Artificial 3: The Valla Chronicles

Chapter 14: Flame Tribe

(Artwork is done by AI. It's Reina the Flame Tribe Chief!)

"I won't let anyone steal this from me! This is proof of the Chief title. It is the symbol of this Tribe!"
Me and my siblings walk out of the vault room and down the set of steps away from the throne.
"Sup sir douche schnoz, were you waiting for us in your little closet?"
I ask as if I was addressing a baby.
"No, I knew it was only a matter of time before you all broke out, all I did was make it easier to lore you here, I'll be killing you four myself, right here, right now. Unlike all the peons I govern, I'm a cut above all other Artificial Demons!" He says as he makes a slitting-throat expression by running his thumb over his neck.

"Hahahaha! That's rich, I've fought mercenaries stronger than you!"
Chace steps forward,
looking up at the guy.
"Oh yeah? Prove you're a cut above the rest, go ahead I'll even let you hit me as HARD as you can, not a love tap, not half power, no ninety percent, AS HARD AS YOU CAN!"
Chace gets grabbed by his foot and slammed a few times but then Chace uses the leg he was grabbed by to reverse the situation and throw the Earth Tribe Chief into a bunch of chairs, I even grab a chair and sit backward while Sora and Terra stand.
"What did I just tell you? Hit me! Punch me! Kick me!"

The Earth Tribe Chief runs at Chace, actually thinking he could win and fires off a few Limit Overdrives and punches Chace in the forehead,
and my brother doesn't even flinch,
let alone fazed by the attack.
"Just what kind of Demons are they anyway, I'm starting to suspect they aren't Artificial Demons at all." I say out loud. "I don't think we're ordinary demons at all either. From what I hear, Artificial Demons have two hearts, right?" I confirm what Sora says and point to the left side of my chest. Artificial Demon biology is different from human biology.

My two hearts are right behind my lunges.
Another neat trivia of information is that Artificial Demons have a backup for all their organs except the 6 if one organ fails,
the backup can take its place.
"Mine are on the left side of my chest, not in the middle like a human."
Chace walks up to the Earth Tribe Chief. "Weakling."
Chace extends his hand out,
and Bruce Lee, one inch,
punches him into the wall and stops his two hearts from beating.
"Another Legendary Weapon down, now all that's left is the Flame Tribe, our last destination."
We all begin to leave the Tribe,
hammer in hand,
and for some reason,
I could feel something stirring inside each of the Legendary Weapons,
was it their power,
or was it something else entirely?
"Once we leave the Tribe and away from prying eyes, I'll show you where my seven hearts are."

Sora says, and I nod,
hard to believe only 2 weeks have gone by,
I get the feeling my journey is going to be over soon,
and I can only begin to imagine what my life with Zoey will be like.
"Well, this didn't happen in the last time loop."
I could hear a voice from somewhere. It felt like I knew the voice,
but from where?
I grab my head as I crouch down on the ground,
images flash through my head of a Japanese woman with purple hair in a ponytail that goes down to her thighs, she had purple dragon eyes that sometimes looked human and I saw myself in shogun like armor holding a katana with a flower tsuba,
the next image was a tall 7-foot man with black armor and a dragon tail sticking out,
and the last image was me, Yuzuhara, and someone who looked close to her, probably her boyfriend or something.

"Are you okay?" Terra asks me and helps me up.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
We turn around to see Sora and Chace swatting at the air.
"I know I heard ya! Where are you?!" Chace says.
"I can't see you, but I feel you there!" They continue swatting at the air. "Perhaps there's enough change in the timeline that I'll be able to break the time loop?"
I know my ears aren't playing tricks on me,
I feel like there's another soul following us.

June 25th: We arrive at the Flame Tribe's dessert,
Reina welcomes us with open arms and throws a party in our honor,
we had a small cup of saki apiece and exchange cups of loyalty,
Reina welcomes us as her brothers and sisters and gives us citizenship in the Flame Tribe,
after the party that lasted all day and nearly all night,
she showed us our guest rooms in her palace,
and they were as luxuries as it can get. I walked the halls with Reina and asked her where her Legendary Weapon was and explained my situation.

Unlike all the other Tribe Chiefs,
she was a little more understanding. "If I still had the Tsumihocho, I'd give it to you, but sadly, I can not as I gave it to the head of the Nekomata Clan."
I asked her about this Nekomata clan, and she explained to me that they live in Japan near Mount Fuji,
I asked her for a specific route to get there,
and she wrote it all down to the finest detail.
Thankfully,
Reina and her Tribe,
despite not living anywhere near human civilization,
were up to date with the times.
Right as I took the paper and folded it up,
I felt a loud vibration,
a few seconds to half a minute,
an Oni comes in kneeled to Reina and announces the Flame Tribe is under attack by two Onis.

Both our eyes widen,
shocked,
and we both asked for details and status reports,
which we were given,
I tell Reina I was going to stop it personally and for her to evacuate everyone because once me and my siblings get to fighting,
it's like walking head first into a nuke. "I'll join you once everyone is evacuated! You survive until then!"
I nodded and leaped out of her open window and fired a shadow from my arm to shadow swing into the capital city where the explosion was.
These guys have a lot of nerve picking a fight with my friend!