Zeure
Crane Clan
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Post by Zeure on Oct 27, 2011 12:42:19 GMT -5
The most direct event that led up to this: HERE[OOC]This is an extremely closed thread. If you really think you've got something to add here, please PM me first as the circumstances surrounding this thread are magical in nature. I would also add that Senshi and I have agreed to this thread so don't think I'm posting all willy-nilly drawing people in. And finally I will add this in bold so that it will catch peoples eyes: The happenings in this thread are dark and adult in nature. DO NOT READ THIS THREAD IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH OR DON'T WANT TO SEE ADULT MATERIAL. Other than that, lets get down to it.[/OOC] Bayushi Senshi laid down to rest after a long day of hard work. Everything seemed to be happening so fast and the pain that he felt was no small reminder that his journey was not complete. The wounds he had suffered paled in comparison to those he would have to face to accomplish those things he had set out for himself. His eyes fluttered closed, his ears very intent on sound as was the Bayushi tradition. He would appear asleep long before he was actually asleep. As he lay there waiting his mind wandered; he thought about everything that he had done up to this point and everything that he had to do in the future. His goals and dreams were all laid out before him. Some time had passed and he began to fall asleep. Elsewhere in the empire, a shugenja sat meditating in the hold of a ship. Tamihei Yun had positioned himself facing towards Scorpion lands to help him focus his thoughts the correct direction. He had been chanting for some time; sensing, waiting to feel that Bayushi Senshi had fallen asleep. Yun was loyal to his lord and anything that he could do in service, he would. The ship rocked as the night winds pushed water against it, but Yun was so deep in trance that it didn't phase him at all. In Yun's mind, a door opened as Bayushi Senshi finally drifted off to sleep. Yun spent several minutes looking at Bayushi Senshi's recent memories, trying to ascertain how to torment him most significantly. Bayushi Senshi finds himself walking to the imperial court room, his grim determination all that keeps his soul from wavering as he slowly walks past everyone in the imperial court towards a private room where he intends to prove his loyalty to the empire. In Senshi's mind, he knows what is about to happen. As he relives the pain that he has already endured; and it seems more intense than before. Like he is remembering more than there was. In senshi's mind he shouts NO NO NO! He looks around the room and everyone who is there is shocked. Apparently Senshi had uttered those words outloud rather than in his mind. Everyone begins to point and talk about him. Senshi only catches some of the coversation behind open fans. Words like: madman, coward, failure are heard, but not the surrounding context. Senshi's feet continue to walk forward against his will; and the doors close behind him. As he stares into the face of the Hantei he wavers visibly. Hantei says but one word to him: Burn. With that, Bayushi's arm begins to smolder and quickly erupts into a raging inferno. The fire washes up his arm and engulfs him completely. All the while, he screams as loudly and as painfully as a man could scream. And the only sound that he could hear amidst his screams...was laughter.
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Bayushi Senshi
Scorpion Clan
Scorpion Clan * Clan Champion * Samurai * Kensai * Experienced * Loyal * Unique
Posts: 1,891
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Post by Bayushi Senshi on Oct 28, 2011 0:38:39 GMT -5
Senshi woke, dripping in his sweat. This happens far too often nowadays. The only thing that made this rest different then the past few were the deep nature of the dreams.
Senshi walked to his fire place, noted that it was in fact dead, and went to task relighting the fire. He grabbed a torch, already burning, from his wall and poked at the logs until the fire spread. After replacing the torch, he sat and meditated looking into the fireplace. Pondering his next few steps in his assault against the band of tainted ronin that followed Shoju and Daigotsu.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
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Post by Zeure on Oct 29, 2011 0:07:04 GMT -5
The dreams had kept Senshi awake for the rest of that night. And the night after that was unventful, a normal nights rest. But the second night after his first horrible nightmares, things returned.
Elsewhere in the empire, Tamihei Yun was preparing the ritual again. A soon as the door opened, Yun dove in with gusto, he had spent two days preparing exactly what he wanted to do tonight.
Bayushi Senshi was sitting in his private chambers tending his wounded arm. The burning sensations he had felt that day had not subsided and he felt incredibly tired in addition to all the pain for he had not been able to sleep well even with the tender ministrations of his servants.
Bayushi Haruka, his wife, sat with him in the room. Senshi looked at her with all the love and joy that his face was able to show through the pain. He thought to himself: No matter what happens to me, I will always have my Haruka. And soon, a child will be there with me.. He looked at Haruka's stomach where the child was still growing. And then back at Haruka's face where he caught something he didn't understand.
