Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 429: The Phoenix

Chapter 429: The Phoenix

Every day and night, a new wave of monsters attacked. Twice a day, usually under the triple-digits but certainly well into the doubles. Kazi and Booker headed up north to Daikonshima, a small volcanic island. Not to protect it, mind you, only to check if everybody was okay. Daikonshima was quite close to Matsue Castle and was appropriately protected. After some healing, Kazi and Booker went elsewhere. They went further north where there were mountains and such, a location called Nagamicho.

Nagami Shrine, Nagami River, it was a rural village of a population under a thousand. The samurai sent here to protect the people were injured from the previous swarm. Kazi and Booker ran to confront what they assumed to where the monsters were arriving.

"Oh."

Luckily, there was no point in a Kazi-Booker team up. The monsters were already defeated by the single pair Kazi had waiting for the most...

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The flames of a phoenix erupted and swallowed thirty bird monsters whole. The feat was accomplished with zero effort and the majestic flaming beast settled down next to its master who giggled, weakly extended an arm, and had the Phoenix lean to be scratched on the side of its face.

"You shouldn’t scratch it for too long, Jules."

The master of the phoenix did not look away or stop praising the phoenix. "Aw, it’s okay, she likes it. Don’t you, Feenie? You did an amazing job protecting the people here."

Jules and Matty. The summoner and the shieldsman. Both looked different since last time. Jules’ magical grey gloves scratched the Phoenix like a pet cat and the licks of satisfied flame aired towards her wrap grey dress and black pants. Equally dense in magic, the attire and gloves granted her a kind of fire protection. Matty matched that grey colour in a gambeson, lightly padded and coursing with what seemed like lightning. On his left arm was a metallic buckler with a large indent. An African buckler probably from the fifteenth century.

The nerd in Kazi wanted to hone in on the shield and remark, "That looks exactly like how the Portuguese describe the shields of the Wolof! Can I check it out? Pleeease?"

But nope, he suppressed those words and greeted them like a normal person. "Jules, Matty! Good to see you two in good health!"

Matty snapped toward him. "Kazi Hossain. I see you are well." His eyes flicked to Booker two steps behind. He did not remark on his presence.

"Oh my! Kazi!" Jules smiled brightly, the weak hand sliding down her mythical beast and falling to her sides. "Samantha told us we’d find you here."

"Ah, she did say she found you. How have you been? Want to eat? The food here is great!"

Although right now, with Jules’ Phoenix, the people were too wowed to serve anything. The Phoenix truly was a majestic shape of fire. Impossible to have lived on Earth, a bird of dreams, and yet more beautiful than a dream. The Japanese gasped. They pointed. They collectively stood away as if in awe of their saviours.

"That’s okay, we ate—"

"No, we haven’t," Matty cut off. "She’s just saying that."

Jules flushed. "T-that’s, I’m okay, really."

"She gets hungry after a summon. Please don’t listen to her," Matty said.

"How about a snack, hm?" Best way to get women to eat was to compromise. "The green tea is a staple here."

Matty nodded. "That works."

So, the four of them found themselves at a tea house. In this rural where there was more farm area than homes, it was homey and full of quality. Pretty much all of the players were dark-skinned foreigners so there was a lot of staring. Kazi told the newly arrived pair not to take it as ill-will. These people genuinely haven’t met people with skin darker than their own. It was natural to stare.

"I remember when I met my first Asian person. Same reaction."

"You...don’t have to say that out loud," Matty said, crossing his arms.

"Sorry, sorry, I’m a traveller so I kinda get defensive about it. Almost always, it serves a person better to be understanding than overly critical."

"I’ve travelled the world too," Booker remarked. "I found not thinking at all to be better."

"That was because you were a soldier," Matty said while calmly sipping on his tea. It was called matcha, meaning powdered green tea, and served with wagashi. Rather than go separate, Matty and Jules shared.

Such great friends.

Booker stared at Matty, blinking. "Do I know you?"

"Huh?" Matty squinted. "Do you really not remember me?"

"Should I?"

"I was a pilot." Booker stared blankly. Matty was equally stoic and added, "The pilot." Nothing. "Plane? Big trouble? Ring any bells?"

