Code:
Mission name: Defend Village Camps.
Mission rank: C-S.
Objective: Protect army camps from Rogue threats.
Location: Border camps.
Reward: Variable ryo + 2-5 EP.
Mission Description: Independent factions often target the border camps, defend them however you need to.
Development References: What Lies Beneath Event.
Mission Details: While at a border camp, a group of bandits led by a rogue ninja will appear and must be defended against, they are at least of equal ninja rank with two chosen chakra natures and all Library techniques of their rank and lower. If this mission is done with another Player Character in opposition who is taking the Attack Village Camps mission, both participants may claim rewards for both missions as if they had completed them when handing in the reward for this mission and it counts as a mission of the highest rank the two of them could accomplish together.


Sunagakure was as many said a cursed land. It came as no surprise to the seers and oracles native to the blighted country that its omens and portents were singularly baleful in nature. Visitations involving yokai and the spirits of the dead were brushed aside as merely laggard after-effects of the crisis. Even the birth of deformed animals, calves with ten legs or a piglet whose face contorted into something almost human were dismissed as just another indicator of the troubled times. Thus it was that no one wondered if a deeper malaise was at work. Not merely the depredations of heaven upon an impious community but something truly foul that had slithered it's way into the firmament.

Whatever this alien malignance's agenda it had begun to manifest itself among the refugee camps housing Suna's dispossessed masses. Bandit's had surely been preying upon unwary travellers with the vagabonds slitting throats at even the slightest hint of easy ryo. While tragic in their own right these murders were quite unlike the more ominous deaths that had been reported recently. The attacks were carried out with surprising ferocity, bodies mutilated in ways that suggested both bestial ferocity and an all too human intellect.

Claws and fangs had shredded flesh crushing ribs and tearing sinew as if they were the lightest of chiffon fabric. A woman taking her family's clothes down to the river to wash had come across a mangled torso a tree branch skewered through its chest. Though swarming with carrion it was clear that the macabre trophy had been dismembered by teeth of uncommon strength. Worse still was the pile of offal discovered by children playing with a kemari ball on the outskirts of one of the camps. At first, the youths had been completely blind to its nature as indeed the adults they called to identify the pile. Careful inspection soon turned up a cache of flayed skins very much human in nature.

Stories began to spread of bogeymen and night terrors. The older among the camps started exchanging grim glances amongst each other. All across the shanty towns and hovels, the word Jugo was uttered low on the lips of crones and gaffers alike. Fathers and daughters were taken aside as the patriarchs and matriarchs of Sunagakure related the tales of the beast men that roamed the wilds. Red of hair and black of temperament the Jugo were a scourge to civilisation. Though not as common as they once were the elders had witnessed first-hand or had heard stories about one of these barbarous aberrations preying upon good civilised folk.

Much like the undead – the stiff corpses that drained chakra Jiang-Shi or the airborne decapitated heads the Nukekubi the Jugo were primordial terrors had to be cleansed by fire and steel. Once peaceful folk now saw violence as the only recourse and a pogrom was instigated against those of wild blood. Several lynchings were carried out against those bearing traits typically associated with the Jugo clan. Reddish hair and an unkempt appearance had become a death sentence in some cases. Finally, a real Jugo clan member was found wandering drunkenly among the hills. A mob of enraged peasants descended upon the man with makeshift weapons. Though the inebriated tramp killed several of his attackers with claws and fangs he was beaten into submission by sheer force of numbers then burned at the stake later that day.  

For a time the mothers of Sunagakure rested easy knowing that their children were safe from harm. Until the killings started again even more brutal than before. Now thoroughly desperate the people of Sunagakure reached out to the other villages and in a gesture of goodwill Kirigakure dipped into its governmental coffers and purchased the services of a Mr Tianlan Se Long, known to the public as Di.

Di had made the trip to Sunagakure in his natural draconic state. The aerial view did not paint a pretty picture of events. Though Di had little knowledge of the recent history of Suna he could see that the land had been wracked with all manner of strife. Buildings had been reduced to rubble while crops were despoiled leaving barren fields.  