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 29, 2011 0:07:32 GMT -5
Haruka sat contemplatively staring at Senshi as he tended his burning hand. Haruka stared at him, and the look on her face was one of admonishment.
"How could you do something so stupid! Hantei-sama will not win this war. I can not live with a man who is so foolish as to toss away one of his limbs in a fruitless quest. And you're a Scorpion, the Scorpion Champion and you can't see the truth through all the lies."
Haruka paused and tears were forming in her eyes. "I couldn't let this child that grows within me be raised by someone like that."
Haruka stood up slowly, the weight of her child making her move slower than her training would normally allow. And she moved towards the door. Senshi stood up and held out his hand, then opened his mouth but no sound came out. He found that he couldn't talk at all. He clutched at his throat, trying to scream as loud as he could, but he could not make a single utterance.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
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Posts: 826
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Post by Zeure on Oct 29, 2011 0:13:00 GMT -5
And as she passed out the door, Senshi tried to give chase, but he only fell flat on his bad arm hard, trying to get up. His legs were not working and his damaged arm was now awash with all manner of new pain sensations. One of Senshi's servants was attempting to help him up, but Bayushi Senshi pushed the man away. As the man fell from the force of Senshi's rage push, he knocked over a sconce holding some fire for the light of this room. The walls around Senshi began to burn, the servant was gone and he was all alone in his bed chambers and was quickly incinerated.
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Oct 30, 2011 12:36:45 GMT -5
(Oh I thought of something all on my own to add.. why am I so sinister when it comes to things like this.)
And as the flames tore away the privacy of his room, breaking down the walls in their relentless destructive fashion, his eyes would heat up and burn making it painful for him to keep them open. But at the same time with his ever searching mind looking out for his wife, his gaze would fall on her silhouette.
He'd recognize her instantly, with her long flowing hair, her gleaming clothing and that protruding stomach. But a new wall was between them, and even when Senshi summoned the strength to reach out with his good arm, he could hear her thoughts in his head. The rage and the pain in her a barrier made manifest. Her thoughts echoed and resonated into her voice spoken aloud with the same bitter tone and nearly unintelligible speed.
My own husband... selfishly keeping me alive... just for himself... he just wants the child to live... he wants me as his slave... nothing more than a woman in his eyes... like some servant... some puppet for his pleasure... A traitor to the alliance... A traitor... to his own friends...
I should have never left the Unicorn... I will not deny my redemption a moment longer! Only death is redeeming!
He would see her draw her wakizashi, the gleam of it through the momentary parting of the flames. Her body unscathed, beautiful and pristine until she held it before her, standing there without a second, and took her own life right before his eyes.
His eyes became too painful, the burning sensation gnawing away at his senses anew. His wife's body did not crumple and disintegrate but held that hunched pose where she plunged the blade through her chest, destroying her form that should have been preserved through a proper seppuku rather than a bitter one as this. After all he'd done to keep her from taking her own life to spite Hantei, she threw it all away right in front of his eyes.
But sickeningly, even as he drifted into the darkness behind his own eyelids he could see Haruka's head slowly turn to look at him, an insane glare in her eyes. And most telling of all, a gleaming blue glow in her eyes, something that was a telltale sign of the taint ravaging her body.
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Bayushi Senshi
Scorpion Clan
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Post by Bayushi Senshi on Oct 30, 2011 13:30:19 GMT -5
Senshi awoke again, slowly sat upright. Another nightmare? He brushed a hand through his hair, looked out the window to confirm the time, then rolled over, looking into the candle light. He did not however get anymore sleep, he just lay there watching the wax melt away.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
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Post by Zeure on Oct 31, 2011 15:16:30 GMT -5
[OOC]There will be a few posts after this one. I'll make it obvious for you, Senshi when you can continue it again, K?[/OOC]
Yun sat down in his circle again. He had been astonished at how well his dream work had been the last time. It had almost taken on a life of it's own in Senshi's mind; and that had made him craft what he considered a continuance on that. He leapt through the doors of Senshi's mind into his dreams and began to weave.
Senshi sat at his writing table in his bed room. The desk had been something that he had used more and more since he became the champion of the scorpion. He was trying to think of the right words to inscribe on his letter to Tomatsu to explain what the next step of the Scorpion war would be. Senshi couldn't help but feeling that he was missing something. Like there was something that should have been in the room with him that wasn't. Something precious to him.
