Like rats, hidden within the endless desert. At least that's what those insolent villages thought that the infamous Lamya and those following her were doing. Her attempts to claim the land for her own had been hampered, silenced by a people too fractionalized to understand the coming storm and as the weakened masses fought one another, rebel, bandit and scum alike suddenly had to contend with and defend against the monumental might that came not from within, but from the outside world. The march of legions upon legions of shinobi, spurred by the pretentious exclamations from a fool to dub himself a god, the false desire for peace and tranquility. It was all a joke in the end, where each faction thought to try and defend against a multitude of villages, who all either willingly or unwillingly played into this fool of a Raikage's hand.

If she had viewed Mitsuo as an ally, a comrade in arms during their mutual attack upon Sunagakure, now his allegiance to the madman of Kumogakure made him one of, if not the worst possible enemy. Then there was the Mizukage, who despite her power, despite her protectionist policies after the many tragedies that had befallen her nation and village, had blindly followed the Raikage, practically offering herself up to him as a useful puppet with whose strings he could play to further manipulate the shinobi world. The ultimate disgrace though, was her old home, her origin, the place of her heart and her hearth: Konohagakure. Weakened as it was after a succession of incompetent hokages, they had simply agreed to a pact of coordination and allied themselves to a far more mighty Kirigakure and as a result, they ended up not as an equal partner, but as a vassal, a secondary puppet in the hands of this...Hastur.

It was all a joke.

Sitting at the head of a long, beautifully carved, yet already harshly eroded table from the ancient civilization which once had ruled the desert in times before even the shinobi had existed, A single woman placed her lips onto a richly decorated glass chalice, taking a sip from some sort of red liquid which it contained. Her eyes were closed, yet her ears were open, listening carefully to the squabbling of a few of her men which had been granted the leisure of retaining their free will and soundness of mind in exchange for certain...benefits. Their voices rumbled, their opinions and ideas clashed. They were like insects, fighting over a prize which they could not hope to obtain or even contain. Even if Lamya had come to understand that despite how much she wanted it, she was not yet near being on equal to an actual god, compared to those fools, she might've actually been one.

"Will you ingrates finally stop with this incessant prattling which is not only hurting my ears, but also my appetite?" The woman's voice was soft, yet cold and managed to maintain a tone filled with such arrogance and authority that the men sitting at the table suddenly held their tongues. "Making plans to obtain sunagakure and its holdings is futile. Even if we practically have all the pieces in place, we are not able to stand in this alone, certainly not like this."

"But Mistress, is it not wiser to try and claim as much land as possible and defend it from thereon out?" One of the men; an older example with weathered skin like leather peppered with gray hair exclaimed, looking at the documents in front of him and thus unlike the other men present completely missing the fact that the woman at the end of the table had opened her eyes and was now gazing intently at him. "Should we not consolidate our forces and build up proper resistance to the villages, declaring you as this land's new Empr...ess...ugh"

Without a word, the rogue shinobi known as Lamya had traversed the distance between herself and the man, having walked across the table in utter silence, yet with great speed only capable by one such as herself. Her free hand had grasped the man by the throat and was now lifting him about a meter above the ground, having lifted him from his chair. While the man gurgled and squirmed, the woman drew him closer to herself, looking him straight in the eyes with her own snakelike, golden orbs with a silver ring of unspecified origin surrounding them. "We have lost too many men by trying to 'consolidate'...commander," The woman took another sip from her chalice's red liquid and chuckled softly, yet eerily. "All this time, we've wasted men and resources in trying to claim that which we could not hold on our own and now we, this entire land is besieged on all sides by foreign powers, while we have yet to fully exert control within...you see the issue here? It's not possible to face enemies on all sides. At least...not alone."

Dropping the man back to his chair, the Snake of the Desert grinned deviously, crushing the ornately crafted glass chalice within her hand, the shards of it piercing her skin and her own blood mingling with the red liquid which had been contained within the chalice. "There's a man out there, a smart man and a powerful man...one who despite not having shown any ambition, without a doubt holds great darkness in his heart and great ambition. He may be silent, but he will make his move, of that I am certain," As she walked away, most of the men which sat at the table looked at the droplets of her blood mixed with the red liquid, their eyes turning into a pale imitation of her own, their fingers greedily trying to touch the spilled liquid, slurping it off of those fingertips as if it were some godly ambrosiac. "Call back all main forces, keep the strongest of our men on standby, only the fodder may continue to carry out their missions. It is time that for once, I go to Him rather than Him coming to me."

Turning around to jump onto her seat and crossing her legs, she grinned diabolically when looking at the commanders seemingly fighting eachother to gain a taste from her blood and the strange red liquid, almost like a frenzy of rats. "Look at you fools, almost unable to contain yourself when you see blood, savor it gentlemen, because you will need it when the time comes to stand up and fight," Letting out a soft chuckle, she then stood up and walked over towards a chamber which had its entrance hidden behind a stone statue and was guarded by two men dressed in black garments bearing the insignia of an eight headed serpent upon them. "No one comes in here."

The guards responded in silence, by drawing their blades and barring the entrance to the chamber.

Slowly, the woman removed the white and gold dress she was wearing, dropping the piece of clothing to the ground as she looked upon the naked presence of a man upon her bed, his skin white as alabaster, his eyes glazy as marbles and his throat ripped open in such a brutal fashion, one could say it had been done by a beast, a savage, wild animal with a cold heart and cold blood running through its veins. Simply smiling, the woman grabbed a corner of the bedsheets and covered up the naked corpse, continuing to remove all her jewelry and unnecessary clothing.

