The Oni Conundrum

“Mizuki… Mizuki… come here… please stay…” A woman awoke to find herself in a darkened classroom at night sitting in a desk at the front row like she had for the past few months. She was a female gynoid Akronian (If they have an Akronium core and cybernetic parts in them then they are an Akronian) that had an android body with exaggerated hips and legs that had no feet, blank face save for two eyes that change color to show how she’s feeling with eyelids, a multi-jointed streamlined head that kind of acts as her hair, and a color scheme that resembled a panda’s and had floral paints on her body.
“Wha… how did I end up in here again?” She asked herself.
“Good… now that I finally can talk to you for once.” A man wearing a gray and beige suit and resembling a spacesuit with an orange visor appeared in front of her desk.
“Who are you? Talk about what? I want answers here.” She attempted to get up only to be pushed back down into her seat.
“I don’t have much time. I must show you these before I give them to you.” He took out a black headband with a plate with the kanji symbol of invincibility printed on it and a katana with bandages wrapped at the base of the blade.
“What are these for? And more importantly why should I care?” She asked,
“These are very special objects; the Headband of Invincibility and the Sword of the Oni. For these are believed to grant you even more power than you can imagine making you able to defeat multiple opponents with ease.” He explained walking to the slide machine and inserting a few pictures.

“Possession of these two objects have been fought for over millions of years.” He showed the first slide depicting a fierce battle,
“They have changed between many owners since and now I’m passing them onto you. For I have no other choice.” He said showing the second slide of a man wearing samurai robes and fighting off ninjas and samurais,
“Hold on; you’re telling me that you’re dumping some stupid junk to me that idiots have fought over for tons of years because there’s some kind of special “powers” inscribed onto them?” Mizuki asked,
“You’re right about me passing it onto you at least.” He replied,
“What makes you think that you’re going to find and give this stupid crud to me?” Mizuki asked beyond insulted,
“Because I’m nearby and you’re the only one I can sense still able to walk around.” He replied,
“Well it’s just a dream; it means nothing. There’s no way you’re that close to me on this highly fortified lab up in the sky.” Mizuki said,
“You’d be surprised about the circumstances it took to get all the way here. But I’m far too old to keep fighting; I’ve been alive for so many years that I can remember the day you were born.” He said,
“Now that’s just creepy.” Mizuki scooted her chair back.
“It isn’t. Just go to the chemical lab. You’ll find me there.” The man said,
“Alrighty then… if I wake up that is.” Mizuki said,
“Oh that’ll be no problem. It actually seems that you’re waking up rather soon.” He said,
“Wait, what?” Before Mizuki could ask anything else she could feel herself waking up.
“I’ll see you soon.” The man said before Mizuki woke up.

Upon opening her eyes Mizuki was greeted to a horrifying and gruesome site: scientists and guards were ripped apart, the lab was entirely wrecked and covered in blood.
“What happened here!? Anyone? Come on there has to at least be one person who’s still alive here…” Mizuki sifted through the rubble and bodies in search of any survivors but couldn’t find any much to her shock,
“Who could’ve done such a thing…” She asked herself before she heard a rustling in the chemical lab. Quickly Mizuki darted over without thinking twice. In there she found the same man from her dream on his knees in defeat gasping for breath surrounded by other machines who had a steampunk design to them and looked like were wearing overalls and goggles. Behind them was another robot who wore fancy steampunk armor and a crimson cape to notify he was the leader and another soldier who looked like was wearing motocross gear with a paintball mask and spiked shoulder pads and was carrying the Yuki mother unit who was very similar in shape to Mizuki except that she had multiple arms, optic fiber hair done in braids, and pegs on her leg units. But in Mizuki’s eyes that Akronian android was her very own mother.
“Hebi…” He paused to laugh for a moment,
“You’ve grown weak over the years. Now it looks like it’s finally caught up to you. Now be a good ancient corpse and hand over those relic to the Akronians. Or be shot full of holes by my soldiers; your choice.” He threatened,
“HAHA! LET HER GO!” Mizuki screamed at the sight of her unconscious mother,
“Did you let one live?” The general asked furiously,
“We didn’t realize there was another one in the tubes; honest.” One of them said,
“No matter. Just open-” The general was about to say until Hebi jumped to his feet, grabbed the android, and ran out of the chemical lab.
“Shoot them!” He quickly ordered. Though it was too late; the two had already jumped out of sight. The general growled and ordered,
“Find them! Nobody leaves this place alive!” The three quickly set out in search for the two.
“As for this Akronian… we’ll allow our lady to choose her fate.” He said as an airship flew up into their sight.

