--------------------BROKEN, part three: Blade--------------
Without thinking, Taki drew Mekki-maru in an explosion of flame and unholy noise. A raw sensation, like sandpaper scouring her veins, coursed through her left arm as she twisted to avoid Geki's sword strike. For a moment she was afraid her hand would explode like Geki's had, and she almost dropped the blade while in midair -- and only now did she note that she was in midair, having cleanly avoided Geki's attack. She gripped the blade more tightly, instinctively knowing that to loosen her grip would be to share Geki's fate. Meanwhile, she -- Mekki-maru -- sliced through the chain binding her as if it were soft tofu. As she watched, from the corner of her eye, Geki stumble backward from the sudden loss of balance, she felt her mind go aflame with nearly a dozen countermoves to finish him off, if she would only hold on tightly to Mekki-maru and wield the blade by yielding to the blade and being wielded by the blade--
Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, Taki focused her will into resheathing Mekki-maru, then released her grip. The lightning and flames coursing through her body and mind ceased immediately, leaving a dull pain like the smell of ozone. Geki stood a good eight meters away, his face a mask of stunned horror. Taki dazedly glanced as her feet and saw Rekkimaru only half a meter away.
"So now you show your true colors, witch!" Geki snarled with bald hatred. "You mean to master the power of the blade for yourself!" He threw down the ruined chain and drew a short ninjatou from a belt sheath. He began to quickly advance upon Taki, which spurred her from her stupor. She knelt down and recovered Rekkimaru in time to block his first strike.
Geki, still using the strange style, now wielded two blades and almost immediately began to overwhelm Taki again. But her free hand found Mekkimaru again, and drew in a high arc of fire and evil aura. Geki cried out and drew back, dropping his short blade and gripping his forehead. Where Mekkimaru had struck, there was a neat, 4-centimeter cut across his forehead, which bled heavily almost immediately.
The cut is shallow, Taki realized instantly. Only cut a little into the bone. But she was stunned at the speed and ease of the move, and its ruthlessness.
She did not wish to kill Geki if she could avoid it. Like Master Toki, the only father figure she'd ever known, Geki was decieved by the evil Mekkimaru sword. And in any case, Geki was only doing his duty; a nuke-nin like herself was marked for death, after all.
[With my next attack, I will slay him,] Taki thought matter-of-factly, as if merely observing the scenario instead of being within it. She gripped Mekkimaru's hilt at her waist once again, ready to draw again. She suddenly realized she hadn't remembered sheathing the blade. In fact, it seemed she'd been standing here waiting for Geki to come back into range for nearly a minute. With sheer will, she released her grip on Mekkimaru, and the murderous intent abated. Time passed normally: Geki stood where he was and was attempting to stanch the freely bleeding wound with his good forearm.
"You witch," he repeated. "You will not leave this temple alive." With that, he resumed the attack, using his blades in tandem to keep Taki's on the defensive and prevent her from attacking with Mekkimaru.
Not that Taki wanted to use the cursed blade. She could feel it tempting her with easy, bloody victory, but she knew the cost for such power would be high. She did not wish to become another Cervantes.
[But should that happen, my clan must remain at full strength to stop me,] she thought as she parried a killing thrust from Geki's sword arm. [And that includes Geki. I cannot slay him!]
Yet neither could she lose the blade to him here, deluded as he and Master Toki were to the deadly danger that Mekkimaru represented. Taki was the most skilled of the clan next to Master Toki himself, but Geki was as formidable as either in his way. And right now, even wounded and half-blinded by blood in his eyes, he was Taki's superior in combat.
Again, cool wind at Taki's back warned her that Geki had driven her close to the platform's edge. The six-meter drop alone could kill her if she stumbled off poorly, but even jumping down would leave her completely open for a mortal attack. Geki pressed his attack upon the lithe ninja suddenly forced to hold her ground.