Then there was several sounds from the hall outside, Senshi reflexively looked up just as the doors burst open. A strong gust of wind had knocked them open and Senshi could see that one of the guards that had been guarding his door was dead.
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Nov 1, 2011 0:44:54 GMT -5
As the doors opened, Senshi realized what he was missing. Bayushi Haruka stood there with the wind making her kimono flutter around her. Senshi first noticed that Haruka was not wearing a kimono that he had ever seen before; rather she was wearing a black and white kimono with the lines cut in such a fashion as to accentuate her curves in a way that would seem almost too inappropriate even for a Scorpion woman. Her eyes were electric blue, rather than their normal color and they glowed with a fierce intensity that he had not seen before. The second thing he noticed was that she was no longer pregnant. The once round belly had gone back to it's flat, almost too thin appearance.
She took a few steps into the room and began to speak."Hello Senshi dear. I've missed you." Her tone was acid and playful in a cruel sort of way. She was smiling seductively, but Senshi could tell that this was not genuine. She was playing with him. "I've brought some old friends here to play with you, Senshi darling."
At that, Tenshi walked in from the outside. The wind moved around her in that same unnatural way as it had with Haruka. Her kimono was the exact duplicate of Haruka's except that the colors were reversed. Her eyes glowed with that same electric blue light that Haruka's did. She moved closer to Senshi such that she was standing right beside him with Haruka on his other side. "Hello, brother. Did you know that Haruka has recently been a very naughty girl." She looked over at Haruka and she was clearly teasing both of them. "Shes been with me and MY husband. In ways that you would dearly love to never know about. But I have brought my husband with me, he could tell you better than I."
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Post by Shoju on Nov 1, 2011 6:37:40 GMT -5
And that is when Shoju entered the room; carrying two twin babies. Even though he had never seen them before, Senshi instantly knew they were his children. Senshi's eyes would have burned holes into Shoju if he could. The two women that had now surrounded Senshi on either side pushed him down by grasping his shoulders. Shoju strode forward proudly with full confidence.
"Hello, Senshi. It has been a long time." Shoju sat the two children down on Senshi's bed and moved closer so that he was standing at the opposite side of Senshi's desk. "For making these children that I have now taken to be my apprentices I have a gift for you. Something that I feel you deserve, given our... relationship."
Shoju placed his hands on either side of Senshi's head, and Senshi could tell that Shoju was getting into his head. Senshi tried to fight it, but it seemed all too easy for Shoju to ignore his defenses. Senshi began having visions, he saw how Shoju had slowly turned Haruka and Tenshi to his side; how Shoju had given them the taint and how they had been all too grateful for his deliverance. He saw all three of them in a bedchamber that he could assume was Shoju's where they had teased and played with each other and how Shoju had given them EXACTLY what they were BEGGING him for over and over again. Senshi saw the birth of his children from Haruka; twins it had been, a fortuitous event if only Shoju hadn't been there to taint them from birth. He saw how Shoju had killed his way here, destroying every person that Senshi held most dear to him until Shoju, Haruka, and Tenshi stood in front of the door that they had just entered.
Shoju released the visions and Senshi breathed out heavily and then gasped for air, as if he had not been breathing the entire time. And then he looked up at Shoju who was standing there with a very satisfied grin on his face. "And there is one more thing, that I would like to return to you, Senshi." With that, Shoju reached towards his back and produced the No-Dachi that had been hanging there. To Senshi, this weapon was all too familiar as it had been the weapon that he had used to kill Shoju. Shoju spoke a few words that was clearly a spell and the sword was engulfed in flames. Shoju drew it back and plunged it deep into Senshi's chest; it went cleanly through him and buried itself into the wall behind Senshi. The flames licked Senshi's clothes and they began to catch on fire. Senshi slumped forward keeping hid head up to watch Shoju. Shoju released the blade and he walked back over to the children and snapped his fingers. Haruka and Tenshi left Senshi's side and went over to Shoju, each then picked up one of the children.
"Goodbye, Senshi, the blade will take some time to infect you and resurrect you, but in time you'll live again. The rest of you say goodbye as well." Tenshi, in a gregarious tone, said "Goodbye Senshi, I hope I see you again soon." Haruka blew a kiss to Senshi; then she put the child's hand in hers and made the baby wave goodbye to Senshi. They all walked back out the door and left Senshi alone.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
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Post by Zeure on Nov 1, 2011 10:42:45 GMT -5
All the lights present in Senshi's room were put out by the raging winds billowing in from the now broken doors. The unnatural fires that came off the No-Dachi buried in his chest did not move however. Senshi had no energy, the sword was draining him of everything he had. The flames had burned off most of his clothing now, though it left his skin untouched; yet he felt on fire, the pain was agonizing to him.
