Post by Empty on Jul 20, 2010 0:06:40 GMT -8
~ 100 Years Ago ~
Verlassen paused, cocking it's serpentine head to one side it listened carefully for any sounds of movement yet all was quiet amidst the towering stone trees, picking their thick powerful arm's from where they rested on the ground Loki stood tall. The immense gorilla carapace glinting occasionally like crystal as the sunlight filtered through the breaks in the canopy above which shifted grudgingly in the strong eddies of wind. Sniffing the air it tried to catch a whiff of it's prey - a small flaming weasel with blade like appendages; yet they could not catch it's scent. The feeling that gripped the Verlassen was one of profound annoyance.
'Find it. Kill it. Eat it. Find it. Kill it. Eat it.' Samantha's whispered urgings were perhaps more disconcerting than her previous screaming fury - yet the other souls agreed.
'This one has attacked us without cause inflicted injury upon us.' Jun, the Shinto priest declared. 'It has done evil to us and ours. Do any disagree?' There was silence all around; in this the souls of the Verlassen - the Nameless and Named alike were as one.
Breaking the mental silence was Gertrude, 'We agree, it attacked us so it is our enemy.' Within Verlassen's mind there was a roar of assent.
They had been sunbathing idly when the crafty Adjuchas had descended upon them, attacking the back of Verlassen's hood with the foot long blades it used as feet - neither Loki nor any of the other souls within the Verlassen had noticed their attacker until it had struck, gouging out deep furrows in their carapace and scoring their scales beneath. Usually the Verlassen would have quickly noticed their attacker, yet for some reason they had been completely unable to sense it's energies, so they had been complacent - for a moment they had relaxed their guard and it was then that the weasel had struck. The instant it became apparent that Verlassen would survive the attack their assailant had fled with all haste, yet Loki had been quick to pursue the faintly rancid smelling creature; with the advantage of surprise gone, in the end it seemed that hiding had been the weasel's only other option.
It was a frustrating feeling, to know one's prey was somewhere near by yet not be able to find it. Were they to leave the weasel alone they would need to constantly beware that the small flaming Adjuchas might creep up on them once more, with the creature able to hide it's reiatsu so effectively, Verlassen knew that they would be sorely tested to prevent a sneak attack on them once more.
Straining their lungs, Loki took a deep breath, concentrating as hard as he could to try to detect any scent of the fires that adorned it's back - for an instant something seemed to tickle their nose. 'Sulfur,' It was one of the Nameless who supplied the Verlassen with the titbit, it was the same smell they had noticed while chasing their prey, like the smell of rotting eggs. Yet as quickly as they caught the scent it was gone as the wind changed directions. 'Over there!' Tony exclaimed excitedly, indicating the direction the wind had previously come from. Loki stalked towards the area carefully, not wanting to be caught by surprise once more but neither did he want to let their next meal escape. As they closed in on one tree Loki noticed the faint scorching marks on the trunk where it seemed the weasel had paused. Their assailant was no longer there but it could not have been long, so it should not have gone far.
He had been shifting their weight on their tail when the attack came, the fiery weasel blurring through the air behind them; slashing across the side of their neck where the Gel was near it's thinnest. There was a spray of crimson rain as Loki roared, spinning just in time to catch a glimpse of the weasel disappearing up a tree. When it reached the top it leapt to another tree beside it, then to a third, back to the first and then on to a fourth tree; each time it touched one there was a soft clicking sound as it's sharp legs dug into the stone trees. Over and over it jumped until it was a blur in the air above them - it was Fast. Then suddenly the movement stopped.
The right side of their neck bled freely down onto the gel below, the painful aching of the severed muscle and blood vessels a painful reminder of their inadequacies. Loki frowned, concentrating on the gel surrounding the wound, feeding a small portion with their reiatsu he willed it to move into the deep gash. As the gel moved into the open cut it began to change, mixing with the blood it began to take on more of a reddish tint, expanding into the crevices of the laceration as it set, forming conduits for the blood to flow through as it joined up the severed muscles, providing a smooth layer of skin on the outside before the texture began to change, forming row upon row of scales. All the while their natural regeneration was at work, healing the worst of the damage first, it began replacing the false tissue the gel had created with new cells until only the slightest blemish could be seen. It would only be a matter of time until even that small imperfection would disappear.
