A Sword's Shadow Falls on Tokyo (Misaki and one open slot)

Now the situation required the actions of the more overt nature. Elaine continued her rain of ammunition, but found herself gazing at the top of the cavern when the cold enforcement of an arm broke against her chest and knocked her off her feet. Imena darted to put a piece of rock between her and the shinobi, but his advance came from below. She stumbled and plummeted to the ground with her foot ensnared. The situation called for Misaki.

While this defender of the realm wasted his time with her common foe, Misaki stepped from the shadows. Her protégé needed work- and from the looks of it, a new arm. All in due time Misaki thought as the oil began to seep along the ground. A block of ice pinned Imena to the ground, entombing her legs just below the knee. This creature cut off an arm just earlier, imagine what he could do with such a defenseless foe, Misaki pondered while her oil reached the shinobi. A spark of electricity jumped from Imena's hands towards her aggressor. The smallest of flints lit the biggest of fires.

Flames engulfed the floor and spread rapidly. Misaki would not just burn her foe where he stood, but in each place he attempted to retreat. Biting back on her spell, Misaki smiled at the gesture done for her. She would repay the favor in due time for sure, but for now, she landed the heel of her foot into Elaine's chest to knock the air out of her lungs. Her hand grabbed the clone and fire sweltered from her hand to melt the creation before allowing more of the fire to blast against the guardian standing in her way.

It was prudent of Misaki to have held back, for the Revenant clearly did not expect a fourth assailant, his attention occupied with fending off the other two fairly threatening ladies. Once he moved in to deliver the reaper’s touch against Imena, he was caught off guard by the trickery of the fox.

As the oil fell onto the creature, the Revenant’s cold, dessicated form ignited as the lightning immolated the fuel. It let out an unholy wail of pain as the creature went up in flame.

“Interlopers! Tresspassers! Ne’er-do-wells! You will pay for this sacrilege!” He staggers toward Misaki, his icewalking powers denied, making him far less a slippery target. Still, his hardened ice claws refused to melt, and he still moved with inhuman speed. An unlucky swipe could cut even Misaki’s skin.

Diana crawled her way to the Blood Sword, able to break it free of the ice now that the Revenant was away, his power weakened by the fire consuming him. Being away from the sword took its toll, and Diana very nearly dropped it as she fell from weakness... her head throbbed, and her vision darkened, but the biting cold was slowly replaced by the familiar warmth as her sword once more rushed to save its chosen host.

Diana’s frozen stump of an arm was unceremoniously cut at the shoulder by the blade itself, the girl hesitating for a bit before plunging it into the joint and scooping out what remained of the frozen limb. Needless to say it was a horrific pain that made her scream, if only to allow the macabre sensation of restoring a limb to take place... starting with bone, then sinew, veins, muscles then skin. It was never a welcome sensation, the remedy far more painful than the damage.

At the end of it, Diana slowly got to her feet, and headed into the Temple to reach her original goal, the flame sword having done its job to melt the ice enough for her to begin hacking away at the faded paper seals on the door.

Two pistols slid across the floor under the guidance of Misaki's heel. The guardian charging her provided her with no sense of danger. She allowed for the claw to tear at her skin. She had more. When the claw dug through, Misaki grabbed the man's arm and singed him. Every step he took within her vicinity forced more heat into him. Steel claws dug into the ice, chipping away layer after layer. Misaki felt pleasure with the pain she would vist upon him, but she would not stay still.

Activating her amulet allowed the flow of motion to speed up her movements. The slender woman who never seemed to do anything more than lift her scarves reached her incredible speeds to move about the oil slick. Her own specialties giving her everything she needed to take advantage of her own situation. While her opponent might try to assault her, Misaki merely wanted her opponent to give chase. The oil burned with a viscous heat and the fox felt nothing of the fires. This ninja needed to be disposed of. This temple destroyed. And a new avatar would take the rightful place of these special blades.

Elaine rolled over onto her side and looked over to see her partner half frozen and her pistols well outside her reach. One hand braced the arm and the other hand lifted the body to the feet. This was the beginning of the trip to save the world, but it would not be the last. So, Elaine decided to just go ahead and stay down and crawl it out. Less calories or something like that.

The Revenant let out a dread wail, a chilling requiem of the undying, as the fire consumed him, and unable to avenge himself. The ice and elements around him sprung up madly, shooting ice everywhere, as he tried to extinguish the fire on his form. “The fire! THE FIIIIRE! It buuuuurns! IT BUUUUURNS!” Until eventually he dove into a large block of ice, passing through it and slightly melting an outline of himself... before vanishing.  

