Get out of Inferno [Naoki/Ren]

[Samejima]

"N-no... I couldn't, haha," Naoki attempted to disguise her disappointment. She knew it wasn't her fault Tsubaki left, but she just couldn't shake the feeling. She probably thought I died or something. But... I'm glad she made it. Been trying to cope for so long... After the shipwreck, she'd neither heard nor seen Tsubaki, and had successfully come to grips with the fact that she'd never see her again. Now it's confirmed, and the songstress was alive, which is probably the best case scenario knowing her luck. "Thank you for the offer though, Sousuke-sama. I'll... I'll live." I probably shouldn't go after her either... I might not want to come back. The 20-year-old genin felt a peculiar twinge of confusion. Why would she not? Just so she could keep the marginal chance of hearing her voice again? Surely that wasn't it.

She had to shake it off as she picked up on the rest of the conversation though. The sounds swirling about confirmed it--something was chasing them down for sure. Naoki grimaced. "Ugh, it's hurting my head. The hell is that racket?" She positioned herself behind the other panel and opened it, hoping more sound would make it clearer to her exactly what this thing was, but all it did was make it worse. "I guess we're going to beat it to death? My range isn't too good, but I should be able to make up for it if I use ninjutsu." She grinned confidently, something she hadn't done since she met the Puppetmeister 3000. "Picked up a couple tricks while I was gone. We'll take this thing out, no sweat!"

Cracking her knuckles, she began forming some quick handseals for pretty much the most powerful Sound jutsu she could remember: "Onkyou Dangan no Jutsu!" The soundwaves would echo around the palms of her hands, building up some extra echo power before finally exiting the giant puppet carriage and flying towards whatever the flying Fuji was chasing them. With any luck she would manage to at least graze it, with both parties being in motion.

[OOC: That jutsu is Echo Strike (Bullet Variant) btw]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke looked at what Rensuke was providing him with. He shook his head. "On second thought... I'll make this work but through different means."<i></i> There was something about holding a heavier severed limb that did not feel quite right about this. Perhaps it was because it was actually a body part. He weighed it in his hand for a few moments more before handing it back. "Yeah. No. I will pass considering ... this is part of you, and not being able to return it would not feel right at all."<i></i> Sousuke had an idea of what a susbstantal amount of yen would be to replace this, and it wasn't that he would not be able to pay it in return, it was jsut he did not want to further cripple Rensuke in the first place. "I will try to undertake getting a piece of said chaos demon. Just don't promote re-growth of it, or else we might be in trouble later."<i></i> Sousuke would position himself now on top of the puppet. He would exhale.

Naoki would inquire if they were going to beat it to death. "Well. Beating it to death would be the most ideal approach. I thought I had already killed it with a massive mental genjutsu attack, but no somehow it is still kicking. I suppose I underestimated my enemy a bit... didn't expect it to regenerate that quickly... considering genjutu damage is something one does not normally heal easily through."<i></i> Naoki would then open fire with the first volley. Sousuke in the mean time would put his antlered helmet back on. "Some ninjutsu is ranged, some can be used in melee."<i></i> He reminded her. Sousuke would do a curious thing and form a line made out plasma. Being a master of plasma techniques he was used to handling plasma weaponry. It did not burn him to touch it. He was capable of regulating the heat accordingly. He would begin to spin the rope into a lasso of sorts. He would then throw the lasso over at the demon trying to snare the horn. He frowned as he missed the first time. He did try a second time and latched on.

The chaos demon hissed as it did not enjoy being shot by sound. The attack stunned it for a moment, but it recovered quickly enough. It shook its head. Clearly Naoki must have hit something. The beast experienced a ringing noise in its head which caused it to lose balance. Upon losing said balance, that allowed Sousuke to get it the second time with the lasso. Sousuke would give Naoki the thumbs up, giving her the go-ahead to open up with more attacks. Sousuke would then pull the beast and try to throw it off of its balance. He was trying to get it to fall on its side, but he would need more help coming from Naoki.

 

[Kazumi]

Ren reached back after a moment, leaving Sousuke to have to hold it awkwardly out until the puppeteer even noticed. "It is no more part of me than your armor is, Sousuke. I will not complain as to retaining the appendage of course. Should this plan not proceed as intended, I am sure it will come in handy." He put the arm back into its place and snapped on with an audible click. He continued to steer the somewhat rocky ride with one hand as he flexed the fingers of his other, regaining full control while the reattachment took hold.

