Eternal Earth

Chapter Ten

It was unusual that Homura would find himself called into Heaven. Normally he was only called in twice a year to give his reports on what he'd been doing, leaving the rest of his time free. He wasn't invited to parties and the like, since he was a heretic and people would rather he stayed on Earth and out of sight than in Heaven. Homura never had a problem with this. It allowed him time to figure out what he was going to do about destroying Heaven and Earth and creating his new world, all his own.

In only a few years, it would be possible. He would be able to break away from heaven and destroy everything that had wronged him. The world was too imperfect; there was nothing they could do to fix it anymore. Homura knew that the only thing he could do was tear it down and start over.

He had thought about refusing to show up to Heaven when he was summoned; the idiots had to find out sooner or later that he was working against them. However, Shien had pointed out that if they found out too early what they were planning, and then it would only cause their destruction. Slightly annoyed, Homura had returned to heaven to find out what they wanted from him.

To say that he was surprised to find what he did was an understatement.

Heaven was practically in ruins. There was blood and carnage everywhere, and the stench of death was unbearable. Part of the Jade Emperor's palace had collapsed in on itself, and smoke was billowing up from the courtyard where they were burning bodies. For a moment, Homura stared at the beautiful world that was painted with blood. There had only been one other time when Heaven had ever been so devastated—when Seiten Taisei had been freed and massacred hundreds of gods.

It was kind of... Homura shook the thoughts from his head as he crossed the yards over towards the Jade Emperor's palace. He made his way through the long hallways, towards the throne room. The more he passed, the more he realized what exactly he had been called in for. Homura was still a War Prince and he would probably be expected to seek out and kill the beast that had caused so much ruin. Homura grit his teeth uncomfortably, however carried on.

His coat billowed behind him like a large cape, and the grip his shoulders at least made him feel slightly comforted. It always had been his security blanket, right back to his imprisonment. With each step he took, his chains clanked, reminding him that despite everything, he was still bound to this place.

When he arrived in the throne room, he really should have been surprised to find the entire thing soaked with blood. There was a stain in the center of the room, looking absolutely horrendous. By that point it had already stained the floor, and probably would never come out. There were cracks in the walls and signs of a struggle. The large golden throne the Jade Emperor prided himself off had been carelessly thrown to the ground. More than that, Homura noticed the hidden compartment behind the throne was open, and the precious Egg of Genesis was missing.

For a moment, Homura stared in wonder. However, he managed to come back to himself when he heard the Jade Emperor clear his throat He turned his head to the side, finding the old man standing to his left, several guards beside him and towards the left entrance, where they seemed to be cleaning up more carnage.

"Homura," the man said in a gruff, demanding voice. It made the War Prince flinch slightly on the inside.

"Your Majesty," Homura mumbled with a hint of bitterness as he bowed his head.

"I suppose by now you know why I have called you here," the Jade Emperor replied as he placed his hands on his back, looking out towards the throne room once more. "Heaven was attacked in your absence. We would have called for you sooner; however the destruction you see was caused in less than four hours."

Homura's brows rose at the mere idea, turning to look around the room again. "Also," the Emperor continued. "The Merciful Goddess is missing and presumed dead." Homura's head whirled around to look at the man, shock written clear across his features. Kanzeon was no push over, so whatever had taken her down must've been one hell of a fighter. "We're planning on sending all of the heavenly army after him. Your job is to find him and gauge his power. Then report back and we will set up an army to go with you to take him down. Do not attack unless you have a clear shot at killing him."

"Understood," Homura said with a small bow. "Do you know what he looks like?"

"We know exactly who he is," the Jade Emperor said briskly, placing his hands behind his back. "It was that dreadful monster, Seiten Taisei."

Homura blinked as the words tried to make sense in his mind. Seiten Taisei? He hadn't seen the beast in five hundred years, since Goku, Konzen, Kenren and Tenpou had all lived peacefully in Heaven. About a million questions all bounced around in his head, but with the look in the Jade Emperor's eyes, he knew that this conversation was over. He instead bowed at the waist, before turning and heading for the door.

"Homura," the man called once more, causing Homura to freeze. "Do me one more favour. Bring back the Egg of Genesis. Unfertilized."

Homura knew what having the Egg missing from heaven meant. He also wondered what Seiten Taisei could possibly want with the egg. It didn't speak to his character; didn't make sense.

"Of course sir," Homura mumbled before he stepped out of the throne room and made his way back down towards Earth.

--

Zzzt... kkkkkkkkk... zip.

"My Lord? I'm in position."

