The journey toward the village had not been uneventful. Although crossing the desert was a hurdle on itself, Kazuki’s travel had been made more complicated by a few ambushes along the road. He was pursuing a lich through the desert and his enemy had, quite conceivably, laid a few traps for him. Fortunately, the crazy prepared and battle honed Occult Sennin, succeeded in overcoming those obstacles and finally reached his destination. A major oasis in the middle of the desert with a bustling village settled nearby. His goal was actually the village and not the oasis itself. Because was so attuned to death, due to his mastery over it, he had the uncanny ability to feel the lich. This sensation wasn’t honed enough for him to pinpoint the lich’s precise location, but it still gave him the ability to be certain his enemy was down there, somewhere in the village. And that was all that he could ask for and needed to know. He was going to scour the village until he could find it and slain it. The lich was a far too great of a menace to be allowed to live, if that could be labeled as living. One thing was certain, this was a threat he wasn’t going to allow to exist any longer. Kazuki had slept on top of the sandy hill, plotting the best way to approach the problem had. He would wake up at sunrise and he would gaze a still sleeping village beginning to wake. The ominous feeling of death was still present, still emanating from the village, a clear indication the lich was still there. After packing everything and sending it to his personal void, Reaper made his way toward the village.
After a few minutes of trekking a dune downwards, the Occult Sennin entered the, now fully awaken, village. Given he had entered through the market district, his nose was immediately overwhelmed with hundreds of different odors. His ears caught dozens of shopkeepers promoting their whares and dozens more inviting people to their restaurants. After several days in the quietude of the desert, he was almost overwhelmed. The Deep Court Hybrid would shake his head, trying to clear his head from this sudden confusion that had afflicted him. He was somewhat puzzled because this had never happened before to him, his mental fortitude was something to behold, second to none in the entire world. Feeling his head much clearer now, Kazuki continued traversing the city, searching for an inn that he could use to extract information from the local populace. Careful questions and a couple of coins did wonders to loosen some tongues and he wanted to know if there had been any suspicious activities as of late. Perhaps missing people without explanation, unexplained attacks, strange creatures appearing out of nowhere, the whole lot. But his search wasn’t going to be based on good looking and with good reputation inns. He was going for the worse places as well.
After checking a few of them and coming out with nothing, the Senju Overlord entered the worst of the worst places of the entire village. If there was scum, they would be there. This place lacked health conditions and the stools seemed to be able to infect someone just by staring at them. The air was fetid and left a moldy sensation on the mouth. There were a few shady people already inside when Reaper entered it. The man behind counter was the shadiest of them all. Choosing a corner, the White Wolf sat and waited. A couple of hours later, the tavern would become completely full, a multitude of voices echoing as people conversed with each other. The Shadow Sword sat there in silence, simply observing and listening. A few coins handled to the bartender had left the man’s tongue bound. Eventually Reaper caught word of some people found missing overnight. The guy talking claimed people from his gang were disappearing and it would, eventually, lose supremacy over the underground world. A little while longer, the Occult Sennin listened as they arranged for a meeting in a specific back alley where most of the disappearances took place. Moments later, those two left the tavern and the Deep Court Hybrid followed suit. After taking some distance, Kazuki shrouded himself in shadows and calmly followed them.
Eventually they would reach the back alley and, ironically, this place was much better looking than the tavern from earlier. The closer he got to the place, the stronger the sensation of death. It was an uneasy feeling that couldn’t be shaken off. The Senju Overlord saw as those two checked the alley and went away empty handed. Dispelling his shroud, the White Wolf carefully entered the place. After going back and forth once, the world around him would become pitch black. The Shadow Sword would find himself unable to move and a deep voice would whisper on his right ear, despite there was no one there with him, that he could feel at least. ”You shouldn’t have come here today. You’ve made a grave mistake.” The words were eerie and menacing and would send chills down the spine of everyone, but Reaper was quite cool at the moment. He was not a sitting duck and he knew he was under the effects of a genjutsu. He would hear laughing with his left ear and then he would feel a hand covering his mouth. Enough was enough, he had allowed the lich, because there was no doubt this was the lich, to play a bit, it was his turn now. The Occult Sennin’s body would suddenly become covered in thorns, quickly dispelling all the genjutsus he had been affected with. Full sight and mobility were regained and he finally laid sight on the lich.
