Kaori's Story: Episode 9 - Event Horizon - Private

It was a little over a week since Samira and Kaori had ventured to peace village and had their strange misadventure, though, in all actuality it would be stranger to have an adventure go as planned for the duo. The day after that event, Kaori had spent with Samira to ensure she wasn't in too bad of shape, after which, she told the celestial summoner that she had to return to her homeland to conduct some business. She was reminded that she had Kaori's key, and if anything happened that Amaterasu wasn't strong enough to stop, she was to summon Kaori without hesitance. After that, Kaori left to make her preparations for departure. While Kaori was away, she had been renovating her training room by removing old equipment, bringing in new, adding a hot spring, and resurfacing the training area that had been erroded from years of neglect. It wasn't bad erosion, but it wasn't to Kaori's liking. She had also had a room in her home renovated to include a western styled bedroom for her newest student. Once everything had been in order, Kaori had returned to Hargeon in hopes that Samira was still there... and... still Samira.

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Upon arriving back at port, Kaori was very surprised to see that the place wasn't completely destroyed. She had intentionally landed at bay P-001 to allot herself the most time to make her way back to Lamia Scale's castle. While she had no fear of Apophis, she didn't want to show up and find that she'd have to fight Samira because the lungfish had taken over... As she arrived to Samira's door at around nine in the morning, Kaori raised her hand to knock and paused, felt it shaking, and realized that she was panicking. She wasn't afraid of Apophis, but rather, the idea of losing her only friend from Fiore to it... "Kaori." the voice of Ikuchi said calmly, sensing his master's fear and shocking her back to reality. "The wretch has powerful allies to keep her weakness in check. I have faith that Amaterasu alone is strong enough, the rest are insurance." he commented. Kaori didn't support Ikuchi's description or attitude when it came to Samira, but his actions reflected that he wasn't a liability so she allowed it. "Thank you, Iku. You're right." she said in a soft tone. She still felt terrified, to the point where Samira, if she were awake would feel it through the door. It was one of many moment where her emotions were too strong for her to contain, but still, Kaori forced herself to knock on the door and send the echo through the room. If Samira wasn't awake, Kaori would knock once more. If she still didn't answer, Kaori would turn away and say "I guess Sammy's not home." in a tone that implied that she was perfectly fine in not knowing whether or not Apophis stole her soul until her nerves calmed down. If Samira was still asleep, Ikuchi would open the door, walk in, pick Samira up from the bed and drop her to the floor before saying "Kaori, look... she's completely awake." in a sarcastic tone. Of course, that's only if she were asleep.

Once Samira was in sight, Kaori would ask if she could come in. If Samira were awakened by Ikuchi, Kaori would scold him for it, saying that what he did was highly unnecessary and that she could have just come back later, to which Ikuchi would mention that his method was more efficient. Kaori would give Samira a quick hug, ignoring the efficiency comment if it were made, before taking a seat on Samira's bed. "I... ummm." she said, avoiding Samira's gaze while trying to find the words she needed. "D-d-during... umm..." Kaori was hesitant since she knew that Samira was already slipping through the cracks, and things only got worse the more Kaori said things that were blunt. Ikuchi let out a sigh, feeling impatient while his master hesitated. "You're a shit fighter and that was made evident once your keys were taken away. There, that's what-" "Iku!" Kaori shouted. "I'm not wrong." he said and walked out the room. Kaori let out a sigh and said "You're not trained to deal with not having your keys and admittedly, I have to blame Chaac and Isis for that. They never exactly had you learn any basics, but that seems to be constant among everyone from outside certain clans... While I was home I had my old training room renovated, and refitted a room for you in hopes you'd let me give you some training." It was obvious that Kaori was trying to be as unoffensive as possible, even while blaming Samira's lack of fighting ability on her parent spirits.

If Samira was okay with going with Kaori to her home to be trained by her, Kaori would put on a large smile and tackle Samira while hugging her. If she were on the floor or sitting on the bed, she'd be forced to a laying position. If she were standing, she'd just be pushed back just a bit. "Last time you didn't get to see much, this time I can show you more!" Kaori had a large smile on her face, showing that she had the same level of excitement as when they had the sleep over. "You probably had plans today so I'll have the ship ready to go for tomorrow." Kaori said before vanishing to start preparations.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

The week since returning from Peace Village was an uneventful one. As soon as Kaori left for her homeland, Samira was left alone aside from her spirits, who had made minimal contact with her. It wasn't by their choice, it was just something she had asked of them after what had happened to Ama and Anhur that day. She didn't want to be like how Kaori was all those days ago when the ninja had attacked the friends that had been trying to stop her. The only ones she had allowed to be near her was Bastet in her cat form and Anhur, and that was only due to it being a condition the spirits had made. They weren't going to have absolutely no outside protection, especially if Kaori was not around.

Samira passed her week trying to find answers and research into the family line. The woman that had attacked her claimed to be a sister, but no information could be found regarding it. Anhur had also kept it secret on who those people really were and their connection to the summoner. Aside from that, she didn't really leave the guild hall. Her responsibilities as an Ace she made sure to keep up with, but the tasks that required her to leave town were handed over to someone else. Delegation! Since the dark serpent could pop up again at anytime, she didn't want to endanger anyone by tagging along on lower ranked mission or be around civilians. Honestly she should have left town altogether until things were sorted out. Nonetheless, the week went by with no troubles at all. The serpent remained dormant.

Currently:

It was nearly mid morning when Bastet began to hear voices outside the door to Samira's room. The black cat twitched her ears as she lied curled up on a chair that was leaning against the same wall the door was. The voices were not overly loud at all, but she could still hear them decently enough. The first voice was of the Dragonhound that she personally had, had not much experience in dealing with. The cat remained curled up and snuggled into her tail, ignoring the voice since she didn't care. He'd probably come barging in at any moment as he had done a few times before. The second voice made her eyes open and cause her to sleepily lift her head up. The ninja mage and clan leader had returned finally. The knock came and Bastet looked over towards her sleeping summoner. No movement. Samira was normally one to rise early, but there were days where it just didn't happen. It depended on how late she stayed up writing or researching. Technically she was only on sleep hour four, having stayed up all night. The cat wasn't going to wake her now. The two could either come back later, or Ikuchi could just pick the locks as he always did. Lazy cat was lazy.

Just as she had predicted, even with Kaori around, there was no sort of privacy tape that could stop Ikuchi from barging in uninvited. Bastet had gone unnoticed and remained quiet as she stared and watched as Ikuchi lifted Samira from the bed and proceeded to drop her onto the floor. A...unique wake up call. She had expected him to just poke her or something since his last visits that she was aware of did not have such an eventful morning. The surprised cry from the sudden loss of a bed and anything to support her ran in Bastet's ears as her gaze followed Samira's descent. The summoner was none to pleased with the wake up method, and even less by his words.

"I thought we went through this?!" Samira yelled, thinking before he had been making progress in being less rude when it came to coming in uninvited. He had actually gotten worse! She was twisted in the blankets that had been picked up along with her, but as she fought to free herself and stand up she could overhear the scolding and the reply. "More efficient." Of course that would be what he'd say. Honestly! Why did Kaori even insist on having him tag along anyway? While thinking this, she tossed the rolled up blanket back onto her bed just before being giving a hug from Kaori. Ikuchi's previous actions were temporarily forgotten as she smiled and returned the hug, however quick it may have been. She had missed her friend and would have shown a little more excitement at her return if not for a certain dragon god.

"Hm?" Samira blinked and tilted her head of green hair. Kaori being hesitant to say what she wanted to confused her somewhat. She had shown such vulnerability and uncertainty before, but that didn't mean Samira was ever going to get used to it. The impatient sigh was then heard from the servant, grabbing her attention. Then the words that stung but she was already well aware of. Honestly that wasn't the first time he was blunt and had hurt her feelings, so her being used to it was an understatement. It's not as if he was ever actually wrong. He could be a jerk and an asshole, but he wasn't really wrong. Her gaze lowered to the ground, ashamed at the truth of the words and from recalling the events that had happened a week prior. Without her keys, she was an easy target and very useless. She couldn't even call them back to her magically. It was a severe weakness. One that had almost gotten her killed. If it had not been for the dark serpent... it felt weird to think that she owed him some form of gratitude.

Nothing was said as Ikuchi walked out of the room. She didn't even make an effort to acknowledge it even though she could clearly hear it. Her gaze remained on the ground even while Kaori spoke. Her words were less offensive but still held the same meaning to them. She was terrible at physical combat and had no other magic to rely on. Kaori had even went as far as to blame Chaac and Isis for it. More shame since it wasn't really their fault either. No one was even supposed to know she was a summoner to begin with so they were kept hidden a majority of the time. Training as a child would have been nearly impossible. Training when she finally left her home went at a slow pace. She wasn't meant to be tackling such difficult things so quickly, and when her spirits had tried to train her it was an ultimate failure. There was small progress every now and then, but it would get lost and forgotten with all the events that had transpired. Training was not a huge priority. Ikuchi had even tried to train her while Kaori was not around, and while she could recall it all, she hadn't put it into practice in a long while. It was her own fault really and not theirs.

At the mention of Kaori training her, Samira's green eyes raised and had she blinked in bewilderment and confusion. So, she wasn't giving up on her then. Somehow she was certain she would die while training with Kaori. Even though they were very close she knew the ninja was not going to be easy on her. It was needed though, and it wasn't as if she was ever afraid of the idea before. She tried instead of running away and giving up. Her will was probably the only thing she had going for her. Samira was still secretly afraid of being a disappointment though. That seemed to be what she ever was when it came to real fighting and training. Her eyes shifted to the side, processing everything including her response. "If you think it would help..." Her voice was uncertain, but her willingness to give it a try excited her other half. Samira found herself tackled and hugged from where she stood. She stepped back to catch her balance while Kaori clung to her. The excitement and large smile was contagious. The shame from a moment ago had near instantly vanished and was replaced by a smile of her own. Kaori being happy and showing it in such a way lifted Samira's heart. Bringing smiles to her instead of heartache was all she wished for. "I will be there." Then Kaori was gone. Really Samira didn't have any real plans, but she supposed she should do the proper thing and let her guild know that she was leaving again.

As Samira was straightening up the blankets of her bed, Amaterasu materialized beside her. The summoner could barely even react before the spirit had grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her closer. The ended result was Ama placing her hand on Samira's forehead and releasing a bit of light from her hand. It was calming and Samira felt relaxed. Satisfied, Ama let her go. "I apologize, Samira. I was worried that he would react with the return of the Leader of the Leraci clan. He remains sleeping for now. My mistake." The normally cheerful and always amused light spirit had a serious expression and her eyes closed after speaking. She had been about to dismiss herself when Samira hugged her tightly. "I am sorry for what happened, Ama," Samira said softly, regretting for allowing the dark spirit to control her so easily. The two had not spoken even mentally since that day. From what she had been told by Bastet, Amaterasu had been keeping a distance from pretty much everyone, including her brother.

Ama's eyes opened and the magic particles from her dismissal came to a stop. She sighed and said nothing. Never had she blamed Samira for what happened, but it didn't change the fact that it did happen. The summoner now felt awkward at getting no response or even a return hug. She disconnected. "Since I am already awake I suppose I should get ready for the day and do something productive." Leaving the spirit and Bastet, Samira disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Her feelings were now hurt once more, but that time by assuming one of her spirits had not forgiven her.

Bastet had by that point sat up and licked her paws in a cat grooming fashion. Once Samira had gone, the paw went back to balance her weight once more on the chair cushion. "You do realize by not responding she will probably overthink things and assume you are angry with her?" The cat spirit inquired, although already knowing the answer since it was obvious. No answer as Ama continued standing there quietly. "Well, at least you finally managed to leave that cave of yours. I was afraid that we would have to follow the tale of your original to get you out and about." More paw licks that were then rubbed on the side of her head. Bastet didn't entirely mind the unresponsive spirit or take offense to it. She knew she wasn't being ignored. It wasn't in Ama's nature to do so. "The ninja leader and her dragonhound believe you to be powerful enough to stop him by yourself, you know."

The comment made the light spirit fixate her gaze on the grooming cat. An amused smile formed, hiding her inner doubts about such a farfetched belief. If such a thing were accurate she would not have lost. That day she had even been losing control of her own self. Shameful. "Is that so? I do not recall even being able to defeat the dark Kaori back when she was weaker than she is now. Now they assume I can defeat a spirit of higher power levels than myself? I suppose I should be flattered."

"Don't give me that pretend innocence. I can sense your sarcasm. You're messed up even more than our summoner. Even Samira doesn't run and hide. You're more like your original than I had originally taken you credit for, and no, that is not a compliment."

"Even Samira requires time to think and reflect. Am I to assume I cannot do the same?" Silence as the two stared at each other. "Where is Ra? He has been missing for too long. I need to speak with him about his own method of hiding. He only truly communicates with you desert spirits and I grow tired of it. We are supposed to be working together on suppressing Apophis."

"I am under orders not to say anything until he returns. He will not even answer Samira's call unless it is truly dire."

"Samira nearing death and being taken over once more is not classified as 'truly dire'? Amusing."

"He trusted you and your power to be able to handle things. It isn't his fault you barely had your own head on straight after dealing with Angra Mainyu and Apophis twice in one day. You allowed them to get to you. In my opinion you should be stripped from your position. You nearly killed someone."

Amaterasu stared silently. She was very much triggered by those comments, but she did not allow it to show. "I am going to ask Anhur. You are useless to me at the moment." The spirit walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. The cat spirit could only roll her eyes. "Yes, my brother is much easier to convince than myself," Bastet muttered sarcastically with a slight roll of her eyes. Her ears twitched as she heard the running water of the shower. Samira would be in there for quite some time. It was time for another cat nap.

Unless something happened or interacted to interrupt the day and those on team Samira, it went by just like any other. Samira had finished her daily getting ready routine and handled guild business and packing her belongings for the trip. It...was rather easily done actually. Her being able to access a magical storage space that belonged to her spirits made packing a breeze. There wasn't even a need for bags. Amaterasu had found Anhur, who was actually surrounded by kids...and he wasn't running away. Meeting Ashley and having her treat him softened him up a bit, although he would never admit it. Children were demons, and that child must have been one that would grow into a succubus. The children ran for it when the two spirits got into a heated argument, however. In the end, Amaterasu never did get the information she had wanted.

Once the next day had arrived, Samira made her way to where the ship should have been. Bastet had returned to the celestial world, but Anhur followed beside her in his usual non-magical form. Normally he would have stayed at the guild hall like he normally did when those sorts of trips were made, but there was no telling how long the training would take. Plus, he was curious to see the methods used and to see if his summoner could actually handle it. Why did it always have to require riding on the lifeless birds though? If people wanted to fly then they should just grow wings, like he could. It was a simple form switch. Humans really needed to evolve.

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Some time had passed since Amaterasu had tried to speak with Anhur and returned to the celestial world where she likely decided to keep herself in captivity. If she did try to recluse into a safe space, then she would be faced with something far worse than one of her peers finding her. While many would agree that getting a scolding from one of Samira's spirits was bad for Amaterasu, getting a scolding from one of Kaori's was worse, and the individual who appeared leaning on the nearest wall or pillar had made it exponentially worse. "You know, that sea cucumber doesn't stop trying to take over her mind just because you poke your head in every now and then..." Angra Mainyu would say in a calm tone, honestly feeling no threat from the light spirit. "For someone who's supposed to be the Avatar of Shining Light allegedly, there's enough darkness in your heart for me to not only track you down, but manifest myself. Did you know that?" she would add, staying against the wall with her arms folded under her chest, eyes closed, and arrogant smile worn like a piece of jewelry. "Don't try forcing me out now, I've been inside you for a while... ever since the day she went to peace village." Angra commented before getting off the wall and walking towards Amaterasu. If the light spirit drew her blade, Angra wouldn't bother slowing down, not even showing hesitance. She would say "We both know you won't try to kill me. You're still mad that you were compromised, that you nearly killed someone and got told off by three people, and was unable to overpower Apophis when your summoner needed you to. More accurately... we both know you can't kill me."

If Amaterasu didn't draw her blade, Angra would say nothing at all while approaching. In both situations, she would pause within striking range of Amaterasu. "My niece believes you strong enough to stop Apophis from taking over Samira, though, if she saw you now she'd say otherwise. Your light has dimmed, Avatar of Shining Light. Let me ask you something though... Who remains to protect your dear summoner? The canary leaves for weeks at a time, sometimes months and expects you to carry the burden on your own. Now, you're here, alone, and disheartened by a single failure that you brought on yourself. Do you expect the self obsessed child to stop Samira from being destroyed? How about the anger filled demon? The cat? The Jester? Of course, he could stop her as soon as Apophis steals her body permanently. How about your brother? I'm sure his constant bluntness and sharp tongue will do wonders to keep her mind safe... The funny thing is, as useless as they are, they're all bothering to stick by their summoner's side while you wallow in your own failures." Angra began waking forward again while saying "Your brother is a brighter light than you..." before vanishing, the particles converging on Amaterasu and sinking into her skin. Amaterasu would feel a pain in her chest as the goddess of evil exited the area and returned to where she originally was, sitting on her throne while watching events transpire. However, if Amaterasu didn't seclude herself, Angra Mainyu would have no reasons to interfere with her and none of this would happen.

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Things had turned considerably less ironic as a certain spirit had been leaning on the wall, looking at the various spirits interacting. His eyes stopped on the one he was looking for, the multi-armed demon-ish looking one with a short temper. Ninja's cloaking spell was undone and he got off the wall to begin moving past the various spirits while reaching into the sleeve of his robe. From his sleeve, he withdrew a rather small box made of gold with writing in Kali's native tongue. The box was addressed to her and if she didn't take it from Ninja, he'd leave it on a table nearby before making his way towards Sasuno. He would stick his arm in his sleeve again and withdraw a letter with a bright gold heart on the seal and present it to him. The letter was a love letter from some human who admired his bluntness, and seemed to know a great deal about his personality. It mentioned that she fell in love with him while reading "Celestial Ninja 2" and would love to spend some time with him. An amusing idea had crossed Ninja's mind just as he was about to vanish from sight... Ninja had began walking towards Aphrodite with a cold look in his eyes and vanished before appearing behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder and saying "Tag." It was the first time he'd ever been heard speaking rather than just using an image, or not communicating at all. His voice was somewhat deep for a man as young looking as himself, and it was extremely calm sounding. In fact, it sounded as though touching a woman for the sake of a joke was of little concern to him. As he did that, he vanished from sight entirely and exited the mind space.

It had become common knowledge that he was the one to talk to when finding specific spirits was needed, and at this point, several individuals had contracted him to bring gifts to Samira's lot. Within the box given to Kali would be a velvet cloth covering something made of gold. Upon peeling the cloth away, Kali would find a bracelet with intricate engraving on it and a bright red jewel in the center. A note inside the box would say 'To the magnificent Kali.' and be from an anonymous sender, making it so no one would know who sent it.

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Samira would find Ikuchi on the main deck with a clip board, directing one of the sailors to a task that needed doing. Such a thing would seem appropriate since he was Kaori's right hand man, thus, the second in command on the ship. However, if she paid attention long enough to him, she'd see another man come up to him with a bucket and a mop. Depending on how close she was, she might overhear the man telling Ikuchi that they're a man short, and that the guy who was supposed to help him hasn't gotten back from his break. She would then see Ikuchi nod and grab the mop, saying that he'd cover till the other guy got back. It was something that many would consider the difference between a leader and a tyrant. Tyrants gave orders but ultimately did nothing, a leader got in the dirt and helped their subordinates with their jobs. She could say many things about him, but she could never say that Ikuchi was a bad person... well, she could... it just wouldn't be true. A man would spot Samira and approach her, saluting to her before reaching to shake her hand. (Scottish accent) "A-oi there, Miss Nassar. Been a long tale me 'erd bout yea. Guessin' yer lookin for the captain. Lass saw the lass down below, should still be there pretty'n up. Be a bit 'fore we shove off." he would say with a friendly smile before tipping his hat to her and walking off to finish moving cargo boxes.

When she got below deck, she would find Kaori in her room and immediately be taken by the hand with Kaori's eyes alight, bright with joy. Kaori would seem to be glowing, though, not in the magical sense. The smile on her face would be unmissable, and Samira would feel herself being pulled into the room. "Look Sammy!" Kaori exclaimed, still holding her hand while gesturing to the shelf lining the top of the room with various plush toys. "Auntie Angra pulled some strings and got my plushies restored! It was a bit hard to get them all back in place, but Iku worked hard. Even Mister Fluffles is back, but I left him back on the Arc." Samira would notice that on Kaori's bed was a plush doll that looked exactly like her in a white dress. If she asked about it, Kaori would look at her with innocent eyes and say "I can't hold you when you're not here. It's not even close to being called a substitute, but sometimes it's all I have."

The ship would begin moving, giving Kaori a small jerk that she used her telekinesis to keep her and Samira from falling. Kaori would begin pulling Samira out of the room and say "There's something else I wanna show you!" Kaori would lead Samira to the bottom of the ship, dodging her crew on occasion while passing them in the halls until they got to the absolute lowest floor. It would appear at first sight to be a room with a bench and nothing else, not even cargo. Kaori would pull Samira to sit on the bench and lace her arm into the summoner's and resting her head on Samira's shoulder. Samira would notice the floor seemingly to vanish, even the bench vanishing but still being under them and very much solid. The bottom section was becoming invisible, allowing them to see the sea below and various sights while passing them. "It's been a long time since we've been able to relax, so I had this added to the ship." Kaori would say softly.

Being alone with Samira, Kaori felt nervous. Her cheeks were red, and Samira would feel Kaori fidget just a little. "Y-you know..." Kaori started, her tone being much more bashful than before. Kaori turned her head up and planted a fleeting kiss on Samira's cheek. "Last time... we... we didn't exactly get to finish what we were doing." Kaori said softly. Her heart was beating quickly and she wasn't sure if she'd get away with this, but Kaori always acted on her heart and she wasn't going to stop now. Samira would feel Kaori's hand touch the cheek that was opposite her and turning her face before she locked lips with her. Kaori would slide her fingers to intolock with Samira's and, unless stopped, the two would begin getting more horizontal as the kiss continued. Once the two were laying down with Kaori on top, the ninja would break the kiss with her cheeks fully flushed and sit up quickly. "I... I'm sorry." she would say before vanishing. Her voice was more panicky, reflecting that she knew she was about to go much too far, and had to force herself to stop. If Samira had stopped Kaori before things got fully horizontal, Kaori would apologize before vanishing. If she had gone up to Kaori's room afterwards, she'd find the door locked and no reply if she knocked or pressed the ringer on the speaker next to the door. She'd hear nothing through the door since the rooms were all made as private as possible with sound canceling lacrima crystals.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Ama and Angra:

Amaterasu had indeed returned to her seclusion after had conversations with the feline spirit siblings. Both were told to not say a thing and had shown that they were loyal enough to keep what they knew confidential. Useless to her since she was the only wanting to know that information, but great allies for Ra. The spirits of the desert remained in their own clique even though they and every other spirit Samira had contracts with should have been all on the same side. They were the only ones with knowledge the rest did not have, likely due to their connection with Apophis. Still, it frustrated Ama to be kept in the dark. She could not understand the reasoning for keeping the information hidden, and most certainly could not understand why Ra had yet to return. It bothered her greatly, even more so now that she was off balance and required him to take over watching over Samira.

Bastet mentioning Ama hiding in a cave was a slight exaggeration. It was more of a hidden underground temple than anything. Magic kept wandering spirits from finding it, and those that knew of its existence she kept out forcefully. That included her closest allies in the chain of spirits. It was quiet, peaceful, and the natural magic in the place had a way of calming her. To think that she even needed to be calmed in the first place... ridiculous. She would have to apologize to Anhur at a later time for her behavior. For the moment, she was not ready to return to the others. Her head needed to be cleared of those negative emotions, and so she had returned to her seclusion to reflect and meditate. However, her time alone had been interrupted. She could feel it as soon as it had begun to materialize near a pillar.

"Angra Mainyu," Amaterasu spoke as she recognized the same feeling of darkness she had felt the first time she had been face to face with the goddess. Her tone was cold, lacking any cheer or welcoming presence. She didn't appreciate unwelcome guests right then, and most certainly not that one. The first comment regarding the "sea cucumber" went ignored. It wasn't any business of Angra's. The second remark though got her attention. She was already well aware that something was wrong. The emotions of a light spirit were always supposed to be on the positive side and never go past neutral. Hers had gone well past that and far onto the other side. Denying the statement would have been idiotic, and she had not considered herself having fallen that far to disregard logic.

"Did you really take the time to appear before me just to make these comments that I was already aware of? Surely you can do better than this, Angra," Ama said the words in a forced lighthearted way, as a way to act as if she were her normal self. Giving the goddess a long winded nickname she didn't even bother with. Such a being did not deserve them as they were meant for those she either liked or had not formed an opinion of yet. Although, if she were honest, it was likely due to the fact that was something her normal self did. There was no longer any amusement or fun with using the strange names as she was right then. Amaterasu stood up from where she was sitting and turned to face the intruder. Her blade had not been drawn since there was no point to it. It had only been done before because she was unsure if Angra was a threat or not. She wasn't. The goddess could do harm without materializing if she had wanted to. Her eyes did glare defiantly though as Angra walked closer.

The next set of comments made the light spirit even regret trying to be like her old self. She wasn't, and rather than let the words roll off her shoulders, they got to her. By the end of it she was shaky as she was trying to keep herself from exploding in anger. Teeth were clenched to ensure her tongue didn't say something it should not have, and it took everything to keep her hands balled into fists instead of calling for her weapon to strike. Then the trigger of her brother being labeled as a brighter light than herself. Their relationship was closer than their originals ever were. She loved her brother and normally would have admitted he was a very caring spirit underneath his bluntness and sharp tongue. He just didn't show it very well. There was a reason why she admired him even though she was the strongest and the oldest. He did have a light, one that was stronger than her fading one. Her normal self knew this. The version standing there with Angra would take offense. The goddess then vanished into particles that sunk through Ama's armor and into her skin. There was a pain in her chest that made her cry out a bit as her hand went towards her heart. That only further infuriated the already off balanced spirit of light. "ANGRA!" Amaterasu then went supernova. The hidden underground temple exploded in a blast of bright light.

Mindspace:

In Samira's mindspace some of the spirits were gathered around as usual. It had been very quiet for several days since the mindlink was barely even going at Samira's request. Some felt uncomfortable by it, some were downright worried. Others wondered how long it would be before the serpent himself tried to take control of the mindspace and lock them all out of it. It was a problem.

