Monastery of Guardians

Job Info: https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t35210-free-form-job

“This is the end of the line for you, Oda,” Hide said with a wild grin on his face, daggers in hand, with the one in his right dagger holding off Oda’s katana. His opponent Oda was red-faced, holding the katana in a double handed grip, trying to exert strength that was leaking out of him. He had been poisoned, from the wine offered to him by his lieutenant, Hide. Oda’s wife was standing to one side of the room, a wakizashi in hand as she tried to protect their only daughter behind them. They were pale with fright, their daughter sobbing.

“Why Hide?” Oda shouted in response, his arms beginning to shake as Hide’s dagger pressing against his katana began to gain strength. “I considered you my brother! We swore to achieve fame and endure poverty together!”

“I’m bored of being the second. I want to be the general!” Hide screamed back with a manic laugh before pushing forward with his dagger once and lashing out with a kick. Weak in his legs, Oda took the blow in his gut, stumbling backwards to his wife. His arms, as though laden with lead, were screaming with pain as he continued to hold up his katana.

“Oda-sama, what do we do?!” his wife’s panicked whisper reached him as she supported him with a hand to the shoulder.

“Jump. Jump out the window!” Oda exclaimed all of a sudden as he grabbed the knife in his wife’s hands and jammed it into his thigh. A strangled gasp of pain left him, but with new stimulation of pain, Oda managed to overcome the weakness in his body and lunged forward with a downward slash. Hide barely blocked the attack, taken by surprise while Oda’s wife brought her daughter to the windows that lined the wall and scrambled out of it on to the roof.

“Guards!” Hide yelled before slamming his boot into Oda’s chest, sending the general stumbling back into a stool. The katana was dropped but Oda couldn’t care less for it. Mustering strength again, the general limped as quickly as he could to the windows and followed his wife to the roof, waiting for him. Five burly men carrying battle axes charged into the room, hacking through the bamboo walls that separate the room from the hallway outside. Hide pointed to the window.

“Jump! Jump!” Oda shouted and pushed them off the roof, knowing off his horse-drawn carriage below. Mother and daughter tore through the fabric roof of the carriage and landing on the cushioned seats inside while General Oda dropped on his horse, letting out another gasp of pain due to another jolt of pain from his thigh with the knife still in it. The tiled roof above them shook with activity, roof tiles sliding out of their places and crashing to the ground all around the carriage. Two of them landed on their feet on the ground, ready to swing their battle axes.

The one in front of Oda was preparing to hack down on the horses, but was stopped in mid-strike as an arrow stabbed through his heart. Without looking back, the general knew that it was his wife’s work, now a formidable warrior after gaining access to her bow in the carriage. With a pull of the reins, the horses launched into a gallop as they rushed out of the town. Archers rose up from the roof on both sides of the street, shooting one after another.

Most of the arrows were missed and only struck the wooden frames of the carriage. Oda’s wife, Yuki, shot back in retaliation, managing to bring down a few of the archers before a yelp threw her back into her seat. She had been shot straight through her chest, arrow hitting her left lung. The general could do nothing but continue pressing onwards. A third gasp of pain came from him again when an arrow lodged itself into the back of his left shoulder, rendering it useless.
As they neared the town entrance, two horses swung out from the side roads. Turning his head back to the galloping, Oda cursed again as he prompted the horses drawing his carriage to gallop faster.

[883 words]

The instructions from his master had been brief. With the sword he had given him strapped to his back, he was travelling through Midi in search of a place called the Hogosha no Shudoin. Or the Monastery of Guardians. Back when he had lost his Sky Demon Slayer powers, his master had quietly unsealed his All Might magic, which he had thought to be lost forever and passed this sword to him with only the words, “You will love it.”

That was it. No other instructions on what to do with the sword until he finally found the time to unsheathe the weapon, allowing a piece of paper to exit the sheath along with the blade. That was his only clue. After one week of asking around in Midi, Shane had finally found a guide who knew where Hogosha no Shudoin was, explaining to him that it was an ancient mastery, deeply rooted in martial arts culture. However, due to the destructive nature of their martial arts, the monastery accepts disciples very sparingly and stringently, leading to near extinction of their heritage.

It took him and his guide two days to trek through the mountainous landscape.
“Of course the monastery has to be deep in the mountains,” Shane said sarcastically to no one in particular, quietly too. The guide held a deep reverence for the monastery and its monks, and it would do Shane if he heard it. But when the two of them heard something else aside from the chirping of the birds and shifting of the leaves, the two of them stopped in their tracks and exchanged a glance.

