Chapter 48 - 6 Questions

'***'

(So dark.....)

'*e* w*** *p'

(Why is it so dark?)

'*le*s*'

(....)

'*ak* u*, *l*a**'

(Be quiet)

'C*m* **e*se, *l*as* j*s*.... wa*e up'

(Why.... why won't you just let me sleep?)

{WAKE UP!}

"AAAAAAAAHH" I screamed as my eyes snapped open.

"W-wha-what hap-happened?" I asked as I felt my heart start to rapidly pound in my ċhėst.

'SUU! A-are you really alive' I heard Mika say in my head, I could tell that if she had a body she probably would have been crying right now.

(What does she mean by that?)

I took a second to clear my thoughts as I tried to remember what had happened. I also took the time to look around and found that I was in some kind of underground cave next to a large pool of water. Several moments past as I just sat there looking around until finally I remembered what had happened to me.

"I.... I died.... didn't I?" I already knew the answer to my question but I asked anyway.

'I'm sorry, it's my fault, I never should hav-'

"How long was I out for?" I asked cutting her off.

'Ab-about an h-hour or so"

(Alright calm down Suu, everything will be fine, you just need to calm down) I thought as I tried to calm my still racing heart. Thankfully my Clear mind skill was helping with this a little.

'I'm so sorry..... I didn't want this to happen, I didn't want you to get hurt' Mika said still sounding quite shaken by the hole ordeal.

"I-it's.... it's fine. It was not your fault, in fact it was my fault for not paying attention and being too overconfident" I said while gritting my teeth in frustration.

Even though it pained me to admit it I knew very well that this was my fault entirely, there was absolutely no point in trying to blame her for this. I thought that I could deal with them all by myself and maybe I could have done it if I wasn't taken by surprise at the end there.

(No, no I'm just trying to make excuses to try and heal my bruised ego, this was my fault and I don't get to make excuses for getting my ȧss kicked. I should have seen it coming or at least I should have kept my cool instead of panicking like a complete idiot who's never fought in a battle before)

'B-bu-'

"I said it's fine so it's fine, let's just leave it at that" I really didn't want to keep talking about this.

'....'

"...."

'H-how, how the hell are you still alive? You had your he-head cut off, you shouldn't be al-alive right now' Mika finally asked after several seconds of silence.

(Well I might as well just tell her as she's already seen me come back from the dead, it probably won't take her long to figure it out anyway) I was really not in the mood to care if she knew what I was right now.

"I'm a Phoenix..... so yeah, we can't really die" I said still not paying much attention as I tried to organize my chaotic thoughts.

'Y-y-yo-your a.... YOUR A WHAT!' She yelled in shock.

I couldn't help but smile at her reaction, after all it was the exact same reaction that everyone who found out has. I was about to repeat myself when I realized something that made my face turn a very bright scarlet red.

"Why the hell am I nȧkėd?" I asked while covering myself with my hands.

I hadn't noticed before now because of my shock and frustration but yes I was currently sitting in an underground cave completely nȧkėd. I couldn't help but quickly look around to make sure that no one else was here, thankfully there was no one to be seen but if there had been someone here I would have beaten the shit out of them with out hesitation.

"Errrrm, well you see all your clothes fell into the sea when your body turned to dust, sooo.... " she said awkwardly while I felt that she was averting her eyes away from me even though she technically didn't have any.

When I heard what she said I couldn't help but start to panic as my face paled a little. If my clothes had fallen into the sea then my mask and scythe did too.

"No no no no no, please work please work" I said as a black and purple aura surrounded my hands.

"Hey, what are you doin-oh" Mika was about to ask something but stopped when she saw several things start to appear in my hands.

You see I had put several enchantments on my clothes as well as Blue ash and my mask, one of which was an enchantment that allows me to summon them to my location if I ever ended up losing them. After a second of waiting my mask, clothes and scythe all appeared in my hands, of course they were completely soaking wet but still.

"Oh thank god it worked" I said with a sigh of relief

"I don't actually mind losing the clothes that much because I have several spares in the Abyss but I can't afford to lose my mask and scythe, after all not only are they one of a kind but they also mean a lot to me" I said.

'That seems like a very handy ability to have'

"It does help out a lot" I responded.

"Anyway once I am dressed you are going to answer some of my questions"

'Okay'

=========Short time skip==========

"That's much better" I said happily as I finished putting on my extra clothes.

'Can I look now?' Mika asked.

"You know, I actually don't understand how you can even look away from me, after all your literally possessing my body so shouldn't you be seeing through my eyes"

'Is that a yes?'

"Yes you can look" I answered with a slight roll of my eyes.

'Great'

"Now let's start then" I said while sitting down.

'Ask me anything and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability' Mika said and I nodded in response.

"Firstly, where are we right now?"

'We are in the tunnels that run all throughout the underneath of the island, although I don't actually know how we got down here. I guess that it is possible that a part of you washed up here after going through one of the tunnels that connect to the sea' she answered with a thoughtful expression.

"Alright, at least we're not out in the open surrounded by enemies. Now for the next question, what happened after I.... after I died?" I asked with some difficulty.