Yet despite their incredible sturdiness Verlassen was not pleased. Unable to see the two foot long burning creature that continued to elude them, nor even to sense it's presence; the souls of the Verlassen were growing increasingly uneasy. Yet they could do nothing for they had long since passed control of the body to He Who Had Named Them, the one who called himself Loki and even if they had not, how could they find the creature - it was no longer a case of catching their next meal, instead their very survival was on the line.
'Hmmmn, a thought occurs to me.' Loki mused silently; 'We use our energy, our... Reiatsu, to strengthen our Gel. Could we not do the same for our body or even just parts of our body?' None among them could answer his question so it was Loki, as the controller of their body that took it upon himself to try. 'Very well, I will begin.' Releasing a deep breath, Loki did his best to calm down; agitated by the unexpected attack and their subsequent inability to find the culprit Loki had allowed their body to suffer as a result their breathing was erratic their heart hammering loudly.
As their reiatsu began to circulate through their body Loki felt a dull pain behind their right eye and their left ear felt strangely warm, fuzzy - as if it had been covered in a layer of wool, there was an unusual bitter taste in their mouth, while their skin and even the surface of the Gel tingled, like he was covered in pins and needles. He stopped the flow of reiatsu immediately and the discomfort faded - yet left a faint headache in it's wake. 'Slower,' Getrude advised, 'Go more gently this time.'
'Very well. I will try one sense at a time.' Loki conceded; he had been trying too much too quickly in his haste to protect the Verlassen. This time however he began by concentrating a minute amount of reiatsu, directing the flow through their optical nerves and cornea. As he did so their sight blurred for a moment, as one eye swam out of focus from the other he developed double vision for a moment before he adjusted. 'The eyes must be enhanced at the same rate, in the same way.' His realisation explained the sudden pain he had experienced, yet even as he scanned the tree tops, noticing details on the leaves he had not noticed before - he realised that even could he see more clearly than before, it would avail them little if their enemy never appeared.
Turning swiftly in a circle Verlassen suddenly kicked off the ground, slamming into the side of a nearby tree it kicked off again, landing on the floor once more. 'Oh I get it.' Tony muttered as they landed, Even if we aint as fast as that damn weasel if we turn about, it has to work twice as hard. Their movement was indeed less agile than their enemy, but Loki hoped that their sudden shift in position and changing their direction would mean the weasel would have to travel further to circle them should it wish to launch sneak attacks.
Yet still they could see no hint of movement, 'The ears then,' Loki decided. This time he would not need to worry about double vision he realised as he cut off the flow of reiatsu to their eyes and instead redirected the minute flow towards their ears. But even as he did so he suddenly lurched to one side, needing to catch their weight with their right foot, which had moments ago been suspended above the ground.
'Balance,' Jun spoke quietly within the Verlassen's mind, 'is affected by the ears.' It had felt as if someone had suddenly punched them in the ear and suddenly Loki had been struggling to maintain control, stopping themselves falling over. Loki, who had studied medicine throughout life and even in death, should have realised it - yet he had overlooked it; whenever he directed reiatsu into their senses the flow should be the same - for each of the eyes it should be the same, for each of the ears it should be the same. The body was in a state of harmony, were he to affect it with reiatsu he must maintain that harmony or suffer the consequences.
This time as he concentrated reiatsu into their ears he did so even, a little bit at a time he gradually increased the amount of energy as he strained their ears for any sound surrounding them; though he could hear the slow steady beating of their heart and their deep even breaths, there was little else to hear in their immediate surroundings - instead he directed his attention upwards, towards the soaring trunks hoping to hear the clicking sound of the weasel's sudden movements. Yet all was quiet; even if he could hear more clearly than before, it would avail them little if their enemy stayed silent.
This time Loki sought to draw out their enemy; coiling their tail underneath them, Loki leapt straight upwards as hard as they could, suspended in the air they would present the best possible target for the weasel, 'What the hell are you doing!' Tony was more than startled, he was afraid - the sudden, risky move was one that Verlassen would not usually ever think of doing.
'If we wait we die, we need to draw it to us.' Samantha replied as she understood Loki's intent; so too did many of the more dangerous souls within Verlassen; they knew it was a gamble, but the risk needed to be taken, or they would slowly be cut apart. A faint sound was heard to the right as Verlassen's reiatsu enhanced senses caught the whisper like noise, like one tick of a clock. Loki turned their head just in time for them to spot the weasel speeding towards them, it's course would take it slightly behind Verlassen while it's scythe like legs would cut into the base of their tail, where the crystal like gel Gorilla legs of hung down from the torso.
