“Unlike YOU,” Black muttered, inspecting his lack of fingernails, “I am not a B LIST VILLAIN.”
True, he’d seen what the Samurai could do with just one blade forged from justice, but never approached him. A mix of being both TOO BUSY and not a good enough reason kept him out of the man’s way. If he wanted to gain and KEEP the upper hand, he’d have to use the element of surprise, which meant not going in guns blazing with good manners.
There were rumors the Samurai could smell evil intentions.
“Nor am I a bad liar. But… FOR A PRICE I could even deliver him ALIVE to you, would you like that?”
“B LIST MY AMORPHOUS BLACK MASS!!” Aku raged with a show of fangs. As much as he wanted to rake his claws across Black’s face, he didn’t want to completely sabotage a chance of destroying Samurai Jack once and for all no matter how small that chance might be.
“Mhhhhhhh… Hmph.” After some petty grumbles, the demon was still fuming but he was ready to consider the offer. “While true that it would give me great satisfaction to slaughter him myself, I do not need him alive.”
At this point, Aku was beyond the point of caring who killed the Samurai so long as his bothersome pest of a foe was dead. The sooner the better. After all, Aku had seen a vision of the future in which his own stupidity had allowed Jack to escape and return to the past. He would not allow that to become a reality.
At least, not in this dimension. The sorcerer’s eyes shifted and narrowed as he thought. Then, he gave an answer, “I will give you 2.5 googolplex if you can bring me his head.”
Bursting out in laughter, Black Hat had to take a moment to recover, still chuckling as he thought it over. That was QUITE a lot Aku was offering. Plotting internally, BH just cooed and leaned in, smirking.
“Aww, you don’t want ALL of him? I’m SURE he would make a great trophy to pin on the wall like an INSECT. After all, a living enemy you can destroy yourself is worth MUCH more than a dead one, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Several of MY FAVORITES still groan and whimper whenever I walk past them.”
Now there was a sentiment Aku could enjoy. A devilish grin crossed his face.
“Yes, the Samurai’s father is still imprisoned in the Pit of Hate where he burns eternally, unable to die or escape the pain for the curse I have placed on him. His screams of unending agony are most delightful.”
“HOWEVER.
The son has overstayed his welcome. His date of expiration has long passed and he has become a tiresome pest. For that reason his severed head will suffice.”
when will tumblr fix itself? i’m not getting any notifs at all now and activity is still borked. the struggle is real.
Ashi blinked before averting her eyes to the ground. She loved her father, and hated to disappoint him. She had thought she was doing a great job. But Aku made it sound like things were completely falling apart. Was she really that blind?
“I…I’m sorry. I thought I was doing well…”. She had never thought of herself in the position of empress – rather, just an assistant helping her father manage his empire. It seemed they both had drastically different ideas on what she was doing here.
“…Maybe I’m not cut out for this after all…I’m not as strong of a leader as you Dad. I don’t know how to make people respect me. I mean, I’m good at making them respect you…But I just don’t fit the part as a supreme ruler. Maybe I should just go back to managing things in the city…”
As Aku considered her words, the problem became clear to him. She didn’t know how to make others respect her. Luckily, there was a simple solution to this. One that Aku did not mind demonstrating.
“No,” he disagreed, a dark grin forming on his face. “I believe this will be an excellent learning opportunity. Come with me, Daughter, and I will show you how it’s done.”
Aku left the palace and reappeared outside where he waited for his daughter to join him. When she was beside him, he turned his wicked grin upon the city.
“You will find it’s very simple. The trick to gaining respect is to incite fear among the masses. Show them who is Master and they will fall in line.”
Seeing the disgusted look on Aku’s face was well worth it for the play on words, and Black grinned, holding back a chuckle. The idiot would buy anything he was told if the liar sold it well enough.
“I’m quite good at what I do, and that includes being undefeated.”
“I’m sure, but I’m not sure I’d want to be sealed in the tree either.” She frowned, realizing that when she left, that would mean she’d be leaving the entire country behind. And with it, Aku.
It was stupid. But she was trying to figure out how to take the other with her if she could.
“If there were something I could put you in and take you back with me, I would.”
‘Unless you can dig up this entire tree and transport it whole, that’s not gonna happen.’ And given the roots of the tree ran deep beneath the earth, Aku knew it would be impossible. Unless she meant transfer him into a smaller object but the demon wasn’t fond of being transferred from one prison into another even smaller prison. Yet, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about being plunged back into total isolation once she left.
‘Why on this earth would you want to do that, anyway? Am I some souvenir or interesting trinket to you? Or is it because the demons that plague you avoid my presence?’
The yokai didn’t need to guess whom Cinder was referring to — he already knew. He slouched deeper into his throne with a frown that seemed to hang from his face like a wet noodle.
“I am afraid so…”
Cinder grit her teeth, the burning hot tears forcing up her throat, stinging her hazelnut eyes. She began to squeeze the letter harshly, but a tiny voice in the back of her head whispered
‘Don’t do it, even if she left… She was the closest you had to an older sibling’
Cinder slowly released the letter, falling to the throne room floor, all of the strength was sucked from her body. Her will was almost gone as the teen let out a choked sob.
“Why? Is it my fault that she’s leaving? Did I do something wrong?”
While Aku’s expression remained unchanged at the girl’s display of emotion, he understood how she felt, in a way. Would Azura have stayed if he’d been a better boss? Maybe. But she, like the Samurai, had seemed genuinely eager to return to her own timeline. What was it with humans and their obsession with ‘going home’?
“I wish it was your fault,” he answered. “Because then I could punish you properly. But, alas, you are not to blame. Going home is what she wanted.”
The Shogun of Sorrow 