On'na No Michi

[Lillith]

On'na No Michi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP4GaB9hgZs&feature=related)

1951

There was no hope in the Citadel, only fear. It plastered the walls and smothered the tendrils of magical illusion with false potential. Whilst many fought here for a glimpse of a future uncertain, a skein of tomorrow, only a true fool fought here for a chance at greatness. Few had wandered the halls and fought in the sandy domes and claimed such titles from fraudulent legends, Lillith Kazumi, wizened kith of the ancient Akashiman way, would be no exception to obscurity.

It was early afternoon and outside in the streets of Radasanth the sun shone. Inside dome twelve, however, there was no such illumination, the rays of the summer roil were replaced with an overcast meadow and a heady swathe of bull-grass. The arena she had described to the monks as they took her 'order' had been simple - a wide, flat plain covered in the dense and edible perennial that occupied much of the northern heights of the Tokyen cliffs in her native land. There was to be no distraction, no formulaic clichéd trap, merely the lay of the land and the cold calming brush of the blades on one's ankles.

Whilst the clouds covered the illusory sun, the humidity in the dome allowed for provocative clothing to be worn without explanation, and Lillith, the protégée of Ruby La Roux took no exception to that. She had shed her kimono and obi at the door, and wore only a lax cotton dress wrapped with a silk overlay and tight strapped knee length boots devoid of any heel. Her hair was pulled up and pinned into a spiralling bob with the aid of a four pronged jade comb with a silver tarnished handle, and her face was without the customary make-up or the shrill and stern smile she carried in polite society.

Here, in the arena, she had a different intent. Whilst she was a lover of parties, the okiya conversation and the long dwindling memories of times gone by as much as any woman of Scara Brae society, she had a darker side. Her purpose in life was to claim lives, and she had to maintain sharp, ready and attentive parables in order to upkeep her duality.

She had smiled at the inscription over the door, which read, in Akashiman as rusty as her own, 'No future, no tomorrow, no love. What am I to do, with this failing thing called life?' Her only reply her been "Suffer, relish the days and make good of the shattered dreams."

The gust of wind pushed her gaze upwards and she closed her eyes and fell into the glory of nature. She forgot, all be it fleetingly, that she was in an empty room with a sandy floor full of false senses and logistics. She did not care, whoever came through that door next would receive an offer that would defy the Citadel.

"Whoever comes, shall see the Way of the Woman, and feel the touch of hope - a chance to be something more, a saviour amongst people lost to the shadow..." she stomped her heel, withdrew her tanto into both hands and spiralled them delicately in front of her floral bosom and her somewhat euphoric expression of excitement, glee struggling to be contained.

[Revenant]

Frustration poured off of William Arcus in waves. The thought of it brought a little levity to the revenant’s mind, for with any other person it would have been a purely metaphorical thought. With William however, a magically created merger of human and demon souls, the literal wave of heat that pulsed in time with the beating of his molten heart was truly a physical manifestation of his frustration. Today he was frustrated by the rigors of his combat training, lessons in discipline and self-control taught by the Akashiman monk Hotouri and the fighting master Ta’Gaz. Fortunately for the Ai’Bron monks who manned the ancient Citadel of Radasanth, the nearly unbearable heat of William’s black moods were a common enough sight that they didn’t need to be experienced to be avoided.

A chorus of low muttered greeting and honorifics followed on the trail of William’s wake. Unlike the famed Sei Orlouge, William’s superior within the Ixian Knights, William held no hesitation in walking the Citadel’s blood-soaked halls. Sure the so-called ‘Hero of Radasanth’ would grace the ancient structure with his presence when he needed to, but he never came with the passion or frequency that William did. In fact, as leader of the Ixian Knights’ monster hunting squad, William had incorporated the Citadel’s magically shifting battle chambers into the training regimen for his squad. But despite the professional nature with which William had come to view the Citadel, he still reserved a place in his mind for its most basic purpose.

