The Grand Palais is home for the lowest scum you can find in Sunagakure. Getting robbed or conned is an easy feat in this area of the Hidden Sand Village. The local police force has little to no authority there. And even though assassinations are a common occurrence there, the police are called whenever something out of the ordinary happens. Homeless people disappearing or appearing killed is not considered a novelty thing anymore. But when several people end up appearing petrified, both on the streets and inside their homes, even the people in the Grand Palais will summon the police to square the situation. And that was what has been happening for the past several days. Several people have been found out petrified. Ultimately fearing for their safety, more so than the norm, the police was called in. Unable to deal with such a situation, they decided to summon reinforcements in form of SHIELD. Spread thin as they were and, considering they were understaffed already, the Director himself showed up. He had a past in dealing with supernatural creatures and the rumor that was spreading like wildfire indicated this was the work of a basilisk.
Until Kazuki could actually verify who or what was killing those people, the local folk’s word was meaningless. They could say anything they wanted, but the Senju Overlord doubted they had actually seen a basilisk before. And the White Wolf had slain a few in his short lifetime. He was greeted by an officer once arrived at the latest crime scene. He motioned for him to enter the house. The Director entered the premises and immediately noticed something odd. The house was virtually unscathed. No signs of any kind of struggle. Such clue was an indication that the victim had been caught while sleeping, completely unaware she was falling prey to the culprit. The Ancient Hybrid would enter the victim’s bedroom and he would scan the entire room with a quick glance. Just like in the rest of the small house, there were no signs of a fight. The murdered one was a female in her mid-thirties. Hair and eye color was impossible to discern, along with skin tone, since she had been completely turned to stone. Her mouth was opened, yelling a silent scream that no one would ever heard. Her eyes wide open in either shock or fear. And her arms had been petrified in a semi raised position as if she was about to cover her face with them but never managed to do so.
Reaper examined the room with thorough detail, searching for any evidence that could identify who, or what, had murdered the woman. In the end, there was nothing to find. No scales, no footprints, no signs of chakra usage, nothing at all. There had been no scuffle and it had been very quick. Exiting the house, Kazuki asked for a map of the Grand Palais area. Once an officer gave him one, he instructed him to point on the map, where the other assassinations had occurred. Murders in series, like this one, usually obeyed to a certain pattern. By seeing the locations of all others on the map, the Director hoped to crack the pattern and figure out where the next hit would happen. In case there was a pattern, because it the attacks had been chaotic in nature, figuring it out where the next would be, could be a lost cause. As the officer marked the locations, a pattern began to be formed. All the attacks had been concentrated in a small geographical area. And all of them had happened recently. But, more importantly, all those hits had one curious thing in common. All of them had an entrance to the sewers nearby. So whoever, or whatever, was doing those evil deeds, was using the sewage system for moving himself, or itself, around. With that in mind and based on the housing layout, the Pale Rider figured out two possible locations for the next strike. It was a matter of figuring out who was the most likely one to be attacked next. Given their proximity, the Rider of Death devised a plan.
He was going to occupy one of the houses and wait to be targeted. The other building would be occupied by a clone of him. Since they were close by, if the clone was destroyed, Reaper would be able to intervene, hopefully, in a timely fashion. Suffice to say, the owners of those houses would be temporarily relocated to an alternate location. Kazuki essentially lived in those two houses for a full week. Six days passed without a single altercation or attempt. Given the streak that had happened, he doubted the attacker had stopped, but he was starting to suspect his deduction had been wrong all along. Luckily, on the seventh day, at midnight, the house not occupied by his clone was breached. The house was entirely in the dark and Reaper was not impaired by it. His senses were acutely sharp and he was quite comfortable being in dark, given from who he descended from. He heard faint noises of something climbing the stairs for the second level. It was a very light footed individual, very sneaky. Step by step, whoever was coming seemingly knew where to go. Not once it stopped to check other rooms, it was coming straight to the bedroom. The door would slowly be opened, not by a hand, but with a head. The moonlight that entered the room via the window, allowed the White Wolf to see a reptilian creature nudging the door open. A quadruped being with a large tail and massive fangs on the creature’s jaws. Malignant eyes stared at the Director, saliva dropped to the floor, and there was a low growl coming from the basilisk. Even under such poor lighting conditions, the Pale Rider recognized his foe. He had fought that kind before and it seemed he was about to again. Without warning, the beast lunged forward, jaws wide open, ready to unleash a powerful bite that could crush a human’s leg as if it was a twig.
Reaper was ready for it and the mythical creature would shut his mouth around a log. The Senju Overlord would reappear near the ceiling, Frostmourne already in hand. The basilisk had fell to his trap. Kazuki would held dominion over the creature once his ensnaring shadows grasped it tightly. Unable to move and prevented from taking any action, the beast was a sitting duck. The White Wolf descended upon it and with a clean slice of his hungry sword, the head of the basilisk fell off with a thump. Green blood covered the dark blade of his weapon which was thoroughly cleaned with some linen sheets from the bed. The Rider of Death would examine the creature. It was still a juvenile basilisk, something indicated by the bright green scales. Older creatures tended to have darker scales and they were clearly bigger than this one. Had it been an older, more powerful specimen and Kazuki would not have won that easily. But this one was young and was probably training to become a fearsome hunter of men. But today its tale was over and so the people of the Grand Palais could sleep better at night.
