Sero paused as he looked back the way he had tossed the thing that had challenged him. He had made sure it was more then just a little dead. Quietly he turned as he casually walked back towards the railing on the balcony. His eyes took in the body laying there below and he smiled a little. Its mouth hung open and its eyes were burned beyond use. Its face down to its neck was nothing more then burnt flesh. Its arms and legs were thin torn things that would never of had use again anyway. Under it a pool of blood had begun to flow outwards. All the torso wounds were bleeding out. How many times had he stabbed the man? Probably more then he needed to. Still he didn't really care for it. The thing had challenged him and didn't have the mind or the power to do so. It had barked at him with no bite to back it up. The smell of burned rail and wall filled the air as he looked around. That fire blast had been impressive though. Had he not predicted a fire attack and been caught in that he likely would of been highly damaged. He would need to keep his guard up.

He heard a hard intake of air to the side as his grey gaze twitched to the girl. She was looking through the room when she came across a shoe which had made her gasp. She picked it up in shaking hands as Sero watched. Idly he flicked the blood off his blade again letting it splatter to the ground before he approached her. He stood over her until she rose to her feet. She looked up at him and rose the shoe up for him to see. "Its his...He has to be near." She whispered. Almost as if she didn't believe it. Still it was enough for Sero to acknowledge it. Quietly he leaned down and inhaled through his nose taking up the scent. It was strong enough that it still remained. Still he moved to the back of the room. Two doors were there; one to the left and another to the right. He sniffed the left one first before moving to the one on the right. He inhaled near the door knob before nodding. He gripped the doorknob and found it to be locked. Regardless he pulled. The metal whined as it strained fighting to resist Sero to no avail.

With a wrenching screech the doorknob broke free and Sero dropped it to the side. He pushed the door open to reveal a young boy within. Probably about ten years old...he sat on a beanbag clutching a teddy bear and watching door. On his left foot was just a sock..missing the shoe matching his right foot. The Shoe his sister carried. Still she brushed passed Sero and rushed inside hugging her brother close as he burst into tears. She cried too but she had some purpose to her movements. She was already pushing on the kids shoe to his foot and tying it before grabbing his face and looking him in the eye."Jimmy...Jimmy this is Mr. Osada. He is going to get us out of here but you need to be brave okay? You stay close to me and big sis will keep you safe. Do not look around just trust me and do not let go...can you do that for me?" The boy nodded before his sister rose and grabbed his little hand. She nodded to Sero after that. Ready to get to safety. A renewed sense of hope in her. Sero just examined the boy casually before being satisfied that he would follow directions.

629/723

On the way out

The member 'Sero' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Haunted House Dice' :

Sero looked back the way they had come. The room behind them was still smoldering but beyond that he could see the ballroom was slowly becoming an inferno. The fire blast from the enemy before had taken its toll on the room and he hadn't bothered to put it out. Not that he really cared about it. He had intended to burn the place down in the end anyway. He just needed to locate the boy first. That objective had been fulfilled and now he was onto the next. The corpses back the way he had come had lined a safer path that he had known but with the flames only he could get back that way. With two children with him he wouldn't be able to make that escape possible. Not without serious injuries and should they be attacked while seeking passage through the flames he might face his own death. The only option left was to make his way down through the manor. With those two in tow he might be capable of making slow progress but nothing in this house would stop him. He breathed in the smell of smoke and burnt flesh. More was to come and that was soon to spread. The fire would force him to double pace what they had been managing before. He turned back to the girl and the boy she held tight in her arms before he spoke. His voice as cold as ever.

"You have two more jobs now. First is to keep him close. Do not let him get in the way of any fighting or run away. We won't have time to locate him again. Your second job will be to keep an eye on the progress of the fire behind us. Anything ahead is my business. Understood?"

She eyed him for a moment. As if for once she was unsure but she nodded anyway. Her own bravery was still considerable in comparison to normal people. With training she may have made a decent operative given the right incentive. He looked back at the flames again before he moved across the room. He looked to the door as he stepped up to it. He listened for a moment before he was satisfied there was nothing breathing on the other side. Since the one he assumed they had named tank had landed that hit on him he had his guard up. He let his grey gaze look back to the girl and her brother before he nodded to them. His boot rose up and with a sudden surge smashed the door off its hinges. With a quick gaze down the stairs he noted no one waiting below and quickly made his progress further below. The dark stairs broke way to a dining hall below. A single long table along its length. He could hear the girl and her brother clambering down the stairs behind him but they did not hold his attention. Instead his grey gaze took in the room lit with hanging candles and torches. At the end of the table was a single woman with a seal on a crystal orb made of ice. Her blue eyes were outlined by white hair which draped around her porcelain features. She looked up as Sero entered and smiled at him. He could tell the temperature of the room dropped as she smiled. His breath became visible in front of him with each breath like a thin mist fading away and up. Still she rose to her feet as he noticed the seal was the observation seal he had addressed before.

