Extravaganza 15

 Extravaganza 15

A/N: Surprise Ophis interrupt in this chapter! Also, working on Super Commander right now, just to tell you what's what. There's also Extravaganza Interlude 15.5 coming, as I decided to show what the people outside Kuoh are thinking to do or are doing.

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Part 15

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(Usagiyama Iori)

Night
Iori’s shared Mindscape

The atmosphere at the Hyoudou family had been so whacky and so warm… hanging out with them had been fun. I wanted to do it again! Such thoughts went through my mind as I walked up to Witchblade's metal tree, when I reached it, I leaned against it and took a deep breath.

I was making moves to secure the town, unleashing my Darkling minions with the express command to not kill the mundane humans or harm them and to take prisoner or run out of town anyone with supernatural background not associated with me.

If supernatural beings or humans affiliated with other factions wanted to get into my city, they needed to ask permission first. There's a reason I gave my contact information to Serafall, the Devils needed to go through her to contact me, and pay tribute every six months to stay or do business in Kuoh.

My danger sense screamed to move and I dodged the deadly spear thrust targeting my heart. I rolled on the grass and stood right away in a fighting stance, my foe started chuckling as she said while twirling her spear and slamming it in the ground, “What makes you so forlorn, my student?”

Scáthach had taken this habit of attacking while I was distracted to hone my instinct. I’ve died hundreds of times like this before developing my instinct to be always aware of everything around me. I glared at her and greeted with an angry, “What a warm welcome, sensei.”

The Goddess leaned against her spear. “You know how it is, it's boring without you here and watching you go through your life is even more so.”

I rolled my eyes. “I'm not you, sensei. I… don't roam the world in search of foes to defeat for the thrill of it.”

That’s what she did before and lived vicariously through the adventures of Red Sonja, her Champion, when she felt too lazy to leave the Land of Shadows.

“Soon, you'll go forth. It always happens, you'll get tired of normalcy soon enough.” Scáthach said in a prophetic manner, as if she knew me better than myself, her glowing red eyes bored into me and it was quite enerving.

I decided to change the subject. “What are we going to do tonight?”

I would take being beat up over having Scáthach trying to make me one of her students who roamed the land, seeking anyone that gave them a good fight.

The Goddess smiled and she pointed a finger behind me. “With me? Nothing, with her? A lot.”

I turned slowly but still kept an eye on Scáthach, she stabbed me in the back like this once. My brows raised and I was shocked to see a beautiful brown haired young girl in armor standing before me, she wore a Rosario at her neck. She looked to be fifteen at least. 

That's when the Witchblade's postcognition kicked in and I saw her past. “Jeanne D'Arc?!”

I saw when Witchblade connected with a young girl of thirteen, her traveling to the church, through brain damage Jeanne believed the words of the Witchblade to be the voices of angels and saints. That by strict command of God, Michael, Catherine and Margaret had told her to purge France of the English. I saw her highs and lows, even her death on the stake as she was burning. 

I find it strange… with the Witchblade I was immune to fire and heat, how did she die? The only answer I received is that Jeanne wished to die because she realized Witchblade's true nature.

The young woman smiled at me as she greeted me. “Bienvenue, Saint Iori (Welcome, Saint Iori).”

Despite seeing how she foolishly died, this was still the girl who inspired millions of women all over the world. 

I slightly bowed my head. “It's an honor to meet you.”

She tilted her head. “I see… I’m happy to meet you as well.”

I turned my head to Scáthach and asked, “Sensei, why is Jeanne here?”

The Goddess walked up to us and said, “She will teach you to take advantage of one of the aspects of the Witchblade that you have yet to touch upon.”

I frowned at that. “Which ones?”

Being able to manipulate the power of the void and the power of a star was enough for me. I wish to focus on my mastery of weapons and touki, but it seemed that Scáthach had other plans for me.

The Goddess explained, “Through the use of Divine Power, you can create miracles such as healing or inspire people and even make your own minions while also giving them specific skills and power that will grow overtime.”

This surprised me, doesn't it mean that I could make more powerful and intelligent Darklings? “The Darklings? I can shape them?”

Scáthach put on a cunning smirk as she nodded. “Amongst other things…”

As for Jeanne, she stepped back from us when my sensei and I started laughing in an evil manner.

# # #

Jeanne was teaching me how to harness Witchblade's divine power to perform miracles. She stood in the middle of the grass field, the sun shining upon her as she had her eyes closed and her hands joined in prayer. Golden light suddenly manifested from the clouds and bathed the area around her; when Jeanne opened her eyes, and said the words, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Holy barrier.”

