One of the dozens of tiny "countries" that existed on the continent Daraku had been born on was apparently making big news recently. Fittingly entitled "Onigakure", a name which he was certain he had never heard before since he would have remembered it if he had, this country had become the center of attention because an abandoned village  was discovered inside. This abandoned village seemingly appeared out of thin air, and was thus attracting all sorts of shinobi under the banners of their respective leaders in an effort to understand what exactly was happening. Daraku was never a superstitious type of person, so naturally when he caught word of the abandoned village, he chalked its enigmatic nature up to the mere ignorance of everyone in this Onigakure place. Obviously, they must have all been oblivious to their own country to not notice an entire empty village. He couldn't deny, however, that the surrounded area was similarly suspicious. The forest around the village had wilted, the sky had gone dark, and everyone who was entering the village's boundaries to investigate had yet to return. He wasn't afraid, nor did he think that anything too out of the ordinary was at play; he had no idea what was going on, if he was honest, but he refused to accept that it was something otherworldly.

Daraku's uncle wouldn't shut up about the veil between the spirit world and the mortal world being "thin as ever" at that time, and even if it was only to escape the endless chatter, he decided to go on his own mission to Onigakure. More specifically, he targeted the "haunted" mansion wherein lied unimaginable horrors and evil. He left Sunagakure at night and watched the sunrise during his long journey, but as soon as he arrived in Onigakure, all the light vanished and he was once again steeped in darkness. The forest outside the village actually was barren and dried, almost as if the life had been drained from it. The rumors were true, from what it looked like, and as he walked through the ghost town, he stumbled upon exactly what he was looking for: the mansion.

Without hesitation, Daraku entered the building, his hands resting on the prized swords securely strapped to the back of his waist. His wakizashi was tied to his left leg, as well, so with all of his best weapons present, he was fully equipped and ready for any threat that could possibly come at him. This should be a lot of fun. I'm what everyone should be scared of; the Phantom of the Sand is the only real horror in this shithole.

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

'Haunted House Dice' :

The Sannin's foot hit one of the dark wooden floorboards beneath him, which caused a deafening creak that echoed throughout the room. It was a large open space, with rotting wood, decrepit structures, and dusty, old furniture everywhere. His reflexes were impeccable at this level and he was already prepared before he even entered, so as soon as he saw the shadow shifting in his peripheral vision, he pulled out Nisebi with his right hand and held it horizontally in front of himself. A blow was deflected, though he wasn't sure exactly from what, but he didn't really care either. Before the creature could attack again or move out of the way, Daraku's left hand gave a light tug at Mugen Hikō and let his foot slide down. In a fluid motion, he extended his leg as it maintained contact with the ground so that he was put into a near-lunging position; his focus was keeping his target within range. With this extra range, he forced his uchigatana into the target with a stab at full strength, but he was surprised to find the weapon miss its mark and instead be redirected to the left. A skillful parry; Daraku's eyes darted to his hand in disbelief, before he looked at the creature face-to-face. It was less than a meter away, but he couldn't see it clearly. The lighting in the house wasn't great to begin with and there was no sunlight coming through the windows, so there wasn't away around the darkness. The two things that he could easily discern were the creature's white eyes, which lacked pupils and looked like lifeless orbs, and the creature's claws, which seemed more like mounds of razor blades clustered onto a lengthy, malleable appendage. To make matters worse, Daraku had put some of the opportunity he had to put distance between himself and the creature to waste by spending just under a second surveying it; time was vital in close combat, as he knew, but he let his instincts lose priority to get a better understanding of what he was facing. Now, he watched as the creature's hand extended from its wrist elastically, which ultimately meant the razor blades were fast approaching and would kill Daraku if he didn't make the right move.

Daraku wasn't so easy to beat, though, and he swiftly kicked his leg into the air so that it knocked the creature's claw out of his way, then used the momentum to follow through into a backflip. Before reaching the apex of his flip, he loosened the strap on his leg using his thumb and forefinger while keeping Mugen Hikō in his hand; his wakizashi sprung free from its holster, and as he landed about 3 feet back from the monster in front of him, he caught the weapon in his mouth. He remained calm and composed throughout this careful maneuver, which was strange for him. He was used to getting extremely angry and emotional during battle; since he'd undergone his personal awakening, he found that his fights had a newfound sense of clarity and smoothness while still maintaining his lethality and his taste for gruesome violence. He had a degree of finesse, these days.

