Two Times, One Sword (Closed)

[foodforpigs]

"You were ready to spill my blood." Mei replied bluntly.

"There's really no need to be so dramatic." said Himura, taking out a small syringe. He let Mei's eyes follow it as Himura pierced his own forearm and drew a small sample. "I only need this much, and look." Himura pointed to the spot where the needle pierced. "It's already healing right back up."

Mei had expected a knife to cut her, not something so clean. It was unreal to see blood be drawn without any pain.

"That's all you need, to help Hotaru?"
"It's a start." replied Himura.
"So, you will revive her, and kill my brother."
"Stop." Himura groaned. "It's not all or nothing. As I already said, I'm going to repair the golem."
"Cheap words."
"You should trust me. I make mistakes, I sometimes hurt, but I repair what I've broken as much as I can."

She slowly got up from the corner she had ran to when the golem outside the door almost choked her to death, and walked to the table past the doors. She didn't look back to the golems, and purposefully sat away from them on the table where Himura directed. As Himura stuck the needle in her arm, he said. "You should also try to fix what you've broken." Mei didn't understand what he meant.

"Mei?"
Mei knew that voice to be Neza's.
"Done." said Himura.

Mei attention was temporarily split between both people, baffled at how quickly Himura's conversation had ended and how quickly Neza's was going to begin. Mei looked over her shoulder to see that Neza was badly hurt, with a stump where an arm should be.

"Are you alright?" said Neza, moving up and indicating the choke marks around Mei's neck.
"Am I alright? You're carrying an arm like a club! What kind of stupid thing did you do this time?"
"I made the Master mad." Neza stated simply, not going further into detail.

"Mei, I got my hands full. Close the stump for me?" said Himura. "Neza's losing quite a bit."
"I can do --" Neza stumbled to her knees. "Shit."

Mei lay Neza on the table and looked around from implements for what was more like a repair task than a surgery.
"You need to roll her to the Forge." Himura said imperatively. Mei rushed through the room to the back opening that led to the Forge. As she rushed into that area, another golem responded by automatically rolling in side table and forge tools. All she could think of under this pressure was why he wasn't doing it.

You should also try to fix what you've broken.

"Go on, then." Mei ordered the golem. "Do your stuff."
"This task requires two units."
"Get another unit!"
"I'm unable to comply. The minimum staffing protocol has been engaged, until security threat has been neutralized. A task like this only requires Mr. Himura and a golem."
"I'm not Mr. Himura."
"That's obvious."
If Mei didn't know any better, she'd think the golem was being snarky. That's when she realized she recognized the voice. It was the same golem she told off earlier when she was posing to be Neza. She looked up at the golem with fear and guilt on her face.
"I was made aware of the deception." said the golem. "It can be dealt with later."

 

[Tone 6th]

Himura put the blood sample under a makeshift microscope. He eyed it closely "What are you hiding?" he whispered. A few moments went by before he leaned back, and scratched a few things down

"Blood shows no signs of being any different then regular human blood. Starting chemical testing." he took a small vile of acid and poured a few drops of Mei's blood. The concoction sizzled for a second... but nothing happened. "Blood mixes with acid the same way regular blood does." he continued his tests for what seemed like hours. He had several pages of notes by the end of it all, and finally he wrote "I've come to the conclusion that Mei's body is no different then a regular human's. For all intensive purposes she is human nothing more, nothing less. However, she is a 'clone' of Neza and if I had to wager I'd say she's just as strong and agile as the original. The Husk Stone seems to be able to take inorganic things and produce organic copies, further testing will be required." he put in pen down for only a second before picking it up again.

"On the subject of Hotaru, thanks to Neza I was able to figure out that music was the cause of her transformation... However, I think it runs deeper then that. It's just a theory but I think it has to do with intense feelings of emotion, a breaking point of sorts. Sure music can bring up certain emotions, but I believe that in order to sustain those feelings and weaponize them they have to be connected with something... I just can't figure out what..." he stopped to rub his eyes, sleep starting to take him. "Mei how are you doing with Neza?" he called.

