Sango-wa-Taijiya
Devoted Slayer
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- ‘This is all going better than I thought.’
While he hadn’t necessarily doubted his ability in trapping the slayer’s party, Hidama had absolutely no idea how easily this would play to his advantage. Of course, he had Kuroshiro to thank for it. It was the Lord’s dark curse that ultimately sabotaged the slayer and her husband. Tricking Sango into thinking Miroku was Kuroshiro – well … that was just icing on the cake. She would turn on him sooner or later once the curse consumed her soul. He merely sped up the process.
His mission was complete. He secured his target, and would be able to leave with her once he dismantled the shadowplay.
But he was always a greedy child. He could not squander an opportunity like this.
While filtering through the humans’ fears he stumbled upon their little secret. The slayer had died, and to restore her Miroku sacrificed half his life-energy to replenish half her own. For this they shared a unique bond. Should he die, so too would she.
Hidama’s powers, much like his Master’s, were parasitic in nature. Every soul that perished in his illusions would remain there eternally. He used this energy to broaden the reach of his shadow, and thus the amount of space he could manipulate.
If Sango succeeded in killing Miroku, it guaranteed Hidama two strong symbiotic souls to expand his domain.
The tree he was perched on suddenly shuddered and groaned, distracting him from his calculative planning. His attention had been so focused on his inner world, the outside world with all its beating wings and unpleasant screeches had been virtually blocked out. Now his ears perked for sound, eyes trained forward.
Leaves shook above him, and he could hear claws rake themselves across the bark as they descended. It was still for a few solid seconds, before a ponytailed creature swooped upside down from the branch above to face him. It studied him silently with simmering crimson eyes, until the darkness of its soot black face was parted with an ever growing snarl.
The darkling found the source of the hoard’s missing prey. Heaving in a breath it shrieked right in Hidama’s face – giving its sisters the signal to attack.
The tree shook with the sudden amount of new arrivals, all of which dove from the sky in an angry sea of black wings. They clawed their way down the tree just as Hidama leapt from it. Hitting the ground he ran fast patterns around the trees, his eyes on his hand and his ears on the enemy.
The threads of energy tied to his fingers flickered in and out, and he made an effort to strengthen his concentration. While shadowplay was in effect he could not use his other powers. Moreover, the ability also had its limitations. The current size of his domain was five hundred yards, and grounded itself like a spherical dome wherever shadowplay was first engaged. If he overstepped its boundary the connection would be lost, and the players in his realm would be set free.
As it was, he was already over four hundred yards from where he ensnared the taijiya. One false step in his evading, or one momentary loss in concentration, the illusion would be dismantled.
Beneath his mask Hidama gritted his teeth in annoyance. There were at least a hundred darklings hounding his every step. Was it worth it to keep up shadowplay just to catch two half-life human souls? It would be smarter to toss them to the darklings and snatch Kira in the distraction.
He glanced at his pinky finger, whose thread stretched out southeast of his current position. Then a clawed hand grabbed his ankle, and the threads snapped like thin glass.
“Alright, you filthy beasts.”
Wrenching his foot free Hidama slammed it into the face of the offending darkling. Shadowplay shattered, he focused his energy and strength into dodging and running as fast as he could in the direction the smallest thread had pointed.
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