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Post by Shoju on Jun 27, 2012 8:43:51 GMT -5
Yamuso frowned. " Ran? You think... I RAN from you?!" He began to chuckle. "No, you arrogant fool. I chose to honor your beloved's wedding day by not butchering you where you stood." Yamuso walked over and sheathed one of his blades, and knelt down next to Battou.
"But now, you've dishonored your wife, you've dishonored my lord, and you've insulted me. Will you dishonor yourself as well?" Yamuso grinned wildly as he thrust the blade towards Battou's midsection.
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Kakita Mitsouko
Crane Clan Mod ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star.png)
::Daimyo::Kenshinzen::Hatamoto of Crane Clan::Paragon of Duty
Posts: 1,952
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Post by Kakita Mitsouko on Jun 28, 2012 5:24:20 GMT -5
I wonder what else you expected...from the Kakita daimyo. She would obviously use the speed and nimbleness in her favor, and kept avoiding giving Thrakh the control, even if she needed to walk backwards while maneuvering her katana with fluidness. Mitsouko knew in a long confront his raw strength would eventually make him defeat her, so she started to use the stair to have terrain advantage. It would make his strikes less effectives while she was able to find a gap in his guard and perform the perfect and final strike. It won't take this long. She had a superior technique. But... she needed to make sure to not let him gain the upper hand with his heavy weapon and powerful attacks...
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Zeure
Crane Clan
Crane Clan ? Samurai ? Duelist ? Artisan ? Guardian of Metal ? Unique
Posts: 826
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Post by Zeure on Jun 28, 2012 7:01:05 GMT -5
A flicker of movement that should have been a dodge preceded his attack, but it was clearly less than what Battou expected. The blade found home, Yamuso slid it into Battou's midsection, and Battou coughed, a trickle of blood flowing from his mouth. But he wouldn't let that feverish arrogant smile fall from his mouth, his eyebrows knit together in some mad triumph that he couldn't even begin to explain.
"Yeah, you ran. And you came back to strike me down when I'm not able to defend myself. But you can't defeat me, because I've already won. Haha. You weak pathetic thing. Hahahaha."
The laughter made his midsection move, which wracked him with pain. One of his eyes closed and he grimaced, but kept that damn smile.
"You failed your master. And there is only one way a samurai can accept failure. But again, you weakness will prevent you from following the correct path, as it no doubt has done before..."
Meanwhile Kaede who was completely unaware of what was happening, continued her ritual. She had forced the spirit inside the zone of binding, but had not dispersed and banished it yet. She continued her prayers.
Battou thought: Just focus on me, for a little bit longer, fool. Just a bit longer...
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Post by Shoju on Jun 28, 2012 8:58:58 GMT -5
Yamuso frowned more deeply this time. "I... didn't...... RUN" Yamuso's words came out almost like a hiss as he twisted the blade, and pulled it up towards the wounded Crane's ribs. He leaned in tighter, and whispered in the Crane's ear. "And I didn't fail either. You and that.... pretty wife of yours will make wonderful toys for my lord for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time." Yamuso's eyes burned with hatred for the crane. "I'm almost sad that your.... service to our lord will outlast my own, mortal, life." Yamuso cocked his head slightly, and grinned, twisting the blade just a little again. " Not enough to join you in undeath, but a little."
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Daigotsu Thrakhath
Spider Clan
Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken
Posts: 600
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Post by Daigotsu Thrakhath on Jun 30, 2012 16:39:39 GMT -5
Thrakhath had never been one for finesse or technique. His style was unfettered and unpredictable, a fact that became more and more apparent as Mitsouko tried to guide the battle in her own direction. He seemed to rely solely on his unnatural speed and his brute strength, hammering away with wild blows from as many directions as possible, refusing to give her an opening. Part of him recognized that she was guiding him toward an unfavorable position as they ascended the stairs, but Thrakhath's blood was up now, and he was beyond such considerations.