Walking over to a mirror, she watched herself, as she started to put on a catsuit made out of soft, yet durable material, zipping it tightly up to her throat. Next were a pair of high-heeled glossy boots which reached up to her knees and then she started putting on her black armor with the silver chains attached to it, yet then she stopped for a moment, looking at her face's reflection in the mirror. "No matter the face, no matter the time, I will be a monster, I will be that which they deserve," Placing the golden rebreather against her throat, the woman followed suit by pulling a shiny, black mask over her head, connecting it to the rebreather, after which a wheezing sound anounced that the rebreather had been coupled to the mask securely. "The rabbit princess birthed three sons. One to keep balance, one to spur growth and one to incite change.Yet from the world sprang forth a shadow, one waiting for a moment in which change has halted, growth has hampered and balance has wrought nought but discontent and within its darkness, it would swallow the three sons, their beliefs and their legacy. Foolish legends, foolish beliefs...but nonetheless a reminder to this world that when it languishes, one must strive to cleanse it anew."

Her voice distorted by the mask and the rebreather, gave her an almost prophetic, translike tone. With a simple chuckle, she turned away from the mirror and walked to the entrance of the chamber, turning her attention to the two guards who sheathed their blades in response to her appearance. "We're moving out..."

1547

Back resting against the wall, hidden in what little shadows the room offered, Laïs listened quietly to the conversation that transpired around the beautifully carved table. Lamya sat at the head of the table, the other chairs taken by a couple of gents unfamiliar to the Jugo. They were debating politics and stratagems. Topics that caught little interest of the Jugo who, aside from being too impatient and brazen to deal with such things, simply didn't hold the knowledge or insight to bring anything remotely of interest onto the table. That wasn't to say she was completely oblivious of what was currently happening in Sunagakure, mind you. Laïs was well aware of the survivors who opposed the advance of the Ryujin. With the Nations coming to finish what they had begun, meddling in affairs of dragons that didn't pertain them, their troops had more than once revealed themselves to the Jugo. More than once Laïs had either opposed them in their endeavours or reported their movements. To no avail. The vast amount of troops of the four Nations combined was too much for the little amount the Ryujin held in comparison.

It worried her. It displeased her mistress and pushed those directly under her towards a state of panic and desperation. The men around the table had not ceased to talk, hands moving to emphasise their words, nodding and opposing. All of that between each other while Lamya sat there in a brooding silence, enjoying a chalice of red liquid like the regal empress she was. Until she had enough of their prattling. Soft, cold words would leave her lips, instantly silencing the table. And raising the hairs on Lais' arms as she could feel the irritated mood that came with it. The Jugo had been at quite an unease lately, partially since she had a taste of her sage form, partially due to suffering the Snake's training. Physically, she was fine, but mentally the Snake had left several scars imprinted within the Jugo that had consistently been taking their toll on her sleep.




Lamya's words resonated in her mind at the most random of times. Such as now again, when the old man dared to interject the Empress' will with a new idea of his own. Unnoticeable but to the most aware, Laïs shook her head when she heard his words. Even if she wasn't the strategist Lamya was, she could still see the foolishness in such an offer. Grabbing as much land as was possible... The ideas of a Greed Demon, too short-sighted to understand one could only hold close what could be defended. Ideas driving him to choke on his own words as Lamya grabbed his throat and lifted him like he was but a straw doll.

For just a second, Laïs would look away. As if averted by the ruthless display of power, expecting his neck to be snapped in twain like a twig. But that was not the case. The Jugo always had a hard time avoiding her eyes from acts of torture or the abuse of power. Especially if it happened with someone else. Her amethyst eyes would return to the situation at hand, a small malevolent smile creeping up as she expected her mistress to prove once again why she was to be feared by all. Unfortunately, the man would be allowed to drop into his seat, living another day with but a scare. But the crows would flock around him, forming out of thin air. They'd sit on his head, on his lap, on the table. All of them cawing mockingly as the 'commander' became nothing more but a play thing without power. Lamya's chalice would break in her hand, the shards drawing an inkling of blood and chasing away the birds in fear as she declared the presence of a powerful man with darkness in his heart.

Laïs raised an eyebrow. Daremo? Sure, he was powerful and her visions had revealed him to be the 'Avatar of Pestilence' but did he truly harboured that sort of darkness in his heart? Laïs had her doubts. The man was, despite his unorthodox arts, not the worst to walk around. He seemed fairly kind, scholarly, if not somewhat disinterested in the whole world. Hardly evil. "No, not Daremo. Another, another!", a crow sitting on Lamya's chair would caw. It couldn't be Daremo. Knowing Lamya, the Snake Sage always had another trick up her sleeves even if she made others believe she didn't. The snakes always figured out another new way out. Shed their skin. Slither underground. Constrict. Kill. Cold, pragmatic, slippery. Always.

As Lamya returned to her seat, the spirit crows visible to none but the (deranged?) Jugo, the men around the table would dive to grasp what little of the red liquid could be salvaged. Greed Demons, a pathetic lot no matter the position the were in. Laïs rolled her eyes at the decadent desires displayed without the slightest of shame or self-control. It annoyed even the Jugo in the shadows who was otherwise far from averse from indulging basic instincts. Even Lamya felt the need to reveal their pathetic acts, but at least she revelled in their desire to grasp every little bit of divinity they considered her to be.

