Kari Toriki

Cleaver-chan~!

## Background

Long ago in a distant land, there was a terrible youkai that plagued the mountains. Each month it would descend the mountain, wielding a terrible cleaver which it used to slay humans. Humans slain were taken back to the youkai's lair, where they were butchered and devoured. People lived in fear of this youkai, and many of the surrounding villages considered it a taboo to use a cleaver or hatchet in the shape of the youkai's weapon, lest they be targeted and slain.

The legends of this youkai persisted for hundreds of years. However, when the Emperor himself got word of the tale, he ordered a band of samurai to slay it.

The samurai ascended the mountains, searching for the lair. After days of searching, they caught the scent of the youkai's lair. Quite literally, the stench of rotting flesh permeated the air throughout the cave, the divine wind itself cursed by the foul odor which drew the samurai to the fearsome monster who resided there.

The swordsmen waited for the youkai to emerge for a new meal, and ambushed it. However, the youkai had anticipated their arrival, and with a fearsome howl, stepped forth to oppose them in battle. Swords clashed against the giant knife, flying in a frenzied whirlwind that should be impossible for such a size. The strength and speed of the youkai was terrible as its blade descended upon its foes. Though heavily outnumbered, each time a samurai scored a hit, the youkai would in turn slice clean through one of their peers.

Many hours of battle were fought against the youkai. However, the divine grace of the Emperor held true. Though many had been slain, the wounds of the youkai were too many. With but few samurai left, the youkai was defeated, bleeding and on the verge of extermination.

The remaining few samurai moved in to finish the beast off. But, before the final blow was struck, suddenly the youkai's feared weapon, the great cleaver, lifted itself from the ground, enraged into a frenzy as it began fighting on its own. The fear of the youkai's blade had nearly exceeded that of the youkai itself, leading to its own legend granting it life and terrible powers.

Bravely it defended its master. The samurai were forced to use divine techniques to battle the animated blade, as there was no form of which to cut, and the blade was too great and strong to break with their swords. Each time it clattered to the ground in apparent defeat, it would lift right back up into a new frenzy, a dervish of steel and might.

At last, however, having killed all but one of the remaining samurai, the youkai blade was exhausted of energy, and went dormant. Finally, the samurai could exterminate the terrible youkai. The remaining samurai, however, feared the blade's revival. He dragged it down the mountain, seeking a shinto priest who could seal away the evil of the fearful youkai weapon.

A priest who had a strong connection to the gods was found. The weapon could not be broken, but the gods aided the priest in a ritual to seal away the vengeful blade away for good. A powerful seal was placed on the handle, shrinking down the cleaver into the form of a chef's knife. As the village had a taboo against cleavers, none would suspect this of being the true weapon of the terrorizing youkai. The sealed handle was wrapped in cloth, and stored away, disguised so that the weapon would not be found by a wicked soul, and the unspeakable evil could not be unleashed again.

The samurai was hailed as a hero, tales would be made about him as well, but he served the emperor, and had to return.

Years passed, hundreds of years. Though the youkai was defeated, the legend never quite died. Despite this, however, what became of the remains of the youkai, whatever curse it may have left, was eventually forgotten, warped, retold.

A shinto priestess was searching through her storage, when she came upon a pecular knife. It had no markings, no seals. It seemed quite sharp as well. She decided to make use of it, keeping it within the shrine for kitchen tasks. It proved quite useful, and as well the blade was high quality.

However, it was not used much. The priestess was quite lazy, and preferred to dine within the village. While eating at her favorite stand, she realized the perfect idea. The next day she came to the stand to eat once more, but in addition, granted the stand's chef the knife, toting it as a boon from the gods.

The chef was grateful for the gift, and indeed, soon found how much of a blessing the knife was. It was razor sharp, able to slice through anything with ease, almost uncanny in how thin the edge was.

Though the blade never seemed to dull, the chef despite this took great care for the tool. It became a favorite to use, the most useful knife the chef owned. When working with meat, it preformed better then any cleaver, it was easy to use for precise chopping due to the fine blade, and even breads stood little chance against it.

It was kept and used for years with little changed for the chef and her knife. Until one fateful day, a crazed sword-wielding man attacked the stand as though possessed, demanding food and money. In a panic, the chef picked up her sharpest knife and frantically waved it around in defense. However, when she drew blood, the man only became more crazed, slashing his sword at the cook, injuring her and knocking her over with a bloody gash across her chest. Defeated and hurt, the chef begged for her life, though the sense of the man seemed to be long gone, standing over her with sword in hand.

Before the final blow was struck, suddenly the chef's weapon, her favored knife, began to groan and glow with a sickening red light. The handle's wrapping tore itself into shreds as the powerful seal was revealed, before tearing itself to shreds as a great power awakened within the knife tore at the divine protection. The knife rattled as the blade began to grow into the form of a terrible and evil great cleaver. A bloody hand gripped at the handle, as a girl appeared and hefted the cleaver, standing between the chef and the swords man.

However, the frightening sight of the awakening blade struck fear into the man's heart, his thirst for blood quickly soured as he turned tail and ran.

Satisfied that this man was not as brave as the noble samurai who defeated her long ago, she turned towards the injured chef, lifting her blade...

...the chef, now terrified, shielded her view with an arm as she winced for the end. However, there was a long pause as this did not occuur. To the contrary, the girl loudly set down her cleaver, and began to rummage for the chef's medical supplies, to attempt to treat the downed woman.

Though dormant, the spirit of the blade had been roused awake in recent years, observing as the chef had so delicately taken care of the blade. Now free of its seal, the tsukumogami no longer had desires to have revenge on the humans who had killed her former master, instead wishing to serve the chef who had treated her blade so well through time. The many new things she was used to cut she wished to learn more about, how to mix them and cook them, to enjoy them like her old master savored the human meat she had butchered so often. As well, she wished to protect her new master, who could not fight as her old one did, and used her new form to ensure an incident like that would not repeat itself once again.

## Personality

Takes great pride in her work, but with a great willingness to learn more. Despite being a cleaver that used to be feared, she also takes great pride in showing her great blade off. While she can change her blade into a knife like before, she much more prefers to chop things with a smaller version of her full form, a cleaver much too large for normal humans to use for fine cutting.

She is very observant and will pay great attention to others around her. She will often attempt to judge the intentions of others, and those she senses are of ill-intent she will eye with great suspicion, being less then subtle with intimidation until they either are chased away or proven to be of no harm.

## Powers

### Able To Change the Size and Shape of Her Blade

The years of being sealed away have caused her to become accustomed to the sealed form. Though she greatly prefers to remain as a full-length giant cleaver, it is too unwieldy for even her to use in daily cooking tasks. As such, she has learned to control her shape, able to shift her blade from any size between the great weapon and the chef's knife she was sealed in. As well, the smaller her form is, the more she can make it resemble the chef's knife as well Though, she may also choose to appear as a cleaver of any size in addition.

### Able to retain sharpness

The great cleaver's blade can never dull. The legend of the blade allow the weapon to always stay sharp, no matter how much it is used, able to chop a man in half in a single stroke. A lesser known effect of this power, is that she is able to retain the full sharpness of her blade when changing its size. The smaller her blade's form is, the sharper it actually gets as the blade's edge is compressed further and further. As a chef's knife she is uncannily sharp, and great care must be taken to ensure that things are chopped correctly, lest other equipment find itself damaged by the superior edge of the blade.