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Naruto Saga » Mizu no Kuni » Kirigakure » [Plot | Solo] The Demon devouring the Souls

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Haka Osada

Haka Osada

Retired
Sero was gone. His body put to rest; his spirit lingering as it regained much needed strength. The entire mansion was left in the hands of his proginy, Haka Osada, who was now to rule over Spider Island in his name. For a first time in her life, she was... alone? The demonic taint of her Dark Father still pervaded the area, but there was a tinge of solemn silence she had never felt before. It felt like someone had pulled away the bedsheet in the middle of the night, leaving the sleeper exposed to the nocturnal chill. His trust weighed upon her shoulders, another test of his will as he left her to manage the dark bond attaching every of Sero's chosen. Haka had barely picked up the position as the Tyrant of the spider brood, forcing them all to fall in line under a single banner, but where such a position almost came natural to the Unmei the demonic bond was a total different matter. She missed certain elements. Piece of the puzzle; keys of a ritual in which she had yet to be initiated.

One part of those missing pieces laid before her on the cold stone table, preserved by her own venom and wrapped within the silken strands she had woven herself. It was a cherished treasure granted by her father, holding the essence of the Osada clan. If she'd consume that essence, she'd grow even more into his image than she already was. And yet... Even though Haka had always sought out his approval, shaped herself to be the sharpened blade at the beck and call of his will, the Unmei had hesitated to take the Osada's power for herself. The 'why' to this hesitation remained unanswered even now, the spider knowing no other answer than her 'not being ready' just yet even if that reasoning was not one the logical reasoning of the arachnid could accept.

But now that she was all by herself. Alone to rule the manor and in need of more power to reign over Spider Island the way he did, that last barrier had slinked away into non-existence. It was no longer a matter of being ready or not - Sero had cast her into the darkness of his expectations, leaving her to carve her own path for the benefit of not one but two clans now. And as such, Haka stepped forward. Undoing the silken web that still clung to Sero's severed arm. Apathetic eyes inspected the pallid arm of the Osada. Inspected the hardened flesh, knowing the insides had turned to a drinkable mush. She rested her hand upon his arm in what many might have perceived as a sense of endearment, and heard the indistinct whispers of what she presumed to be his resting soul. Promises of power were shared at the brink of her conscious, inviting her into a world she had not succeeded to fully grasp over the course of years. One deep breath later, the arachnid unhinged her mouth in partial transformation and plunged her fangs into the dark treasures of the sleeping god.

Devouring the entire limb, the essence of Boil Release burned its way through her own essence. In pure agony, Haka would fall to her knees and scream at the top of her lungs for the first time in her life as demonic acid collided, mingled and devoured the Unmei's spirit in turn. The Spectre of the manor teaching her one last lesson about his real power. A reminder that even asleep, his will was not to be denied.

After what had felt like an eternity of suffering, Haka's hand sought  out the stability of the table. She'd pull herself up, still dizzy from the seething terror of Sero's acid, and dry the tears she had involuntarily allowed to escape. Beads of perspiration covered her whitened face as the acidic essence purified her own existence of any impurities she had failed to remove herself. Tested her resolve. One nightmare spirit pitted against the other. She'd live, the Tyrant of the Spiders not one to give up so easily, but she'd need time to recover from this brutal ordeal.

Haka moved to the healing baths in the manor. Struggling to keep her balance as the dizzying fever continued its deadening assault upon her soul. Beads of sweat dripped upon the floor. Softly hissing. The manor's walls seemed to bend over her during her delirium. As if they bend over her in concern. Or perhaps bowed to an officially crowned queen. Or perhaps... Perhaps... Like it wanted to whisper something into her ears and yet knew it would not reach her struggling mind just yet.

Arriving at the healing baths, Haka allowed her white dress to slide off her frail body and stepped into the cold embracing waters of one of the healing baths. Its restorative properties seeped into her body. To no effect, as her body had suffered no damage. All it did was cool down the assumed fever of the Spider Queen. Dousing what little was left of Sero's trial. In a moment of serenity, Haka rested her head and closed her eyes.