Agni: "Soooo....are we going to get Ama or Ra back anytime soon? It's kind of weird not having either of them here. It's scary actually."
Susano: A sigh. "As I said before, Ama will be back once she straightens herself out. As for Ra I don't give a damn. Call me biased because I fucking am. If he had been around like he was supposed to Ama wouldn't be gone in the first place."
Serqet: "But...he's busy!"
Susano: "If you give me that 'he's busy' line again I am going to give Kali permission to finally slice that tail of yours off so she can use it as a ceiling ornament!"
Kuku: "I think I'm just going to sit back and watch as it happens."
Nu Wa: "Kuku!"
Kuku: Lying on the couch looking over her nails nonchalantly. "What? We've got a reason to be ticked. We're all sitting here and the high and mighty falcon is off having a vacation. The desert spirits won't even tell us a damn thing as if it's some sort of a conspiracy secret. Serqet is a desert spirit. Use her as a sacrifice and make an example out of her for all I care."
Geb: Reaches out with a large stoney hand and brings Serqet towards the back of the room for protection. "Eno...ugh!"
Susano: "Oh, great. Now that everything is going to shit the pet rock speaks. Got anything else to add? Or will it take you decade to think of another word to say?"
Loki: "The tension in this place has increased more than I expected. Oh, I can't wait for Apophis to join this little get together we have going."
Kali: "Silence! Despite your clothing choice you are not at all amusing. I will cut your tongue out to add to Serqet's tail if you continue with your idiocy!"

More comments to go around that it was amazing no one was actually attacking each other. The only thing that made everyone stop all at once was the appearance of their favorite intruder.

Susano: "Oh for the love of- Not now!"
Aphrodite: "Hush!" The spirit of beauty commanded as she shoved Susano out of the way and began to quickly pretty herself up. One must always look presentable when receiving gifts. "He always comes bearing gifts. Surely one is for me this time!" Meanwhile Susano was facepalming and shaking his head. He hadn't been able to go to a therapy session all week due to having to take full control while Ama was away. Kuku was too wild to be in charge and Nu Wa too gentle. He Bo was too reserved and Athena while was smart enough did not desire to handle conflict among her allies. That meant he was back to full time leader. Oh....back to those killer days.

The spirits watched as Ninja walked towards, not Aphrodite, but Kali. They all watched with wide eyes and dropped jaws as a gift was handed to her. She glared as she always did, but was intrigued by the idea of getting a gift. Now she had the opportunity to track down the fool and make him regret embarrassing her. A demon hiss was let loose as she swiped the small golden box from the delivery spirit. Upon opening the box and removing the velvet cloth she stared at the bracelet within with a deep frown. It was then covered back up. Damn. It was actually a nice gift. She'd have to thank the person...and then go with her gutting them plan. It was the considerate thing to do.

By that point Susano had walked away from his original location and had considered banging his head against the wall. He didn't even have the luxury of getting drunk with all the crap that was going on. "You're still here? Can't you just tell these lazy freaks to use a mailbox like everyone else? I'm pretty sure we have one! Hell...didn't even know we had a door until recently, so I seriously doubt I'm wrong." Then he noticed the Ninja spirit was holding a letter...for him. The bright gold heart was almost cringing to look at. "You're kidding...." He was not kidding. With a slight eyeroll he took the letter just to make the delivery spirit go away faster. He opened it, read it, and nearly died trying to hold in his chuckles. "Hey, Aphrodite, you were right to tell me to hush. Getting this was totally worth it." He held up and waved the letter with a huge grin on his face. "Thanks! Sorry you didn't get a gift though. Maybe next time! Hey, Agni, what's Celestial Ninja 2?"

The beauty spirit was furious! She made very posh sounding offended gasps as both parties got their gifts but nothing had been for her. Again! What was wrong with the world?! Had she gotten transported to some alternate universe? At Susano's comment, her arms crossed over her chest and her face twisted into jealous anger as she turned her head and looked away with closed eyes. "That girl must be an idiot if she chose you to fall for. You can have her gift! She is unworthy of my time!" Her eyes opened as she began to sense great danger coming from the blue skinned demon looking spirit who had also received a gift. "O-oh...your gift I am sure you deserved!" Obvious lie so Kali wouldn't go on the offensive. Aphrodite had not noticed Ninja was walking towards her, and knew even less about him vanishing. That is, until she felt a touch on her shoulder. Then the word "tag." Everyone else was surprised by the fact that he could actually talk. Aphrodite was surprised that she had been touched by him. She screamed. Loud. High pitched. Ear bleeding. Someone would have thought she was going under severe torture and was dying if they did not realize the full situation. Needless to say, many spirits now had headaches and had to calm the spirit from her angry panic attack tirade.

Sammy and Kaori:

Samira had made it to the main deck, but stopped when she noticed Ikuchi. Anhur also stopped, looking at her inquisitively. He could see that the summoner was uncertain and had looked at the ground for a moment. If he had to take a guess, asking him would have given a quicker answer as to where Kaori was, but Samira was hesitant to bother to do so. Anhur could feel the anxiety as she did, and he didn't like it whatsoever. She didn't want to trouble the normal crew that she didn't really know, and the last time she spoke to Ikuchi he wasn't exactly soft with his opinion on her fighting abilities. The lion spirit sighed. "Am I really going to have to go over and ask?" Samira looked up at the lion with a confused expression at first. Oh, right. Even if he wasn't a full spirit he was still connected with her. She gave him a small smile and shook her head. "No, it is fine. He seems to be busy anyway like everyone else. We should probably just walk around and see if we can find her on our own."
"Tell her to remove whatever it is that keeps me from catching her scent and this will not be a problem." Anhur said as the two continued moving on.
"I...do not think she would even consider the request."
As the two talked, a man approached them, or rather Samira specifically. Once again she had the sweatdrop and nervous smile reaction of someone already having heard about her. There had to be some kind of mass assembly for that sort of thing, right? Kaori didn't REALLY go to all of these people individually? She shook his hand, although her side of it being more gentle than firm. "Oh, uh, thank you," she replied gratefully once he had given the information she happened to be looking for. She didn't even have to ask for it. The summoner waved as he cheerfully left, and it was also then that she and Anhur split up. He didn't think he needed to be there while Samira was with Kaori, and really he wanted to explore the ship anyway.

Samira made her way below deck and towards Kaori's room. As luck would have it, the crew member was correct with his info. "Kaori?" She gave a bit of a knock as she opened the door, and before she could even step inside she was taken by the hand and pulled into the room. Like the previous day, Kaori looked very happy, of which Samira was glad to see. Also like yesterday, her earlier anxiety had faded completely, allowing her to join in on the excitement and smile. Her eyes went to the plushies that had been restored. They weren't exactly things she feared like normal dolls, but they still could be a bit creepy. Angra restoring them made her frown a bit since she still had her own issues with Kaori's aunt that she needed to get over. But the one comment that nearly made Samira die on the spot was the one about Iku working hard to arrange the dolls. Her gaze went back to Kaori. "You...did not..." Samira couldn't even finished her sentence. He had mentioned before the first time he was allowed into Kaori's room was to arrange dolls so they'd look nice for Samira. Now there was probably another layer of hate at having to do it a second time.

A long sigh was made before she looked towards the bed and saw a Samira plushie. Blink blink. She walked over to it and picked up the plush doll that greatly resembled her. Then she looked over at Kaori. While she said no words her eyes questioned its existence. "Oh," she said, understanding and not judging her for it. Samira looked back down at the doll she held. She stared into its eyes as it stared into hers. The creepiness of all dolls factor set in. Wait...there could only be one Samira. What if the doll grew jealous? What if it wanted all the snuggles? Gasp! What if it wanted to be the only Samira? A new rival! A new enemy! A new villain! Samira's eyes narrowed, defying the doll's intimidation tactics. She was the only Samira. No doll was going to try and take over! Just in case though, she laid it down gently on the bed and straightened its dress. You know, so it wouldn't get offended and continue its evil plotting.

The ship then began moving. A jerk occurred but Kaori's abilities held the ninja and herself in place. Afterwards, she was being pulled out of the room, and soon through various crew members as Kaori led her through the ship. "Where are we going?" They seemed to be getting to the very lowest levels of the ship. For what reason she wasn't sure about. Eventually they stopped when they reached a room with nothing but a bench in it, of which she was directed to sit on while Kaori laced her arm around her own and rested her head on her shoulder. Samira didn't mind it, but they could have done the same thing upstairs. Then the floor vanished. The green eyes in her head widened and her feet lifted from the floor slightly as an instinctive reaction. Then the bench vanished. It was a little more than awkward to be sitting on something that was invisible. When the transition fully completed, they were able to see the sea below and everything else they were passing over. It was enjoyable and made her realize through all the times she had been flying on Kaori's ships she never actually looked at the sights. Normally she just stayed in her room the entire time. "I am glad you did. I have not looked at the view before until now actually." She continued staring down with a wide smile, and she allowed herself to lean against Kaori more.

Kaori had said something but Samira was unaware of it as she continued staring at the view. Then she felt the kiss on her cheek. Her face instantly turned a couple of shades more pink from the action, especially when mixed with the words that were spoken. Should she be questioning what Kaori meant by "finish"? They had an intimate kiss, but surely she didn't think they were going to...oh my. Samira's face grew redder. The two were once again lip locked into a kiss, of which Samira did not refuse. As time went on, she had somehow found herself more drawn to Kaori and allowed more of those types of things to go on. Some time ago she had been told to give Kaori a chance. It was something she could never do while the ninja was in pieces and on the medication, but things seemed to be changing now that she was whole again. Samira really didn't know what to make of it. Going that far with her was not something she ever considered back when they first met. Soon, the ninja was lying on top of Samira as the kiss continued, but it didn't last long. Kaori broke away and vanished after making an embarrassed apology.

Samira continued lying there, face red and blinking in confusion. She wasn't entirely sure if she was disappointed or relieved. It's not like they were in a really private setting, after all. Her feelings were a little bit confused. Why did that seem like such a familiar thing to her?

The only thing Samira could think of to do was go back towards Kaori's room. The doorknob was turned but was locked. "Kaori?" Samira said after knocking a few times. There was concern in her voice, and she was worried that the happiness the ninja was finally feeling again had evaporated. She pressed the little ringer. "Kay?" Still nothing. She couldn't hear anything from inside the room either, not even when pressing her ear against the door. Samira sighed. She could easily summon Janus and make a portal to go right through it. Unfortunately, unlike certain people, she had manners and was considerate. Kaori didn't want to be disturbed and apparently thought she needed some time away from her. It was sad they already had to be separated, but it was what it was. She couldn't force Kaori to be all right if she wasn't.

'Oh, thank the true gods. You're not going in there.'

Samira frowned at Susano's voice in her head. "What do you mean? And what are you doing talking to me? I thought the link was off?"

'Samira, my summoner, you are just so adorable. We left you alone, that was it. The links were still very much active. Things got a little more than stupid on our side so I decided to tune in once things calmed down. Let me say, I was worried I would see more than I wanted to. You go in there and even Agni will say a censor will be required before he can watch it. Don't do that to us, and no, you're not allowed to turn your link off.'

"Susano, please stop it. You are not helping."

'That's the beauty of my job. I am not here to help, at least not the way you want. I am here to make sure you are on the right path etc etc toss in more cliche mumbo jumbo here and you have my job.'

"You just needed someone to pick on to release your frustrations, did you not?"

'You caught me.'

Just as Samira facepalmed and turned to leave Kaori's door and head further into the hallway, Serqet materialized, along with a small monkey creature, who's appearance made Samira's eye twitch. "You still have that dreadful thing?" Angry monkey screech as a response. "Banana Joe is not dreadful! Now all the other spirits in your head are dreadful! They're so mean to me now! I'm staying out here until Ra gets back."
"Serqet, you cannot just-and there she goes." The venom spirit and monkey went to create some mischief. Samira really did not feel like dismissing her. "What is this about all of you being mean to her?"

'Spirit business. Why don't you keep your ass focused on summoner business? I heard you're going to train. Try not to disappoint ninja girl. It embarrasses us.'

Another eye twitch. If there was one spirit that ever deserved a few slaps... ugh! Deep breath. "I may as well explore the ship like Anhur was going to do," Samira said out loud to no one in particular since she was by herself and she wasn't sure if her spirits were still listening in or not. She'd been on the ship a few times before but never had she fully explored it or gotten very familiar with it. So onto the task of exploring the natural born adventurer went. What things awaited her on this new strange trip she did not know. If a porcelain doll room existed and she found it, she was jumping overboard.

Kaori had curled up on her bed while hating herself for what she'd nearly done. Holding her knees, the woman began sobbing and softly crying from the simple fact that she was about to defile someone who regarded her as a best friend. In her mind, Kaori's spirits had exited to give her time. The problem with Kaori was that she overthought many things, leading her to believe she had done more wrong than she actually did. None of her spirits were able to convince her otherwise, so the only thing they could do was give her time alone. Charlotte had materialized in her room and laid on the bed with her, slowly sliding herself closer to rest her hand on the side of Kaori's head. Upon feeling the familiar sensation, Kaori looked up with already red eyes and grabbed the spirit to pull her in and bury her head in Charlotte's chest. The spirit gently rubbed Kaori's head and allowed herself to be held, knowing that Kaori wouldn't be trying anything with her that she would with Samira. Kaori tried to apologize for being weak, but Charlotte had interrupted saying "It's okay... Don't talk, just let it out." in a soft, soothing tone. The spirit was normally quite timid most the time, but she was easily the most terrifying spirit of Kaori's when she needed to be strong. From beating Aquarius with her bare hands, to keeping Mammoth from getting in trouble, she had earned her respect from the other members of Kaori's team.

On Samira's journey through the ship, she would come across some fairly basic rooms. The first sets of rooms would contain bunk beds and be marked as crew quarters by the sign on the right of the door. At the end of the hall would be a storage room with various crates secured to the floors and walls. Below that floor would be more crew rooms with three sets of triple bunks each, and the rest of the floor would be amenities. The first room Samira would come across would be labeled as a music room, and have some muffled music coming from within. Upon opening the door, Samira would hear the music going off


Upon looking down, she would see dozens of dolls, both plushies and porcelain ones dancing to the song. The music would suddenly squeak to a stop as the doll at the mix-station put its hand on the disk, looking at Samira and tilting its head as though it wanted to know if she needed them for something. Samira would then feel something tapping on her foot, looking up at her with a cute teddy bear face. Once she had gotten out of the way of the door, the teddy would walk behind the door and slowly close it and then the music would resume. Shortly after that, the words "SAMMYYYY!" would be ringing loud and clear across the hall as a very tiny woman tackled Samira to the floor, hugging her tightly. "I didn't think I'd see you so soon!" she would exclaim before sitting up on the summoner, a large smile on her pale face. "Kuromi..." a less than enthusiastic tone would say while the body attached approached, the massive sword positioned on her back. "Hai!?" the small woman shouted with a million times more youthful exuberance than she should have had. "Get off her. We have work to do..." Namine said while looking down on her. "But Na-chaaaan, I want to-" "You wanna piss off the captain again?" Kuromi stopped dead and began blinking as the ghost of horrors came back to haunt her. "But Nee-sama wouldn't be mad if I was with Sammy." she argued, a disheartened and pleading look on her face. "We were ordered to sharpen the blades in the armory. You can play with Samira when we're done." Namine replied, her tone was so lacking in energy one would swear she didn't want to be present at the moment. "But she'll be gone by then!" Kuromi whined. "Then you'd better work fast." Namine said, earning puffed cheeks from Kuromi. Kuromi gave Samira another hug and a kiss on the cheek before vanishing and running to go to the armory. Namine had looked down at Samira. "Sorry about her. She doesn't have many friends, try not to get too annoyed. Cap gave us work, best not piss her off." the woman said before walking off in the direction Kuromi ran. While passing, Namine said "See ya 'round." and giving a small wave of her hand.

The next room Samira would come across contained various devices that were very archaic in nature. A bear trap, Pope's Pear, Scavenger's Daughter, Iron Spider, Juda's Cradle, a table with iron cuffs, whips, chains, barbed wire, gator clips, a car battery, and many other things for obtaining information with force. Of course, not a single drop of blood was to be found which would imply that the room had never been used, but Kaori was notorious for having her crew keep her ship nigh spotless so it was completely possible that it had been used and then cleaned. The room after that was considerably less horrible while also being slightly worse. The room contained no torture devices, dancing dolls, or dangerous things but it did contained many venomous creatures inside glass boxes that were secured to a wall. Samira would notice that many of the spiders in the room would stop and begin looking at her, twitching their fangs as venom began pooling, as though they were waiting for her to enter and let one of them out. If she lingered any longer, a hornet the size of her hand would slam into the side of its box and leave a very small but noticeable crack in the casing. Its stinger was so large that it could be registered as a weapon, and the fact that it was moving would make things worse. The snakes in the room however did nothing to show threatening intent... Each and every snake had seemed relaxed around Samira, as though they both had a common factor that warranted cooperation among species. Even the rattlesnakes didn't dare shake their rattles at her.

Several more rooms of cargo containers, lab supplies, and a room with a silicone doll that Kaori didn't know was placed there otherwise it would be thrown overboard had passed before Samira would come to a room with a weight symbol on it. Inside the room would be something that most people on the ship would have warned Samira about... Facing the door, Ikuchi had been doing squats with a barbell on his back that had six forty-five pound weights on each side. "Ninety nine, one-hundred, one hundred-one..." he counted while going down and up. This was not the part that the crew would warn her of... You see, each member of the crew aside from Kuromi and Namine had known that Ikuchi did his daily work out around this time... naked. He claimed that doing so was more freeing, and let him know when he was sweating because of the work out and not because of his clothes being hot. It also meant he didn't have to switch to a new set of clothes after his shower, which was a bonus. Ikuchi would look up at Samira with an unphased look while continuing his work out. "You... really should... knock first." he would say calmly between each squat. The Lareci clan commonly showered together so being naked in front of others wasn't that big of a deal, and it was nothing Samira hadn't seen before. If Anhur had walked in on Ikuchi some time later, the dragon god would say "Sup... Anhur... Grab a set... if you want." inviting him to work out with Ikuchi. In all honesty, anyone was free to enter if they didn't mind staring at rippling abs, glutes, and that which will not be named for fear of the gods smiting whoever dared.

The next room would be much less tame than the rest of Samira's tour of the ship, as it would contain nothing of horror at all. Inside the room, Samira would see Kou, the nature dragon curled up on a large mound of grass with a small tree hanging over top him. Under the nature dragon's wing would be a pair of small things, one pink and one black. Kou would lift his head and let out a soft dragon cry with an expression that implied he was happy to see her. Since Heigen was turned around, Samira would be unable to realize the fourth being in the room and he'd just look like a random grassy hill. The rest of the rooms on the ship would be normal stuff. Food storage, weapons rooms, tech rooms, etc...

When the ship finally landed, Kaori would come out of her room with dried eyes and no intentions of looking at Samira. Once they made it down the gangplank, Kaori would turn to Samira and open her mouth to speak but stop. She'd then grab her own arm with the opposing hand and say "I..." "-Lady Lareci!" a voice would call to interrupt Kaori's oh-so-smooth apology. The man would speak in Midi's tongue since that's what came easiest to him. "I apologize for the interruption my lady, but there's a matter that requires your immediate attention." Kaori would look at the man with a stern expression, the fact that he said it required her attention at all seeming to snap Kaori back into clan leader mode. "What is it?" she asked in the same tongue. "It's... difficult to explain. It may take some time for travel, but I assure you of the urgency." he said, to which Kaori nodded. Her clansmen, the guard especially, didn't refer to anything as 'urgent' unless it was something that they couldn't handle collectively. Kaori turned to Samira with the same expression she gave her guardsman and said "There's something that requires my attention so to start your training I'll have you and Ikuchi go to the north side of the territory. There's a set of ruins there that'll provide some insight on combat." she turned to Ikuchi. "I expect her to return alive and in a single part, instead of multiples." to which Ikuchi said "Understood." with a calm, and completely neutral tone. With that, Kaori had grabbed one of the two horses the guardsman had with him and the two began riding off. Samira would find Ikuchi in his dragonhound form and if she didn't get on, he would ram his snout under her legs and force her to ride as he moved at... a surprisingly not-so-horrible speed. It wouldn't be gentle, but it wouldn't be thrashing about wildly until Samira's brain flew out.



Upon arriving, Samira would be allowed to disembark Ikuchi gently instead of being tossed off him. He'd quickly revert to his normal-ish human like form and brush off his arms to remove the dust from his clothes. Ikuchi would walk forward, pausing at the entrance to the cave and looking in. He was already ticked off that he was obligated to babysit Samira, and that he had to arrenge more fucking dolls, and there was still a great deal of anger left from when Samira had hit him. "Samira." he would say, his tone being soft and showing no signs of his inner hatred. Ikuchi would then turn around and grab the woman's hand, pulling her closely to reposition the same hand on her waist. "You wanted me to treat you as I feel for you... as my heart calls... Is that not correct?" he would ask. His eyes carried a certain innocence once you looked past the red inferno burning within. Ikuchi would then slid his hands under her thighs and lift her up, bringing her head above his with him looking up in quite a romantic and low-key deceptive way. "In that case..." he would say exactly half a second before his eyes turned to a black flame and his expression became a scowl. His arms grabbed her tightly and Ikuchi sent her flying towards the ground where she'd crater and be held in place by black rings, stronger than diamond. When she finally refocused her mind, she'd see Ikuchi with a black gemstone sword pointed between her eyes. "You are vile, human. More times in a year has Kaori cried because of you than any other thing. You are expected to return alive, and in one piece. If you get in my way, I'll reduce you to several and accept my punishment." The rings would then recede into the ground in the form of molten that didn't burn Samira as Ikuchi turned and began entering the cave. "Be a good little dead weight and stay behind me."

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

So began the journey of the summoner brave enough to see what sort of rooms and other things were on Recon One. She would this day learn that being curious about a ship belonging to Kaori and her crew was a very bad thing. They were not normal people and as such the ship would not be so either. The journey began normal enough. Just some bedrooms for the crew and storage areas. Further along she went until she found what seemed to be a music room. Her head tilted as the muffled sounds of music reached her ears. The curiosity increased. Her hand went for the doorknob and gently turned it as she opened the door. She peered in innocently, but then her face turned completely white as the expression went to full on horror. Her eyes went dead and she was pretty sure her spirit left her and was floating off somewhere above her. Dancing. Dolls. The situation was made even more awkward as the music stopped with a squeaking sound. Then all dolls focused their soulless gazes on her. Her mouth was wide open and making very inarticulate sounds. Just...what? Why?!

A tapping of her foot brought her spirit back to its proper place in her body. She looked down and shrieked before taking several steps back until her back hit the other wall of the hallway and she slid down to a sitting position on the floor. A teddy bear plushie had nearly devoured her! She stared in horror and terrified amazement as the doll closed the door and the music started to play once more. Her head tilted again and question marks appeared above her head. What was that just now? She needed to get away before the song reached its end and the dolls came out! However, the moment she stood up she heard her name. "Ye-ahhhh!" Her head had been in the middle of turning to look at the one that was screaming her name and inquire as to what they wanted right before getting tackled to the ground. Samira was then trapped in a tight hug by... her. The doll magic girl she had fought some time ago! The summoner instantly tensed up at the realization. What was she doing on the ship? "See me so soon? What are-?" She was interrupted by another voice, one she didn't even expect to see alive. They were allies now?! The tall one was fine really but...why did Kaori have to pick up the girl with dolls? The inner Samira cried.

A sweatdrop had formed while the two women interacted. The tiny girl that was once her enemy had suddenly gotten attached with no explanation at all. A part of her thought it was sweet, but the part that was terrified that she would be asked to attend a doll tea party was praying Kaori would give her way too much work to play. Finally Kuromi had been convinced to get off her and get to the armory. Instant relief that was made apparent when she sat up and sighed, inwardly thanking her luck for being spared more doll torture for the moment. Her green eyes blinked and stared up at Namine as she apologized for Kuromi and stated that she didn't have many friends. Samira knew what that was like. "Bye...," She said softly in reply to Namine's farewell, waving her hand as Namine passed her. She rose from the ground fully and went back to her explorations.

The next interesting room she came across was some sort of torture room. She wasn't exactly disturbed that the room itself existed, but more so that Kaori had it. Torturing others didn't really seem like something Kaori would do, and if she did, Samira couldn't really picture it. Then again, she had been around the kinder side of Kaori more lately. Never had Samira seen her at a point that she felt the need to torture someone. People were either dead very quickly or not at all. Some of the devices she examined and touched out of curiosity, noting that they were very well cleaned. Either they were never used or it was cleaned by some serious professionals. The fact that she was less disturbed of a torture room than a room full of harmless dancing dolls was probably disturbing itself. Samira left the room and moved on.

Samira entered a room that contained creatures in glass boxes. Not just any creatures though. Many of them were actually venomous. She walked up to and stood in front of some of the cases. First were the spiders that took interest in her and looked over the moment she entered the room. Spiders weren't a fear of hers and she had dealt with a much bigger one before. Well Kuku did really, but she was present for it. She wasn't about to take one out and pet it though. They didn't look very friendly with all that drooling venom dripping from their fangs. As she started moving onto another creature to look at, she was interrupted when something had slammed the glass case beside her that she was ignoring. Inside was a freakishly large hornet with a stinger that was just as big. She took a few steps back when she saw the crack in the case and quickly moved on. Dealing with that monstrosity she was not wanting on her agenda for the day. Her quickened steps led her to the snake cases. They didn't do absolutely nothing at all except either stare at her or go about their business. That...was odd. Everything else seemed threatening. Not even the rattlesnakes were giving a warning. She felt like opening one of the cases to see if they still remained calm but stopped herself. Surely she would get into some sort of trouble if she started letting snakes out and releasing them onto the ship if she couldn't get it back in. There were already other things stressing her mind without acting on her foolish curiosity to see if she was a true snake charmer.

Several more normal rooms were passed...well aside from one that had some sort of large doll in it. She didn't really investigate that and didn't want to. Next up was a room that had a weight symbol. A gym obviously. Well she had checked out the more boring and normal rooms so she may as well see what kind of gym it was. She opened the door, not really expecting anything out of the norm. Maybe some work out equipment and a few people working out. There ended up being only one person within the room. One that she didn't really want to be around which was an instant regret for having ventured forth into the gym already. To make it worse, he was completely naked! Her eyes widened as the scene full processed. It was nothing she hadn't seen before, but it was most inappropriate. It was honestly inappropriate the other time too, but that was beside the point. Who goes to what may as well have been a public gym and work out naked?! "Sorry!" She screamed before shutting the door.

