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| - "I know I got it this time!" Eita cheered joyfully as he continued to spread ink in a intricate pattern across the large span of a stone structure. "All those months... no, wait." Eita's brush hand halted as he stroked his long dark beard with his free hand. "Years? Maybe. Doesn't matter though, because today is the day the seal is broken." Resuming his action, Eita drew a line all the way down to the stone floor and backed up until he was about ten meters from the massive stone tablet. "The greatest treasure the world has ever seen is about to become mine!" Eita continued to cheer. "Mine, mine, mine!" Skipping over to a table pressed up against the wall, Eita laid his brush down and clasped his filthy hands together. "'I bet you're super duper excited about this one Eita' Yes, very very very excited! 'How are you gonna celebrate your triumph oh awesome Eita?' My friend, how won't I celebrate! The finest food, the nicest cloths, the sexiest woman, it will all be mine and I can hardly wait!" Hopping over to the corner by the table, Eita picked up the hand of the clothed skeleton slumped in the corner and began shaking it furiously as if giving the pile of bones an over enthusiastic handshake. "All thanks to you my closest friend. 'Awh, shucks Mr. Awesome Eita, you were the real brains, after all, you...'" Eita's voice trailed off as the hand of the skeleton broke off from the violent shaking. Eita stated at the hand for a few moments, then at the skeleton and then back to the hand. After a few more cycles of staring, Eita tossed the hand over his shoulder and turned his attention back to the stone structure, as if having completely forgot about the skeleton hand. "Enough chit chat!" Eita roared. "Seal break, now!" Moving over to the end of the ink line he had drawn on the floor, Eita slammed his hand down on the ink and watched as the black ink began glowing a bright yellow. The entirety of Eita's intricate pattern quickly began illuminating the dark chamber, so much so that it began stinging Eita's eyes. Underneath the glowing ink, another pattern began to appear, this one emitting an intense white light. The two symbols sat intertwined for a few minutes before the yellow light began the fade, leaving only the white. "Failure!" Eita shouted. "Again!" Dropping down to his knees, Eita delivered several quick punches to the stone ground, causing his knuckles on both hands to bleed. Immediately following, Eita sprung to his feet, placing his hands on his hips and began speaking in a strangely calm tone. "So what was it this time? Did I get the formula wrong? Did I not give it enough chakra?" As Eita continued to mumble to himself, the sound of footsteps were slowly making themselves heard over the empty halls of the temple, approaching the main chamber the mad archeologist. As whoever was approaching the chamber came closer and closer, it distinctly became clear to Eita it was a group of around six people. His suspicions were confirmed when an exact group of six people entered the chamber, being finally illuminated by whatever little light the old torches gave out; under these circumstances, these individuals would still be barely visible to a normal person, but Eita was by now long accustomed to the dark environment to be able to perfectly discern these people with the very little light available. As they stopped marching near the very entrance of the chamber, these newcomers seemed to be travelling in an ordered fashion, with their supposed leader on the front, followed by four others at his sides, and another lone individual at the back, aligned with the front most one. Their foreign style of clothing suggested these men didn't belong to any known shinobi country, with the three back most wearing purple, hooded robes with intricate cyan patterns on them and face-like masks underneath the robes. The other two behind the leader bore similar robes, albeit red in color and with more elaborate accessories, apparently made of gold, and instead of hoods they wore high headwear with cloth falling back behind their necks and a plume on the front, giving these two men the appearance of royal dignitaries of some kind. The leader himself gave the air of a high-ranking military official, wearing a metal helmet with a rather large plume falling back, golden patterned armor, a leather-strap skirt with a somewhat unusual style of sandals, and he was carrying weapons, particularly a long spear on his right hand, which he held up from the ground, hand and a large round shield on his left hand, as well as a sword sheathed on his left hip. All the newcomers appeared to be eyeing Eita cautiously in silence, their leader, clearly taller than the rest, had a more focused and stern look on his visage, although he didn't show any signs of hostility. They seemed to be waiting for some kind of reaction from the mad archaeologist. "Visitors." Eita said in a way that made it difficult to determine if he was asking a question or making a statement. "How not expected." Eita quickly grabbed a stick with several rags hanging off the end from off the nearest wall and began sweeping it across the floor. "So sorry for the state of things. I haven't had quests in ages. Feel free it sit anywhere, just not on the ink. I need that for treasure related stuff." Eita came across the skeletal hand he had tossed earlier and quickly scooped it up and shoved it in the tattered remains of his pocket, the index and middle finger protruding from the large holes. The leader of the group turns to face the inky markings on the floor. His expression remains unchanging, but it's clear he's analyzing the formula. After a short while, he gives a quick nod, "Yes, this seems about right." He then turns back to the men following him, "Alright my brothers! Take your places!" Right after issuing this order, the other newcomers started to position themselves around Eita's formula, with a pair on each side and the fifth member positioning himself at the end of the line where Eita previously stood, while the leader started to advance towards the sealed door, but not before placing his shield and spear against the wall, "You've done a splendid job, researcher, and not a moment too soon." Once he was positioned, he slowly glanced over to Eita, "But we'll take it from here." "Ummmm, what?" Eita stud with his makeshift broom in his hand, unable to process what was happening as the new arrivals took positions around his formula. After tossing his broom to the side and scratching his head with the index finger of the skeleton hand Eita began making sense of the situation. "So, what are you doing to my formula? I worked hard on it. I rather you not touch it. Are any of you a woman? I haven't met a woman in awhile..." "It's time to initiate the ceremony, my brothers! Let's begin!" The leader ordered, apparently ignoring Eita's response, "HOH!" The other newcomers shouted in unison, clapping their hands once in