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Last edited by Haka Osada on Thu May 09, 2019 5:13 pm; edited 2 times in total

Haka Osada

Haka Osada

Retired
“Water flows downward, but man walks upward”


Haka snapped her head up. Had she drifted asleep? No. She had clearly heard a whisper resonate through the baths. Her astute senses would scan the room. Find nothing. Stepping out of the baths, the arachnid commanded what little water clung to her body to orbit around her. An old trick she had taught herself when she had encountered Sero for the first time years ago. The orbiting water enriched with her suiton chakra might be feeble in appearance but it had more than once torn a chunk out of those underestimating her aquatic mastery. Further slipping back into her white dress, bare feet would continue to kiss the cold floor as she inspected the room.


"Come, daughter. Seek me out."


It was not Sero's voice. It was a voice she had not heard in many years. The other side of her origins beckoned. Not the human essence granted by the Dark Father, but the arachnid elder known as Momma. Her mother, the Spider Sage Animal living in the top of the manor, was calling her. An unusual event, as none of the Unmei returned to her web once they left it. Those who left Momma were out to fend for themselves. Live their life, or die trying. To become hunters claiming their rightful spot within their woven fates. Haka was none different. Like many, she had left her mother to evolve into something more than her lesser brethren. She was no spider; she was Unmei. And not just any Unmei; a daughter of Sero. A progeny who had gained his favour and grown all the more for it.

But she already had gained his power. The Osada's essence had become part of her. All that she needed to do now was master its existence like Sero had done in the course of his years. A point on the agenda for later, as the arachnid was eager to discover what the Sage Animal had to share with her that was sufficiently important to call out to her. Haka would vanish from sight as she dispersed into wisps of mist, and reappeared within the hidden chamber of the oldest spider to live.


"It is my time to teach you the Way of the Spiders, much like I taught your father once. Step forward, my child, and return to origins of your essence."


There was a feeling of hollowness within the resonation of Momma's words. The bringer of life felt like a husk embodying death itself. A soulless being despite ensuring the life of so many spiderlings. An anomaly. Or a paradox. But nothing unusual to the Unmei living on Spider Island. They knew where to find warmth in a cold world. To find life in a deadened heart. The Weavers of Fate were nothing if not a well-preserved secret themselves. Haka thus stepped forward, seeing how a single limb seemingly detached from the thick shadows within the bell room. Moved closer. Touched the front of her head.

And threw her soul out of her body.

With a dull thud, Haka's body hit the floor and was promptly cocooned in black weave by the Spider Sage Animal. A mere blink of an eye later, no trace remained of the Aranean Queen.



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Total: 1'426

Haka Osada

Haka Osada

Retired
[Plot | Solo] The Demon devouring the Souls D61d4331f72b4b883a36513bf16aff1a




Souls without purpose drifted about. Unknown faces once belonging to criminals, murderers, rapists and whatnot. The victims of executioners unknown who had not simply destroyed the life of the criminals. They had done worse. They had ripped the very soul out of the body and tethered them into a world unreachable for the mortal shell. Among the faceless who had long since forgotten their name drifted Haka. Like a hollow born, she had a hard time remembering why she was here. She knew she didn't belong here among the nameless spirits for she had a name of her own, but there was none whom would help her recall it. All there was to be found was the same emptiness as the shimmering darkness as the world in which she found herself.


"..em...sh..."


No, she didn't belong here. That much was certain but without knowing the purpose of her presence in this hollow world it was difficult to know where she had to go for answers. The aranean understood just as well that lingering around was not an option either. With heavy steps she'd hit the road. One foot before the other. For no apparent reason other than avoiding a stand-still. The survival instinct of a spider, more than just a thought, part of the same essence that was now wandering across this foreign world.

Dead earth hardly budged under her footsteps. She didn't even impact it. Her soul without weight. Without worth. One of the few to have a face though. A face with deadened eyes. Not the eyes of an apathetic person who shunned the thought of emotions, but the face of one who simply had no emotions. In this world, emotions were as worthless as life itself.


"R..em.. H..sh..."


It felt like the hush of a wind was picking up. But there was no such thing as wind here. No life at all. Nothing that could remotely nudge towards that direction. Just dead lands and the faceless souls of criminals.

...

