Chapter 1: The Blind Phoenix

In between lessons, Lacy is working in her office, writing up a report about her encounter with the new yazuka gang that had happened the night before when her cell phone rings.

Unknown Name ... Unknown Number

After hesitating a moment at the mysterious call, she answers, "Moshi Moshi, this is Lacy Cove ..."

"Hi Salacia this is Takezo, I was wondering if you might have some time this evening, I have discovered something I think would interest you greatly and wanted to present it to you in person?" Takezo's voice is a practiced modulated tone that conveyed next to no information with its inflections other than perhaps those, that Salacia's training would indicate, were simply part of some kind of planned guidance towards a desired outcome. Still there was enough information within the words to garner some meaning and the fact that he went through the trouble to get her phone number did warrant some level importance to his claim.

Before Lacy can respond the connection goes dead leaving only the sound of static buzzing in her ear.

"Takezo? Takezo?! ... TAKEZO!?!?" she inquires, the tone of her voice getting more concerned. She has had many phone conversations cut out mid-conversation - problems with reception or batteries - but there was something about the sound and circumstances of this one that worried Lacy. She feels Takezo is likely in danger and the situation with the phoenix has likely changed. Quickly checking an app on her phone that traced and estimated a probable location of the incoming call, she grabbed her bag of ninja equipment she slipped out her office to see what she can find of Takezo and perhaps the phoenix as well.

At the same moment Lacy answered the call from Takezo, Taizo was sitting in his armored limo, clicking away at his laptop. After gathering information on Aaron's movements through the use of his bugs, it was child's play to locate Aaron's base of operations. From there on, it was up to Taizo to overcome the electronic defenses put down to protect Aaron's data from intruders such as himself. And they were certainly quite tough. The Hirasaka Agency's strength is in their information after all.The first few measures fell quickly enough, but as Taizo cracked away at the security, he noticed that it somehow was automatically patching up the holes he exploited. So then, it came down to a test of speed. Could Taizo break through the advanced regenerating defenses? His fingers blurred and his eyes dilated to an extreme, his mind set onto a single track. Him versus the machine.

In the end, he won out, leaving his opponents to lick its wounds. Before he could look over the newly obtained data, Taizo's phone sounded an emergency notification. Taizo's eyes narrowed as he took in the new information. If he were to believe the information that his bugs told him, then that meant Aaron was killed. And in quite the auspicious location.

He gives an order to his butler.

"Genzou. Head to the nearest Dragon Vein convergence."

Genzou gives a kurt nod as he changes course.

Taizo leans back into his seat, troubled by the developments unfolding.

The wheels of the limo rolled to a stop at the base of the forested mountain. From here, Taizo would need to climb up the many steps to a hidden shrine, known only to those in the shadows. It was there where Aaron met his last breath, on top of the Dragon Vein convergence.

"Return safely, young master."

Taizo simply nods as he exits the car, and begins his journey to the top of the mountain.

Genzou's word of caution was not without reason. Though it seemed outwardly peaceful, this mountain was a place no sane person would visit without reason. Long ago, a eldritch being beyond comprehension found its way into this reality. Through the efforts of many, a shrine was erected, which acted as its single chain to the world. Much like a rabid dog tied to a stake, it could no longer wreak havoc beyond the shrine's range. It is such that the mountain, the shrine, and the being all have no names, as prolonged exposure to the being which defies identity deprives everything around it of identity as well.

Lacy stops the motorcycle a few hundred meters from the running limo parked at the base of the stairs to the Shrine. The bike was the same one she had "confiscated" from the Yakuza ninjas; she had kept it as a prize for her trouble that night. Up those stairs is where Lacy had triangulated the signal from Takezo's cell phone call. Not wanting to alert whoever was in that limo, she rolls the bike into the ditch between the road and the forested incline and then swings up into the canopy using her aerial skills jumping from branch to branch.

