Enter The Ninjaverse

CHAPTER 65

A portal slowly opened in a large field of grass. The sky above the portal was a deep gray, as though the clouds were looking to unleash their torrent of rain down on them, but were just barely holding back. The long grass was rippled down as winds blew across them, pulling them back and forth in a long dance. The low gray light of the field made seeing things a rather difficult task for those there. Yet no life seemed to be there. Nothing was there to see what was transpiring.

The portal opened wider, wider, and wider still. From it, the sound of metal creaking filled the air. Then, with a loud crunch, a massive mech came collapsing out of the portal. Invictus crashed down onto the ground, crushing the grass where it landed. While the field slowly adapted to it, little changed to the landscape. The vanishing portal soon returned the world back to its more peaceful and quiet state.

From the door to the mech's cockpit, Oni emerged. He slowly stood on top of the mech, looking around and slowly nodding his head. He focused, causing his claws to slowly fade back into his arms to turn them into more normal hands. The dragon scales along his body, however, remained. He took a moment to blink, his eyes shifting until he began to observe his surroundings.

Oni was about to turn around, but instead he felt danger and remained still. Ophiod stood behind him, holding his staff with the Scroll of Forbidden Spinjitzu unfurled and burning with power. Oni didn't tense his body, instead just remaining planted where he was. The tip of the staff was pointed right at his back.

"Why are you threatening me?" Oni's voice was calm and neutral.

"People do not save each other without reason," Ophiod declared firmly, "I must know that reason. Now that we are alone... I wish to know that reason."

"I stated it as clearly as I could," Oni remained calm, "I have felt the balance of not only your worlds, but all worlds. The destruction of one will preclude others falling in its footsteps. If you wish to protect the worlds, you must allow me to aid you."

Ophiod pressed the tip of the staff into Oni's shoulder blades, "No. Whenever someone says something like that, they have a selfish motivation. I have seen your power, and I need reason to let you follow us and to trust you."

Oni took a moment to sigh, then turned around to face Ophiod. Ophiod instinctually tensed his body to brace for an attack. The two met their gazes, the wind blowing past them as they did. The only light that illuminated Oni was the glow of orange from the Scroll highlighting his chest.

"And are you saying that your motivations are as pure as you wish them to seem, half-breed?" Oni asked calmly.

Ophiod's eyes widened, then narrowed into small slits, "What did you call me?"

"Your eyes," Oni replied, "Your body is that of a snake, yet your eyes hold the spirit of a man. I guessed that you were not fully Viper. It appears that my guess was right."

"..." Ophiod gripped his staff tighter, "...You have no right to call me that. I am Prince of the Serpentine. You cannot degrade me like that. You cannot speak to me like I am some sort of lesser being like that!"

"I did not say you were lesser," Oni shook his head, "That was your own mind filling in the gaps. I hold no ill will towards your lineage. You are a being, the one and only that you can be in this moment in time. Is that not enough for you?"

"...Are you even human?" Ophiod asked, his tone tense.

"Are you?" Oni asked. The two beings remained there, looking at one another, finding their minds and wills at clash.

Finally, Ophiod relented, putting the staff away and instead moving to look down in the cockpit. The grass around them rippled once more, pushing back and forth between the two of them. Oni slowly nodded his head and then leapt down from Invictus, landing on the grass and sighing as he reached down to let the grass sway up and down against his arm. The moment that Oni left the platform, Skales climbed up from inside Invictus, putting his blade back on his back.