Jin was making his way to the most sacred temple of Wansen Tai, flying, only just making it over the tree tops that adorned his journey.

He should have been able to fly higher and faster than this, however every time he tried a burning sensation came crashing down upon him from above, somewhere in the fake night’s sky. It took all his concentration and energy to remain afloat, so he never looked up to see what was causing it.

Trying to navigate uneasily he looked down at his feet constantly, doing his best to zigzag between obstacles he would normally have flown over, casually ignoring the many vacant buildings below, left abandoned as a direct result of his actions.

Having entrusted the defence of the marketplace to his shadow minions, the former villagers and occupants of these buildings, he was flying away from the battle and towards the highest building on the mountainside.

After having endured the myriad lectures given by the different priests when he was growing up, he had heard the many tales of how the village got its prestigious title and by extension became the spiritual headquarters for the entire region. They boasted often, and loudly, how this meant a lot of powerful artefacts had found their residence here, which Jin was now going to take full advantage of.

In the deepest bowels of the oldest of many temples that populated the back of the village, Jin knew he would find the means to deal with the two intruders who had come to take away his kingdom.

He was certain that the empowered shadows would be sufficient to buy him the time he needed, at the very least, to acquire a few choice items with which to even the odds against the intruders. He hated to admit it but these two were stronger than anyone he had ever faced before and he needed to bolster his strength.

With much effort he eventually made it over the wall that surrounded a large garden made entirely of pearly white sand at the centre of which his destination lay. He landed with a large and sluggish thud kicking small amounts of sand around. The large divot where he landed, as well the sand he kicked up in his rough landing, was the only chaos in the otherwise immaculately pristine tranquil sea of almost luminous white that surrounded a small building that seemed to extend into the mountain itself.

He needed a moment to catch his breath during which his wings folded back in on themselves and remerged with the shadowy aura that surrounded him. He walked through the sand, digging his heels in deeply with every step, making his way up to the stone steps that led up unto the wooden terrace floor quickly, then moving towards the sliding paper door which was slightly aglow with diffuse light from within; the only visible entrance to the temple.

He walked forward towards the door, then, without taking his shoes off he threw open the sliding doors with such force that it took one side off its hinge. The small amount of light coming from inside caused Jin to cast a massive shadow over the pearly white sea behind him, making his steps overwhelmingly prominent.

Despite the warm glow implied by the paper door when it was closed, inside was dark and dingy, with only the smallest and subtlest candles intermittently dispersed along the slim seemingly endlessly long prayer hall, populated by two rows of sitting shadows, one on each side. The sitting shadows were, in fact, all monks that had once called these halls their home. Every single one of them had been turned into a shadow puppet by Jin and set to channel energy continuously.

As far as the eye could see the monks were sitting facing the wall across from them, sitting at regular but alternating intervals. They were all in meditation, chanting in hushed harmonies, all slightly alight with a shadowy aura — much like the one currently surrounding Jin — that was visibly consuming them. They looked barely human, more bone than skin, lacking all muscles, no longer in possession of eyes.

The lack of light made it impossible to judge exactly how long the room was, as it seemed to go on until it fade out of sight into the darkness that permeated throughout the shrine like a foul odour.

As Jin took his first step over the threshold into the room, every monk turned to face him simultaneously, then stared him down with the cavities of their skulls. Though it gave him chills every time they did this, even now he still felt some sense of pride every time he saw those pious — now paralysed — old men who had always looked down on him for his lack of spiritual powers, now bound to his will.

As he was making his way down the long hallway he was planning in his mind how he was going to walk towards the different sections of the vaults to where the spiritual relics he had in mind were kept. He had his mind set on two very specific artefacts already, who happened to be on opposite sides of the vault.

As Jin walked on down the corridor, getting every closer to the vaults, his every step was being carefully followed by every monk in the room as they continued to chant quietly. It gave him no small amount of pleasure that every footstep he made with his shoes still on, dragging the dirt and sullying the floor as he went, made the souls of the monks cry in agony palpably; despite no longer being conscious of the self this act of disrespect echoed strongly in their corrupted souls.

It also made him very happy to know that what he was about to force them to do would cause them far greater pain, still.

As he reached the end of the long room, by this point firmly inside the mountain, Jin arrived at a staircase case leading down to the vaults. It was large and open and only barely lit, there was no door or anything preventing anyone’s passage. There continued to be only subtle candle light to illuminate, though the foul shadow permeating particularly strongly in this part of the room dampened it severely with its stronger and much thicker presence.

Jin, who was entirely unbothered by the foul darkness around him, made his way down rather quickly as he had to navigate through a maze of several hallways and corridors to be where he needed to be.

Despite what the name implies, none of the chambers of the vaults, are actually sealed; at least not physically. Decisions were made long ago to make all spiritual relics accessible to be viewed, though for obvious reasons, they could not be left out in the open, lest they be stolen.

