bluedragonauthor

The Blue Dragon: Chapter 29

Added 2024-08-15 21:33:28 +0000 UTC

My apologies for the posting delay as I had some personal matters to take care of but I should be back on schedule now. Thank you for your patience as I catch up.

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-- CHAPTER 29: Osaka --

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“Unngh… Unngh… Unngh…”

In my experience, Mile High Club encounters were a fun way to get an adrenaline rush through quick-and-dirty hookups in an aircraft lavatory. But that said, I would strongly advise against ever attempting to have a threesome in an aircraft lavatory.

I did actually do it once. An old girlfriend and I had taken a red-eye flight back from a friend’s destination wedding in Maui. We’d started flirting with the airline stewardess, one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew, I was seated atop the lavatory toilet cover with the stewardess squatting in my lap with her feet planted to either side of me, trying to hold onto my neck, plus my girlfriend hugging her and making out with her from behind.

That part worked out okay… ish. I came, the stewardess came, and the whole thing didn’t take very long. But my girlfriend wanted to get stuffed as well, and there simply wasn’t enough room for three adults to move around as needed without catching a stray elbow in the ribs, the throat, or somewhere even less fortunate.

I mean, we got the job done. All three of us orgasmed and all three of us could check “having a threesome in an aircraft lavatory” off our bucket lists, but I still wouldn’t recommend it. The whole encounter took way too long, there were several times somebody banged into the wall rather hard (loud enough to attract attention, not to mention the ‘Oww!’ exclamations), and even though it was the middle of the night, there was still a small crowd of people outside giving us funny looks when we emerged.

But that was in another life, before I’d met people with unlimited financial funds and supernatural powers.

“Unngh… Unngh… Unngh…”

“Yesss… Yesss… Yesss…”

I liked to think I did alright when it came to career earnings. I certainly wasn’t poor, and I made enough money to pay for a nice apartment with a view over Santa Monica beach. Still, I had no idea Qatar Qsuites were a thing until I boarded the plane and Rae led us to our international business class seats.

Tianshi was in seat 1A by the window, no surprise. It was rear-facing so that she and Rae in seat 2B could have their own little enclosed space that included a sliding door for extra privacy. But what surprised the hell out of me was that Ziyi, Hannah, and I were given seats 1E, 1F, 2D, and 2G, which formed what Qatar Airlines called the Qsuite Quad. 1E and 1F faced the rear, were side-by-side, and could be converted into a double bed. The four seats together shared a large table in the center. And sliding doors sealed the three of us within our own private space.

We didn’t even have anybody sitting in the fourth seat. Tianshi simply purchased it to make sure nobody else sat with us. She’d also bought Magdalena an economy class ticket back in steerage just because.

Hey, she’d agreed to let Magdalena come along. She hadn’t promised Ludovico that she’d give the woman a business class seat. No matter, Magdalena went to the desk and upgraded her own seat, but she was on her own in the far corner of the business class cabin.

Hannah didn’t even wait for the plane to take off. She closed the sliding doors, unzipped my pants, and started giving me a blowjob while we were still at the gate. Tianshi and Rae must’ve run interference for us, because nobody came to check on us. Hannah got herself mounted on my dick right as the plane started to take off. It was quite a rush to get ridden like that while the engines roared and the bed we were on tilted at such an extreme angle.

“Fuck… fuck… fuck…”

“Nngh… nngh… nngh…”

We didn’t have sex for the entire flight. I may have been able to fuck non-stop, but Ziyi felt satisfied after a couple of good orgasms and Hannah was only human. Still, it was quite a rush to feel the momentary weightlessness of an airplane gliding down to the runway with Ziyi’s constricted colon convulsing around my cock reverse-cowgirl while Hannah conducted incredible cunnilingus on her clit, and then start cramming her anal cavity full of creamy cum right as the jet’s wheels hit the tarmac.

“AAAHHH! AAAHHH! AAAAAHHHHH!!!”

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FFFUUUCCCKKK!!!”

I really hoped Tianshi’s illusions were up to the task of masking our orgasmic screams.

It was 5PM local time when we landed at Kansai International Airport. Similar to taking the Leonardo Express train in Rome, we boarded the Haruka Express train for the forty-five-minute ride into downtown Osaka. Between the two, the Haruka train cars were more comfortable, with plush seats and more legroom.

From there, it was a short trip to the Conrad Osaka hotel, where Ziyi, Hannah, and I were given a King Executive Corner Suite on the fortieth floor, high above the city. Tianshi and Rae were in the Conrad Penthouse Suite down the hall, with Magdalena next to them. And even though the girls and I had spent the better part of the previous seventeen hours of travel time having sex, the very first thing they wanted to do upon entering our suite was to rip my clothes off and get pounded right away again.

But then we slept.

A LOT.

It was nearly one in the afternoon the next day when I finally woke up to find myself still sandwiched between two completely naked babes. Ziyi was curled up on her left side facing away from me, holding my left arm beneath her cheek as a pillow. Hannah’s head was on the right side of my chest, with her right leg flung across mine. And it felt so incredibly comfortable to have them both in my arms like this that I didn’t want to move a single muscle for fear of ruining the peaceful moment.

But I had to pee.

‘Fuck.’

Well, do you really have to pee?

‘What do you mean? Yes, I really have to pee.’

I’m just saying: you’ve got water elemental powers, right? Urine is ninety-five percent water. Have you ever tried just… I dunno… evaporating the urine in your bladder?

