Almost Three Years Ago
Gritting her teeth with a hostile gaze a woman in Priestess Robes stands before a Bandit camp, or what was left of it at least, fire still raging, some people still screaming. Rumiko had a duty towards the Kousen Sect and towards the Survivors from their far off homeland, as life was hard out here was no excuse for their crimes, banditry, robbery, slavery and even worse. But even so it was a challenge keeping her emotions in check, there would be no going back from this, for the leader of this Tribe was none other than her Father.
Or at least the man who was her birth parent, she was given up to the temple long ago.. While she missioned around the mountain tribes in their new homeland, borrowed from Shang, there wasn't much of a family connection, though that didn't mean she was ignorant of them or they of her.
Writing something down in her journal, the Miko walks forward among the flames, radiating blue Aura, killing any who dared approach with steel in hand. Be it out of mercy or as they were in the way, until she finally reached her main target, a man with dark brown hair, large as a mountain with a scar across his face and a big bushy beard and a younger more timid looking male at his side...
"Will you renounce your crimes and return home?"
"It's survival of the Fittest darling I mean to feed mine, plus with your size and scar collection I'm sure you eat a lot."
"You have stole and trampled upon the lives of the helpless and caused great pain, you crossed the line in surviving."
"And you set a bunch of ours on fire and tore your way through more.. Say, Why not join Papa, your strong, better than your brother even when it comes to slitting folks, we could easily take the family and become the Lords."
"... So you will not renounce the Evil in your Heart. Your Corruption is absolute.. There is no more need for words Genza Mitsurugi, you are Guilty in the eyes of the Kami, your Sentence is Death!"
"Heh.. Come on Kuroi, time to earn your keep, runt." Hefting a Warhammer into his hands the bearded man doesn't seem in the least bit apprehensive in taking down the large fighter before him as he nudges the smaller swordsman with a stern shove from his free hand.
Wiping sweat from his brow, a young boy hardly older than fifteen drug along a cart littered with a famland's various yields. Two others with weapons drawn walked alongside the transport, paying little heed to the struggle of the much smaller, thinner teenager.
"Can't... I get some help here?" The boy questioned to his two accomplices.
The two adults in question glanced back at the kid with more annoyance at him speaking up than compassion at him dragging the wagon by himself.
"You know why we have to be on guard, don't you runt? You're the weakest one here, Kuroi, that's why you're pushing the cart and we're guarding it," A disheveled man with dirty-blond hair replied, as if stating something completely obvious.
Letting out a sigh, Kuroi continued with the haul as the two went back to chatting. Sadly, the last few raids had been like this, him only being brought along to do the grunt work since he was smaller than everyone else. Thanks to some crazy person ambushing their routes within the last month or so, they had the perfect excuse to skip out on the work, too. Usually, it was just that, an excuse. This time, however, as they grew closer to their home, the smell and sight of smoke could be witnessed. Not the light aroma signifying a camp, however, no. This one was raging, threatening to overtake everything surrounding it.
Kuroi knew this smell, this sight. They had been cause for it more than enough times by now, albeit on lands not their own. This was far too close to their home to mean anything good, however, and upon taking note, wasted little time in dropping the haul and sprinting in the direction of the smoke.
Arriving at the camp, it was set ablaze, littered with so many bodies, bodies of his own people, that the combined stench and sight almost brought him to hurl. He was no stranger to blades and blunt objects, sometimes some idiot would try to play the hero and Kuroi took no pleasure in what happened to him next. This was something much more sinister, however. Beaten and broken, some with injuries no normal weapon should be capable of. Holes, as if the body had been impaled. Monstrous, was all he could come to describe it as.
Shaking from his unease, he ran until he could find his father, being fortunate enough that the man was alive. However, when he questioned what was happening, the man didn't respond, nor did he need to, as a woman approached and answered for him with her presence.
She radiated a strange aura, one of power. She killed so many people. What was he supposed to do against that? They were family, maybe... maybe she would stop?
Kuroi's mind ran wild. He could be seen as a coward even when in what would be described as normal combat. This, this woman didn't appear as his sister, but a monster.
Being prodded forward by his father, Kuroi shakily drew a blade, entering in an amateurish ready stance. Unlike Genza, who seemed almost nonchalant at the current situation, Kuroi was terrified.
And when nudged forward and forced to draw his blade, that was all he could do; play the part of someone ready to do battle while his muscles froze him in place.