Though Di had borne witness to atrocities in the world of man this was on a completely different scale. Even the Yatagarsu killings, terrible as they were couldn't compare to the suffering on display here. Things got even worse when Di descended to earth making a circumspect transformation behind a copse of trees. Sickness and poverty ran rampant across the land. Filthy children cried for their mother's distended bellies swollen with gasses. Emaciated elderly figures waited moaning as their families lacked the food to feed them. Small pockets of relief could be seen as ninja from the other village came to provide some small service. However, this seemed like cold comfort to those whose lives were already slipping away.

The world under the ocean was nothing like this. Even the least among dragons was afforded far more dignity and support than these wretched souls. No monarch there would allow such calamity to befall his subjects. Di felt a wave of self-recrimination – were he not such a child he could do something about this greater crisis. Where a true dragon king or god could bring healing to this land he could do nothing but play detective.

But that was something right?

Choking down his doubts Di steeled his resolve. As Di understood it there were those among the ones he had met in the human world who had come to Kumogakure on their own missions. Sending messenger hawks ahead of him Di had instructed the birds to take a written missive to those he considered his friends asking for assistance with this case. He had no idea what he was dealing with here and diving in head-first alone was a fool's errand. Should the raptors find such persons the letters would give details on where to find Di and the basic outline of events leading up to the case. Not easy work but Di suspected that his friends were up to the task.

(1020 Words)

As Di moved through the makeshift streets he struggled not to gag at the pungent odours that assailed him. Effluence mixed with sweat in a manner that simply was not present in his previous underwater environment. Despite being open to the air the camp had an oppressive feel to it. Houses made from little more than wooden frames and cloth somehow managing to loom over the detective with greater severity than the architecture of Kirigakure ever had. Di had faced his fair share of lunatics and madmen during his nocturnal escapades but they lacked the feeling of all-pervading enmity.

The people of the shanty town were uniformly garbed in dour attire seemingly thrown together in haste and rarely washed. The sole exceptions to this were the priests robed in brilliant gold. Masks hiding inscrutable expressions offered no insight as to what motive they had to be walking among the destitute. Di wondered if their mission was to distribute alms to the crowds but he couldn't remember seeing even one of the aloof figures bearing any sort of food or medical supplies. Regardless of their aims for being here the populace afforded them a surprising amount of deferential treatment bordering on obsequience.  

Those who would just as readily bump into Di on the street would part for the priests bowing low to denote status that was normally reserved for a nobleman or Kage. That was an interesting detail that Di would file away for further consideration. It might have nothing to do with his current activities, but then again one could never be too sure about such things.

Reaching what could be considered the 'square' of this makeshift town Di surveyed his surroundings. Several breadlines had formed rationing food off to gaunt waifs and hollow-eyed mothers. Some of the tents seemed to have been converted to makeshift taphouses. Di wasn't sure what kind of liquor was being served in the establishments but given the severe inebriation of those who wandered out from them, he guessed that it was cheap, nasty and extremely potent. It seemed like a bad joke, in the flop-houses and lean-tos people were starving and yet already the industry of alcohol had been established.

What skewed priorities these people had. On an intellectual level, Di knew that this came mostly from frustration and despair. Those who had lost everything were faced with two choices. The first of these being the excruciating route of rebuilding one's life from scratch. The second much easier route was to simply drown oneself in spirits and forget if but for a time what they had been reduced to.

Even if watching these poor souls drown their sorrows was depressing the square made as good a place to wait for his backup as any. Arms folded Di stood, his slate gaze sweeping across the square for any signs of those he knew. He had not been standing there for more than twenty minutes before the piercing sound of a shriek could be heard.

Could it be?

Di took off at top speed towards the source of the noise. He was not the only one to do so and thus he began to push against the crowds. Receiving more than one elbow to a sensitive part of his anatomy for his troubles the young dragon powered his way through the throng of milling forms. It was on the outskirts of the settlement and the late afternoon sun had begun to set, leeching the remaining colour from the world.  

What greeted Di was a familiar sight. Bodies – three in total lay on the cold ground. Massive claws had ripped furrows in two of the cadavers faces leaving little but a torn ruin. The third body had one of its limbs ripped out of its socket blood pouring down to coalesce in a crimson pool. Di took in a deep breath and then made a final large push towards the bodies.

