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From her position high up in the sky, Kencana looked at the place and smirked. “This is the place is it?” she asked to no one. She then landed at the spot to see that there were some people wearing white hooded robe standing around her. “Hello” s,he greeted cordially.
One of the hooded figures took a step toward her and removed the hood to reveal a 40 year old woman with long brown hair. Beautiful and elegant, she seemed normal except for the fact that both her eyes were completely orange in color, giving an unworldly look to her. “Hello, Kencana. It’s been a while”
Kencana chuckled. “Oh, it’s you, Shizuka. Fancy meeting you here”
“I have some questions for you,” Shizuka said.
Kencana grinned. “Very well. But there’s a price to pay” She whipped her hands as if slashing something and a second later, everyone except the two of them fell down, blood gushing out of the wounds all over their bodies.
Despite what happened, Shizuka was quite calm. “Is it really necessary?” she asked Kencana.
“It’s not that you have to witness their deaths, Shizuka, or should I say, the Blind Seer?”
Shizuka shook her head. “I would prefer you not calling me by that name”
“Very well, Holy Priestess”
“Don’t refer to me by that name as well”
Kencana shrugged and looked at the fallen bodies around her. “Whatever. So, where were we just now?”
“Wait”
“What is it?” The avatar of Chaos asked as she turned toward Shizuka.
The Blind Seer bit her left thumb until it bleeds and smeared the blood on her right palm. She then executed a couple of hand signals using her other hand and then put her left forefinger and middle finger one the right palm. Almost instantly a bluish light began to gather in her right palm. The light began to spread to all of her body until she was consumed by it. The light, then taking a spherical form grew until it was 10 meters in circumference. It then began to contract slowly until it could be seen that all of the energy was gathering on her right forefinger which was pointed toward Kencana. Shizuka then unleashed the blue bolt at the woman.
Kencana held out her hand and the bolt stopped three meters away from her, the energy dispersing over what seemed to be an invisible sphere.
Shizuka looked at what happened and shook her head. “You’re still too strong, even now”
“If you wanted to kill me, it would have been easier ten years ago” Kencana said calmly.
“Perhaps. But I don’t think it would have made any difference, since you’re able to bring out your weapon without the need to call its name. I’m quite surprised. All this while I though that it can create illusions. Obviously I was wrong. The weapon can manipulate dimension, can’t it?”
“Half correct. It can manipulate anything inside its radius, with some exceptions of course. Anyway, isn’t it a bit ungrateful of you to try and kill me? After all, it was I who saved your life thirty years ago”
“I assure you, I remember that day very well. You saved me from the villagers who were trying to kill me because of my eyes…” She looked away. “by massacring them”
“Eyes of the demons, as they called it,” Kencana said while seeming to ignore the last statement.
Shizuka nodded in agreement. “But that didn’t give you the right to kill everyone”
“And you have no right to lecture me, seeing that your attack just now was charged with chaos energy” Kencana smiled. “You’re ‘tainted’, aren’t you?” Seeing Shizuka not responding to her question, her smile became larger. “That’s why you didn’t want me to call you Holy Priestess” Kencana then laughed. “Hah, you’re not ‘holy’ anymore”
“Perhaps,” Shizuka said as she looked down. “I understand what Chaos is”
Kencana turned away and moved to a spot. She then kneeled down and began tracing some symbols on the ground using her forefinger. “So ?”
“I may belong to the force of Chaos after all”
The smirk reappeared on Kencana’s face. “That’ good to know. I’ll let the Infernal Queen know about your allegiance. I’m sure she’ll be happy to put you in charge of a legion of demons and devils”
Shizuka closed the distance between the two of them without difficulty, despite her blindness. “I don’t think so. There’s no hiding it anymore, Kencana. The demons don’t belong to the force of Chaos. They belong to the force of Order”
“I’m sure Hild wouldn’t appreciate you saying that she’s in league with the Gods,”
“In some ways, she is. There’s no such thing as the forces of Good and Chaos, or Good and Evil. There are only the forces of Order and Chaos. The gods and demons both belong to the force of Order”
“So, how do you explain the two factions being at each other’s throat?”