While the pair struggled to take down the entity, Ren connected five more strings to the craft from his hand, "if my understanding of the topography is correct, the rocky incline here will lead to a sharp cliff edge. I continue forward until the last moment and then make a hard turn." The nearly invisible strings tightened as he readied himself. "Unless the entity is capable of flight, maneuverable enough to follow, or cognitive enough to halt, this maneuver will send it off the edge. What you are able to do with the momentary advantage is between you both. Sharp turn. Five seconds." It would be hard to tell that the uneven stone incline was even about to drop off, but the apex of the formation was quickly approaching.

"Three. Two. One." Without further warning, Ren held his right palm open towards the solid ground beside the speeding hovercraft. The claw and cable shot out and latched into the ground with a solid crack. Within a split second, the craft edged onto its side, tilting at a fifty degree angle as the wire snapped tight, slinging them in an arc that missed the edge of the cliff by mere feet. With his free hand he pulled hard at the strings to keep the craft in control as it redirected itself parallel to the edge, rounding a sharp turn that he hoped the creature would have a difficult time following.

 

[Samejima]

The noise in the puppet carriage was enough to give Naoki a clear view of pretty much everything, a heightened awareness of her surroundings giving her even more awareness of the most-likely inadvertent dad joke Ren just made about something being handy. "Ahahaha! I didn't think you knew how to joke Ren, I've misjudged you!" After a nice hearty chuckle, Naoki refocused on the task at hand. She "saw" the thumbs up from Sousuke, and acted a little on impulse.
Uh... Does that mean I can attack more? I hope that's a signal for me to attack more! So she unleashed a set of handseals to channel her chakra into a lightning jutsu: "Seiten no Hekireki!" Both her hands were used to shoot the bolt of lightning towards the demon, seeming to pulse in width and length as it travelled for the split second that it took. This usually has a higher chance to hit enemies, since its travel time is so low, but you never know with chaos demons.

If she had time to build up for another jutsu, she would go with another one of the bolts, but she picked up on the fact that Ren was about to very dangerously drive them to the edge of a cliff. "What?! Are you insane?!" Her words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears however, as the veering happened anyway and she did her best to brace herself by grabbing onto the carriage by the open hatch. "Agh!" She rubbed the inside of her fingers, protected by the bandages thankfully, but still sore because she doesn't train the insides of her fists.

If she did, best believe they would be callused to hell.

"Man... Ugh, is everyone okay?"

[OOC: Seiten no Hekireki is basically the saying "a bolt from the blue" and I just found it amusing to use as a lightning jutsu name]

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"I get that it is like my armour. Just say it felt right considering you're leaking liquid now that I cannot easily identify."<i></i> Sousuke would taken in the new data that Rensuke was providing him. Well. There was one of two ways looking at this. Sousuke decided on a course of action and decided to keep it to himself. As they neared it Sousuke released the plasma lasso and allowed it to disappear. As Ren approached the corner Sousuke planned on his course of action. Naoki's efforts were not in vain as she continued to chip away at the creature causing it to become slightly burnt now. Now was the time for that hard turn.

As expected the Chaos Demon took off the cliff, but was fighting to get back up. It was clawing its way up. From the looks of things, it seemed like it was going to do so quite easily. Sousuke then proceeded to make a choice of his own doing. This was one of those selfless moments. Fortunately for the two present, being Naoki and Rensuke - they were not told or disclosed to the plan, which some would have called suicide. "Get back To Sungakure."<i></i> He spoke as he readied himself. Sousuke would in fact now throw himself at the Chaos Demon in question and the two would fall off the cliff together. There were now several cries coming out in a strange guttural language that the human mind was not meant to process. Sousuke would not be heard, for he was not screaming. The sound of a crackling fire could be heard in place of a scream as he went down down down.

Rensuke and his puppet transport would be in the clear now to get away with the prisoner. The guttural cries would eventually stop, but curiously there was no impact sound. Considering Sousuke was wearing heavy armour one would have thought that there would have been an impact sound of some sort. The choice now was a far more simpler one. Investigate or simply now continue on the path home. Should they have chosen to take the path to go find Sousuke, it may indeed take them a while and who knew what lurked from them on such a path.

 

[Samejima]

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

The Kazekage decided to jump, and by now Naoki had had it with these boys and their sudden moves. "Raaaagh!" A guttural yell to match the guttural cries coming from her target could be heard emanating from the genin as she jumped right out the hatch to grab ahold of Sousuke. She fell a good bit faster than he did due to all the training weights she still had on, allowing her to catch up to him despite his earlier takeoff.