Though they had managed to find their attacker in time they would not be able to avoid the blow; instead Loki reshaped their flank, forcing it to harden and lengthen, to cover the area the weasel could reach with it's blade. As the two Adjuchas crossed paths in the air there was a ringing sound as if metal on metal when the bone blades struck the thick gel hide. Two thin furrows marked Verlassen's leg as they landed, Loki reforming the limb back to it's gorilla form so they could move it more effectively. The hardened Gel had been enough to turn aside the blades where the more flexible gel used on their neck had not been. They could do this - so long as they could find where the weasel would attack from they could do it. Above them they could see the weasel moving from one tree to the next, faster and faster it moved as it's claws clicked a violent tempo on the stone trunk.
Then suddenly it was as if the rules had been changed; the weasel tilted it's head backwards and emitted a piercing screech - the ear splitting yell amplified by the Verlassen's reiatsu sent wave after wave of pain through their head; throwing the Verlassen into hysterics. Frantically Loki cut off the flow of reiatsu to their ears and the suffering of the souls of the Verlassen eased. 'Damn that hurt! Lets get that little bastard.' Tony snarled, yet it was suprisingly Samantha who cut him short - advising caution.
'Wait! If we go out now we cannot hear it, nor can we enhance our hearing again incase it should Cry once more.' To hear such cautionary words from Samantha, the most outspoken voice, the most powerful of the Named among the Verlassen's vengeful souls was startling; yet she at least had retained enough of her intelligence to know that attacking without direction was dangerous - if they made the wrong move they would soon be bathed in blood. 'Enhancing our ears is dangerous, our eyes cannot help us if it hides...'
Getrude spoke quietly, patiently; as if she had known the answer all along but had been waiting for the others to catch on without her aid. 'That smell is rather strong, and unlike sight or sound, smell is more difficult to conceal, especially for such a... distinctive creature.' The sulfuric odour the burning creature was releasing would be difficult to hide, though should the wind be in it's favour... still, it was something that was definitely worth trying.
Loki slowly began concentrating their reiatsu, diverting a small flow through to their nose, for a moment nothing happened, he could feel the tiny whisps of hair move slightly with their breath; suddenly they felt stuffy, their sinuses screamed as if they were suffering from the worst flue ever faced, their nose felt blocked and painfully full as a dull but powerful ache overwhelmed them. For a moment they struggled under the sensation, they face screwing up with pain as they snorted fitfully - trying to dislodge mucus that was not there. After a time they managed to redirect the energy, lessening the flow Loki channelled it into the walls of the nose and sinsues.
The blood from their neck wound on the gel near their neck and shoulder had left a sumudged reddish brown trail on their crystal form, yet while the wound at their neck could no longer even be seen the fragrance of their blood lingered and there was a faint smell of sweat from Loki's exertions. Over the top of it all however there was a horrible smell, like sewerage or rotten eggs, the smell of sulfur wafted so heavily in the air Loki wondered how they had not been able to notice it clearly before, yet the source was somewhere far above them they were too far away to be certain about the exact place.
Instead of the Verlassen would they wait for the opportunity to present itself - if they smelled the creature's approach they would be able to react, but were the creature downwind... Even if they enhanced their senses, it would do little if they did not avail themselves of pure common sense; since they were not able to sense what was downwind then they should pay close attention to that direction by other means. Loki turned to face the direction the wind was blowing, careful to beware what was above them at the same time. After a moment's hesitation Loki slowly directed a much smaller flow of reiatsu to his ears, less than before it would likely be less effective, yet they had no desire to again experience such pain from the creature's screams; so a compromise was in order.
