The Zealot and the Widow

"So this is Tartaros" Rii said as she observed the town from a distance. She had traveled to Gehenna in order to scope out the area that she would likely be in the future. The Shogun had set up a new way of proving oneself worthy for a promotion that involved fighting in the pits of Tartaros. Yes underneath this quaint tower was a huge underground fighting ring that Ririko would likely find herself in many times in the not so distant future. The fights there were to the death, something that was a bit new to Rii. By some miracle she had made her way through her life as a Kunoichi without killing a soul. It wasn't really intentional, she didn't really avoid it, that's just how things ended up happening. So if she wanted to become a Doctorial Primus or whatever they called them now, Rii would have to finally spill blood.

How did she feel about it. Well the task seemed a bit daunting, the idea of it wasn't necessarily sickening, but it wasn't comfortable either. Hah... most shinobi in this day and age have killed scores of people by the time they were eighteen like Rii. She supposed it was better to go through it later than earlier when she was more innocent. Rii sighed as she hopped off the rock she had been sitting on and made her way over to the town. The walk wasn't too long, and the town was busy, the streets full, which meant there likely wasn't anything going on in the arena. She didn't have much else to do so she figured she would head down there and check it out, for the sake of curiosity. It didn't take long to find the building that led down underground, it was the biggest attraction in the town, so there was signs for it everywhere. Ririko made her way down and walked through a hallway that led to the viewing area, where she sat down on the bleachers and looked out across the empty stadium.

Vendetta was on route to taking the challenge of Tartaros, the pits a proving ground for one's dedication to the Shogunate and something she felt somewhat disconcerted with yet dared not to question the Shogun's motives. After all she was a Blade and she would serve the Shogunate loyally completing anything they asked without question or hesitation and this would simply have to be one of them. As she walked Kabutowari secured on her back and the good book in her right hand held close to her heart she would see another person who seemed to enter the building, seeing as she had never been there she took to following the other girl/woman one could never tell these days. She wouldn't try to mask her presence she would simply trail behind and soon enough they would enter some sort of underground stadium causing her eyes to widen slightly at the scope of all of this. The person she was following would sit down in a seat, and seeing as Vendetta had nothing else to do she would walk among the stands before sitting a seat right next to her and looking at the empty stadium as well.

Hello, I'm new here where can one register for the fights? Vendetta opened with, oblivious to the fact that someone might consider it rude, weird or both to first being followed before said person that was following you sit next to you and attempt to talk to you. She wasn't one for social interactions though so she wasn't aware that what she might be doing could be perceived as creepy.

As Rii walked and entered the arena building and made her way underground she, or rather her shishuspaida noticed someone behind her. The person didn't seem to have any bad intentions though, and if they didn't want to be noticed, they weren't doing a very good job of it. Rii just ignored the person and went to sit down and check out the stadium. Shortly after sitting down though, someone sat down next to her, ahh the person who was following her, no surprise there. She asked Rii a question that Rii didn't really know the answer to. "Not sure, this is my first time here as well." she said, looking over at the person. It was a woman, and on her back was a very recognizable weapon. The presence of Kabutowari meant that the woman sitting next to Rii was a Blade. Those seven that made up the leaders of the shogunate were quite interesting to Rii, and she hoped to eventually have met all of them.

Thinking further on the subject, Ririko had had the opportunity to join the Blades several times in the past, both before and after the time she spent practically not being a kunoichi. Rii was glad she didn't join them though, she wasn't really fit for a position like that, she didn't like being tied down to one thing, and the Blades held a lot of responsibility. Those responsibilities would take up a lot of time that Rii would rather spend on her own motives and goals. "So you're a Blade I see... I'm Ririko Shinto, just a lowly centurion admiring the arena." she said. Rii was feeling a bit more sociable than usual, it happened occasionally, more and more often as of late really.

Vendetta would raise an eyebrow a newcomer like herself, truly fortuitous this occasion was she wasn't the only one to have never been here before. Oh well that is a relief, I thought I would be the only one here who didn't know what was going on. I only was newly made aware of the changes the Shogun had done to separate us from the shinobi, I suppose now we are soldiers? Or gladiators perhaps seeing we have to fight in an arena to advance then again it will cultivate our fighting skills so it's not that bad. Vendetta said in reply still looking at the arena and noticing how it was gradually filling up with people, what amazed her is the fact that it was so spotless clearly whoever was organizing this made sure to keep it so. It made sense some people could take advantage of an unclean arena, use leftover blood, body parts and the like to their advantage and win through dishonorable means.