prayer-style at the same time, immediately followed by their leader. The markings on the floor lit up again, except this time they remained lit instead of fading away. Suddenly, the glyphs on the heavy stone door began to glow white as well, and the door started moving to the sides, opening; this caused the whole underground temple to shake, dust and small pebbles already dropping from the ceiling menacingly; the stone door began to crack and spark with energy as the seal was being undone. From the inside, a sort of ornamental sarcophagus stood upon an altar surrounded by many fūinjutsu markings, some of which extended to the sarcophagus itself, "Good work, my brothers! The outer seal is almost undone!" Eita, momentarily blinded by the intense white light, instinctively backed up until he fell onto the skeleton in the corner. He attempted to block out the harsh light by shielding his face with not only his own hands, but the skeleton hand as well. "Someone turn off the damn light!" Eita shouted. The door stopped moving with a loud bang, apparently breaking in place, and the shaking and glowing markings subsided, "Alright, time to undo the second seal. Let's do this, my brothers!" The leader shouted, and shortly after his followers began chanting while performing hand-seals, then black markings started to crawl up their faces, enveloped in a teal fire-like light until they stopped moving, "For the people! For perpetual union! For all that is sacred! For the Empire!!!" The followers slammed their hands on the ground, causing black circles to form around them and connect with the temple and Eita's markings, causing them to illuminate with a bright teal light; the leader remained with his hands clasped together, the same black markings having enveloped his skin, "RELEASE!!!" He shouted, slamming both his hands on the ground as hard as he could. The whole temple rocked and shook violently, the chamber filled with a very intense light, finally ending with a massive explosion of energy that almost destroyed the whole area. After everything settled down, what remained of the temple was a now a crater in plain sunlight. Its occupants had been strewn around in the hole, some even covered by debris. Luckily, Eita only seemed to have one of the cloaked men on top of him. However, this one's mask had fallen off, revealing a semi-skeleton, undead visage. Meanwhile, the sarcophagus and altar seemed largely untouched, but the fūinjutsu markings were gone. Suddenly, the sarcophagus's lid started to move to the side, and from its dark interior a young woman slowly walked to the exterior. She had long white hair, white featureless eyes and fair skin. She also bore a dark dress very uncommonly seen in the shinobi lands, as well as dark crown-like tiara atop her head. Pushing the skeletal figure off of himself, Eita scurried past the men that had undone the seal and began looking over the young woman. Eita's lack of social awareness showed as he was obviously uncomfortably close as he scanned the woman head to toe. Though Eita was extremely curious as to how the seal was finally broken after he had failed so many times to do so himself many times since he arrived in the ruins, the young lady's flawless figure pushed his curiosity down to his second priority. "You kinda remind me of my mother." Eita stated as he continued to look over the woman. "You know, if my mother was sexy like you." A couple men, who had already gotten up, quickly launched themselves onto Eita, pulling him back by his arms and head while restraining him, "Have you got no manners?!" One of them said, "How dare you approach our Empress in that manner, you uneducated peasant!" The other one said, while the young woman simply stared wide-eyed at the situation. Meanwhile, the leader of the band approached the white-haired youth, slowly kneeling down before her, followed by the other members except those restraining Eita "My Empress! You've at last returned! I am General Teronia Aggastas, forever in your service!" The young woman turned her head towards the general, eyeing him for a moment before speaking at last, "General... I am indebted to thee, for awakening me from mine slumber." The young woman said, placing her hands in front of her and giving the general a small bow. "Your kind words flatter me, my Empress, but me and my brothers are merely fulfilling our duty." Teronia replied, still in the same position. The young empress turned back to Eita, "And who is this peculiar fellow?" "Oh, the plebeian? My sincere apologies for his rude behavior, but to be fair, he was instrumental in discovering the key to the seal, costing him a great deal of his sanity in the process." The general replied once more. After hearing out Teronia, the empress returned her gaze to the dirty and ragged madman, a somewhat sympathetic expression on her fair visage "Is that so? This weighs mine heart. Then I would be indebted to thee as well, mine friend. I'll be sure to reserve a special place in Heaven just for thee." "Who is Thee?" Eita asked, still restrained by the hooded figures, though if he felt as if he was in danger he didn't show it. "Thee didn't do anything. I was the one who made the unsealing formula. Now why don't we all find a good place to celebrate my life accomplishment? I'm not picky, any of the Great Nations would suit me. But I've heard great things about Nadeshiko Village too!" "What should we do with him, my Empress? Should we release him? He might still be useful for future endeavors." Teronia asked, once again ignoring Eita's nonsensical ramblings. "This poor fellow hath suffered enough. I say he shouldst stay with us, and witness Elysium first-hand. Thou may release him." The empress spoke, returning her gaze to the general, then to the hooded figures restraining Eita, who finally let him go. "If that is your will. What shall be our next course of action, my Lady?" The general asked once again. "What doth thou suggest?" The empress replied. "I know of this Nadeshiko Village the plebeian has spoken of. It is essentially an isolated stronghold among these lands and not very well defended, if I recall correctly. Their population consists mostly of kunoichi. I suggest we set up a base of operations there, until we find something more fitting to our cause." Teronia answered. "Be that as it may. I shall follow thy counsel, General." The empress spoke once more. "Your righteous bidding shall be done, my Fair Lady!" Teronia said as he finally rose from his position, "Rise up, men! We march for Nadeshiko Village! Our Holy Empress has returned to guide us! This is but the beginning of our glorious conquest for Elysium! For the Empire!!!" Teronia shouted back to his men still kneeled behind him, pumping his fist up, "For the Empire!!! YOH!!!" The other men shouted in unison as they rose up, also pumping their fists in the air. "Hoe!" Eita shouted as he shoved both fists in the air, mimicking the men around him.
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