Chapter 10: Encounter With The Yakshas
The group had been travelling for around five hours non-stop now, they did have encounters with a few strange creatures, though it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. According to Ganyu, the creatures they encountered were just simple monsters that existed back during this time.
From what she knew, a majority of the species that lived during this time period went extinct and were no longer found in her timeline. Aside from that, it was kind of surprising since they hadn't encountered any fighting gods, or those demons that the Yakshas apparently fight.
After five total hours of non-stop travelling, the group decided to settle down to rest for the next hour before continuing their journey. Unlike Kenji, the others didn't have an infinite reserve of stamina. Even Kojou, an immortal vampire, didn't have infinite stamina.
That was one major advantage that Kenji had, his abilities when it comes to regeneration seemed to also make sure that his energy stayed at its peek so that he could perform to the best of his capabilities non-stop.
While the monsters they've encountered so far were just basic monsters, Kenji was pleasantly surprised to see that the others were experienced fighters. Well, except for Kojou, the guy had power but probably not as experienced when it came to actual fighting.
Neptune, surprisingly, had quite a decent display of swordsmanship. He honestly had his doubts about her capabilities, but the sword skills she had with the katana that she could summon out of no where was pretty damn impressive. He didn't know how she could just summon it, but he wasn't going to question.
"Here, Ganyu. You can't eat anything with animal ingredients, so have some oreos." Kenji voiced as he sat down with the others as he lightly chucked a packet of oreos over towards Ganyu, who caught the packet with a confused look. "You didn't bring any food, right?"
"Are you sure...?" Ganyu asked with uncertainty. Looking over towards Kenji who was sitting next to her, the male merely gave her a nod as she took out one of the small cookies inside and gave it a curious look before taking a bite out of it. "This is... delicious!"
"Glad you like it!" Kenji smiled at the reaction, oreos were definitely one of his all time favourite snacks. So, seeing someone who has never eaten them before and enjoying it was strangely satisfying. Speaking of people who had never eaten oreos before...
"Give me some too, I want to try!" Neptune called out as Kenji turned to look at her. He saw her giving him an expectant look as Kojou ate his own food quietly beside her. Kenji just shrugged before taking out another packet and tossing it over towards her. "Oh~, these are good! Not as good as pudding though."
"...What'd you say?"
"I said they're not as good as pudding!"
"You're walking on thin ice, pipsqueak."
"Woah, no need to glare there! That stare of yours has an edge just as sharp as that edgy look you have!" Neptune voiced as she suddenly pulled out a...mirror from her bag. Kenji just blinked when he saw this. "I'll redirect that edge, you can't cut me with that glare if you're not looking at me!"
"Why the hell do you have a mirror?" Kojou deadpanned while she was chewing his food. "Of all the things you decided to bring, a mirror?"
"This isn't a normal mirror, buddy! Listen up!" Neptune stood up as the other three gave her confused looks. She then coughed into a closed fist, as if she was about to give them a lesson. "This mirror here is one from legends, it's said to be capable of telling you anything you would ever want to know! No one knows it's true origins!"
"Really now?" Kojou snorted doubtfully as he glanced at the mirror in question. The mirror was literally just a normal looking oval hand mirror with a pink coloured plastic body, nothing at all legendary looking. "Kenji, why don't we test it out? Doubt it'll work."
"Meh, why not?" Kenji shrugged as he yoinked the mirror from Neptune's hands before she could say anything. He then stared into the mirror for a second, only seeing his reflection looking back at him. The others just watched him curiously. "Let's see... magic mirror in my palm, why is Neptune's brain so dumb?"
...
...
...
"Nope, it's a dud."
"..."
"Pfft...!" Kojou had to hold himself back from laughing, which became increasingly difficult as he saw Neptune's with her jaw on the ground as her face was shadowed in disbelief. "I don't know, maybe it did work? Perhaps the fact it did nothing is a representation of what Neptune's brain has inside!"