Oh yes, I am a Blade, the newest to join actually apparently the old wielder of Kabutowari lost his ability to be a shinobi after running into Diamond a year ago. Oh, pardon me I didn't introduce myself. I go by Vendetta, you'll forgive me if I don't tell you my real name I don't really like it all that much. Vendetta said before looking at her soul and seeing that it was a pure white, an innocent at that age and yet she was a centurion this had to be a sign from Kami to ask if she wished to be saved and join the Church.

Rii crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back on them as she observed the people entering the area one by one, taking in each of them. She enjoyed watching people, not in a stalkerish way, just noticing the way people interacted and made their way through their daily lives. It gave a nice perspective on human nature and life as a whole. "I guess it's not a bad way of doing things, but I think my friends like the prospect of it better than I do." she replied as the skin of her arm moved as the shishuspaida crawled around at the prospect of entering a new host body and creating their own hive. Yes that was the best thing about the arena in Rii's eyes, her opponents could be fodder for the Shishuspaida to breed. They were such bloodthirsty creatures, not in a literal sense. Technically the widows preferred flesh over blood, but that's irrelevant.

So she was the second wielder of Kabutowari since the installment of the Blades? That was quite interesting. Rii couldn't help but wonder how the Blade itself felt about changing owners, I suppose it depended on how much it liked it's original owner in the first place. The fact that she went by a nickname as opposed to her real name was completely normal to Rii, after all she had completely disowned her first name and last name in her academy days, just going by Rii. This was in an effort to both keep her abilities a secret to maintain an advantage if she had to go against fellow students, as well as her just disliking her name. Though that was when she was younger, these days she had grown more used to her name and didn't really care about it anymore. She still used her nickname, as it had stuck, but by this point it wasn't forced like before. "That's alright, it's nice to meet you Vendetta." she replied, eyeing a particular large man that entered the arena. Warrior of some type, likely very proud, and probably rather rude. Rii smiled as her assumptions were reinforced by the man pushing a smaller guy that was in his way and forcing his way through the crowd. Guessing the personality traits of people she saw based off of their appearance had become a hobby for Rii that sprouted from long bored days with nothing to do during her days of being awol.

Vendetta would nod not noticing the womans skin crawl, literally in the sense that things lived underneath her skin. She would instead look around more people having entered and apparently the matches would start soon, she was looking forward to analyzing exactly how this place was run and sure enough even more people would take their seats as the first challenger had arrived. A burly man, with his soul being a vivid red, she hoped he perished painfully as scum like that did not deserve to draw breath no doubt he was enraptured with sin teetering ever so closely to becoming a Maleficarum just by actions. Truthfully her hand had twitched by simply noticing him wanting to pulp his brain with Kabutowari's hammer the moment she laid eyes on him but resisted simply because she was in a conversation with an individual currently.

As it is you. So.. what are you doing here Ririko-san, simply observing? I myself am trying to gain insight on how this arena is organized, how matches are conducted so that I can challenge it at a later date. Vendetta said bluntly as she wasn't one who really had tact, she was sort of the type to charge in not reckless but at the same time she wasn't one to be deceitful. Now while she wasn't one to blab everything she didn't make a habit of obscuring her objectives especially not in a conversation with an innocent.

The man Rii had been watching made his way down to the arena. It seemed he was going to be fighting, which meant the people gathering were there to see him fight. It seemed Rii was in luck, she would get to see how the fights work firsthand. It seemed Vendetta was here for a similar reason. Rii wondered how strong she was, Blade's of the shogunate varied greatly. There was the higher ranks like Cyrus Taki and Rika Ryuude, and then much lower ranks in the blades such as Kimiko Verin. And then withing different ranks, skill levels fluctuated quite a bit. So that meant Vendetta's skill level could range from very low to very high. She seemed to be content with her own abilities and carried herself well, so she was likely at least around medium to high. The Blades were an interesting group of people really, mostly because of those legendary living weapons they carried around. Living weapons that weren't those of a yoroi were more or less unheard of, so what made those seven special, set apart from other living weapons. How were they created? Even the greatest blacksmiths in the world in this day and age couldn't craft weapons with those qualities, so the mystery behind their creation remained.