It had been many years since William’s human body had been recreated as a living weapon and hardened in the fires of war. While he had evolved past his singular origins, there was still nothing on the face of Althanas that William enjoyed more than the gritty feel of a good fight. And there was nowhere on Althanas that he knew of that was better at providing a good fight than the Citadel.

“That’s what I need,” he hissed as he walked, talking more to himself than any happenstance listener. “A fight where there’s no need for structure or discipline; a fight where I can just let go.” Almost as if on cue William arrived outside the plain, unadorned entrance to one of the Citadel’s special fighting chambers. He realized that the monks had been subtly pointing him in this direction as he stalked through their hallways and that his mind had subconsciously picked up the signals and followed them.

“Always clever, eh?” he chuckled, a dark gritty sound. “Well then, let’s see what you’ve got cooked up for me today.”

Wasting no further time, William opened the door and strode purposefully inside to meet his opponent.

[Lillith]

"Kon'nichiwa," said Lillith, spying her opponent striding into the arena with verdant, masculine confidence. Already she liked him, and he had not even put his foot in his mouth between the dance of her words.

She gave him the once over, admiring his war-torn features and his brazen ways, before bowing gently as was customary. She cared not for any more auspicious grovelling or welcoming to the arena, he seemed the sort to have frequented the hallowed halls of slaughter many times before, if not witness the horrors of conflict in the flesh, beyond the net of safety cast by the monk's magic.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lillith Kazumi, Akashiman deligate of the Tantalum to Radasanth, and business woman in mining and what one might call 'organised adventuring.'" She chuckled. "Do not let my stature as a woman alarm you, I will fight with every bit of strength and fury I can muster, and I very much expect you to do the same." She winked, bowed once more and strode forwards, her dress bellowing and the grass rustling in her wake.

"Watashi-tachi wa shite mimashou, or as you might say, let us begin!" She clapped her hands and a flock of birds flew up from around her, straw hoppers and gulls hidden by the grass, nesting in the tall reeds and plucking seeds from the dry, arid earth. One wrong step, and a clumsy boot could crush a nest and the young offspring or eggs contained within, one wrong move, and dreams would be crushed, futures lost.

[Revenant]

An Akashiman, William thought, letting his eyes drink in the woman’s exotic features. His thoughts flew to what he knew about the people of the small country on the Eastern Shore of Corone which, unfortunately, was not much. The only Akashiman that he knew were the Ixian Knights mercenary leader Taka and his own instructor the monk Hotouri. He had only cursory passing knowledge of Taka, but knew from the man’s ronin title that status was an important thing to his people. Aside from that, the tainted warrior offered him little.

Hotouri on the other hand, was a much better source of Akashiman lore. The monk had taught him about the variety of Akashiman fighting styles, demonstrating no less than twelve distinct disciplines, and of the importance on politeness in Akashiman society. Only the most despised and outcast of opponents were afforded less than the upmost respect, a trait he could see in Lillith’s greeting. To these people, showing proper deference was almost as important in battle as the fighting itself.

Ridiculous, William thought, shrugging off his cloak and letting it fall with a rustle into the bay grass. Fighting should be about fighting and nothing more. Still, it wouldn’t do to have his fun spoiled early by something as silly as bad manners, and so William nodded his head deferentially towards his opponent in a common greeting.

“I wouldn’t insult you by insinuating that a woman couldn’t fight as well as a man, and you can have no fear that I will give you anything less than my full effort. Though you may wish I didn’t do so.” William smiled a cruel, savage grin that slit his face like an open wound. “My name is William Arcus and I am Captain of the Ixian Knights’ monster hunting squad and student of the monk Hotouri and the fighting master Ta’Gaz No-Shiba.”

