As The Sun Follows Night [p]

[Titan of Stone]

33/80 (continued from here)

Krystal would sigh softly looking around the large forested area while touching the destroyed wooden structures. It seemed that perhaps a fire tore through this area long ago given that the forest had grown back already. The peace seemed to draw on her chakra pulling it to the surface as a bright green aura as her gates opened to harmonize with the natural energies flowing around her.

The sounds of the wind and the ambient nature felt right around her as her chakra flowed around her. Her chakra becoming a green shroud that felt like the energy of nature itself flowed around her. The soothing energy made her muscles feel stronger and she felt refreshed being immersed in the nature and the great forest.

AMATERASU

[AMATERASU]

Cursebound
Rank: "S"
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: User gains immunity to cursed items and can use them without suffering any ill effects.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The Pulverem may choose to become immune to cursed items and can use the items without suffering any ill effects. The Pulverem can use any beneficial properties the item possesses, but is not hindered by the items detrimental properties. Once the item is no longer in the possession of the Pulverem, it reverts back to its normal, cursed state. The Pulverem is never hindered in any way by a cursed item, and can always remove them from their possession if they desire to do so. Example: A Pulverem with Cursebound picks up an object of opposite alignment. It functions as a standard object for the Pulverem, with no hindrance to their alignment. If that item is then given to another person, it takes full effect. Additionally, as long as the Pulverem has at least 1 point of Strife, the user gains bonuses the item applies to them.
Limit: Must be a Pulverem. Must know Strife Pool.

0/100

I was the goddess Kurama. I...was?
I am. Just...what does that mean, exactly? A complicated subject. Easier to avoid explaining overmuch. Especially when you don't know the particulars yourself. Yes. Don't think about it too hard.

A spirit, like myself, but unlike, floated nearby. He - I think it's a he? - seems to have grown attached to me. Probably because I can see him. I can't understand him, and I doubt he's interested in my sunny disposition.

Hah. A bit of irony there. Sunny. I was involved in one of the mythologies regarding the sun. Amaterasu. Was I Amaterasu? Probably not. A servant then, a representative. Maybe. Or an enemy. I'd killed, certainly. Hundreds. Thousands. So then I was a monster? Maybe.

It was a conversation I had periodically with my less-than-substantive companion. And no more productive than ever. He was a captive audience of sorts, though I'd long since relieved him of any duty to me as my prisoner. You need a name friend. I'll think of one later.

...I always promise that. That I'll name him later. I should probably get on that, but nothing seems to stick. Oh well.

It isn't as though I have no memory of course. I know that. I have memories. Just that they're...fuzzy. Unreliable. I remember things one way, then another. The only consistent part is a guilty conscience. Sometimes, it feele like the Concept of Kurama itself is an incomplete thing.

Oh, that was new. I'd not had that thought before. I wonder why?

Staring up through the clouds, I could feel the warm sun on my face. That at least, felt nice. Maybe I'll go for a walk. With luck, I could find another homestead and do a bit of work.

Yes, to live among humans, as a human would, required work. That was fine. I enjoyed being useful. It made me feel better to ease the burden of others. Maybe I could wipe the red from my karmic ledger some day if I kept at it.

What? You want to know what I do? Shouldn't that be obvious, spirit? Why do you think I tore you from that house you were making trouble in? I'm a shrine maiden now. I think they were called...miko? Of course, since I don't actually HAVE a shrine, I wander around and make house calls, but its basically the same thing. Don't look at me like that, it isn't completely different at all!

Whatever, it's fine as long as it works, right? Traveling priestess, spirit charmer, fortune teller. A girl called Mikuzune from Atago. That's what it means to be Kurama. For now anyway. Until I start thinking about this again.

Where? Hm. My feet moving on their own while I was lost in thought brought me to the site of an ancient battlefield it seems. Or maybe I was tugged along by my insistent partner. Either way, this place was old. Old and...wrong.

A curse sat heavily on this place. The scorched wood, the ruined stone. The land itself was corrupted. And as I am now, I don't have the strength to cleanse it. To free the spirits trapped by whatever occurred here.

I reached into my sleeves. Attached to my wrists were two small leather pouches stuffed with talismans, the tools of my trade. I withdrew two - one that would shine like a star, another that could burn like the sun. Unnatural things lurked in places like this.

The corruption was already seeping into my Spirit Cores. Unbeleivable. It was so fast-acting! It took a moment of concentration only, since I was able to detect the invasion quickly, and I was able to purge the vile energy and cleanse my body. I shouldn't have let my guard down. And you shut up! It isn't funny! I'm allowed to make mistakes!