 

[foodforpigs]

"No!" yelled the golem. "Careful when that buzz saw. Fingers away from the ON button. Give me that before you cut your own fingers off!"
Black oil sputtered from the arm and splashed Mei's face as she stood stunned as the golem carefully cut more of the thick metal to expose the forest of tubes of Neza's arm, where the sputtering began.
"Move the suction tube to suck up the oil genius. I can't see anything if you can't clear the oil." continued the golem. "You're shaking. Why the hell are you shaking?"
"I can't stop!" Mei cried.
"Get a hold of yourself!" said the golem. "If you don't, Neza dies!"
Mei's hands became eerily stable at that moment. Why was she doing this? Why did she care about saving Neza's life? Wasn't it Neza that betrayed her trust, who showed her true colors by crushing Hotaru's heart in her hand without any remorse?

"Better." said the golem. "Much better."
Hotaru's eyes with Neza's, which were still open, fluttering, barely holding on to consciousness. Her mouth formed the word 'sister'.

"Earth to human!" yelled the golem again. "I got most of the work done, but we're going to have to work in parallel now on different spots. Too much fluidic pressure in one area could cause the whole arm to burst."
Mei stared at the golem blankly.
"The river banks overflow if they're twinned?" the golem hazarded to guess was a translation this 'cave girl' could understand, but that wasn't why Mei was staring blankly. She was stuck not knowing if she wanted to help anymore. She remembered how Neza had chosen to stay behind last time falling down the darkness in the mountains of her own mind, to save her. She had done so without thinking.

The golem continued to relay orders to her though she wasn't doing anything. This time, it would be her choice to save Neza's life. She started to drill and hammer metal plates over targeted sections as instructed, to stop the flow. Mei chose to become engulfed in the work, but there was always that thought that a 'slip' would end Neza's life.

At the time the procedure was finished, Himura called for an update.
"It's done." Mei wheezed. "She's stabilized."
Her arms were dripping black ichor.
"That's good to hear." said Himura.

"Not too bad for someone with no surgical experience."
Mei stared at the golem opposite her.
"It was a complement?" said the golem.
"I'm sorry." said Mei. "About what I did to you earlier."
"You were trying to hide, right?"
Mei nodded and motioned to the unconscious Neza. "From her. You think you know someone and then it all suddenly changes."

 

[Tone 6th]

Himura got up from his desk, needing to stretch his legs, and walked over to check their handy work. "You both did well." he smiled. He took out a small screw driver and tightened down a few screws, and polished the gold armor to a sheen. "Neza how are we feeling?" he chuckled a little. "Forgot your pain is turned off. Regardless can you move your arm comfortably?"

The golem moved her arm with no problem "Yes father." she looked at Mei and her brass partner "Thank you both... and Mei... Do you think we can be sisters again? I know you think my methods are awful and my tact is lacking, but... that's a part of who I am... or programmed to be. Please Mei I will do everything in my power to not hurt you again." Neza sounded unbelievably sincere.

Himura motioned for the Brass golem to leave and let the two have their moment. He went quietly back to his desk and continued to experiment with Mei's blood.

-----

As Keiichi ran from the golems, trying to hide anyway he could, something he did not account for happened. When he rounded a corner he nearly plowed into his lord and master Gin. The shogun glared at the golem "Why are you running? I didn't order a mobilization or our troops."

 

[foodforpigs]

"Damn you. I should hate you." Mei's eyes started to well up. "Why? Why don't I hate you?"

Neza stepped in to approach Mei, but stopped herself. She felt weak, the results of the procedure taking a toll on her body. It was difficult to calculate answers, and unfiltered sincerity remained. Silence was the only honest response.