William dropped into one of the fighting stances he had learned in during his training. Despite his promise to use his full strength William refrained from calling forth his demonic power, intrigued at how his training would stack up against an Akashiman warrior. Without transforming he was still inhumanly strong and fast, which should help him compensate for the basic level of his training, and it would leave something for him to fall back on should his training prove insufficient.

“I agree,” William chided, beckoning his opponent forward, “let’s begin.”

[Lillith]

Lillith listened intently, and almost let the irony pass her by as the titles slipped from William's lips as easily as old friends greeting one another in a village square. She was not, however, surprised by the Akashiman name amongst the plethora of people he mentioned. It was the one one pertaining to the Tantalum and it's many dealings that pricked her ears. The wind rustled the grass in a moment's silence as she thought of her reply and took in the simple, lemon tinted scent that the bull-grass scattered to the breeze.

She tried not to laugh too loudly, but chuckled aloofly all the same. "Everywhere we turn, the fae-chylde Sei Orlougne is waiting, what must we do to be rid of his name for even a day?" The Ixian Knights were one of many groups across Althanas that took on the mantle of heroism in the darkest times of need, and like the Tantalum, they recruited on premise, need, and of course, on the name of the recruit preceding their talent. Given Blank and Duffy's recent acceptance of Sei's offer, she thought it ironic that she had encountered another member.

"A student of Akashima colliding with an Akashiman student - this should be most intriguing," she rasped the insult from behind a veiled smile and lowered her knees to part her legs into a fighting stance. She knew nothing of the Ixian Knights beyond Duffy's mumblings in the Prima Vista, but she guessed she would find out if their prowess was every bit as awe-inspiring as he had claimed. "Show me what that old rogue Hotouri has taught you!"

Like a lotus in the breeze, she wavered and pounced forwards with erratic and lithe motions. Between every step she professed a glance to the ground, to ensure she did not disturb one of the fledglings or a nest of ochre and sepia eggs. She closed the gap between herself and William quickly, and as she grew to see the whites of his eyes, she could see that he meant every bit of his promise to fight no holds barred with her tanto, bosom and nail. She lunged with both of her steel blades pushed into a close and piercing strike, and offered no elegant manoeuvre or meiko dance to conceal the simple, effective nature of her combat style.

[Revenant]

When your enemy is in a hurry, let them by. This was one of the first and most important lessons Hotouri drilled into him and it simply meant that a charging enemy was vulnerable. And of all Hotouri’s lessons, it was the one that William, who most often charged recklessly into battle himself, had taken to heart.

William bobbed gently in his ready stance, keeping his joints loose and ready to move while he watched Lillith come at him. The young Akashiman’s simple white dress flowed lithely through the bull grass like cotton weed separated from the stalk and William watched her intently for any sign that her straightforward charge was anything but what it seemed. When she was close enough that he was sure her movements held no subtle trickery, William made his own move.

… let them by. The words echoed in his head, again and again as William acted. Instead of standing his ground to block Lillith’s two-weapon lunge, or moving to a side in a dodge, William stepped into the attack, rolling his body down and around, a maneuver to let the blades pass harmlessly over him and his opponent to pass on his other side. He executed the maneuver to the best of his ability, but when he came up behind Lillith the sting in his shoulder told him that it had not been perfect. But even with the imperfection of his execution, William came up close enough to Lillith to smell the woman’s perfume, and if he had a weapon at hand, as the maneuver intended, he would have been able to cut her in half with ease. But William had no weapon aside from his hands and his strength and would have to make do with those.

Water to fire, Hotoui’s voice said in his mind and William shifted his stance to a more aggressive one, unleashing a flurry of four punches in a high-low pattern at Lillith’s back and side, though the blows from his cut side were much slower and lacked the striking power of his other arm.

[Lillith]

Whilst sensei addled tales of power rolled around in William's head, proverbs of Lillith's childhood rolled around in hers. She smiled with a sycophantic glee as her tanto caught the warrior's shoulder despite his roll, but frowned readily in response to the tyrant's blow which connected with her ribcage.