...Jerk.

[AMATERASU]

??/100

If the whole of this place was tainted, then even I would wonder at the cause of such a thing. It was only human nature. Well, so to speak, anyway. Carefully picking my way through the ruins, my sight saw pools of curruption everywhere. Caution dictated I not step into them lightly. Even I couldn't say what would happen if one such as I were blackened by that accursed mud.

Perhaps I should head closer to the center? To the source? But then, that might be dangerous too...I don't intend to risk myself over nothing you know? Don't make that face at me. I could exorcise you at any point. Alright, focus. I close my eyes, and allow the mana from the World to flow through my spirit cores. This causes my tail and ears to appear, physical manifestations of my increasing energy. I can see more clearly now, with my mind's eye. I know which way to go.

So I go. It's as simple as that. Though certainly I intend to investigate along the way. I can resist this curse. I can. That means, even if I can't cleanse the area myself, at least not all at once, I may be able to remove the source. The World can take care of the rest from there, eventually.

[AMATERASU]

??/100

Though my ultimate goal was the center of the corrupted fortress, where the mire would be at its most potent, I did still want to discover how this could have happened. A small building - perhaps a gatehouse - promised progress toward answers. It was not without defenders. A bolt of divine light from my outstretched hand was more than enough to be rid of the spectral apparitions though. I felt the loss of power in my spirit cores. Without a means to restore myself quickly, I would need to rest before that energy could be replenished.

So then, what was there here to be seen, hm? I browsed the place for a bit, curious what might be worth protecting after death. Didn't turn up much though. Bit of a shame, that. Well, that was fine too. It wasn't important at any rate. Probably. Maybe? I don't know...oh hey, check it out friend. I found a diary. Think it belongs to a guard? What, what are you freaking out about now? Relax, its just a book.

Well, no. No it was not just an anything. It was heavily, heavily cursed. I physically recoiled just touching it. Potent stuff. Must be a lot of feeling in it. I'll need to collect myself so I can push through this. Your face says I'm too stubborn for my own good. Well, mind your own business! I got this. Seriously. I do. I'm a goddess after all. Or was. Whatever. Shut up.

[AMATERASU]

??/100

For an item to be so heavily curse laden, it surely must be important, right? I had to concentrate, move past my subconscious harmony and focus on that small element of discord. By channeling that off-key energy, i hoped to break down the structure of the curse gradually, to metaphorically speaking violently shake it loose.

How many times do I have to tell you I know what I'm doing? I'm a goddess after all! Well, sort of. Maybe not. Hey, I beat you dudn't I? Shut up and help. I promise this won't end too badly. It's just a book.

Okay well, it might end a little badly. There was an intrusion in my spirit cores, a hostile presence tied to the curse. Since I'd loosened its grip, it latched onto me instead. How rude! And since I forgot to brace myself, I'm not actually in control anymore. Don't laugh at me!

[AMATERASU]

??/100

A passenger in my own body, at least I had a rough awareness of the circumstances. Not that they were terribly interesting. I had expected at least a maniacal laugh and a declaration of glibal domination or something.

Instead my body was just wandering around quietly. Kind of like I was, but a bit more purposeful. Maybe a patrol? Wow, for such powerfully cursed spurits you guys are really boring. I mean at least check me out first or something! You hit the body jackpot!

Well, fine then. I never asked you to take over my body anyway. And I already have one tagalong so I don't need another. Let me just set to work undoing this and...HEY DONT DROP THE BOOK, BUTTERFINGERS. Darn it, I wanted to read that.

[AMATERASU]

??/100

I was working on fixing my little spiritual malfunction when it stopped moving. Or, I stopped moving. It stopped moving me. Yeah, that sounds right. Although now isnt the time to get caught up in semantics.

There was a probe at my mind. Not actually that fierce, which was strange. It was communicating? You undrrstand it? Well if you understand how hard can it be?

A-B-I-L-I-T-I-E-S. Abilities? It was trying to figure out what I can do? Why?

I-N-T-R-U-D-E-R. Yeah I know that, but I'm trying to help.

H-E-L-P-I-N-G. Okay now I'm just confused. Hey, stay out of there. That is privately owned mental property. You just wait until I exorcise you!

Another ray of light shot from my hand. That cheeky bastard! He figured that out! But too late! He...is...gone! Self-exorcism complete. But what was he aiming...oh. Intruder. Right that made more sense now.