C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! She wasn't falling fast enough, and decided to try and manifest a couple jets of water to propel herself further down. As she did so, she focused on opening her first Gate fully, which took significantly less concentration than what she usually did to re-enable her sight. A burst of chakra could be felt emanating from Naoki as it activated, and as soon as she managed to grab hold of either the demon or Sousuke himself, she'd use her momentum to flip in midair, hurling both parties upwards. "Huah!" It was unlikely that they would land back atop the cliff, but Naoki had a contingency plan for that; she started up a stream of wind below her at an angle, which would jettison all three of them closer to the cliff wall. Once they were close enough, she would focus her chakra down onto the soles of her very worn ninja sandals, clinging onto the cliff face and quickly kicking off as many of her weights as possible to support the extra coming her way.

As soon as the two parties fell down to her point down the cliff, she braced herself and reached both arms out, pushing them upwards to try and support the weight of both the demon and the Kazekage with his power armor. A series of grunts would be heard, with her arms slowly failing her under the weight. "I've... got this... Keep that thing still...!"

She realized she would need to relax a little before she could fully lift them and come back with a second wind, so she relaxed for a split second resulting in the both of them jolting down but not ripping her arms off just yet. Mentally bracing herself for the next heave, she let out a huff as she started lifting again. Aight here we go! "Yoi... shaaaaa!" She lifted the two above her head now, all the while her feet continued to slip down the cliff. It seemed to be a controlled descent however, and as long as Sousuke kept the demon under control somehow there should be no complications until they reached a point where it would be safe to drop them onto the ground.

[MFT]

 

[Kazumi]

Suicidal. That would be the word to use for these two Suna shinobi. Ren did not know what was going on on the other side of the cliff, nor did he know exactly how long the drop would be; fatal, he was sure, to a non-shinobi, but he was not sure how well otherworldly entities handled such things. What he did know was that he had orders, and they did not simply come from his superior, but from the Kage himself. It was clear he had to follow them, he was assigned to returning the prisoner in one piece, back to the village.

The craft came to a skidding halt, the bottom dragging against the sand as it did a small halting spin. Ren looked over towards the prisoner, the woman had yet to awaken, and he hoped it would continue to stay like that. There was no where she could go in the middle of the desert here. Should she flee, and they were unable to locate her for some reason, she would be dead. Surely that level of consequence would be enough to prevent her from running, surely. The craft lowered to the ground and thumped its heavy weight onto the ground as Ren hopped off, taking measured steps over to the edge of the cliff, careful not to hurl himself over as his companions had. He was not sure what he would see, but he readied himself to offer whatever assistance he could, but he had no intention to be reckless about it. Ren leaned over, steadying his footing as he peered over the cliff's edge, seeing what appeared to be the younger of the idiots sliding down the side of the cliff with the older idiot in hand... and the demon as well? It made as much sense as suicide he guessed, perhaps she wanted to fight the entity fairly? Humans were very very strange...

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Theme​

There was a good reason why Sousuke decided to go and jump ontop of the Chaos Demon while it was nearing the edge. His original plan was to attempt to crush it underneath his own weight and drive his weaponry into it. Naoki on the other hand had issue with that plan and leapt after them. With effort she would hurl Sousuke, but hurling the Chaos Demon on the other hand would perhaps not smartest move. Sousuke wore heavy armour for a reason. Naoki would find why as touching said enemy was harmful to touch, contact would burn through the bandage and in fact burnt her hand. The bandage would fall apart as a hole as it indeed burnt fully through. Hurling both the Kazekage and a Chaos Demon was no simple task, and to hurl them both at the same time.

Naoki would see Sousuke and the demon go airborne and the two of them were trading blows. She would watch though as the enemy drove his razor like hand through Sousuke's armour and out the other side. Nuts, bolts, wires, and scraps would rain down upon her. Sousuke on the flip side was slashing and hacking away. When Thunder Talon would connect a lightning bolt could be seen hurtling down from the sky and striking the demon. A howl of pain could be heard, and the counter attack came. The attack grazed Sousuke's helmet. Bits and pieces of it could be seen descending, and even some of Sousuke's violet hair. This was a close one. The demon withdrew its attack and pulled its other arm out of Sousuke's shell in which more pieces were falling out. In that moment Naoki would notice something. Sousuke had stopped fighting but was now merely observing his enemy. Despite have a hole in the side of his shoulder, and his helmet shattered on the side. She would see him calmly and inhumanely observing the enemy. Rensuke too would see this too. There seemed to be a tolerance for pain in this. Quite a bit. Again the two would trade blows, and Sousuke would be worse for wear in this. Another resounding strike and cracks could be seen in his armour. Yes. Sousuke's armour was strong, but even it had its limits. At one point he putted his head with the creature. The antlers would pierce the creature and seemingly hold it in place, but a sizzling noise could be heard. Cooked as it were.

