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Post by yooom on Jul 16, 2019 19:30:42 GMT -6
Hikaru nodded, standing to one side of the man, Devoe, listening intently as the old man’s tone lowered, speaking almost at a murmur. It was difficult to make out his exact words, especially with the chatter around the bar starting up again. He was grateful Yami was silent, no doubt listening as carefully as he was. He knew she would want to listen to this, as carefully as he was, but felt extremely awkward as he continued to hold the fan out.
Devoe’s voice dragged on, and Hikaru’s attention shifted from his bizarre companions to the glass of alcohol, just resting on the table before him. He leaned forward, ostensibly to listen more carefully to Devoe’s words, as his hand slowly reached forward, towards the glass.
Hikaru, don’t even think about it.
Hikaru bit his lip, sorely tempted to ask his older sister how precisely she was going stop him, as a little wooden fan between his fingers. His fingers gently clutched it’s handle, bringing it slowly off the ground.
Hikaru this is neither the time nor the place. Focus!!
Hikaru frowned down at the table, and set the glass back down onto the table. She did have a point, this was hardly the time, he did need to focus on what the old man was saying. Perhaps he would be able to pick up something the others might miss out on.
So, there was a serial killer out there, one who used a katana. Hikaru almost sighed out loud in relief. Whatever this being was, it sounded nothing like him. Nevertheless, he could feel his hopes of this mystery being over quickly dashed with each passing sentence. It sounded as if Devoe didn’t actually know much of anything about this killer. It might be a demon, or it might not. It didn’t have a specific kind of target, it didn’t seem to have any motives...it was just killing people, at random, for apparently no reason.
Hikaru was about to ask whether the old man actually did have any pertinent information when they were all distracted by a shriek that cut through the bar. Hikaru jumped at the sound, opening the fan out and raising it instinctively. He caught himself a moment later, and quickly closed it. Fortunately, it didn’t look like anyone had noticed, each of them caught up in the sound of the scream. There was a pause, a moment where they all readied themselves, before Akiko made her way determinedly for the door. At her words, Hikaru nodded, steeling himself for it. This was far different from any of the fighting he’d ever done, and he could feel his nerves starting to build. They didn’t know anything about what they could be going up against. Who’s to say what was out there, slaughtering innocent people completely at random? He bit his lip. He didn’t feel ready, didn’t look as prepared as Akiko, her hand still on the door, waiting for a response from the rest of the group. But what on earth could he say? He had never been part of a team like this, he’d never-
The voice of the blind man, Satoshi, he was pretty sure his name was, came in beside Hikaru, and he jumped, almost dropping the fan again. In the sudden rush, he’d completely forgotten about Satoshi. The man’s voice, despite the horrific scream they had all just heard, was quite calm, reassuringly steady for the younger man. He turned, a slight smile on his face, and nodded at Satoshi, before remembering that Satoshi couldn’t actually see him.
“Y-yes, that’s um...that’s a great idea, Satoshi.” Hikaru said, awkwardly, feeling a slight blush gathering about his face at having nodded silently at a blind man. Inwardly, Hikaru felt relieved. Charging in besides the priestess was the last thing he wanted to do. No, far safer to lag a little back with Satoshi. He felt embarrassed at being scared of whatever was out there, Hikaru himself had been out there just a few minutes ago and yet...the prospect of coming head to head against whatever monster was killing people, especially after hearing that scream...it unnerved him. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and he took a deep, steadying breath, before making his way towards the door with Satoshi.
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Post by Mini on Aug 1, 2019 21:36:58 GMT -6
Every single person inside the tavern had froze at the sound of that horrifying, gut wrenching scream of pure terror. For several long moments, the only sounds that could be heard were the steady pounding of the raindrops beating against the roof and the low howl of the wind. To Devoe's great surprise, nobody reacted unruly. There were no shrieks of terror or mental breakdowns that led to a shower of hysterical tears and blubbering. Everyone just seemed to look around nervously at one another and start whispering in hushed tones. Nobody seemed to want to be the first one to do... well, anything.
That spell was quickly broken by the priestess. She jumped into action and wasted no time heading straight for the door. In her haste, she had knocked her chair clean over. Devoe also noticed the very speedy way her hand flew up to the hilt of her blade. Why was there blood smeared all over the handle? She shoved a few clueless looking villagers out of her way before she reached the door, made a nervous sounding statement, then turned to face the rest of the tavern and wait for an answer. The blind man also wasted little time in proclaiming not only that he was coming along, but also started doling out jobs to everyone as if he had suddenly been elected leader of the party. He made a surprisingly speedy way to the door. The scruffy haired kid with the girl fan stammered something, looked around, then slowly started following Satoshi towards the door.
Devoe scowled darkly for just a moment or two. The steely look in his eyes would probably go unnoticed by most, and those who might notice it would more than likely just brush it off as something to do with the scream and whatever commotion was going on outside. "You three go on ahead. I'll catch up in a moment," he said, waving them off. Wasting little time, he turned and got the bartender's attention. "Koga, make sure nobody leaves this tavern after I do. Keep everybody here. Lock and bar the doors after me. There's safety in numbers. Whatever is out there is likely long gone, but there's a good chance it might not be. There's just as good a chance that it might not be alone."
The bartender frowned darkly but nodded, already in the process of gesturing at some of the men from the village. "Are you going out the front or the back?"
Devoe flashed him a smirk. "Do you really have to ask?" And with that, he vanished up the stairs in the back of the tavern.
