Up on the mountain of reverence, multiple leaders were bound to meet for the second summoning of the Council of Nations. More specifically, Rai Otizawa and his adopted son Aladdin entered the mountain pass. This location was hidden from the rest of the common folk of the world. Only the most respected and powerful individuals knew of the secrets the mountain held.
Rai entered the great halls that overlooked the land and sat at the table. His seat specifically sat between Ashi and Toshiro. Many special forces soldiers lined the hall from all over the land, he looked at Shibuya's seat and spoke aloud.
"One day they will be able to sit at this great hall once again…"
Ashi soon appeared directly in the room. He was dressed far more formally, a direct dichotomy and opposite to what he usually wore which was more casual since he ran the farm. Ever since Kyōki's death, he had secluded himself to the farm, and left his right hand men and children to run his Kingdom.
Truth be told Ashi mostly took a position of power out of obligation rather than inherent desire. When you're literally the most powerful man in the world, you have to take a position of power, which was ironic in of itself. Honestly though, he just wanted to cherish his time with Arika. Throughout all of the things they went through in the past, He loved Kyōki to death despite all the turmoil they went through. Her leaving this earth, especially the way she did, had opened his eyes to appreciate the woman and wife that she was to him for all those years. Not just that, but he always took care of Shion, Yves and Noelle financially even if they didn't need it. He had always wired them money. Sent them gifts. Gave them phone calls and paid them visits. He looked toward Rai.
"So..I guess Shion isn't showing today. Is she?"
Rai looked over at Ashi and smiled with the same old cheeky smile that he wore since his childhood, his wife was never too big in the political scene and that was something he was completely fine with. "No not today, you know she's not too big into this stuff. She was at the first one but that was also Fifteen years ago. I didn't think we would need another one for a long time to be honest." Rai's smile was littered with physical weakness, the truth was only known by his closest allies as to why the great king of Ashina acted the way he did. However: the knowledge had somehow leaked to the spirit world which concerned him. "You know you look weird in those clothes. We don't usually see you dressed that way." Rai himself was dressed in ceremonial robes with a dragons skull helmet lined with thorns, a helmet he rarely wore but this was a special event.
"Ever since Kyōki died I decided that I'd give up fighting and this life. I had been fighting and fighting and fighting. I knew nothing but violence since I was a child. It was time to retire at one point or another. I had made an oath to her and Arika I would never pick a blade up again unless it was absolutely necessary. Circumstances have change-things have changed. So moving forward today I suppose you'll see me more in these clothes. Im taking the throne of Yoshiwara back and i'll be around a lot more..for multiple reasons, not just the impending doom."
"I don't see impending doom. What I see is another opportunity to set ourselves straight for the rest of the world. We have plenty of topics to discuss today so please take a seat my friend."
"Then I suspect the others will be here soon." He closed his eyes, patiently waiting for the others to show up, hoping they wouldn't be too late.
Noelle entered the room with her cowl covering her eyes as per usual, she sat across from Toshiro's seat at the table. She was quiet as she entered, her daughters disappearance deeply troubling herself.
Toshiro entered after her. He knew Noelle could handle herself, but he always moved behind her just in case of anything, so that he could step in and stop it. He didn't like that Noelle may have to fight.
"Well isn't it great to see the gang all here again. Are we missing anyone?" He sat across from Noelle, after his initial remark he stayed silent.
Rai nodded to Toshiro, he looked around at Rui's missing seat with a frown on his face*
"He doesn't really need to come to these but it would be helpful honestly.."
"He's fucking done. Never coming back. He left us fifteen years ago. Nothing about actually protecting the world interests him anymore. If this generation suffers..that blame will fall right back into his lap like it did before.."*Toshiro disliked the idea of Rui just hopping up and leaving, especially because he theorized that part of his sisters suicide was caused by him. He didn't understand why anyone would even desire a return from him, because that in of itself was less forgiveable to him than anything else.
"Let's not worry about that right now. Let's focus on the task at hand..We've got a meeting dont we?"
"Of course. I get everyone's feelings about him but we do have to talk about what's going on in the world right now. My nation was just attacked and as some of you know Cynil has went missing, taken away from the school during the terrorist attack. I was also confronted by an unknown figure asking about my plans post death. All points show to the spirit world"
"While I did mention that i'd be back, The Spirit World isn't what it was in ancient times, and the likelihood of them actually beating or hurting us is very slim. Nobody there currently is stronger than any of us, especially not as a combined force. I say if war breaks out between the two worlds, let Mamba and the teachers lead the frontline to stop them..and if things get bad, we'll personally step in and take care of it…"
Ashi leaned back in his chair.
"As far as Cynil goes i've got Gharma. Mamba and Anilius running a search for her. They're my children, and she is my niece. They should find her sooner rather than later."
