Despite a concerted effort to reach the core as quickly as possible, Nobu, Okita, and Tomoe had only managed to breach thirty-nine of the offensive satellites fifty levels by the dawn of the second day. They had attempted to push into the fortieth floor, but, shortly after they ventured inside, they had to contend against one of Da Vinci's inventions and a sneak attack from an enemy Community.
Though she had activated her Bankai and Susanoo, Nobu was unable to penetrate the defenses of the 40th Floor's Guardian. During that time, a female assassin, presumably belonging to the Akuma or Kotoamatsukami Communities, attempted to stab Tomoe through the liver and heart. Okita was quick to repel her, but, even after slicing the woman from crown to crotch, the ruby-eyed assailant simply staggered for a moment before leaping backward and sinking into a shadow.
With Okita's exceptional mastery of Sword Laws, the only thing that could explain her opponent's survival was her possession of a unique constitution. Her ability to submerge into shadows implied an affinity with darkness, but, without observing her over a longer period of time, they couldn't be certain. All they knew was that they were no longer alone and that their opponent could maneuver through what Da Vinci referred to as the Shadow Axis, a sub-dimensional plane between the Axis of Reality and the Void.
As much as she wanted to advance, Nobu was exhausted after several consecutive activations of her Mangekyou Sharingan. The only things keeping her going were her pride, her obstinance, and the food provided by Rindo. Attempting to push ahead when she was on the verge of collapse was just asking for an assassin to finish her off, so, after posting up skeletal soldiers at each entrance to the 40th Floor, Nobu gave the order to make camp...
"I swear to Vahn. If that bitch isn't the hottest piece of ass this side of the Divine Realm, I'm going to pluck her eyes out and consume them alongside my sake..."
Punctuating her words, Nobu chugged nearly a liter of scalding hot green tea just to suppress her desire to drink a bottle of sake. She didn't mind when Vahn did it, but, whenever an enemy attempted to attack her from behind, Nobu couldn't help feeling frustrated.
Though she understood the importance of taking advantage of every opportunity to defeat a more powerful opponent, Nobu could be pretty self-centered in her ideologies. She would readily snipe a powerful foe from their blind spot, but, the moment someone began targetting hers, she resented them with every fiber of her being.
Frowning in response to Nobu's words, a conflicted expression marred Tomoe's face as she said, "I would advise against such a brutal course of action. As one of Vahn-sama's Empresses, you should carry yourself with greater dignity..."
Directing her scowl towards Tomoe, Nobu briefly eyed the white-haired woman's pert and perky breasts before shaking her head, snorting through her nose, and saying, "It's just an expression. I may have prominent canines but I'm not a beast..."
Recalling the frequency in which she attended Rindo's special tastings, Nobu's words gradually trailed off as she stared into space. Tomoe took notice of this, but, instead of prying into Nobu's thoughts, she just exhaled a sigh before pulling out a handheld gaming tablet. She still needed to finish some of her dailies, so, while Okita was keeping watch, Tomoe pulled up her legs and began tapping away at her tablet.
Noticing Tomoe's behavior, Nobu was half-tempted to sneak up behind and grope the intently focused albino. Instead, she shook her head in mock exasperation before lying against the ground and closing her eyes. None of them required sleep, but, for the sake of expediting her recovery, she intended to let her body and mind rest.
Nearly as soon as Nobu's head touched the ground, a pair of hands covered in black armguards emerged from the shadow beneath her. Instead of panicking, a smile developed across Nobu's face as she allowed herself to be drawn into the inky black substance that had spread beneath her. This was also observed by Tomoe, but, as they had already discussed what they would do if their would-be assailant tried to seize one of them, she just paused for a moment before shaking her head and focusing on her tablet...
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After passing through a membrane that could best be characterized as ice-cold molasses, a fiery red light erupted from Nobu's body as she spun around and manifested an ornate, Tanegashima-style rifle. The person that had grabbed her was pushed away by the explosive force of her aura, but, due to the nature of the Shadow Axis, she was able to recover and dodge to the side as if she had absolute control over the direction and momentum of her movement.
