Land of Confusion

[Mari]

The compound known as the Seventh Sanctum sat directly below them. Shadowed in the early morning light, the wooden structures and cabins surrounded by dense forest filled Amari’s heart with a heavy sense of dread. Beside her stood Taka; tall and proud, as a Ronin should be, his exterior unflinching and calm.

Amari turned her golden hued eyes toward him. The bitter cold winds picked at strands of his ivory hair and let them sway gently in the breeze. She took a deep breath and exhaled steam.

“Taka…” Amari’s voice weighed heavy with apprehension. She reached out and her fingers danced delicately over his gauntleted hands to interlock with his, finding a comfort she so desperately wanted to hang onto.

“You are not to set foot into the Inner Sanctum. I may hold sway within the place, but not so much so that I can allow a sworn enemy to the Crimson Hand wander free.” Her words were a heavy warning spoken with the steeled and heartless authority of one who could call herself the second in command.

His steel gaze never once left hers as he spoke with a concise inflection. “As Promised Amari-Chan, I will not put myself in harms way for the sole purpose of avenging you.” His vow was followed by a squeeze of her hand.

The warming gesture was welcomed but did little to alleviate the turbulence she felt. As a final goodbye to the man she had come to know the last few weeks, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek. His skin was cool and prickled at her touch. As far as the ronin was concerned, he’d see her again, but Amari knew better. This would be their final goodbye, for the wrath of Lichensith Ulroke was absolute. Even with her new found energy, her cleansed soul, and a sense of independent self worth, the assassin’s control ran deep in her veins and her psyche.

“Sah-ya-nora.” The woman poorly spoke in Akashiman, Taka’s native tongue, in a bid to set him at ease. With that final, gentle touch of skin, Amari was gone.


***

The cold, wet, snow sloshed into her boots as Amari dragged Noels corpse through the centre of the Sanctum, hefting the entirety of his weight over one shoulder; the thick coarse rope dug into her skin but she persevered. The other hand held a wooden bound book tight to her chest, the artifact that caused all of this, it was worth more to her than anything in the world.

Few people littered the grounds, it was too early for the roughians to be awake, and those that were knew well enough to keep to themselves rather than approach the redheaded woman. Most of them...

She was approached by Advencia, a small succubus whose curled golden locks bounced with every step she took. Her long ruffled dress trailed behind her in the wet snow, and her chest, as always, looked as though it would burst forth from the tight bodice around her torso. “I thought I smelt you.” She cooed, her tail flicking side to side. “It’s about time you came back~ “

Advencia was excited to see Amari’s return, and spoke in hurried excitement. “I’ve been busy! I’ve killed so many, I got into a fist fight with Calleus.” She stalked closer and gripped Amari’s upper arms tightly. “Look! Look! Not even a scratch on me. He’s sportin’ a black eye though!” Advencia finished with a melodic laugh.

“Advencia…” Amari said, exasperated. “Please not now… I have urgent business.”

Advencia pouted, her brows furrowing. “Mistress… what’s going on?”

Amari shoved the book into Advencia’s hands; the book was important, but Amari trusted the demoness, Advencia had proved herself not only loyal, but caring toward her. “I will explain later, right now It is very important you get this to Madison. Tell her I’m coming to see her soon. Don’t stop for anyone, not even Ulroke. Can you do this for me?”

Advencia looked up at Amari, noticing something different about her. Her entire being seemed to be brimming with energy, she even emitted a faint glow in the dim morning light. Advencia could practically taste the divide in it. The woman was in a very precarious state, a push in either direction could drastically change how she functioned and that both concerned and excited the demoness.

Advencia stepped closer toward Amari. She was never able to feed off someone by just being in their presence before, and it was exhilarating. “I will Mistress, but she is no longer here, she is in Tirel.” She carefully took the book in her hands. “However I will do this for you… The hand is here for you.” Her icy eyes darted to Noels’ body behind Amari. Now seeing at least in part, why Amari was teetering on a dangerous slope. “I’m sorry for your loss… He was loyal to you, because of him many of us see you as our leader, and no longer Ulroke.” Advencia held the book tight to her bosom, further accentuating her assets. “You know how dangerous he can be…” Advencia met Amari’s gaze, “Be careful.” She turned and headed toward Madison’s research labs, flowing white dress trailing behind her.

The book of the Ar’Tuel, her origin, was safely on its way to be decrypted, it was one less thing Amari had to worry about. She breathed a small sigh of relief watching Advencia before she disappeared round the corner of a building.

Now Amari had to tend to Noel’s deceased form, thanks to a constant stream of magic, his body had yet to rot or decay. Amari turned and kneeled by his side, she gave him a once over to ensure there were no abrasions or lesions on his body. He looked so peaceful, almost as if he were just sleeping. It still hurt to think that he had died, even more so to think she had come all the way here, risking Taka’s life in doing so…. Only to find out that the one woman who could bring him back had left the Crimson Hand. Amari felt guilty, the man had gone insane due to magicite poisoning, blinded by his rage. If he hadn’t of gone deep into the cave to retrieve the book, he would still be here now.

“You’ve been nothing but loyal to me, and look where that landed you…” Amari whispered as her hand danced over his forehead. She then checked his pockets and sure enough, there were still a few shards of magicite. Amari swore as she threw them to the snow, her hand instantly burning at the contact.

“And what is this?” The rich, velvet voice was all too familiar as Lye reached down and scooped up the crystals with a gloved hand. “Scarlet, care to explain?”

Shit, he came outta nowhere fast.

“It’s….Magicite…” Amari said tersely, not wishing to explain it further, she diverted his attention. “As for Noel, he fell in battle. I wanted to get him to Madison, but… I hear she has gone to Tirel...” Amari stood up and stepped forward to pull Noel further, but she was stopped by Lye.

“Why?” The tone of his voice grated on Amari. She knew it's condescending nature, and that it’d be followed by -- “Noel was a worthless asset to the Hand. He’ll serve better as a corpse.”

“No. He was worthless to you Ulroke. He was a loyal compatriot and servant to me.” Amari gave a heavy sigh, it had all been for naught. She doubted she’d be able to haul Noel all the way to Tirel. She wasn’t even sure where it was. “I won’t tolerate you tarnishing his name.”

[Lye]

He stared down at her and the lifeless puppet she tended. The scowl on his face, seeming ever permanent, grew in intensity.

“He was expendable,” the assassin growled in reply. “Servant, companion, or otherwise, Noel served no purpose to me. If that waste of air provided you some manner of comfort, good. At least he did something with his miserable existence.”

Lye diverted his attention to the gems in his hand. To the touch alone, they burned like frostbite yet seemed no different than any other precious gem or mineral. Until, his memory dredged up the face of a young blonde girl and her redheaded friend. Lye’s fingers wrapped around the crystals in a firm fist.

“Enough about that wretch. Where did you get these?” He asked in regards to the content in his hands.

“THIS is why you are losing loyalty amongst your men!” Amari snapped back. “Your men look to you for guidance and support and you treat them like tools.” She stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “If you keep pulling that shit, you’re going to find yourself right back in those cells. You already drove Madison away, she’s only one small push away from contacting Aure. You need to watch your goddamn attitude.” Her eyes darted to the magicte and she appeared to take a step back. “Those were in a cave, in Dheathain. Fuckin’ nearly killed me. Just get rid of them, they’re worthless.”

The minutia of patience he had for her pulled taut and snapped. His palm open and slammed the jagged stoned into Amari’s throat, fingers gripping her firmly. Sparks of light lifted from her form and began to be absorbed by the bloodied crystal. His teeth bared and a roar of anger spilled forth.

“If these men need coddling, they can work for a noble! I’ll be damned if some privileged bitch lectures me about loyalty amongst killers and thieves! A common goal, that’s what keeps us from slitting each other’s throats in the night! If you have no use to the cause, you’re lucky to be alive and you--!”

His grip tightened and he lifted her to the tips of her feet. He trembled, not from exertion, but from his unbridled anger toward her insubordination.

“You are alive because I will it! Madison be damned! She chose her path of books and ‘the greater good’! You have a purpose and a use. You belong to me and will do as I command! Am I clear?!”

He let her free with a shove toward the icy tundra and her felled lover. His chest rose steadily, each breath escaping his lips like clouds of heated steam.

She crumpled to the floor, a shaking hand reaching for the shard in her throat, too small to cut through, but enough to cause blood to trickle down. “I-I’ve been nothing but loyal!” She gasped. “I’m...not your tool.” Her eyes flickered as she attempted to pry the crystal from her throat as it leeched shades of golden glow from the woman. “I want-wanted to help you..” She gave another gasp for air, her head falling into the snow. The magicite having a clear and detrimental affect on her, especially now that it was partially imbedded into her skin. “I am NOT your tool.”

As the last word left her lips, his boot found her stomach. Her speech turned to coughs and gasps for air. While she struggled to find her breath, the assassin reached down to the motionless corpse of Noel and hefted it over his shoulder. The cold and hardened face of disappointment wore on Lye’s features as he looked down on her.

“You disappoint me, Scarlet,” hissed the tyrant. “I taught you better than this. You’re not some tool, but I won’t have you talking down to me! You need to wake up.”

As he spoke, Lye began walking toward an animal pen in the distance. The rich aroma of excrement and rot wafted from it as the massive boars within nested in their own filth.

Amari normally was able to pull herself back up after such a beating, but she didn’t leave her spot, crumbled on the snow. “Y-Youre the one who needs to wake up, U-Ulroke.” Her brows furrowed, “G-give him a proper burial.” She struggled to take a deep breath, before shouting after him. “ULROKE’!”

Lye slammed Noel’s body against wooden table. The top of the table was stained black with the dried blood of previous bodied that once laid upon it. Scores and valleys from a butcher’s cleaver marred its surface. With one of his blades from his back, Lye cut away Noel’s clothing to expose the pale, colorless flesh beneath.

“This is the burial this man deserves,” Lye growled, driving the blade into the corpse’s sternum and pulling it roughly toward the groin. “A dead man is a dead man!”

Lye’s gloved hand plunged into Noel’s gut and emerged with a handful of innards he quickly cut free from the rest. From the table beside the pen, he cast the remains to the boar’s trough and plunged in for more.

[Mari]

She was nestled deep in the cold snow, the bite of the ice nipped at her flesh and sent ripples of goosebumps and shivers through her body. The numbing pain was a stark contrast to the burning in her neck. The Magicite had barely pierced her skin but its effect was clear. With each ragged breath Amari found it harder to breath, with every rise of her chest her heart thumped harder and harder against her aching ribs.

“Ulroke….” her voice was weaker now, words barely a whisper spoken through cracked, bruised lips. “S-s-stop….”

Amari was helpless, she had to watch as her efforts were ripped and pulled apart by a merciless man. Tears dotted her eyes. It had all been for nothing. She tried so hard to bring Noel back, and she had failed, she wanted to make it up to him, she wanted to apologise for the magicite, and she wanted to show Taka that the man wasn’t an ape headed brute. Now...she’d never get that chance.

She hiccuped and flinched as Lye bought the cleaver high over his head and with a series of ‘Thwacks’ that echoed around them, started cutting through Noels limbs, carelessly throwing each one to the boars.

”Taka I’m so sorry I wasted your time...Noel… dammit why did I let you come with me?

With a great deal of effort Amari rolled onto her stomach, coughing into the snow, she could smell the metallic iron from her own blood, her arms ached as she pushed herself up. “I...I am Amari….”

She lifted her head, ignoring the thumping pain that ebbed at her temples. Head blazing with a brilliant golden fury that burned in the dim light. A burning defiance she had never shown him, even before he broke her and moulded her into his ideal. One that he was no doubt afraid he’d one day see. “I… I… am Amari, third born of the Ar’Tuel and guardian of Ghyran’s creations and b-bringer of life.”

Despite her efforts she collapsed back into the snow. “And...I-I will not...have you...desecrate...my friends...corpse…” She spoke between ragged breaths, trying to keep focus on the visage of the silver haired assassin.

The edge of his blade fell and the head of Noel leapt from the table to the snow. Lye’s body held steady, motionless for a brief moment as Salvar’s frigid breeze filled the silence. He punctuated it by jamming his tanto into the wood where he left it to stand on its own. Wordless, he bent over and plucked the head from the tundra.

“What did you say your name was?” The words left his lips low, and guttural. He turned to face Amari, her friend’s remains dangling by the hair in his firm grasp. Lye’s boots broke the packed, icy snow with each step. A sharp crackle echoed in his approach.

“Y-you heard me.” Amari knew he was near, how near, it was hard to say. Her vision had blurred to the point where Lye was nothing more than an inky black smudge against waves of white. Every minute movement for her was agony, she tried to break free, to project her soul away from the body but the magicite held it fast to its physical form.

Amari shut her eyes, she knew she were to be punished. Severely, but Ulroke needed a good slap of reality. She wanted to remain loyal to him, she wanted to keep her promise… to ensure he smiled, just once...out of contented warmth... but how could she when he was being so ruthless?

She heard him kneel down close to him and place something into the powder in front of her. Though difficult to see, Amari looked up to Noel’s bloodied expression. Guilt wracked her body.

“Was he ‘loyal’ to you?” Lye asked. “Were you kind to him? How did he die, Scarlet? In battle, or some self sacrifice for delusional affections? I did not kill him, did I? You place your anger in the wrong place.”

“R-Remove the magicite.” Amari breathed, she was barely able to respond with the crystal literally sapping her life away. The man’s questions swam in her head, and although she didn’t speak the answers they hung heavy in her heart. Noel died for her sake, how was it that Lye was able to pick up on it so easily, knowing that the man died because he had affections for her?

