Chapter One Hundred Forty: Tenma

"Dachii? Dachii!"

Dachii slowly opened his eyes, hearing familiar voices calling his name. He noticed himself still strapped to the altar, but now with hordes of cultists swarming him.

"So it wasn't a dream…" he thought.

The leader of the cultists, Tenma, slowly approached him. "You've…awoken…good."

He stepped aside, allowing Dachii to see the concerned faces behind him, all in chains. He blinked a few times, recognizing them.

"Ayana…Akari…Marachii…why are you here…?"

"Dachii!" Marachii called out. "We're here to save you!"

"Just hang on!" Akari proclaimed. "This is nothing!"

Ayana gave him a wave. "Hi, Dachii! I'm kinda the one who led them down here, but no need to thank me!"

Dachii stared at them, confusion on his face. "Why…?"

"Enough talk," Tenma ordered, as more cultists entered the chamber. "We…shall begin now."

"Even without the others?" Shun asked.

Tenma nodded. "This matter is of utmost importance…we cannot risk it going wrong…"

With a clap of his hands, all of the cultists took off their hoods, revealing scarred, damaged Voltian faces. Tenma had long black hair and bottomless black eyes, like the rest of the cultists.

"For the Hallowed!" Tenma chanted.

"For the Hallowed!" they all repeated.

Shun stood in front of Akari. "This is your last chance, princess. Join the Cult of Falasuna, and we shall let your human companions leave, as we have no need for them."

"And let Dachii sit here and die?" Akari questioned. "What kind of sense does that make?"

"The kind that will spare your lives," Shun replied.

Akari shook her head. "Kill me, then."

Shun sighed. "Children. Well, once you see the ceremony's aftermath, you'll understand the truth of your plight."

As Tenma turned toward Dachii, more cultists arrived, including Isamu, Hikari, Luca, and Aoki.

"Look, look!" Isamu pointed out. "It's starting!"

"Shit," Aoki muttered. "We need to move."

"But how?" Hikari asked. "There's hundreds of them, and only three of us!"

"Well, six," Luca pointed out, motioning toward Akari, Ayana, and Marachii.

Aoki groaned. "Those idiots got captured? This is why you don't leave Akari to do anything on her own!"

Isamu took off his hood, eagerly marching toward his brethren. "Come on, guys! Maybe your friend is somewhere here!"

"How do we tell him?" Hikari wondered.

"We don't," Aoki answered. "He's not our friend. We get Dachii, the others, and we leave. That's it."

She noticed him slipping through various cultists.

"But it can't hurt to follow him. Don't draw attention."

They removed their hoods and tried their best to blend in with the other Voltians. Isamu eventually stopped fairly close by the altar, where he could see Dachii, still stuck to it.

"Is that the Destroyer?" Isamu gasped. "Wow! He looks like a human!"

Hikari and Luca gulped.

"Welp!" Isamu cheered. "Doesn't matter, because that signature I'm picking up off him definitely isn't a normal human! Can't wait to watch Head Tenma finish him!"

As Shun forced Akari, Ayana, and Marachii to bow, Tenma placed his hand on Dachii's shoulder. "Now…it's time I drain you of your power, and your life. Let the Destroyer…be destroyed."

"Get to it then," Dachii remarked, as cold as ever.

BOOM.

Tenma began using his magic, which caused Dachii's eyes to glow gray, and his body began violently shaking as Tenma's power started sapping him of his strength.

"Stop!" Marachii pleaded.

Akari tried yet again to break her chains, but to no avail. Ayana tried biting them, but only ended up biting her tongue. "Ow."

She looked up at Dachii, whose entire body began to glow gray. "Damn, if I don't do something, that guy will drain him dry!"

As Dachii felt his power weakening more and more, the faintest glimpse of a memory appeared in his head, one that was not his own.

???…

All Dachii could see was a female figure bathed in white light, one chained to a throne.

"Tenma, my loyal soldier…"

A figure, resembling Tenma, but without the scars, knelt at her feet. "Yes, my Queen? What? What can I do to help you?"

"In nigh time, my people will be destroyed by those disgusting Zharians. I need you to destroy the source of their power, and buy me enough time to return. Can you do that, dear Tenma?"

He bowed. "Yes, my Queen."

