End of the Road (open rp)

[Kakita Hitoshi]

This is the tale of the deaths of Yasuki Chad and Kakita Hitoshi at the Fortress of the Forgotten. Please feel free to join in if you like.

They wouldn't have even gotten past the border if it hadn't been for Yasuki Chad. Kakita Hitoshi had presented his papers signed by the Kakita daimyo, and made an impassioned speech about how the need to defend the Empire superseded the recent fighting between the two clans, but it was the word of the Yasuki daimyo that carried the day, despite his self imposed exile from the Crab.

So it was that the remains of Yasuki House Guard and the Kakita First Legion had arrived at the Fortress of the Forgotten, both sorely depleted by recent losses, but all determined men in heavy armour of blue or grey. Hitoshi and Chad had presented themselves to the Champions of the Crab and Scorpion, and after some initial suspicions they had been accepted at their word. Since then, the days had been long and full of horror.

[Yasuki Chad]

Yasuki Chad hated the fog. Some Tsukai ritual had blanketed the region in a thick smoky haze for days. It was hard to see more then fifty of so feet and even then Amatarasu's Light had been reduced to a few shifting rays during midday. Even these shafts of light did little to illuminate the battleground, instead casting ever-shifting shadows. Sounds did not travel properly either, you could hear the death-rattle of a man on the other side of the Fortress, but the collapse of the tower next to you could go unoticed. In the slow times between pushes Chad wondered if it were a side effect of the spell or the conseqences of a Forced march through the Crab lands and days of fighting with so little rest.

But...mostly....Yasuki Chad hated the fog.

[Kakita Hitoshi]

As another day dawned Hitoshi took his place in the thin line of defenders holding back the relentless horde trying to break through into the Empire. To his left were the Yasuki House Guard and to his right some berserkers from the Razor's Edge Dojo. Wearily he drew his katana, and waited for something to attack him.

There was no shortage of foes. Bakemono, oni, undead, and the samurai that called themselves Lost kept up a tireless assault. Hitoshi was proud of the speed with which his men had adapted to the conditions, although he often found himself slightly numbed to everything that was going on because it was so endless.

His skin crawled as he swiped a goblin out of the air with one strike as it threw itself towards him. More were sure to follow. He supposed that the cowled figures that had been seen surrounding a giant many armed oni were doing something again, and that the defending shugenja would be trying to stop them. Sure enough, the fog seemed to close in and ripple in the unseen war.

He wondered briefly how long this could continue, how long before either his arm gave way and he could no longer raise his steel, or before the opposing army would finally run out of numbers. Or until something even larger began to assault them and they finally fell. But then there was no time to think as a new wave of attackers crashed forward. There was only time for killing.

[Yasuki Chad]

As the fighting on the wall began to heat up, Yasuki Chad pushed all distractions from his mind. For hours he was successful, until a massive impact shook the wall and threw him and those all around him to the ground. Scarcely had he begun to rise when the impact repeated. He grabbed the wall for support and stared toward the southwest wall.

Crab and Scorpion troops were abandoning a section of the wall wholesale, even leaping from it toward the inner courtyard. Dimly through the dust and smoke Chad could see a huge, monsterously scaled hand clasp the ramparts. Stone crunched and another taloned claw joined it. Leaning over the wall and roaring flame and smoke past his three acid dripping tongues was a silhouette all Crab were familier with. The massive scale of it left Yasuki Chad with no doubt what confronted the defenders and as it leapt from the wall and landed with a tremor that shook the entire fortress he gave voice to his dread and Fear.

"AKUMA! THE OVERLORD IS HERE!"

[Kakita Hitoshi]

Hitoshi was just pulling himself to his feet when he heard Chad's shout and, as if in a dream he turned round to see the monstrous figure behind him. He froze. Hitoshi had seen oni - far too many now - but they were nothing compared to this. His spirit quailed.

The noise that erupted from Akuma's maw was deafening as it bellowed a challenge to the defenders, and the Crane clapped his hands to his ears in pain. Strangely the sensation seemed to return his wits to him, but still his katana seemed like a needle compared to the immense oni overlord.

A brave gunso had rallied his unit, and the Hida piled into its legs, swinging their tetsubos with bone crushing force. With frightening speed for something so large the scaled hands began to wreak a bloody toll, slashing, crushing, and pulling apart. Within seconds there was nothing but a mess of twitching flesh. The great head came up, as if looking for something. There. A large group of shugenja were working together to counter the maho users outside. As the defenders struggled to rally their forces Akuma began to stalk towards the priests, intent on their destruction.

[Yasuki Chad]

"Nooo!", Chad cried when he saw the Overlord's intent. A shouted warning brought him around to the battle on the wall just in time to duck a powerful swing from one of the Lost. Grunting with anger Yasuki Chad backhanded the man so hard he flew off the wall to land in a twisted pile of flesh some fifty feet below.