Taki had no choice. Again her left hand found and gripped Mekkimaru and again she felt the blade's malevolence flood her mind with murderous emerald fire. Through the flames she saw Geki's death thrust clearly, as if in slow motion: his left hand outstretched in a backhand horizontal slash that would cut her torso or bind up her defenses. His right sword would stab directly for her heart while the left sword thus engaged her Rekkimaru. It was a brilliant attack, perfect for a such a moment as this, when your opponent had no room to sidestep the death thrust. Taki's only chance was to try her trademark flip over Geki's head.
Even as she leapt, she realized with muted horror that this was the real trap. Her Mekkimaru-enhanced perception saw him check his thrust and begin to pivot. In foreknowledge, she saw that she would land behind him just in time to be cut cleanly in half through the midsection by one or both of Geki's blades as he completed his turning slash.
*If* she completed her flip. Gritting her teeth in fierce determination, she sheathed Rekkimaru and focused her energies upon the power of Mekkimaru. The green fire within her ravaged like Gel-O-Fury's winds had less than a quarter of an hour earlier. This gave her a metaphysical frame of reference through which to control the inferno and focus it downward, to use it to bind her to the earth and halt her upward and forward progress--
And still seeing the world through the curiously slowed-down perception granted by Mekkimaru's possession of her senses, she could indeed feel her flip slowing, her weight increasing and suddenly her whole body arcing down almost directly above and in front of Geki. Just as suddenly, she felt she could turn this desperate reversal into an offensive, and did, kicking Geki on the top of his head once, then twice, doubling him over from this most unexpected of attacks.
Despite the heaviness she had felt during her descent, Taki felt herself land as lightly as a cat. Her left arm burned with sandpaper fire and before she knew it, Mekkimaru had drawn and was arcing toward Geki's torso in a deadly slash that would kill him instantly if he was lucky.
NO! Taki thought, but all her considerable willpower could not even slow the evil blade's slice. In desperation through the green fire that now nearly completely consumed her mind and spirit, Taki focused upon her wrist alone--
An explosion of blood and flame. Geki sprawling backward. A ninjatou spinning into the darkness.
----- Next: RONIN
Without thinking, Taki drew Mekki-maru in an explosion of flame and unholy noise. A raw sensation, like sandpaper scouring her veins, coursed through her left arm as she twisted to avoid Geki's sword strike. For a moment she was afraid her hand would explode like Geki's had, and she almost dropped the blade while in midair -- and only now did she note that she was in midair, having cleanly avoided Geki's attack. She gripped the blade more tightly, instinctively knowing that to loosen her grip would be to share Geki's fate. Meanwhile, she -- Mekki-maru -- sliced through the chain binding her as if it were soft tofu. As she watched, from the corner of her eye, Geki stumble backward from the sudden loss of balance, she felt her mind go aflame with nearly a dozen countermoves to finish him off, if she would only hold on tightly to Mekki-maru and wield the blade by yielding to the blade and being wielded by the blade--
Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, Taki focused her will into resheathing Mekki-maru, then released her grip. The lightning and flames coursing through her body and mind ceased immediately, leaving a dull pain like the smell of ozone. Geki stood a good eight meters away, his face a mask of stunned horror. Taki dazedly glanced as her feet and saw Rekkimaru only half a meter away.
"So now you show your true colors, witch!" Geki snarled with bald hatred. "You mean to master the power of the blade for yourself!" He threw down the ruined chain and drew a short ninjatou from a belt sheath. He began to quickly advance upon Taki, which spurred her from her stupor. She knelt down and recovered Rekkimaru in time to block his first strike.
Geki, still using the strange style, now wielded two blades and almost immediately began to overwhelm Taki again. But her free hand found Mekkimaru again, and drew in a high arc of fire and evil aura. Geki cried out and drew back, dropping his short blade and gripping his forehead. Where Mekkimaru had struck, there was a neat, 4-centimeter cut across his forehead, which bled heavily almost immediately.
The cut is shallow, Taki realized instantly. Only cut a little into the bone. But she was stunned at the speed and ease of the move, and its ruthlessness.
