- Spoiler:
- Volcanic InnardsSettingThe Volcanic Innards were constructed towards the center of the Hell Maze. The area consists of a series of crisscrossing bridges that connect one side of the volcano to the next. Veins of lava are imbedded into the bridges and towards the bottom are smaller lakes and pools of lava. The heat is unbearable and the smoke is heavy. There are cliffs and a rim around which one can walk but caution should be taken not to fall as the innards can go quite high up.
THE FUTURE
"If you want to imagine the future of Kishin, imagine the boot of a God stomping on a human face forever" - Unknown
OOC: This Encounter Thread represents a sneak peak at a potential upcoming site-wide plot. Proceed with caution.
OOC: This Encounter Thread represents a sneak peak at a potential upcoming site-wide plot. Proceed with caution.
The Hankōainshu's screams could be heard across the Volcanic Innards. He wailed, he pleaded, he shouted. To his captors, to the proctors and to the gods that had forsaken him. A genin of 17 and a rather promising shinobi of Na no Sato, Bakuto Onaiyi had entered into the Chuunin Exams with high hopes for himself. He had mastered the first few stages of the world's newest bloodline and he had become something of a rising star in his own shinobi village. Even though his village was housed within a Minor Nation, there were hopes that the genin's prowess could one day grow their influence beyond that of a vassal state. He had wanted to make his family proud and earn recognition for his homeland. He also wanted to test his kekkei genkai and its limitations against foes from the Great Nations. He had aced the first portion and he had even earned a second scroll on the first day. Given how his life was going, it seemed Bakuto was destined for greatness.
Until he crossed into hell itself.
The unbearable heat wasn't the problem though. It was what lay in wait for him. Bakuto falsely believed that his Hankōgan was a well-guarded secret. That few knew he possessed it and fewer still knew what it was capable of. In a sense, the naive genin was correct. Most shinobi entered into the Exams were unaware of his abilities, but not all of them were so ignorant. There were in fact two shinobi in particular that were more than well-informed about Bakuto and his Gravity Release. The pair had been sent into the Exams with a undetectable disguise and a rather sinister mission. Bakuto's progress had been tracked extensively from afar. He represented a threat to certain interstellar ambitions and designs. Maybe not as an individual, but as a representative of what Hankōgan wielders were capable of. Those with the acute Anti-Gravity poisoning had proven to be a subject of intense interest and curiosity for the future conquerors of Earth. Its power was nigh unstoppable and the potential as manifested in ninja like Tengoku was more than concerning.
Thus, the decision was made. The bloodline would need to be dissected, studied and neutralized as soon as possible.
To this effect, the Organization had sent two young but highly skilled acolytes to oversee this crucial task. By cutting Bakuto's life short, they'd hope to find the secret to weakening Gravity Release and stopping the spread of the potent bloodline among the human population. When Bakuto and his comrades chanced upon a long bridge in the heated heart of the volcano. They'd be greeted with two personages.
The first was a young woman of middling height. She had long black hair, blood red eyes and skin that was so pale it could not possibly be human. She wore a gothic robe that was lined with white and her expression seemed...dead. It was like her soul was elsewhere and her body was on autopilot. The second was was a young woman with a buzzcut hair and yellow eyes. A smoking aura of gold wafted from around her clothing which consisted of all black jacket, mesh shirt, pants, boots and scarf.
Bakuto did not know it, but he had walked into a carefully laid trap. The pair had been stalking him. Tracking him since before the Exams and well into it. Like a predator watching their quarry, they waited for the perfect opportunity to strike and when it came, they came prepared. The buzzcut femme had expertly looped and suppressed all surveillance in this area of the Exams. The proctors would merely be watching an empty and looped version of the Volcanic innards. All of the relevant sensory and telemetric devices had also been sabotaged to ensure that their mission would go uninterrupted. This part of the maze was thus a Dead Zone from the watchful eyes of the proctors.
Few words were exchanged. Mostly taunts from the lips of Bakuto. When his opponents hardly responded, he and his two teammates engaged. The humans fought valiantly, for they were a skilled bunch. Superior by ordinary standards and even troublesome in some ways. But they could not match their opponents. Earth was still young and there were secrets regarding chakra and the truths of combat that it had yet to learn.
