Gaara was supposed to have been the lynchpin of Hekau's forces. Being Gaara, even after calling on as much of Apophis's power as he could without fully releasing the monster on the Middle World, he still managed to mess up by hyper-focusing on an utterly irrelevant Scion instead of rampaging through the Village Hidden in Legends like he was supposed to. Kankuro and Temari supposed that that meant it was their job to look after him.
--
Shino was fully aware that he should have primarily been concerned with the war that just sprung out among the Village. All his studies, all his understanding of honor and duty, meant that the people surrounding him should have come first.
Still, he was supposed to prove himself fighting one Kankuro of the Spirit Scepters, and, after reassuring himself that he was, in fact, still facing an enemy of the Village (and even doing important work by doing so, as said enemy had left to chase after the enormous snake that just appeared in the middle of the arena and then left to hunt Sasuke), he just couldn't do anything but chase after that one specific Mummy and finally have their match.
--/--/
"Well, well, well, Guide Sarutobi, how long has it been?"
Not really caring to respond to such a casual opening given the circumstances, the Great God-on-Earth instead simply asked, "What are you hoping to accomplish today?" He dropped into a combat-ready stance and his ox snorted as it pawed at the ground, seeming to prepare to charge.
"How rude, and I was so looking forward to reminiscing and catching up." A snake slithered out from one sleeve. Some form of tropical bird alighted on the other arm. "Oh well, perhaps you'd like to talk to my father for a bit. Animal (Snake, Quetzal) Purview: Hybrid Chimera!"
Orochimaru's Ichor dripped out of him, touched both animals, and then fell to the ground where it warped and morphed into an enormous serpent covered in feathers.
Sarutobi did not wait for it to fully form before responding. "Animal (Ox) Purview: Epic Enhancement!" The already large ox beside him grew in size, muscles expanding beyond what should have been healthy. "Charge his false Quetzalcoatl while I take care of the master," the Great God-on-Earth shouted before channeling his Ichor even further into something that he had thought about but never tried before.
"Taiyi Purview: Five-Cycle Conjunction!" He mixed his theoretical understanding of the Fire Purview with his very real mastery of the Earth Purview, and…"Fire/Earth Purview: Earth Creation!" What would normally be a stone coming into existence from his Ichor alone instead became a mass of molten lava, which dropped onto the roof of the building they were standing on and burned a hole through it.
Ignoring that for now, he shouted "Earth Purview: Magma Control," and formed a tentacle of lava that he used to shield himself from the false Quetzalcoatl's fangs. While he had been setting that up, the creature managed to wrap itself around his ox, summoning a wind with its bizarre wings that kept his lifelong companion held down as its head struck at the old man, but it only got a horrifically burnt mouth for its troubles.
Had he the luxury of time, Sarutobi might have been impressed by how little damage it actually took from charging forward into lava (he himself was losing a small bit of mundane clothing from how close he was to the substance), but he instead devoted his mental energy to directing the magma tentacle toward Orochimaru.
His old student dodged the first strike, but kept his eyes on Sarutobi as he did so, which let the tentacle veer back around strike the Aztlanti Scion in the arm.
"Health Purview: Restore Health" Orochimaru intoned, taking care of the damage as he much more carefully dodged and weaved until…Sarutobi himself had gotten too focused too much on his attack and forgot about the monster his student had created and how, in spite of its lava-charred mouth, it was still a threat, as it so eloquently proved when it bit into his own arm.
His Stamina Knacks were strong enough that its fangs didn't immediately pierce the skin, but it was biting harder and harder. "Earth Purview: Earth Armor," Sarutobi intoned as he pulled the lava tentacle away from Orochimaru and toward his still tied-up and wind-blown ox, striking into the us flesh of the false Quetzalcoatl and causing it to slacken in pain long enough for his long-time companion's raw strength to take care of the rest.
Solid stone and quite bit of metal flew up from the ground underneath the building (the accidental hole he had created earlier actually actually helped quite a bit) to surround and protect him, giving the snake-bird monstrosity trying to tear into him more of a hard time, a hard time that in fact let his own reliable animal companion ram into it and push it off of him.