Halting in her tracks, Haka eyed one of the drifting souls. It struck her as odd that she knew about them being criminals. They had no face, and even if they did there was no saying she had been the cause of their death. Haka had not slain that many criminals. Rogue Unmei, sure, and a few unlucky fellows with whom she crossed paths, but not sufficient to know that this area was filled with them.


"Re..em.. Ha.sh.."


There was something about this place that seemed familiar. That feeling only became stronger when the Unmei eventually stumbled upon the remains of a village palisade. Wooden poles had been splintered. The gate torn to pieces and the lookout towers taken down.

"Hansha..."

As if uttering the name of this dead world was blasphemous in its own, the faceless souls suddenly turned to face the Unmei. Their fingers elongated to sharpened nails and the shrill of hysteria filled the air. Like a dark storm, the faceless rushed to tear apart the one who remembered. The one who had dared to breach the sanctity of the dead by uttering a fragment of life. With flickering motions the spirits moved in to tear Haka to shreds.

But Haka had not been trained for years to crawl over in her grave and wait until she died. A mere thought was all she needed to give her own wrath shape. Invisible claws tore through the faceless in a cadence of death, ripping apart the very essence of those who had once dared to oppose law and now attempted to oppose life.

"Punished for your transgression once, and still you do not repent. Well then... I'll be taking your souls for myself, feed upon that which you forsook in favour of weakness."

Her claws would drag some of them closer, bringing them before the flicker of rage that was the katon chakra in her eyes, and when they understood how much worse her presence was in comparison to life itself, when Haka could taste their fear, she devoured their very essence like a starved animal. With every new soul added to her power, her presence darkened until the point she looked nothing more than an undulating mass of shadows from which eight tendrils jutted forward.

Without remorse, no life to rouse her out of her deadened state, she rampaged through Hansha until the last of the souls had been eradicated. Until her Nightmare form had been completed and a sense of clarity returned to herself. Beneath the swirling darkness, she felt the vibrancy of something pure. Something... her. Like she had found something back she didn't realise was lost. It was there, lurking underneath the shadowed skin. And so her claws tore at her own form. Ripping chunks off. Digging to find back what it was.

Tearing away the essence of death itself until her body rolled out of a blackened cocoon.



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Total: 2'255



Last edited by Haka Osada on Thu May 09, 2019 5:15 pm; edited 2 times in total

Haka Osada

Haka Osada

Retired
Haka rose to her feet, plucking the last strands of Momma's cocoon off her. As a shadow within a shadow, the eight tendrils of the Nightmare Sage continued revealing the arachnid origins of her power. She'd shuffle forward on bare feet and turn around to eye the Sage Animal before her with the eyes of Death itself. Even now she tasted the fear of the faceless prisoners who preferred giving up their willpower for an eternity of wandering.

"Is it different than father's?"
"It is. You fought your way back in a different way."
"Will all this power suffice to watch over Father?"
"Only you know the answer to that question, child. You now hold more than just the authority to command your siblings. You'll be capable of weaving many more strands within your webs now."
"Until I have mastered it all, it will have to do, for now."
"Then go. Go rule the island like your father expects you to do."
"Yes, mother."

At those words, Haka slank into the shadows blackening the room of the Sage Animal, and appeared back at the main entrance of Osada manor. The darkness she carried dissipated with every passing second, returning her white hair, red apathetic eyes and white dress. The sour taste of fear was gone as her Sage form ended but new senses previously not present within the perceptive arachnid remained. A variety of tiny life forms registered at the border of her consciousness, the movement of wandering spiderlings. They felt like needle pricks in comparison to the singular presence of another Unmei lurking in the shadows. Verifying who it was, the Aranean Queen turned her head.

"Tyrannis?", the Unmei glanced back, askance.
"Bring me pudding. I'll be in the throne room."

Being one of the manor's servants, he'd nod and make his way towards the kitchen about the same time Haka moved towards the throne room where its spacious area would allow her to unseal her grand piano. Under the symphony of her own creation, she'd think about newfound powers and future potential. There was a lot to discover...

... but she had a lot of time as well.



[EXIT]

367
Total: 2'622
-2600 : Preserved wc

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