The creature waited precious minutes before once again springing into attack once more against Misaki’s flank. By now his uniform had been burnt away, revealing the preserved corpse beneath, its orifices glowing with mystical energy. His attack was suddenly foiled, and he was staggered by the swift strike of a something that impacted him in the side of his knee. The glint of sinister steel flashed in the twilight of the cave, slicing the vulnerable Revenant, a silent and swift projectile.

Emerging from the temple, Diana had sheathed the Murderous Blood sword, and was now attacking the frost creature with light, balanced blades in her hands, and tossing them with deadly skill and accuracy. The decayed, frozen husk felt the daggers slice through him; he attempts to fight back, but the fire had burned away his defense, his power over this place. As a result, his fragile ice projectiles were shattered by the unrelenting rain of steel. Burnt and broken, the Revenant had finally been overwhelmed, by bullets, lightning, fire and edged steel, and collapsed into a pile of ash.

A silence fell over the caves. Then, tremors began to shake the ground; the frozen earth began to fissure and give way, starting where the Revenant collapsed. There was no time to celebrate, as in its death throes the entire cavern began to implode all around them. The holding shrine was first to be crushed, rotten wood and ropes finally yielding to old age and bitter cold.

“Time to go!” Diana said to Misaki, sprinting for the hole to the surface some yards away, leaving Elena and Imena to whatever fate the cave would seal them in.

The fledgling spread her wings and devoured her prey without mercy. Misaki looked on with approval in her arts. Approval more serving for Misaki than for the girl whose soul found itself sucked away by the blade she wielded, but the transpiring of one girl would not hurt the karmic wheel at all. Perhaps it would take one soul out and make it more efficient. Even if the karmic wheel found no better usage or the girl damned herself into oblivion, it mattered not to Misaki. And she smiled.

While the cave crashed down around them, Misaki followed her new attendant out of the complex. She wanted some time with the other two girls, but if burying them in the depths of this cavern would seal them off, it would be acceptable. Each unstable collapse opened up a new pathway to the upper levels. Even though the rocks would pose no true threat to her, the idea of a landslide trapping her down here never appealed to her. So, she climbed. One rock after another into the next small cavern. Finally the broken floor plan of the sauna opened before them. Planks began to crash as the roof started to break. From here the shrine looked empty, a disposal for the mound of broken wood, metal, and rock filling it.

Elaine sprung for her pistols and fired a bullet into the ice covering Imena's legs. Riding adrenaline, Elaine timed it so she could detonate the bullet and shadow jump with Imena as the explosion erupted to save her from everything transpiring in the room, which oddly placed an explosion at third. Imena made her way to the opening and began to crawl up the formation to whatever safety awaited, while Elaine held back. She put her hand on top of her head and felt nothing. Out of the corner of her eye, her cowgirl hat laid on the ground. Darting from the rock, Elaine shifted in between displaced rocks and rolled out of the way from falling debris. With only a few feet keeping her from her prize, Elaine rolled and grabbed her hat, narrowly missing a large chunk of rock now taking its place.

A section of the floor above them gave way from the support that could no longer hold the weight. Elaine sprung for the exit and rolled to relative safety, keeping her hand on her hat as she reached her destination. From their she followed Imena without incident to the broken sauna, crumbled and destroyed. "What about the blades?"

"We don't care about the swords, just the fox lady."

"It's not like she would-" Two hands tore through the paper walls and grabbed Imena and Elaine by the heads, smashing them together and dragging them out. Both girls laid at Misaki's feet disoriented from the attack. A swift kick of her heel broke down upon Elaine's forehead, knocking her hat to the ground and further dazing Elaine.

Misaki turned and threw a bag to Diana. "Tie them up and take them back to the geisha house. Keep it quiet." Misaki would walk past Diana with one more thing to do. "Steal a car to transport them back. I'll meet you there in an hour."

Thankfully the lights in the remaining bathhouse structure, mostly the lockers and lobby which were intact. It was only in front of the large styling mirror that Diana noticed the changes to herself. She was, expectedly, dirty and dishevelled, her school uniform torn to shreds, and she had the appearance of a filthy street urchin from Manila... but what was more striking was how she looked older now, aged. Her figure began to fill out and Her usually short kept hair had grown out rapidly, and took on a crimson tint.

“I... what in the...”

“Fool girl. You use the Blood Sword’s power too freely. For not feeding it blood beforehand, it used your life force. Remember this lesson! Power always has a price. But, for retrieving the daggers, I will let this pass... and teach you more later.” The Ancient warrior manifested briefly inside the mirror beside Diana, angry and frustrated at her host’s recklessness, then vanishing just as quickly.

Diana sighed in frustration, too exhausted to lash out. Instead, she did as she was told, seeing it was only fair the Revenant was beaten only with their combined firepower.

“What? They are a significant threat though. Would it not be... prudent to kill them first?” she asked as she tied them up, then drawing her Blood Sword and placing the black steel against Elaine’s neck. She knew the cowgirl was the dangerous one.