"You could apologize a little more quietly." Anhur, who had been standing beside the doorway, said and then closed his eyes as the surprised shriek of Samira reached his ears. Curious as to why she had been so jumpy to begin with, he moved to open the door she had just slammed shut. Her hand slapped his own. "Do not go in there!" The lion stared at her before looking at the symbol that indicated it was a gym. He had seen some strange things aboard the vessel but he doubted an exercise room could be all that threatening. "I do not take orders. You should know this." He went for the doorknob again and had opened it slightly. Samira then showed that the lion spirit did take orders and he took them well. Using his key, she commanded him to go find Serqet and keep her and Banana Joe company. Anhur grumbled as he begrudgingly left and went to fulfill the order. Samira closed the door fully and sighed with relief. Most inappropriate! She also did not need any of her spirits thinking it was a good idea to train that way.

Moving along. The last interesting room she came across was a room that had the nature dragon pet she had seen before back in Peace Village. It seemed to like her then and it still seemed think well of her. From what she could tell anyway. Kou had made a sound that she assumed was a greeting. Samira waved before closing the door. As cute as he was, she still wasn't comfortable around dragons. Less than two weeks had passed, which was not really enough time to fully recover from past experiences with such creatures. The rest of her explorations was just a bunch of normal things. She returned to check on Kaori's room before going to her own for the rest of the trip.

The ship landed and Samira made her way towards the ship's exit and left it. Anhur remained behind since Samira had forgotten to release him from the order to keep Serqet happy, and she had not returned to the celestial world. She had expected Kaori to say something but nothing had been said when the ninja left her room. There wasn't even a gaze her way. Samira kept quiet about it, but she didn't really understand why Kaori had distanced herself. Once they had left the ship though Kaori had turned her way and seemed to be about to say something. It was a relief for her. For a moment she was beginning to worry she would be ignored for a while. Unfortunately, whatever was to be said was interrupted and would have to wait until later. Clan leader business had caught up with her and that had taken priority. Samira understood that, but she really wished the training could just be put on hold until Kaori was ready to start. Her gaze drifted over to Ikuchi when Kaori spoke to him. It had been a while since the two of them had worked together on anything, and she wasn't so certain how it would work out. They weren't friends, that much was obvious. It was also possible she had completely destroyed what little was even there. She wasn't sure mainly due to not being around him much since his return, and when she was Kaori was either present or nearby.

Samira watched Kaori take off on a horse before turning towards Ikuchi, now in dragonhound form. She didn't need to be told that she was supposed to get on him in order to reach the ruins at a quicker pace. That didn't mean she wanted to. For more reasons than usual. She stepped back and shook her head. "That is not necessary." Her remark had a tone that covered the fact she was uncomfortable around him, and even less comfortable using him as some sort of travel vehicle. Her own legs worked just fine, and there was no reason to rush. He didn't seem to particularly care though as he rammed into her and forced her on. There was no other choice but to stay on by that point until they reached the ruins.

During the journey, the mind link between herself and her spirits was fully back on. Things had finally settled down in there, and even Amaterasu had returned to it, although she remained farther away from the others and stayed leaning against a wall. She still didn't feel ready or calm whatsoever, but she pretty much destroyed her other area, and as far as she was concerned it became contaminated the moment Angra materialized. So, she returned to the mind space and had remained quiet. The others were chatty though, and through the mental communication expressed their concerns and theories regarding whatever combat was to take place.

"Right, so, I'm a little confused here. What are we supposed to be doing in these ruins?"
"For a spirit that has two heads your intelligence is lacking. The ninja woman said there would be insight to combat."
"Right, that's why I'm asking. It's not like WE need the training. Samira also doesn't need practice summoning us. Is she just supposed to go in there swinging those toothpicks of hers? Kaori did say she was expected to return alive so I'm thinking fluffy and harmless marshmallow monsters is not what our summoner is going to run into in there."
"How about instead of focusing on whatever monsters may be in there, we instead focus on the beast? I really did not expect Ninja Girl to be so dense as to leave those two alone. And having him play bodyguard no less."
"She is not dense, Susano. Whether or not she knows of his dislike for me, she trusts him not to do anything that would actually hurt or get me killed. Even I do not think he would do anything too terrible. Perhaps just return to the way he was back when we did that mission in the Pergrande Kingdom. He would just be more cold and rude."
"Yeah, well, both of you are way too trusting. I think you both forget what he actually is."
"How about everyone just shuts the hell up? The chaotic nonsense was fun to watch at first, but now it's just getting stupid. Keep this up, and we won't even need the avatar of chaos."

The discussion continued, mostly which Samira tried to tune out. She hopped off Ikuchi when he came to a stop. Nothing was sad between either of them. The natural assumption was made that she was supposed to follow, and so she did until he stopped shortly after reaching the entrance to a cave. Her name was called, only earning the reply of an innocent, "Yes?" She had expected to be given some sort of instruction or explanation of the ruins and what was in them. Instead she was surprisingly pulled closer and asked a question that brought back the time when she had demanded he stop sending mixed signals. He either hated her or he didn't. She could hear Susano's warnings, but they went ignored as her mind and body were overflowing with thoughts and emotions again. Samira couldn't tell what he was doing or why he had chosen then to bring it up. When it came to him, she really couldn't tell anything. That was why she needed things to be set straight and remain that way. "That is what I said before, but Iku-" Samira's sentence came to a stop. She had been about to tell him that she may of crossed a few lines that day and apologize for it while also explaining that she was developing feelings for Kaori, which was where they should of been from the start. The thought process came to a complete stop as he lifted her up and held her. "Iku-" The gentle demand for him to stop and put her down would also not come to full completion.

The oddly innocent inferno eyes then showed their true colors. Samira knew she was in trouble the moment they had turned black. Fear coursed through her and her face showed it due to being in a very vulnerable position with no escape. She felt the hold he had on her get tighter just before she was thrown towards the ground with such force that even the small barrier her spirits had around her popped the moment she made impact. Black rings then held her in place to where she could not get up. If it were not for the spirit barrier absorbing some of the collision damage, she probably would not have even been able to, black rings or not. That single little move had done enough to the summoner's mental stability that all her spirits could feel it even as they watched. It had even woken up the sleeping serpent, who had chosen to remain doing nothing currently. The physical pain she was feeling aside, the mental thoughts were all over the place and took more time than it should have to refocus them all. When she finally did, her eyes widened at the realization a sword was pointed at her. He had done that before back at the shrines. Samira had forgotten about that until that moment. She was scared then, and she was even more so now. He may have just gotten to the level of dolls in her fear category. Maybe even higher. As much as she hated dolls, they didn't go around making threats that she actually believed. She could actually fight dolls and win if her fear didn't overpower her. That was not the same with Ikuchi.

"So, on a scale of one to ten, how 'rude' would we call this?"
"Brother..."
"What? I'm curious!"
"No, really, shut up. I thought it was funny, but after a few seconds I remembered that is actually our summoner. I am now pissed. If we're not going to summoned to kick his arrogant dragon ass then it's time to turn around and leave him there. Fuck following him down into a death trap."
"As much as I would like to agree, can't do it. Not even going to suggest it."
"And why the hell not?!"
"Samira turning around now and deserting the mission and training would only create more reasons for him to disrespect her further. He has already threatened to turn her into several pieces if she gets in the way. I do not have to go into details on what could happen when a larger offense is made. What you are suggesting would sign her death certificate."
"Can it, Glows A Lot. You lost your right to even speak to me as another high ranking spirit. Go sit with the baby spirits."
"Kuku, I think you are forgetting that I asked for this. I would rather he show that he completely hates me instead of covering it up the way he had done before. All it did was confuse me. I also do not intend to abandon him or the task Kaori gave me. To answer your question, Susano, the scale broke so I am unable to give an accurate estimate."
"It was a joke and didn't really need an answer, but good to know. Now don't get in the way. I actually really want to think highly of him and assume he wouldn't actually hurt you anymore than he already had. He got his hit in for the one you did so it should end. That may be a stretch though. Also, don't summon Kuku. She'll attack him. Why is it always the snakes that are a problem?"

Samira had slowly gotten up during the conversation and had gone inside the cave. She followed along silently and made sure to keep some distance. What they were supposed to be doing she wasn't even entirely sure on. There weren't any details on what the ruins were, if they would even be fighting anything seriously, nor on what they would run into. Was she even allowed to use her spirits during it? If she was then it wasn't really training. It was just doing what she always had done. The same could be said for just remaining behind Ikuchi the entire time. "Ikuchi..." she started to say with some reluctance. "All you did was refer to me as dead weight and say to stay behind you. That does not exactly explain much of anything in regards of what I am supposed to be doing here and what to expect."

Wind whipped through Kaori's hair as she rode the steed into the distance. Following her trusted guardsman, Kaori didn't suspect any treason of the man. He was someone that she fought alongside when she herself was in the military, and once she earned his respect, he had proven to be a great ally. As they got further from the village, moving in the opposite direction as Ikuchi and Samira, ten more men on horseback had joined Kaori and the guardsman, Hiro. The men had formed around Kaori, making sure to keep up with their pace and act as a human wall in the event of surprise attacks. "My lady, it's good to see you again." one of the men said while performing a small bow on his steed. "Thank you. Now can anyone tell me what's so important that you'd interrupt my schedule?" Kaori replied, making sure not to slow down. "It's complicated, my lady. Most of us are still trying to figure it out, the others gave up." the same man said, making Kaori curious. "You have a sister, Lady Lareci." another man called, which made Kaori want to say he's full of shit but she held it back. The fact that several of her guardsmen were agreeing on the situation being complicated and going so far as to actually have a destination in mind would suggest they weren't lying to her. She figured they may be misinformed, or that they were lied to, in which case she'd deliver a proper punishment for inconveniencing her and her guard.

The sound of thundering echoed through the vast grasslands and prairies of the Lareci Lands as the band of warriors and their leader charged past. A fallen tree was vaulted over in what outsiders would swear was a rehearsed scene from how each horse had reacted at the exact same moment, landing perfectly and continuing their advance. In Kaori's clan, even the horses were trained relentlessly to be machines when needed. Of course, they were allowed to be horses during their free time- it was encouraged actually. 'Angra.' Kaori said in her mind, feeling fairly disturbed at the situation. 'Yes?' the voice responded, sounding fairly intrigued. 'Do I actually have a sister?' Kaori asked, being quite blunt. 'I don't know.' Angra replied, being as straight with Kaori as possible. 'What? How-' 'Kana wasn't exactly on good terms with us back then, dear. She ran off with some human and got knocked up, then, decided it was smart to cut ties with us. I'm sorry if I don't know about you having a younger sister, but to be fair, I didn't know about you until your brother betrayed everyone.' It was something Kaori didn't quite know. Her mother had always been a source of love and wisdom in her life, and always taught Kaori to own up to her mistakes. She never talked about her family in depth, but did mention she had a couple of siblings. She never imagined that her mom had actually fallen in love with someone and had premarital sex, nor did she imagine that the reason her mom never talked much about her family was because she was ashamed of her action. Then again, she never imagined that her mother's side of the family were gods and goddesses either. Kaori let out a sigh and flicked the reins to speed up the horse while telling Angra 'I understand. I'm s-' 'Don't you dare apologize.' Angra interrupted, her tone was very firm, but it wasn't aggressive. 'Your mother's actions were a mistake on her part, but they didn't define who she was. Kana made the decision to stay by your father and be happy instead of fulfilling her duty as a Goddess. Our parents were utterly disgusted, and my brother hated her for never bothering to talk to us... but I always admired her for that. Her mistake isn't what defines her to me, it's what she did afterwards that does. She left behind a powerful, open minded, loving daughter to change the world.' Kaori didn't reply.

---

---

Samira had called Ikuchi's attention, but the 'man' didn't bother to turn around, pause, reply, or even scoff at her. He continued walking forward while keeping his eyes focused, making sure to keep a very specific pacing. Samira had said that all Ikuchi did was call her dead weight and tell her to stay out of his way, but hadn't exactly explained what it was that she was supposed to do. The fact that she didn't figure it out by now was annoying, but that would have to wait... As Samira took a single step forward a cylinder of pure onyx would shoot from the ground in front her, impact her stomach with force equal to ten Iron Fists, sending the woman to the ceiling where she'd ricochet off and hit the ground. Ikuchi would walk back towards her and stand over her body, pointing towards the ground where a rectangular line where a pressure plate was. "You are here to learn, human." he would say coldly before slamming his foot on the pressure plate. Ten blades came swinging from the walls and were all shattered by onyx pillars that shot out of the ground and impacted them. "Lesson one, don't be so fucking oblivious." He added before turning around and continuing down the path.

The next issue that came along was a massive chasm that was ten feet deep, ten feet wide, and forty feet long. The walls were completely smooth with no hand holds, and the ground had spikes that were mechanised to drop into the ground before shooting up. Ikuchi would stop and cross his arms under his chest, scanning the room and taking a deep breath. The spikes were moving seemingly at random, but he realized after a minute it was actually just a very lengthy sequence. If Samira tried to summon Janus or any other spirit, she'd quickly realize that her ability to summon was no longer present. Her spirits could see what was happening, but the caves they were in were completely void of magic. With no ethernano in the area to fuel spells, Samira would have to use her life to summon them. However, if she tried that, she'd realize it also wouldn't work either. If she asked Ikuchi why she couldn't use magic, Ikuchi would say "Because you are weak, human." Whether or not Samira asked Ikuchi about it, the dragon would inform her that she had thirty seconds to make it to the other side before placing his foot on a pressure pad and the floor behind them dropped. There was ten feet of ground back there, and every three seconds a foot of it had vanished into an abyss. The gap to safety in that direction was so far back that the glow of the wall torches couldn't even show it.

Ikuchi had darted forward, quickly jumping down into the hole and landing into a roll with spikes flying up behind him, each mere millimeters from turning him into a scarecrow. Ikuchi didn't stop moving, he transitioned from the roll to running almost immediately and moved forward while focusing on the path ahead. The tip of a spike had begun rising and he quickly moved to the side before jumping into a forward roll to dodge a pair of shuriken that flew from the walls. He landed on the palm of his hand before letting his hand collapse and have him roll forward as more spikes rose up and he continued to transition into more running. Spikes came out the ground below him and he jumped back, pressing his feet on the spikes behind him and pushing off to grab some loops that were dangling from ropes on the ceiling. He moved quickly as though they were monkey bars, fire erupting below him and kissing the ceiling. He released the loops and continued to run, dodging flying spears and making it to the other side of the chasm to climb a ladder and be safe on the other side. If Samira was struggling, or if she hadn't moved at all, another Onyx pillar would send her into the air and another would fly out and hit her again to send her flying towards Ikuchi. Ikuchi would appear as though he were going to catch her before nonchalantly dropping his arms and stepping to the side to let her impact a pile of bones before moving onto the next room.

In the next room was something much different... a statue with a katana. Upon Samira entering, the statue would draw its sword and step down from the pedestal on which it rested, falling fifteen feet and slamming onto the ground. Ikuchi would look at it with a scowl and the stone swordsman would raise its blade, pointing at him first but then turning to point at Samira. Then, the swordsman would dash forward and begin its assault on her. Ikuchi would vanish and appear leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, watching the match. "The swordsman chooses the least skilled fighted and engages them at thirty times their skill. This arena is for weeding out the unworthy. I advise using what little wit you have to your advantage, human." Ikuchi would say, once again revoking Samira's right to even be addressed by a name instead of her species. The room had a great deal of clutter. Corpses, stone tables, weapons of all kinds, things to grab on the walls, and it would be obvious that the challenge wasn't about brute strength or sword skill. This room was to weed out the ones who were mentally and physically inept. Once again, Samira's spirits would be unable to be used at all, and they would notice that they couldn't force their way into this place. Samira would notice any wounds inflicted on her would hurt five times worse than normal, but heal over quickly. "Just so you know, that swordsman increases difficulty every ten seconds. You may want to make use of the bow, human." Ikuchi said calmly. The bow would be useful for at least trying to pin the swordsman's feet to the ground if not getting a lucky shot off. If she went directly for something vital, the swordsman's skill would deflect the arrow in her direction. If Samira asked Ikuchi to help, he'd simply say "If I intervene, the swordsman will match my skill thirty fold. Would you rather be facing thirty of you, or thrity of me?"

---

---

The horses slowed down at a house that Kaori had seen many times, but never fully knew about. The house was made of white stone and was quite small, only consisting of three or four rooms in total. There was a wooden fence on the outside and lush grass all around. A flower bed under each window was blooming beautifully and was filled with different kinds of flowers. Then ten guards had dismounted and Kaori followed suit. "This house..." Kaori said under her breath, looking at it with her heart beating much faster. "You... know of this place... my lady?" Hiro asked while raising an eyebrow. "Somewhat... There was a time when mom took me out of the village and we passed it. I asked her why it was so far out and unguarded, but she avoided the question. I've seen it in my dreams a few times but never thought anything of it." Kaori replied with a degree of intrigue. She began approaching and was quickly taken by the wrist by a gentle hold, Hiro's hand. "My lady. Before you enter, I wish to speak." the man said, to which Kaori raised an eyebrow. Hiro was one of the oldest guardsmen and had never once needed to ask to be allowed to voice an opinion. Kaori turned and said "You are a trusted brother to our clan, no permission is required for you to speak." in a gentle tone. At that moment, Kaori and the rest of the guard units had all felt a bit of fear rising. Someone's emotions were radiating, but it wasn't Kaori's... Hiro had gotten down on his knees and pressed his knuckles against the stone path while looking towards the earth. "I have been keeping this as a secret from you for a great deal of time, my lady. Before you enter, I request that you deliver my punishment for hiding her from you."

Kaori had looked at the man and reached her hand out, one of the guards drawing his blade and placing the grip in her hands. The use of a leader's sword was for enemies and those who were worthy of seeing it. The use of execution by someone else's blade implied that you weren't worthy of such an honor. The sword was flipped blade down and slammed into the ground next to Hiro, meaning that his life was spared. "I am invoking Lareci Law. You are a friend to my family, and the people of this clan. You have fought countless battles, and a single instance of secrecy can be overlooked. I will believe that you kept this secret for good reasons, and not personal gain. Your life, position, and honor will remain." Kaori's tone was strong and showed no signs of bias towards her old friend. The warriors around her all slammed their arms across their chests, beating the fist into their opposing pectoral muscle and saying "So it is decided." to show they all felt the decision was justified. Hiro thanked Kaori for her mercy, and Kaori turned to the door.

The door had opened to show another of her guardsmen inside who immediately told Kaori "Do not use magic here." in a very hushed tone. Kaori nodded while walking inside and stopped with awestruck eyes while looking at a young girl sitting at a table. Much like Kaori, she had long, silky hair that was white as snow. Her skin was quite pale by comparison, but lacked any blemishes at all. Ruby eyes accented a snow clad field with long, ebony eye lashes that were adorned to form a worried expression. Soft lips, peach in color had formed to speak but were paused with no words. Kaori felt the fear rising even more and needed no further evidence. She slowly moved forward, around the table and took note as the girl shifted, obviously preparing to run. She stopped a few feet shy of the girl and her eyes softened before she let out a breath of air. "Do you know who I am?" Kaori asked in a soft tone. The girl gave a very short nod while looking down, grabbing the ends of her skirt nervously. It was a dumb question on Kaori's part, there wasn't a single person in the Lareci Lands who didn't know who their clan leader was. "May I ask your name?" Kaori asked in the same tone. " H-h-hasi... Has-hasig-gaw-wa.. M- Ma- Ma..r-ri-k-ko..." she stuttered out.

The girl was terrified to be in Kaori's presence. Stories of Kaori's brutality in battle were as commonplace as flies, and only those who fought alongside her, lived in her village, or met her personally knew that her brutality remained on the battlefield. Kaori took another step closer to get closer to Mariko and gently rest her hand on the child's head. Mariko jerked suddenly, feeling a sharp chill move down her spine while letting out a sharp squak that made all ten of the other guardsmen rush in with blades at the ready, pausing when they saw Kaori near her and no extra corpses around. Kaori had removed her hand when Mariko jerked, but she had gently placed it back down and moved herself closer while pulling Mariko's head into her stomach. "Have no fear, for you are a Lareci. You are the pride of our clan, and none shall harm you." Kaori said softly. Mariko had felt something inside her, as though she were being filled with warmth. She closed her eyes and ignored the fear within as she knew that when the leader of the clan speaks, it is truth, and a promise.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

No reply had been made from the one that seemed to hate her so. An expectation she had when dealing with normal matters, but she was supposed to be getting insight into combat. That required a bit of communication. She could only sigh while closing her eyes. It was going to be a long day indeed. A step had been taken to follow the one that was now leaving her behind. However, as she did so, she found that Susano's theory of Ikuchi only doing one hit as payback for the one he received some time ago was very wrong. As soon as she took that step an onyx pillar rose from the ground and slammed into her stomach. If not for that impact she likely would have screamed, but she was unable to even make a sound as she went sailing towards the ceiling, smacked against it, and then fell hard to the ground. By the final collision, she was able to make some sounds to imply the pain she was feeling, but she sure wasn't moving much. That was something she was not used to feeling at all. She had gone through a painful and repeated ordeal when up against her sister, but that didn't mean she had suddenly gotten used to feeling pain that was greater than a paper cut. Samira was also quite positive a rib or two had broken during that first smack with the pillar. Not even the time Aquarius had hit her there had done that much damage. She had started to try pushing herself up when Ikuchi had stated she was there to learn. That much she already knew. Step one, don't be oblivious, although his version was more cold and had a word she would never use herself. Her gaze watched as he continued on, leaving her there and not bothering to help her up even though it was him that had caused the damage in the first place. She grit her teeth and forced herself up, and held her stomach as she tried to follow along. Although keeping the same pace was more difficult and painful.

'You're fucking kidding me?! You are seriously continuing?!' The voice of a very angry winged serpent erupted through Samira's brain. All the spirits currently in her mindspace saw the whole thing. The less serious and emotional cringed, while the more protective ones became silent and had furious glares. Then that silence broke as Kuku spoke. 'Yep, that's it. He just broke any chances I had of thinking highly of him. I'm going out there.' None of the spirits were aware that they couldn't pop out themselves. At that moment they didn't even know Samira couldn't summon them. They were used to judging things based on how strong the link between themselves and their summoner were, not by outside sources that neutralized magic. The swordsman had turned and was about to leave the space when a sort of light leash appeared around his waist. 'What the-.... Ama.' He had been confused at first, but once he turned to see that the leash was connected to the light spirit that was leaning against the wall his tone and expression turned to one of full irritation. Hers, however, remained calm on the outside. Ama's eyes were closed and her arms folded over her chest. Not one shred of emotion as to what happened. Inwardly she was ticked. An emotional reaction she assumed was from her current issues with herself. It was with her will power that she forced herself to remain neutral and not react. Her usual logic had to be applied. 'I apologize, brother. You are not a dog, but this is the only way short of knocking you out I have that will contain you here.'

'Ama, I don't need to be contained here. Remove this! I am not about to watch that beast take advantage of Samira's weakness and this course. I can already tell this is going to be way above her level. Ninja girl is an idiot for suggesting this be step 1 for Samira!'
'I will not have you going out there and making things worse. From this moment on, no one is to leave this space.' Her eyes were still closed and Ama showed no signs that she was amused or even joking. She was serious about none of the spirits popping out randomly to assist Samira.
'You little glowy bitch! You do not have that kind of authority over me!'
'No, but you cannot access your full power without being properly summoned. If you insist on leaving, then do so. You will be sent back here within the same second of your attack. I am fully aware that is what you intend to do. That does not help Samira. As for everyone else below my ranking...' The spirits then felt a sort of magic presence that made them feel off and heavy. It locked them in and prevented them from leaving. Even the door could be heard locking. As Samira's currently most powerful spirit and leader while Ra was away, Amaterasu had the power to take such a drastic measure.
'Not that I care to step in and help her, but this is going overboard. I do not like being ordered or contained!'
'Yeah, Ama, this is a bit drastic. Not really like you. I mean, it's not like we'd all attack. Just let us out to go help her make it out. It's kind of our job.'
'Your job is to support Samira in battle, not do everything. We made the mistake of doing this, and now she is at a disadvantage and behind on her development. She must do this without us.'
'I would agree with that if she wasn't being abused by a jealous dragon. Now. Take. This. OFF!'
'You risk breaking whatever alliance is left. I will not allow this.'
Susano stammered over what he was about to say next. He was angry, confused, and completely amazed that his sister actually still considered that beast some sort of ally. Finally, after facepalming, he managed to get control over his tongue and get the words out. 'What alliance?! Are you watching the same scene I am?! Have you completely lost your mind while you were in solitude?!'

The scene had changed to focus on a massive chasm. Samira was unaware of the tension growing in her mindspace. The moment Kuku had shouted the summoner had turned off the link in a way that she coudn't hear them. She allowed them to see and hear, but she didn't want to hear them constantly nagging at her to turn around and leave. Ikuchi may have turned vicious, but she did not judge him for it. Samira preferred it than the cover ups she had before. That sort of thinking could only take so much abuse before snapping completely though. That limit had just not been reached yet. She was also too determined to prove that she could train and get better. After what happened in Peace Village, there was no denying that she was weak without her spirits. She didn't like it, and was ashamed by it; by always needing help from Kaori or someone else. Returning the favor wasn't even possible until she improved.

The first thought that crossed her mind was summoning Janus to pass by the chasm. It was the smarter thing to do than try to run through the spikes. Logically, crossing them without a spirit was a part of the training, but she was only on day one and thanks to a certain somebody she wasn't exactly going to be at full speed. On the other side, she was a summoner. It was expected to be able to do things on her own while also using her spirits tactically. Using one to avoid spikes and wasting time seemed to be more of a summoner's approach. Summoning Janus would not happen though. Something was preventing him from answering her call. Not even the key glowed. She had lowered hand holding the key and faced Ikuchi to inquire what was wrong. A bad choice. His answer was just another slap. Calling her weak, and then refusing to use her name again. Both were painful stabs, but the latter was the worst of the two. She had a name and yet she was so low on the respect scale that he refused to acknowledge she was anything more than part of a collective species and lacked individuality.