‘Umm, wouldn’t that just leave behind all the minerals and other bad stuff the urine is supposed to be flushing out and give me kidney stones?’

Well… maybe. But then you could just refill your bladder later, like when you manifested water out of the air to fill the pots back in that Longmen cave. Or who knows? Maybe when you evaporate your urine, it’ll take all the mineral stuff with it.

‘Or the liquid will transform into a gas, increase the internal pressure in my bladder, and make me explode.’

You’re the destined Chosen One of Qinglong. You’re not gonna die by exploding bladder.

‘Has that already been written?’

Well… no. But still, it’s worth a shot. Unless you wanna wake up the naked girls.

No, I didn’t want to wake them. So I concentrated. I thought about making the liquid in my bladder just… disappear, and a moment later, I could actually feel my bladder pressure being relieved as if I were peeing it all out into the toilet.

That’s because you ARE peeing it all out. You’re wetting the bed, dude.

‘WHAT?!’

Morgan Freeman voice: He was not, in fact, wetting the bed.

‘Dong!’

Made you look.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake…’

Dong’s laughter in my head made me wish I could strangle his little neck.

Hey, this is cause for celebration, man. Think of all those concerts and sporting events. You’ll never have to worry about waiting in line to pee ever again! Or having to go into a filthy port-a-potty or camping pit toilet for the rest of your life.

‘Well I still have to figure out how to handle a number two.’

One step at a time, big dude. One step at a time. Like I said: this is cause for celebration. You once again have the power to make ice blades, spinning water balls, and floating ice platforms… AND the ability to remove your own need to pee!

‘Why does it feel like that last one is the most impressive and unexpected ability of them all?’

Because it is! You’ve got your powers back, bro. I thus pronounce thee… revivified.

‘I still don’t think that’s a word.’

It’s a word.

‘Stop trying to make fetch happen.’

“You’re so hard…” Hannah murmured into my chest. The dirty-blonde’s hand had slid down my belly and over the rock-hard erection she found stabbing upwards at a slight incline above my pelvis. Her fingers wrapped around my shaft, slowly stroking.

“I’m always hard for you,” I told her gently, kissing her forehead.

“Mmm…” she mumbled, opening her eyes and giving me a sleepy smile. “I want it inside me again.”

“You always want it inside you,” I murmured with a chuckle.

“Then it’s a good thing you’re always hard for me,” she said breathily while crawling into my lap and getting herself lined up.

Best. Job. Ever, Dong pronounced quite happily.

And then Hannah sank herself down.

****

“Good afternoon. I hope you’ve had a pleasant trip thus far,” Tianshi stated coolly when the six of us assembled in the living room of the Penthouse Suite. Ziyi, Hannah, and I sat together on a curved sofa that perfectly fit within a plush, circular rug atop the hardwood floors. Rae and Magdalena sat in the two wing chairs. And Tianshi in her alien-esque ‘true form’ stood in front of the large flat-screen TV.

Dong popped into existence atop my shoulder and remarked, “Why thank you! Yes, we’ve had a very pleasant tr--”

“It was a rhetorical question,” Tianshi cut him off with an eyeroll.

Hannah giggled but then covered her mouth, looking apologetic when Tianshi glared at her.

A moment later, Tianshi’s glare faded away, to be replaced by an expression of confusion. “Wait… Can you still perceive the avatar of Qinglong?”

Hannah blinked twice. “You’re asking if I can see Dong? Sure! Um… Am I not supposed to?”

“You’re human.”

“Yesss…” Hannah drawled, nodding her head up and down quite slowly with an expression that clearly said, I know that. “I’ve been able to see him ever since Lin Tang arrived yesterday morning.”

Tianshi frowned and looked over at Rae, as if her student could possibly explain what was going on.

But Rae shrugged and said, “I don’t know how it’s possible either. But yes, I noticed that Hannah was able to interact with Dong when he… ahhh…” Rae blushed and averted her eyes rather than finish that sentence.

But Tianshi was insistent. “When he what?”

“See last night, I popped up onto Aksel’s shoulder to rave about Hannah’s improving blowjob technique,” Dong explained, and Tianshi closed her eyes and grimaced as if the mere sound of his voice gave her a headache. But he continued anyways, “-I- didn’t know she could hear me either, but she promptly popped off his prick to say, ‘Thank you for the compliment!’”

“I have suddenly realized that I do not care anymore,” Tianshi sighed, still with her eyes closed and raising her hand palm-out.

Magdalena gestured towards Dong, asking Rae, “Is the gecko always this annoying?”

“You have NO idear,” Rae drawled, her accent adding the ‘r’ on the end.

“It is of no significant importance. Moving on,” Tianshi continued. “I think we all know why we are here: to recover the fourth and final relic in pursuit of Faguang Long.”

“The Sword of Baihu, White Tiger of the West,” Ziyi stated softly, her eyes unfocusing a bit.

“Indeed,” Tianshi confirmed, scrutinizing the viper shapeshifter. Standing erect and pressing her hands together as if in prayer, she pointed all ten fingers at Ziyi, asking, “What do you remember of the sword?”

Ziyi blinked twice and sat back in surprise, perhaps not expecting to be called on by the teacher. It was easy to forget that last night was the first time she’d ever met Tianshi (to my knowledge), but animosity between fox spirits and vipers seemed to be the default setting for both of them, so she didn’t need me to warn her to be careful with the powerful huli jing.