"You guys are such meanies!" Neptune shouted as she swiped her mirror back from Kenji who just gave her an amused grin. Neptune sat back down with a pout, and Ganyu just watched the entire interaction with a small smile. "The first male friends I have, and this is what I get?!"
As the group continued bantering, Ganyu mainly just remained silent and listened, only throwing a few small comments in every now and then. She never was a big talker, so she found it kind of hard to get into the conversations with them. Honestly, she was a bit jealous about how the three other members were able to get along so well.
While they did have their moments where they insulted one another, mainly Kojou and Neptune, she could tell it was mostly just friendly banter. None of their words were truly meant to hurt each other, they really did look like really close friends. She was kind of jealous about that.
They all flinched though when a loud explosion sounded through the area.
Kojou blinked in surprise. "What the hell was that?"
"It's content, let's go!" Neptune grinned as she jumped back up to her feet. The others blinking before shaking their heads and doing the same. After grabbing their bags, they all quickly began making their way towards the source of the noise. "I smell plot convenience, we're almost there!"
"I still don't get what the hell you're talking about..." Kenji frowned as he heard her words. He didn't ponder over it for long though as they arrived at their destination, the members looking towards what had caused that explosion. "...Am I safe to assume those are demons?"
"Y-Yes, they're the manifestations of the dead gods' hatred..."
In front of them were a large group of unstable looking creatures of all shapes and sizes, some had claws, some had wings and more. The only common thing about them was the fact that they were all purely composed of some kind of a pure black misty energy.
What caught the attention of the group were the group of individuals that were fighting back against the manifestations, they looked to all be humanoid, with a few of them sporting features not seen in humans. Such as some having horns, and other features as well.
However, there did seem to be a few amongst the group that didn't look human at all, taking appearance in the form of a variety of different animals. An example of this was a crane that Kenji could see flying around, though a crane unlike any he had ever seen.
"Who are those guys?"
"Th-Those are the Yakshas!" Ganyu voiced with widened eyes as she quickly summoned forth her bow. It was clear in her eyes, as well as the others, that the Yakshas seemed to be having trouble. Looking at the sheer number of manifestations compared to them, they were being exhausted as the seconds go by. "We have to help them! These demons don't seem too powerful, but their numbers are incredibly high."
"Our mission is to help these Yakshas after all." Kenji spoke as he cracked his neck, he then looked towards the others. "You guys ready?"
"Let's do this, time to kick some butt!" Neptune cheered as she summoned forth her katana. The others nodded as well as they quickly charged in towards the fight, all except for Ganyu who stayed a bit behind due to the fact that her weapon was bow. "Hyaaah~!"
"Wh-Wha...?!"
"Don't worry, I'm here to help!" Neptune quickly spoke up after she sliced one of the smaller manifestations in half. When the creature died in response, it faded away into nothingness as if it were just smoke. "My pals over there are also helping out!"
The two Yakshas that Neptune had rushed to help glanced over towards where Neptune pointed to see two male figures rushing towards the other Yakshas while a female was staying back and raining arrows towards the demons.
While Kojou didn't have a weapon, his physical strength was enough to compensate for now as his punches were able to damage these creatures by a good amount. Each one took around two to three punches before they disappeared like the one Neptune defeated.
On Ganyu's side, she was helping out another small group of Yakshas as she was providing support from the back. Any demons that managed to sneak up or overwhelmed the Yakshas were swiftly dealt with by Ganyu who shot them down with her arrows.
With Kenji, his physical prowess and abilities to conjure weapons of light were more than enough for him to take these things down. He showed minimal difficulty in defeating them as each one fell to a single strike from Kenji.
"I am grateful for your assistance." The one that spoke to him was the crane that landed beside Kenji, who had just kicked away one of the demons. "Your display of strength is incredible, especially for the likes of a mortal. You even appear to possess control over light, a rare gift indeed."