The minutes slowly stretched out, yet Verlassen remained patient; turning every so often to give the impression he did not know where his attacker was or how to detect it - Loki waited, though many of the souls within Verlassen cried out for action. Among them, Samantha who had supported Loki's near reckless actions earlier could be heard arguing for forcing a confrontation once again. Yet this time it was Tony and Gertrude who argued for calm, confident that Loki had selected the most suitable path. Finally though Loki spoke silently to the souls within, 'If we keep trying to draw it out like we did last time, the Weasel will doubtless realise we have a plan,' his words were for the Named and Nameless alike, though the later had seemed content to merely await on Loki's judgement, 'If that happens then the creature may attack in some unexpected way. Instead we should act as if we had barely managed to survive in our previous attempt and are too afraid to try again.' There was reluctant acceptance by msot of those who had been anxious to attack, but they were still not happy about the delay. Though it turns out they did not have much longer to wait.
Slowly the sulfuric smell grew closer, it seemed apparent that the creature had decided on stealth once more that their ears were hampered. Finally it seemed the weasel had reached level with their head for it paused, it too was waiting for an opening. 'Tsch,' Samantha voiced her annoyance within the Verlassen, 'Has it realised something is up? Why does it not attack already? We should strike first!'
'It's probably waiting to be sure we aren't aware of it's presence.' Jun spoke quietly, 'Doubtless it would like to avoid a direct confrontation with Us.'
'We should let it have a go then,' Chortled Tony much to the bafflement of the others within, 'It's like gambling, ya know?' Only silence met the former thief's comment, 'We let it think our guard is down, that we don't know where it is and it tries to kill us. But since we DO know where it is we can lie in wait.' There was grudging approval from even the most impatient souls, the idea of using the enemy's overconfidence in it's ability to hide from Them was a powerful one.
Loki approved, 'Fight your enemies on a front they do not expect on a day they do not expect and in a way they do not expect.' He said, slightly misquoting the ancient Chinese strategist, though he had the gist of it; the knowledge gleaned from the consumption of hundreds of hollows over the Verlassen's history.
Though they faced slightly to the right of downwind, the creature was still to their right, it seemed the weasel had yet to pick up on it's soon to be fatal flaw. Shifting to their right they turned more to the left, darting their head to the right then slowly rotating it to the left, as if trying to catch their attacker off guard. It was then that the weasel made it's move, cirling around towards their right flank the creature skulked, it's cowardly approach marked only by the overpowering scent that came in waves from it's back. As soon as it closed to within fifty yards it burst forwards as quickly as it could, the rodent a mere flash of colour as it moved towards it's 'unsuspecting' prey.
This time however it would not find it's target so unprepared as they had been, as the weasel lept towards their 'waist'; Loki rounded smoothly, the Gorrilla like face opening to reveal extraordinarily sharp snake fangs before a row of jagged incisors and thick molars. Verlassen's vicious maw slashed towards their would be assailant, latching onto one of the back legs as it scrambled to one side, clumsily trying to change it's direction in midair. There was a spray of blood before the weasel let loose a burst of energy, dousing the area in a wave of bright blue flames, so intense that Verlassen was forced to blink rapidly even without having enhanced it's eyes as a screaming sound could be heard echoing from every direction. Loki shook their head from side to side - still clutching the leg in his mouth, yet something felt off. 'What is it... what is wrong?' Without thinking he channelled reiryoku into his mouth, the iron taste blood flooded his senses, it was a mouthwatering taste despite the overpowering smell of sulfur. Flicking their tongue experimentally at the morsal in their mouth they savoured the taste, it was more akin to uncooked rabbit than anything else he had tasted before, the texture was slightly stringy like... 'This isn't the time to get absorbed in such things!'
Yet something was wrong. 'It isn't heavy enough... and the limb feels...' As he continued to shake their head to clear their vision he was careless with the flow of reiatsu, instead of being directed to their nose the energy instead was sent to play upon their cheeks and through their mask. As it did so he felt the smooth end of the leg, a rounded off lump where the hip should have been, it felt extremely smooth yet very warm like newly formed blown glass left to cool, even the blood splattered across their mask was warm not cool, the feel of moisture non-withstanding - without meaning too he had increased the sensitivity of his sense of touch for a time. After a few moment's more Verlassen's vision had cleared enough for them to see the shapes of the trees more clearly. Looking at the object in their mouth, Loki couldn't help a low growl of irritation, their prey had managed to sever it's leg... or perhaps sever was not the right word, the smoothed hip joint looked as it the limb had simply been disconnected and cast away, then the flesh had grown back around the joint, it a perfectly healthy limb except for the deep bite mark on it's shin and the little fact that it wasn't connected to a body. On the ground before them was a thin skin, it was like a bathrobe that had been discarded it smelled heavily of sulfur as it radiated heat. Throwing back their head Verlassen swallowed the leg whole - there was no time to wonder about how the weasel had managed to discard it's leg or fur; they still had to find it.
