Jubei saw the figure going inside the water mill and he paused for a moment, calming down his pounding heart. He needs to think rationally since this could be a trap.
He cautiously opened the door, ready to run if needed, and stepped inside the dark space, hearing the dull thumping sound of the grinder at work. He closed it, but he kept one hand on the door ready to open it back up if needed.
"Get rid of the wasps or else," He threatened, trying to find the wasp controller's hiding place as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.
"Hehehe, how do you know if I'm actually the one that's controlling the wasps? I simply ran away and yet you chased after me, leaving your friends all behind." Mushizō laughed in delight at Jubei's look of realization when he realizes that fact. Though it would have been a good plan if his ego would have allowed it. "You should be ashamed of yourself for ditching them even if I'm the one controlling them."
"Shut up demon!" Jubei angrily stated clenching his katana hard hoping that he was lying. "They can handle themselves for a few minutes. As long as I kill you, the wasps will disperse." He stayed near the entrance, looking everywhere, and made sure to center himself for any sudden movement, ready to draw his sword.
"How would you know if killing me will cause the wasps to disperse and not have them continue the last order I gave them, hmm?" Mushizō questioned, his voice echoing throughout the water mill as he moved silently higher into position. He watched as his wasps crawled along the wooden beams moving closer to his target's position. All he needed was to draw this out and those outside will be killed.
"I don't but I will have to take that risk," Jubei said with narrowed eyes finally adjusting to the dim light. "I have one question demon, is Himura Genma alive or not?"
"Oh? Why are you asking about him?" Mushizō paused in his tracks curious why is he asking, but he was not going to complain about this. It's giving him more time so why not answer his questions before killing him.
"Because I sent Gemma to hell once already and I'll gladly do it again."
"Is that so? then I must be careful since I can't reincarnate myself," Mushizō stated, feeling even warier than before, and started moving slower than before, not wanting to alert him.
"Reincarnation?" Jubei asked surprised and moved his head to the side dodging the three thrown kunai that were aimed at his head. He was then forced to duck as two more kunai flew at him.
Mushizō suddenly appeared from above forcing Jubei to roll away and slashed at his back. He stared expecting to see Mushizō's humpback slashed through with blood, but he saw something unexpected. Mushizō's shirt opened up and saw holes, multiple holes that looks like a wasps nest attached to his back.
"Haha, you harmed the wasps home and now you'll pay the price," Mushizō laughed as the wasps started crawling out from his back and flew straight at Jubei. The wasps already outside attacked him from behind causing him to let out a little grunt from the unexpected attack, forcing him to retreat.
He ran swatting a few and slashed upwards slicing open a bag of salt, causing it to pour down, using it as a barrier, and jumped through a window. He ran to the river and dived in, swimming down to the bottom of the lake, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack.
Mushizō jumped on a branch trying to peer into the water, but he was unable to see anything. He sent out more wasps to cover the whole lake and muttered to himself, "He'll have to come back up soon if he wants to breathe and I'll use that chance to kill him."
----------------------------------------------------------
(John POV)
"Jubei, you, ow, hurry the fuck, motherfucker! Up," I muttered angrily, slapping the back of my neck feeling another wasp stinging me as it reached under my improvised head and neck protection.
"Why couldn't we have Rinko teleport us away from here?" Dakuan spoke from his hiding place, silently wondering if no one remembered she could do that.
"Yeah, and go where exactly?" Midori asked rhetorically rolling her eyes. "In the forest with Rinko exhausted from teleporting us all and Misao burning the forest around us?"
"... It was a simple question..." Dakuan muttered angrily to himself.
I quietly panted, wiping my eyebrows with my tired hand, trying to get rid of the sweat before it dripped into my eyes as a giant wasp, the size of a chihuahua, flew at me with its stinger pointed straight at me as the target. I barely dodged it and watched as it lodged itself on the tip of my sword forcing me to compensate for the unexpected weight. I cursed again watching Rinko killing a few as they rushed towards me and stood protecting me as I tried to remove the dead body.
They all learned from their brethren's deaths that Kagero and I were the best targets to attack compared to everyone else. Kagero was unable to move as she used her technique to keep most of them at bay and me, wasting my mana and stamina by swinging my sword at them.
It was only by pure coincidence as I looked to my right that I barely saw a shadow-like figure rising from the tall grass before something was shot out towards Kagero.
Maybe it was my or Kagero's luck that I automatically fired my mana as I swung my blade towards the fast-moving object. Either way, the claw was forced off course, missing her by inches, and landed on the ground with the chains broken off.
In that very next instant, Kuroyuri stood in front of Kagero protecting her as the blood drained from her face at being so close to death and Midori turned invisible again. The tall grass was suddenly cut, but the shadowy figure was gone and all the surrounding tall grass was cut and burned.
Rinko and Misao moved closer to me, but not so close that we would trip over each other, just enough to block another surprise attack. A few minutes later, I blinked at seeing something odd before narrowing my eyes at the bulging wasp near the back. I had a bad feeling about that one, so when I used my mana to slash at it from afar, I didn't expect it to violently explode. The shockwave radiated surprised everyone, picking up dust everywhere.
