[IC] [Innue Vs. yoshua171] Rite of Spirits

[Innue]

The soft clang of metal could be heard resounding through the clearing as Chiyoko gracefully stepped into the center of the clearing. The ancient ring staff was a symbol of her status as head of her clan. It was a fitting weapon for a clan of spiritualists. Replication of the weapon had been attempted for many years, but the skills of a lost clan that were once their allies had made such a feat impossible. The young child that Chiyoko now brought with her on her journey was a member of that lost clan and theoretically, he may be able to manifest the ability to replicate the Eien no Sai. Hitsujiki was also with her. The steadfast sheep companion walked along the ground beside her with Tokiko on his back. The ram had been with her since she was a young child. Chiyoko had bound a surprisingly powerful spirit to the sheep which gave it exceptional longevity as well as access to a unique set of skills.

Chiyoko did not look like much of a threat, mostly due to her constant facial expression that gave her a look as if she were peering into a vast distance - perpetually giving her a distracted look. It was common for members of her clan, given the nature of their abilities and their fascination with the world of spirits. It gave her unique insight into both the mortal world and the afterlife and was the source of much of her power. However, it also gave her a restraint that many thought worth exploiting, but Chiyoko knew when this restraint needed to be lifted for the greater good. People who disrespect the wishes of the spirits were those that often received her most severe admonishments. She, and the Council, had no qualms about issuing judgments upon those that violated the tenets of their system of belief.

Kneeling, Chiyoko brought her attention to the mortal world, mostly at a bleat from Hitsujiki and the laughter of Tokiko, the young four year old boy having taken notice in a small flower that had laid claim to its home in the clearing. It was a solitary flower, no companion to it within the clearing. Chiyoko took a moment to appreciate its individuality. Tokiko had begun to clamber off the sheep's back to pick the pale blue flower, but Chiyoko swung her staff out to be placed between the child and the flower, giving him a look that stopped him in his tracks.

"Appreciate Tokiko, but do not remove it from its home," she spoke softly, in a tone that still expressed the importance that the young boy leave the flower for others to appreciate. "We must respect the choice the flower has made." She nodded in finality to the statement, pulling her staff back, but still keeping a close eye on the child to ensure he contained his impulses to take it. Hitsujiki bleated again, in agreement with Chiyoko and encouraging Tokiko to climb up once again onto his back.

[yoshua171]

Taraatsu, Akine - The Soul Thief

---

He'd been walking for quite awhile, yes he had. It had been boring. Very boring, yes...and he was hungry. "Mmm, I think a hunt is well past due," said the Soul Thief as he licked his lips. Immediately his perception shifted and he expanded his senses, gaze roving over the landscape. He had no idea where his wanderings had ended him up, and he didn't much care, but it seemed that it had put him quite close to something that might even hold his interest for a time. Dashing forwards, Akine lept into the treetops, moving from tree to tree to avoid the obstacles on the ground till, quite suddenly, he reached the edge of a clearing. He drew a kunai in an instant and threw it at the child even as he let himself fall down from the tree and land on the opposite side of the clearing from the strange duo...and the sheep. No, trio, he corrected himself, noticing the sheep's abnormally potent spirit. "How interesting," he mused aloud, his characteristic grin 'pon his lips. Blood lust and killing intent spilled off of him like water poured into a full cup.

His eyes locked onto Chiyoko, the clear leader of the group based on the size of her soul...and the power that emanated off of her. She looked delicious. "Why hello there, miss," he began, bowing without letting his eyes move from her form, before he rose back up and walked diagonally to the left. His path was nearly straight, but nonetheless curved slightly inwards almost as if he were circling them, but didn't have enough room. "I don't suppose you'd be so kind as to part with your body, mmm?" His smile widened to reveal his teeth in a cheshire grin.

This would prove amusing. Perhaps it would even sate him for a time.

Psh, as if!