“You are asking me?” Ziyi asked suspiciously.

“You were in possession of the sword itself a thousand years ago, were you not? As I understand it, the Chosen One aided you in recovering the sword from Warlord Zhu Wen. His corporeal body perished in the effort and his hun soul returned to this time period, but you escaped.”

“Well… yes,” Ziyi admitted.

Tianshi’s diamond-white eyes glittered as she took a step forward. “To where did you go?”

Ziyi looked puzzled but answered, “I fled south, to Guilin.”

“And you brought the sword with you?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“‘Why’? Why does it matter?” Ziyi challenged in return, suddenly defensive. “You recovered the sword eventually, did you not?”

“Yeah,” I chimed in. “At the mini-mart in Rome where you drank a Diet Coke and somehow opened a one-way portal to a hidden room that contained the Feather of Zhuque, you told us that while the relics of Qinglong and Xuanwu were hidden in American art installations, you kept the relics of Zhuque and Baihu under your own control. So whatever Ziyi did with the sword more than a thousand years ago has no relevance today.”

Tianshi narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, looking like she wanted to argue the point. To be perfectly honest, I wanted to know more about where Ziyi went after I’d… well… died. I wanted to know more about what she’d done, how she’d lived, and all the experiences she’d had over the past thousand years of existence on Planet Earth. What was that like, anyways? To live for that long and witness the great changes of the world?

Part of me also felt like I’d been kind of a dick (literally), being only too eager to have sex, more sex, and then even more sex rather than sit down with Ziyi and tell her, ‘Hey I’m so happy that we’re together again but now that I know you’re my Ziyi from Luoyang I’d like you to tell me all about your life and adventures over the past thousand years just because I want to know absolutely everything about you.’

But my curiosity to learn more - and my interest in being less of a dick to the woman I loved - weren’t enough to make me try and convince Ziyi to tell her story if she didn’t want to right now, especially not in front of Tianshi. If for no other reason than to show ‘my girl’ that I had her back, I added firmly, “If she doesn’t want to talk about it, she doesn’t have to talk about it.”

Tianshi smirked at the hui shapeshifter. “Something to hide? Past lovers you do not wish your precious Chezhou to know about? Or perhaps you are more ashamed of becoming a hired assassin working for the Cao Wei.”

“It was only one mission, I was misled, and I have already apologized to Chezhou for making a bad decision,” Ziyi hissed defensively. “And I will not let you goad me into an argument solely for the sake of your amusement. You brought us here to Japan in order to recover the sword. Why? Did you lie to us before when you claimed the sword was under your control?”

“I did not lie. The sword is under our control.”

“But much like the Feather of Zhuque was locked inside a treasure box,” I interjected, “is the Sword of Baihu locked inside some type of magic-warded container that only I… or another worthy descendant of Shu Han… can open?”

“Essentially, yes,” Tianshi confirmed.

“Can you bring the magic-warded container here so the Chosen One can unlock the final gate to Faguang Long?” I added. “The way you brought the treasure box to Rome?”

Tianshi winced, took a deep breath, and shook her head. “No, we cannot.”

The rest of us went silent, expecting Tianshi to continue. But instead the beautiful but alien-looking woman paused, took a deep breath, and appeared to be considering her next words. Her gaze was intently fixed on Ziyi, and I got the distinct impression that the she was trying very, very hard to read the hui shapeshifter’s mind. But Ziyi must’ve had better mental defenses than I did - maybe even akin to her automatic scale defenses - because it looked to me like Tianshi wasn’t getting anywhere.

Seconds later, even though Tianshi’s face was still pointed at Ziyi, I started to feel a tingling sensation in my head as if the telepath was now sifting for information in my mind.

The bitch is trying to figure out if YOU know where Ziyi took the sword.

‘But I don’t know where.’

Yeah. She just figured that out.

‘Can you please kick her out of my head now?’

// This is the song that doesn’t ennnnd / Yes it goes on and on my friennnnd! / Some people staaaa-- aww, she’s out now.

‘Let’s just make it a standing instruction for you to do that whenever she tries to poke around my mind without permission, huh?’

Happy to do so!

‘Actually, I can’t think of situation where I would give her permission, so just do that whenever she tries to poke around, period.’

Even happier to do so!

The entire silent pause only lasted a few seconds, and in the end, Tianshi shook her head and turned to address the rest of us. “First of all, the ‘magic-warded container’ cannot be easily moved.”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Unlike the treasure box of Zhuque, which was small enough to be concealed and easily transported, the vessel holding the relic of Baihu is quite large, about the size of a casket. We would need to load this casket onto a truck or similar vehicle, and such a convoy would be extremely vulnerable to ambush and attack.” Tianshi smirked. “You two may perhaps recall your own plan to recover the sword in Luoyang. You waited until the sword was away from the Tian Tang tower and captured it in-transit.”

Ziyi and I looked at each other and nodded. Ziyi then spoke up by asking, “Is the sword currently in a high-security location like the Tian Tang tower?”

“It is in a sanctuary under Shu Han control,” Tianshi confirmed. “So we must travel to the relic’s location, recover the sword, and then follow the bamboo scroll map’s instructions to find Faguang Long.”

“Great! What are we waiting for?” Magdalena clapped her hands and rubbed them together while sitting up straight, her expression clearly stating, Can we get this over with so I can go home?

