Ikazuchi no Tsurugi(open, training)

[Corvus]

SPOILER: Click to show

Kyuushi Understanding
Rank: "D" Rank
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: Allows the wielder to communicate with the Kyuushi mentally as well as adjusts the user to the Kyuushi’s weight.
Special: ---
Drawback: User must be in contact with the Kyuushi to be able to ‘speak’ with the Kyuushi
Description: The Kyuushi is different from other swords, and apart from housing a soul, one difference being that it weighs more than a regular katana. With some physical training and effort however the user can learn to control and balance the Kyuushi as if it was an ordinary sword weight and fully utilize the sword to its potential as well as allowing the user to speak with the Kyuushi’s soul.
Limit: Must have Mastered the Lightning Release. Kyuushi in possession.

[~~/10]

The village spread out below, a fine mist hiding the street level as well as freshly fallen snow, the tiny particles of water suspended in the air by clashing warm and cold air currents creating a thick white blanket over the hustle and bustle of daily life, hushing the cacophony of the masses. From up here, the village seemed to hardly move, aside from trees in rooftop gardens swaying in the gentle autumn breeze, leaves turning all shades of orange and red, like fire over the white snow of the mist. It was gorgeous, worthy of a Haiku, if she could compose one.

A crisp chill filled the air, brushing lightly against Akiko's alabaster skin, sharply contrasting against the dark mahogony scabbard of the sword which sat in her lap, a fifty pound paperweight she had been carrying for months now, a mixture of fear and apprehension washing over her every time her hand neared the hilt. Yet she couldn't bring herself to discard the ominous blade. It enraptured her even as it repelled, like a deep darkness that held unknown treasure of knowledge.

This blade, in her travels she had glimpsed only one like it, and yet now she held one of her own in her hand. What was this blade? What mysteries did it hold? What tale had brought it to the shop Omori had purchased it from? And just why did it seem to crackle with power that brushed out against her hand when her palm came within even six inches of it's hilt? Why did a tumultuous shudder grip her heart whenever her mind turned toward this blade?

It seemed there was naught left to do but find out for one's self. Casting aside her feelings of solicitude, Akiko deftly gripped the sword's hilt in one hand and the scabbard in the other. Leaving herself no time to think this over, for she knew what would happen if she did, the child yanked the blade from it's lacquered wooden sheath. An unusual tingling filled her body as the blade came free from it's longtime home; harsh lightning filled the air, followed by it's thunderous brother.

Akiko could feel a hard floor of lacquered wood against the bare soles of her feet. Her flesh still tingled, but beyond that she could feel the soft feel of silk against her otherwise bare skin. Her ears rang, a sound that pierced her innermost thoughts; beyond that the sound of howling wind and tightly secured shutters, of pouring rain and distant thunder. These sensations washed away the tingling and the ringing, the world around her coming back into view.

A bare few wicks flickered in the darkness, casting orbs of orange light into the shadows every few feet, with as much as a meter of inky blackness between. Slowly, Akiko turned her head about, trying to see all around her. Aside from the flickering flames ahead of her, everything else was in complete darkness, herself included. Slowly, she began to move toward the nearest light, feeling the constriction of a kimono or yukata's hem around her legs, hampering her stride.

As she stepped into the light, she could see she was wearing a kimono made of silk, orange with an autumnal print of Japanese maple leaves scattering in the wind, a red obi around her midsection. She tried looking about, but beyond the flickering flames of the lights, and the tall wooden pillars extending up into nothingness they were attached to, Akiko could still see nothing but endless darkness. But just above the sounds of the rain which poured outside, Akiko could hear a soft, uneven sound. One she couldn't quite place.

Slowly, cautiously, she began to step toward the sound, following the path of the illuminations. As she walked, the sound became clearer, more distinct against the steady pouring of the rain and howling wind, against the loud clack clack clack of the shutters and the occasional boom of distant thunder. As she neared the end of the last light's anti-umbral aura, the sound became distinct enough to discern. Sobbing.