It was then that he had informed her that she had a total of thirty seconds to make it to the other side. Her eyes widened, questioning if he were serious. Then the floor behind them began to drop. Another sort of trap. Ikuchi took off, leaving her again. She was worried, but hardly in a panic. Samira was a girl that liked ruins and the puzzles and traps that came with them. It would of been better if she could move properly, but she wasn't an idiot. The spikes likely had a pattern to them. Her nerves were forced to calm down as she watched the spikes going up and down. She needed a calm mind and ignore the fact the floor was dropping behind her, and ignore the danger that was in front of her if she screwed up. As luck would have it, the pattern was a little lengthy. Guesses would have to be made as she had been running out of time. Just as she was about to get going, she took notice of some of the ending tricks to the course Ikuchi had to do. A sweatdrop formed on the back of her head. She was supposed to be able to do that? On day 1?... After being hit by an onyx pillar?... Seriously? It should have ended with the spikes. Everything else was just too much. Well, as suicidal as it was, she supposed she could attempt it...

Lucky or unlucky depending on the outlook, Samira was sparred from getting killed during the course. She had just got done entering the hole when she was struck, not by a rising spear, but by another onyx pillar that sent her into the air. Then another struck her that sent her to the other side of the chasm. A scream that ended in a pained oof when she landed in a pile of bones. Even her patience was starting to wear thin. The two strikes were one thing, but he even went as far as to pretend he was going to catch her before stepping to the side. He was taking things to an even more cruel point than was necessary.

With the added strikes, the dark serpent in Samira's spirit collection became tired of it. He didn't want to personally intervene, however. Her actual life was not in danger that he could see. The abuse was just annoying, and she was not acting on it. There wasn't even any hate towards the one doing it. He was beginning to be at a loss on what would make Samira truly lose herself. Even the little glowfly was capable of doing it before the summoner. Was he really going to have to possess her each and everytime time to darken her heart? It wasn't as if she was pure, so the resistance perplexed him. That was a matter for another time, he supposed. For now, he would play with the glowfly.

The essence of the serpent left his private spot in Samira's mind and ventured towards where the other spirits were. None were able to sense him at that point. He didn't allow them to. There was only one he wanted to speak to, and so his spirit slithered through the air towards Amaterasu, moving elegantly around her repeatedly as they had a small conversation. 'Sulking in a corner, are you? I did not ever picture it being so easy.' His voice could only be heard by one, and that one did not wish to. Ama could sense him the moment he entered the mind space. She appeared calm aside from the slight shaking. Not out of fear, but of trying to control herself. 'The dark serpent awakes again. Leave. You are not welcome here.'

There was a light chuckle coming from the clouded spirit energy. The glowing red eyes from it flickered in amusement. 'Come now, spirit sister, we both now your threats mean about as much to me as they would on...what was her name? Oh, yes, Angra Mainyu. I must say that I don't care for her, but I will admit her personality makes it easy for her to cause a little bit of chaos. It didn't take much effort at all to make you lose yourself.'
'If you will not leave then get to the point as to why you are here. I am not amused by this pointless conversation.'
'Pointless? I am offended. It is just as much my right to be in this space as the rest of you. Light spirits can be so territorial and judgemental. It's a flaw in your design so I won't allow myself to be too angry. I suppose I will...honor your request.' His tone was more of teasing mockery as he said those words. Then in a blink it shifted to be more serious. 'Onto the point, our 'summoner'. Why are you standing idle while she suffers? Is this one of those things that amuse you? I care not for how you treat others, but I do not appreciate you standing still when it comes to her.'
'I did not dare to think you actually had some sort of attachment.'
'Another misunderstanding by your kind. To think only the pure and neutral are capable of such a thing. Once something is considered dark they feel nothing and are to be eliminated. You are very close minded, little glowfly. When something aligned with light goes too far, are they not also considered to be just as destructive? Do they not also lose their ability to care and love and become worthy of the elimination they so desire on their other halves?'
'You confuse me. I thought this conversation was about Samira. Why do you not intervene? It is not like I can stop you, as you have pointed out.'
'I have no need to. Her life is not in terrible danger. I am the last line of defense. You are the first. Now why is it that you remain standing there? You are not as calm as the others believe you to be.'
'Samira requires training. We cannot always hold her hand. Being over protective is what-'
'Is what made it possible for me to invade? Do not take so much credit. It would have happened regardless of you babysitters. I am also already here, so turning a blind eye now is on the level of complete stupidity. There is training, and then there is that. You think that kind of treatment is beneficial?'
'Kaori herself would not be soft even if it is Samira. It was by her request that they are even in that place.'
'Her demand was that she return alive and in one piece. A sneaky one he is to twist those words. She will be alive and in one piece. Nothing was said to prevent him from doing harm at all. I would approve of such a thing if circumstances were different, but they are not. Our summoner is the one being struck. I have seen the disgusting level of closeness our summoner has with that woman you just spoke of. If you believe she would do the same levels of abuse, is completely aware of what is transpiring, and is completely satisfied with it...'
'You pause your words? I was beginning to think you enjoyed hearing yourself too much to stop. Is it so lonely having no one to talk to that you must come and lecture me?'
The spirit serpent stopped his swirling and completely faced Ama with red glowing eyes. They seemed angry at first, as if he was about to unleash a great deal of anger and go off on a tirade. The glow then dimmed to normal, but they narrowed further into a deep scowl. 'You are a sorry excuse for a spirit, Amaterasu. You refuse to act in favor of our summoner, and even try to turn this conversation into a stab at myself, completely ignoring what I have said or even reacting. Ra has chosen poorly to leave you in charge. By this point, he would likely agree he would of been better off choosing myself. What kind of scenario is it that a chaos spirit cares more for their summoner than the one of light?'
'You do not care about anything. I remain here because I have to. If I go out there now-'
'If you go out there now you are afraid you will act irrationally? In my opinion, you should. However, to think you would even do this in the first place...you were not this weak back then. It must be terrible not having any memory of the first sealing.' The spirit energy in the form of a small serpent shifted and turned to leave the light spirit behind him. Well, I guess I should be off. I have no intentions of stepping in, by the way. I think if things escalate to the point of no return I'll just let you suffer in guilt for having done nothing. Farewell for now, little glowfly.' And then he was gone.

During the conversation between the two spirits, Samira had somehow managed to get up after taking all that damage and make it to the next room. She was a bit wobbly though and in pain. The only reason she had even bothered standing at all is because she was determined and could force herself to continue. Kaori had said she was going to train her, and giving up already would not have been a good sign to indicate how far she was willing to go. The step that went over being able to handle taking unnecessary amounts of damage she figured she now had covered.

Inside the room was a stone swordsman at first that came to life the moment they had entered the room. It had chosen her as an opponent. Nothing had been said before the stone swordsman dashed her way. No explanations beforehand, no warning, nothing. Her eyes widened at the incoming attack, and she fell backwards trying to avoid it. Clumsy but lucky since it had saved her. She scrambled back to her feet, barely moving out of the way of the katana that came down on her for another strike. In the background she could hear Ikuchi finally give some sort of explanation. Thirty times her skill level? Sure, she was terrible, but even Samira times thirty had to be a little too much for her to take on successfully. She ignored the human comment, but did take the rest at full value. It was more of a mental exercise. The swordsman had to be outwitted to be defeated. Logical due to it being overpowered. How she was supposed to accomplish that she wasn't so sure of right then. Never did she have to do such on the spot thinking without a spirit to call upon. Her mind was also in a constant distraction and panic while trying to not get hit by her new opponent. She never fought alone, and now she remembered why.

Samira had been going around a pillar to prevent the swordsman from getting a line of sight on her, but she couldn't do that forever. It even became more apparent when Ikuchi said the difficulty increased every ten seconds. She looked at him in complete disbelief. "What?!" The whole thing was getting ridiculous. What made anyone think she could run through the cave's training course on day one?! If she could handle it she would not have been in trouble when she became separated from everyone back in Peace Village in the first place. Just as she let out her shout, the stone swordsman broke through the pillar and managed to make a cut on her arm before she moved away. She screamed and instinctively went to cover the cut with her other hand. Samira had felt that kind of pain before back on Pandora when against Kuromi, although admittedly the current version was much worse. The wound healed over quickly though. It was aggravating really. That was an unintentional reminder of her sister using the hurt and heal tactic repeatedly only a week ago.

The advise to use the bow was taken as she moved towards it. She would not ask for help. Her pride still existed, and she severely doubted Ikuchi would do anything regardless. Samira was on her own completely, and she didn't like it at all. The bow was quickly picked up from all the clutter on the ground, and she kept moving with the swordsman trailing behind her. Now she needed to find an actual arrow. There were some near a corpse that she could see, but it was on the other end of the room. The summoner made for that direction. Somehow though, the swordsman and herself were on opposite sides of a large stone table. In a comical manner, when the swordsman moved to go around, Samira would move in the other direction. This happened a few times before the swordsman just used the difficulty upgrade and broke his way right through it. A small squeak before Samira turned around and made a break for it.

A few arrows had been grabbed as she passed by the corpse. Unfortunately, the swordsman was now quicker. Just as she had grabbed them the statue had appeared in front of her and made a slashing attack once more. It cut through her shirt and another wound was made, one that hurt much worse than it should have. It healed quickly like the other one, and she was able to put it behind her as she fled from the statue. There was a moment where she was able to fire the bow, but it was deflected, and she had to quickly duck to avoid being hit by her own arrow. The statue used that momentary distraction to knock her on the ground and make a downward strike against her. Samira raised the bow to block it, but she could feel her strength weakening during the stalemate that followed while the statue put more pressure to get through the weapon that was being used as a barrier. The summoner then managed to apply some force to knock the swordsman's aim further to the side to hit the ground instead of herself. She then kicked to knock the statue further off balance long enough for her to get up and move away.

Samira turned to face it now that some distance had been quickly regained. There was no way she was going to be able to defeat it as she was. She took notice of the partly broken pillar she had been hiding around before. It was barely standing up to a point that a small amount of force could probably topple it. She sent an arrow towards the statue as another distraction, and kept doing so as she made her way to the pillar, evading deflected arrows in the process. The statue kept moving, but had paused between each arrow. Within a few more seconds, Samira had made it to the pillar and went to the opposite side. The weak one just happened to be facing in the statue's direction. All it took was a hard shove and the thing fell forward and onto the stone swordsman. She shot another arrow at a point of the statue that she could see....just in case. Whether the exercise was done or not she wasn't completely sure, and honestly, she was slightly afraid of what may come next.

During the task of dealing with the swordsman, the protective spirits had become further enraged. Ama had been busy communicating with Apophis to even take notice of anything going on around her. Even Kukulkan's words were muted. Once the serpent left though, she could feel the glares on her and hear them all once more. Her own eyes were still closed and had never once opened.

'This is completely and utterly stupid! Where are the desert spirits?! Get them to bring Ra here now! That bitch is misusing her power!'
'I am not misusing my power or my given authority. I am doing what I believe is best for the long term.'
The humanized feathered serpent glared and rose from her spot on the couch, pointing at the screen that had Samira getting her ass kicked by a statue. 'You call that best for long term?! She's not even going to survive the day like this!'
'What is it with serpents pretending they care so much? You have never shown any care for Samira before...why is it so important now?'
'If you don't remove this thing that keeps us in there, then you better get your pretty glowing ass out there and put a stop to this yourself!'
'Kukulkan, why is it that you cannot leave yourself and remain at full power? The rest of us can.'
'Ama, dear, please do not bring that up.'
'It is a punishment from your past mistakes, isn't it? You cannot be trusted to be in the mortal realm without a summoner to trust and control you.'
'Ama, stop. That is not helping. What the hell is wrong with you?' Susano's anger had left him to switch to concern for his sister's behavior.
'No, let her continue. I fucking dare her to.'
'Very well, Kukulkan, the spirit avatar of the great feathered serpent that controls the wind. From what I have heard, you were to be created not as a perfect copy, but as something similar to that of a daughter. That is why you are female and not male. However, you quickly became a disappointment. You proved to be nothing more than a snake and had become a monster towards the mortal realm. The one god that kept his ties with us, and you became so wretched that after convincing the King that you be sparred he abandoned you. A mistake that affects everyone in this space. Now you can't even be trusted enough to leave the celestial world on your own and still have your power. Again I ask, what is it with snakes pretending to care? You all seem to be the same. Perhaps if you had not made so many errors and became a monster, you would be able to help Samira now.'

Everyone in the space had gotten quiet and did not dare to say anything at all. Even Kuku was silent, but hers was not out of fear or surprise. She was so pissed that she was calm. The feathered serpent in human form calmly approached the light spirit that was still leaning against the wall, an annoying victory smirk on her face. She intended to remove it. Once she had gotten close enough, she swung her fist at Ama, who had already predicted it and caught it. Then came the other, blocked. The tail was another matter as it rose and slapped across Amaterasu's face while the second hit was being delivered. The force had turned Ama's head to face the side and her eyes popped open, revealing the red ones that had appeared back in Peace Village momentarily. Kuku jerked her hands free and chuckled when she saw those eyes. 'I knew it,' she said with high amusement as she watched Ama place a hand where she had been struck and glare at her. 'You dare strike me, Kukulkan?'

The serpent ignored the question. 'We went over a summary of my story. Lets go into a bit of yours.' Kuku turned around and began slowly walking away from Ama.
'Kuku...'
'Stay out of this, Nu. The bitch had it coming the moment she opened that pretty mouth of hers.'
'Kuku, stop now. I know damn well that you aren't even the slightest bit offended by what she said. You're just pissed she said it in the first place. She isn't herself, and you can see that. Do not start something you can't handle!'
'Quiet, brother. I do not require your protection.'
'I am pretty sure he was protecting Kuku with that...'
'I don't need it either so you all need to shut up!' The feathered serpent sighed before turning and facing Ama with an innocent smile. 'Dear, sweet, little Amaterasu. The spirit avatar of a sun goddess known as The Shining Light. Like her original, she is so beloved by all and can do no wrong. So perfect, so beautiful, so disgustingly innocent that she doesn't even comprehend romance. So like her original is she that she can become spiteful and bitter towards those that do not bask in her radiance. The very moment she can't handle something and actually has a challenge she flees and hides herself in seclusion. All responsibilities left, no spirits to take her place as leader, a summoner without the only guard around to stop my darker land serpent cousin from taking over. Now she stands here, trying to reclaim the authority of the spirits that are contracted to the summoner she abandoned. What she doesn't know is that she is unworthy to even be in the same room as them.

The Amaterasu spirit is lost. She doesn't even know who and what she is anymore. The eyes aren't even the same. I'm curious, Ama, who is the one that is worse between the two of us? The serpent that does not hide who they truly are and will always act how they feel? The serpent that has laid down her rules for the summoner so there is no lie or higher expectation? The serpent that is aware of the past mistakes and deals with the punishment? The serpent that aside from all of this still sets her summoner's life and well being as a priority? Or is it the supposed light spirit that represents love and happiness that can't even so much as hug her own summoner after receiving an apology for something that was not her fault? The light spirit runaway that can't own up to her own mistakes and failures? The light spirit that now acts irrationally and with so much rage that it even surpasses Kali's and my own combined? The light spirit that has us locked in and would rather see her summoner suffer than going out there and possibly risking pissing off the arrogant dragon more?

You are more fucked up in the head than our summoner, and keep in mind she has all of us in her head. No human should rightfully be sane with that. Angra may have been a bitch to call us failed abortions, but I think with you she was right. You are more fake than the rest of us. Samira trusts you more than most, and you abandoned her for a week, abandoned us even. That dragon and the ninja woman trust you as well. If only they knew how far you really fell. You disgrace your given name and your original. I was nearly destroyed for doing that. Do yourself a favor and request to be thrown into the failure trash bin before you really do something you regret, you pathetic little glowfly. You are not deserving of being contracted with Samira or being our ally. You aren't even worthy of being a spirit, and most definitely not one representing light. You have failed, Ama. Now get out of here. It's pretty damn clear we don't need you here. We are capable of doing nothing all on our own.'

There was silence as the mindspace got increasingly tense. Spirits fighting was one thing. High ranking spirits fighting was another matter entirely. It was even more terrifying with how calm each of the two were acting. Ama didn't even snow much of a reaction towards the words. A few moments passed, and Kuku was beginning to think Ama really was dead inside."Kukulkan," Ama called, closing her eyes as she did so. The other spirit just smiled as she put a hand on her hip. "Oh? She sp-" The serpent was interrupted as she was sent flying through the mind space and through the locked door. Well, not really door per say, more like the actual wall the door was connected to. Ama had used her sheathed blade to do so, and upon inspection it was her old one rather than the one Kaori had given to her. She had lost her right to use it. The leash around her brother disappeared and she ignored him as he tried to stop her. When things got physical, she even tossed him aside as well. The hole in the wall had reformed, and in a rather comical way, gently opened the door and closed it after she went through it. The mindspace was left without its light guard and now that Ama had removed herself the magic that was keeping them all in evaporated. There were many disappointed and pissed off cries though from the ones that tried to help Samira since they realized they still could not jump into the mortal plane of existence. The fight between the two spirits may not have existed if they knew that from the beginning... Either way, the other spirits made for the door out of concern and try to stop the inevitable fight.

The door had led outside the mindspace and was actually in a different sector of the celestial world. Kukulkan had transformed into her true flying serpent form. Her power restrictions were for the mortal realm only. The celestial world still had to deal with her at full power, but mostly it was kept in control due to the King. Ama had broken that control. Now a battle between the two spirits was happening. Powerful winds and many rather painful light shows was now affecting that part of the realm.

Ikuchi watched as the stone swordsman had gone down, and stopped leaning against the wall to move over to Samira. "If I had intervened, you would have died." he said in a cold tone, providing the reason for his inactivity so she didn't get the wrong idea. His task was to make sure she came back alive, so for this one, doing nothing was the best course of action. If Samira asked him why she would have died, he would say "Because you are useless, human." in the same cold tone while walking through a door that opened the moment the pillar fell. After that, the two would go down a long, dark tunnel with no light source. Ikuchi was fine, his ability to smell allowed him to catch scents on the winds and use that to judge how the walls formed. Samira however, lacked her weapons, which meant her glowing items were gone. Ikuchi had not given any aid to Samira for the last fight, nor did she ask for it. It was a show of pride, but also a show of will power that he would acknowledge when the time came. While walking, Ikuchi ducked under a root that was protruding at what would be Samira's neck line and saying "Duck." exactly one second before she would impact it.

Ikuchi felt the ground below his feet become mushy and didn't pay it much attention. A set of vines would shoot out as soon as Samira stepped into it and wrap around her body, constricting her. If she dared struggle more vines would show up, grabbing her neck, her mouth, and her skull to begin crushing them. Ikuchi had no intentions of explaining to her the dangers of the creeper vine, she didn't need it. Explaining how to counter it could wait till she wasn't about to die. A black flame erupted around the room, consuming the walls, the floor, and Samira as well. The vines were torched away and the walls were glowing, Samira would have a burn mark on her left cheek but otherwise be fine since he only used the attack to kill the vine. The glowing walls would provide enough light for Ikuchi to see where he failed and the dragon would approach Samira. Ikuchi would grab the top of her head and turn it, if she struggled against him she'd feel the palm of his hand kiss the opposite cheek with great force. "Do not struggle, tool." his words were harsh and colder than when he called her by her species, she was now degraded to an inanimate object. Ikuchi would grab her head once more and place his hand near, but not on the burn. A gentle white glow would illuminate the area and Samira would feel the burn going away, the pain from it, and the slap as well if the slap had happened. If Samira didn't struggle against Ikuchi, she would not be struck. He would say "The grim creeper vine is native to the Lareci Lands. Sever your heart from fear, concern, or irritation or it will consume you." while healing the mark. Ikuchi would then turn and walk away, pausing as the last bit of light from the glowing walls had faded with their cooling. "Just so you know... that burn was accidental." he said and continued walking.

The next room would come and Samira would feel Ikuchi's arm stop her from moving forward. "Hold." he said calmly, feeling his feet at the edge of... something. The tunnel up till then had been completely flat with no steps, even the declines were sloped. Feeling a ledge was strange for Ikuchi, so he stopped moving and quickly was glad that he did. Ikuchi ignited a flame in his free hand and made it expand to move around the room in a massive ring and provide light. If Samira looked down, she'd see that she was standing in front of a thirty foot deep, three hundred foot diameter arena with massive wild pigs inside. There was a door at the bottom with a key hole that Ikuchi could see, and no real way to get down to it. "There are twelve females and twelve males, each with an identical key on their neck. Find the male with no testicles." Ikuchi said before slapping Samira on the back and letting her fall. An onyx pillar would fly out the wall and catch her before she went too deep in, only after a three foot drop actually to slowly put her in the arena safely. Ikuchi began walking around the arena to the other side, staying at the top where it was safe. Ikuchi had heard of this room from the others, which was the only reason he knew what to do. The arena contained several termite mounds that Samira could use as cover, but her bow and arrow would be useless against a one thousand pound pig. The arrow would get stuck in its fat or bounce off the thick skull, and the pig would just get more pissed off. After several minutes, if Samira hadn't found it, Ikuchi would say "The one with the broken tusk." in a loud tone. While it may seem like he was doing nothing at all, he was actually looking from above while the pigs tried to kill Samira.

Once that was dealt with, the next room would contain a hot spring with shimmering water. Light reflecting off the water would illuminate the vines on the walls, giving the room a peaceful feel to it. "Get in." Ikuchi would say coldly, giving no reason for her to do so. If she refused, he would pick her up and walk over before tossing her in. She would feel any injuries from the boars, bites from termites, and her broken ribs begin healing. Any pain she felt from earlier would begin vanishing, and she'd feel her energy being revitalized. The room was to teach the importance of rest, something that even the first clan leader knew was imperative to a proper fighting force. Ikuchi would sit on a nearby tree stump, leaning forward while supporting his weight with his arms on his knees and closed his eyes to take a rest. He hadn't sustained any injuries thus far, so had no need for the spring. He was angry that he had to be there with Samira however, so the rest was needed to calm him down. A spirit would then materialize in the room and let out a sigh. She would walk to the edge of the pool and extend her hand to Samira to help her out, the few seconds would be enough to heal her. "His hatred for you is strong, but it is not infinite." she would say. If Samira let the spirit help her out of the pond, she would feel her clothes immediately dry as the spirit used some magic to get rid of the water. The spirit would pull Samira closer to Ikuchi and say "You should try rubbing his head. He likes it." in a calm tone, stopping in front of the man who she may or may not have made fall asleep. The spirit would then place Samira's hand on his head and begin starting the motion of rubbing. "No matter how close to being a dragon he is, there will always be a wolf in his heart, and a puppy within that wolf's heart. He will show no aggression towards you like this, nor will he refuse an offer for it." the spirit would say softly, taking her hand away from Samira's. Ikuchi then began tilting, leaning and resting his head against Samira's stomach. "I advise you continue while he rests. The chasm between you can be closed, but you must lay the first brick to build the bridge..." she would say and float around Ikuchi to be closer to Samira. The spirit would wrap her arms around Samira before giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "There are more chasms to be crossed... within your mind. She is broken, and blames herself for her failures. You must confront her and show her love less her light fades to darkness." the spirit said before vanishing in a flurry of white-blue particles.

The spirit, much like Kaori, had radiated an aura that gave off feelings of comfort and love. There was the desire to protect, to heal, to comfort, to love, and to make peace. Samira would likely notice the spirit having a similar look to Kaori's most powerful form. While she didn't look exactly like Kaori in her goddess form, the white dress was very similar. The spirit's movements had been kept slow so as to not startle Samira, and the kiss was soft, and she would notice the lips feeling familiar. The mentioning of someone within Samira's mind would tell her that it's something to do with her spirits, and the mention of a girl had narrowed it further, and the mention of light fading would let her know exactly which spirit. The spirit had known Samira on an intimate level, but Samira had never once met her... or has she? Ikuchi would remain asleep for quite some time, and begin slowly stirring after half an hour to let her know it was time for the woman to get to a safer distance.

---

---

Aquarius and the other spirits were sitting and watching Kaori through Query's crystal ball, each being just as surprised at the ninja having a sister and not knowing about it. They didn't know anything about her mother, but Kaori seemed to know... everything. The fact that there was something so close to home she didn't know was mind boggling. However, their time was cut short when a knock came on the door to Kaori's mind space. Upon opening it, it seemed as though Aquarius was being requested for a meeting. Ira gave him the letter that was signed by the Celestial King himself, stating there was a situation that he wanted an opinion on. Aquarius stood up and walked out the room. He asked the messenger what the situation was, and immediately was surprised. There were two spirits having a battle royale, one of them he had expected much, much more maturity from. "Thank you, I'll be there shortly. There's a single matter I must attend to first." he said calmly, to which the messenger agreed to and vanished. Aquarius walked back in the room and looked around with an expression that made everyone look at him. They all looked ready to do whatever was needed, each with a firm expression except Charlotte. "I'm not sure of the details, but I'll update you when I'm done with the meeting." Aquarius said before vanishing.

When he reappeared, he was in the middle of the records keeping building where the workers had all ignored him since he only every came to talk to one person. The boss saw him and pointed to Jing Wei, implying that she didn't even need permission. Aquarius nodded before approaching the winged spirit and stopping in front her, pulling out the letter. "Break room." he said with a stern face, which would remove any and all possibilities of sweet talk. In the break room Aquarius would say "Your colleagues are doing something even I wouldn't do. Got any ideas why there's a brawl between Amaterasu and Kukulkan happening?" he would ask calmly. If Jing said she didn't know, or if she gave a reason at all, Aquarius would say "Thank you." before moving forward and resting a hand on the back of her waist to pull her closer and kiss her on the lips. "If anyone else asks about this, you're ordered by the Celestial King to remain silent on the matter." he said, obviously speaking for her personal safety. Aquarius then vanished in a shower of golden particles to appear before the Celestial King himself.

Normally spirits would be humble before the kind, but Aquarius, all of them, were known for being ballsy and respecting only those they were afraid of... and that list was often very, very, very short. "Whadda you want geser?" Iron Fist called out, looking up at the giant man with crossed arms. The king gave a chuckle, always amused by Aquarius's lack of fear of him. It was something that earned the spirit respect and a degree of sway. "I'm sure you know of the battle going on right now between your... allies." the king stated, pausing as Aquarius said "Kukulkan and Amaterasu." and replying "Yes, them." with a disappointed tone. "Kukulkan was already put under many restrictions for her lack of control, and Amaterasu... I had higher expectations." the king paused once more while crossing his arms and furrowing his brow. Aquarius let out a breath and said "Kukulkan is a passionate one who believes it better to act and be true to herself than lie to those around her. Amaterasu has gone through much and has very little assistance." trying to play devil's advocate. "Noted... I am going to apply the same restriction to Amaterasu, except her power will be-" "I advise against it." Aquarius interrupted with a powerful, stern tone. The celestial king raised an eyebrow before leaning over. "And why is that...?" he asked with genuine curiosity in his voice. "Amaterasu has been given far more responsibility than any spirit should be given, and has no support to help her. It's understandable that she would eventually crack under those conditions, I would suggest a lesser punishment... perhaps a strike to her pride, but not to her abilities." the king had leaned back in his chair and folded a leg on top his other and rested his head on his fist. "What of her other spirits. I have records of-" "Kukulkan is one of Samira's other spirits strong enough to be a leader, but she lacks the control. Nu Wa is of equal power, but is a very passive and caring being. She lacks the ability to punish subordinates for stepping out of line." Aquarius stated calmly, intentionally leaving out the fourth spirit... which the Celestial King brought up. "And what of Ra?" his tone was intrigued since he knew Aquarius had skipped him entirely. "Ra is missing, and normally is. I've only ever seen him in action once, and I got no clue where he is now." The celestial king let out a long "hmmmm...." while trying to think on the situation. "If you'll excuse this, I can deal with the situation... of course, I'll need your permission to intervene and-" a letter appeared in front Aquarius with the king's signature on it. "I don't care how, just put an end to the fight and remind Ra of what his duties are." the king said, to which Aquarius replied "Understood." with a robotic tone and disappeared. It was a short interaction since both men were very basic people and didn't like spending time with the legal crap, excuses, and reasons. They just wanted results.