"Gunso, Your unit must Hold here!" Chad looked around, finally spotting something that might work. A battery of Balista lay untended, it's crew slaughtered by some Maho assualt. "The rest of you with me, we must reman the ballista. One of you Grab a bucket of Jade powder. Go! GO! GO!"

The wall was not clear. it would be a race to see if the Crab or the Overlord reached it's goal first.

[Kakita Hitoshi]

Hitoshi heard Yasuki Chad's shouted orders, and saw what he was attempting to do. He barked out orders, instructing the majority of his men to hold the line and a few chosen ones to accompany him in the rush to the ballista.

Hitoshi wasn't used to the heavy nature of his armour, and try as he might the Crane couldn't catch up with the Crab forging ahead in front of them. Sweat poured down his brow, but he and his companions kept going towards the Yasuki daimyo.

[Yasuki Chad]

As Yasuki Chad and his handpicked samurai forged their way toward the balista, Akuma ripped through the defenders with joyful effenciency. He would have certainly slain the Shugenja long before a response to his presence had he in his eagerness not overlooked one...very...important fact....

This was the stronghold of the Damned berserkers.

There was no shortage of tainted loyalists eager to throw their lives away, and here was an Overlord! Though their blows were as an insects bite to one such as he, they were many. His "bloodlust overwhelmed him for a moment, and he paused for scant minutes to rip these annoyences apart.

"Insect...." He thought as he picked up one of the last ones foolish enough to oppose him. It took him a few tries, the Hiruma was fast and agile, but in the end he was bound by his merely mortal limitations. "INSECTS! I AM AS A GOD! YOUR PATHETIC EMPIRE SHALL BE IN FLAMES WHEN I AM DONE!" He casually ripped the man apart as he shouted, savoring the screams of the creature as all his limbs were seperated before throwing the mangled body into the shugenja group. "PRAY TO YOUR KAMI, THEY CANNOT SAVE YOU FRAAAAAAAARRGGGG!!!" The overlord was half ripped around to fall on one knee. A Ballista bolt, it's steel head covered in jade powder, had buried itself in his shoulder. Another grazed his leg while a third went wide and furrowed itself into the dirt.

Akuma's blazing red eyes glared at the cause of this indignity. The defenders had retaken one of the balista batteries and a Crab officer seemed to be ralling his men for another volley. The Oni roared in fury and leapted toward them. "DIEYOUALLDIEDIE!"

The Overlord landed on the edge of the wall, his weight and momentum collasping that section. most of the defenders and several of the ballista fell into the courtyard.

Coughing Yasuki Chad struggled out of the rubble. He tried to stand but the ground undulated underneth him, and he was thrown down as Akuma shook off the debris that had briefly covered him. Those three red eyes focused on the Yasuki Daimyo and more quickly then could be believed from such a beast grabbed the struggling man and lifted him high into the air.

"FOR HIDA! FOR THE EMPIRE! FOR.."

With a satisfied grunt, Akuma sqeezed with all his strength, ending the gesture of defience. Then he tossed the broken remains over his shoulder as he turned back toward the shugenga. He did not see the body land in front of several Crane Samurai next to the several of the still funtional ballista...

[Kakita Hitoshi]

Hitoshi watched, briefly reduced to silence, as Akuma crushed the life from the Yasuki daimyo's body and sent the remains arcing towards him. As it landed, the clamour of the battle returned in full force. Turning to his men, Hitoshi gave the order to open fire.

As the shafts plunged into the oni lord's back, it bellowed in pain and outrage. Spinning back to find its attackers, it caught the second volley straight in the chest and for a moment, it staggered. But only for a moment. Bounding forward, Akuma swept left and right with its great claws and both ballistae and the Crane who manned them were splintered.

As the great fists beat on the wall and the very stone beneath his feet began to give, Hitoshi rolled to his feet from where he had been twisting and rolling. A quick glance around showed him that he was the last one standing on this tower before the view was eclipsed by a pair of giant hands slamming down on either side of him. There was no way out. Looking up, he stared into the eyes of Akuma no oni as its maw came closer and closer before opening in a tidal wave of sound.

To the Crane, it seemed as if the world suddenly went quiet. Blood began to trickle from both his ears. Behind the oni lord, Hitoshi saw the shugenja begin to disperse, their ritual completed, and he smiled. "Chad-sama, you shall not die alone" he murmered, before launching himself at the Akuma's face in one final cut. "BANZAI!"

The Kakita school was fast, but the oni was faster. It clapped its hands together and Hitoshi knew only darkness, but it had been distracted long enough. Somewhere on the battlefield, a group of heroes had assembled.