Outside, it wouldn't take very long for the trio to come across the grisly scene of the man who had been murdered. His corpse was almost completely soaked in blood, mud, and rain, as he had been unceremoniously dropped into a heap of body parts upon his unexpected departure from the land of the living. If one examined the muddy ground closer, a set of small boot tracks led away from the body and vanished once it reached the thick grasses that began growing just past the barn and throughout the woods. A set of larger, longer boot tracks came up from the direction of the village and stopped a few feet back from where the body of the dead man rested. The ground was smeared around a bit just behind him, as if there had been some sort of scuffle. Beyond that, though, there was no evidence of where the smaller set of footprints originated from. It almost looked as if the person who had left them simply appeared out of thin air.
The girl who had witnessed everything was carrying on in an awful bout of hysterics - could anyone truly blame her? At the sound of footsteps approaching, she looked up at thought that the black-cloaked figure had surely returned to finish the job. It shocked her to see a priestess rushing towards her in the pouring down rain. The sight of such a holy, divine, and faithful person brought a fresh new wave of tears to her eyes. Before she even realized what was happening, the poor girl had gotten up and thrown her sobbing self straight into Namiko.
"Ohh, priestess, i-it was horrible, j-just horrible!" she sobbed, clinging to Namiko tightly. Her whole body was shivering, presumably from fear. "I... I was... th-the storm, I thought the h-horses would... a-and then I... h-he was just there, a-and this person, they just... I-I couldn't... the blade just went straight through, like... like... I-I've never seen anything so horrible in all my life," she whimpered, trembling as she buried her head against Namiko. "I... There was nothing I could do! It happened so fast! I-I don't even know where that person in the black cloak came from. They just... They just were both there, and then they just sliced-- ooh, he-- he didn't even sc-scream! I-I don't think he could have! B-B-But then the blood, a-and it just went everywhere, and they... they LICKED the blood off the sword, I sw-swear to you! I-I think that's when I screamed. It hissed at me, all covered in blood, a-and ran off into the woods! Fast! I've never seen a person run so fast! But their eyes, oh, those awful, awful red eyes! I think it was a demon!"
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Post by Cydonia921 on Sept 7, 2019 10:09:59 GMT -6
"Now remember, we have to leave before we get tangled up even more in this mess."
Kozakura walked steadily through the rain, her eyes keeping their gaze lowered as they moved. The darkness of the night did little to daunt the woman; she's been through worse. Constantly moving, constantly flitting herself from town to town, that was what had kept her alive for so long after that night. But now they were in the midst of someone else murdering people.
The blood that had dripped from her arm had stopped flowing, and now all that was left was the shivering. That damned shivering, like she was a child all over again, crying and screaming for help when a fox had bitten her on the hand. Relying on her father for assistance, with his capabilities as a former commander helping her in getting rid of the fox once and for all. She remembered when the fox was plucked up by the tail, and its dead eyes stared into her as blood tainted its beautiful fur.
How ironic.
Not a moment after they had entered the vicinity where the crime took place, Kozakura felt the crazed woman embrace her. Arms wrapped around her soaked attire, the woman went on and on about the details of what happened.
Man in black cloak.
Red eyes.
Licking the blood.
Kozakura had to refrain herself from crying, as she did so long ago. The smell of flame had swelled up in her senses, and although she had a grasp of her surroundings, for a moment, just for a fleeting moment.
This woman reminded her of Miyuki.
Placing a hand on the woman's shoulder, Kozakura closed her eyes, and steadily nodded. "Do not worry, this demon won't get away with this. Now, I need you to tell me." Trying her best to calm down the woman, Kozakura opened her eyes, meeting them with the woman's. Staring at her intensely, furrowing her thin brow. "Do you know which way they went?"
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Post by Mini on Sept 7, 2019 12:58:19 GMT -6
For just a moment, the priestess' eyes seemed to pierce the girl straight through to her very core. It wasn't at all a warm or welcoming look. Even larger tears welled up in the young girl's eyes. She told herself that the priestess was just angry about the dead man and had set her mind to slay the foul beast that had stolen a villager's life. Yes, certainly that was all it was. Sniffling miserably, she turned and pointed in the direction of the small set of footprints leading off into the woods. "They... They went th-that way, into the woods."
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Post by Nitari Windrider on Sept 7, 2019 14:47:48 GMT -6
It was more challenging than he'd first realized to follow Akiko through the rain to the scene of whatever had happened. Her footsteps were lighter than he'd expected and almost didn't make enough sound to be heard over the rainfall. The sound of a woman quite beside herself over what had been happening was exactly what he needed in order to orient himself, though, and he reached the scene not long after the woman had thrown herself into Akiko's arms. At least he thought that's what had happened. That sound was definitely two people colliding, and the fact that there weren't sounds of fighting following that indicated that the collision was not of a hostile nature. Akiko listened to the woman's explanation of what had happened through the sobs, no mean feat as it turned out, and spoke calmly to try to calm the woman down. All he'd been able to get was that there was a figure in a black cloak and that the figure licked up the blood that had been spilled. The rest was lost to sobs, rainfall, and probably something about how everyone was facing that swallowed up the sound a bit.
Akiko then asked in a very direct manner if the woman knew which way the figure had gone. The woman oh so helpfully said they'd gone "that way, into the woods". Hopefully someone chimed in with a more useful direction soon, because all he could do was listen and wait for more information.
"I think this lady has been through quite a bit today and could likely use a rest. Then I'll need someone to describe the scene to me so I know what we're dealing with."
Not that he expected anyone to have the attention to detail necessary to give him any real insight. In both his professions he knew quite well that the little details were absolutely everything but most people wouldn't know the difference between one metal and another if it were pointed out to them, much less the difference between a slash and a cut.