Without revealing the name of the Dark-hearted Man, Lamya would leave the room, leaving the Crow Sage alone in the shadows with the pathetic lot of councillors. As their blood frenzy came to an end, their rat-like attitude surfaced finally. The civilised discussions they had kept up suddenly dropped away as greedy eyes focused the 'Throne of the Empress', an easy price to claim now that Lamya was gone to prepare herself. The guards stationed in front of the door would not move, and so the occasion to for one of the man to nonchalantly stand up and trail a path around the throne with a disdainful look arose. He'd halt on the right side, grinning at his colleagues with unspoken audacity as he nudged his chin at the empty seat. He'd take it. Even if for just a few seconds. Just to impose the 'dominance' he'd never dare to show before Lamya. But Laïs would not let him.

As the crows scattered, Laïs appeared out of the shadows and took her place behind the cocky counsellor. The others would fall quiet, not so much because they feared the chuunin, but more so because they had no idea of where she had come from.

"Lay one finger on that seat and I'll personally skin you piece by piece while keeping you conscious so you'll never forget the experience."

Her words would be mere whispers in his left ear, the venom they held sending a cold shiver down his spine before he turned around with a gasp. Confused at her sudden appearance and caught off guard by her threat, he'd stumble back to his own seat. The others would gossip in wonder, the appearance of the Crow Sage a rare, if not first experience for them. The flicker of claret in her eyes as the Jugo's blood seethed under the surface, ready to break free and rain down terror in a frenzy, were like the black birds coming from the Otherworld to herald the arrival of Death's touch - an ill omen. But nothing more.

Not too long after, the Dark Warlord would step out of her personal chambers again, making Laïs' heart skip a beat as even now that attire displayed authority and power beyond her wildest dreams. She'd throw the Snake a wry smile in greeting, and nod when she stated they were about to move.

---

The road to the Dark Heart would be littered with the dead and destroyed, the souls perceived by the Crow Sage still lingering around in confusion and self-pity as they failed to understand what had happened. A bleak reflection of the power they once might have held, the spirit crows that followed in the wake of the occultist would remain circling around the lost and damned, Laïs showed little interest in the presence of the dead. She saw them far too often in her dreams, the Otherworld's Yin-nature having left its spectral memories for her to see during the day. The corpses would, however, feel comfortable to the dead-attuned Jugo. Like candles in the dark revealing the path to a welcome and cherished friend. Lais could only expect this sort of morbidity to be a gift for her mistress, replacing rose petals by corpses as a distorted sense of courting. If this was the Dark Heart's doing, his brutal display revealed he had taste. A sort of artistry the Jugo probably appreciated more than the cold, calculated Snake that was her mistress.

When they finally arrived at the man himself, he bore the same sort of regality typical to his Mistress. The Emperor and the Empress, united. Behind them, the lackeys hand-picked to serve them the way the Rulers had in mind. While the Ryujin guards generally all wore the same outfit, Laïs was the exception on the rule. Ryujin Black remained, yes, but the cloak she wore was a personal selection, sporting iridescent feathers on the shoulders in line with her Sage affinity before it spilled into an ashen grey fabric which covered her entire body. The fabric would be kept together with a peculiar clasp made of little bird skulls, her black hair and pallid face riddled with signs of sleep-depravity hidden in the shadows of the large hood that covered her head. What was not revealed, was the short-sleeved black dress she wore underneath the cloak that reached her knees. The bandages wrapped around her calves would eventually end in black shinobi sandals, their existence peeking from under the ashen cloak.

Laïs, suspecting this man to be the 'Dark-Hearted Person', would remain quiet, and stand slightly behind Lamya's right side. Amethyst eyes, circled by the black tell-tale signs of fatigue, would observe this new area, her lips sealed until spoken to.

---

1726

Her star was waning, her dreams crumbling under the weight of her insane hunger. The curse of her clan was getting to her. It was obvious that what the Great white snake sage had told her decades ago was true: the Ouroboros only thrive in death, death of others, death of family and at the end...their own. Only few had managed to break this cycle, only few adhered the words that had been whispered to them from birth. The one who had been named Orochi Risu...had not listened. So many of her kin had died at her hand, so many had suffered through her actions. Consumed by blinding desires for vengeance, power and retribution, she had lost her way, had turned into exactly that which she had detested so many years ago. Even when she thought herself free from the Black Snake's grasp upon her, she could feel his lingering presence, his influence.

Her participation in the utterly savage and brutal destruction of Sunagakure was her showing him he did not control her, Yosei removing the seal was her showing him he did not lay claim on her future, taking in Laïs as a student was her showing him that she could shape a future for others, but even so...here she was following up on exactly that which her uncle had been planning all along, to sow the seed of chaos, to disrupt the order of this world and to plunge it into war yet again. There was no denying it, there was no escaping it, there was a plan at work and Lamya, despite all her power and intelligence, was doubting wether it was hers, Yosei's or perhaps even someone beyond them.

Why and how did Hastur appear so suddenly, why did Yosei hate him that much, why did she meet the former hokage so coincidentally and why was it that she felt like meeting Laïs was something which would've happened anyway. As she thought about this, the silver rings around her golden irises began to shine brighter, despite everything, his shadow still loomed over her, his presence more persistant than that of Naraka near Yosei. If Naraka represented death, her uncle represented causality, a fate worse than death, to know one's actions were predetermined from birth by another.