 

[Samejima]

"Ahahoooow, ow ow ow, boy that stings!" As they descended, Naoki would drop the two like hot rocks as they continued to duke it out. Most of the rest of their battle thus far would take place on the ground, while Naoki slumped back against the cliff face and attempted a one-handed water jutsu. "Ugh... Thing burns! Geez..." The water would hopefully clear her of any lingering effects from direct physical contact with the demon, but it still very obviously hurt and she was unable to move her dominant hand. Heh, I guess that ambidexterity thing came in... handy. "Sousuke-sama! Are you okay? I heard lots of metal falling... and felt some of it too." She had gotten a few bruises from a few of those pieces of armor.

The clashing and sizzling didn't sound very good for his health however, and she would whip out the battle-knife from her hip and start on a few strikes to the demon. "Tsunzaku Renda!" A series of sharp stabs directed at one localized area of the demon's back was loosed, partly in hopes of breaking through the demonic armor and partly because her hands hurt way too much for her to not feel the need for some sort of violently stabby revenge. With her first Gate open, the blows would deal a significant amount of damage by normal standards, and owing to the close proximity and flurryriffic nature of the strikes, their accuracy was nothing to scoff at.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Naoki did not get an immediate response from the Kazekage. The genin would reposition herself nearby the demon who now had his grasp locked tightly onto Sousuke. The grip was not melting through the armour but steam was indeed rising. Naoki would hear a cracking noise but it was not the sound of metal, it sounded more like stone. It seemed as if her attacks from before were starting to take a toll. Once repositions, Naoki learning from her mistakes took to using a weapon instead of her hands. Said knife was embued and fed chakra and she unleashed a series of attacks upon the lower back. Her knife head together and did not steam or anything. Perhaps there were only certain parts of the demon that heated up. Luckily for her the back was not one of those places. She found find sure footing on the back. The demon which had a was tighter grip on Sousuke was now trying to turn things around. Naoki was proving to be a very annoying pest of sorts.

Said monstosity would try to reach back to grab hold of Naoki, but this time it would be met with resistance. This time it was Sousuke would ram his lightning blade through the upper area of the arm peircing it. It seemed that the Kazekage was still functional. "Naoki. Prepare for a drop. Going to try and rotate this thing so get ready to move from its back to my back."<i></i> Naoki was significantly smaller than Sousuke and the chaos demon. Sousuke's armour was indeed quite a bit bulkier. He would lean back and force the three of them to begin spinning on the way down. During this time the genin would have several opportunity moments to begin taking advantage in the confusion that the chaos demon had. The creature let out a cry of sorts which would be heard all the way down as the three of them again began falling downwards. "Hit it. Hit it now."<i></i> Sousuke advised as he began to get it to spin around now. The idea was to drop it down and force it to land on its back. Sousuke was trying to use his weight and the fall to push enough force to jam his flaming blade and pierce or fatally wound the devilment that had lingered for far too long. Naoki would have to ensure its final death now, as Sousuke had learned that death was perhaps not so final.

 

[Samejima]

With barely enough time to stutter out a "thank you" for blocking the hit for her, Naoki processed the instructions given and waited for the moment in which she would have to reposition once more. "Gotcha!" She let her battle-knife hang from a couple fingers and prepared her specialty jutsu: Three intertwined shark-shaped projectiles of water that confused and bound its target before a finishing blow. As the spin began, she braced herself to let go and very quickly latch back onto the Kazekage's back so as to not lose the possibility of regaining a grip on the two. Once she was given the go-ahead, she kicked off Sousuke's back and unleashed her jutsu, pushing them downwards a little faster than planned. "We're finishing this! Mitsuzame Shibaki!"

