A few days passed, Tsurugi and Zeox both having their emblems ready for the tournament that was now only a mere two and a half months away. Tsurugi's vision was still blistering by the moment, but he wasn't yet completely blind. He was hoping his eyes would go soon so the plague of the attempted use of the wretched blurs would vanish. Tsurugi was human, after all, so he would always have the weakness of trying to use his eyes. Zeox, on the other hand, tampered with his sheath continuously, even if he shouldn't have been worrying. He was always looking around, in concern they met a few days past would come to haunt him. Tsurugi and Zeox had managed to venture into an unknown jungle, beside them to the left was a small creek and to the right a whole mess of vines and tress. They where still southward from Critona, but how fast they traveled, not even a good tracker would be able to find them. Tsurugi was messing with the water with his magic, hovering it around and forming it into random shapes of animals and people's faces, which got him to pity a laugh occasionally but not Zeox. He was going crazy, and Tsurugi saw it by every moment.
"Zeox, something bothering you?" questioned Tsurugi, in the apparent point of view of something bothering his partner.
"Not really, I'm worried that that man will follow us. I don't know why." Zeox had his eyes pried wide open, occasionally squirming from side to side for any visual confrontations. Suddenly, a bird squawked and flew from the mossy depths besides then and Zeox quick drew his blade, the bird being jabbed in the middle of the eyes and dead.
"You've got it bad," announced Tsurugi to no one but himself. Tsurugi opened his eyes and looked at Zeox, his vision allowing him to just barely see Zeox in his panic moments. Tsurugi suddenly stopped, Zeox spinning around with his eye brow raised. "We should stop here tonight, let you get some rest. You've been jittery for days."
"I'm not jittery!" Zeox hollered like a mad man. Zeox technically won the match he had with the man known as Nephets, but he was still concerned because there where eleven others. Zeox sighed, knowing he was steadily going insane. He plopped down on a mass heep next to the small river bank, then sighed once more. Tsurugi smiled, and sat down, sticking his feet in the water. Tsurugi didn't exactly wore shoes, so he could feel vibrations if need be. The water began to rise fairly swiftly, due to Tsurugi and his ability to control water. Zeox and Tsurugi both got up, Zeox jumping out of the way like a damsel in distress, and re-sat down a few feet back.
"This stupid creek is to small..." implied Tsurugi. Tsurugi heightened the creek nearly eight feet, to his feet once again. He let out an apparent happy smile, when they smelled something like the smell of burning wood. Zeox looked all around and found nothing, when suddenly their camp ground covered in dark gray smoke and a man rushed out with a katana at hand. Another man rushed out from the other side, running across the water. "The hell is this?" questioned Tsurugi. Tsurugi creped his hands up and water sprayed in all directions, easily clearing the smoke. When the smoke and water where completely gone, Zeox and Tsurugi where gone. The two men looked around for a few moments, when Tsurugi and Zeox reappeared, Zeox behind the man from the river side with a sword across his throat, and Tsurugi behind the man from the trees with a sword across his throat too.
"Speak, or you die," Zeox proclaimed. Zeox's sword was to a man who stood a good length beneath him, about five feet eight inches with no hair and moon-like eyes. He wore a unique, thick pair of pants that where fairly baggy that where the color of the night sky, and a simple sleeveless arm shirt. Tsurugi had his blade to a man of about the same height, six feet one inch tall who wore baggy black pants and a shirt, much like a mixed martial arts student in the Tomishibi Kingdom would and his hair was a long, silver color that went to his mid back and his bangs hung to his nose. His eyes where a unique green color, that where pale and drought of life. "Who are you?" questioned Zeox.
The man with the long, silver hair replied "Jigoku Itten. My friend here is Kia Asure, why is it you ask?" he replied back. Itten showed no emotion toward them, anger or happiness.
"And who are you?" bit back Kia with a mean force in his tone. He showed much emotion, anger at this point. "We saw you, we expecting you to be guards from 'King Raion's' militia of some sort. But obviously you aren't. Maybe we can be of some kind of assistance to one another." Kia loosened his anger, and Zeox and Tsurugi both acknowledge the honest mistake. They released both the men but kept them at their bay to answer one another a question or two.