Undaunted by the woman's swiftness, the smile on Nobu's face became a toothy grin as pulled out a second rifle and fired towards the area where her opponent was set to appear. Her accuracy came as a surprise to the ruby-eyed woman, but, thanks to her superior speed, she was able to evade the light-formed projectile fired from Nobu's rifle with a simple sidestep.
"Give up...you'll never be able to-"
Before she could finish her words, the ruby-eyed woman evaded to the side as an abyssal-black, completely invisible projectile pierced through where her head had been moments prior. Several beads of sweat appeared across her brow, not because of the close shave but because Nobu had startled to cackle madly as a six-armed skeletal demon manifested around her.
"Good, good, good! Let's see how long you can keep dodging my attacks...!"
With eight rifles in hand, two in her own and six wielded by the compact version of her Susanoo, Nobu proceeded to spin around at a high speed, countless projectiles firing from her rifles as she continued to laugh like a crazed person. The ruby-eyed assassin was able to easily evade the vast majority of these, but, every now and then, an invisible projectile would attempt to pierce one of her vitals.
Unable to sense the projectile until it had targetted her, the ruby-eyed assassin clicked her tongue before reaching into the interior of her pitch-black cloak and producing six, glistening silver kunai. Nobu immediately took notice of this, but, instead of ceasing her assault, she directed her Susanoo to continue firing in random directions as she stared directly at her opponent, the flowery pattern in her eyes spinning faster than the cameras observing them could pick up.
Sensing something extremely ominous, the ruby-eyed assassin appeared to vanish from the murky black space before reappearing behind Nobu's body. She had briefly exited the Shadow Axis in the hope of evading whatever Nobu threw at her, but, the moment she returned, hundreds of crimson red beams of light barreled toward her from every conceivable angle.
Clicking her tongue a second time, the ruby-eyed assassin tossed the silvery kunai towards Nobu's back before sweeping her palms towards the projectiles. To the surprise of the spectators, each of her movements caused beams of light to curve around her body. At the same time, the kunai she had previously cast out ended up impacting Nobu's Susanoo. A sound similar to metal impacting metal at a high speed echoed through the seemingly endless dimension of darkness, but, as could be expected, the six kunai were unable to penetrate the carmine skeleton's defenses.
Just as the spectators thought the woman's attack had failed, each of the kunai erupted to form a series of star-like spheres of light. These also failed to penetrate Susanoo's defenses, but, much like actual stars, they generated powerful gravitational fields. The body and arms of the Susanoo were immediately drawn towards the nearest star, and, though she did her best to tuck in her arms and legs, Nobu felt as though her body was being torn apart by the immense gravitational forces.
"You...you sneaky bitch...!"
Activating the effect of her left eye, Nobu manipulated each of her 'bullets' to curve towards her opponent. At the same time, blood began pouring from her right eye as the invisible bullet she had been using to harass the ruby-eyed assassin pierced through one of the pulsating stars. The exterior promptly turned an unnatural shade of black, and, moments later, the entire sphere collapsed in on itself before vanishing entirely.
Like other Mangekyou Sharingan, Nobu possessed different abilities in each of her eyes. She was able to modify these with assistance from Vahn but the two she was most fond of were known as Maho-no-Dangan(Magic Bullet) and Shinigami-no-Shinigami(Reaper Death Shot). The former let her alter the trajectory of bullets she had already fired while the latter, much like death itself, was a slow yet invisible projectile that could kill any target so long as it struck a vital.
After encountering numerous swordsmen and women capable of cutting through concepts, Nobu felt it was only fair that she should be able to shoot them. Thus, even though something like a star might not have a conventional vital point, Nobu could 'fake the funk' by designating one herself. In this case, she decided that the stars would be destroyed if the bullet struck their core, so, before the gravitational forces could rip her apart, she directed the invisible bullet to penetrate the cores of all six in less than a second.
Freed from her gravitational prison, Nobu, now bereft of her bikini and bleeding from multiple parts of her body opened her mouth to release a thoroughly bone-chilling roar. The sound she produced was so menacing that the ruby-eyed assassin immediately opted to run away and abandon Nobu in the shadowy sub-dimension. She immediately appeared in the outside world, but, before she could breathe a sigh of relief, cracks began to appear in the surrounding space before a crimson red hand covered in strange black markings emerged from the void to try and grab her.