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Kakita Mitsouko
Crane Clan Mod ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star.png)
::Daimyo::Kenshinzen::Hatamoto of Crane Clan::Paragon of Duty
Posts: 1,952
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Post by Kakita Mitsouko on Jul 1, 2012 7:30:46 GMT -5
The Obsidian Champion mighty blows would have smashed Mitsouko, for sure, but fortunately none of them had hit her; He swung his heavy blade once again and managed another blow, which hit the hard surface of the rocky stair instead her knee. She wasn’t there anymore. Hard years training and traveling with her father, made her the best Kakita swordmaster in the Empire, and with a sword she had a quite superior footwork as well. In that moment, Mitsouko discovered herself calm, as she wasn’t in a long time. It always happened when she was with a katana in her hands. Even her breath was natural and all the pain gone from her conscience. Years and years of practice and control of herself. It was when she encounter a contented peace with herself.She was born to do it. Nothing else mattered anyway. She was a duelist, from a long lineage of mythic duelists. She was a Crane. Brutish force was meant to be combated exactly as she was doing. She used another step and forced the furious Spider Champion to come after her, missing her again and again; every blow hitting the stair steps raising stone fragments everywhere. Finally, she bent her body in his direction, using what she called the Tori no Tsume Kizu, a disarming maneuver; her blade opened a long and deep gash in the length of his blade’s hand forearm, through the wrist, forcing the involuntary action of releasing the blade’s hilt grip. And finally, making it easier to fish up the opponent’s blade with her own. Both observed Thrak’s scimitar making a swirling parabola through the air, producing a metallic noise when it hit the rocks down the left side of the stairway, 3 feet below. A heartbeat was all the time she took to sway her katana again in a vertical move to finish his disgraced existence…
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Daigotsu Thrakhath
Spider Clan
Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken
Posts: 600
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Post by Daigotsu Thrakhath on Jul 2, 2012 13:00:40 GMT -5
Thrakhath did not feel the bite of her blade, but the wound had the intended effect anyway, his scimitar leaving his grip and sailing away. Acting purely on instinct, Thrakhath threw himself forward at the same time Mitsouko's blade struck. He drove his shoulder into her body and lifted, hurling her over the edge of the stair just as her blade pierced his dead heart. With a roar of rage he tore the weapon from his chest and threw it after her.
Without waiting to see the result of Mitsouko's fall, Thrakhath turned and ran for the forge, unarmed though he was.
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Kakita Mitsouko
Crane Clan Mod ![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star.png)
::Daimyo::Kenshinzen::Hatamoto of Crane Clan::Paragon of Duty
Posts: 1,952
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Post by Kakita Mitsouko on Jul 2, 2012 19:48:55 GMT -5
First, the impact, like being trampled by a frenzied horse; then the sudden flight. Breathless, diving into the speediest trip of her life, a dive in the ozone sea; like a falling star crossing the sky and finally clashing with violence onto the solid surface. It ended abruptly, blood, broken bones in a blue mess of feathers and silk. She gasped; it was like drowning. No time for haiku. Nothing. Just mirroring the sun image in the retina, for an instant. She blinked.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
Crane Clan ? Samurai ? Duelist ? Artisan ? Guardian of Metal ? Unique
Posts: 826
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Post by Zeure on Jul 3, 2012 3:53:51 GMT -5
Battou coughed, violently, and the pain was intense; the look on his face was no doubt very rewarding to Yamuso. However, as Yamuso's knife hit his sternum, Battou laughed again. "It always hurts the most when someone pegs you for exactly what you are... Emotional pain, mental anguish, these are far worse that physical wounds." Battou spit blood into his face, though he was likely to miss from the unfavorable way that he was laying and the strength that was ebbing from him.
Suddenly behind Yamuso there was a flash of light and a suction of air as the banishment ritual concluded and the displaced air suddenly popped back into the place that the circle had been. Asahina Kaede leaned on one of the worktables in the room, but already, she had pulled a different scroll out and was beginning the incantation for it. As Yamuso turned his head just to see what was going on, that's what he saw. He saw Kaede summoning up winds that were meant to slam Yamuso towards the doorway that he had entered only moments before. If the winds were successful in catching him, he would fly through the door, crashing somewhere outside.
{OOC} I don't know how agile your dude was, so I didn't want to meta throwing you out. {/OOC}
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Post by Shoju on Jul 3, 2012 10:02:04 GMT -5
Yamuso growled as the winds caught him. He held onto the blade in Battou's midsection with great intensity as the winds pulled at him. The blade didn't hold in the man, and was torn out sideways, another deep cut to an already awful wound.
