The night’s darkness brought with it a welcome change from the day’s chaos. As shadow fell across Jinchi’s jungle it would become increasingly difficult for the pursuers within it to navigate through the thickets. The graveyard lay in one of the deepest parts of the island as evidenced by the particularly tall and closely grouped trees that swept up and down the hillsides. Without a source of illumination continuing onward into enemy territory would be foolhardy.

Yet the noose continued to tighten, forcing those searching to push onward despite the risk. Delay might spell disaster. This too was a boon the night provided to the hunted- human eyes could not see well in the dark and the foliage provided too much coverage for the moon to be of any use. That meant anyone looking to blaze a trail needed to use a source of artificial light to do so.

Doing so was like shining a spotlight onto a massive stage. It didn’t take long for the first beacon to shoot out through the tree leaves and palm fronds. A red flash of light briefly shot upwards before fading quickly, but not entirely, from view. Deep within the forest the hazy fire light gave Daisuke just enough sight to see his next few steps ahead. The ground might be treacherous but that wasn’t his real concern. Instead it was something far more impossible to plan for.

As he stepped forward again another snake burst out from the underbrush. The animal wasn’t that large but bore the distinctive colorings marking it as a venomous beast. Tracking the movement with his eyes Daisuke instantly snapped away, stomping the creature with a heel of a well worn sandal almost automatically. Practice made perfect.

Seconds later came another two snakes and what looked like a swarm of sparrows. In a similar fashion the disheveled Daisuke jerked his body away from this initial ambush, and with a wave of his palm sent a blast of wind with his jutsu into the birds, splattering them across the nearby tree trunks. This too he did without hesitation. The expression on his face wasn’t surprise or anger. Rather, it was the frustrated grimace of fatigue. It took less than a minute for him to run into another easily dispatched gathering of hostile animals, but this pattern had repeated often enough for the esteemed General to finally snap.

“Oy!” With one hand he rose up his makeshift torch, a simple branch wrapped up with cloth on one end. “I know you’re out there, you bloody Agent! Your jutsu sucks, by the way! You think you can just throw wildlife critters at me all night and get lucky? You’re dead meat once I find you!”

As had happened the last few times Daisuke tried this taunt he heard no response. At least, not the response he wanted. Instead a swarm of biting gnats appeared from nowhere and he started cursing as he was forced to blow them away again. The animal attacks had started almost immediately after he took out Motonubu, and for a good part of the day Daisuke had been trying to make his way back towards Camp Monog. Yet beast after beast accosted him, driving him into a winding path far from where he wanted to be. At first he assumed it had to have been a trap by Motonubu- yet with each passing hour that likelihood became less and less. There was simply no way for even a man as annoying as Motonubu to have rigged the entire jungle like this. That meant some other force was at work here.

Yet, as he smeared a frail looking stray dog across a pile of rocks with a gust of wind, Daisuke thought how much nicer it was to face off against an enemy with such a tame ability. After dealing with that elite swordswoman and Len Sosu one after the other, a minor obstacle like this was almost welcome. All the previous encounters of the day added up a heavy toll on his body, and even now he walked with a limp and couldn’t quite take as deep a breath as he would have liked. He had survived worse injuries, of course. The jungles of an unexplored island were a far preferable place to have a few crippling injuries compared to the barren wastelands of Garion.

After nearly stepping into a massive swarm of ants and again cursing, he took another detour towards a location with slightly less undergrowth to worry about. Burning down everything again might be a good idea, but he really needed to conserve his strength. No doubt Annitou wouldn’t make leaving the island easy. In more than one sense he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Another flurry of birds burst out from above and Daisuke responded instantly. Using his free hand he forced out another torrent of rapidly moving air, knocking most of the animals back up high above as easy as though he were blowing bubbles. Whatever control the Agent was using on these animals, it wasn’t very precise. They never attacked in anything but a straight line. The creatures even launched themselves at first sight, when it would have been better to lay in wait for a surprise attack. Of course, there was a hidden threat in that predictability as well. That weakness almost came to pass as Daisuke whipped his arm around to send another careening blast of wind towards a second group of tiny birds coming out from his flank. As before those creatures didn’t stand much of a chance either.

