Strength to go on(training)

~Kira.~ Selene whispered into the girl's mind as the puppets went active finally. her eyes darted back and forth, taking in everything but this time simply acting based on her own experience. There was no need to plan a strategy, strategy failed and so she would would allow the battle to flow from her. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she felt a sigh of relief and a strange warmth that flowed down her spine reminding her of the emotional response to a trusted friend's smile. Was it selene? She had no clue, and had no time to consider it. 

   ~Yea....~ The switch was instantaneous. Her lost eyes focused in as Selene took over for a moment. the words felt as if they came into her mind in a whisper, though something was off. In a fraction of a second she had the understanding she had saught so long ago, though speaking the words would take much longer. It was almost as if time had stopped, which she was certain was impossible. Selene's shared consciousness active granted the understanding in a single statement that was immediately recived though it never needed to be spoken. 

   ~Substitution......Use the snow.~ Together they changed the plan in an instance. Her hands reached one another just after the attack would hit but a few subtle changes stopped the issue at it's source. As they approaced the three meter mark the shadows beneath her grinned with excitement. The shadows setting in wait that had manipulated the ball portion of her weapon simply ceased to be, and as they did she changed her shadow locations quickly. The strikes reached out to attack her, moving at about two thirds faster then her shadow, but thankfully due to the distance, telegraphing of the puppets body moving the joints around each attacking weapon, and the difference in distance his puppets strike and her shadows needed to move she had just barelly enough time. The circle lifted her up only to be sliced in half as the leg sweep that would have connected just above Kira's ankles instead cut through a pillar of shadow. at the same time, eyes that had once been transfixed on Maku turned to address the puppets. Two shadows split from her body, one at the top of her left shoulder and the other at her right hip to provide defence from the dolls. It was complete happenstance the shadows, which she called out in response to their movement would form mere moments before the blinding light struck her peripheral from the edges of the quickly dispersing shadow shield.

     The bladed arms struck out, and as they were noticed Shadow tendrils rose from her collar bones. They collided with a slight whip with the arms, aimed just past the blades, not being able to stop them but before they were crushed the blades seeking to slice into her arms would be knocked to the left and right, just barelly missing her body as it was raised. She fell to the ground clumsilly, her hand seal changing at the last second thanks to selene, and the only thing in front of the puppets would be a pile of snow that slowly fell to the ground. Her shadow cloak flowed back across her body the moment she reappeared thanks to the substitution jutsu, behind him around ten meters away. As her body formed and the shadow blackened her body once more her hands, which were still held in the hand sign shifted only slightly to form the nara signature hand sign in a fraction of a second and she seemed to step out from her body, forming a black clone of herself with a perfect resemblance, which due to it's possition directly facing Maku would only seem like Kira took a step forward.

     She activated the Ghost mark's revenant form, ignoring the voice of youka who got the single answer chakra from selene, and felt her power grow. The shadows rose around each of them, each whose body shimmered with the black movement of the shadow cloak jutsu, four each and the moment the clone stepped out from in front of her she took off once more. Behind her another clone formed, each following their master as three duplicate shinobi that moved to close the distance once more on the side opposite where the two dolls had just attacked her. Tendrils shot out, four each aimed with wicked intent now at the doll on maku's direct right, the last of the demonic dolls in the semicircle. They spiraled together, twelve sharp spears with no clear owner due to the weaving, and the three kira's shifted positions to further mix themselves up as well. to a keen eye they could tell which one had led the pack, though due to the way she summoned her clone jutsu it would seem that the one to target was actually her first clone, which walked forward hiding her body from notice to seem like she had ran forward, creating two shadow clones behind her as she ran. As they got in striking range they would be staggered only a step behind one another with the clone that could be assumed not to be Kira in front, the clone that would be generally assumed to be Kira in the center and Kira in the back, each side by side in a slanted line. the tendrils struck out at the same speed, around one hundred and seventy five, aiming to pepper the puppets body with the same strength, except for the four from kira whose strength was three hundred and fifty. Her hands stayed clapped together, though, and this would be a strange thing that had been second nature to the girl but would look slightly odd, the scythe still seemed to be held directly in front of her the entire time. From her wrists two shadow hands the size of her own held the weapon in a defensive stance just in case. 