Yet the problem was that despite being injured there was no blood trail, for the creature had left it's wounded parts behind. At the same time the only source of the smell of sulfur was the flimsy skin on the ground before them. The stone forest around them was still and silent, nothing moved amongst the mighty trunks so there was nothing to see, nor any sounds to detect. Their prey had even suppressed it's reiatsu once again...
It was Jun who suggested the answer, 'Since we cannot hear them moving then they are probably still here, hiding somewhere unless they have already escaped to the human world and we would likely have felt that.' There was a murmur of agreement from the Verlassen, Jun had little support amongst the minds - particularly in times of struggle; yet his was a sensible suggestion.
'Then we should wait for them to give themselves away,' Gertrude suggested calmly, yet the question was how they would best accomplish that, if they were to focus on enhancing their sight to detect movment then they might miss the stealthy retreating steps of their attacker, if they focused on their hearing they might miss it should the weasel begin to smell of sulfur once more, should they focus on their smell they might overlook the slightest movement of a shadow as the weasel departed. The Verlassen grumbled amongst themselves as to how they could best catch their assailant.
'Small. Too Small!' Samantha cried, 'Why must we be limited to one!' She demanded in irritation. 'If we fail the enemy will escape. Then we will alsways have to worry about when it will appear again! I wont have it!'
Gertrude agreed, 'We may have failed to enhance all of our senses earlier, but that was largely because we did not know how to do so correctly... with a little practice it should be okay.'
Loki narrowed their eyes as he began to concentrate on their reiatsu, their first attempt had been rushed for they had been in danger of being attacked at any moment by their assailant, but this time they had the upper hand and the weasel was forced to hide from their wrath, it would be unlikely to try to attack them until it had regained it's mobility at least.
Carefully Loki directed the flow of energy, sensing the streams of reiryoku towards his senses, making sure to keep the flow even to both sides as he enhanced their hearing and sight, their sense of smell and of taste, as well as the sensitivity of their skin. There was a horrible pain from sides of their head as the reiryoku rushed into their ears, streaming through their sinuses he screamed silently for a long moment at the tearing sensation as blood began dripping freely from the two narrow slits on their mask for their nostils, slumping forwards slightly he shuddered minutely, his left eye was squeezed shut, blood from a collapsed eyball seeping out of the lid as he forced himself to endure the pain.
'Damn that bloody well hurt!' Tony roared. Even now they could feel the gel pumping through the edges of their mask and into the gaps to the skin beneath, oozing through the pores and the spaces between the scales as it was absorbed into the bloodstream. It was only a few moments before the pain began to diminish, yet those moments seemed to last a long time as the damaged areas of their eyes, nose and ears was replaced by gel created imitations, yet even that was soon to be replaced as their regenerative abilities began saturating the area with new tissue. 'Be careful ya damn Gorilla.'
It seemed that merely ensuring that the flow of reiatsu was even was not enough, for a moment Loki was at a loss as to what to do - they needed to enhance their senses, that was the only way to ensure that they could catch their prey and rest easy without the threat of sudden ambush from this moment on. Yet how could they manage it? 'Even if you know the steps, if the band plays too fast you can trip over your own feet.' It was one of the nameless who had spoke, yet it seemed they were a suprise even to him, for his mind 'felt' astonished to the others, there was a sensation of suprise followed by self reflection; idly the soul began to hum as it did so. Loki could not help but agree with the soul, who it seemed was beginning to remember his own personality.
This time instead of rushing things Loki did it more carefully, easing out the tendrils of reiryoku into their senses, it was not just an even flow of reiryoku to each side at the same time, it was also a slowly increasing flow, a smooth rise rather than a sudden one. 'When you walk from outside where it is snowing to inside where a small fire burns you feel all the warmer, it is not just the difference in the before and after that is important, so too is the rate at which they change.'
He focused on increasing the flow of energy gently rather than slowly, to make the rate of change smooth rather than fluctuating wildly, it was a taxing experience, one that required a great deal of concentration to the fine flows of energy he was sending throughout his body, though the more taxing were those within his head, where most of the senses were concentrated - making the need to control the flows with more finesse. It took nearly a full minute to enhance all of the senses and he was only able to enhance them half as much as he hade when done one at a time.