It was therefore decided that the strongest Spiritualists enchant each relic brought to Wansen Tai, that no one could remove them unjustly.

And so, anyone could, within reason, enter the vaults and see what was being housed inside in search of enlightenment and guidance and inspiration; and many had done so in centuries past. No relic was ever taken, which was a spot of pride for the villagers and especially the clergy.

Jin was reflecting on that pride as he was reaching the first of the two vaults he needed, and was so busy telling himself what a bad look it was on them that he nearly walked past it.

He stood before it, hesitating for a moment whether he should enter. The vault itself was inviting enough with its small round pillars denoting the edges of a square hole leading into a small cube chamber. The sides of the cube vault were lined with small stones that emitted a pale blue light, focussing all attention on whatever was on the stone pedestal at its centre.

In this case, Jin was looking at was a piece of armour, shoulder and chest piece made of dark grey metal plates and chainmail. The pale light made it gleam, even though it was clearly old and dusty and dull from much use. Yet despite the obvious cuts and scratches and dents, it seemed surrounded by an aura of excellence that simply made those facts unimportant and somehow tricked you into seeing its majesty as if it had just been forged. He couldn’t remember what it was called, nor who had worn it, but he remembered the tales, and the sight of the armour as it was being displayed certainly gave them credence.

He snapped himself out of it and confidently walked into the room at last. Without hesitation he walked up the armour and immediately tried to lift it off the pedestal.

It didn’t move.

Even though he knew what to expect, his heart still sank a little when the armour didn't budge even one bit from its place.

Of course not, he thought, why would it.

He had not given up hope, of course, but a small part of him had hoped that he could have ripped it from its enchantment by virtue of the existence of his power alone.

He accepted the loss and got ready to try by force next. He took a step back and began focussing his energy into his hand. He kept going until the shadow accumulating in his hand became a a small ball, slightly aflame with dark fire. He now slowly pressed the ball into the centre of the chest plate, watching as the dark fire slowly crawled across the arbor, before engulfing it entirely in a uniform black fire. The fire burned across the entire armour, leaving no area untouched, including from the inside, before it started to dim rapidly. Just before the fire extinguished, a loud cracking sound echoed across the chamber, followed by a small gust of wind sweeping the room. Silence fell.

Jin attempted to lift the armour off its stand once more, and this time it lifted effortlessly. Jin then failed to subdue a massive smile, he felt particularly smug in that moment. With the knowledge that he did in fact have access to these artefacts, he did his best to put on the armour over his clothes as quickly as he could before heading out to the other side for the offensive artefact he had in mind.

He ran as fast as he could, winding back and forth through all the underground tunnels with artefacts, until he arrived at his destination. Like the armour, the sword was on a display stand sitting on the pedestal, seemingly free for grabs. The sword was sheathed in a thick wooden scabbard, sitting in a wooden cradle. He looked at the sword with some awe. While he unfortunately had forgotten just about anything about who had wielded it or what it was called, he did remember the monks user to brag that it was known for bringing out its users’ potential and in his mind that could only be good thing right now.

This time, however, he didn’t bother trying to lift the sword first, but performed the same flame trick to break the enchantment right away. Just like with the armour, the flame consumed it visibly, releasing a loud crack followed by a gust of wind racing through the room and out into the hallways.

Hastily he picked up the sword expecting some weight but nearly threw it upward and lost grip, surprised by how light it was. Surprised, he drew the sword from its sheath expecting a long slender blade, only to find it had no blade at all.

Slightly taken aback, he put the blade-less back into the sheath before making his way out back out, this time slightly less hurriedly, almost overcome with glee. While he was making his way back out and towards the stairs up, he was constantly hyping himself up for the last part before he was ready to deal with the intruders.

When he reached the top of the stairs and was in visual range of the chanting monks once more, it was time to start the last phase. He raised the sword with one hand and placed his other hand on his chest before invoking his inner shadow, eventually becoming entirely enveloped in his growing dark aura.

All the monks turned their heads simultaneously to face and stare him down with the hollow of their eyes, before going entirely silent. All the chanting stopped entirely.

The dark flame around all the monks grew, intensified, became darker, and seemed to burn more intensely. Every monk suddenly snapped in pain before looking upwards, screaming bloody murder. Their screeches started loud and deafening, though it quickly faded to a slow low chant. The flames that were growing around all the monks started being syphoned by Jin and started adding to his own aura.

Now corrupt your precious relics, he thought as he forced the shadows being gathered by the monks into himself, give me the strength them mine!

The black flames started to concentrate into the sword and armour.

Eventually, and rather quickly the armour, sword and Jin himself were completely engulfed in a raging black fire; Jin could feel his power surging.

As it did he could visibly see the flames on his armour and sword diminish, seeping into them. The armour eventually became like a second skin to him, seeped in his dark aura. It almost felt like it lost weight, and he wasn’t wearing it at all. By contrast, the sword — still sheathed — was beginning to gain weight instead.

