Hey, Lisette. Since this is over and everything, and I am about to head home...would you like to come with me?" Ikimoshi's eyes sharpened and she looked like she was about to whine again, but she figured Dyan was simply being nice. Lisette froze up for the briefest of moments; before a shade of crimson covered her lithe body in its entirety; responding with a smile, "...I-If it wouldn't trouble you; yes." As Zakura turned to leave the dimension, he motioned to Dyan with a kind expression; "So, this is it, then? We'll all go our separate ways?" The Crimson Sovereign thrust out his hand to offer a simple handshake. "...If so; it's been nice spending time with ye. Remember; a bond is a deep connection that can never be broken. Even if apart, heart and heart are connected. I'm sure we'll see each other again; that bond will guide us to each other again." Dyan extended his hand to shake Zakura's. "I'm sure of it. Just, and I beg of you, do not bring your posse." He gestured to Nika and the rest. Zakura and pals. Nika sold separately for double the price. Essentially, that's what it was. "...Nika not included." Nika puffed her cheeks out at such a statement; responding, "Oi~ You're lucky I don't give you the Jimi Hendrix Special~" Dyan slipped his hand into Lisette's and Ikimoshi climbed onto his back. "C'mon you two, let's get the heck out of here." He turned to everyone else. "I can honestly say this has been a unique experience I am never going to forget." Everyone quickly filed out of the castle, but Isshō turned. "Where's Kagome...?" Kagome phased out of the wall as soon as she was sure everyone was gone, and walked over to the man Zakura had soundly thrashed. "Hi." She said, as politely as anyone could possibly be. "Do you remember me?" The man, spat, "...Damn it all! Not you again...!" Barely able to muster any strength, the man slowly scrambled back as he pitifully flared up his spiritual pressure. "I'm sorry." She said, as she walked over to the man, not even feeling the spiritual pressure he was release. Even should he be at full power, she was too strong for him. "You failed to do what my Master wanted. And because of that, she's ordered that you die." She placed her hand on his chest, and her hand phased right in. Her small, pale hand grasped his beating heart. "I hope you don't feel anything." The pitiful organ began to beat rapidly, as if it knew what was coming. With a twitch in her grip, she crushed the organ, and it's beats naturally ceased as she removed her hand from his body, bloodless. "What my master wants will be fulfilled." As if out of thin air, a woman bearing mystique appeared behind Kagome, placing her hand upon the younger girl's shoulder. She bore the appearance of a young lady in her mid-late teens, with a slender figure, sizeable bust, and dark blue eyes. Her hair was blond, and reached down to her waist in length. It was kept free, and was rather wavy. Her fringe was kept just above her eyes, and she had three sets of bangs; first going down to her upper-jaw, second, upper-neck, third, chest-length. Her attire was a green and peach coloured dress, with the top being a dark green that had gold lining on it, and being sleeveless, as well as revealing a considrable portion of her cleavage, covered through a veil of sorts. She had a ribbon on her neck, which was red in colour, and had detached upper-arm portions of her dress' sleeves and had frilled gloves on her hands. "You've done well, Kagome." All this in a somewhat flirtatious voice. "Relax and have a Snickers Bar~" The similarities between this woman and a certain devil woman were downright frightening. Kagome's face became slightly red at the touch and the sound of the woman's voice. "T-thank you, Master." The adoration in her voice was omnipresent. "I also have finished observing each of the members of that group. I'm sorry to say, they are rather unimpressive, despite having alot of power. They each have their own...um...quirks..." Removing her hand, Kaede responded, "...Oh, I know that all too well." Turning around, her body become surrounded in spiritual energy; as did Kagome's. "...Now that that's done, we should make our exit." The spiritual energy expanded and whirled around, creating a vortex through which the two dissapeared without a trace.
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