Making Their way to the Hokage Tower: [Faust ,Kaosu & Riku]

Faust stretched his hands into they sky as he yawned. He was pretty showy about it. There was no one around so why bother trying to inhibit it. The sun was out, animals were runinng rampant, citizens going about their daily routine. A typical day in the Leaf village. Though most days were typical days, even on missions. At least thats how they started out. He didnt have plans for today. It was his time off. Still, he wasnt totally out of his shinobi mind set. He never really was, no true soldier ever completely let down their guard. He was ready to flip switches at a moments notice.

He was still at home. Right outside of his door. He had his shirt off, but was wearing his teal gi pants and black boots. He walked back inside, leaving the door open. He wouldnt be long. He grabbed a black beater and threw it on, the material clinging tight to his body and not covering his shoulders or anything past that. To finish it off he put on a nice white dress shirt with buttons. He left the buttons undone though, letting each side hang off, keeping the beater exposed. He slid the arms of the shirt up to his elbows, keeping them buttoned. It was specially tailored to not rip when he did so. This was his go out and have a good time clothes. He switched his teal gi pants for black silk ones and his boots for nice leather shoes. He was fit to go party, despite the scars on his face. It was time for some sake.

As he bent over an open dresser drawer to retrieve his money pouch, he suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine. He had let his mind wander so had not noticed it previously, but now as his mind was less set on going out, it was painfully clear. the air was literally saturated with a strange chakra. He was no sensor, but he could tell, it was strong, thick, powerful, but it was not human. Only one possibilliy came to his mind. There was only one thing he had even heard of, never seen, that could fit the description of what he was sensing right now. It was also close, or at least, he hoped it was. If whatever this was had this affect from far away, Konoha was in serious trouble.

They were probably in trouble anyway.

The next thing he knew, his brain screamed for him to get the hell out of his little apartment, and fast. He dove through his window, grabbing his sword as he went, keeping a hold of his money bag. There werre a few other items that would possibly come in handy besides coins hidden with in. As he landed on the ground three stories below and rolled. He looked up to see his once home squashed by a large brown and black..........thing. The.....whatever it was, began to move backwards, almost like a snake. He realized the whole area was cloaked in shadows. Looking up, his mouth opened slightly in shock. He whispered, almost in fear, but more so in suprise.

Shukaku......

He quickly snapped back into business mode. It was clearly there was only one thing for him to do now....fight. Casually he slid out of his nice dress shirt, leaving only the beater on his chest. He kicked off his shoes, losing the extra weight. He slid the sword in between the fabric of his shirt and his skin, creating a quick makeshift harness for it. He would have to be careful to not cut himself. He tied the moneybag around a small hole in the front of his gi pants and flipped it up and around so that it was inside instead of dangling on the outside.

He was ready for business. He no longer even cared about his home. The people were more important. Gathering chakra to his feet, he ran up the side of the building, and instantly got distracted. Not more then 100 yards from him, a strange figure which gave off its own unique aura was sprinting away, a masked figure. The chakra of this one paled next to Shukaku's, but it was still noticeable, and that was something. Even though he was no sensor, he could still tell. There was no one with chakra like that in Konoha.

And they were running away from the beast which had appeared out of no where. He was almost certain. The man responsible, was now in his line of vision.

He made a split second decision. There were plenty of other, able shinobi speeding towards Shukaku right now, most of them ANBU and probably Keiden himself. The Hokage was a Senjuu, and they were known for dealing with tailed beasts. They could do with out him for now. He was going to assassinate this man, then make his way back to Shukaku to defend his village. If he didnt, it was likely this man would get away.

He gathered chakra to his right shoulder blade, activating the seal placed upon it. Instantly his whole body burst into a flock of crows which took the skies. He could travel much faster now. In a hurry they flew, doing a few loops as they went and even spreading out before meeting once again 50 feet in front of the strange man. No doubt the crows had caught his attention by now. It was mere moments and he was once againg Faust Arp, Konoha Jounin, master of crows and the Jingou Thread. The top Fuuinjutsu user with in the Leaf village. He stared at the man before him, prepared to strike, for he knew he would be forced to do so.