Aquarius had appeared in the middle of the room with the rest of his team. "Here's the situation-" "The nightlight's cracked and is fighting the slinky with fangs out in the open." Angra Mainyu said while leaning against a wall with her arms crossed and an arrogant smile visible. "Yes, that." Aquarius said calmly, not caring to address Angra's involvement. "The king gave me permission to do anything necessary to stop it before the whole place gets downed. Angra, I want you to-" "Nope. Bad idea." she said calmly. "Glow stick girl hates me, if I go in she'll fight a thousand times harder. You're better off dealing with this." she added, giving the reason for her direct denial. Aquarius nodded, it was true. Even if Angra could kick Amaterasu's ass, it wouldn't be pretty. "Understood, I'll handle her then. Scarlet, keep the other spirits from getting in my way. Ninja, you've got Sasuno. Char..." Aquarius paused and looked at Charlotte, who instantly knew who her target would be and her expression changed from being kind and caring to being angry and vengeful. "Understood." she said with a frown. "Query, you're on standby. Mammoth, Ira, Jed... stay here." they agreed to it since Jed didn't really need to be there and Ira could help Kaori if it was needed. "Alright, let's party." Aquarius said and Query sent them off.

An Azure magic circle would appear in the area where the battle was happening and Sasuno would see Ninja standing ten feet away from him with a calm expression and his hand on the hilt of his katana. He'd shake his head, giving a visual message to not dare try and intervene in the situation. The rest of Kaori's response team spirits had materialized, each looking towards their targets. Any spirit present other than Sasuno, Kukulkan, and Amaterasu would fine a white chain inside their chests, leading to the ground. If they looked around, they'd see Captain Scarlet pointing her celestial shotguns at them with a cold expression. She wasn't used often, but her gate was the Gate of Slaves. Escaping her was hard on the best of days, and once chained, it was impossible. Any spirit who struggled would be pulled to the ground and she'd say "Don't fight, I'd rather not kill you." in a tone that implied she didn't want to, but she would. "King's orders." she would add to soften the blow of realizing that she could become an enemy at any point. The difference between Kaori and Samira was combat ability, something that was reflected in their spirits. Samira had a handful of battle spirits... Kaori's spirits were all made for some form of combat. If Sasuno tried to move, Ninja would vanish and be invisible. His movements never made a sound, so Sasuno would never hear him coming. Before he knew it, he'd feel the butt of Ninja's katana slamming into his stomach while at the same time a second version of Ninja had rammed the back of his heel into the back of Sasuno's skull. The word "Sorry." would be heard as Sasuno blacked out and Ninja caught him, setting him on the ground gently. Ninja was a myth in the most litteral sense. He had no history, and was given the powers of the best ninjas in the world, and the skill to match. His low magical ranking was due to him being enigmatic by nature and not boasting, not fighting many battles, and avoiding contracts.

Amaterasu would feel a vine of water wrap around her wrist before being pulled straight down to the ground into a crater by Aquarius, who was looking at her with a disappointed look. "Don't fight me nightlight." he would say calmly, his tone implying he honestly didn't want to be fighting her. If she did try to fight, Amaterasu would feel the weight of an entire lake's worth of water cascading down on her being, pinning her to the ground before she could think to use her vanishing ability. The water was holy in nature, just like all of Kaori's spirits, making it harder for Amaterasu to fight against.

Kukulkan would feel something small slamming down on her back when Charlotte materialized and drop kicked her. The girl was Kaori's weakest spirit in terms of magical rank, but when forced to fight, she was easily number two... right behind Query. Charlotte would run of Kukulkan's back and jump above her eyeline, letting her eyes lock with the snake spirit. Kukulkan would see the fierce look in Charlotte's eyes just before she balled her fist and punched directly between her eyes to send the snake straight down. If Kukulkan tried to fight back, Charlotte would begin punching her rapidly, over a hundred times in a matter of seconds before delivering a final, colossal punch to finish. Once on the ground, Charlotte would have her cutlass pointed at Kukulkan's eye and speak with the coldest, most uncaring tone that no spirit was used to hearing from her... "Move and I'll carve your eye out and make you eat it."

Aquarius would look around and say "Alright Q- you don't need to fight so let's take this inside." after which all of the spirits would find themselves inside Samira's mind space, disconnected entirely from their power. This included Ra, Serqet, Bastet, Chaac, Isis, and Anhur- who was in a temporary spiritual state. Aquarius had taken a breath and moved to the side of the room. Solving squabbles wasn't his department, but he knew that Query was good enough at it. Anyone who tried talking would notice that their mouths were missing, another of Query's marvelous tricks. The spirit stepped forward with a neutral expression and continued walking to stand in front of Amaterasu. "You have carried a great burden, Amaterasu. You were put in charge of every spirit except three, and given no reasons as to why..." her words were soft and lacked any form of aggression "...You have done good work until now, but you cannot bear this weight alone." Query then reached forward and wrapped her arms around Amaterasu in a gentle embrace. "You do not need to fight Apophis alone. Rely on your allies and they won't let you fail." she said softly before letting go and moving to Kukulkan. "You are angry because Amaterasu has shown weakness in the face of pressure, and prevented you all from aiding your summoner when she was under attack. The area she is in seals out magic for those who lack the strength to stand on their own. Kaori had her go there expecting more of Ikuchi, but will be informed that her expectations were not met. I assure you that Ikuchi will be dealt with by Kaori herself, and Samira will survive... but understand that Samira has allowed those feelings fueling his actions to fester, and she is partially responsible for her situation. She will not be harmed by Kaori, but she will not be allowed to put all the blame on Ikuchi either." Query calmly turned, knowing that Kukulkan disliked being touched and skipped the hug.

Query then walked and stopped before the desert spirits. "Anhur, I brought you here because you are one of them. You will be returned once our business is concluded." she said and then looked directly at Ra. "As the leader of these spirits, I, Aquarius, and the Celestial King hold you responsible for this conflict. You have left your clique with instructions of keeping all of these other spirits..." Query gestured to all of Samira's other spirits with her hand "... in the dark. You have left knowing that Nu Wa lacked the strength to discipline others, and Kukulkan lacked the restraint to be a fair leader. You have left Amaterasu in charge of every single spirit, and no idea as to why you had left. These spirits are your allies, Ra. Your actions have created a rift that enlarged with time and lead to another person's spirits being obligated to act in order to save them... Aquarius, what was the Celestial Kings original punishment?" Query turned her attention to Aquarius. "Amaterasu was to be stripped of all power within the Celestial and Human World, unless summoned by her key. Kukulkan was to be disposed of." he said calmly. "Thank you." Query said before turning back to Ra. "Your actions had nearly resulted in the destruction of one of your allies, and the crippling of the only leader left."

Query then moved away from him and looked at the other desert spirits who were rooted in place in their own little group, away from their leader. "As lesser powered spirits, you are to follow the orders of your superior spirits. You are to uphold their orders at all costs. As the spirits of Samira Nassar, you are to protect her life at all costs, even if you must disobey your leader. You each chose to keep secrets from Samira, Amaterasu, and the rest of your allies. You chose to place your orders from Ra over the safety of your summoner, and the sanctity of your alliance with the other avatars. Because of your decisions to keep the secret of his location, Amaterasu was nearly crippled, and Kukulkan nearly destroyed entirely. You have proven to be inadequate allies in this regard, but you remain with an opportunity for redemption." The spirit then turned and Angra Mainyu materialized in the room. "Angra." she said calmly, and as the goddess opened her mouth, Query cut her off and said "Be silent." and erased her mouth, showing that Angra Mainyu was still subject to Query's reality. "You have approached Amaterasu, intentionally provoking her, and further sinking her into despair. Your intention was not to do this, but rather, trying to force her to act as she was ordered to do. Know that you have jeopardized our alliance with Samira's spirits by intervening without Captain Iron Fist's approval. You often disregard his position of authority, and act on your own. If you approach Samira, her spirits, or any other ally of theirs without Charlotte's, Iron Fist's, or my permission... I will erase you from existence entirely. The safety of my summoner does not ride on your existence, her mother will still give birth to her without you." Angra's eyes narrowed but she didn't try to say anything since she lacked a mouth.

Query then turned away and walked to Amaterasu again. "I am deeply sorry for Angra Mainyu's actions. Please understand that she did not fully intend to anger you. She was trying to show you the light, as she knows that Samira will need you. Angra does not hate your summoner, but rather she loves her dearly, as she loves anyone that Kaori loves. She has a tradition of testing the will of those involved in Kaori's life to ensure they won't buckle under pressure, and this has soured the relationship between her and Samira. She is impulsive, and has no restraint on her tongue, and this has strained relationships between you all and her. I know that you feel your pride hurt by the battle between yourself and Kaori's alter personality, but understand that Kaori is partially a goddess. She has a great deal of battle experience, and her sword skill matches your own. Her alter personality opposes your element, and thus, you cancel each other. The most important thing to understand is that Kaori's alter personality was not fighting with hatred and vitriol, as most darkness creature do. She was fighting with love, the desire to protect her original, and to ensure Samira would not hurt her. Samira was fighting with a desire to save her beloved friend, she had no desire to kill the darkness if it wasn't necessary. It was not that your power was insufficient, Amaterasu. Your summoner simply did not wish to cause unnecessary harm. You are a powerful being, and are loved by many, Amaterasu. Ikuchi and Kaori's darker personal both greet you with a hug, a smile, and high expectations. Kaori has much faith in you, and Ra believed you were strong enough to carry your allies in his absence."


Query had paused momentarily while she took a breath. "You feel pain from having lost to Apophis, but during that fight you were not yourself. You were under pressure, and in a situation that was not favorable for you. I do not blame you for not being able to overpower him. He was using your summoner's body, and he is very powerful on his own. This is why you must have faith in your own power and if that is insufficient still, call to your allies and combine powers. You have a loving brother who will readily fight for you. You have a multi-armed spirit who relishes in battle, and will readily strike down any enemy in front her. You have the power to combine your power on a magical level with other spirits to get stronger, and if you are unsure of how to do that, Ira and I will gladly teach you. It requires much trust, which you have now displaced... but you are not beyond redemption. Your alliance... your friendship can be salvaged. It is to my knowledge that your summoner had apologized to you earlier, but you failed to reply to her. Your first course of action will be to address her, hold her, and apologize for neglecting her. She will forgive you, Samira is a gentle person and is incapable of true hatred." Amaterasu would feel her hands being forced to rise, as though they were holding a box in them, but nothing was present. "You believe yourself unworthy to wield my summoner's blade, but Kaori does not make mistakes when seeing the worth of others. She saw the darkness in your heart, and judged that your light is strong enough to overpower it." Amaterasu would then see Kaori's sword appear in its sheath, in her hands.

Query then turned and walked to face the other spirits, ones who weren't really involved. "You have all been kept in the dark and protected your summoner and her interests. You have all been forced to stand by idly as your only leader was broken by the weight of her responsibilities, and rendered unable to perform her duties. I thank you all for this, as you are the embodiment of dedication, and the pride of our kind. I ask that you do not judge Amaterasu, but rather, show her the kindness that she will require." Query then turned and walked to face Sasuno, who was woken up as soon as Query transported every back to Samira's mind. "Sasuno. You are a strong man, and a good friend to Samira, and an excellent brother to Amaterasu. You hold a great deal of anger towards Ikuchi for what he has done, for which you cannot be blamed and will not be faulted. Understand that Ikuchi has been wounded by Samira, that he feels she intruded on his goals and stolen them. He fails to realize that Kaori still holds him in high regard, and that in battle, he will always be at her right hand. Samira has done nothing to address his insecurities even after finding out about them, and is now being punished for her indecisiveness. You cannot force her to act, but you can tell her what she must do. Ikuchi respects strength, and her determination to make it through the caves will soften him to her. Samira has also been given a powerful weapon against Ikuchi, that Amaterasu has jokingly told her to use before without knowing the power behind it. Do not be angry, but find amusement in this weapon."

Query then turned and stopped in front of the leader of the desert spirits. Ra would see Query wave her hand in front him and his mouth would be reformed. "As the root cause of this conflict, I will provide you a single chance to disclose where you were, what you were doing, and why you did not trust your allies with this information. If you fail, I will seal your mouth once more and expose each of your lesser spirits to the same questions. If none of them speak, you will wish that you spoke. Now, Ra... you may speak, you have ten seconds."

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Cave Course:

Samira was completely unaware of what was going on with her spirits. She couldn't hear them due to purposely turning that part of the link off, nor did she attempt to speak with them. A good thing, or else she would have been worried and be less focused on getting through the cave's training course. With the swordsman down she looked towards Ikuchi for some sign of acknowledgement that the task of defeating it had been completed. She blinked at first, astonished that there was an actual reason for him not intervening other than he didn't want to. It was vague and coldly spoken, of course, but he had said it without her questioning it. She would have died if he had. Since she had never asked for his help, she never received the explanation that the statue would adjust to his skill level thirty times over. "I do not understand. Why would I have died if you came to my aid?" Not that she wanted him to as was obvious with her lack of demanding for help. The question was to sate her curiosity more than anything.

The curiosity that once again made her regret having it. Useless. Of course he would say that. Samira looked to the ground. She hated that label, and no matter how many times she was told otherwise it was still a stab to the heart to be considered as such. In her mind, she knew she wasn't. To think otherwise would mean she thought Kaori and others were lying to her anytime the topic came up. Also, if she was so useless Ikuchi would not have bothered to have her tag along on those few missions while Kaori was away. He was saying it right then to be cruel. Her eyes narrowed as she looked up and told herself to forget those words. She was not going to cry or be disheartened by them. The currently non-magical summoner turned and began to follow Ikuchi through the now open door.

The tunnel past the door was one Samira instantly came to dislike. It was dark, too dark. She had Ama and even Nox to light her way normally in such locations. Without them she could normally use her magic dagger that also acted as a source of light. Neither of those options currently existed. The dagger wasn't on her, and even though it was in a celestial storage she couldn't open a portal and get it due to the same logic that was preventing her from summoning her spirits. That meant she had to wander around in the dark without knowing what was around her. It was a fear of hers to be in a tunnel void of any light. She could get lost or run into something fatal. The fear itself was not as great as her fear of dolls, but it was still there. Anxiety built up as she walked through the tunnel. Her hands ran along the walls as some form to guide her, but it did nothing to ease her growing panic. She remained silent and said nothing in regards to how she was feeling. Forcing herself to move forward without complaint was the only option she would take. The word "duck" was then heard, of which she did but not quick enough. The root did not hit her neck, but rather her forehead as she bumped into it during mid ducking. A small cry of pain and surprise was emitted, and she stopped to rub her forehead for a couple of seconds before moving on. That was actually the less hurtful thing to occur all day. A shame things actually got worse.

Samira felt her boots step into something that sounded awfully mushy. There was no telling what it was in the darkness, and she certainly didn't have time to investigate or ask. Something flew out and wrapped around her. She could feel the hold begin to squeeze her body. On a normal day she could remain calm and figure out how to handle things in an intelligent manner. However, at that moment she was in tunnel entirely void of light. She had already been in a fear induced state, and now something she couldn't see had hold of her. "Ikuc-" That time she had to allow herself to demand help. The process of struggling did not seem to reach the goal of escape. Her cry for help was quickly interrupted as more vines joined the party and made it so she couldn't. Her head felt as if it would surely be crushed from the constriction when she was suddenly set free.

The tunnel was now lit by a burning black flame that removed the vines that had hold of her. As a bonus, the flames had actually burned her cheek. Her hand went to cover it as she shouted from the  pain of the new facial burn. Well, it was better than be crushed to death in honest truth. She didn't want to automatically assume he had done that on purpose, but with everything else it was hard not to. Ikuchi had approached and grabbed the top of her head, turning it. She didn't like it and reacted without thinking that he was probably just trying to look at the burn. Samira flinched and took a step back. Her nerves were already shattered, and him being that close and touching her set danger alarms. Ironically, her movement caused the very reaction she wanted to avoid. He struck the cheek that did not have the burn. It surprised her even though she had been expecting it, and now both cheeks were stinging for different reasons. The force used brought tears to her eyes much in the same way when Kaori had slapped her before. She had even been referred to a tool rather than human. Was reacting that way really so offensive as to be degraded further?

Her head was grabbed once more. She allowed it in order to avoid another slap or worse. A white light illuminated the area as Ikuchi placed his hand near the burn, and Samira began to feel it healing. In mere moments the pain within both cheeks was gone. He explained the vines and how they worked during the process. To the mental storage it went for future reference. Those vines were a terrible enemy to face that day. Samira had all three of those traits active, and it was increasing the further they progressed. Ikuchi had then turned and started to walk away, but paused to let her know the burn was accidental. "So it was," Samira muttered to herself as she looked at the ground. She doubted he would lie about it. Now she had to feel guilty for assuming he would resort to burning her to further act on his hatred for her. Further confusion regarding his unpredictable nature now existed. Samira followed as best as she could given the light from the flames had now faded.

The next room was still dark to the point that Samira didn't even know Ikuchi held his arm out until she bumped right into it. He demanded she stop. "Why?" She couldn't see a damn thing so she needed to be told. The room then lit up as a flame ignited and expanded around the room. The wild pig arena was then made clear. She sweatdropped, getting an idea of where the next exercise was located. "Wait, what?!" The explanation of the end goal made her eyes go wide. The swordsman wasn't even that bad! The sudden forced slap on her back made her fall forward in a scream, which ended in yet another rough landing for the day as a familiar onyx pillar caught her. It was a feeling she was starting to get used to...which actually was not at all healthy. She hopped off the shorter pillar and began the quest of finding the boar that had the correct key.

The boars were gigantic and were actually very dangerous looking. The summoner had to sweatdrop again. So much on day one. Day two was going to be absolutely terrifying. Samira played the sneak game, trying to use the mounds as cover while checking the nearby boars. She didn't dare try to get to close to the mounds though or even touch them considering they had termites crawling all over them, and she may had already gotten bitten once or twice to figure that out. The method had been going well up until she predicted the pathing of one of the boars horribly wrong. It noticed her, and the others near it were alerted. So began the chase of squealing boars and a screaming summoner. As she moved through the arena more of the boars were alerted and joined in. She had tried to observe them as she passed them, but by the time all twelve had joined in she didn't know which was which anymore. Key hunting on large and deadly boars should have been a day thirty exercise!

Somehow she had managed to lose them all by running around all the giant mounds and confusing them until they lost track of her. Samira sighed with relief and knelt down in cover for a moment to catch her breath. After all of that she was still very much keyless. That meant she had to go out there again. The horror. Samira inched out, preparing to end up getting into another chase scene. That was when she heard Ikuchi shout his hint. "Broken tusk?" Her eyes blinked as she quietly repeated the hint to herself. Then those eyes of hers began to scan what she could see for the correct one. None on that side. She turned and looked on the other and didn't see the right one there either. That meant she would have to move mound to mound again until she could view the entire arena and all of the boars.

In time, Samira had managed to track down the correct boar. There was just the issue of trying to get its key that remained. It wouldn't be too difficult. Maybe. She took hold of the bow she kept from the other room and took hold of an arrow. The intention was not to hit the pig with it, but rather the key along its neck. The arrow released and the key that was attached to the boar fell to the ground, having been cut from its attachment as the arrow passed. At the very least she wasn't too terrible with a bow anymore.

The boar was alerted and began to move towards the mound the summoner was hiding behind. She went back into hiding and went around as the boar moved. Eventually she was able to find a clear path to the key that was on the ground. The new problem was that as soon as she picked it up another boar had joined the scene. Another deadly chase began as she made for the door the key supposedly went to. The door was reached and unlocked, but she didn't pass through it completely unscathed. One of the boars had gotten close as she passed through the door, and her arm had obtained a new gash from its tusk when she went to close the door. It hurt deeply to the point she wasn't sure she'd even be able to use it for the remainder of the course. If she was a person that used bad language, she probably would have resorted to doing that. Instead, she had to bite back the pain and continue moving.

A new room, but one that contained a hot spring and had a surprisingly peaceful feeling to it. She was then told to get in. No other explanation. Samira scowled, growing tired of not knowing any details until she was right in the middle of things. "No, please explain to me why first." It was then that she was picked up. "Put me dow-aahhh" And then tossed into the hot spring. Her head shot out from the water near instantly. "Ikuchi!" Her patience was wearing thin, and she splashed the water in frustration as he walked off to sit on a nearby tree stump. She couldn't even stay angry. The wounds she had were being healed by the water. The pain she had been feeling was gone, even the broken ribs from the first pillar strike. Too bad she was now completely soaked. Another anger filled splash.

At first Samira had not noticed the new arrival in the room. It was not until the spirit had moved closer and extended her hand out that the summoner turned her head and stared suspiciously at her. Not so much in alarm, but of the fact she had appeared out of no where. There wasn't a feeling that she was an enemy, it was quite the opposite. It reminded her of Kaori and even the appearance was oddly similar in some ways. Samira didn't know why, but the woman seemed to be someone she should trust. It was just a feeling she had. Her hand went towards the spirit's, and she was helped out of the healing pool, her clothes miraculously drying as soon as she was out. No reply had been made in regards to the hatred. She was uncertain about that. Time wasn't really doing anything, and even after Kaori accepted him to return he still hadn't found any sort of new goal for himself to replace the ones she herself supposedly took from him.

Samira was pulled along closer to Ikuchi and she nearly went into panic mode. That was a little too close and could be considered a dangerous move. A sweatdrop formed when the spirit mentioned rubbing his head. The suggestion had been mentioned before as a joke, and she truly hoped the spirit had the same sense of humor. "I do not think that would be wise at all." If she tried to pet him as if he were a dog he'd probably break her arm off...likely bite it off if done while he was in Dragonhound form. She very much liked her arm.

Samira cringed as the spirit moved her hand closer to Ikuchi and eventually be placed on his head and forced to rub. How he suddenly fell asleep so quick she didn't know, but she was thankful for it so he wouldn't actually know she was doing it. The action made Samira very nervous. They were not friends and not even allies. If he woke up he'd prob send her ricocheting repeatedly along the walls by way of onyx pillars. "Puppy?" The question was made in a tone of disbelief. Ikuchi was anything but a puppy. That day he was terrifying. Puppies were a joy to be around. He was not. Still she was afraid he would wake up and slice her hand off for touching him. The spirit's hand left her own, and Samira was left to do the head rubbing on her own. She was hesitant and very reluctant, but then Ikuchi started to lean on her.

The spirit spoke some more. The comments relating to building a bridge and that she had to be the one to begin the process. Samira sighed hopelessly. She wasn't sure how to do that. Surely head rubbing was not the solution to all the problems that existed. Being nice and not hateful towards him did not work either. There wasn't even anything they could talk about. He hated her for reasons she could not go back on now. They had already discussed it somewhat. Bringing it up all over again was not going to help. The spirit then moved to wrap her arms around her, even giving a kiss on the cheek. It was something she had received many times. Mostly from Kaori and even Angra. Samira had to wonder why the spirit seemed so oddly similar to Kaori to even resemble that sweet action.

The unknown spirit then went on to say there was another chasm. One that was within her mind. It didn't take long to narrow it down. Only her own spirits existed in her mind, and there was only one that had been off lately. Things were more dire there than she had thought if a spirit she did not know was telling her of it. Concern crossed Samira's face. She could do nothing for Ama right then. The spirit could not be summoned, and even though she turned her part of the hearing link back on theirs were off. There was yet another disconnection between them and herself. For now, she just had to remain there with her concern and worry growing. Oddly enough, her worry being focused on something else made being that close to Ikuchi less terrifying. She continued with the head rubs since it was oddly relaxing to do. "I think it will be a long time before our bridge is complete, Ikuchi. I already broke it twice." The first being the reasons he hated her. The second by hitting him and demanding he treat her the way he really felt instead of sending mixed signals. A very long time indeed.

Some time had passed as Ikuchi rested with Samira taking the advice of the spirit and continuing the head rubbing as he did. It was weird. That opinion didn't change the entire time. Her fears had calmed though to a point that she felt nothing when he began to stir. There was still some intelligent self preservation though, and she wished to avoid the awkward explanation altogether. So, she ceased the petting and left him there. She sat by the edge of the pool and waited for him to wake fully so they could continue. Once he did wake up, she glanced his way before focusing back on the water. "You fell asleep, and I did not want to wake you. This whole thing must be stressful for you. I apologize." Having to babysit someone he hated she understood could not have been easy. She didn't like the way he was treating her at all, but she couldn't hate him for it, especially given she had just been told that she would have to be the responsible one and begin making that bridge again. He unfortunately made that harder for her to do that day. Now she couldn't be comfortable being around him while he was awake and moving.

If he hadn't already begun moving onto the next area, Samira would stand and move along on her own. "We should keep going." There was more of a reason to complete the training session other than being determined enough to continue with it. Something was happening with her spirits, and she needed to figure out what it was and deal with it. If he had started moving, Samira would just follow along silently, worried due to the new spirit concerns, but silent. It wasn't his problem so she didn't feel it was necessary to let him know what she had been told. Focusing on the course had to be the main focus the way she saw it.

Celestial Record Keeping Office:

Jing Wei was doing what she normally did; work. Although now she was one perfectly happy worker. She hummed cheerfully as she did the same monotonous tasks she had done for many many years. The other record keeping spirits near her looked at her curiously with many "wtf" expressions. They had no idea what got her in such a good mood, and honestly, it kind of creeped them out. The moment Aquarius appeared they returned to their work. He was likely there for another Jing Wei business visit. There were some rumors and gossip going around the workplace on what sort of relationship the two spirits had, but no real confirmation. Anytime someone asked Jing about it she would fall into some sort of school girl day dreaming fantasy state, and say things that didn't make a whole lot of sense. They often slowly made their exit shortly after it began.