The razor monster stood, staring blankly with its eyes; Daraku faced it without fear. His wakizashi was still held firmly between his teeth, and he had one elemental sword in each of his hands. This was the Slaughter Stance technique, a bukijutsu-medical ninjutsu style that he had invented as a Chuunin. He hadn't used it in a long while, but now was as good a time as any if he wanted to conserve chakra without sacrificing power. He felt the adrenaline build in his system as his chakra stimulated his body and enhanced his muscles slightly, operating as a temporary steroid. The monster started to quake violently until a gaping hole tore open on its face and it let out a pained shriek; it seemed its mouth had been stitched shut, but with great enough effort it managed to rip the stitches apart. Now, it was blowing a thick cloud of something into the air, which started to surround Daraku and fill the room. Based on the smell alone, Daraku knew it was a Katon technique, and it seemed very similar to the gunpowder produced in the Burning Ash jutsu. Once the cloud had completely engulfed everything, Daraku couldn't see anything. He was practically blind, and he tried to shield his eyes from the powder using his forearm. Whispers could be heard from the creature's general direction, but it was only speaking in tongues. It sounded like a snake hissing, yet articulate and complex. Daraku held his swords defensively as he started to sprint past the creature and across the room until he found cover in a small room underneath the staircase and slammed the door shut behind him. The monster created a single spark with its claws, and in the process, ignited the ash, causing a massive explosion.

When Daraku came back out, the room was in flames, and every breath burned his lungs. The abomination was still there, now reduced to a heap on the floor that twitched violently now and again. It had no regard for its own safety when it used that technique; oddly enough, a technique that powerful should have reduced the rotting wood structures of this area to rubble, as well, but the mansion was clearly still standing. Daraku felt that it wasn't a mindless thing, like a puppet being controlled, but it was a living creature, maybe the result of a forbidden jutsu or a horrible experiment. He thought for a moment of Orichimaru, a fabled Sannin of the Hidden Leaf Village known for his nightmarish human experiments and biological research. Maybe that's what was going on in this mansion, but while it would have explained the creature, it wouldn't have explained the village supposedly "appearing" out of no where, or the sky turning dark, or the forest wilting. It just didn't make sense.

Bringing his focus back to the moment at hand, Daraku looked even closer and noticed that the flames were starting to dissipate on their own...no, wait...there was some unseen force putting them out, since they were being extinguished in small patches until only ashes were left in their place. Infinitely more interested in what the hell was going on in this mansion than the thing that had tried to kill him, Daraku stepped over to his fallen adversary and shoved Nisebi through its skull, then watched its body go limp. Almost instantly afterward, a seemingly natural response to its "death", its form changed into a liquid state and it sunk into the floorboards until there was no evidence it had ever been there. Daraku stared down at the ground for a little while before turning his attention to the path where the hidden room had been. There was an entire corridor in there, just under the staircase, meaning this mansion was bigger than it seemed from the outside. He walked down the corridor slowly, taking note of his surroundings as he progressed.

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

'Haunted House Dice' :

Another movement, although much less coordinated than the last. Daraku prepared his weapons and looked straight ahead as he saw a figure stumbling out from one of the rooms connected to the corridor. He started to run toward it, raising his left sword and ready to neutralize the threat in one strike. He stopped himself as soon as he heard the scream. "AGHHHH! No, I'm not one of those things! I'm human, I'm human!" Daraku sheathed his weapons and took his wakizashi out of his mouth, placing it comfortably back into its holster on his leg and tightening said holster so that it was secure. He then ran a hand through his hair and gave a nonchalant smile to the person, who seemed to be a terrified and definitely harmless civilian. "Sorry about that. I assume you're one of the unlucky people who's been trapped in here? Well, you should be glad I found you. I'm not done looking around here just yet, though, so you'll have to come along with me..."

"No, please! I just want to go home. I miss my family. I need to get out of here." Daraku's smile faded and he rolled his eyes. "I bet your life has sucked since you got trapped in here, but you can't expect me to just pick up and leave now that I've found you. There could be others trapped here, too. And I haven't figured out exactly what the fuck is going on here, so I have a compelling reason to stay. You can either come along or go back to being alone and in danger. Your choice." With visible reluctance, the man nodded in defeat, and followed as Daraku continued walking down the corridor and made turned into one of the rooms.

