Trope Pantheon: Date Masamune, God of Eyepatches
Path A: Chapter 3
Previously: Masamune, vowing to become stronger to defeat Ishida Mitsunari and reclaim his reputation, goes to the House of Combat to practice his skills in a training room. Along the way back to his temple, he was ambushed by a ferocious knight known as Nightmare. Together with a strange woman known as Shanoa, he has succeeded in fighting off the vicious bloodthirsty knight. The next day, he goes to the House of War to seek a good friendly. Instead of fighting his rival Yukimura, he ends up fighting what was known to be a mutant with claws with the ability to heal his wounds in a supernatural way. As they've both parted ways, the two fighters respected the skills of each other. Exhausted, Masamune decides to head for the House of Food to chow down a meal. The Dragon now sharpens his claws to cut down anyone who dares to be an obstacle in his path.
As he arrives in the House of Food, there were very little deities occupied here besides the chefs. However, this doesn't hinder him in the slightest. He then orders himself some Sukayaki Beef along with two bowls of miso soup. '….' Quiet, Masamune starts to eat his food slowly. 'Once I defeat that bastard sullen pretty-boy, I'll train some of the other Gods in the War and Combat house. They'll need it for their upcoming battles if they want to achieve peace…' As he's deep in thought, Masamune continues to eat his food. The somber One-Eyed Dragon then departs to his temple in the House of Personal Appearance. Before doing so, he is approached by a certain God.
"It's been some time since our last encounter, One-Eyed Dragon." Greeting him with a smile, Guan Yu then noticed his unhappy face. "Why the long face…?"
"It's nothing… It's nice seeing you here. Now if you must excuse me, I'll be heading back to my temple…" Jumping on his horse and head back to his temple, Masamune thinks of all the progress he's made because of it. 'Yukimura… Keiji… The guy from Echigo… The Sister of the Demon King… If I hadn't allied with you guys… Even if Kojuro isn't here… I wouldn't be in this place now…' He rides back to his temple, The One-Eyed Dragon smiles with his 'native' allies.
Back at the House of Personal Appearance, Masamune is sitting at the front of his temple, looking at the ceiling as he lies on his back. Bathed in boredom, Masamune decides to head back in his temples until someone interrupted him
"It's the warlord of Oshuu: Date Masamune!" Approaching him was a god; "It's an honor to meet you." The Goddess greets Masamune by bowing to him.
"...And you are…?" Bored, The One-Dragon wondered who this young god was. He wasn't too interested in time.
"I'm Kenichi Shirahama." As he introduced himself, the young god leaves Masamune's presence.
After the young god left him, Masamune, at a loss of ideas, was about to decide to take a nap and call it a day until he was approached by a certain God. "Masamune!" The God wore a yellow vest above a yellow shirt underneath it, along with some yellow pants on them. He also equips some fist cuffs. Smiling, he approaches Masamune. "It's been a while. Can I come into your temple to discuss something?" The God's request was polite.
"What purpose do you have here, Ieyasu the shogun?" Questioning the reasons of the well-respected shogun known as Tokugawa Ieyasu, Masamune, as he brings the two in his temple, is wondering what motives he have in mind.
"It's about Hideyoshi..." With a serious look on his face, Ieyasu gives Masamune more details on the matter. "With his 'alliance' with Nobunaga, It may be difficult to defeat them. We must avoid him if we want to deal with Mitsunari."
"Count me in! Besides, the bastard will pay for harming Kojuro and my men back at Odawara castle." Recalling that one incident in the mortal realm, Ieyasu plan caught Masamune's attention. He couldn't let this opportunity slip. "We should bring Lady-killer along for Muttonchops in should he intervene." The One-eyed Dragon added.
"…Lady-killer…?" Ieyasu asked, puzzled at the nickname. The shogun was apparently never fond of using nicknames. "Who…?"
"That Maeda boy Keiji… I hear he has some tragic event with him in the past is what lead Muttonchops to the crazy ruler he is today… At least that's what I've heard." Recalling Keiji's past with the ruler of Toyotomi, Masamune's expression was melancholic.