“Get out of the way! I'm a detective and this is now considered a crime scene.”

Weary gazes focused on Di's back. He had now made himself a central player in this drama for better or worse. Lowering his head he began to inspect the corpses in greater detail. Whatever had done this was large – possibly bear-sized, strong too if the gouges in the bones were any indication.  But there was one common feature among them. Within the exposed viscera of their entrails, something writhed. Leaning over one of the bodies Di squinted to get a better look at the living things that lurked within these battered shells.

Worms.

No larger than a ladies pinky finger writhed within the bodies. Covered in gore it was impossible to discern their true colour but each had a mouth tipped with a circular maw jam-packed with razor-sharp teeth. On the ends of their tails, a small barb flashed wickedly. Di had never seen anything quite like these parasites before. Some had tiny spurs on their sides that indicated that their species had either once possessed limbs or would later attain them during their growth cycle. Not to mention what almost looked like filmy wings sprouting from ones back.

Even as he watched the foul creatures one of the corpses began to shake and shiver. Though it was missing much of its brain due to severe cranial injury it somehow managed to raise itself up to a standing position. The crowd gasped in horror at such a macabre spectacle and retreated from the now risen body. Di couldn't sense any necromancy. Was this a by-product of the worms? The corpse took one faltering step and then fell to the ground, now inanimate.

Di wished either Nova or Kirei would arrive soon. He was going to have to track whatever did this now that a fresh crime scene was found. Not a pleasant job and much more dangerous if attempted without a healthy amount of assistance. Di had no idea what sort of dangers lurked out there in the ever approaching night.

(1007 Words, 2027 total)

Touring the Hidden Sand Village wasn't what it used to be. That may have seemed obvious, considering its current state of affairs, but Ess had expected more. The humans looked depressed, hopeless and lifeless, as if they were moving automatically, pulled by their physical needs alone. Why? It would only take a  few months to rebuild, if that. The princess had seen it happen many  times before. She didn't understand why they were so despondent. Maybe there was something she could do to lighten their mood, much like those strange priests had done the night she arrived. The humans might appreciate a feast and entertainment that came without the alternate motives Di had explained. She  frowned as she made her way through the makeshift houses that had formed a small town.

Looking back to her two servants, she spoke. "Really, Er's gonna have to, I dunno, rub cobwebs into his baedy little eyes to make up for this," Ess grumbled under her breath. Cruel and unusual punishments were a staple of Lunar Dragon culture. The rabbits that served them had long since gotten used to the regular punishments and now required something a little more creative as a deterrent. Ess cared about her servants, sure, but discipline was necessary, otherwise the bunnies would start rebelling again and that would be bad for everyone involved, given their origin. Er, the rabbit in question, had been gone since the prior day's afternoon, leaving the other two to care for the dragon princess on their own.

Yi carried a small incense holder, lest his master be inconvenienced by the awful smells brought on by the refugees. San held a parasol over her head to make sure the sun didn't blemish her pale skin. Lunar dragons were notoriously affected by heat. Considering their kingdom's location, it made sense. Despite having a touch of  Now, if Er were anywhere close by, he would be fanning her with palm fronds. Ugh. So inconsiderate of him to leave at a time like this. Speaking of which. Her head turned to the rabbit carrying the incense.

"Yi, dear, that is just incense, right?"

The rabbit stopped dead in its tracks and immediately broke into a cold sweat. He dropped the tray and scampered off between the tents.

"You'll be having egg shells for dinner!" She yelled after the rabbit. "And you better not leave a single one!" She shouted, looking at his puffy tail disappear and the incense slowly burning on the grown. She stamped it underneath the heel of her geta and immediately regretted it. "I can forgive him using dragon powder in public, but leaving me to smell all of this? That's just cruel," she said to the remaining servant, words muffled by the fabric of her sleeve. She sighed. There was no helping it. The rabbits had a rebellious phase every few decades. This one was probably brought about sooner by their impromptu trip.

A loud scream nearby drew Ess out of her thoughts with a sudden start. A commanding voice followed, instructing civilians to step back. Was that...? Oh, what a wonderful coincidence that her Darling would be here. He identified himself as a detective, how adorable! Ess may have been skeptical about their planned union initially, but was growing to enjoy the prince's little quirks. The young princess set off on a light jog towards the voice's source, her chest bouncing with every step.