She felt his warm hand reach for her neck and prepared for his firm clutch. Instead, she felt the sharp pain of his fingers prying the remnant crystals from her skin. A trail of light followed the crystal as he pulled away and wiped it free of her blood.

Amari jolted and felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted from her body, she immediately sat up her hand shooting for her neck. “NEVER. A-AGAIN!” She spat at him.

“Answer my question, Scarlet.” Lye knelt down and picked Noel’s head up by his hair, pressing it into her lap. “How did he die?”

Amari glanced down, her fingers wove into the dead mans hair, his blood soaked through her wet clothes, still warm. If she weren’t so accustomed to such grotesque mutilations she would have thrown up. Instead, she swallowed the feeling of nausea. “Magicite poisoning...he went mad and attacked a man, who killed him.” Her words grew softer with each sentence as she bit her lower lip. “I was….always kind to him….” She whispered. “Noel…” Amari wrapped her arms tightly around his head and pressed her face into his matted hair. “I’m sorry…”

“Your affections killed him,” Lye stated. He stood tall over her, his judgmental gaze ever watchful. “Were you firm with him and knew his limitations as I did, you would not have exposed him those dangers. He was an errand boy at best, nothing more. Do you see that?”

Amari gripped Noels head tighter, wondering if his words were true. It made sense...if Amari had been just a little more blunt with the man, maybe he would have survived. Her thoughts drifted to Taka, and his pep talks.

“No….” Amari whispered, she couldn’t let the man talk her down.

“You’re wrong.” She carefully set Noels head to the side. “I saw a great man, who died to aid his superior. One who was ever loyal, and who had my back in battle. My kindness did not kill him, the magicite did, Aislinn said it corrupted his mind.” Her eyes drifted to her arms, which were virtually free of corruption. The people who were the sworn enemies of the Crimson Hand had done so much for Amari, she couldn’t just back down now.

She pushed herself to her feet and looked down at Lye. “I feel sorry for you, you struggle to comprehend how meaningful a kind act can be.” She shook her head, “I wonder if you are even capable of such kindness, or if it died all those years ago.”

[Lye]

The talk of loyalty and emotions grated on his nerves. Advencia, Madison, Noel, all three seemed enchanted by Amari’s ideals of a compassionate relationship. Those same relationships that meant death for anyone close to Lye. Whether by his choice or fate’s, those who felt emotion toward him perished. He had no room for it.

“I am aware of what a kind act can do. It is the sweetest poison,” he spoke with bitterness and drifting nostalgia. “This world is not kind, and I would have figured you had learned that by now.”

His gaze drifted to her pristine arms, devoid of the black corruption. How he failed to notice until now bothered him. Moreso, he felt violated by its sight. As if the gutter rat he plucked off the streets of Knife’s Edge now stood before him, defiant now as she was then. His head lifted, gaze locked on her hands.

“I see. You’ve fallen for yet another, have you? More lies? Was Lamont not ‘kind’ to you as a child?”

He grinned as he elicit the action he wanted within the girl. “Don’t you DARE say that name around me! I’ve fallen for no one!” She didn’t sound entirely sure of herself. “I told you what I went to do, I told you I’d seek out my origins; and now I know them, and a large tome of information is being ferried to Madison to decipher its text as we speak. I thought the world unkind Ulroke, I thought it harsh and cruel. I saw the people I cared about ripped away from me, I saw the things I love shrivel and die in my grasp.” Her angered words continued, and he watched, as the smallest of crystalline black cracks began to appear on her pristine skin.

“I don’t need you patronising me!” She hissed.

“So the pot calls the kettle black. Who started this lunacy with that?” Lye pointed at the head at their feet. “You give your affections too freely, Scarlet. Believe what you will, but that will be your demise. Have I not told you my experiences? You rather see that loss for yourself?!”

She brought her hand up and slapped him across the face in response. “Shut up! You experienced loss, but you’ve shut yourself away, that’s YOUR fault! You’re so blind to what is right in front of you! At least I’m trying to push forward!” More cracks appeared on her skin and he knew he was getting to her.

The sting of her hand prickled at his skin. In the brisk air, the faint outline of her hand grew rosen on his face. The fire of anger swelled in his verdant eyes and his teeth clenched. From a brilliant blaze, it quelled to an ember, smothered by his will to contain himself.

“And you’ve opened yourself up. For another Shinsou, for another Noel, Advencia, and even another man to lie to you like your brother. To drop your defences for what? Love? Or perhaps something more sinister? Your brother loved you.” He shook his head. “No, you give your affection too freely. Compassion has its purpose, but not now and not here. It is only for those you trust with your life. And if he couldn’t protect you, why care for him?”

She shook her head, Amari was never good with words. “I j-just….” She gripped at her heart trying to find answers that she didn’t have. “I can’t answer that.” she muttered, defeated. As her anger lessened, so too did the cracks.

Lye noticed this, and wondered if it needed to be cemented in her again. Without it, she couldn’t use the blindingly dark, and useful abilities that came with it.

“You’re only throwing them to the wolves for your own name.”

“You’re suggesting I’d bring death to those I became close to?” She asked, her voice cracking.

“The more people you cling to, the more of a target they’ll become. You will get them killed unless they’re strong enough. Noel was weak. Your affection killed him despite what object or action struck the final blow,” Lye stated. His weight weighed down on the decapitated skull. “Whatever stuck this idea of compassion in your head is a poison and needs to be dealt with. Give me a name.”

“No.”

Lye’s gazed at her through slits.

“You won’t get a second opportunity. Surrender the name, or surrender yourself,” he warned.

She paid little heed to his warning. “No, Master Ulroke.”

“So be it.” His words came swiftly as his blow. A balled fist rocketed into the square of her chest, knocking her breathless, Amari collapsed to her knees, her fingers catching hold of his hand, she squeezed tightly with a concentrated look on her face, but released it as she rolled onto the floor.

“You can’t use your gifts.” Lye stated. “Pathetic, to think I was once proud of you. You were my strong Scarlet, able to hold her own, now look at you.”

Lye knelt down beside her and lifted Amari’s head eye to eye. “I’ve grown tired of your obstinance.”

As he rose, he purchased a handful of her hair and like the first few days of their meeting, he dragged her through the packed snow toward the longhouse against the cliffside. Her usual fight was weakened from the magicite, but she still held onto his wrists and tried to flip her body out of his grasp. “Uh..Uhlro..Stop!”

He kept silent, aside from the echoing thud of his boot into the massive doors leading to the grand hall. The solid oak groaned and creaked open and frigid winter air washed over the polished stone floor. Embers from the central hearth burned bright and dulled from the sudden waft as he dragged her past and to the doors at the back of the room.

“I can walk!” She hissed. “I’ll answer your other q-questions just not that o-” She broke into a fit of wheezed coughs as he stopped his stride enough to plant a boot into her chest. Shoving the door open to the inner cavern of the sanctum, he dragged her into the room and shut the door behind them.

“I’ll beat the answer out of you if I have to,” Lye warned. As he spoke, he shed his winter furs and pulled a single mythril khukri from its scabbard on his thigh.

Amari pushed herself off the floor, unafraid. “Go ahead! Why the hell should I tell you every little thing I do?” She challenged him. “I wasn’t afraid of you back then and be damned if I am now!”

Face flat as slate, he drew a fist across her face. “You call yourself loyal but you withhold answers from me?” Another fist drove into her gut, careful to avoid cutting her with the blade in its grasp.

Amari heaved, coughing again, her cheek and left eye already began to swell and redden. “Y-You should ask the right questions.” She muttered with a bitter laugh. “You taught me that.”

“Then tell me who or what is responsible for your change,” he spoke, pacing around her like a wolf to its prey.

“I told you; a woman named Aislinn Orlouge.” Amari gingerly lifted a hand to reveal the piece of Jade that had been woven into her hair. “She wove this into my hair, and she receded my corruption.” She paused, offering him a snide smirk, as if she knew that wasn’t what he meant.

Lye whipped out and snatched the jade in her hair. A fell swoop of his blade cut it free into his hand and a boot slammed into her stomach, sending her to the floor. As Amari gasped and coughed, he held the adorned hair in his palm with curiosity. He turned it over, then shot a look toward Amari.

“You didn’t mention that name before,” he growled. “Orlouge…”

The name forced his hand shut around the trinket, leather groaning loudly under the strain of his might. A muffled crack sounded from his fist before he cast the clump of hair to the floor. Broken jade scattered to the dirt.

“Tell me.” he stepped swiftly beside her, his hot breath close enough to dance across her skin. “Were there other Ixians? Was there a man named Sei? Where did this happen?!”

Amari rolled onto her back, her fingers pushed his hair away from her face, only for it to fall back into place. “Probably. No. Dheathein, after I fell unconscious in the magicite cave.” Her eyes fell to his, and she locked her gaze. “I almost died, permanently. She saved me.”

“Why?” he hissed. “Does she know about the Hand?” Amari shook her head in response.

Lye stood, his gaze adrift in the haze of his own thoughts. He paced away from her for a moment, clearly troubled by the news. Magicyte in Dheathain, Ixians on site, and now her obstinance. What did they tell her? What were they after? Were they organized? Where was Sei Orlogue?

“Just the one Ixian?” Lye asked, his tone softer and more quizzical. “What were they doing there…” The last question drifted off as if asked to himself.

Amari pushed herself back to a seated position, her hand tenderly upon her bruised face, golden light danced across her features and she had healed both her face, and her neck. “There were more. I don’t know what they were doing there. I was a little preoccupied, yanno.. dying.” She muttered bitterly. “Not that you seem to care.” She stood and started dusting herself off, shaking the dirt that clung to the wet blood on her clothes. “Are you done posterizing? I got shit to do.”

“No,” he turned to face her again. His expression twisted with disapproval. “You can be brought back from the dead, so remind me why dying is a problem for you. If Noel knew that, he may not have offered his life for you.”

Lye stepped closer to her. “And where exactly do you have to be? With that book you talked about? Or something else… There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“You aren’t listening, I was dying. Not a regular death, but a permanent death. That magicyte, Ulroke. That can kill me. Permanently. No revival, no rebirth. Nothing. I’d cease to exist… so yeh, it was a fuckin’ problem!” She snapped. “As for Noel! He died because his mind was poisoned by that same. Fucking. Stone. He was killed by an Ixian Knight and he fought with all his fucking strength! Stop fuckin’ talking down to me , and assuming shit you don’t know!” She spat, the truth unwittingly spilling from her lips as she continued her angry tirade. “Of COURSE there is shit I ain’t telling you! I don’t want to!”

“You misunderstand the definition of loyalty, and now I know how to keep you from coming back from the dead,” Lye growled. “Thank you for that.”

With a clenched fist, he possessed her body with shadow. He chuckled darkly.

“To think Noel was killed by a woman, pathetic.” As he spoke, he lifted Amari toward the wrought iron door in the cavern wall which lead to the dungeon.

[Mari]

“You wouldn’t dare let me die like that!” She hissed as she felt her body tighten, constricted with dark shadows that coiled around each of her limbs, cutting into her circulation, weaving around her chest and neck and constricting her motion as she was pulled helplessly into the air. “He died by a ronins hand, and even if it were a woman, that’s a fuckin’ insult and you know it!”

The constrictions tightened around her neck as she was bought through the doors and further down into the dungeon, she knew this would happen. She knew she’d be punished for withholding information, but she couldn’t just rat out Taka like that. He had done everything to help her, he risked his life, and his men were all so very worried for him. Amari promised both Aislinn and his men that she’d do her best to ensure his safety.

“The hell, Ulroke.” Amari gasped, “You’re being an a-ass.”

“A ronin?” His words were genuinely curious. “Perhaps the masked Akashiman? How rich. Noel deserves more credit than I gave him.” He carried her down the steps, suspended by invisible chains.


Amari inwardly winced, and stayed silent at his words. She wasn’t expecting him to guess who it was, she had been very vague with her answers on purpose. She felt a heavy weight settle in her stomach, and it wasn’t from the increased pressure of his invisible grip. Amari had to say something, her silence may give too much away. “I don’t think he wore a mask, he had a sword and…..black robes.”

As they arrived in the dimly lit chamber lined with cells, the pungent aroma of moss and excrement wafted freely in the stale air causing Amari to gag. They past the silent and broken tenants, Lye flung Amari into an empty cell and slammed the barred door shut. She ricocheted off the back wall and fell to the floor, pain wracked her body and her skin was grazed by the gritty dirt, but she pushed herself to her feet and headed straight to the shut door, pulling on the bars. “You can’t keep me here!”

“Odd,” Lye added. “I wasn’t aware of another Eastern swordsman in their ranks. What was the name… Taka? One of the generals?”

Silence.

Silence hung in the air almost as thick and stagnant as the smell of rot and decay. Amari knew she had messed up, she shouldn’t have come back here with him. She should have scouted first, and then she could have diverted toward Madison. Taka would be safe then. Amari clung to the hope that the man kept to his word, and was now long gone. Whatever torture Lye had in store for her wouldn’t matter, because he’d be safe.


“And so what if it was?” Came Amari’s reply, her head hung low.

Lye’s lips spread to a toothy grin. “Now I have two names. Two Ixians that are still alive.” His fingers traced the bars. “And I can hunt them down.”

“Don’t you dare!” Amari spat back. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on Taka!” She snapped, her hand darting through the bars and grabbing a fistfall of his hair. She yanked him toward the cell, the bars vibrated as his forehead collided with the metal. “He’s off limits!”