Wires he thought. That plan in mind was after the fact that he had nothing against the Shukaku himself. He was fond of him right now cause the Shukaku would be doing a lot of distracting. This would be a good oppurtunity to achieve something to Riku's pleasure. It wasn't everyday that he gets a chance to see Konoha be in a compromise that could devastate or even destroy Konoha as it stood now. It was doing a good job, despite the fact that it wouldn't be long before it would be sealed. However, during this time he would definitely do something, he didn't know what but he was going to do something.

Riku eyes, bright like the deepest star in the universe, only glanced around at the people who were aware of the bijuu's arrival. Frantic just like it was in Kumogakure with pale green aura of frantic behavior that was moving towards the opposite direction of the Shukaku. Depending on how long it takes to seal the blasted thing, it would be moving towards Riku's direction. But how long would it take for someone to notice his enigmatic appearance? Not long apparently. Riku sensed behind him that there was someone on his tail. Interesting, Riku's conscious said, someone wishes to play.

The being was moving quickly and Riku had no issues of increasing speed to loose this person. He was rather bored and boredom in Riku's mind only meant a few things which was sleeping, training, sparing or killing. The being behind him was now up above him and was diving forward in a good amount of speed. He was trying to face against him and he was bold about it too. Did this person know that he was not going up against a masked opponent of any shinobi skill but rather an assassin? The being himself, who was in crow form, only showed off a protecting killer intent that radiate off him moderately. This person wanted to kill Riku and he was glad he wanted to otherwise he would be doing Riku a favor of being a fried bird for lunch.

Fifty feet away was what Riku had estimated, such a long distance to stand in front of him, ready to strike . Riku had landed on one of the rooftop buildings where he wasn't reluctant to put his hands into a fist and smash the buildings with as much ease as crushing a small clod of dirt. Riku had jumped on another building and repeated the same process, disappearing onto another building. The building didn't crumble to the ground but rather exploded in all directions. Wash, rinse, repeat Riku did this five times. The debris spread everywhere in that fifty foot perimeter and it was only increasing, making visibility almost impossible to see. Riku was destroying buildings for the hell of it but to the opponent, he would think it was a clever strategy to make it hard for him to strike. Needless to say, Riku didn't care strategy at this point, it was clearly instincitual in what he did.

The person would judge right away that Riku displays high speed movement and super strength; Taijutsu was one of his extraordinary feats that would only make him plan. However, what Riku did was only out of instincit and the true plan was boiling inside of him. Hoovering, rather floating in air, Riku could see through the thickness of the debri smoke thanks to his mask and his eyes. In quick movements, his hands did the proper handseals and between each finger was a small current of lightning; Raiton Kaika. There, Riku sent a wave of lightning at his opponent only to test if he could sense him or not. It was ten feet by five feet this wave was and it was moving straight at his opponent with amazing dexerity.

Riku falcon dived downward but stopped his body from hitting the ground and landed on all fours. He stood up and took out the blade behind him. It's blade only made the sharpening sound as it was removed from the sheath. He drops the blade towards the ground, there he said to himself "Take the shape of your enemies and fool them to death, Bouga" in a deep robotic voice. The blade only shattered into pieces when Riku said this, spreading out like ashes in the wind hidden in the debris of dust.

The village had been very peaceful for a long while. It had seemed odd that the place was calm as it was, ever since the man had paid a visit to konoha, for some very odd reason. Kaosu had been sitting at home all day, with nothing at all to do. This had been an odd thing for him, but it had been happening for at least a week now. It seemed Konoha was having a good time in almost everything, missions seemed slow, because the people seemed to be at ease with everything. Kaosu was uneasy, when the rain and storms came in. This was another thing that was quiet odd for Konoha to have. Kaosu had been wandering around the village all day, waiting for something to happen. He saw nothing and had went in for the night. Sitting on his chair, the ground began to shake and it seemed that fear showered over the village. Soon, a sound of things being smashed and blown to nothing, entered Kaosu's ears. He quickly took his sword from his wall and ran to his window. From the window, he saw falling debris, coming from all sides. However, from this angle it was tough to see what was causing the damage. He had hoped that the man he saw in his recent encounter was not involved. Kaosu raced to the door, and arrived outside.