Unable to contain herself, the ruby-eyed assassin dodged backward, exclaiming, "What the fuck...!?" as she drew a metal-plated umbrella from her back. Unfortunately, the only response she received from Nobu was a series of soul-shattering roars as eight draconic visages emerged from the void, each condensing a horrendously powerful sphere of energy in their toothy maws. In the very next moment, eight faster-than-light beams of pitch-black energy intersected at the location where the ruby-eyed assassin had been standing. Instead of dissipating upon contact with the durable surface of the satellite, however, those angled towards the surface bore through all thirty-nine layers of the planetoid before continuing off into space...
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Feeling her surroundings trembling like a magnitude 12 earthquake, an exasperated sigh emanated from Tomoe's throat as she returned her tablet to her inventory and grumbled, "I'm never going to be able to complete my dailies..."
Appearing next to Tomoe, though not in response to the former's mumblings, Okita stated, "That's the signal for us to move. Are you ready...?"
Nodding her head, Tomoe manifested a rather futuristic-look bow before saying, "Lead the way." in a resolute tone. In response, Okita offered a curt nod before directing her silvery gaze towards the approximate location of Nobu and muttering, "Try not to destroy the satellite before we reach the center..."
Though her words seemed to be directed towards the empty air, Okita's utterance was greeted by the sound of Nobu telepathically replying, ("Don't worry. My Mangekyou abilities work even in my Yamata-no-Orochi form. I'm going to rampage for a bit but I can guarantee no harm will befall the core.")
Deciding to trust in Nobu's words, Okita offered a nod of her own before holding her inordinately long katana near her hip and charging forward. Tomoe immediately fell into step behind her, but, before she accelerated to her maximum speed, she also cast a glance in Nobu's general direction, a reflective glimmer flashing across her vibrant red eyes as she seriously considered having a custom Tailed Beast sealed into her own body...
Maybe she could even grow a pair of fluffy ears and a tail...?
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Gotta get those dailies done...','Showdown in the Shadow Realm...!','I wonder what Nobu's favorite anime is...?')
https://bit.ly/2XBzAYu <-(p.atreon link)
paypal.me/Einlion
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After sending her message to Okita, Nobu, appearing as a 190m tall hydra with eight heads, eight tails, and a mixture of red and black scales focused her attention on her surroundings. Her instincts told her the ruby-eyed assassin was still alive, so, taking advantage of her eight pairs of Mangekyou Sharingan, Nobu scanned every inch of her surroundings.
As she had yet to get used to manipulating multiple heads to perform different functions, the maws of Nobu's eight heads opened at the same time as she mused, "Come out, come out, wherever you are~." in a playful yet bone-chilling tone.
Sensing movement nearby, three of Nobu's draconic visages, almost as if they were on autopilot, turned towards the motion before unleashing fiery red breath that liquified the metallic structure of the satellite on contact. Unfortunately, the thing that had caught her attention was the remnants of an Imperial Dragon, not her opponent.
Clicking all eight of her tongues, a blood-red aura began to exude from Nobu's body as the notion that her opponent had fled gradually settled within her mind. She couldn't really blame her, but, at the same time, she couldn't help feeling annoyed. This was supposed to be her opportunity to show off, yet, the moment she unleashed one of her trump cards, the opponent just fled? Talk about anti-climactic...
Just as Nobu was thinking about reverting to her human form, she noticed a glimmer of silver out of the corner of her leftmost set of eyes. This implied that the attack was a fair bit slower than the speed of light, yet, in spite of this, Nobu felt an immediate stinging sensation near the upper ridge of her left eye as what appeared to be a fuuma shuriken grazed her.
"You sneaky little shit...!"
Though the wound healed instantaneously, the attack was all Nobu needed to know the ruby-eyed assassin was still nearby. She was most likely just lurking in the Shadow Axis and looking for a weak spot she could exploit.
Taking advantage of her eight heads and the expanded visual range of the Mangekyou Sharingan, Nobu used six of her heads to achieve a panoramic view of her surroundings while the remaining two monitored her blind spots. She even plopped down onto the ground, her belly sinking into the superstructure of the satellite so that her opponent couldn't easily manifest beneath her.