Amari used her other hand to grip onto his jacket, pinning him against the bars. “I serve you, and ask for nothing.” She muttered in a low tone. “I’m asking this now. You leave him be.”

Teeth clenched and fire in his eyes, Lye stared intently back at her. Amari didn’t notice the reach of his arm behind her, but she felt the cold bite of metal into her back. Amari arched her back, a shrill cry of pain echoing in the chambers, her flesh burned and she could feel blood seeping from the wound but she refused to let go.

Her head reeled back forward, her fingers began to blacken as they entangled themselves further into his hair. “I said LEAVE. HIM. BE.” Amari gave another hard tug. She’d suffer through all the pain, she’d bite her tongue and deal with it, she’d allow herself to become fully corrupted again, if only it would continue to keep Lye here, and away from him. She couldn’t let anyone else die for her.

“Enough!” he roared and Amari felt her fingers lose grip. Amari’s hands wildly tried to reach for his spectral form but to no avail. “You are in no position to make demands and it is clear to me now that they’ve done something to you far beyond robbing you of your power! You will sit in this cell and think on your actions! In the meanwhile, I will pay your Taka and Aislinn a visit and give them your regards!”

As he turned to leave Amari began to panic, this was the opposite of what she wanted. She couldn’t be the reason he or any of the others were hurt. “He’s not the one who did this to me! I tricked him, slept with him!” She shouted in desperation in hopes she’d get his ire turned toward her again. “He’s done nothing to me, he’s only helped me… Just leave him alone!”

She saw him stop in his tracks just before the stairs leading out. His hand braced on the corner of the wall but he didn’t look her way. Instead, he merely scoffed, shook his head, and vanished from view. Only the echo of his boots left behind.

Amari’s hands slid down the bars, her body shook and despite her best efforts tears spilled over her cheeks. “Please Lye…. don’t…” She whispered. She weakly shook the bars. “If I were...corrupted….I could break free…”

[Tainted Bushido]

He almost wish he had his Nodachi on him. It would have made the fight he knew was coming more comfortable for him. He hadn't taken the Rat’s tail from his chambers since the last of the Knights evacuated Castle Ixia. It was a small bit of nostalgia he indulged in as he walked clearly down the path. He knew he had been spotted and didn't care someone would fetch Licensith Ulroke, and he would get his meeting without demanding it.

He was sure the appearance of an Ixian General in the Inner Sanctum of the Crimson Hand would warrant as much.

Any hope he had of leaving was quashed once he stepped beyond the small building at the outskirts. He had found his answers, what he needed to proceed and keep his promise to Amari. He needed to confront Lye, as Seth called him, and teach the man what true leadership was. He let a soft prayer toothed Kami leave his lips as he reached down and grabbed the Porcelain Mask that hung from the saya of one panther twin blades at his hip, and placed it firmly over his face. This was not a time for the kinder, gentler Taka, this was a moment of Justice.

He continued down the path and saw men running before him, some shouting out warnings as a crowd had begun to form before them. Taka was sure this was a once in a lifetime spectacle, and some of these people would get a second time to witness it. He kept up appearances, if only for their memories. He was going to March out, and he wanted them to know that as well.

One of the men stood squarely in his path, and the Ronin stopped a respectable distance away before he spoke, “Are you to take me to your Master?”

“Master nothing, I'm going to gut you and get his thanks. He'd elevate me for saving him the waste of his time,” the man replied.

Taka shook his head as he continued to walk his footsteps always seeming to find purchase in the correct parts of the snow as he did and spoke, “Do not be a fool. I would not knowingly walk into a den of murderers and thugs if I was afraid of the common men there.”

Taka slowly moved by him. He weighed an attack only to get a stare down from the Ronin that stopped him cold in his tracks. Somehow the man knew if he drew steel he was dead, there would be no offer of mercy. He casually raised both hands before he gestured down the Path, “He was putting Scarlet in lockup last I heard, I'll take you to the dungeon entrance. From there it's your stupid ass on the line, not mine.”

“Many thanks, I am General Taka, Dark Blade of the Ixian Knights. If you should have need to make introductions,” Taka replied in turn. The man was taken aback by the polite demeanor as he moved. A few gangs moved to settle on the Ronin before their compatriot waved them off. It seemed no one wanted to put off what was going to be a wonderful fight for their master.

The courtyard for the Inner Sanctum was littered with blood. Taka could see the tell tale signs of a scuffle, short lived. He crouched kneeling beside the tracks before a hand gently brushed against crystal, the all familiar form of Black Magicyte. He felt the heat of anger fill his frame as he spoke, “What did your Master do to Noel’s body?”

“Threw it to the pigs, said that was what the man deserved,” The thug replied. Taka nodded almost expecting such an answer.

“Arigato, my friend. If you would inform your Master I am here to talk to him I would appreciate it,” Taka replied.

The thug looked at Taka for a moment as he spoke, “You ain't angry at all of us?”

“I reserve my anger at the man that orchestrated all the suffering you create. I cannot blame the men for following their leader, I can hold that leader responsible however,” Taka replied nonchalantly.

The man nodded before he took off at a jog towards a large Cavern off to the side of the courtyard. Taka merely remained, even as the other men began to mill about what was certainly a day of unusual occurrences.

[Lye]

Amari’s whimpers faded into the darkness as Lye emerged into the large cavern. The silence of the room only accentuated the loud thoughts brewing frantically in his mind. Again, the Ixians posed a problem to his plans. Once again they became an obstacle despite having robbed them of their most treasured member. A deep sigh slipped past the assassin’s lips as he massaged the pounding headache amassing in his temples.

“Foolish child,” he muttered.

Lye continued back out into the open courtyard of the Inner Sanctum where the newly fallen snow threatened to hide the remnant shards of magicyte from the world. Standing in the center was an armed man with a white porcelain mask. The figure wore the robes of an Akashiman, and the mask turned to view his entry to the courtyard. Lye halted, his gaze fixed on the Ixian before him as only the icy Salvic air sat between them. The assassin breathed deeply with a look of disgust on his face.

“You look lost, Ixian.” The words dripped with ire and venom. The ruffian who stood near the ronin, unarmed, took a step back. Lye’s gaze listed to the several others who watched from their vantage points. None of them injured nor armed. “I see you didn’t force your way in.”

Those words, heard by the few, turned their gazes awry in guilt.

Taka reached into his pocket, producing something before he tossed it before the Master of the Crimson Hand, “You have things that belong to my men. I want them back, all of them, and if not all, what you have left. They are not your things to play with or give. We have some things belonging to your men, but they are locked away, should you wish, come to Castle Ixia and I will return them to you. I trust you remember where that is.”

A patch, with frayed threads landed before Lye with a shield, upon a single star was found. It was obviously a symbol of the Ixian Knights, and stared resolutely up at the Assassin. A silent reminder of the war between the two factions. The assassin looked up.

“The spoils of war must not be a concept in your lands, foreigner,” Lye stated. “Pray tell what of mine you have that I’d be interested in.”

“I did not keep stock but I'm sure we have weapons from your attempts to kill me in my sleep. I'm certain at least one or two might be missed. I also want their bodies, but upon hearing what you do with your dead, I see the concept of war crimes must not exist in your lands.”

Lye snickered. “They do, but I walk outside trivial law. Keep those trinkets if you like. Consider them gifts. Now, leave Ixian.”

“You mistake my words for a request, I don't do requests with cowards,” Taka replied firmly, “I find requests aren't adhered to because their cowardice overrules their better judgement.”

Lye placed a hand atop the pommel of his remaining khukri. “So, a demand then? Bold, but I’m disinclined to accept.”

“I am not one of your subordinates Ulroke, I will respond in kind if you draw steel. You have a choice before you, you can give me what I demand and I go or I can take them after we debate it in the manner of your choice. Even if you fail to accept the laws of the land, you are not immune. Though that is an ignorance I find oddly fitting of you,” The Ronin remained resolute even as he shifted subtly in stance. Preparing for whatever the Assassin could throw his way.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lye added with a charismatic nod of his head. “However, you forget where you are. So my offer is leave and live, or stay and fight for your old memorabilia.”

Taka sighed, “I see Seth is right, you are lost to blood lust. Is everything with you a matter of Life and Death? Are you so lost that even you cannot see how embarrassingly childish this appears?”

The mention of Seth narrowed Lye’s eyes. He grit his teeth before entertaining the idea further and his brow raised. “Did you honestly expect me to believe you would come here just to collect the remains of your fallen? Just one man, no other motives? Or did you come here for her? Revenge? Do you have others lying in wait? Don’t play coy with me, swordsman. It’s a waste of my and your time.”

“Perhaps you are not familiar with Akashiman customs, but we honor our dead. They gave their lives to fulfill a dream, and I will not rest until their loved ones can know their final fate. That patch belongs to the Reformation Team, and their member had a debt to society. It's my job to let society know they paid that debt. Perhaps in your army, where their lives are mere trinkets for you to play with that's a foreign concept,” Taka replied, he seemed to ignore the question of Amari, “We respect our dead, Assassin.”

“The dead are the dead. If you want rags and worn blades, so be it. I can have them collected and returned to your castle. Anything else?” The assassin’s tone became insincere and mocking.

“I wish I could take you at face value, but your actions and words are seldom one. I want them now on a wagon ready to go by nightfall. You had your chance, you blew it, suffer consequences for your actions like a grown man, rather than a mewling child,” the Dark Blade looked upon Lye with a leveled cold stare. He appeared to not give ground to the Assassin in an antagonistic fashion on purpose.

Lye chuckled and he shook his head. He entertained himself enough. Either way, the Ixian couldn’t leave. Doing so would only invite the remaining Knights to descend on the Seventh Sanctum. So, without a word, he dug his hand into a pouch behind his back. Though it seemed as if he were reaching for a weapon, Lye pulled into view a small piece of jewelry and threw it at the swordsman’s feet.

“As you wish,” he added as Kayla’s anklet nestled into the fallen snow. “We’ll start with that.”

[Tainted Bushido]

Taka knew he was in for a whirlwind of emotions when he began this fight. He knew Lye would be as a snake, attempting to slither out of any corner Taka could force him into. He also knew that he may uncover unpleasant truths in the man’s demeanor. What he wasn't prepared for was the Anklet that had allowed Kyla Orlouge to adopt both branches of Mystic Magic to be dropped before him.

Carefully he knelt, keeping one hand near the Tanto at the small of his back as he carefully lifted the anklet and stood up looking at it. He could feel the magic thrumming through it, and knew it was the real one, not a counterfeit. He looked up at Ulroke his voice still amazingly even as he spoke, “Any more trophies you wish to admit to?”

“Your head perhaps?” And finally, the thrum of steel rang out. Taka had expected this when he went to gather the anklet, but even now he was unprepared as he should have been. Chiding himself he let go of his plan on using a drawing strike as he tried to pull Rengoku from its sheath. His eyes deadening as he prepared himself to battle the Master of the Crimson Assassins.

Lye threw a kukri at the Ronin's head, an attack easily dodged. He brought his Katana up into a rest position as the thrown weapon flew by his head, Ulroke gave him a disgusting grin as he disappeared into a puff of smoke. Taka was confused by what transpired until the blade dug into the flesh of his back. The Ronin grunted in pain, stumbling forth in a staggered step, before he turned and brought his blade out in an easily dodged attack.

The blade however was parried wide as a boot sent the Ronin skidding across the ground. He grunted as he came to a halt, taking up stance with his blade before him again. Ulroke laughed at Taka and mocked, “Not what I expected from a general -- far slower than Ambrose.”

Taka slashed at the Crimson Assassin only to have him laugh as the blade passed harmlessly through. Taka had encountered magic before, but this was on a level far beyond what he was prepared for. It reminded Taka he was not ready for what he had set himself before. Amari had warned him from the sanctum, now he knew why. Lye was far more powerful than Taka had given him credit for.

Lye phased through Taka, an altogether unsettling feeling before he kicked out the feet from under the Ronin. A tut left his mouth at the act, and Taka knew he was being played with. Lye was going to destroy Taka bit by bit in front of his men, but Taka refused to stay down. He returned to his feet as Lye looked at him and shook his head.

“Archers,” He said firmly as he raised his hand. Taka heard the sounds of hundreds of bows stretching, before he closed his eyes and focused back on the Crimson Assassin. The fun was over, now it was time for Taka to die.

[Mari]

Amari’s throat was hoarse, she had been screaming, loudly, unabashed, and without reprise. She knew that anger, negativity and inflicting pain caused the corruption within her soul to simmer and that was exactly what she was trying to do. She focused on the pain in her back from the wound Lye inflicted, he had left the small dagger in the cell with her, so she had used it to small lesions all over her body, she sat breathing heavily.

The man in the cell to the left of her was now a mangled bloody mess. Gory entrails that were once his eyes clung to the blade and her now blackened hands. It was working. Small, broken laughs bubbled from her as she shifted to tug at the bars again.

“Oh? What’s this?” A guard had approached the bars, burly, about twice the size of Lye. “Well isn’t it Scarlet herself. I heard you were back.” He knelt down by the cage, reaching in to grab her chin and pull it toward him. “Also heard you lost those nasty dangerous abilities of yours, pissed off the Master, led an Ixian Knight...Who you had the audacity to fuck, to our doorstep...my I’m surprised you aren’t dead.”

“The fuck do you want Tauros.”

The man grinned, “Oh, many things, Scarlet, many things. Do you know they’re fighting up there, right now? Master and the Knight?”

Amari felt her heart skip a beat, “W-what?” That couldn’t be right, Taka had promised her… he had sworn on his blade that he would not follow her into the sanctum. So why was he here? After everything...did he really lie to her? “Tauros, you’re full of shit.” She hissed as her eyes narrowed.