She converges on the stairway, but stays up in the trees as she follows the path up the mountain. The entrance of the shrine is a row of a dozen blood red archways leading to a clearing with massive roughly carved stone pillars reaching up to the heavens not unlike stonehenge but instead of a circular layout, it seems to form some sort of ancient symbol that Lacy doesn't recognize.

Towards the center of the shrine, Lacy can see the infamous phoenix that she has heard so much about. It lies on a stone alter, not much more than a heap of meat, but it's chest is rising and falling, albeit irregularly, indicating that it is still alive ... barely.

On the ground in front of the alter is Takezo's motionless body, a pool of blood underneath drains into the broad spaces between paving stones. The blood was headed down towards the forested slope outside the shrine, but coagulation has slowed it's progress. Takezo's cell phone is a few stones over, the screen shattered from the drop, but the screen was still lit as the call had not properly ended, allowing Lacy to track the location.

Seeing Takezo confirms her worst fears and triggers a flood of emotions that cause her to forget the potential dangers of the situation. Lacy drops from her leafy refuge to the stone path and runs into the shrine ...

As Taizo steps beneath the looming gates of crimson, the sight of Takezo's corpse and the bloodied Phoenix gives him pause. Taizo's grimace of displeasure quickly turned into apprehension as a drop of blood splashed onto his clothes. Raising his head to look above himself, Taizo found Aaron's body hanging from one of the gates from a noose made of barbed wire. The doctor's eyes threatened to pop out from underneath his swollen eyelids, and his bloodied tongue lolled out of bluish lips.

Leaves rustled, breaking Taizo's attention from the gruesome atrocity. Turning towards the source of the sound, he saw Lacy leaping out of the surrounding trees towards the center of polylithic shrine. What was she doing here?

However, before she could make it, a group of yakuza phased into existence, blocking her path. However, unlike at the warehouse, they were far from your average thugs, for thugs love themselves over all others. These gangsters have forsaken themselves entirely to the shrine's identity erasing properties. Try and focus on a face, and you come away knowing nothing about what they look like. Try and count what weapons they have, and you come away with a number that doesn't exist. Perhaps the best way to describe this group would be "the concept of a large group of skilled yakuza". By losing themselves, they gained the power of defying the logic of this world, confounding all that try and oppose them.

Their eyes lock onto both Lacy and Taizo. A chorus of mocking laughter erupts as the Concept of Yakuza draws their weapons.

""̸̥̥͐Ö̸͈́̚ẖ̶͛,̵̨̧̈͘ ̶̟̮̏͝s̷͈̪̋̃o̸̺̒̌ ̸̡̜̏w̶̩̟̅è̴͚ ̶̨̯̾͠h̸̼̍a̷̯̕v̷̱̌̽ë̸̝́ ̷̢͋m̸͈̆o̷̡̊́r̸̤͒̑e̷̯̬̍͐ ̵͖̥̏͊v̴͚́į̸̙̿́š̸ͅï̵̳͕̄t̶̞͍́o̶̟͖̍r̸̝̟͑s̵̥̝̎̀?̵̜͊ ̵̹̟̿A̴̯̕l̵̑̾ͅl̷͓͈͊̋o̶̘͑ẘ̴̞ ̸̇̊ͅủ̸̠́s̴͖͓̎ ̷̩̗̃̕t̵̡͉̓̄o̶̩̖̎̀ ̷̖͊p̷̧͐̂a̵̦͚̽͗y̶̤̍̓͜ ̴̭̈ͅò̶̢̳u̸̩͗̾r̶̙̭͗ ̵͈͐͌ŗ̶͐è̶̲͕s̶̲̤͋p̵̢̛͓̈e̵̛̪̾c̴͔͉͛̊t̴͖̔̈ŝ̷̤͓͑.̵̨̽̓"̶̗̅"

I should have known these Yakuza would be at the heart of this ... Lacy thinks as she skids to a stop to assess the situation.

Hmmm, seems like this group might be a tad more dangerous than those thugs in the city ... she observes their shifting identities and large numbers. She can't seem to follow any particular one without losing track of their motion and position. Looking around for options she finally notices the kid from the warehouse standing near the entrance and another dead body hanging nearby ... What the ... but before she has time to process, she hears the disembodied voices of the yakuza rumble through her body and the sudden onslaught of metal projectiles streaking towards her.