"I want to forget what you did, but I just can't. You're scaring me Neza." Ever since you've been in this body, you've become different. I want to believe that's why, but I know that's not true. "Well, aren't you going to try to rationalize what you did? Tell me why I'm wrong?"
"No." replied Neza, softly. "There is nothing to explain. I was wrong."
Mei looked surprised. She couldn't believe the words, hearing such a blanket admission of guilt.
"Mei, will you forgive me? You're my sister, my best friend."

Mei's mind wanted to cling to vehement distrust, that those words were only part of script to regain her trust. However, her heart began to sway. She could see what Neza had did now were necessary evils for the good of both of them. Neza did say her tact was lacking. Neza was starting to become her true self again, like the Neza she had met in the meditation room. A Neza that could still learn. Mei wiped away the tears with the heel of her hands. She ran towards Neza with wide arms and embraced her.

"Watch it." Neza uttered, as she struggled to remain standing.
"Sorry." Mei whispered. "Will you promise me something?"
"Anything." Neza soothed.
"Protect Keiichi."
-----

Keiichi went through lots of computations to figure out what the best lie could possibly be for this situation, as the truth would get him scrapped. However, since the calculation was a new one, he couldn't think of anything optimal in the short time span he was given. Master Gin demanded quick answers.

"Danger." Keiichi responded.
"Danger?" Gin scoffed. "What danger? Presumably nothing dangerous to me. Unless you're talking about yourself, in which case, there are hundreds of ways I can make you not a danger. All of them which seem quite satisfying to me unless you give me a more complete answer."
"Security breach. A virus introduced to the system has infected upper level security. Remote control has been overridden to all gold and brass golem units by an outside source. They've been commanded to kill you."
"Impossible!" yelled Gin. It couldn't be true, and yet, he was assured that his golems, especially those of iron, were only capable of telling the truth. "If what you're saying is true, then why aren't golems of iron affected, like you?"
"Quarantine measures executed before the virus could travel to the lowest nodes."

What kind of technology would be capable of doing something like this? It'd have to be much more advanced than Himura's... "Yori. That bastard." Gin growled. "Thinks he can turn my glorious army onto myself? He makes a mockery of me! How was it introduced in the first place? I must know!"
"During the last skirmish against the undead, golems were repaired on the battlefield from components. It could be that Yori confided with the death goddess for her minions to corrupt loose components with the virus."

That was when more gold golems rounded the corners of the hallway. One of the gold golems spoke. "We have you surrounded. Do not attempt to resist. Those with unauthorized Master Rank must be brought to justice."
Gin knew that he was the only one with Master Rank. The virus must've made it classified as unauthorized. "It's treason, then."

 

[Tone 6th]

One of the gold golems made a slash at Keiichi, cutting him across the back. The shogun raised an eyebrow, and stood down. "All of you stand down." he told the gold golems. He looked the iron golem before up and down "Tell me golem which man are you after, which obstructed justice?" he pointed to the golem that attacked Keiichi.

"Sir the iron one before is guilty of countering fitting the rank of master, and has been causing trouble for the entire system." it reported.

Gin looked back to the iron golem "Master rank override, code word.... what was it... truth. Code word truth. Tell me who made you cause all this trouble? What little insect has been buzzing in your ear?" he stood and faced the golem eye to eye.

 

[foodforpigs]

Keiichi had been too slow to make it appear like he had instead intercepted the attack for Master Gin as opposed to simply being struck. Once the code word had been said, the autonomic parts of his mind started to kick in. His aware self attempted to resist against the clockwork of the old program. The word came out like a croak, each letter causing him pain.

"M...Mei."
"Who?" Gin raised an eyebrow. "Ah. You must mean the girl. Neza's pet."

Keiichi felt his mind suddenly flare up, as though overheating. Before he knew it, he was restrained by two gold golems, one on each side.

"Shutdown." said Gin.

The golem broke free of his captors on both sides in a final push, intent to die fighting. However, as soon as he broke free, no more signals went to the rest of his body. He fell face first onto the ground. Gin glared at the gold golems that had restrained him.