She arrived at the scene moments later to see a mangled body standing, surrounded by blood and two deceased humans. It promptly fell once again, collapsing atop The other two. If she didn't know any better, she  would have said that the claw marks resembled those of a dragon. San caught up soon after, still holding the parasol over his mistress's head. She edged her way around the circle and towards her fiance, the man still unaware of their upcoming wedding.

As she had done the last time they had seen each other, she threw herself into the dragon prince despite the scene before them. "Darling! How lovely to see you!" She said, unaware that the woman standing next to him was an acquaintance. Ess hugged him tightly, making sure to press her chest against his. She enjoyed making Di flustered. It was good fun. "You wouldn't happen to have seen Er around, have you? Little shit's been gone since yesterday and obviously he's not dead otherwise he would've nuked this whole place," Ess asked, separating herself from Di. It was a known fact around Lunar Dragons that when a rabbit of theirs actually died, it set off an enormous explosion. Their quest to kill themselves despite their curse of immortality was a quest of destruction rather than one to find eternal peace.

Rabbits - evil little fluff balls.

Ess turned to the mutilated bodies and pursed her lips. "That's a real shame right there. They could be a much nicer species if they all got along," she said, nodding to herself.

[891]

Relief surged through Di as Nova's amethyst tresses marked her out in the crowd. His letter had been answered and help was indeed on its way. Not twenty seconds after this Ess had bounded from the gaggle of onlookers arms wrapping around him in a way that made him acutely aware of the delightful firmness of her physique. Finally, a lithe redhead that Di could vaguely remember from his dreary drunken blur of an evening spent with Nova and Mokuzai ended in his crash landing in the mansion gardens of a miss Karisuma Izumi. This was doubtlessly the Karisuma in question making Di somewhat embarrassed as he had not exactly been in the most dignified of states when he last saw her. Her expression indicated that she didn't think too highly of the amateur detective and truthfully he couldn't really blame her.

That didn't matter at the moment though. There were far more pressing issues to be addressed. Taking a breath Di replied to Nova's comment first.

“Nova, glad to see you could make it. I think you are right on that account – while you are obviously the expert on puppetry here I have done some reading on the matter and can't see anything resembling chakra strings or anything. My guess is that it has something to do with these parasites though Kohryu knows how.”

Turning his head to face Ess who had just exited her embrace, Di followed with an answer to her question not hesitating in the slightest despite the prior intimacy of their contact.

“I'm sorry Ess, I haven't seen hide nor hare of the little miscreant since he ran off yesterday. I agree with your general sentiment – I have seen some pretty abominable things perpetrated by men on their brethren since I first arrived in the human world, but I don't think this is as simple as a case of human on human violence somehow.”

As Di's voice trailed off he realised that something had changed. The low muttering and grumbling of the crowd had evaporated leaving nothing but a disquieting silence in its wake. Stranger still was the manner in which the crowd was dispersing trudging as if caught in the throes of somnambulism.
Then it would hit their group. A heady compulsion promising oblivion surely as the waters of Lethe. Discard your memories of this unsightly event and disperse free to return to the blissful routine of your day to day business.  

The lure was tantalising great as any pipe chased by an opium fiend. But Di wouldn't surrender and with a will of iron drew his gaze up to the locus of the compulsion. Thereupon a ramshackle structure stood a figure drawn from the mind of a demented artist. Its skin bore a greyish pallor as if bathed in ashes hanging from it in loose folds. Arms once free to move had been absorbed into the flesh of the torso leaving the hint of a terrible coagulation leading to the event. The digits once separate had fused into a singular lump on each hand and foot surely as a candle's wax deforms with heat.

This was not the most disturbing aspect of the figure, however. Its face lacked any sign of nostrils and its ears were merely holes in the side of its head. A singular cyclopean eye stared from its forehead far larger than any two digits on a human face. Below its mouth hung open and a great worm hung from its jaws toothy maw open and gaping obscenely. Finally behind the figure stretched a great fan of skin a peacocks tail of stretched flesh across bone. And betwixt these flaps of flesh wide unblinking eyes stared out at the four gathered figures. To Di and Ess these would mean little but to Izumi and Nova these would hold intimate significance. Each of these eyes flashed the brilliant hues of the Karisuma and their commanding presence held an almost physical weight.


