Holding the blade of Tatsumasa out before him, Katsuo examined the sword fully for the first time since recovering it from Judori. Sousuke's father was a blacksmith of legendary skill it seemed and the sword looked better than it ever had. Longer in blade than the average katana, Tatsumasa still felt light as a feather in his hand just as it had the first day that he'd drawn it from it's sheath. Of course, that had been before Katsuo had claimed the spark of Primus and-- as far as he could guess with his limited understanding of such things --had his Fire chakra forcibly replaced by this strange Lightning chakra that now permeated his body and crackled behind his eyes. He'd not stopped to look at himself in a mirror but he didn't have to. He could feel the change in his eyes as clear as daylight. His eyes saw things in a different way now-- not just chakra or light in the way that they did before. Having been blessed with special eyes since his birth, the ability to see such things had always come as a given to Katsuo and in his early years it had been a challenge for him to understand that the way he perceived the world was not the way that most children his age or indeed even adults far more skilled than he did so.
But this was different from that. He could see and feel energy as it passed through the air and blitzed through his body. He had an intimate connection with the electrical impulses all around him that he'd never had before and it was startling to experience, to say the least.
Looking at the flat of the blade, Katsuo wished Judori another silent thank you for restoring the blade after he'd been forced to break it. Really, he'd been shocked that breaking it was at all possible. In the heat of the moment it had seemed like such a cunning plan but afterwards it had occurred to him how stupid the idea had been. He literally punched a family heirloom that was centuries old and had survived countless battles and expected to simply break it through application of force. But even as crazy as it sounded once he thought about the plan more realistically... it had happened and allowed him to claim victory over the sand golem tasked with guarding the spark of Primus.
After a moment of examining the flat of the blade, a strange feeling began to wash over him and before he could properly react to the sensation, Katsuo mentally found himself miles away from where he was standing atop a high dune overlooking a valley... no, not a valley. Too steep to be a naturally occurring valley in this part of the desert, this was a quarry. The owners of this land had discovered something worthwhile under the sands and used chakra to suspend the sands all around up to allow for mining straight down. And down they had went. The quarry was deep to say the least and at the bottom of the tiered hole seemed to be a large gathering of men. Straining his eyes to pick out details, Katsuo was suddenly pulled forward in a flash of light and found himself standing among the huge crowd that the floor level of the pit. His first impression of the pit had been both way off and spot on at the same time; it was definitely artificial and deeply dig but he had no idea quite how much until now he was standing at the bottom. There were hundreds... no thousands of men standing around him.
And at the center of them was a giant of a man clad in gold who even a sane man with total cogency of thought could be forgiven for mistaking for the very Sun itself.
Katsuo recognized Him immediately even though He looked nothing like what the legends said He did. How could he not? There was just... something about Him. Some piece of Katsuo's subconscious reported it's findings instantaneously as though they had met this someone at some point in the past and he was recalling the face of the radiant individual he was looking upon from the ocean of other men and women.
This was Primus. The One King. He could be no one else.
At His feet knelt another creature of extraordinary description. It looked human at first but it's skin was the color of burned ash and it cracked here and there letting steam and smoke spill forth readily. Atop the creature's head were a pair of... or rather once were a pair of what Katsuo assumed to have been large curved horns but were not a pair of shattered stubs which oozed a red-orange goo that seemed to sear the air as it dripped from where the horns had been sundered. But even despite it's appearance, the creature that Katsuo recognized finally as an ancient of the Flame Court paled in description to Primus who raised His right hand as His mouth moved in speech that Katsuo could not hear. He was clearly making some kind of announcement to the crowd of gathered humans-- slaves, Katsuo guessed from their attire --but no matter how he focused Katsuo could not hear the words that were being said. Finally, Primus clenched His fingers into a fist and motioned, stretching His arm out straight from His body and His glow faded for only but a moment... and a bolt of radiant golden lightning descended from the sky and obliterated the ancient that had knelt at His feet. Averting his eyes from the glare of the blast, Katsuo returned his gaze which returned slowly but surely to where Primus stood... and could see no trace of the ancient that the King had just executed.
And truly there could be no other word for what had just occurred. Taking that moment in, Katsuo's brow furrowed as he considered the sight before him... and then suddenly it was gone and he was returned to the Ruins of the Seat where he had been previously with his gaze set into the blade of Tatsumasa. What was that he'd just witnessed? As the question was mentally asked, he rebuffed it immediately. He knew what it was. He'd been around the block enough times to know a public execution when he saw one. That ancient had not simply been defeated. He had been broken. His body had been covered in poorly set wounds, if they were patched at all and the expression it had worn on it's otherworldly face had been one of utter defeat. He could not hear what the King had been saying nor did he have an opportunity to hear the ancient say anything but he had seen enough to know that the captured creature had suffered at the hands of it's captors before being put down in front of a crowd which had then cheered and celebrated it's brutal demise.