The energy Jeanne has manifested solidified into a dome of golden holy energy born from the divine magic she channeled from the Witchblade.

The remnant soul turned to me and opened her arms wide. “This is the skill I used to protect my troops from arrows back in the day.”

I stepped toward the barrier, my hand touching the holy barrier was repelled by it and zapped me. “Interesting, this might come in handy when I fight with people other than Darklings.”

From the zap I received right now, a Devil of middling power like a high class ranked one would be already ash if they touched that barrier. It would slow down an ultimate rank at best, but crumble if a Satan level enemy sneezed at it.

Scáthach hummed in acquiescence, “Indeed my student, sooner or later you'll attract subordinates. Power not only invites challenges but those of like-mindedness.” 

Finding like-minded people? That sounded great. “Will it really happen?”

It wasn't Scáthach who replied, but my new friend, Jeanne. “Saint Iori, I personally experienced what your teacher said, I met my most trusted subordinates this way.”

If one of the biggest heroines around says it, it must be true… “Welp, if they come, I will treat them well. Anyway, do you know other similar abilities?” I shrugged helplessly and hoped that there wouldn't be any Harem shenanigans coming my way.

Jeanne gave me a sharp nod as she dismissed the holy barrier with a wave of her hand. “With divine power, you can heal your allies, restrain and weaken your enemies.” 

I titled my head at that. “Crowd control skills? It sounds more and more like you're a Paladin.”

The heroine asked me, “What's that?” 

Gasp. I looked at her in shock and decided it was time to enlighten this poor soul. “Let me explain it to you…”

I started telling her what a Paladin was and how they worked for the divine, but framed it with my Dungeons & Dragons knowledge.

# # #

We spent the next six months in the mindscape working on my control of Divine Energy; but there were times I couldn’t understand what Jeanne meant, the heroine was such a pure girl that I had some problem communicating with her. She didn’t respond to any of my lewd jokes, it was as if she had been insulated all her life from crass remarks and perverted behaviors.

Anyway, Jeanne made me a Paladin as well; it would become terribly useful when fighting in a team. Playing the weak healer could be fun sometimes I guess… 

Other than mastering Divine Energy, I learned how to shape the Darklings to look similar to humans. The proof of it was standing before me, she had grey skin, short black horns, wings and tits big enough that would make Rias burn in envy. The short but willowy female darkling spread her wings, and stretched her body languorously.

She looked down at her feet and felt the grass with them as she spread her toes. Looking up, the humanoid darkling stared at the simulated moon and growled at it as she shielded her eyes with one of her wings. But gradually, the female darkling adapted to the light.

I approached the new Darkling and put a hand on her head as she was shorter than me, at least 150 cm tall. “Hey, it's okay, you're in the mindscape, the moon won't harm you.”

The darkling girl lifted her head and her unfocused eyes settled on me. She raised her hands and hugged me tightly with all her strength. “Mama!”

My eyes opened wide as I tried to push the darkling away. “No, I'm not your mama.”

She still didn't let go and while I struggled with her, Scáthach's bell-like laugh rang out. “Hahahahaha! I knew this would happen, my student.”

I turned my head and sent an accusatory look at my teacher. “And why didn't you warn me?!”

With glowing red eyes shining like rubies and an evil smirk on her face, the Goddess replied, “Where's the fun in that, Iori?”

The darkling crawled on me and wrapped her legs around me, not intent on letting go. At least I didn't get clawed, her claws looked wicked sharp. As I squirmed when the darkling put her head in the crook of my neck, I stared dagger into my teacher's eyes and promised, “One day you'll get your comeuppance, sensei.”

Scáthach chuckled. “With your skills? Maybe in two hundred years, young one.”

The hug began to become painful. “Argh.”

After dealing with an over-enthusiastic humanoid darkling and setting her straight, I gave her a name. Remembering my days playing League of Legends and seeing the long purple hair and Asian features of my new follower, I decided to call the female darkling that I molded into existence Akali.

She looked downright like the KD/A songstress skin of the ex-Kinkou Order Assassin. With the time left in the mindscape, Scáthach and I taught her how to talk, walk, read and write, fight and how to use magic -mainly illusions- to clothe herself, lay down traps, and attack.