Nor was this figure alone. Across the ground below it stalked four larger shapes. Scabrous hides were stretched taught across frames possessing limbs that seemed far too lanky to be natural among any animal. Huge talons encrusted with nameless filth sunk into the ground digging furrows in the dirt streets as they prowled forward. Neither quite canine or human these beasts seemed equally comfortable on either two or four legs shifting from one stance to another with little change in speed. Whereas the creature standing above was largely sexless whatever genitals it bore having sloughed away these were almost grotesque parodies of human masculinity and femininity. The two bitches among them (for what else could they be?) displayed six sagging breasts these crone-like appendages being the only fat displayed on their otherwise skeletal body. The males likewise sported genitalia that would impress a satyr.

Flecks of spittle foamed across yellow jagged teeth. Small parasites writhed within this lather occasionally writing as if to an unseen beat. Though it was hard to tell their exact length they might well be ten feet or more if one counted the bone protrusions that served in place of tails. Though easily missed among the plethora of macabre details one could notice upon the heads of two of the creatures rusted headbands bearing worn Konoha symbols.

From the creature standing above an echoing voice began to emanate. While it came from the fanged worm that hung from the entities maw it sounded cracked and distorted, channelled from realms beyond the pale.

“You should not be here. Our actions against the Lord of Murder's acolytes are our own and are not to be disturbed. What you have seen is an anomaly, an aberration that must be rectified. None shall know our vessel and live. This will not happen again.”

With that, the hounds sprang forward baleful howls ululating within their throats. Splitting off each came for a target among the group all claws and fangs. Within the scant microseconds before the beast was upon him Di shifted his form blurring and losing his human shape to reveal his true self.  Longer than even the canine beasts Di's azure scales glinted in the late afternoon sun his antlers raised defiantly towards the demented foes onslaught. Lashing out first with his serpentine tail then again with his claws Di raked the creature as it snapped at him. Though his blow connected and talons scoured the creatures flesh the wounds did not seem to take with the flesh rapidly re-knitting and becoming scars before his eyes. Occupied as he was Di couldn't' help but register what appeared to be a sizable chunk of one of the golden masks worn by the local priests lodged between the teeth of the creature.

The hound returned the attack in kind its teeth gouging into Di's scales. Though Di could not see it there was worse to follow as the beast above had spread it's tail wide and from the eyes festooning it's bared skin beams of burning chakra began to sear the air across the battlefield working their way towards the four defenders.

(1183 Words)

Much too busy making sure Di was as uncomfortable as possible, Ess failed to notice both Izumi's staring and Nova's chagrin. In fact, as far as she knew, neither of them had any involvement with her Darling. If it weren't for the fact that he had addressed one of them directly, the young dragon would have overlooked them entirely, as she did most humans. To her, most were just background characters, there to fill the space as part of the scenery. Rarely did she ever consider that they could have their own thoughts and feelings unless she interacted with them directly. Curtly, she bowed at the two women, her chest bouncing slightly as she briskly stood up straight.

"It's great to meet the two of you. I'm Ess," she was tempted to add Di's fiancee to her character description just to see his reaction but held her tongue. That was a reveal that merited much more flair. She still had yet to think about how she would tell him they were to be married, by decree of both their parents. Maybe she would do so during some kind of social event that required a speech. Oh, how entertaining it would be to watch him squirm under the limelight. She nearly giggled at the thought and smiled instead.

Unfortunately for her, that smile would turn into pursed lips when Di mentioned that he hadn't heard of her servants or seen them at all. Disappeared without a trace? Where could they have gone to? The situation was a little more than annoying. The dragon princess looked at the remaining rabbit with a menacing glare. It was a warning: Follow in Er and Yi's footsteps and you'll get the worst of it. The rabbit shook and broke out into a cold sweat. Her silent threat was interrupted by the sudden change in the crowd around them.

What started as a grizzly scene became something cryptic. Ess watched with a furrowed brow as humans stood in place, eyes blank and movements unnatural. It was as if they were hypnotized, as if the scene had been dragged outside of reality and into another realm of existence.

