Ninja meets Ninja(Zephys Exam)

The sound of roars could be heard from a great distance in the land of Sin. Roars were not uncommon for a land inhabited by demons and monsters nor were screams of pain, but these were no ordinary roars. These were roars of pain from something big. In a land like Sin strength was one of the greatest traits of its inhabitants. The stronger you were generally the higher you were up on the food chain. So a roar of pain for something that could be heard from miles away was rare. Particularly as there only appeared to be one roar so it wasn't like two demon lords had met and started a brawl. No, something was attacking something big.

The something big turned out to be a huge demonic entity radiating heat. Its large savage claws and huge curled horns would strike fear alone, but combine that with its towering size and lithe, but muscular body and it became the stuff of nightmares. However, it was the one screaming in pain. From a distance it appeared nothing was hitting it except small flecks of light, but as you got closed it became clear there was a figure wielding a large sword moving at very high speeds slicing into its body in various ways. The demonic entity didn't seem capable of defending itself even though despite its size it was incredibly swift and could defend itself with a powerful aura of fire and heat as it was doing now.

The figure stopped in front of it for a moment and a huge punch came flying at it. The figure frowned and struck at it with his own fist. The power of the two fists colliding caused a massive vibration that broke the ground around them for around a mile. However, despite its size and its seemingly stable grip on the ground it was the demon that was eventually sent flying back, and through, a large mountain. It didn't seem to get up. Was it dead or just pretending? That was not clear, but the figure did not seem to care. It hovered there for a moment and then spoke. "Still not enough." he said with a definite note of disappointment in his voice despite sending a sixty foot demon through a mountain with a punch. "The kings would destroy me let alone the Emperor." He extended his hand and began to move it around until suddenly he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you a better opponent than the Lord of the Inferno?" he asked a seemingly empty area.

Zephira had hoped that the man would be injured in his fight, or perhaps even killed even saving her the trouble. She was sorely disappointed as the target ended his foe without very much effort, she moved to take advantage of the situation. She had managed to avoid all the backlash him and his foe had caused. She managed to get through all that just to have the man call him out.

"Are you a better opponent than the Lord of the Inferno?" The man called out, looking right at her.

Zephira bit her lip, there was no mistake, he knew she was here. That meant she had failed, she knew she was no match for the man, not in direct combat anyways. Zephira straightened up and pulled her blade from her back. "No... I am nothing compaired to him." Zephira dropped the magic cloaking her. "May i ask how you saw through my magic? That in theory should be immpossiable." Zephira sighed to herself, "Don't suppose you will just let me kill you no?" Zephira didn't need a answer, she held her blade in front of her, ready for combat.

"Shame. I could do with a good work out...got some much bigger fish to fry soon." he said with a slight dissapointed tone in his voice. Her question was intriguing. Why should it be impossible to see her? Unless of course her magic focused on hiding her presence. That meant she was likely an assassin so revealing how he had spotted her probably wasn't wise, but he decided to do it anyway. "I have a few tricks for allowing me to see a magical aura, if you'd hidden your magical aura entirely or used an invisibility spell...well maybe I wouldn't of seen you." he replied with a shrug and then raised an eyebrow as she mentioned killing him. Now that was an interesting question. If he let someone kill him would his other abilities still kick in preventing him dying truly? Or was that a way he could die if he chose to do so.

"A better question is even if I let you try...would you be able to? People like me don't really have death as a threat. In most cases, depending on how badly you damaged me...i'd be back in a couple of months? A year tops." he said and then chuckled to himself. This would be assassin was possibly one of the politest people he'd met in a while and she was here to kill him. Judging by her power level it was clear why she had gone for the assasination strategy. In raw combat she stood little chance unless she got really lucky. As if to demonstrate this point he seemed to vanish entirely and appeared behind her giving her a quick slap on the butt before vanishing again and appearing back where he started, the entire process taking around a couple of seconds maximum. "So what now Miss Assassin? Its your move."

Zephira thought about the intel she had on the man, "Ah so i take it the rumor is true? You are a celestial Spirit?" Zephira shifted her stance as she spoke, she was out classed in every way. Zephira thought about her options, there weren't many, the best she could is get a seal on the man and hope to beat him in Melee combat. To prove the point that she was outclassed he gave her butt a pat, and she could not do a single damn thing about it. Zephira sighed and sheathed her blade, "This will cost me more than you can imagine..." To Zephira this was just a means to make money, something that could delay the fall of her family. "Please know that... I am only the first..." Zephira sighed and turned. *Damn it... why am i so weak....* Zephira cursed herself inside of her mind.