He pushed her chin away and opened the cell, “White haired man, wears a mask. Prattles on about honor? Funny. He asked for all the Ixian Knight trinkets we had, yet not once asked for you.” Taurus stepped into the cell, blocking Amari’s immediate exit. “I think he was using you to get here.”

“Liar!” Amari snapped as she pushed herself to her feet, kukri in hand she aimed it at Tauros’ jugular but he caught her arm in his hand and pushed her to the back wall. His other elbow tight against her neck. Amari coughed, and spat a glob of spit and blood onto Tauros’s face.

The hulking man laughed. “No, sweetheart, just a theory. Just a theory. But think about it. He finds out you work for the Crimson Hand, and suddenly he is incredibly kind and considerate? You’re too trusting, you’ve fallen for the enemy and you’ve grown weak, and I’m going to show Master you aren’t worth the time nor the effort he puts into you.”

“What the hell you gonna do?” Amari hissed.

“Not touch you, if that’s what you think. You’re a little too...living for my liking. Sides…” He pried the Kukri from her hand. “You pulled out the eyes of the last men who did that to you.” In one swift motion Tauros tossed her to the floor and straddled her. Pinning her arms to her sides underneath his hulking weight. “Know what I say?” He leaned in close and whispered. “An eye for an eye.”

He ignored her screams as he pried open her lids with one eye, the other, with surprising delicacy was pushed into her socket,he spun the blade around her socket and tilted it to the side, removing the eye, and detaching it from the optic nerve. He did this to the second one. “I wonder if your revival regenerates lost eyes, do you think your little hero would want these?” He asked.

Amari screamed and writhed beneath him, her eyes nothing more than bleeding sockets.

“LET ME GO! MASTER! MASTER! ARGH….T-TA..A.AAHH..” She switched between the two names between agonizing cries.

Tauros pulled her up and out of the cells by her hair. “This is why I like ‘em dead.” He muttered. “No noise. No movement. Even calling out to the enemy, fuck you’ve fallen far.”

He pulled her to the fight, with Amari still screaming, a thin crimson trail of her blood behind her. “Yo, Master.” Tauros called to Lye with a nod. “Did you a favor.” He carelessly tossed Amari’s milky eyes to the centre of the battle. “Courtesy of the men she felled. She’s a traitor.”

Amari was choking on her cries, body writhing in the snow as her shaky hands clutched at her face. Every so often they’d spark with a golden light, but they’d quickly fade, she was in too much pain to concentrate. “M….Mas…..” A sharp kick to her side caused her to roll over and throw up a sickly yellow bile.

[Lye]

His hand held high, judgmental gaze fixed on the Ixian in front of him. The signal to fire fell but halted shy at the roar of a ruffian from behind. From a curtain of silvered hair, the assassin diverted his gaze in a foolish move. There, Amari lay writhing in the snow. Hollowed sockets ran red with her blood and two stains in against the white winter canvas marked the missing pieces.

“Tauros!” Lye roared. His hand formed a fist, and the strings of bows fell slack. “You imbecile!”

“What? Why?” He knelt down and gripped Amari’s chin in his hand, pushing her face toward Lye, her cries had turned to gasping whimpers. “She deserved this, and you know it. Besides…” He turned his gaze toward Taka. “The Knight needs to see what happens when he messes with your property.” Tauros grinned as his tongue lapped up the blood that stained Amari’s face.

“Silence cretin,” Taka snapped his voice colder than the dunes about them he turned his ire to Lye, “This is what your leadership created. A rule by fear and pain is great for discipline, until the men realize anyone under them can also be manipulated in the same manner. He chose his path based on what you taught him, based on your actions showing him it was okay!”

Lye refused to dignify either of them with a response. He let his actions speak for themselves. The assassin’s steel flew threw the air toward Tauros and as the brute motioned to defend himself, Lye appeared before him. His gloved hand slapped against the meat of Tauros’s face, too small to grip it properly, but enough for the intended purpose.

“Penance for your sins,” Lye growled.

Violet light erupted from the assassin’s palm directly into Tauros’s skull. His brutish voice exploded into agony as he reeled backward and collapsed upon himself. Wounds opened from head to toe across his body and blood poured freely from beneath his leathers. His screams of agony faded into hushed whispers as the magic robbed him of his voice. The color of his eyes faded into cloudy irises as blackened flesh crawled up from the neckline of his tunic. Tauros’ fingers grew necrotic, becoming blackened bone in seconds until the struggle for life ended with a sickening splorsh. A wave of red ruptured from his chest and the brute fell silent in a crimson puddle.

Amari’s weak form lay at his feet, her shaking hands tugged lightly on the leg of his pants, she was covered in the thick ichor and blood of Tauros. “L-Lye…”

Taka remained impassive watching the execution as it gruesomely was carried out. His gaze never left the man who died before him, his demeanor statuesque at the gory carrying out of justice. His eyes moved to Amari, and he seemed conflicted. Finally he moved, ignoring the sounds of a few of them men as he gently moved to Amari’s side, “Are you alright?”

Upon hearing Taka’s voice, one hushed whisper left Amari’s lips, even in her rasped breathing it was dripping with betrayal. “Liar.” The effort expended to mutter the word left the dying woman unconscious.

Lye’s steel pressed against the Ixian’s neck. “On your feet, swordsman.” The Ronin obliged him, standing carefully under the blade. “You could have cut me down just now, but you did not. Regardless, our fight is over. Sheath your blade.”

Taka's reaction was hidden behind the mask. His eyes not giving anything away. He looked at the man and stepped back before he spoke, firmly, “Because I refused to act against my honor, you are ending this fight? Or has disciplining your men soured your taste for this?”

“You are outskilled and outnumbered,” Lye stated. “And I am bored with you. Stay if you like or leave. Raise your blade again, and you’ll suffer a similar fate to this man.”

Lye’s own blades returned to their sheaths. He turned his back to the swordsman and lifted Amari from the frozen tundra. Without another word, he carried her back within the longhouse, her crimson hair draping lifelessly over his arms.

[Tainted Bushido]

“Ulroke, will she be okay?” Taka asked firmly. He stood there, his blade still held loosely in his hand. It was obvious he was not threatening the man. It was also obvious what he was asking.

Taka sheathed Rengoku, looking down at his gauntlet before he saw a way to force the man to talk to him. He bellowed out, echoing through the courtyard, “ULROKE!” Carefully he raised his gauntlet clad hand and revealed the anklet, still there, “I believe you forgot something of yours.”


The assassin stopped in the doorway of his longhouse. He turned to face Taka, eying the trinket in his fingers. The Ronin didn’t know what stirred in the man’s head in those brief moments of silence. Instead, he replied with a gesture of his head as if to follow.

“Come,” Lye beckoned. Taka nodded and followed after Lye, knowing his gamble had paid off. The fact he kept the anklet meant it had some meaning to him, offering it back was a silent statement that Taka knew this, and also refused to take something he hadn't earned from the Assassin. It was a modicum of respect. He quickly grabbed the wet patch from the ground of the courtyard and moved after the man, feeling all eyes on him.

Taka has learned long ago that showing respect for an opponent was never a weakness. He had disrespected Lye in his demands, but he had also earned Lye’s respect in refusing to be childish about the loss. He catalogued the fight, storing that information for the inevitable rematch. He wanted those trinkets and trophies. The Knights deserved the right to lay Kyla fully to rest.

He slowed as he reached Lye, knowing that he was watched by archers. It would be quite some time before he would feel comfortable in that courtyard again. The point had been made brutally clear, that Taka was outgunned, and outclassed. Following him indoors he could hear a soft whisper almost warning against it.

For Amari’s sake he refused to listen to that nagging doubt.

He held onto the anklet and carefully observed his surroundings, waiting for the next words that would erupt from the room.

[Lye]

“You do know what this means don’t you?” Lye asked the foreigner as the two walked through the grand hall. The warmth of the hearth lapped away the chill from outdoors, yet the girl in Lye’s arms seemed colder still. The steady pace of her blood against the polished stone floor slowed with each step.


“Before, it could be argued I was a visiting enemy. By stepping through, I am a guest, bound by the rules of hospitality. I understand my burden, Ulroke,” The Ronin replied softly. It was not the tone of defeat, but of a man who was preoccupied.

“Your and my definition of guest will differ greatly,” Lye replied flatly. His boot connected with one of the two doors beside a human ivory throne. The wrought iron slab swung wide to the large, cavernous Inner Sanctum. He broke right and opened another door in a similar manner.

Inside the dark room, faint embers glowed in the far hearth. Lye laid Amari down on the makings of a bed wedged in the corner of the stone hewn room. Before tending to her further, Lye walked to the hearth and set a few dried logs to catch. As the embers awakened new flames, the light spilled over the assassin’s private quarters. Blades, armored mannequins, tables strewn with parchment, and various collections of herbal ingredients came into view.

“Does she get a room for herself, or had she not earned that privilege?” Taka asked noticing the small nest that was created in the corner.

“She shares mine,” Lye added as he rose from the hearth. “As you now know, for her safety.”

Her body now cold and blued where porcelain skin once thrummed with life, Lye turned Amari to her side. He pulled a small knife from one of their many hiding places and cut her dress at the base of her spine. Then, with a finger smearing a trail of blood from her cheek, he pressed it against the sigil on her exposed back.

“There is little you know, Ixian,” Lye commented as he rose and took a step back.

Seconds passed, then minutes. Lye frowned, normally she would have revived by now. Yet her body remained motionless and dead. Concern worked its way into his features. Would she come back this time? Did the Magicyte truly harm her as much as she claimed? What did the Ixians do to her? These questions silently warred in him mind as his patience weathered in silence.


Taka watched passively before he ventured, “I never claimed to be smart, but I do know cruelty when I see it.”

It was delayed, but a bright flash filled the room, blinding them both. It died down, and Amari lay, breathing heavily, “teeay-te E teeayah?” She spoke in Ar’Tuel, her voice hazy, “Master?”


“Scarlet,” Lye’s voice called out to her. His vision still recovered from her blinding display, unsure if she too could see.

The Ronin bristled at the use of the name. As if he had an objection, but remained quiet for now. Watching Amari behind that porcelain mask. Finally he reached up and removed his mask, letting it hang from the hilt of one of his eastern blades. Concern etched into his features.

[Mari]

Amari stared at the inky blackness before her; she felt like she had just been revived, but she hadn’t realized she had died. She furrowed her brows, blinking a few times, slowly blurs of colour swirled in front of her. She couldn’t see. She struggled to recall the events that lead her to wherever she was. Amari heard Lye’s voice, intonations of concern breathed on his lips, at least that’s what she first thought, but that couldn’t be right. Her Master was not one to show concern. Especially for her.

“E luae-ha'de kuah.” Amari tried to tell him that she couldn’t see, but the words that came from her mouth were foreign to her. “Can’t… See…” She repeated in tradespeak. Amari lifted her hands, and allowed her hands to travel up them, she smeared the odd sensation across her skin, lavishing in the quickly cooling liquid, even as parts of it dried and flaked off her.. “Is this… lotion?.” She asked curiously.

“That’s not lotion,” Lye added. She couldn’t see him, but she knew that sound in his voice. Curiousity, but this time with a hint of concern. “You’ve had your eyes cut out. The man responsible paid with his life.”

Amari blinked, watching the swirls in front of her eyes. She hoped her vision would return soon. Unaware of any other in the room she continued to smear the substance on her skin, she lifted her hands to her face and felt the same thing strewn across it. “It feels...nice…”

“Taka is here,” she heard her master add. “Wounded, but alive.”

Amari paused. “Taka….” Memories slowly began to come back to her, she was in the cells and she was attempting to force the corruption to explode in her soul. Tauros came and had ripped out her eyes, claiming Taka ventured into the Sanctum and had only asked for a few trinkets. “Taka…” Amari repeated the name, her heart ached. There was another unfamiliar feeling within her, a small part of her almost took joy in hearing that he had been hurt. “The Knight… lied….” She muttered with dark tones of betrayal.

“The knight, bent the truth, greatly. I found evidence some of my men were here, and had to investigate. I'm sorry, if I had known what harm I would have caused I would have returned with the other mercenaries before I made that bid,” Taka explained, a small thread of pain through his voice.


The knight's words did little to alleviate what Amari was feeling. Rather… Amari was struggling to feel much of anything. “Heh…” She laughed, a cold laugh that rolled through her body.

“Taka is now our… guest,” she heard her master contribute. “He won’t be leaving any time soon. We have much to discuss.”

Her laughs died down as she heard her Master’s cool and calculating words, guest. A prisoner Amari thought to herself. Ulroke would not allow the man to leave without first obtaining all the answers he needed, but what would happen if Taka did leave? Would he return with more soldiers to claim the relics of his people and just leave again? Amari shifted her unseeing gaze to where she assumed Taka was, and furrowed her brows. “He needs to stay.” She said.

Amari pushed herself to a seated position, and felt her hair slick and thick against her back. “Master. What am I covered in?”

“Blood,” Taka answered for Lye, his tone quiet and stilled. “Lye used a spell I've only heard described once, and it carved your assailant like a butcher’s wares.”

His answer sent an odd chill of satisfaction coursing through her and down her spine. The air around Amari grew thick, heavy with a sense of dread as the corruption of her aura leaked from her. It enveloped the room invoking feelings of suffocation. Her lips twisted into a small grin. “I like it.” She spoke in a low, delighted tone.

[Tainted Bushido]

He lost.

Before he had even begun he lost. Had he dissuaded her from returning maybe she would have stood a chance. The girls declaration of delight at being blood drenched wrenched him to the core. Had he been quiet, had Taurus not seen fit to punish her before the Ronin, there was a chance.