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Post by yooom on Sept 11, 2019 10:47:13 GMT -6
Hikaru took off, happy to be in the rear of their little group. The young man was not as new to combat as he seemed and yet, against whatever unknown was out there, how could he help but be at least a little apprehensive? He made his way behind Satoshi, unable to help but marvel at how easily the blind man was able to navigate his way through the cluttered tavern, not needing any help from Hikaru who simply walked a little ways behind him, still feeling awkward. He moved a little slowly, perhaps, but Hikaru wasn’t exactly in a rush to go outside again.
As he crossed the threshold of the inn Hikaru let out an exasperated sigh as his clothing, which had only slightly dried since he’d gotten out of the rain, immediately soaked straight though. A sharp yelp from Yami echoed in his head, making him jump slightly as he realized that he had forgotten to keep her covered. Hastily bending his back so as to shield from the downpour, he continued after Devoe, Akiko, and Satoshi. Hikaru stared for a moment, in complete shock, at the grisly sight before them.
Oh, goodness…
Yami’s voice was as stunned as Hikaru felt. It was a horrific sight, a body not so much slashed through but hacked repeatedly. The blood had pooled, mixing with the rain water and the mud to create murky red-brown puddles around the corpse. There was a woman beside it, crying into Akiko; the priestess certainly had the most trustworthy appearance of the four of them. Hikaru forced his head to look at the crying, hysterical girl, but his eyes couldn’t help but be drawn downwards, towards the body, towards that horrific sight. He had seen death, but never something like this. He turned his body in place, trying to look at the woman while keeping the body out of sight, but even when he wasn’t staring directly at it, he could see it, inside his head. What on earth was capable of doing such a thing? What on earth would even WANT to do something so terrible?
From beside him, Satoshi’s voice piped up. He took a deep breath, nodding along with him. “I can bring her back to the inn,” he piped up, wanting to get out of the rain, yes, that’s why he wanted to head back inside. He turned to look at the traumatized girl, and was momentarily pleased to realize that he had finally managed to actually look at her eyes, and not at the corpse beside her. He gave her a somewhat shaky smile. “You’re um...you’re safe now,” he said, uncertain as to how to go about comforting someone. He felt his gaze start to wander back down, and determinedly kept her eyes on her face.
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Post by Mini on Sept 17, 2019 21:07:13 GMT -6
The girl was drenched and shivering. It was difficult to tell if she was still crying or if it was now just rain water dripping down her face. She looked uncertainly to Satoshi and Hikaru. Her gaze lingered back to Satoshi, who she noticed was gazing off at nobody in particular. His head seemed turned in their general direction, but he wasn't making eye contact with any of them. With a horrified start, she realized that the man must have been blind! She was about to murmur an apology for pointing when the blind man spoke surprisingly warm words and suggested that the younger man behind him take her back to the inn. The young man seemed to be trying very hard to look at anything other than the body of poor...
Oh dear. The girl had made the mistake of looking down at the deceased victim. This caused her stomach to do cartwheels and made it feel as if everything she ever ate in her entire life was going to come back up. Whimpering loudly, she found herself running over to Hikaru. He looked like he wanted to get out of there just as much as she did. He tried smiling at her. She couldn't bring herself to return the smile, but she reached out for his hands all the same. It was an unconscious gesture, one person seeking the comfort of another during a time of tragedy.
A shrill whistle came from somewhere up above everyone standing on the ground. Somehow, Devoe was standing up on top of the highest part of the barn. He had a long, dark green cloak thrown on over him that was fluttering wildly in the wind and the rain, but the cloak along with his hat seemed to be doing a good job repelling the rain. In addition to the cloak, a quiver full of arrows was strapped to his back. A large bow that looked as if it had been carved from a dark wood was in his hands.
"'Hikaru, stay there!" he shouted.
Before he could explain why he wanted Hikaru to stay there, three men who had come from the direction of the village came running up towards the heinous scene. The men all looked to be older.
"Uncle Takuya!" the girl shrieked, bursting into tears as she ran towards one the men. Sobbing, she threw herself into his open arms.
The man, Takuya, hushed her and kept her head against his chest to keep her from looking around anymore. "Ohh, Kaori, you poor, sweet thing. You've seen something truly awful. Urgh... This is worse than I thought. Come, let's get you out of this rain," he murmured.
One of the others had gone over closer to the body of the fallen man. He cursed under his breath as he leaned down enough to look at the dead man's face. "Gods help us... It's Manabu Imamura," he proclaimed, shaking his head. Sighing heavily, he wiped rain from his brow and looked up towards where Devoe was now perched. "So, so much blood... Ohh, Manabu," he mourned, closing his eyes briefly before speaking loudly enough for Devoe to hear him. "You were right, my friend. It's just as your feared," he called.
"This is one time I was hoping to not be right," Devoe called back. His attention was fixated on a spot in the woods, however, and he aimed an arrow out into the darkness. Closing one eye, he focused his gaze on something he saw, but he said nothing about what he was looking at for several long moments. With a sigh of annoyance, he lowered his bow and did something rather reckless - jumped straight off the top of the barn and landed in a surprisingly agile crouch on the ground below, closer to where Akiko was standing. It wasn't a high enough jump that would have resulted in broken bones, but it was a pretty bold thing to do. Devoe didn't even so much as flinch. His boots hit the mud with a loud squelching noise, then he simply stood up and took a few steps forward.
