Third; Tower of Godhand

[Kitaro]

Kitaro found himself thankful for the torchlight around him, were it not to exist he and everything around him would be engulfed in the shadows of a room underground. Well, to be fair this was less of a room and more of a display in the magnitude of pillars, a hideous 'new money' display of wealth. To Kit's understanding the pillar room went on for four hundred meters in both length and width making up nearly the entire first underground level of the castle. Kit still doubted they needed this many pillars, if so it would have been a waste to even try building down. As far as he had walked the marble towers serving as pillars had been spaced every six meters both in length and width, each falling in straight rows running North to South each ten meters apart. Considering this and doing some mental math, Kit found himself wishing he had the coin used to construct such a wasted room. The only noise was the flickering among torches which were placed in threes in a vertical line on every other pillar beginning near the center and extending out through the entire room. Finally, the stairway up and out existed somewhere out along a wall in this room of marble towers.

Kitaro stood out amongst the flames as an unusually tall man, standing a half head above two meters, with a build well-suited to wielding a weapon as mighty as Dragonslayer on his back. It rested above the simple dull grey cloth robe he wore above a layer of non restricting leather armor. Hidden away at his waist and under the cloth robe, attached to his belt, was a cylindrical tube with a clearly steel make, three buttons of the three primary colors would be noticeable as well if it were exposed.  He found himself about fifteen pillars length in and staring at the marble giant in front of him, quickly glancing up to gauge the ceiling which he judged at roughly ten meters. It was here that he stopped to consider what he knew about the room, and the more he did the more he came to the realization he couldn't remember why or how he found himself there in the first place.

[Psychosis]

The job Kuro had been hired to do was simple. A man had broken into a room, and the owner wanted him dead. The man's reasons did not matter, nor did his allegiance, he simply needed to die. As this was a matter of business, and not an outright fight, there would be no honor bound actions, only lethal force applied in what Kuro perceived as the best way. With the light giving flames barely moving, due to the lack of any wind, the room was illuminated, and the shadows seemed, on the large scale, stationary. Kuro, using this to his advantage, walked silently towards the man's location, seeing his shadow on the wall, though both his body and shadow would be hidden from the man due to the angle of the torchlight. Kuro stood three pillars away from the man, hidden behind said pillar. He had long ago learned how to move steadily and silently, and had used such a skill to sneak this far, though that was only due to matching the man's footsteps as he walked. With the strange echo in this large room, his precise timing, the crackle from the torches and his ability to walk almost silently, he doubted he would be noticed.

Though he was wearing a cloak, which hid most of his body, he had strikingly blue hair, with a red face tattoo. Though those features were less important than the various weapons he had under his cloak, all attached to his body at varying positions. A katana about five foot long hung from his waist, the curve of said katana being less pronounced than most, only noticeable when viewing the entire blade. A European dual bladed dagger was tied to his right wrist, barely 8 inches in length, more of a knife than a dagger, but easily enough to kill a man. He had a pouch, similar to what most ninja wore, on his hip. The thing barely covered a fourth of his thigh, and was wide enough to reach from the from of his right leg to the back of it, giving more width than depth. It contained a three meter length wire, three kunai, and eight pellets, each about the size of a marble. Three of the pellets were black. Three were blue. Two were red.

In his right hand was the remainder, being a single kunai, with a red pellet stuck inside of the hole at the end of the pommel. Kuro, still hiding in the shadows, channeled his chakra into the kunai, forming a strange layer of semi-solid electricity around the weapon, while the pellet glowed ever so slightly. The crackle of the electricity was so similar to the sound of the torches, that it would no doubt be unrecognizable, especially with so many existing at once, and one being right in front of the pillar that Kuro was behind. Even more, the glow from the pellet was so insignificant in this rather well-lit room, he doubted it would be noticed either. With his position being a meter half meter away from the pillar, Kuro stood in the shadow of three different pillars, the one in front of him, the one to his left, and the one to his right, blocking him from casting any sort of shadow. Kuro let the Kunai fly, but not at the man, especially as he could not see the man. Instead, Kuro threw the kunai towards the wall, at a precise angle. Instead of clattering to the floor like a normal kunai would have, the kunai seemed to bounce off of the wall, heading towards the pillar right in front of Kitaro, before bouncing again, heading straight towards the man himself, whilst he was looking upward. It would be a total of 2.8 seconds between when Kuro channeled his chakra into the blade and when it would reached Kitaro's location. During this time, Kuro grabbed a blue and a black pellet from his pouch with his right hand, channeling his chakra into them, before flinging them at a pillar, bouncing them towards Kitaro, with the black pellet going a third of a meter in front of Kitaro, while the blue pellet slowed to a stop, a meter behind him. A second before the red pellet would activate, the blue and black pellet activated, just as Kuro finished covering his ears.

