this blood is human blood and thus does not burn Gorou.
As Satoru’s ill-timed words reached the other shinigami, the tides of the battle seemed to turn against the death gods. Locura only had to lift a single finger and an entirely geyser of blood erupted from the ground. Enveloping the entirety of Gorou’s body, the pillar of scarlet fluid halted the shinigami’s momentum and hid him from sight.
“Feeble! My blood shall never spill again!” she cackled, her shriek sending shivers down the spines of everyone in the area.
In that vortex of blood what Gorou noticed immediately was the distinct lack of harm being brought to his being. Even soaked with the liquid, even drowning in that pillar of blood he gave no thought to anything but leaving that red prison and eliminating its creator. With a further degree of reckless abandon he launched out of the geyser using a single flash-step.
After just a few seconds, the samurai cut the maneuver short just in time to retain most of his momentum. Once again he brought himself at Locura with his weapon raised. If his blade struck true he’d end up swinging the blood-soaked naginata’s blade clean through the base of the Hollow’s neck.
Satoru attempted to watch the swordsman (well, the spearman now) renew his assault but in spite of his heightened vigil he could not follow the hurried attacks. All he saw was a flash or two and then suddenly an eruption of the tainted liquid bursting up at the samurai. What scared him the most was the acidic properties which the blood seemed to display shortly after Gorou's first assault. The muscular man seemed to shrug off the first encounter with relative ease, but now that geyser ability meant bad news for anyone trying to get in its face. Even if he were to consider getting up close and personal, he had no weapon that could keep the hollow at a comfortable distance. But then, another burst of insight struck him.
Throughout the entirety of this fight, the Hollow has two noticeable patterns: it focused on keeping us at range. Civilian decoys, acidic blood, blood fountains. It also seems to be able to manipulate blood in its surroundings. That means that we have to strike close to its heart.
A corner of the old smirk came back as a plan of attack began to form in his mind. Still cloaking his spiritual pressure as much as possible, Satoru called out to the ground underneath the monstrous maiden with Soshi, focusing his slowly ebbing powers on the rich dirt underneath her. His influence alerted him to a disturbance in the soil, as he had hoped. For a second, Satoru hesitated to risk the explosion in case the Samurai charged again. But, if he was strong enough to stop cars barehanded and shrug off acid with indifference and annoyance, he knew the man could handle a bit of heat and pressure. With a small mental heave, he turned over the dirt just enough to trigger a landmine underneath her. A fiery conflagration erupted, sending torrents of super-heated shrapnel and a wave of hot concussive force bursting upwards at the bloodied beast.
Let's see how you defend against that. With any luck, other landmines in the area should trigger once the first one settles.
Sensing the impending danger, innumerable gallons of blood swirled around the hollow’s feet and spouted upward, lifting her free from any danger of the explosion and shrapnel. Riding the scarlet liquid column up into the air, her face distorted into a mischievous smile. Whether the shinigami realized it or not, they were conceding to the insanity of battle.
As the spear-wielding shinigami adjusted to her rising path, Locura eyes broadened to their limits. Fear had not induced a reaction from the hollow; instead, madness was feeding her frenzy and making her stronger with each passing moment. Utilizing the chaos, she summoned a massive lance of her own blood and hurled it into Gorou’s shoulder. The acidic weapon struck him with such force that it drove the shinigami into the ground as his weapon swung wildly through nothing but air.
Turning her attention to the spectating combatants, the maiden of madness twisted the afrogami’s strategy against them by taking control of the blood that had seeped into the soil. With a single finger tap, the living-giving liquid compressed around the mines at their feet and activated the latent devices. All around the battlefield explosions erupted.
Locura’s limbs began shaking with excitement. This was her domain.