"Masato, Ryo, you two go back with Takuya and start spreading the word to the rest of the village - it's not safe to be out right now," Devoe said, turning to the men from the village. There was a dark scowl on his face. "Tell everyone to stay inside. Lock the doors and shutter the blinds. Stay together. Don't let anyone be alone tonight. Don't leave until daybreak at the earliest, and only then, I would only let the village leaders out to meet and see what's happening."
The man who had been looking at the body frowned. "But what about--"
"The body? Leave it. It's not going anywhere."
The man gasped, looking shocked and horrified. "But--"
"Tend to it in the morning," Devoe responded rather callously. When none of the men from the village moved, Devoe turned and gave them a hard look. "One man is dead. Let's not add to the body count. Now go. My acquaintances and I have work to do."
There was a bit of grumbling and whispered hints of arguments and protests, but one look at Devoe was all it took for the men to nod in agreement. Taking the girl with them, they turned and headed back to the village.
Devoe stepped closer to the body, walking in a wide circle around it. "This makes murder number eight," he muttered, kneeling down to inspect the dead man's very broken neck. "Looks like this kill was done with a blade. A long one. If I was a betting man, I'd say it was done with a katana." He stood up, his eyes bouncing around between the three unlikeliest demon hunters he had perhaps ever set eyes on.
"If you lot were paying attention to me earlier tonight, you'll remember that seven others have been murdered in very similar fashions in the last two weeks. Every single one of them was killed by one major wound, usually inflicted to the throat or the chest. Injuries like that don't leave much room for hope or help. The victims have all bled out in a matter of minutes, maybe even less than that. Our friend Manabu here had his neck slit clean open," he said, glancing up at Satoshi. "It was a very clean cut. Sliced right through the windpipe, from the looks of it. Nearly decapitated him, too. That's the only wound I see, though. No cuts anywhere else. No signs of struggling or putting up a fight. Who or whatever this is that's doing the killing, they know how to kill and they know how to do it quick."
Sighing, he stood up. "Three of them were killed by having their necks sliced open in a similar fashion to this. The victims have been alone, more or less isolated, and killed without much of a struggle. The only thing that makes this case any different from the others is that this time, somebody saw it happen. There was a witness. You all saw her - some scared teenaged girl. Not to be morbid, but what I can't help but wonder is why would the murderer leave her? If this thing, this person, is just doing this for the sole purpose of killing, why not go after another easy victim? I'd guess she'd put up less of a fight than a grown man would. Why leave a witness to a murder alive? The girl didn't say anything all that helpful about what she saw, did she? She seemed pretty traumatized."
He gestured to the original muddy tracks in the ground behind the dead body. There were just two small footprints standing behind where the dead body had fallen. The prints were maybe two-thirds of the size of Devoe's, indicating that the person who had left them was indeed of a smaller stature. From there, the same footprints could barely be seen running off towards the woods. "Hikaru, Akiko, back me up on this, but does it look to you like our killer just kind of appeared out of thin air? Look, there's no tracks leading up from behind the barn or from the direction we came. I didn't see anything up on the roof, either. It's been raining, so you'd think if they had climbed up there to wait, they would have left some tracks behind when they jumped down. And look here at how deep my boot prints are from where I jumped off." He frowned, shaking his head. "No, the tracks just... show up there, behind the body, where it seems like the killer simply just grabbed him, sliced, then dashed off around the barn and out towards the woods. Looks like a straight shot from here, but that's not towards any obvious roads or paths that I know of," he mused aloud.
"Something isn't adding up. Why run? Where did the killer even come from? Why not kill the girl? I just don't get it," he grumbled. "Oh, right! Can any of you do that thing where you sense demonic auras? Akiko? I've known a few priests and priestesses in my time who can do similar things. Are you picking anything up from here? Is there, like, a trace we can follow?"
Although Devoe was about as mundane as a muddy rock, to those that might be able to sense such things, they would find something very interesting indeed. There was no obvious demonic aura in the air, but if one knew what they were looking for, they might just find a hint of a dark, twisted, and malevolent something hanging in the air that just felt wrong and unnatural. It was similar to the feeling one might get when they wake up in the middle of the night and think that something is peering at them from behind a shut door, mixed with the sensation of walking through a graveyard on a dark and foggy night and accidentally stepping on a large, crunchy bug in your bare feet. The tingle of wrongness that hung in the air drifted along in the same direction as the footprints, but it was already dissipating as quickly as a summer storm.
"And if so, and if we all decide to follow these tracks and anything else you all might pick up, I'm honestly not too sure what we're going to find at the end of this path we're about to go down. Whatever it is has already unscrupulously killed eight times," he stated pragmatically. His eyes lingered mostly on Hikaru. "Last chance to turn back and head to the village. Of course, I can't guarantee the village is any safer than the woods," he added with a shrug.
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Post by Cydonia921 on Oct 7, 2019 18:21:18 GMT -6
The resulting moments were as quick as a flash, with Devoe commanding these... people to scan the area, warn the villagers. The noble thing to do in this situation. She had still been trying to recollect herself from the woman that clung to her, sniveling and screaming and crying her eyes out. The same look that her sister had given her when the house burned. Even now, her arm twitched, the burning sensation rushing back to her.
"K-Kozakura! W-Why! Why did you-"
Her throat was dry. The rain did little to parch this. The voice of her sister rang through her mind, and she hesitated, still as a stone as the woman, Kaori, threw herself into the man's arms.
"You didn't have to kill father! What on earth are you thinking?!"
Footsteps sprinted as fast as they could, mud squelching underneath their shoes as she stood there. Fire crackled in her ears, the smell of burning maple wafting back into her nostrils. She closed her eyes, clutching the hilt of the sword tighter, her chest locked up.