“Did you hear that?” the guide asked, a questioning look on his face. Shane nodded in response and quickly led the two of them towards the shout for help, which had sounded out again. They paid no heed to their surroundings, charging through the vegetation until they finally heard the sound of water and emerge at the bank of a shallow river. A man, his clothes ruined beyond saving, was kneeling beside a girl. Shane could see her head from where he stood. He was shouting and grieving, despairing cries for help.

“Please help my daughter,” the man said before collapsing from exhaustion.

[374 words]

There was a wetness to his lips and as droplets began trickling down his throat, Oda’s eyes began to flutter open and with an inhuman strength suddenly grasp for the bowl of water that was being fed to him and gulped it down entirely in one mouthful. The sudden influx of water jolted his body awake as he sprang up from his mattress, to the shock of the young monk tending to him. An older monk, in his late twenties and owner of a hardened face, looked down at him and then turned his head to call out to the others.

“The general is awake,” he said with a humph at the end, then looking back at Oda with undisguised disdain in his eyes. If it was the Oda of old, he would have ordered the man to be executed. But in this situation now, who was he? He was no longer the ever-triumphant general on the east of Midi. His men had mutinied against him, his wife dead while escaping. Now, his biggest concern was only for his daughter.

Getting up on his knees, Oda shuffled across the floorboard and grabbed the monk’s right hand, pleading.

“Mister, have you seen my daughter? My daughter is in very urgent need of medical care!” he begged.

The monk’s expression softened as he watched the once-cruel general bang his forehead on the ground continuously while anxious for his daughter and decided to be kinder. Bending over and grabbing the general’s shoulders, he stopped his bowing and then spoke in a deep voice.

“We are treating your daughter in the next room. But the situation is not looking too good,” he said honestly. Without any further words, the general picked himself up and rushed into the next room. When he entered, the entire room was dead silent. The few monks who heard him coming in looked at him with a sympathetic expression and then quietly left the room, leaving only the head abbot sitting on the floor by the girl.

Oda pulled himself to his daughter’s side, and began to weep. Tears rolled down his face as he cried to his heart’s content, roaring at the heavens for the unjust. The head abbot merely shook his head, but still sympathetic nonetheless. Distraught, the general lunged at the head abbot, but was stopped by the silver-haired person who had just entered. Shane had barged in when he heard the general weep openly, and was just in time to hold the man back, clamping his arms down by his side.

Several other monks passing by also came in, faces hostile but was held back by a single raised hand from the head abbot.

“Why? Why didn’t you save her? Why?!!!!” Oda kept on repeating. It wasn’t clear who he was railing at. Coincidentally, this large room was actually the main prayer hall of the monastery. Four large statues, entirely cast out of gold, their fierce expressions identifying them as the four warrior gods that the monks of Hogosha no Shudoin prayed to. When Shane finally felt no more resistance from the grieving general, he released his shoulders and the man began to crawl towards the altar, shouting at the gods until he fainted due to the exhaustion again.

[536 words]

It was evening when Shane finally had a moment to speak with the head abbot, the black katana held in his left hand. They had just had dinner in the great hall, a simple meal of rice, stir-fried vegetables and some fried lotus roots. It was very different from Shane’s normal fare, but he appreciated the light meal. He had just opened the door to his room, about to step out when he caught multiple dark shapes flitting among the shadows. His instincts screamed danger immediately, and the discussion about the katana was put to the back of his mind as he left it on his bed and edged out of his room through the small gap he had left open.

The moment he stepped out, a blade sliced horizontally through the air and Shane dropped to the ground, lashing his left leg out with a powerful sweeping kick that smashed through the bamboo door and into the attacker’s legs. The attacker dropped to the ground with shout, and Shane was on to him within seconds. A palm thrust was send to the man’s face, hitting him squarely in the nose before the same hand pulled back and launched forward in a straight punch into the chest that threw him halfway across the courtyard.

“Shit,” Shane cursed under his breath. The body of the unconscious assailant arced over the ground before dropping to the ground with a loud thud and rolled a few times before coming to a stop. It had been awhile since he had been engaging in close combat after he learn the Sky Demon Slayer magic, and the lack of familiarity was showing in his control of strength. At the same time, the sounds of scuffles began to emerge from multiple places around the compound. Another black-garbed assailant lunged at Shane, this time attacking with a sword.