"Get out of my sight."
---

Gin kicked the door in of Himura's workshop, dragging a body behind him. The closest analogy was that it was like a human had skinned enough to see the muscles. The outer chassis of Keiichi had been ripped off; its wires and processing units were held together only by metal frames. He tossed his drag violently in front of him, its deactivated body sprawled on the floor.

Mei and Neza ran to the main room in response to hearing the crash. Mei looked in horror at the thin body strewn about the floor. She ran towards it and fell to her knees to hoist Keiichi up, screaming Kei-chan. Neza was paralyzed, alternatively looking at Gin and Mei. Gin smirked.

"Care to explain what happened, Mr. Himura?"
"Master, please forgive --"
"You had it under control." Gin assured. "I put no blame on you. You give me miracles. You even made time to repair Neza, though I have to say the job looks rather sloppy."
Nobody said anything. Mei was silently crying over the dangling body in her arms.
"Afraid to contradict me?" Gin asked. He looked at where Himura was looking. "Really? She was the one that repaired Neza? Well aren't you just full of surprises." Mei glared at Gin with seething hatred in her eyes. Neza snapped out of her paralysis, knees slightly bent, ready to pounce, though Neza knew she likely only be able to intercept Gin's sword with her body at this distance.
"You should have put a tighter leash on her when you said she'd be your responsibility. She must learn from her mistakes." Gin stated coldly.
"Please, don't hurt her." Neza begged.
"You'd be in no position to beg for anything, had you not retrieved the Husk Stone!"
Neza knelt in front of Gin with her head down, as though the boom of Gin's voice put her there.
Gin directed his attention back to Mei. "There is only one thing I require from you, before you can hide away from my sight. Kill the golem."
"I won't. I'd rather die!"
"If you don't kill that golem, I will kill Neza in its place."
Neza looked up from her kneeling position in shock.
"You've been quite valuable to me, but your care for this girl has made you weak. She must prove to me that she's as strong as you when you executed Hotaru when I commanded you to, without question nor hesitation." Gin pulled out a dagger from a sleeve and threw it towards a spot just beside Mei. Mei didn't flinch or move in response as the dagger cut through the air and cleanly embedded its point into the floor. "Reactivate."

Mei saw as Keiichi was slowly beginning to wake up from his deep sleep. She understood what had to be done. She grabbed the dagger in a split-instant and drove it into the golem's exposed chest, cutting downward to split multiple wires. It was only then did she allow her face to show that she was sorry, that there was no other choice.

 

[Tone 6th]

"There maybe hope for you yet pet." Gin spoke as he watch the golem seize on the floor, it systems trying to keep up. "Very well Neza you may live. Mei, do not cross me again." he stepped out of the room.

Himura walked over to Mei and hugged her. "His cruelty knows no bounds. I'm sorry Mei." he got up and summond two brass golems. "Burry this one outside, mark the grave with a single stone." he ordered. The golems looked at their master for a second, and then did as they were told. Himura went back to his work.

Neza reached out her hand "I'm.... Sorry Mei. With was all my fault, if I had just-"

"Shut up! Stop saying sorry! He's gone and that's it, sorry won't bring him back... I'm glad you're okay Neza. I should apologizing for putting you through this." she started to sob.

"Come on let's give them help with that grave." Neza rose with Mei and the two went to see Kiichi off.

---

A few weeks had past and Neza was given her body back. "It feels lighter." she jumped up and down a few times.

"Yes well I took the liberty of adding a bit of titanium to your new frame, about fifty fifty with that and steel this time around. Your tail and claws should feel better to, the joints should move a bit easier. Over all I gave you a nice upgrade." He smiled. "Taking heavier hits shouldn't be a problem now."

"Well Mei what do you think? How am I looking?" she through a few quick jabs.

 

[foodforpigs]

"Slow." said Mei.

Neza looked up at Mei. It had been weeks since the death, and Mei still seemed to be in a distant world in her head, away from the reality that she had killed Keiichi. Most of Mei's responses had been only single words. Neza didn't enjoy seeing Mei this way. She didn't deserve what Gin had done to her.