"I didn't expect him to be able to able to defeat someone like you by himself, but I have let him do too much already, haven't I? I should step in." He grabbed the snake and tropical bird that acted as the false Quetzalcoatl's 'parents,' and intoned "Health Purview: Human Hybrid."
--
While scales and feathers grew over Orochimaru's body, Sarutobi found that the brief reprieve his ox knocking the false Quetzalcoatl off of him had granted gave him the opportunity to try out another tactic he hadn't been able to use in a while. Orochimaru's techniques inspired him.
Tossing out several seeds, he shouted "Fertility Purview: Accelerate Growth" and channeled enough Ichor to spawn several fully grown trees on top of the building. Then, gripping some dormant fly trap seeds he kept among his equipment for this very reason, he intoned "Fertility Purview: Impossible Hybrid," and reached into those trees on both a cellular and mystical level, granting them the properties of a carnivorous plant…as the false Quetzalcoatl managed to get a grip on the enhanced ox, it suddenly found itself grabbed by a tree branch that in turn began to dissolve its flesh. While the creature screamed in pain, Sarutobi's ox rammed into it, goring it with both horns.
A beast that could still fight after slamming its face into molten lava was not about to be stopped completely by something like supercharged digestive fluid, but with Sarutobi's ox preventing its escape it looked to be in quite the difficult situation.
--
Naruto and Sakura had no difficulty whatsoever following after Gaara or Apophis or whomever he was now. The line of destroyed trees created a clear path.
"Is Sasuke going to be…okay?" Sakura wondered out loud as they ran past the corpses of several animals that apparently got caught up in the Gatekeeper's rampage. Some of them looked tough. That didn't keep them from dying, as she uncomfortably noted.
"Well yeah," Naruto responded, utterly unaware of her concerns. "It's Sasuke. I'm the only one who can take him out; no one else stands a chance."
While she knew the statement was utterly absurd, she couldn't help but give a small smile. It was what she needed to hear.
--
It took him longer than he would admit to himself later to figure it out, but Sasuke finally came to the conclusion that running away was not a long-term solution. This monstrosity somehow managed to chase him no matter where he went, and even without whatever bizarre Titan senses it might have the fact that it could, and often did even without trying, rip apart the very ground beneath it through supernatural will alone meant he couldn't really hide nearby.
While even in his pride he could admit that trying to face the thing directly would be suicide, it was quickly looking like that might be the only option. Now, to come up with a strategy; he knew that it probably assumed he wasn't a real threat to it in this form, which in turn meant that he could probably trick it quite easily. The only problem was that its assumption wasn't baseless.
He didn't know what he could trick it into doing, other than maybe having all seven heads look at him long enough to use Heavenly Flare. Well, blinding it was better than nothing…wait, who was that girl?
--
Kin-Tsumire played the part of the helpless little mortal girl so Sasuke could save her from the massive monster. The acting wasn't difficult. She was quite certain that, if Sasuke didn't fall for it, the massive monster really would kill her.
The way things were going, her chances of dying in general were way to high to spend too much time worrying about silly things like that anyway, so instead she focused on getting close to Sasuke where she could influence him in some way.
And hey, it worked, as he leapt over and pushed her further away from Apophis, then dropped to his knees and grabbed her shoulders as he closed his eyes and focused on something.
"Don't move; I need both its potential targets in the same place."
She responded in what she hoped was a subtle way, "oh, yes, my brave hero, I'll do what you say…did you say targets?" All seven heads launched themselves at the pair. "Uh, brave hero, can we move now?"
With everything threatening to kill her if she screwed up, she really didn't want to get killed because she sort of managed to do something right. It would just be way too unfair.
"Not yet, not yet," Sasuke responded, apparently trying to time something. The heads grew closer, fangs bared, all about to slam into them. Sasuke's whispered demand for her to close her eyes proved worthless when she closed them herself so she wouldn't have to see the end before he shouted "Sun Purview: Heavenly Flare!" And created a burst of light that turned the blackness of her inner eyelids orange and had Apophis screeching in some form of apparent pain.
