[Current Balance: 4,755,411,970,700 Mon]
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The flight from Japan was a straight, silent line across the dark canvas of the sea.
Dawn was a distant promise, a faint blush of violet and orange on the eastern horizon behind him. Alaric flew effortlessly, the wind a cool, constant whisper against his crimson coat. Below, the Sea of Japan was a churning expanse of black, its surface textured by waves that looked like wrinkles on old leather from his great height.
He was moving fast, propelled by the Fuinjutsu seals that made flight as natural as walking, but the journey was still long. The emptiness of the sky and the sea began to press in on him, a familiar loneliness that was a constant companion on these solitary travels.
He thought of Kassandra, likely waking in their shared room back in Pennsylvania, her warmth a distant memory. He thought of his family, of Reuben and Flavia, of the strange, complicated life he had built and was now temporarily separated from.
'This is a lonely business,' he mused, his gaze sweeping across the empty sky. 'Chasing ghosts across the world.'
Then, another thought came, a memory from a place even more alien and lonely than this empty sky.
Solaraeth. And the promise he had made.
He stopped his forward momentum, hovering motionless in the pre-dawn air, a solitary figure suspended between the heavens and the deep. A slow smile spread across his face.
"Well," he murmured to the wind. "A promise is a promise."
He raised his hands. He didn't need to touch the ground, didn't need a scroll or a blood sacrifice. The knowledge of Fuinjutsu was an extension of his will. He pictured the intricate, complex array of the summoning seal in his mind, weaving the lines of chakra in the air before him.
Glowing symbols, ancient and potent, materialized from nothing, swirling into a three-dimensional sphere of intricate patterns. It pulsed with a soft, steady light, a beacon in the twilight sky.
He pressed his palm against the center of the seal.
"Emberis," he said, his voice quiet but firm. "I'm calling you."
The seal flared with a brilliant, silent white light. For a fraction of a second, the light was so intense it bleached the world of color.
And then, it was gone.
In its place, a creature of breathtaking majesty appeared, its wings beating silently against the thin air.
But it wasn't the planet-sized, world-burning phoenix of Solaraeth.
This was Emberis in its sealed form, bound by the promise Alaric had extracted. It was smaller, no larger than a massive eagle, its wingspan perhaps fifteen feet across. The roaring inferno of its usual plumage was gone, replaced by feathers of the deepest, richest crimson, each one tipped with a shimmer of gold that caught the first rays of the rising sun. Its eyes were not burning suns, but sharp, intelligent orbs of molten gold. Its beak and talons were the color of polished obsidian.
It was not a creature of fire and cosmic destruction. It was a magnificent, royal bird, an eagle fit for a god, radiating an aura of immense, contained power.
It circled Alaric once, its golden eyes taking in the endless sea below and the brightening sky above. Then, its voice resonated in Alaric's mind, not with a boom, but with a clear, crisp thought.
"This world…" Emberis began, its mental voice holding a note of faint, clinical disdain. "The ambient energy is... subpar."
Alaric let out a short laugh, shaking his head. "I'm sorry," he replied sarcastically. "I'll see if I can arrange for a universe with a higher energy rating for your next visit."
The great red eagle banked, swooping closer until it hovered directly in front of Alaric, its intelligent eyes studying him.
"Your sarcasm is noted," Emberis's thought came, dry and unimpressed. "This form is... constrained. But it will suffice."
"I'm glad you approve," Alaric said with a grin. He gestured with his head towards the northwest. "Come on, then. I'm heading to Joseon. You can give me a ride. My legs are getting tired."
He was, of course, not tired at all, but the idea of arriving in the next country on the back of a mythical phoenix, even a sealed one, was too appealing to pass up.
Emberis didn't respond verbally, but it dipped one of its massive wings in a clear invitation.
Alaric smiled and stepped forward, moving from his own hovering position onto the phoenix's broad, sturdy back. The feathers were surprisingly soft, yet strong as steel. He settled himself comfortably between the powerful wings.