"…I see… I'll bring him along then." Facing away from Masamune, Ieyasu departs. Before finally leaving Masamune's temple, he adds in one final message. "I wish to see the day we'll bring peace to this pantheon. No more suffering. No more abuse; a pantheon where everyone can unite in harmony. I hope you'll understand." Ieyasu finally leaves the temple, leaving Masamune.
"Hey! Just notify me when the time comes!" Sitting down on his bed, Masamune is thinking about Ieyasu's speech. 'His speech reminds me a lot like him… Those two should be good friends.' Ieyasu's speech reminded him much like Keiji's in his mortal days. 'However, I'm not preachy on the idea; Innocence won't get anyone far on this pantheon…' Masamune thinks very hard about this philosophy. 'But first… I'll go to the House of Weapons and have a blacksmith to repair Dragon's Fang and pick up Tiamat for this battle.' Due to his battle with Nightmare, One of the Dragon's Fangs blades had a crack on it. He has saved Tiamat for the battle against Ishida Mitsunari to get revenge on him once more.
10 minutes after he arrives in the House of Weapons, before Masamune is about to leave, a laser attacked him. 'Whoa!' Masamune looked to see who the perpetrator of was. The perpetrator was revealed to be a Goddess with blond hair, wearing a white midriff down to her stomach with a small blue cape with yellow trims above it, with the skirt have the same colors on them. "Hey, watch where you're shooting next time, young girl."
"S-Sorry!" Apologizing, the goddess bows her head down to him. "…I'll go somewhere else to practice."
"It's all right." Before the goddess can move anywhere else, Masamune points at her. 'Why does she remind me of that woman? I forgot her name, but oh well.' Masamune then prepares to take his leave… Or so he would think.
"Wait!" The goddess stopped Masamune in his tracks. "Please. I need to practice my Azure powers, and I need someone to try it on." The goddess requested Masamune to fight him. "I can't stand being bullied by everyone in this pantheon!"
Looking at the goddess once again, a now sad Masamune activates his sword to initiate a fight. "Very well… I'm not one to fight ladies, but I'll fight you as part of a warm-up for my strongest weapon. However, I'll give you one warning before we battle: Do you really want to be depowered?" Serious, Masamune readied his position, waiting for the Goddess' response.
"…No... I must do this… To protect my friends!" Unleashing her guns, the goddess readied her position. "Here I go!" Holding both guns in her hands, she charges forward at Masamune.
'I see you've put your guns on, girl.' As the goddess ran forward at him, Masamune defended himself from her attacks. '…This girl's competent!' As heblocks her attacks, Masamune compliments her internally. Before he makes another move, the goddess trips him over with a sweep kick, with him recovering from the ground. He proceeds to sweep the goddess off the ground, followed by making a Jump into the air. "Phantom Dive!" Slamming the ground to perform, Masamune proceeds create a shockwave to hit his opponent, causing her to get knocked back into a wall. "…Is that the best you can do...?" Calmly, Masamune readied his guard to prepare another attack from the goddess. To his surprise, the goddess was right behind him. 'Wha…!?' Repelling her attack, Masamune's now on the defensive from the goddess. 'She's fast… looks like I'll have to bait her… Hm…?' Masamune noticed the change of the goddess' eye color from green to blue. 'This is could be bad…' Noticing a laser locked on to him, Masamune stepped back. 'Compared to the other ones here, this girl is no ordinary gunslinger…' Masamune took another step back further.
"You're a good opponent, sir." The Goddess complimented on Masamune's skills. Her eyes returned to it's green color. "Um… Do you want to stop here…?"
"Of course… Thanks for the warm-up." As he calls for his horse to prepare departure, Masamune then delivers one more comment. "Thanks for the warm-up, Miss. Now I'm sure to get revenge against that bastard now. Until we…" Before he could finish, some weirdo god in a black suit, accompanied by a mask that conceals his mouth, shows up and starts shouting nonsense.
"It's Eye of the Azure Dragon! Come on! Let's kick some…" Before the weirdo can finish, Masamune slashes him. "Ahhhh! Aw haw, man… That was totally not cool, Masamune. At least you can invite to one of your parties."
"Get lost, freak." Unable to tolerate this weirdo god any longer, Masamune loses his patience and leaves.
"Masamune… You mean Date Masamune?" The goddess realizes who she just fought. "Isn't he in the same house as me…? Never mind that. I have unfinished business."