She couldn't breathe. She couldn't do anything else except gulp down air. In that darkness, in the shadows that rose from the flames, in the presence of her sister, she showed up behind her. Eyes as red as crimson, with a lantern held in her hand. Laughing. Cackling. Holding the shadow of her katana as she rose it up. Then-
"Akiko?"
Snapping back to reality, she opened her eyes, staring at Devoe as he inquired to her about sensing demonic auras. Her lungs finally gave in, and she took in a silent breath. Composing herself, she directed her attention to Devoe, who divulged this information to her quickly. She blinked, and lowered her head, glancing towards the footsteps that carried itself out of the building and into the forest.
None of this made sense, but it was easy to discern the aura. Namiko had made that job very easy for her, easy enough to pass off as Akiko. Although the aura was enough to chill her to the bone, with how unnerving it felt, nothing was as bad as that. No, compared to that, this was a joke.
"Truth be told, if we are to find the culprit as quickly as possible, it is in our best interest to track them down here. I can feel it... They are near."
"And then what? Kill them yourself?"
Kozakura held her ground, turned on her heel, and gripped the hilt with a lighter grasp as she walked out into the rain. "Who knows? Maybe they aren't as scary as they appear. Eight murders now, tsk tsk. Now is the time to strike and kill them, is it not?"
"I see..." A cackle rang through her mind as Kozakura's hair became matted with how drenched her entire self became. "Well, entertain me, will you?"
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Post by Nitari Windrider on Oct 20, 2019 13:15:40 GMT -6
A lot had happened all at once. The boy was just beginning to take the victim away from the body when Devoe's voice rang out over everything telling him to freeze. It turned out that Devoe was familiar with many of the people of this out of the way village, and they listened to his directions. The girl was reunited with an uncle who took her away from the scene, the corpse was identified, and all the bystanders were cleared off to the tavern, leaving the body out in the rain as instructed. All that bother aside, Devoe settled in to his role as detective
"This makes murder number eight," he commented, "Looks like this kill was done with a blade. A long one. If I was a betting man, I'd say it was done with a katana. If you lot were paying attention to me earlier tonight, you'll remember that seven others have been murdered in very similar fashions in the last two weeks. Every single one of them was killed by one major wound, usually inflicted to the throat or the chest. Injuries like that don't leave much room for hope or help. The victims have all bled out in a matter of minutes, maybe even less than that. Our friend Manabu here had his neck slit clean open. It was a very clean cut. Sliced right through the windpipe, from the looks of it. Nearly decapitated him, too. That's the only wound I see, though. No cuts anywhere else. No signs of struggling or putting up a fight. Who or whatever this is that's doing the killing, they know how to kill and they know how to do it quick."
Katana. Single stroke. Nearly decapitated. Supposedly a clean cut. The facts tumbled about in Satoshi's head as Devoe kept speaking. Something about tracks or some nonsense like that. More importantly, a long blade was rarely as infallibly precise as everyone seemed to expect. He needed to examine the wound more closely to be sure but the possibilities were that the killer was very strong, the blade was very fine, or there was some combination between strength and blade quality that made the bone at the back of the neck the only real obstacle. There wasn't really a socially acceptable way to just go over and feel the man's throat while everyone was talking but he also knew that relying on someone else's sight for such things was hardly going to help him work out what had really happened. A merchant wouldn't have enough knowledge of blades and gruesome injuries to know the difference between a mediocre blade wielded by a strong assailant, a fine blade wielded by a weak assailant, and a decent blade wielded by an average assailant, but Satoshi was not only a merchant. His pulse thrummed a little. Yes, he definitely needed to feel the wound.
"...and if we all decide to follow these tracks and anything else you all might pick up, I'm honestly not too sure what we're going to find at the end of this path we're about to go down. Whatever it is has already unscrupulously killed eight times. Last chance to turn back and head to the village. Of course, I can't guarantee the village is any safer than the woods."
So the group was about to move on, then? So much the better. Akiko piped up just then.
"Truth be told, if we are to find the culprit as quickly as possible, it is in our best interest to track them down here. I can feel it... They are near. Who knows? Maybe they aren't as scary as they appear. Eight murders now, tsk tsk. Now is the time to strike and kill them, is it not?"
Satoshi nodded at this contribution.
"If we are capable of tracking the killer down tonight it would certainly be in our best interests. From the sounds of things it's either that or wait for murder number nine."
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Post by yooom on Oct 23, 2019 10:50:59 GMT -6
Hikaru had already taken a few eager steps towards the inn, towards the nice, dry safety, preferably with a bit of alcohol, he’d never tried it before, but this seemed like the best reason to give it a taste, when the high-pitched whistle of Devoe stopped him in his track. How on earth had he gotten up there, and why?
At the man’s words Hikaru nodded, crestfallen, blinking up through the pouring rain. He watched as Kaori, his ticket for getting away from the horrifying sight that still lay at their feet, was taken away by Devoe’s acquaintances. That left him with this bizarre crew, the priestess, the blind man, and Devoe, still lodged up on the roof. Still, it was much, much easier for Hikaru to keep his gaze pointed up at Devoe than risk looking down, where he could still feel the body’s presence just a few feet away. Even as he looked upwards, he could see the red of the blood, the slash, deep into the flesh, the-
Hikaru blinked, shaking his head, trying to get the image out of his mind. Devoe’s words helped him try to focus on something else. “Sense demonic auras?” Hikaru murmured. “Does he take us for magical creatures or something?”
