Mission name: Evil Hobbies (Repeatable)
Mission rank: C-rank Crime
Objective: Keep yourself occupied with traditional evil actions.
Location: Any
Reward: 450 ryo
Mission Description: You're not truly evil if you aren't bringing unnecessary violence to the table. Of course, you can't just waltz in a village and start mayhem, because that would compromise plans still need to be set in motion. No, you'll be enjoying that dark heart in your lair, with one or more of the following 'hobbies': torturing captured subjects with questionable tools, trying out experiments as you seek to improve secret formulae, plague them with nightmares and horrible illusions, threaten their family and coerce them, put up maddening music or improve your evil monologues as subjects listen to it.
Mission Details: 1875 wc, 3 posts required.

The Ryujin's research facility, considering the current situation in Sunagakure, was not that bad a place to be in. Partially build up above ground like a large but simple building, partially hidden underground and running through caverns where once giant scorpions had made up their residence, the place offered much more room than one would credit it for. The whole building was supposed to serve as a research facility back in the days Lamya was of a mind to build up her own Imperium. It had everything a medical scientist could dream about to grow into their arts and reach pinnacles of scientific breakthroughs no one had ever been able to reach. Immortality was one of those. The pinnacle of life's vibrancy was sought after by Lais' mistress.

For a long time, Lais had not even begun to think of such dreams, and even now that she often mused upon its possibilities she desired a completely different way of immortality than the world-known and equally feared Snake Sage. What Laïs sought was not life. It was death. And not just death, but undeath. To discard the mortal coil and embrace death with welcome arms. To transcend the numbing silence of death and become more than the sum of the two concepts. Bring them together. Make Yin and Yang whole yet stand on the opposite spectrum of humane comprehension by standing in Yomi rather than in the World. Then do the same thing again with Yomi and the World by bringing them together as one, making every being on earth discard that mortal coil. Force them to become one with the spectres of the dead.




But dreams were meaningless when not pulled into existence. Very much a Yin-principle. Existence without existence. It was a reality to few, an illusion to many. And it would remain so until someone manipulated Yin-energy or tipped the scales in favour of the dream.

Lais strode forward into the almost empty building. Ever since the war in Sunagakure where the Nations vied for her mistress' lands the Ryujiin troops had been all over the place but here. She might as well be the only Ryujin staying home this often. Always practising her medical techniques. Improving her control. Pushing her Yin-chakra beyond mere necrosis just to impress her mistress, follow in her footsteps while preserving her identity and creating something from necrosis that wasn't Daremo. She knew already what she was and wanted. It was just a matter of perfecting her techniques now.

Reaching one of the surgery rooms, the crow sage would open the door and enter. Inside were several new adjustable tables, three that were occupied by 'patients'. Victims, really. Five of them had tried to abduct Lais before but in the heat of the moment the Jugo had killed one of them and knocked the others. A few Ryujin guards had come to her help, taking care of the remaining four members by dragging them into this very room. One of them had served to vent her feral anger as she extracted information out of him as she allowed her corrupting chakra to devastate the man from the inside out. Slowly. Until his life was literally held within her hands as it had basically turned him into a talking corpse granted unlife by her own will.

"Y-you promised us freedom!", one of the three remaining abductors would say weakly.

He was not lying. She had promised them freedom if they'd speak. They had spoken, and she had given them their freedom as promised. Unfortunately for them, she had never promised the Ryujin would let them free. Barely having left the doors behind them, Lamya's forces had apprehended them, knocked them out again and brought them back inside.

"And so I gave it to you... Did I not?", she'd say uninterested, stroking the man's pallid face. "It is beyond my power if my mistress wants you to remain a guest... to these facilities. Much like it can't be helped if she commands me to continue my medical training. We are both prisoners to this faith, dear."

Plausible deniability was a welcome opportunity she would make use of every time it reared its ugly head. Of course she knew the Ryujin would not let them escape. Lais might be allowed to command the Ryujin soldiers to some extend but their loyalty to Lamya was unwavering. Allowing prisoners to escape and risk them telling others what transpired here, possibly rallying another invasion, was a big no-no. Lais knew that. She had counted on their interception to proceed with her own little scheme.

"But trust me...", she'd whisper soothingly in his ear, "I will grant you a sense of freedom I'll be most envious about. You will live like no one else has before you, never knowing any pain as you fulfil your dreams."
"I don't want to die!"
"The dead may know peace, but they hold no freedom. Souls are bound to remain adrift until guided."

Lais would remove her hand from his head and allow it to glide down to where his heart rested. Pressing down softly, she could feel the hastened rhythm of his heart beart and sighed slowly.

"Do you have a wife? Kids?"
"Y-yes..."
"Good. I have work to do but if you hold onto their existence I'm sure we can get through this ordeal together."

Panic would take hold of him but before he was able to utter one more word, Yin-chakra would invade his being and spread through his veins and nerves alike, taking away his breath as it was replaced by pain. Like a blooming flower, his flesh would turn white under her touch, spread forward as it was pushed by shades of grey and later by ink-black taint. Unable to defend himself, the man's body died in a matter of moments, slowly colouring under the encroaching darkness of Yin-chakra. And yet his eyes kept moving with that same panic, still trying to breathe despite not being able to do so. The pain that had grabbed hold of him ebbed away as the darkness flooded forward, and eventually his senses would be fully numbed. Lais would shift her amethyst eyes towards that of the man who now felt no more fear or worry as he rested there under her gentle touch.