"…Can you at least help me out here?" The weirdo god requested the goddess to help him. Unfortunately for him, the goddess ignored him. "Someone…? Ahh, damn it…"
30 minutes later, the One-eyed Dragon stopped at the House of Food to get two bowls of Gyūdon along with some 15 rolls of Sushi. As he eats at a moderate pace, the only thing in his mind was against revenge against Mitsunari. Suddenly, he hears some ruckus. He turns to look at a muscly god with a tooth-lined hat.
"What do you mean there's no steak left!? I demand a response!" Enraged at the fact that the House of Food ran out of steak, the muscly god prepares to run off. "Those rich people aren't getting away with this!" Suspecting that the House of Commerce stole all of the steak, the god stormed off, knocking everyone away from his path.
Silent, Masamune continued to eat his food. 'The hell is that guy's problem…?' He then looks at all the gods he knocked down. '…Though I must say, the man's got strength, but not enough compared to Muttonchops…' As he stops eating his food, Masamune decides to head for the God's destination. 'That warm-up with that girl wasn't enough. I'll bet he'll provide a good fight.'
35 minutes later, Masamune, on his horse, arrives at the House of Commerce to find the God he saw earlier in the House of Food. As he gets off on his horse, Masamune finds to see the House of Commerce slightly in ruins. As he looks around, he finds the God holding an old man. "You there! Let go of the old man!"
Hearing Masamune's voice, the enraged god then turns to face him. "Will do." Throwing the old man away, The God wondered what Masamune wanted. "What do you want from me...? I'll stop if you like." Not very fond of the One-eyed Dragon, he then takes his leave.
"No… I want get a match out of you." As he unsheathes his sword and points it towards the enraged god, Masamune states his reason for fighting him. "You seem like a strong guy for someone of your size."
"If it's a fight you want, I'll gladly accept it! I've got to stay in shape!" Smiling, the god accepted Masamune's challenge. "I'll ram you blades down to fist bait!" Compassionate, the God run towards Masamune at full speed.
'Now I'm spiced up!' Following suite, Masamune ran forward with his blade in hand. As he ran closer, he attempts to strike the God down with his sword. However, the god reacted fast, evading it and landed a punch to his stomach. "Guh! Damn!" Masamune, getting caught in the punch, coughs up saliva out of his mouth. The God follows up with a second punch, knocking Masamune away from a short distance. The god attempts to land another blow on the Oshuu head, but the latter evades it in time. 'Heh heh… What speed and strength you got there… However, it's nothing compared to the big guy gave me back then.' Recovering, Masamune prepares to charge forward at him. "The fray has just begun, bear man!" Unsheathing another sword, he then prepares to lunge at his opponent with a flurry of strikes. "Crazy Storm!" As he performs the attack, he succeeds in giving his opponent a few cut marks.
"What skills you have there, samurai, But it's not enough to beat a man who uses only his fists in the wildlife." As he respects Masamune's swordsmanship, he proceeds to run towards him. "You'd better draw breath for this one!" As he got closer, the god attempts to tackle Masamune, who dodges it, taking a few steps back away from him. The Muscly God then proceeds to land a few punches and kicks at the One-eyed Dragon, landing only two punches on him. The muscular God then proceeded to land a very hard kick, knocking his opponent slightly farther than usual.
'Kuh! This guy… Looks like I'll have to land it in one strike.' While he spits out blood from his mouth, Masamune sheathes one of his swords back into his scabbard. Intensifying his energy into his sword, Date Masamune then advances at the muscular god to strike him down once and for all. "This is it!" Masamune releasing the energy into a powerful shockwave, lands the hit against the muscular God, who holds his ground against the shockwave, but he crashes into a wall. 'Did it get him?' Vitally drained from using the attack, Masamune collapses on his knees, breathing heavily. To his surprise, the muscular God survived the attack, only leaving him looking lightly injured. 'Whaa…!? Damn…' Surprised to see his opponent's stamina, Masamune tries his best not to collapse completely.
"Your skills are amazing, mate! I'll stop this rampage this time since you've given me a good fight! Besides, I haven't even introduced myself yet… I'm Saxton Hale, and I'm one awesome Australian!" Before the muscular god can go on, a chef from the House of Food approaches him.