[MFT – 1220]
[Topic Left]
Until Kazuki could actually verify who or what was killing those people, the local folk’s word was meaningless. They could say anything they wanted, but the Senju Overlord doubted they had actually seen a basilisk before. And the White Wolf had slain a few in his short lifetime. He was greeted by an officer once arrived at the latest crime scene. He motioned for him to enter the house. The Director entered the premises and immediately noticed something odd. The house was virtually unscathed. No signs of any kind of struggle. Such clue was an indication that the victim had been caught while sleeping, completely unaware she was falling prey to the culprit. The Ancient Hybrid would enter the victim’s bedroom and he would scan the entire room with a quick glance. Just like in the rest of the small house, there were no signs of a fight. The murdered one was a female in her mid-thirties. Hair and eye color was impossible to discern, along with skin tone, since she had been completely turned to stone. Her mouth was opened, yelling a silent scream that no one would ever heard. Her eyes wide open in either shock or fear. And her arms had been petrified in a semi raised position as if she was about to cover her face with them but never managed to do so.
Reaper examined the room with thorough detail, searching for any evidence that could identify who, or what, had murdered the woman. In the end, there was nothing to find. No scales, no footprints, no signs of chakra usage, nothing at all. There had been no scuffle and it had been very quick. Exiting the house, Kazuki asked for a map of the Grand Palais area. Once an officer gave him one, he instructed him to point on the map, where the other assassinations had occurred. Murders in series, like this one, usually obeyed to a certain pattern. By seeing the locations of all others on the map, the Director hoped to crack the pattern and figure out where the next hit would happen. In case there was a pattern, because it the attacks had been chaotic in nature, figuring it out where the next would be, could be a lost cause. As the officer marked the locations, a pattern began to be formed. All the attacks had been concentrated in a small geographical area. And all of them had happened recently. But, more importantly, all those hits had one curious thing in common. All of them had an entrance to the sewers nearby. So whoever, or whatever, was doing those evil deeds, was using the sewage system for moving himself, or itself, around. With that in mind and based on the housing layout, the Pale Rider figured out two possible locations for the next strike. It was a matter of figuring out who was the most likely one to be attacked next. Given their proximity, the Rider of Death devised a plan.
He was going to occupy one of the houses and wait to be targeted. The other building would be occupied by a clone of him. Since they were close by, if the clone was destroyed, Reaper would be able to intervene, hopefully, in a timely fashion. Suffice to say, the owners of those houses would be temporarily relocated to an alternate location. Kazuki essentially lived in those two houses for a full week. Six days passed without a single altercation or attempt. Given the streak that had happened, he doubted the attacker had stopped, but he was starting to suspect his deduction had been wrong all along. Luckily, on the seventh day, at midnight, the house not occupied by his clone was breached. The house was entirely in the dark and Reaper was not impaired by it. His senses were acutely sharp and he was quite comfortable being in dark, given from who he descended from. He heard faint noises of something climbing the stairs for the second level. It was a very light footed individual, very sneaky. Step by step, whoever was coming seemingly knew where to go. Not once it stopped to check other rooms, it was coming straight to the bedroom. The door would slowly be opened, not by a hand, but with a head. The moonlight that entered the room via the window, allowed the White Wolf to see a reptilian creature nudging the door open. A quadruped being with a large tail and massive fangs on the creature’s jaws. Malignant eyes stared at the Director, saliva dropped to the floor, and there was a low growl coming from the basilisk. Even under such poor lighting conditions, the Pale Rider recognized his foe. He had fought that kind before and it seemed he was about to again. Without warning, the beast lunged forward, jaws wide open, ready to unleash a powerful bite that could crush a human’s leg as if it was a twig.
Reaper was ready for it and the mythical creature would shut his mouth around a log. The Senju Overlord would reappear near the ceiling, Frostmourne already in hand. The basilisk had fell to his trap. Kazuki would held dominion over the creature once his ensnaring shadows grasped it tightly. Unable to move and prevented from taking any action, the beast was a sitting duck. The White Wolf descended upon it and with a clean slice of his hungry sword, the head of the basilisk fell off with a thump. Green blood covered the dark blade of his weapon which was thoroughly cleaned with some linen sheets from the bed. The Rider of Death would examine the creature. It was still a juvenile basilisk, something indicated by the bright green scales. Older creatures tended to have darker scales and they were clearly bigger than this one. Had it been an older, more powerful specimen and Kazuki would not have won that easily. But this one was young and was probably training to become a fearsome hunter of men. But today its tale was over and so the people of the Grand Palais could sleep better at night.
[MFT – 1220]
[Topic Left]