Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

A Dream World For A Nemesis

The assailants all flung themselves at Rakugi at once. From the initial spark that marked the ignition of this conflict, Mana noted something peculiar that undoubtedly Rakugi had also picked up on, though by the time he did, it was too late. How these Hyuuga clansmen moved seemed far too synchronized. From the looks of it, this group comprising the Imbrium–a group of elite ninja, a personal Black Ops to the Hyuuga clan, and common chuunin and yet they moved almost the same.

Same speed. Matching stances and manners in which these enemies delivered their strikes. This appeared to have caught Rakugi off-guard. It was one of a couple of things to be fair. These ninja rushed in on the assassin all the way up to his face despite the enormous weapon he wielded with grand grace and experience. It was as if they had thrown caution away entirely. Not even the most brainwashed clan yes-men were capable of such profound devotion.

To make matters even more complicated, there was another feeling. One that Mana felt was validated when Rakugi's blade became stuck in the core of a Hyuuga ninja's abdomen, prompting the about to become deceased ninja to lock the blade in the core of their guts while they vomited blood, leaving the sword stuck as the rest of the ninja rained down a whole blizzard of palm strikes. Rakugi grunted and covered up. These strikes truly tested the mettle of his armor and shed more than a few plates he used to protect his tenketsu from being shut down.

What the grizzled veteran in the art of assassination took as a mere run-of-the-mill assault on his life and reputation became a genuine assassination attempt on his own head with its own twisted yarn of mystery to it. Just which part of this killer would have centered on the most to associate the final Five Pillars Seal part to it? Mana would have believed that the man would have bonded the last part with the last time he had seen his daughter or something sentimental like that. So far, this memory hardly seemed to suffice with the sentimental value needed for such an important bond.

"Interesting..." Rakugi cackled out a wet wheeze from the depths of his throat as he engaged the suicidal, hive-minded group of Hyuuga in hand-to-hand combat but the unorthodox fighting style of these men and women had the assassin cornered.

A handful of Imbrium assassins vaulted to the back of the cave, thrusting their open palm forward and sending tunneling shock waves of gale-force toward the cornered and oppressed killer they were after. Rakugi grunted and grumbled as more and more of his armor unraveled. It seemed odd how effective these ninja were at subduing an opponent that nearly demanded the Stars their lives to defeat all together. Then again, the Rakugi they faced differed from this man. Blinded, therefore weaker for one, focused and well-researched on their abilities, therefore stronger a great deal as well. It just showed how much importance battle conditions had as opposed to mere strength and speed.

The flak jacket Hyuuga all swarmed around Rakugi, throwing flurries of palm strikes and hammering everywhere, at each tenketsu that they could make out, each little bee in this twisted hive throwing thousands of palm strikes each second as their combined clangs and thuds became hardly bearable to listen to in this dark and moist cave. An explosion sent the accumulating body pile away as Rakugi rose from a messy cluster of the shed and torn steel, emerging bare and battered but alive as he picked up some of the stray armor parts and used them to hammer at his enemies while plowing through their stunned ranks with his bare hands.

With the initial shock of the mysterious and suicidal fighting style and one-track-mind attitude of this team having worn off, Rakugi's fists laid a valiant siege to their ranks, tearing and blasting through them with each strike leaving gaping holes in the enemy bodies. The ruthless assassin punched right through each target, striking precisely at their tenketsu and their vital organs, decimating the body to where, even if the target survived the attack, they'd die not too long after.