As we made our way through Tatakai Outpost(sorry for the mis-spelling last entry), Grace had some news. "I have a new office," she said. "It is on a stormy island, but it will be a fine place to set up shop for anyone who wants to speak in private. It is also storage for things I do not know what to do with for the time being. I plan to clean up my house and decorate it properly." (Grace had enough money to buy the Storm house, which is what I want her to have - it's her school of magic.)
"That's great news," I said as I fished a bit in the river near the outpost. Ever since fish started popping up and me and Grace learned how to fish with magical lures, it has been a nice relaxing activity to keep our nerves calm before we entered a tough battle. I pulled up a purple jelly-fish. (Yeah, I apologize for not showing the fishing activity which was added recently, but Sierra needs her energy to tend her garden!)
"I have also investigated Kensignton Park and found out that Dr. Katzenstein had been responsible for reprogramming the clockworks there," said Grace. "He is rightfully in jail now nnd the situation there has been neutralized." (Didn't know this, but if you go to Scotland Yard jail after you beat Katz's lab, you'll see the mad doctor in the empty cell. Can't talk to him but it's a neat touch. ^_^)
We talked about the Armada's plans and how they were looking for some map to a city which could, if claimed, make whatever Malistaire was planning seem like child's play. I shuddered - those metal men were scary. I knew Grace had to return to Cool Ranch to help Agnes, but I was glad she would not do so until Malistaire was stopped.
We worked together to help calm earth spirits and also nearly got caught in a trap by a geisha-cow, but she only turned us in to the enemy because she needed a war pass to get her husband to the front lines. We forgave her. (I won't detail the side-quests as I do them, but I will summarize them with a screenshot if need be.)
We helped cut the supply lines - served that evil pig warlord right! If he was going to ruin the innocent's Festival, we would do the same to his banquet! :p Then we routed out the spy, a traitorous warlord who had taken over the outpost keep.
Shojiro was pleased. "Now is the time to strike," he said. "Go to the Crimson Fields and talk with the people there to prepare for the invasion of Warlord Katsumori's palace."
We nodded to each other. Time to get back the Emperor's sword.
"You've changed clothes again," remarked Grace.
"I know," I said, smiling. "I think I've finalized my look." (Finally got the Senator's Poetic Toga after two Olympus Runs, it's now stitched into the Spiral Cup Vestment and finalized her look for the rest of the story. It took a while to get her look finalized, but I think this is very beautiful. The hat is a Dragonspyre hat I bought.)
We entered the Crimson Fields and spoke with a goat monk, who directed us to Rikugun Mikawa, another samoorai leading the defense of the fort near Katsumori's palace. He asked us to rebuild the barricades, so Grace gathered up the wood and cobbled it together, but then he realized that the scouts were scattered. "Katsumori taught me that defense is the best offense," he cursed. "I should have known he would have used that teaching against me."
"No worries, I'll find them for you," I said, winking. "Grace, you stay here in case that warlord attacks without warning."
I found the scouts easily enough, they were cowering behind ruins while all sorts of evil merc was crawling the paths. I got ambushed by ninja pigs and had to teleport away, draining my mana. (Yeah, she got pulled once. Stupid paths are too narrow.)
Grace spoke with a golem who had his sacred stone stolen by the trolls. We defeated their leader, Grum Foultooth(and ugh, his name was accurate, ew!) and we vaporized his soul with Kraken. Then we used the stone to summon golems to guard the paths...
But it was not enough, the evil warriors launched an invasion and we worked to destroy the front lines. It was hard and the ninja pigs were myth creatures so I had to throw Prisms left and right, but we eventually defeated enough to drive them off. (For some reason, I got two counts for every enemy I defeated so I only needed three battles. Also, Sierra got pulled and I got too trigger-happy in panic and wasted all of her potions. *headdesk*)
"Long ago, I lost my sword to a skeleton but a collector from Wizard City recovered it for me."
"Was that sword... called the Mukogawa?" I asked, seeing the sword and recognizing it.
"Yes, how did you..." he said.
"I was the one who recovered it," I said with a smile, pointing to his blade. "When I was a weak conjurer who could only summon trolls, back in Firecat Alley. I was the one who gave it to the collector. I wanted to meet the owner of that sword and thank him for making me stronger and now I can. Thank you, Rikugun, because of you I was able to survive Lord Nightshade."
He was impressed. "A samoorai's sword is his life. You have saved my life and thus, by honor, I am indebited to you. Therefore I will help you recover the Emperor's sword." He nodded. "I have managed to send my army to clear the way to Warlord Katsumori's palace. Go and get the sword."