He held the sensation for nearly two minutes as he scanned the environment around him, yet there was nothing other that the soft caress of the air as it whistled slightly through the gigantic trunks and the gently shifting shadows as the stone canopy shifted grudgingly with almost imperceptable groans due to the sand above; through it all the stench of the nearby sulfur skin was annoying, so he picked it up and swallowed it, it was nearly as horrible on the tastebuds as it was on the nose - and that was quite a feat! Yet the strain of maintaining the technique began to mount as the Verlassen began to get a headache, reluctantly they let the technique go for a time. 'It looks like it will take some time to get used to.' Loki mused as they recovered for a few moments before trying once more.
This time the flow of reiryoku seemed slightly more natural, the degree of concentration required to direct the flows of reiryoku less as Loki made use of his body's natural nervous system, particularly for the skin throughout the rest of his body he sent the flows of energy not directly to the areas but rather through the spine, the result was less complex network of reiryoku flows, allowing Loki to enhance his senses more quickly and with less concentration required; yet what was perhaps more critical was that the rate at which he was able to smoothly increase the flow of reiryoku within those fine conduits of energy had risen.
As time passed Loki heard a small scraping sound in the eight o'clock direction, near the ground. He stalked silently in that direction for a few yards, he was reluctant to move too far until he sensed something else - after all it could have been a diversion so he had little desire to move from his original spot until he sensed something definite; that said he moved two yards at a right angle hoping to increase the angle should he be able to spot something. Yet other than his own heart beat and carefully controlled breathing he heard nothing else. Finally, after nearly five minutes, he was forced to relax the technique, even still it was a vast improvement; particularly given how much quicker the technique had been to use, he was even able to enhance his senses to nearly three quarters as much as when enhanced individually.
'Not that this would help us much should it try to blind and deafen us again.' Samantha grumbled in irritation. When the weasel had inundated them with so much light and sound it had been painful indeed; even without enhancing their sight it had been blinding, yet with enhanced vision it would be more so. The difficulty would be managing to enahnce their senses without making themselves susceptable to such techniques.
In Loki's time in the Prussian military, they had been taught that muffling the sounds of their horses hooves and the sound of their equipment with cloth was a great way to help ensure the element of surprise against an enemy; it had also been a useful way of muffling the sounds of his shoes when stealing into homes to pay a wealthy merchant's daughter a visit. The idea of muffling was an interesting one, but would it work when attempting to muffle one's own senses rather than the sound one makes? As he sent forth the flows of reiryoku to enhance his senses Loki allowed some of the energy to seep outwards from the sensory organs themselves, collating them in a sort of permeable sphere, at first it did not work at all, blocking out all of the sense, but with some fine tuning the guaze served to allow the sense to work as before, while providing a sort of 'buffer' against the sense should it be overwhelmed.
For nearly two hours more the process was repeated, he enhanced his senses as much as he could until his headache got to a point that it was distracting, then he waited until it subsided long enough to try again. By his sixth attempt he could enhance their senses in only a few seconds and hold it for nearly twenty minutes, yet by the eighth attempt it had progressed little more - it seemed for the moment he had reached his limit.
Over that time he had been drawn onwards by the occasional sound or shadow, there had been nothing definite but the time between each instance had been getting less and less as the weasel was pushed further and further in it's attempts to find safety; yet there would be no reprieve for one who had targetted them. An enemy who could hide themselves so thoroughly and strike without warning was one they could not leave alone. As Loki swept Verlassen's eyes over the area they noticed a number of slight depressions in the top most layer of loose sand that had fallen through the stone leaf canopy above. Narrowing their gaze they could make out numerous indentations much like those left behind on the trunks in the weasel's earlier aireal acrobatics. 'Even if you can hide your reiatsu it means little if you leave other signs by which to track you.'
The trail did reveal one disturbing thing though, the weasel appeared to have all four legs still attached, though the right rear leg left much thinner markings than the others, suggesting it was not completely back to normal. Following the trail intently Loki enhanced their senses and was rewarded by a very thin scent of sulfur, it was not that the smell was far away so much as it was less potent than before - it seemed that the weasel's cloak of silent fire had began to regrow too, yet that made tracking the weasel all the easier.