Discard your memories of this unsightly event and disperse free to return to the blissful routine of your day to day business.

It was more of an idea - an impulse - rather than words spoken in her head. It took a few seconds before casting out the foreign thought. Caught off guard, the young princess didn't immediately recognize this for what it was - an illusion, a manipulation of the mind. Such arts were commonplace where she came from. She herself was well-versed in them. Where there other lunar dragons that had come to the human world?

She wanted to turn to look at her Darling, wondering if he had fallen for the spell, but the figure that appeared was more pressing. It had been a long time since she had seen something so gruesome in appearance. It was an amalgamation of different creatures, a rotting chimera, its components disfigured beyond recognition. Had that thing once been human? It was hard for Ess to believe such a thing, despite the recognizable but clearly humanoid features. And the eyes... so many of them, colorful and mesmerizing, as if each one had its own soul. Were they the source of the illusion? Ess suspected as much.

Heavy breathing detracted her attention from the looming worm and towards the other beasts surrounding the four of them. Their lewd and disgusting forms barely registered in her mind. Instead, a thrill ran through her body. This would be her first fight in a very long time. She looked forward to it.

Unlike Di who opted to immediately transform, Ess remained in her current state. Her human body was far frailer than her real one, but it would have to do for now. Transforming took time and there was something else she would rather do than sink her claws into decaying flesh. She would leave the direct violence to the others. her talents were better suited to distract these things. Better for her, really. She had no interest in staining herself with such awful entrails. The thought of biting into that flesh - or lack thereof - almost made her gag.

The young dragon took a deep breath and sang a few notes. He angelic voice echoed eerily throughout the area. Her companions would be unaffected but the three creatures closest to her would begin to whimper, their heads bursting in pain. Soon, their eyes, mouths, and ears would begin to bleed profusely as their brains - or what was left of them - were slowly crushed by her chakra. The pressure it exerted was swift and brutal. Their minds would echo with the sounds of screams, mimicking the voices that they had when they were once human. If they remained sentient in any form, hearing what they used to sound like would be torture.

Ess remained on her guard, despite her spell being cast. She knew that more threats were bound to appear if the cryptic words the worm spoke were anything to go by. The Lord of Murder... Ess tried to remember which of the gods favored that name, but her mind came up blank. There were several self-proclaimed deities that fancied calling themselves the ruler of life and death. But this specific title didn't ring familiar. Maybe it was referring to this Jashin the cultists worshiped - a disgraced god that held little influence in the celestial courts.

[932]

A world of thrashing claws and teeth. Flesh torn and parted , scales raked, pelts shredded. For Di all was chaos as the lupine beast did its best to maul the dragon scion. Though slippery as an eel Ess's haunting aria wracked his assailant with spasms and Di's front-claws managed to get purchase around the things neck prying the beasts head from it's body. Foetid ichor spurted from the ruin that was it's neck and all through the bile more of the parasites undulated as if to an unseen beat.  

As Ess's song cloyed into the ears of the beast who had focused in on her it began to howl and whine a pitiful sound at once bestial and disparagingly human. Lacerating it's own head the beast buried its face in the dirt looking for salvation that did not come. Even as the beasts brain imploded some animation remained and it jerked, a mannequin stripped of half it's strings. Due to her psonic talents Ess would glean several things from the canines demise. Firstly that the creature was here on a mission to kill members of the Jashin cult. It would seem that a war had been instigated in the shadows between the beasts and the followers of the god of murder.

Whilst many wars were fought between the forces of good and evil and in more tragic circumstances between two parties that strove their best to embrace benevolence this was a totally different matter. Both the Jashin cult and the beasts were malevolent in the extreme hungering for blood, death and total domination of all their reach could grasp. What the group had stumbled into was nothing less than a shadow war waged between two parties whose morality could be described as sociopathic in the extreme.  

The second nugget of wisdom that Ess would glean was that there were guiding intelligences behind the beasts actions. These beings were merely puppets , servitors of much greater powers that was even now deciding their actions. Two distinct entities both strange yet somehow familiar to the dragon princess. Almost as if afraid of recognition the lingering fragments of will dispersed before more information could be extracted.