All of the fiery chaos igniting below faded until Gorou could hardly hear it. When Locura’s lance pierced his shoulder the two beings’ blood became intermixed. In an instant, the crimson ichor tainted every drop of his blood that it touched. Like a poison, this effect spread to the entirety of his shoulder and soon his torso. To infect his entire body took all of the effort of a single heartbeat. A burning sensation similar to what the beast’s blood had done to him earlier began tingling throughout his body.
Another second finally passed. Every square inch of flesh on the samurai’s body burned as if he had been set on fire. Having awoken from his daze he found himself pinned to the ground just after the explosives had ravaged it. Not for a moment did he realize nor understand what had happened beyond the wracking pain. Beyond the burning sensation he could also sense something unfamiliar.
Rather than focus on the inexplicable he focused his energy a second time. Another layer of reiatsu purified his body of the fire in his veins. However, that nameless sensation remained. It wasn’t often that one felt a pit appear in the deepest corner of their soul. Bit by bit the momentum of battle reentered his psyche. Whatever it was that the burning blood had left behind had been created by Locura.
So long as Gorou could destroy the beast that pit would extinguish itself, or so he wanted to assume. Anything that couldn’t be defeated by a sword wouldn’t be of any concern to him just then.
Determination to overcome his enemy turned to anger. No sooner than rising to his feet did he make for a charging lunge at the beast yet again. A flash step took him further out, the momentum of which he turned into an upward leap. Energy gathered into his blade as a mirror to his brutal intent. If he could cut into any portion of Locura’s flesh, he would ensure that he’d leave a mark.
339[1387]
things used
[ Taikaku Kakougan ] - "Granite Constitution"
A hakuda user knows true mastery of their body, and as part of that they must protect that body in all ways. The use of this technique fortifies the user, both inside and out, in an attempt to drive out foreign substances and reiatsu as well as fend off physical attacks.
This lasts for one round and costs 2,000 reiatsu. It restores balance to the user's body, cleansing all positive and negative effects up to the cost, strongest effects first. During this round, the user can physically block attacks equal to their Hakuda.
MARK OF FRAGILITY: Alone, Gorou and Gunshin are a capable force. While surrounded by allies, however, Gunshin’s power becomes a force to be reckoned with. When Gorou strikes a target he has the option of paying 5% of his reiatsu, and in doing so leaves behind a twofold effect. First, the target will gain a faintly-visible aura with a red-orange glow. If the triggering wound is healed by any means, the aura dissipates and the effect of MARK OF FRAGILITY is canceled. Otherwise, this effect persists for up to 3 rounds, or until the victim is dead or unconscious.
Second, the marked target will take additional damage from all incoming attacks. All minor wounds are made moderate on the marked target, from any source. This effect can be applied again during the following round which will refresh the number of rounds it lasts for. Further applications of MARK OF FRAGILITY are not cumulative.
[Zangyak]
All sharp edges can make their victims bleed. Certain students of the sword have learned to leave deeper and more brutal wounds. The very nature of the Zangyak cutting technique will allow its practitioners to cut and stab in a way that no others can.
For 3% of the user’s reiatsu per round, masters of Zangyak will cause all wounds they cause to bleed far more profusely than normal. In addition to the increased pain and bloodloss, those that are struck will hemorrhage reiatsu equal to the cost paid into the technique, divided among the three rounds. By striking again the effect will not stack, but the duration will refresh.
the latter two are strictly on-hit abilities, just fyi
After the earth-shattering boom, the world became a dark brown blur. The sound ripped through his eardrums with a loud pop that dispelled all the other noises he could hear. The writhing humans in the pit behind him, the sound of his counterpart gnashing at the teeth to slaughter the foul mistress, the mistress’ demented laughter, all of that and everything else was overpowered by the boom and then the preceding silence.
Everything in his vision went black, and his senses of taste and smell were saturated with dirt. He couldn’t feel the ground beneath his feet any longer, only the wind whipping across the teeth of his wooden sandals. His equilibrium was shot and sent in a rapid whirl. Soon enough, his body collided into something with a violent thud. He was far too floored to make it to his feet; he was still trying to figure out what had happened.
