There was no moon the night that Mikaboshi's presence fell upon the city of Soon's Haven. Once upon a time humans had feared such nights above all else. It was on these nights-- the nights when the moon hid her face from the world and refused to light up the night for those that could not navigate it on their own --that Court of the Wild Hunt allowed the Deep Court to hunt upon the surface of the world. Under normal circumstances the Ancient named Tarasque and his ilk were fiercely territorial about the surface. It was simply the way of things. While they reaped the surface, the Deep Court was allowed to anything which was foolish enough to step into their domain. But it was on nights such as this one that the darkness of the underground was said to seep to the surface bringing with it the terrors of the deep.
So too was it with this night.
But in recent centuries humanity had taught itself not to fear the dark of the night. With the fall of superstition and the rise of 'rationality' the instincts which once drove Mankind to hide on nights where even the moon feared to show her face withered away and died as none still lived which could remember the days in which they had not been the top of the natural food chain. That loss of instinct and death of fear had made it easy for Mikaboshi to find himself a volunteer for his plan; a young man out for a night time stroll on the lonely streets of the city. Looking down upon him from the roof-top of a single-story building, the ANBU Sennin watched for a series of moments sizing up his prey. The Wind Country was possessed of no small amount of would-be demon slayers and exorcists which traveled from town to town hunting evil. Notorious among them were the Masashi, a group sworn by the first Sunahoshi to guard the wilds of Sunagakure from monsters like Mikaboshi and to always ensure the dominance of humanity in the Wind Country. And while Mikaboshi feared nothing which was afoot in the night with him, much less a human being, he did not wish to see his designs interrupted by a drawn out battle. If he engaged with a Masashi which could not be swiftly put down the battle would almost certainly draw attention from the guards and possibly even Sunagakure if it were disruptive enough. He could spare a few extra minutes for observation to avoid the chain of distractions that would be born from such an engagement. But as he observed, the young man brought the bottle in his right hand to his lips and staggered slightly as he took a drink. He wasn't drunk per se but he was intoxicated to some level certainly. No demon slayer worth any amount of consideration would be foolish enough to imbibe alcohol on a moonless night. His lips spreading wide in a shark-ish grin behind the metal of his mask, Mikaboshi raised his right hand and silently willed his chakra to his fingertips which illuminated them a dark sage color before his body flickered and disappeared from sight.
The young human likely felt nothing but frigid cold as Mikaboshi's imbued fingers slashed into his body just between his shoulder blades and erupted out from his chest... though with them came no blood or gore. Instead of choosing to physically attack him, Mikaboshi's attack bit into the youth's spiritual force and as his glowing hand appeared through the boy's chest it tore with it a large chunk of his spiritual presence causing almost instant unconsciousness. The average human being was not a powerfully spiritual creature. They possessed souls which could be honed and sharpened into deadly weapons but in the natural state a human soul was fragile and vulnerable to damage. While his trick would only have winded a shinobi or someone with similar training and up-bringing... to a normal human being having their soul torn at in such a fashion was an experience too traumatic for their mind to fully experience. The boy slumped forward against Mikaboshi's impaling arm and so with his prey secure the ANBU retreated quickly into a near-by alleyway to avoid potential prying eyes which might have turned their way in the moment of the attack. It was unlikely for Mikaboshi had chosen his prey well; isolated on a street with no other pedestrians and with limited open windows or vantage points to spy upon them. Even he had to admit that his finding this target in such a good location had been extremely fortuitous. He hoped that luck would continue on into the night as he withdrew his hand from the blacked out fool which was to become bait for Mikaboshi's experiment, holding him up by the collar of his tunic with his left hand while he did, before unceremoniously dropping his boy's body to the ground at his feet. There were no windows to this alleyway and they were in a deeper part of the city away from the walls... this would be as good of a place as any.
Ultimately his plan-- admittedly a simple one --was to extract the soul essence of a human being and shatter it into the atmosphere. Such an act would attract any creatures sensitive to such an act and likely draw their attention to the location of the shattering. It was a risk doing it in the middle of the city due to the possible presence of any humans sensitive to such things but that would be extremely unlikely. Mikaboshi required creatures of a particular nature and unless there were humans which carried the genes of a supernatural creature in the city that he was unaware of the city of Soon's Haven would sleep through the night without ever being aware that one of their citizens was being used in such a macabre fashion. Extending his right hand over the place where the body of the boy lay on the ground, Mikaboshi's chakra lined his hand once more as invisible tendrils of power reached into the human and tugged at his very essence in an attempt to coax it free. He would cut the boy to pieces if necessary but most humans were not so attached to their spirits that they could not be divested of them with minimal effort. Only those with training which developed their chakra systems possessed protection against such a process. Soon the soft periwinkle light of the boy's soul shimmered in the dark of the night as it was drawn out of his unconsciously gaping mouth and into Mikaboshi's waiting fingers which immediately pinned the soul against his palm. For a moment he considered the soul-mass, raising it to his eye for inspection. It was small, as the souls of youth tended to be with their lack of experience, but it would do none the less. Extending his arm once more out to its full length, Mikaboshi crushed the light of the captured spirit within a clenched fist causing a short but brilliant last gasp of light from it before it was extinguished and dispersed into the air around him.