[color=teal]"The first to try and kill me? You'd have to go back a good few years to be the first."[/color Zack replied with a grin and then as she turned he blurred and appeared in front of her looking at her closely observing her. In truth it was a good job Devon wasn't here or he'd get such an earful. [color=teal]"You really don't seem the type to come and assassinate someone without good reason. So unless you're in a rush how about you tell me why you would do such a thing." that he leaped backwards and sat down on the air looking at her with a quizzical look on his face. He wasn't in any rush right now. Sure he had training to do but his curiosity had been peaked and whilst curiosity might kill the cat it certainly wouldn't kill the snake. For one he couldn't be killed anyway.

Whilst he waited for an answer he summoned up the lesser of his two swords and began to polish it. Just to give his hands something to do. [color=teal]"So what's the story little lady?" he asked. He really wanted her story.

Zephira huffed as she was cut off from leaving, she was already going to have to deal with the client trying to kill her for bailing on the job. Zephira didn't really have to deal with this, but got the feeling that she would have no choice. Zephira pulled War from her back and set it on the ground, kneeling next to it. "If you insist..." Zephira clearly didn't want to, "I am the head of... well whats left of the Ame clan... We are a sub family of the Royal Mizu clan of midi. We are a dying family... because one of the royal familys have... been working against us." Zephira sighed, she wondered if he was going to kill her now. "We are a family of ninja... but we have to do jobs that... are less then..." Zephira didn't even like killing yet it was her responablity to keep her family and so she did what she had to. "So... what now? You gonna kill me?" Zephira didn't know what she could do other than try and fight.

Zack tilted his head thoughtfully and extended his hand towards her. Instantly a blade appeared in his hand aimed right at her throat. "Now I could kill you and i'd have every right to after all, you were here to kill me." he said and let go of the blade, but it remained in place hovering at her throat. "But I won't. Killing people...isn't my style." He stood up, a thoughtful expression on his face and looked at her a question forming on his lips."Now I have a question. Were you here to kill me for money, traditional assassin style, or was my head alone enough to save your family for a while? Its an important question." To him it was a rather important distinction. If it was the former he had more options, but if it was the latter...well...he might have to do some more before he went to face a certain somebody. "So which is it?"

Zephira sighed and sat down, setting her blade besides her. "A bit of both to be honest... Making the head family happy by completing the contract and the money always helps." Zephira kept her hands in her lap, she knew better then to do anything hostile. "We have had to sell off alot of our lands in the past few years just to keep afloat." She frowned at the thought.

When she had been a child her family had a huge estate with a lake and village, she remember playing with all the other children from the village. She always thought it odd how the Mizu children who came never went out to play, she had gotten her answer many years later. They thought themselves better then the peasants, a fact Zephira found quite funny as most of the peasants she knew were far more noble then the Noble Mizu Clan family. That was a thought she kept to herself though, Zephira took in a deep breath and looked at the man pointing a sword at her. "Do as you wish... my life is basicly forfit anyways"

So it was like that. His head was the prize that they wanted, but it seemed that they might also be able to satiated temporarily with money. She also needed the money to help her family stay afloat. He could see this ninja wasn't the type who wanted to kill.  She'd just been forced on that path to defend her family. It was a sad state of affairs and one he wanted to help rectify. Though he had to wonder what he had done to offend the royal family of Midi. Had he even been to Midi? He'd have to look into that later.

"You want strength to defend your family? But, you want to earn money in a legitimate way that doesn't involve killing, right?" Zack said and with a fancy flourish reminiscent of the famous hero Cloud Strife he sheathed his weapon at his back and stood there looking at her. He had something in mind for this woman, but would she go for it?

"Then let's see what you've got. Come at me with everything you've got" he said with a faint smile assuming a defensive fighting stance and beckoning her to attack. He wondered if she would do anything. What he wanted was to assess her strength. He knew how strong she was in terms of magic and he knew how strong she was physically or at least a rough approximation, but he  did not know how skilled she was. That was another aspect of strength. He needed to know how skilled she was and how she thought and fought before he could proceed with his idea. Assuming she actually decided to try it. "Show me the strength that has defended your family."