To his surprise, it was something big. This was something that he had never once seen in his life, and rarely heard stories of this kind of thing happening. Kaosu was so amazed that his mouth was as open as could be and behind his glasses his eyes where struck with amazement. He noticed that many ninja had already arrived at the scene and he knew that they would have it under control. Even his own Hokage was skilled in the art of bBjuu, so he had nothing to worry about, with the Bijuu. However, he knew that something like this would not randomly attack a village, it was just too unlikely. Kaosu knew that something had to either be controlling it or had summoned it here. It was likely that the man was still around, or rather someone that knew the very man. He would have to get near the sand beast to see anything clear, because the beast was so massive that it was hard to tell what was what. Kaosu soon summoned insects from his self. As soon as the left him, the swarmed around his feet and began to rise up, with him on top. He began to sped towards the bijuu and as he got closer, he noticed something going on, but it was hard for him to see.

Kaosu looked down as many ninja were fighting the Bijuu that had been attacking the village. Knew that he should have been fighting with his comrades, but he knew that there was something bigger at foot and felt they could take the Bijuu alone. If he was needed, he would been at all of their sides in a flash, he was not going to let anyone down. He soon saw a familiar face, another Jounin of Konoha. This made Kaosu a bit less on edge about this whole thing, because seeing the man that had been with the Bijuu, made Kaosu a little worried for the sake of the village. Kaosu soon jumped off his insect's and the went back into his cloak. He hid behind a house, hopefully he would have gone unseen. A few hundred bugs came out of him once again, and soon formed into a replica of Kaosu. This would give him the chance to fight his opponent before actually having to break a sweat. Kaosu sighed and looked up, as he sent his clone off. The clone soon met next to Faust and nodded at him. The clone's head soon turned towards the man that had seemed to be causing all this chaos.

The man seemed to be built, and Kaosu had hoped that his man used Taijutsu. If this were true, then Kaosu and Faust would be at an advantage, because he knew both of them were very skilled in what they did. However, the man was with a Bijuu so there was probably more than meets the eyes. The clone turned back to Faust and sighed. "It looks like we may be in over our heads here." He said and sighed. The clone took a hold of his sword and jumped at the man. Normally this would be an unwise thing to do, but Kaosu needed to see what he man was capable of doing, and he would have to get him to at least attack to see something. Kaosu hoped the man would be capable of dodging his oncoming attack, because he wanted to have a little fun before he had to kill someone. The clone was over top of the man and it soon brought it's sword down. Kaosu watched from afar, waiting to see what would happen. While watching, Kaosu sent out two insects, so that he was sure he could know what had been going on. One insect landed on Faust and the other raced towards the Hokage. If he was needed by either one, he would know the instances they said something.

Faust was about to engage the man when suddenly from no where appeared Kasou. He had not even sensed the Aburame approaching, he had been to focused on the other shinobi before him. However, he could tell with ease that this was a mere clone of the original. No doubt Kasou was nearby approaching. He spoke, albeit, briefly. Stating something about how they could be over there heads. How was one man to much? Faust had a large amount of respect for the intellect and power of the Aburame clan, especially Kasou, but he still wasnt prepared to place himself below anyone until he was defeated.

Speak for yourself bug boy.

With out warning. Kasou went after the masked figure in an apparent and obvious way. It was a clear intiation rite, and only further proved his theory that this was a mere clone. No Jounin of Konoha was stupid enough to do that with their own real body. The risk was generally much to high and it was unprofessional. His sword pointed drawn and pointed down. He clearly meant to make a move at impaling the enemy like a shiskibob. As he watched, he felt a small creature land on his neck. It was a good plan on Kasou's part, he didnt even have to look to know it was one of his bugs. This made things a bit easier.

It was at this point the masked man displayed his great speed and with great ease avoided Kasou and began smashing buildings. Faust took his moment now. Without so much as making hand signs, Faust came from his own back, away from the opponents site. He doubted his opponent would close off his own vision with this debris, but was sure that this would go unnoticed. And so now stood a mere crow clone, as the real Faust made his way off the side of the building and to the ground below, seemingly away from the battle.

