“Wow, the wish granting spirit of the Box looks kind of… Sad really…” Meiko turned her head trying to properly etch the portrait of the very shady looking monster that was given birth by the Box taking in Mana’s chakra.
“Fruit of the First People’s pathetic tinkering with life, you are a poor judge, sinful one” Satori spoke up in the same voice of a deep and almost singing like masculine voice of a young man, one that was so soothing that it would’ve made the Two Tailed Cat purr. “Now, shall your primitive minds have any questions or do you wish to state your wish?”
Mana smiled with a flaring spark in her eyes. She was now witnessing someone that spoke like it saw the First People interact with humans which would’ve made it almost as old as the oldest life on this planet. As a blooming buff of history and legends there was so much Mana wanted to ask Satori. It pretty much dug its own grave by asking this question.
“What exactly are you? You say that you know our origins and relation to the First People but it is merely a speculation of what that relation was. What is your relation to the First People?” Mana asked. As much as she wanted to just ask Satori breathe life into Shimo’s body, first she had to scope the entity out and find out if she wasn’t stepping into a trap of some sorts. The Box had numerous legends spun about it and many more descriptions of how it worked. There were no confirmed survivors that had found the Box and used it successfully, many claimed to have done so but their stories were inconsistent. There must’ve been a reason for this…
“There is no “speculation”, you are merely a product of the First People wishing to create life using chakra “ your very existence is a crime against nature. However just like the First People sinned against you by giving you your pitiful lives they’ve also sinned against me by trapping me in this Box for eternity” the winged demon spoke out waving its black wings and making more feathers fall off and get incinerated from being separate from their master.
A booming pillar of flames burst behind Mana, Satori pointed its wings towards the ninja surrounding them in a dark purple force field and protecting the ninja from taking a very unpleasant dip into the blood of the dying planet.
“What was that?” Kouta yelled out as he witnessed endless more pillars of magma shoot out from underneath and reach out into the skies spilling the searing hot blood of his planet “ the molten magma as well as jets of actual scorching flames.
“I was a bane of the First People, a demon so vile that my very presence is slowly destroying the Universe. That is why the First People thought it necessary to jail me, do not dare pity me, however, to one such as me eternity is just a heartbeat away if loathsome humans didn’t interrupt my jail time every once and again” Satori giggled as its upper body which shaped a makeshift mouth turned around in a shape of a smile skewering the whole shape of the entity.
“How could a Lesser Demon be so powerful?” Mana scratched her head feeling confused.
“I come from a time before the Ten Tails, before it was split into the Tailed Beasts. Back in my days demons had more pride than to be categorized, I am neither lesser nor higher or tailed, I am me!” the demonic entity appeared to get offended by Mana’s question as it moved in its massive brown claw right up to the magician’s chest as if meaning to impale the girl on it but then it just lightly touched her as if playing with her. There must’ve been safety hazards installed into the Box preventing from Satori escaping or killing anyone after release.
“So you said we are just to call any wish and you’ll make it true? Isn’t that a bit too generous of you? What is the purpose of this Box and why are you doing this?” Mana asked a more direct question realizing that she was not nearly as competent of a historian to comprehend the time or the nature of this beast in front of her. It claimed to come well before the time which was considered a dark age of legends and only has skewered points of view of specific landlords recorded as history. It came from well before the time when history was at the very best unreliable.
“You heard me correctly, human, I am trapped within the Box and it is fueled by chakra. One supplied by people sealed into the Box. The Box uses that chakra to protect itself but also to keep me contained. I was forcefully given a function to grant wishes in order to fuel my own jail. That is the nature of your progenitors, human! The ones you speak of with respect and call “ First People” Satori answered.
“I knew it! It’s going to seal us into the Box!” Kouta yelled out angrily taking an offensive stance which also triggered Meiko’s fighting response as she also unsealed a sword from a sealing glyph and prepared for combat.
“For someone who is such a pitiful failed experiment of a creature thinking itself competent enough to create life you assume yourself incorrectly within your bounds while interrupting me. It is for such transgressions that I consider First People’s successors a pathetic waste of space and sad even compared to the “Gods” that gave them life” the demonic entity hissed in fury mocking the divine word as much as its manly voice allowed it.
Mana bowed and apologized to the demon asking it to continue its chain of thought.
“The rules are simple, you name a wish and if it is not selfish I grant it. If I deem it selfish you who opened the Box shall be forever sealed within the Box fueling my torment and forever watching your own kind stumble and fail to live up to the legacy of maggots that created them” Satori explained, his voice began sounding what the legends described a devil sounding like “ conniving, malicious and very tempting. A minute more and it’d have begged Mana to sell her soul.
“It’s too risky, let’s seal it back and go home, if we won’t use its wish granting properties it won’t change its location, the mission will still be completed, right, Mana?” Meiko gently placed her hand on Mana’s shoulder trying to move her friend away from the Box but Mana remained rooted in place.