     while this was going on the ball flew towards the puppet. he moved to punch it, which Kira had been planning. her eyes barely darted to the side during the entire endeavor to watch the puppets movement. She wasn't sure what he would do but the dodging or deflection of her ranged weapon was an inevitability she was used to living with. Before the ball collided with azmodian's fist it seemed to be whipped directly backward to move in a shallow curve in a split second, rolling less then a foot under the punch to be tossed underhanded by the shadow hand she had formed the moment it had began to move and with it's fist out of the way it was set to smash into the puppet's chest with a power of four hundred and seventy five thanks to the shadow's new strength of three hundred and fifty and the boost of the sharpness of the ball itself's spikes. 

(clone stats: 175, new chakra stat 350, shadow stats 350)

(twc 4307)

Kiranomo wrote:



    she reappeared thanks to the substitution jutsu, behind him around ten meters away. As her body formed and the shadow blackened her body once more her hands, which were still held in the hand sign shifted only slightly to form the nara signature hand sign in a fraction of a second and she seemed to step out from her body, forming a black clone of herself with a perfect resemblance, which due to it's possition directly facing Maku would only seem like Kira took a step forward.

 

(mmmk, this is were I am going to start time lining you from, just in case I don't make it obvious enough in the post, and stop making my brain hurt so bad)

Always surprised by the ingenuity, or luck one of the two, that Kira possessed he witnessed the failure of his assault, and the makings of a substitution something he was constantly doing to Youka.  From his already turned head, he caught a glimpse of the reappearance of Kira behind him.  She was only about 10 meter away he would guess.  Seriously, it was so obvious, ninja always did shit like that and then reapeared behind their opponents.  Why wouldn't they instead appear in front of them, that would catch people off guard.  Hell Maku himself had done it several times.  People were always looking over their shoulders, but catching someone under their nose, now that was a real trick. 

Still slightly turned, he felt his chakra funnel into the suit to the back around his shoulder blades.  Now this was a trick he had never done with the suit, and well he had never even used this jutsu fully.  So it would be quit the trick indeed.  He had to do it right however.  The chakra flowed into the suit, and a loud powerful sound began to be emitted that was instantly infused with his chakra in the making of a genjutsu, without any visible manifestations to give a clue this was occuring.  The sound of the jutsu would hit Kira's ears the moment the shadow clone stepped forward.  The Iron Maiden jutsu, would cause Kira to believe she was trapped inside of a metal coffin, being confined and damaged.  (So this would happen before your revnant thus no extra chakra for you :))

Though this was not enough, Maku was tired of doing stuff half ass, instead he would follow this combo all the way.  As the genjutsu either took hold or didn't by some miracle, a portal opened up from thin air behind Maku, with the use of his fully mastered Quasar Pulsate.  The beam would fire directly towards Kira to hit her in the chest at a slight angel, to knock her airborne, slicing right through the clone, first impacting  her chest and then exploding like it had in their last spar. 

Not finished, Maku let the genjutsu be released the moment the beam made contact with the girl.  He would then fully turn his body and throw his arms wide.  Baal and Mephisto would move forward at a speed of 305, Baal launching his 30 tendrils forward at the girl, full compensating from any action she would make as he moved to the location were Kira had been struck at.  Each of these tendrils would move forward and attempt to wrap her tightly, preventing her from moving.  Half would come from above her, and the other half below to make it harder to dodge, and causing an interlocking effect increasing the strength.  This was also done in a way to catch her airborne, so she would have no way of moving or dodging out of the way so high in the air.  Mephisto stood apart from Baal, one meter to the puppets left, while Andariel and Belial returned to Maku's side.

If the tendrils had captured Kira, he would use them to slam her down onto the ground.  Not hard enough to kill, but surely enough to ring her bell pretty good.