"What are you talking about?" Neza threw more quick jabs. "Maybe your eyes need -"

Before she could finish her sentence, a wrench was coming towards her face. Neza had just narrowly deflected it.

"The hell?"
"When fighting, every half-second counts. All the upgrades in the world can't fix your reflexes."
"I didn't expect you'd throw a wrench at me."
"You wouldn't be this way if you still had a rival."
"So what are you saying? That I've gotten soft?"
"Slow." Mei maintained.
Neza grimaced. "Himura, do you have any reflex testing systems?"
"Well, yes, though it's quite primitive. Enclosed space that fires clay plates at high velocities, fired from random locations. I can get one of my golems to process whatever commands you need to work the machine." said Mr. Himura. "I'm still rather busy, but the operation should be simple enough."
"It'll have to do." answered Neza.
"It's not good enough." said Mei.
"How can you say that without knowing about the machine?" said Neza.
"You need a rival."
"My rival is dead. You know this. Are you going to help me or not?"
Mei downcast her eyes and walked out of the room, presumably to where Keiichi's grave was. Neza knew that's where she always fled to nowadays.

 

[Tone 6th]

"Neza... You shouldn't be so rough with Mei. She had to kill what she considered family. You of all people should know-" Himura was cut off.

"You mean killing my brother, Yori. You seem confused father, I didn't take sadness in trying to kill him. I took joy in hurting him, and I still hold my vow to kill him. So please don't try to talk as if you know what myself or Mei are going through." her voice was cold. She walked out to look go find her sister.

-----

"Ah there you are." Neza spoke as she entered a small grove outside of Gin's castle. It was nice quiet, lushis, green, little forest. Moss had taken over some of the tomb stones, and some were maintained in secret.

Mei was keeling over Kiichi's grave, crying. "It's not fair Neza... I should have given my life for his."

Neza wrapped her arms around her sister "Shhh. Then what would I do?" she cooed.

 

[foodforpigs]

Mei turned around and buried her face in Neza's chest, weeping. Neza recalled when child Yori had done this. Neza had called Yori weak and hit him, telling him to never run up to her like that again.

"You were ready to jump." Mei affirmed, referring to how Neza was poised to jump in front of Gin's blade were he to lash out at Mei.
Neza raised her hands up Mei's back, pulling her in. "I would do anything to keep you safe."

Mei pulled herself apart from Neza, wiping the tears from her eyes. "If I had trusted you from the beginning, if I didn't try to run away, Keiichi wouldn't have been defective. He was killed because of what I did."
"You gave him an incredible gift," Neza said. "to develop beyond his initial programming." Just like Mei had done with her, in the meditation room. It really was incredible, the way Mei could change a person.
"He's dead. I couldn't protect him."
"You protected me."
Mei nodded.
"This isn't over."
Mei paused. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Neza looked at her in the eyes. Keiichi had been Mei's brother. Gin struck at Neza's family. He hurt Mei, bringing down the once energetic sister into depression. She shook her head and waved it off. "Never mind. I love you, Mei."
Mei's fright over the change in tone of Neza's voice had lifted. "I love you too. I forgive you."
A heavy burden lifted off Neza's shoulders, and wondered if that had been the weight that made her slow in reflex. Maybe, but now that the fog was clearing in her mind, Mei's remarks carried significantly greater weight.
"Shall we go inside? I could use your help with reflex training."
Mei nodded sheepishly.

 

[Tone 6th]

A week had passed sense the Husk Stone had been stolen by Gin and his ruthless forces. Jiro and Yori were forced to stay in the temple ruins while the outside was heavily patrolled by Gin's army. Kissoten was starting to fade, no longer having a tether to her stone. She cried and begged Amaterasu for forgiveness, yet the Sun did not grant her this.

"Amaterasu please! How many times must I beg for your forgiveness?" she clung to her sisters robes like a child.

