Welcome to Gaia! ::

It seemed like a riddle. To hide so completely as to not be 'sensed'. Well, the people would be simple enough. A sin eater, of what he knew not its capabilities, would be a little harder.

But first, there was the matter of his thirst.
A minute later, he has his fill and feels refreshed.
Were it not so pertinent to spend his time finding a way to hide himself and his very presence, he would enjoy the water more fully.

Looking about, there appeared to be no other places to hide than in the water, or beneath the gallows. Though he can hold his breath for several minutes, it seemed an impractical place from which to launch an attack on the sin-eaters. No, the gallows would have to do.

Shaded from the sun, it is a nice place to lay. But to hide, he digs out sand and spreads it about to mask the appearance that a hole has been dug. Then, he pulls a plank from the gallows and digs on either side of the hole to place it over flat. The next matter is how to bury the board beneath the sand, once he is in the hole. For this, he uses the very shirt off his back. Tearing it in half, he places it over the small plank. Then, pouring sand over the shirt, leaning heavy on one side of the board. Next, he sinks himself into the hole and pulls the board in place. Finally, Umbra yanks the shirt from the plank, leaving the sand settling over the top of it. Only the feintest outline of the plank remains, yet any wind by nightfall would erase it.

And the ninja waits.
Focusing himself into meditation to both sense life and gleam the presence of spirits. All the while, go into deeper invisibility, of which results in near-ethereality - almost not being there at all.

Umbra pays little mind to his 'visitors'. Already in a meditative trance, his presence in that hole could not startle or affect the snake or scorpion. Though, he does ponder for brief moments whether he should kill them and harvest their venom for later use. Alas, without his tools he would have to coat his blade directly. The snake goes free due to the lack of space. But the scorpion receives a boot to the face. Its stinger attacks the leather and rubber to no avail. When the scorpion stops moving, Umbra carefully rips off its tail and squeezes the few drops of its venom over the edge of his sword, near its tip. The droplets run about half-way down before their volume runs out.

Several hours later....

When the people come near the gallows, he hears them. His eyes open slowly as he mentally prepares to move. All the muscles ache from the strain of his crouching position, yearning to relax.

Hearing the name of the afore-mentioned criminal confirms what the apparition said. Tonight is the night that Alayas Delis shall die. Therefore, it is also time for the sin-eater to arrive. And then he hears that voice. Intended only for the soon-to-be-deceased, yet, perhaps spiritual in nature? Hard to tell beneath the sand. It did not possess earthly resonance.

In one instant, the ninja hidden in the sand, reveals himself. Shooting upwards, he rises from his hole sword first. The sand falls away, as does the plank. The people might hear the dull thud from the wood as it hits the ground; yet, even as that happens, Umbra rolls himself out of the hole swiftly. A few more rolls and he is out from underneath the gallows. As the ninja clears it, he rolls once more into a low crouch, with his sword readied at his side. And when he looks up, he sees -

Well, the way Umbra sees it, there are two options. One, take on the guards for no particular purpose, all the while allowing the sin eater to finish its 'transaction'. Or two, ignore/bypass the guards and stop another soul from unearned redemption. Wouldn't be fair for him to have to do stuff when mr. nooseneck is about to get it for free.

As the first scimitar-wielding guard approaches, Umbra takes to the air with quite the acrobatic stuntsmanship. In other words, a six foot vertical jump, if you count him tucking his feet up. His left leg swings out to knock the sword away while his right firmly pants itself on the guard's shoulder. Surely the sudden weight bearing upon said guard would send him flat on his back; yet, the ninja does not allow that to happen. With another quick leap, Umbra jumps from the first guard, flipping over the other two, and onto the gallows.

It will only be a matter of a second, or two at best, before the guards quickly recover and bring their blades upon him. So, Umbra makes his next move quicker than that. With one step forward, he brings his sword down to his left side as if to put it into a scabbard that is not there. And with his second step, bringing him into striking range of Alayas, he is in stance. His sword flies out faster than the eye can trace. With the hanged man dropped, his neck is at the right height for the battojutsu technique to sever his head from his body. Surely that would stop the guards in their tracks. Surely that would prevent the sin-eater from 'eating'. As well, if the sin-eater has any part wrapped around the man, that too will be cleaved.

Athan was too incensed to even consider a possible feint. Alpha was nearby, too far away to consider engaging, but close enough that Athan couldn't think about anything else. He had to finish playing around with these two shades, had to get over there before either Alpha or the knight could finish up.

As the shade tucked and rolled, Athan turned to follow him, just barely catch the sight of a shade preparing a big overhanded swing that was clearly capable of splitting even his thick skull in two. It was all Athan could do to shift his upper body to the right, causing the sword to nearly miss lopping off his ear. The weapon clove through his armor and bit halfway into his meaty shoulder, causing a hiss of pain to seep through Athan's lips.

"Keh!"

Athan brought his left hand up, his gauntleted hand grasping hold of the blade and pushing it backwards, pushing the shade back as well before skewering it on the giant slab of shadesteel he called a sword. Pulling the Destroyer back, Athan kicked the body off and stole a quick glance back towards the duel between Alpha and the Knight.