A set of three shark heads burst out from the genin's hands, each one beelining for the chaos demon as they sliced through the air in a coordinated dance. The sharks were the bosslady's idea. They'd be seared into the audience's eyes she said. Naoki would never even have tried to make her attacks look pretty without her tutelage, and she wondered if it was worth even keeping up... But she would think about that later, concentrating on doing as much as possible to not miss her mark. If everything went right, the first head would strike the demon's head, the second would bind its limbs together, and the third would unleash another strike to the head, hopefully doing enough damage to it for Sousuke to deal the final blow.

 

[Kazumi]

Without word or action, Ren continued to stand upon the edge of the cliff. An invisible string went from one finger back to the craft, where he would be able to sense if the captive began to awaken. Thankfully she had not, as he was quite interested in watching the scramble below as the armored hulk wrestled with the otherworldly entity, all while apparently scrambling around with the rogue shinobi he had found. Apparently, missing as though she had been, the kage had enough faith in her to literally put his life in her hands. Ren was not sure he would have had the same reaction, she was an unknown factor and allowing her to interfere could cause more harm than good, but perhaps it was for the best that it was not he who made that decision.

It was then that Ren began to reflect on something. He had never seen a shinobi actually fight in a coordinated matter in front of him with another foe. He had imprinted memories of how to fight, likely stolen from the brain of some poor shinobi that the other prototypes were etched from. He likely should have done something to ensure their victory, as there was no telling what tricks that thing had in its arsenal, but he could not bring himself to move from his vantage point as he watches the sparks, flame, steam, water and everything else that was transpiring down below him. It was simply fascinating. Without even realizing it, his fingers began to dance, watching their movements as he instinctively pulled non-existent threads to mimic their own movements. For a brief moment, he did not see the pair as living breathing shinobi, but instead puppets of his own machinations. A single almost whispered word left his artificial lips as he continued to stare down in enthrallment, "interesting..."

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke's flaming blade, Perdition's Arrival, could not meet the mark, he was trying to drive the blade forward, but his enemy was exerting a forward force. The creature had the flaming blade in its hands. The chaos demon in question still maintained some forth of strength. Long fingers grasped around the blade and disappeared into the flame grabbing at the blade which generated the intense heat. The fingers did not melt or burn away. How did Sousuke know? The blade's progress was being slowed down. That being said the three of them were falling and were going to land soon enough.

Naoki would cry out and attack with a water jutsu. While she was airborn she would launch the assault. The smallest out of the three in that moment had become the apex predator. The three aqua sharks connected one after another and sliced through the chest. Another of the sharks cut through the arm, cutting it off entirely. Steam rose from the broken body. More horrific screaming came, and Sousuke could not silence the beast. Naoki's ears would be most likely ringing, and her balance disturbed due to the sheer loudness and the damage coming from it. Naoki may not have been Hashigaki in name, but she shared their weaknesses and strengths. The death cries could come to an end as the beast would finally hit the ground, and with it Sousuke and his rather heavy suit of armour, and to add the cherry on top? Naoki herself. What difficulty Sousuke had earlier in driving his blades through his enemy was solved. "Cease function and return to your element."<i></i> Sousuke growled.

Assumedly Naoki would hop off and Sousuke would be able to get up. With that Sousuke would get up too, but not before drinking his lightning charged blade into the forehead of the beast. He would left it there for a moment. The Kazekage was indeed worse for wear. He watched intently as he was making quite sure this time that the terror in Inferno was very much dead this time. "Just to be sure ... that it is indeed quite dead ... care to use that technique one more time?"<i></i> Sousuke would inquire of Naoki. Sousuke was accessing his own situation. Plates were cracked and needed repairing. Sousuke would remove his helmet. He was indeed still counting on Naoki still being blind, for what was to come he didn't want her to see just yet. When the Chaos Demon had indeed connected him soundly in the head and took out pieces of the helmet, there was some flesh in that as well. What was underneath that flesh? Steel. Takahashi fire-forged steel. The steel was stained with some of his own blood. Unbeknownst to Sousuke he was being watched by Rensuke who was above.

 

[Samejima]

"AAAUGH!"

Naoki curled into a ball, crashing onto the demon's body as she clutched at her ears. The pain was excruciating, but it least it didn't sound human. The screams she had heard throughout her time in the arena were all too clear in her head whenever she remembered them: guttural, high pitched, gurgle-saturated, you name it. Those days of torture were nothing on her ears, but her psyche had been damaged so much that she couldn't stop herself from remembering them every time she recognized a death cry. No, no, no no no no no... This is a demon, he didn't feel pain, it didn't hurt, you didn't do anything wrong... She had always been racked with guilt when she killed, though some days she would be spared as her opponent's manager would pull them out before they died. Fact of the matter is, she has killed dozens upon dozens of people during her time outside Suna. How would she be judged? What would they do to her if they found out what she did? What she was forced to do?