[Innue]

Chiyoko responded to the blade with one of her own, still from a kneeling position - flinging one of her tanto to intercept the weapon.

"That will not happen," Chiyoko responded confidently, rising and wasting no time in providing a response to Akine's attack. One of Chiyoko's Shiki revealed itself, immediately bolting off in a direction away Akine towards the trees. Chiyoko's priority was in protecting Tokiko and Hitsujiki from the madman. The other response was releasing four of the rings on her staff. Two moved in a wide arc around Akine, while the remaining two would be launched higher than the first two and on a shallower arc towards him, the distance between the two sets of arc rings being thirty feet and ten feet respectively. The first two also ran much lower to the ground, roughly at Akine's kneecaps in height, while the other two were launched so they would arc inwards (and downwards) from above him. The power of the Eien no Sai was the lines created by the Yuganori clan, which gave her incredible control over the path of the rings, which may prove surprising to her opponent.

Hitsujiki was also not one to sit on the sidelines. Taking a defensive stance and gathering chakra himself, the sheep kept close guard on Chiyoko. At this point, there was still significant distance between the two combatants, making the battle one of ranged skill for the time. Chiyoko had no idea what abilities Akine had and had to play the game carefully. For now, she would test Akine's skills in hopes to force him to reveal the nature of his power - her puppets would remain as cards to play later. It was risky to bring them in without some sort of idea as to what her opponent could do.

[yoshua171]

Taraatsu, Akine - The Soul Thief

_{Simple Maneuvers}

---

Noting the movement of the spirit with his eyes, though he did not follow the movement, Akine drew two of his Koibito and tied wire to connect the two. He let the rings approach, but rather than allow them to travel their full distance, he jumped backwards twice and whipped one of his daggers forwards, the wire lengthening as he did, so that it went through one of the rings and continued on towards a second. He had struck when the rings were near, making it difficult for them to draw away. His movement positioned him 4 meters from the rings and to the right somewhat. He had thrown the dagger as he moved back.

While his action was simple, his intent was far from it as he was testing whether she could move the rings to her will and also how swiftly she adapted, which would inform him as to her skill and precision. All of it processed in an instant. He kept one of the dagger's in his left hand, his other hand holding the wire. He willed a spirit to release from his blade and travel through his form. His chakra fluctuated somewhat to hide its presence. He sent the chakra through the wire to mask the spirit as it moved therein, stretching its form over the length of it.

He wondered how fun the woman would prove to be. Not to mention the odd sheep, which was apparently capable of jutsu, judging by its focusing of chakra.

[Innue]

[Clarification from Yosh -
[12:00:30 AM] Innue: Are you targeting the upper set or lower set first with that counter?
[12:03:01 AM] Yosh: Both. 1 lower (Akine's right) 1 upper (Akine's left).]

Chiyoko was not a fool. The tying of the line gave away Akine's actions. Despite the close distance with which Akine had let them approach, the counter was simple - alter the profile of the weapon near impact to a more vertical position to prevent him from threading ring like a needle and likely even hitting the rings. By doing so, Chiyoko would not be forced to reveal the true extent with which she could control the Eien no Sai's rings, as a profile alteration was a simple action for nearly any shinobi adept at utilizing their chakra through weapons to preform. In the case of the Eien no Sai, it was even easier for her given the threads of the Yuganori clan. The rings that could would continue towards Akine, the two closest initially opting to close in on his new position with their arc, rather than the move behind him like originally intended, aimed for his wrists. The other two would cross in an arc in front of him (at a point that was behind his initial position) before creating a new wide arc from the cross point in a move similar to the original - a repeat attempt to get behind him, but rising slightly to move upwards to just below waist height on their new path. However, these rings had a much shorter distance for Akine to react to, providing they were not disrupted by an additional counter.