Intrigued, Jin hung the sword by his side, ready to draw it.

He drew the blade out of its sheath and this time a blade of shadow pulled out along with the handle in a glorious arc. The blade was made of his own shadow, seemed razor thin and despite the appearance of being solid also seemed to be continuously moving and whirling much like his own aura did. As his slash extended the darkness spread forward cutting through a few monks, the sudden gust of pressure of his swing blowing out a couple of candles as well, before fading out of existence a few seconds later. The monks that had been cut down had fallen over and didn’t get up, their bodies still burning in the black fire.

With great excitement Jin looked down at the blade that was still ripe with tendrils of shadows syphoned from the monks.

He returned the sword to its scabbard and slid it into the belt at his side. He adjusted his robed and belt a little to make sure his clothes fit well with the sword now at his side before taking a confident stride down the long corridor once more, this time heading back out towards the battle he had left earlier. As he passed the monks their auras continuously passed onto him, slowly imbuing him with darkness they had accumulated at his behest.

As Jin made his way towards the far away exit, continuously reinvigorated by every monk he passed, he reached a point in the hallway where it was no longer encased in the mountain, discovering immediately in that moment that his sense of awareness of the village not only had returned, but it was sharper and better than before.

He focused him mind towards the market to discover that the fight had not gone his way. He could no longer sense the villagers while he could sense the energy he had infused into them had dispersed into the dark atmosphere. They must have not only defeated all the shadows but exorcised them completely, freeing them entirely from his influence.

He searched more broadly across the dome, and with the armour and extra energy given by the monks, he was having an easier time than ever with this. He easily located the rather strong auras emitted by the two exorcists, though curiously, he sensed another much smaller nearby aura, too. He focused in on that smaller aura first, and found that it was really close by; it was near the one singular stone in the middle of the pearly white sand garden.

He hurried the last few steps towards the sliding door he broke on his way in, hands firmly on the sword. As he reached the door he slide forward on his right leg giving him forward momentum which he used to draw the sword and slash with as much power as he could towards the rock in the sand garden. A massive black crescent released from the sword, hurling at the rock with great speed, slicing through the massive body of the rock like it wasn’t even there.

As the top half of the rock slid apart from the bottom slowly, a small stone creature was revealed to be hiding behind it. The small rock golem tried to run but was crumbling apart after being cut in half by Jin’s attack. As it fell apart into rubble a small amount of energy rose from the pile. Immediately that energy started hovering away, which Jin could tell was heading towards the exorcists, who he could sense were making their way from the market to the temple grounds via the junction in the residential area.

With the stone familiar taken care of, Jin was now assuming they knew where he was and would be upon him before long. This meant he had to prepare himself for their final confrontation.

While he certainly had the confidence to take them on now, succeeding in repelling the two was more important than his ego right now, as much as that frustrated him. He needed to use all the available tools in defending what he had worked so hard to earn over the last decade. He had kept his strongest puppets, the bodies and souls of strong spiritualists he had overcome, in a hope to build up a force to be reckoned with. Today he was going to have to put that to the test.

He commanded more energy from the remaining chanting monks and spent several moments channeling it through himself. He opened his left hand, as the right hand was still holding the sword, to allow a black flame to emerge. A first it held one set of eyes, then two, then four. It kept going until the flame was as large as he was, and contained eyes beyond counting. With a satisfied grin on his face he walked out of the temple, off the veranda and dug his feet in deep in the white pearly sand.

He raised his shadowy sword high up in the sky while the massive burning ball of black fire continued to burn chaotically in his lowered left hand. He looked down at the many swarming tendrils of shadow eagerly awaiting deployment.

Then go! He commanded them.

Like slithering snakes they started to disperse in all directions. While most expelled themselves like an exploding firework, many also ran down and around his body, slithering incessantly across his armour and up his other arm to launch themselves out from the tip of his sword. They all eventually converged together into a massive menacingly moving monstrous flood as they made their way towards one of the lower buildings. It was nearest to the large staircase and gate that gave into the temple grounds, and was primarily used to receive guests. The endless slithering stream of snakes enveloped the building entirely climbing all over from all sides and angles, all seeking a means of ingress. Open doors, broken windows, cracks in the wall; any and all means of getting inside were fair.

Every single tendril had entered the building and a silence fell for only a brief moment before it was disturbed violently by deep echoed bass akin to the slamming of a gong of unimaginable proportions. The air and earth submit to the weight of the shockwave that propagated outward from the building in all directions, causing an immense surge of debris, dust and knocked away whatever was not physically tied down.

Feng and Kaiko were hurrying up a wide and long set of winding set of steps, both were surrounded by a mildly illuminated aura that flickered a little and enveloped them completely. Kaiko was still in his large feral looking canine form, though both him and Feng now had what seemed like armour on, as well, both of their respective armour had a matte golden shine. Kaiko’s armour was mostly for his back and while not specifically a saddle did have a curved indent in it that would comfortably seat a person, while Feng’s was a plated armour and covered her shoulders and upper body only.