"I'm just unique."
"Hehehe~, so it would seem." The crane seemed amused by Kenji's words as he chuckled in response. "You may call me Pervases, it's a pleasure to make an acquaintance."
"Kusanagi Kenji, nice to meet you!" Kenji smiled as he punched another demon away into another group of demons, effectively killing them off with the impact. "How long have you been fighting here? You all look to be quite exhausted."
"I cannot recall unfortunately, though it has been a while now. The hatred of these bygone gods are taking its toll." Pervases responded as he utilised his wings as well as talons to fight. "If not for you and your allies, perhaps we may have not survived for too much longer. You have interesting group... one with an adepti no less. From what I can tell, a half-adeptus."
The person that Pervases was referring to was obviously Ganyu, who didn't hear the conversation and was too focused on her own battle. For whatever reason, Pervases found the half-adeptus quite familiar, but he wasn't entirely sure why. Perhaps he was just imagining it.
"What can I say, we come from all over the place." Kenji grinned slightly as his own words, he obviously understood the deeper meaning behind his sentence. They were literally people from across different dimensions. "Is this all of your group?"
"No, we are but a small number of the other Yakshas. As of now, they are participating in their own battles elsewhere. As soon as we are finished here, we shall quickly make our way to assist our other brothers and sisters."
"Mind if we tag along?"
"With what you have done thus far for us, I would be foolish to decline your assistance."
Pervases's beak twisted a bit into a smile as Kenji gave a small smile in return, Kenji then narrowed his eyes as he glanced around the battlefield. The number of demons was still quite high, and while it wasn't an issue for him, the others would eventually get tired.
"Guys, try to gather them into a singular spot!" Kenji quickly shouted as the chat group members, as well as the Yakshas, all turned to face him with confused looks. The chat members soon nodded and decided to place their trust in Kenji.
"Brothers and sisters, they are our allies! You can trust them!" Pervases decided to speak up as he obviously noticed the hesitation in the other Yakshas in regards to Kenji's group. Couldn't really blame them though. "I assume you have a plan, Kusanagi?"
"Of course, just get them in one place!"
With a nod, Pervases and the others quickly got to work to help round up the remaining demons. If they were to make a rough estimation, the number of demons here now was probably around one hundred or so. It took a while, but they eventually managed to group them into one single large group.
"Alright, back away!" Kenji shouted as the others quickly followed his orders. Jumping up several tall meters into the air, Kenji narrowed his eyes down at the demons who looked up at him with hostility upon noticing his actions. 'I swear, if my powers decide to take a shit now, then I'm suing someone!'
Raising his right arm upwards towards the sky, an incredible amount of holy energy gathered above the palm of his hand. The scene got everyone's attention, including the demons, as they all stared up towards the light that shined brightly in Kenji's hand.
'Here we go...!' Kenji grunted as he forced his power out, and once he did, everyone recoiled when a massive spear of light formed. The spear easily reached over ten meters long and enveloped the area beneath in a veil of golden light. 'Come on... hold it together!'
Kenji gritted his teeth as the spear above him was flickering every now and then, he may be able to form regular spears with ease. However, this was different. With the sheer amount of holy light energy inside this one spear, Kenji was having difficult keeping it controlled.
"Holy nep, what is that?!"
"W-Woah..."
While the demons were all backing away in fear of the sight of the spear, the others couldn't help but fear a sense of fear as well but mainly awe. For the Yakshas, they were obviously shocked by the power that this mortal had, but the power radiating off of the spear gave them a strange feeling... but it wasn't a bad one.
Kenji narrowed his eyes before forcing his arm down to point towards the group of demons, who all flinched at the action. As soon as he did this, the spear above him shot down towards the demons at incredible spear. They all just watched as the spear of light stuck the ground right in the centre of all the demons.
They couldn't even react before a golden light enveloped the entire area, blinding them all.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone