JACG Chapter 90 (Genbu the stone beast) (Patreon)

Ashley stood over the corpse of the rather annoying creature with the dislodged eyeball in her hands. The monster had long since stopped struggling and screaming for help but she wanted that eye ball. If only because that was the threat she dispatched and she did not want to do anything else.

She was panting over the remains with a bright smile on her face. Although the joy that she was expressing was fading quickly as the creature before her was already taken care of. She was still happy about getting revenge but she could not stay at the peak of her joy for very long. It was good that she did not stay in that high for too long.

I was a good example of that high being detrimental to your continued existence. I still wanted to feel like that one day but I knew that continuously having those highs would only make the lows so much worse. 

“You done?” I asked Ashley with amusement clear on my face. She turned around to face me with the eye in her arms and rolled her eyes at me while pointing at me with the giant eye.

“I can’t really do anything more, I guess I could kick his corpse around for a bit but that’s kind of a waste of time. The stupid thing is already dead.” Ashley spoke out as she gestured with the eye all over the place. Rias was looking at Ashley with a shaky smile, which seemed to brighten Ashley’s mood further. Pyrrha was just looking at the scene with disinterest on her face. 

“I don’t really agree with her motive but I am all for not kicking around a corpse,” Rias spoke out as she stood up and refused to look at Ashley who was still holding that eye in her hands.

“Agreed,” Pyrrha spoke out with a calm smile on her face. She did not agree with Ashley’s methods but she was not too upset about the eye being dislodged.

“Let’s just get going, we kind of have a deadline to meet,” I spoke out as I started to walk deeper into the castle. We had lost our guide as it was currently an empty sack of flesh on the ground but we did not really need him in the first place. 

There were several doors leading to other locations but with the point me spell I knew which direction we needed to go to. The girls followed my lead as they saw that I was doing the same thing I was doing earlier.

“Can you throw the eye away already?” Rias questioned with a pale face as she looked at Ashley who was playing around with her trophy. Pyrrha was not saying anything but the look on her face clearly said she agreed with Rias.

“Come on don’t be party poopers, I just got this thing and you want me to throw it away. That guy was annoying I was planning on mounting this thing on my wall.” Ashley spoke out with a teasing smile on her face. I looked over at Ashley with a bland look on my face.

I was fairly certain she was joking about that. She better be at least I was fine with indulging her on most issues but mounting eyes on your walls in a brand new level of crazy. That thing was just an eye so it would be staring at me constantly when I visited Ashley. 

I was fairly crazy myself but I drew the line at fucking my girlfriend while a giant eye ball stared at my every move. She looked over at me with the same teasing glint in her eyes so she clearly knew that I disagreed with her new decoration.

“Can you at least put it away then? I don’t want to look at a literal eye ball while we walk.” Rias spoke out as she shuddered at the sight of the thing.

“It is rather distracting,” Pyrrha spoke out calmly as she examined our surroundings. Her expression was tense as she knew that this place was booby trapped already.

“I am being double teamed, quick Prince tell them the glory of my trophy!” Ashley yelled out as she continued to gesture with the eye in her hand. Rias and Pyrrha looked over at me as Ashley tried to drag me over to her side. She was not really doing a good job of doing that but I don’t think she really cared about her own side of the argument.

“I agree with them,” I spoke out blandly as I rolled my eyes at Ashley. Rias brightened at me joining the reasonable side instead of siding with my girlfriend. Pyrrha just nodded as if my reaction was to be expected. Ashley threw a pout my way but I just gave her a flat look.

“This is discrimination,” Ashley announced with a pout clear on her face. 

“What are we even discriminating against? “ I questioned with a roll of my own eyes. Rias and Pyrrha seemed interested in the rebuttal from Ashley as they did not think she had any ground to stand on either. Seeing those looks Ashley just pouted further instead of answering my question.

I was not really expecting a rational point of view from Ashley on this. I did expect her to at least have some sort of point. Like we were discriminating against the mentally unsound. Or maybe we were against sick ass decorations. 

“It just is!” She announced with a pout on her face. I was apparently giving her too much credit. She did not have a point in the back seat she just said the first thing that came to mind. Which honestly fit my image of Ashley so I should have expected that.

“Can’t fight that logic but what does it matter we are discriminating what are you going to do about it?” I questioned with a smug grin on my face. Rias and Pyrrha just looked at the interaction between us with interest on their face.

“Welcome to democracy where the majority can discriminate against the minority if they want to,” I spoke out with a that smug grin remaining on my face. Rias sighed at my argument and Pyrrha just seemed confused about the direction I was taking. Ashley just flipped me off.

Before she could offer some other grand rebuttal I stepped on a rather loose stone. It sunk underneath my feet with a loud click. That was not good, how the fuck did I step on another trap!?

Before I could even think about reacting arrows started to pour out of the walls around us. Pyrrha and I had Aura so the arrows would do almost nothing to us. Ashley had her own durability enhanced by my potions so she should be good. I was unsure about Rias but I could only hope that she had something up her sleeve.

As the arrows poured out I braced for impact but none of them hit me. I could feel as the arrows glided over me and I could even feel as the air around me was displaced but none of them touched me. Hell, none of the arrows hit my companions either. Pyrrha was looking around with a stunned look of disbelief as she also expected to be hit. Rias had a similar look on her face but Ashley was the one that took the cake.

“This is bullshit!” Ashley yelled out as she was the only one to suffer from the trap. She did not get hit by any of the many arrows. No the reasons she was mad was because the eye in her hands was completely and utterly caked in arrows. It was leaking fluids from the many punctures and it was deflating at a visible rate.

I guess that was why I stepped on the trap in the first place. I was wondering why I would be the one to step on the fucking trigger. That was not the solution I expected to encounter but if it worked I was not going to argue about it.

Ashley threw the now useless eye to the floor with disgust on her face and a pout once more forming on her lips. Pyrrha still seemed tense and was not paying too much attention to what Ashley was doing. She was looking around clearly wary as she took her shield out this time. There was not really a point in that as I was fairly certain the trap did what it was supposed to.

Rias was still stunned but seeing what Ashley just went through understanding was flashing in her face. She looked over at me as if examining me but there was a hint of doubt on her face. She knew my bullshit luck but seeing something like that happen before her was a completely different story.

“You owe me a giant eye ball,” Ashley announced with a glare and a pout on her face. She was blaming me and she would be right to be doing so. I gave her a bland look but she continued looking at me with her pout getting worse.

Seeing that look I sighed, I did not want her to have a fucking eye ball to play around with but she clearly wanted one. So I snapped my finger and conjured a giant eye plushie. I did not want to deal with her having a real one but I was somewhat fine with a plushie. Rias was giving the plushie a disturbed look but her expression was better than it was before. Ashley was still pouting but it was not as intense as it was before as she accepted the new plushie.

After that little distraction, we continue to walk following the directions from my wand. We exchanged more idle chatter but the walk itself was fairly bland.

There was more traps that we experienced as we walked through the corridors but nothing that was able to harm us in any way that counted.

A giant boulder dropped behind us and started to roll towards us clearing intent on crushing us but Rias was able to erase it before it could even hope on touching us.

Then there was a trap that had metal spikes emerging from the walls trying to impale us. Pyrrha took care of that one as she forced the metal to bend away from us.

We did spring another arrow trap but we were prepared this time so no one was hurt and Ashley’s new plushie did not receive any damage. Ashley used her spear to parry any arrows that even came close to her new toy.

A trap door did open up underneath my feet at one point but I just floated in the air above the gapping chasm beneath me. That eye ball might have been fucking annoying but I was at least able to learn something cool from him.

So yeah we experienced several traps but there was not anything that really held us back. So the journey throughout the castle was fairly easy all things considered.

Although I did not expect this castle to be anything to write home about. I now knew that this arc was from Yu Yu Hakusho and it was still an early arc in the show. So the traps and foes here were not something that would be that hard to deal with. Yusuke may pull bullshit out of his ass like Ichigo but this early in the story he was still a regular human. He was not a standard human obviously but he was not something truly frightening either.

So any threat he was capable of dealing with we would have no problem with. Although that might not be the case. The traps were far more impressive than I thought possible. The gate of Betraly was able to put enough force behind it to briefly trap us which was a crazy feat.

So this might not be the cake walk that I thought it was. 

Finally, we walked into a room that was not those endless trapped hallways. It was not just a standard room either. This room was large and had pillars that hard strange creatures carved into them. Then there was a giant bronze door in front of us. 

“That’s totally a boss room,” Ashley spoke out as she put away her plushie. She clearly knew one of our targets was going to be behind that door so she was not going to risk her new plushie.

Rias took in her words and looked over at the door with stars in her eyes. She got a kick out of such a cliche thing happening but I got it. Pyrrha was a lot more tense but her worry was equally valid.

“Ha ha ha ha, You are right I am a boss of those minions so this is a boss room. Come in humans and face me.” A distorted voice spoke around us. Rias was looking around in interest at the disembodied voice. Pyrrha looked around with her rifle out searching for a target to put bullets into. Ashley rolled her eyes at the voice but took no other action.

“Gunna ignore that voice for now. One of the Saint Beasts is probably behind that door so prepare yourself for battle.” I spoke out calmly as I looked over at our group. Pyrrha nodded as she braced herself for combat. Rias looked excited but she had nothing to do to prepare herself. Ashley took out a handgun and her spear.

Seeing everyone ready I opened the door. The room that greeted us was not as impressive as the room behind us. It was a wide open area that was completely and utterly bare except for some torches on the walls that barely gave any light. This room was basically just a giant stone cage meant to contain intruders. Knowing what I know about our foe it made sense but it was not something good to look at.

There was not enough light in this room for my tastes so I produced a ball of light that exposed more the the room to our eyes. The ball floated quietly in the center of the room and we were finally greeted with the sight of one of our foes.

The creature that stood before us was a mix between a turtle and a man. Not in the way that the teenage mutant ninja turtle were but in a more monstrous form. His frame hunched over with the giant shell on its back. His arms were almost monkey like as she dragged his knuckles across the ground. It had a long tail that was reminiscent of a scorpion’s tail breaking the turtle image. The monster was completely made out of stone and it had several spikes on it that was meant to make it more imposing.

“I am Genbu of the Four Saint Beasts, do you have a request before you die?” Genbu spoke out with that distorted voice it’s jaw opening and closing like some sort of puppet. Knowing what I knew about the monster that puppet like comparison was fairly accurate.

“Big talk from a fucking turtle.” Ashley mocked the beasts before us. Pyrrha shot her a look but she pointed her rifle back at the monster before us. She then shot at it, Genbu did not even move as the bullets sunk into its frame. The bullets entered into his body as if he was made of clay but he did not seem bothered by the attack.

Rias had bolts of energy ready to launch but she seemed to be waiting for Genbu to finish talking. Her priorities were out of order but that was to be expected from her.

“Such weak attacks will do nothing to me human, I am not like those weaklings that you have faced. I am Genbu! And you will face your doom here!” Genbu announced with that distorted voice but he did not seem like he was ready to take action just yet.

“Why don’t you all attack me at once, that way the last one won’t feel so lonely with all their bones broken,” Genbu spoke out smugly. Pyrrha was looking at Genbu unsure about what she could do against this creature. Ashley looked ready for battle but I knew she did not have any attacks that would take care of Genbu.

Rias was the only other person that could deal with Genbu and she looked like she was gearing up to fight already.

“Dibs!” Rias shouted out. Silence hung in the air for a moment as everyone took in her declaration but that silence faded as everyone understood her. Pyrrha was giving her a disbelieving look as if she could not understand why Rias would want a one on one fight here. Ashley pouted but she calmed her stance down she was clearly leaving this battle to Rias. 

I rolled my own eyes but I was fine with leaving this fight to Rias. Like I said she was fully capable of handling Genbu. At least I thought she was.

“If you want me to crush you one by one than that is fine with me,” Genbu spoke out as Rias walked towards him with her hand glowing with bolts of dark energy clear on her fists.

Rias opened her mouth likey to say some sort of witty remark but a stone tail emerged behind her striking behind Rias. She was not prepared for that attack but she hear the air whistling as the tail flew through it. So she spun around to face the attack coming at her.

She was not quick enough to do anything as the tail struck her but she only took a step back from the force of the blow. She grimaced at taking damage but she was not too damaged from the unexpected strike.

“Come on Magic Tits, if you are going to claim dibs you got to take care of that dumbass,” Ashley spoke out, her words were pretty mocking but they were also meant to encourage Rias. Pyrrha was still giving the scene before her a disbelieving look but seeing Ashley and I back down she hesitated on joining the fight.