We are magical, Hikaru, Yami reminded him. Hikaru sighed, and mumbled, even quieter.
“yes, but that’s not the point!” He shot Satoshi a nervous glance, uncertain as to whether the blind man had heard him. He remembered hearing somewhere that blind people could hear better than most; Hikaru could only hope that the rain still pouring down on them had masked his words.
Hikaru was taken aback, to say the least, when it turned that Akiko could, in fact, detect demonic auras. He gazed at her, eyes wide in a mixture of shock and awe. He hadn’t actually thought it possible for humans to detect demons, and yet, she could sense that it was “near.”
Now is the time to strike and kill them.
The woman’s words carried, echoing in Hikaru’s mind. Now was the time to strike. For all his youth, Hikaru was not new to battle, was not new to combat with wild and terrifying demonic foes, but he had never exactly gone out of his way to strike against them, and he’d certainly never killed anyone. The priestess’s steely voice made him shiver as he turned, casting a nervous glance across the scene, almost expecting to see a dark figure leaping forward at them.
Satoshi’s voice rang out, his tone mercifully calm and collected compared to the rage in Akiko’s tone. Satoshi was quite right. As much as Hikaru welcomed the idea of leaving this horrific scene and settling in for the night, they could not wait for this murderer to claim another life. He nodded, raising his fan, feeling extremely silly compared to the priestess’s grip on her hilt.
“How, um...how near do you think, Akiko?” Hikaru said, his voice quaking. He felt his face blush in embarrassment. He had signed up for this, had agreed to track down this killer. Everyone else was so strong-willed, unflinching in the sight of such horrors. He had to match them, he needed to be strong, especially if the murderer was as close as Akiko seemed to think.
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Post by Mini on Oct 30, 2019 20:48:15 GMT -6
Nobody had asked him how he knew men from the village or how he had gotten up on top of the barn. Nobody seemed to even bat an eyebrow at how the men from the village seemed to follow his commands without much hesitation at all. Devoe thought this was odd, given the circumstances. He would have been asking a lot more questions if the situations were reversed... but maybe that was just how his brain was wired. These people weren't at all like him.
This was certainly an odd group of individuals he had somehow assembled together to go on a manhunt. There was the blind merchant, who Devoe was still trying to figure out why in the world he seemed more than willing to go running around the woods in the rain searching for a serial killer. Hunting a murderer was no place for a simple merchant to be, let alone a blind one, so what exactly was this man's deal? Then there was the runt with the fan. Strange weapon of choice. Was it some kind of enchanted or magical fan? The kid seemed far too nervous and jumpy to be of any real use, but at least he was trying. He hadn't run screaming and crying back to the inn, so at least there was that. No, the only one who felt like they were going to be of any real use was the priestess. She had the feel of a seasoned fighter. Being a priestess also meant that she probably had some holy tricks up her sleeves, too. Still, though, something seemed... not quite right about her.
Needless to say, Devoe trusted all of them about as far as he could throw them.
He scoffed at Akiko's remark about the murderer possibly not being as scary as they appeared. "Tch. Killing eight individuals in roughly one strike is no easy feat," he pointed out. "We don't know what we're dealing with, but I doubt very much it's going to be some cute and cuddly little kitten."
Listening to what Satoshi said next, Devoe nodded in agreement, forgetting that Satoshi couldn't see him. "Aye. The goal is for there to not be a ninth murder. If there is one, let's make it the serial killer, eh?" he said, grinning a bit as he adjusted his quiver strap. Best to make sure he would be able to nock an arrow in under a moment's notice if he needed to. Being caught up in several life-or-death affairs before had sharpened his reflexes considerably. He hoped that he wouldn't need to reveal just how skilled of an archer or a hunter he was to this crew. Best to let his current comrades view him as just another average Joseki who could occasionally strike a target or two with a bow and arrow.
Devoe moved forward, following the faint tracks towards the curtain of towering pines that loomed ahead of the group. The rain was starting to let up, but the ground was still muddy and slick. Thick clouds meant no starlight and no moonlight. Once they were away from the village, it would be very dark in the woods. Even though it was late into the night, the thick woods were eerily quiet. There were no animal, insect, or bird noises to be heard anywhere. A faint breeze rattled bare branches and small bushes in the distance. A worn, faded wooden sign was posted near the edge of the woods. An arrow pointing in the direction of the main path looked as if it was trying to give the direction to Komakai Village, but the sign was too faded to make it out clearly. The words 'shrine,' 'mountain,' and 'beware of...' were all that was left of the rest of the writing.
The footsteps had been growing wider and wider apart, almost as if the alleged serial killer had been running to pick up speed. They were aimed pretty much in a straight shot dead into the center of the woods. After that, two interesting things took place. The main path veered off to the left, but the footsteps ignored this path and continued straight for about five or six more paces... then they abruptly came to a stop. Continuing forward would reveal no further footsteps or tracks of any kind. Those with stronger senses of smell might be able to pick up the sickly-sweet iron-tainted scent of freshly split blood. It led away from the village and straight back into the woods. Those with heightened hearing might be able to detect an odd sound far off in the distance, but coming from dead ahead of where Devoe stood pondering over the sudden halt in tracks. The strange noise almost sounded like leather rubbing against itself, or flapping up and down.
"Hrmph. How do footprints just disappear like that?" Devoe murmured, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Riddle me this? You've just slaughtered a complete stranger. You're spotted, so you run into the woods. Where do you go?"