"Nothing is a threat to me except lack of resources. Take my resources back to my geisha house without them making any noise to call attention to themselves and wait for me." Misaki walked out to find a place of quite. The shrine resting under this sauna drew a certain level of interest from other worlds, leaving the veil easier to draw back. With the revenant disposed of, Darkness could seep from her world. Misaki ushered in a hidden path using mortal anchors to bypass The Void separating true power from her.

Shadows along the trees decayed much of the ground beneath it, withering it from lush green to a more harsh brown hue. Her host announced its presence and severed the ties the ground shared with the light. Brown always looked more pleasing, more easy to conceal secrets within brown. Even in sauna houses, brown hid many secrets Misaki kept to herself. She smiled as she opened a brown door leading to the supply closet. The ninja hostess she earlier captured sat with her arms and extremities still bound and a rag still tied around her mouth. "I have a job opening for you." She smiled and threw her prisoner over her shoulder.

Imena and Elaine struggled in the bathhouse under the duress of Diana. Elaine could feel a warmth come under her chin. "Your mom told you to do something."

"Wait, is she actually her daughter, or are you doing racism."

"Probably the first, but even if not, it isn't the second. Never the second, all these people look alike."

And now the darkness crept in. The ninja swayed back and forth, confused at what happened, but stood under her own power. Misaki put her hand under her chin and turn the girl's head from side to side. A swirl of black circled her eyes. "Well, this works."

Diana simply nods, owing Misaki that much at least, and moves to find some materials to securely transport her captives. She returned after fetching some towels, cables and duct tape from the supply closet. She tapes them up, binding feet, hands, elbows and knees together, then using the cables to hogtie them. She stuffs their mouths with the hand towels to gag them, and then puts duct tape over that too. She then puts cloth sacks on their heads.

She generates mirror clones of herself then goes into the parking lot, where she parked their stolen van. She drives them back to the Geisha house with little fuss, assuming they didn’t try to escape at this point. All the while, the clones held daggers to the captives’ throats. It would be very bad if they tried to struggle, especially if the road got a little bumpy.

Once they arrive, they were brought in to one of the Teahouse’s private rooms, placed at separate corners. The police had not caught wind of the massacre here.

As a final humiliation she also relieves Elaine of her cowboy hat.

“Nice hat. I think I’ll keep it.” She said, patting Elaine on her cheek. “Watch them while I wash up.”Diana said to her mirror clones, which were enviably in better shape than her. The mirror clones follow orders as well, guarding the captives with scimitars in hand.

Elaine gulped down the build up from her mouth as Diana turned away from them. Both girls let out a sigh of relief when they saw such an egregious misstep. "Okay, let's escape and we'll go get sushi." Elaine scooted back to begin working on Imena's house when she heard Diana coming back. "Knots are pretty tight, but we should be just done in..." Elaine stopped to stare at Diana.

"Why did you..." Imena lowered her hands back to the ground. "What are the towels for?"

Diana spared no mercy to either girl, wrapping them tightly and then binding their hands and feet. "Don't you think this is a little...Mmmphhh!?" A long piece of tape followed the towel.

"You can't hogtie a cowgirl with...Mmmphhh..." Several pieces of tape followed for Elaine.

Each girl tried their best to struggle, but could only manage to rock back and forth before Diana bagged both of their heads. The plans for an early escape and sushi disappeared as Elaine and Imena felt themselves lifted from the ground and carried until the hard surface of the van sat beneath them. Blades pressed against both girls throats for the duration of the ride. A ride taking three sharp turns and hitting four potholes.

Light burst forth as the bags came off of the girl's heads. A teahouse surrounded by attendants felt a little more peaceful than any other place prisoners were taken, but the cloned guards sold the danger. Still fearing Diana, the attendants scurried from the room and made for their daily duties, especially the ones on the other side of the complex. Taking one final moment of glee, the spoiled brat patted Elaine on her cheeks in a patronizing fashion while she bragged about her new hat. Elaine squirmed as Diana walked from the room, leaving her magic clones to do her dirty work. Imena gave the loudest muffling to convince Elaine to calm down in the wake of the identical sword wielding guards adding another layer of protection to their captivity.

Time passed slowly as Elaine and Imena tested their bindings with the best subtlety they could muster. Breaking out of duct tape would be easy if Elaine could be left alone for long enough, but since these guards didn't need food or rest, she could be there for a while. "This is impressive." Misaki slid the door open and stepped through, her black eyed acolyte behind her, still wearing the white shorts and polo shirt from the hostess job she impersonated. "I guess my dear can follow rules to a creative and merciless level. Now..." Misaki allowed her claws to seep out. "We can begin to make this world a more suitable place."