Increasing his pace Loki was rewarded by a sudden glimpse of pale orange fur through the trees, the startled weasel and Verlassen's eyes met for a moment and the weasel tried to run. Yet the sudden burst of speed of their pursuers' Gorilla like Naga form caught it be suprise as Loki closed the distance to just ten yards. The panicked weasel loosed with an ear peircing skriek and a sudden flare of blue flames enveloped the area in an incredibly bright burst of energy, yet this time Loki was prepared for it, the thin gauze of reiryoku covering his eyes and ears, saved him from his previous fate, indeed as it enveloped each of the areas enhanced, instead of inducing pain Loki's sight and hearing merely dimmed slightly in response; his sight was reduced to subdued tones of black and blue (instead of white) allowing him to pick out shapes, while his hearing was reduced to a soft intermittent humming sound while the hurried steps of the weasel could be heard dimly, oddly exaggerated above the screams.
After a moment's hesitation as he adjusted to the new stimuli Loki locked on to his prey who was attempting even now to escape, with a sudden forward pounce however Loki placed himself in the way of the Weasel - who seemed unaffected by his own technique, barely half a second had lapsed, yet the weasel recognised it's clever distraction would not work a second time.
Around them the blue light dimmed and the screaming faded as the weasel allowed the technique to lapse, wasting its reiryoku would not be a good idea. There was a babbling sound like from a creek with just a hint of white water rushing between the stones; the skin on the weasel's skeletal right rear leg began to bubble and suddenly the flesh of the limb began to enlarge so that it mirrored the left - at the same time the patchy growth of flaming skin on the creature's back suddenly burst into much more intense flames which covered the weasel's entire torso, replacing the layer of skin with a new one. The Weasel and the Gorilla squared off, circling eachother at a distance of five yards.
Over eager Loki darted forwards, urged on by many among the Verlassen including Samantha who screamed for blood. They were only barely able to get out of the way as the weasel unleashed a wave of fire shaped like three cresent moons joined together it surged forwards oscilating wildly as is flew through the air, leaving a faint trail of smoke rising from the sand on the ground below. Yet they did not emerge unharmed, instead Verlassen's tail was scorched, the heat of the blow enough to blacken the hard scales of their length uncovered by gel.
Unconciously Loki loosed a vengeful hiss as it directed a blow at the weasel which nimbly sisdestepped the clumly attack and cut a furrow down Verlassen's side. Loki snarled, dropping forwards onto all fours he pivoted drawing as much of his weight as he could onto his gorilla like clear gel arms and legs, he lifted his tail then slashed it through the air like a scythe. The tremendous speed of the thick tail caught the Weasel off balance, the very tip grazing the small rodent like Adjuchas and spinning it around under it's force as it tore a gash in the weasel's chest. Yet their prey was not without it's own wiles and it used the momentum to gain some distance between the two then unleashed a flurry of fist sized balls of fire.
Loki did his best to dodge as many as possible yet many curved slightly in flight making dodging them more difficult, yet they lacked power individually, which was perhaps the only thing that saved him from being completely overwhelmed by the barrage. Instead each seemed as powerful as a punch and it was like standing up to a wave of jabs, annoying yet none alone were enough to inflict real damage. Loki pushed forwards into his target's space and gripped his hands together slamming them downwards into the weasel's flaming back, there was a sensation of burning gel causing him great discomfort, yet the accompanying sound of breaking bone ensured the winner of the fight was clear.
Looming large over his enemy Loki looked downwards at the crippled weasel, wracked by spasms as it mewled with pain at its broken spine. Raising his right hand he looked at the slightly melted appendage critically then concentrated on the new shape he desired, the fingers flowed together readily enough, fusing to a single straight digit which then lengthened and sharpened, forming a blade on one side Loki's right arm now ended in a foot long blade which he raised and stabbed downwards into the weasel's neck just behind the skull. The struggling and suffering stopped instantly - the weasel was dead.
Reshaping it's hand's took slightly longer and when Loki was done they settled down to eat their prey using Consumir; idly Loki wondered at the creature's troublesome ability to conceal it's energy, the technique it had demonstrated was one that had made their attacker too dangerous to allow to leave - had they not hunted it down then there would be no telling when they would next be assaulted. His musings were rewarded as he ate the soul of the Adjuchas with a revelation about the process.