"Kissoten you failed to protect your stone, and from what! A golem nearly to weak to stand! I gave you an army and the power to rule over the living, yet you squandered it! Because of you a massive loss of life has occurred. The students at the academy fought for us and now most of them are either dead or in chains!" Amaterasu exploded.

"B but Gin does not use living creatures in his armies! I never asked the humans to join in the battle, their meddling brought brought their end not me!" she argued.

The Goddess smacked her sister off of her, now seething with anger. "Your FOLLOWERS sacrificed their lives for you! Now stop groveling and act like a God!"

Jiro made the mistake of speaking up "Please Amaterasu she-"

"And you two! I expect my envoys to be A LOT more competent! Jrio racing off without Yori slpitting you power, and speaking of splitting. Yori you should have ran when you went up against one of his generals! I trusted you with my mark, I'm beginning to question my judgement. What do you have to say for yourself?" she looked down on her warrior.

 

[foodforpigs]

Yori hadn't spoken a word for the week since the destruction of the Academy. His processors had been calculating potential battle scenarios. At first it was to get his thoughts away from his sister, Ayako, but inevitably she was a factor in those calculations, as one of the countless advantages Gin had. Every projection ended in humiliating defeat. Statistically, it was virtually guaranteed Gin would become victorious. Timeline be damned - nobody knew how time travel worked. It was Gin's future now.

"Well?" Amaterasu said impatiently. "I'm waiting."
"You're right." admitted Yori. "I went against Yoko's advice to not use the cursed items. Jiro overcame the corruption, but I didn't. I let Yoko become corrupted as well, and take over my body, because I wasn't strong enough. Foolishly, I engaged in fighting the general instead of securing the stone. I've failed."
"I should have chosen Alexandria, then." Amaterasu said angrily. "She's clearly more competent than you. Now she's dead."
"I didn't count her soul as one that entered the underworld." Kissoten corrected.
"How would you know? Countless are dead because of you." Amaterasu scorned.
"I keep tabs on only the souls I like. Alexie isn't dead."
"Captured?" said Amaterasu. She looked at Yori and Jiro again.

Yori took her look the wrong way. "Storm the fortress and save the girl?" he said sadly. The daring rescue was the most popular element of the action hero movies he watched. Gin had an army, generals, and all but one of the stones. "Don't worry. I wouldn't bring Jiro straight into a death trap."
"You will do nothing?" accused Amaterasu.
"There is nothing I can do."
Amaterasu walked towards Yori expressionless and in one swift motion, slapped Yori across the face. "Out fake spirit! Give me my warrior back!"
Yori turned his head back towards Amaterasu, forlorn. Tears trickled down her face.

Jiro felt the Aqwuis Stone pulsating. Amaterasu's tears were traveling sideways towards the stone instead of falling to the ground. When the tears touched the stone, the stone became translucent, the inside was rippling ocean water.

 

[Tone 6th]

Jiro took the orb from his kimono and stared deep into the the lapping ocean. There was a bright flash that enveloped everyone. When Jiro and Yori were able to see again before them were two cave entrances. Around them was nothing but the faint sound was running water and darkness.

"Jiro." a whisper came from the left cave, one that was all to familiar.

"Father?" Jrio squinted his eyes.

"Jiro."

"Father!" compelled by some other worldly force the samurai ran head first into the cave.

From the right cave came a cry "Yori!" it was Yoko. "Yori where are you!" she cried.

--

Jiro ran for what seemed like ages down the dark wet cave, the sound of water getting louder and louder. Yet the whisper of his father rang off the cave walls. "Father where are you!" Jiro called out. He kept running until the roar of the water rumbled him to his very core. The cave finally let out, but Jiro didn't like what he found. He was on a small sandbar, and the roaring was coming from a monstrous wave that towered over head. At first the warrior panicked, but soon realized the wave seemed to be stuck in place.

"Jiro... how good of you to come." his attention was brought to an inky black figure that stood on the opposite end of the bar.

"Father? I don't understand, whats happening! Please answer me!" he begged, this huge sense of fear gripping him.