Zephira stopped herself from laughing, first he talks about not wanting to kill her then swaps over to challenger her. She stood up and picked up her blade, she knew she was out-classed, but she would fight with everything she had. "this is pointless..." Zephira muttered to herself, she didn't like things like this they reminded her to much of home and all their "Tests of skill". Zephira dropped into a fighting stance, her blade held to her right with her hand waiting on the hilt. "Lets get this over." Despite being a ninja zephira would not attack first, she despised what she did. Zephira would wait until the man attack then she would draw her blade, In the style of combat she was taught. She sat waiting for the attack, feeling the ground under her feet, the taste of the air on her senses. All things considering this was not a bad place to die, she knew Zack reputation, also know as Speed Demon Zack. 

This entire set up reminded her of a battle she had fought once, one with a man she could not have. He was from another clan and their love was forbidden. She remember them meeting like this, each with order to kill the other, order she had followed. She had thought he would fight back, but when their blades met he slide his out of the way and her blade pierced his heart. He simply smiled at her as his life blood stained the ground and her hands red.

"Don't worry... Keep fighting and one day you will be free."

Those where his last words to her, she cried that day... harder than she ever would. Was this the freedom he spoke of? Death? If that was the case why had he not just killed her? Zephira's mind ran circles in itself, but her focus never wavered from the man in front of her. Not for a instant was she distracted by her thoughts, she stood ready... for combat... for death.

So it seemed this ninja was the type to focus on counters when it came to direct combat. It suited an assassin as they likely had high agility and skill, but lacked the physical strength for a straight up combat. As such they would focus on counters and turn their opponent's strength against them. She hadn't drawn her weapon yet. Perhaps a style that focused on the drawing of the sword. Well, if she wasn't going to make the first move he would.

In a blur of movement that was almost too fast for the human eye to follow he was suddenly behind her. Even skilled humans would struggle to see that he zigged and zagged dodging round her and ended up launching a powerful rapid series of strikes to the back. Whether she would be able to handle it or not was another matter entirely. "You seek the strength to defend your clan? You seek money to free them from their bonds?" he asked as he struck. He wanted to know what she was capable of. If time was a key factor for her and she wasn't that skilled or that strong then he'd have to perhaps intervene himself though that put the risk of him starting a war. However, if she had sufficient skill then perhaps he could help enhance that skill so she could save her people herself.

Zephira felt the movement of the wind, she knew right where he was, she spun in place as the man started to speak. Using her piviot to fuel her strike, she drew the blade against the sheath and drew it in a Iai. The man was to much for her in magic power, but she had been training with a sword her entire life with a little like she could over come him. her blade was aimed at the mans chest but she was forced to turn it aside as the man launched a far faster barrage of strikes. Zephira ducked and sidestepped the attacks she could, all others she either turned aside or changed where the blow would hit on her body. After all the mans attacks, she was bleeding in multiple places but not a single hit was critical or even mildly life threatening. Zephira used the mans last attack as a spring board flipping over the man and slashing at his back, when she hit the ground she would crouch low as most enemies she had fought in the past would spin and swing high. Most... but not all, the sheath of her blade was still in her hand and she brought it right up to the mans skull, she intended to catch him under the chin if he spun or in the back of the skull if he didn't. Despite if the blow made contact she would disengage throwing her weight backwards and bending her back, flipping backwards hopefully out of the mans reach.

Rather than going for the more traditional movement of spinning or swinging high. Zack instead threw himself forward into a roll and managed to turn that into turning round to face her just in time to see her swing her sheath at where he would of been if he had decided to attack. So she used her sheath as a club. Or perhaps more as an extension of the arm. That was good. She showed some promise. Few thought of their sheath as anything more than a way of storing the sword. She'd also shown impressive Iai speed, though of course it wasn't enough to counter his own speed.

He grinned and charged at her weaving side to side causing after images to form. They were ever so slightly blurred, but because he moved side to side so fast even himself was a blur so it was quite hard to tell which was which. As they got closed they began to circle rapidly. Not going to attack, but waiting to see what Zephy would do.

Zephira was clearly outclassed, she didnt have much to her name other than her weapon. So when the man did his clone ability she basicly had lost, that didn't stop her from trying. Zephira closed her eyes and listened to the sounds around her, the movements of the man running around her, the sounds of his footsteps. She held her blade to her right in a proper stance a samurai would use, while she was better in a clandestine position she had been trained in kendo. Zephira took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes, she began counting the foot steps, she positioned her blade in a horizontal position.