"I'm just here to see what I'll be getting myself into in the future." she said as some of her widows spilled out under her seat and began to crawl around, getting tired of being cooped up in Rii's body. She let them reign free a bit, they wouldn't attack anything without her ordering them to, and they were small enough to remain unseen for the most part. Plus Rii enjoyed having some of them out of her almost as much as they enjoyed it. "How are the preparations coming?" Rii asked out of curiosity. It was no secret to the other shogunate shinobi that the Blades had been preparing for the war, while their specific plans weren't common knowledge yet, the fact that they existed was.

Another person would enter the arena he looked unassuming sickly almost and would simply creep into the area like he had no passion or energy then again it was always the ones who didn't look like they could do much who were the most deadly. Sure enough the crowd would begin to cheer and the fight would begin, the burly man charging with his fist while the sickly one would also rush forward, they'd collide with the burly man landing a punch and the sickly main recoiling a bit before his hand would shoot upward and if not for the burly man moving back his throat would of been sliced open. Even so he didn't escape without a small cut on the base of his neck, it seemed like the sickly man was hiding something but what could he be hiding, his nails didn't look that sharp so Vendetta did wonder what it could be.

Ah so we are of a similar mind then, that's good reconnaissance before battle is the best way to go about combat. Vendetta said taking her eyes off the battle as Ririko asked her question which would make her frown slightly before answering. They are something I'm not at liberty to speak about as of yes, I am sorry. she would answer simply and honesty if she could say something she would but for now until Cyrus gave the order to inform the rest of the Shogunate's troops she would keep quiet about it.

Rii watched the fight. To a normal person it would seem the big burly guy would win a fight like this, but Rii knew better. As the first exchange went forth the sickly man got the first hit, he was quicker. It was a light hit, but there was something off about that scratch. It was very likely that it was a poison of some sort, something Rii had a great deal of interest and knowledge on. You could say toxins were one of her specialties, but other than the acid mutation in her widow's toxin, she had thus far failed to personally create a toxin from scratch. She knew she would need more medical experience, but the information she needed was only available to Doctorial Primus, so she would have to fight in the pits to earn her right to it. That was fine though, she doubted it would be too difficult. Of course the burly guy had one advantage, if he actually managed to land a blow it would hurt pretty badly, so it was still anybody's win really.

Ririko nodded to show her understanding of Vendetta's response. Rii figured she wouldn't reveal anything, that was fine, in time all of the shogunate would know and their forces would be sent out to carry out the plans. Until then the best thing Rii could do is cultivate new hives and work on her research. There was also her other techniques and experimentation with the physical aspects of her shishuspaida. Point being there was lots of things to keep her busy until the shogunate finally made their mood, so Rii was hardly in a rush. Besides ones the time came, she would probably be reluctant to shuffle off to action anyways. She was more content doing things such as visiting the summoning realm and pestering the spiders to reveal their secrets. "Eh that's fine, I just hope it goes well." she replied as some of the shishuspaida returned to Ririko in order to warm up in her acidic blood.

So do I. So the fights are one on one apparently? I wonder if that is the only type of fight or whether there are variations. Vendetta said as she would turn back to the fight, feeling like she was missing something obvious with Ririko but remained blissfully unaware of the shishupaida since she wasn't paying much attention to them. She was aware that Shinto tended to host insects, and while creepy there was nothing wrong with that; after all she was fully capable of possessing other people and making them do her bidding, really who was she to judge. It seemed as if they were at it again however this time the burly man would land another blow to the sickly mans stomach however the sickly man wouldn't even flinch before lashing out this time almost at the same time the attack landed and though the burly man pulled back he'd receive a slash directly over his eye for his trouble.

That was a costly injury, his vision is compromised. Vendetta said feeling a need to point it out, sure enough the fighters knew it as the burly mans blood dripped into his eye and the moment he tried to clear it the sickly man would begin to repeatedly attack him causing narrow dodges with the blocks earning cuts along the burly mans forearms. What was odd though is that when the hit landed it was as if it didn't even phase the sickly man, as Vendetta looked closer she noticed that despite the fluidity of the movement there was something not...natural about how the sickly man moved.