"No."

"How? Don’t you remember? The terrorist attack?"

Jules coughed on her drink and snapped her head at her partner. "T-t-terrorist attack!? Matty!?"

A terrorist attack...?

"You...you were the pilot that day?" Kazi said, tilting his head, eyes wide. It had been a long, long time since he had been this shocked over something. He had never even considered the chance he would meet the pilot...

Matty side-eyed him. "...were you one of the terrorists or something?"

"What? No, no, no, I was..." Inhale, exhale. Kazi put his wrist under his chin. "July 16, 2014, right?"

"Right..."

He could have looked it up, although Matty should have known that the media tries to suppress news of the hijacking as much as they could. They failed somewhat but it certainly wasn’t as big news as it should have been.

"Do you know what exactly was in the plane?"

"People? It was a commercial flight." Matty folded his arms. "Are you saying there was something else?"

"No, no, you’re exactly right."

"...?"

"People were in there."

"I don’t get it...?"

Kazi eyed Booker from the corner of his eye. He looked like he didn’t care. As always. "What happened from your perspective?" Kazi asked Matty. "I’m curious."

"Guys came in with guns," the former pilot replied, "told me to change directions."

"To where?"

"An island somewhere in the Middle East. I had never heard of the place before and I don’t think it was on a map. They gave me coordinates, told me it was an island, and nothing else. Before shit got too hot—" Matty pointed at Booker. "This man came in and took care of them. I hid and—"

"Bullet ricochet. Plane started to crash and you navigated." Kazi nodded along. "So it was you. You did amazing work back then."

Arms folded, one hand pressed itself to his chest. An instinctive reaction to the terrifying memories. "I did my best. That doesn’t answer my question. Why were they there? A whole wing blew up and I landed an impossible landing."

But he landed it. Honestly, truly, Kazi thought he was going to die that day. He let out a laugh and crossed his arms. "Like I said, people. Two women to be exact." A pause. "Slaves."

Matty narrowed his eyes. "Slaves....?"

"Mhm. Slavery and selling women, you know how it is," Kazi said. Matty and Jules looked like they did not know how it was. "Kidnap a woman, sell her off, use her, keep her, and not think much of it. On Earth, I was someone that stopped these things."

Booker Davis Jr was always lax, always lazy in tone and joking. Hearing Kazi’s explanation, that relaxation turned into a sharp gaze. He didn’t say anything. He just listened the same way Matty and Jules did.

"I save them and help them back to their old homes; or a new home if they can’t. That’s how it tends to go. But this time, it was different. See, one of these women was a Middle-Eastern princess. Youngest daughter, a bit spoiled, and naïve. She was a college student that went to Europe under a pseudo-name and that anonymity was what led to her kidnapping and enslavement. Was bought by a European Union politician. The man didn’t even know she was a princess until I saved her. He panicked. If this came out, there was no getting out of it. This was a scandal that could threaten the relations between all of Europe and the Middle East. A chase happened. He had to find her but I thwarted his efforts. He hired mercenaries and used the news. Didn’t matter, I was used to the odds against me. I thought we escaped. I took the princess and her friend to a plane booked straight for her home country. Even if they somehow followed us, I didn’t think they would do anything drastic. I was wrong. Young. Stupid." Too generous toward the nature of people. "The rest is more or less what you probably know."

A long pause went by. It was ridiculous, almost nonsensical event. But it did happen. The two other men that could corroborate it were right here with him.

Jules, timid and confused, asked, "I-I don’t get, a wing of a plane blew up, how does that explain anything...?"

"A grenade," Matty replied calmly. "Shattered through the window and onto the plane. The government was pretty tight-lipped about it but I did ride that plane on the regular. It was my baby. I remember checking out the plane when I was being escorted out. Figured a fight happened and that a metal ball went through. Could only be grenade. Hm, what a small world."

"I was protecting the princess and her friend. Things happened." The smile that was always on Kazi’s face weakened. "I didn’t mean for things to end up like that."

"You were trying to protect a woman. I understand. Although...that doesn’t explain why you were there, Booker." Matty turned to the man in question. "Well, soldier?"