Fantasy Samurai of the Inferno

"Royal Marksman Eliza Smith - Missing, possibly dead"
The archer thought as she fought through gasping breaths as her blood-stained hand shoved a rag onto a large, painful claw mark reaching from the base of her right set of ribs all the way up to her shoulder bone. The cause of her wound? Possibly still chasing, possibly content with inflicting a severe wound, but Eliza didn't care as she bled to death on a tree. "What a way to go.. after three wars, hundreds of murders and several assassinations.. I guess it's only fitting that I die to the devil itself..." she spluttered as she began the arduous, painful process of applying her last few bandages, praying that she didn't faint from blood-loss before the wound was dealt with.

This was her second day in the country after their failed attempt to conquer some village, and she was certain that this place was some incarnation of hell on earth. Her party was murdered in cold-blood by things she'd never seen before, and wanted to never see again. They hadn't even made it to the town, what a disgrace.. But that was not important to Eliza anymore. She just wanted to live out the week, never mind fulfill her objective.

The agony from moving was unbearable, but she began sliding her way up the slick tree bark slowly as her desperate mind edged her onward, helping her to ignore the pain. Once she was up, she began creeping in the only direction she knew, forward, and away from the slaughter and all those monsters, towards any form of civilisation at all. Her bow still strapped to her back and a quiver with a measly five arrows left around her waist, her green uniform grippingher body tightly from sweat and blood, the great Royal Marksman Eliza Smith made her way to what she hoped would be away from those demons of destruction and death, her eyes blurring with her teeth biting down on nothing as she resisted the urge to scream out her fear and pain so as to not give away her position

CrowOuttaHell said:

More women came in. Damn, he and the only other guy here were getting overwhelmed. Ryoma cursed under his breath.

A white-haired woman was pissed off that they were "ruining" her sleep. This other woman, the samurai trophy, was still looking for directions. And this other woman, with a kanabo--

Wait. A kanabo.

"Did she swipe that off some unfortunate thug?" Seeing the weapon brought back memories of the Yamagata-gumi- his yakuza den. He knew someone that used that weapon...at least until he sliced through her neck.

In any case, before this got any peachier, he was going to have to step in. But before he could act, something flew past his head and landed in a tree. The arrow was immediately followed by several armed men and a man with a chonmage.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A stupid, savage pig arguing with women." The man with the chonmage nodded at Toru. "Thanks for holding him off, runt."

"Why does every deadbeat wanna waste my time?" Ryoma hissed. The thugs looked at one another, eyeing the three women still with them.

"Hey, boss! We could take some of 'em!"

"Yeah, the one with the kanabo's gonna fetch a high price with that weapon! She could even be one of us!"

"Nah, the one with the white hair is still gonna fetch a higher price."

"H-Hey! That damn onna knocked out some of my boys!"

Ryoma glanced at his companions- his very, very unwilling companions. He sighed.
"These are times when I need sake. As much as I hate to do this--" He drew his odachi, in an improper but intimidating form. It was the kind of improper draw that made the blade slide against the sheath, causing an intimidating sound that made some of the thugs freeze a bit. With a quick few steps, he launched himself at the chonmage-wearing guy- and found his blade parried by a katana.

"What are you waiting for, you good for nothing thugs?! Sack 'em!" The man yelled. Almost immediately, the thugs roared and charged at the rest of the group.

"You might want to deal with these bastards before you settle your catfight, ladies!" Ryoma hissed.

Nothing ever came easy in Takama-ga-hara.

Emi Nebulas s u n gogojojo331 Frozen Toast Lady

Click to expand...

Tsukiko was about to ask the young woman in the tree a question when all the unfortunate people showed up. Yes, they are about to die horribly, in lots of pain.

She spun on her heal to reach out with her empty right hand and grasped the throat of a bandit that was rushing towards her with a knife and some rope.

He immediately fell to his knees as she applied a little bit of pressure, and as she kicked his chest once, the sound of flesh separating made itself known as she held his head by the neck, with a small length of his spine still attached.

Another bandit rushed at her, screaming in fury with a rusty kama, and died in a way that was arguably even more horrible:

Tsukiko swung her kanabo, with one hand, swiftly, and broke both of his legs. As he was lying on the ground, screaming in pain, she hit him with the severed head so that it's forehead met the man's temple with a sound that could only be the man's skull cracking.