The black smoke rising up in a dense fog from the ground began to clear... and Manzou was gone.
The insanity within Locura’s body screamed out for more of the life-giving liquid. A massive wall of blood collected from the battlefield and coalesced directly in front of the headstrong shinigami; however, impeding his path would not be enough to satisfy her hunger. With the spreading of her hand, spikes rushed outward to greet Gorou with impalement upon every inch of the structure.
“So foolish!” She cried out to the bearded shinigami alone. “Your blood is not pure enough to defeat me!”
Satoru's gray eyes widened as he felt something in the air suddenly shift... it was as if something in the air just snapped. Then they started. Explosion after explosion began to destroy the field of battles past and present. A mine went off just a couple of meters away from him, but it was almost as if it were in slow motion. Without even thinking, he jumped backward and vanished into a shunpo. Unfortunately, the heat and pressure did send a few pieces of shrapnel that cleaved through his robes and dug deep into his left arm and torso before he could fully initiate the movement.
When he reappeared, he was standing near the quaint little house that was removed from the chaos of the battle. Satoru clutched his pierced arm, thankful that nothing was bleeding too profusely. He thought about trying to soothe his wounds with Reiki, but the fluctuations of his reiatsu from battle would make it nearly impossible. Instead, he carefully retrieved the fragments with Soshi and bound his wounds with strips of fabric from his shihakusho.
Can't fight it up close... can't fight it with sneak attacks... now what?
Seeing no other alternatives, the mystic decided to try one last deterrent. Satoru recalled the Applied Reishi Physics course he'd taken and started to jump up using platforms of reishi. As he climbed, he noticed that the thinner shinigami had disappeared. The unseated shinigami shouted out "Tentacle Man, where'd you go?" before reaching his destination. Standing on the roof of the house in order to get a clear view, the afrogami began to chant as he faced a palm toward the fallen maiden.
"The first ring comes in the morn. The second ring seals in the afternoon. The final ring binds at the day's dusk. Bakudou Number Ten, Sealing Rings!"
Out of instinct Gorou struck out against the wall using Gunshin’s far reach, striking against it with all his might as many times as he could. Flying in the face of his efforts, a few of the spikes cut into his hands as he rushed the blade. Just as he nearly ran out of breath the wall burst into crimson bits before returning to its liquid state. Pain stung from the hole in his shoulder, and from the gashes on his hands and forearms. Every offensive he’d put up had been outmatched to an unacceptable degree.
In a motion that flew in the face of every battlefield tactic he had ever preached, the samurai retreated to the ground. For the briefest moment he took stock of the battlefield as well as his comrades. So long as Manzou was down, the collective power of the duo didn’t seem to be enough. That same enraged desire to destroy his enemy resonated in his mind. No ghoulish monster could overcome a samurai, much less one that had others’ lives weighing on his shoulders.
“No,” he declared quietly “NO!” A slow buildup of reiatsu collected around his body and weapon. Up until then he had been treating Locura as if it were a common ghoul. It had taken him too long to look upon the aberration with the seriousness it deserved. Such an error had cost them and the civilians they were meant to protect far too much.
“I WILL NOT PLAY YOUR GAME ANY LONGER,” the ronin called out. As more reiatsu focused into his frame, he stabbed Gunshin head-first into the ground with both hands.
“BANKAI,” his voiced boomed across the battle-torn village. An explosion of red-orange reiatsu emanated out from him. Within the center his weapon had vanished entirely. High in the air, eight massive banners adorned with a separate tenet of Bushido slammed into the ground. Each banner’s kanji gained a furious red-orange glow. By the time the smoke would clear a near-complete set of deep red armor covered him from head-to-toe. Only a helmet and faceplate were missing.
“Hachiman-jin,” Gorou announced, “watch over us in honorable battle,” the helmet and faceplate materialized on his head with a sharp clink, “and may our foes be blessed with a quick death.”
