BROKEN, part one: Ghost
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Inside the Hoko Temple, the poltergeist Gel-o-Fury's power raged against Taki like a hot western wind. The lithe ninja narrowed her eyes in concentration on her powers as she attempted to contain the spirit once more.
[How powerful it's become!] she marveled inwardly. She recalled having had a bit more trouble than usual stuffing the raging ghost into that little sealing shrine in the bamboo forest a little more than a year ago. But she'd won in the end, breaking the ghost's will in increments like a bound roll of twigs, until she'd defeated it.
Now it was back with a vengeance, powerful enough to register easily on her sixth sense from miles away. Although she was nuke-nin and thus marked for death by her own Fu-Ma clan, she was still drawn to this shrine, which Gel-O-Fury had made its new haunting grounds.
"Demon!" Taki cried, her voice ringing through the cavernous temple. "Your reign ends here! You must return to the outer world and interfere no more with the world of men!"
The sensation like a hot wind intensified with a howl like disembodied laughter. The next instant, a violent spasm wracked her body and her skin suddenly grew goosebumped from an unearthly chill.
[It's--it's actually trying to possess me!] she realized. She shut her eyes and cried out with a calculated, piercing scream.
"KiiAIIIIIIIIII!"
Both the wind and the chill immediately vanished. Taki breathed heavily with surprise at the close call.
[No ghost has ever tried to possess me, not since before I was twenty,] she thought, feverishly attempting to analyze what had just happened. [No ghost should have that kind of power over me. Not with my reforged armor, or after what I did to this ghost only a few years ago!]
Her left hand strayed toward the hilt of Mekki-maru, the small ninjatou strapped at her waist. Without even touching it, she could feel it throbbing with fell power.
[It's Soul Edge,] Taki realized. [It has to be. Gel-O-Fury is drawing power from the remaining blade of Cervantes!]
[And possibly from my own,] she considered immediately after. But that could not be helped; once drawn, the cursed Mekki-maru blade might well prove impossible to control, even for her. And she could not remove it, lest Gel-O-fury become free to draw even more of its power.
[Fortunately, I still have Rekkimaru. And its strength should be enough.] She reached behind her head to grip the ninjatou hilt. Rekkimaru, her original blade, was slightly longer than Mekkimaru and contained a handguard at the hilt that the other blade lacked. But that was not the only difference between the two. Wielding Rekkimaru was easy and natural for Taki, like an extension of her own arm. Through it, she could sense every vibration of both physical sound and echoes from the unseen world of spirits. Ghosts and demons which could manipulate all sorts of matter had no power over Rekkimaru, and even those immaterial spirits could feel its blade, thanks to the special charms bound to it by its mistress.
Taki inched Rekkimaru slightly from its scabbard. The blade began to resonate. Taki sensed that her repulsion of Gel-O-Fury's possession attempt had cost the ghost more strength than it realized. The time to attack was now!
She moved immediately into performing her Sealing spell. Waved her left hand twice in the required manner. Focused her concentration to apply the Seal, then thrust forward her left palm in a burst of power even visible to the naked eye. Gel-O-Fury recoiled, then froze in position. Taki held her palm outstretched, holding the ghost still through her force of will. And gradually, she began to see it take visible form.
Gel-O-Fury was much the same as she remembered from three years past; dressed in the ghostly black armor of some long-dead warlord, with a fanged, glowing blue face set with eyes lit by some unholy fire. It brandished a sword that shone with a pale light. What was new and unfamiliar were the sickly-looking tendrils of white energy wriggling into the ghost's faux skin and armor.
[And all of them are coming from the west,] Taki noted, even as she drew Rekkimaru in preparation for attack. She held the blade high over her head and twirled it almost like a baton. A scarlet glow grew about the sword. Gel-O-Fury's orange eyes widened with fear and foreknowledge, and it managed to wrench itself free of Taki's will now that her concentration was focused on attack rather than binding.
With a sudden, smooth, sweeping motion, Taki slashed Rekkimaru from low to high with a cut intended to split the ghostly man from crotch to crown.
And missed the dodging Gel-O-Fury completely.
The ghost roared in relief and triumph, already waving its hand to return the favor. It would bind the momentarily defenseless Taki with its poltergeistic powers and then shatter her mystical armor into dust this time before taking her completely, body and soul. To own a woman as delicious as this one would be reward in itself; that she was the hated DemonSlayer was more than any creature of darkness might even hope to gain. Combined with this new power flowing from the West, all of Japan might well be plunged into a new reign of bloody terror, with Gel-O-Fury at its head to drink it all in...
But Taki's moment of vulnerability passed as the ninja spun around and immediately began to cast her final magic. Gel-O-Fury now realized, too late, that her attack had been intended to temporarily cut off the power from the West, reducing the ghost to what it had been -- a broken, wicked spirit, sealed away from interfering with the physical world. A spirit that was about to be bound once more.
Taki felt the hot wind sensation of the ghost's defiant wail again, but it was a mild breeze next to its earlier power. She performed the final incantations, and even that manifestation of Gel-O-Fury ceased. Taki assumed her ready stance, right hand on Rekkimaru, and inched it from its sheath as before.
No vibration, no resonance. Even Mekkimaru was relatively still. Taki allowed herself to relax.
"Fuuma kanryo," she said, invoking her customary post-sealing declaration. "The deed is done."
Taki was so winded from the effort of completing the binding that she almost missed the shuriken flying for her head. But she spun and intercepted the missile with Rekki-maru.
"Who's there?" she cried. For a moment, there was no reply, and her combat-worn senses could not quite discern the location of the sniper. Then, from the shadows behind the massive Buddha statue came a peculiar clapping sound and a chuckle.
