Yuuki's hand pushed against the heavy door not entirely sure what he would find on the other side as the throne room door creaked open loudly the gloomy throne room was completely dark and Yuuki could scarcely see very far into the room as there was not a single light source in the room that Yuuki could perceive but Yuuki did feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up indicating that something very dangerous did exist in this room which made Yuuki warry to step into a room where he could not see what awaited the two of them "Something dangerous resides in this room." Yuuki said in a hushed voice as he slowly took a single step into the room.

As soon as Yuuki took a single step into the room sconces that hung from pillars seemed to light up on there own as if he had activated a trap the suddenness of the room brightening caused Yuuki to squint at the light as his eyes adjusted to the now well lit room. The hair on the back of his neck were still raised as he slowly scanned the room with his eyes as they slowly acclimated to the brightness of the room, as his eyes made its way towards the throne atop it sat a moderately attractive human looking Yoki who had a predatory smile gracing her face as Yuuki realized her eyes were locked on him .

Yuuki swallowed hard as his eyes met the yoki woman sitting atop the throne the uneasiness he had felt out in the hall only more potent now as he realized what he now faced "Hello there potential meal." the woman said in a sultry and predatory voice "Welcome to the last place you will ever tread, if you surrender now I shall make your deaths painless." She said with sugary malice as she uncrossed a leg and recrossed one seemingly not feeling threatened by the pair as the door slammed shut behind them as if to cement the fact she did not see them as a threat at all.

"Who are you?" Yuuki questioned his katana held defensively in front of him "I suppose there is no harm in telling you since you will dying here shortly." She said with a lick of her lips as if to insinuate they were about to become her meal " I am your doom you foolish human." She said as she lunged forward in a surprise attack causing Yuuki to dive to his left to narrowly dodge the attack and rolling back to his feet as she had now split him and Salem up which was not exactly good but if Yuuki could keep her attention on him Salem could likely get a hit on her from behind "Hey you ugly bitch over here!" Yuuki shouted as he took off running keeping an eye over his shoulder as she gave chase but she was faster than Yuuki as an attack came in from left to right aimed at his mid section that he barely got his sword up in time to block as his sword and absorbed the blow and giving all he could just to remain upright.

Post Word Count:536

The fact that Yuuki ignored his advice, or the fact that the poisonous witch ignored him. Between the two of those instances Salem could not decide what annoyed him the most. He told the young samurai to let him run the distraction. Still mere moments passed between the man walking in the door then the witch started to attack. He did not even really have the time to try and process the warning that Yuuki had tried to give him. It was just weird, annoying, and slightly funny.

Salem put his staff away and cracked his knuckles. Being aware of the fact that it was gonna get worse. He did not want to waste magic on this worm. Since he was acting as the distraction Salem was going to use him well. He dashed into the room keeping his fists at the ready. When he was in range, Salem threw a jab, it was at that moment that Yuuki was barely able to use his sword to block an attack of hers. Her distraction gave her no chance but to take the hit. The Poison Mistress looked at him and lost some color in her already pale face. “You again!” Salem nodded solemnly before giving a simple. “me again.”

Asphyra through up a hand. A bunch of vines came at Salem in a wave from the air. Salem stomped, calling up a bubble as he backed up. It kept the vines at bay. “Come on Asphyra you can do much better than that. I’d hate to take you down a second time without much of a challenge.” Salem taunted her to try and regain her attention. Not that what he said was completely true. He was not the main force that landed the final blow on the yokai. He did however allow her to leave in exchange for an agreement. An agreement that took her less than two weeks to break. Far as Salem was concerned it was open season to take her down.

“You should not even be here. This queen should be able to devour whomever she wishes. Why must you interfere again!” She shouted at Salem as if he was a spurned lover. Not that he cared. It was not his fault. If she was killing a few humans here and there on the side all would be fine. The fact that she did it so often to which a magic guild that was associated with him had to be called. Well Salem could only consider it as her bad luck. That to Salem was a factor of the game called life. A factor that she was clearly missing.

Salem had to hope that his battle buddy was able to do something. While the Yokai viewed one as a meal and the other as a plague. It was hard to say who she wanted to kill first and faster. If she did want Yuuki as the snack he looked like. She would wanna make a clean clear and only use the man’s fear as a light seasoning. A sentiment that Salem understood too well. Human fear did have a certain level of spice and effect on their meat. If Salem was aware that Yuuki was a half elf he would have been curious for a different reason.