The Tsukai had been right, he was doomed to failure.

He remained silent at the words, even as revulsion at seeing her condition was nearly overpowering. He was not in control anymore, he could not change the story, only one man held that power anymore. Finally he found a voice, “We should clean you up, before you get sick…”

Her unseeing eyes stared at his general direction. “If I must, you should help, Ta-Ka-Kun~”

The sing song way she spoke was telling. It spoke of her affection towards him, while underlying how different she was. He moved up to her and took his rag, usually revered for cleaning his blade and sighed. There was no wash basin, no bowl of water to begin, and so he gently rested his hand on her shoulder, “I'll try to clean the thickest clump, and we’ll go from there.”

His hands shook as he slicked away the thick ichor, below he could see the blackened skin of her shoulders. She remained passive, resting her forehead on his chest. His eyes lingering on the blackened skin, seeing it was now the majority of her arms, “You worked fast, they were not like this when we met…”

“What are you talking about?“

“Before, your taint was like gloves over your lower arms, now it is like sleeves that reach from your shoulders down. You seem to have gone further than when we first met in a mere hour…” it made his head spin to think how long it had been since her kiss goodbye. His world had changed, sharply for the worse in that mere hour. He began to wipe her face clean as he saw the cracks, larger and more defined on her face. His lips pressed thinly as he pushed on.

“It worked….” She said her eyes lightening with delight. “Master was right. I should never have stopped the corruption, I was weak. Master was going to kill you, I had to escape, I had to protect you.” She offered Taka a dark grin that tore his heart out. “So I stopped fighting it, pointless really..I learnt you are no longer worth protecting.”

“Amari,” he breathed softly, pain etched into every syllable as he realized the price of failure. Marching on the Crimson Hand alone? Lye was right, he was either a fool or hiding a trump card that should have been used long before it got this far. Now he had before him his future. If he could not steer off this course, if he could not pull Amari from this destructive path, he would join her in revelling in his corruption.

He had once been told when he picked up the blade, he was but six steps from death. He knew the truth now, there were so many more ways to die, and his friend, Amari, was truly dying before his eyes. If he wasn't careful, she'd drag him down with her and he would enjoy every last second in that beautiful self destruction. A hand gently cupped her cheek as he said softly, “I failed you Amari, I'm sorry.”

“Scarlet.” She muttered as she batted his hand away and pushed him aside. “It's Scarlet.”

He wanted to yell at the gods themselves…

[Lye]

Arms folded, perched against the desk he wrote so many letters and commands from, Lye watched the two. Clad in white and clinging ever so desperately to his honor, Taka tended to Amari as her madness spread. Like the roots of blight which stained the fields of Raiaera, black etched and crawled on Amari’s pale skin. Each swipe of Taka’s cloth revealed hidden corruption that no manner of cleansing could purge. The edge of the assassin’s lips pulled taught.

He felt pride.

Amari’s journey into madness became palpable. The air grew stagnant and bitter. His chest tightened as though breathing took conscious effort. Yet as he watched a broken man tend to a shattered damsel, Lye couldn’t help but feel concern. Amari still could not see, despite her body’s attempts to regain sight.

“This is her calling.” Lye’s words reached out to Taka. “She doesn’t need protection like this. Like this, she’s beautiful.”

Amari glanced in Lye’s direction, “Is that a compliment, Master?” She snorted. “My that’s a first.”


“Don’t get used to it,” snapped the assassin. “You still have many transgressions to answer for.”

He heard her slip off the bed, her blood drenched feet hitting the stone floor with wet slaps. “Yes. Yes. I brought Tah-ka-Kun~ here.” There was a bump, followed by a swear as she walked into the onyx bath. Lye turned to face her, seeing her smearing blood against the rim of the large tub.

“Your sight…..”

“Won’t be a problem. I can see shapes and blurs. It’s becoming clearer. Soon I’ll be able to see your scowls and smirks in all their snarky glory.”

The Ronin watched taking everything in. His hand idly twitched as if looking to grip something, but he seemed to refuse the temptation. Instead he casually tossed the rag he had used to clean Scarlet into the fire watching it burn as he studied the flames inscrutably. Lye drifted his attention toward Amari, but kept the silent Ixian in the edge of his vision.


“Pray tell, what penance will my transgressions give me this time?” Amari asked in a sing-song voice, as she leaned against the basin, Lye noticed her eyes slowly managing to focus on him.

“It’s apparent that you can’t be trusted on your own,” Lye added as though Taka were just another piece of furniture in the room. “You’ll need to be leashed. Or watched until you can prove otherwise.”

“What? How the fuck am I meant to do anything? Who is going to watch me? You? Unless you have a leash that can stretch across Althanas, your powers are not that strong.”

Now that she was closer, Lye could see her unfocused gaze. Her eyes no longer held a glowing golden rim around her irises, instead, it burned with an intense red, of fire and of hatred. The shards of crimson still doted her emerald hues. “Let’s try a different answer.” Her lips twisted into a wry grin as her voice fell into a purr, her wet hands sliding haphazardly onto his shoulders. “What should I do to appease you, Master~?” She leaned in to whisper into his ear, “What if I delivered another Ixian to you~ Did you want me to fetch Aislynn? Name what you want and I will make it so.”

Lye’s hand pressed against Amari’s dampened chest and made space between the two. His unamused expression met her with his reply, “I think not. I don’t know the extent of your relationship with the Knights. Especially after what they did to you and…” He pointed toward the Akashiman. “Him.”

“Noel was an unfortunate casualty. I killed him because I had no other choice. The magicyte filled his head with paranoid delusions. As for what happened to her, she seemed the happiest I had ever witnessed her, so I have no clue why you would be upset about that,” Taka replied, his eyes watching the fire. He seemed fixed on watching the damn thing.

Lye watched Amari as she steeled back, she stifled a laugh before she threw her head back in maddening giggles. “Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.” Amari turned to Takas general direction, “I killed Noel. I killed him with stupid notions of compassion and kindness… without those things the Magicyte would not have set his sights on you, ahh~” She whipped her head back around to Lye. “As for him as for Taka. I - I….” She hiccuped, and tears began to well and fall down her cheeks. “He...he…” She had little control over the madness that wracked her mind, her emotions unstable.

Amari collapsed to her knees, fits reaching out to clasp Lye’s knees. Her voice barely above a whisper. “What is he doing to me?”


“Changing drastically in such short time has probably made you tired. Perhaps you should sleep, if he wishes to know he can talk to me or ask you in the morning,” Taka offered. It was his first time offering council, though it was oddly directed to Scarlet, not Lye, as if he refused to talk to the man currently.

“A fair point,” Lye added. “And exactly why you won’t be going anywhere any time soon.”

Lye pulled away from Amari’s reach and made for the door. Eyes on their guest, he gestured to leave as he opened the way.

Taka moved and stopped only briefly to kneel beside Amari before he spoke softly, “Rest for now, I'll see you tomorrow.” He then rose up and followed Lye, carefully traversing the rooms discarded clothing amongst other things. When he reached the door he gestured forth, “Lead on, generous Host.”

The door shut. From his wrist, he plucked a senbon and wedged it between the door and frame. Its enchanted steel stretched out like roots, biting and writhing between metal and stone. From the outside, it was the only manner to lock her in. He ignored the immediate sound of her pounding against the door, screaming for him to open it.

“We need to talk,” spoke the Assassin to the Knight.

[Mari]

“You can’t just leave like that!” Amari snapped at Lye, but he didn’t acknowledge her, nor did Taka, instead they left and as a final ‘Fuck You’ to Amari, Lye had locked her within his quarters, just as he once did with her own cabin. She could not see, but she could feel it, the twisted iron barring her escape.

The rage bubbled up within Amari, instantly and boiling. She threw herself against the door, screaming at him to come back. Her hands became engulfed in the physical manifestation of her corruption, a crackling red glow, she started slamming her shoulder against the door, then her fists. They ached with pain upon impact but it only drove her further, to push and hit harder. She screamed first for her Master, then for Taka.

Her mind was beyond the fluidity of a broken woman, it had snapped and Amari was struggling to put it back together.

“TAKA! TAKA!”

Amari thought she had things together, she had brief moments of perfect clarity. Where everything clicked and everything just worked but the moment Taka entered her head it started to unravel, her perfect serene world shook and crumbled and that both infuriated and scared her. She had to figure it out. Amari knew she didn’t love him, she had given up on such a stupid notion when she lost Shinsou.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD TAKA!” She screamed in a fruitless bid to pull her thoughts away from him, each time her fists would collide with the door, trying to break free but to no avail. She slid down against the back of the door and turned her attention to her Masters room, normally pristine, blood had been smeared across the walls, the floor, even the bedsheets. Her vision was slowly but surely returning. The entire scene was a blurry, unfocused, bloody mess.

The room had buckled under the effects of her souls aura, anything made of wood had become rotted, buckling under the intense pressure of her own hatred and insanity. Clothes were strewn across the floor, and the herbs he had on his alchemic desk had wilted and died.

Amari glanced at her own hands, seeing them stained an inky black. This is the power I have now? It was extraordinary, it was exhilarating, why would Aislynn try to take this from her? Was it because she was a threat to the knights? Amari laughed bitterly as she stumbled over to the bathtub and ran herself a bath. She climbed into the heated waters and slowly began to wipe the blood from her blackened body.

Was Tauros right? They only saw me as an inside to The Hand. Aislynn only wanted to take my corruption away because I was too trusting… an easy target. Without it, I am no longer a threat to them. The hell are Taka and Master talking about anyway? Why am I excluded? What’s so important it must be kept secret?

The bath waters seeped whatever energy she had left out of her, her hands ached, and her arms felt heavy as she lifted them to rinse off the remaining blood from her body, albeit a tad reluctantly before pulling herself out of the tub and shuffling to the bed. She ignored the sting of cold that prickled her body and threw herself into the covers, face first.

Perhaps Taka and Master were right...I should… rest…

She tried to let sleep take her, but she was restless, her body still prickling with new and foreign energy.

[Tainted Bushido]

“Talk, or interrogate?” Taka questioned. His voice low but perfectly audible. He knew there was a pointed difference between the two as he followed Lye to the grand hall. Chairs adorned it making it appear as a regal court. Taka knew his place here, he had chosen it. Moving to the center of the hall he stopped and waited for Lye to choose his accommodations, as he drank in the details.

Instead of opting for the head of the table, the assassin took a seat across from him and gestured opposite. Taka eyed the chair before he carefully pulled it out, sat and gently moved it back in a move that showed great care and practice. The chairs were not unlike those in the Ixian War Room and he treated them with appropriate reverence.

Taka could still hear Amari banging on the door, she had stopped calling for her ‘Master’ and was now calling his name, asking him to get out of her head, and what he was doing to her. The Ronin managed to keep the turmoil it caused him under the surface as he looked at Lye and waited patiently for an answer to his question.

“Perspective,” Lye stated vaguely. “Tell me what happened in Dheathain. That’s a far ways from Corone.”

“Favor for an old colleague. Needed help gathering materials, wanted someone they could trust to protect them. I accompanied them and was in a smaller city when Noel shoved my charge and I stopped him. He mentioned someone needed help and my charge, feeling generous, let me go investigate. We found Amari, unconscious in a cavern filled with black crystals,” Taka said. Everything was truth, he didn't bother with lies, he was terrible at them anyways.

The man across from him showed limited to no expression. He folded his arms atop one another and Taka knew his every action down to the breath was being studied and watched. There was the sense now a predator assessing its prey, and that analogy seemed oddly fitting now. However Taka knew that while Lye was stronger, he had not even begun that fight when he lost. He had failed to kill his heart and it had cost him at an inopportune time.

“Your charge, is their name Aislinn?” Lye asked next. “And your old colleague, are they also one of the Ixian Knights?”

“Was, Aislinn,” Taka corrected. “And yes, they were.” He saw no need to let Lye know they were one in the same. “Aislinn stopped being my charge when I left her with the rest of Mercenary Company.”

“So she’s still alive. Did others follow you here? Are they nearby?”

“If I had the ability to call others here do you believe it wise to divulge that? Or not have already done so?”

“I’m measuring the extent of your honesty, Ixian.” His words hissed to punctuate the gravity of the situation. Finally he saw the beginnings of the foul temper he had heard about. “My scouts would surely inform me either way.” He took a more relaxed posture, pressing his back against his chair. “What of her? You clearly care for her well-being unless that too is practiced. How deep do your affections go?”

Taka looked at Lye for a moment, he let the question hang in the air before he spoke, “I am inexperienced at this, I believe that how my men begin such things is with a drink. Then if we like each other we can discuss our feelings.”

The absurdity of the answer was specifically pointed. Lye could ask all he wanted about the actions of the Ronin, but he would be damned if he willingly gave his thoughts to the mad man before him. There would be retribution for sure, whether carefully measured or not he didn't care, he would not answer so vulgar a question.

“And you’re measuring the extent of my hospitality?” Lye’s face remained slate.

“I'm measuring the extent with which you desire that answer Lichensith Ulroke, even if we were friends an answer would be so guarded,” Taka countered, “I do not mistake you for a friend though, nor a host. I believe I've heard the term warden bandied about for such things.”

“I can’t decide if you are clever, or foolishly stubborn.” Lye took a deep breath. “I assume the former. That woman is Salvic royalty. Her role is more important than you or me. Yet, and for some reason, you two happened to have…” He gestured broadly in Taka’s direction. “Something. That something is interfering and troublesome. Your reply dictates how I handle this problem. The easy solution is to remove it. Permanently. How is your wound, by the way?”