Dachii could hear an evil laugh. "Good. Remember, you belong to me. And ONLY me."

She appeared to shimmer, almost as if she was about to disappear. "Oh, one more thing, Tenma."

He looked up. "Yes, Queen?"

"If you see Kenshi, tell him he has a debt to repay. After all, what good is a Queen without her most precious possessions, eh?"

He stood up. "It will be so, my Queen."

And then she disappeared, and the memory ended.

Present Day…

"I don't appreciate you touching me."

BOOM.

Dachii's power repelled Tenma, knocking him and all the other cultists back and freeing Dachii from his chains. "Impossible!"

The binds holding Dachii to the altar were broken, and when Tenma could see yet again, he noticed Dachii's right eye was black, and his teeth were dripping with black malice.

"Huh…" Dachii noted. "This feels different."

A voice inside his head rang through his ears. "These people want to exterminate you, Dachii Jones. What will you do?"

Dachii flexed his arm and wrist. "I don't know…what even is there anymore?"

"Nothing…" the voice spoke.

"…but purpose."

BOOM.

Tenma attempted to slam his fist down into the ground where Dachii was standing, but Dachii narrowly evaded it. Shun called out to Tenma.

"Head Tenma! What's gone wrong with the ritual?"

Tenma took off his cloak, showing his muscular frame underneath. "The boy's body has responded in the ways we feared might happen. He has now channeled the power of…HIM."

The cultists gasped.

"It matters not…" Tenma ordered. "We shall do this manually."

Tenma swung a punch at Dachii's head, which he blocked, but Tenma quickly responded by kicking Dachii into a wall. "Swarm him!"

The cultists snapped out of their trance and rushed Dachii, all charging and attempting to grab him.

"Okay," Dachii thought. "Getting jumped. Not ideal."

He jumped into the air, avoiding the desperate hands of the cultists below. Kugutsu stepped forward, channeling his magic.

"Puppet…come forth!"

A giant, puppet-like construct of white light grabbed Dachii, squeezing hard.

"Now," Kugutsu stated. "To crush the evil inside of you—-!"

WHOOSH.

In an instant, both his arms and his eyes were slashed out, and Dachii was rescued from the giant puppet. Once he was seated, he saw a familiar swordswoman hovering over him.

"Finally," Aoki said. "I can ditch that cloak."

"Aoki…" Dachii muttered. "Why did you come?"

Aoki slapped him across the face. "Enough of this moping! It's time to get you home!"

The cultists all turned their attention to her. "Though it's not going to be easy."

Luca dropped next to her. "Way to blow our cover."

"Not like it matters anymore," Aoki pointed out. "We're grabbing everyone and leaving."

Hikari made her way over to Dachii, but before she could reach him, Isamu grabbed her arm. "What are you guys doing? You're interrupting the ritual!"

"Isamu, that guy is who we came to save! That's Dachii!"

Isamu's eyes widened. "What? But he's the Destroyer! He'll destroy you, me, and every Voltian he comes across if he walks!"

"No, he won't!" Hikari refuted. "He didn't do anything to us! Your people attacked my home and my parents looking for HIM, not the other way around!"

"What…but…the Queen…!"

"Listen, Isamu," Hikari said. "There may well be some crazy all-powerful guy who wants to end us all, but Dachii is NOT him."

"I…don't understand…"

"I've gotta go!" she insisted. "Please stay there!"

She ran over to Dachii, checking him over. "Dachii! Are you hurt?"

"No," he replied.

"Okay! Let's get you all out! We still need to find General Fujii and Saori!"

Luca transformed into a gorilla, and Aoki drew her deck of cards. To their surprise, Kugutsu regenerated his arms and eyes. "You children have meddled in the wrong affairs…attack, my brothers and sisters!"

Various cultists rushed them, but Luca and Aoki fended them back with their attacks. Hikari blasted a few with pink light, causing them to sustain bloody coughing fits.

"Wow, I'm getting better at that!" Hikari cheered.

Luca smashed them into the ground before shifting back. "Wonderful. Now we just need to find the perfect exit out of here. I'll grab the others."

He walked over to Akari, Marachii, and Ayana, attempting to slash the chains with his axes.

"Wait, don't!" Akari exclaimed.

The axes bounced right off and repelled Luca, causing him to crash into the ground.