For someone that had been dead for so long, the lich was surprisingly in good shape. No rotten flesh, no gaping holes. In fact, one would probably not even have been aware it was a lich at all. The creature was extremely pale, but so was the Deep Court Hybrid, though he was still very much alive. ”You still have some fight in you, but it won’t l…” the lich’s speech would be cut short as Kazuki shot a wooden tendril that pierced it on the right shoulder and propelled it toward the hall. The Senju Overlord would shorten the gap between them in mere seconds and as he was about to grab the creature by the neck, the lich would move away by turning his frame less than solid for a moment. A flock of crows would once again fly toward him. They would all be destroyed as Reaper launched a series of fireballs that burned them to a crisp. He would once again shoot a tendril that would be blocked by a wall of dirt. Their duel would continue for a while as they were, seemingly, even. ”I have grown tired of this.”<i></i> he would announce. Frostmourne would be summoned to his hand and he would dart toward the lich, launching tendrils as he went. He would then vanish, reappearing in midair, above the creature and he would land on top of it, sword first, impaling the lich against the ground.
”Tell me where is your phylactery.”<i></i> the White Wolf would demand. He knew without destroying the phylactery, the lich was bound to return because its soul was bound to that item and it could never truly be destroyed without destroying it as well. ”I know it is somewhere in this village. Tell me where it is or I’ll destroy the entire village just to make sure you are destroyed without chance of recovery.”<i></i> The response was just a laugh, as if the lich was daring this savior of humanity to commit such an act, certain he wouldn’t. Unfortunately, Kazuki was not the average man and he certainly wasn’t a paladin. He was Deep Court Hybrid that hungered for souls long before he had awakened his Ancient heritage. With a series of handseals he would summon a small comet with the village as its target. Another figure would emerge at his side, summoned by him, the Master of Mystic Arts that would conjure a protective shield. The comet would hit the village, destroying everything except for a small protective dome created by Stephen Strange. There was a change in the lich as the village was crushed into oblivion. There had been a certain shine to its gaze before that moment and it was gone now. There was also a slight shocked expression, the lich couldn’t believe what Reaper had just done. ”Told you so. You are finished now.”<i></i> Frostmourne would be finally allowed to absorb the lich’s essence and with that, the world had been rid of one more threat. Time go home now.
[WC - 1473]
After a few minutes of trekking a dune downwards, the Occult Sennin entered the, now fully awaken, village. Given he had entered through the market district, his nose was immediately overwhelmed with hundreds of different odors. His ears caught dozens of shopkeepers promoting their whares and dozens more inviting people to their restaurants. After several days in the quietude of the desert, he was almost overwhelmed. The Deep Court Hybrid would shake his head, trying to clear his head from this sudden confusion that had afflicted him. He was somewhat puzzled because this had never happened before to him, his mental fortitude was something to behold, second to none in the entire world. Feeling his head much clearer now, Kazuki continued traversing the city, searching for an inn that he could use to extract information from the local populace. Careful questions and a couple of coins did wonders to loosen some tongues and he wanted to know if there had been any suspicious activities as of late. Perhaps missing people without explanation, unexplained attacks, strange creatures appearing out of nowhere, the whole lot. But his search wasn’t going to be based on good looking and with good reputation inns. He was going for the worse places as well.