She did not wish to kill Geki if she could avoid it. Like Master Toki, the only father figure she'd ever known, Geki was decieved by the evil Mekkimaru sword. And in any case, Geki was only doing his duty; a nuke-nin like herself was marked for death, after all.
[With my next attack, I will slay him,] Taki thought matter-of-factly, as if merely observing the scenario instead of being within it. She gripped Mekkimaru's hilt at her waist once again, ready to draw again. She suddenly realized she hadn't remembered sheathing the blade. In fact, it seemed she'd been standing here waiting for Geki to come back into range for nearly a minute. With sheer will, she released her grip on Mekkimaru, and the murderous intent abated. Time passed normally: Geki stood where he was and was attempting to stanch the freely bleeding wound with his good forearm.
"You witch," he repeated. "You will not leave this temple alive." With that, he resumed the attack, using his blades in tandem to keep Taki's on the defensive and prevent her from attacking with Mekkimaru.
Not that Taki wanted to use the cursed blade. She could feel it tempting her with easy, bloody victory, but she knew the cost for such power would be high. She did not wish to become another Cervantes.
[But should that happen, my clan must remain at full strength to stop me,] she thought as she parried a killing thrust from Geki's sword arm. [And that includes Geki. I cannot slay him!]
Yet neither could she lose the blade to him here, deluded as he and Master Toki were to the deadly danger that Mekkimaru represented. Taki was the most skilled of the clan next to Master Toki himself, but Geki was as formidable as either in his way. And right now, even wounded and half-blinded by blood in his eyes, he was Taki's superior in combat.
Again, cool wind at Taki's back warned her that Geki had driven her close to the platform's edge. The six-meter drop alone could kill her if she stumbled off poorly, but even jumping down would leave her completely open for a mortal attack. Geki pressed his attack upon the lithe ninja suddenly forced to hold her ground.
Taki had no choice. Again her left hand found and gripped Mekkimaru and again she felt the blade's malevolence flood her mind with murderous emerald fire. Through the flames she saw Geki's death thrust clearly, as if in slow motion: his left hand outstretched in a backhand horizontal slash that would cut her torso or bind up her defenses. His right sword would stab directly for her heart while the left sword thus engaged her Rekkimaru. It was a brilliant attack, perfect for a such a moment as this, when your opponent had no room to sidestep the death thrust. Taki's only chance was to try her trademark flip over Geki's head.
Even as she leapt, she realized with muted horror that this was the real trap. Her Mekkimaru-enhanced perception saw him check his thrust and begin to pivot. In foreknowledge, she saw that she would land behind him just in time to be cut cleanly in half through the midsection by one or both of Geki's blades as he completed his turning slash.
*If* she completed her flip. Gritting her teeth in fierce determination, she sheathed Rekkimaru and focused her energies upon the power of Mekkimaru. The green fire within her ravaged like Gel-O-Fury's winds had less than a quarter of an hour earlier. This gave her a metaphysical frame of reference through which to control the inferno and focus it downward, to use it to bind her to the earth and halt her upward and forward progress--
And still seeing the world through the curiously slowed-down perception granted by Mekkimaru's possession of her senses, she could indeed feel her flip slowing, her weight increasing and suddenly her whole body arcing down almost directly above and in front of Geki. Just as suddenly, she felt she could turn this desperate reversal into an offensive, and did, kicking Geki on the top of his head once, then twice, doubling him over from this most unexpected of attacks.
Despite the heaviness she had felt during her descent, Taki felt herself land as lightly as a cat. Her left arm burned with sandpaper fire and before she knew it, Mekkimaru had drawn and was arcing toward Geki's torso in a deadly slash that would kill him instantly if he was lucky.
NO! Taki thought, but all her considerable willpower could not even slow the evil blade's slice. In desperation through the green fire that now nearly completely consumed her mind and spirit, Taki focused upon her wrist alone--
An explosion of blood and flame. Geki sprawling backward. A ninjatou spinning into the darkness.
----- Next: RONIN