"Guh!" I grunted closing my eyes trying to stay on my feet from the unexpected wind pressure of the explosion. When I opened my eyes again, and the dust settled, I instantly noticed three things that made me curse again, one was that Kagero was sitting on her butt looking drained. The second thing was that we weren't surrounded by wasps anymore, but that was only for a few seconds as they were coming back. The last thing is that there were more wasps, the same as the last one that exploded following behind.
Rinko started firing kuuton bullets at the bulging wasps but frowned in annoyance as they were shielded by the other wasps taking the hit instead. Misao herself created more blue fire and raised it higher around us, letting us catch our breaths for a few minutes as they were forced to retreat as a few were detonated prematurely. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was better than nothing.
"Damn that Jubei! When I get out of this alive, I'm going to kick his ass!" Dakuan shouted before he hid again, saving his energy for later, like the smart person he was.
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[Mushizō vs Jubei]
Jubei swam deeper into the lake until he reached the bottom and had his katana in his hand ready to draw it. He stayed still, calming his beating heart, remembering his training, ignoring everything, and waiting. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, since this is his only shot before he's forced to the surface.
Mushizō waited for a few minutes before frowning as he spotted something and jumped down on the roots near the lake to get a closer look. "Could he have gone farther than I thought? No, it's not likely since he was stung a few times, even if their poison is non-lethal in small doses, it does cause unbearable pain."
'Now!' Jubei thought, his hands moving rapidly as not hindered by the water, drawing his katana and slashing out up to the surface. It caused a big splash shooting up and slicing off Mushizō's leg from the knee in an uneven strike forcing him into the water from the surprise attack.
"Arghh!" Mushizō yelled out in pain before he was forced to hold his breath as he fell in and saw his target. He used his weapon's greater reach to pin him, but Jubei blocked it grunting from the unexpected weight.
Mushizō, not one to quit spat out a needle from his mouth as his most successful trump card, but it was foiled when Jubei blocked it. He spat out blood when he saw that and just realized what that meant. He had forgotten that the wasp's survival instincts were stronger than his control and were trying to escape from the water by any means necessary, even if they had to tear through his body to do it.
Jubei watched Mushizō dispassionately as his body withered in agony, blood leaked out of his body in multiple places and swam upwards to the surface. He coughed, took deep breaths, crawled to the tall grass, and lay on his back staring up at the sky. 'Was he telling the truth? Did he really reincarnate? That's impossible, isn't it?' Jubei thought clenching his fist and planned to ask Dakuan if he knew the technique.
What he didn't see was a snake looking at him a few meters away before looking at the blood in the water and silently going in.
"It seems that you didn't need any help after all," Midori spoke surprising Jubei as he turned to look at her.
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(John POV)
"Finally, it's over," Misao said watching the wasps flying away and dispersed her fire as she sheathed her sword.
"It seems that Jubei did it," Dakuan said looking up at the sky and watching the wasps leave. "Though he took his sweet time and I'm going to give him a piece of my mind for making me exhaust myself. These old bones aren't meant to do hard work anymore."
"Right~, thank you for your hard work," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes at his bullshit since he hid the whole time. I
took off the makeshift mask wiping the sweat off of my face and drank the water Rinko handed to me before giving it back to her, "Thanks Rinko. I'm really glad that you started training me, if not I don't think I could've lasted as long." I let out a hiss standing back up as the adrenaline started fading, feeling all the stings from the wasps and the aches of my overworked muscles.
"Your welcome," Rinko said, drinking from it not looking as tired, and handed it to the others, but not Dakuan. Kagero declined taking out her own drink from her sleeve.
"That was exciting and all, but I think we should go," Kuroyuri said looking around wearily as she started picking up her kunai from the wasp's corpses. She has a limited amount after all and each one is valuable.
"Does anyone know where Midori is?" I asked finally noticed that she was not reappearing and got a little worried.
"She left to help Jubei since we wouldn't have lasted for much longer," Misao spoke up, walking closer to us and handed Rinko back the water.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief at that and started walking in the direction Jubei and Midori went. It didn't take long for us to find them and we regrouped keeping our guard up as we rested by the torii gates. I sat in the shade, sweating at this hot damp air, hoping it would rain again, and I couldn't help but be surprised by many bugs were killed. Each one is worth 2 exp points.
[Killed 825 big and small wasps. 1,650 Exp and 1,650 summon points]
[You leveled up ×1]
[Rinko leveled up ×1]
[Midori leveled up ×1]
[Misao leveled up ×3]
"Dakuan, do you know a technique called reincarnation or something like that? The guy I fought, told me that Gemma used that technique to stay alive when I cut off his head." Jubei said, feeling a little nervous if it's true then he has unfinished business.
Misao couldn't help but ask, "Really? Is there such a powerful technique?" We all paid closer attention to Dakuan's response.