"Sir, the steak is ready and waiting at your temple." Preventing to enrage Hale even further, the chef informed him that his steak has been delivered.
"Heh, look at the time. Its nice meeting you, champ!" With his parting words, Hale leaves for his temple.
'…What…Was that all about…?' Dumbfound at Hale's motive for attacking the House of Commerce, Masamune heads for the House of Food once more. He respected the muscular Australian god's strength, but isn't too fond of him.
Before Masamune can move any further, a certain god approached him. "Masamune!" The god in question was Ieyasu, who notices that he's heavily injured. "Masamune, Are you ok?"
"Kuh… Yeah, just received some bruises." Coughing, Masamune gave him a smile. "So… is the plan ready?"
"…Yes... Here, take this Senzu bean; It'll heal your wounds" Slicing the beans into two, he then had Masamune open his mouth, and then gulped it down. In a matter of seconds, The One-eyed Dragon was quickly rejuvenated.
"My energy… Hey, will you hand me another one…? I'll be needing it after the battle with that guy." Surprised that this food instantly healed him, Masamune asked Ieyasu for the other slice.
"Yes…" Giving him the other slice of Senzu bean, Ieyasu then takes his leave, with Masamune following suite.
An hour later at the House of Personality, the two have arrived with the purpose to search for Mitsunari. En route, the two warlord gods looked at the other deities.
"Most of these Gods were from the House of Mentalism." Ieyasu notes, knowing some familiar faces. "Nozomi Yumehara… Taokaka… Spock…"
"Hm…? You know some of the gods here?" Apatheic of the majority gods here, Masamune lets out a yawn. "Who commissioned this house…? It seems slightly better than the house of Mentalism."
"Indeed… The commissioner for this house is Applejack." Informing Masamune into details on the newly ascended house, Ieyasu explains the motive for the creation of the House. "She became very displeased with all the schemers there..."
"Who's this Applejack…? Seems like a nice guy..." Trying to imagine what this lady would look like, Masamune smiles.
"Actually, I'd hate to break this to you, but… She's a talking female horse." Contrary to what Masamune expected, Ieyasu tells him of her appearance.
"What…" At a loss for words, Masamune stays silent for a few minutes, then proceeds to "The commissioner of this house is a mare capable of speech?" Dismayed at Ieyasu's answer, Masamune thought it was a human. 'Where is that bastard when you…?' Before he could continue, very fast footsteps were in his earshot. He had a feeling who it was… 'Muttonchops' fanatic follower must be near… Now it's my chance!' As footsteps were louder, Masamune brings out his sword as he jumps off his horse to defend himself.
"There you are, Ieyasu, you bastard! You're going pay for making me suffer in Lord Hideyoshi's absence!" And true enough, Mitsunari appears, ever so angry at Ieyasu for that one incident back in their home world. With his nodachi in hand ready to cut down Ieyasu, Mitsunari attempts to strike him down. Sadly for him, Masamune blocks the attack.
"Your opponent is me, not the shogun!" Locking blades with Mitsunari, Masamune pushes him further. "It's payback time at Odawara castle!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about! Be gone!" With retaliating force, Mitsunari pushes his blade back, with his opponent pushing it with equal force, followed by the two getting out of it, getting some distance from the other. "Once I'm done with him, you're next, Ieyasu!" As his anger intensifies, Mitsunari disappears for a few seconds, and at a fast speed, strikes Masamune with his nodachi. The latter evades the cut. He then appends it two more strikes, both of which The One-eyed dragon blocks. "I'm to shower your body full of blood, Date Masamune!"
"Go ahead and try… I've learned from my last battle against you. I won't lose to you a second time." As Mitsunari approached him at high speed in a flash, Masamune blocks his attack. 'He's fast. If I stay on the defensive, I'll wear him down and attack him when he slips.' As he strengthen his defenses, Mitsunari goes on the offensive again, advancing forward at flashing high speed once more to attack Masamune again, this time, attacking from his right. 'Ngh! This is bad…' With his opponent on his right side, The One-eyed Dragon parried the attack in the nick of time, followed by a kick to Mitsunari's stomach, knocking him away from a distance. While Mitsunari was down, Masamune draws the other five blades and gets into his stance. "This battle is just the beginning… And I'm going to depower you right here, you damned Toyotomi fanatic!" Now with an angry look on his face, he points his three swords at his opponent, ready to regain his reputation once more.