"It should be blind now. We can sneak away and…" Sasuke's observations were interrupted by the ground beneath them shaking and several chasms appearing out of seemingly nowhere.
--
Temari and Kankuro had no problem finding where their fellow apprentice had gone, considering they just had to follow the earthquakes. They did get delayed slaughtering some animals that were apparently working under some Scion or others' command, but they continued to make acceptable progress until they ran into a pair of Scions, one with bright orange clothing and the other with pink hair.
Temari was vaguely certain she recognized them. Were they in the Rank Exams? Oh yeah, one of them had beaten that Neji kid. Well, this was good, they were only Heroes, which meant the pair could probably take them.
--
"Out of our way, we're going to save our friend!" Naruto shouted when the two Mummies confronted them.
"And we have to look after the last of the Hem-Netjer-Tepi's apprentices. Nothing personal, kids," the female one replied before drawing a weapon.
"Temari, go after Gaara," the male one admonished her. "I can deal with these two."
Various cats and other animals of comparable size, made of marble and clay but moving like the real deals, poured from his robes as he spoke. Another figure, looking exactly like the Mummy but with no notable facial expressions, charged at them from behind while they were focused on watching him.
Neither had any intention of being delayed by this, nor did they want Temari to move on if they couldn't, but the situation was looking out of their control.
--
Shino saw the very Mummy he was supposed to be fighting accosting Naruto and Sakura, and was grateful for it. This meant his desire to focus on fighting that particular Mummy actually was helpful to others and not just a personal grudge. He had nothing to feel guilty about.
Noting two Kankuros, and remembering the Mummy's trick from the preliminaries, he muttered "Death Purview: Death Senses" and tried to ascertain which of the Kankuros had a human soul and was thus probably the real one. This…revealed far more information than he was expecting.
While he could see which one was real, he also saw something odd about the statues the boy was commanding; it was like they had some sort of imitation of a soul, or rather one part of a soul that was missing the rest. Vaguely recalling that the powers of the Mummies were similar in concept if not application to the powers of the Pesedjet, and that said powers involved splitting the soul into five separate pieces…he kept this in mind, as he was certain that it would be useful, but for now he focused on helping his comrades.
Sensing the fear of the companions surrounding him, and not really having time for it, he intoned "Animal (Crow) Purview: Animal Command," and ordered them to swarm the real Kankuro.
--
Orochimaru now had wings that fully functioned in spite of their body-to-size ratio and his legs could wind and slither like a snake's. It wasn't necessarily impressive by the standards of what a Minor God could do, but he was saving the best for when he really needed it. Besides, his little creation had already caused Guide Sarutobi more than enough trouble with those very abilities.
Taking to the sky, he flew downward towards his former master's location, weaving and worming his way through the predatory trees (I see I'm not the only onewho enjoys workingwith the alternate possibilities life provides) until he came into striking distance. The man he was striking at was a master of Stamina Knacks, currently covered in solid stone armor, and had just not gotten his position as the leader of a Village filled with supernaturally empowered God's children for nothing. He had to be careful.
--
"Naruto, if you want to save Sasuke, now is the time. This one owes me a match." As the crows surrounding them struck at the effigies, not doing that much damage but keeping them moving about properly and, perhaps more importantly, distracting their master and keeping him from giving them better orders, Shino drew his sword and charged straight for the Mummy.
It was best not to let the enemy get his bearings; Shino knew full well that this man was dangerous. He probably would have gotten a strike in, too, had a clay cobra not jumped directly at him. Shino had assumed that they needed to take direct orders from their master.
As he weaved around their various attacks, surveying the scene of what his crows and the animal sculptures were actually doing as they fought one another, he started to realize that this wasn't the case. More accurately, they seemed to act like Naruto's Shadow Bodies, having a set behavior that they fell into without commands; they were kind of stupid without Kankuro's direct influence, but not worthless.