Outside of in the halls of the lab Hebi stopped to catch his breath.
“What was that for!? My mother was in there-!” Mizuki’s mouth was cupped shut,
“Now’s not the time for talking. I must hurry and give you the relics.” He lifted his visor revealing his ancient face fit for a corpse covered in bandages giving him the appearance of a newly wrapped mummy.
“Just take the headband and my two katanas to help you on this journey.” He said as he took off the headband and tied it around her neck. He caught sight of a beautiful red scarf and quickly took to put it around her neck to conceal the headband. Mizuki took a dual sword holster off of a guard and put it just above her buttocks.
“There. And just in time.” He said as the three Akronians had just found them.
“Now go! I’ll fend the enemies off. I wish you the best of luck on your journeys.” He said pushing her to get moving.

Quickly Mizuki ran off only to hear the man collapse from exhaustion. Freaked out Mizuki ran even faster than before in hopes that they wouldn’t catch her. Unfortunately one caught sight of her leg as she ducked behind a corner.
“Come out! We saw you! There’s no use hiding!” One of them shouted at her.
“I said come ou-!” This time the Akronian was cut off mid-sentence by Hebi smacking him upside the head with a fire extinguisher. The other two immediately opened fire at the man only to find that his suit was made of highly fortified iron. Meanwhile Mizuki had mustered up enough courage to at least strike one of them and run. Using her speed Mizuki ran out from cover with the Sword of the Oni in hand. Quickly she swung at one of them aiming for his head; instead of bouncing and maybe knocking him off guard as Mizuki guessed the sword instead went straight through the metal and clean through his head in a diagonal manner. The chunk of the head fell off causing a strange blackish-blue liquid known as pintoil to spurt out of the cut. It fell in front of the third one who began to freak out,
“Ahh! U-Uhhh…! Y-You’ll pay for that!” He swung his gun at her only to have it swiftly avoided. The first one got up just in time to watch his friend get chopped straight in horizontally half without much trouble from the sword wielder. As he got up and aimed his gun at her he was greeted by the Hebi’s iron fist crushing his metallic helmet and skull to bits. Cracked glass and pintoil leaked from all three.

“What did I say about those items? Quite special aren’t they?” Mizuki stood there stunned that such petty objects allowed her to cut through two fully armed soldiers with ease. She then looked back at the three and felt rather guilty in her mind. To Akronians one cutting another in half was like a human cutting another in half.
“B-B-But… how? There should be no way that such a cruddy piece of metal can do that much damage to a robot of that armor type.” Mizuki continued to doubt the sword’s power,
“Many say that about these magical objects today. All of you believe that swords and other such ancient technologies are obsolete to new age technology. Even the Deities have been pushed out in favor of science.” Hebi said,
“Deities? I don’t exactly believe they don’t exist. To me it’s an unsure question that you can’t answer unless you can find a portal to their realm. And of course magical portals don’t exist.” Mizuki replied to his statement.
“Do I need to smack you upside the head to get a point across? There is still magic within this world. You just need to look hard enough or find the right people.” Hebi said,
“*Sigh* how about this? I’ll help you through with accepting the sword’s power and your destiny. But I can’t help you with everything. Perhaps you have a friend that might’ve been with you for your whole life…” He continued to say,
“You mean Fritzi? Is she still okay?” Mizuki asked,
“Geez woman; it’s nothing but questions with you. But yes she’s still okay. I just haven’t found her yet, that’s all.” He said.