He needed to remain constantly vigilant even if the hostile animals couldn’t do much more than try to bumrush and bite him. If he grew too complacent, that was when a real attack might come. His torch swung from side to side as he checked his blind spots before continuing on his midnight march. Who knew the jungle had so many animals in it?

Several attacks later a worrying reality began to creep in. The last few batches of beasties had all come from the same direction, somewhere behind him. Daisuke found himself walking almost sideways like a crab, keeping one eye back and one eye forward. The fragment of the Sixeyes still rested in his pocket if needed, but boy it would have been nice to have the full weapon available in case an elephant or something equally nasty charged out of the dark jungle. That of course was impossible. Despite the rumors, nobody had ever found anything larger than a dog on Jinchi, and even those animals had been brought here by people. The biggest predators in the area were sharks and unless this mystery Agent could conjure up an ocean for Daisuke to fall into, there wasn’t much risk of running into one of those here. Minor annoyances could add up, though, and more than a few insects had slipped through his defenses to sting him. But if that was the worst mother nature could throw at him, this wouldn’t be any trouble at all!

A rustling from up above triggered another response from him. A one size fit all approach meant Daisuke never had to put much thought into how to approach the situation, as he instinctively hurled another bout of rushing winds at the rapidly approaching object. This time it came from the path in front of him, which brought him almost a bit of relief. Maybe he was being a bit paranoid after all that Motonubu business.

The red light of his torch flickered as air whistled past his ears. The object got caught and hurled forward so effortlessly Daisuke almost didn’t notice what that meant. Object. It wasn’t an animal.

The formless lump hurtled forward and smashed into a tree with a wet and uncomfortable squish. As it did so the interior erupted up and outwards into a plume of what looked to be smoke. A dark cloud surged out from the impact site and in seconds expanded out to a volume even larger in size than Daisuke. His little poof of air hadn’t been sustained so the smoke quite easily spread in those few seconds it took for him to recognize what was happening. The sounds of his wind-controlled jutsu faded and were replaced by an itchy, engulfing buzz. A hive. He had just blown up a hive.

Minor details like how or why fell aside as the immediate threat of being surrounded by either bees, wasps, or hornets shot to the top of the worry list. Already in position Daisuke scooted backwards and focused again on his fingertips. One spurt wouldn’t be good enough to take out the entire swarm. He would need to create a single solid flow for a bit of time, probably in a wide angle to catch the encroaching black tide of insects. Child’s play, of course. The air began to move again as all the nearby vegetation shuddered in the direction of the bugs. It wouldn’t take more than a few seconds to deal with this.

Something slammed into his throat from a blind spot. Multiple somethings, actually, each striking a split second after the first. The offending somethings held quite a bit of force but not a lot of weight- Daisuke’s first thought was someone had cracked a whip at him. The blows struck up and down from his neck across his torch bearing arm, pushing just hard enough he was sure they’d leave a bruise in the morning.

Yet with an anticipated ease Daisuke pivoted on his heel, swung his arm around, and swatted the mystery projectiles out of the air with a wave of air. The Agent had revealed themselves! And in such a sloppy fashion! During each animal attack Daisuke also kept a cushion of air in between himself and his flanks, predicting that such a sneak attack would come while his attention was turned. It was just enough to repel the attack and keep the...bandages? Were those bandages floating in the air now?