A burst of pressure followed the armored samurai’s second ascension towards Locura. Both katana that had appeared in his hands vanished with a thought. To replace them, two of the eight banners were torn from their place to seek out its wielder. In mid-flight the banners slowly took the form of equally-massive zanbatou. Upon grasping his weapons he swung them with all his might down upon the bloody Hollow.
450[1837]
this is what happened
first off:
[ Ijou Ittouryoudan ] - "Exceeding Cutting In Two With One Stroke"
With greater mastery comes greater prowess. These Zanjutsu specialists are able to bring their true skill to bear when facing off against their enemies' attacks. Rather than merely splitting an attack, the user delivers a series of rapid attacks that utterly destroy the enemy's attack.
Usable against techniques and abilities up to twice the cost of Ijou Ittouryoudan, this technique costs 750 reiatsu to use.
then the bankai abilities which are here cause nobody wants to click links anymore:
Divine Armament
Immediately following the manifestation of the dual katanas, a full set of armor modeled after that of the samurai and shoguns of Gorou’s past is summoned to his body. This armor will remain fused to him and cannot be removed unless he seals Bankai, or it’s forcefully and purposely torn off.
For 5% of Gorou’s reiatsu per round, the armor will act as a constant barrier and protect him from attacks worth the total amount that has been paid into it. In addition, for each successful strike Gorou makes against a target, the armor will passively generate 1% of his reiatsu. The barrier effect will last until its stored reiatsu has been depleted.
The Glory of Battle
So long as Hachiman-jin is unleashed, the eight banners will glow and project the painted-on kanji with a red-orange tint. For 4% of his reiatsu per round all those that the armored samurai calls allies, including Gorou himself will find a boost to their fighting spirit and find strength in the eight projected virtues. While this ability is in effect any and all attacks made within range (25m) will have their damage category increased by one (minor to moderate, moderate to major, etc.).
Onslaught
When two blades aren’t enough, Hachiman-jin will provide more. Gorou can cause any weapon he wields to leave a translucent afterimage with each successful strike for 500 reiatsu per afterimage. An additional afterimage can be created for every 5,000 Zanjutsu Gorou has, capping out at three afterimages. These afterimages will move and strike the same place their solid counterparts struck and cut with the same speed and strength as well, thus causing the replicas to strike just moments after the genuine articles have.
Eight Sword Style The banners on the field are not merely there for ambience and their symbolism. At any time, Gorou can disperse the two katanas (and subsequently bring them back) in order to summon up to two of the banners to his side. For 1000 reiatsu Gorou can convert the banners into fifteen-foot-tall, double-edged zanbatou which he can wield as effortlessly as regular zanpakutou. While this ability is active, no matter how many banners it’s active on, the eight kanji will remain projected in the air allowing Tatakai no Eikou to remain active.
From behind the bloody temptress, in synchronicity with the massive zanbatou swinging down on Locura like dual guillotine’s, a dark blur flashed forward.
Gripped in the raven-haired man’s charred hands was a blade with a cerulean hilt. In that fleeting second, the ordinary katana was enveloped by a white light from tip to pommel. The white dimmed to the deepest black, seeming more a void in reality than merely an all-black blade. In his hands, the dark, deathly-sharp streak exploded outward with the consistency of ink and coalesced just as quickly into a broad, double-edged cleaver-like sword. The black light faded, as if absorbed into the metal of the blade and the fabric of the cloth wrapped around the hilt, revealing Tatsunokuchi in its initial form.
With exceeding quickness, the distance was crossed, Manzou’s gargantuan blade trailing behind him and gathering momentum and killing power.
“Hadou Eleven,” he chanted quickly, invoking a bright crackling energy that channeled into the blade that swung toward Locura. “Tsuzuri Raiden!”