As he fell, he performed a jutsu, and once he made contact with the ground, instead of hitting it and breaking every bone in his body, he moved righti in and below the surface using his underground submarine voyage technique. Next he closed his eyes and focused on feeling the earth around him in a move known as focus and see. He could feel nearly everything that was happening on the surface.

Above, the crow clone took the lightning blast as Riku and Faust spoke to Kasou through the bug on his back.

Pleas Kasou, leave him to me. You are much more needed with the Bijuu. As an Aburame you can weaken the thing with ease by draining its large chakra. I can serve no purpose in that fight, and honestly, I work best alone.

At this point he felt four points of contact hit the ground, in the shape of two hands and feet. It was a person, and not the one he knew to be Kasou. The vibrations agreed with the proportions he had gathered from the man by looking at him previously. This worked in his favor.

Holding his hand in front of him, he used a basic manipulation of his Jingou threads, causing many strands to burst out from his wrist and wrap around his hand in a blade fashion, creating a cone like sword around the very lower half of his arm. Using his submarine voyage, he maneuvered towards Riku's position as he created the blade, feeling that he had not yet moved. He judged the very center between the four points of contact, and going up, with the blade pointed before him, he broke through the ground directly below the intruder, hoping to impale his gut, and at the very least, injury him greatly.

OOC: Sorry for the shitty quality but i was in a rush.

The blade shattered masking into the ash and debris. The blade itself would do wait, something it does best at times like this. It was consciously wondering when it's blade would slice the flesh of the victim its master has chosen; bloodlust only to be hidden by trickery and deception. It would wait in the dust, patient as a storm is before releasing its energies on the earth. As the blade travel, Riku's eyes of fiery intent stared blankly forward at his opponent. He could feel the aura of this man, his aura almost feeding on the hazy silver with speckles of black hid with in it. What was his name? Faust was it? Interesting.

What was interesting about this that there was another man, who had already been in Riku's sensory field the moment he entered it, that was already to attack at him. What a fun aspect to Riku, it was like seeing two knights taking on a queen piece thinking that the queen piece was alone in battle. What mistake did they leave Riku to exploit. One of which was that there was clone that was ready to strike him from atop, right down the middle of his body.

They were not aware of Riku's sensory abilities with the auras. It probably didn't occur to them that Riku 'had' any sensory abilities. With the amount of damage Riku created by exploding the buildings with his fist and creating the diversion of dust and debris in the air, it would not occur to one to think that he was lacking the eyes to see them. They were already in his sights. He knew the color of them already. One had a dark silverish color, the one who was younger with speckles of white and grey in it's aura. He knew that was the one who was focusing on making this quick. The other one had more of a sapphire color, almost like looking at an age old wine that was getting better as time passed on. Interesting.

Two things were coming at him. One of which he knew it was coming from the start and the other was more of an annoyance to Riku rather than a complete test of strength. The one was that wasunderground, the silvery aura whom had to be the opponent of crows, was coming at him with intent of killing. He was ready to strike at him to kill. The other was just a mere clone whose blade was coming down at him. So what was Riku to do in a situation like this? Only thing he could do is exploit the genetics he had. He jumps backward, leaving a afterimage and a trail of black, getting a good distance away from the clone and the person coming underneath him. His judgement was correct, the person was coming underneath him, his senses would still believe that his body was still there which he would be mistaken. The blade from the clone would strike but Riku would not give him a chance.

His hands points at both Faust and the clone. Just as quick as he jumped back, lightning shoots out of his gloved hands and outward at them both. The lightning this time did not take the shape of a wave but rather a medium size ball that travelled faster (or only travelled faster due to the close proximity of Riku, Faust and the Kaosu clone) at them both which would explode when it made contact. It was then that Riku had jumped back into a building where his body collided in and disappeared in the rubble. His next move would be critical after this.

ooc: Exiting I guess, gonna make it short.