"..." Reaching into her robes with one hand the woman grabs a fox eared mask as her eyes seem to flash a hint of red, not the normal color but that associated with a glow.
Approaching forward, the large Miko glowers at the smaller male before her, back handing him a bandaged bloodied, blood that did not seem to be all or even mostly her own at that, connects with his sword.
Using pure raw strength she parry's him back, knocking him into a pile of crates as if disinterested in him for the moment.
"Wait your turn..he goes first. Such a Coward Genza..sending your own son to die and buy you time..you won't be escaping."
"Heh. Well it was worth a shot, but can you really kill your father?"
Saying nothing the woman takes up a fighting stance to answer, thrusting for him. Swinging his hammer with full force Genzo throws a satchel of sand into the air with a flick of his wrist trying to blind her. As the clunk of Metal reaches her chest, a look of Victory flashed into the mans eyes, quickly draining away as a single hand laid atop the hammer head just pushing her back as her free right hand unleashes a sudden swift punch, her aura briefly vanishing and collecting into her body.
"FINAL IMPACT!"
As wind sweeps from her body and around the man, debris are scattered about. Falling to his knees the man spits up a fountain of blood as the sickening crunching of bones could be heard. A Thunderstorm rolls in seemingly instantly save for a single beam of moonlight striking the woman as the fires begin to die out. Turning her attention towards the interloper from before, he was the last she needed to judge..
Frozen in place, the hold fear took on the boy's body only broke when the woman before him smashed through his guard. He wasn't particularly big, or strong, or trained, but still. Being swatted away with such ease was a shock, just as much the pain from crashing into a pile of old crates; the difference strength tremendous.
Looking upwards, he took some solace in the fact that his father would perhaps be a greater match. Yet, that too was hope quickly quelled.
She caught the hammer, as if it was a branch, then with a single hit dispatched the bandit. The sound that followed was sickening, but for once, that wasn't Kuroi's focus. The relationship the two had could only be described as estranged at best.
Yet still, that was his father—His father... that she...
In a moment of bloodlust, suddenly all pain and fear the boy felt disappeared. In that moment, Kuroi gripped his sword and charged at the perpetrator, the cause of all this, and with a rough swing of his blade cut the mask upon her face, narrowly missing a counter as he stumbled to the ground.
Looking up with an expression of rage, Kuroi's body was once again overtaken with fear at the face of his sister. It was a horribly cold and distant look, something that shook him. In that moment, he could only stir his body to do two things.
"G-GET AWAY FROM ME... YOU DEMON!" He cried, scrambling to claw his way back to his feet and run. The woman appeared to take pause for whatever reason, not that he noticed. He just ran, mumbling and rambling for anyone to save him, his mother, his sisters, God, his mother again; anyone to save him from the monster he just saw.
Watching the sudden attack, the boy, her brother was rather fast, surprisingly so... But not fast enough.. Rearing her arm back and unleashing a single punch she would brutally destroy him, it was the only way.
But then she missed..
"...demon..?" Watching him run off, Rumiko catches her reflection in a pool of water from the ongoing rain, as a flash of lightning makes the effect even more so.
"..Father, I am sorry.. May the Kami give you rest.. I did what had to be done. Even so.." Closing the man's eyes she doesn't give chase of her brother as she sits under a small tent top, writing in her journal with speed and purpose.
Soon night became day and days became weeks, weeks became months and things, well things would change.
Years later...
A sword flew, seemingly almost carried by the air itself, and embedded itself in the neck of a rabbit. Approaching the stricken creature, the boy, now a couple years older, grasps it before yanking the sword out. Kuroi had made his home in near solitude in some forest in Shang territory. He was no longer a highwayman, more out of fear of that demonic gaze still clear in his mind.
He spent much time after that day still shaken at what had happened. Kuroi hadn't returned to see his other family, not with that woman still about. Instead, he remained hidden away in the forestry where none could harm him, surviving off the environment. He wasn't a hunter or trapper, but having been incentivised to train, he found some talent in the element of wind, using that to aid in his weaknesses. He was ashamed of what had happened that day, of his fear, his weakness—it irritated the older adolescent. So, he vowed not to feel that way again and bettered himself. Never again would he be the weak, scrawny child to be culled whenever those stronger wished. Never again would he be at the mercy of a demon.