Either way, Jing Wei was out of her seat and in front of her desk with a wide grin the moment she saw the Zodiac. A work visit! How sweet! Then she frowned. A work visit?! Well damn, that meant something was going down again. His serious expression only confirmed it further. To the break room she went without a fuss. Perhaps a bit of a pout since it was business related instead of pleasure, but it was what it was. The life of a record keeping spirit.

The door closed behind them, and Jing Wei tilted her head, waiting to hear what was happening that time and what would be requested of her. She wasn't so worried about getting in trouble where work was concerned anymore, but there were still her fellow spirits that could punish her. Speaking of, she hadn't gotten any of Amaterasu's joke, pointless, and time wasting requests in several days. Maybe that unique way of punishing her was finally over.

Her eyes widened in alarm and concern when Aquarius had mentioned a fight between Kukulkan and Amaterasu. "What?! But that...they'll be in huge trouble!" She didn't need to be told that the fight had been taken out of the mind space. That meant the battlefield was either in the mortal world or the celestial one. Samira's mindspace wasn't big enough for an all out brawl between two high classed spirits. They would probably do serious damage if they tried. Now she had to worry if she would be having to handle the paperwork on their punishments. Kuku already had many black marks and restrictions. There were only two options to go from there. Restricting her power further, or tossing out the agreement between the original Kukulkan and the Celestial King and destroying her entirely. As for Ama, Jing Wei didn't want to have to handle that paper work at all. The requests the light spirit often made to waste Jing's time were very annoying, but it was a gentle tap on the wrist where punishments were concerned. Ama had been reasonable and did not want to punish her at all for giving out information to Aquarius as well as contracts, but out of principal she had to do something. Ra would have taken it far more seriously and done much worse if he had been around. Her actions borderlined betrayal, and he would not have been forgiving. Jing Wei had to be thankful for Ama's ability to understand her position, unlike Ra.

"I'm sorry, but, this time I don't know. I don't keep my connection going full time. One second." Jing Wei placed a hand on the side of her head and closed her eyes. Temporarily she turned her link on. There was...a lot of noise. It pained her head actually. Something was really going down. No one responded to her mental messages either. She even went as far as to contact Samira, but there was nothing from her either. The summoner couldn't hear her. At that point, her ability to hear the spirits was still turned off. "No one is responding. I think they're all too distracted trying to stop the fight if there really is one going on." Jing Wei bit her lip and her wings drooped. Things were getting more serious than she realized. "Susano still gives me updates, so I do know that Amaterasu has not been herself since Peace Village, but that's all I know. He was obviously vague with those details due to their relation, though, or maybe he didn't know any of them himself. I'm surprised he told me at all really. Sorry I can't help more like the other times."

Jing Wei's mouth formed a weak smile. She had been thanked, but she couldn't feel happy about it, not when she was concerned about the punishments that would be inflicted upon the two fighting spirits. The secretary spirit was then pulled closer with the end result being a kiss. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink and she nodded at his words. "All right..." She appreciated that he was looking out for her and she felt warm inside from it. Still, it was not the proper time to be happy for herself. Worry would be with her as she went back to her work. It didn't stop just because spirits were fighting, it only grew.

Celestial World:

"Shit, this is bad." Most of the spirits had left the mindspace to try and intervene and stop the situation that clearly went overboard. "Your sister is a fool! Even I would not do this." Kali had joined Susano and stared at the scene. A storm had been created as the winds picked up, thanks to a certain flying serpent, making it actually difficult to see clearly. Amaterasu's blinding attacks and already quick movements didn't help either. Susano had to bite his tongue at that comment. The four armed demon was right. Amaterasu would not come out of that unpunished if the fight continued. He did not want to see that happen to her. He knew of Kuku's punishment from long ago, but her actions affected the mortal realm and there was her original backing her for a lesser punishment. Ama was currently affecting the Celestial World and did not have her original by her side. Her punishment would be even more severe than Kuku's punishment from centuries ago. "Shut up and help me stop them!"

The lesser combat spirits that were present made an attempt to stop the two spirits, but it was futile to stand against their rage. Not even all of them were present, making it even less possible to stop them. Susano had finally gotten his sister to a point where she was standing still, but the moment he went to stand in front of her and contain her she raised her blade against him. He had no choice but to raise his own to block it. "AMA, STOP! You've lost it!" The light spirit barely even acknowledged the one standing in front of her was her brother. All her current rage filled eyes saw was an obstacle delaying her from reaching her true target. "You are in the way, brother. Remove yourself from my path." The request was denied. He didn't even have to say anything. His defiant eyes told her everything. The best part of being the eldest and the strongest was that she did not need his permission or have to submit to him. She just had to forcefully remove him. Which she did, easily in fact. In full force he was not in the same league. Her speed was much quicker as well as her power. It only took a second to send him sailing towards the other spirits. Nu Wa joined, although hers was more of a retreat than being sent flying by Kuku. The flying serpent was just pissed and had not lost her mind enough to do such a thing to her Lamia friend.

"I cannot calm Kuku down, and I do not want to strike her."
"So strike Amaterasu then! You are too soft." Kali venomously told the half snake woman with a glare. Her weapons were now broken from trying to stop the both of them.
"Loki! Do your thing!"
"Hmm, I think I am staying out of this one."
"WHAT?!"
"That's a no. I like being alive and not punished. Getting mixed in with this is bad for my overall health and livelihood."
"Did you have to choose now to be useless?! DAMMIT!" The swordsman then took off on his own for another round of trying to stop the fighting.
"Susano, wait!" Nu Wa had been about to follow and stop him. With Amaterasu already striking him twice and further losing control she wasn't so sure how safe it was for even him to keep interfering. However, the moment she began to slither forward, a portal opened, and she and the rest of her fellow spirits were chained.
Kali hissed. "First being locked in and now chained?! You all are testing my patience." Naturally, the four armed spirit was the first to react with extreme disapproval. She was pulled to the ground immediately afterward.
"The King, you say? So that explains your interference. We were too late to prevent the news from spreading to him."
"I guess that means Team Samira is in serious trouble then, huh? Crap."
No one struggled after that. It wasn't as if they were being harmed, and there was nothing they could do to stop the battle regardless.

As for Susano, he was unaware of the chained up allies behind him. His only focus was stopping Ama before she was beyond all hopes of a lesser punishment or reached the point of her immediate destruction being ordered. A magic circle then appeared in front of him and from it the familiar delivery spirit. Aside from him constantly showing up out of no where and probably knew way more secrets than he should, Susano had no problems with the guy. That day though he would have to scowl. He had no patience to deal with him. The hand on the hilt of his katana told the wind spirit that he was not there to make a delivery, and the shake of his head made it further obvious that he was there to be a barrier between the fight and himself. "Sorry, Delivery Ninja, but I am going to have to ignore that suggestion." He made no attempts to attack Ninja. He was simply going to use his own speed to move around him. With more spirits showing up, his fear regarding Ama's well being increased. He was not about to allow someone else attempt to stop her. It was his responsibility, and anyone else would probably do her more harm than he liked. However, the moment he made a single step the ninja spirit vanished, and before Susano realized what had happened he was knocked out cold.

Amaterasu had just jumped into the air to reach the levels of the flying serpent above her when a water vine grabbed onto her wrist on the way up and pulled her down with such force that she formed a crater upon landing. Her weapon fell from her grasp and slid to the side away from her. The surprise attack was alarming and now she had been damaged. Standing up, a glare was sent over towards Aquarius. He had told her not to fight him. A request she would have taken easily if not for the fact he had a habit of always making their business his own. She was amused the other times for the most part. That did not mean there wasn't a small level of annoyance for his past actions of forcing contracts and information about Team Samira affairs. It was something she could always ignore before, but now the feeling was left to boil in her current state though and could not be overlooked. "Aquarius..." Ama said softly, almost sighing. Then it suddenly switched to when Angra had really pissed her off earlier. "STOP INTERFERING WITH AFFAIRS THAT ARE NOT YOUR OWN!" It was a good thing he came equipped with his own personal lake that he could drop on others as he pleased. Amaterasu was in the middle of going supernova again when it poured down on her. By the time it was done, most of her anger had been knocked out. She remained lying in that water. There wasn't even any reason to continue. The flying serpent was no longer in the air that she could see. The result of someone else having dealt with her most likely.

Kuku took notice of Amaterasu being forced to the ground. The advantage was hers, but she had her own opponent to deal with. Something collided hard against her back, causing her to descend slightly. The flying serpent hissed angrily. Her defensive slicing winds seemed to not affect whatever insect was crawling on her. She slithered through the air and slightly turned to snap at whatever it was, but the cute small thing had appeared on her own. The two had locked eyes, but Kuku was hardly intimidated by the small girl. Nothing made her tremble. Just as she was about to snap and make a meal out of the smaller spirit, she found out that, that small girl had an impressive strength. With a single punch Kuku was sent all the way down to the ground, forming a giant crater upon collision. A long anger filled hiss as the serpent scrambled to recover. "You cute little bitch!" Her voice echoed throughout the surroundings rather than her serpent mouth moving. She disliked cute things, and especially disliked the ones that dared stand up to her in such a way. Her wings spread as she began to create more violent winds to increase storm. During her action the cute thing began to punch her repeatedly. Kuku had attempted to maneuver out of the way, but she was a very large and easy to hit target. Snapping by fangs or tail at the thing was even difficult. Within seconds she was the target of over a hundred punches before one final massive strike was made that sent her fully lying on the ground once more.

A cutlass was then pointed at her, which she noticed after opening her eyes and recovered her senses from the strikes. Another angry hiss as her eye glared at the smaller creature. The words were laughable to hear from such a cute thing, no matter how coldly it looked at her. Her gaze darted over towards where her original target was. So, she was down as well. "You bastards interfered." There was a hint of disappointment in those words. "I am transforming to my less powerful state. Cut my eye out if you intend to, but you will not force me to eat it. You have not killed my pride." Kuku failed to mention that the pride was wounded. She risked having her eye cut out and ignored the cute spirit's order. There was some leeway allowed by saying she was moving to a form where she was less of a threat, and she didn't have to exactly move to do it. If her eye got cut out in the process so the fuck what. He Bo could restore it later. The larger serpent body dissolved into particles and left her more humanoid form there. There she stayed until everyone was transported back into the mindspace.

In The Mindspace:

Every single spirit contracted to Samira appeared in the mind space. A great many were confused, but the moment they went to speak they realized they had no mouths to do so. Their power was even nonexistent. The ones unaware of what was happening looked around in a confused manner, especially Anhur considering he shouldn't of been there to begin with on account for having lost his full spirit ties to the celestial world long ago. They then all took notice of the other spirits that were not a part of their team. What was this? Some weird intervention?

The spirit known as Query began walking towards them, stopping in front of Amaterasu. The anger filled eyes were still there as she stared at Query. There was nothing against that spirit in particular, but she was still not completely settled down. Just enough to where she wouldn't attack anyone or snap. Her glow was flickering off and on repeatedly as another indication of her instability. No doubt another lecture about how she had failed was incoming. Something she would have to agree on. A lecture was not what she was given though. Instead, the other spirit acknowledged her troubles and had even said she had done great work doing what she could under the circumstances. Query then embraced her. Amaterasu blinked as she continued to listen. She was reminded of her allies and that she wasn't alone in her battle against the dark serpent. She questioned within herself how accurate that really was. There was hardly any good work involved. Anything good that had been done was instantly thrown away the moment she lost herself. Nonetheless, she appreciated Query's words. Her eyes retained the red glow, but they had softened, and even her glow stabilized.

Moving onto Kuku, the humanoid disguised serpent glared at her. She was still ticked. The battle to unleash her rage was interrupted, and now they were all stuck standing around instead of helping Samira. One could question how a fight between Ama and herself helped the summoner and really, it didn't. She just had a habit of letting her anger emotion take over. Getting thrown outside the mind space by Ama didn't exactly help keep her calm either. Her arms crossed over her chest and she looked away as Query spoke to her. 'It fucking figures that place would have sealing magic after all of this crap,' she thought to herself while still listening. She allowed herself to calm after hearing the news of that, and of Ikuchi being punished once Kaori was informed. As for Samira, as long as Kaori didn't use her as a punching bag Kuku was fine with how her part of the situation was handled. She didn't care about the emotions that were in play or what the reasons behind everything were. The well being of her summoner in general was all she cared about, and even if she was not doing the punishing herself the one that injured her would be dealt with. A semi happy serpent was semi happy.

Anhur just gave a nod at Query when she spoke to him, acknowledging why he was brought there. He had put some of the pieces together, and was prepared for what would happen next. The time for secrets was over. He looked over at Ra with a stoic expression, who appeared just as emotionless, at least at the start of his lectured scolding. The spirits within the room were unaware of where he truly was so he did not blame them for thinking they had the right to lecture him. Their constant interference was gradually crossing certain boundaries that were not to be shared, and Team Kaori had just crossed an important one. He shot a glare in the direction of Amaterasu, who just looked back with guilt filled eyes. She knew he had trusted her to keep things in order. Even if a spirit went insane and acted out it would have been understood. When that spirit was herself though, it was shameful. The fact he did not tell her anything regarding where he would be was irrelevant. She was set as leader with high expectations, and she failed to meet them in such a way that it was embarrassing. A whole other team of spirits had to step in and even the King himself had ordered it. It was obvious by the way he looked at her that he thought the very same thing and considered her an ultimate failure.

The moment the punishments that were going to be given by the King himself were stated, Amaterasu turned her gaze over towards Aquarius in disbelief. That...was even worse than Kukulkan's original punishment from centuries ago. Her punishment was to be even worse than the monster from back then? Ama's eyes went completely back to normal as she fell to her knees and then further forward with only her hands and arms holding her up. Her glow faded to nothing in her despair, and she could only look at the ground instead of getting back up and seeing the faces of everyone else. By the word usage of Query, that would not be her actual punishment, but to think it was even considered... She had no thoughts other than reflecting on how serious her failures were.

As for Kukulkan, if she had a mouth she would have scoffed. Instead, she was left with rolling her eyes. Of course they would consider destroying her again. It wasn't a surprise. The only reason they didn't do it before was because of her original. 'Well what do you know, dear ol' dad, I fucked up again. Looks like not even the agreement you had with the King was going to save me this time.' The snake spirits seemed to be the ones causing problems all around. The King was probably fed up with it. Apophis he couldn't touch. His original made sure of that. It was why he had to be sealed in the first place instead of just ended. Unfortunately for her, she was without that kind of protection. A dark uncontrollable chaos serpent was bad enough. Having two serpents causing trouble at the same time was probably not something that the King would allow to fly. A Celestial King's patience could only go so far. As for her opinion on Ama's punishment, she would have smirked. The perfect light spirit getting even more restricted than she was. That'd teach the bitch not to bring up her past mistakes again. Amaterasu's self pity mode was even more laughable and disgusting.

Ra displayed no emotion as his eyes focused once again on Query. Punishments were to be expected, and he approved of them. The only part he didn't care for was destroying Kukulkan before the seal could be done. That would not have been wise. Her power was required now more than ever.

The lesser desert spirits did not display much of a reaction. Isis had been gone for a while herself and was not up to date with everything. However, she trusted Ra. She and the rest of the desert spirits had all of their memories from the first sealing and had always remained together. She was well aware whatever he was doing was in the best interest of Samira, which was what she found to be the priority. The spirit of magic remained standing tall and firm with her hands elegantly resting in front of her, and had her eyes closed as she listened to Query, who she had never met but assumed to be a lead spirit for Kaori's set.

Serqet was slightly nervous and less playful. She couldn't even talk to make herself feel better. The venom spirit fidgeted as Query addressed them. Bastet remained neutral. The feline in the half cat half human form she typically wore as a spirit swished her tail and placed a hand on her hip. The whole thing she was not aware of, but she knew all too well that the secrets had been brought up before, and she had refused to tell Ama. Anhur remained unphased by the scolding. The result of Amaterasu losing control from the stress was unexpected. The battle between her and Kukulkan even less so. He could find the faults in that. Anhur would still keep the secret if he had to do it again. Team Kaori only knew Ra had been missing and probably thought he was taking a vacation or running away from his duties. The lion spirit could not blame them for thinking so. They were, however, wrong.

Angra had then materialized in the room. Surprisingly, Query's power was on a level that even the goddess could not escape from. Most of the spirits stood there and watched and listened. They were prevented from saying anything, but then, it was doubtful they would have bothered. The goddess was one Samira did not like, and they themselves did not like her opinion of them. The only ones that didn't care were the more carefree spirits; the ones that were able to let such offenses roll off their shoulders. While Angra was being talked to, Susano had gone over and helped Amaterasu stand back up. He didn't really think about whether it was okay to move or not. The fact the battle had been stopped, and she would be spared from her original punishment was all he cared about. Seeing his sister like that was worrisome and uncomfortable, and he wished not all of the people in the room had witnessed it. She fell. Hard. It was nothing short of embarrassing. Once she was up he walked away to give her space. They would have to have their own sibling talk later. Ama had originally reached for him when he left her, but then she stopped herself and let her hand fall back to its side. Now was not the time to repair the damage to their sibling bond.

Query had approached her once more now that Angra had been dealt with. The speech given by the horned spirit touched her heart. The apology for Angra's actions aside, Ama was reminded of those that were allied and thought highly of her. Those that had faith in her and believed her to be strong. She had felt a level of weakness that Samira herself often felt, and she had displayed her insecurities in the most violent and irrational sense. Bonds were damaged and broken, but she was told it could be salvaged. With her fellow spirits, with those that were not yet aware of what had been going on, and with even Samira, who she knew she had hurt the day before but did nothing to correct it. By the time the sword materialized in her hands, a few tears were flowing from her brown eyes and down her cheeks. If she still had her mouth she probably would have let out a small laugh. So like her original that even she required an intervention and be reminded of her duties and place in the world. Unlike her original there were many that would remain standing by her even with the mistakes she had just made. They didn't do it because of what she could do and required her power, they did it because they saw her as a true ally and friend.

The other spirits that were not involved with the desert spirits or were the two fighting spirits were then addressed. Each of them had their own thoughts and opinions on the matter, but they were all in agreement that Ama would not be treated any differently than she had been prior to her violent actions. Up until then she had been someone they respected, and the time when they all realized that she was not perfect had to come eventually. So long as Samira remained the priority, they were comfortable with Ama regaining her role so long as she got some rest.

Susano arched a brow when the spirit that was apparently the goddess of interventions walked up to him. 'Oh, terrific. Now I get the spotlight,' he thought, wishing he could let out an exasperated sigh through his mouth. Instead he had to just exhale deeply through his nose and prepare himself for whatever was going to be said. It started off good shockingly enough, at least for him. He wasn't exactly used to getting praise. Then Ikuchi was mentioned and his eyes rolled as if to say, 'here we go.' He had already heard that he would be handled in regards to how Samira was being treated, so he could probably let the current day slide. It was still no excuse for his actions. Wasn't he supposed to be some dragon god? He was acting more like a jealous brat. He couldn't totally turn away the thought that Samira was partially to blame for it. In actuality, Susano himself could take some of it. He often made things worse with some of the things he said, and he did nothing to inform Samira on what would help Ikuchi recover from his hatred. So long as the beast stayed away he didn't care. He had allowed his own dislike of Ikuchi to affect his summoner. Granted, it was because of Ikuchi's first signs of hatred that made him dislike him in the first place. Before then, he was completely neutral. He would have to think about it further later on. For now, Ikuchi was the last thing on his mind. He just had to believe that Samira was going to get through that trial fine regardless of him. That meant he could focus on the other priorities, that being his sister and the rest of that little meeting they were forced to have.

Ra said nothing as the spirit that held power over reality stood in front of him and restored his mouth. He respectfully allowed her to speak without interruption. Yes, he supposed placing so much responsibility on Amaterasu was a mistake, but it had to be done. Things had escalated to a point he did not imagine was possible and therefore could not predict. He would not use excuses. It happened and that was that. An error of judgment had been made on his part. An actual discussion with Ama would have to occur later on privately. Not one of punishment and discipline, but one of reason at the very least. He owed her that much.

The sun god avatar was not at all intimated by the threats. Query was powerful. She had shown that. He also believed she would actually make good on them. However, it was not enough to make him cringe or shake in terror. He had the upmost respect for his original, and he would not disgrace his position or name of that god by giving into such demands just because someone made a threat. It was weak and lacked pride. No, there had to be other reasons to give such information, particularly towards those not of the desert or even contracted with Samira period. Only one reason existed. He was out of time. There was no point in keeping the secrets now.

"My duty as a spirit," Ra replied after waiting nine seconds in such a tone that implied it should have been obvious what he was doing during his absence. "Protecting my summoner." The falcon headed spirit of the sun stayed silent for several seconds before continuing. The confused expressions from his fellow avatar spirits that were not of the desert meant he had to fill in the blanks. "You are all already aware of the seal that keeps Apophis contained. It is weakening and will break entirely soon enough. This process would have been done slowly had Samira gone through with the original development stages that were laid out. Some of you have an intolerable habit of placing yourselves in affairs that do not concern you however, and now as a result the time left has all but evaporated. I allowed this during the time the contracts of Athena, Amaterasu, and myself were forced, but I was not aware of the next level of contracts being rushed until after the fact. I would have stopped it." Naturally his gaze went over towards Aquarius, but only for a moment before turning back to focus on the entire room itself.

"Do not take my words as blaming those involved. They were not aware of the dangers that came with it for my summoner. They were acting on the circumstances of the time. This unfortunately does not change the fact that the avatar of chaos will soon be set free. He cannot be killed for more reasons than one. The first and most important to us is that he would kill Samira the moment anyone tries. The second, and reason why not even the Celestial King has rid the realms of him, is because he is directly tied to his original. You would unleash him onto the world. You may as well call the death of the spirit version a requirement to summon his original." His gaze focused completely on Query. "You would likely be able to stop him by erasing his very existence as you have so pointed out in the case of Angra Mainyu. Gods cannot stop you. It would prevent the immediate devastation he would unleash, but by doing so you would alter and wipe out generations of Samira's line, us, and whatever else he and his spawn have affected. We have not reached the point of you being that drastic. The spirit version remains, and as an alternative solution he was sealed with us being keys to it. It just needs to be redone. The third solution is that he be tamed completely." Ra paused to take a breath before continuing.

"Samira was to develop at a slower pace, and now she has flown over the large middle gap between her beginning and the end goal. She is not ready to fight him head on, and she lacks the power to complete the seal and walk away alive. It would use her life energy to make up for the missing power and strength. All of it." Another pause. "We are also not as strong as we were back then. You spirits of Kaori Leraci have allied with us, and your strength, wisdom, and power I respect, regardless of the problems unintentionally forced on us. However, you cannot be used or aid in the sealing process. You do not come from our line. It would reject you, if not destroy you."

"So comes your requested explanation of where I was. The answer is basic: finding more of us. Particularly those that are considered leaders among the many pantheons. Every summoner in Samira's line has the ability to summon them provided they earn it. Because of the connection being genetic in all of them, they do not possess keys. They are spirits not aligned with the King or follow his rules like the rest of us. I have not heard of or seen either of them being summoned since the time of the first sealing. They are not easily found, and they would never appear for anyone linked with the King. Only a Nassar would get their audience. In order to prevent my summoner from killing herself, I left my position to find them, ignoring the possibility that I would find nothing. The result I wanted was for them to add their power to our own to complete the seal and keep my summoner alive instead of being used as a sacrifice. The events that have transpired during my absence were not predicted. I believed Amaterasu could handle things on her own, and that Apophis would remain idle for some time. Something must have triggered him that I will inquire about at a later time."

"As for why none of the others were told there are several reasons. The first being that they would become irrational and even more protective the moment they found out Samira could die. They would try to lead her astray from her given path and slow her down further thinking it would prevent the outcome. I almost had to alter the memories of Isis after things progressed to this point. She allowed herself to get too close while also knowing of our duty to keep the seal intact. She only held her tongue because of my promise to find our leaders as an alternative. The rest of the desert spirits have known and been with me for centuries. The other spirits of our set had their memories erased of the first sealing as a form of protection. Ours were not because Apophis himself is a desert spirit. We are forever linked with him and cannot forget even if we and those above us desired it. Not that it matters since a spirit set needed to be aware of the chaos spirit and the seal regardless. We were just the defaults.

Another reason they were not told is because I did not want to give them false hope or have them assume protecting Samira was pointless when they already knew what fate awaited her. A good many would think this despite their current 'dedication'. Going further, your own summoner would not like it and probably stand in the way. Information seems to spread from our space and make it into yours somehow without my knowledge. I knew those fully aligned with me would not tell. Until I figure out who is passing information I cannot trust important details to anyone else." Clearly he had not been told by Ama that it was Jing Wei being the spreader of information. "More importantly, I could not have Samira knowing. Not until I was sure. False hope, despair that she would have to be used as a sacrifice, die by trying to tame Apophis instead, doing nothing and allowing him to take over... The child has enough to deal with without being told of this prematurely." Another short pause. "Are you now satisfied? Do not take me as some heartless leader that abandons his summoner and those that follow him with little reason. Your team has my appreciation for stepping in and getting the King to spare Kukulkan and Amaterasu, but that is all. I do not require a lecture or to be reminded of where my duties lie. During my absence I was able to find what would save my summoner. Your opinion of me matters little, and I would do it again if I had to."

Aquarius remained calm throughout the explanation, not even shifting face when Ra had addressed him for his forcing of contracts. Both times the life of his summoner had depended on it, and he'd readily do it again knowing the outcome. The rest of the explanation shed some light on things, and let Aquarius know critical information. Once it was over, Aquarius stepped forward and Query moved away. "Thank you, Q." he said calmly before stopping at a point where he was roughly in the middle of the room. "Ra, as a Zodiac Spirit I'm given access to any and all information required for me to fulfill my contract of preserving Kaori's life until such a time comes as she's too great a liability for me to let it continue. This includes the records of other celestial summoners, and their contracted sets. My information is limited to who those contracted spirits are, and where to find them if needed. I'm not made aware of their abilities, methods, or history. I apologize for having caused harm to your summoner, but the safety of Kaori is my primary concern. I'll deal with any consequences afterwards." Aquarius paused for a few seconds to let it sink in. "As for your whereabouts, I had no doubts that you were doing what you were supposed to... Just... Dude, it looks bad when the stache face asks where you are and I have no answer. Makes it really goddamn hard to vouch for you.
I'll let him know you were making arrangements for the well being of your summoner, and attempt to have your punishment waved."