Nearly as soon as Nobu's preparations had been made, yet another glimmer of silver entered the periphery of her fifth head's right eye. Instead of trying to dodge it, however, she simply closed her eyelid as a feeling of incongruency washed over her. The vision of her fifth head was shared by her third and sixth, yet, in spite of a perfect overlap in her line of sight, only her fifth head noticed the glimmer of silver. It had seemingly emerged from a position in full view of her sixth head yet she had somehow missed it? Impossible.
Realizing her opponent must have an Innate related to presence erasure or perception alteration, the expressions on Nobu's eight heads became markedly more intense. She still had two massive trump cards at her disposal, but, without knowing the specifics of her opponent's ability, she would be exhausting herself for nothing.
As the crest of the Oda Clan began to spin in each of her eyes, the blood-red aura that had been exuding from Nobu's body surged outward like a tidal wave of miasma. It was a blood toxin that possessed extremely corrosive properties, so, confident that she had sealed off the ground, Nobu began to gather energy in each of her throats. If her opponent didn't appear soon, she was going to lay waste to everything in her surroundings...
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Unbeknownst to Nobu, the opponent she was so desperately searching for was currently standing atop her centermost head with a pensive expression on her face. As Nobu had speculated, she did possess an Innate related to stealth. So long as her opponent believed she was hiding, she could stand right in front of them without drawing attention. This would be negated if she attacked them directly, but, thanks to her status and identity, she, Hattori Hanzo, had numerous ways to bypass such a restriction.
The problem Hanzo was facing was that she had no way to bypass Nobu's defenses. The scales of her Yamata-no-Orochi form were nearly as durable as the bones comprising her Susanoo. To make matter worse, even if she could penetrate Nobu's defenses, the latter simply regenerated. The one time she had tried a poisonous numbing agent, Nobu didn't even register it as an attack...
"How troublesome..."
Plopping down atop Nobu's head, Hanzo briefly considered withdrawing and reporting back to Amaterasu that her mission was a failure. Unfortunately, she was nearly as prideful as Nobu, so, as the 'Greatest Ninja in History', Hanzo refused to retreat without securing at least a minor victory. To this end, she had decided that she would annoy Nobu for as long as possible before catching up to Tomoe and Okita. The latter's swordsmanship had terrified her quite a bit, but, so long as she didn't die six more times, she could continue pestering them without having to worry too much.
With such thoughts on her mind, Hanzo pulled out a thick bamboo container filled with a mixture of salt, sugar, and water. Her throat was feeling rather parched after experiencing her body being reduced to atomic ash by Nobu's breath attack. Thus, before continuing with her plan to annoy and pester her quarry as much as possible, Hanzo took a moment to wet her throat before pulling out a leaf-wrapped onigiri and pulling down her facemask to reveal facial features remarkably similar to Musashi. The only notable difference was their eye color, and, every time she opened her mouth to take a bite, rather prominent canines could be seen within Hanzo's mouth...
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Feeling a strange sense of discomfort, a frown marred Musashi Black's face as the dumpling she had just grabbed slipped from her chopsticks. With her dexterity, she could juggle grains of rice using the thin utensils, so, while most people wouldn't have taken notice of such a slip-up, Pink promptly finishing slurping up a mouthful of noodles before asking, "What's wrong with you...?"
After a relaxing evening and uneventful night, Musashi Pink had asked Black if she wanted to eat breakfast together before they proceeded to kill one another. This was readily agreed to by Black, who, ever since she had tasted Rindo's cooking, became noticeably more amicable.
Shaking her head, Black attempted to dismiss Pink's concerns, stating, "It's nothing..." in a curt tone. She actually didn't know why she was suddenly feeling off. Even if she did, she wasn't going to talk about it with someone she was about to kill.
Raising her brows, Pink observed Black's somewhat downcast expression with a curious glimmer in her ever-shifting eyes. Had this been a few hundred years ago, she might have attacked the woman then and there. Instead, she actually felt a tinge of sympathy towards the olive-skinned woman, the expression on her face softening ever so slightly as she asked, "Are you on your period...?"
