| abstract | - Sitting in the shade of a broken arch, Kisei shakes the last drop of water from his depressingly empty canteen, before casting it aside with a sigh of resignation. He'd sent the invitation to duel Akagi well over a month ago. He never received a reply and had simple assumed the other puppet master would arrive in a punctual manner at dawn. Kisei had spent the entire day on edge, waiting for the rival shinobi to appear. For a time he'd amused himself by playing in the sand, or reading, but the heat alone was exhausting. For the tenth time, Kisei mused over why he was here. He never met Akagi in person. Kisei had left Suna behind long before the child really began to prove himself. It wasn't until he'd received notice of Akagi's appointment to head of the puppet brigade, that he really started paying attention to the Centipede's exploits. Most of it was very good, the kind of propaganda you'd expect any village to spread about a promising cadet... but here and there, Kisei began to hear rumors about a dark side of Akagi. Violence, deception, human puppet experimentation... murder. That last one had caught him by surprise. Apparently Akagi had been cowing the other members of the brigade for years- threatening them with execution or exile if they exposed his methods. A few had met with gruesome ends at the human puppeteer's hands- and now sported threads of their own. A few had been his friends. When he became a missing nin, the puppet brigade of Suna took him in- trained him, supported him. He became a son to them, and to him they became his adoptive family. He'd become estranged from them in the years that followed- but the warmth and kindness they had shown to him was never forgotten. He fondly remembers the time he would carefully craft puppets under the devoted tutelage of Kankuro, of his first play. But that's all in the past., Kisei muses. After taking over the brigade, Akagi had turned it into a military institution. Gone were the plays and artistic performances. Gone was the heart and soul of puppetry- it had been replaced by the soulless weapons of war. Kisei isn't sure whether he's here for vengeance, or for closure. He isn't sure what the destiny of puppetry is, or whether he has the right to choose one. The feelings he tangles with are as myriad as the shadows entrapping the ruins of Rōran... and as the sun begins dipping beneath the horizon, they grow ever longer and darker. --- Unnatural eyes gaze with amusement and wonder at the scene below. It was like a tale straight out of legend; brothers bound by art rather than blood whose corpse ridden paths have led to the culmination of this very moment. Stupendous. Simply breathtaking. A wild thrum of energy pulsating beneath his skin, threatening to break free, oh he could hardly contain this fire! An emotion he could scarcely comprehend surged within him like a beating drum. The thunder of its pounding deafening all thought and sound. Was it? Yes, it had to be! Pride! Was this how his own creator felt? Seeing his student, his very own legacy standing on the sands, mind resolute on the task before him? The clashing of ideology's brought to the final precipice, born from one mind now splintered into many, now vying for victory over the other! This was a story for the ages, a masterpiece woven through the lives of its disciples now reaching its end by its champions! But he would not interfere, today he was not a director nor even an actor. Today, Soga Yotsugi was the audience. An observer to the grand tapestry that was sewing before him. Yes there comes a time when even the writer must stand back and watch in awe as his creation blossoms revealing its destiny for all to see. But into what? Only time will tell. So here he stands, obscured by esoteric arts, hidden from human senses atop one of many structure jutting from a desert grave silently watching as the greatest tale unfolds before him. --- "Sister, our fathers worked hard building what we have now. Through blood, sweat and tears from sunrise to sunrise. All for the love of their children. They sacrifice their most precious resource, their time for our happiness." A voice whispered. Hushed under the howling sands. Three shadows consumed by an ongoing sandstorm. Sand violently beating against his open eyes, hidden under his hat. A hat for symbolizing his position as The Wind Shadow or Kazekage. His voice spoke to his female companion. Seemingly smirking throughout his lecture. "No no sister. He is not one of us. He is not our brother. You see, a good child appreciates their parents dedication. And never leaves them behind. Add a good brother stands by their sibling's sides. No. This guy, whoever the hell he is, he was a failure. A mistake that I must correct. I have to; For our families honor." The red haired centipede, adorned in a black robe trailed across this desert he called home in search