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With Tenkai surrounded, it looked as if the monk was at a serious disadvantage. He was, to say the least, added to the fact that he had great moral hangups about his opponents. Even though he had no true justification to try and take the lives of his assailants, he knew he would have to at least hurt them if he wanted to get out of this alive.

"Attack!"

行くぞ! (Iku zo!)

Although Tenkai's kasumi no kamae looked very dramatic, the monk wasn't simply being theatrical. With the blade at eye level held in such a manner, he only needed to glance at it momentarily in order to see the semblance of one of the orcs' figures directly behind him. Although the order to attack was obvious enough, "seeing" allowed Tenkai to know exactly when the enemy to his rear started to move.

As the orcs came in with their simultaneous stabs and clubbings, the monk's "ghostly" form would shift, as if delayed from the speed of his movements. They would probably still notice anyway that he had stepped back towards his right into the space between the orc behind him and the orc to his right, swiftly turning a near 360 degrees as he stepped back.

The tip of his Muramasa would aim to either graze or completely miss the right orc's left arm as he spun, but the monk's intention was the orc behind him. Tenkai's evasive maneuver barely managed to escape the orc's weapon, grazing and tearing his robe, but when he finished his turn he would be headed right into the outside of the rear orc's right arm. He let go of his sword with his left hand, letting the right hand drive the sword's edge only an inch or so into the flesh under the orc's right arm.

The monk immediately followed up by turning his hip towards his right with the momentum of his previous movement, sending his left palm into the orc's lower left side. With a forceful exhale, he released a small thrust of spirit energy upon impact. Hopefully it would be enough to throw the orc off balance as he moved forward, intending to send him into the other two orcs closest to Tenkai's left side.

The monk wouldn't notice, but with the orc to Tenkai's left swinging his club in such an arc towards his ribs, missing would probably end up driving the club into the orc to its left if he swung hard enough. If not, then at least the rear orc he was sending right into him would keep things busy enough.

This was all an attempt to escape the circular formation, leaving the monk with all of his opponents in front of him. Even though it would still be difficult fighting five on one, it was much easier to fight them when they were right in front of you.

Nevertheless, the orc to his right wouldn't simply stop after missing, even if Tenkai managed to injure his right arm just a bit. Tenkai's last movement would leave him able to turn and face the orc and his comrade behind him, but odds were high they'd be coming in fast...

((I'm going to be doing a total revamping of Chen's powers in that they will focus more on the Chinese Tao/ Elemental system and take away the fact that he's a "psion". He'll still have the same abilities, but they'll be based on what stance he takes/ chakra he unlocks that corresponds with a certain Chinese element, and thus grants him a few abilities. But it won't affect this roleplay.))

No "I'm sorry?" No "I didn't know it was you??" An orc's attitude never gave Chen the right impression, even now. Mind you that blood was flowing from where that arrow struck, but didn't even bring up a sense of sympathy in the beast. If he wasn't so bent on keeping this situation calm, he would take out the orc at its kneecaps just to pay back for shooting an arrow into his shoulder.

"I came to tell you that the others told you to go on. The ghost seems to have gotten out of control and it's starting to overwhelm them. If you don't get this cargo back to your base, it's going to come after us next. And then whatever mission you guys had would fail. Do you want that?"

Though the orc could easily dispute this claim, it had to consider that their fearless leader , who was possibly stronger than them, was taken out. Furthermore, they had a mission to do, which placed two choices out in front of the orc. Which was more in priority: defeating a wandering ghost or having at least one of their team alive to take the wagon back? If the orc wasn't as stupid as Chen was thinking, then he was hoping he decide to follow Chen's words. Otherwise, his right hand was steady in front of him. Though it looked like he was mainly trying to calm the orc down with a gesture, he was mainly using this for defensive measures. If the orc managed to squeeze off another shot, Chen would not hesitate to take drastic measures.

Somewhere deep within the Dead Woods...

Ember quickly scampered through the thick fog as she carried a large brown paper like bag in her hands. She seemed to be in quite a rush as her long silver hair flowed behind her as well as her dark gray overcoat. Stumbling, she kept her speed up despite the attempted not to fall over the dead debris that was located in various spots throughout the forest. It was silent except for the sound of snapping of twigs that was beneath her small dress shoes.

