4Within Outer Space
It was a lie.
We realized that the only way to destroy the Tai-itsu satellite, the very device that was supplying the Soulless God with the power to snuff out all humans, would be to send a rocket into outer space. There had only been one problem: The rocket by itself would not be enough, and for obvious reasons, Raidou could not go and take care of the menace himself.
The only remaining option was to go into the rocket myself, and to take a demon with me. The two of us would then enter the core and take it down.
Raidou looked down at me with a grave expression on his face...but there was no way even he could hide the worry in his eyes. He knew that whichever demon he selected would most likely die during this crucial mission. I confirmed that fact, then said, "I'm not a real cat, so I'll be just fine."
It was a lie.
It was the first time that I ever lied to a Devil Summoner, much less one with the title of Raidou.
I knew that the demon wouldn't be the only one to die in space, that I'd be buying a one-way ticket to the Big Nowhere too.
Still...
It had to be done.
With that grave expression, Raidou selected Raga Naga. In a way, the choice surprised me, because that demon was his favorite, and I knew it. After that feeling of surprise, I reminded myself that he would be able to summon another one at any time, down in the Gouma-Den. I agreed vocally with his choice, then started running to the rocket, with the large, snake-like demon behind me.
As we waited inside, I could tell that poor Raga Naga was cramped. After all, he was too big, at his normal size, and this would be a long trip.
"Why don't you just shrink yourself?" I snapped after a few minutes of listening to him grumble, "It's gonna be a while before we reach Tai-itsu."
There were a few more grumbles about that, since he would no longer be in a tube to shrink into.
"You can shrink some without it," I reminded him, "You're a snake, for crying out loud."
After he coiled around himself, I could hear a noise coming from below us...and feel a vibration.
It was time for the rocket to blast off.
I padded towards the only round window there was and looked out at the area where Dr. Tsukumo and Raidou were standing.
The doctor looked pretty excited and determined, and as for Raidou, who looked right at the rocket, he probably thought he was keeping his face expressionless, but I saw something else that told another story.
There was a very slight shimmer to his somewhat narrowed eyes, lips parted as if he were wanting to say something. Even as he accepted what had to be done, his heart was breaking.
For the demon? Cripes, he knows he can always catch another one.
I shook my head and put a paw on the glass for a moment before going back to the middle. After all, the liftoff was in progress.
00000
I watched as the smoky, gray sky changed in colors and hues, from gray to summer blue, blue slowly changing to a darker shade, almost like when the sun sets...and then when it changed to a very dark blue, I started seeing the twinkling of stars. At first there were very few, just like at twilight. But as the time passed, more and more of them appeared as blue turned into the black of outer space.
As I watched for the Tai-itsu, my whiskers started tingling, like they would for strong demons, and I felt a lingering presence. When I did, I made a small hiss, knowing just what that presence was.
Sometimes, when a demon was sent out for a solo investigation, Raidou would slip into a type of trance, one that would let him see and hear what was going on where the demon was, but not interact. To the normal human, he'd look like he was sleeping on his feet.
"Better watch it," I grumbled, "That doctor'll think you're napping for sure."
I knew the presence would not be going away, even with that warning.
"Well...take a gander over there," I grumbled reluctantly, "Over that way is Tai-itsu. We shoot down the core and it'll be curtains for the Soulless God."
After that, I tried the best I could to ignore the presence as I went to the controls. I started to hit the button, but thought of the people I knew on the Earth.
That lazy wallflower, Narumi...
The stubborn dollface, Tae...
The elderly owner of Konnou-Ya...
The quiet, discreet guy at Shin-Sekai...
That no-good, dishonest piker of a cop, Detective Kazama...
The Herald of Yatagarasu, living within the Shinoda shrine and on the other plane...
Victor, the scientist in the store basement that fused so many demons...
Kaya Daidouji, as she had been before her sixteenth birthday...
That doc, Tsukumo, that made this final mission possible...
All the Raidous that came after me, mostly the 2nd and especially the 14th...the expression on #14 as the rocket sailed into the air...
I meowed once, a farewell to them, then hit the button.
00000
Raidou made a good choice with Raga Naga. Even if he was a bit slow, he moved gracefully enough. His spear and Bufudyne had a lot of kick to them, to boot. Within two blinks, the first Defender device was down, then a moment later the second one was taken out, and a moment after that, the third. That was when I directed the demon to go after the core itself, which was now totally defenseless.
As he went after the core, I thought back to the moments before entering the rocket.
While the demon continuously used Bufudyne, I thought I could almost hear a voice.
No...couldn't be.
"Damn," the Naga hissed, "I'm about out of magic."
That made me wish I had asked Raidou for a couple of Chakra Drops.
"I don't like doin' it, man," he told me, "But I'm gonna have to use the final skill."
You can't mean-!
When I saw the demon glowing in a white light and resuming Bufudyne, I knew what he had done.
It was a skill that Raidou didn't even know about that the Naga race had: casting any magic spells in the repertoire for a time, but instead of magic energy, the demon's life was the cost.
With the final skill active, it took three more blasts of the Bufudyne before the core of the cursed satellite was destroyed.
I knew Raidou, or his presence, was still there and listening.
Even though Tai-itsu was taken out, nobody was out of the woods yet. Something had given the Soulless God purpose and form. Raidou would have to go after the original source and destroy it...and now, he would have to do it without me or the demon.
I said as much.
As I watched Raga Naga slump to the floor, breathing his last, I could most definitely hear the voice from during the battle.
That voice was Raidou's.
"Gouto..."
That single word was tinged with pain.
I remembered shortly before we had blasted off, when I saw Raidou's sorrowful expression.
I could have mentally kicked myself for thinking that the look had been for his favorite demon, now that I realized the truth.
His heart had been breaking for me.
I had lied to Raidou.
Now he would pay for my lie.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly, the first time I had ever apologized to him. I then said in a louder tone, being more honest than I had before, "I've been watching over every Raidou Kuzunoha since the 2nd, and easily you're the finest of them all."
I walked slowly towards what was left of the core as the demon's body was turning into motes of light and continued, "You have done my name proud, Raidou Kuzunoha."
Would I become light, too...? Will dying hurt...?
I had never thought these things before, even when I chose this form over my original, human form. What had begun in the far, distant future with my leaving the Center to fulfill a higher duty would end here and now, in the outer space of the distant past, the satellite's destruction ensuring the end of the Soulless God in Taisho 20...no...anno 1920.
Now it was up to my last charge...the 14th.
"Good luck," I said, "...see you later."
Another lie, maybe...?
Then I closed my eyes as the explosion began. My vision filled with white light anyway...and I felt nothing and heard a gasp.
I gave out one last meow, and heard, from the distant Earth below, a torn cry of grief that embodied a single word.
"Gouto...!"