“Simple. There are two polarities to the force of Order: Creation and Destruction. While the gods create, the demons destroy. However, both the creation and destruction follows the force of Order”
“You’re saying that there’s Orderly Creation and Orderly Destruction”
The blind seer nodded. “Yes”
Kencana stopped what she was doing to look at Shizuka. “You figured out the biggest secret in the universe in just few mortal years; I’m impressed”
“But that didn’t explain why you killed the Blessbringer clan! You would have…,” Shizuka caught hold of herself as she realized what she was talking about. Blessbringer is known to be the highest protector of Order on Earth. While Kencana may want to have her revenge, the fact remained that she shouldn’t have spared the four from the clan. It was a bit strange for someone like Kencana. Shizuka’s orange eyes widened, “Don’t tell me…”
Kencana nodded once. “Yes”
“Not only you destroy the clan, you also corrupted the remaining members”
“If you think that way… I suppose it’s not really far off”
“WHY?” Shizuka demanded.
“Blessbringer always pride itself on being the follower of Order”
“And you changed it into the slaves of Chaos?!” Shizuka asked, raising her voice.
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. That’s not really the way for a wise seer to act. If you think that I caused the clan to go along the path of Chaos, then you’re wrong. What I did was to give the survivors the choice to either follow Order or Chaos. If they continue on to follow Order, good for them. But if they choose Chaos, well, it’ll be because the seeds of Chaos are inside them all this while”
Shizuka was about to ask another question when she realized something and kept quiet for a long time. Eventually, she spoke, “The era of Chaos is beginning, isn’t it?”
“Maybe” Kencana finished tracing the symbols on the ground, which covered quite a large area.
“That’s another reason why the Blessbringer had to be corrupted. You plan for the humans to be unwitting agents of Chaos, starting with the clan, don’t you?”
Kencana chuckled quietly, to the chagrin of the woman in front of her. Meanwhile, the symbols beneath her began to glow.
“What’s so funny?” Shizuka asked.
“You still haven’t realized it, have you?” The glow around Kencana became more intense. “Humans aren’t unwitting agents of Chaos; they are children of Chaos”
The whole area was bathed in light.
The door to her room quickly opened and closed as a certain pigtailed martial artist looked around cautiously.
“So, Saotome-kun, what brings you here? It’s quite obvious from your expression that I’m more like the black plaque that has to be avoided”
“No, no, I never think of you in that way; maybe more like influenza, but definitely not black plague” Ranma said while laughing nervously, not realizing what he said.
“Note to self: Get a very big mallet when it’s on sale” Nabiki thought to herself. “So in what way can I help to lighten your wallet? Or is it more exercise that you want me to give you?”
Ranma groaned. He had really paid for the mistake he made a week before. Nabiki really meant what she said that she will get punish him for opening the vial by mistake. Ranma suddenly found himself having fully booked by the school clubs. That was okay for him. But to spite him further, Nabiki assigned him the hardest job of all: preparing notes for all of the subjects in his school level for her to sell. That meant endless and endless hours of pouring over the facts before writing and rewriting the notes. As a result of that, he didn’t get enough sleep. And he had to ensure that he didn’t fall asleep in the class. The first time he pulled and overnighter, he ended up to Miss Hinako looking at him as if he had grown two heads. Later Akane told him that he had mumbled the day’s lesson in his sleep. All throughout the day he had to endure the other students calling him genius. What happened had really spoiled his image as a lazy and laid-back student, something that he was rather proud of.
“Well?” Nabiki pressed a bit.
He had no choice but to approach Nabiki because of the problem he’s currently facing. “I have a problem with my sword, or at least that’s what I think”
Nabiki looked at him quizzically.
Noticing the questioning look, Ranma continued, “Well, this may seem weird, but I think my sword is making strange noise in my head” Realizing what he said could be interpreted wrongly, he hastened add, “I’m not crazy or something like that, just to make it clear, you know, just….”
“I believe you” Nabiki said, interrupting him. “In fact I sometime wonder how you manage to keep yourself level-headed despite the insanity surrounding your life” She stopped for few seconds to think before continuing, “So the voice in your head: is it being a bitch or being a bastard?”