Still dangling in the air the thin strips of cloth wavered for a second before the full brunt of Daisuke’s jutsu hit them. The coils of ribbon twisted off into the shadows above so it wasn’t clear where exactly they ended. Four hung there motionless for just a second before rotating sideways and dropping their profile to be parallel with the ground. As the wind caught their profile the ribbons twisted and coiled even further- but didn’t budge an inch. No, rather, now they were shooting forward again, even in Divine Wind! The four strips of cloth corkscrewed forward as some other force manipulated them from outside of his view, riding the gust of air like an ocean wave and barrel straight back towards Daisuke. For another brief moment he tried to put two and two together. Was this actually the Agent’s jutsu? This plus the animals must mean there were TWO Agents? The situation was rapidly becoming too dangerous to delay further action. A drastic measure would have to be taken.

The petulant ribbons snapped forward and once again bounced off Daisuke’s invisible shield of air, spiraling outwards like streamers. All the tricks in the world were useless if those dumb bandages didn’t have any weight to punch through his defense. Instead he used his free hand to reach down and pull out the fragment of the Sixeyes and gave the metal shard a flick with his fingernail. One spark would be enough to engulf his entire surroundings in flames. Let’s see this cheeky Agent try their trick when those flimsy pieces of cloth turned to ash!

The surrounding forest burst into stark contrast as a flash of green light burst out from his fingertips. A swirling bout of verdant flame emerged from the Sixeyes and whipped outwards towards the ribbons, which now floated like confetti in the area immediately in front of him. He could incinerate those first, then send the flames careening into the forest with wild abandon. No need to play nice here. Daisuke had no friends on this island anyway.

The intense light caught the spinning ribbons and they disappeared from view as the flames cooked them. A stern look of concentration kept Daisuke’s attention forward as he prepared to then spread the flames outward from himself, much as he had hours ago to rid himself of Motonubu. “Total desolation”, Master Kurosawa had once called it. Something not to be used without good reason.

Having already used the technique three times, Jinchi was an island not short in good reasons.

The hand holding the fragment of the Sixeyes spun around as Daisuke drove his flame in a wide arc. All combustion operated on a series of chain reactions- one ignition jump started the next. Coils of sizzling green flame encircled the metal fragment in his filthy palms. Just a little bit hotter, just a little more oxygen, and he would send a cascading column of flame right down the gullet of whatever thick skulled Agent was trying to play games with him. It was a standard Garion scorched earth tactic- more literal in Daisuke’s case than most.

A wave of familiar energy coursed through Daisuke’s veins. His jutsu, the Divine Wind, would pick up the Sixeye’s flames and end this fight before it had a chance to begin. That’s what separated a General’s power from the rest! The nearby tree trembled. The air churned and compressed as the pressure behind his palm grew. Here it came! Like a squall screaming down a mountain side, a blast of wind swept past his hand and collided with his smoldering flames. When the air touched the fire, there would be no escape.

The still swirling flames in front of him from his initial attack were blasted by the air and, like a boy blowing out candles, Daisuke’s Divine Wind snuffed out his initial flames. The singed ends of the disrupted bandages floated a bit before once again unfurling more length from the darkness. There was no eruption of hellish fire. His technique hadn’t fed the flames at all.

The green flame swathing his hand likewise sputtered out a couple seconds later. Acting on instinct his thumbnail flicked the metal surface of the Sixeyes again and again. Tiny sparks shot off the broken weapon, but not a single one would ignite. Even the red flame of the torch still held in his other hand seemed to be ready to fade completely out of existence. Right as the swirling ribbons in front of him shot forward again Daisuke finally put the pieces together.

It wasn’t like someone blew out his flames. After all, his jutsu allowed him to freely manipulate the air itself- no human on the planet could match his skill when it came to that. No, rather, it didn’t matter how hard he tried to stoke these flames because the air he was moving wasn’t even touching them. Like putting out a candle between your fingertips- someone was snuffing them out.

A few moments later that someone became immediately apparent. Try as he could to protect his flanks, Daisuke couldn’t keep himself from being completely blind-sighted. The insect hive on one side, the ribbons on the other...and now having come close enough that Daisuke heard his footsteps, he spun around to look at the petite and feminine young boy now standing close enough to make out his features even in the dimming light.