[166/1,873]
Senka with Tsuzuri Raiden to electrocute the bitch; going to hit before Gorou's swords to stun her before his zanbatous hit.
Spreading her arms, Locura broke free from the bindings. A single lift of both arms was all that was required to summon the entirety of blood strewn across the battlefield. Collecting at her feet once more, a massive wave of crimson rushed upward to meet the bearded shinigami’s gigantic weapons.
Using her own spilt blood to reinforce the edge of the hardened liquid, the two attacks collided with sheer ferocity. Neither strike gave way to the other, prompting the hollow’s eyes to widen. It was rare for her to encounter a shinigami with such power – even though this one was strong-headed and foolish. Unfortunately, Locura had barely begun to realize this notion when a secondary blade tore through her back.
Crying out in agony, she managed to deflect Gorou’s swords to the side as shocks of electricity shot through her limbs. Losing control over the blood, the hollow collapsed to the ground with the life-giving fluid raining down around her. This was the second time her blood had been split and she would not allow a third.
Distilling hers from the weak human blood, Locura focused it into a spear and threw it at Manzou.
With the blow landed, Manzou exited his flash step with the wounded mistress several meters at his back. Thinking her to be crippled to the point beyond such immediate retaliation, the raven-haired man turned only just in time to see the woman’s arm lunge forward and the blood lance rifling from her grasp. The hefty blade in his hands, already stained with the woman’s blood, was lifted in defense, though not in time to prevent it from spearing through his shoulder. The narrowest of dodges spared his throat from being reamed through, though the projectile still hit with excruciating force, enough to take him off his feet and backward a few meters.
Manzou wrested control over his center of gravity mid-flight, heaving his upper body straight and shedding his momentum by the teeth of his sandals. With his free hand, he pulled the long spear from his shoulder, ripping it out heedlessly while feigning an unphased cast. It hurt like all hell.
Several meters away from Locura, Manzou considered their opponent, deliberating his next approach cautiously. Her wounds were grievous, but it seemingly only served to spur her resistant, belligerent fighting spirit to surface. Blood was her weapon. With plenty of it strewn across the dirt road at her disposal, it’d be hard to approach her. They had keep at it, though---because it looked as if Gorou’s merciless assaults were the only thing stopping her from indulging in her incessant puppetry. At the same time, the puff-haired Mystic needed to stay back, and keep an eye out for just that.
Two-on-one were the best odds they could hope for. Steeling himself, Manzou gripped the meter-long handle of the two meter-long blade in hand with his other tightly.
“My fury extends to my brother,” Manzou recited the incantation calmly, smoothly, never taking his eyes off of Locura. “Let him strike down the enemy I cannot.” In the next second, Manzou disappeared. “Bakudou Forty-Six---” He reappeared at her far left side. “Ningyou Tsukaiken!”
Manzou finished the incantation, unsheathed his wakizashi, and chuck it lightly in the air before disappearing again. Leaving behind his auxiliary blade and his very likeness manifested, the sixth-seat exited his flash step at the Hollow’s right side, turned, and charged high with Tatsunokuchi once again. His duplicated rushed toward her at speed, sweeping in low with the short, deathly-sharp blade.
Tracking the true form of the shinigami with her keen eyes, the hollow spotted him reappear next to her body. She immediately sensed the chaos that would occur from his blade and summoned the dispersed human blood beneath the onyx-eyed warrior’s position. Foregoing her usual theatrical motions, she mentally forced the crimson liquid upward as two pillars.
Instantly, the blood engulfed both of Manzou’s arms, stopping his strike where it stood. With the threat of his blade halted, Locura forced the rest of the life-giving fluid up his legs in order to bind him where he stood. She was not going to allow this pest to escape; he would become her meal and provide her with the energy to recover from the wounds he dealt to her.