Once, she whelped.

Twice, she cried.

Thrice, she stumbled back blindly beneath the weight of his ferocity.

The fourth blow would have knocked her prone and dealt a blow to her arrogance, her passion and ultimately, her pride. Fortunately for her she had escaped the most violent comeuppance of his fists, and instead dropped to her knees feet away with both tanto swinging loosely by her side.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," she spluttered. Her teeth, once perfectly white, were stained with the oozing crimson of blood and pain. Slowly she sheathed her weapons with shaking hands and stared squarely at William. Determination painted make-up and ghostly hue on her face and pain drew delicate patterns of willow and flames into her tears and grimace.

She stood slowly and pushed through the wall that came with fatigue. The three blows had been brutally effective and whilst she had connected with a shoulder, and drew blood aplenty, she knew she was already far outweighed in strength and stamina. No nimble toed vendetta or shinobi dance would see away his ferocity as easily as she had hoped, unless her skill was more archaic and well learned than his. A man's master was his tutor, but a woman's, it took a life of it's own and came with experience, not the crash of men on straw mats.

"Into the flames, into destiny," she continued, all be it with baited breath and hushed tones. She slipped the two steel kunai she hid in her boots out of their sheaths slowly and placed them both into her right hand, the metal clinking as she pushed their handles together. With her spare hand, she pulled the long strand of cotton from about her waist and let the material of her dress flow more freely. She looped the length through one of the kunai's loops and tightened it into a secure knot.

"Tell me, disciple of the great Hotouri-san, have you witnessed the Lotus Dance - the meiko's gift to the world where a Geisha's beauty will not suffice?" She dropped the kunai to the ground and it landed softly in the carpet of bull-grass. If blades would not strike deep enough to stay his raging blows, then she had no choice but to fight at a distance.

With a crack of cloth she pulled the length of cotton upwards and as it started to fall, she whipped it around and behind her back in a full loop so that the kunai snapped up and around and down towards William. It descended with the speed of a scorpion's sting and the power and inaccuracy of a whip. The kunai was aimed squarely to split William twain, but even Lillith hoped for nothing more than contact, a bruise, and perhaps more blood to offer to the cormorants and herons.

[Revenant]

“Lotus Dance?” he questioned, unsure of what to make of the foreigner’s exotic dance of death. William was momentarily overtaken by a sense of humor at the Akashiman penchant for naming their techniques after plants and flowers, but Lillith’s sudden strike made short work of that. Though attaching a knife to a length of cotton cord seemed like an unwieldy way to fight, the flowing ease of exhibited by Lillith kept the steel weights in perfect arcing harmony. Were William to witness the graceful maneuver in a less offensive time the revenant would surely have appreciated the complex focus and mastery required to keep the blades moving in such a manner. As it was, the beauty of the flowing technique was lost upon him as he studiously watched and waited for the coming strike.

Keeping the arcing blades in sight required focused concentration, but the throbbing ache in his shoulder made that concentration all but impossible. Like Lillith he had sprung apart from their opening encounter, but unlike the Akashiman he had a very different reason to do so. Where Lillith used the time to catch her breath and assess her next move, William used the brief respite to allow the regenerative capabilities of his supernatural physique to kick in. Already the sharp bite had lessened into a throbbing ache, and given another minute or two it would barely register as a wound at all. But at this moment, it was still enough of a distraction to throw his concentration off.

“Damn,” he hissed at his distracting injury when Lillith’s attack finally came. The Akashiman pulled against her the cotton thread of her makeshift weapon and angled the steel kunai at his torso. With barely enough time to even register the attack, William’s warrior instinct overrode his basic training and he raised his uninjured arm to ward off the projectile. Were he in his demonic combat form, the steel hard bone that covered his arm from fingertips to elbow would have easily deflected the strike, but in his current human form, William had nothing but yielding flesh to meet the weapon.