As she, her guards and her student made their way, the Desert Snake could not help but look upon the spectacle, the tapestry of death surrounding her and her followers. This man, his methods, his design...was all so brutal and yet, he had shown her cunning, strategy and intelligence. In so many ways, he was like him and that alone caused her to feel uncomfortable, even affraid near the Sealer. The guards could see it, that despite her cool and calm demeanor, a bead of sweat had formed on the rogue shinobi's forehead and ran down the the side onto and down her neck. She clenched her fists and decided to stride forward nonetheless, determined to face any and all things in her path...to a certain degree at least. Somehow, ever since she had managed to have the seal ridden from her, she felt vulnerable, less certain of herself, less like a god and more like a human. Her senjutsu cells creaked within her, talked to her, warned her and threatened her not to go any further, yet she endured, still she marched on, into the direction of the man who had gotten rid of the impossible to remove and who had survived the only person who she believed was the closest to rightfully call themselves a god.

Eventually, they reached the peak, having passed the tapistry of death and carnage and as she laid eyes upon his form, the woman could only slightly refrain herself from shivering. He would've looked like the leader of her own guards, wrapped in black garments and robes, a cloak veiling his physical form and black bandages covering the face she had seen only once after his supposed return. A flash of a memory passed her thoughts,a lone man swatting a path through a whole army of vile creatures in a place, litterally forsaken by gods and mortals alike, but she also saw something akin to herself, twisted into an image of another. Lamya knew not what she saw, but decided to at least remember it.

"My sword?" The woman looked around, seeing the dulness in her guards' eyes, the same dullness that seemed to reside within those of Yosei. Had she created something akin to him when she experimented upon the Ryujin? Was that the sort of eyes one would have when they had passed and returned from the treshold of death? "Would it not be more than accurate to call myself an instrument to your own road towards the goal you have? Where I have aspirations, you have a plan, does that not make you superior to me...darling?"

laughing away her rather nervous demeanor, the woman took a few steps closer to the man completely covered in his black cloak and equally colored robes and coverings. "You were once the man to lead me and now, you have yet again taken up that position," She chuckled, grabbing the hand he extended to her and coming yet even closer to him to gaze upon his works.

Death was all around, ever present, with cracked and tathered flags, bodies strewn and slaughtered around. A field of despair, disorder and death was laid bare before her and all she could do was grin, showing her teeth and her wickedness within her eyes. "I must say...you have a certain knack of impressing me," her free hand slowly caressed the man's chest, her flingers sliding gently over his garments as she turned to look straight into his dull eyes. "I'd rather say you've become a hammer of judgment upon these poor people, rather than a sword. After all, is your display not the work of a savage rather than that of a saint?" leaning in slightly closer, the woman whispered just a few words. "And they actually called my methods cruel and savage, but you just happened to surpass me in that regard...my dear Risen."

Turning around, she beckoned Laïs to come closer and approach the man, for she thought it most fortuitous that her student might lay eyes upon someone whose background was so similar and so interwoven with her own. A former Hokage, now ready to annihilate the only ally Konoha had left. A man determined to rid the world of those who dared call themselves gods, even if he was standing next to someone who had long believed herself to have risen to that position. "The child is without a doubt a good investment in the future we envision," Lamya looked at the field of carnage and chaos again, her blood pumping at a much faster rate throughout her physical form, making a few spots on her skin slightly more sensitive and as she bit her lower lip a bit and let out a soft moan, she leaned upon Yosei's shoulder and sighed deeply. "You're cold, cruel and calculated...but I wonder. You say you want to see Hastur fall, you want to cleanse this world, but to what end will you go, what will it take for you to be content, to look upon the trail you leave behind and think to yourself your job is done?"

Letting go of Yosei, the woman walked forward, right to the edge and spread out her arms before jumping off of the edge. A slow rumble filled the air, a deep and ominous sound after the woamn vanished, at which point a massive amount of virulent, sickeningly dark chakra erupted from beyond the edge. The sound of masses of flesh being trampled and crushed beneath terrible weight and pressure resonated through the air, until at last, a massive crown of rock, bone and ivory rose from the depths and eight scaled, white necks rose up around the contingent of men and monsters.

Eight pairs of golden eyes the size of full grown men placed upon heads as large as giants with fangs longer than Lamya's own pet snake and confidant Uraeus now stared at the humans. "This era will end, this world will bleed, suffer and crumble under the weight of its own inadequacies," A deep, low hiss escaped each of the maws, while eight large tongues flicked out for a moment before retreating back into their respective maw. "Susano'o no Mikoto, Kaguya Otsutsuchi and the sage of the six paths, that which they have formed will fall. We will clear the forest, we will there to fan the cleansing flames and from the ashes of this world...we'll build a better one."

1483/3030

The whole place was like a maelstrom of energies tugging onto the existence of the Jugo standing on the side of two giants throwing their spiritual power around without a second thought. As if one of them was not enough to force the carrion crow into a persistent concentration, forced to avoid the feeling of having her soul dragged out of her body and be thrown around mercilessly in the currents, now there were two of these monsters creating a vortex of sickening energies. The continued drag of these energies made Laïs shift her feet slightly to a broader stance, her body swaying back and forth as if in a shamanic trance, eyes fixated on nothing in particular as her conscious was being pulled into the Otherworld. Laïs hadn't noticed Yosei's signature indicating the Ryujin to give them the privacy, but even if she had taken note the result would have been the same either way. Laïs would not simply be dismissed as a mere soldier, expecting at the very least to be addressed by name or title - a self-claimed right as the apprentice of the Snake. Not that it mattered now. The young sage was too occupied maintaining her own spiritual existence in the chakra storm and the two giants were too occupied getting cosy with each other to even care she hadn't moved from her place.