"I am Hisashori Zeox. This is Ichiyami Tsurugi." replied Zeox to the questions Kia asked. Zeox seemed comfortable to speak with these two men. "What was up with that smoke?"
"Ya see, I'm a fire mage. My father was part of the Sora Tribe, and he married my mother who was part of the Sol Tribe in the Kadun Kingdom. It seems a lot of people are from there, wouldn't you agree, Tsurugi?" replied and questioned Itten. Itten was a unique man, he was part of two separate tribes that hated one another, but both controlled fire. He was banished when he was about fourteen, and ever since then had became a Merc-for-Hire. They spoke to one another for hours, introducing one another and only explaining few things about one another when a sudden question came into play.
"Do you know of a man named Nephets?" questioned Zeox to Itten and Kia. At this point, Kia had passed out of boredom. He wasn't a main person in the questions, mainly because he hadn't really much to say. As you saw was as you got, as he proclaimed.
"I do, is he of any importance to you?" questioned Itten.
"Indeed... He's somewhat of a concern of mine, a person I don't wish to see again until our battle in the World Tournament." Zeox sighed and looked into the sky, which he managed to see a spec of spotlight through the canopy of the forest they where in.
"Nephets is not one to be fooled with, honestly. I used to be part of a small group he controls. I left because I fought him, I couldn't even land a single hit on him, but I wasn't destroyed entirely too much." Itten looked to his right side at Kia, to see for any response. Kia was a man who knew Nephets fairly well, too. Kia was one of the reasons of the fighting, Nephets was planning on killing Kia but Itten stopped the entire thing by fighting and leaving the group. He shook his head, then faced Zeox once more. "Keep away from him at all chances, I'll say."
"I wish too. I fought him once already. I, in all technicalities, beat him... But it still concerns me." Zeox looked into the small river beside him.
"You've defeated Nephets before? That's impossible... Thank god we didn't fight." Itten stood up like a spring. "I have to be going, we need to take care of something. If you plan on being in that tournament, like you said earlier, we should meet up later. Cool?" Zeox shook his head and slight content, two new allies had joined him. Itten walked over to Kia and plopped down on his stomach "Wake up idiot!" he shouted.
Kia sprung up, knocking Itten off of him. "DUDE!" he yelled. "Bastard, don't do that. You weigh more then I do."
"Well, maybe if you didn't stunt your growth it'd be the other way, huh? No more coffee beans for you, bakka."
"You ass!" yelled Kia, rushing up. Itten ran off ahead, as did Kia. Itten waved good bye, but Kia was so bent on pulverizing Itten he forgot to. Tsurugi looked at Zeox with his brow raised in curiosity.
Another two days passed, the tournament was getting closer by the day. Still, the two where in the ever long forest that seemed like it'd never end when suddenly Itten jumped from the trees beside them. He seemed to be panic, his arm was bloodied and Kia was no where to be seen. Itten knelt bent down, his arms supporting his body on his knees. He looked at Zeox, Zeox wondering what was wrong.
"Nephets... He's in Tomishibi Kingdom... He killed Raion." Itten gasped for breath. Zeox looked at Tsurugi, Tsurugi awed. Tsurugi and Zeox withdrew their blade, Itten staring straight at Zeox.
"I'll help. Where's Kia at?" questioned Zeox.
"No clues, just come on!" Itten ran into the mossy depths of the forest. Zeox and Tsurugi waited a moment, looked at each other and stormed in. Itten was charging full speed ahead, cutting through small branches every time one came across, Zeox or Tsurugi ducking every time so the debris wouldn't hit them. Nearly half an hour passed when finally the jumped into bright sunlight and off into the air, the forest was elevated to the top of the Castle's wall length. Zeox and Tsurugi where confused and didn't know what to do, squirming in mid air. Itten landed on the ground and went full throttle on ward, Zeox and Tsurugi landed moments later and stumble about. They regained their balance and took off at full speed and barged into the castle, where stood a few figures. One was Nephets, facing the back wall. Beside him on his left was Kagroth, and on the Nephets' left was Ignatius. Back on the wall was a man with a blade pierced within his heart. Blood was washed all upon the wall, and on the ground lied another crimson mess. Pierced upon the wall was the alleged king, Lord Raion, or Rei as Itten called him. On the ground was no other then Kia, he was lifeless and his body was clammy. Nephets didn't look back, not caring who was there. Ignatius looked back for a moment then refocused his attention to Rei, same as Kagroth. Nephets finally spun around and smirked to the unsurprising reappearance.