"Good. Lirin? Dokugakuji? Are you ready?"

"Roger! Little Lirin is in position!"

"...zzzzzzzz ckh. Yup. We're good over here Kou. Waiting for your orders."

"Excellent. Hold perfectly still until I give the signal."

Kougaiji swept his gaze over the forest they found themselves in. The entire place was dark and had almost a feeling of hostility hovering about it, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. Kougaiji knew that the sun was shining brightly, however the trees over head seemed to grow together, blocking out all light.

It almost seemed fitting. Everywhere he went it seemed there were bodies or evidence of a struggle. The forest was littered with the corpses of people from a nearby town who seemed to have strayed too far into the woods and was attacked. When Kougaiji and Yaone had stepped into the town to ask about the creature dwelling in the forest, the people had told them all about how horrific a being it was. They had sent many parties in to destroy it, but none of them had come back alive. From the description, Kougaiji had reasoned that it was the very beast they were after, and set out to track it down.

As he made his way silently through the bushes, he could only reason that this entire escapade was ridiculous. He was supposed to be back at Houtou castle, preparing for the revival. Things were slowly coming into place and Kougaiji new that he was supposed to be there, not here, rummaging around in the woods searching for some stupid crazed demon.

However, when he thought back on it, even Kougaiji had to admit that he was slightly afraid. They had heard of massacres all across the country, and Gyoukumen Koushu demanded they look into it. When Nii had checked up on his computers and searched for what could be causing the trouble, he'd frozen.

Nii disgusted Kougaiji, in more ways than one. He was terribly confident and knew precisely what he was doing. However, when he read the screen, his normally confident face went slack, and all the color drained from his skin. His eyes had widened and his cigarette had fallen from his lips.

Then, he began to laugh. It was the kind of creaking, fucked-up laughter of a madman. He then picked up his bunny and walked away. No explanation. Nothing. To see Nii, possibly the most powerful and insane human being he ever met, truly frightened... Kougaiji knew he couldn't let this sit. He figured it would be easy to take care of a simple demon before it became a nuisance.

However, as he was making his way through the trees, he came upon its camp sight. He had been expecting to a bloodthirsty monster, and had been prepared fully to attack. Instead, al he found was a young boy sitting by a small fire. The boy could've passed for a human save for the odd scent and the strange, golden colored eyes.

The boy looked up from where he was seated next to the fire. When Kougaiji caught his eyes, he realized that something was wrong. Something had clouded his vision, swimming just beneath the surface. Something about this boy's mind had snapped, or broken, or cracked. Something wasn't right.

Kougaiji and the brown-haired boy stared at each other for a long moment. All of a sudden, Kougaiji could hear whispers, ghosts of conversations that never were.

"Leaving so soon? Why don't you come and stay a while!"

"So we meet again, Sanzo-ikkou. I'm here for my sister. Give her back!"

"Don't talk to us like we're kidnappers! She came after us!"

"Who are you fighting for? What's driving you to make you so powerful?!"

"I don't know what the heck you're talking about! This—This is all for me!"

"I only need a few seconds. Keep it still and it'll be a dead hit. Got that? Just don't get in the way."

"Sure... Just don't miss, 'kay?"

"Shuddup and go!"

"Kougaiji! Quit it!

Stop hesitating. What don't you understand? I'm not your friend, I'm your enemy, dimwit. No! Don't touch Sanzo! Goku, get out of the way! You got it, Kougaiji! I'm out of regrets. This time, I'm fighting for myself... You kill me first, ifIwinyougivemethematenscripture.YouknowIwon'tlose.I'minterestedinsettlingthis, Gokumakeyourchoice.Justdon'tcrywhenIbreakyou, monkey.You'regonnabetheonecryin'!

The words and conversations between the two men swirled and swirled until there was nothing but a mass of words and sounds all grating together. Kougaiji winced, blinking about of his stupor.

Only then did he hear the buzzing coming from his headset. He placed two fingers to his ear, feeling his blood go cold.

"...zzzzzzzzz...z... Kougaiji? Big brother? S-somebody... p-please help!"

Then Kougaiji could hear a blood curdling scream come through the headset, echoing through the forest. Lirin's piercing cry echoed through the area, causing his entire body to shut down.

The boy blinked, letting his head dip slightly. "I told him not to do it," he said quietly, barely heard by the Demon Prince.

Kougaiji didn't bother to pay any attention to him. He turned and bolted through the woods, searching for his sister. His heart was pounding in his ears and his eyes were wide and picked. He couldn't let Lirin die. Not now. He was supposed to be her protector, her big brother. How could he be so stupid? How could he let this happen? How...