Rias threw a glare at Ashley for calling her that but she turned her attention back to the living golem before her.

“Ha Ha Ha, thanks to my body’s structure I can become one with any stone. In this room, I can attack with my tail from any direction.” Genbu announced smugly. I was not sure why chose to explain his abilities but if that was what he wanted to do then power to him. Learning his abilities would only be good for Rias after all.

Pyrrha seemed to be even more confused about Genbu announcing how his powers worked. Rias just looked at Genbu as she raised one of her hands at pointed at Genbu.

“This energy you are seeing is called the Power Of Destruction, it is capable of erasing anything it touches from existence so prepare yourself Genbu!” Rias shouted out as she sent a bolt of energy right at the dumb turtle's face. The bolt flew through the air erasing Genbu’s head before the creature could even blink.

Genbu fell to the ground without his head, his body collapsing and lying limply on the ground. Rias looked completely disappointed in the fight as she expected more from one of the Saint Beasts but Genbu appeared to be dead with a single attack. I knew that her assumption was wrong but I was not going to ruin the surprise for her. She seemed to really like this whole scenario and it was not like she was in any real danger.

Pyrrha and Ashley might have no way to take care of Genbu but he was not able to hurt them either. So Rias had nothing to really worry about considering her feats so she could have her fun without being in danger.

“Boooo, some Saint Beasts, the chump went down in one hit,” Ashley spoke out as she booed as if she would not also die if her head was erased from existence.

“Why would you tell him how your attack worked?” Pyrrha asked trying to be the face of reason in our group of unreasonable people. I got her point of view but she was better off getting used to our nonsense instead of doubting it.

“He explained his attack so I had to return the favor,” Rias spoke out with a pout on her face. She was clearly not too happy about how the battle went.

That disappointment was wiped from her face as another tail appeared and struck her right in the stomach. Again forcing her to move from the force of the strike.

“I do appreciate the sportsmanship,” Genbu spoke out as he once more stood up with his head recovering right in front of us. The stone building up his face as if he was some sort of lego like creature.

“It would not be right if I held back my own information,” Rias spoke out with a smile emerging on her face. Hearing that Genbu just started to laugh. He then started to strike at Rias’ with multiple tails forming on the ground striking at her from every direction that was possible.

Rias erased most of the attacks but dodged the ones she could not attack in time. While she was doging she was looking at Genbu with an impatient look on her face. Seeing that look Genbu stopped for a moment.

“What Human?” Genbu questioned with an irritated voice.

“Aren’t you going to explain how you recovered from my attack,” Rias stated with a completely serious look on her face. Pyrrha shot an outraged look and Ashley just started to laugh at Rias’ audacity.  I just laughed at the was something that would happen in an anime but Genbu was clearly not willing to explain this particular trick.

He just scoffed and continued his onslaught. The multiple strikes coming at Rias fast but not too fast. So Rias was able to get herself out of most attacks without any real effort but her energy pool would eventually run too low.

“Don’t break tradition now! Come on explain your move!” Rias shouted out as she wanted to continue the scenario that was building up in her head. Genbu just remained stubbornly silent not that I expected him to explain this trick. If he did he would find himself dead.

I used my Alpha Stigma to confirm but the information in my memories fit what my eye told me. His current form was not really a body just another form of manipulation from the true Genbu. His frame was irrelevant there was only one part of him that was important his core. As long as that remained undamaged he would continuously recover from the attacks coming his way.

I should have looked at him earlier as his manipulation of stone was something good to pick up. It was not the greatest form of attack but it was another thing to add to my bag of tricks.

“He has a core, as long as you don’t damage it he will continuously recover!” I shouted out at Rias to tell her his move. Genbu was not going to explain himself and Rias would not attack unless she heard the explanation. Again silence hung in the air as everyone took in my words. Rias looked back at me with a pout on her face as she wanted Genbu to explain himself. 

“How do you know that!?” Genbu questioned with panic clear in his distorted voice. Hearing the confirmation from Genbu Rias turned back to him with a pout in her voice.

She then built up a much larger blast that erased the entirety of the Genbu taking out his core in an instant. The assault against her faded the moment her attack touched him. She then turned back to me with a pout on her face.

“This feels dirty.” She muttered out and I just shrugged at her. He was clearly not going to tell her what was going on with him.