As he flew through the doorway he cursed himself. He had been so focused on the Kakita he had forgotten about the shugenja. That's fine, she can serve too, Yamuso thought as he rolled up into a standing position andflicked the blood from the blade, and sheathing it in one fluid motion. The Kakita's injuries rendered him less of a liability. "Run while you can, little girl, lest you end up in service to my master like Battou-san."
Yamuso reached into his obi, and pulled four shuriken from it. The right tool for the job his sensei had taught him. He readied himself, and lept through the doorway again, Hurling the Shuriken as he did. He sent them in precise directions, spanning the area of the room where the Shugenja had been.
{ooc} If you had soemthing else in mind, let em know, I can change stuff {/ooc}
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Zeure
Crane Clan
Crane Clan ? Samurai ? Duelist ? Artisan ? Guardian of Metal ? Unique
Posts: 826
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Post by Zeure on Jul 4, 2012 7:39:09 GMT -5
Which is unfortunate, as when he turned the corner, she was not there. Battou wasn't either, strangely. The four shuriken hit a wall in a well placed pattern, but nothing but the wall and the air was there.
{{ Shoju, buddy, check your PMs, as I have OOCly explained what is going on there. }}
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Post by Shoju on Jul 6, 2012 10:15:20 GMT -5
As Yamuso hit the floor with a thud, he growled. "Foolish girl..." He stood, drew his Ninja-to from their resting place, and walked towards the corner and the shadow it offered. As he did, he faded from sight.
His soul ached as his form changed. He hated the fragment of shadow that still held tight to his soul. He had pushed so much of it out so long ago, but there was still a piece, as if now... truly a part of him, that lingered, deep inside him, out of reach. He heard its calls, the whispers of the Shadow Dragon, asking him to come "home". He hated the whispers, but for the access to Tejina that it offered, he suffered them. His will to serve the Spider was unbreakable.
As he reached out through the shadows, his mind burned. The Shadows were his to control, and he could feel the pair still in the room. He could feel the Asahina's magic keeping them hidden. "Come out and play little Asahina. I can... feel you. "
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Daigotsu Thrakhath
Spider Clan
Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken
Posts: 600
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Post by Daigotsu Thrakhath on Jul 6, 2012 18:55:21 GMT -5
Thrakhath emerged from the entrance to the forge to find... an empty room. It took a moment for his senses to process that there was no one here; no Yamuso, no one with a hammer, no shugenja to properly banish the helmet's spirit. He immediately settled into a defensive crouch, his eyes darting around the room quickly, searching for any indication of movement. He carried no weapon, but the raw power of Jigoku still coursed through his ravaged body, enhancing his strength and his reflexes. He moved slowly, keeping his back to the wall and circling the forge, wary for any sign of attack.
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Zeure
Crane Clan
Crane Clan ? Samurai ? Duelist ? Artisan ? Guardian of Metal ? Unique
Posts: 826
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Post by Zeure on Jul 12, 2012 5:48:30 GMT -5
[OOC] Terribly sorry, things have been coming up rather quickly there. Had too many activities in RL to get back to this. Should be fine now... [/OOC]
Working quickly, given the moments of distraction that simply not being there had provided, Kaede was well on the way to sealing the wounds that Battou had developed. The pure water flowed from the kami that she had brought forth to help him, and her Asahina training was definitely helping here. She didn't know the people attacking, but she had the idea that they were deadly serious, so she kept her position over Battou's body. It was truly a remarkable capability of hers to be able to multitask like this, sad that no one but her would know what she had done.
Battou began to stir, but taking a moment to survey what was going on, made him lose any speech he would have given, as his wounds were literally closing in front of his eyes. Stunned silence, Kaede thought, is a definite blessing from this one...
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Post by Shoju on Jul 12, 2012 11:43:28 GMT -5
As Yamuso searched through the Shadows in the room, he found the Asahina, her Water Kami, and the now healing Battou. His voice rang out in the ears of the Shungenja "You should have run while you had the chance." As the voice rang true in her ears, Yamuso's form coalesced in front of the forge.
As Thrakhath circled the room, Yamuso pointed. "They are there. The shugenja that bound the energies of the helm now tends the wounds of the husband." Yamuso never stopped watching the spot, but held his arm out in front of Thrakhath. "My connection to the Shadow is of no use, but your connection to the Maho is."
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