Angra had spoke up and said "Permission to speak." with a calm voice, instantly receiving a glare from the rest of Kaori's spirits. "Granted, but watch your tongue." Query said, an azure magic circle forming at the tip of her finger in preparation to act. While the spirit was normally very passive, she was never one to make a threat. Whenever she said she would do something, she ensured that she did it. Had Ra made Query question the lesser spirits, and none of them talk, she would have made them feel more pain than humanly imaginable and prevent them from dying. Afterwards, she would literally tear the memories and knowledge from them, and leave each of them including Anhur as almost lifeless husks. She didn't care for any of the spirits in the room, Kaori only needed Aquarius, her, and her sister to be alive. The slow clap of golden heels against the floor was heard until Angra stood in the middle of the room, next to Aquarius. "For those not aware, your pet eel is watching our little meeting. I've blocked him from interacting with any of you while I'm here, you're welcome." she paused and looked at Ra. "In terms of leadership, I'm going to say you're lacking. Amaterasu's a hard spirit to force information out of. You thought she was strong enough to lead twenty plus spirits, but not keep a secret that would've given her an incentive to keep herself in check- you may want to re-evaluate your line of thinking. As for your reasons, I agree with them." Kaori's spirits had all raised an eyebrow with an audible sound to display they questioned her words.

Angra looked to her team and said "There's only nine of us at the moment. It's nigh impossible for us to keep a secret. All of us get along well enough unlike a certain-" "Ahem." Query interjected, her glare getting stronger. "-Nevermind. Between the nine of us, we all sync very well and we have full trust in each other. You all don't like me much, but you all have no doubt that I'd never break or give away information. You all know that I wouldn't act out of the norm if I were afraid for my niece's safety. Furthermore, Kaori can't be killed by anything that we've faced so far except Samira herself for... obvious reasons... The fact is, Samira's side has nearly thirty different personalities and the only binding element is a desire to protect their summoner. Mom and dad over there were already over-protective, the old man tried attacking a mailman who was just doing his job. Hell, I still blame them for Samira's development being slow in the first place. Then you have flower-girl, the walking rage factory, Sasuno, and the unstable delinquent who all have personalities on their own extremes." Angra looked back at Ra and continued. "You'll find no lecture from me about keeping the others in secrecy, parrot. Just try to come back and give your leader a break from time to time. That's all." she said and walked off before vanishing from the room entirely.

"Well... that was surprisingly civil." Scarlet said calmly. "So, can I go back to watching our new liability or do I gotta chain more of our buddies?" she asked jokingly. Aquarius let her know she was alright to leave and the spirit vanished as well. Charlotte also left since her job was just to take down Kukulkan and she needed to go elsewhere to cool off. Aquarius looked at Amaterasu and said "Ama, I apologize to you for being so involved with your matters. However, an issue with all of you normally trickles down to an issue with Samira. Then Kaori gets involved, and we end up getting roped in regardless." he then looked to Ra. "Even if the world is gonna get shit canned, I'm not authorizing Query to remove Apophis from existence. Doing that would affect Kaori just as much as Samira and I'd rather not find out if it's for better or worse. With that said, I'll go report to the big man that the conflict's resolved. I won't tell anyone about what you've been up to, Ra. Not even Kaori." Aquarius had finished what he wanted to say and vanished, leaving only Query and a lot of mouthless spirits.

Query walked up to Ra and said "Thank you for not making me question your comrades, Tweety." before giving him a gentle hug that only lasted a second or two. She snapped her fingers and Anhur had vanished, back to the real world. "Thank you all for your time." she said before bowing and vanishing, making sure to give everyone back their mouths in the process. Query reappeared in Kaori's mind space with a sullen expression, tears running down her face as she walked across the room to a separate area where she could be alone. Angra had raised an eyebrow while watching her cross the expanse, wondering exactly why she was so broken all of a sudden. Query sped up the closer she got to the room and slammed the door behind her before sitting against the wall and grabbing her knees to begin crying. The door wasn't sound proof and Query wasn't exactly thinking of fixing that so her pain filled crying echoed right through, leaving the others feeling fairly shitty. Ira stood up and began floating to the room saying "Sissy isn't a fan of her own power... she likes making stuff, but hates using it to take away freedoms. I'll handle this, you guys just keep an eye on Sammy and Kaori." with a forced smile. She opened the door and slowly closed it behind her, sitting next to Query and pulling her sister in to hold her.

---

---

Ikuchi began stirring, feeling something touching his head while gently running its fingers through it, which caused a mild degree of alarm in his dream state. Upon opening his eyes the dragon saw Samira sitting a respectable distance from him. He didn't think she would dare touch him unless forced to, so he had assumed the feeling was just from his dream, which was that someone was rubbing his head. Ikuchi heard Samira breathing and it reminded him that she was there, and he was stuck babysitting her. A glare was instantly shot in her direction with the hellfire eyes turning black as onyx. The color reverted upon hearing the less han afraid tone she had used, as well as the respectful words spoken. There was caution in her tone, but it didn't sound like she was truly afraid of him or expecting him to lash out at her again. The fact that she had shown him empathy and apologized for inconveniencing him made it so he couldn't exactly attack her with words for it, which only served to slightly piss him off more. Ikuchi stood up and walked to the door on the opposite side of the room and opened it to exit, leading to yet another dark tunnel.

Ikuchi stopped moving after a few steps in and if Samira bumped into him, he wouldn't care. The tunnel was dark and Ikuchi's footsteps were virtually silent. Only a slayer of sorts would be able to hear him moving, or another dragon, of which Samira was neither. His nostrils flared as Ikuchi tried to smell the air but noticed there was no scent to go off of, something he found strange. Ikuchi lifted his hand and ignited a small flame that was so hot it was pure white. Samira would feel the intense heat of the fire hit her quickly, and Ikuchi would tell her to keep her distance before walking forward. The reason for him telling her that was that the flame was hot enough to light her clothes on fire if she got too close for too long. Of course, being nearby for a second or two would be fine. The white light his flame gave off illuminated the tunnel to reveal no vines at all, meaning no one had to worry about strange surprises.

At the end of the tunnel was another door that explained why Ikuchi couldn't smell the air flowing since there wasn't any wind to create a current. Opening the door lead to a circular room that was fairly small... Once Samira entered, the doors would shut and lock in place and on the opposing end of the room a face would appear on the wall. "This is a new one..." Ikuchi said under his breath, having never once heard of a face room. "I am the proctor for your next test, recruit. My test is not a test of will, strength, or knowledge... but a test of logic." it said in a booming voice. Ikuchi looked to Samira and then the door. "I've got this one... your logic is weak." he said in a cold tone before stepping closer to the door. "Should you fail my test, you will both die. Do you accept?" the door stated in a much less loud as fucking hell voice. "Just get this over." Ikuchi replied. "A metal bird flies overhead with a cargo of five hundred bricks. One has fallen from its back, plummeting to the world below... how many bricks remain with the bird?" Ikuchi looked at the door blankly and said "Four hundred, ninety nine." The door nodded and said "What are the three steps to placing a gazelle inside of a fridge?" to which Ikuchi replied "Step one, open the fridge. Step two, put the gazelle in the fridge. Step three, close the fridge." This was the reason Ikuchi told Samira that he'd handle it. "Good, you seem adept at this game... What are the four steps to put an elephant in a fridge?" the door said. Ikuchi crossed his arms over his chest and said "Step one, open the fridge door. Step two, get the damn gazelle out. Step three, put the elephant in. Step four, close the fridge door." Ikuchi's tone and expression would show he was getting bored with this game. "Most excellent answer. Now, hypothetically speaking, today is the beast king's birthday and all animals are present except for-" "The elephant's stuck in the fridge you stuffed it in." Ikuchi interrupted. "Your friend wishes to visit you, but must cross a dangerous forest filled with lions, and tigers, and bears... oh my... How should she do this?" Granted Ikuchi's friends would just fly over the damn thing or burn it to the ground, he entertained the question. "Just walk through... all the beasts are at the beast king's party, there is no danger."

The door let out a 'hmmm...' while trying to think of a good one. "While crossing, your friend-" "Overheat." Ikuchi's voice interrupted the door, causing it to lose track and say "Overheated" instead of the rest of the riddle. Suddenly, a massive hole was blasted through it in the form of a pillar of black flames. "That was annoying." Ikuchi said and walked through the room. The tunnel on the other side was lit surprisingly, and required no trouble to traverse. The last room was the one that they had come to visit and contained six pedestals with books that contained stone tablets. "These are the six pillars on which the Lareci Clan stands. Honor, Pride, Courage, Devotion, Humility, and Knowledge- each being important for their warriors to fully understand. The stone you choose will define your next challenge." Ikuchi walked to the side of the room and leaned against a wall. Samira would see the writing on each tablet turn from Midi's language to her own as she looked at them.

"Weak you may be, your heart beats strong. Your voice a mouse and your soul a lion, there is none who stands below you and you do not care. Your humility is a jewel that has made you the greatest prize among your allies." The stone Samira would choose read. Afterwards, Kukulkan would materialize in the room in her serpent form. It would be the true spirit herself, and not a false one... except she would be forced to remember the events that had recently transpired and see Samira as Amaterasu. Ikuchi would narrow his gaze on it since he wasn't expecting the stone to summon one of Samira's spirits, but he did know the challenge once it did. "You'll need to stop her from killing you without killing her. All spirits except Amaterasu, Nu Wa, and Ra are enabled... I cannot aid in this." Ikuchi said calmly. After which, the rest of the pillars and stones would vanish and the room would convert into a massive arena. Samira would feel her link to her spirits enabled, and only the three mentioned would be forced to watch idly from within her own mind. They would be able to speak to her, but their keys would be turned off. The real Kukulkan would have vanished from the mind space as she was now under the control of the cave of trials. If she were defeated in battle, she would reappear immediately to continue the fight... the only way to stop her would be to make her see the light, and realize her battle is pointless. To make matters more interesting, the seats of the arena would be occupied by all of Samira's spirits and a special booth for her pantheon, so they may see her in action. Whenever she called a spirit, they would disappear from their position and appear with the summoner.

---

---

Kaori looked to Hiro and said "Tell me what you know. Why was she hidden, who asked you to hide them, and why are you telling me about her now?" with a firm tone. She could feel Mariko's fear beginning to subside. The small girl could feel the ties she had to Kaori and it made her feel as though the clan leader was to be trusted. Her whole life she felt a disconnection from others, as though she didn't belong with them. Being around people made her feel lonely, and the only thing that made her feel good was reading books about bravery. In Kaori's arms, she felt that she was safe. She felt like she wasn't alone anymore, and that she could be as bold as she wanted or as terrified as she actually was, and it was okay. She could feel Kaori's love radiating from her like warmth from a burning flame. Her fears that Kaori would be a monster had quickly washed away...

Hiro cleared his throat and took his helmet off to set it aside. "A great deal of time after you were born, roughly seven years, your mother and father gave birth to Lady Mariko. Much like you, they could feel the immense power she would wield and knew that if she remained there would be trouble. To have one child using magic had created unrest, but to have two would have made it dangerous. The old ways were still to be upheld back then and the village would have demanded one of you executed. Lady Kana had requested I transport the child to this home where she'd live with a pair of commoners who were good friends of hers, I know not their history together. They were given everything they needed to raise her, but nothing in excess so as to avoid suspicion. Lord Hirako had agreed it to be the best course of action. Your father clung to the old ways, but he loved his children very much and could never force himself to kill Lady Mariko. They, and your grandfather Lord Lareci had obligated myself and the two who accompanied me to secrecy. They knew if you were told of it that you'd visit her and likely create trouble for yourself. Her care takers recently were killed in an attack. Wizards came by and killed them but not before Mariko was hidden. We only found her when she sneezed as I was walking through the house. With no family to care for her, accompanied by the changes you've made to the way our clan looks at magic users, I decided it better for Lady Mariko to live according to her birth right."

Kaori let out a breath of air and said "You've done well Hiro, and I thank you for choosing to give her back to us." in a soft tone. Hiro had relaxed from his tenseness, glad to see that Kaori hadn't held it against him. Kaori saw the logic since it was true. If she knew she had a younger sister, she would've visited her every day instead of hunting her brother and getting stronger. She would have made Mariko a massive target and likely gotten her killed, or worse, captured by Saia. The ninja looked down once more and took Mariko's hand to pull her off the seat. "I know this is a lot for you, but try and stay strong. I'm gonna take you home with me and introduce you to your village. It'll-" Mariko interrupted Kaori by forcing herself into the ninja clan leader's chest, clinging to her and shaking her head. Kaori could feel her trembling as well as the level of attachment that had already formed. It wasn't massive, nowhere near the bond between people who new each other for years, but it was strong enough to equal good friends. "What's the matter? You don't want to stay in the village?" Kaori asked, her tone quite confused. The safety provided by the village would be the best thing for her. Even on the Ark of Destiny, the risk of sudden decompression in a vacuum was present- which was deadly. Mariko shook her head, holding Kaori even tighter while pulling herself closer. "You want to stay here?" she asked, still not sure of how to interact with someone who didn't use words. Mariko shook her head again. "My lady, I believe she'd rather travel with you." one of the guards said. Mariko slowly nodded with her face fully buried in Kaori's torso.

The ninja raised her hand and laid it on the back of Mariko's head and began gently rubbing while closing her eyes. She could feel that Mariko was scarred by the attack and she was afraid of magic, causing her to be warned not to use any. "I live a dangerous life, and many of my allies, almost all of them, use magic. You would be better off in the village. You'd be safer, and less exposed to things that scare you." Kaori's words were loving and hard for her to force out. She felt an almost motherly attachment to Mariko just because of how fragile she seemed, and could feel her blood ties to the girl. Mariko shook her head again, no, she didn't want to stay. "I'll ask once more... Are you certain you wish to travel with me?" Mariko nodded her head. She could feel that Kaori had a desire to protect, and would never let anyone hurt her. She could feel the clan leader's strength even without seeing her fight. "Very well then." Kaori said with a gentle smile.

"Mages come in all shapes and sizes. Where one may falter at something, another may excel."

Mindspace:

The spirits of Team Kaori said their final piece before leaving Samira's mindspace and her spirits. It was quiet after the fact even though every spirit was in there and had their mouths restored. For those directly involved there was a lot to think about and discuss. The team was a mess in the higher ranks, and the leadership nearly dissolved. "You are all dismissed. I am taking over fully." The spirits that were unaware of the events and brought there suddenly did not argue. They all vanished in several colored particles. Next were some of the spirits that were there but were not directly involved. In the end, those left in the room were Susano, Amaterasu, Kukulkan, Nu Wa, Bastet, and of course Ra. "It seems even the ability to follow orders has decreased during my absence."

"You seriously think you can just come back after all of this and order us around? With nothing else said? You've got to be kidding me. Can't even give so much as an apology for treating us like trash."
"He has already explained why none of you were ever told. Do not pretend you would not have reacted as he expected you to."
"Quiet, hairball! I don't give a damn about the other spirits knowing or not. I care more that I and Nu Wa were left in the dark. We are not common spirits! You are on the same level as I am! And now you dare tell me to leave?!"
"Kuku, he already explained-"
"And it isn't good enough!"

The argument continued heating up with the only silent ones being Ra and Amaterasu. Finally the avatar god of the sun could not take it anymore. "ENOUGH!" Heated flame energy erupted from his body and pushed everyone aside from himself and Amaterasu harshly towards the walls of the mindspace. Then as an added bonus the arguing spirits felt a great pressure on them that forced them to the floor on their knees and remain there. "I dismissed everyone so they could clear their heads, and the ones that need it the most are defying me! I will not tolerate this after what has happened. You insolent few are further disgracing our line, and of those that had to step in during my absence. Have you learned nothing, Feathered Serpent?! Wind Swordsman?!" While Nu Wa and Bastet were covering for him and trying to bring more calm to the fussy two, they were still part of the argument and helping it grow. He forced them out of the mind space completely and locked it down so they could not return.

Amaterasu just stood there quietly with a passive expression. She did not want to argue, which was why she never joined in. However, she never did leave. She had already been gone from her responsibilities for selfish reasons and did not want to remove herself again. "You too are defying my orders," Ra said calmly, his temporary phase of anger having passed.

"I have already ignored my duties to Samira and the rest of her spirits once. I have no intention of doing so again."
"You would not be ignoring them when you have permission. I can handle things here on my own. I am the least affected."
"We must speak regardless."
"A discussion that will take place later. You require time to recover. I will not have a serious conversation with you until you have taken your... 'break'. Do not fight me on this, or my opinion of you will decrease further."
Ama's eyes narrowed slightly, but she did not argue. He was likely right. It was too soon to return after having lost herself before the day's end. An actual serious discussion may have resulted in another fight on her side. "Very well." Then she was gone.

Once everyone had gone and Ra was alone, the other reason he wanted them out made his appearance. The small spirit cloud of the dark serpent materialized in the mind space and slithered through the air around his fellow desert spirit. "You have left your area."
"I was here earlier to play with the glowfly. I would have stayed longer had I known things would get more interesting. The moment you all returned a part of me was as well. I stayed and watched. How unfortunate that I could not speak. I would have tried to make things even more...complicated."
"You would have attempted to shatter our alliance completely."
"Already knowing what's in my head before I can reveal them. You ruin my fun, spirit brother."
"It's not difficult to make an accurate guess on the actions and plans of a spirit of chaos. You are predictable."
"You wound me, but lets forget about all of that. I want to hear about these pantheon spirits. The ones you intend to seal me with."
"You have a right to be worried. Your hope of freedom will soon be crushed. Enjoy what you have now, 'spirit brother'."

The snake cloud glared furiously at those words and a hiss echoed throughout the mind space. He could have killed Samira right then at those words. Yet, he was an arrogant soul, and Ra knew it. He could not firmly believe that even the pantheons could complete the seal in time. Yes, even with their help he would still be able to break free. There was no point in killing her to stop it. He needed her to escape fully even with a broken seal. Waiting a few more centuries for another to replace her would have been annoying. Only if his life were in danger would he take that measure. Not to mention, there was also one other factor. "Even with their help you require one more. Explain to me, how do you intend to gain the power of Anubis?" The snake eyes flickered in amusement when he saw the falcon's scowl. The jackal spirit of the dead was an original part of the seal. He was required. Getting him to help would be very difficult since he had went against the first sealing and betrayed them all back then. Both Ra and Apophis knew this. It was made even more difficult since his ties were broken and he was contracted with another. There was laughter as the snake disappeared from the mindspace.

Cave:

Samira was rather grateful that Ikuchi made no response. If it wasn't words that were lashing out at her, she was afraid they would be regarding the petting of his head while he slept. Silence was better for that scenario. She followed after him into what was another dark tunnel. Once more she navigated slowly, using the walls as a sort of guide through the darkness. A slight bump into what she figured was Ikuchi made her stop and take a step back. She didn't question why he stopped. With everything they had run into so far it was likely some other sort of death trap. Well, death trap for her anyway. Then he made white flames appear and she had to step back even further to escape their heat. Apparently a wise course of action since he had told her to keep her distance. She continued following, glad to have a source of light as they continued down the tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel was a door, and through that door was a small room that had some weird face appear on the wall. They were locked in and to escape a test of logic would have to be passed. It was a little unexpected for Ikuchi to do the entire test himself, but she made no fuss. She puffed her cheeks a bit at her sense of logic being labeled weak, but nothing more. The first riddle was easy. Even she would have guessed correctly. As the test went on her reactions went from sweatdropping to eventually facepalming. Samira was way overthinking them in her head. She could not comprehend such simple and basic answers at all. Eventually Ikuchi had gotten tired and impatient playing the riddle game and just blasted his way through it. "Is that even allowed?" She questioned while sweatdropping. It was honestly shocking that they didn't go through instantaneous death the moment it happened. Wasn't that basically cheating? Oh well. She followed along.

One easy tunnel later and they were in a room with six pedestals containing stone tablets. She had been informed of what they stood for and that she needed to choose one as part of her next challenge. What kind of challenges came from each one was uncertain and not explained. The names of each tablet turned to be in a language she could read, and she took some time pondering on which one she should choose. Pride she avoided. It was an obvious one since she had a good deal of it. It also at the same time caused her a lot of trouble. She did not have a desire to have a challenge that tested it. One by one she stood in front of the tablets before she finally chose one: Humility.

Samira took the time to read what was on the stone just before Kukulkan in her serpent form appeared...and seemed to be rather angry. The air was already picking up and forming a storm. As the summoner of the spirit, she could tell it was not a false one or an illusion. It was the real feathered serpent herself. She was very confused. Even Ikuchi's explanation was vague. Her three spirits that were on the same level as Kuku were not to be used, and even he could not step in. How was she supposed to stop her? She didn't even know why she was so furious. That wasn't even going into the fact she did not desire to hurt her spirit. "I do not understand," she shouted through the now roaring winds of the storm. The room transformed into an arena and there she stood, facing against the flying serpent that seemed to think she was Amaterasu.

Audience Section:

All of Samira's spirits were once again transported randomly. There were many sighs, wtf reactions, and facepalms. They had just got done with their meeting not too long ago! "Oh, for Celestial's- Hey! Where the hell is Ra?! I got something to say to him!" Susano stood from his seat and looked around, not seeing the falcon.

"I was not invited. The same goes for Amaterasu and Nu Wa." Within the mindspace, his gaze looked over towards the two mentioned spirits he had just sent away. Ama could only sigh, while Nu Wa smiled innocently. They both had been instantly teleported there as soon as the challenge began. The three sweatdropped. Awkward.

Even more shocking was the teleportation of a spirit that was rightfully locked up. The moment he made it back to his part of the summoner's mind, he was taken away and brought to the audience section of the arena. An arena that was heavily influenced on destiny. So heavily that it had temporarily broken him free of his prison since he was a part of the destiny of Samira. The Celestial King and the gods would surely be amused by it. "Going off on another tirade? What is it with wind spirits losing their heads so easily? You all make me look like a calm teddy bear."

Upon hearing the unfamiliar voice, exclamation points appeared over the heads of each spirit as they all looked at the one sitting in a chair in the front row. What was there was not a full spirit per say, but of a thick cloud of celestial energy in the shape of a human. No real facial features could be seen aside from the glowing eyes, but that was all that was needed for Susano to know the dark serpent thought very little of him enough to mock him. In truth, Apophis thought very little of them all. Susano was just louder than the rest.

"YOU!" It didn't take long to put together who it was. He could feel that the celestial energy was similar to his own, and there was only one other god incarnation he was aware of that he had never seen face to face. Naturally the swordsman wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of him. He had done a great deal of damage to both his sister and Samira. The serpent was nothing more than a parasite.
"How dare you have the nerve to be in our presence!" Kali drew blades and prepared herself for attack. She was not afraid to be in the same scenario as Ama and Kuku. The dark serpent was an enemy.
"This day just keeps getting better and better. I am actually wondering what is going to happen next. Actually, I'm terrified to know."
"Is obvious. New boots and wall ornament." Skadi's spear materialized.
"Why am I even here? I was tricked into being contracted with you all!"
More spirits glared and prepared to act in a very unwelcoming manner.

"It seems I am more infamous than I imagined. Try not to give yourselves a headache from all that scowling you all are doing." The human shaped energy was rather relaxed despite having well over twenty glares and weapons being aimed at him. He had nothing to worry about. He practically came with immunity.

'Do not touch him. All of you.'
"Spare me the order, Ra."
'You all have the memory of a mentally defected goldfish! I just went over how he would kill Samira if he feels threatened!'

"He's right, you know. Actually, just look down for proof. Seeing is believing as they say." The cloud never took his eyes off the arena match, and once the other spirits actually took the time to look they saw Samira going through pain that was not from the battle against Kukulkan. First they could tell she was experiencing the powerful migraines from before as her hand went to her head. However, she stopped her movements, and leaned forward as her hand moved to her heart. The linked spirits began to feel her pain and got even more furious. Then the summoner got blown away into the wall of the arena. "I suggest you all put your weapons away and sit down. It's very rude and offensive to me. If I don't kill her directly then my flying cousin will while I keep the summoner motionless. Do not tempt me. I can wait another few centuries for a replacement. It's preferable to dying."
"You damn cowardly snake! Hiding behind Samira!"
"This form of survival is not beneath me. I have given you my warning."
The spirits looked at each other before begrudgingly putting away their weapons and sitting down.
It was then something dawned on the serpent. Why the hell was he even still there? He was free from his prison! "On second thought," he said just before the cloud materialized fully into an actual human form. "I need opinions. How do I look?" He turned in his seat to face all the spirits behind him.

There were sweatdrops at the question. Was he serious? "You look like someone I want to punch in the face. Repeatedly."
"Your outside matters little. Your intestines would still be displayed outside my home as a warning."
"I bring many rocks for skull bashing."
"You had a form fit for the culture you reign from, from what I understand. Why did you change it? It doesn't match..."
Just as the serpent was about to respond, he was interrupted by Susano, who had moved to take the seat behind Apophis and kick the back of his chair. "That's a stupid question. The important one is why the hell does that pretty face look even younger than I am?! You're supposed to be as old as dirt."
"I'M NOT OLD!!!!" A surge of dark energy erupted from the disguised spirit that destroyed the seats near him and even sent Susano fleeing back to his original seat.
"What's your actual age then?"
"..."
"I don't hear anything."
"I don't like you. I also don't have to sit here and be asked stupid questions." Apophis then stood up from his seat and took a few steps away from it. Unfortunately, once he got about six feet away chains materialized from the chair he had been in originally and flew towards him. Each one held the mark of each spirit that had been a part of its seal. There were even extra chains added as a bonus form of security. The magic of the room may have pulled him from his prison, but it still brought along and respected the sealing magic that was attached to him. The chains all wrapped around Apophis in the blink of an eye and very harshly dragged him back to the chair, forcing him to sit down before chaining him to the seat so he couldn't move out of it. He shifted in his chair and felt the chains tighten as he did so. A sweatdrop. "The sealing chains I can understand. The other one hundred plus is of the highest form of absurdity." Every part of him except for his head was covered in chains and could not be seen at all.

