Laurence in the Land of the Kami
By Rolland Therrien
"So, this is the land of the Kamis," thought Laurence as he slowly
stepped closer to the outer borders. He had to admit, it was an
interesting sight, blending the calm, feudal beauty of Edo-Era Japan
with ultra-tech and High Fantasy elements here and there, including
the capital city of the Kamis, Neo-Tokyo, and on the nearby hill,
Empress Amaterasu's Sun Palace, his destination.
"Truly, this is a beautiful land... I don't know if I should thank
God the Purity Crusade ended before we reached it, or curse Hell for
claiming a hold on it afterwards..." He walked closer, having left
his new Ethereal companions back at the campsite, wanting to do this
on his own. As he approached the boarders, he wondered why he had
yet to see any guards...
...Then, as he heard the mighty roar, he remembered the Outer Boarders
of the land of the Kamis already had four mighty guardians: The
Dragon of the East, the Phoenix of the North, the Tiger of the East,
and the Turtle of the South. He drew his sword and readied himself
for battle, when he turned Eastward...
...And was most surprised to saw the "Dragon" he expected was over
50 feet tall, walked on two legs and reminded him of a few posters
Eli had shown him once...
"Yes, Christian, that IS Gojira." Laurence turned around to see a
man in a strange, military looking orange jumpsuit, who had appeared
right behind him, while a small child with a crystal necklace
kept to his right and a large butterfly carrying two faeries hovered
to his left.
The man held up a crystal rod in his hand, and pointed it at the
Archangel. "The envoys from the Lords of Yama warned us of your coming,
Celestial. But we assure you, the Four Guardians will not let you
pass unchallenged!" He then turned to the child and nodded, and she
closed her eyes, her necklace glowing with red light as he turned to
the two faeries, who began their song as he held up his crystal Rod:
"Mosura, ya, Mosura,
dongan kasakuyan in doo mu
rustoritoradoa hanba hanbamuyan
radabanuradan tonjyu kanraa
kasaku yaanmu"
Suddenly, from the South came a circular UFO, resembling a blue Ofanite,
landed on the ground in an explosion, uncurling in the large,
fire-breathing turtle beast known as Gamera, as from the North the
Immortal Moth-Goddess known as Mothra flew down from the Ethereal sky.
The man, as for himself, disappeared in a flash of light, reppearing
covered in a costume of red and blue stripes and slashes, Ultraman, a
strange tiger walking like a man, who soon held up his arm and grew
to giant size.
Laurence lept away as Ultraman stomped his foot where he stood, and
pointed his blade at the giants who began surrounding him. "I must
admit, I had not expected you all to have used the Media to alter
yourselves so. But if you think you have me beaten, I assure you,
I will not be defeated so easily!" He then held his sword and closed
his eyes, and began to concentrate.
In the Marches, perception of the mind is far more important then
perception of the senses. This is why travel by walking sometimes
took forever, or but an instant, even within relativly similar
distances. It was also why time seemed such an inconsistant thing
there. Laurence knew that such things as size and shape held little
meaning in the Marches, except for the meaning one assigned to them.
He was an Archangel, they were Guardian Spirits. He was a Celestial,
they were Ethereals. They were giants... So he to, had to be a giant.
Needless to say, the Four Giants were quiet stunned when Laurence
suddenly turned himself into a giant version of himself, his features
concealed in Gold and Black armor, his wings folded on his back as he
raised his sword to fight again. Godzilla, Ultraman, Mothra and Gamera
fought valiantly, but ultimatly, without the illusion of titanic power
of their giant size, they could not challenge the power of an Archangel
in combat.
Still, Laurence could read the honor and loyalty in their fight, and
held back from killing them, only subduing them as he continued towards
the city of Neo-Tokyo, keeping his giant size as he expected more
trouble. Which he soon found, as large, robotic giants approached
the city from both all sides.
Mazingers, Grandizers, Valkyries, Gundams and even the loathsome Evas,
all were readying their firearms and other weapons, facing him
threateningly. Laurence soon saw they were all ready to give their
lives in the protection of their homeland, like Holy Samurai in
Ultratechnological Armors.