Soon the two heard a scream coming from around the corner. They watched as Fritzi in a burnt state fell onto the ground. Her slender green body was now covered in serious burns and missing chunks of metal.
“Are you okay ma’am!?” The two ran up to her as she coughed,
“M-Mizuki… you… n-need… to g-g-get… a-away… from… here…” Fritzi uttered through her doll mouth. Hebi picked her up,
“We’re not going to leave behind any possible survivors.” He said,
“Especially if they’re my best friend.” Mizuki said picking up her helmet and dusting it before putting it back onto her head,
“Aww… that’s just SO sweet! I guess there’s nothing that’s going to separate you two BFFs!” The two turned to see another android with a humanoid raptor look to her,
“Magma Rex… you did this Fritzi didn’t you?” Mizuki said,
“Are the burn marks not enough evidence for you? How about I do the same to you?” Magma charged up another blast. She let out a blue fireball towards the three.
“Take your friend!” Hebi quickly handed Mizuki her friend and stepped in front of them.
“What are you-!?” Mizuki’s question was quickly answered when the blast hit Hebi. When the smoke cleared Hebi, though his armor still a bit burnt, was still standing on his two feet.
“Okay you need to tell me what kind of iron that suit is made out of after this. Because this now just getting ridiculous.” Mizuki said.
“WHAT!? NO FAIR!” Magma furiously screamed. She ran towards him and struck him in the arm with her plasma claws. His armor this time was cut through rather easily. Hebi quickly hit her away and took Fritzi from Mizuki’s arms and signaled to follow.

A while later the three had made it to one of the orbital elevators and back down to the earth. When it opened up Mizuki stood in awe as she saw a forest for the first time.
“Are these what they call, trees?” She asked stroking one of them,
“I’m guessing you’ve never ever left the lab; have you?” Hebi said,
“Fritzi. Isn’t this what you wanted? To see what the outside world looked like?” Mizuki asked putting a hand on her friend’s forehead.
“Y- *COUGH* Y-Yeah… *COUGH*” She started to lose consciousness. She coughed out some pintoil to showcase her current health state,
“I’ll take her to my temple where I’ll have the medicine guru take a look at her. Meanwhile you go down to the local village entrance and meet up with an accomplice of mine. He’ll have a little job for you to do that’ll lead you closer to your mother. Just walk down the forest path and it’ll take you right there.” Hebi said before walking off.
“Oh. And one more thing.” He stopped remembering something,
“Akronians will not stop getting up until they are dead. So make sure that for everyone you encounter you cut them down into bits. That is all.” He said finally walking away.
“I hope you get better soon Fritzi!” Mizuki waved. Her friend responded with a thumbs up causing her to smile before heading down the forest path.

An hour later and a few close encounters with some unsavory individuals Mizuki reached her destination. When she looked around for someone she saw a man dressed like a ninja leaning on a pillar of a Japanese gate.
“Psst; are you the guy that Hebi sent to me?” The man whispered into Mizuki’s ear. She nodded in reply. The man lifted up her scarf to take a look at the Headband around her neck,
“Good. There’s this guy in the local bar here that’s got some information on the subject of what they’re doing to Akronian prisoners. Capture him and we might get an idea of where we want to look first. He’s wearing a bowler hat and a suit; you can’t miss him. Unfortunately the village has become overrun with Akronian commoners. So you might have to cut your way through a few of them before you reach him.” He explained. Mizuki’s mood suddenly dropped into unsureness. She still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of killing Akronians. Slowly she walked away from him and walker over the bridge.
“Good luck!” He called out to her. This didn’t make her feel any better about this.

As she walked into the village Mizuki could see what the man meant. Akronians were everywhere either working on their farms, talking to friends, napping, or just sitting around. To Mizuki they were just regular people going about their day. She just didn’t feel very good about this whole situation.
“Hey you!” Mizuki stopped in her tracks and looked over to see two Akronians both wearing commoner robes and one a straw hat concealing his bald head. Their faces were covered up by bandanas and work goggles standard for these kinds of Akronians.
“Y-Y-Yes…?” Mizuki shifted nervously in place.
“Don’t think we’ve seen you around in these parts. Are you new around here?” One of them asked her,
“Oh yes I am! Do you know where the local tavern is?” Mizuki asked trying to act normal. The one without the straw hat took a closer look at her holster and noticed the Oni symbol on one of them.
“Why that’s a nice sword you got there.” He said. Mizuki panicked trying to hide the sword,
“I-I-I-It’s nothing huge! I swear! It’s only a symbol that a friend made for me!” She began yelling as she descended into a nervous wreck.
“You’re right buddy… you know that sword you have there is real special…” The other Akronian said getting up,
“W-W-W-W-What do you m-m-m-mean!?” Mizuki said now worried for her life. She prepared to make a run for it.
“She has the Sword of the Oni! Don’t let her get away with it!” The one with a straw hat yelled as he pulled out an axe and his friend pulled out a handheld scythe.