Akiko heard sobbing coming from deep within the shadows before her, an otherwise seemingly empty abyss. As she stared out into that black void, wherein anything could lie, she felt her breath catch in her throat, her heart tremble and shudder at what could lay before her. But as she stood, trembling before this darkness, more replete than any that should exist, as if it actively consumed the light, she heard the sobbing continue somewhere within the shadow.

Painfully, Akiko swallowed and steeled herself against this nameless fear which swam in her heart. Without letting herself have a moment in which to change her mind, the girl dashed off into the shadows, ignoring her garb's attempts to constrict her movement. As the darkness swallowed her up, she came to rely solely on her ears to guide her towards the source of the sobbing, wherever it lay.

Slowly, a figure came into view. She sat on the ground, her legs to her side, one arm supporting her while the other covered her sobbing face in the sleeve of her kimono. The figure's kimono was sky blue or at least used to be, lacking a print at all. The kimono seemed to be frayed at the edges, and it's pigment noticeably fading. Her hair was long and blond, but perfectly straight, an unusual combination to say the least, even as it blended against her alabaster white skin. The strange part was that she was visible so strongly against the nothingness around her. It wasn't like she radiated light, or light shone upon her, or anything. She was just there, perfectly visible without any indication or directionality of light.

And Akiko was as well. Despite the fact that there was still no light to be found, Akiko was perfectly visible to herself, and presumably to the other girl. "Are you alright?" she asked, but the other girl seemed not to hear. "Excuse me?" she asked, placing her hand softly on the girl's shoulder. Her head whipped around to stare Akiko in the face, revealing azure blue eyes reddened by tears. The girl's mouth opened, as if to say something.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning exploded in front of her, a deafening boom reverberating in her bones. Horrendously violent winds tore the building apart, sending planks of wood flying up into the sky, tossing Akiko about like a ragdoll until she landed on the ground with a dull thud, trying to grip the smooth wooden floor, which had somehow escaped the carnage even as the winds continued to try and find purchase on her body.

Rain soaked the smooth floor, making it impossibly slick and rain beat on her face, numbing her skin under the fury of this storm. Trying not to lose her grip when there was already none to be found, Akiko looked up and saw that the girl was still in the midst of the storm, the winds whipping around her. Akiko grit her teeth and found what little purchase was to be had on the floor, springing off it and sprinting through the winds.

Her light body was suddenly caught up in a strong gale and tossed high into the air. Powerless to effect her trajectory, Akiko tossed through the air before landing near the girl. Akiko swiftly sprung to her feet and wrapped one arm around her, yelling something that was swiftly lost to the chaotic winds that swirled around them. She swung her arm in a wide arc, willing the winds to stop and the storm to cease. In a great burst of force on par with the storm's fury itself, the maelstrom vanished, banished by the sheer force of Akiko's soul.

Akiko's face softened as she looked down into the face of the girl around whom this storm seemed to be centered. "Are you alright?" The girl, staring up at Akiko, nodded. "Good. I'm Akiko. And you are?"

The village spread out below, a fine mist hiding the street level as well as freshly fallen snow, the tiny particles of water suspended in the air by clashing warm and cold air currents creating a thick white blanket over the hustle and bustle of daily life, hushing the cacophony of the masses. From up here, the village seemed to hardly move, aside from trees in rooftop gardens swaying in the gentle autumn breeze, leaves turning all shades of orange and red, like fire over the white snow of the mist. It was gorgeous, worthy of a Haiku, if she could compose one.

A crisp chill filled the air, brushing lightly against Akiko's alabaster skin. In her right hand, she held a sword far older than she was, it's blade shining in the Autumn morning light. In her left hand, she held the dark scabbard that the sword belonged to. "Your name," she said, holding the sword heavenward, "is..." Bells rang, as if celebrating the naming of this sword.

