Curse and Nightmares of the Past

## The Nightmare Hunts

This night was quiet, a rarity in the neutral zone, where Mana was restless and beasts roamed the Wilderness. Sadako looked at the stars from her precarious perch, clinging to the side of a dungeon, a grand tomb that seemed to stretch into the sky, as she scaled the outside of it. This was not the best idea she'd ever had, but she needed to find a good perch that she could look out from, and if possible snipe from. She had heard Shinzui was in the area, from a bartender from one of the towns at the border, and she needed to kill him. She had come from Hino Country to these strange kingdoms just so she could have a shot at this, a shot at getting back into her clan's good graces by killing the person she was assigned to kill. And she was not going to be stopped by the fact that she had no idea where he even fucking was.

Finally hauling herself up on the perch, she used her mana, cloaking herself in a strange inky darkness to hide in the shadows. Then she started watching the terrain, trained eyes looking for where her target was and hoping that this wouldn't be a bust like the last five times.

As the night draped it's dark veil over the neutral zone, Shinzui found himself immersed in the restless mana that permeated the air. Yet, amidst this symphony of mana, Shinzui's senses picked up on an anomaly, a ripple in the mana that seemed out of place. His inner eyes, honed by years of training and battle, scanned the terrain. His instincts, told him that he was not alone. There was a presence in the vicinity, a shadow lurking in the darkness, its intentions as clear as the night sky above. Shinzui's gaze was drawn to a grand tomb that stretched towards the heavens... Clinging to its side was a figure, barely discernible against the backdrop of the night. The figure was shrouded in an inky darkness, a cloak of shadows that blended seamlessly with the night. Yet, despite this clever camouflage, Shinzui's trained eyes were able to discern the figure's presence.

A sense of recognition washed over him as he realized who the figure was. Sadako, a name that carried with it a weight of history and conflict. She was a formidable adversary. Her mission was clear - to kill him and regain her place within her clan. A mission that had brought her all the way from Hino Country to these foreign lands. His hand instinctively reached for his blade,... As the night deepened, Shinzui stood ready.

With a start, Sadako finally picked up on something, sensing the presence in the mana field of the area. She looked over at where the presence had come from only to confirm that it was indeed Shinzui, luckily for her. Smiling under her mask, she resisted the urge to yell out in joy. Finally, she could kill him and get this crap over with. But first, she needed to be careful about how she went about this. He was powerful after all.

Grinning to herself, she carefully got into a position where she could throw kunai better, without falling off the ledge. She had recently gained a new spell and wished to try it out, even if the name of the spell seemed rather ominous given that her magic was dark magic. Hefting her kunai in the air, she summoned her scroll, reading from its parchment. **"Dark Magic: Blades of the First Fear."** As she cast the spell, her kunai were coated in a strange light, even touching them made her start thinking about her own greatest fears, about all the ways she was scared to die. Shaking her head, she quickly regulated those thoughts to the back of her head as she usually did in these types of scenarios. Then she took a left breath, hefted the kunai, aiming for Shinzui's head, and threw it, sending it speeding off for her target, covered in the magic that was probably dark magic.

As Sadako moved into position, Shinzui's senses heightened. He watched as she summoned her scroll, her voice echoing across the battlefield as she cast her spell. He could see the hesitation in her eyes, the brief moment of doubt before she shook it off and prepared to throw her weapon. Shinzui was well aware of her powers, it wasn't the first time he had encountered her. What was she even doing here ?

As she hurled the kunai towards him, he moved past the way, the kunai whizzed past him, missing its target by mere inches. Landing gracefully, Shinzui turned to face her, "You'll have to do better than that if you want to kill me." With that, Shinzui rushed forward, using his kunai to stab Sadako in the gut.

As Shinzui rushed off the wall, Sadako got out two more kunai, took a deep breath, and jumped off the perch she was on, going above Shinzui. As she passed him, she exhaled and threw one of her kunai at him, planning to fake him out. '*Now for the hard part,'* she thought as she hurtled to the ground.

Getting out the other kunai and going as close to the wall as possible, she drove the kunai into the wall with a crack, trying to use it to slow herself down. It worked but she was still going too quickly for her taste. Getting out her kama, she remembered what the mountain climbers back home did and drove it into the crack as well, managing to stop herself from hurtling to her doom because of the gambit she just tried. Glaring at Shinzui, who was now above her, her face underneath her mask was twisted into a snarl.

Shinzui's gaze was locked onto Sadako, with intense and unwavering focus, akin to that of a predatory animal stalking its prey. Every subtle shift in her stance, every flicker of her eyes, he noted with a keen awareness that was honed from countless battles. As Sadako launched herself from her perch, her body arcing gracefully through the air above him, Shinzui's anticipation heightened. His sharpened instincts were already piecing together her next move, predicting the trajectory of her attack. In the midst of her aerial maneuver, a glint of metal caught his eye. The swift flash of a kunai in her hand did not escape his notice. The sight of the ominously gleaming bladed weapon was a clear harbinger of the imminent danger about unfolding. His mind was already racing, formulating a countermove to the impending strike.
Shinzui, however, was not a man to be caught off guard. With a swift and fluid movement, he twisted his body, the kunai whistling past him, missing its intended target by the merest fraction of an inch. He watched as Sadako descended rapidly, her body a blur as she drove a kunai and then a kama into the wall to slow her fall.