For now, Akali was as smart as a ten year old human child; it was my hope that she will be further mentally developed by the time she will join me outside of the mindscape. Incidentally, because of Scáthach, the darkling girl has developed assassination, stealth skills and umbral related magic based on the manipulation of Norse runes.

The unfortunate development of having Akali be taught by the Celtic Goddess and Immortal Witch was that the impressionable Darkling became eager to prove herself to me and Scáthach who instilled in her an antiquated worldview. I often forgot that Scáthach is a Celtic woman from a different age.

# # #

My eyes opened as I woke up to the real world once more. I heard the chirping of birds outside thanks to my enhanced hearing, but it was completely dark in my room. It was to accommodate my bodyguards as light was painful to them, imps and lower animal shaped darkling died under the rays of the sun.

I reached for my smartphone to check on the time and date as I was once again disoriented by the time dilation between my mindscape and the real world. My eyes adjusted to the penumbra and I saw golden eyes looking back at me, it was Akali and she had my phone in her hand. 

“Here.” She handed it to me and I nodded in thanks.

I unlocked my smartphone’s screen, the date and time appeared and it was 05:30 AM Saturday May 10th of 2008. Thank the Kami, today I didn't have school and I could stay in bed! But my body that had gotten used to the terrifying training of a certain Celtic Goddess instinctively sat up and pulled the sheet off of me. Looking down at myself, I was wearing a t-shirt and black boyshorts. It's been a while so I had forgotten what I had on when I went to bed. 

Anyway, I jumped out of bed and started stretching and doing calisthenics in my darkened bedroom. Akali mimicked me, she was on the same routine as I since she was created; arm circles, body hugs, air squats, Arms out torso rotations for five minutes.

When we were done I parted the heavy curtains obscuring my bedroom. It was still dark outside, but something was wrong; why was there a wall where there should only be a little fenced courtyard and some woods? 

“Akali, follow me.” I said as I power walked toward the stairs leading out of the platform where my bedroom was located in the converted warehouse.

“Yes!” The darkling girl said happily, she was burning with excitement.

After descending the stairs, we found ourselves in the living room and walked up toward the door leading outside that was between the kitchen and the receiving area. Akali jumped to reach the door before me and stared at me with disapproval. “Let me go first.”

It seemed Akali took her role really seriously, I hoped she wouldn't do that in plain day, the light could hurt her. Akali opened the door slowly and when nothing happened she turned into shadow and exited the house. I stayed away from the door and waited for her to come back.

Akali came back two minutes later and said, “It's clear.”

“It's not an attack?” I've come to expect my paranoia to always reward me.

Akali reported nonchalantly, “There’s only signs of heavy items being used and construction. Come see for yourself.”

I followed her out and I was confronted with a completely different view, my garden was completely transformed into a Japanese zen garden with a firepit with a pavilion garden shelter with a sofa and comfortable looking cushion.

“What the f-?!” I looked at Akali and restrained myself from swearing. She was just born and I won't be a bad influence on her like Scáthach was.

Pointing her finger at a small stone path, Akali said, “It's not the only thing that changed, there's a big mansion over there.”

With a frown, I slowly walked over to the stone path flanked by neatly spread trees. On the other side of the path, a sprawling Japanese mansion stood before me.

My reaction was immediate as I called, “TALYA!!!” in a loud voice.

The main entrance's door opened and the Hanyo stood in its frame with a beautiful red and black kimono. She was kneeling in seiza, her head bowed and her hand flat on the wooden porch. When she lifted her head she said in an upbeat tone, “Boss! You're awake, good morning. Do you like Lady Yasaka's gift? She made you a new mansion to fit your status as ruler of Kuoh.”

Of course it was the Kitsune playing tricks on me… the Daiyoukai must have received a report of how insufficient my home's defenses were. Talya was my bodyguard and also a spy for Lady Yasaka. I must not forget that fact despite how silly she acted, Talya reported everything I did.

I cursed. “Damn it, she should have told me! She keeps springing stuff like that on me…”

Talya gave me a mischievous smirk. “Where's the fun in that?”

I walked up to her at high speed and when I reached her, my hands reached for Talya's neck but she evaded them to not get strangled with a giggle. “Come back here!”

Talya moved out of the way once again, then she looked behind me. “Huh, hey… who's that?”

The Hanyo stared at Akali who seemed to evaluate Talya as if assessing her martial ability like Scáthach did before a fight. “I am Mama's daughter, Akali.” She pointed her finger at me to emphasize the ‘mama’ word.