"You failed me Jiro... you failed us all." the figure turned to reveal a gruesome sight.

​

"And know you must pay for it my son."

 

[foodforpigs]

Yori ran towards the sound of Yoko's plea. His pace was uneven, his mind locked in panic. He nearly stumbled over something, but before he could look back to what it was, he tumbled away to avoid a pendulum blade that would've cut him down the middle.
As sweat beaded down his face, Yori's eyes darted around for any more death traps. That's what he had described Gin's fortress as, a death trap.

"Help!" he heard Yoko scream.

The response stuck in his throat. A hero would call back, assure her that he was coming to rescue her. He was no hero. All his life, he had just been a corporate hand, killing to follow orders. Playing policeman couldn't wash the blood off his hands. It only added more. The woman he loved was murdered because he got involved in her life. Now he had Academy blood on his hands.

Yori's eyes followed the pendulum. It swung unrelentingly. He got up slowly, fighting against the paralysis that was trying to overtake his body. His tried counting the time it took for the pendulum to swing, but his instincts were clouding his mind. 'Give me my warrior back!' It was what Amaterasu had said. He felt the numbness of the slap, as though imprinted on his face. The word, warrior, resonated in him. Whether he had been fighting for PaxCorp, the police, or in this time, that's what he was. Not a hero, a warrior.

His mind stilled, and he could hear the distinct sound of rushing water. He knew it like the water that he fell into when he was flung into the past, soothing him. The exact moment that the pendulum passed him, he sprinted towards the end of the hallway, drawing his sword. He deflected poison darts, and weaved around spring loaded spears. More pendulums activated, forcing him to make split second decisions to weave or jump over. The last set of pendulums left no room for error as he had to dive through the narrow opening that two horizontal pendulums created.

The first thing the warrior saw that Yoko was in a metal cage, dangling over a cliff. It was supported by a chain that looked like it could be released with the simple pull of a wooden crank. The surrounding details, of the quiet dusk, the clashing of water against the crag, the cool breeze against his face, the light from an orange sun that he never knew in the future, contrasted Yoko helpless, crying for help.

"Sloppy, sloppy..."
"Sister?"
Ayako stepped out from Yori's right, presumably watching Yoko squirm as she leaned on a cliff facing a bit more forward from the exit Yori came under. She wore a cloak of black. Her face didn't look like the porcelain that Yori remembered. Perhaps it was only the sun's light.

"What took you so long?" Ayako said. "A trial like that would've taken me a minute, tops, and that's if I was half-assing it."
Yori was still looking at Yoko more than he was Ayako. The device keeping the cage up looked incredibly unstable, creaking as the wind blew.
"Oh, her. Thought you could use some additional motivation."
"Your mistake was involving her." Yori declared. "I killed you once. I'll kill you again."
Ayako howled in laughter.
"Laugh it up. At least one of us thinks your death is funny. Makes my job easier."
"I'm just remembering how you cried while you buried my body."
"Salvaged, I know. I won't make that mistake again. This time, I'll smelt you down to nothing!"

 

[Tone 6th]

"Wh What is this!" a crushing fear snatched the samurai's body. "Father wh what has happened to you!" the sight made him want to vomit.

"This is your fault Jiro! My spirit was doomed here because of you, you failed us Jiro!" the phantom shouted. Slowly behind him Jiro could see the warped spirits of his family memeber, all crying out in pain. "And now my son draw your blade, fight me or die." Takeda's words were stern.

Jiro felt like a boy again, trembling with fright "No I can't... I won't..."

*Shing!* *Splat!* The phantom was quick and cut a deep scar into Jiro's chest. "AH!" he screamed falling to his knees.

"Even now you fail me Jiro, I taught you to fight until the end. I did not teach you to roll over and die like a dog. Now fight!"

*CLANG!* Jiro met his fathers blade with his own, though fear still had a grip on his body. "WEAK!" the phantom pushed Jiro back and to the ground, blade inches from his head. "You lost all the stones Jiro! You lost the Goddess stone! You lost the Husk Stone! What worse is that you relied on a golem for help!" Takeda's lifeless eyes pierced Jiro's terrified ones.

