Daisuke is in the middle of the mercenary crowd. Different than the other night, this time the campaign managed to arrive at a suitable opening in the forest without getting attacked.
'This is weird.. is she not coming here tonight..' carefully he looks around him.
'this feels off..'
(One of the mercenary leader turns behind him and warn the campaign. Don't let your guard down, the monster can come any time now!)
Daisuke pays no mind, but the rest of the convoy, faceless as they are, are shocked by that revelation.
"V-village chief?!"
Normally that kind of pep talk is same as usual as the other two nights, so he never gave much thought to it, except for tonight. Only now Daisuke notices, the one giving the pep talk actually has a face, and not only that, it's a face these faceless creature recognizes, all of them, except him. His late reaction gave him away.
"I found you"
Calm and deadly, that deep feminine voice enters his head and spells his fate for this night. Raiyu instantly clears out the other illusions, leaving Daisuke alone in the middle.
"Hah! You got me"
Daisuke remarks. Though he looks more excited than worried. The Chiikikou doesn't react to him, staying laser focused.
Before he can move, she surrounds him with illusions of herself, countless shadowy silhouette that she then blends into. The moonlit sky gradually turns crimson red, as if the moon itself is bleeding.
The first strike, Ayu comes out of the shadows and lands 3 successive strike before immediately disappearing back into the shadows. Her strike, they're as hard as they are swift.
The second strike, she lands 5 hits but they come in 3 different directions. Her nimble body jumps and wraps around him before once again, vanishing into the rushing shadowy silhouette.
"This time... she really is trying to kill me.."
He fixes his stance after that attack.
Third times the charm,
She charges straight into him.
"Shihai Shunkan!"
Daisuke chants, activating his Kishin Jutsu, trying to stop her on her track.
But it wasn't her, or rather, she delayed her third attack with a feint before charging in. Throwing her kama behind one of her shadow illusion charging into him.
Simple, but effective.
"Heh, neat"
He praises his opponent, but Raiyu remains cold and calculated. Not taking her eyes off him while she precisely break his defense and tries to disembowel or decapitate him.
'I guess I shouldn't treat her like a ghost huh'
Every move, every step is calculated. A leg slide into a critical hack, a blade disarm into a mutilation, a parry into a throw. Every swing she take is a perfected art.
And he's matching her dexterity. With every successful parry, his next attack also becomes sharper, swifter, smoother. Making use of the groove on his handguard to lock the sharp edge of her kama. As far as bladework goes, they're both at least on par with each other.
Which is exactly why she changes her approach. Kicking his blade, using it as a platform and throwing herself away from him, putting some distance.
Slinging her swift spinning kama via her chain, maintaining a safe distance while barraging him with decapitating Reihado attack. Before long, Daisuke himself starts putting some distance between them. Using the trees in the forest as his shield or at least to slow her but this new slashing proves stronger than her melee range bladework. Effortlessly she mows down the trees standing between her and her target. Quickly terra forming the area while chasing him.
Until he can no longer feel her pursuing him.
"Huh? Am I out of her range? Wait no-"
He jumps far up, before a huge chained kama, several times bigger than the one she was wielding, surfaces from where he was standing, flying upward and misses him. Until it stabs into seemingly, a fabric of reality. Like a curtain of the sky, the inner wall of this pocket dimension. But before Daisuke can ascertain what's going on, several other chained kama erupts from the ground. Hunting him across the airspace above the leveled forest.
And then, footsteps on the chains.
He turns downward towards the source of the footstep but sees nothing, even the sound disappears. But sensing something above him, he guards with his blade. Raiyu hanging onto the gigantic chains and maneuvering these new landscapes to take him down. Jumping between chains and using her kama to grab onto them while rotating her body for her next attack. Evidently, he cannot outspeed her in this new terrain.
Her chain wraps around the chains and flies towards Daisuke from his rear. The chain on the kama serves as both extensions of her arm and as repositioning tool for herself as well as her weapon.
"I see... "
Daisuke comments as he lock blade with the Chiikikou once more.
"The strength of a ghost and the intelligence of a human-"
Raiyu narrows her eye, trying to figure out what he's trying to say.
"No wonder you're one of the strongest Chiikikou"
He compliments, admired. Snickering through his impenetrable parry. Even when he's in her hunting ground now.
Irritated by his demeanor, she breaks the lock and jumps backwards, keeping him on the defensive by throwing barrages of Reihado, Reichitsu-made crescent shaped slash projectiles.
"You know, I've been thinking-"
He tries to engage in conversation with her mid fight.