Right after they said that a few Akronians ran into their houses while others just moved to the side or stayed where they were while the rest either ran out of their houses carrying weapons or looked at Mizuki and pulled one out from their holsters. The two approached her as she tried to make a run for it only to find her path blocked by more Akronians. She unsheathed her sword and prepared herself for combat. The first two charged at her and swung their weapons. Using her speed she dodged them quickly and used her leg to strike the hatless one to the ground. But both were unfazed. Hesitantly Mizuki aimed her sword at the straw hatted one’s neck and swung. In one clean slash his head came clean off. The headless body collapsed onto the ground.
‘Must power through this… must power through this… for mother…’ Mizuki continued to suppress her thoughts of guilt and shame. The second one ran at her weapons blazing, only to find his enemy’s blade impaled through his neck. As Mizuki yanked it out pintoil came bursting out and covering the poor girl in it. Quickly she tried to wipe as much off as possible.

When she turned around she could see the three Akronians originally blocking her path now approaching her. Two of them were wearing tengai hats (or as some people like to call them; basket hats!) While the last one was wearing a Ronin-Gasa hat (the same thing as the basket hat but in the shape of a straw hat. Oh you can look it up.) All three were carrying swords but the one wearing a Ronin-Gasa had a katana. The two basket soldiers wore warrior robes that signified they were guards for the village while the Ronin-Gasa wore armor meant for a swordsman and had a banner on his back.
“You’re going to pay for disturbing the peace of this village!” The katana one yelled,
“But they attacked me first!” Mizuki said in defense,
“We don’t want to hear your excuses! Prepare to die!” The first basket soldier said before he ran at Mizuki. As she dodged it she could feel the tip of the blade graze her shoulder. Mizuki gripped it wincing in pain.
“Mother…” She looked up to see the other two closing in for the kill. Mizuki then felt something strange inside her; something that was dying to get out and it wasn’t going to rest for a moment. She could feel it burn within her circuits and started to take control of her.

She stood back up no longer fazed by the cut and glared at the approaching warriors with fire in her eyes. The two didn’t seem to take notice however and continued their approach. Mizuki then charged at the first basket soldier and strike him; straight down the middle. When the Ronin-Gasa looked at his ally he watched him split into two vertical halves.
“You certainly have some skill with that blade…” He said taking a look back at the girl. He was suddenly pushed out of the way by the second basket soldier,
“You’re going to die for that!” He yelled as he ran towards her. Mizuki responded with a slash from her sword that went straight through the mouth and cut off the top of his head. The parts of his helmet fell off revealing his face which was similar to Mizuki’s except that it was red and missing the multi-jointed streamlined part.
“Make that lots of skill…” He said walking towards her with his sword at the ready. Mizuki was still lost within her mind as this force still controlled her and compelled her to kill any Akronian that stood in her way. She showed no resistance in any way and obliged to this unknowing entity. Mizuki ran towards him without second thought and swung right away.

Though instead of being cut the Ronin-Gasa soldier had blocked her slash and retaliated with a kick to her stomach. Undaunted by this attack Mizuki lifted her sword once more and charged at the warrior. He looked at Mizuki unimpressed and sighed in disappointment,
“I thought you would be tougher than this seeing what you did to my soldiers but I guess I was wrong.” He narrowly dodged a slash down the middle and greeted her with a swing of his blade that grazed Mizuki’s stomach. Pintoil leaked from the gash but the entity forced Mizuki to keep fighting until either she or the soldier was dead. Gripping her wound Mizuki got up and faced the warrior with steely determination.
“You’re perseverant… I like that in an Akronian. Now let’s see if you have the skills to justify that trait.” He lifted his sword once more. After what seemed like an eternity the two ran at each other and clashed weapons.