“Threatening me with death, when death is the reason I am here, is an odd tactic. I'm more than certain you know what's going on between me and Amari, I'm also fairly certain she doesn't know her body’s history, does she?” Taka replied. He pressed, trying wring his own information out of Ulroke, it was the best thing he could do given the circumstances.

“She’s learning,” the assassin spoke.

Taka met the assassin’s gaze before he sighed, “You're fishing. I see, you're concerned because you want her to be a puppet, and are concerned of someone else holding the strings.”

“No,” Lye corrected. “I could make her a puppet, but she deserves more than that. Besides, for her sake, she needs to remain ruthless. Vinegar is far more effective in Salvar than honey.” He paused. “Did she tell you of her brother & father?”

“She was tight lipped about herself. More than willing to speculate on things around her and the circumstances of what she was, less clear on the who,” Taka replied bluntly.

“I see.” The statement carried interest. “If you knew more about that, you’d be more inclined to believe that what I’m doing is for her best interest. Regardless, I have a proposal, samurai. The Ixians are broken and none of my men have found Sei’s current whereabouts. Your castle is in shambles. I don’t know what you still fight for and you don’t see eye to eye with me. Still, I believe we can both agree that the girl’s safety is a shared goal.”

“I'm listening Crimson Assassin, that’s all I promise you,” The Ronin replied.

“Swear on your life and blade to keep her from harm. You won’t answer to me, but to her. This comes with the caveat that you withhold all knowledge of this place and my organization from your former Knights.”

“You realize our ideas of what's best for her wildly differ?”

“Clearly. But the proposal isn’t to do what’s best for her. But to put your life before hers and keep her alive. Much like you are doing now.”

He stared mutely at the Assassin.

[Lye]

Though distant, the muted sounds of screams battered against the locked doors of Lye’s quarters and filled the silence between the two opposed warriors. The assassin’s chair groaned as he leaned into its backrest. The thought of sparing the Ixian nagged at the back of his mind like a choice already gone wrong. Yet, if his time with Kayla and Jensen were any indication, Taka was not beyond influence.

“So, swordsman?” Lye asked over the sounds of Amari’s cries.

“That's between me and her to discuss, not for you,” The Ronin replied frustratingly inscrutable.

“Foolishly stubborn then.” Lye sighed, pushed back his chair, and rose. “Place your weapons on the table. I will show you to your cell.”

The Ronin carefully removed his daisho before he explained,”You gave me no reason to trust you beyond, ‘I haven't killed you yet.’ Forgive me the reluctance to accept your word as fact Assassin. Who proudly talks of ignoring inconvenient laws.” He then reached behind his back and removed his Tanto before he gestured, “To my accommodations?”

Lye gestured back to the Inner Sanctums cavernous expanse. As the two walked on in silence, Amari’s struggles became more apparent. The door showed several dents. The amount of force needed to inflict such damage on inches of solid iron impressed the assassin. As they carried on, Lye opened a door opposite the cavern to expose a poorly lit stairwell. Fumes of the most unpleasant nature wafted up freely from below.

Down below, several occupied and unoccupied cells framed the walls. Some tenants sat quietly huddled in damp corners. Others lay sprawled out and motionless. Lye stopped in front of the cell Amari previously occupied, the remains of the neighboring prisoner still pulled partially through the bars.

Wordlessly Taka entered the cell before sitting down and closing his eyes, ignoring everything around him. “Tell me, is this Kyla's cell?”

Lye closed the cell door, lock falling into place. He hesitated at the prisoner’s words.

“No.” The answer held audible weight. “She shared my quarters.” Lye held an open palm through the bars. “Her anklet, please.”

Taka carefully stood and went to the bars before he reached into a small pouch and withdrew the anklet, “One day justice will be served, but not today, and I am not a thief.” he carefully placed it in Lye’s hand before he sat down and said, “I assume the other Ixians are dead and boar food as well?”

“The prisoners that didn’t sway loyalty, yes.” Lye took the trinket in hand and placed it away on his person. Without another word to the samurai, he made for the stairs and left him in solitude.

Amari had seemingly collapsed from exhaustion on his bed, freshly bathed her body still glistened in the light of the burning embers. Her arms were black, as were her legs up to her knees. Her back had wilted in thick cracks, as did her face , her chest had fractures that tore toward the centre of her body, leaving his own black mark to be covered.

The chair lay in pieces, there were scratch marks on the obsidian, and the metal door was dented in parts. His desk looked worn by time, crumbling and split. All of the specimens he kept for his herbal remedies and poisons were black and crisp. Lye walked over to Amari and gently nudged her. “Can you see?”

“I’m awake.” She muttered dryly. “Couldn’t sleep even if I wanted. My whole body feels like it’s on fuckin’ fire.” She rolled onto her back, “I can. What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you about the Akashiman.” Lye took a seat on the stone basin, still wet from Amari’s bath. “Now that he knows where the Hand is, he’s a liability.”

She grinned, clearly amused at the predicament. “Suppose so, what you gonna do then? Lock him up? Convert him?” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and swayed them side to side in a carefree fashion, as though she didn’t understand the intricacies of the situation, or did she just not care? Lye’s eyes narrowed.

“That depends. You seem to care about him. I would assume killing him is out of the question?” He replied with scrutiny. His watchful glare focused intently on the spreading black throughout her body.

Her grin fell, he hit a nerve. “I don’t know. I’d rather not feel that way, but I think I do. Death is not something I want for Taka.” She bought her hands up to her head and gripped tendrils of red hair, pulling it taught away from her head as though she were ready to rip it out her skull. “Get him OUT of my head. OUt. ouT. OuT.” She muttered as her eyes drifted to the ceiling. “I feel such clarity now, but the mention of his name….” She muttered something inaudible followed by a hiss. “Everything about him….”

The girl made no sense. She wished to spare him from death, but he clearly drove her mad. Lye gripped his chin in thought. “So you wish to spare his life, but his existence is tearing you apart.” The assassin shook his head. “The Scarlet I named would have done away with this nuisance herself. What did those Ixians do to you?”

She lowered her hands, but they remained entangled within her hair. “Aislynn did something.” She whispered. “She tore the corruption away from me…” Amari’s voice drifted off and became airy. “I think she connected me to my place of origin, I saw countless versions of myself, past lives… all glowing… The Ixians… they fed me, they showed me kindness and hospitality. They insisted they wanted nothing in return. Such filthy lies. Filthy filthy lies...” She stifled a laugh as her voice broke. “How can that be? I never experienced such sincerity… such kind warmth...I don’t understand it...a.hahaa...how stupid I was…so desperate for such things I played right into their hands...”

“Hmm,” Lye pondered. He wore his concern on his face, but it quickly grew cold. “Perhaps you don’t belong here after all.”

“Is that what you truly think, Master?” She released her hands from her hair and tilted her face up to meet his, it was difficult to ascertain what was running through her mind, her voice was cold and lacked any form of emotion. “Really?”

“I took you in, gave you the tools necessary to never again be taken advantage of, yet it still seems to find you at every turn. Shinsou and now this man. Not to mention your run in with Vincent.” Lye rose from his seat. “I wanted you to help me lead. How can you do that if your resolve is constantly wavering?”

Amari’s gaze rose to the ceiling, “You are not wrong, Master. I was stubborn, and foolish, parts of me wanted warmth. Wanted to be held, just for the sake of being held. Wasn’t gonna get that from you now was I?” She snorted. “I know better than to want that, my resolve is stronger now, if you are to cast me aside, after everything, go ahead, but…. I wonder, if I were to welcome further corruption, if it would make all that noise disappear. Hey…” She sat up, a wry grin on her face. “Before you do away with me, do one more thing for me, for old times sake - help me spread my corruption, wouldn’t that be fun?”

“You only need me,” Lye stated, his hand on her cheek, she was right, her body felt like fire. “I can give you warmth if you ask.” He pulled away. “If you want to stay, Taka will need to be dealt with. I’ll leave the decision to you either way. Just know every action has its consequence.”

Lye looked toward Amari with a softer touch on his features then she was used to. For a moment, he looked as though the loss of her would do more than inconvenience him. Yet, with silence, he moved to the door to excuse himself.

[Mari]

“I didn’t say you could go.” Amari quipped as she shifted off the bed, Amari wanted to catch that look again. Wanted to know what he meant about giving her warmth, “What do you mean… warmth? Sex? A warm body to sleep next to?” Those were not the things she once sought. His sudden change in demeanour piqued her interest.

Lye averted his gaze briefly, his mouth parted but before he could say anything, he inhaled deeply and Amari could hear the crunch of his leather gloves as he balled his fists tight. “If that is what you want, I will give those things to you.”

“You didn’t answer me, Master. Why not help me spread my corruption?” She took another step toward him, then another, she placed her hand on the door, barring his escape. “You can’t just walk away from me, not now.”

He halted as she placed herself in his way. “I want to.” He paused looking her over again with the odd waiver in his stoic demeanor. “But you’re unstable, unpredictable. Right now, you’re a risk. And… and you know that.” She felt his hand on her shoulder, trying to push her aside. “Taka and Shinsou need to be dealt with.”

Amari’s eyes lit up in delight, “Oh but Shinsou’s already dealt with.” Amari felt Lye’s resistance waver as he stopped trying to push her aside. She had his undivided attention. “Did I not tell you?” She asked as she tilted her head to the side, feigning innocence, she started tracing a small, familiar pattern on his clothes. The sigil he had forced onto Advencia. “Remember that Crystal Sword battle I was magicked away to…? He died, I watched him crumple.” Amari’s eyes rose to meet his, a part of her was worried that she was able to brush his death of with such ease, it tore at the back of her head, screaming for her to stop.

But another part of her...

It revelled in how wonderfully simple it was, and that was the part she embraced. “Snap, then nothing.” Amari said with effortless ease. “Sure, it tore me up at the time - but I haven’t heard word from him since. The man is as good as gone.” Her voice dropped an octave, and she stopped tracing circles on Lye’s chest. “And I couldn’t care a less.”

“I see.” He stepped closer to Amari.A gloved hand ran through her hair in a strange act of tenderness which Amari didn’t quite understand. “Then all we have to worry about is Taka. Then I can give you whatever warmth you desire.”

Taka’s name, and the way he was just brushed so easily off by Lye irked Amari. She grit her teeth. Her fingers curled into fists. “Unstable...huh… since when did you shy away from such a challenge?” Amari asked, refusing to look him in the eye, instead she took his hand and lowered it to his side. She didn’t need the comforting act from him. “I don’t need your false kindness, Ulroke. Don’t force yourself to for my sake.”

Lye snorted, and muttered something under his breath. “Don’t misinterpret me, Scarlet. What is going on in your head?”

“Taka...T-Taka…” She was fighting with herself, she wanted him safe, she wanted him to be as far away from here as possible, she wanted to hold him and kiss him, but at the same time...she was wanting to rid herself of her feelings for him, whatever it was they were. If not for his safety, than for her own peace of mind. Lye was right, the ronin really was driving her mad.

“Don’t you see? That’s why I need you. I need you to help push his influence away from me...I don’t know what he’s doing to me, Lye…” She pressed her head to his chest as her hands began to shake. “How can one man drive themselves so far into my psyche? Am I truly that weak?”

“What would you have me do?” His voice sounded sincere.

Amari snapped her head up, eyes red and green and wild staring into his one good eye. “Do it! DO IT throw me aside, envelop my body in blinding pain! Let me fight you, let me scream in obstinate disobedience, let my anger and hate seethe, and let the pain overtake me. That’s what does it!” Her voice wavered with uncertainty, she wanted to say goodbye to Taka, a part of her knew that if she continued down this path, she’d truly never be the same again. Amari shook him, “Do whatever your twisted heart desires, have Taka watch...have him ignorant...just don’t hurt him, if he doesn’t affect me then he isn’t as much of a liability! Don’t hurt him and take this away from me.”

Her sobs were clear, “Please…”

She heard her master breathe deeply. He didn’t answer her immediately but after a delay, he said, “Then let’s visit him together.”

Amari nodded, and slipped her hands up and under his Jacket, sliding it off him so she could cover her own nude form with it. “So that is a promise then?” She asked as she stepped to the side, allowing him to leave.

“I will not harm him,” Lye acknowledged.

“Let’s go then.” Amari said as she followed him out of their room. She knew she was damning herself, she knew she would lose herself within the thriving darkness within her, but she also knew that Lichensith Ulroke, as twisted as he may be, was a man of his word.

She would be lost, but Taka would be safe.

[Tainted Bushido]

Eyes closed to the world about him, Taka turned his attentions inward. The fire of pain across his back, the turmoil of Amari’s predicament, Eteri's revelations about his soul. All were studied and puzzled over as he sought to regain his center.

He ignored his cellmate the desecrated corpse. He ignored the stench of disease and death. He had ignored the guards who had come and gone, and would ignore the groans of the other cellmates. He was lost within himself, even as the sounds of boots down the stairs came.

Even with his inattention he recognized the feelings of earth and void that came down the stairs. The Earth was Amari, though rather than the loamy fertile earth he was used to, it was a scorched land. Surely a sign of her corruption settling deep.

Amari was the first to approach the cell. “Taka.” She said, unlocking it and stepping into the cell. She kneeled down to his level, Taka could smell the remnants of blood on her . “Master and I have discussed the liability that is you. You will be unharmed.” She reached out to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Look at me.”

Taka opened his eyes seeing straight into the Scarlet irises of his lover, “Amari-Chan. This is unexpected. A pleasant surprise though.”