"Ahh Mr. Osada was it? I am the Yuki-onna of the household and consequentially its watcher. Welcome."

623/1346

She rose from her seat and it was clear to him her clothes seemed to be fashioned from snow crystals or something along the lines. Her skin was pale as could be but he really didn't care about her appearance. He knew of the Aisu and if this demon was anything like them as single touch would numb his abilities if not stop his heart. Hand to hand was out of the question however luckily he was welding a lengthy weapon. Still he tilted his head as he watched her move to the side of the table and lean against it. She quietly reached down to pick up a grape and as she did so it froze in her fingers until it was just a solid globe of ice. She sighed as if in remorse at having lost out on such a succulent treat and crushed it between her fingers. Still she glanced between Sero and the kids behind him. Her glance returned to sero and she quietly brushed hair out of her face. When she spoke she sounded confident but Sero watched her eyes. All he saw there was doubt and fear. Still she spoke up calmly. It was nice to see some composure he supposed.

"I have been watching you for some time now Mr. Osada and the chaos you leave behind you...Really an impressive thing for a human. Truth be told I had hoped you would not come this way. A fight between us would likely end badly for both parties. However there is another option." She grinned a little and looked passed him again. Moving from her spot as she swayed back and forth as if flirting with him. She stopped as the lifted her right hand and pointed passed him to the kids. Now a mere two meters away. "Take their life in my name. Sacrifice them to me and I shall make you immortal. You shall never die of old age. Someone of your ability might find never aging to be highly useful. Perhaps you may even become a god...all you have to do is accept my love. What say you child?" She looked back to Sero and he simply watched her with a face void of expression. His eyes reflecting nothing similar to a soul. She twitched her hand as she stared into those eyes...She could not read him. All those whom she had consumed before...any man she had encountered had died to her and become immortalized in her ice. Truthfully it was a trick but she didn't see any hint of interest in him.

Sero saw the fear and doubt in her eyes and did not care for it. In a split moment he stepped up next to her. His blade suddenly shifted to a green hue with an almost gel like substance over it. She saw it and raised her hand up to stop the thrust only to find her ice cold skin split apart on contact with the blade. It burned her as it pierced through her hand and slammed into her chest. As soon as it did her body began to split away from the blade. An inch in ever direction melted like liquid from the blade and with it she began to freeze. Her body dying the way her kind died. Still she looked at him with her hand pinned to her chest. "But why?" she managed to choke out before the ice consumed her. With a jerk he slashed his blade sideways and crushed the iced over woman into a dozen pieces. With that he flicked the green off his blade which sizzled in a line on the floor before looking down at the frozen face of the woman. "I do not take bribes."

633/1979
1600/1600 Monster dead. Two civilians Plus medium monster = +4 points. 29+4=33
379 words remaining

Next encounter

The member 'Sero' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Haunted House Dice' :

Sero turned away from the woman as she cracked at first and then slowly crumbled away. It mattered little to him that another life had been taken. She had feared what she saw of him and had known he was moving towards her. A sensible mind would of moved away from encroaching danger. Yet she had sought to either tame it or trick it. As if he were just another wild being to outwit. He was far more then just a simple weapon. He evolved to the situation and progressed as needed towards an objective. With each shift of the area he shifted with it. He was the kind of monster that could overcome a situation with more then brute strength. Beyond his raw power was his tactical ability. He was a tactician class shinobi if anyone cared to recognize it. Still she had only seen a few moments of him and hadn't had a chance to know better. Instead she had died in futility and fear. His blade passed through her as it had so many others. Still he didn't really care. It was hardly a victory. She hadn't even fought back before her life ended. Immortality...what a joke...these people defied death and yet when it came knocking they fell like so many before them.

Still she fell away into scattered ice on the ground and he lifted his left hand for the siblings to progress forward. The girl looked behind her up the steps seeing the dim glow of fire beyond the top of the stairs. She didn't really feel like disagreeing with him. He was their ticket out of this haunted place. She knew that if they didn't follow as ordered they would be left to the flames to be consumed. She began to realize now how time consuming and wasteful it was covering the dead with those sheets. Now they all burned away to ash back the way they had come. All the horror she had witnessed. All the evidence of their struggle was burning away. She wanted it too she realized. Or at least some part of her wanted the dead to burn. Those who had tortured her mind needed to be burned. Needed to be forgotten. She might never sleep the same again but those things wouldn't be able to reach her. Let the dead burn in hell like they should. She had her brother now and that was all that mattered. So she tugged on her brothers shoulders and they followed behind Sero down the dining hall.