Troubled by the vision that he'd witnessed, Katsuo shook his head and slid Tatsumasa into it's heath to clear his mind. He could not dwell on these things right now. What if the leader of the Cabal had happened upon him while he was staring like a moron into the blade of his sword? How long had he been day-dreaming in that vision? He needed to get his head back into the game before the Cabal leader arrived. Sunagakure's future depended on that.
[MFT]
But this was different from that. He could see and feel energy as it passed through the air and blitzed through his body. He had an intimate connection with the electrical impulses all around him that he'd never had before and it was startling to experience, to say the least.
Looking at the flat of the blade, Katsuo wished Judori another silent thank you for restoring the blade after he'd been forced to break it. Really, he'd been shocked that breaking it was at all possible. In the heat of the moment it had seemed like such a cunning plan but afterwards it had occurred to him how stupid the idea had been. He literally punched a family heirloom that was centuries old and had survived countless battles and expected to simply break it through application of force. But even as crazy as it sounded once he thought about the plan more realistically... it had happened and allowed him to claim victory over the sand golem tasked with guarding the spark of Primus.
After a moment of examining the flat of the blade, a strange feeling began to wash over him and before he could properly react to the sensation, Katsuo mentally found himself miles away from where he was standing atop a high dune overlooking a valley... no, not a valley. Too steep to be a naturally occurring valley in this part of the desert, this was a quarry. The owners of this land had discovered something worthwhile under the sands and used chakra to suspend the sands all around up to allow for mining straight down. And down they had went. The quarry was deep to say the least and at the bottom of the tiered hole seemed to be a large gathering of men. Straining his eyes to pick out details, Katsuo was suddenly pulled forward in a flash of light and found himself standing among the huge crowd that the floor level of the pit. His first impression of the pit had been both way off and spot on at the same time; it was definitely artificial and deeply dig but he had no idea quite how much until now he was standing at the bottom. There were hundreds... no thousands of men standing around him.
And at the center of them was a giant of a man clad in gold who even a sane man with total cogency of thought could be forgiven for mistaking for the very Sun itself.Katsuo recognized Him immediately even though He looked nothing like what the legends said He did. How could he not? There was just... something about Him. Some piece of Katsuo's subconscious reported it's findings instantaneously as though they had met this someone at some point in the past and he was recalling the face of the radiant individual he was looking upon from the ocean of other men and women.
This was Primus. The One King. He could be no one else.
At His feet knelt another creature of extraordinary description. It looked human at first but it's skin was the color of burned ash and it cracked here and there letting steam and smoke spill forth readily. Atop the creature's head were a pair of... or rather once were a pair of what Katsuo assumed to have been large curved horns but were not a pair of shattered stubs which oozed a red-orange goo that seemed to sear the air as it dripped from where the horns had been sundered. But even despite it's appearance, the creature that Katsuo recognized finally as an ancient of the Flame Court paled in description to Primus who raised His right hand as His mouth moved in speech that Katsuo could not hear. He was clearly making some kind of announcement to the crowd of gathered humans-- slaves, Katsuo guessed from their attire --but no matter how he focused Katsuo could not hear the words that were being said. Finally, Primus clenched His fingers into a fist and motioned, stretching His arm out straight from His body and His glow faded for only but a moment... and a bolt of radiant golden lightning descended from the sky and obliterated the ancient that had knelt at His feet. Averting his eyes from the glare of the blast, Katsuo returned his gaze which returned slowly but surely to where Primus stood... and could see no trace of the ancient that the King had just executed.
And truly there could be no other word for what had just occurred. Taking that moment in, Katsuo's brow furrowed as he considered the sight before him... and then suddenly it was gone and he was returned to the Ruins of the Seat where he had been previously with his gaze set into the blade of Tatsumasa. What was that he'd just witnessed? As the question was mentally asked, he rebuffed it immediately. He knew what it was. He'd been around the block enough times to know a public execution when he saw one. That ancient had not simply been defeated. He had been broken. His body had been covered in poorly set wounds, if they were patched at all and the expression it had worn on it's otherworldly face had been one of utter defeat. He could not hear what the King had been saying nor did he have an opportunity to hear the ancient say anything but he had seen enough to know that the captured creature had suffered at the hands of it's captors before being put down in front of a crowd which had then cheered and celebrated it's brutal demise.
Troubled by the vision that he'd witnessed, Katsuo shook his head and slid Tatsumasa into it's heath to clear his mind. He could not dwell on these things right now. What if the leader of the Cabal had happened upon him while he was staring like a moron into the blade of his sword? How long had he been day-dreaming in that vision? He needed to get his head back into the game before the Cabal leader arrived. Sunagakure's future depended on that.
[MFT]