After checking a few of them and coming out with nothing, the Senju Overlord entered the worst of the worst places of the entire village. If there was scum, they would be there. This place lacked health conditions and the stools seemed to be able to infect someone just by staring at them. The air was fetid and left a moldy sensation on the mouth. There were a few shady people already inside when Reaper entered it. The man behind counter was the shadiest of them all. Choosing a corner, the White Wolf sat and waited. A couple of hours later, the tavern would become completely full, a multitude of voices echoing as people conversed with each other. The Shadow Sword sat there in silence, simply observing and listening. A few coins handled to the bartender had left the man’s tongue bound. Eventually Reaper caught word of some people found missing overnight. The guy talking claimed people from his gang were disappearing and it would, eventually, lose supremacy over the underground world. A little while longer, the Occult Sennin listened as they arranged for a meeting in a specific back alley where most of the disappearances took place. Moments later, those two left the tavern and the Deep Court Hybrid followed suit. After taking some distance, Kazuki shrouded himself in shadows and calmly followed them.
Eventually they would reach the back alley and, ironically, this place was much better looking than the tavern from earlier. The closer he got to the place, the stronger the sensation of death. It was an uneasy feeling that couldn’t be shaken off. The Senju Overlord saw as those two checked the alley and went away empty handed. Dispelling his shroud, the White Wolf carefully entered the place. After going back and forth once, the world around him would become pitch black. The Shadow Sword would find himself unable to move and a deep voice would whisper on his right ear, despite there was no one there with him, that he could feel at least. ”You shouldn’t have come here today. You’ve made a grave mistake.” The words were eerie and menacing and would send chills down the spine of everyone, but Reaper was quite cool at the moment. He was not a sitting duck and he knew he was under the effects of a genjutsu. He would hear laughing with his left ear and then he would feel a hand covering his mouth. Enough was enough, he had allowed the lich, because there was no doubt this was the lich, to play a bit, it was his turn now. The Occult Sennin’s body would suddenly become covered in thorns, quickly dispelling all the genjutsus he had been affected with. Full sight and mobility were regained and he finally laid sight on the lich.
For someone that had been dead for so long, the lich was surprisingly in good shape. No rotten flesh, no gaping holes. In fact, one would probably not even have been aware it was a lich at all. The creature was extremely pale, but so was the Deep Court Hybrid, though he was still very much alive. ”You still have some fight in you, but it won’t l…” the lich’s speech would be cut short as Kazuki shot a wooden tendril that pierced it on the right shoulder and propelled it toward the hall. The Senju Overlord would shorten the gap between them in mere seconds and as he was about to grab the creature by the neck, the lich would move away by turning his frame less than solid for a moment. A flock of crows would once again fly toward him. They would all be destroyed as Reaper launched a series of fireballs that burned them to a crisp. He would once again shoot a tendril that would be blocked by a wall of dirt. Their duel would continue for a while as they were, seemingly, even. ”I have grown tired of this.”<i></i> he would announce. Frostmourne would be summoned to his hand and he would dart toward the lich, launching tendrils as he went. He would then vanish, reappearing in midair, above the creature and he would land on top of it, sword first, impaling the lich against the ground.
”Tell me where is your phylactery.”<i></i> the White Wolf would demand. He knew without destroying the phylactery, the lich was bound to return because its soul was bound to that item and it could never truly be destroyed without destroying it as well. ”I know it is somewhere in this village. Tell me where it is or I’ll destroy the entire village just to make sure you are destroyed without chance of recovery.”<i></i> The response was just a laugh, as if the lich was daring this savior of humanity to commit such an act, certain he wouldn’t. Unfortunately, Kazuki was not the average man and he certainly wasn’t a paladin. He was Deep Court Hybrid that hungered for souls long before he had awakened his Ancient heritage. With a series of handseals he would summon a small comet with the village as its target. Another figure would emerge at his side, summoned by him, the Master of Mystic Arts that would conjure a protective shield. The comet would hit the village, destroying everything except for a small protective dome created by Stephen Strange. There was a change in the lich as the village was crushed into oblivion. There had been a certain shine to its gaze before that moment and it was gone now. There was also a slight shocked expression, the lich couldn’t believe what Reaper had just done. ”Told you so. You are finished now.”<i></i> Frostmourne would be finally allowed to absorb the lich’s essence and with that, the world had been rid of one more threat. Time go home now.
[WC - 1473]