As they moved down the dining hall the doors at the end of it parted. A cold mist broke free and flooded across the floors. It appeared the doors were simply swinging doors and the pressure of the mist trying to escape had opened them. Inside was lit with a slightly blue and mostly red light. As Sero moved through the mist he let his grey eyes scan the dim room. He understood now what the woman meant by immortality. Of course it had been a trick on words. He stepped into the room and watched as ice sculptures rapidly began to melt revealing the canvas within. Dead men and women each frozen to death now thawed out at her passing. Yet it wasn't her passing alone that had caused these sculptures to begin to melt. No; his gaze went beyond that to the red sculpture much bigger then the others that was melting slower. This one was just a massive chunk of ice and to top it all off it was blocking Sero from the door leading to the back door. Still it wouldn't be long now before he could get through. He watched as the ice cracked and he prepared his blade. Whatever was in there the ice demon had taken lengthy efforts to keep it sealed. It might very well prove to be formidable.

661/1040

Cracks spread across the ice crystal and slowly the red glow grew. Its heat searing all the ice in the room and forcing steam to fill the room. Sero indicated for the girl and her brother to hide behind one of the pillars and they moved to do so before the mist filled the space between them. Most of the room was filled with the grey heavy mist now. Moisture hung in the air as the last of the crystal faded. Sero was close enough to watch as one bright red and thick arm pushed out of the ice...melting the ice around it as a second arm followed. Finally a mans head pushed through with long hair down to his shoulders and horns rolling back over his head. He roared out his triumph as he pushed his way free of the ice. His burning yellow eyes taking in the room and finally sero before he broke free of the last of the ice revealing a furry lower half with two legs and hooves. He stepped out and his hooves cracked the floor and burned it in his wake. Now he stood in front of Sero. Towering over him at twice his size. When he spoke steam came out his mouth in a deep growl.

"You defeated the winter witch and freed me? A mere mortal is the source of Ifrits reincarnation? For centuries I lay dormant in captivity unable to escape and now a mere mortal did what I could not....I can not stand for this...be joyful though...you will serve as the mighty ifrits first meal in this world upon his return. Prepare yourself child. Your end has come."

Sero sighed as this one talked big as well. Each of them had spoken of his death but all had disappointed him thus far. Still he wouldn't try and match this thing in raw power without investigating it first. Sero watched as the thing brought up its arms and clenched its clawed fists. The glow on its arms grew more and more until suddenly both arms burst into flame. It threw its head back and roared out its laughter but with that it broke line of sight with Sero. How foolish of such a being to do such a bothersome thing. As Sero observed it he stepped back as his muscles relaxed. As silent as could be he controlled his breathing and lightened his step. As he slipped into the mist his form disappeared. He was now entering into stealth with a mist that blended into him as well as he did it.

Ifrit looked back down as he suddenly noticed the lack of sound. He growled as he lost track of Sero and stepped forward. His right hand lifted and with a snarl he slammed it down burning everything in a ring of fire for three meters and wiping out a chunk of mist. He growled as that didn't reveal the boy and swung with his other fist at another spot. Once more he cleared some mist and found no sign of Sero. The great being snarled in a rage and clenched both fists before throwing both arms to his side and roaring out from his core "Where are you coward? Show yourself!" It was then that Ifrit felt it. Two feet stepped onto his right shoulder and he realized Sero hadn't remained on the floor but made his way to directly above him. "As you wish." Sero said before his sword flicked four times. Four slashed over the same spot from different directions slammed through the tough hide and Sero launched off the creature before landing on the floor below. The Ifrit twitched before staring in anger in disbelief. Sero flicked his blade then and suddenly all four cuts sprayed out boiling hot blood from the creatures neck separating half his neck from the shoulders. The blood coated the wall before the ifrit dropped to its knees and then fell. Laying there dead on the floor. They all kept underestimating him for it and thus died for it.

