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Chapter 19 - The Battle for Suzaku
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Hiten and Souten were flying from the capital of
Suzaku to the border where the enemy armies were near. "I wish we had
Bankotsu," Hiten lamented.
"Yeah, three Thunder Demons would be nice." Souten replied,
agreeing with his father.
"Bankotsu was the most powerful Thunder Demon I ever met, far more
powerful than either of us. Just like the Tetsusaiga gives power to
InuYasha, the Banyruu gave extra power to Bankotsu. While we can call down
one bolt of lightning at a time, Bankotsu could call down a dozen. We could
really use him!"
"I miss him. I wish I had gotten to know him better. He always
seemed so carefree." Souten commented.
"Bankotsu had many hidden Demons, but he never talked about them, at
least not to anyone but the Princess." Hiten mused, and then turned to
his son, "By the way, you are going to have a brother in a few
months."
"What?" Souten exclaimed, "You and Mom are…?"
"Yes, we are going to have another child. Another boy."
Hiten lapsed into silence, thinking about Serafin and the coming baby. He
hoped that they would be all right and wished that he could be with her to
protect her.
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Back in Suzaku's capital, Vara was meeting the five remaining members of the
Celestial Seven. They were grateful for her presence, for the people were
lost without their emperor. Advisors and captains of the army had no one to
direct them. Vara had no experience with war, but she listened to the
advisors, using her power to sense their sincerity. According to all the
information available, Seiryuu's main army seemed to be in Genbu and the
attack would come from that border. She sent most of the army to that
border, and the remainder to guard the border between Suzaku and Seiryuu.
She knew that two Thunder Demons would not be able to stop Seiryuu's army,
but hopefully they would slow it down. What she feared the most was that
Naraku would send the Black Dragon directly against the capital. Kyo had
gone to Seiryuu, gambling that Naraku would keep Rhu close to him for
protection. She prayed that Kyo was right. If the Black Dragon struck at
Suzaku, all would be lost.
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Hiten and Souten were sending lightning bolts, one after another, into the
Seiryuu's armies. After the first few dozen bolts, the armies began to
gather their archers and sent hundreds of arrows into the sky where the
Thunder Demons hovered. They were forced to dodge the arrows; they could
have gone higher to escape the arrows but then they would be above the
clouds and they needed to be below the clouds to bring out the lightning
bolts. Souten sent a white-hot bolt right into the middle of the archers,
wiping out a fourth of them. While the archers were keeping the Demons
occupied, the rest of the army was marching as fast as possible to Suzaku.
And the front ranks were only a couple of hours away from the Suzaku border.
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With a shout to Souten to keep after the archers, Hiten sped away to the
front lines; in a last ditch effort to slow them down.
Seeing the second Demon leave, the archers filled the air with arrows.
Souten's lightning stuck, burning most of the arrows and several dozen
archers. The soldiers' hair was standing up into the air from all the static
electricity that Souten was generating. But there were too many arrows and
two found their mark, burying their barbed points into Souten's right
shoulder and left leg. The pain was excruciating and he screamed in agony,
flying high into the sky.
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Hiten heard his son's cry and rushed to his aid, his bolts tore from the sky
and the archers either died or fled in terror. Hiten went to his son and
together they flew to the top of the mountains. Souten was bleeding badly
from the wounds, and when Hiten tried to pull the arrows out, he screamed in
agony. Sharp hooks on the steel arrows prevented their removal and they
would tear the wound wide open if Hiten pulled them out. There was only one
thing to do.
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Hiten broke the arrow shaft and then pushed the arrow right through,
piercing his son's back. Souten's screams echoed through the hills. Blood
now ran freely from both sides of his shoulder, front and back. And he still
had the leg to go. The pain was less only because the arrow had already gone
through most of the way. Hiten tied the healing packs that Kaiba had given
him around his son's shoulder and leg, and in seconds they were soaked with
blood. There was nothing more they could do here -- there were just too many
soldiers. Hiten strapped his thunder pike to his back and picked up his son.
It was time to return to the capital.
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At the capital, Vara suddenly cried out and fell to the ground, feeling
Souten's pain through her binding. She could sense that he was alive but
very badly hurt. As Chichiri was lifting the young Princess into a chair, a
runner arrived bringing the news that Byakko's army had just crossed into
Suzaku. Suzaku was completely unprotected on the Byakko border. All her
soldiers were facing the army advancing from Genbu. Suzaku did not stand a
chance and its people would be slaughtered. There was no one left to help
them. Naraku's plan had worked perfectly!
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Byakko soldiers literally strolled into Suzaku; there was no one there to
put up a fight. The villages only had the infirmed, the very old or the very
young. Everyone else was helping with the impending war. The soldiers looted
the first two villages and burnt them to the ground, laughing as they did.
This was going to be easy!
They approached the third village, their weapons had been sheathed after
the first village, walking boldly into the village. The streets were
deserted. The Byakko army numbered about six hundred and were stretched out
for about a mile. The advance soldiers, numbering about a hundred, were the
ones who entered the villages, clearing the way for the bulk of the
soldiers.
The second company of soldier went into the village, into the town square
in the center. It was completely silent. Where were the advance soldiers?