But even worse, an oily black tar-like substance was dripping from his wound, if Senshi were to imagine what taint manifest would look like, this would be it. As it hit the floor, the mass started to quiver and move and stretch until there was enough of it that it was head level with Senshi while he was sitting on his cushion. The mass seemed to reach out to Senshi's face and it poured through his mask. Senshi tried to hold his mouth shut, but the substance moved in through his nose which made him gasp just long enough for it to move into his mouth. Some of the jelly moved up to his eyes and poured in around the sides of his eyeball.
As the pain of oil moving through his orifices, the pain of fire that would do anything but burn his skin, and the no-dachi still buried in his chest, Senshi could do nothing but attempt to scream; which came out as a sort of gurgle through the black taint that was pouring itself into him. And the only thing Senshi could hear was the echo of Shoju's laughter.
[OOC]K. I'm done with this sequence, Senshi.[/OOC]
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Bayushi Senshi
Scorpion Clan
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Post by Bayushi Senshi on Nov 2, 2011 15:50:39 GMT -5
Many a traumatic night had passed for Senshi, but he had a duty to do and so he tackled the logistics of organizing a war effort during the day. At nights however he had begun limiting the amount of sleep he had, having servants wake him after only a single hour, only to go back to work and then sleep again an hour more.
These sprints of sleep were sporadic, and hardly effective as his eyes were ringed with dark circles and his demeanor steadily worsening.
He absentmindedly rubbed his right side, feeling the loss of his arm more keenly as his life had become a living heel ever since its sacrifice. He had tasked so many others, and all his most trusted shugenja with duties and responsibilities so far and beyond that he only saught the use of tea to remedy his sleep deprivation.
Senshi watched as his servants avoided any eye contact, he knew what they were thinking. That he was foolish and overzealous for not getting to bed. He knew what they thought of him. They would all get their comeuppance in the end. The low class curs.
Senshi stared at his drink as his mind swirled. The maps before him began to twist... The servants drugged me? He had just enough time to look at their upset, guilty faces to register this fact before he fell asleep, face down on his maps.
They, in their concern for the champions well being, had drugged him with enough medicine to force him into a deep long sleep.
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Bayushi Haruka
Scorpion Clan
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Post by Bayushi Haruka on Nov 2, 2011 16:24:54 GMT -5
It was that day of all days that the slow gentle movements of a horse should break the air of quiet on the road. Haruka had ridden carefully through the land once again to return. Her form slouched somewhat until she came into view of the guards. Her health was much more fragile as she had the reins wrapped around her hand, unable to even grip it in her fingers for sure.
The guard were gentle with her, escorting her in silence, they didn't need to ask who she was or why she'd returned now. Their somber entrance to the castle court of Kyuden Bayushi only betrayed by the sounds of the horse. Haruka even needed assistance dismounting as the steed was lead back to the rest of her Utaku herd.
The guard would retreat then as Alana came immediately to her side. Haruka couldn't mask the exhaustion and the pain that came from her. The servants naturally became rather nervous at the sight of her sudden return, but said nothing only bowing in respect and helping to lead her up to their personal chambers.
But of course when she entered, the servants there had only finished placing Senshi in his own bed after they'd drugged him. They seemed to jump with a look of seeing an imminent death in their eyes. But Haruka ignored them. She was either too weak, or too concerned with other things to care. Her voice growled as she held her stomach.
"Get, out."
No question or doubt in their mind the two were left alone. Left with only a deep panting breath, the pain, and now the sight of her husband left in such a ragged state. He seemed to be getting worse, but she couldn't tell why. When it was clear he would not awaken she took her place at his side, allowing herself the chance to rest as well. She knew now that the child would not be much longer.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
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Post by Zeure on Nov 3, 2011 15:08:00 GMT -5
Bayushi Senshi would know the first peaceful sleep he was allowed to have in several nights...for a few hours.
As Yun finally laid out his ritual again, he was surprised to see that Senshi was already asleep. Not wasting another minute, surmising that Senshi had altered his sleep schedule to catch Yun unawares, Yun leaps through the door of Senshi's sleeping mind and begins weaving again.
