Ascend!

Surprises Abound on Mount Black!

Episode 23

The sun shone brightly over the mountains, creating a picturesque setting. It was quite impressive, the way the light glinted off the brilliantly white snow. It reminded Lina of shaved ice on a hot summer's day.

However, this was not a hot summer's day. In fact, it was pretty near freezing, or at least it felt close enough. Flakes of snow drifted on the chilly breeze. The sun's reflection sent blinding light into everyone's eyes.

"Are you sure this is the right mountain?" asked Lina peevishly, eyeing the steep slope they had yet to traverse.

"This is the place on the map, Lina-san," said Chiriko from beside her. "The official said it was only halfway up the mountainside."

Lina looked up. Halfway up the mountainside was still half a mountainside too far away. "What I wouldn't give for a levitation spell right now," she said to herself through gritted, chattering teeth. "Even a cup of hot coffee would do!"

Someone chuckled from behind her.

Lina popped a vein and turned on Tasuki, who was grinning widely. "Don't like the cold any, ne, Lina-chan?" grinned the red-haired bandit.

Lina noted that he was very carefully fanning himself with the halisen. Meaning that Tasuki wasn't feeling the chill. She very neatly popped a second vein. "Cheater! Give me that halisen!"

"Whaa? It's my halisen, Taiitsukun herself gave it to me!"

"I don't care! Gimmie! Gimmiegimmiegimmie GIMMIE! I MUST HAVE WARMTH!" Lina started chasing after Tasuki.

"Ne, doesn't this look familiar?" asked Nuriko, shrugging helplessly. "But if we don't hurry, they'll get to the cave long before us."

A sweatdrop rolled down the back of Chichiri's head. "Those two will never stop fighting, na no da," he sighed softly.

The remaining Shichi Seishi let out sighs of their own and followed.

Lina slipped on a slippery patch of ice and landed face down in the snow. Tasuki towered over her, laughing triumphantly. "I win, I win!" he crowed, fanning Lina gently with the fan.

Five more veins popped on Lina's head, and she threw herself at Tasuki, reaching out for the halisen...

... And stopped halfway through as she noticed a large rock wall.

Tasuki jerked back in surprise and slipped on a different patch of ice. "Itai!"

Lina wasn't paying attention. "This is..." she began, staring at the large boulder that appeared to be blocking something. "This is the shrine of Genbu?"

"Eh?" blinked Tasuki as he picked himself up. "Already? But how do we get in with that rock in the way?"

"Easy." Lina turned and cupped her hands around her mouth. "NURIKO! WE HAVE A JOB FOR YOU!"

Further down the mountainside, Nuriko winced. "That girl will bring an avalanche down on us if she's not careful," he chided. "How in the world did those two get up there so fast?"

"You know Lina," snorted Tamahome. "Runs on two modes: Anger and Food. When she's either really mad or really hungry, she can do just about anything without realizing it."

"NURIKO! HURRY UP, WHY DON'T YOU?! HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY AND WE ALREADY FOUND THE SHRINE! NURIKO? MINNA?!"

"Aiyah, na no da," Chichiri felt impelled to comment. "They're right there, no da!"

Lina was jumping up and down and waving her arms, trying to get their attention. "What took you so long?!" she demanded at the same time. "We can't get anywhere with that big rock in the way, so Nuriko, if you'd oblige us, we could -"

The boulder crashed down a foot away from Lina. Nuriko wiped his hands neatly. "Already done."

Mitsukake and Chiriko stared in amazement. It was their first major viewing of the extent of Nuriko's strength. Tasuki was unimpressed, or at least was doing a good job of giving said impression.

"So, do we just go in?" wondered Mitsukake, laying the palm of his hand on the cold stone door. "Or do..." His words trailed off as the monolithic doors slowly creaked open.

"Kowaii!" gasped Chiriko, grabbing onto Tasuki in fright.

"Oi! You're the one who told us all this stuff about a shrine being in the mountain, what are you scared about?"

"Yosh! Let's go!" Lina boldly marched through the doors, leaving the others to follow in her footsteps (again).

"Kowaii," murmured Chiriko nervously, sticking very close to Tasuki. "I can't see anything!"

"Oi, none of us can, so don't cling to my leg like that. I can't walk when you do that!"