This Box was without a doubt demonic and evil in nature, so much Mana knew after seeing its very design. She knew so much just by seeing what terribly evil chakra it leaked out into the surrounding world turning the sky murky and black and unleashing a violent thunderstorm of evil lightning bolts. It claimed now that just its very existence would destroy the whole Universe if it is let to remain in its halfway sealed state. But… Shimo didn’t deserve to pay for Mana’s mistakes with his life. No one but she did.
“You are very wrong, girl. If a wish is not made I shall remain half-sealed here continuously destroying the Universe just by being alive, within six hours I shall destroy the Earth, within a day I will destroy the solar system and within a week the entire galaxy, after three months there shall be nothing but empty void and me in my imprisoned state as the end of the Universe will not harm me one tiny bit even in my sealed state. Are you ready for this sacrifice just to remain noble and free? Shall you validate my spite for humankind by dooming me for eternal loneliness as everything around me is decimated to cinders?” Satori raised its voice trying to reach out for Mana as well.
Only now the magician realized what sort of cataclysm she had unleashed. If she did nothing the entire Universe would be destroyed, if she asked for a wish she risked being sealed into the Box, doomed for the similar fate to that of Satori. She’d be remaining alive within the Box fueling the Box’s need of chakra like some sort of a milking cow. It was a fate much worse than death but one much more favorable compared to the end of all things.
Such was the cruel irony of this world “ in her noble intention to save her friend Mana unleashed the devil itself who wished to make a deal and if Mana refused she’d sign the death warrant of all existence. However if she did ask for Shimo’s return the Yuki would only be alive because of this evil chakra running its course. There was no positive outcome to this.
Kusagoro grabbed Mana by her collar and pulled her closer to his face, the man’s smelly breath was blowing in her face heavily as the man sneered and growled at her. “You’re a fucking witch of a girl, whatever you fucking do ends in everyone around you dying and paying the price! Why the fuck haven’t you cut your wrists yet!?” Kusagoro shouted out. “Right now while you comprehend your own existential problems this creature is destroying the Earth, name your wish and sacrifice yourself, have some guts to do the actual right thing for once and stop stalling just to appear high and mighty!” he yelled out before throwing Mana at the Box over his shoulder.
Satori’s bubble of dark purple chakra stopped Mana in mid-air and gently placed her on the ground. “As expected, the sniveling human is wrong. After the wish is made my power shall reverse all destructive effects inflicted by the Box or my presence. You are in absolutely no rush as you shall be protected as long as you are within the Box’s protective field. Everything beyond it is relative, even as the Universe itself crumbles there is nothing absolute, I can and will undo everything. All I need is a wish but if your wish is to talk that I can do for free. This girl is wiser than the lot of you for wishing to scope the possibilities first. This is literally the most important decision in your miserable existences” the demonic entity explained.
“How is this possible, how can you actually have enough chakra to grant any wish in existence and then undo the destruction of the entire Universe if need be?” Mana asked in awe.
“I am the one who opposed the First People, the ones that were capable of taming the very chakra of which the Universe is composed of. You are aware of the “chakra over matter” principle of nature, aren’t you, girl? As such an entity there is nothing I cannot do. I can destroy the limitless and indestructible and I can create the impossible, I can tame what is yet to be or will never even be, eternity and infinity are but feathers in my angelic wings” Satori explained.
“You mean…” Mana tried to wrap her head around the complicated and unimaginable might of the First People but was interrupted by the sad looking entity.
“Yes, the entire Universe and everything inside it is made of chakra on a spiritual level. That very chakra is just another energy which can be tamed and the First People were creatures that could tap into that power. They could manipulate that very energy which the Universe was made of, both the chakra that comprises matter and the one that comprises the dark matter, that of energy and that of dark energy. If you wish to accomplish something within the universal boundaries you simply shape the universe as you see it by tapping into its chakra. The concepts of ninjutsu were made for humans so that you inferior creatures could learn how to properly use chakra but you remained stuck on the training wheels” Satori continued to elaborate on just what kind of creatures the First People “ the progenitor of the current people were.
“So… The concept of ninjutsu, as a technique that gets one specific thing done using chakra is just a first step to manipulating the very existence? The way the First People did?” Mana elaborated on the true meaning of Satori’s words which was so mind blowing to believe. Ninjutsu was like using a specific set in stone spellword to cast a spell, like the wizards in stories and legends did, the true nature of chakra manipulation was to accomplish anything one pleased. The closest metaphor to such a being would’ve been a god but if the entire population of people were gods, then no one was.
“Exactly. I hope this helps you understand how primitive and failed you are as spawns of the First People’s wish to create life using chakra. You were named as their successors after their own hubris swallowed them and gave the Earth and the Moon to populate, to inherit it. And yet you struggle to live up even to the scale of your expectations where you’d be considered a colossal failure. Your miserable lives are lost in battle or due to your pathetically short lifespan and rather than to record your progress and let your successors inherit it you cling to it and drag it to the grave because it’s a “village secret”. You are pests that feast on the excrement of flies that feasted on the First People excrement “ never assume to be more than that while humans remain to be what they are now. Now I’d hear out your wish unless you still want to torment me with your human stench?” the demonic entity almost sang out as it often did when matters concerned belittling humankind.