I just shot a full blast backed with all the Authority I still had at another explorer.

Oops?

[AMATERASU]

??/100

I ran in with as much hustle as I could muster, given I had to pick my way across patches of corruption. How the heck did that person manage to get here unharmed anyway? Whatever, I just hoped I hadn't accidentally vaporized them.

Carelessly, I stepped in a bit of pooling cursed energy. It sent a nasty shiver up my spine and made my leg go cold, but I was able to repel the metaphysical invasion quickly.

This ancient fortress had to have been the site of a large scale battle or something, I can't think of any other reason the negative emotions hung so thickly around here.

"Heeeyyyyy, you alive still? I didn't kill you by mistake right?"

[Titan of Stone]

??/80

As Krystal looked over the remnants of the village her footsteps would glide a few inches off the ground as she slipped along through the air while her green aura flowed around her like a wreath of nature. Although the sudden sound of something hitting the ground made her ears flick up and as she turned she saw an attractive young woman with a fetching figure, although she like her had the ears and tail of a beast which made Krystal coo curiously.

However that ended as a beam of light was fired at the neko, her gold eyes darkened to amber as she recognized the beam and as it came close Krystal would strike out with her claws her will reverberating through the energy of the ray and reflecting it back at the fox. However given that her appearance at least had interested Krystal she had altered the angle to send the ray back at an off angle so it would shoot past the fox.

"What the hell was that for?!" Krystal roared visibly agitated though not necessarily mad yet. She moved forward quickly closing the distance to 10 feet as she looked in the fox's eyes. Her black tiger marks wavered visibly like flame due to her agitation but she waited for some kind of answer considering the blank look on her face. If she did just try to fight her Krystal could easily counter attack although she wouldn't fight if she didn't need to. Meanwhile her green aura flared a bit changing from a glow to a soft flame in response to begin attacked.

[AMATERASU]

??/100

Oh hey, quick on her feet. Nice. "Oh good, you're alive. You would not believe how many times that's gone badly."

The person was...huh, fancy that, another beast like herself. Funny how often low level Divinity attracted together. Especially here, where the Rules of the World were still more akin to the Age of Gods than the Age of Man.

While I was a reincarnated fox spirit of some kind, this one looked to be a cat spirit. A unique one to say the least - I could smell the curses layered over her body, feel them rolling off her in waves. But she didn't seem possessed. That was some dangerous magic, not the kind to be used without knowing what you're doing. One slip and everything goes horribly wrong.

"Just making sure, but you ARE aware this place is super haunted right? Like, really, really haunted. Turns out they aren't the kind that likes having guests over!"

[Titan of Stone]

??/80

Krystal's glare slowly shifted to annoyance as the fox acted like nothing was wrong. Was she really so nonchalant about trying to kill someone, judging by the trees that were slowly falling over the ray would've killed someone unaware of the attack. Regardless her tension slowly let up releasing as a sigh while her shadows flattened back against her skin.

"Oh I'd believe shooting someone with a death beam has gone badly." Krystal responded blandly before the fox would make some comment about the place being haunted. Krystal tilted her head confused, her eyes let her see any spirits in the area but she hadn't seen anything out of place, maybe she meant in herself. With a faint pulse Krystal would extend her soul forward into the fox attempting to resonate. Krystal's gold soul sphere would hop out with a happy nyan before hoping over to the fox sniffing her for a moment before mewing and pawing at her with a tiny paw.

"So far I'm just feeling me and you."

[AMATERASU]

??/100 (gonna be honest here, i dont know if this is strictly legal)

"Death beam? That's barely even a warning shot. And it wasn't even really me doing it. I let my guard down for one second and BAM! Instant possession. Hey, stop laughing, you! Don't mind him. He's just a tagalong."

I could see the cat's spirit core expanding, attempting to explore my own. With a wink, I forced my spirit cores into an escalating feedback loop, nine motes of white light swelling and coalescing into a single mass of pink flame with a cartoonishly smug grin. A tiny fluffy fox tail waved from behind pointed ears at the top.

I was actually a bit disappointed with the result. Sure, it was of a high grade, a higher class of spirit than the cat, but it was nothing like the amount of power I used to have. Or at least I was pretty sure I used to have.

The negative energy in the area immediately responded to my grandstanding, falling in on me and suppressing the radiance from my Spirit Cores. My face twisted in annoyance. My companion, of course, found this amazingly humorous. One of these days, you, I promise you're getting exorcised.