of his victim. Akagi read reports on this man. But felt no obligation to seek out someone who cut their family ties. A disgraceful action that Akagi yet to fully comprehend. Throughout his life, Akagi lived a price's life. Spoiled through praise. Given incredibly high expectations solely because of his father's. Kankuro and Shigeo, Sunagakure's foundation. King's among their men. Akagi lived within that shadow. Every day he attempted to crawl out. But that shadow...It felt warm. He was safe there. No one targeted him. No one hurt him. People respected him. People feared him... And from their shadow, Akagi developed dedicated love. An ambition-absolute obsession to cast such a shadow across his village. Give them his level of security, love and determination. At any expense. "Father's gave me a duty. To do to this village what they have done for I." The Land of Wind's Sandstorm died, and through it's cleared skies, Akagi recognized his former playgrounds. An ancient city lost to time. Wonderful for an all out spar between two magnificent brothers. Akagi knew this place well enough to maneuver around. He kept his hands within his sleeves. One grasping a scroll and another pinching it open. "I wonder how proud father will be when he finds out I erased their mistake." Akagi smirked. He carefully guided himself through the forgotten city. Akagi stopped. Finding a man in an abandoned city was no easy task. And activating his puppets eyes, well he preferred to wait. "Hm." Akagi thought for a second before taking out three explosive Kunais. He threw each high up. Their resulting explosion boomed LOUD. So loud one would think the city was going to awaken in a festival of lights and fireworks. But just as quick, Rōran died. All he had to do of course, wait. Preparation is a puppet master's greatest weapon... A concept his father drilled into his mind. He had no idea what Kisei desired. But Akagi wanted to destroy Kisei. Kisei threatened his existence as a puppeteer. Two children of Kankuro. Only one could remain as the subject of public respect. Kisei lost his opportunity. His father moved on. His father chose him, Akagi. But Kisei returning, Akagi, a part of him feared... He placed ten explosive tags onto Rōran's surface where it sunk below. This action lacked a true rhythm. He also tossed explosive kunai on specific buildings; hidden from plain site. With enough preparation, this battle was his. Kisei's head snaps to the side at the sound of the exploding kunai. "He's here." Grimly smiling, Kisei does one final check of his preparations. He has created a network of chakra webs that criss-cross the ruins. Many lie nearly invisibly within the dark shells of the ruins. Summoning nodes have been hidden along these lines, providing him with a means to rapidly transition from one zone to another instantly. One particular bundle of these fibers connects to Ryumyaku. It was relatively easy for Kisei to remove the kunai seal around the chakra source. With its assistance, he should not be at any risk of running out of chakra for the extended conflict. Numerous minute spider-puppets dot the area as well, affording Kisei the opportunity for surveillance of threats from multiple perspectives. Finally, a few of his jutsu scrolls- and other traps- have been placed at concealed points around the battlefield. Maximising their circumstantial benefits could become a key to victory. The most glaring vulnerability of his plan, of course, is the chakra threads themselves. Even though they criss-cross the terrain in a seemingly random pattern, it should be obvious to eyes that see chakra that there is a concentrated cluster of the threads in the area immediately around the source of Ryumyaku. Kisei concentrates, activating a few of the coin-sized spider puppets dotting the buildings, and takes in the view of Akagi and his troupe. Being a puppet-master himself, Kisei immediately recognized the threads connecting Akagi to his creations- what really surprised him, was that Akagi was actually speaking to them.. and they were talking back to him. "Wow. He's just as psychotic as I imagined." --- Out in the distance standing atop a sand dune overlooking the ruins was a man nearing his sixties. Rihatsu Toshiue was a former member of the Puppeteer Brigade, being one of their masters before arthritis ended his puppeteer career at the age of 32. Now, he creates clothes for the people of Sunagakure in a modest shop. Having locked the shop down, he overheard about two puppeteers fighting out near some of the old ruins and decided to check it out. Just above the sand dune he saw the two brothers; Akagi and Kisei, two members he saw grow up in the Brigade into fine masters. "So this is what the ruckus is all about. This shall be a dynamic battle between two well experienced puppeteers." Though he doesn't fight anymore, he brought his old puppet along to