“We are waiting on two things,” Tianshi explained. “The first is that we must wait for the right time. The relic’s sanctuary is protected by powerful magic, which includes a portal that will only open beneath a full moon.”

“A full moon?” I blinked in surprise. “But when’s the next full moon?”

“Tomorrow evening,” Rae piped up. “About thirty-one hours from now. We’re lucky we got out of Italy when we did. Had it taken us another day to rescue Ziyi, we might’ve had to wait another month to enter the sanctuary.”

“Okay…” I turned back to Tianshi. “You said there were two things we were waiting for.”

“Reinforcements,” she said through pursed lips. “Additional Shu Han warriors from the region who will be able to join us on this mission. The sanctuary itself is secure, but it’s location is also known to the agents of Cao Wei. Our enemies have thus far been unsuccessful in breaching our defenses, but they will have the site under constant observation, especially on the night of the full moon.”

Tianshi paused to let the full weight of that last sentence sink in, and the rest of us all looked at each other for a moment.

“Make no mistake: it is nearly certain that we will be attacked when we try to enter the sanctuary,” the ageless woman continued in a somewhat breathless voice. She then turned and fixed her diamond-white gaze laser-straight at me. “which was one reason I felt it was imperative that you regain complete access to your water elemental powers, no matter what.”

I scowled and rolled my eyes, recalling once more the way Tianshi had gone about testing her theory. Perhaps feeling the same tension, Hannah squeezed my hand reassuringly. But in the end, I sighed and realized that Tianshi was right: I needed to have my powers back.

“You will have the rest of today and tomorrow morning to rest and relax,” the bewitching woman stated gravely. “Enjoy the time that you have. For tomorrow night may very well be the last for any of us.”

****

From an operational security perspective, we probably should’ve just holed up inside our hotel suites and rested up for tomorrow evening’s battle to come. But when Hannah asked if it would be alright for us to go out and explore the city, Tianshi waved dismissively and told us to go ahead.

“The Cao Wei know exactly when and where we will be tomorrow night,” Tianshi said wearily. “So long as you remain in public spaces within view of ordinary humans, they will not waste the energy and resources to attack, especially during daylight.”

And then she left the living room to retire to the master bedroom.

Once she left, Rae produced five identical iPhones in titanium gray and started handing them out to each of us while keeping one for herself. Magdalena and Ziyi took theirs without comment, but Hannah gushed, “Does this mean I’m part of the team?!?”

Rae laughed and rubbed the back of Hannah’s hand while handing over the phone. “Yes, of course. I happen to think you’re an essential part of the team, human or not.”

I held up my iPhone for all of the others to see. “Look! It doesn’t have a thumb button! Does this mean I’m part of the team?”

Everyone got a good laugh at that.

Now that we were in Japan, the very first thing Hannah wanted to do next was get sushi. And as soon as she mentioned it, Magdalena immediately brightened and said, “Sushi sounds great!”

I raised my eyebrows and regarded Magdalena for a moment. We had been fighting against each other only two days ago (Yesterday? Three days? Hopping time zones and long-distance international travel really fucks with one’s sense of time), but now we were supposedly on the same side. Tianshi had made it clear that she would prefer NOT to have the Italian demigoddess with us, no matter how powerful, and Magdalena had been very quiet ever since joining our little party.

She’d kept to herself in the separate bungalow at the Lake Bracciano villa, making no mention about whether or not she could hear us having an epic reunion foursome. She’d not interrupted us at all during the two flights from Rome to Osaka, making no mention about whether or not she could hear us having an epic mile high threesome in the Qatar Qsuite Quad. And she’d spoken up very little in conversation.

But while Rae and I both looked hesitant and unsure of how to respond to Magdalena seemingly inviting herself to join us, Hannah was far more welcoming.

“Great!” the dirty-blonde agreed with a smile for the brunette beauty. “The more the merrier!”

Rae and I exchanged another look, but Ziyi extended her arm out to Magdalena, saying, “We would love to have you join us.”

‘We would?’ I questioned to myself.

Big tits. I vote she comes.

‘Nobody’s asking for your opinion.’

Play your cards right, and maybe the two of them will reenact their little bondage game from the other day. Do you think she packed her burgundy leather BDSM outfit?

I rolled my eyes rather than respond to that.

But Magdalena must’ve thought I was rolling her eyes at her, and she growled, “If the so-called Chosen One disapproves of my presence, I can find my own meals.”

“What? No. No,” I said defensively, holding my hand out and then tapping the side of my head. “I was rolling my eyes at Dong.”

“Dong…” Magdalena looked confused for a moment. “The talking gecko, vero?”

“Yes, the talking gecko,” I confirmed. “He made a crude remark in my head. He does that a lot.”

“He does that a lot,” Ziyi added with a knowing nod before looking back at me. “Is he saying something about Magdalena’s breasts? It is usually about a woman’s breasts.”

I rolled my eyes and deadpanned, “How ever did you know?”

Ziyi smiled. “Dong is quite the horndog.”

Magdalena snorted. “Much like his owner.”

Dong promptly popped into existence and gestured threateningly with his index finger. “Aksel is not my owner. I am his spirit guide, not a pet. I am the Avatar of the Great Azure Dragon Qinglong, and I proudly agree that I’m quite the horndog! You’ve got a really amazing rack, by the way. Love the cashmere sweater. It does such wonderful things for those big, round ta-tas. Mmph!”