Vendetta pointed out that she thought the fights were one on one, and wondered if there was different types. Ririko nodded, "A couple friends of mine talked about going in together at one point, so I'm pretty sure there is, since two versus one wouldn't be very fair." she said without drawing her attention from the fight. The big guy hit the sickly one, but it was like he wasn't phased by it. Ronin perhaps? That was the most logical conclusion that Rii could come to as to why he was able to take a physical blow so well, but it was honestly hard to say. The burly game seemed very straightforward in his abilities, but this sickly one was quite interesting, and things that Rii found interesting would grab her attention quite easily. You see Ririko was not only a very curious person but also enjoyed forms of techniques that were new to her as it often gave her ideas to use in her own arsenal.

Of course if Rii truly wanted a technique she was fascinated by, there was a secret soulless technique that allowed the eating of an opponents body in order to learn everything they know. Ririko hadn't bothered teaching herself that one however, she had no need for the techniques of other people. If she saw something she liked that she thought she could do, she would likely be able to make a better version. Or at least a variant involving Ririko's personal abilities. "That one is an odd specimen isn't he?" she after pointing to the sickly man. Rii honestly hadn't planned on staying through a fight after seeing how it was set up, but this fight was quite interesting so far and drew her attention. And of course there was Vendetta as well, with the Blades being another thing that Rii was curious about, it also managed to keep her around longer than planned.

Vendetta would listen to Ririko's reply, so one could go in with others, that was interesting, she wondered if the prize money was higher or lower dependent on how many entered the arena she would have to find out sometime. Hm, okay. Vendetta said as she saw the burly man stumble before collapsing to the ground foaming at the mouth, it seemed like Ririko's observation was correct the sickly man had some sort of poison on his nails. She would see the crowd cheer causing her to nod, it was entertainment and a proving ground for the Shogunate no doubt one's exploits would be known throughout the Gehenna if not the Imperial Continent by completing streaks. A pro and con, sure there were people she could potentially possess in this place if their abilities were good enough that is.. however at the same time did she really want people to know about her abilities.

Indeed, though dishonorable he did win his fight without showing much of his capabilities. Vendetta said watching as the sickly man would cough and shuffle to the corner as one of the area doors entered revealing a woman who would walk in covered in blood, though it didn't seem as if any of it was her own. Sure enough the battle would begin again with Vendetta interested to see how it would go. What do you think he is? He didn't seem phased by any of those physical attacks. she asked while glancing at conversation partner.

Rii frowned as the burly man was affected by the poison and fell over. Sure it proved her right, but it was still annoying, she wanted to see more of what the other guy could do. As another person walked in, covered in blood, proving she had already won a couple fights, Rii's interest piqued again. It seemed she would get to continue to see the sickly man fight. Rii honestly expected most of the people here to be really boring and easy to overcome, but it seemed this place would be useful for much more than making some money and creating new hives. Rii wondered what the poison was that he was using, it seemed very very potent. She doubted it would work on her though, few toxins did. One of the few benefits of being a walking vessel for acid and spiders.

Vendetta called it dishonorable to use the poison, which Rii slightly took offense to, being a user of poisons herself. "Dishonorable? I don't see how it was dishonorable, the other one shouldn't have been a meathead and should have actually used his brain." she said, while maintaining a non-argumentative tone. There was no need to start an argument with her newly found friend. [color]"Umm... based off of what I've seen and my small amount of knowledge on other races, I'd say Ronin with some sort of poison covering his body or at least his nails. There is a multitude of other things it could be honestly. I'm pretty curious to know what he is for certain as well."[/color] she said while anticipating the next fight. If only she had some popcorn...

The next battle opened up with the woman making hand seals the blood moving off her body into numerous bullets and shooting themselves at the sickly man at high speed, he would dodge most of them but one would hit him and a puff of smoke later there were two figures were the sickly man was. One was a short kid probably around 10, while the other was the sickly man except he looked wooden.. a puppeteer that was why he didn't take any damage from the burly man's hits and his movement seemed unnatural to Vendetta's Ronin eyes. Your right, I personally do not like poison but I can see how it is a sound strategy, it just seems so deceitful not killing your opponent with your own steel but having to rely on some concoction to give you an edge. Vendetta said as she continued to watch.

She was just that type of person, she didn't like such methods of combat, hiding from people, sneak attacking. She preferred to fight her opponents honorably and beat them that way, though she did frown on dishonorable combat she understood that not everyone fought the same and had worked with people even those of the "Church" who preferred to use more subtle forms of combat. Are you a poison user perhaps?