[Nyu]

+10

[Corvus]

SPOILER: Click to show

Shougeki
Rank: "C" "B"
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Having the Kyuushi equipped the user can send lightning release chakra throughout the blade of the sword allowing mild damage if stabbed in a sensitive or death enabled area in the body.
Special: ---
Drawback: Can only be used once every two posts or turns. Gives off a strong blue glow.
Description: Having the Kyuushi equipped, the user focuses lightning chakra throughout the whole blade especially the tip which makes the blade glow blue as sparks of electricity radiate from its form. This allows the user to cut a target and send the lightning chakra through the cut and numb the opponents’ body. The C rank only lightly numbs the muscle around the stab or cut for three turns while the B rank is capable of executing more lightning release through the cut and spreading out to its best ability numbing the whole body part. Further explanation of this; the C rank paralyses the specific part meaning if it were to cut or stab an opponent’s hand, their hand would be numbed and not able to be in use for three posts. The B rank paralyzes the whole body part meaning if it were to only stab a specific body part, such as the opponents shoulder, the lightning chakra would take action and numb the whole arm for 5 turns.
Limit: Kyuushi in possession, Kyuushi Understanding, Lightning Release.

[~~/10]

A smile spread across Akiko's face as she stared up at the blade she held above her head, bells ringing in the air. She could feel electricity coursing through the blade into her body. The air around her crackled with static electricity, making her hair stand on end and her skin tingle. "You're no ordinary sword, no weapon," she said as she stood up, "you're an invaluable partner of mine."

Electricity flowed uncontrollably through the metal, arcing out to anything within reach. "An endless source of electrical energy," she muttered, "and a powerful sword to boot." Akiko wound up and swung the sword once, casting a small shower of sparks from the cutting edge and particularly the tip. The blade seemed to hum slightly, sing even, as it cut through the air.

Akiko's smile widened into a toothy grin. The girl dropped the wooden scabbard in her offhand, taking a number of steps back as she did. She imagined hordes of zombies around her, closing in. Her spare hand gripped the hilt of the blade, feeling the electricity course through her body, forming a circuit. Her eyes widened in delight as she synchronized her chakra to the electrical energy that now flooded her body, a feat possible only through her mastery of electrical jutsu.

Akiko swiftly swung the eldered sword through the air, cutting the legs off of an imaginary zombie, then stepping forward as it fell, holding it down with one foot and plunging the blade into the decomposing head with enough force to impale it into the roof, splitting the bone like the rind of a melon. She then pulled the tip of the blade out of the stone that made up the belltower roof, and twisted it, separating the two halves of zombieskull.

Akiko jumped backwards and decapitated a zombie shambling behind her, the blade slicing through the decomposing flesh and bone like a well honed sushi knife in the hand of a master chef. And not just one, but two, nay, three zombies, all in the same one handed swing, powered by the unimaginable mass of her sword, and the whip-like motion of her arm.

She flipped the blade around, gripping the hilt with her second hand once again. Slowly, she could feel herself growing fully used to the heft of this blade and the lightning it commanded. Soon, she would be able to command the blade's lightning with her chakra. She could feel it becoming one with her, with her chakra and the electricity in her nervous system.

The former kage lowered the blade down next to her leg and moved forward, compressing energy into her legs as if they were dense springs, batteries of kinetic energy. She propelled her unusually light body into the air, using it as a fulcrum to bind energy into her biceps and pectorals, like springs themselves, then unleasing it in a swift upward slash, electricity crackling faintly along the sword's edge. Like a flawless angel of war, she twisted and spun in mid air, coiling energy into her arms while drawing an electric pattern into the air as if a calligraphy brush on paper. And in an instant, she unleashed it in a downward cut, bisecting two undead, from the crowns of their heads to the split of their groins, without touching the ground once in between.

Electricity surged through her body and crackled along the blade with every swing, an exhilarating, even addictive, sensation.