686/1726
1600/1600 monster dead. +2 civilians +2 for medium monster =4 +33 =37 points total
126 words remaining

Next encounter

The member 'Sero' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Haunted House Dice' :

Yet another enemy lay dead before him. The fires raged behind him and all burned in its wake. He let his head fall back as he could almost sense the outside. His grey eyes stared at the ceiling as he reflected back on it all. It all had made so much sense to him and yet just beyond those doors. Freedom supposedly awaited. However he wasn't sure how he felt about it. What lay through that passage was just mundane. It was the every day norm. Here he had focus. His potential continued to grow in bounds with each enemy he fought. How was he supposed to walk away from that? Had he been meant to fall here? He could smell his paradise burning behind him. Why was he so torn? Was it unthinkable that he might ever find a killing fields with creatures like him again? Was it impossible that out there other places like this could keep up with him? These things were nothing when compared to his mentors. He was a steady judge of ability when it came to people he worked with and fought against. In comparison to Gin or Ayakashi these things were weak. Yet he knew they were all around his level. All above the level of genin and one even beyond his ability. He had only gotten that kill because of tactics over brute power. Even that thing didn't stand against either women. His blade dripped a thick droplet of hot blood. When it hit the floor it sizzled and he looked down at it. His weapons...he had stained them all. He had grown in power since the day he was aware he needed to. How could he be so far behind them? How could those women even be human when these monsters were unable to obtain his level. It frustrated him endlessly.

Still he couldn't waste time on it. Remaining wasn't an option. His internal struggle was his own problem for another time. All this place was as it turned out was just another stepping stone for him that burned in his passing. He would grow even further beyond this place until these monsters were far below him anyway. The struggle was simple enough but he had struggled at points. He had been forced to push himself to overcome adversity. Now he was at the peak of what this place had to offer. Yet something felt incomplete. He turned as the ifrit gurgled and turned its head. It choked out hot blood on the ground in front of Sero as its weakly open eyes stared at the boy. It seemed to fade in and out before it grinned a tooth filled smile. Blood stained teeth parted before it spoke. "You...you think....that's it....that you have won....this place is...*coughing up blood* This place is just a mirror...Hell on earth. I was just a ranking soldier...You won't get out alive...the master is...he is..." Suddenly the ifrits eyes widened as it met Seros cold gaze. Dead grey eyes like the grave staring into its own dying eyes. It felt its last breaths catching in its throat as its eyes trembled. He could feel it...that aura Sero had been controlling for sake of the children. Murder dulled the air like a muffler on the senses. Just looking at those shadowed eyes filled the dying ifrit with dread. That thin smile that split the young mans face left little question that the ifrit would die. No being could save him. This child was the one to send him to hell and he was powerless.

Each step Sero took seemed to echo across the hall to the Ifrit. The funeral bell going off as if laughing at him. It was maddening how slow it seemed to be happening. The only though going through his mind is how he needed to die before the boy reached him...before those pale hands could touch him...like bleached claws ripping out his soul. There was nothing human behind those eyes. That smile held no sanity or mercy. He wanted to die before it made it to him...it no longer had gender...it was no longer human...Let me die...oh please let me die...hurry and die...I need to die. Those phrases echoed in the mind of the Ifrit as it found it couldn't move. It had lost too much blood to fight back but not enough to fade into darkness. The cost of being strong....Yet he felt like the child here. Centuries old and considering the god of fire by some. This thing terrified it. Still as Sero stepped in front of him the last of the Ifrits powerful heartbeats thudded. The Ifrit finally let the light fade from its terrified eyes and yet its dying thoughts were of relief. That pale child would not touch him before he passed. It died in time. Still Sero stood over it. Watching the last of the blood flow out. Another play thing lost to the grave. But it had shared some information. There was still on opponent left. One individual above all others here. Sero could reach satisfaction with that. He could accept that a being of power awaited him outside those doors. The night was still young after all. It would be fun to see what kind of being could create a mirror to hell. A gateway of all things.

919/1045

Still a simple tug on his sleeve tore him from his thoughts as cleanly as a loud scream may have. He blinked as the darkness faded from his eyes to look down. The little boy had a grip on his blood soaked sleeve and was looking up at him while holding his sisters hand with his free hand. His sister watched Sero with mixed fear and anxiety about her brother touching him. She was grateful to this man for getting them this far but her brothers safety came first and foremost to her. She could feel Sero even if somehow here little brother was numbed to it. Whatever terror that little boy had experienced had wiped out reason from him for the time being when it came to fear. He should feel like keeping his distance from Sero yet it required his sister ready to yank him back for him to only get that close. Barely within his own reach. Still those child like eyes looked beyond Sero or rather through him for a moment before looking to the door. Sero looked to as he considered that he should be leaving now. The kid had the right idea. The mission wasn't finished yet. They needed to leave these ruins.