observe. His arthritis gloves made it easier for him to move the puppet around, despite its size. The puppet stood tall, about twice Rihatsu's height, donning black robes that hid a menacing, skeletal figure within. In its right hand was a scythe that rested on the ground like a cane. The puppet was adorned in several metal wires imbued with chakra, breathing life to the menacing "Grim Reaper". --- Kisei gets up from his resting spot, and begins to walk slowly towards Akagi's location. There is no attempt to hide, to conceal himself. At his back, the last sliver of the sun is being swallowed up by the horizon. The few glints of light remaining, being cast in a indistinct fade of red, and above, the first hints of a star-scattered sky emerge. He stops fifty feet from Akagi, and his hand carefully rests upon a pack at his side. The fingers threateningly drift over his secret weapon... and with an uncharacteristic smile and laid-back expression, says "Yo!" "People of our status do not greet another as such,Kisei Kumo" Rat's eyes scanned over Kisei's body. Taking note of his person. Akagi nodded as if an exchange of information occurred. Before turning his attention fully to his former fellow brigadier. His empty eyes locked onto Kisei. His wooden flesh making it impossible for him to feel life's winds. The heat, well his body simply brushed it off. Kisei's appearance sparked a certain anger. He bit his lip. "Or did you forget my father's lessons." A small chuckle filled to the brim with arrogance and confidence followed his little snippet. Kazekage were busy people. There were hundreds if not thousands of other things which required his attention. But Kisei's existence took priority. Akagi's arrogance masked ball of insecurity. Waves of not meeting his parent's expectations. Although they constantly boasted of his powers and achievement, Akagi wished for nothing more than too boost his family into legendary proportions. "Although I cannot deny the fact that it is indeed a pleasure to stand in my former's presence. Your arrival pleases me and my siblings." Rat and Horse bowed. Two figures masked by a darkness cast by their hark hood. Akagi's Kazekage hat kept his face shades. "As you may already know, I am the Lord Kazekage, Akagi." Akagi's hat flew from his head, seemingly soaring to a building's top. "It is rare for masters of the art to stand before one another. And in those situations, as in any other, only one leaves truly victorious." Akagi never referred to himself as a puppet master. Although two puppets stood at his side, his true puppets, the one's he consciously built, remained imprisoned. Genius creations mixed cleverly of wood and metals. Crafted ingeniously to mimic human life. Chakra networks forged so his energy could bring his toys to life. His father taught him that life is a gift one is meant to share with others. That secret to life. That piece of poetry. It boosted his arts exponentially. "Tell me Kisei, do you remember what our father would say?" Akagi viewed Kisei as a sibling. Any student of Kankuro was his child. Kisei arches an eyebrow at this question before slowly and carefully reaching into the pack at his side. In a flourish of motion, he pulls out a pair of puppets. One, made of striped white-and-pink wool and with yellow yarn as hair, lays an exaggerate smooch on Kisei. The other puppet is black and white with red stitching akin to face markings replies, "Don't feel bad. Women always go weak in the knees for the cool, elite type." Kisei gesticulates with the kankuro-puppet, and is obviously speaking out of the side of his mouth as he answers. Akagi growled before screaming "God dammit will you fucking take this serious!" He roared. "I don't know what they saw in you! Why the puppet brigade even keeps a file on such a loser is even beyond me!" His hands grabbed his head in an exaggerated manner. Before it began to spin three hundred and sixty degrees. His rant continuing. "I swear to god when this is finish I am burning every document with the word Kisei on it. And I'm going to every village and doing the same! You are an embarrassment to the art of puppetry and to my father! Ahhhhhh!" Fire consumed his body as Rat and Horse mimicked his every move. He ran and paced in anger. "Will you put that thing away? You are wasting the time of the great Lord Kazekage! You make a mockery of Puppetry, when this is over I will cut your hands off and place you in a prison so far deep underground a forest will grow from your nourishment!" Akagi threw a rock at Kisei. Kisei ducks the rock and has the Kankuro puppet proclaim, "Bitches ain't 'nothin but hoes and tricks!". Casting aside the goldielocks sock puppet, Kisei withdraws a new one from his pouch. This one is clearly designed after Shigeo. The Kankuro puppet turns to the Shigeo puppet, and hands it a flower. "I loved your tree. Kiss me!" Kisei mashes the