We reached the palace, despite the patrols. We barged in.
"Ha, little girls?" laughed the evil pig warlord. "You will feel pain today that will make you scream."
"I guess that means we have to kill you to get the sword," I sneered. "Let's go, Grace."
He unleashed fire sharks and fire birds at us while his retainer used Tower Shield and summoned Snow Serpents, but we came back hard with Ninja Pigs (which seemed stronger here) and Kraken. Soon the evil warlord fell lifeless to the floor.
Just then a foul smelling smoke, like hellfire and brimstone, poured from the dead warlord's mouth. I grew afraid when I saw it form - I had fought an elephant humanoid in the pagoda that me and Christina had explored, but this one was thrice the size.
"Who are you?" demanded Grace.
"I am the War Oni," roared the elephant demon. "You have only delayed the inevitable destruction of war! You will be the first causalities, little girls!"
"Go away, you big elephant," sneered Penny. "It's a shame we don't have any mice, you'd be wetting yourself in terror." The War Oni, clearly offended, roared in rage and flung me into the wall with his blade. I screamed as pain ripped through m body. It hurt, like anarchy was flowing over me.
"Sister!" cried Grace. She grew angry. "You made a mistake, you giant pachyderm. You will go back to Zafaria where you belong!" She waved her hand and Penny chanted her song, summoning Sirens to blast the elephant demon with a tornado of electricity... but he threw up a shield and deflected the attack. "No."
"Fools," he chuckled. "You think you can harm me with those pathetic spells? I am destruction incarnate! I feast on destruction!"
He launched meteors with his blade and Grace and Penny hit the wall besides me. I groaned and slowly got up. I felt something more than adrenaline I ignored the part of my brain yelling at me to run for the Spiral Gate. "No... I won't let you win..." I opened my book and chanted from it in a language I couldn't recognize - it sounded like a beautiful haunting melody...
I felt blade after blade rise up around me and trap after trap surround the War Oni. Then I left out a shriek and the ninja pigs appeared again, this time their eyes glowed red with hatred. They leapt up and absorbed my blades and the traps and their shuriken filled the room...
And then the War Oni let out a bellow, this time of pain, and collapsed. "You have not won, girl..." he groaned as he dissolved into smoke. "My brothers..."
I collapsed to my hands and knees, panting heavily. Grace held my shoulders. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine...." I muttered. "I just... did I just one-shot that thing?" Grace summoned a Satyr to heal me. "Did you just learn that spell?"
"Yes," said Grace. "I need heavy healing too, you know."
(Do I know how to make a Wizard101 boss battle epic or what? What happened was that I got Lady Katie's mythblade, my mythblade, the amulet myth trap, my myth trap, and a Monstrous TC which Grace traded to Sierra. That did over 4200 damage.)
Grace opened a chest nearby. "We have the sword," she said, handing me a beautiful jade-hilted katana. "Let's get out of this accursed place."
"We have the blade," I said, showing off the blade.
"Well done, wizards," said Shojiro with a bow. "You have redeemed my family and restored our honor. Return to Tek Ping and give the sword to him. We will clean up the remaining enemy here."
Just then Grace pulled me aside and sighed sadly. "I am sorry, Mma. You did great, but... I was just contacted by Clever Agnes, the pirate I work for. She wants me to mediate between a group called the Magnificent Seven so that they don't cut each other's throats. They need to fight again so that they..."
I hushed her with a finger. "No, you go back to Cool Ranch, sister. I will try to find out what else needs to be done to restore the Emperor to life. I'll be fine, I'll see if Christina is back from recon."
Grace smiled. "I do not deserve you as a friend, Mma. You are very understanding. I will try to..."
"Don't rush it," I scolded. "Diplomacy is a very complex affair and a mine field of anger. If you rush it, you may end up regretting it. Take your time and just go with it. I'll be fine, sister." I hugged her.
(I actually split apart these two because I needed Grace to catch up in EXP - she is 23000 EXP from Level 42 and Sierra is only 3000 EXP from Level 43! I don't know why Grace is so behind. I tried doing a couple of dungeons over and I caught a side-quest in Wysteria, but sadly it wasn't enough to close the gap so I have to use EXP boost elixirs to fix this situation as I want these two to level up together. Oh well, that's life. If anyone knows what is wrong with Grace and she's lagging behind in EXP - I did every quest so far with both characters! - tell me! Also, I need to have one of Grace's 'pen pals' finish up Mooshu and it's time to have Sierra pair up with a fellow gardener... ^_^)
[To be continued...]
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