--
Kankuro needed time to think and assess the situation without losing sight of the battlefield. Luckily, he was above-average in the best Hekau for doing just that. It was infuriating that his replacement Overseer hadn't been finished yet (seriously, may Apophis devour that Cowboy), but he still had something prepared from a while ago that he hadn't been able to use in these exams.
"Effigy Hekau: False Door," he intoned as he channeled his Sekhem. He then slapped the materials for a set of wood that vaguely resembled a door onto a nearby tree, and actually managed to form an entranceway that he promptly pulled himself through. They might not be smart enough to win without getting particularly lucky, but he trusted his Effigies to keep the Scions occupied while he came up with a better plan in relative safety.
--
Without Kankuro ordering them directly, Naruto and Sakura both found escaping the animal statues to be a breeze. Thanks to being able to follow the exact same path that they were before the Mummies interrupted them finding Gaara was even more of one. Figuring out what to do when they actually came upon the enormous seven-headed serpent as it thrashed about and destroyed the surrounding forest, forcing its own ally in the form of the girl Mummy from their team to go into hiding and not giving them any leeway to find out where Sasuke had gone was…significantly less so.
--
Having to hack a marble cobra in half before it bit into him meant that Shino was too distracted to notice where his opponent had actually gone, which was less than ideal. The numbers of these strange animal things were thinning, and while the fake Kankuro wasn't falling to his crows it was actually turning out to be a significantly lesser threat than any of his smaller Effigies.
While more than a few of Morrigan's crows had gone on to meet their Mother, Shino was actually feeling pretty good about this fight until a false scorpion got him in the back of the legs. Seething in pain, that was enough to distract him so that a cat could leap onto his back and leave claw marks on his neck. While he shook it off easily enough, the others surrounding him were able to exploit the gaps his failing defense was leaving and Shino rapidly found himself unable to avoid getting more and more hurt.
"I will not fall here. The reason is because I have the intellect to succeed. I will not fall here. Why? Because I am the son of Morrigan, a Scion of the Tuatha da Danaan, and I respect and admire my ancestors and all they held sacred. I will not fall, for I do not fear my enemy. I may fear falling in battle, but I will face it head on."
The statues cutting and stabbing into him did not really seem to care about his speech, but that didn't matter. "I do not have the ability to express myself. Why? Because my mannerisms are strange, and I am more concerned with mind and body than social niceties. I get along better with people."
Hoping that he had declaimed his virtues properly, hoping that he had captured the ideal of neither being too prideful nor dishonestly modest, he channeled the Ichor behind that declamation and shouted "Enech Purview: Body and Spirit!"
The Enechs of Piety and Intellect responded immediately, his Ichor replenishing and his mind and senses sharpening. The Enech of Courage seemed sluggish, barely expanding his strength and speed. Perhaps he had been a little too arrogant about his bravery? The Enech of Expression accepted his modesty, not punishing him for pretending to be worse than he was and thus lying about his own virtues, an even worse sin than arrogance. It did not fuel his voice, but it did not block the others' gifts.
Regardless, for a very brief time he was stronger, smarter, and had slightly larger Ichor reserves (ones that would not only vanish but drain more from him than he gained when Piety no longer rewarded him, but a boon for now) than he did before.
Now that he could fight better in general, he quickly dispatched the false animals surrounding him and put together what had been bothering him about the fake souls he saw in them earlier; the souls were in the Shadowlands. It was like the Mummy could put out energy into the upper crust of the Underworld, that which mirrored and interacted with the living world, and use it to bring life into objects where they were mirrored in the Middle World. That, in turn, meant that wraiths didn't have to be capable of Manifestation to interact with them…
--
Sasuke had managed to both avoid the splitting earth beneath him and kept the random girl safe. He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up, though.
Gaara was now striking at random without being able to see, but he had enough of an attack area that attacking at random still made him dangerous, both to him and…oh, Gods above, was that Naruto and Sakura? What were they doing here?
"Sasuke, we've come to save you…" Sakura shouted out before a blinded Gaara-Titan-Thing zeroed in on the sudden sound and struck at her with its tail. She barely dodged beneath it, but was only rewarded by several of its flint-like scales shedding off and surrounding her.