More footsteps echoes in the darkened chamber. The unmistakeable silver of Ulroke’s hair rounded the corner. In the weak torchlight, his serpentine eyes shone like verdant omens.

She wore the faintest of smiles, but it faded.“You are to forget about me, forget whatever sentimental feelings you think you have for me. I’m doing this for you.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, it felt bittersweet, as though she were going somewhere and never coming back.

He reacted slowly to the kiss. Letting it linger for a moment between them before he closed his eyes and said softly, “You don't need to sacrifice yourself for me Amari-Chan. Don't make that mistake, despite what he says there is always a choice.”

The grating echo of steel slamming into place echoed in the darkness. The assassin stood at the door and twisted the key to lock them in.

“Scarlet, come,” He beckoned.

Taka felt loss As Amari pulled away from him, standing she stood before Lye. “Locking me in?” She casually leaned against the bars. “Always full of surprises, aren’t you Master?”

“You wanted my help. So, let me help you.” He held out his hand. “Give me your choker.”

“I see, I suppose that’s the lazy way of doing things.” Her voice quipped to his odd request. Amari reached behind her and unclasped the choker, she reached out to hand it to Lye but her body seized and collapsed to the floor, the black material still in her hand as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her body contorted in sickening twists of pain as Amari gasped for air, pained cries barely making it through clenched teeth.

Like possessed by a ghost, the lace necklace floated from her hands and came to rest in Lye’s clutches. “I promised I wouldn’t harm you, Ixian. The same can’t be said about her.” As he spoke, the bastard walked to a worn stool against the stone wall. “You should have agreed to champion her.” He dragged it just outside the bars and took a seat. “Now, you’ll get to see her as she truly is.”

“Do what you have to do, Scarlet.” His words boomed over her shrill screams as the black ebbed and cracked further along her porcelain skin. His lips turned into a grin as Amari fell into a fit of broken laughter.

Taka stood and went to the door before he looked squarely at Ulroke, “End this now.”

“D-don’t…” Amari pushed herself to her knees and pressed her face against the bars, she sat at Taka’s feet, body twitching with pain. “More..”

He gripped the bars firmly before he said, ice in his voice, “I will not say it again, end this now.”

“You should be talking to her,” Lye retorted calmly with a bemused wrinkle in his lips. “She specifically asked for this.”

Taka for the first time in his life willingly called upon the oni's blood in his veins. He could feel a rush of energy in his veins as he formed up his grip on the cellar door, the door that had existed for countless years and survived Amari’s attempts to shatter it. He closed his eyes and grunted, “Utz!”

The door broke off it's hinges before he tossed it at Lye, using the free bars as a distraction before he moved and grabbed the Assassin by his vest. Gripping tightly with both hands he lifted the Crimson Hand’s leader before he spoke his voice filled with anger, “If you do not end this now I will drag you out to that courtyard and rip each limb from your body. You may have her caught up in the bullshit you peddle, but I will send my soul to Jigoku before I let you torture her before me!”

He threw the assassin against the bars beside Amari, not bothering to soften the blow as all. His body thudded against them with force enough to kill a man, and he slumped to the floor hunched over. Taka felt a sudden heated, burning sensation around his ankle, he glanced down to see a shivering and sobbing Amari at his feet. Her hand glowing an angry red as her very touch seared his flesh.

Amari spoke, her voice cracking, the insanity in her sing-song voice, It was almost too much to take in his current state, “This...iss...mine. Do NOT take it away….”

Taka knelt beside Amari before he whispered softly, “This may be yours, but it is not you.”

[Lye]

A deep, throaty chuckle rasped from beneath the platinum curtain of Lye’s hair. It sputtered into a cough and globs of thickened ichor spilled on his leather vest.

“Interesting,” Lye groaned. His head raised. “For someone who didn’t want to champion her…” He sputtered again, accompanied by the myriad of bones cracking and crunching into place. “You act just like it.”

“If you recall, I said that discussion was between me and her. Not for you,” Taka growled. Black tendrils stretched from beneath the samurai’s armor and up his neck. Lye used the dented bars to help raise him up and casually tossed the lace choker in front of Amari.

“There she is.” The assassin eyed Taka’s odd markings, drawing similarities to Amari’s. “So, speak.”

The Ronin carefully picked up the lace choker and moved to put it on Scarlet. If he was put off by the pain the woman’s hand was inflicting he refused to let it show as he put the choker back on her. His voice held a softer tone than he had given Lye, “Be still. Please, for our sake Amari-Chan…”

Lye shook his head with a grin as the ronins actions did little to alleviate her pain. Even as the choker was placed back around her neck her body continued to spasm in pain. Her eyes were half lidded. She let go of his ankle and instead pushed him aside, only to rip the collar off herself again. “Y-YoU’re NOt….my MaStER…wOn’T WoRK.” She hissed between clenched teeth. “M...mORe PaIn...MoRe AnGeR….” She heaved in ragged breaths as the black markings continued to spread across her body.

Taka gripped her shoulders to steady her before he spoke, showing none of his prior etiquette and decency, “It's killing you! Stop it now Amari!”

“It’s not,” Lye commented behind the Ixian who only glowered at him as he returned his attention to Scarlet. As Lye wiped the blood from his lips with a sleeve, he continued. “It causes pain, nothing more. So, will you champion her or not?” The assassin drew his blades against an unarmed samurai, expecting a stubborn response.

“Amari, we need to talk, stop this now…” His voice gave out and was almost unable to be heard under her trashing and cries of pain, “Please.”

She didn’t listen to him, she pushed Taka aside and slowly rose to her feet. It wasn’t the first time she had managed to stand under such duress, so it did not surprise Lye when she did. “NeEd MoRe…” She heaved as she staggered forward to clasp the iron bars that remained.

“Tick tock, tick tock.” Lye walked to where Amari stood and held out one of his blades to her. His gaze never drifted from the corruption on the Ronin’s own body. “What to do, what to do.”

A smile stretched across his lips when Amari reached out and clasped the handle of the blade. She staggered as she turned the blade onto herself, pushing her shoulder against the tip. Amari then crumpled to the floor in a pool of her own blood.

The Ronin’s act was swift as he grabbed the blade and tossed it aside. He knelt beside her before he growled out, “You have the power to put an end to this. End it now!” He looked up at Lye as the dark tendrils seemed to slowly spread higher up his neck.

“Yes or no, Taka,” Lye asked. The humor fell from his expression to a flat slate.

Taka looked upon Lye, it was almost as if two sets of eyes were staring at him, before a low voice otherworldly growled, “We accept.”

“Excellent.” Lye snapped his fingers. From the ground, her lace choker leapt into his hands. Lye approached the two of them, watching Taka as he clasped the collar around Amari’s neck. For the wound, he let it bleed instead fetching the second of his blades from the ground before he rose.

“Scarlet, he is yours,” Lye stated.

[Mari]

It was a sensual and beautiful thing, the sensations rolling through her body. The pain coupled by the seething corruption that sunk into her very soul. Amari threw her head back, giving her Master a guttural groan. She was right, sentimental feelings she had began to blur and warp. She realized she was a fool for ever having fallen for, and allowing Shinsou Vaan Osiris to become so close to her.

She should have never allowed Jake to re-enter her life, or for Fenn to live...If she had done those things, perhaps she would have been strong enough to defeat Vincent on her own.

There was Taka, the Akashiman ronin, the Ixian Knight, and the man who had managed to work his way under her skin and into the core of her being in such a short time, warming it with his gentle embrace and his soft, unsure touches. Her memories of him bubbled up to her consciousness. The way he looked upon her with concern, reaching out with unsure hands to clasp hers, as his warmth enveloped her. The way he wrapped his arms around her being, the silken touch of his lips against her bare skin...

She closed her eyes, allowing the continuing corruption to warp her feelings of sentimentality for him. Her desires to see him happy and free began to fade, and was replaced by a cold, uncaring emptiness. “This is what I wanted…” She breathed, almost in relief. She still had those memories...the laughter they shared as they lay naked side by side in the cabin of a rocking ship, the way his eyes lit up in the moonlight, and how his hair looked like the milky way as the winds carried it….the memories, they were all there, but there was no longer any emotion attached to them.

Amari was drowning in the corruption, an all too willing victim of its malicious poison. Her body burned, her skin became hot to the touch and the miasma of suffocating death began to float about the room, thick, heavy, and undiluted.

It had almost completely enveloped her, and may very well would have...

As though in a burst of defiance, Amari felt a rush of warmth deep within her core, and suddenly, she understood why Taka drove her mad, she understood why the mere thought of him made her question herself and her master. She loved him.

Amari blinked, and two tears fell from her red eyes, the last testaments to her lost emotions. Just as quickly as she had realised her folly, it had disappeared. The heart wrenching revelation torn from her before she could cement them in her, no chance to cherish such delightful emotions.

Her voice, cracked and broken was barely above a whisper. “Taka…. Forget me. Live… I’m so sorry….”

Those were the last thoughts, the last words fuelled by an unbreakable connection she had to the ronin before everything that was really, and truly Amari broke.

Lye had won.

A blinding flash of red and black light engulfed the room, eliciting moans from those who still lived in the cells. It faded, and Amari was still lying, injured on the floor. The leather jacket that belonged to Lye was burnt and tattered. Her skin, instead of being completely blackened by the corruption now held a pale, sickly grey tinge, as though the marks that marred her skin had seeped into her very being. Her pale form was covered in thick cracks that erupted on her face, and chest and her hands were painted like a blackend glove.

Amari’s eyes fluttered closed, then opened, the whites of her eyes had been enveloped by an inky black, and her irises, once a glorious green now burned a violent red.



***

The burning sensation had yet to quell, but she felt better, oh so much better. Everything was so clear, so pristine and so utterly peaceful. “Master….” Her voice rolled with velveteen delight.

“I feel wonderful.”


“Beautiful,” she heard her master comment. He looked on her with awe and pride on his face.

Scarlet sat up, glancing down at her arms, she ran her fingers gently upon her oddly coloured skin. ”You have an odd sense of beauty, Master.” She turned to him with lips quirked in a lop-sided smile. “I must say...I’ve never felt better.”


The Ronin seemed to be lost in his own world as his words and actions were unraveled. He seemed at a loss for what to do as he looked at his hands. A hand reached up and gently brushed back the sleeve, showing the mark of his corruption returning even to his arms. He had fallen.

Scarlet turned to the ronin, her eyes glancing up and down his form. “What is this?” She asked, disappointment in her voice. She stood and approached Taka, kneeling down by his side. She took his face in her hands, her fingers running along the blackened lines. “This is how you repay me?” She asked quietly. “I risk my life to recede that demons hold on you, I throw myself into the thralls of corruption in exchange for your safety, and this?” She gripped his face tighter and pushed him back. “THIS is how you repay me!?”

“He is a liar, afterall,” Lye added.

“Yes.” Scarlet agreed. “But he did swear himself to me, didn’t you...Ixian Knight? I suppose if you’re mine, I will have to fix that disgusting marr on your body, perhaps I should offer the Oni a name after all.”

[Tainted Bushido]

He stumbled still lost inside himself as he struggled to make sense of everything. He hadn't said the words, and he knew who did, but that shouldn't have been possible. The Oni didn't have that kind of power.

Oh little Falcon, how little you understand. Before, I had to fight for every bit of room in your soul. When you chose me, you let me in. Now, nothing will tear us apart, not even your precious Amari.

He looked at her as she spoke of naming the Oni before he spoke, “That would be unwise. Oni always try to murder the one who names them, because they hold power for being the bearer of that name…”

“Oh?” Amari gave Taka a dark grin, “I’d like to see it try.” She reached out and brushed back Taka’s white hair. “Answer my question, Knight.” Her voice was cold, and it rattled his core.

“I swore to protect you, yes,” His words were measured and even, as if he was trying to reign in his feelings on the matter. His eyes met her gaze as he steeled himself, seeing nothing like his Amari in that gaze. He thought he detected something, a faint stirring in those eyes. Something that tried to warn him off the path he was on.

He looked at her before he looked at Lye and returned gaze to her as he spoke, “I feel it would be best to discuss this away from what I feel to be your biggest risk.”

She didn’t seem satisfied with his answer. “I will show you something, Knight. I will show you what will happen, if you go back on your word.” She reached out to him expectantly, Taka gave her his hand and she grasped it, and turned it over. “This sigil, is one my dearest brother used on me. He wanted nothing more from me than to be his doll. If you do not abide by our wishes, you will be permanently resigned to the same fate.” Without looking behind her, she addressed the bastard assassin.

“Before I begin, Master. I need to know if we have any of that healing salve, I do not want a broken Knight.”

“We don’t,” Lye replied with a disproved snarl. “You blighted my supplies, but I fail to see why that would be an issue. You can heal him yourself, can’t you? If not, he’ll remember everything until you find a way to remove it.”

Taka remained still as the Oni whispered to him, Stop this. Kill that bastard and protect her. She’ll be angry now, but she'll agree it is for the best later. Don't let them seal you away!

He watched resolutely before he asked, “What is going to happen?”

“Bliss, as you fall into utter nothingness.” Was her reply as her finger glowed red, she drew the faintest of lines in his skin, just enough to draw blood. “The wound is not deep. It should heal itself overnight.” She drew a circle within a circle, and placed a cross within it. Each section had a single dot. For hex magic, it was the simplest thing… so why did Taka feel so...heavy?

He tried to flex his hand, and panicked when he couldn't move at all. This wasn't some magic that he could fight, it was something that locked him out of his body. He could hear the oni mock him, You can ignore me all you want. Now that I'm in your soul I don't need such manipulation. Your downfall is a matter of when, no longer if. She will be our death little falcon if you do not restore her and I doubt the witch has any more tricks up her sleeve for such redemption.