“What do you mean?”
“Does it whine or does it taunt you?”
Ranma put a hand under his chin. “I think it sounds like it’s asking for something”
Nabiki sighed. “Just as I thought. Bring out your sword, Saotome-kun”
The bracelet on his right wrist glowed and a second later Ranma was holding Unmei Kiriage. He handed it to Nabiki who examined the sword before running her forefinger along the sharp edge slowly, testing it sharpness. She then ran through it again, this time leaving a trail of blood, to Ranma’s shock. “Hey, what are you doing?” he croaked.
“Hush, Saotome-kun,” Nabiki said as she wrote her name on one of the flat part of the blade in hiragana using her bloodied finger.
“Nabiki!”
The middle Tendo girl kept quiet while she set the sword on the floor. She muttered an incantation and immediately a magical circle appeared below the sword and greenish light emanated from the red hiragana letters on the sword. Then the light changed into red as the letters began to dissolve, as if disappearing into the sword. The black blade’s red tint became more pronounced after the glow subsided, as if her blood was absorbed by the sword, making it redder. Nabiki then handed the sword back to Ranma while saying, “Done”.
Ranma looked at her as if she had grown another head. “WHAT THE…”
Before he could shout out his question, a pillow thrown at his face stopped him. He sputtered and pulled the pillow away from his face. Nabiki who was looking at him with calm expression said, “Unless you want the rest of the family to come to this room you better keep quiet”
Realizing what she said was true, Ranma nodded quietly.
“Here’s your sword”
Before Ranma could take the sword, suddenly the door opened, with Akane looking around. She then settled her gaze on where Ranma was standing, with the martial artist cowering, expecting a swift retribution for entering Nabiki’s room in the middle of the night.
“Where’s Ranma?” Akane asked.
Ranma raised his head to see that Akane was looking through him, as if she didn’t see him.
“What do you mean?” Nabiki asked.
“I heard his voice coming from here just now. Sis, it’s improper for you let guys enter your room”
“And it’s improper for a younger sister to invade her older sister’s privacy. I know you like him, but it’s no excuse for you to enter my room without permission”:
“It’s… just that…”
Nabiki held up her hands. “Very well, we’ll remember to include you next time” Nabiki smiled. “Threesome would be interesting”
“Sis!” Akane protested; her face red with embarrassment.
“Just joking. Off you go now” Before Akane close the door, Nabiki added, “Just remember that you owe me 400 yen more” The younger sister huffed and slammed the door. Nabiki then turned toward Ranma who had a surprise look on him. “And you owe me 300 yen for not locking the door after you enter… wait, make it a Super Supreme”
Ranma mentally sighed. The super supreme sundae would cost him 600 yen. Wait. It will cost him 1200 yen as Nabiki would put on a show eating the ice cream and he would end up buying one for himself as well. But rather than complaining about it, he was more interested in what Nabiki did to make him invisible.
“Don’t ask, Saotome-kun,” Nabiki said as if knowing what he would say. At his slack jaw, she smirked, “You can’t afford the answer” She then placed the sword in his hand. “Congratulations on your first kill,” she said jokingly. “I would never have thought that I would be your first”
The young man scratched his head as he tried to think about why is it that the statement was causing blood to rush to his face. “What do you mean?”
“A sword will only become powerful if the blade is tainted by blood” As Ranma’s eyes widened, Nabiki smirked and continued, “In your case, the sword hungered for a kill”
“But I haven’t killed anyone yet”
“Oh, but you do, in a way. I’ve put a seal to trick the sword into thinking that it has killed me”
Ranma looked at the sword cautiously. “But I don’t want to kill anyone”
“Oh, that would be easy. Judging from what I’ve seen, the sword mirrors your thoughts. So, as long as you want the sword to be…”
The martial artist was ahead of her as the sword sharp edge became blunt.