"No... Yori isn't a weakness..." Jiro started to push back.

 

[foodforpigs]

Yori charged at Ayako, drawing his sword. Ayako only raised her hands. As Yori swung down, however, it struck against metal. As the two weapons locked, Yori briefly saw Ayako's face. It wasn't porcelain like it had been before. There were no creases like before, to show the metal underneath. Ayako pushed him back with a sudden burst of strength and cut across his chest with a quick slash. Black oil spilled from the shallow cut that would've been lethal had Yori not reacted in time.

"It can't be." Yori saw now that the weapon Ayako was wielding was a scythe.
"Idiot. The Reaper's items exist beyond the material plane."
"You can't control them."
"You couldn't." Ayako corrected.

Yori charged at Ayako again, but when he was expected to connect again, she disappeared. The cloak.

 

[Tone 6th]

A stone pillar jutted from the ground, and slammed into the phantom's stomach launching him off of Jiro. "I did my best!" the samurai jumped back up. "I tired, but I'm just one man!" he set his stance back up.

Takeda was back up and set in a puff of smoke "You are a member of Ieyoshi family, one man should be more then enough!" he flash stepped in front of Jiro and brought his should down with one hand on the grip. *CLANG!* Jiro blocked but it felt like blocking a run away bolder, and he was using both hands. His rip tightened and pushed the ghost off of him. Jiro slashed at the ground sending an explosion of sharp jagged speeding towards his father. They sunk into him without fail he yelling in pain "Now you want to kill your father, to bring more dishonor unto yourself!"

"No father I-!" Jiro tried to say something back, but a sharp rock clipped his arm leaving a sizable cut. The phantom absorbed the rocks and started to fire them back on Jiro. "You are no son of mine!"

 

[foodforpigs]

Gusts of wind howled around Yori, waves crashing against the cliff facing where Yoko dangled precariously above trapped in the steel cage. She was quiet too, her eyes darting around seeing nothing but Yori standing alone, sweat trickling down her face. The chain that was locked down by the lever rattled.

The wind grew stronger, building pressure that muffled the sounds of Yori's surroundings. Sharp slashes of wind came crashing down in the next instant. Yori howled in rage, the sound barely piercing the barrier. The fire conjured from the core of his being fought back against the slashes. Yori ran around more that were coming towards him from unpredictable angles, from above, front or back. The ones that missed cut through the rock of the cliff facing easily. They weren't random, Yori knew, but coldly calculated. Each attack sought to fence him in, reduce his movements until he was forced into a spot where he was most vulnerable.

As the fire resisted being snuffed out, Yori could feel the gashes along his face and along his human skin. A steady stream of blood trickled down, experiencing the start of a death by a thousand cuts. He wouldn't be able to survive the attrition.

 

[Tone 6th]

Jiro grabbed the cut, blood trickling from it. "And you are no father to me! You are nothing like the man he was, you wretch! He was kind." Jiro started to walk toward the ghost. "He was an amazing and loving man! You spout nothing but hate and lies!" he started to run. "I did my best to protect the Goddess Stone, but I alone couldn't do it! You weren't there to help!" his blade held back for a swing. "You are nothing to me!" he met the phantom with a powerful slice. *TING!* The two clashed, sparks flying from the two swords.

"So you're serious now? Then take my life once again Jiro, save the world from destruction!" the ghost yelled. He broke the clash and came at Jiro again only to end up in a clash once more. "END ME! MOVE ON!" he yelled again.

Jiro pushed back and stabbed the ground "Rokku Keimusho!" he shouted. Four sheer rock walls shot out of the ground and trapped the phantom. "Rokkusupaiku!" the samurai shouted. A huge jagged pillar of rock burst from the ground under the phantom.

"AHH!" he screamed and from the now coffin flew the white skull mask he had been wearing, it landing at Jiro's feet.