"You fail, you do realize." Nephets withdrew his blade sleekly, and pointed it directly at Zeox, who was a good distance away. "It is time for your death, no way around it." Nephets rushed in. Tsurugi and Itten jumped side wards, Zeox withdrawing his blade and clashing it with Nephets'. Nephets ducked and upper punched, Zeox back stepping to avoid it. Zeox side kicked and landed his foot into Nephets' chin. Nephets coiled back a few steps, then rushed his blade to the side. He took a big step forward, then vanished. A few moments pass, when Nephets finally reappeared with a massive stab with a cyclone of wind surrounding it came rushing towards Zeox. Zeox managed to parry the blade to his side, but to no effect the wind rushed him into the wall a few feet back. Zeox recovered quickly then ran in and jumped, pushing both his feet up, but Nephets took a step back and Zeox landed on his back. Ignatius, Itten, Nephets, Kagroth and Tsurugi laughed for a few moments from the stupidity brought forward from the asinine drop kick attempt. Zeox took a second to get back up, but brushed himself off with his face blood red of embarrassment. He chuckled for a second, but then regained his serious composure.
Zeox was hurting from the few hits he had taken, apparently he hadn't recovered completely from Kane's fight and the last fight with Nephets. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breathe and sighing. "I can't believe you're beating me this time."
"Can't believe? You say it like it would never happen." Nephets picked up a blade on the ground, obviously Kia's and then he took a secondary katana from Kagroth. He placed Kia's sword in his mouth, gripping it with his teeth and he held the other two blades in his hands. He could hardly talk, but he managed to mumble out "I will see your death today."
Nephets rushed in, one of his blades clashing with Zeox's. Nephets whipped around the two blades in his hands, slashing Zeox's stomach horrendously bad. Crimson spewed upon the ground and into the air from the massive damage. Zeox stumbled back, then cocked his blade back and spun extraordinarily fast. Nephets blocked with two of his blades, the third one repelled the movement from the swing then recoiled into a stab that grazed Zeox's shoulder. Zeox took a step back, knelt and grabbed his shoulder. Blood covered his hand and the blade handle, which was in the hand that was covering his shoulder. Tsurugi attempted to rush over, but Nephets rushed in and connected a knee hit into Tsurugi's face, snapping his nose sidewards. Tsurugi was knocked down and skid back a few feet, his nose was gushing blood and in agonizing pain. Itten just continued to look on, he couldn't do much. Itten looked over at Kia and Rei, then undivided his attention back to Nephets. Zeox stood back up and popped his back, back bending to do thus. He took a deep breathe in then a red mass of energy began to radiate from Zeox. Nephets smiled, then black energy began to radiate from him. The cat-like eyes where of no amazement, but this time they where different. Nephets' eyes had a red ring surrounding him and they where black instead of yellow this time.
"What the?" growled Zeox in confusement. "He's different."