As he stopped in the clearing that Lirin had been stationed in, he found Yaone and Dokugakuji had already arrived. Standing over Lirin's prone form was Seiten Taisei, the beast they had been hunting. He looked rather bored. He was sitting behind Lirin, one leg possessively thrown over her body as he rested his chin in his hands. He stared straight at Kougaiji with a bored look on his face. Then his lips curled into a smile.

"You've disturbed my day off," Seiten said slowly, his voice rumbling from deep within his chest. "Such a pity."

--

Seiten and Goku had been enjoying a relaxing morning in the forest they had kept themselves in for some time. They had been slowly killing off villagers that had wandered into the woods, feeding their souls to the egg and watching as gradually, it became lighter and lighter. Goku had no idea how many more souls they needed, however Seiten had merely said they'd know. After that, apparently they'd have to do a few other things before it was fertilized, then they could take it to Mount Kaka. And then, as Seiten said, it would all be over.

Goku had tried to convince his lover to take the day off. Goku was tired of fighting and didn't want Seiten to kill anyone today. He just wanted to enjoy a normal day. As normal as they could get, really. Seiten had seemed reluctant, not wanting to delay them any longer, but had agreed.

However, sometime after noon Seiten had picked up on the scent of intruders. He had ignored them at first, but had picked up the harmful intention that almost seemed to walk with them. He had told Goku that he would merely go and get rid of them, before leaving.

He had stalked the demons that dared to enter his forest. Seiten was not in the mood for anyone to enter his territory, and his territory happened to be anywhere he and his mate inhabited. He had watched the four of them before he had finally picked his prey. He'd decided to attack the noisy little girl who seemed so full of herself. She had tried to fight back, overconfident. Seiten had broken one of her ankles, and from there she tried to get serious. Even if she hadn't been injured, she wouldn't have been able to lay a scratch on Seiten. Without a care, he used his claws, leaving several mean gashes along her skin before breaking her back. The pain had knocked her out, not to mention she had let out a blood-curdling scream when she did so.

Which left Seiten in his current position. Her friends had luckily shown up, which was good. He promised Goku he wouldn't kill anyone today. Not to mention they were demons, he would have no use for their souls anyway.

He'd waited until their leader appeared before he let a smile curl on his lips. "You've disturbed my day off," he said, nudging at the body beneath him with his foot. "Such a pity."

"You bastard!" he red-headed leader roared, looking as though he was about to charge him. The bulky bodyguard put his hand out, stopping him.

"Settle down, Kougaiji. You'll get nothing by attacking him," he said wisely.

"He's right, you know," Seiten said, unable to hide his arrogance as he shoved the young girl's body over towards him without a care. "She's still alive. Just some mild bleeding. But her back's broken. You might want to fix that."

The three of them before him stood absolutely still. They probably figured that if they moved to collect their friend he might kill them. Seiten rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I promised someone I wouldn't take any lives today. However, if you don't do something, she will become paralyzed." He paused, a frown twisting on his lips. "Come to think of it, if you don't hurry up and get the hell out of here, I will kill you all."

Kougaiji, as the other man had called him, bent down to collect the orange-haired girl's body. She looked fragile and broken in his arms, and by the grimace on his face, he didn't look pleased at all. "I will be back," the indigo-eyed man swore, gritting his teeth together. "And I will kill you."

"I'd be disappointed if I never saw you again," Seiten replied honestly, watching as the four of them disappeared without a sound.

--

It had only taken Homura a few days to track down Seiten Taisei and the Egg of Genesis. He's crossed the demon on his so-called 'day off' catching the confrontation between the rabbit prince and the earth's child.

He had been surprised by a number of things, the first being the fact that Seiten and Goku were no longer bound by the same body. The second being that Seiten seemed much more calculating than before. This was not the monster that had ripped through Heaven like a penny through wet paper. This creature had had time to sit, and let the anger and pain stew until he had come up with a plan to get revenge on everyone.

Not just the gods it seemed, but everyone who did him wrong.

Homura found this intriguing. He watched the young demon as he made his way back towards his encampment, wondering, idly, if he could use this situation to his advantage.

With these new thoughts to ponder, the demi-god quietly slipped from the tree he was hiding in and disappeared. He had much to think about.

A/N: Sorry this took so long to get up. I lost all inspiration to write this story. But never fear, I promise I will finish it! This chapter is dedicated to purpleicicles for drawing me a lovely picture of Sanzo at the end of chapter nine. If you'd like to see it, drop me a line.

C&C appreciated!