Diana spent the better half of an hour in the bathroom by herself, Misaki’s minions prudently leaving a change of clothes nearby and a fully stocked toiletries set. She rips off her tattered clothes; indeed she had aged considerably, probably five years or so, considering the development, yet sighed when she felt she gained only about two inches of height. She felt a sudden spell of vertigo as she recalled the horrific battle, her pulse speeding up and her breathing short. She struggled to get a grip, not only of her unnaturally aged body but her damaged mind as well. The Warrior Spirit was in the mirror, holding her by the shoulder, massaging her, almost acting like a concerned parent.

Her hair grew incredibly long as well, reaching to her waist, and so she cuts it rather brutally with her sharp knives, making a more manageable neck-length mane of crimson hair, leaving a huge mess of hair on the floor. Her skin had become paler too, but her regenerated arm was of the light brown of her Filipino heritage, and the spot where it regrew was macabre in its visibility.

She quickly grabbed a rather stiff loofah, doused it with soapy water and, compelled by an inner psychosis, madly began to rub the off-color appendage, and then switched to her pale skin, feeling trapped by her transformation. Diana realized in that moment she was no longer looking at herself in the mirror, but some kind of pale, female sculpture cast from marble- after all, was it not the desire of most short, dark skinned Asians to become fairer like their Caucasian counterparts? Was it not Diana's unspoken desire to more match her flawless mother, a famous Pale skinned Euro-caucaisan ideal of beauty? It was dreaded wishes come true, and she wanted to undo it- but there was nothing but her pink, raw flesh under the pale skin. She stared at herself for a long spell of silence...

Meanwhile the mirror clones, having been summoned to perform guard duty, remained relatively expressionless since their creation. However, something odd crept into their behaviour once they were distanced from their progenitor long enough, and it began shortly after Misaki arrives.

One of them suddenly broke out into a grin and a slow laugh. “Hahahah I thought I almost died back there! I lost my arm and so much blood but thank goodness hahahaha! But what a rush! Hahahaha! I’ll never get bored!” The first clone eventually erupted into a belly aching, wide eyed, mad laughter.

The second one slumped down into a ball of despair. “I could’ve died... Seriously... if I didn’t reach the blood sword... oh god... I should really reconsider what I’m doing... I want my mom... I want to go home...” She fell into a foetal position rocking herself, consoling herself with a wish to see home and mother again. The two clones seemed to reflect some kind of... serious defect... in the absence of their master.

Original Diana rejoined Misaki and their captives, the mirror clones dismissed as the warrior girl came in with the Blood Sword, always first among her arsenal. She saw that Misaki already arrived.

“Ah, you’re back. Were you talking to someone?” Diana asked, much  aloof and calmer now and curious, thinking she heard some voices before she came in. “And how are our captives?” She was wearing a new set of the same uniform, but now added Elaine's hat to her ensemble, an uncoordinated combination of school girl with a cowboy(girl) hat.

Finally this brash girl tore it. Elaine fought with every ounce and fiber in her jaws to pull the tape from her cheek. Her tongue forced the towel from her mouth and the savageness of her vitriol came to fruition. "You can't handle that hat!" Her hands pried against the tape, but to no avail with the cords also binding her. "When I get out of this..."

"That won't be necessary." Misaki walked to welcome Diana. "You have done well today. And will do well in days to come. If you value trophies, I can afford them to you."

"That isn't yours to give!"

"But it was. And I did." Misaki stood over Elaine gazing down. "I'm sure that tape hurt coming off." Misaki gestured her head to signal Diana to fix the problem. "I wonder if your vane effort was worth it."

Misaki left the room and stood in the hall. The house rarely received visitors during the day and stayed with the classic tradition of having her attendants tend the gardens growing around the complex. "Let's see the gardens in bloom." Misaki would lead Diana through the hall and into the central garden. Darkness consumed the area under the footsteps of the ninja hostess. Green plant leaves turned brown to hide secrets. "I have need of you and believe you can now be trusted to act on your own accord. I require more resources. I need a woman who commands plants. I do not know if she is or is not human, but I do not have need of humanity. Only power. Find her. Bring her here. I do not care how it happens, but I know she has a very special interest in the woman whose hat you have stolen. Make her promises."

Diana listened to Misaki’s next request, to find a plant person. She considered it, and assumed Misaki wouldn’t mind mixing her own goals with this one. “Controls plants? That will definitely take awhile. Well, I’m sure you won’t be bored, having guests to entertain.” She looked at the captives with a smirk, especially Elaine who had now been deprived of her oh so important hat.

With her new, mature outfit and literal new look, Diana packs some necessities, including bundles of American cash from the Yakuza, to begin her travels anew. It was a bit of a hassle travelling illegally, but at least she couldn’t be traced. “I’ll be back soon... let's have more fun then.”