A smirk tugged at the corners of Shinzui's mouth as he took in the spectacle before him. It was a sight to behold, a daring maneuver executed with a blend of desperation and audacity. Against the odds, it had succeeded, at least for the time being. Shinzui had to admit, grudgingly, that she was a formidable adversary. Her tenacity, her willingness to risk it all in the heat of battle, earned his respect

Shinzui, ever the competitive spirit, was not one to be outshone. As Sadako's glare bore into him from below, he responded with a swift and decisive action. With a powerful push, he launched himself off the wall, his body transforming into a blur of motion as he moved with a speed that defied the eye. In the midst of his aerial trajectory, he executed a swift twist, his body rotating in mid-air with a dancer's grace and a warrior's precision. His hand gripped his kunai, the weapon poised and ready to strike.

“Tell me, whoever you are, what do you intend to do with my head ? I am a lost cause”

Sadako glared at Shinzui's smirk, wishing above all else to shut him up for a moment. "I am Sadako of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi Clan, sworn to kill you."

Stating her duty to fulfill, she decided to start doing that, getting out yet another kunai, and gauging the distance between the two before expertly throwing the kunai at the one in Shinzui's hand, with a motion that had been taught by years of training. She hoped that at best it would injure him and at worse it would throw off his aim. He looked like a warrior though, and even if she hated him due to how far she'd had to go to find him, he had earned her respect in many ways. Maybe by killing him she would finally get the clan's respect.

Sadako needed to get up higher though. Using her kama as a bar, she vaulted higher, pulling it out of the wall and striking it back in, her athletics getting her a good few meters higher than she had been before. Gauging the effectiveness of the tactic she had just tried she shook her head, realizing how slow it was. Sheathing her kama, she got out one more kunai and started using them to scale the wall, going extremely fast via vaulting higher and higher each time. On some level she realized how useful the high ground would be in this type of fight.

Shinzui watched Sadako's movements with a calm, almost amused expression. His smirk never left his face, even as the kunai flew towards him. With a swift movement, he deflected the incoming weapon, his own kunai clashing against hers in a shower of sparks.

"Sadako of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi Clan," he echoed, his voice carrying a hint of mockery. "I've heard of you. You're quite the persistent one, aren't you?" As Sadako began to scale the wall, Shinzui's smirk widened. He knew that she was a threat to him and his clan. He had no intention of letting her succeed. "Your efforts are commendable, Sadako," he called out, his voice echoing in the vast expanse. "But you should know that I have no intention of dying today. Not by your hand, not by anyone's."

With that, he launched himself into action. He moved with a grace and speed that belied his size, his movements a blur as he darted towards Sadako with his own kunai ready in his hand. He had no intention of letting Sadako gain the high ground. He would meet her there, in the midst of the battle, where their fates would be decided.

Sadako summoned her scroll as she climbed, letting it float besides her as she got further and further up. Thinking through the list of spells, she had an idea. **"Dark Magic: Blades of the First Fear."** Her blades gleamed with a strange light(that anybody with a rudimentary sense of mana sensing could tell wasn't exactly dark magic).

Jumping down gracefully with a kunai in one hand and her kama hidden behind her back, she aimed for him, as thoughts of her own fear threatened to overwhelm her. She needed to get at least a hit on him for the magic to work as it properly should have. As she slashed with the kunai, its unnerving light shining, she went for a fakeout before swinging the kama at his shoulder, attempting to drag him down with her.

Shinzui's gaze sharpened, focusing intently on Sadako's every motion, her weapon radiating an eerie illumination. His Ki, honed to perfection, alerted him to the unconventional nature of her assault. As she thrust forward with her kunai, he effortlessly evaded, only to confront her concealed kama aimed at his shoulder. His response was immediate and exact. With a seamless manoeuvre, he deflected the kama with his own kunai, the sound of clashing steel resonating through the surroundings. Sadako's onslaught was forceful, yet Shinzui's command over his physique, coupled with his profound comprehension of mana, enabled him to preserve equilibrium and rebuff her attempt to pull him downward. "You'll need more than that to vanquish me," he challenged, his tone frigid and resolute. "Your efforts, though valiant, are insufficient." With those pronouncements, he initiated a retaliatory punch, his actions an intricate ballet of accuracy and governance. He directed a sequence of blows at Sadako, each designed to probe her fortifications and uncover a frailty. He recognized that their duel was far from its conclusion, and he stood ready to confront her every manoeuvre with the expertise and tenacity that had established his renown.

Sadako focussed on Shinzui, sensing his Ki behind every attack and searching for any sort of chink in his armor. As he started to attack her she started dodging, elusive as the darkness itself. She took out her kunai and kama and started using both of them. Her art was the one mastered by her clan, of being elusive and fast. Every time she found even the slightest gap she would take it, every time she could use a dirty trick she would. She threw a kunai and used it for cover, scraping a handful of dust off the wall of the ancient dungeon and throwing it at Shinzui's face before coming in to attack with her kama where she sensed his Ki was weakest.

However, as formidable an opponent as Sadako was, she was still slowly losing the fight. Even normally it would have been a tough fight, and she would have had to pull out all the stops to even stand a chance. But it was clear that she was exhausted. She hadn't slept for days and her strikes were just a bit sloppier than normal, less skilled than she normally would have been. "I am going to fucking kill you," she yelled at him, not caring that by doing so she was losing air by yelling that. She boosted herself using her ki, starting to go faster and faster as she slashed and hooked with her kama. Then she suddenly cloaked her ki, ducking behind Shinzui and attacking him, using the slight bit of surprise she got while cloaking herself to her advantage.