As soon as the ringing subsided, she started recognizing the Kazekage, from whom she was supposed to plead for a pardon of some sort.

"...care to use that technique one more time?"

Naoki scrunched her face up in pain one last time, trying to get the noise out of her head completely, and she nodded. "No flashy this time though, no more flashy..." she muttered to herself. The handseals were a little slower as she continued to reel from the noise, and the shark-shaped jets of water were sent barrelling towards where the demon's presumably dead body laid.

Naoki is indeed still blind, and was unaware of the steel under the Kazekage's flesh, but her scrunched up face is partly due to the smell of burnt flesh and whatever a demon's dead body smelled like.

"Rensuke!" she called, head tilted up as if she could see him. "You up there? Could you help us up?"

[MFT]

 

[Kazumi]

The youngest looking of the trio continued to peer down the side of the cliff as the epic confrontation came to a close. He couldn't discern exactly what they were saying, but it would appear as though he was going to get the specimen sample as he had hoped. Ren opened his palm and aimed it towards the ground next to him, and with a burst, the grappling claw shot out and embedded itself into the rock. After only a quick tug, he hastily hopped off the cliff and repelled himself down its side towards the bottom, the metallic cable lowering him down from his palm as he descended. "I would request that you do minimal damage to the entity's form. Enough to disable, but it would be a waste to destroy it completely." He called, with no emphasis or urgency, but loud enough for the pair to easily hear him. Within moments, his feet landed on the ground and he turned towards his beaten and burned companions.

"You both performed quite admirably, however I fail to understand as to why it was necessary to go off the cliff side along with it. It may have taken more effort to subdue, but more bodily damage could have surely been avoided." Was he criticizing the Kage's actions? "Perhaps dismember the entity. If you have no objections, Sousuke. I wish to bring it back with me for study. I have spare sealing scrolls that I can use to transport its husk while you and Naoki tend to your injuries." He reached behind him and pulled one of the long and narrow scrolls from their small holster at the back of his hip. Without waiting for any word of affirmation, he unrolled the scroll onto the ground. "Is the entity capable of regeneration or some other process that I should know about?" Ren was not entirely sure what he would do with it once he returned to the village. He had no secure or secluded location that he could do anything with it, but there was something in him that urged him onward, that told him not to waste the opportunity to study it.

He proceeded to kneel down, doing something with each of his legs before procuring another pair of long scrolls from some location. He unwrapped those two scrolls as well and laid them out onto the ground nearby, as he had the first. With that taken care of, he gingerly walked over towards where the large severed arm of the creature lay on the ground. He carried it over to the scroll, being careful not to get whatever fluids dripped out of it onto him or his clothing before he set it down on the seals, and with a poof of smoke, sealed it inside the scroll. "Before you comment," Ren abruptly spoke, making his way over towards the corpse, "we are not violating your orders. You had have explicit instructions to return back to the village, however, you neglected to indicate the time frame of which that activity must be carries out." His words were very matter-of-fact, but there was a very vague sense of something close to pride in them.

He would continue his work of gathering the materials as time went on. He even went so far as emptying out three vials of some powder onto the ground nearby so that he could collect some of the creature's 'blood' into them, preserving them better than they would have been, leaking out from the corpse. "When you have a moment, Sousuke, would you be so kind as to dismember the appendages with one of your two blades. I could possibly do so, but they have proved to be capable of doing so without serious effort or strain."

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Naoki did as Sousuke asked once she recovered. The head was cut off and the head rolled about for a few moments. Sousuke would kick the head and roll his shoulders slightly. Metallic bits would fall out and clang against the floor. "No flashy is fine."<i></i> It was often said to truly kill a demon you had to cut off its head. Sousuke had figured he had done that when he mentally attacked this creature and killed it in his mind palace. It was a taxing technique to use. "You did well Naoki. Fighting past the illusions we had seen, but more importantly having the will and the focus to do what needed to be done. We are in Inferno where the strongest survive. In this dead heat and ill presence land... it will kill you should you not adapt or push back."<i></i> He spoke grimly to the child. No. Naoki was not a child anymore. She was much older. This was not the child who had aided him during his fight with Magentica. "I know now is not the time, but I am trying to reconcile the concept of ... you having grown so much and yet I've remained the same. Time passes so quickly for others but not for me."<i></i> Sousuke did not really change. He had always been the same purple haired dark eyes man. He was not a tall man. Sure his armours and designs changed but for the most part he was always the same person.