Kaosu knew that Faust was a strong man, and wanted to honor his word, but this man was likely on the same level as Faust, if not the same level. However, Kaosu knew the thing about honor, and he felt that Faust wanted to fight this man alone, and he had gotten to him first. If Faust were to lose a great toll would be put on Kaosu and it would be hard to live with himself. On the other hand, Faust had requested to fight alone, and if Kaosu had helped Faust, Faust would most likely dislike Kaosu for his life and he could not bear that. He would have to swallow his pride and do whats best, even if it meant loosing a friend. He sighed and looked up at the fight already going on. He guessed he helped Faust slightly, in showing him that the man could use a lightning attack. Kaosu allowed the clone to get his, so that he could really leave the battle. The remaining insects returned back to Kaosu. He sighed and shook his head. He turned to look at Faust and opened his mouth. "I hope you know what you are doing." He said looking towards the rest of the ninja.

He could not help but wonder of what would happen in this battle. It made him uneasy and wish to stay, but he knew he could not. He would most likely get in the way, and get some friendly fire, knowing how the jutsu that Faust used. The man who was attacking was in for one hell of a ride, when fighting Faust. Kaosu knew that he would be toe to toe with Jounin. This made him slightly less on edge. Kaosu jumped on a nearby building and looked back to Faust. "Good luck, my friend." He said as he jumped to one building to the next. He know knew that the rest of the village needed him with fighting the Bijuu, he was capable of harming it on a big scale. This made him smile for a moment, but things quickly changed as he saw the Bijuu attacking the village once again. Thing were defiantly getting out of hand and he had to do something right then and there. He had never dreamed of the day when a Bijuu attacked the village, and he was a little overwhelmed.

He soon landed in front of the Hokage and nodded his head. He was ready to do whatever it took to get rid of the monster once and for all.

And so the story unfolded. There was no way around it now. The man had moved much to quickly and been way to prepared for the attack with a counter attack predetermined. The man, undoubtedly, was a sensor ninja. That was the only way Faust could figure he had reacted as he had. Of course he had been trying to give the man problems with that attack, even going so far as to hope for a killing blow so he could move on. However, like a good ninja, he had not banked on it. And thus, he was not shaken by the failure, and was ready for the battle to continue.

Another thing was becoming gravely apparent. This man could utilize the lightning element as well, if not better then his mastery of the earth element. That was trouble, because lightning trumped earth in nearly every way. He had a way that would eliminate the hassle of the man being able to sense his attacks. However, that would require use of the earth element, and also a great deal of chakra as well. The fact that the technique he had in mind was earth based didnt trouble him as much as the chakra drain. He wouldnt be so foolish to use that great amount this early on against an opponent that could very well have other abilities. He had to do further testing first. The fact that he had around 5 or so sure fire facts about the man was fairly impressive for the length of time the battle had been going on.

It would have been easy enough to dodge this attack. The range wasnt far, but it wasnt point blank either. However, he didnt want to move more then necessary. Like the element he was attuned to, he was solid and unmoving till he was forced to. And so he formed a few more hand signs and let loose another jutsu. Water encampment wall. Typically this jutsu was B ranked, but he was going to use a scaled down version to conserve chakra. He shot out a stream of water that turned into a square big enough to intercept the ball coming at him. As the ball hit his water, another hit the clone, causing it to erupt into a bunch of bugs. He knew Kasou could have avoided that had he wanted to. Apparently his request had been met.

Back to his own problems.

The electricity dispersed out from its ball shape as it conducted into the water, spreading evenly into the square, and causing it to fly back towards Faust. In its weakened state, he could deflect it with great ease. He raised his arm, still cloaked in its cone of tendrils in a makeshift blade, and sliced it threw the water, causing it to burst into a small rain which fizzled to the ground before his feet. That attack, had been avoided.

The whole thing took mere seconds, and that particular defense did not obstruct his vision. He had been able to keep his eye on the man the entire time. He had attacked, he had been dodged, then a counterattack, which he had parried. Treating this battle like a fencing match, Faust made his deceleration.

Your turn

The ruins of the building gave him a bit of cover but he did not know how long he'll have before he would be sensed. He felt a bit vibrated, his body had slammed into the building but only because he choose it in order to destroy it. He wouldn't of taken the risk of slamming his body into a building if he didn't have the armor on. Ah, screw it. What was the means into hiding right now if he was not going to have any fun? Tactics maybe? Ok, tactical positioning was critical right now but what about the spontaneous actions just going about and killing things randomly for the sake of the random.

