A chilly arctic wind swept along the rocky outcropping. With it small crystals of snow were taken into the mountain air. The very air was saturated with the smell of evergreen pines. Aside from the wind no sound penetrated the area as though whatever once lingered in the forest had received a warning of the coming war. All stood quiet and yet the tension in the air was palpable. The pure white snow was waiting for a crimson dye...
Raury most likely would have felt a blast of the chill wind. He would have felt his limbs stiffening and his lungs constrict painfully with each intake of the sub freezing air. Maybe even a moment of despair as he trudged on for what seemed like an endless alabaster haze. This, however, was not what Raury felt. He felt comfortably warm. or perhaps comfortably numb. Thank yon gods for booze.
As for the bottle given to him by Raifuku, he had yet to crack it open. He was saving that one for a special occasion. Y’know. An occasion where he might want to brave the possibility of being poisoned. As ridiculous as it may be for the man to lure them there, and then do something as base and silly as use poison, Raury wasn’t about to chance the possibility that they were dealing with just another looney. The guy did orchestrate a prison break only to murder those he helped escape just to make a hella dramatic entrance.
Wouldn’t mind givin’ the stuff a taste, though. Bah. Raury sighed, his breath pluming into a thread of vapor as it escaped his lungs. Mebbe I’ll get ahold of one when this is all said and done.
Brushing slightly stiffer than usual strands of hair from his eyes, the drunk squinted against the wintry bluster, looking for some clue of where he was.
Goddamnit, where the fuck am I even goin’? Couldn’t he have like...I dunno. Not done this?
Left to wonder at the fate of those he walked through the gate with, Raury sipped at a flask containing something slightly more stout than his usual wine. The Russians had it right, it turns out, when choosing a beverage with which to keep warm. And drunk.
“Oi!” He yelled into the white abyss. “The...The fuck!?” Nothing eloquent had come to mind. Then again, anyone whom he knew would probably recognize his particular brand of non-speech. Taking a moment to cease trudging, he gulped down a few more swift swallows, pleased with the effects as blood rushed to his limbs.
Little did the shinigami know, he was being watched. The subtle sounds of crunching snow might as well have been screams for all the Hunter was concerned. He knew his prey's exact location for nearly twenty minutes before it decided to yell to give way to the silence. The cold tried to bite at the stalkers chiseled body, tanned, in what seemed like another world, by a warm sun beneath an open sky.
There was a slight rustle as his cloak was picked up by the winter breeze. In hopes of it being disguised further, the Hunter took the butt of his spear and gently began tapping a nearby branch to cause it to rustle. "Soon two legs, you will know the embrace of the great mother again." With no more words the yellowed eyes of a master of nature continued to lock on the death god, his reiatsu all but invisible.
“Fuck this noise. Mebbe someone else’ll just find me?”
Standing in place, the redhead argued with himself for quite some time. We’ll skip the actual dialogue, as it was very silly. Somewhere in his own little world of vodka-fueled self chatting, Raury began to feel a warmth not attributed to his choice in beverages. More of a tingle, really. That feeling you get when you know something is out there.
I ain’t alone. No idea where the fucker is, but damnit.
Feeling the tingle turn to a chill that could not be attributed to the weather, Raury downed a large portion of the flask, knowing it wouldn’t ward off the feeling, but hoping nonetheless.
Now brothers run free! The hunter thought, and at once his pack was with him. Snow white and just over four feet from foot to shoulder, five wolves manifested themselves around the feral man before all beings let out an unearthly howl. Shouldering his spear on his back and running from his concealed position, at once the feral hunter was on his prey, teeth barred and snarling. A mirror image of the pack that soon followed.
"Death God, today is the day you return to the great mother. This mountain will be your tomb." With no more words the Hunter delivered a punch right at the shinigami's head. as his pack sought to surround the man's escape.
Though the chilling howl pierced his ears, Raury saw none of the blur of motion, having been in the middle of falling flat on his face. Deciding to move forward once more, he had taken his first step. Poorly.