"You're really starting to infuriate me…!" Unleashing all of his energy, Mitsunari came at Masamune vastly faster than usual; even making his defenses slip slightly. As he approaches Masamune, he attacks him with his sword again, but the latter avoids it, attempting a counterattack against him, but escapes from it. The Dark King advances at Masamune once more, but stops for a few minutes. "You're going to fall by my blade, you insolent weakling!" As he slashes the air, he creates a stream of razor wind to distract Masamune, damaging part of the latter's helmet in the process. With lightning fast speed, he then approaches his opponent from behind, but blocks it barely, struggling to keep up with his speed.
'He's got me locked in my defenses.' Trying to look for an opening from Mitsunari, who is too fast to attack, Masamune held his ground. Suddenly, as he comes up with an idea, he counters Mitsunari's upcoming attack with a sweep, jumping into the air. "Phantom Quake*" With his three swords, he creates a massive shockwave, knocking Mitsunari far away from him. 'Good! Time to depower this mad retainer!' The one-eyed Dragon threw five swords around Mitsunari, creating a dragon symbol to trap him. Jumping towards his opponent with his sword in hand, Masamune pierces Mitsunari. "Jumping! Jack! Breaker!" As he approaches the Dark King, Masamune lands a fatal blow onto him.
'…Did it work…?' Watching the fight from a distance, Ieyasu wonders did Masamune succeeded in damaging the Toyotomi retainer. 'Hideyoshi won't be too pleased to see him depowered.' When Masamune lands on the ground after the attack, the smoke cleared up, but in a surprisingly unfortunate twist, Mitsunari is undamaged. 'What…? He should have been hit…! Unless…' Ieyasu looked around, only to see another God wearing all bandages. 'No… it can't be…'
"I cannot allow you to harm Mitsunari any longer." Coming to Mitsunari's aide, the God, sitting on a weird platform, grabs him and faces Masamune and Ieyasu. "You should be very appreciative of Lord Hideyoshi's absence in this House. You should savor this "victory", One-Eyed Dragon; he's busy doing paperwork at this moment."
"Nice work, Yoshitsugu… I'd be depowered if you hadn't interfered and put in the barrier." Relieved of Yoshitsugu's rescue, Mitsunari then turned to Masamune and Ieyasu. "Ieyasu… Date Masamune… In the names of Lord Hideyoshi and Lord Hanbe, I'll depower you both the next time we meet!"
'Muttonchops and his servant will surely be glad when you geezers get depowered.' Watching both Toyotomi servants head back for their temples, Masamune relaxes and catches his breath. Expressing great satisfaction, he decides to head to the House of Food to celebrate.
'He seems awfully happy.' Looking at Masamune's face, The Tokugawa leader decides to head back for his temple. 'Your skills have sharpened and improved greatly, One-Eyed Dragon. Looks like I'll have to get stronger as well. But first… I must go back to the House of Friendship and develop it even more.' With nothing else to do, Ieyasu departs to his next destination.
In the House of Food, The Azure Dragon eats up a huge amount of food. 'Ahh… The food here is nice as always... I'll save all of this and take it to my temple.' Taking the food with him to save it for a later time, Masamune heads for his temple for some rest.
35 minutes later, as he reaches his temple, he opens the door and afterwards goes straight to sleep, fulfilled his quest of revenge against Mitsunari. 'I've finally gotten my revenge... Somehow, his eyes are similar to mine's… Ah, whatever.' Tired, he then goes to sleep.
The next day, Masamune, waking up earlier than usual, is seen eating the food he attained yesterday. 'Perhaps I'll treat Kojuro and my men out to the House of Food whenever he ascends.' Smiling as he drinks some water, he decides what to do for the day. Suddenly, someone knocked on his door. 'Who's at the door so early…?' Wondering who the visitor would be, Masamune opens the door. When he opened the door, the visitor turned out to be a god with white hair wearing white pants, but no shirt. He also has a weird tattoo on his body "…And you are…?"