They had made it past the junction that lead to the abandoned residential area and were only a few flights away from the area from where all the temples become accessible and the stairs branch off.

The essence of the broken golem was just returning to Kaiko, letting him know the location of their target, the furthest temple at the top.

As they were approaching the final flight of stairs a sudden and unexpected shockwave stopped them both in their tracks, knocking them back as the ground shook and the air pushed them down, all the while the deep echoing gong sound ripped through them; deafened and disorienting them momentarily.

It took a few moments for the weight to life and their senses to return, after which they could stand up once more.

As they picked themselves up they became overly aware of a large number of menacing auras emerging from near the end of the stairs above and ahead of them; growing steadily in number and intensity.

The sound of breaking wood, ripping paper and trampling down of many feet muddled together quickly as Feng and Kaiko witnessed multiple different shadows creatures gather at the gate atop the final staircase.

It wasn’t long before the entire entrance was overrun with shadows of different shapes ands sizes. Despite the amalgamation being otherwise the same as before, moving and behaving like a single organism and many of the individual features missing, they could tell right away something was different about these shadow puppets. Though many seemed to brandish weapons, unlike the majority of the villagers, the real difference was something about their auras. Feng and Kaiko could both tell these had once been strong individuals, most if not all had been brandishers of Spiritual Magic or Spiritual Martial Arts; this is what must have happened to anyone sent to investigate over the years.

Their menacing intent was felt clearly felt, they would not simply wait there for very much longer.

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“Get on,” Kaiko said as he lowered his body so she could get on, “Let’s rush through them and take the fight to them.”

“I agree it would be best if we could get in close,” She said as she quickly made her way into the groove in the plate on his back that functioned as a saddle, “Just remember that I’m not glued down or anything.”

“I’ll do my best,” He growled, “But still make sure to hold on tightly to my fur.”

As Feng readied herself with one hand holding tight to his fur and the other holding her staff forward like a spear, the group of shadow spiritual fighter began to advance on them. Quickly the shadows’ more fluid and less solid being caused the advance of the different spiritualists to appear more like a tentacle appendage reaching for them than a group of warriors. Kaiko jump over the approaching wave, avoiding several strike attempts from shadows with weapons and trampling over their backs to gallop up the stairs. While they were leaping Feng channeled energy into the tip of her staff, it gathering in the shape of a small glowing bead.

Once they made it all the way to the top of the stairs, under the entrance building where the majority of the shadows were still waiting, they rapidly found themselves surrounded, as they had hoped.

Without a moments delay, as soon as they had landed, Kaiko let out a paralysing howl that knocked every shadow back onto the floor, giving Feng ample time to finish her spell.

Feng thrust her staff up in the air with such force that it caused the ball of light to get launched upwards. As it reached a standstill in the air, powerful pulses of light started beating outward from it, causing a snowy mist of light particles all over the area. A few of the shadow warriors who were in the middle of standing up came in contact with the particulates and upon contact entire portions of their shadowy body imploded.

If the warriors under Jin’s control would have had any control over their own actions, this is when they would have tried to flee, and the fear and pain and loathing of their corrupted souls could be heard in every scream.

Unfortunately for them, they were not in control of their own actions and could only screech with their souls as they were being forced and compelled to keep getting up and attempt to overwhelm Feng and Kaiko.

Despite the dangerous illuminated snow getting heavier and more obstructive, the hoard of shadows formed in a circle around them, slowly getting closer; still being berated by purifying light. Feng and Kaiko were equally undeterred, though their determination was genuine.

As the shadows tried to create an ever growing wall all around them, Feng thrust her staff at the ball of light above. Despite only barely touching it, the ball shattered into a millions tiny shard. She quickly withdrew her staff and slammed the top of her staff into the ground. The light that the shards was producing followed the trajectory of the staff while also still remaining in the air exactly where it had been when the light had shattered, creating long thin streams of light filament.

“Now!” She shouted at Kaiko.

He immediately let out another powerful howl, which not only launched the growing wall of shadows backward, but also flung the filaments in all directions around them, causing them to extend outward like thin sheets; imploding all the shadows upon contact in a massive burst of light and energy that blinded the entire area. In an instant an air of malice sighed into calmness.

Slowly the light had faded. Feng and Kaiko were the only ones standing, the shadows who had attempted to barricade them all gone, their resentment fading into relief.

The moment of relief was short-lived, however, as quickly a new collection of shadows were beginning to creep in on them from all sides. They were a mix of everything imaginable, men, women, rich, poor, villagers and outsider. The new waves were comprised, they assumed, of everyone he had every corrupted.

It was becoming clear rather quickly that Jin was not holding back this time, he was ordering all his available shadow puppets to gather on them, in the hopes of exhausting them as possible before they would inevitably have to face each other.