With the soul dispersed, Mikaboshi closed his burning eyes and expanded his spiritual senses. All through the surrounding darkness his influence spread like that of a spider's web with him at the center of it. If something he found interesting enough to engage arrived he would mark its presence and do so. All that was left... was to wait and see if his first experiment yielded results.
[Contract Search-- Random result, please.]
So too was it with this night.
But in recent centuries humanity had taught itself not to fear the dark of the night. With the fall of superstition and the rise of 'rationality' the instincts which once drove Mankind to hide on nights where even the moon feared to show her face withered away and died as none still lived which could remember the days in which they had not been the top of the natural food chain. That loss of instinct and death of fear had made it easy for Mikaboshi to find himself a volunteer for his plan; a young man out for a night time stroll on the lonely streets of the city. Looking down upon him from the roof-top of a single-story building, the ANBU Sennin watched for a series of moments sizing up his prey. The Wind Country was possessed of no small amount of would-be demon slayers and exorcists which traveled from town to town hunting evil. Notorious among them were the Masashi, a group sworn by the first Sunahoshi to guard the wilds of Sunagakure from monsters like Mikaboshi and to always ensure the dominance of humanity in the Wind Country. And while Mikaboshi feared nothing which was afoot in the night with him, much less a human being, he did not wish to see his designs interrupted by a drawn out battle. If he engaged with a Masashi which could not be swiftly put down the battle would almost certainly draw attention from the guards and possibly even Sunagakure if it were disruptive enough. He could spare a few extra minutes for observation to avoid the chain of distractions that would be born from such an engagement. But as he observed, the young man brought the bottle in his right hand to his lips and staggered slightly as he took a drink. He wasn't drunk per se but he was intoxicated to some level certainly. No demon slayer worth any amount of consideration would be foolish enough to imbibe alcohol on a moonless night. His lips spreading wide in a shark-ish grin behind the metal of his mask, Mikaboshi raised his right hand and silently willed his chakra to his fingertips which illuminated them a dark sage color before his body flickered and disappeared from sight.
The young human likely felt nothing but frigid cold as Mikaboshi's imbued fingers slashed into his body just between his shoulder blades and erupted out from his chest... though with them came no blood or gore. Instead of choosing to physically attack him, Mikaboshi's attack bit into the youth's spiritual force and as his glowing hand appeared through the boy's chest it tore with it a large chunk of his spiritual presence causing almost instant unconsciousness. The average human being was not a powerfully spiritual creature. They possessed souls which could be honed and sharpened into deadly weapons but in the natural state a human soul was fragile and vulnerable to damage. While his trick would only have winded a shinobi or someone with similar training and up-bringing... to a normal human being having their soul torn at in such a fashion was an experience too traumatic for their mind to fully experience. The boy slumped forward against Mikaboshi's impaling arm and so with his prey secure the ANBU retreated quickly into a near-by alleyway to avoid potential prying eyes which might have turned their way in the moment of the attack. It was unlikely for Mikaboshi had chosen his prey well; isolated on a street with no other pedestrians and with limited open windows or vantage points to spy upon them. Even he had to admit that his finding this target in such a good location had been extremely fortuitous. He hoped that luck would continue on into the night as he withdrew his hand from the blacked out fool which was to become bait for Mikaboshi's experiment, holding him up by the collar of his tunic with his left hand while he did, before unceremoniously dropping his boy's body to the ground at his feet. There were no windows to this alleyway and they were in a deeper part of the city away from the walls... this would be as good of a place as any.
Ultimately his plan-- admittedly a simple one --was to extract the soul essence of a human being and shatter it into the atmosphere. Such an act would attract any creatures sensitive to such an act and likely draw their attention to the location of the shattering. It was a risk doing it in the middle of the city due to the possible presence of any humans sensitive to such things but that would be extremely unlikely. Mikaboshi required creatures of a particular nature and unless there were humans which carried the genes of a supernatural creature in the city that he was unaware of the city of Soon's Haven would sleep through the night without ever being aware that one of their citizens was being used in such a macabre fashion. Extending his right hand over the place where the body of the boy lay on the ground, Mikaboshi's chakra lined his hand once more as invisible tendrils of power reached into the human and tugged at his very essence in an attempt to coax it free. He would cut the boy to pieces if necessary but most humans were not so attached to their spirits that they could not be divested of them with minimal effort. Only those with training which developed their chakra systems possessed protection against such a process. Soon the soft periwinkle light of the boy's soul shimmered in the dark of the night as it was drawn out of his unconsciously gaping mouth and into Mikaboshi's waiting fingers which immediately pinned the soul against his palm. For a moment he considered the soul-mass, raising it to his eye for inspection. It was small, as the souls of youth tended to be with their lack of experience, but it would do none the less. Extending his arm once more out to its full length, Mikaboshi crushed the light of the captured spirit within a clenched fist causing a short but brilliant last gasp of light from it before it was extinguished and dispersed into the air around him.
With the soul dispersed, Mikaboshi closed his burning eyes and expanded his spiritual senses. All through the surrounding darkness his influence spread like that of a spider's web with him at the center of it. If something he found interesting enough to engage arrived he would mark its presence and do so. All that was left... was to wait and see if his first experiment yielded results.
[Contract Search-- Random result, please.]