Both Naruto and Sasuke jumped to aid her at the same time, Naruto obviously getting there first thanks to his proximity but only getting a barrage of flint flying toward him for his efforts. The stones that flew out, seemingly of their own accord, gave Sasuke an opening to thrust his naginata into, giving her leverage to escape, allowing him to pull her out of there…until the tail came back around and smacked him to the ground. One of Apophis's heads swung around grabbed Sakura in its mouth.
"You care about this one, do you? That is a weakness! That is what fake people do! I won't be hurt by a fake person!"
A different head screamed while the mouth that attacked held Sakura in its fangs, gripping her just strongly enough that it wasn't killing her, but clearly could with just a little more pressure. "I will show you how weak these silly little bonds are! If you want to defeat me, then forget the fake person exists! While you care whether she lives or dies, you'll be handicapped! You'll be weak! You won't be a person!"
--
If the Mummies had truly been keeping this thing in line all of these years, then for the first time in her life Kin thanked the Village Hidden in Hekau for existing as a competent military force. Such thoughts weren't going to save her now, but they were ironic enough for her to note.
The mission was already insane, but now she suspected that she might have to justify her presence here if she wanted to continue it; the Scions would want her to run for it if she couldn't use Supernatural energy, and she could only use it by performing actions that would raise many further questions later.
However, one such ability started activating on its own right as she was thinking it over. That…smell. The one thing tastier than human flesh, the skin and meat of a fully revived Mummy, and it wasn't the massive freak in front of her, no, it was coming from the nearby trees, observing the scene between the Scions and the Titan-thing…
"Savior, there's Hekau forces over there," she said, pointing to where she smelled the Mummy and hoping that they didn't think too hardly about how she had noticed it.
--
Once again, Sarutobi found himelf imitating his student's moves. After Orochimaru transformed into a monster, Sarutobi, dodging his attack, pulled out a mass of chalk and quickly drew a hexagram around him before Orochimaru could strike again. "Taiyi Purview; Living Hexagram Metamorphosis-Devil-Sage Form!"
His skin turned green. He grew two more heads, and two more pairs of arms as his lower teeth turned into protruding, jutting jaws and his fingernails transformed into claws. He had to duck under another one of Orochimaru's attacks before the transformation was complete, but was eager to go as he stepped out of the Hexagram and faced his student once more.
"You were always obsessed with Purviews, studying every boon, even the ones you weren't capable of mastering. Why are you relying on your physical abilities?"
Before Orochimaru could answer, Sarutobi shouted "Taiyi Purview: Qi Hand!" and converted his Ichor into a free-floating version of one of his new monstrous hands before slashing it towards his student.
"I wanted to save my Ichor," Orochimaru responded. "But you're right, I really need to stop wasting time. Itztli Purview: Reception of Sacrifice!"
--
Orochimaru felt all of his servants out in the field, offering their blood to be spilled in battle, offering it in glorious piety to the Gods above. Offering it…to him.
He couldn't get anything from the Mummies, unfortunately, and very little from the various monstrosities he had saved from the dirt and given a purpose to over all of these years, but his own clansmen, the Aztlanti who spilled their own blood in order to call on more Ichor…as one of their Gods, by technicality at least, he felt it enter him, fuel him, and gave him the power he needed to try something out.
"Death Purview: Underworld Portal!" The Shroud separating the Middle World from the Underworld was rent asunder before his eyes. The energies flowing inside, beckoned by the talismans he had collected so long ago…"Death Purview: Ghost Control!"
There were any number of wraiths, in various states of connection with the Middle World, that he could have called on at that moment. Many of them would have been mildly useful, and a handful might have even been able to defeat Guide Sarutobi, but he didn't want 'might have.' No, Orochimaru wanted to call on the best of the best.
The Great God-on-Earth struck at his former student, with both the clawed hand of his current monstrous form and its imitation of Qi, not caring to see whatever abomination from the Underworld his student might bring out. He was certainly not expecting what did come out. He was the Great God-on-Earth, or was. Now he was simply one of three.