A snarling, angry cry tore free of William’s lips as the kunai bit deeply into his arm, slicing the flesh of his limb in a nasty gash that exposed the bone of his forearm. “Bitch,” he swore, stumbling backwards through the high grass to put as much distance between himself and Lillith’s sharp, biting steel. A renewed wave of demonic heat poured off of him, withering the foliage around him for several feet as it readily became apparent that the calm focus of his training fell to the mounting tide of his natural inclination for violence and rage.

“I’m going to tear you apart,” he raged at the woman as he backpedaled, only pausing long enough to insolently stomp on a nest of speckled brown quail eggs. The aura of heat surrounding him intensified yet again as the demonic power in his veins burst forth, his demonic blackened form overwhelming his human one.“I’m going to rip out your Thayne’s damned entrails and choke you with them, do you hear me?”

[Lillith]

Shock smothered Lillith's serenity, she had not expected her ineptitude to pierce the man's defences so easily. She considered the irony of the farming implement in her hand being more effective than the ancient and revered tanto, and made a note to bless the ancestors and thank the stars for small mercies. As William retreated amidst his malaise and flame, the sound of eggshells breaking made her wince.

Delicate movements and careful footwork thus far had kept the lives of the phantasmal birds relatively safe, but as the heat of war grew, there would be nothing but carnage on all fronts. She wondered if the monks had a secret and perverse sense of humour in killing the unloving fragments of nature they created. "Fire, anger, suffering, you are nothing more than a monster - draw blood, and you see nothing more than poison seeping from the wound." She caustically jabbed insults as the man back-peddled and coiled the kunai's sash around her wrist.

It's purpose served, she anchored it to her hand and held it firmly in a reverse grip, one more common-place and versatile. It would be difficult, short of miraculous to dislodge from her person now, but from the tone of her opponent's threat, he might simply chose to tear her arm from it's socket and beat her to death with it over complicated parrying techniques and delicate disarming.

"Fighting with rage and skill masquerading as brutality is the man's form in life," she flicked her hair, dislodged from it's weave behind her ears with her non-bound hand and moved it behind her back, her clenched fist nestling into the small of her back like a servant.

"Fighting with cunning, tactile movements and deception is of course the woman's. Will you fight predictably, or show me an understanding of the feminine self - a comprehension of what it feels like to suffer from birth for one's namesake?" She cut the kunai through the air across her neck, perhaps too soon to be a threat, and too portentous to be anything other than pre-cognitive showing of her own demise.

She stomped her foot and clicked her knock with a sickening roll of muscles twitching and vertebrae loosening.

"Let us ask the Thayne together, when we are done here squabbling - prove to me you are worth the offer of a lifetime I have come to deliver," she lowered her weapon to her midriff and held it defiantly like a shield, "fight!"

[Revenant]

"That's the problem with you Akashimen," William laughed, a dark, growing laugh. "You and Hotouri and Taka all seem to think that this is some flowery game." William pulled his hand away from the gash on his forearm, exposing the ragged wound to Lillith's view. His healing ability had slowed the bleeding enough that he wouldn't immediately bleed out, but it was obvious that it would be nothing more than a hindrance for the rest of the fight. "But this," he thrust the wound forward, splattering the dead bay grass with his viscous blood, "this is what combat is. This is all that combat is."

"Your prattle about men and women mean nothing to me," William grinned. As annoying as her flowery speech had been, it had shaken the worst of William's rage from his mind. While his body continued to burn under the effects of his molten power, his mind was free from the overwhelming rage that had possessed him. "But if it's really a fight against my full power that you want..." William let his words linger between them, blown away by the gentle breeze washing over the bay grass heights, before suddenly darting forward. As his transformation fully manifested, the twisted bone wormed through his flesh to form steel-hard bone gauntlets from fingertip to elbow. A seeping, cracked gap remained in the gauntlet of his wounded arm, but William had no intention of using that arm again unless he absolutely had to.