The specific electrical shell Kuro had encased the kunai in was designed to 'bounce' the kunai twice, specifically to avoid dense material such as marble. This was done by creating a layer of electrical energy, converting the electricity into kinetic shell of force whenever it hit dense material, such as marble, or metal, creating a 'bouncing' effect, without losing the power or speed behind the kunai itself. Unfortunately, the jutsu had a limit of two bounces, but that was all he needed for the moment.

The red pellet, however, had been a simple pellet with a seal created by Kuro, activated when he pushed his chakra into it. Based on the explosion seal, the red pellet was a time released expulsion of electricity, in a spherical shape, with a meter diameter. While the pellet carried no kinetic force, it was a very powerful electric shock, comparable to a tazer. The delay on the red pellet between activation and expulsion of the electricity was precisely three seconds.

The blue pellet was similar in both size and shape, as well as the origin. It was indeed a pellet with a seal on it, also activated by Kuro's chakra. The difference being the shorter delay time, being a mere 1.5 seconds, and what it released upon activation. Instead of the electricity of lightning, this pellet released the sound of thunder, as if thunder had struck right where the pebble was. The sheer might of the sound would certainly cause alarm, especially in a room which echoed.

The black pellet was just like the others, in size, shape, and origin, being a pellet with a seal on it, activated by Kuro's chakra. It even shared a delay time with the blue pellet, having a 1.5 second delay. The difference was in what it released. Instead of a Sound of Thunder, or electricity, this pellet released a bright flash of light, almost like a flash grenade, only without any sound, and with slightly less light. The amount of light and the drastic change would still blind most people for a good moment, particularly dojutsu users, but it did not create the same nausea or vertigo that a flashbang did.

[Kitaro]

Kitaro wondered further about the architecture of the room, so many pillars that it made him want to chop them all down and see how many it took before the roof collapsed, but it would be unwise to collapse such a castle on yourself, no matter how you feel about the people inside, above you. Of course he was trained to be suspicious, to always be on guard when wearing a weapon for it gave any would be attacker all the reason needed to strike with deadly force. The thoughts danced across his mind as his body reacted to the first noise he heard. Of course not the stealthy one who would crawl through the shadows, but the shelled knife striking it's first surface, a noise foreign to the torches which pricked Kit's ears. He gauged the direction and moved outward and away from the wall the kunai first struck, spinning 240 degrees and allowing his movements to carry his robes in a distracting and and massive sweep through the air baiting an enemy to try and pick him off with thrown weapons by spreading a target. By the time the big man would have only been able to move the few steps and complete his spin, which had been done in order to completely scan the area behind him and behind the pillars behind him, the blue and black pellet's effects would have begun.

As Kitaro had spun away from the sound of the kunai and taken several steps suitable for a man of his size, also creating a fair gust of wind compared to small pellets, dulled and without a barrier by the time they would pass before the wind the robe generated, the pellets would be cast back from Kit's old location toward the wall, and Kit having spun to face away in his attempt to spy his attacker behind him, had managed to face the other direction when the light and thunder went off. Muting the sound of the man's kunai harmlessly clattering against a third solid mass in the form of a pillar.

Of course this was shocking, Kitaro wasn't really a fan of dealing with these chakra wielding types and some of them could be overwhelmingly strong. So when he heard the thunder and saw the bright shadows cast in front of him by the light, he saw no reason to stop, changing his steps into a roll to carry him behind the next pillar over, stealing another look at the area which was before behind him and seeing his attacker in the provided light, not even a moment before the explosion went off where the Pellet had rolled. This was more than enough reason for Kit to draw Dragonslayer from behind the safety of the new pillar and crouched slightly, his right hand gripping the massive blade's hilt. The boy would strike again, and in that strike he would expose himself just as he had already done once. Only the next time, he wouldn't have the element of surprise which seemed to not provide Kit an opportunity to strike back this round.

[Psychosis]

Kuro's eyes were glued to Kitaro's shadow, metaphorically of course. The man had avoided all of his attacks in a single move. It was rather humbling, if he were honest. Rather than stealthily attacking and keeping the man on the move, Kuro knew he would have to start taking risks. Not outrageous ones, at least not yet. He did not know how skilled his opponent was, nor how strong he was, so he had only a few things to go on. For one, the man had admirable physical strength, so close range would be dangerous. Synaptic Response would be a good counter, but he wasnt going to try close range just yet, or at least not that close. For the moment, Kuro had the advantage. Or at least, he hoped he did. It all depended on what the man had on him, as well as if the man was a chakra user or not.