"Exactly," said Nephets. Nephets rushed in, dropping two of his blades and clashing the last blade with Zeox's claws. Zeox rushed his hands off, the sword of Nephets rushing up and flying backwards. Nephets looked back, following the blade, but returned his look to a fist directed into his face. Nephets shot backwards, when Zeox rose his arms and slashed them down. Ten masses of non=air matter flung into play, colliding with Nephets. The same attack was used before, Nephets recognizing the attack. Nephets countered the attack but snapping his fingers and an energy concentration shield emerged and shot the waves back. Zeox rushed in, landed a quick jab into Nephets, but Nephets took no movement or recoil effect and rushed in a quick uppercut with his fist. Zeox rushed up a few inches, then Nephets spun around and hook kicked Zeox in the gut. Zeox crashed into the ground, the tile of the castle floor cracking. Nephets pointed his index and middle finger to Zeox's forehead, then tapped his forehead and a massive symbol came forth. A giant spear rushed forward, but instead of Zeox moving out of the way, the spear drove into his head and a mess of red crimson flung into the air. Nephets had a wicked smile across his face, but he wasn't done, nor was Zeox. Nephets ripped the spear from Zeox's head, thinking he was dead. Zeox sat up quickly and vanished. Nephets looked around in nervousness and amazement. Zeox didn't run for long, he soon came back into action with a giant claw directed towards Nephets. Nephets took the giant gash in the shoulder, but pushed his shoulder up and it was fine. Nephets was wearing a cloak this time around, not the massive armor, so Zeox was confused on how Nephets took the hit and wasn't hurt. Zeox hissed, venom shooting towards Nephets, and once again he guarded. The venom began to burn his through his coat, but he payed no mind to it. Nephets rushed in and landed a massive knee to the neck of Zeox. Zeox was knocked down and gasping for breathe. Nephets tapped his index and middle finger to Zeox's forehead again, next to the previous pierce, and a massive explosion went off like a stick of dynamite on his head. Zeox yelled for a moment, his back arching, but he fell down and his head limped to the side. Tsurugi noticed a lesser energy form in the area and rushed up to see Zeox dead, his blood all across the floor.
"Itten..." Tsurugi said calmly. "Is he...?" Tsurugi stood up like nothing happened.
"..." Itten didn't reply. He was in shock, his closest friend, the one he said was his brother, was dead. He continued to look over at Kia, but refocused his attention to Nephets more because of the ongoing battle. He was also shocked that Zeox, another person he considered an ally, was dead too. Itten had his blade in his hand, and charged in. Kagroth rushed into action, his grieves crushing into the ribs of Itten. Itten endured the hit, grappled Kagroth's leg and spun him around. He released the leg, Kagroth flying into the wall and flying out of the castle when his body broke through it. Itten's adrenaline was so high for the moment, but when it died down for a moment, he noticed every one of his ribs where shattered and his lungs and stomach where bruised and pierced. It didn't look like he was to live for much longer, but he would fight until he did. Itten rushed in, going for Nephets, and swung his blade in. Nephets grabbed the blade, snapping it in half then head butting Itten's head. Itten's head busted and he began to bleed.
"Itten, foolish as always. Do you seriously want to end up like the pathetic soul?" questioned Nephets.
"I already am. Kagroth got a good hit on me, I have to say. But aside from that, I will fight until my death." Itten suddenly rushed his kick into the side of Nephets, but Nephets didn't feel the blow and just returned the basic attack with a quick jab of his sword to Itten's heart.
"There, that is faster." Nephets shoved Itten down, to die. With Zeox dead, and Itten immobilized and on the verge of death, only Tsurugi was remaining. Tsurugi hadn't done much, he attempted to fight Nephets, but to no success. In fact, it only snapped his nose. Tsurugi looked at Zeox and Itten, then over at Kia. He was in total shock, then withdrew his katana.