William closed quickly, his supernatural speed doubled in his demonic form, weaving back and forth to keep Lillith on her toes. At the last instant he wove around to the Akashiman's off-side, making a quick exploratory slash with his non-wounded claw. The slash in his shoulder throbbed and burned, its healing slowed by the corrosive nature of his power, but it was a pain that he would have to fight through if he wanted to bleed his opponent. And at this moment, there was nothing on Althanas that he wanted more.

[Lillith]

"What is a game without risk my good man?" The Oni tainted form of William did not phase Lillith as he approached, but the cold-hearted fealty he pledged to carnage started to unnerve her. She had been commanded, although commanded politely to approach this creature for aid, but she wondered, worried and questioned every motive and reason Duffy would have for doing so. What had he seen or heard about him, to make him so certain he would be of use to them in their coming trials?

He arced around to her off-side, and as the claw lashed out for her delicate skin, she cast her blade to her side as if fishing for metal, and stepped with grace to her right; parrying and retreating at the same time.

"Boring!" She smiled, "that's what!" The heavy jolt of strength versus skill juddered up her arm and she withdrew her weapon and turned to face William head on. If he was 'awake,' fully alert and attentive and eager to kill her, then she too would cease her petty meanderings. He had been shown a brief glimpse of the culture he would have to suffer in serving the Tantalum - in his hopeful employment. Her tanto was nothing compared to the sharp wit and customs of her people, where a man could be cut in two for the slightest mistake.

"Whatever you are, be true to yourself, and I shall endeavour to do the same!" She withdrew her second tanto and span them both around like knitting needles, threading fate and skill together in a patient, beautiful arrangement of movements. Certain that the transformation was verging on completion, and unable to contain her enthusiasm any longer, she lunged.

With two steps, she brought herself once again into the reach of the claws, but pulled both her blades in to her chest and drove them forwards with all the power she could muster and the speed she could profess. One tip aimed for the heart, the other for the air; she played her own game, and whilst it was a strong move, she wished to see if William could see the wide open opportunity for recovery she was offering him...even if it was her neck.

[Revenant]

Damn her, William cursed. He was certain that he should have slashed her with his last strike but the exotic woman had easily parried and danced away. The throbbing in his shoulder and the fire in his arm burned wildly across his mind with each move and he could not afford to waste his attacks so futilely.

The choice, however, was taken from him as Lillith’s darting figure moved back in, throwing her steel before her as a vanguard. Words and steel, by the Thayne this Akashiman certainly had bite. She also displayed an exuberance that William would have found humorous were it directed at anyone other than him, but in this situation he found it annoying. And right now that annoyance was exactly the opposite of what he wanted from this fight. He was here to vent his frustration while testing his training, but he had already lost control once and had been forced to assume his demonic form. His instincts were screaming at him to leap upon the incoming blades and use his weight to bear them down so that he could claw out Lillith’s throat, he was in the Citadel after all and even a deadly thrust would be healed in a matter of hours. But that too went against what he wanted and grudgingly William forced himself away from his desired course and into another avenue of action.

It was easy to see that one of Lillith’s strikes was nothing more than a feint, one that William could casually avoid be doing nothing more than dropping his center a few inches. Doing so however, brought his vitals in-line with the second strike, no doubt his foe’s intent. But if her plan were to take William out of this fight with a maneuver so simple and easy to read, than the woman was more of a fool than he thought.

A thrill of pleasure danced across William’s countenance as he ducked under the feint, bringing the bone carapace that covered his uninjured arm around at the same time to deflect the heart piercing strike. Hotouri and Ta’Gaz would have no doubt scolded him on the recklessness with which he did so, using his steel hard forearms more like a club to smash the blade out of the way than as an implement of elegant defense, but William was losing himself to the thrill of combat and the blood pounding in his ears drowned out his mentors’ distant voices.