~*~
Less than a mile away from Sakurajima, forgotten by most of the villagers, was an old and ancient stone shrine. Thick vines had grown over most of the building's exterior. Whatever deity it had been erected in honor of had also long since faded away from memory. At one time, lines of stone lanterns had stood to light the way to those visiting the shrine and mark the stone stairs that led down from the main road. Now, barely any were left standing. Next to the shrine, one stone lantern was completely gone, and the other was now just a sad pile of pebbles. The stairs had been almost completely overtaken by moss. It was clear that nobody had passed this way for many, many years.
Nobody, that was, until tonight.
Droplets of fresh blood had recently been splattered on the moss. The leaves and dirt covering the stairs had recently been disturbed by someone with small, muddy feet. Muddy footprints led up the stairs into the shrine. A few more droplets of blood had been splattered on the deck of the shrine. The blood droplets and the muddy footprints led straight to a small figure wrapped up tightly in a very old, very tattered black traveling cloak. Rain dripped down from the brim of their hood. The figure staggered forward towards the entrance into the shrine, slipped under the broken doorway, then took two steps into the darkness inside before promptly collapsing in a heap.
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Post by Cydonia921 on Nov 4, 2019 18:45:17 GMT -6
Kozakura merely stood there, listening to this man talk to her like she was some sort of naive woman. She was the great Kozakura! The woman who murdered priests and priestesses where they stood! And yet here she was, being replied to with such snark from Devoe. A part of her wanted to teach him a lesson… If only he wasn’t so quick on his feet. Her eyes followed him as he sprinted past her, into the woods to see where this killer went.
Chitter chatter from the others seemed to be blocked to her senses. She was still feeling on edge. Nervous. That look that the woman had given her the same look that her sister had right before her death. It was too uncanny. Kozakura wondered what to do next. Should she flee, or simply disappear?
Hikaru’s voice broke the silence, addressing her directly. Her concentration broken, Kozakura sighed, turned to him, and faced the boy with his strange fan. Hand on the hilt of her blade, resting on the very top, she stared down at him with an uncaring gaze. What was the point of helping anyone out if, in the end, everyone was going to be in the ground anyway?
“Not sure. They seem to be moving away from here though, so at least for the time being, we’re safe.”
Why was she helping them?
“Hikaru, was it? Why don’t you come with me and we can patrol the surroundings?” She looked over towards Satoshi, and did her best to smile, aware that he couldn’t see her. “What do you want to do… Sa… Satoshi? If you want to accompany us, that would be great, but if you want to make sure that the townsfolk are safe, that’d be fine too.”
Not a moment later, Kozakura paused. From the side of the building they were in, did she… A flash of blue appeared in her vision, before disappearing. Unsure of whether or not that was real, her heart beginning to race, she wiped her eyes.
“Whew! Can’t wait for some sleep tonight!”
It was all fake.
They were all doomed.
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Post by Nitari Windrider on Apr 7, 2020 16:45:04 GMT -6
Satoshi didn't especially care what the others were saying at that moment, but he was aware that they were going to be moving on soon. He nodded in the general direction of Akiko's voice.
"I'm coming. I'll be more useful with you than standing here in the rain."
With that he moved as if to follow and rolled his ankle. He'd done it a thousand times before and was well practiced in falling inelegantly but without worrying people. It wasn't his best performance ever, but it was still quite good and the muddy ground made it almost dangerously easy to lose his footing and tumble to the ground. He landed hard and his staff tumbled out of his grasp almost on its own. Perfect. He started to pick himself up, knowing he was near the body but having to fumble in all honesty to find it. His staff sounded like it had fallen in that general direction anyway. His hands found the body almost by genuine accident and his fingers brushed the split flesh.
It took all his willpower to keep his reaction down to a shudder and he did his utmost to appear shocked rather than excited. This cut was more than he could ever have dreamed. The flesh was not torn, not ripped, not pressed or pitted, and there was no indication on the sides of the neck to indicate which direction the blade traveled. This could only be the work of an experienced killer armed with quite possibly the finest blade he had ever encountered. This was the work of a master, a true artist of the blade. He could barely contain himself as he focused on continuing his act.
"Oh my..."
He swallowed heavily and felt around the body for his staff, leaning heavily on it to stand once it was located.
"Sorry..."
The group walked in after that, entering a thick forest. This forest was quiet, though. Aside from the rain, which seemed to be starting to ease, nothing in this forest was stirring. A slight breeze provides the only other sound besides them walking. When Devoe stopped there was one other sound, but Satoshi couldn't be completely certain what it was. It almost sounded like...
"Riddle me this: You've just slaughtered a complete stranger. You're spotted, so you run into the woods. Where do you go?"
He may have said something before that, but that was where Satoshi started paying attention again. He pondered this a moment, knowing his answer immediately but not wanting to seem too knowledgeable.
"Shake off the pursuit somehow? Somewhere that doesn't leave tracks. I don't hear water, so I assume they had to have climbed a tree or something?"
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Post by yooom on Jun 1, 2020 13:34:39 GMT -6
Hikaru kept quiet, following the lead of his elders as they made their swiftly up the path, Devoe in the lead, tracking the killer’s footprints with surprising ease given the downpour. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears, developing into an acute headache, but, with the murderer seemingly so close, it was easy to ignore.
Following Devoe’s lead, the group wandered, meandering out of the town, into a dark forest. High, thin trees towered over head, their branches casting strange, unnatural shadows that continually made the youngster jump at the sight of them. He kept close to the other two, Akiko and Satoshi, as they made their way forward. It wasn’t entirely because he trusted them, though he was certain that none of them could be responsible, given that he’d been with them when the killer had struck. It was more because he knew them, or at least, knew them better than whatever unknown creatures, natural or demonic, lurked in these mysterious woods.