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

'Haunted House Dice' :

A rather grotesque noise could be heard faintly from beneath the floorboards, which caught Daraku's attention and put him on alert. He halted in his tracks and turned to address the person he had just rescued. "Something's coming. Run past me and find cover somewhere behind that piano back there, I'll take care of the rest." The fearful man obeyed his orders and hid behind the piano. Daraku listened closely to the noises; they sounded like hot tar, boiling and releasing gas as its bubbles burst. It grew louder and louder and Daraku started to feel the heat below him grow more intense until finally, he saw a dark substance emerge. It started to shift and expand as it took a new form, a quadruped with a large maw and a bladed tail. Daraku smiled back at it. "Some kind of jutsu...I would say it's just an advanced shape transformation of some strange elemental release, but it feels like more than that." The creature was breathing hard, its tail waving in large arcs from left to right and back again. Determined to land the first strike, Daraku formed hand signs to prepare a Fūton jutsu. Noticing the pattern, the beast let out an enraged roar and charged at Daraku.

The pressure was on, now, as the creature closed in on Daraku within seconds. Just before its bite could catch Daraku's torso, he side stepped out of the creature's path and, using his left hand, pulled Mugen Hikō free from its scabbard once more. He gathered charka into the blade and it started to glow faintly in response. This next jutsu was prepared in no time, and he continued turning into a full 360 degree revolution as he let his blade slice into the creature's front leg. The precision was exact; Daraku had purposely targeted the muscle with his weapon and used his Shinkeisetsudan jutsu to sever the nerves using chakra. The result was a lose of function in the target's leg, causing the beast to fall down and violently flail in an effort to get back on its feet. Without being able to use its leg, it couldn't balance, so every attempt to stand resulted in another collapse. Additionally, this confirmed Daraku's suspicions; this creature, whatever it was, was alive. It had an organic anatomy complete with nerves and muscular structures, because otherwise, the Shinkeisetsudan wouldn't have had any effect. He looked down at the hopeless thing and shook his head. "What are you, then? A summon?" The creature's shrieks flooded the room with agonizing volume.

Suddenly, its tail jerked and twisted until the bladed tip faced Daraku, and then it extended. Daraku remembered the last thing and how it had done something similar with its arm and its claws. He was prepared, nonetheless, and defended himself from the attack using Hikō before forcing the blade into one of the serrated segments of the creature's tail to restrict its movement. He finished the hand signs using his right hand and then jumped back to put a safe distance between himself and the crippled monster. The curiosity vanished from his mind and all that was left was a desire to kill. "Let's finish this," he muttered. He let in a large breath and released a sphere of pressurized wind. It traveled to the monster very quickly and on contact, burst into a massive tornado that tore away at the creature, creating lacerations all over its body. It lay there motionless in the aftermath, and Daraku sheathed Hikō. He turned to face the man who was still hiding behind the piano. "We're done in this room; this thing will bleed out soon enough, and it's too weak at this point to be any real threat to either of us. Let's go." Just as he said that, the creature started to hiss and growl. Its blood was pooling and starting to sink into the floorboards. Daraku didn't like the structure of this mansion; the wooden floors with substantial space between planks made it clear that it was far too old, but he also knew that there had to be another level below this one, a basement of sorts.

Using the rest of its strength, the creature slowly got back onto its feet and faced the civilian this time. Daraku stared at it with vague interest. "Don't be afraid. It can try to hurt you but it can't do anything while I'm around. I'll protect you." The man nodded but the sweat on his brow suggested that it wasn't so easy to dismiss his fears. The beast was starting to tremor which Daraku knew by now meant that it was likely to change form in some way, so he walked over to the civilian and placed himself in the beast's path. Regardless of whatever was going to happen, he wasn't going to let the poor idiot get killed. The beast's neck started to contort and the bones within began to snap, followed by its spine and the rest of its skeleton. Bones were shifting and its muscles and skin followed, and finally it had gone from a nearly canine appearance into a humanoid form. It's tail had been moved to its torso so that it functioned as one of its arms, and somehow all of the bleeding had stopped. It's mouth bent into a smile and it started to speak some unknown language, just like the last thing had.