Before Locura could enact her plan, however, the copy of the blitzkrieg fighter sliced through her dress and cleaved her legs in two from the knees down. A shriek of agony enveloped the battlefield as the maiden of madness collapsed to the ground in unison with the blood that bound Manzou. Shock and indignation flooded her simplistic mind in the second that followed.
Scions of Prometheus do not fall to the likes of shinigami....
In that moment, the feeling that connected her to her creator pulsated within her core; Locura surrendered to the insanity that crept up within her soul. All rational though left her mind as she looked up at the one who had caused her pain. Disregarding her own safety and existence, she poured almost all of her remaining reiatsu into her blood that now contaminated the ground.
With a cry of madness and fury, the gory maiden compressed her acidic blood into a colossal lance and thrust it towards Manzou’s stomach.
Failure to so much as graze the beast left only a fleeting sensation. In the following moments Gorou recognized Manzou’s duality of success and imminent danger. Instinct forced him to lunge into the air towards his friend’s dangerous position. Both massive blades were left behind but not forgotten.
“MANZOU,” the veteran boomed, “MOVE!”
Without a word in response, without turning to face his counterpart or even a twitch of his features, Manzou disappeared, leaving Locura with a cunning smile as he disappeared.
Nearly as soon as the raven-haired death god had vanished, the ginger-haired samurai appeared in his place. Every bit of reiatsu he could pull was infused into his armor as well as his skin. In a further attempt at self-preservation he grabbed onto the spear with both hands with every bit of might his arms could muster. No amount of force that he could produce could so much as slow the weapon down.
In the moment it struck against the samurai’s reinforced armor it seemed like that would be enough. When the lance proceeded to connect with his torso he thought that the secondary layer of reiatsu he’d infused himself with would have some effect. Neither defense was enough - the lance pierced his gut in spite of his every effort.
The sixth-seat reentered the battlefield where Gorou had been, where both immense zanbatou were falling to the ground. The sound of the colossal blood lance perforating his division mate hit his ear with a muffled schlick, forcing his eyes back to where he once was. The sight of the veteran swordsman run through sparked the anger that had been festering in his stomach. A chill ran through him, a mixture of dread, distress, and accumulating intent.
Instinct and rage took it over, replacing the calm and composed mind that once was just as Gorou had supplanted him, sacrificing himself for that booming blow.
Without pause, without hesitation or deliberating the move, Manzou burst forward, speeding between the gargantuan blades left behind by the samurai. Two reptilian arms, formed of black fire and reishi, snatched up both weapons in each hand. The raven-haired man careened toward the faltering Hollow with utterly reckless abandon, leaving behind crushed and surging earth in his wake.
Both blades were raised overhead and swung down with earth-shattering force. Tatsunokuchi swept in between the two, its hefty and intensely-sharp edge threatening to cleave the mistress into a mangled heap.
Once the samurai released his Bankai, the clash of spiritual powers all around him became absolutely exciting. The lurking threat of his imminent doom, the push and pull of battle, the clash of strategies between the three monstrosities; all of it coalesced into an almost pleasurable aura that seemed to appear from just being in the area. It empowered him and strengthened his clarity of mind as it chased away whatever remnants of the Hollow's influence were still present within him. While those three began to go head to head, the afrogami ran through his list of options.
I already decided to stay at a distance, so Talon is out. Big Bang takes a lot of my energy, and I'm already feeling the heat from all that reiatsu I used earlier.
He then thought about the loss of control that the Hollow seemed to suffer when hit with the electric blade and made up his mind. Satoru thrust his palm towards the trail of clouds that was connected to the Hollow's head and gathered spiritual energy as he chanted. "Thor's pride springs from me. The power of the skies give me strength..."
He watched as she was bound by Manzou's spell and mentally cheered for joy as he shouted, "Hadou Number Twenty-Three, Raigen!"
The electricity that now covered his forearm raced out at the woman and it seemed almost eager to become the replacement for the blood which now pooled across the battefield; after all, it was a great conductor.