Tsurugi rushed in, swinging his blade in a crescent shape. Nephets dodged, spun and landed a giant knee to Tsurugi's nose once again. Tsurugi disregarded the hit and shoved it forward. Nephets recoil spinned and Tsurugi landed an elbow to his face. Nephets felt that attack and was knocked back a small bit. Nephets recomposed his appearance after taking a strong elbow, and began to grit his teeth. He was obviously angered. Nephets re-sheathed his blade, then went into Martial Arts stance. He landed a quick round house kick to Tsurugi's head, then a few quick jabs. Tsurugi spit some blood, which spewed on the ground. Nephets went in, shot up his leg then rushed it back down atop Tsurugi's head. Tsurugi face planted, but when he attempted to regain his composure and stand back up, Nephets shot his foot up and Tsurugi flew up. Nephets grappled onto Tsurugi's arm and smashed his knee into his ribs. Tsurugi was nearly done, every moment he was hurting even more and on the verge of blacking out. Tsurugi had a moment and stood up, then went to grab for a blade on his back when all there was was an apparent sheath. Awkwardly, springs sprouted out and blue energy radiated from Tsurugi. All his wounds where healed, his nose returned to normal shape and all the blood was placed back into his body. He rose his hand to face the ceiling of the castle, and many things began to rewind besides Nephets and Tsurugi. He rewound time to when Kia and Rei where still alive, Zeox was back and so was Itten, but Kagroth was still unconscious outside and Nephets still had the slight injuries from the slight attacks landed on him already. A massive blade formed onto his hand, the same size of the massive four foot sheath on his back. It was quite thin, but it was four feet long and nearly two feet wide. He only held it with one hand, his other hand held his katana that radiated a magnificent light. Tsurugi rushed in, he clashed his katana with Nephets' blade when he blocked, but the giant blade known as Onitsurugi, or Demon Sword, rushed in and shot into the side of Nephets. Nephets spewed blood, but suddenly black crows flocked into all directions.
"What's this?" questioned Tsurugi. His sword was named after him, and took the word Oni for Demon. Tsurugi noticed Ignatius was still watching them and rushed in to attack. Ignatius cut the tip of his thumb and the blade extended a long distant and radiated a yellow color from an energy forcefield. Tsurugi clashed his Onitsurugi with Ignatius' Switch Blade, as they called it. A massive wave of wind rushed out, and the earth quaked for a moment. Time began to ripple, and it returned to the future. Kagroth was still outside, Nephets was gone, Ignatius stood there with his blade out as did Tsurugi and Itten, Zeox, Rei and Kia where still dead. Ignatius chuckled.
"It's time for our departure," he announced. "I hope to meet again some day soon." Ignatius vanished. Tsurugi was still perfectly fine.
"He nulled the time void for the most part. I'm kind of amazed..." Tsurugi rushed up and pulled out a vial of water. He controlled some to resurrect Zeox, like he did after the battle with Kane, and he healed Itten who was not dead yet. Tsurugi looked at Itten, "I don't have enough to resurrect any of them..."
Itten looked up in astonishment, but also in sorrow. He took a deep breathe in and sighed, "Then we have to at least bury them, ok?" Tsurugi and Zeox nodded. The went outside the castle through the hole Kagroth made. Kagroth was no longer there, as expected, and they began to dig two holes. Once long enough, the curried Rei and placed him, then covered him in the dirt and said their prayers. They went and retrieved Kia, but when they placed him in the hole the dug for him, and strange radiation came from around the heart area of Kia. Itten's blade began to shine a bright blue color, and as he unhooked his blade and unsheathed it, it was a red color and strangely unique. He examined it for a moment, and it suddenly combusted into fire.
"What the?" he questioned. A massive monkey demon formed before them. They all scurried back, but they realized this monkey demon was actually a spirit, and it was the spirit of Kia in the blood.
"Houka Shou," he said. "It's not over, our journey isn't." Kia vanished. Everything was extremely awkward, two friends deaths and one of them became a sword summoning.
"I understand," said Itten. He stood up and finished burying the body of Kia. "Zeox, Tsurugi.."
"What is it?" questioned Zeox.
"Do you mind if I stick around with you two for awhile. I wish to compete in that tournament you spoke of. I need an emblem, any who." Itten store off into the sky when speaking. "I have to find someone..."
"And who is that?" asked Zeox redundantly.
"The whole reason Kia became a Mercenary with me was because he wanted to improve his fighting skills. He was alright at sword technique, but he wasn't great, so he traveled with me to learn. His entire motive to fight was to find someone, his mother. But in order to find his mother, he'd have to find a man named Oracan Sinharu. We're to find him, I'm sure of it..." Itten sighed. "It's probably the only reason his spirit won't rest in piece."
"Sure," Zeox said in agreeing content. "We'll help." Itten looked at Zeox and let out a big smile. It quickly retreated, but he was still happy he found two people to fight along side with.
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