Laurence nodded and lowered his blade for a moment; "I have to admit,
I'm impressed. Not by your weapons, mind you, but by your courage.
Even though you will not stop me, you are more then ready to give your
lives in an attempt to do so. Your valor speaks volumes of you."
One of the Mecha-Warriors, in a winged blue, red and white suit lowered
his large twin-barreled rifle and pointed his finger at the Malakite,
activating his loudspeaker to warn him, "Get out now, Archangel! You
may have gone through the Guardians somehow, but you won't get past
us. We were made to outpower the likes of you, and the Evas alone
were made to fight Angels!"
Laurence frowned and readied his blade again. "I warn you, Ethereal,
do not dare compare those... "things" from that Blasphemous show to
those of my kind." He then glared in the direction of the purple,
blue and red Evas. "And don't think your "AT Fields" will keep me from
destroying those abominations you pilot. If I were you, I'd eject
now..."
The only response Laurence got for his warning was a barrage of weapons
fire from the Mechas. Gatlings and Blasters, guns and rayguns, and
even more baroque weapons, all fired with the intent of killing him.
Laurence simply raised his blade, and suddenly turned into a blur of
movement, dodging, parrying and deflecting every blast as it hit him,
moving like a whirling dervish as he inched slowly closer, until
he was finally in Melee range, when he grinned and swung in front of
him, disarming many of the Mechas by cutting their weapons. As the
mechas stumbled backwards, Laurence grinned. "Good... Now we do things
my way..."
The Mecha Melee lasted as long as the Giants battle did, with the
Mechas putting up a good fight, but not enough to prevent Laurence
from prevailing, as he quickly disabled one Mecha after the other,
sparing their pilots as he nonetheless plowed right through, until
only the annoyingly insulting Evas stood in his way.
He soon looked at them, and was not surprised to see these things
were Vapulan in design, with the Forces of an Imp in each one, cloaked
with the Ethereal Forces of the "Parents" of the pilots, in order
to decieve the innocent Ethereal Youths. This one would be trickier
then the others.
As the Evas raised their AT Fields (actually Songs of Shields) and
drew their Vibro-Knives (actually Unholy Blades), Laurence steadied
himself for a maneuver of great precision, and both sides charged to
strike!
With a few swift movements, Laurence dodged the Evas' knives and
swung his blade at them, the AT Fields only stopping him for a second,
as he tore through the combined field and stroke their weapons with
his sword, disarming them as he raised his free hand and closed his
eyes, humming softly as he Sung the Corporeal Song of Harmony, draining
the aggression out of the pilots, causing the titanic monstrosities
to fall on their knees as the Children within felt at peace, perhaps
for the first time since they had taken on the daunting task of
piloting these Demonically-created monstrosities. Laurence simply
reached behind them and pulled the plug connecting the Evas to their
Essence-Guzzling Power-Source, and soon the Titanic things fell down
in shutdown mode, as Laurence shifted back to a more normal size to
check on the poor children.
As he finally placed the boy Shinji Ikari down on the ground, next
to his friends, Laurence resonnated the lad and made a mental note to
refer Gendou Ikari to Archangel Christopher. Ethereal or not, there
are some things you don't do to Children, after all. But as he stood
up to continue, he felt the presence of more warriors, these ones
more his size.
He turned around to see himself surrounded by men and women in fighting
gear of different kinds, from warriors in astrologically-themed
armors to women in common comfortable street garb. But, as he quickly
resonnated them, he found them to be all dedicated martial artists,
each one in their own special field of expertise. One of them, a boy
in a red chinese shirt, his hair in a poney tail, stood before them
and waved the Malakite off. "Go away, Celestial. We, the Fists of
Amaterasu, are masters of the Fighting Arts. Your Angelic Tricks will
not save you here."
Laurence actually smiled at the boy's insolent courage, and simply
sheathed his sword, folding his wings up to form a cape. "Oh, have
no worry... I won't be using anything but my hands and feet in this
battle... I so rarely get a chance to practice my Martial Arts."