"Can you please explain what the fuck is going on here?”

Izumi queried Di a wolfs ashes pooling at her feet while it's sibling thrashed about leaking obscene amounts of blood from its neck. Remarkably the second beast had not died and with an impressive durability had held onto life until Ess's song had collapsed its brain. Fire definitely seemed to be the Karisuma's best weapon against the creatures.  

Drawing in a breath Di hacked out a rushed reply lacking any of his usual calm demeanour.

“Give me ten minutes of investigation without nearly being murdered and I'll tell you.”

Even as he spoke Di became aware of the beams shooting from the eyes of the mutated karisuma standing above. Unlike the hounds it's ears appeared to be either heavily altered or simply non -existent mitigating the songs effect somewhat.  Darting forward to grab Ess  out of harms way whilst in dragon state Di swerved and dived through the air a streamer between two deadly rays.

Even as the beasts beams inexorably drew towards Nova and Izumi something registered in the creatures eyes. It wanted to die. Even as the hidden puppet master used the parasites to wrack it's body into obedience those eyes not emitting heat fuelled death screamed for Izumi and Nova to end its suffering.

Unlike the wolves the creature was not in the alley but rather standing on a building on the edge of town. If the puppeteer could somehow clear the distance to the place she could summon her mounts without fear of environmental upset. However that would mean evading the beams which drew ever closer.

(635 Words)

Her song worked. The chakra-laced waves of sound swarmed the creatures, eating them from within. Their brains began to deteriorate, but for a brief moment, Ess was connected to the beasts, able to meld her consciousness with theirs to some extent. What knowledge the young dragon had gathered from them was clear. These amorphous canines, if they could even be called that anymore, were no friends of Jashin. Their purpose was simply to seek out and kill as many cultists as they could. There was no love lost between them. Was there a third party involved in this conflict? Ess extended her reach deeper. Under any other circumstance, she would have done so to you with them for her own amusement. This time, however, was different. There was something disconcerting about their screams - so vivid and human, almost as if these things were spawned from man. That, and something felt... Off, for lack of a better word. Something lurked beneath the surface, guiding movements and giving orders.

A chill ran up her spine. For a second, nothing else existed except for this other being and her own curiosity. How odd that someone so clearly outside of the  realm of humans would want to involve themselves in these affairs. Could she... Could she dig deeper and find out who's hand was behind this? At the very least, she could try. Her chakra wrapped tighter around its brain, trying to find its ver essence, but something else was clearly in there. One being... No... Two? Yes, two. There were two distinct signatures puppeteering these things. It wasn't just in one of them. All three of them bore the same mark.

Was it draconic in origin? Or was it something else? Whatever it was felt familiar and definitely not human. "Who are you...?" she whispered, her voice out of sorts. A thick veil of smoke and shadows obscured the two beings. She could lift it, if she tried. She was sure of it. All the had to do was peer inside. A little further, a little more...

Ess was sharply pushed out of the monstrous creature's brain. She staggered back, her ears ringing loudly. She put a hand to her upper lip. Blood seeped from her nose and pressure mounted in her head. Whatever had been in there didn't want her meddling. If it hadn't been clear before, it was now. The young dragon gripped her head. She felt like she was about to throw up. "Shit, that hurts," she groaned. "That's gonna leave a literal mark in my brain. Was not expecting that. 10/10, would not get my brain manhandled again," she said, wiping the remaining blood on her silk sleeve.

At this point, her Darling was snapping back at one of the two women, clearly shaken. "Ninja ibuprofen. Anyone have Ninja ibuprofen?" She called out to the other three. "Someone give me something to fix this headache and I can help you figure out what the flying fuck is going on," she said.

Unfortunately, the time spent rambling took up any seconds she could have used to dodge or defend from the lasers shooting out of the remaining creature's eyes. She was startled and slightly confused when Di - in his draconic form, no less - shielded her from something she couldn't see. He promptly grabbed her and moved her out of the way before she could be injured any further. The young princess looked at the burned markings on the ground where she had just stood. "Ugh, rude," she mumbled.

She dusted off her robes and stood beside her fiance, still clueless of his current marital status. She smiled with genuine affection. "Thank you, darling," she said to him.


[662]