Having just picked up a ceramic cup filled with tea, Black ended up getting drenched as her grip on the cup caused the entire thing to shatter. Her expression immediately darkened, and, though she had noticed the concern in Pink's tone, Black's voice became icy as she mouthed, "Don't go giving those sheep outside strange thoughts..."
As she had just been trying to lighten up the mood, Musashi Pink simply shrugged in response to Black's words before returning to her seemingly bottomless bowl of miso pork ramen. Rindo had gotten tired of preparing certain dishes on demand, so, rather than cooking the same thing over and over again, she had enchanted a few containers and dishes to perpetually replenish. The taste suffered a bit, but, compared to the food prepared by others, it was head and shoulders above the competition. Rather, at this point, even the most prominent Gods of Cooking could be brought to their knees at the mere sight of Rindo's cooking...
Though she continued glaring at Pink for several seconds, the fragrant aroma wafting from her food compelled Black to return to her meal. The flavor of the bite-sized dumplings actually made her feel a lot better, so, despite feeling a growing sense of unease, Black simply ignored it as she practically packed her cheeks with dumplings...
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Feeling several more tremors, Tomoe briefly shifted her attention away from the battle between Okita and an eighty-meter long Imperial Dragon that closely resembled the Leviathan Vahn had encountered in the Akamatsuverse. She couldn't believe Nobu was still battling, as, whenever the latter activated her Yamata-no-Orochi form, even people on the level of Artoria would need to be cautious.
"The Divine Realm truly is filled with a host of exceptional beings..."
Resolving herself to put more effort into her training, Tomoe returned her attention to the battle taking place a few hundred meters away from her. Okita was more than capable of slicing through the sapphire blue metal comprising the automaton's outer shell, but, much like the creature it was based on, the Model Leviathan was capable of generating and manipulating a horrifying amount of water. It was also extremely elusive, so, while Okita could conceivably defeat it in a single strike, she first needed to locate its true body within an endless tide of rapidly regenerating water constructs.
Drawing back her bowstring, an arrow of light began to form at Tomoe's fingertips as her rather futuristic-looking bow suddenly 'bloomed' to form three separate boughs. A mass of vibrant blue energy began to gather at the tip of the bow, and, though she was much weaker than both Nobu and Okita, Tomoe was still able to unleash powerful arrows capable of fragmenting into hundreds of smaller, highly penetrative arrows.
With several of Tomoe's arrows piercing into the largest mass of water, a shrill, high-pitched roar echoed through the massive, layer-like chamber they were fighting in. Okita immediately loosed a series of sword beams that could dwarf even skyscrapers, but, despite creating numerous rifts that prevented the water from immediately reforming, the roar of the Model Levithan continued to echo without so much as a tremble in its voice.
Within each fragmented section of water, a brilliant blue glow could be seen before a series of water-formed serpents, the largest of which was more than fifteen meters in diameter, barreled towards Okita. She was easily able to slice through each of these, but, rather than dissipating, the persistent projectiles simply multiplied based on the number of attacks Okita dished out.
Though she no longer had her Furthest Earth, the footwork that allowed her to step and basically teleport wherever she wanted, Okita had obtained a truly ludicrous Innate known as Planeswalking. It required a tremendous amount of energy, but, so long as she had even a basic understanding of where she wanted to go, she could theoretically go wherever she wanted.
With a functionally infinite amount of energy contained in the vessel of her sword, the only thing preventing Okita from using Planeswalking as her preferred means of transport was the fact she simply didn't like using it. It was an ability she believed should be reserved for combat, so, unless someone like Vahn asked for her help going somewhere, she only used it whenever she felt it was 'necessary'.
Feeling annoyed by the Model Leviathan's trickery, Okita sheathed her inordinately long katana, a slight pout marring her expression as she glared at the hundreds of homing water serpents. At the exact moment when they were about to make contact with her, a mesmerizing glow exuded from the depths of her silver eyes. In the very next moment, a thin line of light appeared to bisect reality itself as Okita appeared behind the Model Levithan and slowly resheathed her sword...
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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Nobu is an angry girl...','When two trolls battle against one another...','TIL that you don't mess with Okita...')
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