"Alright," he said, patting the creature's neck. "Let's see what you've got. Take us northwest."
Emberis let out a single, piercing cry, a sound that was not of a bird of prey, but something older, more powerful. It tilted its wings and shot forward.
The acceleration was instantaneous and immense.
Alaric, who had been flying at a brisk but comfortable pace, was suddenly pressed back by the sheer force of their movement. The wind roared past him, much louder than before. The ocean below became a blurry, streaking blue.
He had been flying at the speed of a high-end sports car. Emberis, even with its power sealed to a fraction of a fraction of a percent, was flying at the speed of a modern jetliner.
They were moving at an easy six hundred kilometers per hour.
Alaric couldn't help but laugh, a pure, exhilarated sound that was snatched away by the wind. This was a different kind of flight. This wasn't just him moving through the world; this was him riding a force of nature.
"Is this pace acceptable?" Emberis asked, its mental voice perfectly calm, as if they were merely strolling through a garden.
"It's perfect," Alaric shouted back into the wind, his grin stretching from ear to ear.
Together, the man who defied history and the phoenix who defied reality streaked across the sky, a crimson blur against the dawn, heading west, towards the Land of the Morning Calm.
---
The journey across the Yellow Sea was a blur of speed and silence.
Riding on Emberis's back, the world seemed to streaked by below. The churning, grey-green water was a constant, hypnotic pattern.
Alaric had flown fast on his own, but this was different. This was raw, effortless power, a force of nature bending to his will. He felt the immense, contained energy of the phoenix beneath him, it was a constant reminder of the cosmic power it held in check.
They flew for hours, the coast of Japan fading into a memory behind them. The sun climbed high into the sky, its warmth a pleasant counterpoint to the cool, rushing wind. Alaric had his eyes closed, his senses extended, a silent hunter searching for the faintest trace of his quarry.
He was sweeping the Korean peninsula with his Mind's Eye of the Kagura, probing for the psychic stain of the Apple. He expected to find it centered on the capital, Hanseong, just as it had been in Edo.
But as they drew closer to the mainland, he felt… something else.
It wasn't the familiar, corrupting hum of the Apple. This was a different energy signature. It was chaotic, jagged, and intensely powerful. It felt like raw, untamed power, a stark contrast to the subtle, manipulative energy of Caroline's artifact. It was located not in the capital, but on the southwestern coast, emanating from a heavily fortified peninsula.
"Alaric," Emberis's voice resonated in his mind, sharp and clear. "There is a distortion ahead. A concentration of volatile energy. It is not natural to this world."
"I feel it too," Alaric replied, opening his eyes. He leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed on the distant coastline. "It's not Caroline. Not directly. But it's connected to her, I'm sure of it."
He patted the phoenix's crimson feathers. "Take us down there, Emberis. Let's get a closer look."
The great phoenix banked smoothly, angling its descent towards the source of the strange energy. As they flew lower, a fortress came into view.
It was a formidable structure, a sprawling complex of stone and timber built onto a rugged coastal cliffside. It was part naval base, part pirate stronghold. Dozens of ships, a motley collection of Japanese sengokubune and smaller, faster Korean panokseon vessels, were anchored in the sheltered bay below. The fortress itself bristled with cannons, and its walls were patrolled by hundreds of armed men.
Their flags were a chaotic mix of symbols, but the dominant one was a stylized, snarling sea serpent. These were Wokou, the infamous pirates who had terrorized these waters for centuries. But this was different. They seemed… organized. Unified. And the energy pulsing from the heart of the fortress was the reason why.
Alaric decided against a stealthy approach. He had a feeling that subtlety would be wasted here.
"Let's make an entrance," he said to Emberis.
The phoenix let out a single, piercing cry that echoed across the bay, a sound that made the very air vibrate. Then, it dove.
They descended from the clouds like a crimson meteor. The pirates on the fortress walls looked up, their shouts of alarm turning to cries of disbelief and terror as the massive, eagle-like creature soared towards them.
