Caught in a point of impact, Kaji was incapable of evading the shower of ice which broke apart in the behemoth’s rising. While his team was managing their escape, Kaji was pinned beneath layers of sleet and chunks of ice. The numbing sensation was spread body-wide as he was nearly overcome with weakness. Under any other circumstance, and perhaps for any other man aside a shinobi of his own particular skill set, Kaji might have given in to the call of death. Instead, his heart raced, perhaps in an effort to battle his drop in blood pressure from vasoconstriction. It was a burning desire to see another day. The desire to survive and make it back home. Ice quaked as the behemoth passed by, almost tearing the glacier apart and sinking Kaji into the deadly water. The traumatic shaking jostled him back to full consciousness from what was surely the brink of death, however, he still couldn’t overcome his shock enough to free himself from the ice.
But then came the crunch of approaching steps; sounds which Kaji reluctantly hoped to be his allies, most-likely sacrificing their own escape in order to find him. The failure— bleak thoughts plaguing his mind as the heavy steps raced nearer. Deep into the snow plunged hands, clawing wildly until it found his soggy cloak and pulled him out. But this was no ally, as Kaji looked up to see a pair of glowing red orbs staring back at him from a skinless face. The grim creature was another walking dead shinobi from the Dreadnought, and with massive strength, it flung Kaji across the snow. Still dazed and struggling, Kaji tumbled and reached aimlessly as he was grateful for some level of control returning to his body. But on came that zombie, who drew a long, notched club that hung from its back. Though his aim was to split Kaji’s skull open with one good hit, he landed a blow on the fallen anbu with a downward swing to the temple, and it shattered Kaji’s mask and merely broke skin at worst. Sure it hurt, but the rush of adrenaline that accompanied the pain was just the rush he needed.
And down swung the club a second time— this one would have finished the job but Kaji dodged it, narrowly avoiding the swing and taking action with a desperate armbar. He grasped the tendon and bone arm, refusing to let that club rise again, and wrapped his frost-covered legs around the attacker’s shoulder and waist. With a hard pull, Kaji snapped the arm at the elbow, sending bones and blacked tendons raining into the snow. The wight fell onto its back, and Kaji climbed to his feet all the meanwhile. It was now or never, do or die. But when he reached at his side for the hilt of Eelspine, Kaji felt nothing but thin air. “Eelspine” Kaji called aloud, puzzled as the blade was nowhere to be seen. Making due, Kaji grasped the many-notched club and went into a defensive stance as more pairs of red eyes encroached upon him through the thick white fog. The unbalanced iron club was awkward to wield for Kaji, who carried Eelspine exclusively for years on end. The window for escaping was nearly shut though, which left Kaji unable to search for the blade; instead, he had to focus on making a run for Her Lucky Bones. And so he fought his way through the droves of wights, bashing them with the club and the fire of ninjutsu, and occasionally swapping weapons with downed zombies as he went. He moved from the club to an even more awkward bardiche, to a poorly smithed longsword, and then a twin-sided battle axe.
But just when it seemed as if he might have carved a path towards escaping, another cataclysm created a shockwave across the waves beneath the ice. When the behemoth’s arm fell into the sea, Kaji narrowly avoided the impact. Bodies were flung with red-eyed fiends sent airborne and into the black waters. With his vigor renewed by sheer action, the half-masked hunter was moving at high speed with leaps from block to block of glaciers swinging on the rocking sea. It was then that he saw a glint of emeraldine light in flight across the horizon. It was as the sword was calling out to Kaji as it fell from the monster, where it was apparently trapped before. He was already moving as fast as he could manage, pushing his punished limbs to go with all his force as he realized he would not make it in time. Another undead man popped out of the snow, aiming to stop him but Kaji left the battle axe embedded in its chest, grounding it as he passed. “I have to make it” Kaji gasped, and he reached for his chest, frisking his pockets in the frenzy. He withdrew an ivory chess piece— a horse headed knight carved with fine detail, and he threw it desperately in a lobbed toss landed a dozen meters away on the ice. “I need ya, girl” he shouted, hardly audible over the roar of crashing ice and battle.
On cue, a burst of interplanar haze erupted and a beautiful creature emerged; the sunan mare, Kukki, Kaji’s most trusted companion, and steed. The extreme environment made her shriek and rear upwards on her hind-legs. Surely, it was the coldest experience she had ever encountered, but she did not shirk her duties as Kaji was spotted racing towards her. She began to gallop, allowing her speed to pick up just slow enough so that Kaji could scoop up her token and grab onto her saddle. Together they were incredible, beyond the limitations of either species as this was a shinobi’s horse, and with her skilled rider, they could overcome any terrain, even the sea. With Kaji on her back and concentrating on a single-handed uma seal, the horse began galloping across the waves and ice with equal speeds. As Eelspine spun it came down to the grasp of Kaji, who was now on a straight course for Her Lucky Bones.
“Yoake to squad: stay the course, let’s get out of here,” Kaji said through a crackling communication link as he spotted the ship sailing away in the distance. “I hit some complications... but I’m coming in hot at your nine’, Bones.” In the distance he saw Hoshi as a bead on the horizon, fighting valiantly to hold back the behemoth that would have sunken their ship otherwise. He was trying to slow its movement with a binding cable, however, no kind of man-made device would be able to stop such a massive creature. In truth, the behemoth was its most vulnerable as it was forming, which made ripping that arm off much easier than repeated efforts at slowing the giant. “Heads up Kurama” Kaji called through their rustling signal. “Looks like you need a lift.” Then he emerged, riding the steed on a shining streak of silver haze, seemingly drifting across the chaotic tundra. Kaji held the reins tightly with one hand and reached for Hoshi with the other, insisting on clasping him with a mutual forearm grip and pulling him onto the horse’s back.
Gaining speed away from the behemoth, it seemed as if the enemy wasn’t as hard-pressed to capture and kill the shinobi as it seemed. Soon enough, Her Lucky Bones was far from any icy obstacles, and a safe enough distance to allow the horse carrying Kaji and Hoshi to catch up and board. Kaji hurriedly sent away the steed, returning her to the much more hospitable pasture climate at his home. With a sudden poof she vanished. Time and again, Kukki had proven to be a valuable ally.
“Back to Port Cirrus, then?” Old man Wokou called from the wheel as he looked out to the shinobi squad. Unlike the squad, old Wokou didn’t look so disappointed in their survival. He couldn’t be happier to be making an escape. Kaji wasn’t so excited though. With his mask already fractured and his eyes in plain view, it seemed pointless to wear the rest of it so he took it off, revealing his face without any worry from the deed. Surviving together, he could have cared less if they shared in that one secret. “Aye, back to the port,” Kaji said as he found the closest seat he could find and wrapped himself in his wet cloak. “We need to report our findings at once. That was… Well, that could have gone a lot worse. Good job team.”
- wc1435
