Chapter 61 - New Monks On The Block (Part III)

Akira and Kiki were trapped in the wheat field, pitted alone against the army of shapeshifted animals encircling and surrounding them on all sides.

'It's just like that time…' Akira recalled in horror.

The fifth Cattle Squell.

He had chased her into the woods then, too. Only to watch her die in an ambush.

Could this have the same outcome...?

"Stay behind me, " Akira ordered, moving in front of Kiki.

"I can fight them, though!"

"It's true you've grown stronger, but don't let it get to your head."

"Ow...but Akira—"

"No 'buts,' young lady!"

Kiki huffed. 

What was the point of becoming stronger, if she never got a chance to prove herself? Thinking this, she turned so that her back was placed against Akira's, holding up her glowing fists.

"Grr...dummy!" she snapped. "I can't hide behind you if we're surrounded, anyway!"

Akira's heart sank. She was right.

It wasn't a fight one could be fully prepared for, either. The Rakshasa expertly coordinated their transformations between attacks, for completely unpredictable striking patterns.

Akira dodged a leopard's lunge, only to be harried by an eagle gripping her arm in its talons.

Meanwhile, a rhinoceros charged at her.

She deftly hopped over its snout around the lethal horn, running across its ridged spine with the eagle still affixed to her arm, refusing to let go, as it pecked and swiped at her with its other arm. Then, from off the rhino's handsome wrinkly rear she jumped down, roughly grabbing the annoying eagle by its neck and positioning it beneath her, to catch the full weight of her fall—crushing its neck instantly.

A zebra galloped at her, she struck it across the face with the despondent eagle.

Then as it swerved past, a troop of spider monkeys challenged her with their cheeky fanged grins and mocking howls, trying to skirt behind her for a sneak attack.

One came to close, and she swung it away using the eagle like a feathery baseball bat—squealing as it soared several yards away through the air—then turned and roughly stomped on the head of another, which had dared to come too close. Smashing through its skull and brains.

Another two leapt onto her shoulders, shrieking in rage, as they pulled at her ears and hair while she blindly danced around, struggling to get a handle on them.

Meanwhile, the fight was much calmer on Kiki's end.

The Rakshasa could see the glowing light enshrouding her fists, and feared to come close to it. So, instead of the aggressive approach they took with the transformations being wielded against Akira, here a stealthier approach was preferred: as cobras, venomous spiders, grasshoppers and even fruit flies.

An entire, buzzing swarm of wasps made a mad rush toward her, but Kiki reacted quickly—channeling her chi energy by planting her glowing palms together, to form a protective barrier of light.

Immediately, on contact with this light, the wasps disintegrated into ash.

The droves of crawling things advancing toward her also froze in their tracks, scared for their own lives. Completely vulnerable to the light, no matter the form they chose.

However, they knew—as did Kiki—that she couldn't hold the barrier forever.

So once it dropped, they all struck:

Cobras flew at her. Grasshoppers hopped threateningly in her general direction. Flies tried to enter into her mouth and other orifices. 

However, Kiki thwarted them all—even surprising herself with her prowess.

Akira rejoined her side, impressed.

Both were panting. Grinning confidently.

"Did you learn that new power in just a few days?" Akira asked her, just as she caught a charging water buffalo by the head and tossed it aside.

"Yeah." Kiki replied with a nod, waving some bees away. "I became so determined, after we had our talk, that I requested a private lesson from Elder Loose Fingers right away. To learn the Hidden Dragon skill of channeling chi into glowing light force energy."

Akira was doubly impressed, hearing her speak so competently; without a single stutter, at that! A girl who had completely gotten over her past fears to become grown.

"You're a remarkable woman, Kiki," she professed—her chest filled with all the joy of a parent seeing her daughter finally mature and begin to thrive.

"So, then...could it be that this is what you meant, when you said I had great potential?" Kiki asked earnestly, their every compliment made her head swim, and skin tingle. But still she wanted to know, once and for all, if it was all for real and not just baseless flattery. "But, could you really judge a person so easily? Just based on watching them wave a torch around?"

"I saw the most important quality that a person can possess in you," Akira said with a relaxed smile, knowing that the mind of the CEO was an enigma to most. Because if that weren't the case, surely more people would have been CEOs.

"And what might that quality be?" Kiki asked with suspense written on her face.