two puppets together and makes kissing noises. "I lub you, Shigewo." "I lub you too, Kanku-kun." Kisei is staring keenly at the two puppets as he begins to alter the sound of his voice, and attempts to mimic the tone, inflection and accents of his former teachers. His imitation of their voices is quite accurate, and the two sock puppets slowly turn to face Akagi. Their beady black eyes bore into his own. "Know who we don't love, Shigeo?" "We don't love Akagi." "Who could love that monster? Always talking to himself, obsessed with corpses..." "He's so pitiful. The way he makes his toys into friends, because he has none..." "And his puppetry. It's just sham. In the end, he's just a copycat- an imitator of the better men that came before him. Has he ever had an original idea in his wooden head?" "He's just an illusion of a person. Soon to be forgotten." "A puppet in its final act." Akagi's steam peaked. How dare he make such a mockery. Blood boiled within his skin..if he had any form of honor or respect for his teachers. His Parents. "You bastard! I will fucking kill you and turn you into a puppet so I can Puppet while I Puppet!" His finger started to dance. A single thread tugging and pulling. Retreating and pushing on. Wiggling at his command. Soon, Rat dashed at Kisei. She started to twist and turn, her body spinning elegantly. She drew a Kunai from her very own ninja pouch and swung it downwards. Followed by a spinning kick aimed towards his chest. She would continue with an open palm to his chest. Her attacks had another motive. To draw him towards a near by explosive tag. Cursed eyes remained hidden beneath a dark hood. Masking her overall identity. Akagi had no will to reveal one of his many triumph cards just yet. Akagi's second puppet jumped directly into action. Horse launched high upwards, performing a seal and summoning his signature metallic arrows. His chakra coursing through his lifeless body. Dans fingers synced perfectly. As Rat continued her barrage of slashes and kicks, Horse sent an arrow racing towards Kisei's feet. "You bastard, I will fucking destroy you!" Akagi roared. His mind kept track of surrounding explosive tags. As well as his kunai protecting an opening between two villages. This victory will be mine! He thought. "My sister is unmatched in her art of hand to hand combat. Heh! A shame. If only you had awaited before being such an arrogant fool. I am disappointed that my fathers chose you for a student." If Kisei fell upon his tag, it would explode upon contact. Rat isn't the only one concealing an eye. Hidden beneath a black eyepatch on the left side of his face, Kisei's prosthetic eye had been scoping out the terrain around him on approach. It isn't a well known feature of sandy deserts, but thanks to being constantly bombarded by the rays of the sun, the sand becomes a very hot and uniform temperature on its surface. Underneath, the sand is much cooler. Akagi's explosive tags might be concealed beneath the sand- but his disturbance of the dunes' surface is more than adequate a clue to Kisei's infra-vision. The pockets of cold that lie around Kisei, are just as obvious to him as if Akagi had painted his traps with red x's. Rat's speed catches Kisei by surprise- well, nearly. He has just enough time to lean backwards, falling back on the palm of his hand, and begins a series of backward flips as he darts away from Rat's barrage of attacks. Horse's arrows pincushion the sand where Kisei had been standing an instant before, and trail his retreat. He nearly lands on the explosive trap behind him, but appears to stop, hovering in midair. As Akagi watches, a thin luminescent thread of chakra blinks into view, and Kisei (upside down) rapidly ascends up the line to a thread suspended between two of the ruin's buildings. As he rises, he drops a small cylinder on top of the trap. The flashbang explodes just as the exploding tag goes off, throwing up a cloud of sight-obscuring sand, blinding light, and a deafening boom. Kisei leaps off of the line towards Rat. He fires off a chakra thread with his left hand, afixing to Rat's chest, and then performs a forward flip, torquing his entire body into an axe kick towards Rat's head. As he descends, the thread winds up and drags Rat into the air towards him. During his fall, Kisei withdraws Hebi. The serpentine blade animates and tries to entrap and eviscerate Rat. To say Akagi expected it would be a lie. But he was not surprised. Anyone trained by his father would be a man of absolute traps. This little revelation just proved his theory. Kisei would not have entered battle without manipulating the battlefield. And the fact Kisei set up such ingenious and elegant traps only meant he suspected a fight. And Akagi just stepped into a mouse trap. But Akagi still had plenty secrets himself. Rat was a puppet meant for specific purposes. The minute he touched