“That’s it?” he snarled happily, a note of superiority tinting his tone. With the immediate threat out of the way William felt free to unleash a counterattack. Too much strain would aggravate the wounds in his arm and shoulder, negating the slight bit of healing his body could accomplish against the constant breakdown of his transformation, but he would be a fool to leave Lillith free reign while she was in this close. He had played with the maneuvers that Hotouri had taught to him, but now it was time to give Ta’Gaz’s lessons a tryout.

Surging forward, William kicked his leading knee up; bracing the other foot in the highland’s shifting sand for stability and driving against it like a shot from an Alerarian musket. A leaping knee strike was one of Ta’Gaz’s favored techniques, but where the fighting master pounced like a coiled hunting cat when he did it, William came forward more like a stampeding bull. If the knee connected it would almost certainly take the step out of the pretty Akashiman’s dance, but if she managed to twist out of the way of the clumsy assault then there would be little William could do to keep her from finishing this fight.

[Lillith]

Blind-sided by her own self confidence, the knee to her chest was unexpected, and fortunately for William, well placed enough to deal the decisive convex curve to Lillith's ball game. The woman's way fettered from view, and cracked under the pressure like the bird eggs under foot. She stumbled big with blind indifference, her boots crushing little lives and swirling the bull-grass in two little wakes of movement.

She was surprised that her strikes had been deflected so easily, but not surprised that Duffy's faith in this man was well placed, well tempered by rumour and witness alike. In the split second that she stumbled, her guard dropped and her weapons flew back as she tried to steady herself amidst her daze.

"That's...it," she mumbled, head hung low, racked with a dense throb as the wind was knocked from her.

All of her expertise and training had taught her to deflect metal, not flesh, and the simple and brutal effectiveness of a man's ravaged soul had done away with the tanto and the shogunate efficiency Lillith fought with. All around them great flocks of birds flew up from nowhere, their hiding place spoiled by war. With a tumultuous death call they blackened the sky and swirled around the combatants, enveloping them in a blanket of moving, liquid darkness.

Through the feather fall and calamity, Lillith smiled at William, and lifted her neck for him to claim in vain.

"So be it!" She closed her eyes.

[Revenant]

William looked down at the fallen Akashiman, his demonic body silhouetted over her slumped form like one of the great Oni Lords of Akashiman legend. He could feel the burning need fer death coursing through him, his fiery blood pounding a rapid drumbeat in his ears as he looked upon the smooth, unmarred porcelain of her upraised throat. One slight motion, a gentle pull from his razor sharp claws that moved faster than the human eye could follow would be all it took to spill her blood upon the sand and wilted grass, mixing it with the seeping fluid of broken bird eggs. But there was something in the calm serenity of Lilllith's face that caught William's attention, the patient acceptance with which she awaited her death staying that last terrible strike, drawing the seconds out into minutes. Finally, after an agonizingly long wait, William dropped his clawed hand to hang limply at his side.

"You damned Akashiman and your poetic deaths," William sighed, letting his power fall from him like a weight off his shoulders. Bone carapace and charred flesh receded, leaving William human once again. The cuts on his shoulder and forearm were black, ugly gashes, and they ached fiercely but they were already on their way to healing. The rest of his wounds, the cracks in his flesh left by his transformation, healed much quicker, being nothing more than a manifestation of his power. When the last hints of his demon self were locked away inside him William turned away from Lillith. He puffed his chest out and closed his eyes, enjoying the simple feel of the distant sea breeze over his body and through his lungs.

"I've heard Hotouri talk about Akashima. Taka mentions it every now and then but it's different with him. He was forced to leave, but Hotouri left of his own free will. He talks often about Akashima's beauty, both simple and wildly complex at the same time." There was a hint of softness, of wistful dreaming in the firelight of William's eyes as he spoke, taking in all of the peaceful harmony of the windswept grassland. When he turned back to Lillith the softness was gone, replaced once more by his normal look of fire and death.