“I can’t believe I stayed that late! I am so stupid! So stupid, Shadow!” Ember almost appeared as though she was talking to herself as she walked down the worn down path at a quickened pace. Above her, a black raven cawed loudly to acknowledge her presence. It seemed to be agreeing with her, which only caused the small girl to shoot a look as though to indicate that the bird really didn’t need to rub it in. However this almost seemed like her downfall as she took her look off the road and onto the raven, she fell down to the ground.

As she lay on the ground for a moment a collection of items fell out of the bag and in front of her. But instead of being simply groceries that a normal individual would find, strange vials seemed to land on the ground each one containing something even more bizarre than the next. And if it wasn’t just candy, there was something else lurking on the ground now too. Candy. It seemed that despite her earlier visit to Latent, the young girl had now developed a sweet tooth from the young boy.

Scampering, the young child quickly gathered the fallen goods off of the ground and began to shove it into the bag yet again. The glass bottles clanked together as she didn’t place them in a very proper manner inside the bag. The young girl really didn’t seem to care about the condition that they were coming in, but rather that they were in the bag and that she can get going. Finally managing to grab a hold of everything, including the lollipops, she continued to run down the trail as fast as her little legs could carry her.

After running a few more feet through the silent woods, she had finally reached her destination. Although the fog within the forest was a very common occurrence, there was one particular spot that seemed to have a rather large abundance of it. Setting down the bag on the ground so that it rested against her foot, she slowly raised her arms up as though to conduct an orchestra. However, it seemed that the woods were definitely not the setting for a symphony to begin. Ever so slowly, she began to move her arm in a very flowing manner. Slowly, as with each movement, the fog seemed to spiral around her hands as she continued to flow. Her concentration was not on the world around her though; her concentration was on what she was doing. She was young, thus it took quite a bit more concentration to complete the sort of task that she was trying to perform. With one more final swoop of both of her arms...

The fog finally began to part to reveal what was hiding beneath it.



A small cottage only seemed to stand within the middle of the forest. It seemed rather worn down, but for what was surrounding the small building, it seemed as though it had been missing this entire time. Smiling, Ember reached down and picked up the bag before walking towards the building. As she wandered through the opening of fog, it slowly closed behind her as though it had never really been there. Once the fog seemed to return to it’s natural state, the small girl quickly moved into where the front door was and opened it.


“Mother! I’m home!” Ember smiled rather sweetly as the door behind her closed ever so softly. Inside the house it seemed as though it was very old, and that it was indeed inhabited as collections of books and various other ingredients seemed to be located in various parts of the building. Removing her dress shoes at the door, Ember wandered in and made her way into the kitchen. There, it was quite obvious something was in the works as there was a great deal of books open on the table top as well as a large vial containing some sort of elixir inside. Not being terribly curious, Ember wandered to the opposite side and placed the bag so she could empty it.

“...You are late.” A cool voice entered the room as a woman slowly made her way in. She was a great deal older than the child, but the two of them looked very similar. Although, unlike Ember, this woman had a dark cloth bandaging her eyes as well as a veil to cover her snow white hair. Each step she made into the room were ever so cautious as she made her way over to where her daughter was standing. Once coming close to the table, she placed her delicate hand onto it and used it as support as she made her way closer to a chair which was located beside the fireplace, where a pot was quietly boiling over the blaze.

“I’m sorry, mother. I got caught up in the market place. There are ever so many things to look at. I found everything you were looking for and -” Ember was rambling, she was nervous though for she knew that she was not in a very good position. She gulped as she quickly witnessed the older woman’s hand go up , she was about to speak. And this was never a good thing.

“Ember Ayla Stone.” The woman’s voice was almost stone cold as she spoke to the child. This caused a slight bit of fear to pierce her heart. When her mother used that tone, Ember knew it was never good especially since her whole name was being used. And thus the only response she managed to conjure was a loud gulp. Behind her, Shadow chirped rather silently to himself.

“You are lying to me.” At that second, her blindfolded eyes looked over her as though to gaze into her soul. Ember nearly shrank in her spot as she knew she was caught. The real question was the fact if her mother would figure out WHAT she was doing, it was really hard to say.