"I think war wise we should be able to cover any front. The only issue is that they can come through portals at almost anytime…and as with Cynil, I hope we can get some input fast on that…"
Noelle quickly cut off Rai and Ashi, her veins tensing up in her face as she expressed clear distraught and anger, something that her cowl was restricting heavily.
"And how long is that going to take? For heavens sake youre just going to have the kids go and find her?! At this point I should just do it my damn self!"
"I understand your frustration Noelle. I lost my own child a very long time ago..my first son…but let's think about this for a second. If we're getting technical Mamba and Anilius are adults. They're only a few years younger than we were when we fought Lucifer. By no means am I implying they're as capable as we were, but you need to keep in mind that the reason we're pushing the schools forward instead of a traditional government is so that this generation does not experience the horrors that we did."
"I believe that Cynil, as my daughter is fully capable of doing okay as well. It's been maybe thirty hours or so since her disappearance. I don't think she'd kick the bucket that quick. Not as my daughter."
Noelle shook her head to the argument that and Toshiro made. "You guys don't understand… she's only fifteen. yeah we were doing the same shit at her age but we also lived in different times. These kids don't see action like we've seen it!"
Rai raised his hands to calm everyone down.
"Listen, right now the top priority is the worlds safety, not saying that Cynil isn't important but if we have any leads on the attacks on Ashina we could crush any further resilience to our law."
"Right, and that would ensure the children's safety. Cynil will be okay, and will be found, I promise it."
"I believe if we all come together for this we will be able to provide safety and security to the world… before this meeting I had plans to help clean the streets of Shibuya and take it under my wing but that might have to wait for now…"
"As good as that sounds I wouldn't bother. Theres no saving that place. They'll kill you in your sleep if you try to control it. It's a region of chaos, and unfortunately it has to stay like that." Toshiro put his feet on the table, yawning at the thought.
"It's not like you all aren't used to such a wretched place. We have all been there and came out worse and worse. It would be better suited if the efforts of the kings would be dedicated to family-not land." Yami spoke up from his seated position behind Rai, his arms folded over his chest and his head lowered. Yami always handled matters in the shadow for his son.
Rai shook his head in disagreement with everyone at the table, even his father.
"No, it's not for conquest it's for further peace. In our own world The 'Nation' of Shibuya was disorganized after they obtained their first king. If we could subdue their leaders then we could also stop another potential threat, obviously not yet but eventually I would like to stretch our influence over the rest of the continent…bring eternal peace and security to our borders."
"Thats a big ask. I agree with Toshiro. Subduing and attempting to run Shibuya isn't necessarily the best move, because it has nothing to do with the leaders. The civilians there will riot and destroy it for what it is right now. Our best bet is saving that for another time, our focus should be on keeping the four main nations of this continent safe, especially with war waging on. We extend our focus out to other lands and we'll get crushed."
"Well… that's also why I suggested afterwards, we rarely get to hold meetings like this so I'm just throwing more of the plan out there… with the spirit world though… I don't think it's gonna be a consecutive war of battles… all we need is truly one decisive victory to close off the hell they could possibly bring."
"Well the goal is to not kill them off, and really only to subdue and make them submit. I'd prefer not too. That would brew issues with Takayama, and Takayama fighting against us isn't something positive. My daughter currently lives with her, and I would hate to fight against her."
Rai shook his head, he knew the spirit world itself, chaotic in its justice and rule, had to be kept alive… he put his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes from stress and naturally pondering the situation.
"Maybe we could find a way to keep them from the mortal realm… some sort of Mana blocker that won't allow their portals to reach here… it sounds crazy but I think it's a possibility…"
"That would require continuous effort, and who is to say that the spirit realm will take such a blocker as a sign of 'peace'? Takayama is agreeable-sure. She isn't however, the only person presiding over the realm itself." Yami spoke up, questioning his sons decisions.
"We can't block them off from this world. Yami is right. Somebody is going to have to pour infinite mana into the seal to keep it up for eternity. It would make no sense to exhaust that amount of energy, especially considering the power and size of the spirit realm, which is literally a parallel sized dimension, the size of our known universe. So the best case scenario would be to make them submit, and then come to an understanding on restrictions between our worlds existing, possibly coming to an agreement that the spirit world may enter ours and vice versa at any given moment."
Rai continued rubbing his eyes as he thought for a moment, politics seemed to upset him and bring himself to stress, however this was the life he had chose and couldn't go back from it.
"Alright, so a complete war would be necessary then? I would rather not send people off to die if it means that we could come to a small agreement… the people will not be happy about it."
Noelle stood silently, she had almost clocked out of the meeting due to her frustrations with Cynil's disappearance and how it was being handled. As a mother she had always loved and cherished her children, they drove her to feel a deeper care for something more in this world even if they hadn't turned out the best, but Cynil was clearly her favorite in multiple ways..