"Have you seriously never heard of 'Tsuigeki no Tsukiko' (translation: Tsukiko of the Hunt)?" She asked sarcastically.

To clarify, that is the most commonly known of her titles in regards to her being a headhunter.

Toru watched in fear as the woman tore through the men like it was nothing. He almost puked as the waterfall of blood started to pour out of their open holes. "P...Please." He urged the girl. "Stop...You'll only make it worse. " He grabbed her hand with his hands, holding her back. "Please!" He looked at them all. "I..I just want someone to help me save my family. An...and...If they know I'm here...They might make it worse...."

s u n said:

View attachment 383633
______________________________________
_______________________________________
​

A bunch of men appeared just like magic Akane couldn't understand what was going on in all this commotion yet she didn't mind because she understood one thing and that was good enough for her, " Yes that's right they are beauties...beauties what?! Their goddesses them and their weapons. But for me, I'm nothing I don't even have a weapon only this dumb flute." she said taking out the flute from her bag whispering to herself, "Thank goodness I was born ugly." with that she took her leave not before whispering something to one of the people she was standing with, "Don't worry I'll go get he-" Before she could finish Akane was dragged back by the collar by one of the thugs.

"Where do you think you're going?" Akane spoke with confidence, "Yo...I know I'm ugly but I'm still a lady." the thug merely stared at her not reacting. Akane spoke with less confidence with before, "I'll scream...ah." she said, "...i-if I scream people will come-" the man scoffed, "Where do you think you are? You're in a forest, who's going to come to the birds or the bunnies?" Akane spoke with a poker face, "Was that supposed to be funny that wasn't funny-" before Akane could finish she was violently thrown as the man went began harassing the two female woman. Gasping Akane ran over to the overly tattooed man, "What are you doing standing there all frozen. Your tattoos won't help you... they're not scaring them. Do something...tie them to a tree or knock them out cold by the time they awake everyone would have gone their separate ways. Do something before the girls get hurt-" at that moment Akane was surprised when the girls suddenly fought back.

Akane stood there in shock as the girls killed the men like it was nothing, "Are these girls crazy?" Walking up to the pink-haired female grabbing her lightly by her forearm, "I know they were harassing you but kill them...why? It would have been better if he killed you then he would be in the wrong." she turned to the white-haired female, "Have you no heart? Where is your humanity?" she said pointing at one of the men with his legs chopped off, "Do you know what you did? You killed a man, not just one but two...these men are in the wrong truly but...this man could be a father and if not a father a husband and if not for sure he is a son. You killed someone's father what was the sin of the child? When his father doesn't show?" Akane was interrupted by a shaking frightened voice it was none other than the man from before. Walking over to him she began patting his back, "Don't bother they won't listen. They will continue to ignore their hearts until they become blind and deaf. " she said this sighing, "We don't kill our way to peace, why do you kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?....Ms. Tsuigeki no Tsukiko."

Akane stared at the two thinking off to the side, 'What are you trying to say you, idiot? They won't understand no matter how much your big mouth rambles on. They are used to this, they were born to kill as if it's in their blood. They were raised on such things they won't understand this is right...this is justice in their eyes.' with that, she gave the man standing next to her a final pat on the back, "Don't put yourself down it'll only worsen your health."
Tags: : gogojojo331 Frozen Toast Lady Emi Nebulas CrowOuttaHell

Click to expand...

CrowOuttaHell said:

Ryoma was genuinely surprised to find that the other two girls weren't...quite as defenseless as he thought they were. One used that kanabo to bash in a thug's legs- the other was easily dashing to and fro, slicing at throats.

Meanwhile, he was preoccupied with trying to kill this bastard with a samurai's haircut!

"What's wrong, thug? You're not looking so mighty." The bastard samurai snarled, parrying another of his blows. Ryoma didn't answer- he didn't need to. It wasn't like he owed this guy an answer. He reared his arm back, punching the man in the elbow. Once he saw that cocky expression melt into a nasty grimace, his own morphed into a grin.

"Your boys aren't looking too good either!" Ryoma laughed again as the samurai turned thug dropped his blade. "Being beaten by a couple of girls in a forest--! I can't believe you've held a monopoly on Takamori!"