Rat, his strings reflected his force. Signalling AKagi of Kisei's location. "I have you now!" He used this to aim as Horse fired off three explosive arrows towards Kisei. Each flying at incredible speeds, able to completely pierce through the human body. But they would explode before then. Hoping to consume Kisei and Rat. Akagi attached another thread to Rat's head and detached it before all three explosions. Akagi used the explosions to make it look like he sacrificed Rat to trap Kisei in Horse's explosion. But Rat had a greater purpose. Kisei's flash bang probably blinded him as well. And with Kisei's attention place on Rat and Horse as well as Akagi's explosive tag, Akagi had an amazing opportunity. His hand formed a seal and another sibling appeared, this time tunneling below him. Ox, The Drill. Meanwhile, Akagi awakened Rat's, whose head laid near Akagi, sharingan, sharing her view through one of his eyes which remained closed. He used her ability to see chakra based structures to illuminate Kisei's own traps. It was foolish of me to think my father's former student would not set up traps. "I won't make that mistake again." Unfortunately for Akagi, all he sees from Rat's eye is a wash of white; the flashbang has entirely blinded her. He made Ox emerge from below Kisei, an impressive Drill surrounding his arm. Spinning at incredible speeds. He hoped to catch Kisei off guard while keeping his mind on Kisei's visible manipulations. Akagi's fingers worked brilliantly. However, keeping one eye closed, turning it into Rat's view left a blind side to Akagi himself. Kisei's chakra thread sense warns him as the three explosive projectiles fly towards him. Thinking quickly, Kisei enwraps Rat's now headless body with his segmented blade as he descends, and pulls it alongside his own body and with both legs, kicks rat away from him along the trajectory of the projectiles. The puppet body detonates explosively, scattering shrapnel and debris away from the origin of the blast. Kisei is launched away forcefully and tucks his body into a roll to reduce his profile and to diminish his damage on impact. He slams into the sand on his back and tumbles twenty feet before finally righting himself by anchoring his metal prosthetic arm in the sand and stopping his motion. Thankfully, the acceleration of the explosion also carried him out from above Ox's fearsome drill. Another second there and he would have been torn to pieces... Kisei grimaces from the scorch marks pockmarking his skin, and addresses Akagi, waving one of Rat's hands at the puppet master with a malign grin. "Is that all you've got? Let's just drop the bullshit. No more holding back. It doesn't matter how many puppets you have!" Casting aside the limp hand, Kisei rapidly pulls a scroll out from his waste-pouch, and opens it. The fuinjutsu lettering on the paper flares to life, and an instant later, three massive puppets appear before him. A huge centipede made of bones looms to his left. Its hundreds of legs each extruding dripping acid, its red eyes flare to life, and Mukade Kotsuzui immediately burrows under the sand, treading a path through the sand towards Horse. The tail of the extraordinarily long puppet bursts out of the sand under Horse and tries to grab and coil around him with its slicing limbs. Meanwhile, the head rears out from another point and begins bombarding horse with a rain of acid-coated bladed bones. A giant black biped with numerous shield-like wings appears in front of Kisei. It withdraws an enormous blade and rockets forward with incredible speed straight for Akagi. The skull-like maw opens, and a foul-looking green gas emanates from the puppet in a large cloud around it. With a mighty overhand swing, Toku no Shinigami tries to bring down its blade upon Akagi. An elephant-sized arachnid composed of blackened steel appears over Kisei, and immediately begins surrounding the area around him in green-tinged spiderwebs. A huge number of tiny spiders are also extruded. Each spider contains a thermite explosive. After carpeting the area above the ground with its webbing, Kurogokegumo assumes a defensive posture with its legs out ahead of it, ready to strike down any opponent that draws near. Two identical clones also appear next to Kisei. One advances to the left, one to the right, and one down the center towards Akagi. Akagi watched as his sister's limbs fell from one another. His teeth biting down hard upon itself. One could tell such an action impacted him greatly. Don't worry Sis. We will fix you up later. He thought to himself. As Rat's head laid resting gently upon golden sand. Her eyes remained closed for now. Kisei's flashbang caused significant damage to her windows. But he smirked when Kisei was sent tumbling far back. Sadly he made the mistake of helping him avoid Ox's attack. "Dammit brother! You have to coordinate with me!" He screamed at