I was mortified… I thought that Akali had stopped calling me that! Talya turned to me and with a tilt of her head asked, “Iori-chan… I didn't know you had such a grown daughter?”

“It's not like that…! I created Akali with Witchblade in my dreams and now she's here.” I defended myself.

The Hanyo looked between me and Akali and after a moment of silence opened her mouth. “Nani the fuck? What kind of bullshit are you spouting, Iori-chan?”

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Supernatural ◆ Online

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♦ Topic: The New Queen of Kuoh town!
 In: Boards ► Japan ►
 Nezumi_King (Original Poster) (The Guy in the Know)
 Posted On May 14th 2008:
 Hey there, it's your friendly neighborhood Nezu! Once again I bring you new infos from Japan and I have something huge! The ownership of the Devil held town in Japan called Kuoh Town changed hands recently. Some serious stuff must have happened for the Devil faction to lose their beachhead in the land of the rising sun.
It is strange that this happened just after the destruction of the Andrealphus territory back in the Devil held lands in the underworld. So who is gonna manage the town now you ask me?
It's our resident Queen of Blades! What could have happened to thrust her on the big stage?

(Showing page 1 of 2)

►The_Wednesday_Man (Moderator)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Oh boy! I've been waiting for this.

►Devilhatter158
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Obviously, Bats poked the blender, got blended and roasted, serves them right

►Devilnumber1
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Damn that monster. She should have been a good little human and become a devil

►Lion-claws (New Satans Representative)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 I am at liberty to disclose that the unfortunate incident in the Andrealphus territory was caused by the Lord of this territory 's experimentation with the dimensional boundaries of the Underworld. The explosion and the unknown monsters ravaging the Andrealphus Land were simply bad luck.
 The New Satans regime is drafting a bill to ban research on the Dimensional Gap as a consequence of the events which reaped so many lives in the Underworld.

►DrknessBlade (The Nerd In Chief)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Well well well, see how quick the New Satans shill came to give a statement? Nezu and Devilhatter must be onto something!
@Devilnumber1 It's people like you who give Devils a bad rep.

►TheWho
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Who would have guessed? The devils messed up.

►Foxesarethebest
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 You devils got lucky for just losing a town. @Queen of Blade is a Special friend of the Western Youkai. That could have lead to a war.

►Rook789
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 This is a conspiracy! Our laws are absolute, they must have attacked the Andrealphus and planted evidence to steal our territory! You won't get away with this!!

►LeviaLove (Levia-Tan Fanclub)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 I'm sure our lovely Leviatan!☆ will fix this, we can't let those dirty yokai do this!

►Devil-in-Black
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Are we sure that girl isn't some kind of plant? It's weird how much she's been involved in recent events lately.

►XxX_Void_Samurai_XxX
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @devilinblack
Props just major luck curse

►MagicObessed
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 I've been getting Strange readings in that town you speak of for a couple of days now. Anyone in the Town notice an increase of Dark energy?

►NoseyStan
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 I tried getting to see that town with my scrying magic, but I was blocked!

►FluffiesLife (At Ground Zero: Kuoh Town)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 AND STAY OUT!!! We don't need your pervs looking in.

End of Page.   1

(Showing page 2 of 2)

►NotInTheKnow
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 How in the world do you lose your only foothold in a country that easily? Wouldn't that have huge political ramifications?

►MightySage98
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Guys, don't you remember there was some dude in the thread where she made her debut who said that he must 'acquire' her service? I'm guessing that guy was that Andrealphus devil guy, he tried his luck in kidnapping her, succeeded but... this is a big but! Queenie went berserk with her SG and we know what happened to his territory...

►Nightmareintheday
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Honestly Devils have been pushing long and hard on what they can do in OUR Territories.This kidnapping of QoB was just the push to expel those people stealing assholes. We are still pissed about that slaughter of the nekoshou in the underworld. I still don't believe that bullshit about her losing control. Covering their asses more likely. Probably something set off that person.

►Devil101 (Banned)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @MigthySage98
There's no way a Pillar Devil would do such a despicable thing! Take it back you lowlife or suffer the consequences!!

►DrknessBlade (The Nerd In Chief)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @Devil101
Hahahaha! You're serious?
I schmoozed and mingled with Lords and Ladies from Devil Pillar families and I never saw a worst pit of snakes and backstabbers. Honest and Hardworking Pillar Families can be counted on one hand.