The Boy simply leapt into a fighting stance in front of Laurence,
grinning. "You should've retreated. I'm Ranma Saotome, Undefeated
champion of the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." He then
swung his fists at high speed, yelling "CHESTNUT FISTS" as his hands
became a blur of movement, seemingly striking a thousand times...
...Each time, his blows deflected by Laurence's arms, until the flurry
ended, with Laurence unharmed, still smiling. "Sorry, boy, but your
Martial Arts is no match for the Seven Styles of Celestial Glory."
Laurence then shifted, becoming a blur of circular movement as he
took down Saotome and the other swift fighters through the quick
blows of Blazing Wheel Style. Then, Ken the Fist of the North
Star charged him, ready to use his lethal Pressure Points technique,
which proved futile as Laurence's mastery of Relentless Perfection
Style rendered him immune to his strikes, leaving the Ethereal
very susceptible for an old fashioned Malakite haymaker.
As the Astrological Knights of Athena came foreward and rained their
blows at him, moving at incredible speeds with every strike, utilizing
the awareness of Hundred Eyes style to keep track of each Knight and
deflect their blows, before using the precise blows of Plumed Serpent
style to knock them out, as the Street Fighters and the Kings of
Fighters approached to attack as well. He shifted to Furious
Guardian Wolf style as they closed in and struck, forcing him to
dodge and parry more blows before striking.
All in all, Laurence was attacked with more Ki, Psi, Shadow and Magic
techniques in one fifteen minute back-alley brawl then he had ever
seen in his entire career. And, as he used The Art of Eternal
Friendship to effortlessly dodge the kicks and handstrikes of an
exhausted Ryu, Laurence smiled from the vigorous work-out and decided
to give the Ethereal a break, shifting to The Way of Divine Equilibrium
to turn the Street Fighter's next blow into a throw, knocking the
Shotokan fighter out by tossing him unto the ground, hard. Laurence
simply smiled as he dusted himself off, then bowed to his incapacitated
opponents and walked towards the palace.
As he slowly left the city limits, Laurence found once more his way
blocked, this time by children and teens, these accompanied by odd,
yet cute-looking Monsters. Laurence winced inwardly, as he thought
"Oh great... Not THESE, Lord..."
One of them, a young dark-haired boy, turned his cap backwards as
he stepped forward, a large yellow mouse leaping to the ground in front
of him. "You may have gotten through the others, but you're not getting
past us, the Beast Tamers!" The Electric Mouse at his feet yelped a
"Pikachu!" to emphasize the point, as the other children stepped
forward, their own monsters advancing, some ready to fight as is,
others ready to Evolve to battle.
Laurence took a hard, long look at them all, Resonnating them purely
by habit, and found them all to be honorable and loyal to their
partners and friends, be they Ethereal Child or Ethereal Monster,
and decided to keep this simple. "Very Well, Children... If you insist
in trying to stop me, then the least I can do is give you all a
sporting chance. You all get one shot."
The Monster Handlers blinked at this sudden turn of events, but their
team leader simply drew out a ball and opened it, unleashing his large
dragon-like Charizard, and pointed at the Archangel, calling out
"Charizard, Flame-Thrower!" As the Dragon obeyed and engulfed Laurence
in flames, the other children drew closer... only to see the flames
die out, Laurence absolutly unscathed!
The other children called out their own Monster Friends, Digivolving
them to Ultimate or Mega, but to no avail. Laurence simply stood there
and let the Monsters attack him, standing unharmed as each Nova Blast
or Meteor Comet exploded off him, until finally the Monsters were
out of attacks and Evolutions, at which point Laurence simply uncrossed
his arms and spoke again. "Now that you've seen my resolve and strength,
may I assume you realize how futile it is to fight me?" The children
and monsters simply nodded and stepped back, as Laurence continued
on to the palace.