Not wanting to cause damage to the fixtures of the monastery, Shane led the battle towards the empty space between the main building and the entrance. The assailant was skilled with the sword, forcing the Rune Knight back as he continued to evade the various slashes. He was gauging his opponent’s ability, waiting for the opportune moment to get a hit in. The monks of the monastery were all awake by then, and a few of them, with the same idea as Shane had brought the fight to the courtyard as well.

Shane managed to peek at the other ongoing battles, unsurprised by the combat abilities of the monks as they fought on equal footing with their opponents, armed with long staffs. But Shane had taken his eye off his own fight for too long. A downwards slash was evaded but swiftly converted into a slash to the left midway down, with the silver-haired mage barely stepping back to avoid it. A thin red line was drawn across his chest, spurring on his opponent’s spirits. But Shane had other thoughts. With a smirk, he kicked off his left feet and sprang forward, landing heavily with all his weight on his right and swung his right fist upwards in an uppercut. His favorite, Hargeon Smash.

The assailant was thrown up into the air, to the surprise of everyone else, not expecting such strength from his lean build. The assailant dropped to the ground with a loud thud, but was barely up before Shane lunged and stomped down on his chest. A few sickening cracks were heard, before the assailant fainted.

[579 words]

The other monks took about the same time to subdue their opponents, the continuous thwacks of their staffs finally coming to an end. Until a loud roar thundered from outside the gates and like a bull charging, a giant of a man plowed straight through the main gates into the courtyard. And he looked the part of a very large bull. With his hulking height and mass, the newcomer was fully equipped in armor, his helmet the most eye-catching of all with the two long horns sticking upwards on either side.

In his hands, a large weapon befitting of his stature that looked like the child of a spear and battle axe. It was even taller than Shane’s height.

When he saw his men all slumped on the ground, the giant warrior snorted and then spoke in his thunderous voice. “Hand over the traitor Oda or don’t blame General Hide for being merciless!”

The monks began to gather opposite the large warrior, the ones learnt in combat standing at the front beside Shane while the rest at the back. Shane wasn’t the only one who didn’t know of this man’s identity, as was evident from the hushed whispers of the monks behind the front line. Straining his ears and suddenly lamenting the loss of his enhanced hearing during his stint as a Demon Slayer, Shane could pick up enough from the soft conversations behind him that this huge guy was called Aramatsu.

“Don’t think you can come and go into our monastery as you wish!” one monk that Shane had recognized as one of the senior disciples shouted back, the rest of the warrior monks echoing his words. Just like that the entire group of twenty warrior monks charged forward to surround the mighty warrior. Shane hung back, wanting to see how this scene would play out. The large warrior didn’t disappoint as he didn’t even flinch at the idea of taking on twenty warrior monks while the latter treated him as a monster, going into an alternating formation where ten of them would attack and retreat following by another flurry of attacks by the second ten.

But the attacks barely scratched Aramatsu’s armor or slow him down. With a few mighty swings, the warrior had more or less pushed the warrior monks away, creating an invisible zone around himself. Even when just standing in stance, Aramatsu cut a very threatening figure and Shane imagined what it would be like to on the opposite side of the man on a battlefield. To his allies, he was most definitely a morale booster.

The second round of exchange started just as quickly, with the warrior monks switching their formation. Instead of synchronized simultaneous attacking, they were moving on their own accord but still in harmony with the moves of the others. This time, Aramatsu was slightly baffled by their movements and attacks, taking more hits and giving out less. But the mere damage output was unable to subdue the beast of a man. They had finally cornered the man but lacked the damage output to truly put him down.

With a roar, Aramatsu held on tight to his weapon and spun in place with his large spear-axe extended. Most of the monks managed to break out of their stance and leap away, while some were deft enough to block the blow with their staffs resulting in broken weapons. A few were unable to react in time and were slashed severely across their upper body. Shane had wanted to leave it to the warrior monks to handle Aramatsu but the guide had been correct when he said their martial arts heritage had been diluted over the ages. What was once tools of war were now mere health routines.

[625 words]

In the blink of an eye, Shane appeared in the air above Aramatsu, fists connected by interlocking fingers and swung them downwards as he dropped from the air. Flesh met metal as the blow connected successfully, catching Aramatsu off guard. The man’s physique was truly fantastic, his body merely bowing forward as the energy compressed his spine slightly before he swung backwards with his fist. Shane blocked it easily with his left forearm, using the momentum to land lightly on the ground.