Both were unrelenting and unwilling to give up. They could not show one sign of weakness or the other would certainly use that to their advantage. Mizuki now had only one thing on her mind: to get her mother back from these guys. With sheer concentration and focus she found an opening that she could use to defeat the warrior but he left it open for a second so she had to be quick about it. They continued to clash swords until that moment came. When she focused on it she could feel time slowdown around her. This gave her more time to initiate her attack and she used it to its fullest potential. Mizuki cut through his torso and out the other side. The warrior screamed out in pain and dropped his weapon.
“So… that’s… what a… *COUGH* an Akronian… is capable of… *COUGH* wearing… those things…” He said quite impressed,
“Good… *COUGH* fight kid…” He fell onto the ground revealing the slash as he split in two.
“Your… welcome?” Mizuki said confused and uncomfortable about the entire situation. She looked over to see the tavern and quickly ran inside to avoid any more fights with the villagers.

Inside she could see more Akronians sitting around enjoying themselves. Soon she saw a man wearing a bowler hat and suspenders.
‘I guess that’s him…’ As she thought that he turned around to see the Akronian android covered in pintoil and a couple of wounds. Without a second thought he pulled out a gun on her.
“I don’t know who you are… or where you came from… but what I do know is that you’re not taking me alive!” As he yelled that two villagers pulled out their weapons and stood at the ready.
“The only way you’re going to leave this place is in a pile of pintoil and parts!” He pulled the trigger. As that happened Mizuki pulled up her sword in hopes to deflect the bullet. Instead the bullet hit the sword head on and cut in half hitting the two villagers behind her instead. She looked around her to see the bodies and then at her target. Panicked he attempted to reload and fire again only to have the gun sliced in half in his hand. Mizuki held up the sword to his neck and just like that he surrendered.

Outside the tavern Akronians were curious as to what was going on in there with their weapons at the ready. When they saw the door burst open they could see the Akronian girl exit with the Akronian official in hand. Instead of attempting to attack her they just backed away from her and cleared a path for her. It seemed that they didn’t find any more use in trying to kill her and just wanted her to leave. Mizuki could definitely tell that by their stern glares that told the android that she wasn’t welcomed here anymore. The moment she got over the bridge with the man in hand the mob stopped and dissipated. She could hear mumbles and insults coming from some of them as they went back to their business.
“I’m back.” Mizuki said to the man. He looked up and saw her with the target in hand.
“Great job. Now hand him to me and I’ll take him back to the hideout to get the information from him.” He said. Mizuki didn’t argue whatsoever and handed him over.
“I’ll report back to you guys any information I get from him. Agent Y-28, out!” He said before taking him and running off.

After that Mizuki received a note from a hawk. She opened it out read in her head.
‘Dear Mizuki, if you have receive this message from my hawk then you have survived your first mission! Now it is time for you to go to your new home; follow the hawk and he’ll take you directly there. As for Fritzi the guru says she’ll survive her injuries and can be nursed back to full health in about… three weeks at most. So please hurry. Sincerely, Hebi.’ Mizuki closed up the note and looked at the hawk circling her before it began to fly away from her. As she followed close behind she couldn’t help but notice the hawk wasn’t really taking her on a path but through a field. Right as she began questioning that a purple vortex opened up right in front of her causing Mizuki to fall through.

When she opened her eyes she noticed she was lying on the ground of a Japanese temple. As she got up and brushed herself off she saw Hebi this time wearing Samurai robes that revealed his heavily bandaged arms underneath a metal backpack and chest plate that had tubes protruding from them both while on his head he wore a mask with more tubes trailing into the backpack and plate.
“Ah! Mizuki; I’m glad you found your way here.” He said,
“What are you wearing?” Mizuki asked walking to him.
“Oh this? This is my usual attire. I was wearing the suit to protect me and the items. I wear this since my lungs are well… pretty much gone by now.” Hebi said,
“Did you make that portal? Does that mean you can-?” Mizuki once again was silenced by Hebi,
“Mizuki; I realize I am older than dust itself, that my skin is nonexistent and needs to be covered all in bandages, and that I need this device to help me live. But that does not mean I can perform magic like a wizard; I’ve actually focused on my sword skills until it’s practically become second nature to me.” He said.
“So where’s Fritzi?” Mizuki asked,
“She’s over there.” Hebi replied. Mizuki looked over to see Fritzi waving to her in a much more stable condition than before. Mizuki replied back with a wave.
“Please. You should relax for a while before your next mission.” Hebi said. Mizuki happily nodded and allowed Hebi to show her to her room. It didn’t matter who was going to get in her way but Mizuki was going to find her mother and rescue her no matter what.