“There doesn’t seem to be an end to this.” Feng said as she caught her breath, looking around at the slow creeping shadows.

“I don’t think he wants us to advance any more,” Kaiko growled soft, “I don’t think its going to be productive to stay and deal with them.”

Feng nodded in agreement after she had a quick look around them, seeing no real gap for them to make an advance; unwilling to wait for them to take the initiative.

"Then we don't have any other choice," Feng sighed reluctantly, "I am so sorry that I will need to borrow your form, after all.”

“We tried,” Kaiko shrugged, “But needs must.”

Feng put her hand on her chest while she started mumbling something. The armour that they were both wearing started glowing. The glow didn’t start very strong, like shiny mist forming along the matte golden surface, but quickly enveloped them entirely in a light that diffused quickly but was a hot burning white light that covered their entire silhouette. The light grew upwards and outward, completely covering them while also keeping the shadows from approaching by the strength of its glow.

Eventually the light diffused to reveal something large had grown inside the light, something beastly, something strong, something angry.

As the light faded away to reveal Feng and Kaiko’s new form, the shadows gazed upon a massive white glowing beast that towered above them. It stood on two massive paws, had long strong arm with big hands, that too had razor sharp claws. Its head still looked much like Kaiko’s canine form, with a large jaw filled with extremely sharp teeth, but it had somehow grown even more and other than its eyes and mouth, was covered in luminescent fur.

The massive beast let out a powerful howl. It was deafening and visibly distorted the air as the sound travelled forward. Many of the shadow puppets that had tried to get closer had been flung back with such violent force that some of them were getting ripped apart. For just a moment there was silence and everything stood still.

The beast raised its right arm, then with open hand bowled it underhand with significant force. As its claws ripped into the ground it ignited the air around it in a hot white glowing flame, then when its hand came forward, launched five massive tears of white light forwards towards the temples; and most definitely also, Jin.

As the white crescent tore through the ground going forwards it cut down and vaporised every shadow that was even close enough to feel the air move and kept going forwards as if homing in on Jin, who was still in the back looking from afar.

Jin had only just enough time to raise his shadow blade to prevent a lethal blow to his upper body. With much effort he managed to deflect the white tears as he had no hope of actually blocking it, preventing them from cutting right through him. The deflected slashes, with their massive weight and momentum flung themselves past Jin and cut right through a part of the roof of the temple behind him, before burring themselves deeply into the face of the mountain.

Jin turned around to see the damage behind him and for a moment it frightened him, causing him to recall whatever shadows he had left to gather on him.

The remaining horde of bodies, the channeling monks excluded, gathered from all around and piled onto him like they were made of cloth, dissolving into his shadowy aura, their essence seeping into his armour. Jin’s shadow aura grew a little as his to try match the light aura around the beast that is Feng and Kaiko, restoring some of his confidence in his abilities to repel them.

With the new wave of confidence Jin raised his shadow blade and swung it down with as much strength as he could muster, forcing a massive wave of darkness to advance on the beast, now alone and standing motionlessly.

As the slash drew closer to the beast, it still remaining motionless, Jin was sure he would hit it.

Before it could connect, however, the beast’s eyes seemed to erupt in a glow of red that lingered as the white body of the beast flickered for only a moment and vanished as the darkness would have hit the beast in the chest; crashing into the ground and wall behind it.

Jin was so convinced that his attack would hit that the moment the white beast disappeared he was taken aback. In a moment of surprise Jin let his guard down, and frantically tried to sense where the beast had gone. He had no time to find before the armour he wore braced for impact in his stead, using the shadow around Jin to guide his body. Without realising it Jin had raised his left arm to block, which the armour did what it could to thicken the shadow in support.

The moment he realised that he had raised his arm is when the hit landed from his left side. While it prevented him from taking significant damage, he was knocked off his feet and flung across the pearly white sand garden. He landed and rolled up against the rock he slashed earlier.

The Feng and Kaiko beast stood where Jin had been only moments ago, slowly inspecting their surroundings. They saw Jin to one side, squirming and struggling and slowly getting up, on the other side the shrine that extended into the mountain, along with the damage they inflicted on both.

From where they were standing they could peer inside the dark and poorly illuminated shrine, they see as many monks were kept in constant torment and possession; forced to channel their essence into Jin.

The beast looked visually disturbed, its illuminated fur rising, its ears lowering, fist clenching hard, and a growl eventually turning to a howl charged with anger and disgust. The howl permeated the area around them with such ferocity that the temple trembled and a few of the monks closest to the broken door passed out, finally released of the shadow draining them.

As the howl died down, Jin had managed to stand up, look over at the knocked out monks and managed to get a quick glance of the shining beast giving him side eye before it disappeared from his sights once more.