Genjutsu power = 210 X 2 = 420 +50from suit = 470 power, X 0.75 = 352 to break free

Jutsu Used:

As the clones moved forward her perception of reality changed. Suddenly she was trapped within a large black coffin. Sharp pointed spikes filled her cage to poke painfully into her back, causing her to shift left and right and as she did she could feel the spikes lengthening. She panicked, shifting more, though it wouldn't be enough to gain her any leverage and the box was slowly getting smaller with every movement. She felt her face press against the spikes on the lid of the coffin, her face grimaced in pain and fear as she fought against the bite of the sharp metal with nothing to assist her in getting out of the situation. She awoke moments later to the sight of an enormous explosion that thrust her backwards into the air. Her hands held together as she fell, though the fingers slipped appart. Her head swam from both the illusion and the explosion and as she got her senses back, the ghost mark revenant flowing across her body out of reflex the moment she came to, she saw the tendrils wrap around her, pulling her hands into her pelvis and holding her, unable to move. 

~dont. Chakra.silence~ Selene said to the voice of youka before it had a chance to speak to them. This was not the time for casual conversations with a strange voice that sounded like their friend. As her arms were locked onto her body she slid her fingers back together, cringing at the pain of her hand in such an awkward position. She pulsed her chakra, a tendril rising up from under them to break out into the two dimensional world towards maku only to dive back into the ground as her shadow imitation jutsu activated and at the same time she was thrown downward, and four trendrils thrust themselves from the shadow cloak on various parts of her body to attempt to slice through the puppets tendrils with a speed and strength of three hundred and fifty, slicing the top portion open to free her arms. As she was about to hit the ground the tendrils cutting through Baal disappeared, and the circle beneath her rose up, a large hammoc like shadow tendril pressing itself against her body to move quickly foward and then back up. She was thrown into the air once more away from maku to fly up around five meters and head back fowards the ground where two tendrils rose up to catch her, slowing her descent to cradle her back to the ground.

    At the same time the shadow imitation jutsu flowed across the ground towards maku. That was her favorite part about this particular jutsu. Though it didn't have as many uses as the mastery of shadow talent it had the one plus to being unstopped by physical attacks, and when channeled through her mastry of shadows it's power was incredibly devistating. It would move at it's speed towards Maku and unless he moved catch his shadow in the shadow imitation jutsu to force his movments to match hers unless his strength broke three hundred and fifty. 

     She was off again, not giving herself the time to actually catch her bearings. The name of the game was push and dont think and though the style had it's speed bumps it had been working at least as well as her natural defensiveness. She ran towards maku, the same killing intent in her eyes unless he was trapped in shadow imitation. 

(4888)

Maku watched on, disappointed as the blast hit and his puppets moved at his will.  They were on her, and after a moment he could see shadows slicing through Baal's assault.  Immediately, Maku desummoned his puppets back into the scroll, so they would suffer no further damage from Kira's assaults.  Maku blew air through his mouth causing his lips to vibrate in an exasperated kind of way.  He also removed his helmet, as Kira was hitting the ground and beginning her assault towards him.  He allowed the ghost mark to recede resuming its inactive state on his chest.  Letting his helmet fall to the ground, he shook out his hair which had become plastered to his face from the heat in the helmet despite the cold outside. 

He raised his arms, up in a fashion like he was on a cross, and let his head tilt back and look at the sky.  Perhaps this was Maku's failure as a ninja.  He didn't have the killer instinct of Youka, to obliterate his opponents, instead he constantly gave them the chance to attack again, and he intended to pay for it.  He had left himself completely defenseless, and made no moves or actions to prevent the oncoming assault.  He doubted Kira would stop her assault in her wild eyed state, and he made no movements to stop her, indeed he wanted her to attack.  He could only imagine she would think this was another one of his tricks, after all of the three of them Maku considered himself the most unpredictable in his strategies.  If she failed to attack, then Maku would loose all respect for her.  She had asked for the spar, her mind sought action, and if she receded once again he could never see her as an equal.  If she hadn't been such a close friend she would already be dead.

Kira may or may not know it, but Maku already considered himself the winner.  It would have been of no difficulty to have changed the trajectory of his blast to aim at the head of the ninja, and he even could have sent two blasts to ensure the kill.  By her being stuck in the genjutsu, and taking his blast he had proven his dominance to himself, and he was not one that needed others to know his strength as long as he knew it.  The prolonging of this spar was of no consequence to his mind no matter the outcome. 