Because the random and the purpose are not what guides this soul. He existed not for order or for chaos but rather he had the choice of going either way. He could deal with that and that wasn't a problem with him. His only purprose right now was to get the message across to the Hokage. What message was that was something Riku had thought up a year back knowing that he would have to send it. That message was...

Even among the roaring, shouting, screaming, burning and destroying all pressing in Faust ear, he could hear footsteps, slow but steady footsteps coming towards him. But where was the person walking with those footsteps? Could Riku had turn invisible or rather placed a genjutsu on Faust. It was the most reasonable cause but he didn't sense that. Hell, he would sense a hell alot of chakra coming all over the place. After all, everyone that was able was probably fighting that large fat beast known as the Ichibi. But these footsteps were getting close and they were coming from all around. Damn, where was it? Where was these footsteps, where...

With the sharp sound of a blade coming across Faust shoulder and towards his neck, he would now know where the footsteps were coming from; of course he would think, they were behind him and he should've reacted sooner. He was well aware that this opponent had many tricks up his sleeve and rather than sneakily attack him, he was blunt and rather blantant with his approach. He had perform a genjutsu on him to make it appear as if he was invisible, his footsteps had sounded like he was in front of him but he was behind him. Careless for Faust or was it careless for this opponent?

The blade hummed on his neck, Faust could feel something else and that would be the warmth of someone's breath softly pressing itself on his neck. The mask itself couldn't hide the neutral breathe that hailed from his mouth. Then a whisper saying "Tell me, did you assume that I had something to do with it" It was Riku, the robotic voice of Riku that was deep and almost frustratingly dark. "The Ichibi, I mean. You put two and two together and yeah, I would also assume it was I who did it. Maybe I did and maybe I didn't but rather than asking if I did, you attack me out of sheer enjoyment" he was enjoying from the sound of it. "Tell me, can you answer this for me? Am I the enemy or am I the ally? Friend or foe, good or evil. These are simple questions but the answer may surprise you one way or another.

Walking up the stairs in another building that was not even far from Faust and this Riku's location was the Riku who had slammed himself into the building. There he was walking up the stairs casually but in deep thought. His mind was connected to that Riku who had Faust in his predicament. He wasn't unconscious but he was looking with one eye that had Faust in his view and the other with him walking. Pressing his hands together, there was a sudden release. The lightning was gone away from his hands. He then did another series of handseals.

"We shouldn't fight or should we? That's the question, Faust. Or Faust-san, whichever you want me to call you" there was a slight pause. Would Faust then realize that this person knew his name right off the bat? He sounded as if he was close to him. Even with the robotic deep voice, there was no sense of hesistation or rather any doubt in that voice. Riku knew him "No, you're not much of a formal person. Formality was for those who are controlled by the simple minded. You are a complex and free man. You liked to be called Faust without the honorific. Or maybe you do in the presence of an enemy. Or am I enemy? Am I even an ally? Hell, maybe I dont even know what the hell I am. I just exist right now" The blackness of this Riku's cloth showed little ripples. They were minute in size but they were growing. It was silent, almost unreconizable by the fact that the sounds of everything in Konoha was conjoined together in one terrible symphony. These were the spikes, or rather tendrils that were set to pierce into Faust "Tell me, what is your answer? What am I? Am I the enemy or rather the ally? Good or evil? Light or dark. Day....or night..." Faust could sense a smile underneath that robotic mask of his

Footsteps, sword, zero time to move, zero time to react physically. Faust was in trouble. Or he would have been, if it had not been he who was on the receiving end of this attack. There was only one thing to do. Chakra flowed to the mark upon his shoulder, and so it glowed, glowed into the day beneath his beater, part of it seen, glowing blue, the rest concealed by blade and cloth. The chakra then spread throughout his body and as it did, so he burst into a flock of crows, a whole new being composed of several, while still being only one. This was the theme of the play, and the opening act had just concluded. The next scene was about to unfold.

And so these crows, untouched by blade or odd concoction of darkness and energies reaching to him from within the other, regrouped nearby, not all to far away, perhaps a few meters behind the one who had attempted to end his life with these odd tendrils which were greatly different then the ones within his own body. He became the one known as Faust the Flesh Weaver once more. And now the dialogue commenced, the song and dance on halt. An intermission from intense tragedies or delightful comedies. Back story necessary for the plot to unfold.