Amari stood and turned to her Master. “Oh shut up. Surely you have a store room of supplies. Get over it.” She turned back to Taka , “ And you, kneel before Lichensith Ulroke.”

General Taka, The Dark Blade of the Ixian Knights, Leader of the Mercenary Company, The Soul of Water, moved before Licensith Ulroke, he took knee before the Assassin then his gauntlet clad hand was pressed knuckles to the ground and his head bowed.

“Good,” Lye murmured.

“Stop, stand, do you have healing capabilities?” Amari asked.

“I cannot heal, only Sen no Oni can heal my body,” was the resolute reply. It held no warmth, only the cold clinical tone of a man saying things with the least amount of words. He stood awaiting his next order.

Amari approached him, and slid off his Jacket revealing a simple wrap about his chest, designed to keep him warmer, along with the marks of corruption that raced along his spine and ran up his neck. Blackened tendrils ran along his arms and down, following a pattern of veins as the Oni’s blood returned to its previous areas. She folded the jacket and hung it over her arm, she traced his markings with a delicate finger. “Get the oni to remove the sigil. You have learnt your lesson, I have no need for a broken, mindless doll.”

The oni laughed before it remained resolutely quiet. Finally Taka spoke, “It insists on defying you. I believe it is refusing as it thinks you would only destroy it given a chance.”

Amari furrowed her brows, her cold, calculating voice growing annoyed. “It has more use to me alive, I order you to let it speak to me freely.” Amari briefly glanced over her shoulder at Lye. “Master, it would be best if you played the part of the silent observer.”

“Little Ar’tuel, you use ancient sigils as if I don't know their meaning. You use my host as a tool, you will break him, and I will lose all chances in this world. Leave my host alone, he is mine, you lost…” The words held an angry tone, spoken free of the Akashiman accent.

Amari did not look as though the words shook her. “I have access to another Ar’Tuel soul. It is yours if you like.” She pointed toward Taka. “His body, as it is, is useless to you. You cannot further your influence over an empty shell. It would be in your best interests to heal him. If not. We are done here, he will remain in this cell, and his body will remain your prison.”

“Little wisp, you forget something. Just because I do not do something doesn't mean I cannot. Further, the game has changed, the rules have changed, and you are woefully unprepared, considering how you barely defeated me in Dheathain. How does it feel? To come so close, and then lose it because you decided to revel in chaos?” the mouth moved as a feral grin slashed the face.

“I suppose we are done here then. Taka- move into the next cell.”

As he moved to enter the cell the sigil.began to bleed blackened blood as the blood under his hand burst forth tearing and stretching the skin, until in a putrid burst his hand exploded in a bloody mess. The Ronin groaned as he crumpled to a knee and gripped the bloody appendage. The lips moved against the Ronin’s wishes as he spoke, “More than one way to remove the sigil. Are you prepared? Killing the Ronin means nothing to me, I can repair him each time, can you afford a delay of hours to use my host?”

Amari watched, her eyes on the blackened blood, she knelt down and ran a finger through the puddle on the floor, she ignored the Oni’s taunts. “Master, have Calleus wrap his wound. Right now, a demon is in control of Taka’s body, due to his foolish behavior. Until one of them listens to me, they need to be under close watch.” Amari picked up the injured wrist and ran her hands along it. “Just as I suspected, I cannot heal him, I feel a prickle of pain, at most I can alleviate his pain, but I feel it best for him to enjoy that pain.”

Taka clenched his teeth as he gently tried moving his fingers. They worked surprisingly as he looked up at her and took a breath before he spoke, his words soft, “Do not worry about me. It is an Oni, he lies about his capabilities.”

He took another steadying breath as he closed his eyes trying to force himself to focus, sitting in the center of the cell. Not allowing the Oni a chance to attack Amari while he still had control. Tears ran down his face, but he ignored them while he took another deep breathe. He had a promise to fulfill, and he would be damned if he didn't carry through.

“I am aware.” Amari said. As Taka watched her, he again, swore he saw something in the red pools of her eyes, a glimmer of gold, a spark trying to cry out and reach out to him. This woman was not the stubborn but kind soul he fell in love with. He wasn’t sure what she was. He had to save her, he had to bring her back.

“Taka.” Amari opened the cage and approached him, she wiped his tears from his face, instead smearing blood across it. “Your tears are a weakness. Use this time to reflect upon your actions. You have strength. Use it, as you promised.” With that, she turned to leave him in the cell.

He nodded silently as he closed his eyes and took another deep breath, finally reaching a calm center. He remained there with a steady breath as he pulled himself back together. The Oni and Amari were waging war for his soul as he fought to regain his center.

And sitting there behind those eyes was the Amari he swore to protect, the one who would have never allowed this. He flexed his hand gently before he opened his eyes, “I will do as you suggest.”

[Lye]

“Caellus!” shouted the assassin. His voice bounded and echoed off the walls, stirring motion from some of the cells’ occupants. Silence worked its way back into the dungeons until the signature percussion of boots on stairs grew to the foreground. Caellus emerged around the corner. Sure enough, his left eye was shadowed by bruises and bandages. The little succubus did not lie about their exchange.

“Sir?” Caellus asked with a strain. His hand gripped at the linens wrapped around his torso. Past his fingers and through the white, blood from a re-opened wound began to spread.

“Our new guest, please see to his injuries,” Lye ordered with no concern toward his associates’ own condition.

Caellus nodded with a snarl. The servant closed the cell behind him and began tending to the samurai before Lye turned for the stairs. His boot landed on the first step before he paused and turned a smile toward the Ixian. Then, he continued on to join Amari in their quarters.

She sat comfortably on the throw in front of the fireplace, his leather jacket crumpled on the floor beside her. The flames of the fire were small. Just lit. She glanced over her bare shoulder at him as he came in, her black and red eyes stared at him for a moment before she turned back toward the fire. “Come morning, I will deal with the ronin. I’ll break him, and give him the tools to become something more, something entirely beneficial to the hand- and if I break him beyond repair-” Scarlet shrugged. “Then I suppose Advencia will have a full meal, as will the boars.”She said evenly, standing she lifted her arms high above her head and stretched.

So many accomplishments in a day, but as he looked at the cracked demoness in front of him, the air of success grew stale. What stood before him didn’t feel like a colleague, or even a person for that matter. She felt like a force of nature embodied.

“Fine,” the word left his lips flat and devoid of his devilish interest. “If any of the Ixian remains in him, I would like to know more about his fellow survivors.” The assassin walked behind Amari. His hand cupped at the back of her head, turning her gaze toward his. Black cracks etched across fair skin, her deep green and gold eyes now demonic sclera with piercing red. He saw no fear, no happiness, no sorrow, regret, determination. He saw nothing.

She turned to Lye, black and red eyes glancing up and down his form as though assessing his worth. “I can’t believe I actually loved you, what stupid notions I had…” She glanced away, her eyes turning to the fire. “To think I wanted nothing more than to see you smile in earnest. I suppose that is what drove most of my actions.” A cold laugh erupted from Scarlet as she shook her head. “How pathetic, honestly. I have to admire your patience. I’d have done away with someone like that long ago. Talk about stockholm syndrome. Hah.” She shook her head, and looked up at him. “You have your doubts, even now, don’t you?” She asked.

“I do,” he replied hesitantly. Despite their progress, Amari always returned with some moral plight to pull her back to the world Lye so desperately fought to expose. He searched his mind for more words to say, but kept his lips sealed. He lost the way to express the creeping dread and uncertainty inside.

Scarlet padded across the floor toward him, “Here.” Before he could resist, or fight, she had her fingers pressed against his temples, urging him to rest back against the bed. The world around him blurred and warped, and with one last gasp, he was trapped in her memories.

Memories of their time together, of her alone. Fighting, always fighting. With herself, with others, her own emotions. The emotions, they weighed heavily on Lye’s chest. He saw himself through her eyes, and felt pangs of pain, concern, and worry. All things Amari had once felt for him. He watched as she carefully pat away beads of sweat from his head as he slept, and stole kisses from his unconscious form. He felt something he had thought he forgot, something that was lost to him in another life.

Love.

It was earnest, and cautious, but it was there - and he watched through her eyes, as he literally beat the sentimental feelings out of her. Hissing words of warnings. He felt the ache she felt.

Too labored with her influence, the back of his mind struggled against a chained nostalgia. These feelings, both hers and her own, cried out from the recesses of his mind. They clawed at the forefront and skewed her visions into his own memories.

As they came in waves and snippets, small glimpses into the life she lived, and how she lived it for him. Finally, the memories died down, spiralled into the moment she stopped fighting her corruption. His chest burned and ached, then there was an overwhelming feeling of emptiness as she pulled away. Breathing heavily. Her own eyes clouded by the shared effect of her ability.

Scarlet stumbled back a few feet, hitting the fire poker with her back. It clambered to the floor, she pressed her back against the stone of the hearth and slid down. It took a few minutes for her to regain her composure.

“That’s all gone now.” She muttered darkly. “So really… I should thank you.”

His eyes burned. To what effect, he blamed her influence. The pit of rage inside him welled for a moment and snuffed out pathetically to something stronger. Of what, he felt unsure, but he felt confused. Where was his fire, his anger? She couldn’t do that to him, she should pay. But… had she already paid?

He looked up at her through the recoil of whatever she did. His emerald eyes glistened in the firelight and brimmed at the lids. Even with his brows furrowed in anger, the expression lacked the honed edge of a knife.

“You…” he began, truly unclear how he wanted to continue that sentence. “Don’t do that to me again.”


The command fell weak from his lips as if it were not earnest. He rose from the bed, her hands sloughing off him as opposed to his aggressive deflection or iron grip. From there, he walked to the corner of their room and braced himself against the wall. Head hung low, he glanced to the mannequin where Isabelle’s dress used to sit.

[Mari]

Scarlet’s eyes shifted back to Ulroke who was braced against the corner wall. Silence fell between them. Now that she stared at him, she felt nothing. She no longer felt a desire to please him. She no longer cared if he was happy, sad, or even pissed. His current plight, whatever it was, didn't bother her. Everything she was now...it was a product of his doing
It was a cold and empty feeling, but it was so damn freeing. Scarlet sighed as she herself up off the warm stone of the hearth and approached Lye.

“A common goal.” She mused as a single finger danced under his chin. “That’s what will keep me from slitting your throat in the night. That is what will keep you from tearing me apart with your sin magic.” Her lips twisted into a heartless grin. “That’s all it has ever been with you, and that’s all it ever will be. There was nothing to us and I must thank you, again, for showing me how disillusioned I was in thinking there was ever going to be more. Shinsou, Taka… just playthings to fill that void you tore into my heart. Now I don't have such sentimental attachments. You finally have what you wanted.”

He straightened up at her words, and met her gaze with narrowed slivers of emerald. Whatever he seemed to be searching for, he did not find. After a brief pause, he finally spoke and turned to face her.

“You’re a monster befitting of your new name.” The way he spoke it, she couldn’t tell if it was intended as a compliment or an insult. Either way, it stirred nothing from her expression. He also portrayed none of his own.

“So long as the goal is realized, neither of us can afford any of that.” He brushed her hand from his chin. “But you turn a blade on me before then and I’ll show you no mercy.”

She leaned in, pressing her hands against his chest. “Don’t get me wrong, Master, I’ll defend you with all that I am. If anyone were to take your life, it’d be me, and I refuse to let anyone take you before that. I will vehemently defend you.”


He seemed oddly peaceful at the statement. She expected some half witted nonsense or vague threat, but he remained silent. Instead, the faint resemblance of a smile stretched across his thin lips.

“If that’s all,” he finally spoke. “I have some matters to attend to.”

The smile faded to his usual porcelain scowl before he broke past her and made for the door.

Scarlet paused, pressing a hand against her stomach, the other against her mouth, a sudden wave of nausea hit her, and hit her hard. “Ugh…”

“Scarlet?” The assassin turned, hand on the door. He sounded concerned.

She shook her head, pulling her hand away. “Just nausea.” She muttered. “Probably from everything that has happened tonight. My body’s always been weak that way.”

“Hmm... “ There was a pause from him. “Have Advencia clean up the mess. Get some rest in the meanwhile.”

Then he was gone.

Scarlet noticed his hesitation, his trepidation. She picked herself up and struggled to make her way to the door. He was still there, she could feel his weight against the wooden door and see the shadows of his form beneath it, between the crack of the wood and floor. Scarlet pressed her palms to the door.

“You wanted this.” She hissed. Scarlet opened her mouth to say more, but bile spluttered forth and she fell to her knees, gasping between heaving up the contents of her stomach.

HIs footsteps echoed, away from the door and from her. Scarlets whole body convulsed as she crawled away from the door. Not long after Advencia came in, light blue eyes wide and fearful.

“What happened here? What happened to you!?”

“I’m all better….” Scarlet muttered as she wiped the bile from her lips. “This is a new time for us all.”

Advencia wasn’t sure she liked the sound of those words, nor of how Amari looked or smelt. Still, she knealt down beside the convulsing assassin and gently rubbed her back. “If you say so, Mistress.”

[Breaker]

Thread Title: Land of Confusion
Participants: Mari, Lye, Tainted Bushido
Judgment Type: No Judgment

Mari gains: 1188 EXP and 115 GP (inclusive of noble commerce ability bonus)
Lye gains: 1320 EXP and 100 GP
Tainted Bushido gains: 820 EXP and 77 GP

Congratulations!

[Rayleigh]

All rewards have been added!