“You know that speaking to those creatures in the world that they will only hurt you in the end. Despite how much kindness they may show you, all they are going to do is hurt you in the end. They will take you away from me, and you know that. Do you want that to happen?” Ember did not respond to her mother’s question. She only knew that her heart felt as though it was sinking. She hated it when she was in this position. Ember knew that her mother was wrong, she knew it with every inch of her body. But at the same time, she did not like causing the woman pain. Ember knew that the older woman only had her as a life line to the outside world. It was hard to understand, but she still knew that she was making her mother happy. And really, that’s all that mattered.

“I’m sorry, mother. It will never happen again.” A small tear ran down her cheek as she spoke quietly to herself. The older woman, despite being blind knew her daughter very well. And she knew when her child was hurting. Smiling, the woman reached her hand out and offered it to the younger lady. Slowly, Ember accepted it and was pulled towards the older woman.

“Ember, I wish you could understand. I know you are curious about the outside world, but it will cause you nothing but pain.” Lightly, the woman brushed some of the younger girl’s gray hair out of her face and continued to hold her hand tightly. Even though the woman was very forceful and sometimes seemed very cruel. She was still a mother, and she loved her daughter very dearly.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt. You are too young to experience that sort of pain. Now, could you at least tell me what you found?” Ember almost looked startled by her child’s question. But at this point, she knew best it wasn’t fair to lie.

“I met a boy, his name is D!” Ember almost sounded overly cheerful as she spoke about the boy she had met. It had been the first time that she met someone close to her own age, and she had so much fun doing so.

“He works at a shop that just opened! It’s a magic shop! You would have loved him mother! He is very polite and very kind. Maybe one day you should meet him. He could come here one day. You would like him! Shadow even liked him!” She was rambling again, and the hermit like woman only remained quiet. She did not look very pleased to hear such news. But this had possibly been the first time that joy was coming from the young girl’s voice. A sound that had not left her lips since she was allowed to keep Shadow as a pet.


“Please mother, can he come and visit one day. I promise that he won’t cause any problems. And we’ll stay out of the way. Oh please.” Ember was begging now, as she held tightly onto her mother’s hand and nearly fell to the ground. This was possibly one of the only things that she ever wanted. The woman however, only remained quiet as she began to think about an answer to provide her child. However, after a long waited silence, her face turned into a frown and focused her face down to the ground.


“...I will think about it.” Ember’s face quickly turned into a smile as she looked back up. Although it wasn’t a yes, it was a better than having no as an answer. “But for now, I need my tea. Go fetch it for me, please.”

Nodding quickly Ember was off to gather the current request with a large smile on her face.

Chen was pretty ticked that these orcs were so arrogant. He already struck an arrow into him and still showed no remorse. In fact, he wanted the cop to go back and help. And then that "stupid" comment...Chen was holding back so much right now. He wasn't a high temper guy who let insults get to him, but it was harder to keep his composure amongst some uncivilized orcs. To say the least, he was reaching his last quarter of patience. The Asian gave a sigh before he finally answered as appropriately as he could.

"You stupid orc, why don't you go help them yourself!"

Whether he was saying this to try to guilt-trip the orc's pride or not, Chen was ready for whatever was about to come from this. His left hand still ready on his gun at his side and his right hand raised in front of his chest, he was prepared to go into aggressive action to take control of this situation. He was about tired of being called a "stupid" human. Well, if he was stupid, then these orcs wouldn't have been separated like they have been by this stupid human, now would they? Yeah, that was a good way of looking at it.

Maybe the orcs were tired of elves and humans thinking they were uncivilized and barbaric and stupid just because their skin was green, which may explain the guard's lack of care and ease of slipping the insult so casually into the conversation. Chen's face absolutely reeked of disdain, and what was the point of trying to be respectful to just another narrowminded human?

The orc couldn't read his mind, but he could read Chen's face and actions.

"Rohan protect cart from stupid human spirit following stupid human! If human not go fight human spirit, expect him to protect food? No need for coward! Run away into forest and cry! Rohan stay, no thief steal metal, no beggar steal food!"

Chen would be able to tell that the malicious intent was... a lot lower than it had been. A lot lower for an orc pointing a gun (crossbow, really) at someone. But oh, it was most definately there... humans were fickle beings, unable to be trusted to be honorable or valorous when the need arrived. If Chen thought he'd make Rohan leave so he could poke around and steal their precious goods, if he thought that he could pull his weapon than Rohan could pull his trigger, then one would just have to see who was smarter and faster than who.