He mimed a chef’s kiss and then promptly disappeared.

Hannah giggled and covered her mouth. When the rest of us looked at her, the dirty-blonde blushed and said, “I think he’s both hilarious and adorable.”

Dong popped right back up and pointed two hand-pistols at her. “Love you too, babe.” Hannah blew him an air kiss. Dong clasped his little hands together next to his cheek and swooned before blowing an air kiss back and then disappearing again.

I sighed and jerked a thumb back over my shoulder towards the exit. “So… sushi?”

To my inquiry for sushi restaurant recommendations, the Conrad Osaka hotel concierge suggested a high-end place nearby with a picturesque view of world-famous Osaka Castle across the Okawa River that ran through downtown Osaka. But Ziyi told us that she “knew a place”, and instead led us off the beaten-path and away from the more heavily trafficked sections for a walk through what looked like a residential area.

I’d lived in the Greater Los Angeles area for a long time and had visited more urban cities like San Francisco, but a modern Japanese metropolis was another level up in urbanization. Gone were the sandstone, centuries-old buildings of Rome. Instead we were surrounded by concrete skyscrapers that not only reached to the heavens, but were also built so closely together alongside streets so narrow that I thought it impossible for two vehicles to pass each other in opposite directions. And indeed, most of the streets accommodated only one-way traffic.

Plus, some of the streets we walked on didn’t even have sidewalks. The buildings came all the way out to the asphalt, right alongside utility poles carrying a dizzying array of electrical cables above our heads. And we had to walk in the street and occasionally step aside to let a car carefully pass us by.

But even though we were in a residential area, we were still in broad daylight and remained in public spaces within view of ordinary humans, so I wasn’t overly worried. Ziyi seemed to know exactly where she was going, and I was happy to hold her hand and follow. Rae walked silently behind us. And Hannah and Magdalena brought up the rear, chatting together about the various sights we saw along the way.

After a few blocks, Ziyi brought us to a tiny storefront on the ground floor of a skyscraper apartment building. The place looked like it was the size of a shipping container and only had enough room for bar seating in front of the sushi chefs and no separate tables whatsoever. But it was after lunchtime and most of the Japanese workers would be at their day jobs, so there were only two diners inside and plenty of available seats at the bar.

I noted that the posted hours indicated that the restaurant actually closed at 2PM before reopening later for dinner, but Ziyi pushed past the paired hanging curtains in the doorway and greeted the middle-aged sushi chef behind the bar pleasantly in perfect Japanese, pressing her hands to her upper thighs and bowing at the waist.

The man didn’t look like he recognized Ziyi, but he replied politely. They had a quick conversation, seemingly about the fact that the restaurant was about to close for lunch, but then the sushi chef wiped his hands and turned to walk through another pair of hanging curtains into the kitchen.

He returned a minute later, followed by an older gentleman. Ziyi bowed once again, but this time deeper, as she greeted him, “こんにちは、義仲殿”

It took the man a moment to recognize her, his eyes squinted as he peered at her face. But a moment later he gasped, covered his mouth, and stood up straight. “翡翠！またお会いできてとても嬉しいです！最後に会ってからどれくらい経ちますか？”

Ziyi shrugged somewhat bashfully and gave him a warm smile. “約二十年”

“二十年？あなたは全く同じに見えます”

“ごめん。あなたは私にお世辞を言います”

The old man finally realized that Ziyi was not alone, and after a moment’s pause, he finally raised his arm out and gestured for all of us to take seats at the bar. He apologized in Japanese, with Rae replying graciously in Japanese with a tone that suggested it was no big deal, which made me wonder when the hell she learned Japanese. Then again, perhaps by now I should’ve stopped being surprised Rae was a polyglot.

She a lesbian, remember?

‘PolyGLOT, you ignoramus. It means she knows lots of languages.’

Ohhh… Right-right-right…

Meanwhile, the old man took one look at blonde Hannah and auburn-haired Magdalena, and then he switched to English. “Preese. Take seat. I happy to serve friends of Hisui.”

“どうもありがとうございます” Hannah replied, in Americanized but still recognizable Japanese. “私たちはあなたのおもてなしにとても感謝しています”

Dong popped up on my shoulder doing the Genie-from-Aladdin jaw drop. I couldn’t blame him, and when I glanced over at Hannah, she merely winked at me.

What followed was one of the greatest meals of my life.

The old man, Yoshinaka-dono, served us himself. In Chicago, Rae and I had also enjoyed omakase - the style of eating where patrons don’t order from a menu and instead eat whatever the chef decides to provide them throughout the meal. But while the food back then had been quite good, it was still nothing on the level of this.

We had fish, we had noodles, we had pork belly, we had whale. The Osaka region was apparently known for a special kind of pressed sushi called oshizushi, and specifically a mackerel dish called battera. The fish was so fresh, the flavors so subtle and yet tasty. The seared scallops melted in my mouth. And at the end, we even had a mochi dessert that served as the perfect cherry on top of a perfect meal.

With the restaurant “closed”, we had the place to ourselves. The old man spent his entire time talking to us, and by “us” I mean Ziyi. I had no idea what they were saying, given that it was all in Japanese, but she was happy and laughing and enjoying herself, and I didn’t feel the need to intrude.