Rensuke would join them later. He would be on the receiving end of a ... 'talking to?' Sousuke wasn't sure. He was complaining? Complaining about the methods? "I killed the beast several hours using genjutsu. One does not easily heal from being psychically attacked. In fact I always thought it was possible to regenerate from brain death due to severe mental destruction."<i></i> Sousuke spoke. Yes. Usually being attacked mentally or psychically (which some argued were in fact the same). "I figured crushing the body would suffice because ... because there is no hard and fast rule for what we fight out here."<i></i> Sousuke answered. He would let Rensuke go about his new task which was his new found obsession with a chaos demon. Rensuke spoke of how they were not in fact violating his orders. "I will comment about the fact communications did not hard relay the black out for Inferno. I am disappointed in them. Greatly disappointed."<i></i> He answered. The Kazekage would shake his head. This was the same creature he faced... wasn't it? In that moment he would feel something not quite right stir in the back of his mind. He looked up to the cliff. He had that feeling that they were being watched.

Indeed they were being watched. It was humanoid for the most part. The features were slim and lovely but not quite human. The skin seemed to stretch a bit and the ears were simply not right. Pointed. Not curved. She watched and waited. Rensuke had left the prisoner up on the cliff. Perhaps not the smartest of moves, but lucky for them she was not interested in what was captured. The figure stood slightly over seven feet and still for sometime went undetected even by the Kazekage. Curiously Naoki could hear the muscles of a smile come together. A strange sound but one that was meant to be heard. She held out her hand and formed a fist. She stuck out her index finger and twirled it about for a moment. Rensuke's vials would begin to heat up rapidly. It was one thing to watch children fight in her lands, and ultimately kill lesser and weaker demons, but they were hers by right. Even Demons, more powerful ones, had a sense of ownership of what lived about and haunted her lands. These were trespassers, and haunters. Descendants of the First Men - at least two and one of them being from an older household. For the time being she would continue to watch, but more importantly she would continue to play with them like she did from before.

 

[Samejima]

Nodding grimly, Naoki bowed her head to consider what had just been said. I almost... Almost fell for it. Even though I was warned, I still thought that might have been her... She shook her head, trying to reconcile her opinions on genjutsu and what had just happened. Should she refine her skill in that art, if not to use them then to rebuff the efforts of those who use them? She hadn't come across too many genjutsu users in the past, and she hadn't really felt them being used against her offensively. She was going to have to give genjutsu a serious second look, perhaps even learn how to use them if it turned out they weren't as dark as her parents had led her to believe. After all, she couldn't only grow in size--she needed to grow in ability too, and understanding.

The girl's head swiveled to regard wherever that sound had come from, the sound of someone watching them and seeming to have been pleased with their actions. Ren had just emptied the tubes onto the ground, and she found herself yelling to bring their attention to the newcomer. "Someone's up there!" She pointed in the general direction of the sound, the same direction the Kazekage was likely looking. Hurriedly, she formed a few handseals to send a wave of sound in that direction in order to gain more information on the figure.

 

[Kazumi]

Ren continued the work of sealing parts away, listening to Sousuke's reply as he did so. "It would have been better if you had dispatched this one using such mental techniques this time. A single whole sample is much more interesting than dismembered ones, but I am very curious regardless. However, had you considered that, perhaps, this one is a different entity than you had fought before? If it is impossible to revive after sustaining such damage, would it not be more likely that they are more of entities out there such as this." For all anyone knew there could be dozens of these things, and here they were standing there, potentially sitting ducks as perhaps dozens converged on their position.

Ren wrapped up two of the scrolls, having sealed off the arms and legs into the scrolls, its blood partly staining sections of his outfit as he had carried them. Finally making his way over to the sand covered head, Ren leaned down and picked it up, its blood still dripping from the severed neck. He pulled out one more vial and began to collect it, dangling the head over the vial. "Perhaps you would want this for your mantle? A new design for your helmet perhaps? That one will certainly require significant repairs, perhaps justifying the creation of a new one." As he held the vial, he could feel the glass heat up in his fingers. It didn't cause the distinct sensation of pain, he was abstracted away from such things, but he knew it would quickly cause considerable damage to the flesh of his fingers. He decided to quickly drop it, letting its contents spill on the ground below as he brushed his fingers across one another to dissipate the heat. "That was strange. The blood may be reacting with the air to cause some sort of exothermic reaction." Thankfully, or perhaps not, the other sealed vials were already back in a pouch on his hip.