No.

Athan's right hand dropped, causing the tip of the Rook's Destroyer to bounce off of the cave floor. His left hand just hung at his side, blood from the wound in his shoulder working its way down his arm, to his gauntlet, where droplets began to leak out from the cracks in the armor at the fingertips.

That was supposed to be my sword. My fight. My revenge.

The fingers on Athan's left hand twitched. Something was wrong here. The past few years of his life had been dedicated to gearing himself up for this moment. All of his training, all of the rage he had built up inside of him, and just like that...he was forced to take a back seat to Alpha being cut down after refusing to fight?

Athan had hardly lived his life by a code of "honor", but even somebody like Alpha deserved better.

"!"

A flash of movement to his right. Athan's eyes turned first, then his head, and his eyes widened as the shade he had forgotten...no...Alpha...bore down on him.

There was no time to mount a defense, no time to move out of the way. Athan braced for impact and was punch right square in his jaw with enough force to send him reeling, his heavy sword clattering to the ground as his right hand lost its grip on the weapon and he himself went stumbling to his left. By the time he finished stumbling, he had quite literally spun in a complete circle.

Words fell on deaf ears as Athan came to a stop, not even bothering to check his jaw to see if it was broken. Forgotten matter swept up over both of his gauntleted hands, shaping the armor there and reforming it, menacing spikes aligning themselves on either forearm as Judgment took the form of Slaughter.

It was in Alpha's best interest that he managed to dart forward, grabbing Athan by the collar of his chest plate. Only then did Athan seem to register Alpha's words. His right hand balled into a fist, preparing to strike regardless.



Alpha pushed, and before Athan could lash out he was sailing back again, this time flailing his arms and legs before crashing to the ground on his back.

"My choice..."

Athan sat up, no longer visibly enraged, though his voice was well more than tinged with the emotion.

"Why do you think I came here?"

Athan took his time in rising to his feet. Alpha had already stated that this wasn't the setting for their final battle, and Athan had come to the conclusion that cutting down one hundred Alphas was not going to make him feel any better.

"Saving this world was never part of my plans. I'm no hero."

Athan narrowed his eyes at the shade in front of him. People like Kael were heroes. People like Rage and Silver were heroes. They went out and did things not because of personal vendettas or obligations, but because they truly believed that what they were doing would make the world better.

"I've done a lot in the name of more causes than I can remember, but never because I felt personally responsible for them."

Athan began to walk forward, slowly, not once indicating that he was charging or about to lay the wood to somebody.

"It's funny, because by all rights I shouldn't even know who you are."

Athan continued forward. Slowly, methodically, but always forward.

"It was only when I got this that I learned about you. About your past. About my ancestors. About Moam."

He rose his right arm, taking a moment to glance longingly at the appendage before dropping it back down to his side.

"Now I'm compelled to avenge a Knight I never knew, an ancestor who died long before I was ever born, a civilization that brought about its own destruction, and a world I had never even heard of."

He stopped, hesitating for a moment in mid-stride.

"And yet, knowing all of this. Knowing that I am being driven forward by dreams that aren't mine, I've chosen to spend whatever life I have left in me to hunting you."

Athan finished his stride, putting himself chest to chest with the shade he had felt nothing but contempt for. And yet, even now, face to 'face' with his enemy, he had no problem admitting there was a measure of respect for someone who held so tightly to their beliefs.

"You are my Holy Grail. My White Stag. The thing I want to claim victory over more than anything else in this world or any other. To me, you, the one you serve, and the one he serves-"

Athan's eyes shifted towards the shaken knight, then back to Alpha.

"-are the ones that need to be destroyed. We fight, day in and day out, for both paltry and noble reasons. I myself have committed so many sins that no amount of good deeds could possibly absolve them. But these sins are my burden to bear. The sins of this world belong to this world, and if our actions are to lead to its destruction, then we shall at least die by our own hands."

The forgotten matter had literally peeled off of Athan's left arm as he spoke, dripping to the floor as the matter on his right arm sunk back inside of his armor as Judgment had worn off without being used. Athan had finally come to the conclusion he couldn't reach for years, and it had taken Alpha to do it.

"I will find you. With or without anyone's help. When I do, I'm going to kill you, and with any luck...you'll return the favor."

Athan took several steps back, suddenly more relaxed in his stance, showing a bit of a slouch in his shoulders as he came to a stop.

"So that at the end of things, the world might just be a little better off."

"Shades..."

As the black creature went rolling away, Rage, or Sakura, or whoever she was now, almost went stumbling back from her own kick before managing to get a decent foothold and just a second to breathe. And really, a second was all she had.

"... it had to be shades."

Something was very wrong here, but that could probably wait until there wasn't a black-blooded, red-eyed monstrosity out to murder her and for all she knew, bathe in her blood when all this was over. Maybe with a little black rubber duck with a big red eye on it. That was a disturbing thought. She took a few deep breaths, realizing that with each one her chest throbbed and turned the later deep breaths into short, sharp ones that lasted just long enough to get air in but not much else. The adrenaline hadn't kicked in yet.