"You'll pay for what you did to Takauji-sama, you rotten ronin!"

The man, now aware of his losing situation, grew desperate. He charged without so much as another thought and swung his fist wildly, attempting to strike the ronin. However, as one of his hits connected, what he felt wasn't flesh, bone, or muscle.

It felt like stone, almost.

"What the hell are you?!" He cried out, before Ryoma drew his own fist back, grin growing on his face. "Having memory loss, old man? Don't you recall what you called me earlier?"

He smashed his fist into the man's gut- drawing blood, and sending him flying-- far, far back. It was impossible, even for a human.

"You called me a savage pig," Ryoma chuckled. The man lay motionless- dead. Ryoma turned back to the other thugs, grinning and cracking his knuckles.

"Now-- one at a time, or all at once?"


The thugs, seeing the loss of their leader, dropped in morale significantly. One got up, picking up his comrade's weapon- a fukiya. With shaking hands, he lifted it and aimed at Tsukiko.

"Tsuigaki no Tsukiko!" He snarled. "Your head will fetch a fine price!" With a sharp blow, he sent a dart flying towards the headhuntress.

Meanwhile, with Ai, three bandits stepped closer to each other. "Surround that damn woman! Don't let her swing that katana!"

Frozen Toast Lady s u n Emi Nebulas gogojojo331

Click to expand...

Tsukiko looked at Akane with an expression that was only one thing: absolute confusion.

"What the...look, kid, do you live in a cave or something? These are bandits. Most of them would kill you without a second thought if you were a man, and if a woman, such as you, gets captured, they will probably get raped, beaten and, if they're lucky, killed after the first couple times. The really unfortunate ones get sold to a lord as a concubine and a servant, and that lord won't hesitate to buy more if another one kills themselves or if they get bored with that one, and bandits capture women because they know this, which leads to dozens, hundreds of innocent women and children being captured."

Tsukiko merely glanced in the direction of the bandit who fired the dart at her before catching said dart and throwing it back at him with enough force to punch through his skull, the torso of a bandit behind him, and into a tree, with the tip of the dart sticking out of the wood.

"I will admit I'm not the best person, but if I don't deal with them permanently, they'll come back until someone else does. And if I don't deal with it, who will? The untrained villagers of a nearby town, armed with farming tools? They'd probably succeed if there were enough of them, but there would still be many deaths. The samurai? Eventually, maybe they would get involved, but by then the bandits have probably moved onto a different location, and most of the time they only bother to kill the bandit's leader, which actually tends to make things even worse because of the power vacuum."

Noble Scion said:

Royal Marksman Eliza Smith

Spoiler: Appearance

The young archer heard voices. Shouty ones, and not the kind that were in her mind due to suffering from blood-loss, at least she hoped. They didn’t sound friendly either, more like the type that were fighting and trying to scare eachother by yelling loudly. None of which was good for her, although it did mean one good thing. She was near a path, and if she was near a path, that path meant that it led to somewhere, and that somewhere was most likely a city, where she might be able to pass herself off as a travelling tourist that took a bow along for protection, this also meant she would be able to get help and find someone to heal the giant cut on her torso that was already soaking red through the bandages.

She limped to a tree and collapsed into the wooden cradle of its trunk, her bow in her hand as she put pressure onto the cut with her other one. She glanced past the tree and saw a variety of severed body parts already littering the ground, which was not the most encouraging thing to see. “Must be a turf war..” she mumbled as the two groups clashed, one evidently stronger than the other, despite consisting of less people and a member or two being a small girl, or was she seeing double? It was getting difficult to tell amidst all the yelling.

She struggled up, using her bow initially for support before lifting it up in front of her and nooking one of her arrows. She took aim, stared down towards a man that was just after almost decapitating the last member of the attacking force and was about to release a well-aimed shot on an unsuspecting target, before thinking better of it and simply lowering the bow once more, not finding any reason for killing anyone other than to get out some of that rage against the demons for slaughtering her companions, but even that was a pretty lousy reason. She placed the arrow back in the quiver, put the bow on its holder on her back and hopped out onto the road. “Hey!” She called in her obviously foreign accent, taking in her soon-to-be murderers if she didn’t say the right things and seeing just how different clothing was between her home and this place. ”I need help! I’m wounded!” She called, although it wasn’t neccessary in the slightest as the cut seemed to make itself known as she doubled over in pain, dropping to the ground as her shockingly pale face tucked its chin into her chest as she bit down a scream, sweat dripping off her as though she were already halfway into her grave.

