[x] Storybookknight
Attack Roll: 7k3= 29
Damage Roll: 7k3= 1
Even through your mounting unease you can see this situation is going poorly. It doesn't take a military genius to perceive that Moto Shinichiro has countered your trap and sent the bulk of his force against the eastern wall of the killing box. The northern and southern sides will fall in to relieve their comrades, closing the trap tight to slaughter the enemy to the last…
Which would be wonderful if Moto Shinichiro wasn't right here. Even worse, he is here with a mob of unfortunate souls touched by the same corruption that has consumed whatever passes for his soul. A quick count shows they roughly equal your group, but you know full well that even numbers with enemies such as this is not a favorable contest.
But the Shugenja… They might be able to even the tide of battle, or at the very least draw attention to the rest of the army on how everything has gone so terribly wrong. There are thirty Mirumoto Bushi hanging in reserve. You doubt you'll be able to get the whole army to turn around, but chances are decent those thirty might be able to respond swiftly to this crisis before things get even more out of hand.
You draw your tetsubo and shift your feet to a ready stance, holding the weapon out in a firm grip. Now is not the time to hesitate. That only plays to this abomination's advantage. Now is the time for action, and in that action bring forth victory.
"Everyone, attack him now!" you yell at the top of your lungs. Your entire group seems to snap out of the stupor that had fallen upon them with Shinichiro's arrival, readying their weapons to charge. You would nod in approval at that, but you are too busy turning toward the Shugenja. "If any of you have some way to communicate with the rest of the army, do so-"
A large hand comes around your face and pulls you forward. Your neck and shoulders scream in agony as you are wrenched off your feet and sent tumbling to the ground. Dirt flies through the air as you are dragged, so fast you can barely tell what direction the sky is, and you just barely manage to keep a grip on your tetsubo.
Thankfully, your armor takes the brunt of the damage. Once more you are saved by your mother's gift, though it is hard to be properly appreciative when you are being used to dig a groove in rocky soil. Aside from the fact that your neck and shoulders feel like they're being stuffed full of red hot metal, however, you seem to be fine.
Though you reconsider that assessment when your impromptu journey ends.
Moto Shinichiro smiles as he lifts you up to eye height with him, wisps of shadow curling from his arm. He reached out and grabbed you. He was standing over a stone's throw away, and he reached out and grabbed you. But that's impossible. How can anyone…
"Now let's not be having any of that," he says. "Things are going to be difficult enough as it is." His eyes widen a fraction. "Oh, you're one of the Crab! How nice. I've always liked your people." His grin widens, still too large for his face. "Don't worry, young Crab. After today I'm going to have the perfect core for my army. Samurai make much better stock than peasants, and together we're going to wipe the Shadowlands clean."
Roaring a battle cry, you swing your tetsubo as hard as you can into the man's side. You connect solidly, putting as much weight and power as possible into the blow considering you are dangling off the ground. The sound of the impact echoes throughout the hills, and the arm holding you shudders.
But Moto Shinichiro doesn't seem affected by your attack at all! For a moment you can do nothing but stare at him in shock through his fingers, your mouth falling open. You glance down and see that, yes, you did hit him. Your tetsubo is lodged in his side, denting his black armor as little puffs of shadow trickle away, but he doesn't seem wounded at all!
"Well, that was certainly rude," Shinichiro says, his eyes narrowing. "I would have thought you'd be grateful. After all, I'm going to be killing that man who's been causing your Clan so many issues." He sighs and shakes his head. "I guess there's no helping some people. I suppose at the very least you'll make a good soldier."
His grip tightens, and a terrible pressure builds up in your skull. Coldness spreads throughout your body, as if winter has settled in your very bones. Then it becomes even colder, and you inhale sharply as your blood is replaced with ice. Thoughts flee from you, shattering even as you try to hold on to them. Your mind… You can feel your mind unraveling as this monster works his will upon you.
Memories are mixing together like earth and water, becoming a thick mud in your mind. You are a child. You are an adult. You are taking your Gempukku. You are watching your mother in the forge. Past becomes present becomes future as the barriers begin to fall around your identity. All that you are, all that you will ever be, is withering away beneath an overwhelming onslaught of darkness.
Someone is screaming. Someone is screaming in pain and fear and you can't tell where it is coming from. It's close, though. Could it be you? You cannot tell anymore. You cannot tell anything at all.
A flickering flame emerges within the haze that has overtaken your mind. It is only embers where once stood a blazing inferno , but it still brings light and warmth amongst the shadows and cold trying to break you down. You know, without even a sliver of doubt, that this can save you. This can take the darkness and the pain away. Instinctively, you reach out toward it...
"That is enough!"
You are snapped back to reality as Asako Akio waves a hand and a white-hot tendril of fire wraps itself around the arm holding you up. Moto Shinichiro roars in agony and throw you aside, sending you tumbling back toward your band. You roll head over shoulders before Shirou ducks low and catches you, holding you steady as you gasp for air.
"Sosuke-sama!" he calls out as he lifts you to your feet. "Are you all right?"
You don't answer. Blind, animal panic takes you for a moment. You almost died… No, you almost worse than perished. You stood on the bare precipice of being unmade, everything that makes you a person taken away and replaced by a power more terrifying and evil than anything that ever crawled out of the Festering Pit.
Memories snap back into place in an instant, and your mind regains focus. You are Hiruma Sosuke, Bushi of the Crab Clan. You have gained friends and lost them, learned from wise teachers and battled the worst foes this and any other world has to offer. Your life is duty and self-sacrifice.
And you are looking on in awe as Asako Akio snarls at Moto Shinichiro and pulls back the fiery whip he had wrapped around the former Unicorn's limb. It twists around like a wagon wheel, sending great inky spurts of shadow into the air as it tears into Moto Shinichiro's skin. The monster in the shape of a man bellows and tries to pull away, but that only makes things worse as the whip finally tears off.
When it returns to the Shugenja's side, there is nothing but a charred and ruined lump where Moto Shinichiro's arm used to be.
"I see clearly now," Asako Akio growls, throwing the whip up toward the sky where it detonates with a flash of light and thunder. "I see there is nothing left of the friend I used to know."
"You never truly knew me, Akio," Moto Shinichiro growls, pointing at the Elemental Master of Fire with his tetsubo. The flesh around his arm is shifting, closing up and healing. "No one did until I made them know me." He bares his teeth. "And I will make them know me again."
"Not while I still draw breath!" Akio shouts, his eyes blazing like stars as his fire dances across his skin. "All you are is an infection, Shinichiro! You are a blight upon this world, and I will burn you out!"
And with that, both sides charge toward each other as the battle truly begins.
[] Attack Moto Shinichiro.
[] Attack one of the other Shadowspawn.
[] Write in.