------ Next: Clan
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Inside the Hoko Temple, the poltergeist Gel-o-Fury's power raged against Taki like a hot western wind. The lithe ninja narrowed her eyes in concentration on her powers as she attempted to contain the spirit once more.
[How powerful it's become!] she marveled inwardly. She recalled having had a bit more trouble than usual stuffing the raging ghost into that little sealing shrine in the bamboo forest a little more than a year ago. But she'd won in the end, breaking the ghost's will in increments like a bound roll of twigs, until she'd defeated it.
Now it was back with a vengeance, powerful enough to register easily on her sixth sense from miles away. Although she was nuke-nin and thus marked for death by her own Fu-Ma clan, she was still drawn to this shrine, which Gel-O-Fury had made its new haunting grounds.
"Demon!" Taki cried, her voice ringing through the cavernous temple. "Your reign ends here! You must return to the outer world and interfere no more with the world of men!"
The sensation like a hot wind intensified with a howl like disembodied laughter. The next instant, a violent spasm wracked her body and her skin suddenly grew goosebumped from an unearthly chill.
[It's--it's actually trying to possess me!] she realized. She shut her eyes and cried out with a calculated, piercing scream.
"KiiAIIIIIIIIII!"
Both the wind and the chill immediately vanished. Taki breathed heavily with surprise at the close call.
[No ghost has ever tried to possess me, not since before I was twenty,] she thought, feverishly attempting to analyze what had just happened. [No ghost should have that kind of power over me. Not with my reforged armor, or after what I did to this ghost only a few years ago!]
Her left hand strayed toward the hilt of Mekki-maru, the small ninjatou strapped at her waist. Without even touching it, she could feel it throbbing with fell power.
[It's Soul Edge,] Taki realized. [It has to be. Gel-O-Fury is drawing power from the remaining blade of Cervantes!]
[And possibly from my own,] she considered immediately after. But that could not be helped; once drawn, the cursed Mekki-maru blade might well prove impossible to control, even for her. And she could not remove it, lest Gel-O-fury become free to draw even more of its power.
[Fortunately, I still have Rekkimaru. And its strength should be enough.] She reached behind her head to grip the ninjatou hilt. Rekkimaru, her original blade, was slightly longer than Mekkimaru and contained a handguard at the hilt that the other blade lacked. But that was not the only difference between the two. Wielding Rekkimaru was easy and natural for Taki, like an extension of her own arm. Through it, she could sense every vibration of both physical sound and echoes from the unseen world of spirits. Ghosts and demons which could manipulate all sorts of matter had no power over Rekkimaru, and even those immaterial spirits could feel its blade, thanks to the special charms bound to it by its mistress.
Taki inched Rekkimaru slightly from its scabbard. The blade began to resonate. Taki sensed that her repulsion of Gel-O-Fury's possession attempt had cost the ghost more strength than it realized. The time to attack was now!
She moved immediately into performing her Sealing spell. Waved her left hand twice in the required manner. Focused her concentration to apply the Seal, then thrust forward her left palm in a burst of power even visible to the naked eye. Gel-O-Fury recoiled, then froze in position. Taki held her palm outstretched, holding the ghost still through her force of will. And gradually, she began to see it take visible form.
Gel-O-Fury was much the same as she remembered from three years past; dressed in the ghostly black armor of some long-dead warlord, with a fanged, glowing blue face set with eyes lit by some unholy fire. It brandished a sword that shone with a pale light. What was new and unfamiliar were the sickly-looking tendrils of white energy wriggling into the ghost's faux skin and armor.
[And all of them are coming from the west,] Taki noted, even as she drew Rekkimaru in preparation for attack. She held the blade high over her head and twirled it almost like a baton. A scarlet glow grew about the sword. Gel-O-Fury's orange eyes widened with fear and foreknowledge, and it managed to wrench itself free of Taki's will now that her concentration was focused on attack rather than binding.
With a sudden, smooth, sweeping motion, Taki slashed Rekkimaru from low to high with a cut intended to split the ghostly man from crotch to crown.
And missed the dodging Gel-O-Fury completely.
The ghost roared in relief and triumph, already waving its hand to return the favor. It would bind the momentarily defenseless Taki with its poltergeistic powers and then shatter her mystical armor into dust this time before taking her completely, body and soul. To own a woman as delicious as this one would be reward in itself; that she was the hated DemonSlayer was more than any creature of darkness might even hope to gain. Combined with this new power flowing from the West, all of Japan might well be plunged into a new reign of bloody terror, with Gel-O-Fury at its head to drink it all in...
But Taki's moment of vulnerability passed as the ninja spun around and immediately began to cast her final magic. Gel-O-Fury now realized, too late, that her attack had been intended to temporarily cut off the power from the West, reducing the ghost to what it had been -- a broken, wicked spirit, sealed away from interfering with the physical world. A spirit that was about to be bound once more.
Taki felt the hot wind sensation of the ghost's defiant wail again, but it was a mild breeze next to its earlier power. She performed the final incantations, and even that manifestation of Gel-O-Fury ceased. Taki assumed her ready stance, right hand on Rekkimaru, and inched it from its sheath as before.
No vibration, no resonance. Even Mekkimaru was relatively still. Taki allowed herself to relax.
"Fuuma kanryo," she said, invoking her customary post-sealing declaration. "The deed is done."
Taki was so winded from the effort of completing the binding that she almost missed the shuriken flying for her head. But she spun and intercepted the missile with Rekki-maru.
"Who's there?" she cried. For a moment, there was no reply, and her combat-worn senses could not quite discern the location of the sniper. Then, from the shadows behind the massive Buddha statue came a peculiar clapping sound and a chuckle.
------ Next: Clan