"Gomen nasai, Tasuki-san, but..." Chiriko sniffled softly. "I'm not that strong..."

Lina concentrated all of her power in front of her. "Flare arrow!"

A very tiny flare arrow glowed from Lina's hands. She gritted her teeth as her instinct and her intelligence warred with each other. Instinct told her to build it up as large as possible and fling it at approaching enemies. Intelligence warned her of the dangers and told her to control her impulse. Keeping a very tight leash on the power, Lina kept the spell blazing enough for it to work in place of her usual light spell.

"UWAAA!" she screamed, very nearly loosing her grip on the spell. Things were better with the lights off. At least then they didn't have to learn that the funny crunching sound underfoot was that of bones.

"Abunai, no da! I can sense a strong ki, no da."

As if waiting for such a cue, two shadows separated themselves at the far end of the cave and started glowing a pale green.

"Seiryuu no Shichi Seishi?" wondered Tamahome.

"Trespassers?" said the shadow on the left. "Must we deal with them again, Hikitsu?"

The taller shadow on the right sighed. "I suppose so, Tomite. After all, we are here to protect the Genbu no Shinzahou."

"Genbu no Shichi Seishi, no da," Chichiri corrected.

"Well, that's a confirmation if I ever heard one," Lina commented two seconds before bolts of ice came streaking at them and one second before Tamahome shoved her behind the others.

"Hey!" she protested as the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi blocked the attack. "I..." Her voice trailed off as she watched them form a wall between her and the attacking Shichi Seishi. Nuriko's words sprang into her mind. We all know you care deeply for her. But you're not the only one. We all do. We would all give our lives to protect her.

She felt frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch. The taller man sent forth ice snakes, or at least that's what Lina thought they were, but Tasuki countered with his halisen. His 'Lekka Shinen' and the resulting blaze shriveled them up into puddles of water. Then the shorter man sent a strange disc of energy out at Nuriko. It spun around him in ever tightening circles, but after a frustrating moment, the symbol for willow flashed red and the disc shattered. Undaunted, Chichiri aimed his own attack, setting a circle of red ki flaring around the taller man, while Tamahome leapt towards the shorter one, leg stretched out to knock him down...

... Only to pass straight through the stranger and land on the floor.

Hikitsu snapped his fingers and quenched the red ki, unscathed.

"Ghosts?" cried Mitsukake. "How can that be?"

Tomite laughed. "We've been here for two hundred years, protecting the Genbu no Shinzahou! You can't defeat us."

The Suzaku no Shichi Seishi took a collective step back, stunned.

Tomite sent out a barrage of ice shards, slashing the others except for Lina, who was still behind the others.

We can't win this way... she thought to herself. "Stop it!" Lina cried, pushing to stand in front of the others with her arms spread wide, as if she alone could protect all of them.

The attack faltered.

She drew Hotohori's deity sword and faced the Genbu no Shichi Seishi. "I challenge you," she said evenly. "We came here seeking the Genbu no Shinzahou because we need it to summon Suzaku. As Suzaku no Miko, I challenge you."

"Li-Lina!"

Tomite looked Hikitsu, who rubbed his chin. "A challenge, you say. You who claim to be Suzaku no Miko... very well, we have a challenge for you. Break from this prison of ice and we will recognize you to truly be the phoenix's priestess."

"Prison of ice?" blinked Lina.

"Starting now." Hikitsu gestured and suddenly, Lina's boots were surrounded by thick, cold ice.

"Lina!" Tamahome ran to her but was stopped by an invisible barrier, another sheet of ice. "Lina, stop! What are you doing?"

The ice crept up her legs and froze around her hips. This was the prison of ice, Lina knew now. It was cold and numbing, and she shivered. How could she break free? She couldn't very well flare arrow herself; that would be reckless, not to mention a very stupid idea. What could she do?

Tamahome and the others banged fruitlessly on the ice wall, helpless to watch as the ice froze around Lina's arms and shoulders.

Of course, being stupid and reckless was nothing new to Lina. What else did she have to loose?

As the ice reached her lips, she cast her spell.

"Flare arrow!"

She was encased in ice. What had happened? Didn't her spell work?

Tamahome slumped down. Lina was entirely frozen now... why didn't she do something? Why couldn't anyone do anything?