As he knew what to expect this time, Jin’s instinct told him he was going to get hit from behind. The armour, too, sensed that he was going to get hit from behind and did what it could to condense the darkness in his back to help protect him.

The impact of the beast hitting him in the back came quickly and sharply. Though he had done what he could to brace himself, and he hadn’t taken a lot of damage from being hit, he was once again flung like a rag-doll, forward this time, straight into the building that was attached to the front gate. The armour extended tendrils of shadow to try to cushion Jin when hitting the wall, which could only do so much considering the force with which he was launched. He still hit the building hard, denting the wall and crashing to the ground on his back.

Unfortunately for Jin he was given no time to catch his breath before a massive weight dug into his midriff. The beast appeared above him and brought down its full force with its fists.

In that moment Jin felt like the weight bearing down on his would actually break him, crying out in his mind for the strength to get through it. The armour responded to the strength and sincerity of his desire and exploded into a thousand black shadow needless piercing everything around him, including stabbing through the fist bearing down on him as if it wasn’t even there.

The beast cried in pain and lifted the weight of Jin, pulling him off the ground. It flailed and shook its fist around in a desperate attempt to dislodge Jin, eventually managing to fling him towards the mountain face. The beast had flung Jin with such force that many needles broke off, remaining deeply lodged in its fist.

While Jin was being flung, the prospect of hitting the mountain panicked him greatly, which was all the armour needed to act quickly and swiftly in softening the landing by using the needles as springs.

Having landing reasonably softly against the side of the mountain he found a bit of rock to hold onto while he looked upon the luminous beast below endure a panic of its own.

The beast inspected its fist as it struggled to keep it from shaking, the needles firmly stuck all the way through.

Unable to see a way to remove them, and with the shadow needle’s corruption causing pain, they saw no better option but to take drastic action in order to continue. In one swift motion they ripped they own fist with their jaw, spitting it to the ground and growling in pain.

As the white glowing fist thudded to the ground it began to dissolve into the ground, as did the shadow needless.

The wound that had been left shone bright beams of light that eventually formed a new fist.

As soon as the fist had grown back the beast looked around hurriedly, eventually spotting Jin hanging on a vertical bit of the mountain above.

The beast guarded itself, lay itself prone without taking its eyes off Jin, who met its gaze, still holding onto the wall.

For a singular moment both the beast and Jin locked eyes in an intense stare-down, frozen in time, ready to throw everything they had into this one last clash.

At the end of that endlessly singular moment both Jin and the Feng and Kaiko beast dash at each other.

Jin put everything he had into the blade he was holding high above his head, while Feng and Kaiko charged claws and teeth bearing.

In the split moment before Jin’s downswing would reach the point of no return, his intuition called forth and he foresaw his demise at the hands of the beast. He couldn’t die here.

The armour responded and helped him twist his body back and wrap a thick shadow around his neck to protect him from a fatal bite.

His downward slash grazed along the beasts back while the beast missed a thrust with its claws but managed to grip its jaw around his neck and shoulder.

The collided, momentums clashing wildly, in equilibrium before falling to the ground; Jin pinned down under the immense weight of the beast with its jaw still firmly clamped down around his neck.

He was hurt but alive.

“The shadow of your heart is not a strength,” Feng’s voice echoed from deep within the beast, “It will destroy you, and if I let it…”

The glow of the beast diminished as something glowing grew out of its back, which eventually dimmed to reveal Feng.

“If I let it destroy you,” she continued as she climbed off Kaiko’s back, “It will destroy everything around you, too. This isn’t just about you!”

Jin tried but failed to move under the weight of Kaiko who had his paws over Jin’s limbs as well as having his jaw still firmly locked around his neck.

“This was my destiny,” Jin responded in frustration, “Don’t waste your breath.”

Feng walked around to stand just above his head which only made him close his eyes. She took the conscious effort to slam the bottom of her staff really close to his ears to give him give him a freight yes, but mostly to get his full and undivided attention; she rightly demanded his honesty!

"Did you even feel anything when you turned your own family into those shadow monstrosities?" Feng asked him calmly, clearly, and with an unblinkingly gaze.

She stood there, loomed over him, casting a shadow over him from the small bit of illumination coming from the shrine.

Jin did not respond, he only tried to avert his eyes from Feng’s unforgiving and deadly serious gaze.

Feng was relieved to see this reaction and while she tried her best not to show it physically, she let a sigh of relief in her mind.

"Perhaps redemption isn't entirely beyond you," Feng began as she tied up her sleeves, "A part of you may yet survive an exorcism.”

Jin hesitated on whether to gave up completely in that moment. He made no attempts to free himself as he watched Feng ready her staff and rosary. Feng began mouthing words and whispered mantras while the staff and rosary began glowing slightly. As the glow got more intense Jin began to resign himself to his fate and closed his eyes.

He was just about to accept his end that he could sense a rumbling in the ground beneath him which changed his demeanour entirely. Seemingly out of nowhere to Feng and Kaiko he began laughing maniacally.