So the one had spoken, his turn overdue, speaking twice through two cubicles, and now a response in necessity as the two faced each other with the man of crows and inner darkness staring at the back of his prey.

You are an interesting man so I will dare to indulge you. Otherwise, speech would not be wasted against you in battle, for it is something I normally detest. The fact that you know my name means nothing, only showing either my legacy spreads outside the walls of Konoha, or you gathered it from the man Kasou. It matters not to me. Whether you are an enemy of Konoha or not, also means little. You are my enemy, for I have selected you. Three things present itself to me. One. You caused this or had something to do with this and are fleeing to watch your work unfold from a better post, or better just to remove yourself from the scene of a crime. Two. You care not about human life and so would not bother to help prevent its loss by battling the beast. Three, you are a coward with no true desire to fight, and so are fleeing from battle, and only ensuing in this one because I have forced you to. Do not bother to explain yourself. I care not.

And so he had said his part and the dialogue did end for now. Faust being a man of many talents saught with in himself the best route to take, and found one pleasing to his senses, selected it, aimed and fired. As he finished his last word, a battalion of crows erupted from his body, but this time he kept his own human shape. The crows, a deal many but countable, surrounding their masters foe in a shroud of black which no man could see, enveloping both entities of the enemy. And so sight was nearly lost, though a glimmer still remained. Until the fire overtook them and all 20 of them erupted into an inferno around the enemy of crow.

Thus Faust waited, hand on his blade, prepared to release his fury upon his enemy. There was little he feared, and none of it lay upon this battle field. His face etched with energy and love of the game of battle, he waited for his prey, as the good hunter does.

Answers of a shinobi Riku thought to himself. This is what seperated him from this life he would've been if he was born into any other family besides the Shikyo or born in a village like his sister. It was laughable, if not the hysterity of what is this mindset that shinobi have incorporated in their heads that fighting with honor was a fight worth fighting for. He was only halfway through the euphoria he could truly experience and Riku was fully indulging himself with it. The place was set; now was the time ready to strike in commence. The mask has truly had ahold on Faust and that was the message he was trying to give to him.

What's interesting about flames is that it was not just for burning, exploding or imploding things but it's a bit more complex. Shinobi who care little about the science of elements within them only understand that when there is burning, that's exactly what it is going to do; burn. When the crows envoloped around the Riku who had the blade by the once Faust neck, he was not burning away but rather fading. His body wasn't seperating apart but rather folded inward on itself as the flames had decimated his body. It's body had disappeared but it's true purpose was not complete. It would shed the blood of it's opponent.

It was hungry, a stomach filled with unmasked gluttony that only craved the fallen. What this person had was unique and he would have it. It would continue it's illusion, a real illusion. The fading body then transformed into a burnt corpse; crispy as any type of flesh when it is under intesne heat for far too long. The burning of flesh, it's sizzle as if flashed fried in a vat of oil. Faust could hear what appeared to be a muffled scream then a series of gasps that was inconsistant, his body was ready to crumble within

The Riku in the building had walked over off the staircase and swiftly descended downward into towards the ground. As he did, the seal on his arm, it was almost pleasurable to feel the soft sting it gave as it burn softly on his skin. On the bottom of the stairwell was something opening up from the bottom. The beauty of destruction brought forth a weeping sorrow that open a door for him to enter and travel into. The shadows were around him as the building began to burn. He is swallowed into the darkness.

The crisped body laid still in the open as everything around it was burning; rocks, debris, a few finds of plants that were attached to the buildings. Whatever left was left smoke on the remaining matter that was chemically changed by the fire. There was a twitch of circuitry; electricity sparking everywhere around the mask of the body. Easy was it? He was a coward. He could've ended the fight there but decided against it and foolishly have the audacity to actually begin a lecture. This fight was won to Faust.

"What amazes me" a voice echoed. It was reverberating around Faust, not in a style that was said in his head but it was a distincit way of how it sounded. It was coming from all over. But how? Every available option that could hide himself was taking away. There was nothing that could hide him in this world physically. What Faust did not expect was the fact that there are other realms that shinobi do not dare to touch and only those who tempt and even kick dust in the face of death. Riku was not talking through the realm of the light but the realm of darkness. Faust would see that he had created the ideal place for someone to create shadows. It was sunny and the fact that it was sunny would make light create darkness. Within this darkness, the voices echoed out at Faust.