His attacker’s seeking fist whizzed through the empty space that not moments ago had held the drunk’s head. Turning his head as he fell, Raury saw what was bearing down on him. What in god’s rotting blood some wildman and a bunch of wolves were doing out here in the middle of nowhere, he had no idea. But they didn’t seem friendly. The swinging fist told him so.
As soon as he hit earth (or rather snow), Raury’s hand was already diving into his overcoat. Withdrawing a small flask, he quickly cracked the seal and downed a sip, spitting it back out just as quickly. Only now it was no longer drink, but flames.
As the conical blaze flared to life, Raury rolled to his feet, swinging his legs wide in a sweep for his assailant’s legs.
“The fuck’re you, eh!?”
[653]
[Wong Fu’s Burnwine]
[Item abilities]
When ingested, the imbiber can choose to infuse 150 reiatsu with the drink, igniting it within the user’s belly. The effect mimics Dragon's Breath - Hadou #17, firing a cone of flame from one’s mouth.
“I am one you tread on.” The hunter snarled before sprawling on his back from the sweep. In another instant he was back up spear in hand. With a roar, the weapon was brought in a large arc towards the death god’s abdomen as a canine came in to attack each of the death god’s leg. “I serve the master who promised me what I wished. Just kill you and I’ll have one left.” The rabid human howled in delight as his yellow eyes were fixed on his prey.
“News flash, fucker, I ain’t got a clue what yer spoutin’ b’out!” As the hunter had gained his feet, Raury had already been disengaging, taking a quick succession of steps back to avoid reprisal. His movement had been too sluggish to avoid the entirety of the assault, and his lapse earned the drunk a deep gash along his hip.
As he moved back, Raury shot his hands to the earth, calling on his recent training to send large earthen spikes up to intercept the advance of his opponent’s beasts. The movement strained his fresh wound, eliciting a wince of discomfort. He wasted none of the time his impromptu earthen shield had bought him, quickly allowing his reiatsu to flare up.
“Let’s rock, Zhang Xu!”
This guy ain’t playin’!
Now properly equipped for the event, Raury rushed around his barrier, bringing one gauntleted fist around for a solid right hook.
With supernatural intuition the hunter ducked back from what was surely going to be a knockout blow. That didn’t stop the gloved fist from solidly connecting and sending the feral human reeling to the ground. The sickening sweet taste of copper filled his mouth as the blood began to pour from his jaw. With a spit, a thick viscous glob of blood and mucus was let loose. As it made contact with the white snow and splattered the shards of what appeared to be three teeth feel with it. With a primal howl, the five spiritual wolves all lept at their master’s assailant as the hunter himself struggled to right himself. One was primed to take his throat while the other seemed content to gnaw on his limbs.
The hounds swift reprisal halted Raury’s intent of pressing the advantage, quickly reducing him to frantically staving off tooth and claw as he fought to maneuver into a more favorable situation. Batting away one of the leaping beasts with the back of his hand and quickly rolling out of the way of another was a valiant attempt, but in the end mostly futile as another of the two beasts bit deep into his flesh; one took his upper shoulder as another found calves to be particularly delectable.
“Fuck!” He bit down on his words as pain seeped into the assaulted portions of his body, flailing madly. Temporarily ignoring the agony that was his shoulder, Raury managed to disengage the ankle-biter from his leg, flinging it at its oncoming brethren. Following what seemed like a natural reaction, the second he took care of by simply falling onto his back. Hard. With a yelp, the second beast crunched under Raury’s dead weight. Quickly rolling away, he turned to face the remaining beasts.
Shit. Can’t keep this up.
“Oi! What’cha feedin’ these things!?”
Gotta be that.
Letting free another pulse of reiatsu clouded the pain of Raury’s wounds, taking them from troublesome to nigh non existent as he rushed forward at the wolves, darting between them to gain ground on the ringleader. Closing with the hunter, the drunk flung a fist humming with reiatsu at the man’s abdomen, praying both for a solid connect and to reach his target before one of those wolves bit him in the ass.
