Blood Demands Blood (Kinotu)

Lead me through darkness and into the night I shall howl, blood demands blood and my thirst is never quenched, my need never sated.

Usagi Kinotu felt the voice more than heard it. It growled up his spine like a jagged nail dug deep. He shivered and spat a foul taste from his mouth.

“No matter how many times you hear one, you never get used to a voice in your head.” The Hare chuckled to calm his nerves and looked around.

They stood atop the Ruins of Tenari’s Folly. Down below waited the Bloodspeaker General, Jama Suru. His mentor. His captor. Nearby, the beast with which he had made his most recent pack chuckled darkly and slid forward.

The Dragon could not be called a man, not by any sane measure. His body, covered in tattoos, shifted and twisted into a bestial state. His mouth curved back, eyes bright and slitted in the night. Teeth flashed in moonlight and long, wicked claws dug deep into the earth. Togashi Kenjin, or the beast that passed as the old Ise Zumi, crouched down like a tiger eyeing his prey.

Lead us down into the depths of hell, blood follows blood and your experience will see us through. The Bound General cannot harm you while you have my blessing and have it you shall so long as you obey.

Not for the first time, Usagi Kinotu wondered whether this was as bad an idea as it seemed.

Down they went. Down through tunnels and secret passages. Down past the traps Kinotu had set and down past more, surprisingly more, than Jama Suru had used the zombie minions to create. At each of these surprises the strange beast of a Dragon rose up and waved a dismissing hand.

From the first shot a dozen tiny darts deep into the Ise Zumi’s flesh. They rotted instantly stealing away life and power. The Dragon merely shrugged and picked each mark clean of his flesh.

Weak attempts to sway us. Weak attempts to destroy you. Blood fears its blood and the General-in-Chains knows he is not long for this world.

On Kinotu led until they reached the outer chambers. Through those hidden doors he would find the demonic mentor bound to an old table by heavy iron chains. Here, this close, he could finally hear his mentor’s voice. The Ise Zumi demon could not mask it this close.

“Betray him and everything you seek is mine to give. Betray the demon, for you know not what plans it has in store. You are but a pawn in his thirst for power. Give it to him and you will find yourself stuck down a spiral of death and chaos from which you can never break free.”

A growl in the darkness told Kinotu that the Ise Zumi was ready.

Hand on the door, he drew a deep breath and prepared to make the ultimate decision.

Kinotu paused. A thin smile spread across his face.

"Oh captor my captor, I thought you already knew. I went down the rabbit hole of death and chaos a long time ago with no intent of going back. I have you to thank for that. As far as what I want..."

The Hare held his ancestral daggers at the ready and stared at the blades, righteous fury slowly building in him," I want Osai and Fuzake Senji back! But that will never happen all because of you. I am done with running and hiding from everyone for what I am. Now I am the hunter, the wolf in Hare's clothing. The 'power' you gave and taught has damned me forever. I no longer want any part of it!"

As his rage grew, the blades began to glow with a pure green light. The light spread into his veins and burned like liquid fire throughout his body. The worm inside him thrashed around in agony from the Jade energy that coursed through him. Uncontrollable rage masked the searing pain from his purification. He could no longer hear the whispers of the kansen or the power of Jigoku. The taint was still there, but his ability to call upon it was gone...his mind had never been so clear.

The blades spoke to him. They were his two most trusted friends. Osai spoke from one while Senji from the other. They were with him and they were angry as well. He has become the righteous hunter and he will have vengeance.

Kinotu turned slowly to his new master eyes glowing pure green in the dark. "Shall we?" With that, he kicked in the door...

The door exploded inward and it over so fast that even the Hare had trouble keeping up. The battle, the fight between these two great powers, seemed fated to resolve a certain way. Yet, there in the heart of it all Usagi Kinotu could only feel a rush of uncertainty, a newness to his power.

There were dozens of zombies, far more than Kinotu had brought in. It struck him then that he was not the only one. He was never the only one.

Jama Suru had more than one apprentice.

It was all Kinotu could do not to laugh. Of course the old General would have more allies, but where were they now? Scattered to the four winds. Fled at the first sign of their master’s demise.

Kinotu waded through the zombies with his glowing daggers. Heads and masks flew from bodies as he carefully, meticulously destroyed every last defender in the room.

The snarl jerked him from the meditation of combat.

