The Steward approached the elevator for the Maw. His Mark II was reinforced this time to adapt to the usual problems of the diamond sands. The Steward's usual time on the surface was very limited due to simple fact that he succumbed to exposure faster than the normal suna nin. Today of course the Steward took the lessons of the past to heart and reformed certain aspects of the Mark II to withstand heavy amounts of diamond sand.
The Steward once upon the platform hit the switch and so he was going up to the top. It was only a few weeks ago he was out there looking for Okibi. Then it was only a few days later that he had to solve the riddle of steel that was the chains of union. Both ocassions the Steward had taken heavy damage and suffered greatly from over exposure. Today though would be slightly different, or so he hoped.
Today he would do as a Ranger would do. The ancient order of Rangers served the One King, but those of that particular set of skill set of tracking fell into legend. Rumor had it some of them still existed, except they were not what they used to be. The skills of a ranger were not taught, for all those who knew of their ways had been lost to the ages. Still though, hope remained as there were those with tracking skills. Today the Steward would attempt to track a foe, a foe who he had fought before, or so he thought.
Once on the surface, the Steward began his check. Disturbing reports came that various individuals had come under attack by strange humanoids on the surface. Reports details an insect quality to them. The Steward had dealings with one of them before. This foe was named Kal'kous, and he claimed to have absorbed a ghost to acquire ethereal qualities. These ones had drained life essences of living beings. The Steward merely put two and two together. Perhaps there was a relationship? Perhaps this foe out in the desert was a lesser skill?
The Steward made his way to East Watch. A solitary tower that was always in a state of deterioration. There he met with the Anbu who had new reports. More of these life draining incidents were occurring on the way to Soon. The attacker did his best to hide the bodies, but Anbu had uncovered them. The Steward looked over the remains, while he was not a medical expert he knew what he was seeing. Various other suna nin reported similar findings, except in slightly more populous areas. The Steward thought and thought hard. Why go to such remote areas and the surface? Yes, suna nin had defended themselves on multiple occasions from these foes. Perhaps the enemy got the message? No. Things were never that simple with foes who had intelligence that was beyond that of a beast. No offense to Number Seven of course. The Steward sorely missed his canine ally.
After taking a rest, and some minor tuning to the Mark II the Steward again took out into the desert. Visibility was still low. How could those of the Ranger's path see things and track their foes? The Steward paused for a moment. The winds were dying down. How odd. The Steward began his march and began heading to Deadline. Prime Diamund would allow him rest there of course, supposing he didn't collapse like last time.
The landmark for Deadline was in view, but it was going to be a long travel. As the Steward made his way towards there, there was a visible change in the sands. The diamond sands were starting to change in colour turning slightly red. The Steward paused as something dawned upon him. The Steward began to charge up a chakra plasma from his palm. He watched the red sands as it began to move. Yes. Something had been killed very recently, and the killer was present. The Steward held his hand out and conjured a plasma star. The Star moved from his hand and into the ground. "Reveal yourself or be exposed violently."<i></i> He spoke out loud. When nothing responded within the time frame of three seconds, the star exploded. Diamond sand was set everywhere as the Steward was trying to uncover his foe. Nothing. Nothing was there unless.
Shrrrrrrreeeeekkkk. A large creature surfaced from behind the Steward and attempted to body slam the Steward. Sousuke phase shifted to his left immediately and turned around to find his target. Blast. Nothing could be seen. His foe was large, why else would it have attempted to slam him? Yet his foe was moving fast. Strange. The Steward surveyed his settings looking for anthing. He saw lines in the sand and then he saw a fin. He opened fire upon the fin, but his shots were being deflected. The fin sunk down and again his foe was not visible. The Steward summoned two plasma stars this time and detonated them. The first one resulted in nothing, but the second one uncovered the foe in question.
The Steward was not surprised as he saw a humanoid entity go skyward with a fin upon its back. His eyes narrowed as he focused on his foe's design. Yes. Violet carapace. This was one of them. The Steward drew the ebon blade and went after his revealed foe slashing at him with the ebon blade. Upon impact his foe's skin would change, and begin to shin. Yes, as per usual the foe would absorb whatever made contact. This was going to prove slightly difficult as his previous foe of this type had no changed.
The insectoid humanoid landed. It smiled at the Steward. Was it a smile? Surely it was as it was fangs, teeth, pincers, curving a particular way. Again his foe dived into the sand and the Steward was on the offensive. Striking it from the back wasn't helpful, and he had to bear in mind the constant change-- It was then the Steward had an idea.
The Steward sheathed the ebon blade and began to produce hand seals for a jutsu. Not a plasma jutsu but a wide area of effect fire jutsu. Once the seals were completed a pool of fire began to spread outward. His foe had adapted his steel, but steel could be melted ... given the right temperature.
