Starring:
Shuuren (as Tadashi), Suterusu (as Banshi)
Date: March 13, 2013
Summary:
Tadashi and Banshi make a second venture into the cave where the Crawler is attempting to break through the seal that contains it.
"Darkness Revisited - All Or Nothing"
An island far southeast of the Land of Water
After a while of planning, Tadashi and Banshi have finalized their plans for the last part of this escapade that Banshi will be able to help with. Still, if this part fails, the whole thing goes down the drain. Everything must go well.
Standing at the entrance of the cave, the masked man retrieves another soldier pill, this one having the same inscription as the other but a deep golden in color, suggesting it works in a different nature. He swallows it, and his chakra nature suddenly picks up impressively. A pill that's even an improvement on the one he used when he first fought Banshi to induct him into the Chitsujyo. It appears things are finally getting serious. "So we're clear then? My clones go first to smack the initial wave. You turn the place into a forest on them next. While that's going, it should be enough of a distraction for me to break through. If my brute strength can do it, I know my blade can do it." Of course, he is speaking of the Chakra Dissection Blade, the technique that likely would've killed Banshi had Tadashi not healed him from his wounds quickly. "Let's go." With that, three clones of him would appear around him, preparing to rush through the door once Suterusu opens it.
The figure would nod silently. Two of his own clones sent in, in hiding. He'd once more set up the holster, ready for the outlined plan. Once that was done, the 3rd clone would once more open that grill, allowing Tadashi and clones into the darkness again. This time, his clone would bend the bars back. This was, afterall, the all or none situation. Those two clones that were in hiding started the hand seals, preparing for the upcoming battle as the chakra would be gathered. It was a credit to his ability that even with gathering chakra, it probably didn't raise that background level much at all, making it hard to note where the two clones were at even with the chakra sensory ability. Either way, that figure was ready, this was going to be the time they get this situation handled.. or at least started to be handled.
Tadashi's own clones rush in right after Banshi's immediately getting to work as the creatures turn their attention on them. The first wave is as expected, and the clones have little trouble flickering around to strike at them unpredictably to try to keep them off balance while Banshi prepares his attack. Meanwhile, the real Tadasahi waits right outside the entrance, waiting for his opportunity. One by one, the monsters are sent back, yet they always seem to come back, apparently not actually dying but simply going back to the seal to leak out once again.
"Petals, falling into the river. You are the flowers the children will pick and cast into dead water."
That figure just shook it's head slightly. It hasn't picked up by now that when bad meets evil, one will triumph over the other? The seals complete, the two clones would plant their hands, that middle of the area, getting as much as possible in terms of damage done out of it, was selected. The metal forest blossoming through out the entire room, impaling everything that wasn't fast enough to dodge as the first tree, then the ring of other trees would erupt all around in the cave. He was pushing for that opening to the back for Tadashi, the metal grill opened again with a small nod. "Go." It was simple and to the point, the figure's own clones clearing a path as wires would get strung through out the forest, twisting about anything that might come close as it got turned into a metal jungle.
The clones continue to fight off the creatures up until the point the metal trees errupt, and they remain fighting, allowing themselves to be dissipates in favor of pushing as many of these things into the damage zone as possible. Upon being given the go-ahead, Tadashi rushes through the door and makes a powerful leap to flicker a few hundred yards across the room, driving his foot directly into one of the gargantuan statues to send it to the ground, thus making his strike two waves ahead of the Crawler's battle plans. "Miss me?"
"Do not provoke us with the bonegleam shining from your broken bodies! It is a transgression against the night!"
The clones would push on as well, using that forest to literally become a death trap of spikes. Those wires that were criss crossed everywhere worked as wonderful entangling vines, impaling one, then the next on the spikes of the trees. Purposely aiming not to kill, instead just a crippling wound that would be allowed to stay alive as long as possible. Afterall, if they don't die, they don't go back and thus don't come back out of the seal again. Moving forward as Tadashi strikes ahead, the clones were in sync with that timing, the knocked down statue getting tangled and held down with more wires as they pressed further on. Sure, there might be a lot of the critters, but one thing that that silent one was good at? binding and removing targets.
While the clones bind his first take-down of this part of the campaign, Tadashi looks around, trying to get a feel for just how many of these gargantuan statues are around him. Still, he doesn't need to take them all down, just the ones that matter, the ones that stand in his path to the seal. Trying to fight them all at once before getting back to his work is likely why the last guy ended up in the condition he did. No matter how strong you are, foolishness gets you nowhere in a situation like this.
"We will snuff out every last light, smother every breath from every mouth, and stop the beating of every heart!"
As the statues ahead of him begin to move their scepters, firing aerial and ground-based strikes of their dark chakra, Tadashi quickly creates a few more clones that rush forward and begin double-teaming the ones directly in his path one after another to create a path that he quickly leaps through to get away from the blasts. Still, more and more of them appear to be coming from the darkness head, the volume of their attacks ever-increasing as they attempt to halt the masked man's approach toward the seal.
That second wave much tougher than the first, the clones would work in tandem from within the metal forest they had. Centering themselves, another of those attacks were set up. A massive combination of the spikes starting again. Between them, a narrow line surrounded by those metal spikes, was the path for the seal. If anything, he was accurate in his creation. It'd take the smaller ones to get through that forest, the statues would simply impale themselves on it. However Tadashi was like the smaller critters making it possible to head for that seal. This is why backup is always important.
Continuing to follow his clones through the cleared areas of the attacking statues, Tadashi continues to pick up his pace since, as he predicted, the clones finally end up getting caught in the blast and dissipate. Just as they do, he moves into a rapid series of flickers, using his inhuman strength to knock statues out of the way as he dodges and moves around attacks while moving ever-closer to the seal and further from the possibility of escape. The more he approaches, the more this becomes an all-or-nothing effort, as his chances of getting out of here get less and less with an ever-growing swarm that is mostly behind him now. Having to fight them all to get out would likely lead to death, so he pushes on.
"What happens to this piece of flesh with darkness touches its soul?… It bleeds light and fades away."
"Enough attempts at mind games," Tadashi says as he moves into a final flicker to finally make it to the seal, glancing back over his shoulder at the legion of darkness behind him. "You and I need to talk. I don't want this world eradicated, and I know you don't want to completely use up your food source since humanity becoming extinct would eventually kill you, so we need to make some kind of arrangement." With that, he sheds the holster and tosses it aside, making it move enough that Banshi would know to reel it back in now. Just as he does that, an enormous clawed hand reaches through a crack in the seal to literally grab Tadashi's body and pull him through the seal. "Complete!" he calls out to signal for Banshi to close the cave off just before being pulled into a realm of infinite darkness, the likes of which will make this cave seem like a field of flowers. Mission complete.