[1064]
Skills Used:
[ Belligerent Stupor ]
Drinking affords the user the ability to ignore his/her physical limits, allowing the user to expend
reiatsu to allow a temporary boost to Martial Prowess.
An increase to overall physical combat damage dealt to opponents by 15% (15% to Hakuda). For the duration of the technique, wounds are treated as one level lower. Minor wounds are ignored, moderate are treated as minor, etc.
5% of total Reiatsu to activate. This effect lasts three rounds. User must be intoxicated.
Exploding Palm:
An augmentation of a natural strike’s destructive force, exploding palm effectively deals a high amount of damage in the form of a small burst of reiatsu at the point of contact, effecting a pressurized blast. If this strike fails to hit its target, a small blast occurs as the targetless reiatsu explodes outward from Raury’s palm. The blast travels no further than 3m. (Costs 5% rei)
The hunter was already back on his feet spear in hand as the shinigami made his charge. “I will not” the man began as the last word was lost to blood. With a sound that sounded like a hideous amalgamation of a laugh and a howl, the feral monster’s spear was once more in his grasp. Spinning it with deadly grace, the spear point shot for the shinigami’s foot as he ran. Regardless of if it had found its target the soil alone would provide enough footing for the hunter’s next challenge. Using his strength the beastman pole vaulted delivering a kick aimed straight at the drunkard’s chest.
Grunting in muffled rage as his attack was cast aside, Raury caught the legs of his assailant in an effort to divert the force of the kick. The discharged wave of reiatsu, finding no mark, exploded errantly, sending both man and wolf alike sprawling in the aftershock. The kick’s full momentum had been diverted, but the drunk knew he was going to have some marks in the aftermath. Thankfully, the blessing of Russia still served to deaden his sense of pain.
Summoning the power of Godhand once again, the drunkard pulled a pair of largish rocks from the earth, each roughly the size of a softball. Regaining his feet, stones in hand, he chucked them at the hunter and renewed his charge.
Following the earthen missiles, Raury dove forward, springing into a coiled handstand, vaulting his legs at his aggressor.
The hunter’s mind saw the kick coming yet despite his best efforts his body refused to move in accord with what instinct told him would happen. The violent blast of reiatsu had caused his spiritual pack to fade once more into the ether from which they were summoned leaving the hunter alone and prone on the ground. The violence of the impact had knocked away his weapon leaving him defenseless for the shinigami’s next charge. “Insignificant worm. Do not feel so proud your death will come.” The hunter slurred his words hard to decipher amid the blood and saliva that now freely flowed from the wound to his jaw. In a last attempt at defiance a single wolf manifested itself atop its master in an effort to provide some respite from the final assault.
Letting out a few steaming breaths, he tried to clear his head while the adrenaline rush began to fade. He was still somewhat bewildered by the entire scenario, and wouldn’t have minded venturing a question or two, but decided he couldn’t speak bloody mess and left well and well alone. Maybe there were answers somewhere else.
Taking a lurching step forward, the redheaded sod leaned in and got eye level with the single remaining hound. This motion plus his quickly eroding battle haze proved to be a very unbalancing combination, forcing the Founder to fall/sit instead of just leaning over.
“Huh.” Not sure what else to do, he reached one hand out quickly and rapped the wolf on the nose with one sound whap. “No. S’a bad doggins’.”
Feeling his point was made, Raury made some sort of...rolling. Motion thing. And miraculously he was back on his feet. A clap for the gentleman, if we will. I promise, it was an impressive method of standing.
Half considering if he should cover his attacker to ward off the cold, he began walking.
Nah. Doggin McDogerty’s got that covered. An’ if not...
As an afterthought, he tossed the remainder of his bottle of vodka over his shoulder. Hitting a soft new drift of snow, it rolled once and came to a halt directly beside wolfman.
Yup, that’ll fix it. Now...
“Which fuckin’ direction was I goin’?” He mused, wandering off.