Bakuto's comrades were slaughtered. Guts, and dismembered body parts lined the area around the remaining three shinobi. Bakuto had been embedded into the nearby volcanic rock. The heated igneous burned his skin but it was nothing compared to what the buzzcut shinobi did next. Over the next several hours, Bakuto yelled in horror as his enemies sawed him open and splayed his organs into the air. Somehow, by some twisted form of magic, he remained alive and fully conscious. As the yellow eyed Nin worked, the red eyed Ōtsutsuki stared. She watched with silent intensity as the buzzcut-nin branded his organs with some kind of searing hot and golden Fuuinjutsu. She tilted her head in curiosity as his heart, liver, lungs and intestines were carved from his body and permitted to float out in front of him. The buzzcut nin took notes, occasionally prodding certain reactions and taking samples. It was a live dissection in the middle of the Exams and for some unknown reason they wanted him alive and to experience all of it.
No matter how much he sobbed or begged they would not let him die. In fact, for the first few hours, they wouldn't even speak to him. He had all but given up hope when suddenly the buzzcut nin spoke.
"Do you know who that is?"
Bakuto only groaned in response. He had tried to bribe them, threaten them, offer what few organs he could live without, and they hadn't given him so much as a "Fuck You." He wasn't entirely sure he was hearing the surgeon's words. Perhaps it was just a hallucination.
"Of course you don't. Most of your primitive species would never think to stay informed about the going-ons of your own world."
The alien stared but now began to float just a few inches off the ground.
The buzzcut jerked her head in the direction of her partner.
"That is Chiheisen Ōtsutsuki. Formerly known as Prisoner #454233 of Hozuki Castle. Your kind is....barely sentient so I'll forgive your lack of understanding but before you die I think you should know something. Everything you've experienced is a mere fraction of what Chiheisen's captors put her through. Until she was freed by Nozomi Himitsu she was treated like an animal. Can you imagine? A Goddess such as her reduced to a state lower than your own? Disgusting."
Chiheisen raised her hands and began to sign. She weaved her words with graceful fingers even though her mouth was perfectly capable of making sounds. She preferred signing. It was simple, elegant and above all, quiet. She had long ago given up speaking. It was grating and incredibly taxing to hear one's own voice across parallel dimensions. All of them speaking at the same time but using different words and grammar. It was maddening and the more she spoke, the more alternate versions of herself joined in. It made speech impossible. Thus she had adopted sign language as a way to cope with the unfortunate side effects of her corrupted Neo-Amenominaka. She had other ways of communicating, but when it came to addressing beasts like these she preferred an intermediary. It was a habit that had been taught to her by her new sensei. Why should deities commune directly with mortals? A mediator was far more civilized.
"She says that you should be thankful. That unlike her imprisonment....your captivity will last less than a day and it will accomplish more than you could ever imagine."
Bakuto began to scream again as the buzzcut-nin worked his innards. She appeared especially interested in his lymph nodes.
"However I, for one think you deserve worse....fortunately mercy is a common trait among the superior races don't you think?"
As Bakuto squirmed under the torture of his captors, a small miracle would occur. A tunnel that had escaped the formal notice of the proctors (and by extension by the infiltrators) would be created. It was likely the result of a ferocious battle between evenly matched genin that had happened elsewhere in the maze. The makeshift tunnel would shift open giving Nakaba, Sera and Kudo a new path to travel through. Unfortunately, when they emerged at the other side of the tunnel they'd arrive at perhaps the most unsafe part of the maze. The tunnel would lead to the volcanic innards and they'd find themselves standing approximately 15 meters away from the bloody scene unfolding at the hands of Chiheisen and her servant. The trio would see the decimated corpses of Bakuto's allies on the ground and the impromptu dissection taking place before them. Chiheisen turned her head to to look at the newcomers. Her face was a mixture of curiosity and surprise.
The buzzcut-nin stopped what she was doing and walked away from the floating organs of her victim. She turned to face Team 1 and narrowed her eyes at the intrusion. She slipped her hand behind her back and looked to her superior for direction. Chiheisen only remained quiet as she continued to stare at the interlopers. Behind them, Bakuto mumbled. He didn't know if he was seeing things or if they were angels sent by heaven to put him out of his misery. Either way, he'd throw caution to the wind.
"Please...."
He mustered more strength in the lungs that now floated in front of his body.
"PLEASE KILL ME!"
