The Disillusioned Land

Chapter 34 - United Resistance

I stand between Marisa and Kasen, the dark swarm of twisted fairies grows in front of us. Mai and Satono move behind us.

"We'll back you up!" they say in sync. They start to dance and I feel even lighter, the knife in my hand feels as light as paper.

"Woah, so this is how that feels!" Marisa grins, firing off an onslaught of magic into the fairies, piercing a hole straight through the swarm.

"Don't tire yourself out, Marisa! They can't dance forever!" Kasen yells, jumping into the newly split right half of the swarm. I take this as my cue to take the left. I focus again. They draw closer. My blade glows. I ignore the fairies magic hit me, the attacks barely registering. With one slice I cut through the mist around the fairies, piercing the darkness. The aftershock of the strike knocks them all out of the air, landing on the top of the train in front of me. I just stare, wide eyed. That was one hell of a boost Okina gave me... I look down at my knife. The glow fades. The moving lines go still. I walk up to one of the fairies, but before I get close they all start to fade, turning into bright light.

"Damnit... I didn't want to..." I mumble to myself, hoping the sound of the train could drown out what I said. I look over at Marisa and Kasen, both finished with the fairies that were attacking them. They both run up to me.

"Alright, job well done, eh?" Marisa smirks, but Kasen glares at her.

"We aren't even close to done, and you know it." Marisa turns away. "Anyway, where are we? And why are those two here?" Kasen points to Mai and Satono, who have come up next to us.

"I've got answers to both, but can we go inside the train first?" It's hard to have a conversation when I have to shout over the wind...

*Sigh* "Fine, we can-" before Kasen finished talking Marisa blew open a hole in the top of the train and hopped in. Kasen sighed again, before jumping down in. Mai and Satono followed, but I turned and looked around. The train seemed endless, the void stared back at me. I knew Yukari was watching. I hopped down into the train.

......

"Just stay down already!" I fired more magic at Chen, who was slipping in between my shots easily. That strange liquid covering her made her too fast. Never thought Chen would give me trouble... She comes in close, and I project another barrier, to which she jumps off of. I look up to see Chen extend her claws, coming down towards me. I try to turn out of the way, but she grazes my arm with her claws. "AGH, DAMN!" Chen was now close enough that I had no way of missing, I lined my gohei up, and unleashed another spell.

"Ah-" Chen starts to talk but gets cut off. She goes flying towards the other end of the train, slamming into the wall.

"Phew... Glad Ran got separated..." I place my hand on my now slashed arm. I turn to the open half of the train. Wonder how Ryan even did that... I start walking past Chen, but I stop to place a talisman on her. She's knocked out, but I don't want her coming back later. I slide open the train door. I need to find Yukari.

......

"So Yukari was one step ahead of us, huh..." Kasen placed her hand on her chin. "And are you two going to be sticking around?" She turned to Mai and Satono.

"Yep! Our master told us to assist, so that's what we're gonna do!" Mai excitedly exclaimed.

"Great! That boost was really something!" Marisa giggled, I guess she's happy that she can blow stuff up easier... I speak up.

"So what's the plan? Right now we're basically walking in Yukari's palm. She can just send us wherever, whenever. It's a miracle we even have the time to talk like this..." I nervously looked out the train window, those eyes were still staring at us...

"Calm down, Ryan. We haven't lost yet." Kasen reassures me, but I just can't shake this feeling... "All we have to do is find Yukari again, which you two will help with." She turns back to Mai and Satono, who jolt. They nervously glance at each other, then look in opposite directions. "...you two can help with that, right?"

"Uh... eheh... Master Okina had a lot of trouble opening just one door... She said that Yukari's gaps had a massive amount of resistance on them..." Satono nervously explains.

"Yeah... we're just here to help you in combat..." Mai nervously adds on. Kasen blinks a few times, then starts pinching the bridge of her nose.

*Sigh* "Things can never be simple, can they..." She groans for a few seconds, before looking up. "Alright, let's go to the front of the train." She starts walking towards one of the train doors.

"Huh? Why's that?" Marisa says in confusion.

"Because it's all that makes sense to me right now!" Kasen yells back as she leaves this train car. Marisa shrugs, and follows her. The two dancers skip after them, leaving me alone once again. I look out one of the windows, locking my gaze with one of the unblinking eyes. Something about this eye in particular is drawing me in. The familiar color, that gentle shine. How nostalgic... The eye blinks at me, causing me to jump back. I stumble into the edge of a seat, nearly losing my balance. I feel something on my arm. I turn to see a hand grasping my wrist. Her hand. I shake it off and run towards the door where everyone else went. It slams in front of me. I try opening it but the door refuses to move.

"KASEN! MARISA!?" I try yelling through the small window on the door, but only darkness answers me.

"Ryan." I freeze. I know that voice anywhere. I take a deep breath, and turn towards Yukari. She's sitting in one of the seats, a tea set in front of her. A cup is placed in the seat across from her. "Sit." My hand slowly moves towards my knife, and her gaze locks onto mine. I stop my hand. It's not an angry look, or even a forceful one. Her eyes sadly look into mine. I walk to her and sit down. She calmly sips her tea. I decide to speak up.

"...what is this, Yukari? You throw me and everyone else into- whatever this is- and now you want to drink tea?" She places her teacup down.

"Isn't this nostalgic? We used to drink tea like this after long days at work..." She poured herself another cup. I sharpen my glare.

"Yeah, before you got those sick ideas in your head. I'm not here to reminisce, Yukari. I'm here to put a stop to you. You know that." She takes a sip.

"....so we can't even enjoy a moment like this?"

"Not anymore, Yukari." She places her cup down again, and looks me in the eyes.

"Fine then. I'll be waiting for you all. A part of me hopes this isn't the last time we can talk like this." She snaps her fingers and a gap opens below me.

......

How long is this damn train?! How long have I been running?! Everything looks the same! Yukari probably has some trick going on... I open another door and see a gap open in the roof. I pull my gohei up but...

"AH- ow... god... you don't need to make me land on my back, Yukari..."

"...there you are, falling out of a gap again, Ryan..."