Ox, who simply brushed off his lecture. "As if I would need you to win this little Aka-kun." Ox's arrogance amplified by over exaggerated poses. A palm to the sky and a cape flying far behind him. His packed body glistening in the sun. A silver metal covered his lower arm, forming a high power drill. Ox smirked towards Kisei's new additions. "Look who finally decided to get serious, Well prepare to feel the wrath of the unstoppable OX! OMEGA DRILL!" His drill spun with such force that a small whirlwind formed around his entire arm. He aimed it towards the black biped puppet. "Not at me you idiot! I will handle this one, you take out that centipede!" Akagi ordered. But his words meant nothing, as his fingers were his tools for communication. Ox's stubborn attitude was impenetrable. He aimed his drill towards the spider, "Eh, Let horse take out that imitation, I got the small fry over there." Ox fired his drill. Sending up massive clouds of sand behind it's path. It fired in a straight path towards his spider and its webs, aiming to take out Kisei as well. "I'm taking you down with that little fuck!" "What I have to deal with." Horse rubbed his temples before he flicked his hand. The minute Kisei's centipede wrapped it's tail around Horse, an explosive arrow shot at it's hinge with the power of a magnetic gun. Another arrow flew toward centipedes open mouth. This arrow also attached to an explosive tag. The minute it made contact, his arrow would detonate. Horse used his magnetic abilities to send arrows towards Kisei's clones. Meanwhile, Akagi worked his puppets all on one hand, using his free hand to summon another addition to his family. A large childish man whose body looked similar to Ox's. But it was covered in a laid back attire. In his presence, a wave of cold shot towards Kisei. Monkey's powerful hands had caught Kisei's biped's blade with a clap. Absorbing the heat in the surrounding area, sending a freezing wave through his puppet. With this frozen metal, Monkey attempted to break it with a powerful punch. "Is Aka-san afraid of spiders?!" Monkey joked. His eyes locked on Kisei's puppet. "This thing looks strong. But there is not a puppeteer in the world who can take out the Thirteen Zodiacs." Akagi smirked at his brothers proclamation. One eye shut as he connected one of his eyes to Rat's now activated Sharingan. It locked its gaze upon Kisei. More specifically his finger. With her eyes blessed gift, and Akagi's immense puppetry knowledge, he could figure out Kisei's actions. "Shut up Monkey, you handle this." Akagi peered to his three new attackers. "We have company." Sadly, there is nothing left of Rat's eyes but smoking whitened flesh. The chlorine gas that was exhaled by Toku no Shinigami was harmless to Akagi and his puppet body, but immediately reacted with the exposed soft tissues of the sharingan, and has scarred the eyes as though they received second-degree burns. Akagi will have to rely on something else if he wants to see through Kisei's deceptions. Ox's drill blasts through the web, and its cyclical motion draws in the acidic webbing around it. The intense friction of the drill causes the thermite spider-bombs to autoignite, and in a split second the drill is surrounded in a veil of fire that rages at 2500 degrees. Kisei (the real one) barely dodges aside as the searing-hot mass of plasma flashes by him. Kurogokegumo tries to shift to avoid the attack, but its massive metal body isn't nearly fast enough. The drill sheers through the side of the spider puppet, taking two of its right legs with it, before passing out of the other side and plunging into the sand behind it. The drill churns a 100 foot spiraling tunnel of molten glass in its wake. The metal around the damage flares with radiant heat. Kurogokegumo struggles to stand, unstable on its six remaining legs. It reverses direction so it faces away from Ox, and begins launching ball after ball of sticky, acidic webbing at the drill-toting puppet. The explosives striking Mukade Kotsuzui detonate, shattering some of its countless bone appendages, and even unhinging its jaw momentarily. But only momentarily. With an unnatural jerk, its articulated limbs and jaw reattach. The tail that had been entrapping Horse draws tight around his body, and pulls him beneath the sand. Mukade Kotsuzui's body coils around Horse, slashing and tearing at him as the weight of the sand rushes in, impairing motion. The bone centipede's head turns to face towards Ox, and a barrage of acid-coated bone blades are launched at him. Horses' two arrows strike Kisei's puppet decoys and obliterate them... revealing the true Kisei from among the three; the one charging down the center of the battle. Kisei charges forward down the center of the battle towards Akagi. As he passes near Monkey and Toku no Shinigami, he makes note of the ice rapidly forming on the surface of his