"Reincarnation you say?" Dakuan asked with a raised eyebrow trying to remember the technique. "Yes... yes, I heard of it. It's also called the immortality technique. It's an impossible technique that humans can't do since you need to control every piece of your flesh and bones. Once you do, even if a limb or your head is cut off, it can be reattached without a problem."
"Damn, that's impressive," I whispered feeling my greed building up. I
wonder if I could do that by saturating my whole body with my mana? Could I get Sabato Kiryuu to create something similar if there's a piece for him to study? Well, if I could keep him under control and not betray me like he did with Black.
"Where are you going Dakuan?" Midori asked as she narrowed her eyes remembering he didn't help out with the wasps.
He didn't say anything for a few seconds until he was closer to a tree away from us, "Well since you're all targets now, I can move more easily without being spotted. Good luck and try not to die so soon." With those last words, he used a technique to elongate his staff and jumped from tree to tree.
"There he goes, that useless old bastard," I said feeling a little annoyed at him and I couldn't help but notice that Jubei and Kagero were resting away from us in two different directions. 'I guess they still don't trust us.' I thought feeling a little sad since I thought we could trust each other a little.
"Good riddance," Kuroyuri agreed drinking some more water and she started applying medicine to our wasp stings.
Kagero stared at the people in front of her before focusing on Rinko, "Can you tell me why you all agreed to work for him if you don't like him?"
"Simple really, we would have been hunted regardless if we followed the old man or not," Midori said cleaning her blade while making sure it was still sharp.
"He tired me, 100 pieces of gold and I have unfinished business with the leader," Jubei replied answering her question.
It was quiet after that and we all rested for some time. I noticed Kagero was staring at me and Rinko from time to time, but I didn't know how to ask her without it sounding weird.
Though a few minutes later, it seems that she couldn't keep to herself any longer and asked a question that has been on her mind, "Why did you save me?"
"I was there and I had the power to help those in need. Though I wish I was fast enough to help the rest of your team." Rinko said looking at her before looking at the ground.
I didn't answer her since I didn't know what to say to her without sounding crazy. But I was surprised when Rinko nudged me, bringing my attention to Kagero who was staring at me. We stared at each other in silence, maintaining eye contact and I said the first thing that came into my mind, "Hi."
Jubei, Midori, and Kuroyuri started coughing on their food or drink from my answer as Rinko nudged me harder. I retaliated by poking her side causing her to let out a surprised yelp as Misao simply raised her eyebrow at our actions, but Kagero visibly rolled her eyes at me before going back to minding her own business.
It was a peaceful 20 or so minutes and it would have been better if the weather wasn't so hot. "Does anyone know where we should go next?" Rinko asked everyone, but we were unable to answer that for a few minutes.
"What about the gold that traveled by boat? Should we search for it? It might give us some clues," I said trying to remember if it was important. Maybe they left some gold behind?
Jubei nodded in agreement, "Kagero, is there a place where we can go to get a better view of the whole village and the surrounding coast?"
"Yes, follow me."
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
John McClain
World: Ninja Scroll/ InuYasha/?
Lv. 27 [648/2,700]
Class: The Summoner
Alignment: Neutral
HP: 21,000
{Regen 21 per min}
MP: 14,500
{Regen 32 per minute}
Deck: 19
Summoning Points: 39,000
Cards in Storage: 0
Available Draw: 0 (02:10:28)
Graveyard: 0
Card pack available (16:16:01)
-----------------------------
[Savage Hunter] Rinko Akiyama (SR)
Lv: 35/45 (140/3580)
Faction: Taimanin
HP: 8,400
TP: 1375
ATK: 3,896
DEF: 1,891
Special Skill: Ninjutsu: Air Evasion Lv 1
Cost: 60 MP
Increases ATK of all Taimanin by 3000.
Increases ATK of all Taimanin by 17%.
Activation: 3/3
-----------------------------
Kuzu Kuroyuri (R)
Faction: Taimanin
Lv 35 (Max Level)
HP: 2,120 (4,750)
TP: 455 (1,325)
ATK: 2,057
DEF: 1,976
Special Skill: Licentious Techn. Lv 1/5
Cost: 50MP
Cuts damage from enemy Demon by 22%.
-----------------------------
Houma Midori (R)
Faction: Taimanin
Lv 31/35 (1515/2130)
HP: 4,250
TP: 1275
ATK: 1408
DEF: 2695
Special Skill: Pebble on the road (Lv1/5)
Cost: 40MP
Increases DEF of ally Taimanin by 2000.
Activation: 3/3
-----------------------------
Misao Yukishiro (UR)
Faction: Half Demon
Lv 17/55 (260/560)
HP: 9,100
MP: 1,075
Attack: 1510
Defense: 2880
Special Skill: Ninjutsu: Phoenix (Lv 1/5)
Cost: 80MP
Increases DEF of ally Demon by 40%.
Increases DEF of ally Demon by 1250.
Activation: 3/3
-----------------------------