"We don't have a choice. We either make them submit or we kill all of the spirit world and face the greater repercussions of that…and if you think the people won't be happy with war against the spirit world, wait until
the divine get involved..they will never trust us after that."
Toshiro put his hand on Noelle's shoulder. His belief in Cynil's ability was true, but he was also worried for her. Regardless he trusted his nieces to help and get the job done.
"Divines huh?"
Rai could care less for the divines, one of his most defining characteristics was his belief in humanity. One of the most inspiring to other mortals. His drive to eliminate and free humanity from its shackles, ever since he was a child with the sages of old still burned within him.
"It doesn't matter what they think in the end anyways. We will face them either way and if it's not us then it's our kids, or even their kids. Who should take the responsibility for that then? The ones who created the problem or the ones who are forced into it?"
Noelle trusted in her family but couldn't stop worrying, she knew her children were strong but the world had adapted and grew stronger with her family at the council. The council being the top dogs of the world's politics lead to a rise in other groups striving for that strength that they had.
"That's why I suggest letting them do things on their own. I've felt it in the universe before that our very world would face the gods head on. We faced forces that this world had never seen before..not even in Toyoko's time. I fear those battles caused some kind of shift in the universe that may alarm greater forces. One way or another the day will come where they too shall have their glory run. Noelle is on to something. They need to be protected as well, because we weren't. If they're left unsupervised they'll spiral and resent us because we're not providing for them."
Ashi knew what it was like from his early child days in the military. He had exited his mothers home by force, and his only option of surviving in Aensland was taking on that role, or living with your family. Warfare had plagued them for long amounts of time. He knew that the lack of love and care in a household was detrimental to their development. He turned to Noelle, Smiling For His Sister In Law.
"How about I send some of my guards to investigate this spirit world decalaration and The Dissapearance Of Cynil?..I think that would still work for both of us.
"Hmph. If They really want to prove themselves worthy of this world then they need to scale Heldor's Tower. It would be perfect training for the children, teaching Staff and Royalty . You can Include the Seniors in as well for some training. Just because they're young adults doesn't mean they can't test themselves in the heart of battle. It would keep all the kids in one place for a few weeks while we look into these opposing forces. During my life as a vagabond I once scaled it all in due time. It's great training to keep them on their heels. We're at a level where we could all possibly climb that tower ourselves in seventy two hours. They're not nearly as strong. It will take them some time. We can secure and do a clean of the town then."
Noelle nodded to Ashi, her primary goal was recovering her child as a mother would, with Cynil gone it was a part of her sanity that had slipped too… her children were imbued with the mana to power their mothers veil from birth, and if one was too far it would make her sanity slip.
"Those are both good options. If we can incorporate them together then it would be good training for the kids and a good way to look into most of our issues with the world itself. We would have to have the students be mandated by the schools to not raise suspicion."
Rai turned to Aladdin.
"I expect you as one of the Blades of Ashina to deliver the news by the kings decree. Make sure the students are out there climbing the tower and watch over them, you will have other teachers present as well…"
"Yessir, I'll make sure the schools get the news."
Aladdin bowed, he stayed silent for most of the council as he knew his own opinions of the matter lie with his adoptive father.
"I think that about covers it. The children will climb the tower leading to the mana exams, and I will have Yves and Daito research the happenings of these events." He looked at Rai.
"Im also considering contacting Haigatake and Yosuke. Perhaps they could possibly help with this, or they may know something that we don't."
"Haiga is alive? I haven't heard much of him since before Tairiku. I haven't seen Yosuke much either, he's kept his distance since then. My kids barely know him at this point."
Rai cupped his hands and fidgeted his thumbs. "I think that would be great actually…"
"Haigatake lives in the land of the sage. He rebuilt his home after it was destroyed. It's just him and his family. He has kids around the same age as ours. I have less of an idea about Yosuke."
Rai knew the Mayhem he had caused the land of the sages. He knew he wasn't a welcomed guest in that land, only a secret that Rui, Ashi and Yami would have known. After Tairiku, Rai had accomplished his goal. He killed and eliminated millions of the innocent men, women, children,
and mystical creatures while Ashina was being built, absorbing their power and sapping it to help build his kingdom.
"I can look for Yosuke… but I'm not welcomed in the land of the sage."
"I understand. Let's not get into it. We have a more important matter on our hands."
"Yes, but the land forsakens me and anyone from Ashina. It would have to be someone else that would have to go there."
"I can g o but I hate that that's the case."
Ashi stood up from his seat.
"This meeting is over then right?"
Rai raised his hand and swore out the words to conclude the meeting.
"The 2nd council is over, everyone may leave at will… thank you all for coming."