At the gates, he found himself stopped by a few more figures, the
Dragon Ball Z warriors. Laurence simply closed his eyes and muttered
"For the Love of Mike...", before leaping into action...
Soon afterwards, The Palace doors (and the walls supporting them)
exploded inwards, as Laurence tossed the unconscious bodies of Vegita
and Piccolo inside, then stepped in and dropped Goku at his feet,
then looked around and said "When he wakes up, tell him he was a more
challenging opponent back when he still went by the identity of Monkey,
the Sage and Warrior. He lacks cunning in this form." As soon as he
said those words, however, he saw his next obstacle, Amaterau's
personal handmaidens.
Sailor Scouts and Cardcaptors, Goddesses and Wedding Peaches, Miracle
Girls and Nurse Angels... All Magical Girls, handpicked by Amaterasu
herself in various avatars, all trained in the arts of magic...
...and all Maidens in potential distress, if he drew his blade to
attack them. As a man of honor, Laurence couldn't, for all his
desire to see his mission through, bring himself to attack these
young girls, even as they raised their wands and began chanting their
magical attacks. He simply stood his ground and sang the Song of
Shields, extending it to the unconscious Z Warriors at his feet,
and withstood the barrage of magical attacks, like a stone in the
middle of a wind-storm, until it finally died down, the girls
having apparantly exhausted much of their Essence reserves in that
blast, as they closed their formation and prepared themselves to
serve as human shields in defense of their Goddess.
Laurence simply lowered his song and stepped forward, then spoke out
in perfect Japanese, "Is this how the Goddess Amaterasu defends
herself? By hiding behind her handmaidens, like a child behind her
mother's skirt?" He crossed his arms and stood his ground, waiting
for an answer.
"Watch your Words, Malakite! I will not be judged by one such as
yourself." As these words were spoken, the Magical Girls parted,
revealing the glorious image of Amaterasu Omikami, dressed in bright
golden robes and shining light, stepping forward to face the Malakite
Archangel, illuminating his form with her brightness.
As he heard some of the Magical Girls comment "Hey, he's cute!",
Laurence silently gave thanks that his dark skin didn't show his
embarassing blush, then unclapsed his sword belt and placed it to
his right as he knelt forward, kowtowing to the Divine Empress.
She blinked, then smiled and nodded as she came to him. "I am honored
by your acts, Blackwing, and I am thankful you have not killed my
People, dispite their futile attempts at fighting you."
Laurence looked up and nodded. "I could not bare myself to harm them,
as I saw them to be honorable in intention and in behavior, their
only wrong being their unwanted taind to the Media." As he said these
words, the Archangel could feel more presences walking into the Throne
room, as the mentionned warriors walked back in, some in pain from
their fight, others merely feeling shame from their failure, but all
alive and well.
Amaterasu nodded. "True, but the Media Lord of Yama has allowed us
to acheive a new, strong Source of Essence, and the small tithe he
asks of us is a mere pittance, compared to the flow of Essence we've
managed to secure, right from under his nose. He thinks he controls
us, but we have more then enough Essence to make our own way, whenever
we feel it will be opportune for us to do so."
Laurence simply stood up to look the Goddess in the eyes, and asked
"And do you think Nybbas will continue to protect you from Beleth,
as soon as he figures out your game?"
Amaterasu pondered the question, then replied with a question of her
own, "And What does Heaven offer us instead?"
"All the Essence you can collect, free reign in Blandine's side of the
Marches, and protection from Beleth and Hell. And all we ask in
return is your loyalty to Heaven, and obediance to God's Laws."
The Omikami nodded at the terms. "And that is all?"
Laurence nodded. "Indeed. And I assure you, none of you will be
forced to participate in Saminga's Bloodbaths, or Andrealphus'
depraved productions anymore."
As he said these words, a collective sigh of relief came from the
Kamis, and Laurence felt he'd won the crowd. And, as Amaterasu
smiled and knelt before him, he realized he'd won her over as well.
Laurence smiled in relief as he drew his belt knife and cut his finger
open, preparing to convert Amaterasu and all her Kamis...
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