"I am Orochi, and I've come to make you my slave once more… Date Masamune" Introducing himself, the deity states his intentions right off the bat.
"O…Orochi…?" Surprised to see this deity, The One-eyed Dragon felt uneasy, 'This is Orochi…? Since When did that snake took the form of a human!?' Expressing intense anger uponhearing Orochi's name, he draws his sword and tries to strike him, but the deity easily evades the attack. "Get out, you snake! I, Date Masamune… Will never serve a snake like you!
"Is this all the Head of Oshuu can do…? I don't recall you being a rebellious one." Displeased of Masamune's defiant nature, the deity launches an assault on his opponent. However, the latter struggles to block his attacks, taking damage in the process. As the deity goes for a single blow, Masamune steps back.
'Kh…! I don't recall him being this strong…' Charging an energy ball, Masamune, runs away from Orochi to strike him from a distance. However, a mystical force prevents him from going any further. "Screw this. Hell Dragon!" He releases the energy ball at Orochi, preventing him from getting pulled in any further. As Orochi was dazed, he focuses his energy to land a fatal blow. As his opponent quickly recovered, he starts shooting what looks like light in form of a rift, slightly blinding Masamune, who dodges them. As Masamune slowly advances forward, Orochi sends a few pillar of energy down on Masamune, with one of them hitting him as a result. However, The One-eyed Dragon was still standing with his sword, but his armor was completely destroyed in the process. As he comes closer to Orochi, he gathers all the energy needed to unleash the blow to strike him down. Unfortunately, the deity came up with a counter attack at the last minute, making the Azure Dragon's effort go for naught. Out of desperation, he summoned his other five swords, threw them around him, and focused his energy once more. 'This better work…!' Charging at his opponent at a fast speed without slowing down, Masamune leaps towards Orochi and attempts to injure him while the latter shoots fire. As he got closer, he drifts away from Orochi, distracting him.
"…Is this the effort you've put your defiant nature into…?" Mocking Masamune, the snake deity raises his hands. As he does so, Masamune turns around and strikes him down. "What…!?" Surprised by Masamune's change of tactic, Orochi gets hit by the attack.
After using Jumping Jack Breaker on Orochi, Masamune is vitally drained from the attack. 'Shit! That put a strain on my body.' Breathing heavily as he's on the verge of collapsing, he sheathes his sword and tries not to fall down and lose consciousness. Unfortunately, Orochi emerges from the attack, only slightly injured from such an attack. 'Crap… Is this the end…?' Suddenly, something came out of his pocket. 'That's…!' He looks down to see a piece of the senzu beanhe forgot to eat earlier. With his crippled body, it was troublesome for him to reach it. As soon as he grabs the bean, Orochi knocks him away to a wall, still holding the bean in his hand.
"Any last words before you become my slave…?" As he slowly approaches Masamune, Orochi draws him in.
'Better eat this now…' As quickly as possible in his battered body, he eats down the senzu bean. "Let's party…!" With his strength now restored, Masamune draws his sword, concentrating his energy to massively injure Orochi a second time. Recovering, he jumps behind Orochi and then injures him, knocking him far away. Tired out, Masamune gets on his knees. Unfortunately, Orochi quickly recovered from the attack, but doesn't attack Masamune.
"Impressive... Your skills are fascinating, but mark my words; I will make you my slave someday. Until we meet again… Date Masamune." After he praises Masamune, he proceeds to take his leave.
Later in his conversation with Guan Yu…
"I said that a god was after you, but I didn't expect the pursuer to be the snake deity." Surprised at the recent events, Guan Yu lets out a sigh. "I'll see to it that you'll train harder to take him down for good, yes…?
"Indeed, and I'll free my other self from him too." Laying down on a bench, Masamune was relieved he survived the battle. "You wanna go get some tea with me…?" Smiling, Masamune treats his roommate to the House of Food.
"This is unusual of you… But yes… I wish to acquire some tea. Afterwards, I'll go to the House of War to practice some strategies. Care to assist me?" In return, Guan Yu also makes a request.
"Yes… Let's go…" And with that, the two set off for the House of Food. 'Orochi, huh...? I swear I'll train hard to eliminate you and free my other self from your clutches, snake.'
Path A: End