Devoe came to a sudden halt over a single footstep, and Hikaru almost crashed into him, pondering over the final step. Hikaru listened to his question, and to Satoshi’s answer, gazing up at the branches that criss crossed overhead at the blind man’s words.
“Yes, the trees seem like the obvious solution,” Hikaru said, squinting at a particularly thick branch a few feet away from them, about a dozen feet off the ground. It would likely support the weight of the weapon-wielding killer.
“‘course, then the question would be...why transition to trees here? Why go on foot this far into the woods...would he have changed course, trying to lead anyone tracking him on the ground away from his true destination?” Hikaru asked, leaning against a tree. As much as he hoped to track down this murderer, the idea that they had been deceived, that the trail had run cold, was a little calming. In the dark night, in a somewhat spooky forest, with rain pouring down, making everything so much more difficult...these were not exactly the conditions to encounter whatever savage entity went about killing at will, and seemingly thrived on these very conditions.
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Post by Mini on Jun 25, 2020 21:55:38 GMT -6
As the group walked onward, Devoe was deep in thought, replaying the events of the strange evening over in his head. There had to be a clue somewhere that he had missed. Some small remark, some odd body language that didn't add up, something his senses might have picked up that he hadn't recognized right away. He had a group once again, but this group was nothing like his clan mates. What he wouldn't do to see them all back together, safe and healthy and reunited once more. That was how he had gotten into this whole mess in the first place.
The priestess hadn't said much at all since they had left the outskirts of the village. The blind man had wagered a guess as to where one might go when fleeing into the woods, but it hadn't been all that helpful. Climb a tree? Most common folk wouldn't think to do something that smart. Was their killer smart, or was their killer just mindlessly killing people? No, these weren't mindless crimes at all. The deaths had been too well thought out. Too meticulously carried out. Always done out of sight of anyone else, save this one that happened tonight. What kind of creature possessed that much cunning? If it was some manner of demon they were chasing, he doubted they would hide in a tree. Why hide in a tree when it was pretty obvious you possessed enough strength to kill a mortal with one swing of the sword? No, climbing trees were best utilized for lookouts and stakeouts. But why run in the first place? Shaking off the pursuit... that was a smart thought, but the answer didn't lie in the trees.
The boy was prattling on about how the trees seemed the most obvious answer and clearly the only answer. Devoe rolled his eyes. What an idiot. If their killer would have stopped to climb a tree where the footsteps had trailed off, wouldn't there have been muddy footprints left behind on the tree? He hadn't seen any, but the trees were also wet and slick from the recent heavy rains. It was possible, he supposed, that any mud could have simply washed away in the rain.
"You know, it is getting pretty late," he said after a lull in the conversation. These were not the most talkative people he had ever been around. Could he quite blame them? None of them knew each other. None of them had a thing in common. They were also chasing a psychopathic serial killer through the dark, wet woods. Perhaps now really wasn't the best time for pleasantries.
~*~
Searing pain pulled the hooded figure back into the world of the conscious. Grimacing from the pain, they tried and failed to sit up. After a third effort, they managed to roll over onto their backside. The traveler was covered in mud from nearly head to toe. A dark bloodstain was seeping through what remained of a dark blue kosode from somewhere on the person's lower abdomen. The hood kept most of their face in shadows, but a trickle of blood was visible running down a very pale cheek. One hand reached to the wound and cried out as they gingerly touched it.
"Kuso," they whispered, uttering several other curses after that one.
This was bad.
This was really, really bad.
They were so close...
"I... I know... i-it won't work," the traveler groaned, glancing up at the altar several feet away from there. There was a large statue of some kind of deity, but it had been eroded away by years and years of neglect. In front of the statue was an altar of some sort, along with a large dish or container that was long since empty of anything at all. Part of the ceiling had collapsed, causing rain to trickle into the shrine from several different places. It plinked off of the stones, pattered over the eroded tiles, and dripping down into small puddles. The scent of the rain was strong in the air tonight.
The traveler raised their bloody hand upwards towards one of the holes in the shrine. Their fingers clenched together a bit, as if squeezing an invisible fruit. "Please... Please, just... Come on..." Their hand was trembling. It felt so heavy. It was getting harder and harder to hold it up. Harder and harder to keep their eyes open. "Just let me... Just let it... This... This has to... to... t..."
~*~
"What I'm saying is that, it's getting very late, and it's very dark out. These are crappy conditions to be out hunting in - that's exactly what we're doing, by the way. This is no different from stalking a boar through the woods for dinner," Devoe was saying. He had taken his hat off momentarily to shake the rain off of it. "Priestess, I know you mentioned something about wanting some sleep earlier. Maybe it's for the best if we all head back and turn in for the--"
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky, bright enough to momentarily blind anyone who may have been looking right at it. Not even a millisecond after this came a deafening blast of thunder that was strong enough and loud enough to shake the very ground itself. It sounded like the lightning had struck something, and something not all that far away. The lightning bolt had come out of absolutely nowhere - it had been storming earlier, but the storm had died down considerably since the group had been in the tavern. The mild and annoying drizzle that had been falling on them for quite some time now was not the kind of storm that generally produced lightning bolts and thunder claps like that. Even to those who had no ability to sense the unnatural, there was something very odd about the whole thing.
Devoe had been so startled he had dropped to the ground and covered his head. "WHOA!" Devoe shouted, slowly standing back up as he started up into the sky. "Hooooly... What... Where did that even COME from??"
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