'Well when you died or whatever the Bishop tried to capture your soul but something..... something strange happened' Mika hesitated but continued.

"The Bishop reached out to touch your soul so that they could capture you and bring you back to be turned, however it was at that moment that it suddenly happened. As soon as their hand came in to contact with your soul it combusted almost instantly and abruptly crumpled into ash, it was as if they had just tried to touch molten magma or something. After that your soul seemed to vanish in to fin air and I felt something pull on me, I then soon found myself here where your body had already started to repair itself'

(That's.... interesting, maybe it's a perk of being a Phoenix or something. Well I guess it's just another question to add to my ever growing list of weird shit that needs answers) I thought with an annoyed sigh.

"What do you mean by Bishop? And how do you know that they were a Bishop?"

'Bishop is a rank, from what I remember from all the conversations I over heard the ranks go like this: Puppets, Slaves, Disciples, Priests, Bishops and finally the Six Bloodied Wings. As for how I knew that they were a Bishop it's because of the rapier, you see I've only ever seen Bishops with bright ruby red weapons'

"What are the Six Bloodied Wings? And just how do those weapons stop my regeneration?" I asked while remembering the red tattoos that I suspect had come from that rapier.

(Speaking of those tattoos, I'm just glad that they are gone now as it would be annoying to get rid of them myself) I said glancing at my arm.

'I've only ever seen one of them once but the little I know of them is that they're the leaders of the cult and the only ones that can mind control souls. The six of them represent the six red wings on the cult's symbol, the ones on the back of there cloaks. As for the weapons all I know is that each Bishop has one and that's it, I honestly had no idea they had some kind of special ability'

"The last three questions for now. What do the cultist want? how did they manage to kill everyone on the island? And finally, how do we get rid of that barrier?"

'I honestly don't know what their true goal could be but they do seem very interested in the burial site, however I doubt their only here just for some old dragon bones"

"Wait! Dragon bones?"

'Yeah, underneath the senter of the island is a mass grave yard filled with several dozen fossilized lesser dragon bones. From what I remember of the island's history the dragons were wiped out when someone summoned a horrifying demon to kill them'

(Okay that's certainly interesting)

'Now to answer the other two questions'

'Sigh, first... they appeared one day several dozen years ago..... I don't remember everything that happened as it was so long ago but from what I do remember it only took one' Mika said with pain in her voice as she remembered the memory.

"One?"

'It was one of the six..... they single handedly massacred almost all of us while the lower ranked cultist killed anyone that tried to escape. Soon after that they built something strange in the capital city and the barrier went up stopping anyone besides the cultist from leaving' I could here the sadness and the hate in her voice as she spoke.

They're was a long silence after that as neither of us knew how to continue the conversation. I wanted to help but I was never any good at this kind of thing so I didn't know what to say. However as the silence slowly dragged on I decided to try and change the subject but it was just then that Mika spoke.

'Is it wr-wrong.... is it wrong for me to want to finally be f-free after all this time..... t-to not slowly be fo-forced to lose my mind as the y-years tick by?' she asked no one in particular.

(Sigh, what do I do?) I asked myself.

(Should I really be getting involved with this, I mean it's not like this has anything to do with me. No, no what am I thinking I sound just like them) I thought as I remembered all the times people refused to help me because it wasn't their business.

(If I say that I'll be just as bad as them and either way it's not like I can leave with that barrier there, also I still have the problem of having to find Haruko. Unfortunately though if I am really going to do this I can't do it alone) I thought while stealing my resolve and getting to my feet.

"Mika please tell me about this island, the lay out I mean"

'Errrmm, okay' she said a little confused.

'The island is split into several different sectors, I think that we should be in the training grounds right now. Besides from that there a five other sectors, to the north east is the storage, north is the burial site, west is the junkyard, to the northwes-' she was about to continue but I stopped her.

"Junkyard, what's that?" I asked.

'Oh errm, well it's the place where useless junk goes, it's filled with old ships and other things that the cultists have almost no use for'

"Do you know how to get their from here?"

'I think so, I should be able to guide you there. Why are you asking anyway?' She asked still confused.

"Well if we're going to take down an army of cultist then I'm going to need a few things" I said while stretching.

'Wait what! What do you mean "we" this has nothing to do with you, you don't hav-'

"I will not abandon someone that needs my help. I won't let myself become like them, not if I can help it anyway" I said cutting her off.

'....' Mika seemed speechless at my sudden change in attitude.

"So how do we get there?" I glanced at the many tunnels leading in different directions.

'That way' Mika said after a moment, I didn't know how but I could tell which way she was pointing.

'Why do you want to go there anyway?' Mika asked still sounding a little concerned.

"Because we can't do this alone, that last battle clearly proved that to me" I said bluntly as I walked towards the tunnel Mika had pointed to.

'But there is no one there that can help us, it's literally just a place filled with old junk'

"I'm not looking to find anyone" this seemed to just make her even more confused.

"It's simple really....." I stopped for a moment as my eyes sharpened.

"I'm going to build an army!"

(A/N. Everyone on board the hype train)