She could see his usage of some form of energy given the ability of her clan. However, she could not determine what it was other than the fact it was in the line that he had thrown to catch the rings. Of course, Chiyoko was not going to let up on an opponent and released four more rings of the Eien no Sai. The paths on these rings were unique. Two would drop quickly to the ground before they would move on an arc from near the ground to an upward trajectory towards Akine, intended initially to be in an arc to get around behind him. The other two went to different directions, as well as heights, to form a quick square in front of her with the lines created by the paths of these four rings before the two side rings would adjust to an original ankle height along the grass in an even wider arc than the initial set of rings.

Beginning to move forward slightly, with a slow initial walk, Chiyoko began to form a quick string of signs with her left hand in an attempt to augment the attack she was initiating. Given the response he had to her initial attack, Chiyoko began to form the beginnings of a strategy.

Hitsujiki remained close to Chiyoko, Tokiko still riding upon the sheep.

The shiki would now be finding its stoping point within the forest away from Akine, where Chiyoko could make use of it as assurance to the safety of her group.

[yoshua171]

Taraatsu, Akine - The Soul Thief

_{A Certain Flow}

---

Marking it with chakra and immediately throwing his dagger into the ground, Akine preformed handseals and immediately a spinning hurricane-shaped formation of water began to manifest from his hand, he created a second one as well. In the same moment a spirit exuded from his blade and extended itself through his body as with the prior one. He allowed it to move portions of itself into the twin techniques. Keeping track of the rings as they closed in on him, his grin widened. He then released one of the torrents, letting it fly forth towards his opponent in the same motion that he drew his blade, surrounding it with the cutting water as he spun, slashing in a circle around himself as he jumped. The trail of the slash weaved around himself making expanding blades of pressurized water strike each of the rings. He didn't stop there, stabbing his blade into the ground while still airborne, the spirit made partially physical by his chakra so it could grab the blade and practically throw Akine out of the area of rings. The blade came with him, easily reaching his hand while he was still 2 meters up. He was gradually sailing to the ground, blade at the ready, smile wide as the rest of the rings were released. This woman was interesting and things were getting more and more exciting.

He licked his lips. It was a good thing he'd wandered off.

[Innue]

[Potential alterations may be needed depending on Yosh's clarification on a matter.]

Akine had played directly into Chiyoko's hand. Jumping forward like he had was the worst possible decision for him. The rings had taken intentional paths of flight, allowing Chiyoko to fulfill part of the requirements of her Glimpse of Heaven technique. Either the upper created plane, or the lower created plane, were a framework of the golden lines that the rings made as they flew. Using the prepared handsigns, Chiyoko released the technique.

Chiyoko rarely used this technique offensively, as it was not designed to operate as such, as typically creating a plane such as this in an offensive manner was too difficult without violating the rules of the technique. However, becoming airborne allowed her to ensure that his physical body was not bisected by the created plane. Once he would make contact with it, his spinning motion, as well as the technique providing his defensive, would falter as the nature of the pure world removed the physical energies that the chakra was comprised of. While he would be unable to be hurt by Chiyoko within the Pure World temporarily, Chiyoko could use the precious few seconds she had to arrange the initial rings that had been deflected backwards by his initial spin. Of course, the further away rings, as well as the approaching ones, were fine and as a measure, Chiyoko guided them towards his airborne position, as well as pulling back the ones that had been deflected by Akine's technique, having a multi-pronged approach.

What made the rings more threatening in this instance was the nature of his defense. She could see the gaps in it and could surmise, even from behind him, the path of the ribbons he was using to create his defense. With that, she could guide the rings around behind him and potentially clasp onto him. In addition, should the Glimpse of Heaven prove successful, these rings would be in position to catch him right away, along with all of Chiyoko's Kuji Kiri, the sacred blades of her clan. With chakra strings attached from her right hand, these blades would path towards his exit from the Glimpse of Heaven. Should it be needed, the Glimpse of Heaven being initiated would allow her to take more intimate control of these tanto should Akine surprise her. The difficulty in defending against this technique, while necessarily impossible, was due to the essential impossibility to form chakra until the whole body had exited the Pure World, making the blade's contact with his body all but assured.