Instead, the other four of us chatted about… well… about nothing, really. Weather, music, movies: stuff like that. Rae and Magdalena started a mild argument about soccer (football), with Rae badmouthing AS Roma while promoting the virtues of Manchester United, Magdalena replying in a way that sounded like it included a high volume of Italian curse words, and the two of them were grinning like idiots while verbally sparring in a way not unlike the way they’d been throwing electric weapons at each other.

Meanwhile, Hannah and I got to talking about her travels around the world (including when and where she learned to speak Japanese as well as the other places she still hoped to see in the future. She seemed quite bubbly and happy for a powerless human woman staring down a future that involved shadowy secret societies, supernatural weapons, and the possibility of a grim and painful death. And when I remarked about her upbeat attitude, she said that having a long chat with Lin Tang had… well… revivified her.

“See! I told you it’s a word!” Dong proclaimed, popping up on my shoulder.

Hannah laughed. “I only know that word because you used that word,” she told him.

I chuckled and snuck a glance at Yoshinaka-dono. If the old man could perceive my supernatural blue gecko, he certainly didn’t act like it. Then again, I couldn’t blame him for wanting to talk to Ziyi all afternoon.

In the end we ate all our food and let our conversations come to an end. Yoshinaka-dono refused to let us pay for our meal, but Rae insisted, and when she pulled out her black credit card, he finally relented.

The five of us walked outside, still with a few hours of daylight left, and we decided to do some sightseeing.

Our first stop was Osaka Castle and its large surrounding park. We entered from the north side, and Hannah stopped to take a few photos of the Gokuraku-bashi Bridge with the castle itself looming on the hill above and then ascended to the castle itself. We learned that the structure was not the original Osaka Castle (which had been destroyed multiple times over the years), but rather was a ferro-concrete replica built in 1931. The modern building had air-conditioning and even an elevator on the exterior. It was still impressive to see and gave us great views of the city from the highest levels.

We also visited the Sakuramon Gate, the Hōkoku-jinja Shrine, and the Nishinomaru Garden before exiting the park on the southeastern side.

After that, we took the metro train out to the harbor to visit the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, one of the largest aquariums in the world. Of special note was the massive Pacific Ocean tank, which featured two whale sharks.

I did try putting my hand to the glass and communicating with the aquatic animals. I had water elemental powers after all, right? But alas, I could not talk to fish like Aquaman. And when Rae realized what I was doing, she tapped me on the shoulder and quipped, “Give it up, Waterboy.”

At sunset, we rode the nearby Tempozan Ferris Wheel and enjoyed watching the sky change colors from nearly four hundred feet up, with gorgeous views across the bay. In the other direction, we could also see the city lights starting to come on, including the Ferris Wheel itself which kept up a constantly changing pattern of colorful LEDs.

After that, Ziyi took us to Dōtonbori, a hotspot for Osaka nightlife and tourism. The area had massive neon signs everywhere and even on a weekday, there were people absolutely everywhere. Of special note was the moving giant crab sculpture outside the Kanu Douraku restaurant, the Glico Running Man sign over the canal, and the four concrete statues of giant heads with feet at the entrance of the Dotonbori Hotel that must be seen to be believed.

There was also food. A LOT of food. Dotonbori was most famous for takoyaki, a kind of fried octopus dumpling, but there were also shabu shabu shops, fugu (pufferfish), and a variety of other exotic delicacies at restaurants, bars, and street food stalls. The term in Osaka was kuidaore, which translated literally into “ruin oneself through extravagant spending on food”. It really meant to “eat until you drop”, not to actually bankrupt yourself with expensive meals, but the idea was there. And even though we’d eaten quite a bit at Yoshinaka-dono’s sushi restaurant, we all found a little bit more room for some extras.

Leaving the main Dotonbori street, we walked back to the metro station alongside the man-made Dotonbori canal, with massive LED signs to either side of us. We’d enjoyed a few drinks along with our snacks, so I was buzzing and feeling happy. And as we walked, I sort of idly played around with my water elemental powers, slowly stirring the canal water around with my right hand.

I was being subtle about it - no big whirlpools or raising fish up into the air. But Rae still noticed, and she stopped walking for a second, remarking, “Hey Aksel, how are you able to do that?”

I’d been up front with Ziyi, holding hands as we walked, and I stopped to turn and look back at Rae. “Do what?”

“You’re moving the water around.”

I gave her a ‘no duh’ look and said, “Um, I’ve got supernatural water abilities, remember?”

“Abilities that are supposed to be powered through sex with a supernatural. But when was the last time you had sex?” Rae glanced around to make sure the coast was clear, as if the next part she had to say was actually riskier than a continued discussion of my supernatural abilities. Only then did she add, “Did Ziyi sneak a blowjob when I wasn’t paying attention or something?”

“Ah, no.”

“Chezhou’s elemental abilities were never dependent on him having sex, supernatural or not,” Ziyi remarked before looking at me. “You were unable to create big spinning water balls until we had sex, but you said you were able to break out of jail, catch catfish, and fill the pots with water even before.”

I thought back and remarked, “That’s a good point.”

“But that was in Imperial China when he inhabited a magically created body. As just plain Aksel in Venice, he wasn’t able to do much with his water elemental powers at all,” Rae brought up, and then she looked back at the dirty-blonde, “at least not until Hannah did her ‘I believe in Aksel’ bit.”

“Her ‘I believe in Aksel’ bit?” Ziyi questioned.