“Show off,” Nabiki growled before continuing, “Put your sword away”
Ranma did as he was told and the sword blinked out of existence. “It’s amazing that you know how to do seals”
Nabiki had that faraway look on her face. “Mother was a seal expert”
Scratching his head guiltily for bringing up the subject, Ranma thought about what he should say next to change the topic. “I can see who inherited her talent”
“Actually, Kasumi inherited that talent, although she never found out about it. As for me, I’m not really good at making seals. In fact, all this time I spent studying them, I only managed to master five of them”
Despite mentally groaning at a new mistake he made, Ranma tried to reconcile. “Well, I know that you’re talented in other areas, such as making potions, maybe?” Suddenly a not so subtle smell pervaded the room, suggesting a hint of ginger, wasabi and some smell Ranma couldn't place. Then a muffled voice cursing was audible, clearly belonging to Akane.
Nabiki rolled her eyes. “Despite wanting to make miso soup like she told me this afternoon, my sister has accidentally made a strength enhancing potion, if the smell is of any indication”
“You must be joking!”
“When my sister feed you her meals, have you ever wondered why you experience difference effects each time?”
Ranma was about to retort a reply when he realized that she was right. Apart from the meals having that ‘unique’ taste, they had different effects on him. Example would be the soufflé she made last week that made him sound like a chipmunk; the curry rice the week before that caused him to run like a Duracell bunny. Of course, there’s the chicken pie the preceding month that caused him to actually think that he was a rooster and ran across the town, flapping his hands as if they were wings while crowing every now and then. Since that day, every time they met, Mousse had rubbed it in so often by mentioning that Ranma was a chicken half of the time while emphasizing on the word ‘chicken’. However that Ranma stopped beating the visually-challenged martial artist as he didn’t want to be labeled a bully. Not that it was hard get Mousse to beat himself as all Ranma had to do was to remove the poor guy’s spectacles. Ranma suppressed a shiver as he thought about what happened every time he ate Akane’s food. Then a strange idea came to his mind.
Nabiki shrugged. “My mother can’t boil water without having burning it either. It’s the drawback of being talented in mixing potions”
Ignoring the feeling of awe at her being able to predict what he was going to ask, Ranma went through the other one, “But you didn’t tell her?”
“I did when she made her first nitroglycerin mixture and blew the house’s roof away, but she said that she wanted to become a good cook like Kasumi. Besides, ‘martial artists don’t need potions’,” Nabiki said, mimicking Akane’s voice. “As for Kasumi, she’s not interested in learning magic” Another sigh escaped her lips. “What a waste,” she uttered slowly, as if talking to herself.
“But how about you?” Ranma asked, startling Nabiki out of her thought. “Surely you inherited something from your mother besides the good look”
Despite the tendency to speak without thinking has gotten Ranma into countless problems, he did say something right from time to time. This was earned by a kiss on his cheek by the girl in front of him. The kiss would have knocked him out if not for the fact that he has kissed before; Shampoo, Ukyo and even Akane had kissed him on the lips. He still blushed from the kiss though. “Thank you for being sweet, Saotome-kun,” Nabiki said. “As for me, I received her knowledge”
“Knowledge of what?”
“I don’t know if I should tell you…,” Nabiki said slyly, “maybe I received the knowledge about you?”
Ranma never had the chance to question that statement as he was pushed to the door.
The next day started normally with the normal school happenings. While Kuno no longer went after the pig-tailed goddess and challenged Akane for date, he and the other suitors had a new ritual. Following the fighting ritual was replaced with something more dastardly. Due to Ranma’s suggestion that they ask Akane out normally, Kuno and the others began to clamor for her attention by giving her gifts. However, the ritual became twisted and Akane found herself being buried under gifts every morning. She had taken her frustration on them like before. However, that that had to stop when they began to shower her with more gifts as a sign of apology; the more she hits them, the more gifts they gave her.
As Nabiki looked at her sister struggling to get out of the hill of gifts, she spied Chisa who was looking at her from a secluded spot. The middle Tendo girl walked up to the Blessbringer heiress and asked, “What are you doing here?” she asked angrily.
Chisa hung her head, not knowing how to answer the question. After all, she had been fought Nabiki and was defeated, despite her being powerful than latter. Apart from that, Chisa regretted going against her respected sempai.
