Coda's feet beat a hurried cadence into the dirt path as she followed the trail in front of her. Her current assignment bid her track down a straggler from a larger group of Kogarashi. Not a particularly tough assignment, in most cases. They weren't even in a particularly secluded place, and Coda had faced the first wave of the bastards in Uzushiogakure. It was highly unlikely that anything this lonely rat could do would top popping into the middle of the village with an exploding sword. Most of Kogarashi were pushovers, and she was sent out here to chase down support. If she wasn't promised a promotion at the end of this cleanup op she'd have scoffed at the offer.
The teenager wasn't particularly cocky, most of the time, but at the moment she certainly didn't feel like this assignment was quite worthy of her. It was, perhaps, for this reason that she entirely missed the fresh earth off the side of the path ahead until she was nearly standing in front of it. Her boots bit in to the loose pea gravel but it was too late. A hand sprung from the earth and brushed her left ankle. Time seemed to freeze for a moment and then pain exploded through Coda's leg and up into her torso. It buckled, incapable of supporting her weight any longer, and she tumbled head first instead.
She hit hard, sliding but maintaining enough of her awareness to slap her hands together. Smoke engulfed her and she rolled to support her weight with her good leg; Shibuki hefted onto her shoulder, ready for whatever came next. The time between the two attacks seemed like an eternity, but it couldn't have been more than a few second. The first thing through the dissipating cloud was the hand, glowing green. Even as Coda attempted to react she knew something was very wrong. The spike of pain had dulled, likely the result of shock setting in, and her body felt like she was controlling it from a village away.
Her attack was already guaranteed. She'd won, this medic had lost. And at the same time, she hadn't. Even as the paper tags detonated and drove the massive weapon in an arc to land on her opponent, Coda realized what she'd cost herself with her inattention. A hand touch her left wrist and then wrenched away as Shibuki found it's mark with a slick, chunky impact. She'd managed the definition of a pyrrhic victory, if the concept could be applied on such a small scale. Winning but at a cost that was so astoundingly high that it rendered the achievement not just moot, but equally detrimental.
Coda's pain was redoubled, and she slumped away from where her weapon stuck fast. She couldn't even scream. The sensation in her leg had returned, and her arm sent its red hot reward all the way into her chest. It was like someone was trying to rip her arm off and succeeding. The agony went on for minutes, an eternity in her head, before she finally passed out. No one could claim the girl wasn't tough, but it did her no favors here. She'd have been better off succumbing immediately, instead of attempting to power through like a stubborn child.
โ Persistent Modifiers โท Yozen: Fuuinjutsu techniques require [10] less chakra per body rank of the Yozen clansman (maximum of 60 at S+) without losing their potency.
Reply