►Nightmareintheday
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @Devil101
Then Return all Devil turned Youkai and Humans taken from Japan.

►Devil101 (Banned)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @Nightmareintheday
Those things are where they belong, at the side of their rightful masters! Don't be a thief trying to steal our Peerage.

@DrknessBlade This is slander! I personally know many honorable and dutiful Lords of Pillar families!

►Nightmareintheday
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @Devil101
BULLSHIT!!!! I know several families who have had their memories fucked with by devil's memory magic or Youkai families have their daughters or sons stolen just because of their special talents.

►Devil101 (Banned)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @Nightmareintheday
I knew it! You're probably a filthy fallen trying to spread propaganda against us, don't believe his lies people, he's a fraud!

►DrknessBlade (The Nerd In Chief)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Hahaha! @Devil101 You're a riot, truly.

You think that we Fallen need to use propaganda against you when your own actions bring you the hatred of literally every faction and pantheons on the planet? You leave so many witnesses to your bad deeds that it's not funny and makes you look incompetent.

►SigiloftheSea (Moderator)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @Nightmareintheday and @Devil101 calm down before I ban you for a day.

►Devil101 (Banned)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 @SigiloftheSea
Shut your mouth you filthy ***, this has nothing to do with you!

Mod Edit (SigiloftheSea): I changed my mind, take a month off to cool down. Aaand banned! It's always Devils stirring things up

►ScarletPrincess
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
@SigiloftheSea That's racial profiling! Not all Devils are dumb and evil like @Devil101!

►LoveDeathQueen (Verified Goddess)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Huh. So this is the new spawnling that is causing the Shadowlands to become active again.

►She_who_invites (Moderator)
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Hey @LoveDeathQueen

 You're here, and still being cryptic as ever.

End of Page.   1, 2

(Showing page 3 of 3)

►IlaughAtyou
 Replied On May 14th 2008:
 Hahahahaha, take that you shitty devils.

End of Page.   1, 2, 3

***

(Infinity-chan)

It looked down at the screen of it’s flip-smartphone decorated with star stickers and cartoonish black dragons;it was still fascinated by humanity’s technology which had advanced a lot in her opinion. It remembered all those filthy little apes living in mud huts covered in their own feces. Even the Atlanteans didn’t have that kind of technology when they were supposed to be Enlightened by the knowledge of the puny planetary Gods infesting Gaia.

At times, it regretted not simply eating them when they were born from the Chaos; they were so troublesome and even more so in these contemporary times. Still, thanks to these gods, humanity was born and it was worth having around as they developed many toys to pass the time. As the Dragon God, Ophis has always been lethargic and bored, but this changed since the birth of the internet; its goal of returning to silence in the dimensional gap to defeat Baka-red was slowly becoming lower priority as it became more preoccupied with obtaining knowledge and sharing it.

As Ophis’ knowledge grew, so did her wisdom as she frequented forums on different topics such as psychology, science, health, politics and… Anime. It chose the form of a ‘Loli’ as it understood that cute was justice! The Internet wouldn’t lie to her…

Armed with her knowledge, Ophis knew when she was being used and Rizevim and his host of evil Dragon, gods and other supernatural being plotted; the Dragon God had found it amusing to look at those children in the Khaos Brigade try to cheat her of her goals as they did nothing to fight Baka-red. They thought to use her snakes as a battery to boost their meager and non-existent powers? She annihilated their main base and left an email about why she decided to stop backing them and recalled all the snakes she had given, killing everyone who had been enhanced by them.

“For the breaching of our compact and your scheming against me, what I giveth, I can taketh back.”

Ophis remembered how everyone in the Headquarters in the Dimensional Gap had simply turned to dust when she broke the magic shield that protected them from the special energy from the gap; she cut her loss and now she found herself back on Earth, in the city of the candidate that she deemed able to defeat Great Red.

Ophis appeared in the alley between a closed arcade and a restaurant; it deployed its power to make the human ignore her. One of the cons of becoming a loli was to have meddling humans asking her where her parents were and then wanting to place her in an orphanage. The Dragon God suddenly stood still in the pedestrian road, she raised her head and started sniffing the air. “Hmm, there is the smell of blood and darkness in the air.”

The Dragon God immediately understood that things were getting quite animated in this town. It shrugged and decided that it wasn’t her business and that it has better things to do. Ophis opened her phone and used an app to look for her quarry’s house. “It is time to meet, Witch-Queenie.”

It disappeared in a flash of purple light.