The Road to Tensora Deity [T]

[withDrawl]

Heaven Dragonfly: Stance
Rank: "E"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: User learns the Dragonfly Stance.
Special: ---
Drawback: An offensive stance with weak defense.
Description: Picture The user raises their sword to their right shoulder with the blade pointing upwards. This is the strongest Ten Ryuu (Heaven Method) form stance in terms of offensive capabilities.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Tensora (天空 Heavenly Sky), Must know all of the Standard Kenjutsu Techniques

0/5

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Master Shiba stepped across the thinly padded floor of the dojo, his footfalls nearly silent despite his large frame. With an about-face, Shiba gestured to Kenji, who was still standing near the edge of the room, with the butt end of his spear; Master Shiba often used his polearm to teach posture and footing, not actual techniques with it. “Why is your door to heaven still shut?” the old soldier asked. In other words, why was his sword still sheathed? Three forward paces and the slightest of bows later, his “door” was open and pointed at Master Shiba’s neck in the ready stance he had been taught at the very beginning. Only then did Master Shiba walk about towards Kenji, eyes studying the posture.

“We shall unlock the Dragonfly today,” Shiba said as he drew up beside Kenji. Setting the spear beside him, which stood erect on the butt of the spear beside him, Master Shiba drew his own sword and fell into a stance unknown to Kenji. “Mirror me,” he said simply, waiting for Kenji to mimic him. Kenji stared at the man opposite him, pinpointing the key traits of the stance. The most striking difference between this Dragonfly stance and his own ready stance is the positioning of the sword. Held on the right side of the body, the blade was pointed in the air instead of at the opponent. It struck Kenji as a highly offensive technique, with little defensive benefits from what he could see. It was not unlike Master Shiba to start his students off with such a focus, though.

Kenji slowly moved to mirror the swordsman opposite him, his body feeling out the new stance. He bent his knees, resting his weight on the front half of his feet; Tensora was not a style where one subjected themselves to flat-footedness if they could help it. Twisting the upper half of his body, Kenji lifted the sword up away from his opponent to point to the ceiling. His left hand gripped the bottom half of the hilt to guide it in strikes while his right hand was used to put power behind the swings. The guard of his blade sat parallel to his right shoulder and the sharp edge was flipped opposite of his body. It would be unfortunate if he cut himself in stance because he allowed his head to get to close to the blade if it was held the opposite way.

Kenji inhaled, preparing to hold the stance until Master Shiba deemed it adequate. He waited.

[Tetsu]

+5 my friend, enjoy

[withDrawl]

Heaven Dragonfly: Strike
Rank: "C"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: User strikes downwards with a powerful strike against the opponent.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The entire point of this technique is to strike once and strike powerfully. The user moves close to the opponent as fast as they can and brings the sword crashing down from the Heaven Dragonfly: Stance bringing the sword back to the Heaven Dragonfly: Stance afterwards.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Tensora (天空 Heavenly Sky), Must know Heaven Dragonfly: Stance.

---

0/20

Master Shiba nods as he breaks his stance; he gestures to one of the students across the dojo to come join them. “You stand like a dragonfly,” the old soldier said while he waited for the student to join them, “but let us see if you strike like one.” The student whose name was Jun had two wooden katanas in hand, one of which he passed off to Kenji, who accepted it with the slightest of bows. Master Shiba reached out to take Kenji’s own sword, so as not to get in his way while he and Jun sparred. Kenji fell back into the Dragonfly stance while Jun fell into a defensive stance that was foreign to Kenji.

“Strike once atop the head,” Master Shiba declares, his only form of instruction for Kenji. There was three meters between Kenji and Jun as the former moved, looking to close the gap. He glided across the floor in the step he had been taught day one, trying his best to maintain the posture necessary for the Dragonfly stance. It was one thing to twist his body when standing still, another to maintain the contortion during movement. Still, he covered the empty space while still maintaining a passable posture, until he drew up beside Jun.

Once there, Kenji shifted his torso and arms until the wooden blade was held above his head, like the proverbial lumberjack splitting word with his axe. His left hand which had guided during the practicing of the stance was now also used as the main force of Kenji’s strength behind the blow. His right hand picked up the slack of guiding the strike down, looking to strike Jun across the brow. It was in this moment that Kenji first wondered how he expected to break Jun’s defense with this obvious and straightforward blow.

The answer came when Jun lifted his weapon in response, blocking the strike with a sword lock. The two students lock eyes as well with Jun’s revealing a hint of pride in his defense. Then, with a rough shove, Kenji is knocked off-balanced two meters back. He falls back into the Dragonfly stance waiting for the inevitable instruction of Master Shiba

[withDrawl]

Heaven Dragonfly: Strike
Rank: "C"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: User strikes downwards with a powerful strike against the opponent.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: The entire point of this technique is to strike once and strike powerfully. The user moves close to the opponent as fast as they can and brings the sword crashing down from the Heaven Dragonfly: Stance bringing the sword back to the Heaven Dragonfly: Stance afterwards.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Tensora (天空 Heavenly Sky), Must know Heaven Dragonfly: Stance.

---

?/20

“The Dragonfly requires one to learn to bite before it can learn to decapitate,” Master Shiba said in his stoic way as he watched his two students train together. “Tell me the difficulty of this technique, child.”

While holding the Dragonfly stance to the best of his ability, Kenji replied, “It’s a basic strike lacking any finesse or subtlety to it. It is a frontal strike that requires either the strength to break the opponent’s defense or through other means.” Part of Kenji wanted to point out the simplicity of the technique, but he knew that had to be more of it. He had learned little but basic strikes and blocks at this point and knew that they were the precursors to the better techniques. ‘The road was long,’ as Master Shiba would say.

“Finesse is acquired, not born. Dragonflies do not fly at birth.” Looking from Kenji to Jun, Master Shiba gestures with his hand. “Again.”

Kenji strode forward in the walk, keeping his arms high and his blade higher. He reflected on what the teacher had said. He needed to create the finesse necessary break the strong defense of his opponent before him. He didn’t have the strength yet to conquer the older, larger foe. He had to rely on cunning. But what? In the distance it took to reach Jun, Kenji wracked his brain in the hopes that he’d retrieve the information he had observed of his opponent. What could he do to break the composure of Jun?

Kenji was two steps out when his recollection struck gold; if he could snap his fingers, he would.

Jun was fastidious when it came to his hygiene. So Kenji, right before he swung downward at the head of his opponent, he spit in his face. Jun, his eyes widening in shock, ducked away from the wad of spittle and dropped his defensive stance in the process. Seizing on the opening, Jun forced the wooden blade downward, barreling down at Jun’s head.

The strike would have been successful if Master Shiba had not have appeared between them, grabbing ahold of the blade before it struck. “A Dragonfly does not spit,” he said blankly as he released the blade. His tone was cold but Kenji thought he could see a flicker of amusement behind the old soldier’s eyes. If nothing else, Kenji was certain he had made a forward step down the road.

[The Bearer of Bad News]

learned