[Nyu]

+10

[Corvus]

SPOILER: Click to show

Sen'ei-ka
Rank: "C" rank
Skill: NinJutsu
Effect: Sharpens the Kyuushi blade so that its cutting power dramatically increases in proficiency.
Special: ---
Drawback: Drains an E rank amount of chakra every turn it remains active. Cannot use Sutorecchi while this technique is active.
Description: By focusing lightning style chakra into the Kyuushi blade the user causes the sword to vibrate with such frequency that it’s cutting power increases. With this increase in cutting power the sword the Kyuushi can easily cut through rock and iron as well as blades of B rank or less. Also while this jutsu is active the Kyuushi’s ‘blade’ cannot be broken by swords of a higher rank ‘no matter what’.
Limit: Kyuushi in possession, Kyuushi Understanding, Lightning Release.

[~~/10]

Akiko could almost feel the barest resistance as the blade cleaved through imaginary decaying tissue, the impeccably sharp blade cutting through half-rotted muscle and bone like a hot knife through butter. A smile on her face, Akiko readied the blade and charged forward again, cutting the legs out from a zombie as it reached for her, then flipping the blade around and bisecting another, cutting it in half from groin to the crown of it's head.

Before returning to the ground, she kicked two more in their faces, breaking their noses and knocking them backwards. In a normal human, they would be stunned by the pain of blow, leaving them vulnerable for follow-up strikes. But for now, she decapitated the legless zombie from before, a clean swipe severing it's neck. Electricity crackled along the blade's edge, a tingling, trembling feeling filling Akiko's arms as she adopted a very casual ready pose, the blade resting on the ground, her body totally relaxed.

A smile spread across Akiko's cherubic face as the Zombies began to shift, morph, their decaying flesh mutating, becoming less necrotic. Leathery wings burst from their backs one by one, like popcorn, thick but useless veins filled with congealed blood crisscrossing like a road map on the leathery tissue. Their fingers and toes burst, replaced by thick, hard claws, each one adopting a lower, more feral stance. Their intelligence clearly increasing, the monstrosities began to charge Akiko, her smile spreading ear to ear.

As they closed the distance, Akiko suddenly burst forward, charging the pack, endorphins filling her system. The sword cut and sliced clean through flesh, electricity coursing along the edge of the blade, vibrating it at imperceptible speeds and heating it until it glowed. It severed the necrotic flesh like it was so much butter, the smell of burning flesh filling the air as the former kage cut a swath through the hoard of mutating bodies.

Reaching the edge of the roof, she leapt into the air, unfurling her wings and taking the fight to the skies, the unending mass of flesh craving monsters following her. Suddenly, she pulled up sharply and folded her wings. With a strong swing, she cut through a zombie as it passed her, severing it's wing and arm at once, leaving it to fall towards the ground and out of her mind. Spreading her wings again as the swarm turned back towards her, Akiko accelerated using gravity back to her top speed.

A single beast split off from the pack and tried to cut Akiko off. She flew straight at it, but it's dim wits were no match for Akiko...and her sword. At the last moment, Akiko quickly yawed to one side, tucking her wings in and curling into a ball, rapidly rotating in the air. The electrified blade cleaved cleanly through mutated flesh and bone, letting Akiko quickly spread her wings and return to powered flight as if nothing had happened.

The remaining beasts flocked towards Akiko, chasing after her, dogging at her heels. Akiko banked hard for only a brief moment, transitioning to a barrel roll, then an aggressive displacement roll, taking her up into a much more vertical plane, letting gravity decelerate her and helping her turn tighter, nearing the verticality of an immelman turn. The erratic, shifting movements making it hard for the flock to keep up, fragmenting their group and slowing the whole down. Her displacement roll changed her trajectory, sending her towards a building and buying her a little space from the swarm.

Akiko pulled up as she neared a building, running up it using her momentum. As she neared the top, she suddenly stopped and spun around, cutting clean through the nearest creature. Akiko then took a step forward, cutting through another before reversing her momentum and transitioning into a roundslash, ending three more.

[Holy Grail]

learned