Still Sero tugged his sleeve away. He didn't want to be attached to these people for much longer. How much more could he have let go if he didn't need to protect them? He felt that leash that Ayakashi always put on him drawn in ever so tightly. Still he felt connected to these two somehow...as if they represented a part of him he had abandoned some time ago...perhaps they were the physical manifestation of his own humanity? It would be ironic for it to manifest in such a place. As if this place was just his inner mind and what he had done to it. His thumb reached up on his left hand and began to crack each finger individually. He couldn't feel pain to test that theory but either way. He needed to get out of that place. If his mind was trapping him and he was harmed or killed in his mind his body would likely shut down. So wasting time worrying about it mattered very little. Still he flexed his chakra and blasted Kai through his system. Had it been a genjutsu with the pure chakra surge he just managed he would be free now. It appeared this was real.

Still he walked across the way and once more touched the doors leading outside. As before these ones melted away at his touch only this time it wasn't his doing. Standing on the other side was a young man around Sero's age with grey skin, white hair and hollow eyes. He was wearing the same outfit as Sero but darker and the bloodstains seemed to writhe. The other thing aside from the grey skin was the horns that beaded out of his forehead. The demon kid with Sero's face reached out in a flash and before Sero could defend he grabbed him by the face and an electric current slammed into Sero. With his muscles flexed Sero found himself unable to move more then to grit his teeth. The demon kid spoke then. His voice deep like a full grown mans. "Oh hoho thats enough voltage to knock out a full grown man. You sure do entertain me Osada-kun" He said playfully before he whipped his arm with his grip still on Sero and chucked him out the door into the graveyard so hard Sero slammed through a gravestone pulverizing it to dust.

616/1661

The mirror image of Sero laughed as he held his forehead in his left hand and pointed with his right hand after Sero. He seemed to be poking fun as he ignored the children behind him now. He stepped down off the porch steps and crouched down gently touching the earth with his right hand as black eyes looked into the graveyard. "I can sense you boy...I know that didn't kill you. Rise now and face me. For now you stand against Mephistopheles." The figure watched with an amused smile as he could feel Sero stirring. Still Sero rose like a limp doll as he got up from behind the shattered gravestone. One of his sleeves was torn off and a small bit of blood marked his elbow. Red fingerprints marked his skull from that current before. The toss had done some damage but still Sero looked on with a blank stare. Mephistopheles chuckled and wiggled his fingers at Sero beckoning him to come at him. Still he merely smiled as Sero stepped forward and reached down to pick up his Odachi he had dropped at some point. Standing straight as he brushed himself off before speaking calmly. His words cold as they echoed.

"If you insist on wearing that face...I will put on one of my own."

With that Chakra surged out of Sero and mist rose up in a rising circle pattern in several streams around him before forming into a single column. Mephistopheles whistled as if impressed before Sero stepped out of the mist as it faded away behind him. Now he stood there in full ANBU gear with a horned mask on his face. Grey eyes peeked out from behind the mask as he flicked his blade again. His blade rose and he gripped it in both hands before holding it in front of him in a basic stance. Mephistopheles chuckled and held out his own hand before a black version of the same blade entered his hands and with a burst of speed he rushed Sero. As they met the metal of the two swords clanged and then clanged again. Blinding fast strikes rose from the contact of Mephistopheles's onslaught. Each time the blows were blocked with minimal movement and sparks flew. Still it was pushing Sero back each time. Yet neither of them seemed to be lacking confidence. Sero had to be planning something.

Sero watched quietly and as each strike was parried he began to pick apart the pattern. Downwards strike...left strike up strike right strike stab. He watched as it varied slightly but always ended in a stab after four moves. The being wasn't using the Odachi correctly but that was what could give Sero an edge. Still he timed it as he counted his steps as he was pushed back. Careful with his timing and placement. Suddenly when Mephistopheles went in for a stab Sero sidestepped it a grabbed the blade by the dull top with his left hand and pulled it through into the gravestone behind him. It would not hold the individual but it would give Sero an opening. In that moment Seros right hand swung the Odachi down and sliced along the front of Mephistopheles's torso...the being roared in pain before letting his own sword fade and stumbling back. His black eyes took in Sero as he growled out. Flames overtaking him as he spoke up. "You win for now boy...I go to hell to lick my wounds...one day though you will be in my realm...You will end up in hell and it is there I will have my vengeance on you." And with that he burned away to nothing.

623/2284
2000/2000 advanced monster defeated. +2 from two civilians...42 points in total

curiosity

The member 'Sero' has done the following action : Dices roll

'Haunted House Dice' :

Closing this with 42 points