It was a miracle she was even still awake. Raw willpower was all that kept her from succumbing to the wound and simply falling to the ground dead right then and there. “Please..” she groaned, attempting to stand up once more, and suprisingly managing to get onto her feet, even though it was accompanied with a rather disgraceful whimpering of pain​

Click to expand...

Tsukiko was already dashing over, removing her bag from her shoulder, eyeing the wound.

"I might not be a doctor, but I know how to at least clean it and close it."

She pulled out a bit of leather that looked like it had been made for armor, a carefully sealed bottle, a pouch, a long roll of white cloth, a slender needle, and a spool of plain brown thread.

She held these in her arms, frowning. "Archer-san, I'll need you to lie down, and bite down on the leather. Trust me, it helps those unused to this method...or to pain in general."

She then turned to the young women that had shown up earlier.

"Would you get over and hold some of these? I'll need my hands free."

Noble Scion Emi Nebulas s u n

The red eyed Samurai sat silently with his back resting against a tree in the cold air. What remained of a small animal he’d hunted for dinner lay out in front of him along with faint glowing ambers of a fire recently quelled. His twin katana rest against the tree currently removed from his sash. Despite the freezing temperature it appeared this rogue Samurai was intending to sleep here. He was hidden way off the main path but close enough to it to know his position and which way he was heading.

Rather then allowing his body to rest however the man was on high alert but made sure his body didn’t appear so. He sat unmoving but his eyes where slowly scanning the area as he was taking in every movement, every sound of the danger he already knew was approaching.

In the forest slowly attempting to surround him a large group of men braced themselves for attack. From their uniforms they where easily identifiable as local military and if the lower ranks weren’t clear enough the man leading them was more then obvious. His armor and kimono where much more expensive then the common solider. He was a fellow samurai. The flag he bore on his back proved he was also no amateur. The flag dawned the seal of the capital Ashikaga a clear indicator this was one of the local daimyo’s samurai.

Ryo had a feeling this would happen. The ronin was often forced to steal clothing when his became worn. It was no easy feat for him to walk into a town like a normal person and purchase needed items. No, his reputation was either greeted with fear and fleeing or challengers and battle. He had to take many precautions before going into a village if he didn’t enter with intentions of slaughtering the populace. He hadn’t the time for that earlier this day with the weather becoming so cold. He had to thieve himself some warm clothing and quickly.

He assumed he’d been spotted stealing the clothing from a local village. They must have recognized him and told the local samurai. They had sent plenty of men after the ronin criminal. His head was worth a heavy sum and the reputation someone would gain from killing the famous criminal wasn’t to bad either. This often lead to more enemies then the villain cared to deal with but there wasn’t much he could do about it at this point. Just survive.

“20 men.” The ronin spoke suddenly allowing his enemies to know he was aware of their presence and their numbers. “That is all your master sent?” He spoke in a cold monotone but he was truly curious about the circumstances. There had been more men then this at both compounds he’d wiped out and most of those men had been samurai.

The hiding soldiers jolted in surprise perviously believing they’d had the element of surprise. Each looked to the other nervously unsure of what to do now that the monster knew they were there. The only real Samurai in the group seemed to take over and ended their ninja charade. He stopped trying to be stealthy and made a bellowing laugh while marching from the darkness stopping only feet from the ronin.

“Well skilled enough to detect us I see. Looking at you I find that surprising. Are you really the red eyed demon?” He scoffed a laugh and waved his hand to signal his men out of hiding. The soldiers tentatively emerged from their hiding spots to help surround the demon. The lead samurai among them leaned down to really study his sitting prey.

Ryo didn’t look in the best condition. The clothes he’d stolen were ratty since the man he’d taken them from wasn’t the wealthiest. They were dull in color and had just enough holes to make him appear like a beggar. They were a slight upgrade from his previous kimono, of which the shirt had been in tatters, that they were worth stealing until he hit a wealthier village. He was slowly making his way to the capital where he would use these as part of a disguise for himself and find him something that could survive the coming weather. His appearance was a far cry from his war days when he’d owned very noble attire.