The most peculiar thing Laïs spotted in those flagrant auras of ominous black was how they seemed to synergise each other. Swirling and chasing one after the other, as if they were twin-powers being brought together and now shooting up the skies, reaching for the stars, and piercing the Veil between the world of the living and the spirits to such an extend even the crows were gathering more and more with every passing second. A nexus serving as a gate for the visionary.. The meaning of this whole grotesque display went beyond Laïs comprehension but one thing was sufficiently clear to her - she was supposed to be here. The reasons and the veiled truths yet had to reveal themselves but if even the black birds flocked around it with such ardour the whole sky turned black and the world grew deafened by their cawing there could be no doubt. A good investment in the future. The words ringing in her mind were not coincidentally heard at the same time that Lamya spoke them, but the origins and their meaning would have a vastly different context to the Jugo than what they held for the two shinobi before her - as different as saying 'rest well' against a living person or a dead one. To Lamya, it had been an assurance for Yosei that she was of certain value, to Laïs the words were a message from the ravens this nexus was but another milestone in her life.

Laïs' conscious would return to the living world, the flicker of a returned soul visible in her eyes. The nexus of energy had subdued as the message head been delivered, remotely at the same time the two love birds had decided to let go of each other for their own reasons. Laïs' eyes would rest in Yosei's as he briefly shifted his gaze from the woman next to him to the young woman behind him who had remained as quiet as the dead themselves. In that brief moment of connection, her gaze would pierce into the depths of his soul to pry loose secrets most shinobi would prefer to hide until they were needed on a strategic level. One by one, in a mere fraction of a second, the true colours of his katon, raiton and fuuton elements would present themselves in a spectrum of colours invisible to the naked eye. Elements of concealed passion, the grinding gears of a warlord disguised under the brilliant spark of a strategic mind, heralded by the breath of death that'd fuel his nature to cataclysmic proportions. A vast difference from the cool, calculated black-earthen tones of her mistress' aura that sported the brooding hues of a hungering monster ready to swallow the light, heavens and the world itself in its cruel ambition.

Opposites attracted, so they said, but there was more to this than the surfaced flicker of a fiendish nightmare finding the spark of illumination. Whether it was to crawl through the unexpected cavernous ruins war brought forth and reach for the light to return to surface, or whether it was to swallow the man whole in the course of time had yet to be revealed, but Laïs was of an impression she had spotted a thin silver line between the two just for a moment. The flicker of silver had disappeared from sight as soon as it had appeared, making it seem like a mere play of the bright sun's light. Like the sun being reflected in her mistress' black helmet, for example.

Now fully returned to the present and capable to see nothing more but a flirting couple entrusting each other with their ambitions, Laïs would shift her weight in slight boredom at the sight of the two cooing at each other the way they did. Love was a beautiful thing, Laïs wouldn't doubt that in the slightest, but the impatient Jugo had not come to watch them dance with each other between the corpses and the ruins. So she hoped. Luckily, her hope wouldn't be in vain as Lamya eventually decided to let go of her Darling Black Heart to walk towards the edge and jump of it with open arms. As if embracing the thought of death itself. Feeling Yosei's gaze gliding over her again, her amethyst eyes would return his unspoken question for her attention. Perhaps Lamya was embracing Death itself, the symbolism of her own action eluding even her.

"Little Crow, watch carefully, and listen to the World. You are among devils who walk an irrevocable path; if this is the life you choose, you must be prepared for suffering."

His words sounded aloof, missing the flirtatious tone he had been using with her mistress, instantly making his general disinterest clear despite his request to listen to the World. She'd step forward as he requested, her thoughts finding it ironic he would ask her - the messenger of the Otherworld - to care for a World she wanted to see swallowed whole by the cold embrace of Yomi itself. This 'World', if she so much succeeded in achieving her own goals, would be washed away by the realm of the dead. The undead would live as one with the souls inhabiting a mortal shell here in this material world. Yin and Yang would no longer be separated by the Veil.

But what irked her was his suggestion she'd was to be prepared for suffering. As if she had not been suffering enough as it was. Her youth, the loss of her parents, the nightmarish imprints of her mistress, the visions of spirits and the consistent touch of the Yin-rich world of Yomi. The very cycle of night and day had become suffering to her. But she'd bite her tongue before the Beast Within would retort in annoyance, watching as how a mere human suddenly became the eight-headed terror of glass she had been able to perceive out of her window for so long.




Her mistress certainly knew how to remind her of that sentence time and time again as involuntarily the Jugo's knees would start trembling. She'd raise her chin and clench her teeth in defiance to her body already seeking complete surrender to the encroaching paralysis, her mind losing itself in those golden giant saucers for snake eyes. A small inner voice trying to calm her fears against the hissing speech of the monster before her that only demanded to raise it. She'd close her eyes, countenance even paler now if such a thing was possible. Oh, how she hated this eternal nightmare from which no escape existed...

---

1366
Total: 3092

Chakra 315/320 | 90/100 | Rage:

Slowly each of the heads rested on the edge of the peak, each looking at the two within their sights. One steeped in secrecy and ambition, the other echoing in pain and desire. However both seemed to share a single trait, they were unique. To anyone's knowledge, the Stranger was the only one who had passed the veil of time, gods and mortality itself and the young Jugo child was probably the only one who instead of fearing death, loved the entity of entropy to a degree none could possibly fathom. Each had their own style, their own appearance and essence, but as unique as they were, they also had a binding factor: they both seemed to feel a loathing to how the world was and how it seemed to work and the Yamata no Orochi simply felt extatic at the realization of this truth. In front of it stood not one, but two people with a desire not to become gods, not to rule, but to change the world in a way they saw fit.