Reacting as fast as she can, she dives for cover behind one of the stone formations ...

Lacy vanishes behind the rocky formation just in time, the hail of metallic weaponry ricochets against the stone. In fact, she picked a pillar aligned just right that many of the knives and shuriken rebounded directly at the attacking mob.

Back against the strangely warm stone, she catches her breath and glances over towards the kid from the warehouse. Behind him another group of the ethereal yakuza materialize.

"Hey Kid! Look out!"

Grabbing two handfuls of the "shrapnel" that was now littered on the ground around her position, she parkours up between two nearby pillars, launching herself into the air in a spinning and tumbling maneuver that peaks with a flurry of metal thrown towards the yakuza approaching the kid.

Taizo clicks his tongue as he leaps away from the eldritch entities' approach.

"Don't look down on me!"

Despite his bravado, this was indeed a tricky situation, one that he didn't think he could handle alone. The Concept of Yakuza scatters as the projectiles launched by Lacy tear through their ranks. They spit on the ground in irritation, sickly phlegm staining the stone.

"̷̠̮̰̑̍͗̽̒͊͌́͠Ỷ̶̧̲̞͙͎̎̽̋̃ŏ̴͍̯̗̻̖́̈́̃͗͂ü̴̢̟̖͈̝͇̖̒̈́́͘ ̷͔̫̙͎̻̦̼͖̎̎̂̀̇̀͛ͅb̸̧͔̙̊͠i̵̠̱̺̻̙͂̋̈́͗͊̉̀̚͘͠t̷̨̡͙̟̪̪̭̝̬̦̑̆̇̄̅́̽́c̵̡̯͈̼̘̞̠͑̓̚h̷̳̰̖̳̳̟͓̩̪̿̈́̇̌̑̒͂̀̐̚!̷̧̧̱͇̤̺̙̖͍́̿͘"̴̻̞̝̓̀̂̇

Lacy sticks the landing on top of one of the ancient boulders, a smile on her face showing a bit of pride in her successful tactic, but the smile turns to disgust at the phlegm-spitting that results. She nods to the kid to acknowledge his help in the maneuver, distracting and drawing the strange figures into a more vulnerable position for her counter and aerial flurry.

Lacy remembers some of the impressive abilities the kid showed off at the warehouse and wonders why he hasn't pulled any of them out yet. He seems to be fiddling with the fancy devices strapped to his body ... perhaps the yakuza-spirits are shifting through the shrine too quickly for his devices to track. Maybe her impact will have slowed them down enough for him to target. She hopes so because looking around the odds are still stack against them.

Deciding not to fix what's not broken, she moves into action at a similar speed, jumping carefully from stone to stone in an effort to continue evading their attacks while maintaining her strategic advantage.

The first knife sliced through the outer layer of his jacket. The rest never made it, as an explosion blew them all away. As the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Taizo's jacket was a rather...intense...form of reactive armor.

Takezo clicked his tongue. With his jacket incinerated, his handcrafted cybernetic exoskeleton could be seen clearly, a reddish glow running through its metal.

"I'll let you know that I am no bastard."

He clenches his fist. Steam, infused with scarlet electricity, spits out from vents mounted on his back. He reels his arm back, servos whirring, and launches his fist forwards, sending a intensely concentrated disc of red energy into the group.

"I am Taizo Minamoto!"

...

And the roiling flames were suddenly silenced, as if they were never there.