After they finished eating Verlassen decided that they should make sure of what they had thought they understood during their meal; the immediate threat of the weasle gone, they were free to indulge a little. Relaxing their senses slightly Loki examined their reiryoku, it pulsed constantly as it always did, like the beating of their heart or the breathing of their lungs; yet just as he could focused on their breathing and slowly bring it under control he should also be able to control the leaking of reiatsu as their reiryoku throbbed.
Coiling their tail into a circle Verlassen relaxed as best he could, then he set about attempting to force their reiryoku to do as he desired. Concentrating on their energy he pictured it within his body and imagined a shell around his skin and scales, pushing inwards to prevent the reiryoku from moving outwards. Yet even as he did so the reiryoku pulsed again and again, in fact the more reiryoku he seemed to focus into the shell the more powerful and stubborn the throbbing of the energy once it emerged.
'One cannot block the flow of a river, in time it will overwhelm any dams or earthworks man might build. ' Jun suggested carefully, though the Shinto Priest had little influence within battles and the like, in times of peace his presence was more readily accepted by the other souls and his words listened to with more care. 'Perhaps relying on force is not the answer,' Yet how could they suppress the pulsing of the energy without force?
Gertrude with her lifetime of farming experience was one that offered a practical example, 'Instead of damning all the water in a river a farmstead might damn part of the river and use irrigation channels to direct the rest in the direction they want.' Perhaps rather than simply relying on force to stop the ebbing of the reiryoku it would be possible to channel it somehow... yet if the energy was channelled somewhere would that not mean it was used up? Perhaps it would be best to channel it back to the source once more... but how?
Loki looked downwards as he mused, tracing the coiled length of his tail with his eyes, for a moment he was reminded of the incredibly military parades of his youth, marching in time in the parade grounds for inspection by the king, impressive to behold but in truth serving little purpose as the troops would often merely be marching in circles ending up either in the same position as they started. One of the particular manouvers involved marching a number of units around the parade ground, each ending in the direct opposite position as they were when they started - it was that which gave him an idea. 'Perhaps we could send the pulse out in lines, which circle then return.' Rather than relying on force it would instead concentrate on control.
With an idea of how to procede Loki began; focusing his attention on the task at hand he imagined a number of tendrils running from points all over his skin, these tendrils ran outwards before curving backwards towards him once more joining into his skin once more. Carefully he began to shape his reiatsu into the tendrils as his reiryoku pulsed, and it seemed to be working for a time; the energy pulsed along the thin conduit then turned and reentered the skin being absorbed back into the body. Yet as time progressed the pulses of his reiryoku became more fitful and instead of leaving along the thin tendrils the reiatsu leaked from all over his body, some left through the thin tendrils and was then absorbed back into the body yet most was released without restraint.
In irritation Loki scooped up a rock and threw it through a gap between the trees, it sailed nearly eighty yards before clipping another tree and bouncing into the ground with a clamour. 'Now now, it's nothing to get flustered over.' Gertrude admonished Loki's immaturity. 'If the reiryoku is leaking out from between the strings we might need something to catch them.'
'Like a bucket?' Tony asked sarcastically, if the disembodied voice had eyes it would have been rolling them.
Loki shook their head, 'No that would have the same problem as we had with trying to force it into a shell before.' In truth he had considered using the shell at the same time as the strings, yet the pulses had become more violent when he had done so previously so he doubted it could work. 'Once you fill a bucket it overflows... no we need something to gather the energy then release it into the strings. Like a-'
'Like one of 'em funnels they use in cooking?' With their minds linked Tony had quickly caught on to Loki's idea, yet he could barely believe it. 'You're barmy you are.'
Verlassen's lips pulled back into a grin, though it was difficult to tell due to their mask. 'We'll see.'
This time as he concentrated on his reiryoku he formed a shell around it - yet it was completely unlike that which he had used earlier, unlike before he had no intention of using it to stop the flow of energy, isntead this time it was scored with thousands of indentations which rose like bumps away from the skin, in each of these indentations a small channel allowed the energy to flow into the end of a string instead of attempting to bottle it up. The strings looped around then passed through the shell and back into the skin allowing the energy to be released from Verlassen, be gathered and sent back into their body to be absorbed once more. As the pulsing continued the energy flowed intermitently yet was caught by the funnel like indentations then channelled back into their body.