"One seeks purpose, one seeks affirmation of their purpose," One of the snake's heads rose upwards and opened its maw, blotting out whatever light was in the sky by simply closing its maw again as a symbolic representation of its own desire and purpose. Two heads slithered closer to each of the members of this meeting, each head breathing out through its nostrils, a near toxic, heavy air brushing over each of them. "I see...I see it all. Past, present, future...all desire and all wishes of man, god and demon. They are all but simply one and the same: to have a place in this world. Yet I do not desire such a thing. I desire peace, safety, tranquillity and order. Alas as we know, this world is teeming with powerful beings to oppose us, to seek out and stop us."

The beast breathed upon the dirt, the air swirling upwards and showing a shifting shape. The shimmering form of a mighty warrior, the shimmering form of a mighty monster. As the sand, dirt and dust twirled down to the ground again, two more heads of the eight headed serpent slithered closer towards the two. "Let them think that our campaign in Sunagakure is aa lost one, let them think they taste victory and as they do, they will not notice the shadows, they will not notice the blades, crows and snakes reaching for their necks, throats and eyes. The villages will be blinded by ambition and by greed," Letting out a loud, rumbling hiss which resembled the sound of someone gleefully chuckling, each head retreated and rose up to the heavens. "We will strip away the lies, lay bare their flaws and create something more valuable to us than a nation, we will cause discord and tension, sow distrust and envy."

Suddenly one of the eight heads came down again, opening its maw, from which Lamya in her human form appeared again, all the while seemingly slowly absorbing the entirity of the massive beast into herself as she walked back to her two companions. She raised one hand with open palm in front of her. "We need not lay claim to this place, for it has been ours from the start, but now we're given the opportunity to strike at each of the villages' weaknesses. We will unite them all, only to see them crumble when they think themselves victorious. However our cost, our prize will take a heavy toll upon their mind and might," Suddenly clenching her fist, the woman grinned deviously, with her eyes seemingly shifting a bit; her pupils becoming extremely narrow slits, while the silver rings around her golden irises seemed to turn iridescent. Her aura suddenly bursting out massively, her chakra making the air feel heavy and practically unbreathable and toxic for all who did not reach for her own level in status and power. All the Ryujin feel to their knees, so would all who would feel the energy of such massive amounts of chakra wash over them. "When they lick their wounds, when they are torn apart from the inside, we will strike once more. We will overwhelm their minds, their might and their desires with our own. The god of war will fear our battlecry, the god of death will welcome it and we will reach that one point where we might reach for our dreams and desires to come true."

With a single glance Lamya turned to Yosei, a meaningful glance in which a warning could be found. Despite being freed, despite having seen his power and her belief in the jugo child's future, she knew and he must've known it too, that even with all their power, there was still a single obstacle in their way, a single entity of unfathomable power and intellect, one that would surely strike out when the time was right. "Now than...shall we proceed and design the plan to accomplish this feat?" She laughed, cheerfully so, almost as if she was in an absolutely good mood. After all, this WAS the beginning of something she had not seen before: the dawning of a new era.

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From the gullet of the eight-headed snake, her mistress would reveal itself and step before them again. As if her presence was the cue, the paralysis caused by fear slowly seeped away and the Jugo felt like she could finally breathe again. The dark cloud of terror vanished, revealing the colours of sand, white and sun once more. And yet, the reminder of her words and the imagery of the two golden eyes in the dark kept lingering in the back of her mind. Laïs wondered what the point of this show was, knowing already what insane power the Snake Sage harboured when she unleashed it all - her aura manifested in a darkness swallowing the whole world around her. She remembered their first meeting in Kumogakure as if it was yesterday even now.

With the return of her senses to reality, words would drift in. Lamya was sharing the vision she saw and the future of her plans. No longer a place for their own, they would become the breathe of death itself as they grazed those that had destroyed the home they build for themselves. Like a flock of crows, murder would be their name. Snakes would slither in to steal their secrets and bring forth the shadows of dread. Then the blades would cut their tongue and slit their throats to be silenced forever. And bring the souls to Yomi where, eventually, Laïs would be able to use them to wash away life from the World like the Snake washed away order with the chaos she intended to bring. Strike them when they gloat in their victory, kill them when they drop their vigilance.

Yosei would welcome her among the ranks, acknowledge her as a member of similar ambition. But he held a question. How did it feel like to be loved by nature and reject it in this way? She wondered what he was talking about. Her Jugo nature and the natural affinity to natural energy? That surely seemed to be the closest for the crow sage could not imagine her to have been accepted by nature in any other way.

"Twisted.", she'd say, plain and simple, for the whole thing was but a twisted mockery to begin with. The natural affinity didn't make her beautiful or better. It gave her migraines and drove her into unrelenting rage. The Beast Within always knocked to be uncaged, freed from the shackles of reason so it could rage and rampage, slay and destroy. Perhaps it embodied nature's unbridled fury to the poetic but to her it was a burden to either bear or revel in. She opted for that last. "Nature holds two sides. Beauty and Fury. Life and Death. I did not reject nature, I merely choose to embrace the side that others prefer to forget."