Most civilians outside of Metsina wouldn’t have been familiar with a kid with those features, but of course a well learned and worldly man like Daisuke recognized the boy at once. The gears finally clicked together and the true danger of the situation finally became apparent. The Metsina Royal Family had some of their bloody assassins on the island, and their damned jutsu had put a stop to Daisuke’s fires!

With precious seconds ticking away Daisuke’s mind rapidly spun through what he could recall about Metsina’s bloodline. Those from the family boasted a number of gussied up and hyperbolic techniques, frequently using the moniker ‘of God’ to denote their strength. The boy’s held both his hands out in a strange stance, as though he was groping something invisible. That wasn’t true at all, was it though? The boy snapped his wrist down, and although he stood a few lengths away from Daisuke, the wrist holding his Sixeye’s suddenly snapped in the same direction. His fingers bit into the bladed edge of the Sixeye’s fragment and with a grunt Daisuke let it go before the force compressing his hand caused the metal to slice off his precious fingers. From behind he felt multiple impacts along his torso as the distantly manipulated ribbons once again slammed into him. Unlike before, his cushion of air did little, as the ribbons instead simply slid along the side of his body and shot out in the direction he now faced. Rather than stab him, it looked like these Metsina Agents were just going to strangle him out instead. As if General Hashimoto Daisuke was going to let that happen!

He dropped the now dead torch from his other hand and swung his own palm forward. The kid kept his ‘grip’ with one hand, but likewise brought his free arm around to mirror Daisuke’s movements. Whatever remote force still crushed his other hand wasn’t letting go, and Daisuke wagered if he had been at full strength he could easily match its power, but now wasn’t the time to get in a pissing contest. The kid, on the other hand, seemed all too ready to get into a jutsu tug of war with Daisuke. If anything, the hardened expression he wore seemed to welcome it. As Daisuke’s own limb came forward another brace of bandages spun out, coiling around his neck and constricting tight around his air cushion. Even if the thin fabric couldn’t penetrate the great Daisuke’s Divine Wind, it could still push back against it. And unlike a real suit of armor, air was compressible- it wouldn’t be long before the literal noose squeezed down hard enough to cut off blood flow.

The Royal kid drew his own arm back, flattening his fist into a palm, as though he planned to drive the tips of his fingers right into Daisuke’s chest. Of course the boy stood way too far away from the now entangled Daisuke to get close enough to backhand him like a disobedient stepchild, so he must have been rearing up to use his remote-acting jutsu again. The boy’s force already proved it could penetrate through Daisuke’s wind- any direct attack would probably be deflected. Only one way out, then!

Daisuke’s swatted his own hand forward right before another round of bandages coiled around his elbow, seeking to immobilize him further. A short, almost forgettable burst of wind swirled outwards and sideways perpendicular to the boy. Although the kid braced himself for the worst, the breeze did little but ruffle his long, well groomed black hair. It was almost kind of delightful, actually, were it not for these life and death circumstances. Was that it? The power of Garion’s Ghost, General Hashimoto Daisuke, could barely muster up enough of a fight to match head to head with the Metsina’s Royal Family’s Hand of God? Celebrities always were less impressive in person, it seemed.

Energy rocketed through Yuu’s muscles as he prepared to land the finishing blow onto the renegade General. Revenge at last!

A flurry of what looked like shredded paper blew past his face in Daisuke’s breeze. Leaves? Debris? Nothing to worry about, surely. One more step forward was all he needed to take! One more step-

A piece of the shredded ‘paper’ caught on his outstretched hand. He felt the rough surface of it and instantly recognized it. If he hadn’t, the obscuring buzzing cloud that descended on him seconds later would have done the trick. It was the hive.

Daisuke had blown back the hive, and its former inhabitants were still just as pissed off as before.