"F̷͖͙̺͕̐͗͒̅͠l̸̞̹̙̘̖̼̉̃̄͒a̵̪͓͙̼͂͗̓̍̕m̴̝͙̖͖̆͐̔̾é̴͖̼̠̿ ̷̬͖̩̼̓̑ō̷̰̉̊̄̂̓͝f̶̡̫͔͍͚͆̄̎̉̚ ̶̢̺̟̪̙͚̒̅l̷̮̪̈̇̍̐͘͝ĭ̷̳͕̏̏͠g̴̮̘͚̱̱̈́̍́͜h̶̡͕͙̲̊̒t̵̛̘͔͎͖̞̘̓̄̈́̽̀̀n̶̥̹̝̫͇̗͍͗̾̍i̶͍̺̦̫͇͂͆̄̈̈͠͝ñ̴̪̹̼͌g̴̛̛̛͍͙͈̏̀,̸̖̮̞͓̼̗̮͠ ̶͍͓͙̹̚͝w̷͕͕͎͕̿e̵̡̗̳̳̥͛ ̸̨͕̳̪̲̚ȅ̸̪̞̭x̴̞̠̤̑̃̕͝ć̴̯̗͎͙̣̍ͅo̵͉͓̤̜̿͛̕m̴̳̗̝͔̉̋̈́͋͒͠m̸͓͓͚̮̬̒̀̓́͘͝ǘ̶̠͙̪̩̍̈́̌̇n̴͇̹̟͍̰̅̈́͂̎͒̈͜͜i̵̤͖̯͎̝͇̖̓́͐̿̍͝c̸͕̫̪̙̱̤̔ä̶̦̟̅̎͒͂̐t̶͎͕̩͈̂̓͝e̸͕̪̙͎͕̱͗̎͑ ̸̙̮͙̭̤̰̅̌́̀͗̏ͅy̴͈̱̥̻̅̆͊̃̃o̴͙̭͗̆̕u̴̬̘̥̖͐̊̎̅̈́ͅr̸͖̼͉͓͔̈́̐͑̿ ̴̧̩̗͈͑̿̚͠ȅ̶̩͓̹̞̈̀͆̈́͝ͅͅx̴̨̯͐͌͆̒̀i̷͙̟͈͍̜̔͌͌s̸͍̣̗̘͌́̒̃̕t̶̫̲͈̓̈́̒͘ė̵̗͉͍̌̓̄n̶̳̣̤̻͓͊̾͛̀c̸̲̳̐͐̏̾̕͜é̵̪ͅ!̷͎͙̭͌̈́̾̿͊̈́̏ ̷̰͋̏̈̋̉͛̄T̷̹̒̓̈́̓͑̂h̴̻͓͍̏è̴̩̫́̐́̿ ̶̰͉̦͚̩̾U̷̗̎̏̆͠l̴̪̻͎̻͒̇t̴̝͔̹̳̦͜͜͠ì̷̼̭̟̌m̴̻̘͈̟͉̑͆ả̴̞̘̗̜̪͙̱̐̓͗̚t̵̰̠͓̹͔͕͙̿̂̏͗e̴̢͚̣̅ ̵̝̬̤̦͖̂͐̑͋͘P̵͍̾̄̌͋̔͗́a̸̙̽̏̍̏̚t̸̒̏̐̀ͅh̷̞̉,̴̝̟̳̹͉̿̐ ̷̬͆̌G̴̢͍͙̫̿͗̓̔͜U̷̗̅̿͌̉̐Ḭ̷̘̀Ḋ̴̛͙̠͆̓̒͋Ë̴̛̹̦̙̪̟͙́̆̈́̀̔̐ ̶̛̰͇̪̟͕̰͛̍̕Ư̶̧͓͘Ş̴̥̮̣̪̥̽̈́̏̿̔̍͜͠!̴̧̖͓̥͙͝"

With a unified shout, the Concept of Yakuza banished the existence of the deadly projectile. Those without identity strip others of theirs.

Hope swells in Lacy's mind as she sees the blast from the kid's technological body suit. It seems destined to inflict a crushing blow on this Concept of Yakuza, but her excitement sinks when the flames suddenly vanish just before making contact. The rumbling voice that echos through the shrine in response gives her the chills. However, she senses that despite the surprising comeback, the Concept seems to be on the back foot at the moment. She takes advantage with another aerial assault from her position high up on the stones, this time in the form of a zip-line-aided flying kick that aims to plow through a group of the figures.