Unfortunately, the answer would have to wait because there were still angry shapeshifters to worry about, as an angry gila monster came, hissing, toward Akira. 

She rolled behind it, picking it up by its tail. 

Then, swinging it in a wide arc around her, she batted away a pouncing fox as it gave a shrill yelp; a raccoon, with eagerly flexing fingers; another raccoon, with far less enthusiasm. But not the charging ram, though, that simply knocked Akira flat unto her back.

"Akira!" Kiki quickly dispatched an encroaching butterfly, then jumped to Akira's defense with a [Chi Barrier]—just as a Rakshasa fly was buzzing dangerously close to their earhole.

"Thanks," Akira said, only slightly embarrassed to be rescued by a girl that recently called her "daddy."

Kiki clapped her on the shoulder, helping her to her feet. "Be careful—the ones you see are just serving as a distraction, while others try to fly inside you as insects then transform into elephants."

"Ouch," Akira said, grimacing. She definitely wouldn't want something that big inside her.

Then they both watched as, suddenly, from the midst of animals of all shapes and sizes, there emerged a Rakshasa resembling a tiger with his black and white striped orange hide and massive, hulking unshirted body with broad shoulders.

Both looked and saw that his label read [Bakasura] [Level 14].

"You there! Squell!×" he bellowed with a deep, gravelly voice, as he furiously pointed a finger directly at Akira. "You fight pretty well for such a nice, fat piece of woman meat."

Akira gave a flattered look. "Oh, you're too kind! It's too bad I can't say the same about your friends."

"Indeed, it is," Bakasura responded with a wide grin, showing all his teeth, as he glanced around at the many corpses of different animals littering the battleground in trails of blood and guts; scattered fur, scales and feathers; torn limbs and sundered scales. "The weak among us must risk their lives if they have any hope to become strong, however."

Akira stroked her chin, fixing him with a contemplative glare. "Why not enlist some at the pizza dojo? Apparently they specially train noobs."

Bakasura leaned his head back, with a gruff laugh. "I can't tell if you're joking."

"No, really," Akira retaliated firmly. "This ongoing war between your kind and the rest of the playerbase doesn't serve any purpose."

Bakasura scoffed. "Tell that to King Janaka," he said while crossing his arms, bearing an adamant glare.

"King Janaka...?"

"The ruler of Mithil City!" Bakasura said, swiveling his head around. Loosening his neck. "I'm not surprised this is the first you've heard mention of his name, since he never leaves his palace in the Ivory Quarter." 

"I...didn't even know Mithil had a king," Akira admitted, curious of where this was leading, while Kiki was warily scanning the crowd of other Rakshasa. 

"Th-th-they...stopped attacking," she whispered.

Akira didn't respond, her face serious. She could tell right away that this "Bakasura" was in charge, and the others were simply waiting on his further command.

"Tell us more. About Mithil's king."

He accosted her with a fierce glare. "King Janaka...has been in power for many hundreds of years, and is the one who turned the rest of the playerbase against our people to begin with, after many centuries of peace between us and all the other races." 

He added acidly: "we've been forced to live like wild animals, ever since that damned dome fell! over what he now calls the Ivory Quarter."

"It was...the dome that started all this?" Akira asked, confused.

Suddenly, a bell could be heard clanging—the monastery's alarm, as the Dragon Monks on sentry duty had just become aware of a battle waging in the wheat field.

Bakasura smirked. "Looks as though our time is up," he said, as the other Rakshasa were turning into crows and flying away. He looked just as disappointed as Akira felt while he was turning away, about to join them, but halted midway with still so much more to be said:

"You seem interested in hearing our side of history, unlike most," he said plainly. "Why?"

"Because," Akira said, already hearing the approaching voices of seeking Dragon Monks, with their determined rustling through the wheat, as Kiki ran off to rejoin them. "I know, better than most, that things are seldom as black and white as they might first appear."

Bakasura nodded, smiling. Pleased with her answer, saying "we shall meet again, Akira Maximilian," just before he was off to rejoin his own flock of cawing, black birds.

Leaving Akira alone in the middle, frustrated for answers. Remembering the "Path of the Sage" she'd chosen to embark on, and seeing this as a second opportunity to make a significant positive change in Nirvana.. With all roads leading back to Mithil City, and its enigmatic Ivory core.