In all honesty, Maku had begun to get bored with life again.  The last time this happened he had left his village and set out on the open road.  Now though he lead a village, and what was he to do.  He missed Youka, he missed the road and the calm of the boarders.  His eyes closed, he inhaled and exhaled, a calming ritual.  His mind was at complete and total peace in this very moment.  He needed something, though he didn't know what it was.  He needed a real fight to the death and to spill the blood of a worthy foe, he needed a real woman, or he needed death.  Kira was a failure to him on two of these, he wondered as she drew ever closer would she succeed in the third in her angered state.

Maku once again let the dice that contained his life fall on the table.  The only question now, was what numbers would come up, and what would it mean for him.

The shadow reached him before she could, connecting to his to freeze him in place just as he put his arms out into the cross shaped design. She rushed forward, not thinking of anything but ensuring the win. She was a girl possessed by rage and fear. She reached him in only a few moments, sending spinning kick to strike at the left side of his face with her right leg. The shadows would rise once more if she connected, stabbing between the plates of armor at their full speed to pry it open and off. four slid between the cracks of the armor to wedge large spikes in and attempt to rip them off as two more aimed to slice through the straps that held it in place. Unless impeded the shadows would make quick work to drop the armor onto the ground with a loud clang. Another slipped from her face to wrap around her head, forming a barier to stop sound from coming in. She had been caught once by sound based genjutsu and she wouldn't allow it to happen again, she thought to herself, one of the final thoughts her mind had before she shut down completely, consumed with the rage she had hidden for so long. 

    ~yes. Kill....Kill him.......~ the voice flowed past her mind, though it didn't register as real. It was like the voice she had never heard was speaking to nothing at all in a rhetorical encouragement of an immovable wall to continue sitting perfectly still. 

    ~You're back.....I assumed you would be hidden within this vessel for the entirety of our journey. While it is nice, I would not approve of you adding another sorrow to our fragile minds m'lady." Selene's voice responded where Kira refused. As they spoke Kira began to strike at maku's chest and ribs with shadow and fists, each strike blunted but powerful enough to bruise for her hands and possibly break things with her shadows. 

     ~Selene......~ The new entrant to Kira's mind had to remember, selene thought as her name was spoken. She knew the path she had taken, and the pain it offered. It was the same path she was forcing this girl down but with no happy ending in sight. If Kira killed as her true master did then she would lose the respect she's earned and perhaps become kage to Yuki, but at the cost of becoming what she feared. 

    ~Remember m'lady.....Remember the days of old. The white room.The magic. Remember the fear of her gaze and the marks across your body.~

     Her body burned with the formation of lactic acid but still she slammed strikes into Maku with the fires of hate. Strike after strike burned into his body, His ribs, stomach, neck, side, every part of him being tenderized by the small girl with little control. She now understood the reason Youka was the way he was. 

     ~Selene...The pains. His hatred. I gave up everything twice and twice.....I wonder. Even this escape is too much. My existence brings this out so I only have two options. I can become the monster or die. As powerful as our sorrow I do not wish to end our story here.~

     ~No. This is unacceptable. You were chosen as my wielder for your ability to take on this power. Do not feign weakness now. This girl will kill because you are she. Do not let this cleansing go to waste M'lady. The third option is persevere. Trust with time we will become whole again and everything will finally work out. For you. For her. By the goddess....Mirren.~ It was amazing how one single word could bring about such power. Kira was finally finished with her assault, tears now streaming from her face as she imagined her friend to be the boy so long ago wielding a sharingan eye, and she drew sorrow up and downward to slice through her opponent from shoulder to opposite hip but as she drew the blade closer to him the word she knew nothing about pierced her mind and she stopped. The blade ceased momentum less then a centimeter from maku's body and as it stopped it disappeared with a horrifying screech. She dropped to her knees, the tears filling her vision. What had she become, she thought to herself. Why was Youka's hate so powerful that it could bring her to this point?

    "M...Maku......"