puppet's blade. With a flick of his finger, four of the Shinigami's eight wing-like shields rotate to face towards monkey, and begin spraying huge amounts of the puppet's jet-fuel around the point of contact. In a split second, the liquid congeals into a sticky, rubbery mass. Monkey's hand is fast bound to Toku no Shinigami's blade by the frozen fuel. With a thrust of acceleration, Toku no Shinigami blasts into the sky with Monkey in tow, attaining a high elevation in seconds. His path to Akagi clear, Kisei throws a smokebomb in Akagi's general direction and bounds forward into a spinning roundhouse kick at the rival puppet master's chest. Akagi lacked a chance to acknowledge his sisters blindness. But he felt a connection break. A burning sensation of pain and hatred. But also fear. No one has defeated a sibling before. And in doing so, Akagi's sense of self weakened. How could one be a good Kazekage if he could not protect his own sibling? Focus! He ordered himself as he watched his siblings struggle. Monkey stuck to a puppet and Horse being cut to pieces. All the while his opponent drove straight towards him. Akagi had been backed into a corner. What options were left? Engage? He could unveil his secret weapon. However, if this Kisei was nothing more than a trick, he lost a valuable asset. I have to wait. I'm sorry Rat, forgive me sister. Their string snapped. Akagi tightened his string on Monkey, causing Toku no Shinigami to bring Akagi along for the ride. It also allowed him to evade Kisei's attack. "Akagi, what the fuck are you doing?! I got this!" Monkey roared. "No I can't lose you. We will take this puppet down together. Don't worry about horse, he can handle himself. But if I let this thing take you away from me, this battle is over!" Akagi roared. Ox, who had been busy celebrating a moment before, now ran for his life. He dodged multiple sticky webs manually before using his own drill to destroy another couple, But some made contact with him. And it melted away at his torso. "Ah!" Ox screamed. He tried harder to evade, dodging Centipede's blades. But dodging those two caused him to get caught by balls of web. He immediately noticed his brothers flying high into the air. "Wait for me you bastards!" He tried to come along, yet couldn't. Webbing annoyingly hindered his movement. Now an easy target as well. You fucking insect. I guess I'm stuck here for now...But if brother frozen Shinigami enough, I can break him with my drill. Ox thought. Instead of a one on one, we can double team it and take down his puppets as a group. Ox tried forming another drill around his arm and aimed carefully at Shinigami. A hopeless thought. He's too far and fast...And besides, I have this thing to finish off. Ox turned his attention back to his arachnid buddy. "So, what is it like working for that little boy? I bet he doesn't have dental!" Ox formed another drill but aimed at its mouth. Meanwhile, Horse had been constricted. His body getting slashed at repeatedly. He could feel his body stiffening. You might be able to stop my body, but you can't get rid of my chakra you freaking bug. Horse thought. It seems like this thing can reform no matter how many times I smash it. Ox would be better for this demon. Come on Ox! Come on! Horse's sarcastic nature stole any emotion from his face. But his thoughts reached deep. Strong emotions that traveled across the thread that attached to him, through Akagi and into Ox himself. Feeling his brother in danger, Ox snarled. He raised his free hand and fired another large drill. This one spinning at higher speeds. It was also considerably larger. Ox immediately coated his fingers in small drills, and attempted to go to work. Cutting the web before running towards Kisei's bone centipede. "You can't hide underground with that big head can you?" Ox teased. He aimed a finger sized drill at Centipedes head. This one to test it's durability. The drill fired at the spider-puppet spirals through the air at a tremendous speed. As it does, the mouth compartment of the arachnid opens, revealing a scroll. The fuinjutsu seals adorning it flare with life, and in an instant an earthen wall arises to intercept the oncoming attack. The rotation and power of the drill, however, proves to be too much for this meager defense. The wall of earth does little more than slow down and deflect the attack. This gives Kise's Kurogokegumo just barely enough time to sidestep the drill, and it cleanly misses the puppet. The scroll in its jaws burns up and turns to ashes With the best haste it can manage, the black widow begins skittering forward to get between Ox and the bone centipede. It is not fast enough to block the attack on its ally, though, and Ox's attack drills a neat hole throuh Mukade Kotsuzui's bone skull. This doesn't even phase the skeletal puppet, however, and it continues its grinding of Horse's body. Finally