Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

The Pointlessness Of Violence

A fusillade of thunderous, ground-shaking blasts forced a struggle out of Damisan to stay on his feet. The wall right in front of him separating him from his abuser as of late blew apart, reducing to mere sheds and debris. Feeling the rough rubbing of bandages against his disfigured face and the imminent exposure of his true self to the elements, if the bandages take any more needless damage, Damisan stood up and approached the hole that Tongo had left in the tower.

"Run and hide maggot!" Tongo's voice echoed from atop of his walking fortress of automated destruction. It had only been a few moments before that Hoshido dragged Skaven down and the entire building had been shaking ever since. As much as Damisan wanted to check up on his friend, he'd be leaving the scrolls for the taking and just opening the tower up for Tongo to come in and do as he pleases.

No. Damisan had to leave this matter up to Skaven. He could no longer stand here and hide. The longer he stood still and watched, the more comfortable this bully will feel walking all over him and taking what belongs to him. Tongo took Damisan's cylinder. Now he's going to rip the bandages off too and parade, showing his crushed target off to everyone whether or not they liked it.

A stiff, metallic arm buzzed through the air and grabbed hold of the first ridge it could cling up to. With a string reeling sound, Damisan swung himself up and over the walking mechanical fortress and landed firmly atop of the wooden platform on top surrounded by a barred railing. Damisan straightened his back and stared right at his baffled abuser with a determined look.

"My cylinder. Give it back!" Damisan demanded.

"Well, well. Finally grew a pair, did you?" Tongo replied, moving his arms behind him. This was a deceitful motion, Damisan knew. He was a puppeteer himself. When the walking fortress stopped in place, there could have been no other reason for it other than Tongo needing those extra fingers to operate something else.

The first F00Ts came with a blur and riding the sounds of rustling cloth. With Tongo controlling them directly, with his own hand, instead of relying on control panels inside his walking fortress, the F00T moved like specters. Silent and instant, like death itself. Two whole ranks above the danger level that those previous ones were, although limited in numbers because Tongo only had ten fingers. A hammering thud sent Damisan stumbling back. Tension on the bandages paralyzed him in terror.

The F00T that socked him had grabbed hold of a bandage end and threatened to rip it off. With Tongo controlling these guys in a more personal manner, they had all the cruelty and ruthlessness of their master instead of acting in a generalized, distracting manner like before. Damisan dashed forward, activating the jets in his prosthetic legs to send him flying forward so that the pull on his bandages didn't unravel the full view of his face. He received a cross to the center of his ribcage for the trouble. Two more F00Ts kicked Damisan about as they dashed in all directions before the fourth one rolled over the first one and kicked Damisan in his ribs, sending him sliding across the platform and slamming into the railing.

Damisan cried out as he almost tipped over the rail, but with a thrust of his prosthetic feet into the rails, he sent himself flying back into Tongo's legion. They moved in blurs, like riding the perpetual high of Body Flicker, and shuffled between each other in a confusing manner. Despite his best attempts, Damisan just couldn't land a blow. Two F00Ts blitzed in from each side, smashing Damisan's head in between two steel arms, throwing a wicked power blow to his jaw.

"Let's see if we can muck up that mess of a face up some more, shall we? You can't possibly care, being this ugly to look at already," Tongo mocked his opponent who just stumbled forward with whited-out eyes before popping and disappearing into a cloud of smoke. A broken F00T unit fell on the ground, severed from its strings. "What?" Tongo bent his head to the side, observing one of the F00T units he sent to rush the tower earlier being used against him as a substitution target.