Before he could investigate the heated blood any further, Naoki called out, pointing up towards the cliff they had just came from. He presumed it must have been the prisoner, but if Naoki was as familiar with that individual as she had appeared to be, surely she would have used different words. Still holding the thing's head by its horn, Ren looked up towards the top of the cliff. "Please inform me that she is an associate of yours, Sousuke." He took a quick glance to his side where the last open scroll was on the ground. He wanted to take the head with him, but depending on how things unraveled, that may quickly turn into an impossibility. To make matters worse. two of his puppets were there at the top of the cliff. He had been reckless, and it was possible he was going to end up paying for that mistake.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"Probably."<i></i> Sousuke admitted that using mental techniques could have been better. What was the problem was that they were taxing. Sousuke had trapped not one but two entities in his mind palace and had killed them both, or so he thought. "A whole specimen might surprise with a talon through your core processor, or perhaps gnawing on your servos."<i></i> Sousuke warned as Rensuke continued his critique. Rensuke had valid points, but Sousuke's calculations led to the present effects and aftermath before them. "The more I consider it, the ... higher the possibility is this might have been something else entirely different from what I fought."<i></i> There was no immediate tell-a-tale signs. It was a matter of Sousuke having to improvise and work with it. He did not have a demon zoo waiting to be studied. In fact the idea of a demon zoo itself might be something of a terrifying concept really.

"That was strange. The blood may be reacting with the air to cause some sort of exothermic reaction."<i></i>

A voice would be heard whispering in the mind of the three. The voice held an intellect that could perhaps surpass Sousuke, or that was at least the impression it left. A husk still holds power. It depends upon what sort of power that one wishes or what one wishes to harvest.<i></i> The voice, the longer it whispered, felt painful. Not that it was fatal, rather it stung and lingered. Soon enough the watcher was pointed out by Naoki. She placed her hands together. The fingers were longer and talon shaped. She held her hands up and rested her head next to them like she was sleeping. Blood might be reacting the way I want it to. Your new companions battled a dog in my realm. Yet here you are like a maggot swarming at the corpse of a dead god, seeking its powers, its answers, its skin, its blood. Why should I let you walk away with a prize when you've shown nothing to even be deemed worthy of the prize you so curiously grasp at.<i></i> She swayed her body from left to right. She did not seem pleased at Rensuke's curiosity or inaction during the whole situation. She would shift her gaze to the puppets he had placed on the hill. She looked back down. Did she know what it contained? I do not associate with your Metal Lord. Yet I toy with him, with your little friend, and you. What a curious person I am. Perhaps you may learn some day.<i></i> Naoki could hear the grin widen now. Why? What more did she know? "What a lovely girl I saw in your mind's eye. The turquoise mane and the ... oh what's that word you use for people who cannot speak the spoken word...?<i></i> The voice carried and was sent down unto them. Mute. Yes. What a word it is. Tusbaki her name is? I think I might have seen her come by my lands. I might have shown an interest in here. Quite an interest yes. Now then show me some emotion. Do so. Come come, you humans put on such a delightful show.<i></i>

 

[Samejima]

Once the initial shock of the voice in her head subsided, Naoki thought carefully about her next actions. She clearly wants some kind of reaction out of me... Tch, as if I'd fall for that kind of goading! But... I mean... What if she was telling the truth? As far as I remember there's no jutsu that allows people to read minds, so I have no reason to believe that she read mine about Tsubaki... Which could only mean that she knows, right? She's actually seen... But I can't bend to her will! I can't just give her what she wants! Struggling with her sense of pride, Naoki deliberated what she would need to do to try and have her cake and eat it too. She settled with shouting back, the slight frantic quality to her voice unintended, "And what would that do for any of us? Why should we care about how you feel? There's no guarantee you wouldn't... take further interest in her anyway!"

The sound reverberated off the chasm walls, reminding the demon vanquisher's little assistant of their recent feat. "And pardon me for asking, Milady," she shouted, with a noticeable sarcastic tinge to her most recently yelled word as she'd learned to call people who thought themselves above you back in the ring, "but how would defeating one of these gods not mean we've accomplished a feat?" Her anger and anxiety had not reached the peak where she couldn't help but swear, though she had to exert herself to rein it in. "Where I come from, it's winner takes all!"