Still, it wasn't as if Kuroi wanted this kind of life. Honestly, he wished to do something, get rich, live comfortably, but that wasn't so simple a task. At least, he didn't think so until one day.
Passing by a road, one day he noticed a flier for the Festival of Swords, a tournament glorified as being able to grant a wish to the victor. Kuroi wasn't a fighter, in fact, he loathed it. However, he was tired of
just surviving. He was tired of living alone and in fear. No longer.
As Kuroi would learn about the Festival of Swords he would have to venture from the woods learning more and more as he went along until he reached a Shang trade city and would be
encourageby local guards and Tousawa(n? nese?) Refugees who had came to live in the settlement to report to the checkpoint office if he were truly interested.
Upon asking his name at a checkpoint a sleepy and bored looking guard who had an arm in a medical sling with medical patching wrapped around his face suddenly chirped up.
"Please say that name again.. Mitsurugi? Please wait here." Leaving the man here, the guard quickly returns, bringing a notice and sending the boy to the Governor's mansion, which was seemingly having a couple interior walls replaced in a hurry. The notice in question was an invitation which cleared the way to a Shang official in overflowing robes with a long twin mustache that dropped to meet with his beard, his clothing and size clearly spoke of wealth if not much else.
"Oh-ho, Kuroi Mitsurugi is it, I heard you have an interest in the Festival of swords, how well provisioned are you, or how skilled? I would like to see Men of Tousawa such as yourself performing before his Imperial Majesty.. but no offense my dear man, you seem to be a bumpkin lost to the woods.. Also would you happen to have any family?"
When he returned to civilization, or what counted for it, Kuroi predicted numerable hoops to jump through and nuisances to deal with. However, being called up to the Governor's mansion was something out of his forethought. At first, when the guard seemed knowledgeable about his name, he feared the reputation of his father preceded him, which would undoubtedly cause trouble. However, something gave him the impression that that wasn't it, going by what the noble said.
"Bumpkin in the woods, maybe... Not lost," Kuroi responded with a blank tone, wary of the man before him.
"I wouldn't address them with such an endearing term. Might I ask why some people here have such an interest in the name of a forest bumpkin?"
This situation was somewhat antagonizing to say the least. The man before him held much more authority than his own. If his father's clan had wronged him back when they were active, it could spell trouble. Best to distance himself from them.
"Ohoho, Mitsurugi is a good name is all. In fact we had a Priestess that was here not long ago that helped exposing some problems here on behalf of the masses. Hmm.. I like the cut of your Jib and I trust that sword is not for show."
As if reaching a snap decision the portly man reaches for a seal, stamping a sheet of paper.
"You men of Tousawa aren't much used to Shang Civilization, this is a pass, you should find no problem in reaching the interior.. Provided you can pass the Guard Captain's Test, don't worry it shall be nonlethal, I just cannot have you running off and dying with my seal you see."
"Ah as to why I am doing this, one kind deed deserves another, plus it could not hurt me if you mentioned to other officials the magnanimity of his Imperial Servant Governor Xia Chi'ange... Now if you will excuse me, I have very important work to do."
Waiting for the boy to take his que to leave, the Govenor would have a bit of a talk with the Miko ending his conversation in the City prison with a;
"Oh come now, I'm betting very heavily on you to be among the winners, you'll make me more than you pitiful barbarians ever did from taxes. I'll give the taxes back even, plus, that Mitsurugi name..
Hmm Kuroi wasn't it? Well Priestess I'm sure we see eye to eye on your need to carry out justice."
Eyes opening slightly at the mention of the priestess, it had to be her, though whether she had actually done the man a favor and he sought to repay it through him, or simply wanted to use him as bait, he didn't know. Either way, this meant that the adolescent should expect to see his
dear sister in the near future.
His expression tensing slightly, Kuroi took the pass. If they did meet—well, he wasn't as weak nor as cowardly as before. He wouldn't fall prey to that
demon.
"If that's what you want, sure..." Kuroi wasn't all too sure of magnanimity, but the man gave him a pass. If all he wanted was to let people know he gave a
forest bumpkin like him a pass, it was an easy deal. Plus, the test with the guards would give him a chance to test his new skills on actual opponents.
Nodding, he took his leave from the mansion, passing through the guard's so-called test. Whatever they were expecting of him, it appeared they weren't prepared for his elemental control. It wasn't godlike or anything, but the boy was right in being prideful of his abilities, at least a little bit. Next, and hopefully last, was the tournament.