At that moment something snapped in the magician’s mind, almost like a realization had hit her on the spot about what was going on. Mana lowered her head and clutched at her fists so hard that she felt her own fingernails etching deep into the flesh of her hands causing it to bleed quite potently. She was almost shaking in anger before her head lifted up and stared right at Satori as if she hated the very guts of the being. “You… I’ve never thought there’d be the day when I’d wish to end a life of another being and today I’ve seen two such instances. I should wish for your end, you twisted, rotten and hypocritical piece of filth!” she lashed out at the demon greatly confusing her team that stood behind her.
“Mana, is something wrong?” Kouta tried to reach out to Mana but her hateful eyes that were drowning in tears turned back at him staring with such intense rage that he backed up overcome by fear of what the magician might do. Even to the young man she claimed she loved.
The magician’s body erupted in chakra as she launched her body at Satori diving with a jumping kick, “Spear Kick!” she yelled out after her kick simply bounced off of a protective field that surrounded Satori and she backflipped back on her feet going through a bunch of hand seals and extending her hands forward.
Mana continued to rampage going through each and every ninjutsu technique in her arsenal breaking each one of them with a barrage of punches and kicks before the girl fell flat on her butt and couldn’t stand back up. It pained her chest to even breathe but she wished to destroy this foul thing with every fiber of her being. It was such a cruel thing that toyed on the death of her friend by its twisted game and selfish desire to seal anyone that opened the Box.
“Mana…” Meiko spoke up with pity for the suffering that her friend was going through, “You know that sometimes I’m slow to catch on but… This creature clearly caused you great pain but… I don’t understand it, you know I am your friend so tell me how it hurt you so I can kick its ass together with you” the blacksmith walked up to Mana and lifted the girl back on her feet helping the magician stand on her feet.
“Don’t you get it Meiko? We can’t bring back Shimo “ he’s dead for good and there’s no force in this Universe to bring him back to us! This filthy demon is tricking us…” Mana shouted out with a voice of a sister that lost her brother and it sounded almost like she projected that pain on Satori and not the actual man that killed him.
“I… Don’t understand…” Meiko still shook her head.
“Can’t you s…” Mana stood back on her feet but then a sharp pain made her fall back down. Someone from behind her knocked her down and ran in front of the Box. Mana tried to lift her head up and she heard Kouta and Meiko rushing towards the perpetrator but he was desperately running towards Satori.
“Listen up you stupid crow-man! Make me the most powerful pirate in the world roaming the eternal seas with limitless adventure and booty for me to plunder! Fill this world with danger and excitement so I can be the greatest pirate ever!” Akimichi Francho shouted out through his crushed face barely intelligibly spouting out bursts of blood with each word but it was clear that the creature understood the pirate’s words.
“I see…” Satori spoke as its mouth opened and suddenly the darkness around the world began seeping into the open abyssal gap that dragged Francho in with the darkness. The entity began shining with dark purple light as it dissolved into a vortex of evil lightning and returned to the Box. The ground beneath the Box was restored, the island was rebuilt and all was just like it was in the morning before the Box was even uncovered except the pyramid the Box was inside of was no more.
“I… Don’t get it… What just happened?” Meiko shouted out in total confusion, the blacksmith must’ve been losing her mind as events she couldn’t justify or wrap her head around were just stacking up on top of each other.
Mana got back on her feet and looked at the closed Box.
“There is no wish that can be made. The answer was in front of us the whole time, I should’ve known earlier… We can’t ask for the Box to fulfil a wish that isn’t selfish because the very idea of someone fulfilling your wish mystically is selfish. The Box was designed to trick greedy people into fueling Satori’s prison for all eternity. Dreams are something that we must strive towards and wish hard enough to motivate us to never give up reaching for them” Mana spoke up bursting into tears as she slammed her hand into the white sand of the beach she was standing in.
“So there is actually no way of bringing Shimo back to life, that’s why you were so mad at Satori…” Kouta finished her link of thoughts.
“Oh… Mana…” Meiko finally understood everything and wrapped her hands around Mana so hard that the magician almost suffocated from her friend’s embrace and tapped the blacksmith’s shoulder asking to be let go.
“You better hurry, in a moment it will disappear until it runs short of chakra and needs to be refueled and then it’ll manifest itself somewhere randomly in the world, claiming more victims until there is no living thing to fuel it anymore in perpetual circle” the magician managed to break out a small smile by turning up her cheekbones. Meiko shook her head in confusion but then remembered Mana’s promise.
The redhead ran towards the Box and moved her fingers under the sandy surface trying to peel the colossal pyramid size Box off the ground. Now that it used no chakra to protect itself and was perfectly refueled Meiko managed to lift the whole three hundred meter tall and wide Box above her head. The blacksmith huffed and struggled to maintain her grip but then the Box became lighter and lighter as it slowly faded and dissipated into nothingness one glowing particle at a time, collapsing into a sandstorm of small glowing particles that then got carried away by the wind and Meiko didn’t hold anything in her hands anymore but empty air.
The redhead grinned to her ears and rubbed her nose with the index finger shyly, “Well, I guess that’s that…” she concluded.
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