“Who are you?” the armored warrior growled as he glowered. The veins around his neck looked like they were about to pop. Shane had successfully angered the man.

“Shane Stern,” the silver-haired mage replied curtly. His stance was loose and relaxed, most suitable for a quick counter attack which he was sure wouldn’t be below the large warrior.

“I never knew Oda had a retainer from outside Midi,” Aramatsu spoke, slowly moving as he began to circle Shane. To which the silver-haired Rune Knight was forced to turn around in place to keep him in his sights.

“Retainer? What’s all this about?”

However, Shane never got his answer as Aramatsu saw his chance after surprised Shane with his question and instantly narrowed the distance between them. His speed matched Shane’s own speed even when he was constantly powered by the energy leaking from his magic, forcing the Rune Knight to rely on his skills to evade killing blows as well. All of the swings, while appearing to be wild, flowed together in a rhythmic pace that Shane had yet to comprehend, putting him on the back leg.

Despite that, Shane also knew that Aramatsu was a character driven by his lust for battle. There were a few close calls in the beginning, but as the battle dragged on, Shane finally caught on to the holes in his attacks. It was a result of the warrior’s overconfidence, overextending time after time. Shane allowed it to go unnoticed until the fifth opening finally presented itself through a powerful thrust. The mage shifted his weight to his left feet and spun around as the spear sped past his side, landing heavily on his right feet and landing a powerful roundhouse kick with his left leg.

With that single kick, Aramatsu was thrown to the side a few feet back while Shane lowered his leg and entered his combat stance again. It was his turn to go on the offensive. Before the warrior could get back on his feet, Shane was once again in front of him, bending his body as he pulled back his right fist and threw it upwards, using Hargeon Smash once again. The blow straightened Aramatsu’s body as he went stiff, head thrown backwards and launched a few feet into the air. But Shane wasn’t done. He caught Aramatsu by his left ankle, and with a grunt, tugged the man down, smashing him into the ground with prejudice.

[490 words]

Walking over to the larger man who was too disoriented to even pull himself back up, Shane was about to deliver the finishing blow when five needles flew at him. Acting on reflexes alone, the Rune Knight kicked back and retaliated with five shuriken from his left hand, a new weapon he had picked up as part of his new Requip magic. The projectiles collided in mid-air with a crisp clang and clattered to the ground.

But Shane’s eyes were on the top of the main gate. Specifically the top of the left pillar of the main gates. A female, judging by the curvature of the body, was standing on top of the gates. Similarly armored but in a leaner design, the other key feature on her was the skeletal mask that covered the lower half of her face. There was nothing to hide the fiery stare that she was leveling at the Rune Knight as he stared back defiantly.

“I advise you to reconsider your actions, Mister Stern. You may be able to protect the monks today but when the general returns with his army, he won’t be merciful,” the lady spoke in a husky voice, alluring to most men in most situations but with his adrenaline pumping, it was quite ineffective on Shane. The only thing that he extracted from her words was a challenge. Shane grunted and walked to the still reeling Aramatsu. Still looking at the female warrior, Shane held up his right leg and slammed it down into the warrior’s face, putting him down for good.

“I don’t know who you are and your agenda, but the monks have given me a place to stay. And as their guest, it’s my duty to get rid of any pests that has snuck into my gracious host’s compound,” was his reply.

“I bid you return, Miss Kanae, for you won’t be achieving what you seek tonight. The warrior Aramatsu will be staying here in our custody,” a deeper voice came from behind Shane. The Rune Knight turned around instantly to look at the head abbot with the man from before, Oda beside him. His very presence changed the atmosphere of the courtyard, and for a moment, the icy gaze of the head abbot seemed to affect the surrounding temperature as well. Shane looked at the man’s expression but saw nothing. It was as calm yet unyielding as water.

The female warrior atop the gates gave Shane a glare before leaping lightly off the gates and disappeared from their view.

“Take the warrior Aramatsu into custody,” the head abbot said to his disciples which sprang into action immediately, procuring steel chains to secure the fallen warrior. To Shane, the head abbot gestured for him to follow. “We have lots to talk about, Shane.”

[465 words]

[Total WC: 4190 / 3500]