Without warning, its arm extended and was headed straight for the civilian, and Daraku didn't have enough time to block the attack with his weapon, so he tackled the citizen to get him out of the way. They hit the ground hard, with Daraku underneath the man and his arms around him. He let the guy go and quietly demanded that he stay on the ground while Daraku killed the creature. The creature's arm retracted and readied for another attack, but Daraku rose to his feet and unsheathed Nisebi. He struck the blade between the creatures mangled legs, but it didn't react to the resulting injury whatsoever. Its bladed arm was poised to slit Daraku's throat, and if Daraku wasn't quick, he would get killed. So, the natural response was to force the blade upward, all the way until it escaped through the creature's skull and left the body in two. Split straight down the middle, blood seeped from the black thing, and it fell in two pieces to the ground. Daraku took a moment to inspect, and strangely enough, it had no visible organs inside. It was all just a black, tar-like substance and strange, metallic muscles and bones; no heart, brain, lungs, or anything of the sort, even though it had been bleeding every time it was wounded, thinking and responding actively to changes in its surroundings, and breathing. Daraku had never seen anything like it, even in his near decade as a medical ninja...he didn't know what to think. He faced the civilian. "Get up. We're getting out of this part of the mansion and going downstairs."

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

'Haunted House Dice' :

Back in the central area of the house, Daraku looked up at the twin staircases, both leading to the top floor where more labyrinthine corridors could probably be found. What he was looking for was a staircase down, a way into the basement that he knew had to be there. There were no trap doors or hidden panels anywhere that he could see as he walked along, and finally he figured he shouldn't be the only one looking. He turned his attention to the civilian. "Uh, what's your name?" Daraku asked, casually. The man responded with "Yuki". "Alright, Yuki. Look for any signs of a secret passageway, we need to get into the basement but I don't see a way in." Yuki nodded and went toward the opposite end of the room to search. All the while, the house was practically living; various parts of the structure creaking, wind entering through the open windows and howling as it filled the room, and the strained noises the floor made as it supported Daraku's weight as he moved. There was one specific spot he found where the floor didn't creak, though, and he knelt down to investigate. He tapped on the wood and the knock sounded foreign. He slid his hands into the crevice between floorboards and found an almost undetectable metal hinge, indicating a doorway. "Over here, Yuki. I found something." With enough force, the door yanked open and revealed a ladder going down into the lower half of the mansion. It was dark and it smelled of death, but Daraku didn't have a weak mind or stomach. He descended the ladder and Yuki followed after cautiously. Once they reached the bottom, they found themselves in a narrow hallway with one large room at the end, its door shut.

Daraku walked briskly ahead until he reached the door and pushed it open. Yuki stayed back for a moment, just in case, and when it seemed relatively safe followed Daraku in. The room was a library or a study of sorts, as the walls were lined with massive bookshelves and there was a desk in the center piled with papers. Daraku sat down at the desk and examined some of the papers, but was quickly interrupted by a loud banging sound. His eyes darted to the source of the sound...it was the door, which had slammed shut on its own. "Yuki, stay behind me." Daraku commanded as he rose to his feet, his hands close to his weapons. It took him a brief moment to realize that there was a presence in the room with them that he couldn't see; books were falling from the shelves and papers scattered across the floor as they were blown from the desk, and yet there were no windows on this level and the door was shut entirely. "Invisible to the naked eye? Damn..." Daraku didn't waste time telling Yuki what to do and instead grabbed him by the arm before forcing him under the desk and pushing the chair in slightly. "Wait there, I got this."

As the unseen thing shifted about the room, Daraku's eyes shut gently and with all of his focus he started to absorb natural energy. It melded with his own chakra until he entered Sage Mode, which gave him sensory capabilities beyond his five senses. He could feel everything within 15 meters of him, due to an aura of natural energy that was felt almost like an extension to his body. The thing that he couldn't see with his eyes was now obvious to him, hidden in plain sight. He sensed its form within 10 meters, circling the room at a rapid pace. It had a serpentine form without arms or legs but it was hovering just above the ground as it moved, suggesting it had some means of flight. Daraku stepped up onto the desk, the bottom of his haori fluttering behind him, as he took out his katana again. The monster caught sight of him and directed its path to the Sannin, who stood prepared for the first strike.

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The monster came at Daraku with its mouth wide open, attempting to bite him presumably. Daraku's expression remained blank, a mix of determination and focus where he wasn't his usual cocky and playful self. He sidestepped and swung his sword so that it caught the monster between its teeth, then directed the blade downward so that it would cut into the creature's mouth. To his disadvantage, however, the creature seemed to be significantly more powerful and it used enough force to push the sword out of its mouth before any damage could be done and even managed to tackle Daraku. Daraku fell back and rolled a few times before he got back to his feet, Nisebi still in-hand. He kept the monster in his sights as he started to climb up one of the bookshelves. Once he reached the top, he waited for the monster to follow and fly up to him. Naturally, it did as expected and charged after Daraku with all of its speed. Just before it hit, Daraku did a flip and sliced down its long figure before he landed on his feet on the ground below. Had he stayed in place, the monster would've pinned him to the wall and he would've been dinner within seconds. Now, the thing shrieked in pain before collapsing to the ground. Its camouflage lost its effect, as well, and so Daraku could see it without need to find it using natural energy. He approached it to continue his assault, but it took flight again before he could get there.