Senshi would find himself on a battlefield, not one that he personally recognized, but when you've seen as many battlefields as a seasoned warrior has, you start to skip the particulars. There were dead bodies all around him and Senshi got the feeling that they didn't matter, they were not why he was here. He marched forward towards a command tent that was sitting amid the bodies, seemingly out of place. Outside the tent, Senshi knelt and a grating voice, like one that had not been used in awhile issued forth from Senshi. "My Lord, I have returned and seek entrance to your tent." A familiar voice issued back, "You may enter, Senshi."
Senshi pushed aside the tent flaps and moved inside and grabbed a seat at a planning table. With him sat people he had seen before, but the names in his mind did not match the names he remembered. Sitting to his immediate left was Daigotsu Haruka, next to her was Daigotsu Tenshi; to Senshi's right sat Daigotsu Naseru, and at the head of the table, obviously in charge sat Chuda Shoju.
"Good, everyone is here. Our infiltration of the empire is going well. Having taken control of the emperor has not hurt our efforts there. Thankfully we have that Pekkle no Oni on the throne while we meet here."
Senshi's mind swam with other thoughts of a life gone by where he had been the just the Scorpion Champion before Shoju set him free. It seemed like such a long time ago, even though it was only months ago.
"Thanks to my tool, Senshi, the scorpion clan has continued their support of our puppet Naseru. We have overrun the wall and the crab have retreated to Lion lands where they house Kaneka. soon, the armies of the Dragon, not knowing they are supporting us will re-launch their offensive on Swift Sword, we and the shadowlands army will strike from below tearing apart the defenders in our pincer maneuver. No doubt the Unicorn will retreat back to the ice plains, and we will let them."
The meeting seemed to drone on and on for Senshi. Nothing could hold his interest anymore since he had died. Haruka, who had at one time been the passion of his life no longer held any special meaning for him. Turning undead, he hears, has that side effect. The children that were biologically his had nothing to do with him, and Shoju had severely reprimanded him the one time he had spoken with them. His life was a sad existence out here in the shadowlands.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scene change - Shiro Matsu - Ongoing battle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senshi sliced off yet another Lion head. He thought remorselessly about how he had once been friends with some of these Lion. Off in the distance he spotted Akodo Tomatsu, his one time best friend. Senshi ran that direction, leaping over a small barricade and killing two lion in the process with one great acrobatic spin.
"Tomatsu!" Senshi's grating voice issued forth. "Tomatsu! I have come for your head! I will deliver it to My Dark Lord personally."
"Senshi...No! You will not have my head traitor! I will destroy you, monster, and everything that your dark lord stands for! FOR AKODO!"
Tomatsu rushed forward, his Katana raised high. Senshi thought to himself: foolish Akodo, they're strong but they always make their swordplay too obvious... Senshi leapt aside from Tomatsu's fierce downward stroke; and returned with his own thrust which Tomatsu parried. Their swords would clash over and over as neither of them could gain ground. The look in Tomatsu's face would have stunned Bayushi Senshi, but he was Daigotsu Senshi now and it held no sway over him. Tomatsu swung sideways and Senshi caught it on his blade and flipped the stroke over his head. With speed unmatched by mortal bodies, Senshi used the momentum of the parry to spin his blade around into a thrust that buried itself deep into Tomatsu's heart.
"*cough* Why....why are you doing this?"
"Your empire has fallen, Tomatsu. My Lord Daigotsu will reign forever."
With those words, Senshi swept his blade out and severed neck from head on his former friend.
Toshi Ranbo was in flames, a significant portion of those fires he had started himself on the way to this confrontation. He ripped off Tomatsu's armor and dug his hands into his chest. The claws he had been given made easy work of the flesh and he pulled forth Tomatsu's heart. As he began eating the warm blood soaked flesh that would sustain his unnatural existence he watched everything he used to hold dear burn.
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Bayushi Senshi
Scorpion Clan
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Post by Bayushi Senshi on Nov 5, 2011 3:24:31 GMT -5
Senshi shot upright, his eyes caked with crud, and his vision blurred. He paniced momentarily as he realized he was not alone. All about him everything was blurred, and his reaction time was slow, and dizzying. Drugs. He was still heavily drugged. Haruka? She had returned.
He scrambled out of his bed, but his body was weakened enough that he just ended up scrambling along the floor, knocking over a nearby bedside table. A glass goblet shattered across the floor. "Alllaaaanuh-" His tongue stuck like dead weight in his mouth as he called out, in what he perceived as anger, but really came out feebly, to his most trusted servant.
He tried to lift himself up on his left arm, then fell to the floor hard on his right side, his body sliced in small spots by the broken glass.
That anyone was still asleep in Kyuden Bayushi would be a small wonder...
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