“FREE ME AND I WILL GRANT YOU THE GREATEST POWER!”

Jama Suru’s voice echoed like thunder throughout the room, but faded amidst the drowing fury of the Rakshasha’s terrible growl. Kinotu had not seen the Togashi in his true form and he would never be certain that this was it, but somehow it felt…true.

Togashi Kenjin, the Rakshasha known as Raniyah, stood on all fours over the body of the Bound General a changed beast. Striped fur had rippled out from his muscles. His nose and mouth had elongated into a fearsome muzzle. His eyes burned bright yellow like a tiger’s.

He exuded a chaotic power unlike any Kinotu had ever felt. Those eyes, they turned once to look at the Hare. In that moment Usagi Kinotu felt uncertainty about his path. He could not move. He felt like…prey.

And then it was all over. Kenjin’s mouth ripped wide and the beast roared to drown out the fury of the Bloodspeaker. Terrible energy flowed up from within the Bound Jama Suru and into the dark creature from Seppun Hill.

There was silence. Kinotu stood amid the ruined and mangled corpses of the long-dead. He blinked, once, and the Togashi was standing up atop the altar. He no longer looked a beast, but now a man reformed.

On the stone slab there was nothing but chained bones.

“I have never felt a power like his,” Raniyah whispered. He turned to Kinotu with a dark smile. “We must alter the conditions of our arrangement, little Hare. I have gained new insight, new knowledge into this one’s…master. I know where to find him now and his power will be unlike anything I have ever taken before."

The body of the Ise Zumi shifted, twisted, flexed, and tore. Muscles spasmed and bones cracked, but the beast-that-was-a-man did not cry out. Instead, after a few moments time, he sat on the floor, an old man once more. He breathed heavily but showed no other signs of exertion.

Kinotu knew he must join him. He sat, cross-legged, on the floor. The two meditated there amid that pile of death and wasted flesh for hours.

Until...

"I cannot let the hunt falter, Kinotu." The voice was calm and practiced, no longer holding even a hint of the bestial thing beneath. Kinotu opened his eyes and saw a glimmer of the golden light in those eyes.

The Ise Zumi smiled.

"I could, I guess, but I don't think I will. You and I, we have a deal." Like lightning the beast's hands shot out to hold both sides of Kinotu's head. At first nothing happened.

Then, he felt a wave of nausea followed by a roiling tumult of hate and violence. His mind was filled with blood, blood, blood and the prey.

The Prey.

"You will take over for me, Kinotu-san. You will bleed them. You will find them in the darkness and the alleys, in their homes, and you will hunt them. You will consume their souls. With each death, you will grow stronger. With each soul departed, I will grow, too. You shall be my disciple of the Hunt."

A primal urge like none Kinotu had ever felt before rolled up through him and slammed through his veins. He could feel, he could see, he could taste the blood to come.

The Prey must die.

OOC:

Finished here, unless you want to add some stuff.

As you previously stated, Kinotu can no longer remember the powers of Maho, though he does remember the knowledge.

While he has Raniyah's Blessing (see below), he cannot gain the Shadowlands Taint.

Raniyah's Blessing [Spiritual] Advantage/Disadvantage
No points are gained or lost because of the dual nature of this addition.

The target suffers the effects of a constant Compulsion (*Special*). He must Hunt the Prey. Kinotu will feel a monthly call to seek out suitable prey and take it down. This target must be someone or something that could potentially harm the Hare, but does not have to be otherwise powerful. It merely needs to be "dangerous prey. This compulsion cannot be put off and must be completed within the three days of each full moon. At the end of the Hunt, Kinotu must consume some aspect of the Prey's flesh (preferably the heart).

The Blessed gains Swift 5 (replaces previous versions of Swift).

The Blessed gains Superior Invulnerability only while on the Hunt. From the moment the Blessed sets out to official hunt the Prey he becomes immune to all mundane attacks and spells that do not have the Jade or Crystal Property. He heals all damage from such attacks instantly (this may cause alarm as it is quite visible). The Blessed takes normal damage from jade, crystal, blessed ivory, crysteel, obsidian, and spells with the Jade or Crystal keywords.

As a note, the Blessed must still find a target to be Prey that is capable of injuring him despite the Superior Invulnerability listed above. However, the Prey does not have to KNOW how to harm the Blessed.

The Blessed may also gain further powers as the Blessing develops and Raniyah gains in power.





FINISH THIS