Taken aback by his sudden change Feng stopped chanting while Kaiko did his best not lose his grip on Jin.

The ground began rumbling enough for both Feng and Kaiko to become aware of it too, as well as becoming suddenly and strangely aware of an even greater menacing aura.

Without delay the air began to vibrate and become heavy, slowly building up significant pressure to both Feng and Kaiko. Feng was having trouble holding up the rosary as its weight seemed to become overwhelming and she had to let it go. Her staff too seemed to become weightier and as it slowly toppled her reluctance to let go caused her to be dragged down too.

Kaiko with his big body also became curiously aware that his body became heavy and where he once was intentionally using his body to pin Jin down, he was finding it difficult to force his muscles to move in any way under its own weight; causing him to loosen his grip on Jin’s throat as he continued to get more excited.

Feng was on her hands and knees, no longer able to focus on anything other than the weight of her body as it slowly gives up the will to remain anywhere but flat on the ground. They also both begun finding it difficult to breathe under the weight of the air and their own bodies and the ground shaking them.

While the only thing Feng and Kaiko could focus on was breathing in order to stay conscious amidst the insane pressure the mountain face behind them began crack and crumble, ejecting small bits of stone and small beams of golden light with a fantastically warm glow.

While the crack grew from the ground up the rate at which debris and golden sparklers were being flung increased eventually throwing debris into Kaiko, freeing Jin enough for him to start trying to crawl out from under Kaiko’s heavy body.

Feng and Kaiko did their best to look in the direction of the crack while being barely able to raise their heads off the ground.

Next to the shrine, not far from where Jin had deflected their nearly fatal attack earlier, the mountain was now visibly splitting open, revealing a golden glowing corridor inside that emitted an aura unlike anything they had ever encountered. Deep within the corridor there was a figure that was slowly making its way towards them. The closer she got the worse the weight and pressure became, reaching its apex as she eventually made it out of the corridor.

As the figure had made its way out of the golden corridor it became clear that this creature was not actually walking, but instead seemed to glide over the ground on an invisible cloud. The crack in the mountain sealed itself up again once the figure had left. Once the golden light of the tunnel was no longer visible, the silhouette was no longer obscured, revealing a slender female figure with an unnaturally serene face. She was wearing a long and beautiful robe that glistened in moonlight that wasn’t there with the beautiful colours of the Rainbow Pearl Carp. As the figure moved at a most leisurely pace towards Feng, Kaiko and Jin, it was clear to see that her robe refused to touch the ground, like floating on a gentle breeze.

With what little attention Feng and Kaiko could muster they tried their best to identify the woman. She was definitely humanoid, and yet, something about her seemed off. Other than the massive pressure that only existed in her direct presence, they couldn’t have pointed at any one thing that gave them this feeling. Whether it was her aura or something about her person, they both knew she felt like no Kami, human or Yohkai they had ever met.

The figure took a calm look around before casually gliding over towards where Jin was. He had managed to wring his way out from under Kaiko, after which had stood up and bowed his head as low as he could, awaiting further instructions. She hovered up to Jin without acknowledging him.

“The peace has been disturbed,” she spoke slowly into the aether without looking down at Jin, “Ready us to leave.”

Jin obliged wordlessly without ever raising his head or looking up at the figure. He walked backwards a few steps and ran into the shrine with all the channeling monks.

“I feel… restricted,” She exhaled to herself as she looked up at the fake night sky, “This will not do.”

She raised he hand up towards the sky and pointed a single finger at it. Immediately and seemingly without cause, the night sky started to crack and crumble. Without any effort at all she broke the barrier that Feng and Kaiko had set up.

She seemed elated, indulged in a moment to enjoy the freedom that was being granted as the barrier continued to crumble visible.

She lingered in the moment for just long enough for Feng and Kaiko to attempt to get up, which drew her attention back on them. She casually floated closer to them, which only increased the crushing beatdown on them. She got close enough to have a good look at Kaiko first, then Feng; both struggling to breathe and stand under the weight of their body pressed deeply into the ground.

She seemed to be in deep thought for a few moments before she took off a ring of her left hand, held it between her thumb and index finger up to her mouth and blew through it. The ring dissolved from the inside out like sand in the wind.

The air around them moved quickly into visible streaks that circled around the slender figure a few times after which they would gathered behind her. The streaks would gather and rotate, forming a massive circle of clouds. One by one large golden glowing rings conjured into existence inside the previous, each ring smaller until the last ring spawned which was the size of the original ring she took off her finger. They danced in a back and forth ballad of being chaotically erratic and reaching the verge of synchronising for several moments. Eventually all the rings fixed into place, from the outside in, each time making a loud harmonic metal ringing, increasing in pitch with every ring that locked in; eventually they all evened out into a flat circular board. The ring of clouds got thicker and spread out across the rings to become a square that contained the entire thing. The ringing sounds faded as the cloud became solid with a loud thud, the entire floating amalgamation basking in an intense golden glow. When the golden glow had settled a bit, revealing that what remained floating behind the slender robed figure was some sort of massive divination board with a small four golden flames just beside each of the sides.