"-If you really don't want me here-"
He continues closing the distance. Maneuvering through her barrage, until he gets close enough to catch her blade and lock blade with her again.
"You can just say so and I'll leave town peacefully, how about that?"
He offers. And she replies with just a kick. Breaking the lock and stabilizing her foothold on the chains, using the chains to launch herself straight into him.
Raiyu summons 5 giant clone of herself. Different from the shadow clone, these looks like they're made from the crimson moonlight itself. Their skin glows bright white with a tinge of red. The sheer size of them already fills the space between heaven and earth in this twisted dimension. From the waist up, they stand apart from each other forming an arena, or more precisely a barrier to prevent Daisuke from escaping. At least, it'll be much simpler if that's all they do.
As Daisuke's busy watching over Raiyu's next move, he senses an oncoming attack from his back.
"Oy oy you've gotta be kidding me..."
Daisuke realizes how much deep of a danger he's in.
The giantess aren't just for show, everything in that dimension is working against him. Their giant arm, sickle in hand, starts aiming for him. Each swing severing everything in it's path. The chains, trees, even the very ground.
'So the giant chains are also there to limit my movement huh... Plus-'
Whilst still navigating a safe passage amidst those triple attack,
He turns to his back. Clanking of the iron chain give away the location of his pursuer, rapidly approaching him.
'-she starts moving again... a single misstep can spell the end for me'
As he's jumping from chain to chain, Raiyu plants her kama into one of the chains and violently tug it towards her, dragging Daisuke along with it.
"This is bad-"
Daisuke's confident expression turns to slight panic. He readies his weapon, on both ends of his blade, a tiny spark flickers.
"Shihai-"
He tries to activate his Kishin Jutsu again, making use of the range, but unbeknownst to him, he's caught in her range first. Not her weapon but something more potent.
As he stares into her eyes, he feels himself getting drawn in. Losing himself, losing his sense of balance, sense of coordination. His last move before losing control of his body, a misstep on the chains cause him to fall downward instead of flying straight into Raiyu. Buying him some meager few seconds.
'This is... an Evil Eye?'
Daisuke's last thought, only now realizing what has struck him. But it's too late.
The girl just watches her opponent falls heading into the earth.
The battle has been decided.
Far from the intense battle in the forest, in a small wooden house, Mizuki is still sound asleep.
Sleeping, dreaming yet again. Of a distant past, a distant memory that doesn't belong to her. An influence of this twisted dimension.
{"Mommy! Mommy! What's wrong? Are you sick?"
A sickly woman coughs violently on the floor in the kitchen. Trying her best to put up a smile on front of the little girl but raising her head only makes her coughs even more.
"Mommy mommy, don't push yourself. I will.. I will.. I will get you some medicine!"
The girl clutches onto the woman's sleeve, trying to help her. She dashes into the other room, rummaging through boxes and crates.
"-chan.. A-"
The mother's cough interrupts her attempt to call her daughter.
Barely audible but the girl hears it.
"No mommy, you're sick! You need to rest"
The mother can only smiles through her pain and pats the girl's head.
"Your-... Daddy... at the- harbour-"
Her itchy throat robs away the end of her sentence. But still the little girl understands the assignment.
"O-okay! Mommy stay here okay? I'll bring Daddy here!"
Hurriedly she rushes out the door after reassuring her mom.
The scene of the small but fades to reveal a busy harbor.
Amidst the commotion on the pier, a little girl is walking to and fro. She's walking from person to person, trying to grab the attention of everyone she approaches one by one.
"Umm Ojisan, do you know where my dad is?"
Innocently asking, on the verge of tears even.
Roughly the guy pulls his hand away.
"Like I'd know! Stay away!"
After failing to get any answer from him, she goes to a different person on the pier.
"Umm excuse me, my dad hasn't come home. Do you-"
Before she can finish her question, the person promptly leave her.
"Poor thing she's still so-"
One concerned woman voices her sympathy.
"Idiot, don't say that out loud! What if the others hear you!"
Another old man cautioned her.
"They say the boat he's on was leaking and sunk into the sea..."
"Hah! Serve him right! That's divine punishment! I'm telling you, divine punishment!"
"That's right! Ever since he bring that woman in here, it's been nothing but trouble in this village!"
The little girl keeps asking about her dad. Unaware of the bad news going around nor the hateful eyes from most of the people there glaring at her.
"Demon child!"
"Just looking at her disgust me!"
Every time she turns to the crowd, everyone turns their back against her.
"Your Mom and Dad have left you."
Until some spiteful villagers break it to her. Their scornful eye emphasize the strong message.
"You have no place here, Raiyu chan"}