The form once again rose out and the Steward's theory proved correct. His foe had adapted aspects of the steel of the Ebon Blade. The Steward then proceeded to form more hand seals and summoned the Judgement Gate. Instead of molten lava spilling out, soemthing different came out of the gate. Something the Steward did not expect. Water. Water spilled out of the gate. Why...? Why water? Had he missed something in the seals? The water coming out of the gate was a small wave that struck his foe. Then following that came something even strange came out. A ship. A bloody wooden ship. The ship then traveled along the watery path and crashed into the entity he was battling.
The Steward almost face palmed, but he was in the heat of battle ... and things were about to get interesting. Given the fact that the last thing to make contact with the absorbing foe was wood ... that meant ... oh. Well... it was time to find out. The Steward waited for something to come out of the wreckage he had just unleashed. For a moment he felt like Okibi. Sheer destruction and chaos. It was frightful. Frightful in the extreme he was capable of this. Yes plasma was already quite dangerous and powerful, but to summon a wave of water and a boat to crash into something was ... not only dangerous, powerful, but quite disturbing.
After some movements, his foe surfaced, and to the Steward's disappointment he did not fully evolve the way he expected him to. The form was twisted now and instead of a fin, his foe now had roots. Those roots proved quite troublesome as they were launched at the Steward who rearmed himself with the ebon blade and began slicing away. He had to make this quick so as his foe would not make any new improvements. Sousuke continued slicing through the roots, and made his way to his foe. As he was doing this his mind was making calculations on how best to end this foe.
Well. Assuming that this was humanoid, and most humans who had some aspect of normalness had a heart. Well it was time to put that theory to the test. The Steward calculated a weakpoint and swung the ebon blade diagonally. The slash appeared as one, but in fact the Steward was making five. Five slashes in what appeared to be a single stroke. A testament to his training of the martial weapon from Lady Azame. The slash made contact, and it struck something, or what Sousuke thought was the heart as copious amounts of what was probably blood spilled upon the mark II. Green blood mixed with orange. The Mark II was covered in it and his foe staggered for a moment. Fearing that five slashes wasn't enough the Steward made another horizontal slash in the spurr of the moment attempting to readily separate upper body and lower body. Again more blood splashed upon the Mark II.
The Steward peered at the corpse. Was he going to finally get a subject to study? ... Apparently not. The body was rapidly deteriorating. Not enough time to ... well the blood wasn't vanishing. The Steward would put in a call. "Communications, this is Sousuke. Get a unit to the Maw in thirty minutes. Then inform Ryuu Tama I have something for him to analyze. Thirdly contact Kuro. I have apparently conjured something that needs explaining. Fourthly contact Soon's Sanctuary, tell them to re-open trade routes."<i></i>
The Steward once upon the platform hit the switch and so he was going up to the top. It was only a few weeks ago he was out there looking for Okibi. Then it was only a few days later that he had to solve the riddle of steel that was the chains of union. Both ocassions the Steward had taken heavy damage and suffered greatly from over exposure. Today though would be slightly different, or so he hoped.
Today he would do as a Ranger would do. The ancient order of Rangers served the One King, but those of that particular set of skill set of tracking fell into legend. Rumor had it some of them still existed, except they were not what they used to be. The skills of a ranger were not taught, for all those who knew of their ways had been lost to the ages. Still though, hope remained as there were those with tracking skills. Today the Steward would attempt to track a foe, a foe who he had fought before, or so he thought.
Once on the surface, the Steward began his check. Disturbing reports came that various individuals had come under attack by strange humanoids on the surface. Reports details an insect quality to them. The Steward had dealings with one of them before. This foe was named Kal'kous, and he claimed to have absorbed a ghost to acquire ethereal qualities. These ones had drained life essences of living beings. The Steward merely put two and two together. Perhaps there was a relationship? Perhaps this foe out in the desert was a lesser skill?
The Steward made his way to East Watch. A solitary tower that was always in a state of deterioration. There he met with the Anbu who had new reports. More of these life draining incidents were occurring on the way to Soon. The attacker did his best to hide the bodies, but Anbu had uncovered them. The Steward looked over the remains, while he was not a medical expert he knew what he was seeing. Various other suna nin reported similar findings, except in slightly more populous areas. The Steward thought and thought hard. Why go to such remote areas and the surface? Yes, suna nin had defended themselves on multiple occasions from these foes. Perhaps the enemy got the message? No. Things were never that simple with foes who had intelligence that was beyond that of a beast. No offense to Number Seven of course. The Steward sorely missed his canine ally.
After taking a rest, and some minor tuning to the Mark II the Steward again took out into the desert. Visibility was still low. How could those of the Ranger's path see things and track their foes? The Steward paused for a moment. The winds were dying down. How odd. The Steward began his march and began heading to Deadline. Prime Diamund would allow him rest there of course, supposing he didn't collapse like last time.