The floating diviner figure pointed her finger at Kaiko who was barely conscious at this moment under the immense pressure of her presence, and the divination board began to move on its own. As none of the rings were actually connected to each other they were free to move in all manner of directions while staying within their own axis, which is exactly what the rings started doing. It began with rapid movements of the smallest ring, eventually infecting every ring outward, causing each successive ring to move slower than the last. Kaiko could feel something uncomfortable contorting within him which eventually caused him to revert to his human form against his will. As Kaiko reverted to his human form the diviner’s serene face betrayed a smile, short-lived though it was. Once Kaiko had transformed back to looking entirely human, she continued to stare at him, expecting something more to happen. Yet nothing did. Once more her otherwise expressionless face betrayed annoyance. She turned around to witness the divination board slow down and lose momentum.

She quickly moved on to Feng and pointed ominously her way. Feng was also walking the knife edge of consciousness yet did her very best to stare this woman down, despite the pressure mounting further. The board began spinning as it did for Kaiko, except the small ring lost momentum quickly and the board came at a standstill almost immediately. Without delay the figure pointed another time, prompting the board to attempt to start spinning, only to be met with inevitable failure once more.

The figure paused, turned around to inspect her divination board after which she crossed her arms. She waved her hand over the board to which the board responded by twisting frantically.

With the diviner distracted and not looking over they way, Feng turned to face Kaiko. He seemed to be trying to speak but was failing to make any sound, he barely had the energy left to mouth the words. He used all his energy to raise his arm high enough for Feng to see it properly and send out a small amount of energy unnoticeably, with the hope that it was enough to communicate what he wanted before passing out completely.

Feng understood, she knew what she had to do but she needed her staff which wasn’t in reach. She looked over to her staff, it was so close but she would need to move.

“I see…” The robed diviner said to herself while still facing the divination board, “Your fates belong to another."

Feng took her opportunity to reach for her staff while the diviner was distracted. She slowly crawled over to her staff knowing that this would be her last opportunity to do anything. It would take all her remaining energy as she was barely able to keep herself from passing out alongside Kaiko, but she needed to reach for her staff, for their survival.

“The things we cannot control,” The diviner began, still facing the divination board, “Are things that disappear.”

The diviner turned around once more to face Feng and Kaiko and designated them both by pointing to them. The board obliged and the rings starting spinning extremely orderly on only its own circumference, and slowly backing up. Eventually the next ring was getting pulled back and also starter turning on its own circumference until it looked like a slingshot being readied.

While the divination board was moving the diviner noticed that Feng was moving, crawling ever closer to her staff.

“No!” She exclaimed as her serene exterior seemed to fade for an ugliness that could not be described in words alone, “You will not!”

The diviner’s movement were becoming less fluid and malice could clearly be felt all around her as she reached her hand out towards Feng. While the diviner manifested a spell in an attempt to prevent Feng from reaching for her staff, from within the shrine there was also a sudden shadow crescent gale being hurtled towards her.

The pressure on Feng was tremendous, not only physically being crushed but most certainly metaphorically too, as she reflected that this is her absolute last chance.

She was only a few fingers away from her staff, she just needed a few more seconds.

As Feng was reaching out, crying out, for her staff, the last two of Kaiko’s golems flew out of hiding in a desperate attempt to save her. One of the two golems threw itself in the trajectory of the Jin’s sneak attack while the other one flung itself at the diviner in an attempt to break her grip on Feng. The golem that intercepted the shadow slash had exploded in a large cloud of dust and smoke and rubble which gave Feng some cover, while it also succeeded in diverting the shadow enough for it to miss Feng. The diviner meanwhile was busy trying to throw off the small rock golem from her glittering robe, causing her to lose grip on her spell freeing Feng.

Feng seized the opportunity to use the last of her strength to reach her staff, grabbing hold like her life depended on it. Though the cloud of dust obscured them both, as soon as Feng started channeling her staff, as well as the bracelets they were each wearing began to glow bright white, giving away their position slightly.

From within the cloud Feng could see, as she was beginning to lose grip on herself, that the divination board had stopped moving for just a moment before an invisible grip released it. The divination board, the staff, their bracelets, the cloud of dust around them; all turned white and frozen and silent.

Feng no longer felt her body.

In the blink of an eye the white turned black before slowly red and yellow and green forced their presence upon her.

The ruffling of leaves on the trees and bushes began seeping through the monotone ringing in her ears. Birds chirping. Insects buzzing. The orange hues of a setting sun washed over her as she turned to lie on her back. She could feel the grass on her back. She turned around to see Kaiko, unconscious, before it all went black again; they had made it out alive.