"I don't know anything about your beauty," he said, his voice a low growl. "I'm a creature of fire and death. I was created with the sole purpose of destruction, and everything falls and turns to dust in my eyes." For a moment it seemed like William had changed his mind, but he dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand. "But today I came with a different purpose. I wanted to test how much I had learned in a fight and I've done that. I'm done here and you're free to go."

[Lillith]

Lillith smiled, the words jolting her eyes open with a heavy heart beating to the rising ascent of the flock. As William said the word test, all the pieces of the long and arduous puzzle she had been assembling came together. The Citadel had proven it's use to the troupe once more, and the valiant and pragmatic honour of Akashima flowed both in her bosom, and in his rage.

"Congratulations, William." She recalled the long title and list of achievements next to her meagre name on the board in the fighting arena's foyer, and she was glad his carnal fury had not overtaken him to prove her wrong. "You are every bit as radiant and honourable as the title of honour you hold proclaims - Scara Brae is both in safe hands, and righteous ones too."

She stood slowly, the tiredness and weakness of her over exertion beginning to show in her lithe form and nimble, quick witted riposte. She had been in Radasanth, and the inhospitable city air of Corone's capital for too many long nights - with her objectives reached, she looked forwards to returning to the neo-industry and steam laden streets of Scara Brae, far from the maddening crowd.

"I wish to make you an offer, one relating to your position of office in the City Guard," she did away with her weapons and delicately wiped away the yolk on her shoes with a clump of grass. "The Tantalum requires access to the catacombs beneath the city, in particular, the Old Segovia beneath the Royal Palace. If you could orchestrate an expedition to that region, so that we may acquire something that once belonged to us, but was lost, we will reward you handsomely and make a promise to never steal or run riot in the city again - a trade, if you will?"

She turned her back to him and began to stride away, the door she had entered opened with a thudder, and she stopped as she began to fade into the darkness. "You need only shout your answer in the streets of Scara Brae, and we will hear you - wherever you stand and whatever hour..."

With that, she was gone, a fleeting incident of opportunity on three unsuspecting heroes in a foreign land.




Meiko - trainee Geisha.

Okiya - Geisha house.

Lillith is referring to William's inception as Captain of the Guard in The Sky is Falling in her concluding remark.

[Silence Sei]

Full rub, no-to-light com, you got it.

Rev
• STORY ~


Continuity ~ 6/10

Setting ~ 5/10


Pacing ~ 5/10

16/30

CHARACTER ~

Dialogue ~ 7/10

Action ~ 7/10

Persona ~ 5/10
19/30


• WRITING STYLE ~

Mechanics ~ 5/10 Lemme just say, in one of your posts, you gave Lillith and extra L to the middle of her name. Was kinda funny.

Technique ~ 6/10


Clarity ~ 8/10
Wild Card ~ 5/10

24/40

Rev total: 59/100

Lillith
• STORY ~


Continuity ~ 6/10

Setting ~ 6/10. I felt like your description with the eggs is what sparked Rev to do the same thing later on.


Pacing ~ 5/10

17/30

CHARACTER ~

Dialogue ~ 7/10

Action ~ 7/10

Persona ~ 5/10
19/30


• WRITING STYLE ~

Mechanics ~ 5/10 Your biggest error here was in your first post, ‘Her only reply her been "Suffer, relish the days and make good of the shattered dreams."’ Her only reply her, huh?

Technique ~ 6/10


Clarity ~ 6/10. Better than most your characters, but still confusing when you got to the DoD
Wild Card ~ 5/10

22/40

Lillith Total: 58/100


Rev is the winner. He gets 1575 exp, and 20 GP, because he is cruel and hurts eggs.

Lillith gets 450 exp, and 50 exp, because while she did break some eggs as well, she did –try- to avoid them.

Locked away until exp is delivered later today!

[Silence Sei]

gp-exp added.