The triple blade attack tore through the maiden of maiden without her suspecting any threat. Splitting her body into four separate parts, blood erupted from her wounds and shot through the air. Fortunately for the nearby shinigami, this fluid contained no acidic properties. This blow had sealed her demise and all traces of her reiatsu vanished from the area, leaving behind only the damage she had caused before then.
Collapsing to the ground, her disfigured form began to disintegrate rapidly. Two items, however, were left behind from the scion. The first was a flat, black sheet made of onyx. Archaic symbols littered one side, warning those not to use it heedlessly. The second was Locura’s heart. Drained of all its blood, the organ had returned to its white, mummified form with a metal spike piercing through it. A rusty chain hung from the spike, signifying her lack of free will.
With her body returned to reishi particles and the items left behind as gifts for the victors, her soul passed on to the afterlife.
The insane mistress's body evaporated rapidly into nothing, as all Hollows did when met with their demise. The telling blow was relishing for the raven-haired sixth-seat, rewarding the vengeful, carnal lust in the pit of his stomach to an almost perverse degree. If not for the blood strewn across his face, a malicious grin might've spread across his widened-eye visage. The three blade remained there in the ground for a moment, even after Locura had departed, as that atypical bloodlust was shed and the sixth-seat blinked himself back to reality. The gargantuan arms of the basilisk dissipated, dropping both of Gorou's zanbatou to the ground, and Tatsunokuchi glimmered and shrunk back down to its original, humble state.
Turning to his friend, a glint of sunlight reflecting off of the onyx plate on the ground burned in his peripheral. Manzou's similarly-colored eyes found it, and later did his hands.
"If this is what it's like fighting Hollows," he sighed rather than spoke, "then I may just need a Bloody Mary after this."
The mystic's shouders sagged with the effort of the demon spell having left his body. In spite of this, he didn't feel tired at all. In fact, the shinigami found himself laughing at the fact that he could make jokes now. With the Hollow dead, the spoils left behind, and the surrounding area relatively back to normal, Satoru felt a large weight lift off his shoulders.
He took mental command of a dislodged chunk of earth and stepped up onto it. Afterwards, he descended to the pair of Shinigami that had dealt the final blow. He eyed the mummified heart carefully before picking it up and stashing it inside his shihakusho.
Could prove interesting to get this thing checked out. I'm rather curious to see what secrets this thing holds.
Satoru bowed toward each of the shinigami in turn, something he rarely did outside of formal occasions. "Thank you for your help, guys. I literally could not have done it without your presence. But, before we go, we should really start helping out those civilians before they manage to wake up."
With that, the mystic started walking back toward his makeshift pit and prepared himself to lift the innocents out of there using Soshi. Around halfway there, though, he turned back and cast a glance at the two men. "Also, who did I have the pleasure of working with? Surely you both have names." In a slightly less formal tone, Satoru nodded approvingly at the samurai. "At some point, though, you have to teach me how you managed to stop a car barehanded."
Waves of pain radiated from the puncture in Gorou’s torso. Fatigued as he was he could still remember the method of restoration he’d been taught. Even though it was slow-going that would be enough to keep him stabilized. With a belabored grunt he rose to his feet to view what was left of the battlefield. Bit by bit the momentum of battle ebbed until his heart had come to a rested pace.
“I am Yoshinaga Gorou,” the soldier pulled off his helmet. As soon as it left him the rest of the armor vanished, along with every trace of Hachiman-jin’s manifestation. For his own dignity’s sake he steadied himself by using Gunshin’s sealed form as a makeshift cane.
“I’ll be of no use in this place,” he admitted, “or any, until the medics are done with me.” Some residual worry about what he’d felt earlier hung in the back of his mind. Slaying Locura had not made that odd pull in his gut vanish but he did not pay it enough mind to be bothered. More pressing matters were on his mind – such as the question of whether he’d be able to stay on his feet long enough to at least pass through the Senkaimon.