~Welcome back Kira.....And to you too M'lady. let us put this behind us. Youka is the demon of his own design but we are not he. We are the kindness we seek in this world......Never forget that. ~

     ~Maku. Thank you.~It was selene's voice that would penetrate his mind whether he was conscious to hear it or not. She looked down at his riddled form, knowing they would need to treat him soon. She wondered if he would understand what he meant to the girl she protected. She hoped one day he would learn. 

(twc 5726)

The first strike hit him across the face.  It was a decent kick, but with Kira's low strength it did little more than get his attention.  Maku felt as his armor was removed, the shadows of untold sharpness entering and pressing against his skin.  How easy it would have been for her to kill him and finish him off right here and now.  He waited, to see if this would be his fate.

It seemed she wasn't ready for that, and instead his punishment was to continue.  Blow after blow connected.  Her fists were nothing that he couldn't handle, the blows from the shadow however, well they weren't so nice.  Each hit made an impact.  The first broke three ribs on his right side, the second hit the top of his hip, fracturing his illiac crest and down into his pelvis. The final blow that really meant something was a shadow hit to the center of his chest.  The blow sent a hairline fracture straight up his sternum, immediately making breathing a difficult feat.  

Taking each hit, Maku observed her finish her rant and raving before she finally was finished.  With that lapse in concentration he was free to move again.  Using his new found freedom, he dropped backwards, falling onto the snow. He heard Selene say something about being grateful.  Coughing, he could feel the warmth of blood exit his mouth to be dripped down the side of his cheek, the taste of metal in his mouth.  He looked at the sky, and remarked how pleasant the sight of just watching clouds float by was.

"Ma....maku!!!!" She dropped to her knees drawing chakra but found none to spare. Her hands glowed with warm light for barely a second before it went out leaving them as cold as her heart. She bend down, placing her face across his chest and did the only thing she could, she wept.

"Maku please be ok. By the goddes I didn't meant to... I don't know...maku please say something!" She checked his vitals, making sure her touch was light enough not to cause further injury and determined.... This was bad. "Hang on. I'll get you to the hospital. I will find enough strength. I must"

He felt her head on his chest, which was vastly uncomfortable seeing his injuries.  Reaching his right hand up, he patted her head and stroked her hair.  "I am fine Kira, I can get myself to were I need to go.  And I don't need the hospital, I would be happy with my office." 

WIth that he attempted to got up, and was able to do so, only very very slow.  He gathered his armor, and put it in his pack, and sling it on his back, only letting out a couple gasps as he attempted to catch his breath.  "Do you feel better?"

"Selene, is she better now?"

~that is yet to be determined. This girl....her mind is unstable. I can't promise what happens next but I will protect you and your village to the best of my extent as it is her wish when in her right mind. ~ Selene's voice sounded less then thrilled with the situation. Actually, to say she was less then thrilled was probably the understatement of her life. She worried for kira's mental state, but more so the state of the girl whose existence kira was made for. She needed this release, but instability came from the two not coming truely together as one. 

    "Maku i.....I can.....I'm so sorry. I'm no better then youka....Then the boy with the sharingan. I'm sorry please forgive me. " She reached down to help him up, and as he rose she supported his weight to help walk him back to the village. Unless he adressed her once more they would make the walk in silence, her guild weighing on her like a lead weight. She considered herself the failure of everything she had ever wanted to accomplish. She was youka, and in that sense she hated his entire existence. 

(potential exit TWC 6026 +60 JP and 1500 ryo)

Maku refused her assistance.  He did not take her hand, and he did not lean on her.  He was a bit battered up, but he still had his pride and he was the leader around here.  He did walk with her back to his office.  Arriving, he would say his goodbyes to Kira, and entered the room and walked over to his desk.  Reaching under it, he pulled a lever and a bed sprung out, thanks to his own ingenuity he had made this nifty little device.  Getting in, he went to sleep, slowly recovering from his wounds.  It would take some time, but he knew he was going to be alright in the end. 

The slip about a boy with a sharingan was not missed on him, but he figured there would be time later to ask her about it.  Sleep hit him quickly, and as the hours passed Maku dreamed of the conflict he had just endured, only the results had been different and only one of them had walked back to the office.

topic closed

{approving Kira's exit and rewards, and im to lazy to total my words, so imma just forgo all my rewards.}