"What amazes me" the voice said again, this time clearer than the first "Is the fact that you answer the question that I expected you say. For that, I have to applaud you with such an good job" there was clapping echoing everywhere in a multitude. It was coming from every direction. This wasn't real. This was an illusion. All of it was an illusion. Bastard was a genjutsu user all along. He was just fucking with him the entire time. "I have to commend you for this answer that is neither wrong or right. I'll have to commend you properly"

As his tattoo had glown mildly on his arm, as he sunk into the darkness in that buildling, Riku had arrived in the realm that holds each world together: The realm of shadows, darkness, the realm where ghost comes from. The place where shionbi linger, the dead zone, limbo, purgatory, the mirror world whatever humans and gods called it, it was a place where it was completely black and the moon shine constantly in this world. It was everything that was opposite to the realm that had day and night, good and evil, heaven and hell. Riku stood in a building not filled with fire but rather with ice. He was particularlly cold in this part but it was better than that oven he was standing in

Beside him was a melancholic man standing with a white book in his hand. He appeared to pay no mind to Riku intrusion but his words, soft yet solemn it was, cut the silence "You summon me, Riku. I was really ready to read upon the history of the arts. Yet I am summon" He closed the book, rising out from the pages were a poof of smoke. He closed it hard for the sake of trying to express some type of emotion of hostility but it was not working against Riku.

"It is time for you to work. It's been a long time since you've done anything. I dont want you to be rusty my friend"

The mans emotionless face did not stir or twist. He only set the book down and he walked out of sight from Riku. His body had faded away and Riku knew that he would appear on top of a building from afar, looking at his back rather than his face.

In this realm, Riku couldn't see Faust. I suppose that was the downside of this place. But again, it was the opposite of everything where Riku had just came. He would see buildings that were destroyed, buildings that were burn to nothingness. Villlagers souls wondering as to where they are at unknowingly to them that they are dead and in this realm. But Riku could still sense Faust and that was a plus to this. Hie closed his eyes and visualize the place that he was in. He was walking up a building that was untouched by his destruction, it was ten stories and he was walking up the stairwell. He was only fourty meters away from the Riku with the blade.

Ah, now it was becoming clear. The illusion had done a part of his plan and was now ready to get in motion. The man, Yaguri, was standing only 150 meters apart, his eyes hazily staring at his back and did not move from that spot. Riku was walking towards the aura. It was the grey aura and he could see it.

"What amazes me..." he paused letting the shadows amplify his voice to give the effect of an illusion "What amazes me...Is the fact that you answer the question that I expected you say. For that, I have to applaud you with such an good job" He claps his hands together. The darkness only amplified it more and the shadows back to clap with different intensities and different pitches. The illusion effect was placed. Riku vision had faded off from the grey and black area that appeared to be a shadow to the sunny skies that was seventy-five meters behind Faust. His body was still in tied with the darkness and before he truly left out of this realm he said"I have to commend you for this answer that is neither wrong or right. I'll have to commend you properly"

Yaguri hands didn't take long for him to perform the seals. His eyes were glowing with intense fury and his stare was blantantly at Faust. It was beautiful how Yaguri hands were like seperate beings from his body. They had a mind of it's own. His words, cold as they were in the realm from which he came, he said "Kitsune-Bi (Fox Fire)"

The sudden pain that Faust would feel would be nothing he would feel in his life. What was on his back was like a thousands suns burning him from outside inward. He would feel the clothes not even taking a chance to burn off but rather dissapate. Damn, was the hunter trying to hunt the prey now being hunted? It appeared so. What was so shocking about it was the fact that it suddenly appeared out of nowhere; as if the proper prize from him was a sudden burning death. But that was far from what Faust would expect when the burnt body that laid in the middle of the street then exploded outward with spirling and twisting tendrils that were dead swift and quick towards Faust. There was no directionally path that it was going. It was only known that the target the tendrils were going was towards Faust.