"How do you feel?"
"A-am I dead?"
"That depends on your perception, I guess. Clinically, I'd have to admit that you are but as you can experience for yourself... dead is not the right word either."

And so once again she had kept her promise. No more pain, no more fear, not even Death would be near. He seemed to understand that as well, the blinking of his eyes betraying that he was slowly coming to accept this new reality and trust her words. She gave him a faint smile, encouraging, maybe. But she kept the hidden truth about her arts for herself.

---

1196

"What now?", he'd ask as he got used to the undead sensation. No more breathing, no more pain. It was almost too good to be true. Both for him as for the occultist standing at his side. He was still attached to the bed but seemed not to register that fact now.
"Now my work truly begins.", she'd reply as her eyes overlooked the beauty of her own Yin-sculpted work on the man. He would die eventually, her jutsu too far from perfection to even be considered completed but while it lasted she would have to make the most of it. Taking out a senbon from her sleeves, she'd grab his hand and prod it gently.

"Do you feel anything?
"No?"

Laïs nodded. She had expected the numbing effect. It was a matter of discovering how deep the numbing affected the person. Prodding deeper to a point he'd have to be showing an inkling of blood, she'd notice the lack of blood welling up for a starter.

"And now?"
"N-no, nothing."

The brief sting of a needle. He should have registered that in any normal circumstance. Amethyst eyes observing his facial expressions, she'd sink her senbon deeper now. Under his nail. Knowing its sensitivity fairly well the man should have shown a sign of pain, blood should be accumulating under his nail without flaw. But nothing happened. The abductor-turned-test-subject was just lying there watching the ceiling. No blood, no pain, not the slightest reaction. Fascinating. Drawing back her senbon, Laïs inspected the needle. Blood clot. Thick, granulated. Close to be completely dried up and useless for a living being.

"It pretty much looks like everything's going fine. Time for a little more..."

She'd throw a glance at the other two who were trying their best to see what was happening. To see what their faith would eventually come to be. Leaving their minds to guess what was happening, she would proceed with her tests before the Yin-chakra would dissipate and cease its effects. Stroking the man's hair and cupping his cheek almost in a loving way, her senbon would dig itself deep into his throat. His humane mind would make his eyes bulge in mental fear, then blink in confusion as he still registered no pain.

"An interesting ability, wouldn't you say? This little prick would have slain every mortal in a matter of moments, making them futilely gasp for air and try to stop the wound. But you...", she licked her lips. "You don't suffer any of this, don't you?"
"No. I... I don't get it."
"Don't worry about the details. I'll fill you in later once we're done playing."

Which would be about... now. Suddenly, his heart would start its beating pace once more. Slowly. Suffering so much as a reversed cardiac arrest, he'd buckle and bulge under the pain before his heart would race to achieve its normal heart beat again, he'd gasp for air but only end up choking. Blood would spurt out of the wound in his throat. A delayed, calculated but eventually inevitable death. Life would end up leaving him as his limited mortality could not sustain her undead embrace. As a last goodbye, her fingers close his eyes and her lips pressed softly on each of his cheeks in turn.

"Life slipped out of your mind and left your loved ones in the darkness."

Taking a seat on the operation table near the legs of the now actually dead man, the Jugo would eye her two remaining bound guinea pigs as her mind processed her recent discoveries. Something was lacking about her technique... But what?

---

628
Total: 1824

"What do you two think might be lacking..?", she'd ask the other two. One looked pretty much shell-shocked, the other watched the dead man and the Jugo with disbelief. None would reply right away, trying to cope with the insanity of the situation they were seeing before her. A dead man walking, then suddenly completely losing grip on life. "Don't get me wrong, I care little if you are bound or freed from your shackles, the end result is the same. We all die, and those who will be at my mercy."

She'd rest her hand on the dead man next to her, eyes drifting away to his. So much fear for death though it released the living from their pains. Oh how they clinged to the few strands of life's warmth rather than to embrace the soothing cold of the Otherworld. Little did they know that their body was just a temporary shell. Little did they know that their souls would rise without any regret for what they had left behind. Blissful ignorance.

"So I'm looking for a way to find a middle ground. Not dead. Not alive. Something more that transcends both these lives. A sentience that remains intact when passing the Veil to the Otherworld and when returning from the dead to take up new life."
"But it's abominational!", one would exclaim, no longer able to hear the mad rambling of the occultist.
"You know what is abomination? Life is. You live on thinking you're beautiful, someone else takes the spot. You believe yourself strong, someone else beats you up. Every day of your life you believe to be growing and improving while in fact your body is already decaying and working towards the day you'll die. Life wasn't there to cherish you. It's there to mock you as you attempt to reach your goals... only to realise with your dying breath all will have been in vain. You won't ever hold what you fought for. Maybe the future will, maybe your kids. But what is the point spending your life for the future when you don't get to enjoy it?"

Laïs' truth was yet different though. She had no interest in all of that. All she wanted was to unite life and death together. Make Yin and Yang as one. Reverse the natural cycle. Life in death rather than death in life.

Hopping off the table, she placed two fingers on the dead man's lips and allowed her chakra to pour out freely. With a 'rest well', she'd watch how the corpse slowly turned into a pile of black ash as her Yin chakra ate its existence away. Taking one last glance at the two remaining members, Laïs winked at them and left the room to meditate about her new discoveries.

---

EXIT

482
Total: 2306
-1875 Crime (450 ryo)
-400 Extra ryo (+200 ryo)