The landmark for Deadline was in view, but it was going to be a long travel. As the Steward made his way towards there, there was a visible change in the sands. The diamond sands were starting to change in colour turning slightly red. The Steward paused as something dawned upon him. The Steward began to charge up a chakra plasma from his palm. He watched the red sands as it began to move. Yes. Something had been killed very recently, and the killer was present. The Steward held his hand out and conjured a plasma star. The Star moved from his hand and into the ground. "Reveal yourself or be exposed violently."<i></i> He spoke out loud. When nothing responded within the time frame of three seconds, the star exploded. Diamond sand was set everywhere as the Steward was trying to uncover his foe. Nothing. Nothing was there unless.
Shrrrrrrreeeeekkkk. A large creature surfaced from behind the Steward and attempted to body slam the Steward. Sousuke phase shifted to his left immediately and turned around to find his target. Blast. Nothing could be seen. His foe was large, why else would it have attempted to slam him? Yet his foe was moving fast. Strange. The Steward surveyed his settings looking for anthing. He saw lines in the sand and then he saw a fin. He opened fire upon the fin, but his shots were being deflected. The fin sunk down and again his foe was not visible. The Steward summoned two plasma stars this time and detonated them. The first one resulted in nothing, but the second one uncovered the foe in question.
The Steward was not surprised as he saw a humanoid entity go skyward with a fin upon its back. His eyes narrowed as he focused on his foe's design. Yes. Violet carapace. This was one of them. The Steward drew the ebon blade and went after his revealed foe slashing at him with the ebon blade. Upon impact his foe's skin would change, and begin to shin. Yes, as per usual the foe would absorb whatever made contact. This was going to prove slightly difficult as his previous foe of this type had no changed.
The insectoid humanoid landed. It smiled at the Steward. Was it a smile? Surely it was as it was fangs, teeth, pincers, curving a particular way. Again his foe dived into the sand and the Steward was on the offensive. Striking it from the back wasn't helpful, and he had to bear in mind the constant change-- It was then the Steward had an idea.
The Steward sheathed the ebon blade and began to produce hand seals for a jutsu. Not a plasma jutsu but a wide area of effect fire jutsu. Once the seals were completed a pool of fire began to spread outward. His foe had adapted his steel, but steel could be melted ... given the right temperature.
The form once again rose out and the Steward's theory proved correct. His foe had adapted aspects of the steel of the Ebon Blade. The Steward then proceeded to form more hand seals and summoned the Judgement Gate. Instead of molten lava spilling out, soemthing different came out of the gate. Something the Steward did not expect. Water. Water spilled out of the gate. Why...? Why water? Had he missed something in the seals? The water coming out of the gate was a small wave that struck his foe. Then following that came something even strange came out. A ship. A bloody wooden ship. The ship then traveled along the watery path and crashed into the entity he was battling.
The Steward almost face palmed, but he was in the heat of battle ... and things were about to get interesting. Given the fact that the last thing to make contact with the absorbing foe was wood ... that meant ... oh. Well... it was time to find out. The Steward waited for something to come out of the wreckage he had just unleashed. For a moment he felt like Okibi. Sheer destruction and chaos. It was frightful. Frightful in the extreme he was capable of this. Yes plasma was already quite dangerous and powerful, but to summon a wave of water and a boat to crash into something was ... not only dangerous, powerful, but quite disturbing.
After some movements, his foe surfaced, and to the Steward's disappointment he did not fully evolve the way he expected him to. The form was twisted now and instead of a fin, his foe now had roots. Those roots proved quite troublesome as they were launched at the Steward who rearmed himself with the ebon blade and began slicing away. He had to make this quick so as his foe would not make any new improvements. Sousuke continued slicing through the roots, and made his way to his foe. As he was doing this his mind was making calculations on how best to end this foe.
Well. Assuming that this was humanoid, and most humans who had some aspect of normalness had a heart. Well it was time to put that theory to the test. The Steward calculated a weakpoint and swung the ebon blade diagonally. The slash appeared as one, but in fact the Steward was making five. Five slashes in what appeared to be a single stroke. A testament to his training of the martial weapon from Lady Azame. The slash made contact, and it struck something, or what Sousuke thought was the heart as copious amounts of what was probably blood spilled upon the mark II. Green blood mixed with orange. The Mark II was covered in it and his foe staggered for a moment. Fearing that five slashes wasn't enough the Steward made another horizontal slash in the spurr of the moment attempting to readily separate upper body and lower body. Again more blood splashed upon the Mark II.
The Steward peered at the corpse. Was he going to finally get a subject to study? ... Apparently not. The body was rapidly deteriorating. Not enough time to ... well the blood wasn't vanishing. The Steward would put in a call. "Communications, this is Sousuke. Get a unit to the Maw in thirty minutes. Then inform Ryuu Tama I have something for him to analyze. Thirdly contact Kuro. I have apparently conjured something that needs explaining. Fourthly contact Soon's Sanctuary, tell them to re-open trade routes."<i></i>