Now, the flying serpent was staying high up and out of Daraku's bukijutsu combat range. From there, it shot down bullets made of the black tar that the other creatures had been made from; Daraku wasn't going to take the risk of getting hit, so he kept himself moving to avoid injury. The tar looked rather menacing; it was steaming hot and it adhered to any surface it touched, meaning that if it were to hit him, it would probably melt through his skin and stick in the wound, making it much harder to heal using any medical ninjutsu. Better to avoid entirely. Luckily, thanks to the augmentation of Sage Mode, his speed outclassed the monster's and he could dodge the tar projectiles with ease. The beast caught onto his trick, though, and it must have realized that there was still another potential target in the room. It aimed its next projectile for the desk that Yuki was hiding underneath, circling in the air for a moment as it built up tar before blasting it out of its mouth in a large sphere. Daraku reacted instantly and slid underneath the desk, grabbing Yuki and rolling out of harm's way. The tar hit the desk hard and broke it apart, before melting through the wooden remnants so all that remained was the sticky substance. With no safe place for Yuki to hide, this fight would be considerably harder, but Daraku couldn't let him leave the room and go out into the rest of the mansion on his own. He could get killed without Daraku to protect him.

Ultimately, Daraku was left with the choice to either try and protect Yuki or tell Yuki to run away and hope he survived until Daraku killed the serpent. He didn't want to choose himself so he consulted the one whose life was at stake. "This is getting tense. I'm giving you two options; stay or run." Yuki shivered for a moment, visibly getting chills down his spine. "I'm staying." Daraku only nodded, figuring that he couldn't hold back anymore if he wanted to keep himself and Yuki alive. He released the limits on his chakra and started to make hand seals as fast as he could. "Senpō: Katon - Hōsenka no Jutsu!" he declared before shooting five golden fireballs from his mouth. They spread in different directions at first, confusing the monster and making it come directly at Daraku in an attempt to kill him before it could get hit, but Daraku grabbed Yuki and sprinted out of the way, so quickly he was nearly a blur. The fireballs followed the serpent and converged on its location, striking it directly and engulfing it in golden flames. It fell from the air and Daraku intercepted it, cutting it clean in half with Nisebi before it could hit the ground. He looked down at the severed body and watched it bubble away like the first monster he killed did, although this time they were at the lowest level of the house and there was no where for the liquid to sink. "Ok, it's dead. Let's look around here a little more and then we can head back upstairs."

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

'Haunted House Dice' :

Daraku searched the destroyed desk for any explanation of what the mansion was, the history of the village, or what exactly was happening. It was easy to give into the superstition and claim the place was haunted and the phenomenon was impossible to explain logically, but he refused to accept that. What was going on here was something within the shinobi realm, likely under the banner of forbidden jutsu. It sent shivers down his spine and left his skin steeped in goosebumps, even as he thought to himself that he wasn't afraid. Regardless of whether or not he was, he wouldn't admit it anyway. After gathering a few scrolls and a document, he shoved the scrolls into his pockets and folded the document, tucking it neatly into his undershirt so that it was pressed to his chest.  He then guided Yuki back upstairs and, with Nisebi still in hand, dared to venture to the upper level of the house. Every step up the staircase made an unsettling creak. Daraku was surprised to find the top floor shared almost no similarities with the bottom floor. Walls were damaged, paint chipped, wood burned away. Doorways were obstructed and the hallway was cluttered with debris. There were bones scattered across the ground, and black tar rising from beneath the floorboards as it formed bubbles. Yuki kept close as they moved slowly toward the first door that wasn't inaccessible. Tar bubbles started to follow in their wake, although they didn't seem to be part of a creature or pose much of a threat. They were under the control of something, though.

Daraku sliced one of the bubbles clean in half, which made a large popping noise as it burst. "Who's there? I know you're watching us. Quite playing games and get out here so I can carve you up." He called out to the emptiness, letting his challenge echo through the expansive building. As expected, no reply. "Fine then, fuck you. I'll find you myself." Yuki hesitated for a moment as he yearned to tell Daraku that he was certain no one was there, and ultimately decided to keep his mouth shut. He looked down, feeble and afraid. Daraku didn't have enough of an attention span to notice the change in Yuki's demeanor. He simply directed Yuki into the room and followed in after. "Spacious. A nice bed and some dressers...still, too many bones all over the place. Just seems like unnecessary clutter if you ask me." Daraku joked, picking up one of the bones and tossing it onto the bed.