Further plans would be discussed as smokes heralded the presence of manuscript pillars. Whatever this was, Laïs couldn't say. She had never seen anything alike it, but it vaguely reminded her of her father writing in his journals, dim light provided by a candle on his desk as his raven quills brought form to the ink it held. Was he a Scribe of sorts? A librarian, perhaps? Her eyes would shift towards the path of death he had brought. No, his sort seemed to run more akin to the Skalds. Warrior-poets, men with sharpened blades and words, lethal in any field even if all they wanted was to bring a form of art. There was no saying just yet what the man really was, but Laïs wouldn't be surprised if he was the sort of mentor to expect control and precision much like Lamya did.

After having adjusted a couple of things to his contract, Yosei explained the stepstones he had prepared and revealed his desire to fight Ayakashi on a one by one base where Lamya was eager to rip through the enemy with vast amounts of power to bring death and destruction as they were distracted and torn among each other. All of that was fine. Let the giants walk the earth and send the weakling hiding into poor shelters they believed would save them... but what was Laïs meant to do in there? If the plan was to allow the Nations overrun Sunagakure and the Ryujin base, there was little for Laïs to preserve or work with. And though she'd have loved to stand near Lamya's side to watch her power cascade over and drown those fuelled by hubris, she had to reckon she would be a liability if Lamya would be forced to watch over her during her pleasure.

That was not to say she had no plans of her own. In the far Lands of the Demons, she had some unfinished business still. She had a couple of journals to retrieve that once belonged to her parents and were filled with occult secrets passed on by the Yobadashi from parent to kids. Even if she herself was no Yobadashi in blood, her parents had adopted her and considered her as the next in line to bear the burden of preserving the lore that the journals held. Lore that interested her little but that had drawn the attention of others in the vicinity. Not just Lamya and Daremo's, but also that of puppets pertaining to the Demons of which their name was written within the journals themselves.

The other option was, perhaps, to join the flock towards Amegakure and see what this temple and the labyrinth were about. Such things of mystery intrigued her, especially when she picked up the idea that it could end up serving as a hidden route to break down a long-standing alliance between Konohagakure and Kirigakure. Konohagakure was one of those Villages her mistress was dying to dig her fangs in. Supervising and advancing the exploitation of that hidden route would not make a bad selection of duties, a quiet reminder that the two giants next to Lais now would still be present there even if they were having fun on the battlefield.

In the end, both paths might prove useful as both paths would reveal secrets and power. So as most of the plans were revealed and Lamya asked about the designing of the plan, Laïs would ask them a question.

"What would you have me do in the meantime?"

The question would linger in the air as Yosei vanished to conclude his own business, now left only to Lamya to be answered.

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Looking at the Sealer, breathing in his presence, his scent and his ambition, Lamya simply showed a soft smile, the corners of her lips curling upward while he explained all he needed to explain for the time being. It was true though, that Lamya's forces and the remnants of a rebellious state would not be enough to face off against the massive invasion instigated by the Madman who was about to run Kumogakure to the ground without a doubt. However, Lamya knew this to be but a small price to pay, for the army she had now were but converted testsubjects gathered through a few years of work, who said she couldn't gather even more if she was given the time and specimens to accomplish that feat yet again.

Her blood, her very cells after all, where quite special, with the inherited sage power deep within them, which she had unlocked by entering the Ryuchi Caves and mastered by training there for several months in a time which now seemed to be ancient history. "The Union between the leaf and the Mist is a joke, a farce built on a crumbling and unequal foundation," Letting out a sigh, letting it sink in that her companion had already managed to prepare for a stage upon which he'd reveal himself to this allied invasion, perfectly timed by all the nations to try and get a piece of the pie, which in this case happened to be the lands Sunagakure and it's ruling class left behind when their rule had been cut short so swiftly. "If you wish to test your power, I will not intervene, but let's hope for both our sakes that we do not overreach with this intention. It would be bad if we were to lose the keys to your next step in this endeavour."

As the Sealer summoned his pillars, readying some sort of jutsu, she could see the various runes, shapes and symbols on it and wondered what they were, since her own grasp on the art of sealing was but a speck of dust compared to the many marvelous sights he had already shown her with his skill. "You have sent messengers...good," The Desertt Snake clenched her fists for a moment, thinking about what was about to come for them, calming her breathing and clearing her mind a bit as she closed her eyes. "When the day comes for us to face off against the waves of war, the tidings of time and the ravages of nature, we must stand ready and be prepared."

When hearing the man talk about his desire to excavate the place which he had found to create a permanent doorway to the surrounding nations for his companions, his men and his plans, the Desert Snake snapped her fingers, with a few of her guards appearing seemingly out of nowhere in front of Yosei, bowing towards him as if he were their commander. "These men will aid you in your task, Lord Sealer," Motioning Laïs to make preperations to move out, Lamya walked up to Yosei and gave him a pat on the shoulder as he revealed his most sacred tools. "Regard these men as you would regard your tools, they will obey and they will work. Use them wisely and at your advantage and you may see your plans come to realisation sooner than you'd expect."

It apparently took the man less effort to transport the lot of them over a great distance than it took the Desert Snake to regrow a single eye, making it an impressive feat even for herself to behold. No doubt her student had followed suite through the portal the man had laid out before them and had motioned them to follow him through.