“We still have betting ring to set up and it wouldn’t do for you to be skulking in a corner,”
Chisa raised her head to regard Nabiki with a confuse look. “But…”
“No but, Chisa,” Nabiki said with a smile. “After all, you’re my assistant”
Despite being the most talented in the Blessbringer clan and the girl in front of her was just a weak magic user, Chisa couldn’t help but feel happy at the announcement. The announcement was tantamount to Nabiki already forgiving her. “Yes!” she said as she went away to join the other factors.
Nabiki looked at the girl while congratulating herself. At least her relationship with Chisa had returned to normal. It looked as if it was going to be a fine day. However, her assumption was proven wrong when she saw Chisa waiting for her at the school gate after school session was over with a downcast face. "All right, what now?" she asked
Chisa pointed to a limousine behind her. "My father, the head of my clan, would like to have a word with you"
Nabiki shook her head a bit. Somehow she expected that the fight between the two of them would garner interest from other parties. "Very well. Let me tell my sister and her fiancé that I wouldn't be going home with them"
An hour later, Nabiki was walking along the corridor of a big and very traditional house, wondering why she expected Chisa to be living in a European-styled mansion. The said girl was leading her to a big room where a man was sitting on a tatami zabuton, a pillow measuring 50 cm square and 5 cm in thickness. There were two more such pillows in front of him, obviously for Chisa and Nabiki to sit on.
The man, in the 40s, had a clean shaven face and short cropped hair. He nodded as the two girls took their seats. “It’s finally a pleasure being able to meet you here. I’m Motosuwa Itachi, also known as the Itachi Blessbringer. I’m the head of the Japan branch of the clan”
“It’s a not really a secret that the Japan branch is the most powerful branch of the clan for more than three centuries. Tendo Nabiki. Pleased to make your acquaintance”
“Despite having high respect for the tradition, I’m not going to waste our time and will get straight to the point,” Itachi said. “We would like to form an alliance with you”
Nabiki raised her eyebrows. “Me? On what?”
Itachi looked at her daughter before continuing. “Your intelligence is surely exceptional if my wayward daughter submits to your directives at school,”
“Really, you flatter me too much,” the Tendo girl said while smiling nonchalantly. With just a few words, the man in front of her had told a lot about Chisa’s personality that she hadn’t know, complimenting her and warning her not to act dumb, all at the same time. The man was very good. ‘Very well’, Nabiki said to herself, deciding to play according to Itachi’s rule. “However I have to decline,” she said, ignoring the gasp from the girl next to her. “I can’t work with you because I am Kencana”
“Nabiki-sempai!” Chisa almost shouted. She would have stood up if not for the fact that her father held up his hand.
Itachi nodded slowly. The girl in front of him was replying to him in the same way, which impressed him a bit. The Tendo girl had essentially and at the same time subtly pointed out to him that she could be the very enemy the clan was trying to kill and trying to recruit her into their side might be a big mistake. While some people may arrive at this conclusion and think that was all what Nabiki had to say, Itachi was not like them. Despite not even as strong as Chisa, he had become the clan’s head, due to his extraordinary intelligence which no one could surpass, with that exception of that… man.
Itachi closed his eyes, willing the thought about the person to go away and instead focus on his reply to Nabiki. Besides suggesting that she might be Kencana, her statement was also open to the interpretation that ONE of the Blessbringer’s clan members could be Kencana reincarnated, which could be him or Chisa apart from countless others; Nabiki didn’t want to take the risk. The involvement factor also was an interesting point. Suppose Nabiki allied herself with the clan and it turned out that Kencana was reincarnated as one of the people she knew. Would the clan be able to trust her to side with it? Itachi couldn’t demand it because had the situation be reversed and his daughter was Kencana, he couldn’t be sure what to do. The head of the Blessbringer Clan opened his eyes. Tendo Nabiki was an interesting person indeed. But before he could say anything, the building shook a bit.
“The building is under attack!” Chisa said as the three of them got up and quickly exited the room, into the yard.
They looked around but couldn’t find any intruders. It was then a white feather floated down in front of Nabiki who held out her hand to take it. The white feather dispersed when it touched her skin, telling her that it was not a normal feather, but one made from energy.
Nabiki looked heavenward.
“She was here”
1. It's been a while since I updated my fics and this story is the first one I worked on after I have the time to do it.