"Luca," Akari explained. "You can't break these with magic or Elemental abilities. They're designed to hold people like us."

"What a pain in the ass," Luca moaned.

A dark white light of magic hit the ground near his feet, and he saw Shun nearby, a floating book in front of him. "Curse Magic. If it hits you, it won't be pleasant."

Akari's eyes widened. "Are you the one who cursed my brother?"

Shun shook his head. "That glass curse was formed from magic much stronger than my own. Another reason why the Destroyer must be stopped."

He fired another blast at Luca, who dodged.

"And another reason for you to STAY OUT OF THE WAY!"

Luca transformed into a wolf, circling Shun at intense speeds, before shifting into a werewolf and lunging at him.

"ROAR!"

Shun hit him with a blast of magic, causing him to shift back to normal and clutch his throat. He tried to speak, but nothing came out.

"Luca!" Marachii called out. "Are you alright?

"The Mute Curse," Shun stated. "You got the lucky end of the stick. If you're fortunate, your voice should return before long. Now, do you wish to try that again?"

Luca smirked, shifting into a hydra.

"What the HELL?"

On the other side of the chamber, Aoki was busy cutting through cultists one by one. "Hikari! Do you see any way out of here?"

Hikari looked around. "There's a door unguarded on the left! But we'll have to get past their leader!"

Aoki kicked a cultist away without looking, before throwing a red card behind her. "That's easy. Let's move."

"Oh…is that so…?"

"Hmm?"

She turned around and was met with a fist to the face, which she barely managed to duck. Tenma cracked his neck as she pointed her blade at him.

"Aoki Amasani. The pet of the legendary Kenshi Fujii."

"Call me a pet again and you'll be missing some limbs," she growled.

"Where is he, too scared…to show his face?" he asked.

"Don't know. You're lucky he's not here, that'd be overkill. But don't think you're safe."

Her eyes glowed red. "I can be just as nasty."

"Really?" he questioned. "Show me…then."

In a flash, he moved, nearly smashing the ground beneath her feet. She sprang forth and delivered a strike to his head, but he caught the blade and tossed it away. She threw a red card at him, which he batted into the air, causing a massive explosion that tore open a hole in the roof.

BOOM.

"My Queen," he whispered. "Sorry for the chaos."

Aoki retrieved her blade and delivered a powerful slash to his chest, which healed after only a few seconds. The two of them began trading and deflecting blows at an unreal speed, causing wind to blow around them, before Tenma parried her neck slash and pushed her back.

"Your swordsmanship is…remarkable…" Tenma complimented. "If not for your stubbornness…you'd make a great addition…"

"He's as strong as a General," Aoki thought. "No clue who this man is, but he's at least S-3 level."

"I would say your power has now reached that of the 11th rank of the Obsidian Order," Tenma said. "In those six months, you've improved well, especially after your embarrassing defeat to the third rank."

Aoki gripped her blade tightly. "Care to say that again?"

"I doubt you want to continue this fight…" Tenma warned. "Because my power surpasses that of those lesser ranks."

She looked behind her, Dachii still standing motionless.

"That's cute. But I don't see any Elite power coming from you, so…"

She drew a black card. "I'll just kill you."

Her right side and blade began to be covered with black. "CORRUPTING SLASH!"

She slashed off his entire right side, exposing what appeared to be a shiny white sphere in the center of his body.

"Is that his core?" she wondered. "Well, now I know what'll kill him."

Tenma quickly regenerated his body, brushing the black goo from her blade off of him. "Impressive work, Aoki…"

His eyes glowed black. "But you don't have enough power to finish the job."

She laughed. "Really?"

Then she pointed to the sky. "How about him?"

Tenma looked up, and for a moment, nothing happened. "What?"

And then, the roar of a dragon came flying through the sky, as a large ice dragon descended into the chamber, which then melted into Fujii, Saori on his back.

"General Fujii!" Akari said, relieved.

"Well, this is interesting," Fujii remarked. "A bunch of guys wearing our faces, and some weird cult ritual taking place behind my back."

He formed a sword of ice. "Now then, people, how many of you do I have to kill before you talk?"

A group of cultists tried to sneak him but he easily chopped off their heads. "Well? My ears…"

"…are open."

—-