For a fraction of a second, the world slowed to a crawl as she blinked her eyes. Once, and the shade was down on all fours. Twice, and it had closed over half the gap. And as the shade made it's initial swipe for her, she ducked under, giving the shade a claw full of cloak. She brought herself back up and leaned back to barely avoid the second swipe, losing another section of her cloak, and stumbling back yet again. But this time, the shade spun in place, looking, in her eyes at least, rather silly. "Oh come on." She put her arms down at her sides, left hand preparing to loose one of her blades from where it slept.

"What kinda sissy balerinaaah s**t!"

The first of many spikes whipped across her body - she had let her guard down, and now she was paying the price. Abandoning her weapon for the time being, she could feel the sting on her face and against her legs, but her arms blocked the second round of spikes that would have made an already bad situation that much more lethal. Those arm wraps weren't for show. Sure, several of the spikes ripped through them like a hot knife through butter on a warm day, but at the very least they kept her arms from being torn to shreds. Bloodied and battered, however, the warrior lowered her arms as the spikes retracted.

What was once white was slowly turning a darker shade of red, and she was starting to hurt in places she didn't even know she had. But the shade refused to relent, moving in close after the tornado of pain. Maybe if it was close enough, it'd see her eye twitch. For some reason, these things reminded her of those things. Raptors. Bullet to the arm. Broken shoulder. The thought of it all caused a sort of snap.

A snap of her neck, to be exact, in the general direction of the approaching shade's head - or what she figured was it's head, anyways. She had just been through Gaia's gods knew how many hours in the desert to come to this bizarre rave party only to be attacked by more of these sickly black creatures. On top of that she had unceremoniously lost a few inches of height and done her nifty gender-swapping trick without the usual input required.

KE-RACK.

Assuming that a shade has enough substance to cause that sound effect, anyways. The woman let a devastating headbutt loose against the shade's cranium, shortly closing the gap with her right foot, which she thrust into the stomach of the thing to push it away further. With any luck, she'd have created enough space to spout off another one-liner and make her next move.

"I can't really think of anything clever here... so I'm just going to go ahead and finish this before I die from blood loss."

Well, they can't all be winners.

She took one step forward, then two, then brought her left hand to her hip, again trying to loose her blade from it's resting place. It was a poorly planned and insanely executed attack at best - all in all, exactly what Rage would do. With those steps she came close, and with her blade drawn and being held in the reverse of how a katana should be in her hand, she slashed across the shade's midsection as she approached. Not enough to cleanly cleave in half, but cleave nonetheless. Drops of inky black mixed with drops of watery red on the ground as the woman smiled wanly.

"Looks like you didn't make the cut."

Too bad she didn't have a pair of shades to put on. Assuming her job was done, she'd take the time to cough up a lung. Maybe two.

To which the ninja replies -

"I am your destroyer, and that is all you shall know when I send you back into the abyss!"

Seven of 'em. That could be a problem. Should he take them all on, or should he flee?

Running is not an option.

The ninja decides. Whispering rapidly,

"Rin pyo tou sha kai jin retsu zai zen!"

A phrase with no power save in their meaning. Said only to focus himself.
Bringing his left hand up in front of his mouth in a circle, Umbra prepares his techniue, the only supernatural ability in his arsenal. with a deep breath, he unleashes the "one's whole soul fireball". It differs from the typical mystical fireball, in that it takes the majority of his own lifeforce, his ki, and channels it into the fire. The mass of spirit fire pours forth over the sin-eaters plasmaticly. Blue, perhaps it might appear to the living, but to the others it is destructive life energy, the antithesis to their own existence. Being in the form of fire, it will burn away the spirits where they levitate.

Alas, the technique will leave Umbra unable to give chase should the eaters at the back escape; but atleast, he hopes, the men here will not attempt to strike him down as he is. Spiritually and physically drained, he drops to a kneel, using his sword to support him.

Good reminder. Not that he needs it.

Unfortunately, he does not yet possess the ability to call back his fire, even as he stops spewing it. And so the sin-eaters burn; and so they are dying.
...

He can possibly save one by offering up his own sins.
Yet, will they take the offer, post his proclamation of being their destroyer?

He banks on them being simple creatues. Afterall, they live to feed on sin. Perhaps they possess a 'life instint'.
He reaches out a hand, pointing towards one of the eaters at the back not yet a steaming pile of ectoplasm.

"Take mine..."

He whispers. No, he does not think the judge will like this one bit. Then again, will he really offer up his sins, unknowing of the effects of such a feast?

Umbra figures as much as the judge tells him.

As the sin eater attempts to latch on, the ninja manages one tiny burst of the spirit fire from his hand. Not enough to even maim or cripple the SE, but enough to 'scorch' it.

"Ha! Almost got you!"

Umbra taunts the sineater. That little lie should be enough to turn the spirit the other way. But just to be on the safe side, he brings his sword back in preparation to thrust it forward whilst he kneels.

If his little plan succeeds, he will have left one eater 'alive', and the others still burning to 'death'. And though he won't be able to give chase, he should still be able to track the last one because of the 'mark' he gave it.