It was with this thought in mind that Kuro flung his right wrist out, channeling his chakra into the dagger for a moment, before the dagger flew towards the left side of the pillar which Kitaro was behind, before jumping out from behind his own pillar and rushing towards the right side of the pillar, opposite of where he had thrown the dagger. In the same movement he had used to move from behind his pillar, Kuro unsheathed his own sword, and pointed a finger at the dagger, which had hit the wall and was harmlessly laying on the floor, four meters from Kitaro. A beam of lightning flew from Kuro's finger to the dagger. The instant the beam hit the dagger, it changed directions, heading right towards Kitaro, in a straight line from the dagger to what Kuro perceived as the left of Kitaro. As that happened, Kuro picked up speed and turned, looking directly at Kitaro, who was a good four meters away, with Kuro being at the halfway mark between the start of the pillar and the end of it, just able to see, and be seen by, Kitaro. Kuro grinned, hoping his distraction had worked, and sliced his sword downward, acting as if he were cutting the air horizontally, only for a semi-transparent, ultra-thin wave of wind to head towards Kitaro. While not as fast as the beam of lightning, it was certainly not slow.

The Lightning Beam was a basic jutsu, using concussive and thermal energy output rather than electrical. Similar to a laser in concept, though it functions more like a focused beam of kinetic and thermal energy, instead of being a pure form of heat. The Lightning Beam is known to be capable of piercing human flesh, but not bone.

The reason the beam had been redirected when it touched the dagger was because the chakra Kuro had channeled into the dagger before throwing it being used to preform a chakra tunnel, allowing a small enough chakra based beam, which the Lightning Beam fit perfectly, to curve through the item at the preordained angle.

The Wave of Wind was also a basic jutsu, a far less powerful version of an outright Mountain Cutter. Using this, Kuro was capable of unleashing a sharp wave with rather powerful cutting force, capable of cleaving even through stone. Not Marble, apparently, since the slash would not destroy the pillars. Otherwise Kuro would have used it through the pillar. The wave is generally as thin as the blade used as a catalyst to launch it, with a width that grows up to three meters in width. This, being a weaker version of Mountain Cutter, would dissipate upon traveling six meters. It was much more close range based than Mountain Cutter.

[Kitaro]

Kitaro remained behind the pillar, he had actually had an opportunity to strike before but he was more interested in his attacker than to strike so quickly. Dragonslayer had been drawn now though, and his options for prolonging things to learn about his attacker was greatly expanded. The attacker didn't wait, only moving positions to begin a new attack, when a dagger came clattering against the wall he was facing and he could hear the sound of footsteps from the attacker's position heading more behind him, likely sticking with the pillars as the sounds didn't betray him as being directly behind him.  Kit could only think of two things that would make a killer throw a weapon in an attack that in itself was not lethal. A trap, or a distraction.

Kitaro decided that he didn't care which of the two it was and acted nearly instantly as the dagger appeared, and he first heard the much less masked footsteps of his attacker. In the few brief moments between when the dagger went flying and when the lightning beam would connect with the steel, Kit dropped his stance to lower Dragonslayer as he adjusted his grip, sweeping the blade around, under, and ultimately taking control of the seemingly discarded dagger, via sweeping it from the ground onto the face of Dragonslayer's Black Iron, in the momentum of a large man like Kit's pivoting momentum. His intention had been to launch the dagger into a pillar harmlessly but when a beam of light hit the blade and reflected against the dagger, Kit saw an opportunity with his rapidly approaching target.

Kitaro didn't feel much like striking with his own might, but he had no problem with striking back with his opponent's. As the beam of light struck the metal of the dagger's blade to angle itself against Kit, it found Dragonslayer's black iron at an angle, and most of the kinetic force was allowed to spread and weaken across Dragonslayer's great surface. Which had been poised in Kit's great pivot, pressing his cloth robes down with the downward position of the great blade, allowing him to face his attacker directly, without any distraction or interference having himself moved away from the pivot to expose his attacker.

Kitaro faced his attacker's swing, and knowing full well that no idiot would strike normally with a small cutting sword against a great shaft of iron like his and knowing he was slightly out of range anyway, so he knew that the attack would not be something to take lightly. It was a simple solution however, Kit afforded no stop in the great sweep he had started with his pivot, The strength and mass of the movement creating it's own gust of wind, as the wide weapon would have an easy time stopping something thin, even if it was sharp, and the weapon itself being many times more durable than the pillars around them. In truth, Kit never saw the thin wind wave in the dim torchlight, only felt Dragonslayer come directly against it when it came to rest directly between he and his enemy, the tip smashing into the ground with the final twisting motion he made Dragonslayer completely shielding himself with a wall of Black Iron and, launching Kit's attacker's dagger at a significant angle, driving through the air directly back at it's owner the moment he would be in the exposed position following a completely full swing.

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