*3-2-1... 3-2-1... 3-2-1*

Zephira was counting inside her head now, keeping track of every time zack passed in front of her. she let if to for a few seconds more.

*3-2-1... 3-2...*

She swung the blade at where she believed him to be, directly in front of her. The strike, if it hit, was not lethal as she had flipped to the back of her blade. She didn't even know if what she was counting was correct but was about 80% sure she was. Usually she would not act unless she was 100% sure but she didn't really have a choice.

A good technique. She had waited and calculated the time when he would be in the perfect position for her to strike. The blade came at him, the flat rather than the sharp, but he merely flipped over it and skidded to a halt with a smirk on his face. [color:55e8=te"Your skills is rather impressive." Zack said and then turned to look at her. "How about you come with me to my guild and make some money putting those skills to helping people rather than hurting them..." he paused as he said those words. "...well maybe not so much instead of hurting people, but you'd get a chance to use your skills for good rather than just lining the pockets of those men."

He stretched out his body leaving himself wide open. [color=teal]"Besides, if you were to accept my offer I'd be more than happy to help your family...heck I might do it anyway." he winked at her with a smile on his face. He was willing to help. She seemed like a genuine nice person.

Zephira sighed as the man made a mockery of her, she knew he meant well but she was having issues getting past that. She sighed and thought about what needed to be done, she needed to disapper... to be dead... but not for real.

"Tell you what... tell the world im dead.... i need to do some things... one day i will return. but for now i need them to think im dead so i can.... deal with them."

Zephira sheathed her blade and put her hand on her hip, she hoped her would agree to it. but she could not garentee he would. She had plans to go back home, quietly and deal a blow to those terrorizing her family. She would do what she did best... and kill all those whom threatened her family.

"I need to do what i have been trained to do, but it would be alot easier to do if... they think im dead... then my family is... not punished for me rebelling. Can you do this?"

AN assassin from the shadows. One who had died taking their revenge against those who had harmed their family and forced them to a life of death. There was something almost poetic about it. Plus it did seem to be the best way to go about it though he wasn't exactly happy about her killing people. Still, some people did deserve to die. He had never believed that before, but time had made him more cynical and having Ophiuchus in his head didn't help either.

"I will make a formal report that I was attacked by an assassin matching your description whilst training in Sin." he said calmly turning away from her. "I will say that I fought against you and that one of the monsters here attacked you and ended your life. That is why there are no remains." He blurred past her suddenly and a small amount of her hair and a scrap of her clothing were in his hand. "This will be all I was able to recover. Now go before the lie becomes truth. This area is dangerous and whilst your skilled you aren't strong enough to battle creatures on this level." He paused.

"But if you ever do return, or you need help, then send me a message and I will do what I can. My door is always open to skilled fighters who know the value of life, even if they take it."

With those words he blurred away at high speed and came to a halt a good half a mile from where they had fought. Once there he flared his magic power to its highest level using his full magic. This was to try and attract what monsters he could so as to give Zephira an easier exit. It wasn't much, but it was all he could do. As he flared the magic power a thought came to his mind. He'd left the lord of inferno over there and hadn't actually taken what he wanted from him. Ah well, he could go back a bit later. Few would approach the body of the lord of inerno incase he was just sleeping. He took a deep breath. Assasination was becoming a real issue. It seemed he had a lot enemies. Perhaps he should consider dissapearing himself.

Zephira watched as the man left, she had some time now... and she was not going to was a second of it. She took off at a full sprint the other way, she had to get back to midi... back to her family. She cared for them to much was her flaw she would not put them into danger unless she knew it was for a good reason... freedom was the ultimate reason. She had people to kill and alliances to set up but again... time was of the essence.

She would make her way home, becoming a spirit of vengence and slaying any who got in her way. Was Zack's action's the best? or would the come back to haunt him some day? Only time would tell.

Zack sighed deeply. A promising new candidate for the guild had been lost. She had skill, that was for certain, and he felt she would pair nicely with the likes of Akeya or Akryn. Still, people had to do what they had to do and family was the most important thing after all. For Zack, his family was his guild as he did not know his family. If she'd joined then she and her family would of been under the guild's protection, but it seems that was not to be.

"Good luck." he mumbled before going off to find the next giant monster to beat the living daylights out of. Some said he did this just for training, but recently he'd noticed the monsters beginning to co-ordinate and so he broke up that co-ordination where he could. Hopefully, he wasn't the trigger of them forming a monster army for vengeance. That would be sort of ironic.


EXAM END