[Titan of Stone]

"It was enough to kill a few trees," Krystal quipped and as she made a comment about being possessed the cat raised an eyebrow while her ear flicked. The green flame around her dulling back to glowing aura as her chakra filled the air and her soul would bump into the 9 segmented bubble happily trying to play with it making Krystal smile faint but her amber eyes moved back to the fox. "Right, a tag along."

Krystal noted the depression that seemed to come around the fox's sphere and her instinct caused her soul and herself to glow with a brilliant light, the glow around herself looking like green-tinged white flame while the gold bubble shone brightly and zoomed around the fox's spirit attempting to chase away the ill feelings. bless the little thing.

"Well I'd help get rid of it but I don't have those kinds of abilities per se."

[AMATERASU]

??/100

"Oh no, he's fine. A bit rude sometimes, but ultimately harmless. Not like the corruption I've been dealing with here. Thats some nasty business, a sort of huge curse made entirely out of negativity. Maybe that's why nothing is bothering you actually - you're already totally covered in similar magic."

I picked up a fallen lance, the thing caked with mud and rust. Another possession was attempted immediately, but this time I was ready for it. Foe just a moment, my body shined like the sun I was mythically tied to, driving away the darkness with brute force. Small scale stuff I could cleanse just by overpowering still, but something like this ruin, that would take time and finesse.

I drove the spear back into the ground, but as soon as my hand left it, the corruption returned, every bit as strong as before. Irritating. My tagalong floated idly around it, hopefully investigating to be helpful.

[Deleted]

max tps per posts awarded.

>.> you got kinda slim there on one sets

[Titan of Stone]

73/80

"Ah a curse..." Krystal murmured to herself as she didnt notice her green aura lightly push her weightless form a few inches up leaving the Amazon to think for a moment before her ears flicked. "Wait did you say magic?"

If she could recognize what Loki did to her then she could potentially be a witch too. The neko would float closer observing the fox closer as she picked up a spear and saw her body go rigid for a moment before shrugging it off and dropping the weapon. If the fox was taking note of the gold ball that orbited her own she would notice it grow larger with a faint bloop sound.

"Do you know anything about a coven?" Krystal would ask having floated close enough to only be about a foot away.

[AMATERASU]

"What, like with the gods? No I...don't remember having any Champions. I was always more the do-it-yourself type. Er, I think. Maybe. I guess you've made a few Covenants though? What's your Domain anyway? And how much Authority do you have left?"

[Titan of Stone]

??/80

"...what?" Krystal blinked tilting her head confused, those were words that didnt make a lot of sense in response to her question. The green aura noticeably wavered in response to the car's confusion as the color began to bleed back to yellow.

"My domain is Earth, and technically I have authority over all of it?" The cat wasn't sure if that answer was correct but she decided to try and correct herself. "By a coven I meant a group of magic users."

[AMATERASU]

Earth, hah. Just one domain? What a low level divine spirit, this cat! I puffed out my chest proudly, smug as can be.

"I am none other than Kurama, of Amaterasu - the Sun. My Domain is Light, Life, and Fire!

"Although if we're being honest" I added, deflating a bit, "My Authority is really diminished lately. Its a little better here. The Mana in the air is more like back in the Age of Gods than anywhere else."

Then the cat elaborated. Oops.

"Eh? Wait, you mean you're...not a Divine Spirit? Uh...forget all of what I just said. I'm delusional. Total crazy mountain lady. Yup, just plain old Mikuzune, deranged priestess. I'm just gonna go ahead and...leave!"

I bolted, running away as fast as my legs would take me, my companion spirit laughing behind me.

[Titan of Stone]

"Oh you meant what kind of techniques do i have." Krystal realized before listing them in her head. "I've got Earth, Lightning, Fire, Wind, Light, Shadow, Body, and Space."

Krystal hummed low proud of what she could do though most of her strength focused on her body. She then went on to say how her mana was low here but it most mean more that her body and soul weren't in line to produce enough. The fox's immediate confusion and attempt at back peddling amused the neko causing her to grin before the fox tried to high tail it. However, in a Blink Krystal teleported around to intercept the fox girl potentially making her un face first into her chest.

"Mmm nope~ Amaterasu... I'll call you Ammy then~" Krystal purred and hugged her shoulders ad the green aura suddenly bloomed from Krystal's renewed interest. Her fingers would the sparkk with electricity as the sparks raced across the fabric the fox girl was wearing marking it with Hiraishin before fading away. "Now then how about you tell me more Ammy?"