The door slammed shut behind them, and Daraku turned to face it. How familiar. He braced himself for whatever would attack, but nothing within his Senjutsu sensory radius was a threat, so he wasn't sure where the threat would come from if the door was closed. Then, a burst of smoke, and a quake through the room. When the smoke cleared, there was a dark sphere in the exact center of the room, and its presence was daunting. It was larger than the bed in the room, and seemingly made from the same tar material as all the other creatures. Daraku noticed the big difference immediately though; the smoke wasn't normal. This was a summoning jutsu, which meant that someone had a contract with these things and was summoning them. Daraku could feel this thing's chakra and natural energy, and it was definitely intimidating. It was on par with his own, if not stronger. "Yuki, protect yourself at all costs. Put that dresser on its side and get behind it."

The sphere started to pull in bones from the ground, sucking them into its tar and growing in size. Two azure lights appeared in the mass that remained in place as the sphere's form shifted. The bones connected and formed larger structures and the creature's figure was entirely humanoid, soon enough. A huge skeleton, complete with limbs and a skull, covered in tar. The two lights glowed in front of the skull's empty eye sockets. It stood over 10 feet tall and it shrieked continuously as its skeleton form came to completion. Once it finished, it looked down at Daraku and Yuki with those glowing eyes; Daraku's ears wouldn't stop ringing. "Daraku, what's going on? My ear's are ringing, and why is the house shaking?" Daraku turned and saw Yuki looking around aimlessly, and at that moment he realized one more deadly attribute of the creature. This thing's invisible, too...the only reason I can sense it is because of my Sage Mode. Fucking hell... The skeleton's arm swiftly came down upon Daraku in an attempt to grab him, but he rolled out of the way and swung his sword at the bone. It struck hard, but did no damage. The bones had been reinforced by the tar, somehow; usually, all of Daraku's blades, let alone Nisebi, could easily cleave through bone. Now, this wasn't the case, which meant the only way to disable this thing was using jutsu.

Daraku weaved hand signs expertly, preparing his wind-enhanced water dragon technique. It required a large number of seals but it would be formidable enough to damage the skeleton. The skeleton swept its leg across the ground but Daraku jumped over it and countered with a sword slice to the neck, this time at full force. It hit the skeleton and fractured the bone, but wasn't enough to break through. Daraku backed away fast and finished executing the hand signs. "Suiton: Uzuryūdan no Jutsu!" He shouted before he blasted a torrent of water from his mouth. It instantly formed a spiraling dragon that smashed into the skeleton directly in the ribcage and spine. The force was enough to exacerbate the damage done by his sword to the point where the spine shattered, and the skeleton fell apart (and the dragon dissipated with it), reduced to a pile of water-diluted tar on the ground. Daraku stood there waiting for it to reform and repair the bones, but after a few minutes of waiting with no response, he put his weapon away and let out a sigh.

He walked back over to Yuki and helped the man up. "How did you survive in here alone? I've been in here for less than a few hours and I've already been attacked by four monsters." Yuki claimed that his survival was the result of a week of hiding in a pantry and living off of scraps, which sounded like torture. Reflecting on the last enemy, Daraku's interest had increased even more. The creature mimicked a mythological being called the Gashadokuro that Daraku remembered very distinctly because the elders of the Ishido clan had followed the Shinto religion. According to Shinto, the Gashadokuro were massive skeletons made from bones of people that died of starvation. They bit off traveler's heads after midnight and drank their blood, and one of the signs that they were nearby was ringing in the ears. They were said to be capable of invisibility and indestructibility, as well. The biggest difference between the Gashadokuro and the creature that Daraku had just defeated was the size; the Gashadokuro was said to be at least fifteen times the size of a regular human, whereas the skeleton that Daraku had destroyed was barely four feet taller than he was. Nonetheless, the fact that the tar had taken on that form was more than a little suspicious to Daraku, and it left him wondering. He knew that it had been summoned, and perhaps the bones had been purposefully laid out on this floor so that it could take on the Gashadokuro's form. But who had summoned it? Who was manipulating it? And what exactly did they want?

Details:

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

'Haunted House Dice' :