--
Kankuro knew that several of his creations had managed a hit on the Scion. On a surface level, that didn't seem to matter. They were small animals, if numerous, and he couldn't imitate features like a scorpion's venom, as the texts said. The texts were wrong.
Oh, a scorpion couldn't have fully functioning venom sacs, but it still had the mechanism for dispersing it and the body for putting a more mundane version of it in by the creator's hand. Not that it was truly mundane either, for Kankuro had prepared this one to be special.
Effigies were his art, his bread and butter, but few Mummies worth their name only studied one Hekau. No, although he'd be the first to admit that he sucked at it in comparison to even the average Tomb-Watcher, he was more than versed enough in Alchemy to give his little interloper a nasty surprise.
"Alchemy Hekau: Serpent's Fang!" He shouted upon leaving his little alcove in the tree, getting line-of-sight with his target so he could ascertain that his Sekhem activated the latent spells woven into the scorpion Effigies' pseudo-venom.
As the Scion screeched in pain, Kankuro smirked. So absorbed in the sight was he that the Mummy failed to notice that all of his Effigies had become inert. Nor did he see that the Scion's crows, in much better shape, were converging on him.
"I was able to stop your little devices. Why? Because I could see the residue in the Shadowlands you used to fuel them. The wraiths that I can compel to listen to me, to come to my aid, I'll owe them many favors later, but they could take care of your little pests for me."
It was too obvious and debilitating a weakness for Hekau's scrolls on the subject to say nothing about it, but as Kankuro wracked his brain he couldn't think of hearing that that was a possibility. He knew that Effigies interacted with the Shadowlands, yes, but that meant if the denizens of the Shadowlands could destroy them at a whim, well, there had to be a way to stop it, but what was it? The thought utterly paralyzed him as the Scion's birds swarmed him, ripping and tearing him apart.
--
Shino had no desire to kill his enemy if he could help it. While his discussion with Fuu genuinely did help, he also didn't want to go through those feelings again.
However, he might not have had a choice. That poison the Mummy kid spelled up was coursing through his veins, ripping him apart from the inside. He collapsed, unable to give Morrigan's crows any orders to stop or calm themselves, sincerely wondering if this was the end for him. Maybe I bought Naruto and Sakura a little bit of time. And hey, I think I won my match, he thought as he drifted from consciousness.
--
techniques:
Animal (x) Purview: Hybrid Chimera-allows the user to combine the 'best' traits from two separate animals to create a monster
Animal (x) Purview: Epic Enhancement-brings the features that are thought of as something an animal is 'good at' to 'superhuman' levels (a rabbit would become impossibly fast, an ox or gorilla stupidly strong, etc,)
Earth Purview: Create Earth-creates solid stone from nothing
Earth Purview: Magma Control-manipulate previously existing magma/lava
Health Purview: Restore Health-a stronger healing technique
Health Purview: Human Hybrid-combines a human body with a nearby living thing, 'absorbing' its 'best features'
fertility Purview: Impossible Hybrid-creates a plant or fungus combining the 'best' features of two others whose seeds or spores are under the user's control
Effigy Hekau: False Door-create an image of an entranceway, then one can channel Sekhem to create one
Enech Purview: Body and Spirit-after an honest assessment of how one embodies the virtues of Courage, Piety, Expression, and Intellect, one gains temporary bonuses to strength, Ichor, charisma, and mental acuity. If one lies during the spoken assessment, either too arrogant or too humble, one will be weakened instead
Taiyi Purview: Living Hexagram Metamorphosis-after drawing a complicated diagram on the ground, one may alter the shape of a willing living creature. The 'Devil-Sage-Form' is a known change that can be done quickly through shared tradition
Iztli Purview: Reception of Sacrifice-while active, one's Ichor is fueled by those voluntarily suffering or risking themselves in the user's name
Taiyi Purview: Qi Hand-create a disembodied image of one's current hand, with all the same functions as the attached one
Death Purview: Underworld-creates a temporary pathway between the Middle-World and Underworld that anyone could theoretically use
Alchemy Hekau: Serpent's Fang-supernaturally strengthens a mixed poison