Rae gestured at me and then at Hannah. “Back when we were first trying to figure out why Aksel was unable to access his full powers, I took them out to an isolated island cove in the Venice lagoon so he could try to summon. It didn’t go very well until Hannah started chanting, ‘I believe in Aksel’. And then all of a sudden he was able to make this floating whirlpool thing that brought a fish up to eye level.”

I frowned. “So did I never really need sex to power my abilities? Was it just a mental block?”

Rae thought about that and speculated, “Well, maybe you just don’t need sex in order to power low-level abilities. You were able to make defensive water shields just fine when I started throwing electric fireballs at your face.”

“You threw what?!” Ziyi exclaimed.

“They weren’t very strong,” Rae insisted, holding up both hands defensively. “And they worked; Aksel got his shields up. But for high-powered offensive abilities--”

“He still needs to charge up,” Ziyi finished for her, nodding. “It was the same in Luoyang. I asked him to make a giant spinning water ball for me, but he could not do it until we made love.”

“Oh, and you needed to have sex with me in order to make the crystal snowflake,” Hannah chimed in.

“Did he though?” Rae questioned. “I mean, you two obviously HAD sex, but did he need to have sex to make the snowflake?”

I shrugged, raised my open palm, and made a rotating crystal snowflake float above it.

Rae’s eyes got wide, and she clapped her hand over my palm to smash the snowflake, hissing, “Not in public.”

“Proof enough for me though,” Hannah remarked. “But while he could make the snowflake, he couldn’t make an offensive weapon back in Venice even after having sex. Not with a mere human like me.”

Hannah looked a little down about that, but Rae immediately hugged her against her side and said, “Not your fault. And hey, just because we got Ziyi back doesn’t mean you aren’t a valuable part of this team.”

“So let me get this straight,” Magdalena interjected as she took a step forward to join our circle after hanging back from the beginning. “Aksel’s higher-level elemental abilities require him to have sex in order to power them? And not just any sex, but sex with a supernatural?”

Rae’s eyes got wide again, and her jaw dropped as she got an Oh-shit-I-think-I-just-gave-it-away expression on her face, and she gawked at me and Ziyi for a moment before stammering, “Uh-uh-umm w-w-wellll…”

“Well at least that explains why he was so pathetic back in Rome,” Magdalena muttered, regarding me with mild distaste. “Cowering and running. I thought you were human. I could never understand why these two women kept throwing themselves at you.”

Dong immediately popped up on my shoulder. “We’d be happy to give you a personal demonstration! All you’d have to do is lie back and enjoy the ride!”

The dark-auburn brunette immediately narrowed her eyes and gave Dong a sour look. Smiling thinly, she replied, “Preferirei fare l'amore con un bufalo indiano.” And then she promptly turned and stalked past us, continuing down the path towards the Metro station with her heels clicking against the concrete with every step.

“Don’t knock it ’til you try it!” Dong called after her. And then he turned back to face us, drawling, “She’s interested. I can tell.”

Ziyi chuckled and shook her head. “No she’s not.”

“Trust me. The Donger is always right.”

****

The Donger was certainly wrong, for one night at least. For the last walk from the metro station to the hotel, I was up front with Hannah while Ziyi hung back chatting with “Lena”. I don’t know exactly what they said, but when we got up onto the fortieth floor, the Italian demigoddess went to her own room by herself. So did Rae, for that matter.

Ziyi, Hannah, and I still had a very pleasant night and all three of us woke up the next morning feeling both refreshed and well-fucked. Breakfast was in the Executive Lounge with epic views over the city, and then the six of us checked out together in order to head to the train station.

The 300-kph Nozomi Shinkansen bullet train took us from Osaka to Kyoto in only fifteen minutes. From the moment we arrived, I found myself in awe of the soaring 15-story Kyoto Station architecture, and Hannah made us detour over to the Kyoto Station Daikadan, a massive LED-illuminated staircase.

When we finally headed for the exit, two uniformed female drivers wearing sunglasses and military-style caps met us before the doors. We were escorted outside to two waiting black Mercedes-Benz S-class sedans, with Tianshi, Rae, and Magdalena entering the lead car and Ziyi, Hannah, and I taking the second car. Then we were whisked away to our lodgings, and by “whisked away” I mean immediately stuck in bumper-to-bumper gridlock. Kyoto was an ancient city not designed for high-volume vehicle traffic, and it took us more than half an hour to travel about six miles. But the destination made the trip more than worthwhile.

I’d thought the Conrad Osaka Penthouse Suite had been luxurious, but Aman Kyoto blew me away. The resort was a modern take on the classic Japanese Ryokan (read: very expensive) with separate Zen-minimalist-designed pavilions set in a lush, green forest. And I found myself almost glad to be in the middle of an epic quest for a long, lost ancient treasure just for the opportunity to stay at places like this.

“Do not get too comfortable,” Tianshi told me mildly. “There is a very good probability that you will not survive the evening to return here.”

‘Weren’t you supposed to make sure she didn’t poke around in my mind?’ I scolded Dong.

She didn’t need to. It was written all over your face.

‘Oh.’

Since none of us wanted to sit around the hotel dwelling on the upcoming mission and possibility that tonight might be our very last night on Planet Earth before dying a gruesome death, we elected to head out and do some more sightseeing. Those of us that needed suitcases set ours in our rooms. Those of us that needed to check on their makeup (not me) also did so before we rendezvoused out front twenty minutes later.