reaching its position, Kurogokegumo tries to tackle Ox with its massive body as he charges the centipede. As it nears him, it becomes apparent to Ox that it's inner compartment has been packed full of explosive and thermite. A scroll opens in a compartment in the centipede's jaw, and an instant later, a fireball flies out of its maw towards the spider. Meanwhile, at Akagi and Kisei's position... Kisei's kick neatly misses Akagi as he is pulled away by Monkey and Toku no Shinigami. "You're not getting away!", Kisei shouts, and in a split second Kisei is following suite and soaring into the sky after Akagi from a chakra-thread tether on Akagi's foot. As they ascend, the caps on Akagi's left hand open, revealing hollow holes, and he aims his fingers at Kisei. A barrage of bullets explode down towards his enemy. Kisei quickly pulls Toku no Shinigami into a spiraling ascent, throwing his body out of the line of fire of Akagi's aim... momentarily. Akagi's natural dexterity and acute aim allows him to immediately compensate and fire multiple shots off at Kisei at once. Kisei brings up his bionic arm into a guard over his head to block some of the bullets, but one clips his left shoulder anyway. Above this, yet a third battle is raging. As the cold gripping Toku no Shinigami's blade begins to expand, tiny cracks begin forming on the surface of its sword, and eventually the cold reaches its arm, immobilizing the limb. Using one of its jets, it fires its flames onto the fuel covering it and monkey's bodies. In seconds, the two are surrounded in a cascading fireball. While it does little damage to either of them, these flames at the least should give it the few more moments that are necessary... Reaching the summit of its climb, Toku no Shinigami reorients, and the two begin a steep descent. Grabbing Monkey's other arm in its off hand, Toku no Shinigami turns its thrusters in opposite directions, and they begin rotating into the dive at a rapid rate. Beneath them lies the highest tower of Rōran, a tilted monolith to its lost culture. At the last instant before impact, Toku no Shinigami places its eight deactivated thrusters behind Monkey, pinning him to its body. With a deafening crash the two doomed puppets slam through the roof of the royal tower, shattering through floor after floor of thick stone. A plume of granite dust and sand billows out of the shattered craters of their impact. Severing the thread connecting him to Akagi, Kisei creates a simple parachute from chakra weave, and he descends towards the roof. Ox, in all his glory formed a large drill around his entire arm. He pushed forward, thrusting it towards Kisei. Letting out a deafening battle cry that shook his surroundings. He pushed his arm forward, his drill spiraling at such a speed, his and Horse's body was consumed by a heavenly light. Bright enough to match the sun above. For miles, man could see it. Almost a star leading them to destruction. A mass of melted puppets, mixed in with burning flesh, forever frozen in glass. It seemed as if earth transformed in a matter of seconds. Crystal clear. One could see nothing within its eternal prison. Dan felt his connection disappear and almost cried. If he could. But it only drove him mad. Flashes of his siblings playing in his mind. "Akagi! Snap out of it!" Monkey roared. Entrapped by Toku no Shinigami, his voice showed no signs of worry. "They are not gone. But they will die if you do not focus!" He felt his siblings bodies disappear, but for some strange reason, their energy. Their essence. He could feel Ox taunting. Horse complaining. Yet for an unknown purpose, Monkey began to realize. Pieces of a puzzle coming together slowly. Through their flight, Monkey spoke calmly to Akagi. He figured Kisei's plan. Saw his own demise in Kisei's eyes. "Akagi listen to me." He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Akagi you have to listen slowly and clearly. Do not worry about us. We aren't real!" This revelation caught him off guard. But Akagi's sorrow drove all sense of reasoning from his mind. "Win this battle, Akagi. I'll explain later I promise. But you have to win, you have to live. Or all thirteen of us will die." With those words, Monkey cut his own chakra thread, becoming nothing more than a lifeless toy as Toku Shinigami and Monkey fell to their demise. Akagi thought for a second, lost among words. His siblings...dead. No...Monkey swore they lived on. And he could not feel a differentiate in energies. He almost felt it himself. Multiple heart beat POUNDING inside his chest. Calling for his victory. His siblings cheering for them. Suddenly, a burst of chakra shot out his foot. Landing Akagi upon a falling roof. But before it fell, Akagi awaited for his target to land. Awaited his arrival....for the final battle. "One of us will not make it to the bottom." He told Kisei. His voice different...Hopeless.
|