To deal with Akine's attack on her, Chiyoko, as well, took a multi-faceted approach. The Glimpse of Heaven requirements were already met in front of her, which would send his technique to the Pure World as well, where it would cease to be useful. As good measure, Hitsujiki was on the standby to raise an Earth Wall, should that falter. Further still, Chiyoko had adequate room between her and the created framework to dodge should those defenses fail, the same true for Hitsujiki who as surprisingly quick on the gound, as well as clever utilization of his earth walls to quickly move himself with Tokiko still on his back.

[yoshua171]

Taraatsu, Akine - The Soul Thief

_{The Cornered Beast}

---

Then the unexpected happened, his location was drastically altered. As he came face to face with a multitude of blades, his eyes widened and his smile evened out somewhat. His blade came up, spirits released from its form, shooting out as they did so. He twisted his body, avoiding a ring or two, and a tanto, but he couldn't dodge them all. Some his spirits managed to intercept and knock of course, but a great amount of them sliced him as they flew by or impaled him. one or two passed through his body in his ribcage, slipping through his lung and causing a tremendous amount of pain to blossom.

It seemed that his recklessness had earned him a great many wounds, some of them which would easily become fatal.

He landed, collapsing to a knee and coughing up blood in the process. Spirits whirled and danced around him, batting away any further projectile attacks. He was managing them almost subconsciously. It was too bad he hadn't been able to predict their initial approach. He opened his mouth to talk, but as his lung moved, the tanto in it cut more, causing him to cough up more blood, not to mention the searing pain that the action caused. He channeled sound and chakra into one of his spirits, willing it to speak in his stead. "Well, isn't this funny," the spirit said. Akine's face was contorted in something between a grimace and a smile. He noticed he couldn't feel his left arm. It was still there, he noted with the eyes of a spirit, just...his body was blocking out sensation. "Going around all this time. Pain and suffering forming in my wake and at my arrival, and now here I sit, bleeding and about to die. It's ironic. No...no it's fitting, if I cared about that sort of moronic crap," he spat on the ground and felt his body shudder at the motion.

He raised his one uninjured arm and grabbed the tanto in his chest then yanked it out. He collapsed and threw up promptly afterwards. He wiped the bile and blood from his mouth and withdrew some pain pills, popping them back. They hit his stomach and immediately he felt the pain began to recede. He began pulling more blades out of his body. He didn't throw up this time though and all the while he kept his eyes on Chiyoko. His spirits were imbued with chakra by now, some having passed through him to gain it, others having passed through each other to take portions that the others had gained.

[Innue]

Chiyoko ensured at least one would be fatal, once he had managed to muster this much of a defense. As he began to pull out blades from his body, she quickly twisted the remaining there were inside of him with a flick of her finger. It'd cause an exceptional amount of pain, as well as hinder any chance he may have to make an assault back on her. She made sure to target the ones in his legs to make any defense weaker.

She hated causing pain like this, but she had a sense about Akine that made her believe that if she did not take this person seriously, she would risk not only the lives of herself, Hitsujik, and Tokiko, but others as well. It was time for Akine to be judged eternally.

She also wouldn't make it easy for him to just throw the blades out. Each of the tanto were bound with her strings. Without the strings being cut, she could quickly fling the blades back up at him as he threw them away, making Akine's life even more difficult. Still, Chiyokos other blades and rings that had missed their mark were free to circle back, two of the rings moving to make a complete circle - cylinders at this point - around Akine while the remaining would target from multiple directions along with the tanto she had missed with. She suspected that even with his spirits he would have a difficult time continuing to defend against her omnidirectional assault.

As a further precaution, Chiyoko began to preform a series of handsigns as she maintained her distance between herself and Akine. Hitsujiki remained next to her, having gathered a significant sum of energy at this point. Tokiko remained safe on the sheeps back.