“Leave.” Ryo warned them. He wasn’t in the mood for this and sometimes that worked. His reputations along with his size, voice, eyes and cold demeanor would shake some people off. This Samurai appeared startled but it wasn’t for the usual reasons. He seemed more surprised that Ryo thought ordering him to leave would work. Fleeing would be dishonorable and no samurai of the capital was going to tarnish his honor. Not in front of his men.

The enemy samurai threw his head back with a hearty laugh before cutting himself off short to unsheathe his blade. “Even if you aren’t the demon those villagers are paying for your head and they will have it...but if you are then why don’t you stand up and prove it?” He seered down at the sitting ronin.

The red eyed ronin glared up at the man but succumbed to the unavoidable battle. He stood slowly taking his time to lift his katanas and slowly tie them back to his sash. He was undaunted and completely lax around his opponent. Openly showing his enemy that he didn’t consider him or his men a threat. The challenger picked up on this and was insulted. His angry sneer grew the longer the man took.

Tired of waiting and his pride hurting the Capital Samurai took matters into his own hands. “How dare you insult me with such complacence!” Just as Ryo finished tying his sash the man attacked. The demon samurai hadn’t draw his own blade and didn’t seem intent to. Rather he avoided the guy’s vertical slice at him with a quick side step. Then came at the man bare handed.

The ronin quickly placed his foot on top of the other samurais and held it down by applying all his weight. Then using one hand in a martial arts stance he slammed an open palm in an upward motion against his enemies nose. The force would push the bone into his brain. It would kill the man. As the samurai stepped back he relieved his dead enemy of his katana and held it as his weapon against the soldiers.

The closest ones had jumped in immediately trying to help the already dead samurai. Ryo cut them down as they entered his range. These men where nothing special and not much different from slaying villagers armed with garden hoes. Seeing their comrades and leader defeated so swiftly the rest of the men attempted a retreat. One the demon could not allow. He would have even more trouble if any capital soldiers spoke of this incident.

In a panic the men fled. Without their leader’s orders and in fear for their lives they weren’t very uniform and the separation as they scattered made them that much easier for Ryo to hunt and slay.

He looted each and left the forest littered in the bodies of those men. His new concern was leaving this area behind before more people stumbled along and had to join the dead. He would likely get credit for this no matter what he did but would still rather not be seen. He walked until he found the dead Samurai’s horse. He’d dismounted next to a tree before entering the forest on foot after the ronin.

The fair samurai criminal removed the flag from its saddle and mounted the beast to take as his own to the capital. He rode off quickly leaving the scene on a horse that looked more expensive in its decorative armor then he did.

It did not take long for Yanagi to reach Ashikaga. With hardly any ryo to his disposal, Yanagi took refuge at a small clinic. The clinic was humble and close to the outskirts of the town. It was not a place one would go for fatal injuries, but rather for the more minor wounds. Unfortunately, many men have returned with wounds, wounds caused by a sharp blade.

"It seems war can teach you more than how to become a better fighter, Yanagi-san," said Ishi-Sensei, the aging doctor of the clinic.

"These are skills any warrior should know, Ishi-sensei," said Yanagi. He was tending to the wounds of a local militiaman, who had a large gash in his leg and was bleeding profusely. Yanagi took his knee and applied pressure to the leg, as close to the hip as possible, and the wounded man screamed in pain. However, the bleeding stopped.

"Argh! How is this helping!?" cried the wounded man.

Yanagi took a rag and shuffled in under the wounded man's leg and shimmied it up towards his hip. "Any less pressure and you would continue bleeding." Yanagi tightened the rag and tied it down.

"Can you make it a bit looser!?" said the wounded man.

"Only if you want to die," said Yanagi.

"Thank you, Yanagi-san," said Ishi-Sensei. "I can take care of the rest of these patients now that they've stabilized."

"It's the least I could do for your hospitality." Yanagi looked at the wonded man. "Now that you are all in better condition, what happened?"

The wounded man winced, looked down and away from Yanagi. "It was the Red Eyed Demon..."

Don't you guys ever just come back and look at what you were thinking at this time? Cause I don't I just feel nostalgic as hell.