Of course, Chen and Rohan would be rooting for themselves.

Finger on the trigger, it was Chen's move.

---

The one orc was the one watching, but most had kept in mind that the spirit had been able to move terribly quickly... and so would they. As fast as their great feet could take them, they trekked the distance. The one club-weilder was the great green line of defense.

He didn't know what the spirit shouted on whispers and ghastly lungs, but he moved in front of the blow and braced himself as much as he could. With the club up before him and held with two hands, the orc got on one knee. It was better to take hits this way... much smaller distance to the ground, if the energy was enough to knock him over. One could only wonder what it was that knocked Zaar out so quickly, but without the sound of a loud crack (thunder?) that came before the notification, it should be alright to actually block this time.

"Go!"

The blow came, and he rocked back. Assuming the blow would stop with the first thing it met and wasn't one of those... go through things types of deals, that rock back would be hard. But at the end of it, when the wind and energy passed him, there would be a lot less for the other orcs to deal with. A bit of stumbling from residual energy... a grunt, a regathering of the self in the rear... but the orcs were able to quickly resume their progress.

The SiC would soon be joining them. His face held a bit of a smirk in defiance, but Zaar HAD been taken out with one blow. If the spirit decided to attack likewise again, he would be paying for his own early arrogance.

Damnit!

It still wasn't enough.

Tenkai wasn't surprised, though. His moral hangups were a huge detriment in this case, and orcs were too sturdy for him to pull his punches. But he couldn't just attempt to incapacitate someone with Muramasa when they were that sturdy. Although he had dealt some damage, minor cuts weren't going to slow them down. If he kept going like this, he would end up attempting to take an arm or a leg.

But the monk hardly felt justified to try any of that.

The orcs were making their charge with their unconscious leader in tow. Now that they had recovered their leader, they were probably planning on running past Tenkai altogether, if not simply running him through. Still, Tenkai was all there was standing between the five of them and the cart that was a few dozen yards back, since Chen had led Zaar away from the camp site.

Charging head on to try and stop them wouldn't work at all. Tenkai's weapon wasn't best suited for simply subduing a large crowd, and the only way it'd have effectiveness against the oncoming group of orcs would be if he tried to cleave through them.

No...that way of thinking was just Muramasa speaking. No doubt the blade wanted more of what it just tasted. But Tenkai would have none of it. There was still other things he could do.

He slid his hand down the dull side of Muramasa's blade, wreathing it in an eerie blue flame as he brought it up over his head in both hands, waiting for the orcs to get closer...

((Edited.))

Chen stared for a moment, and then gave a slight sigh from his breath as the orc asked for him to slowly put his weapon away. Chen would do just that, moving his arm toward his coat and depositing the weapon back into it. No need to be firing any bullets this time. It seemed his silver tongue held some degree of usability in situations like this and further to native races. Maybe he should make an international career out of this, if he makes it out of this alive. Though that shouldn't be hard considering it was time to go defeat the ghost once and for all.

With that, Chen caught the large roll of gauze tossed by the orc. It was pretty bulky and showed the difference between a normal human's body like his and that of an orc's. Still, he could improvise, probably needing to tear down some of the wrap to make it tight and appropriate. Chen removed his leather jacket, revealing his red short sleeve shirt underneath. The hole in his shirt showed a good red wound with blood flowing from it. He didn't have anything to cleanse the room, so he would have to go raw for the time being until he can get to that river back the way they came. He removed his kabar knife as he settled down against the cart and started to cut some pieces as he wrapped the gauze around his right shoulder, going underneath his right armpit, then back around to repeat. His teeth grasped on one end to pull it tight and place pressure on the wound. A red color was growing on the bandage, but as more was applied, it started to lessen in visibility.

When he finally got enough, he cut off the remainder, cut him off some for later, and pocketed it away before putting back on his jacket.

"Thanks," was his reply as he removed the fake talisman from his coat. "Time to go end this thing."

Moving around the cart, Chen began his way back toward the samurai apparition, aka his friend. Raising his left hand in a Buddhist's prayer sign, he started to mumble words, which were made up on the fly, as he approached. The volume of his voice was getting louder as he got closer, to show to Tenkai that he was beginning the "ritual." Thus, this was his cue to finish up the act and escape.