Emberis didn't attack. It simply pulled up at the last second, its massive wings creating a powerful downdraft that sent pirates stumbling and knocked over weapon racks. It landed with a heavy, solid thud in the center of the fortress's main courtyard, its obsidian talons digging into the packed earth.
Silence.
Every pirate in the fortress froze, staring at the impossible creature that had just landed in their midst, and at the tall, blonde-haired man who sat calmly on its back, looking down at them with an air of bored authority.
Alaric casually hopped off Emberis's back, landing lightly on the ground. He dusted off his crimson coat, then looked around at the hundreds of pirates who now had their swords and flintlock pistols aimed shakily at him.
A man pushed his way through the terrified crowd. He was a giant, even taller than Thulani, his body a mass of scarred muscle and intricate tattoos. He wielded a massive, wickedly sharp naginata, and his eyes glowed with the same chaotic, volatile energy Alaric had sensed from the sky.
"Who are you!?" the pirate leader roared in a heavily accented Japanese. "To dare bring your monstrous pet to my fortress!?"
Alaric just smirked. "I'm looking for a woman," he said calmly. "A gaijin, like me. She passed through here, didn't she? She gave you a gift."
The pirate leader's eyes widened, a flicker of something… greed? fear?… passing through them. "I know of no woman!" he snarled, but the lie was plain to Alaric's senses.
"Don't lie to me," Alaric said, his voice dropping, losing its earlier lightness. "I can feel her gift radiating from you. A shard of power. She traded it for something, didn't she? Safe passage? Information?"
The pirate leader let out a furious roar and charged, his naginata whistling through the air. The man was incredibly fast and strong, his power clearly enhanced by whatever Caroline had given him.
But he was still just a man.
Alaric didn't even draw a weapon. He met the charge head-on. He sidestepped the initial, devastating swing of the naginata, his hand shooting out to grab the thick wooden shaft.
The pirate leader tried to pull it back, but Alaric's grip was like a vise. With a single, sharp twist, Alaric wrenched the weapon from the giant's hands and snapped the thick, reinforced wood over his knee as if it were a dry twig.
He tossed the broken pieces aside.
The pirate leader stared, dumbfounded, at his empty hands. Before he could react, Alaric's fist slammed into his gut. The blow wasn't just physical; it was infused with a precise jolt of chakra, designed to disrupt, not destroy.
The giant gasped, the chaotic energy flaring around him for a moment before sputtering out. He collapsed to his knees, the unnatural power draining from him, leaving him just a large, winded man.
Alaric crouched down in front of him, his blue eyes cold. "Let's try this again. The woman. Where did she go?"
The pirate leader looked up, his face pale, the fight completely gone from him. He had built his empire on fear and brute force, but he had never encountered anything like this.
"She… she went north," he gasped, his voice raspy. "Towards the mainland. China. She was looking for… a tomb. The tomb of the First Emperor."
Qin Shi Huang's tomb. The Terracotta Army. Alaric's mind raced. Another historical site, another potential hiding place for an Isu artifact.
"She said she needed to find the 'heart of the dragon' to power her collection," the pirate leader whispered, his eyes wide with a lingering, terrified awe. "She gave me this…" He fumbled at his belt, pulling out a small, jagged piece of dark, humming metal. A Shard of Eden. "She said it would give me the strength to rule these seas."
Alaric looked at the shard, then back at the defeated pirate. He stood up, turning his back on the man. He walked back towards Emberis, who had been watching the entire exchange with silent, golden eyes.
He swung himself back onto the phoenix's broad back.
"Thanks for the information," he called back over his shoulder to the silent, terrified crowd of pirates.
He patted Emberis's neck. "Let's go," he said. "North. To China."
Emberis let out another piercing cry and launched itself into the sky, leaving behind a fortress full of confused, leaderless pirates and a new, terrifying legend of a crimson eagle and the man who rode it.
The ghost hunt had a new destination.
.
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