"You know, I didn't really take you for a spirit with a chain fetish. I actually have some books you can borrow."
"Someone ask stupid question. He forced to listen now."
"I have one. Why is the fear of long words called Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?"
"What kind of question is that?!"
"I always wanted to know. I figured you were old enough to explain."
"I am not so old that I surpass the time of the invention of words!"
"So you admit you're old then! How does it feel? Are you infinitely wiser than you were before?"
"If you ever decide to change your ways we can each take a chair and take a mid morning nap. I think you've been passing on yours which would explain your mood and attitude. I'm an old spirit, you know. So I have experience with this sort of thing."
"I. AM. NOT. OLD!!!"
"Oh, dear, he has already forgotten he just implied he was. The memory is always the first to go."
"That's a good point. I think he even forgot about his seal there for a moment. Let me guess, you chose a full disguise because you thought you could just waltz right on out of here, huh?"
"..."
"That's gotta be embarrassing. The great chaos spirit forced to be chained in front of all of us lesser spirits. Hey, Apollo! Lets play some depressing moment music for the guy!"
"You got it!"
It was then very sad background music played for the spirit audience to hear.
"Nope. Still don't feel sorry for him."
"These children around me are worse than being in prison. Glowfly! Come talk to me!"
'I am ignoring that demand. Your company does not amuse me. There are plenty of other spirits down there to entertain your loneliness.'

Eyetwitching for the snake. Plenty of spirits all right, and not one that he wanted even in the same realm as himself. He felt a very strong glare then that got his attention. The serpent didn't know true fear, but he did know caution and danger. His glance went towards the special booth that had been created; the one that had pantheon spirits that he recognized clearly. One in particular that was his opposite. He scoffed. So, Samira had the attention of the avatar goddess of Order. The spirit that had been created to reflect the goddess that had put everything together. The Nassar bloodlines, the avatar spirits themselves, even his damn seal. He would actually have to be on his best behavior in his current position.

Samira vs Kuku

From the start the spirits in the audience were distracted during Samira's start of the battle. The three spirits left in the mind space remained with her mentally though. The wind storm that had been created was strong and kept pushing Samira off balance and towards the wall. "Why are you standing still, Ama?! You still think you are so above me that you refuse to fight?!" The feathered serpent's tail snapped in the direction of Samira, who had barely moved out of the way before the wall she had been in front of was struck with enough force that it cracked and fell to pieces. "Kuku! What is wrong?"

The question only made the serpent even more furious. All she saw was Ama, and her memories of the intervention were temporarily wiped, leaving only the enraged monster from before. "You know damn well what's wrong with me! Stop with that false innocence, you bitch!" Kuku straighted and used her set of wings to hurl slicing wind blades at the summoner she thought was the light spirit. The ones that didn't strike the arena wall and break it further hit Samira and cut her deeply. He Bo could feel his key's energy. Samira wanted to summon him but was unable to do so with her wounds and the storm. Then there was Apophis that was causing her harm. He disappeared from the audience section and reappeared in the arena. The waters that made him healed her injuries while he himself acted as a barrier for more of the wind blades. "Now is the time for explanations."

"Ra, I will take over for now since this was originally my battle and I was the cause." The falcon sun spirit nodded his approval. 'Samira, while you were going through the training course some events have taken place where we are. I will give full details at a later time. What you must know now is that Kukulkan is under an illusion. She believes you to be me, and that she is still in battle. You need to calm her. I am uncertain if defeating her violently will work.'
'It will not. Kuku will keep fighting until she believes something is pointless. That is the only reason she did not make more of a fuss when Charlotte defeated her. The lesser spirits will not be enough to fight her. Only we are, which is probably why we are unable to be called.'
"Charlotte fought Kuku?!" Samira had seen the sweet spirit in action before, but to bring a rampaging Kukulkan down? Good lord.
'Focus, Samira. Back to the true topic, you could probably use Loki. He is a lesser spirit, but his power is not lacking. It would stall her long enough for you to talk to her.'
'I refuse.'
'Loki, dear-'
'Calm down, it's not what you think. You can't use me on account of those other few spirits watching in that VIP booth over there.'
'The jester is right,' Ra said, almost painfully considering he had just agreed with the jester. 'They are the pantheons I had intended for Samira to meet. Using Loki to completely skip the battle would turn the favor away from some of them. It's a brilliant method usually, but as a first impression we cannot use it.'
"I do not even know what you are all talking about." Her gaze looked around for the VIP booth until she found it. In the booth sat five spirits she had never seen before, all of them sternly gazing at her as if they were judging her already.
'As I said before, details later. For now we must get you through this challenge. You are going to have to talk to her as if you were me. Apologize first. I said things to her I should not have.'
"It is a little difficult to do this when I do not even know the circumstances or what was said."
The three spirits sweatdropped. Yes, it was just a tiny bit difficult.
'To summarize, I brought up her abandonment and assumed her original left her for being a disappointment, mocked her mistakes, and even questioned her dedication as a spirit that cared for her summoner.'
'That is not all from what I understand...'
'I became irrational and locked everyone in the mindspace to prevent them from helping you. Such a thing did not work on her, but she was still ordered not to leave. That degraded her position as a spirit that shares my ranking.'
'And...'
'...And I struck her so hard that she was sent out of the mindspace.'
Samira's now wide eyes blinked once before she facepalmed. If she was a person that used bad words she would have said many of them at that point. Her luck really was terrible.
"My time is up," He Bo warned before his tidal wave body disappeared into particles. Now Samira was in the open and with nothing between her and the flying serpent.

Back to the Audience:

The spirits had finally gotten bored with making fun of Apophis. He had started tuning them out, and they were all wanting to focus on the battle anyway. "Hey sis, this method of talking to a rampaging serpent with wings is pretty stupid." Susano relaxed in his chair with his arms folded across his chest and his feet resting on the back of the empty chair in front of him. He and the rest had been watching and cringing as Samira kept getting blown away anytime she tried to get close and talk to Kuku. If not that then she was getting tail swiped and narrowly avoiding large fangs.
'Nu Wa believes reacting violently would only anger her further. I did not want to suggest any of you being summoned to stall.'
"Because we're all pretty damn violent?"
'Because even with all of you combined you could not stop either myself or Kuku. With her back in that state you would succeed just as much as you did then. Only Ra, Nu Wa, and myself have the power to stall her long enough, and we are prevented from entering the battle.'
"No sugar coating it, huh? Thanks, Ama. I love you too."

"You're forgetting one very important thing. Only you three at home are prevented. All others are allowed. This would include everyone present. Everyone." Apophis could feel the glares that were mixed with confused expressions.

'Now you mock us.'
"I am not mocking or joking. I am serious with that loophole."
'Why would we trust you on the battlefield? You only moments before caused our summoner pain. That is not even going into questioning your reasoning for allowing yourself to be summoned and controlled. I do not trust you enough to allow those chains of yours to be removed.'

"Amaterasu," his voice had turned cold. "I said before you are the first line of defense while I am the last. That should tell you that I do not consider these fools around me to be of any worth. With you and Ra now unavailable, that leaves myself to act. The events that allowed me to not care and let her meet an untimely end have passed. I will no longer gain any satisfaction from your guilt. I still have ties with her and do not desire her death unless it's to save my own." Apophis closed his eyes and leaned his head against the chair with a smile. "Of course, you're welcome to let her keep getting blown away by my sky cousin. It was just a temporary suggestion. The key she would be using would be single use only. I have no intention on being tamed and stuck with her permanently. So, the magic of the seal would return me to my rightful place afterwards. You have nothing to be worried or suspicious about, spirit siblings. Unlike that one out there, I am a very nice serpent."

The three spirits in the mind space looked at each other, and the ones in the audience section even discussed their doubts. "You are all so adorably stupid and full of yourselves. I never said I needed permission." Before the rest could say anything, the disguised serpent turned into red colored celestial energy that formed into a key that matched in color. The chains that had contained him had attempted to wrap around his spirit energy, but the moment he turned into a key they fell. Susano had jumped to grab it, but was met with a mocking laughter from the key as it flew out of the audience area and into the arena where it attached onto Samira's keyring.

The world around Samira then darkened and everything disappeared. Stuck in a dark void she was until a familiar red portal appeared. She had taken a step back at first, but then her eyes narrowed and let her fear dissolve. "You. Return me to where I was at once! I do not wish to speak with you."
"Still angry with me? And here I thought it was because of me that you are even still alive. You should be grateful. I didn't have to save you, you know. My interests just require you to be alive, but I could have waited for another to take your place."
"I will never thank you. What you did to-"
"Oh, yes, what I did to the glowfly that day. Her insecurities were fun to play with while I could. It will probably be more difficult now. But lets put that topic behind us, shall we? My sky cousin needs to be handled, and you are failing. You will die at this rate, and so I am here to help, as you always seem to require."
"I am not allowing you to control me again."
"It's cute that you believe you have an actual say on that matter. Either way, I would not be using that method. You would be summoning me officially, at full power and body. Your test is to talk the dragonfly down. I am unable to do this nor would I volunteer for it. I would be weakening and holding her while you do this."
"There are other spirits capable of-"
A frustrated hiss. "Those insects?! They could not even stop her the first time. Your top three spirits are blacklisted, and Loki has refused to use his power. Your only option is to use the loophole, which would be myself. I outrank her completely. Refuse this, and you will die trying to talk to her. She believes you to be Amaterasu, and will use the skill and power required to take her down."
"Then I will die trying."

"Die and leave all of those that care about you to mourn your loss. I think the ninja leader would suffer the most. It was by her wish that you enter that cave, and the one she assumed would keep you alive is unable to step in for whatever reason and remain true to his task. A pity. You would rather be a source for her tears again rather than take my offer. So selfish."

Samira opened her mouth to speak but closed it. The snake had a point. A great deal of anxiety built up all over again. She didn't trust the dark serpent, and she had even been told not to. But...it was the best possible option, wasn't it? The keyring attached to her hip began to feel warm. Her green gaze looked down to see that a red key she hadn't seen before was on it and glowing. She bit her lip nervously as she unhooked it and held it up to her face. "This time, the choice is yours...if you can call it that." If she really cared about her friends, her spirits, and Kaori, she had to remain alive, which meant actually using that key. Choosing not to would likely kill her. There was no real choice, and he was mocking her for it. Apophis already knew what she would choose.

The darkened environment faded, as did the red portal. The summoner had returned back to the arena with Kukulkan as her opponent. Only a few seconds had passed in reality. Her body had a sort of phase out magic applied to it that prevented any strikes against her from landing, which angered the flying serpent further. Just as she was in the altered reality, Samira was standing there with the key in her hand. Her expression got more determined and serious. The worries and caution she had were forced out as she used the key to open the portal. “Open, gate of the Avatar, God of Chaos! Apophis!”

A large portal that crackled with energy appeared, only it was slightly different than the ones that were seen previously. The one that was usually seen was just a normal portal, particularly the one that had been seen in the secret lab in Spooky Forest. The one she summoned was darker. Many shades of red, black, and purple. Chains were all over it and the portal even had a metal attachment along its round edges. The markings of each spirit that was involved with the first sealing were displayed on the attachment, which had begun to spin and unlock each seal to remove the magic glow from the markings. When completed, the chains and metal evaporated into particles and the one lurking on the other side was allowed to come through.

The spirits in the audience went into disbelief and oh crap mode. They couldn't comprehend why Samira would actually fully release him. The three in the mindspace watched closely. They could do nothing to intervene even if they thought they had a chance while he was fully released. The pantheons were not on their side, and they also lacked Anubis. The seal could not be reformed right then and there.

From the portal slithered the giant red cobra. He barely even looked at Samira as he came through and hissed threateningly at his fellow serpent. What would be his first course of action? Making his flying counterpart explode into particles after causing an eruption of corrupted void energy where she was. Everyone sweatdropped. "What are you doing?! That is not weakening or holding her!" The serpent said nothing and watched as Kuku quickly reformed. "I was just checking. Trials can be so vague, after all. You were told you couldn't kill her. She's a spirit so naturally sending her home is not killing her." He was actually also testing how much she could handle. It was more than he thought but still laughably pathetic. Then again, he was an arrogant asshole. He would still have to tone it down a notch regardless.

Kuku had begun yelling about betrayal for Ama allying herself with the dark serpent. Apophis could only sweatdrop and hiss. Maybe when hell froze over. As the winged one came in for an attack on Samira and not himself, he nonchalantly rose his tail and smacked her to the other side of the arena to crater into the wall. Considering his size, he just had to move slightly to smack her to the ground instead of letting her slide down. Ignoring the larger target completely to focus only on the smaller one was generally a bad idea. From there, several chains made of dark energy rose from a portal on the ground and wrapped themselves around Kuku. "Those insects are worse than I thought if they could not handle her even while together."

Anytime Kuku struggled to break free another dark chain would be created to strike her before wrapping and pulling her down. The storm though was still going, and Apophis was beginning to get annoyed by it. Some of the sharp winds had cut through his scales, making wounds that leaked dark energy. He moved again to shove Samira over towards Kuku before releasing more energy to remove the storm entirely. "The storm has ceased, and she is not going anywhere. I suggest you...talk." He said the last word as if it was the most degrading thing to do. Talking one's way out of a battle. Ridiculous. "Do not force me to remove those chains to make things interesting...if that is even possible with her level of power." His way of implying that Samira hurry up and get it over with.

Samira looked over at him and gave a nod. Being linked with him as an actual summoner and summon relationship she didn't want to have going for long anyway. She approached the contained serpent cautiously. The large eyes looked at her with rage, seeing only an enemy and not her actual summoner. "Kuku, I-" she began to say gently before a great burst of wind was created and the snake rose her head. "Do not call me by that name, you insignificant and intolerable dose of happy sunshine!" Her jaws opened to reveal her fangs and she had lunged down to snap at Samira before another chain appeared, wrapped the jaws closed, and jerked the head down to the ground. The summoner turned her head and glared at Apophis, who just flickered his tongue out with a mild hiss. "I forgot one." More like he purposely forgot just so he could do the extra hit once she took advantage of her head being allowed to move.

Samira shook her head before focusing back on the flying serpent. Always the snakes causing problems. "As I was saying, Kukulkan, this fighting needs to end. I have made mistakes that have formed rifts in our relationship as fellow spirits and leadership. Many things were said that hurt you in many ways even if you do not allow it to show in any other emotion but anger. I am sorry for this. You were only thinking of your duty as a spirit and did not deserve such treatment. Your opinion should have been taken with more thought instead of being tossed aside to make room for my demands." Her hand was then placed on Kukulkan's snout gently and she began to pet her. The serpent glared dangerously at first, but soon closed her eyes. With her eyes she saw Amaterasu. The feeling from the touch though was different. "We are allies, Kuku. But you must also understand that this works both ways. For me to respect you, you also have to respect me and the others on your side. Not any of us is more important than the other. Our fighting just destroys this principal and puts everything at risk. Do not allow your sense of self importance affect our duties, or harm our team and other allies."

The serpent further relaxed. Out of curiosity, Apophis allowed the chains to vanish to see if she would move. She did not. Samira smiled and moved her petting towards where the pink and red feathers stuck out at the sides of her head. "You are a valuable spirit, Kuku. You have a big personality that can often clash and intimidate others. We just need to work on your ego so you can allow yourself to view others as if they were your equal, instead of always being lesser. Fighting to prove otherwise only gets you into more trouble." Kuku had stopped listening at some point. By the time Samira finished talking the feathered serpent did something that was actually common when it came to monsters seeing the summoner. The serpent quickly moved her tail and wrapped it around Samira before looping the rest of herself into a tight hold with Samira placed against her head as if she were a teddy bear. It was something that was done without any thought whatsoever. She continued to not think as she fell asleep.

Every spirit watching in the audience and mindspace had their jaws drop with many question marks above their head. All except Nu Wa who covered her mouth as she giggled. Amaterasu and Ra looked at her with puzzled expressions. "Excuse me. Kuku only normally does that with me. When in that form rubbing her feathers puts her in a relaxed and cuddly state to the point that she will label that person as her volunteered pillow. Just the head feathers though. Rubbing the feathers on the wings will get you knocked out because she is ticklish there."
"All I have to do is rub her feathers in the future? This amuses me."
"It requires trust to even get that close, Ama dear. I imagine it only worked for Samira because of her original touch. Her eyes may have seen you, but the auras are different. She may not have known it was Samira, but it calmed her all the same."
"Disappointing."
"If you two are through discussing Kukulkan's weakness for...feather rubs, follow me down there. The trial is over so we should be allowed to enter. I do not trust Apophis to return on his own."

Samira was sweatdropping, unsure of how she was supposed to escape her new job as a teddy bear. Apophis seemed agitated, envious even. Well, he was a snake, after all, and they were the symbol of that trait. His eyes narrowed and energy crackled around him. "She has been stopped. Now dismiss her, summoner, before I do it for you." Samira glared daggers at the conscious snake since he likely meant to send her back to the celestial world by way of destruction. "Do not threaten to harm her, Apophis!" Nevertheless, Kuku was dismissed and sent back home. She did not return for she did not desire to fight anymore, thus the trial had been completed.

The other three S class spirits appeared in the arena with stern expressions as they looked at the serpent that remained. "Look at those faces. I did not expect you three to be so happy to see me in person."
"We will discuss what you have done another time. The trial is over. Return to your prison."
The red serpent looked towards the booth of the still unmoving Pantheon leader spirits. A mild hiss before looking back at the others. "Your lack of trust almost offends me, spirit brother. I cannot even try to remain out here with the special guests of honor watching. They can't kill me or strengthen my seal at this time, but they can hurt a lot more than you all ever could. I'll save that amount of fun for another day." The portal re-appeared, as did the chains and metal attachment that served as a lock. His body evaporated into energy and was being sucked back into the portal he had come from. Soon, only the eyes remained. They stared at Samira humorously. "I'll be visiting again soon, Samira." The eyes were then forced into the portal. The locking seals glowed as the large ring locked in place, and then the magic chains went to work to make the other layer of the seal. His key then turned to ash and fell to the ground.

Amaterasu sighed with relief, grateful that he did not cause further trouble. It had been too long of a day. "What do we do about them?" She asked Ra, who had the most knowledge about the spirits she had not even heard of until earlier that day. Ra looked up at them but made no move to interact. "They were forced here unwillingly due to the magic of this place. We do not have the right to approach them. At the very least, even if they are offended they will understand why they were brought here and saw something in Samira."

An order went out for all the spirits to start going back to the celestial world. In time, it was just the three leader spirits that remained. Then Nu Wa left to go check on Kuku. "Amaterasu. Your break begins again. I trust that this will be the last time you are called."
"Understood. Samira, we will speak another day. While my day has come to a close, yours is still ongoing." She poofed into brightly colored white and yellow particles.
Ra turned to face Samira after the others had gone. "There is much to explain. I will do so another day. As Amaterasu said, you have more that awaits you and require rest both physically and mentally. Do not worry any longer on what is occurring in the celestial world." He too then vanished. None of the spirits acknowledged Ikuchi's presence or even so much as glared at him. They had already been told Kaori would find out about everything and deal with it accordingly. There was little reason to make further conflict. They were also aware Samira would get her own scolding, which they had no problems with, and was the reason Ama and Ra were hinting about her day not yet concluding.

With everyone gone Samira left the arena. "Is that all of the challenges?"

Pantheon Leader Booth:

The five pantheon leader spirits An Dagda, Vishnu, Zeus, Odin, and Ma'at had been watching the entire thing from their special little section of the arena audience. They had been quiet mostly until it had ended. Spirits had started to leave and it was about time they did as well.

An Dagda: "Well? What do we make of this?"
Vishnu: "What is there to make of? This chamber is linked with destiny. It should be obvious."
Zeus: "I do not believe in the destiny of a magic chamber. We decide who earns the right to call on us."
Odin: "So, the trials are open then? She lacks the brute strength of a warrior, but I admire other aspects that show it. I'm curious on how she would fair."
An Dagda: "Too bad yours is second to last! You will be waiting a while. If she manages to make it past the rest of us, that is. It's been ages since anyone has gone through the trials. Lets just let her go for it."
Vishnu: "She was able to calm the serpent. I question why it was even created, but we are long past the point of disapproval. There is a deep connection with her spirits. It should be admired."
Zeus: "I saw nothing that would interest me, but I suppose I can humor you lot. My trial exists to impress me. This was just a preview. Would me faulting her for failing to impress here be considered unfair?"
Odin: "Yes."
Ma'at: "Gentlemen, you fail to realize that my opinion matters the most here. I have already given permission for her to go through your trials."
An Dagda: "Been a very long time since you pulled that on us."
Ma'at: "The time of the sealing has come again. The summoner lacks the ability to do it properly without dying."
Zeus: "That is not making the opinion for her any better."
Ma'at: "No? One of my original's children has done what was thought to be impossible. He not only located a spirit of the pantheon leaders, but he found the ruler of them. She has the devotion and trust of her spirits on a deep level that many do not have. The girl must still pass the trials. Make them as difficult as you like. Judge her honestly afterwards. If she fails even a single one she cannot move up. I am interested to see how she would handle my own. The serpent of chaos being brought into play intrigues me."

And then they were gone.

As all spirits exited the area, Ikuchi would say "No." in response to Samira's asking if that was the final challenge. She would find the stone floating towards her, stopping just a couple feet away and awaiting her to grab it. "Take it." Ikuchi would say before moving to the middle of the arena. As she took the stone, a dark mist would begin rising from the ground and all of the exits would lock. Samira would see skeletal hands rising from the ground and holding her feet down, each hand growing muscle, sinew, blood vessels, and finally flesh. As the hands pulled on her more, the faces of those whom she'd killed would rise from the darkness and call her name, screaming for help, for mercy that she never provided. Samira would likely remember this feeling, the feeling of her heart sinking. Ikuchi turned to face forward and got on a knee, resting the top of his knuckles on the ground, bowing his head, and closing his eyes- something that Samira would almost never see him do. "You honestly should have chosen the Stone of Knowledge, my dear." the voice of Angra Mainyu would call from the mist, letting Samira know that the stone she chose was particularly bad for her.

As the mist cleared, the goddess of all of man's sin had risen from the ground. The hands and faces of the people Samira killed would vanish as well as their voices. The sound of Angra Mainyu's heels tapping against the stone floor would echo as she walked forward with the same sinister smirk on her face as always. "Behold, I am the Goddess of Humility, as well as Sin... Because you see, my dear, it is the darkness of man that cripples them, makes them repent, and beg forgiveness of their sins." she would say on her approach. Angra would stap just two meters from Samira with her arms crossed under her bust. "Had you chosen Pride, you would be dead. Your opponent would have been Apophis himself, and his freedom would be ensured if he killed you. Should you have defeated him, you would have met my brother, Izanami... the God of Chaos for this clan. While I apply balance to my decisions, he just kills his issues... literally." Angra said the last word with a grimace, accompanied by an unhappy tone to imply she didn't approve of that logic. "To pass my test, I advise you listen well Sammy... The reason I never assisted my niece was because I am no fool. Had I sheltered her, smited all of her enemies, and provisioned a lavish life... She wouldn't be the woman you know today. She would be weak, unjust, arrogant, and not part of your life. Yes, she has suffered and I was obligated to watch. Yes, she has been broken and rebuilt... But through it all, she has become one of the strongest, if not the strongest human you have ever known."

Angra had paused a few moments while tapping her cheek with one of her fingers, obviously thinking of a trial for Samira. "Now... a trial worthy of a proud, bold, and lovely soul such as yourself... something to truly remember that would require true humility..." she said while thinking. Meanwhile in Kaori's mind space, Query was watching through her crystal ball with a fair amount of anger. Query was by far the most powerful of Kaori's spirits, but she was far from perfect... Something she had overlooked was that Angra Mainyu couldn't possibly be removed from existence since that would mean removing existence itself... which would kill Kaori and be counter productive. "Ahhhh... yes..." Angra said while forming a more wicked smile. "Your trial will require two actions. The first is that you must embrace me warmly as though you honestly thought of me as family... the second would be that you must plant a single kiss on my cheek in the same fashion."

Once Samira had hugged Angra, the goddess would return it, transferring to Samira a feeling of love, warmth, and endearment that Angra Mainyu truly fealt towards her. Once the kiss was given, Angra would take a step back and hold her hand out, gently tapping the tip of her finger on the stone tablet and converting it to metal. Samira would feel the metal be very light to her, as though it were a feather. She'd feel energy flowing through it that matched her spirits, as well as her heart. "You have passed these trials, Sammy. Take this metal tablet to Kaori as proof of your victory... And Ikuchi." the dragon looked up and raised an eyebrow. She said her next words with some amusement in her tone... "Kaori's quite displeased with you... Just a fair warning." to which Ikuchi stood up and began making his way to the exit without a sound.

Ikuchi had known exactly why Kaori was displeased and he didn't bother with trying to figure a way out of his punishment. When Samira was involved, Kaori had bias like none other. In Ikuchi's eyes, Kaori thought Samira could do no wrong. She was her perfect little twilight star, shining and radiating perfection and unreciprocated love without restraint. Samira was everything to Kaori and anyone who dared to even talk down to her would be subject to the hangman's axe. With the arena having converted back to a normal room, Ikuchi had exited with a cold, uncaring expression. He despised Samira for everything she was and secretly hoped something horrible would happen to her on the way out. As luck would have it, there were no more trials for Samira to complete, which meant that Ikuchi had run out of opportunities to put the celestial wizard through hell. Upon reaching the final door, Ikuchi paused with his hand on the door and decided to act on the respect that Samira had earned for persevering through the entirety of the trials. "This place is made to weed out those who lack the power, devotion, and will to serve the Lareci Clan. Your training will pale in comparison, and at the end of it, you will earn your right to call yourself a Lareci Warrior. You will forge a blade that reflects your heart, learn its name, learn its power, and master it." Ikuchi knew that Samira would likely have an issue wrapping her mind around the concept of a weapon being able to reflect the heart of the one who made it, and decided to use his own as an example. He took his hand off the door and turned to face Samira, manifesting a six foot long battle axe that was pure white with a hibiscus dangling from the pommel. He dropped the head on the ground, letting it rest there while holding the weapon straight up. "The name of my blade is Kudaku Hikari, Obliterating Light. She is bullheaded, narrow minded, and very direct... but loyal, caring, and devoted at the same time. Her power is versatility, allowing me to steal a single spell from anyone near me- including you. My respect for your spirits is what prevents me from doing so." The axe then vanished and Ikuchi turned around to open the door and reveal the grassy hills on the outside of the cave.

The description of the sword truly did align with Ikuchi. Bullheaded, meaning that it was always determined and obstinate in her ways, just like Ikuchi. Narrow minded, unable to see the bigger picture and make judgement calls to plan for the future. While Ikuchi wasn't perfectly like that, he was unable to see his own value due to smaller things that were in the way. Direct... Ikuchi was no different, he rarely ever beat around the bush. At the same time, he was also very loyal. Despite feeling like his master would never see any fault in Samira, he served her without question. He was devoted to any cause he set his mind to, as well as any person he trusted. What would be more difficult for Samira to comprehend would be how it was that a weapon could have a personality. That would be something that she had to figure out on her own...