The deity sword shone. Lina's spell had somehow wrapped itself around the blade. The combined powers made it shine as brightly as Gourry's sword of light (but without the annoying hum.)

"Tamahome! Look!" pointed Chiriko.

Shafts of light exploded outward from the sword. Cracks appeared in the ice, and then, it was breaking up altogether. Lina's fire magic blasted outward from the sword and boiled every last bit of water left.

Tomite and Hikitsu looked like they had seen a ghost. Hikitsu recovered more quickly, and gestured again. The wall between Lina and her Shichi Seishi collapsed, and a big reunion ensued in which there was much hugging and gasping and reassuring going on.

Lina pushed the others aside and stood up tall, holding the sword in front of her. "Did I pass your challenge?" she dared.

Tomite nodded slowly. "Yes... you are Suzaku no Miko. As such, you are truly worthy of being given the Genbu no Shinzahou. Come... follow us." The door behind the two Shichi Seishi opened softly, revealing a serene chamber within.

"This is where we summoned Genbu," said Hikitsu softly. "And that..." he motioned towards the small pedestal wrapped in green cloth. On top of it lay a beautifully detailed golden necklace. "That is the Genbu no Shinzahou."

Lina stepped up and picked it up gently, as if it was a magic charm that changed the owner into a frog instead of let the owner summon giant red birds that granted three wishes.

"This is it, you guys," she said softly, turning to the others with tears in her eyes. "We finally got the Genbu no Shinzahou! We can call Suzaku and save Konankoku!"

"Um..." mumbled Tomite from behind her, looking sheepish. "You mean you didn't know?"

"Know what?" asked everyone else.

"Oh. You didn't." Tomite sighed, then said quickly, "You still need to get the Byakko no Shinzahou. You can't summon Suzaku unless you have both of them."

It took two seconds for the storm to break.

"BYAKKO NO SHINZAHOU?!" screamed Tasuki, yanking his fan out and ready to do battle. "Are you telling me that we have to go all the way to Sailokoku now and go through this whole shebang again to get the Byakko no Shinzahou!?"

Hikitsu nodded.

Twenty-five and a half fume marks filled the room, emitted by various people in various stages of anger. The strange thing was, Lina didn't even contribute the half fume-mark (that was Chiriko.)

"Whoa, calm down you guys," she said, smiling widely. "We already have the Genbu no Shinzahou! We're halfway there, ne? Come on. Taiitsukun never said all we had to get was this. She just said we did have to get it. So she didn't lie then, right? Come on. Let's get going to Sailokoku and get the Byakko no Shinzahou and summon Suzaku and get the hell out of here."

"Lina's not angry?" blinked Nuriko incredulously. "Ne, Lina, are you feeling okay?" He held a hand to her forehead. "No, you don't have a fever or anything..."

She swatted his hand away in annoyance. "I'm feeling fine, don't worry. Let's just get this whole thing over with. I'm getting sick and tired of it all." She turned to the Genbu no Shichi Seishi. "Arigatou, you two. I'm sure you did a great job protecting Genbu no Miko and the Shinzahou. I mean, well... good luck, I guess..." (After all, what does one say to 200-year-old spirits?)

"Thank you, too," said Hikitsu. "After 200 years, our duty is finally over."

Lina smiled and looked at the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi. "Yosh! Let's head out to Sailokoku!"

Lina turned back one last time and waved to Hikitsu and Tomite. "Thanks a lot! For everything! And..." Her voice trailed off as the door slowly shut.

"That must have been really hard," said Mitsukake off to one side, patting Tama-neko's head. "To have stayed behind to protect the Genbu no Shinzahou for two hundred years... that's dedication."

Lina looked at the necklace clutched in her hands. So much rode on such a delicate piece of jewelry. "Yeah," she agreed.

Something knocked her down. A shadow loomed above her.

"Lina-chan!"

His face and left shoulder were badly burnt, but his hulking appearance and bestial features meant it was...

"Ashitare!"

He snatched the Shinzahou out of Lina's hands, slashing them badly in order to force her to let go. He paused for one second and looked at everybody with eyes full of pure hatred before turning around and running off, full speed ahead.

"No!" screamed Lina. "The Genbu no Shinzahou!"

Continue: Episode 24: Tragedy! A Star Falls from the Heavens!