Her song persisted. It insisted. It rang out a fearsome melody in a language only herself and the Deep Court Lord could recall. There was pain and sorrow laced in the words of this ill-gotten tune. Her words had power still, the authority to twist and pull at the sinews of one's heart and stir one's mind. It might be a terrible thing to admit this, but Shiori or rather Suna had only heard rumors of the Sunahoshi's return so she did not recognize the gaunt and lean man beneath the mask but she did know that it was not the same face she recalled from the day they met. Yes, she was one of the few to see his true face, but it was only for a moment in the darkness but at the time her ears were her keenest sense. In fact they still were. The deep green tresses and the pallid flesh of a man, a living man with a beating heart. How he scraped by differed from her -- she took refuge in dolls rather than flesh which to her seemed macabre. So she truly lost this moment and this reveal for its actual significance. The pain and the regret that likely washed over the Steward and the cavalier sense that Mikaboshi likely relished was only theirs to experience. Bat-like wings spanned almost the entire room and devil-like horns protruded from his head, deep within the recesses of his eye sockets the eerie eyes of not a man but an antediluvian entity that perhaps had not seen the dawn of time but had seen the beginning of mankind. This was as close to Mikaboshi's true form as Suna had seen in centuries, she cocked her head to the side and said to herself silently 'always one for the dramatic brother.' He had grown greatly in power over this past year, to have such a vast store of souls at his disposal and to have this kind of energy already. It was a fearsome display considering she was murdered here only minutes earlier, the contrast was disheartening -- he was great and terrible and she was still just a whisper... just a ghost. It enraged her and she felt a bitterness deep within herself at this fact, it was a very human emotion this jealousy and this anger that she forced herself to hold at bay and prevent from boiling over.
The winds whistled and screamed as she compressed her element into a whirling sphere and hurled it at her former cousin. His durable physique would suffer only minor grievances before she attempted to bury him and his newly freed ally to their necks in sand. She missed the potential half-breed and she scowled at her own incompetence. The Senju needed to stay still and stay out of the way, as cold as it was in his frozen prison he was safe from them. By them she did not necessarily mean herself and Mikaboshi but also his apparent ally Sousuke. The man, like all humans would betray him. It has happened over and over again through the years, not that Ancients had not earned their ancestor's ire but now it was a generational grudge. Would Kazuki force her hand in combat? It was something she did not desire, there were so few of them left and even a distant shred of their heritage needed to be preserved. She did not want to assault the possible mutt. "Stand down Kazuki," Shiori insisted in a low guttural voice. "This is not your cause," she declared once he was free of the frigid prison and somehow evaded her follow-up binding attack. That was if nothing else his excuse for non-intervention, something he relinquished when he moved out of the way.
Mikaboshi had decimated Sousuke in a single, brutal blow of frigid might, Kazuki was caught in the dark attack. Sousuke crashed onto the floor, limp. They had gone too far for her to mourn over Sousuke's safety or his fate, Sousuke declared war on her kind when he subjugated one of their own. When he refused to relinquish that grasp. When he greedily took what was not his as if it was his to take -- he feigned necessity but in truth he never considered the wants and the property of another. Everything was his and he would find an excuse to make it so. Mikaboshi would soon finish the deed and that would only leave the Senju and she would regret would she was about to do. She was not going to kill Kazuki, she did not want to see him die. She just wanted to be free and to have the right to live like anyone else. It was a liberty that far too many took for granted. Sousuke could rot for all she cared, the Senju's greatest sin was allying with the wrong man thus far. She took in a whistling breath and sand started to pour into the room from every side. Writhing and roiling underfoot, tendrils of earth would lash about. It was time to end this.
::Actions::
- Shiori maintains Fevre De Pitch and Summoning: Impure World Resurrection.
Shiori attacks Kazuki and Kazuki's Clone and Kazuki's Contract Summon with Desert Tendril [Mastered][/url] using AE special move overcharge.
Shiori attacks Kazuki and Kazuki's Clone and Kazuki's Contract Summon with Desert Tendril [Mastered][/url] using AE special move overcharge.
Shiori attacks Kazuki and Kazuki's Clone and Kazuki's Contract Summon with Desert Tendril [Mastered][/url] using AE special move overcharge.
Shiori attacks Kazuki with Cluster Attack [Mastered] using the Impale effect and AE special move spread to include his demon summon as well in the attack.
Conditionals:
If Mikaboshi is bound, attack Mikaboshi with Desert Tendril as well as Kazuki and Kazuki's demon summon.
If Kazuki becomes KO'd, do not target Kazuki with any more attacks.
If Kazuki stops fighting, Shiori would sink into the floor using Inner Earth Reflection Lure using AE special move Focus to increase the accuracy for her subsequent use of the special action Double Decapitation. She will repeat this until successful.
If Shiori successfully binds Kazuki, she will attempt to leave the topic (will be written in another post) and ask Mikaboshi to spare the half-breed.
Jinsei:
If Shiori or Mikaboshi are attacked, used Human Shield every time they are attacked.
