Saki Ryuumonbuchi
New Aoyama, Inside ‘Brewed Awakenings’
Night
HP: 290 SP: 340 RP: 100
Aogami. As expected the sight of the beast that Suzume commanded could only mean that Saki’s lord had decided that the time for holding back is long gone. Many times had Saki seen Aogami’s strength, what the nekomata was capable of. She respected, revered, and adored that power. That power that Suzume controlled, and so that respect, reverence, and adoration was given to Suzume in turn. The presence of Aogami joining the fray was enough to assure Saki that the battle was already in her favor.
When the nekomata’s giant jaws clamped down on the enemy’s chest that assurance almost seemed realized. Even after seeing the impressive healing power the boy had shown before, to regenerate from damage as extensive as what Aogami had done to him would be, in a word, “monstrous.”
Completely unfazed. Even with his body crushed and run through by Aogami’s bite the damage he had suffered didn’t even register. ESPers, though naturally durable and easily capable of recovering from such wounds given time, would at least feel something from an attack like that. Even one who was specialized in defense would at least acknowledge the damage they had suffered, yet -"Utpala...? I prefer Pundarika, might as well go all the way!"
"Well hey, a bunch of monsters playing human... This is disgustingly cute."
The first words the enemy had spoken replayed in Saki’s memory. When the intruder had called the group ‘monsters’ the girl would have scoffed at the accusation had she not been overcome with anger. Even Saki, as aware and intimate with her power which surpassed human limits, the girl who embraced separating herself from humanity and exercised her unnatural power with unbound glee, never considered herself a ‘monster.’
Though she eagerly separated herself from humanity, the girl still clung to her sense of self, and in doing so she also separated herself from the vengeful spirits that could rightfully be called ‘monsters.’ Saki took pride in being neither man nor beast, but in being something new. A Child of the Kyuubi, an entirely new existence that had sprung forth into the world on that day eight years ago. To say that the girl was a monster, to say that the girl was playing human, both of these were equally laughable.
In turn, Saki never once considered the enemy before her to be human. Nor did she consider him to be a monster.
But…
As the storm of ice battered her body, ripping her shirt and tearing her flesh, she understood.
This man, his power, it was indeed that of a monster. His strength surpassed what Saki understood a Child of the Kyuubi to be capable of. There was something unnatural, something different within him that separated his strength from ESPers like Saki. And were Saki to take hold of that same power, she too would certainly be a monster.
The tattered, bloody body of Saki Ryuumonbuchi once again cloaked itself in fire. Even having evaded the majority of the ice more than enough had managed to connect. The possibility of completely avoiding the attack had been present, but to do so would accomplish nothing. Expending her reserves to dodge the enemy’s attacks would only drag the fight out, and the longer the fight went on the more Megumi would be caught in the crossfire.
For the sake of victory, taking a hit or two would be necessary.
A thin red trail of blood ran along Saki’s arm, spilling out of an ice dirk embedded in her shoulder. Pride prevented the girl from showing any signs of pain from the multiple wounds across her body, but as the dirk melted under her flames she couldn’t suppress showing her relief at the foreign object being driven out of her body.
But alongside that relief was another emotion. One that opposed the anger from before. Even after being slighted by this man there was no denying that his power was real, his strength great. And in that truth Saki found great satisfaction. To wield her flame against ice of such magnitude, there was nothing more poetic, nothing more beautiful. For her to find such a splendid foe on this night, the girl would have never thought that she would have encountered such a person when she had left with her lord to inspect the café the two had heard of.
Truly, this battle, this enemy, this night. All of them surpassed that night eight years ago when the young girl had taken her first step away from humanity, as she stepped out of the shadow of the Kyuubi which had appeared so suddenly over the skies of Tokyo Bay. Never had she considered that she would find such happiness again, especially not in a tiny café.
"Yamaraja's judgement is final. Your only destination is Yamaloka, and these flames are the Yamaduta that shall guide you there."
As her spirit roared Saki’s ember wreath roared in turn, reaching their zenith, the flames once again stepped forth, separating from Saki. An ember footprint appeared in the wooden floor of Brewed Awakenings as yet again, a Remnant of Saki Ryuumonbuchi was born into the world.
At the same time, the first Remnant, having reached the now even more wounded Megumi, brought itself down to one knee as it reached out for the frozen shackles binding the older woman.
“Don’t move.” In the voice of Saki, though masked under the crackling flame that the Remnant was born of, the fire spoke. With one simple command the Remnant took hold of the ice holding Megumi down. One wrong move from the older woman, or even one mistake by the Remnant, would easily result in Megumi getting burnt. A burn that Saki would rather not have to inflict. Delicately, the Remnant caressed the ice, melting the bindings under its touch while avoiding touching Megumi.
There was no guarantee that simply burning away the ice wasn’t already enough to burn Megumi. But avoiding direct contact would be enough to keep any potential damage to a minimum. Had Saki not devoted herself so fully to mastering her own power she likely would have already burnt the woman’s legs to a crisp, but the finely controlled Remnant’s flames precisely and mechanically shaved away the bindings without making direct contact with the woman. Years of obsessive training paid off as the Remnant melted away the last of the ice.
Standing back up the Remnant turned its burning back to Megumi, placing itself between the woman and the man.
“If you have any strength left in you,” speaking without turning to face the woman behind her the Remnant watched as another burning image of Saki Ryuumonbuchi stepped into the world. “Then this Remnant of Ryuumonbuchi Saki asks that you lend it to us.”
With a smile, the Remnant tilted its head to look at the woman behind it. If the wendigo’s curse was still rendering the woman half blind was unknown to her, but still the Remnant decided to make eye contact as it gave its request.
“This battlefield is a sublime plot of land to make a suitable garden. Flames will decorate it as flowers would, blooming in vivid color and strength. However, that is not enough.”
The combined might of Nakamura Megumi and Saki Ryuumonbuchi’s fire still hung fresh in the Remnant’s memory. A tinge of eagerness slipped into its burning tone as the Remnant addressed the woman. Beneath the voice of the Remnant, with crackled and popped like fire with every word, was the same unbridled glee that Saki herself felt for her power.
“Every garden needs a gardener, and there is none more suitable for the task than you.”
HP: 290 SP: 290 RP: 100
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Originally Posted by Tomoya