The pattern repeated itself until the last of the soldiers walked into the
town, again the town square. They look around and nothing was disturbed. The
other soldiers hadn't looted? And not one building was burning? They looked
around and suddenly heard a sound -- it sounded like hundreds of feet stamping on the
ground. As one, they drew their weapons and went towards the sound. And
stopped in horror. On the other side of the village was a huge pile of dead
soldiers, Byakko soldiers. Rivers of blood ran from the pile. And the noise
got louder and louder. Suddenly appearing all around them were nearly four
hundred Demons, all stamping the ground and beginning to growl. Within
minutes, the remaining soldiers joined their comrades and the villagers came
from hiding.
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A tall beautiful Demon with long red gold hair led the Demons away, moving towards
the Suzaku capital. His name was Tekken and at his side was his first son,
Tekki.
The Bobcat Demon clan had answered the call for help from Suzaku. The
villagers shouted their thanks to the Demons as they passed and flowers were
thrown at their feet. The village was left with the task of burying the dead
soldiers, but it was a small price in return for their lives.
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Tekken arrived several hours later at the capital of Suzaku, when the combined armies of Seiryuu and
Genbu were scant hours away from the palace gates. His Demons were now on the
walls, side by side with the palace guards, but even their power would be too
little against the vast Seiryuu army. Hiten had arrived with Souten a little before Tekken's arrival and
Souten was taken to Vara's room.
Mitsukake did what he could for the young Demon. At least the bleeding had
stopped and he was sleeping soundly. Hiten left his side to be with Vara. If
the palace fell, and it was now certain that it would, Hiten would take both
her and his son high into the air and flee to Otherworld. He silently vowed that he
would not let them die here. But until that time, there was nothing to do
but wait for the army to arrive at the gates.
Vara had decided that when the army reached the gates, she would to go to
the gates herself. She would send her power through the gates -- fear,
terror, whatever emotion she could manage. She knew it would not do much
against so many, but at least she would be helping and not just standing
here helpless.
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In the dungeons of Seiryuu, another son of
Tekken languished in a dark cell. He could hear the guards talking and knew
that Suzaku was under attack and that the odds were impossible for them.
Tasuki stood there in the dark, furious over his helplessness. If he were
free, at least he could do something. But to be trapped here -- completely
useless! "Please give me the power to help!" he shouted to the
invisible gods, tears of frustration in his eyes.
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Suddenly he felt a slight burning on his forehead, then his neck,
chest, shoulder, one by one, seven parts of his body began to grow hot, in
the exact same places where the seven runes were manifested on the bodies of
the Celestial Seven. He looked down and he could see the runes burning
bright red in the darkness. Before his eyes, his body began to glow, then
rays of light began to stream from his body. He could feel immense power beginning to surge through
him, and when he
stretched out his arms, but they were no longer arms, but streams of
pure energy. He flew toward the roof of his prison and went right through
it, unfettered by a human body. With a shriek of freedom, he went higher and
higher, until he was high in the sky and the Palace of Seiryuu was far
below. He turned and flew directly to Suzaku.
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The army was at the gate and Vara kept her promise and stood on the top
rampart, pouring as much power as she could toward the soldiers. Wave after
wave of soldiers came and floundered, unable to pass through the wall of
terror that she was creating. This was the first time any of the Princesses
had ever used their power against an enemy, and no one had expected Vara to
be so effective. The weakest point of the palace, its gate, was now the
strongest. Giving up on the gate, soldiers began to use ladders to climb up
the walls only to be met by the claws and fangs of deadly Bobcat Demons. And
high in the sky, a Thunder Demon rode the winds and bolt after bolt of
lightning tore through the soldiers, killing hundreds. Eventually the palace
would fall, simply because of the sheer numbers against it, but it would not
be as easy as Naraku had thought.
Hours passed and Hiten had come down to land
next to the Princess. They were both tired and Hiten was starving. He needed
food to rebuilt his power. Servants braved the open courtyard and brought
heaping plates of food to all. At least they would not starve to death. The
palace had plenty of food. The people around the city had come into the
palace walls and brought everything they could. Herds of cattle, goats,
sheep trampled the beautiful gardens, scores of chickens roosted on the
palace balconies and hundreds of people camped in the courtyards.
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Suddenly people stood up and started to shout, pointing to the sky. Vara and
Hiten looked up and saw a speck of red and gold, rapidly approaching. What
had been just a speck quickly took form, sprouting wings of fire. The Red Phoenix!! But the Celestial Seven were incomplete
-- how was it summoned?
It passed over their heads and each one felt its power and its protection.
Vara smiled and whispered one word, "Tasuki." Hiten looked at her
in surprise. Did she mean that Tasuki had called the Phoenix?
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Tasuki flew over the palace, sending feelings of
love and comfort to the people of Suzaku, his people. After completing the
circle over them, he went to the enemy. The archers filled the air with
arrows but they burned up long before they reached him. He screamed and fire
poured out of his mouth, destroying everything in its path. Over and over he
flew, setting the Seiryuu armies aflame. The remaining soldiers began to
flee, heading for Genbu, praying that the Red Phoenix would not follow after
them.
When the dawn broke, the land was empty. The army had either fled or
was in ashes. The gates of the palace opened and the people made their way home.
Tekken sent out his Bobcats to follow the army and make sure they crossed
over into Genbu without harming anyone. Just before the dawn, Tasuki flew
over the Princess and spoke to her, "Call me and I will come to
protect. Call on the Red Phoenix for Tasuki is no more. I will give you the
one rune that will call me to your side." A red rune appeared on her
forehead and then the Red Phoenix flew straight up in the sky and
disappeared.
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