Actually, Magdalena took about thirty minutes, and although Rae mildly discussed the option of leaving her behind, Ziyi insisted we wait. The statuesque beauty arrived wearing a stylish new outfit and fresh makeup, without a single hair out of place, her expression clearly unapologetic for making us wait.

Tianshi had given us only one instruction: be back before sundown. That gave us about nine hours to explore the city and all that it had to offer, and we were provided with another uniformed driver and a vehicle, this one a white Lexus LX SUV.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember much about that sightseeing trip. Hannah was super-excited, of course, and her infectious enthusiasm did a great job of keeping me entertained and distracted away from… well… dwelling on the upcoming mission and possibility that tonight might be our very last night on Planet Earth before dying a gruesome death. But I actually remember more about seeing everything through her eyes, watching her joyful expressions and hearing her excited giggles.

I remember her oohing and ahhing at the nearby Kinkaku-ji Temple and the Kyoto Palace grounds. I remember her staring up in utter rapture at the thousands of red torii gates at Fushimi Inari Taisha. She actually put on Samurai armor for a photo-op when we visited the Samurai and Ninja Museum. And she scampered around Nijo Castle like a little girl at Disneyland.

We finished the afternoon by riding the electric railway, cable car, and ropeway up Mount Hiei and visiting Enryaku-ji Temple. Hannah wanted to stay and see the sunset from there, but Tianshi had given us only the one instruction, after all. So we headed back down the mountain to make sure we returned to Aman Kyoto before sundown.

Dinner was a subdued affair at the resort. Everyone was quiet, thinking about the mission to come. Even Dong went silent for the entire meal. One would’ve thought the Avatar of Qinglong would be the most confident of anyone that The Chosen One would succeed in fulfilling his Destiny, but when I silently asked him for a little encouragement, the little blue gecko failed to appear and speak to me.

Fortunately, both Ziyi and Hannah were more than happy to take my mind off things. We made love quietly and sedately (relatively speaking), and near the end of the threesome, Ziyi even shapeshifted into her red shanzi and pale-green qunzi that she’d previously worn for me the day we went off to recover the Baihu Sword the first time over a thousand years ago.

And then it was time.

Hannah couldn’t come. The powerless human would remain at the hotel rather than be a liability who needed defending. I’d figured that Hannah would be worried and clingy and I’d need to promise her that I’d be back soon, but instead she was upbeat and optimistic, giving me a quick hug and a kiss while reassuring ME that everything would be great and that she’d see me soon.

The two black Mercedes S-class sedans arrived out front, along with their drivers, to take us from Aman Kyoto to our destination. The trip was not long. I must’ve been lost in thought, because it felt like I blinked and then suddenly we’d arrived. Then one of the sedans departed, leaving only one sedan to remain and wait, which made me feel as if the universe knew that not all of us would survive the night, so that only one sedan would be required for the return trip.

At first I had no idea where we were. There was a small metal gate - no different from those that surrounded some of the nearby houses - with a small, unassuming building behind the gate. But I knew that we were in some kind of tourist location, because there was a large, printed billboard map with bright colors illuminated by overhead lights. Next to the map was a carved sign with white Japanese kanji characters. And beneath that was the English word, “Arasiyama”.

Despite the spelling, I knew that this was the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. I’d read about it in the Kyoto Travel Guides. But every photo I’d ever seen of the forest had been taken during the daylight hours, with abundant sunlight backlighting the towering stalks of a million bamboo shoots mixed in with tall trees that immersed the awestruck traveler within a tunnel of vibrant green.

The sun wasn’t up anymore, and all color had been leeched from the sky. The thick forest of millions of bamboo shoots that surrounded us blocked out the moon and the stars, swaying in the wind to create ever-shifting shadows that made it feel as if the darkness itself was alive and writhing. I found myself distinctly recalling the amorphous blobs of the hungry ghosts from the Templar dungeon, and I could practically feel inky clouds crawling up the back of my neck, eager to take a bite from my flesh.

“Why, exactly, did we come here at night?” I muttered to Rae. “Didn’t you say that evil creatures thrive in the shadows while good spirits enjoy the light?”

“I did say that,” Rae told me quietly, her senses on alert as she scanned the forest for enemies. “But when a magic portal only opens under a full moon, one has no other choice.”

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am not dying here tonight,” Magdalena stated firmly.

“We will be fine,” Ziyi told me reassuringly. “It will be just like Luoyang.”

“That’s reassuring,” I deadpanned. “How did that end again?”

Ziyi smiled. “We succeeded once before. We will succeed tonight as well.”

“Two minutes,” Tianshi stated softly, staring straight up at the heavens with diamond-white eyes. “Then we enter.”

I nodded, squeezed Ziyi’s hand, and took a deep breath.

“Game on.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue & Chapter 1: The Ax Effect: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102225387

Chapter 2: Santa Monica: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102437478

Chapter 3: The Zellij Fountain: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102691018

Chapter 4: Euhemerism: https://www.patreon.com/posts/102919819

Chapter 5: The Fremont Troll: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103191700

Chapter 6: Jade: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103443053

Chapter 7: The Blue Gecko: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103699709

Chapter 8: Yaoguai: https://www.patreon.com/posts/103978374

Chapter 9: Rome: https://www.patreon.com/posts/104213388

Chapter 10: Seeing Sights: https://www.patreon.com/posts/104466709

Chapter 11: Liu Kang: https://www.patreon.com/posts/104728056