Upon the reveal of the monument which the Sealer had mentioned to be used as part of his plans, Lamya simply sighed softly, noting that it would need more than just a few men to fully clear the area and properly retain it in its already dillapitated state, much less restore it to a functioning and useful pathway. "the structure itself seems solid, but I reckon I'll need to relocate practically all my men to set up this place to fulfill the purpose you desire," looking at her student, the woman grinned. "This place is a bit like you my dear, there's a lot of dirt to be scrubbed off...but oh the wonders one can find underneath are so appealing and tempting, one can't refrain from digging until all the dirt is gone."

At that point, she actually remembered that the child had indeed been partially buried underneath false ideas and ideals, led astray by faulty upbringing and religious nonsense which had made the child sheltered from the reality of the shinobi world, yet at the same time all the occult background she had seemed to have rubbed off onto her positively as well, for she had some strange powers and abilities even Lamya had a hard time explaining and researching.

As laïs stated that she wanted to know what her orders were, the Snake reached for a small piece of parchment she'd been carrying. You hail from the Land of Demons, correct?" Lamya grinned slightly when she spoke those words, still finding the name of Laïs' homestead quite odd and rather contradictory compared to how the child acted and still seemed to regard the world. "I shall grant you your leave for your own machinations, show this paper to a certain owner of a bar near the slums of Sunagakure...He's good at finding people and arranging stuff from what I've heard. He may perchance find a proper and safe way for you to travel to your home."

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Using 3000 wc for rank up fuuin B to A

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discarding 29 wc

Laïs couldn't say why but the words forced a shiver to crawl slowly down her spine. As if the Snake had just come to speak a most ominous destiny she attempted to avoid. Lais' brows would furrow in worry as she couldn't say what it meant. Was one of them about to die? No. That couldn't be the case. She had seen their power unfurled. There was simply no such possibility as anyone being strong enough to rival the combined forces of these two. So would it all come down to a symbolic death? Such possibility certainly existed, as symbolic death happened to all. Perhaps that was what it was all about. The death of the Ryujin as conquerors of Sunagakure. The death of the alliance between Konoha and Kirigakure. The death of the nations' ambitions and pride as theirs would die alongside the troops. Death in many forms. Lais smiled. She could hear the quiet chorus of the lost souls, she could feel Death's cold grasp replace the warmth of the living. All of it was just a peaceful state where in everyone was equal. No five Nations. No alliances or hatred. No warfare or suffering. Just a state of peace.

With such a benevolent cloak of thoughts, she would follow Yosei and her mistress into the pillars and reappear in an area she was not familiar with. An excavation site. Sand being moved by the tons. Determination digging through the land in search of secrets untold. What exactly was it that the man was looking for? Knowledge? Artefacts? A passage underneath Sunagakure that would lead into the dark? Whichever it was, the thought of venturing into the dark and disappear from existence was enticing. Forgotten by the world yet changing it from a layer of depth none could or would dare to reach. Amethyst eyes would watch the people work and a handful of crows and vultures fly about in hopes to find something to eat. Work moved on, no one ready to die yet. The gaping maw that was the entrance to the excavation network would swallow the light. Its Otherworldly equivalent seemed to have a mist clinging about it, wailing echoing about as the screams from the lost souls dwelling within called out.

Yosei would taunt her. Tell her to explore the tombs if she dared. Strange that such words would make her doubt that decision. But then again, Lamya gave her the green light to return to the Land of Demons. Not that she had lost much over there. Aside from the occult journals. Journals that could, admittedly, provide additional insights into the realm of the dead. The Yobadashi's heritage were anything if not rich in knowledge pertaining to Forbidden arts such as necromancy and occult. Their search for unbridled power, immortality and the transcendence of the two worlds had been written down and passed down from generation to generation. Laïs had never put much thought to in but after meeting Lamya, who had baptised her into the shinobi world of the Five Nations by flooding the crow sage's senses with her own impressive aura, the young occultist was of a reluctant agreement that the journals could now provide useful knowledge.

"I will. The better secrets are found there where prying eyes don't look."

At the same time, she'd take on the slip of paper her mistress gave her and gloss over it. A man in one of Suna's slum bars. She had heard rumours about such a presence. A certain Jackal was busy keeping things in check there. She hadn't met him in person but his reputation confirmed that the contact in question would be a man with a hands-on approach. One who knew what he had to do. A tempting choice. Either delve into the ruins and possibly never return or have everything readied and fixed for her. They both appealed to her tastes. The question was, how would Daremo fit in these plans when he intended to tag along. There was no guarantee that the ruins would lead all the way to the Land of Demons and spirits weren't to be trusted when it came down to Worldly knowledge.

It was a difficult choice. Perhaps one better left for a later time. Yosei had offered a meeting after this war of his. He meant to talk about the secrets between the two worlds. It intrigued the Jugo, who was curious to know what he was about. His chakra had felt eldritch to her. Familiar and yet different. And now he was offering the answer to an unspoken question. She'd nod to him, agreeing to meet up after all the plans had been set to motion. She could wait despite her impatience. What was one day when an eternity of Yomi awaited her presence? With her confirmation, Yosei would vanish from sight again and leave Lamya and Lais at the entrance of the caverns.

"I'll go ahead and prepare for my travel to the Land of Demons. Tomorrow, before the sun wakes, I'll have left. Good luck on your endeavours, mistress."

And with those words, the crow sage would vanish from sight as she pulled herself into the Otherworld.

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[EXIT]

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Total: 5119
-1500 Learning CF from Yosei
-1500 CF: D -> C rank
-2000 CF: C -> B rank

Thread WC: 15'202