[550]

Yuuki was surprised by the force of the blow as he had not expected someone so fast to be so strong and that's when the reality of the situation dawned on him, that this fight was way more serious and he was in a lot more danger than he had previously suspected and if he did not play his cards right he would end up potentially dying or losing a limb. Yuuki wished he would have taken Salem's advice at this point and let him be the one who was the distraction but Yuuki really had not had much of a choice when the bitch came after him out of the blue like that Yuuki was used to fighting and even killing people and things but he was not used to fights or opponents of such gravity or caliber.

Yuuki braced for another attack that never came as Salem had engaged the woman and they apparently seemed to know each other as she growled out you again realization to which Salem said me again 'Should I let you two get a room? Do you need a moment?. Yuuki wondered to himself as he watched the woman attempt to bind Salem with vines which Salem seemed to easily negate while also taunting the woman stating he knew she could do better than that and  further taunted her by stating she wasn't a challenge the first time and thus far was proving even less of a challenge this time around  which Yuuki found amusing since the woman seemed to be easily goaded into attacking on mere insults alone which was a classic tactic, If your opponent was easily irritated seek to irritate and angry fighting was not thoughtful fighting which Yuuki planned to Use to his advantage as the woman had made the fatal mistake of turning her back to an armed opponent .

The woman seemed to question Salem's presence stating that he shouldn't even be here and that she should be able to devour whomever she damn well pleased and that Salem shouldn't interfere 'Damn this bitch is entitled' Yuuki thought as he sprain into action swinging his sword aimed at her left shoulder seeking to sever her left arm however she turned slightly at the last second and Yuuki's blow caught her at the elbow almost completely slicing through the appendage but the blow seemed to be softened by the miasmic cloud around her as he did get hit by a poison cloud which caused him to recoil away from the woman but she was also screaming out in pain a Yuuki felt more of his strength get zapped by the miasma "God damn this sucks." Yuuki said as he still managed to keep his feet but definitely felt a lot weaker than he had previously before the strike which made him wonder how Salem resisted it but that was a question for later right now he needed to focus on the fight at hand and not worry about trivial things.

The woman who Salem had called Asphyra was clearly pissed and tried to bind Yuuki with vines that he was barely able to dodge since he was weakened even further by the miasma had gotten stronger after he had attacked her "Geeze at least take me to dinner first before you try and tie me up." Yuuki said trying to keep an up beat attitude which caused Asphyra to glare at him "Oh you're gonna be dinner alright." She said in a malicious manner as she said over her shoulder clearly not seeing Yuuki as the bigger threat but Yuuki was also not in a position to attack her further at this point since he needed to recover some strength and he wouldn't be able to dodge if he attacked in quick succession again "Don't threaten me with a good time."  Yuuki said with a playful wink as he took a defensive stance and hoped Salem could do something about the poison that hindered him now.

PWC:667
TWC:1,203

Salem was looking at Yuuki in a new light. The man was openly taunting the Asphyra. Did he doubt she would eat him? Salem was curious as to where the confidence and bravery came from. He also thought it could have been the thing called adrenaline. Humans were said to be wild like that. Salem could appreciate the recklessness. It was a lot more fun and up his alley. Especially when it came to skills like trash talk. Salem was one of the earliest users of it. Back in his day it was pretty much just rhyming to past time. Then it was a test of wit to pass the time.

The small clash between the other two was mildly impressive. Yuuki was able to capitalize on the fact that the Yokai was distracted by him. The swordsmen dashed out and managed to even take an arm. The banter that he started against the Asphyra was going strong. It was pretty good to see someone else take up some butt whoopin. When Salem heard Yuuki’s reply to her threat. He gave the man a thumbs up while grabbing his staff with the other. He was going to need to use magic, it would also require him to get a bit more serious about what he was doing.

The Fae needed to preserve as much mana as he could. He also did not want to risk Yuuki dying. He still shuddered at the thought of filling out the paperwork for the Samurai’s death. Salem tapped the staff into the ground. A fine mist rose similar to the one that Salem had conjured before. This was his healing mist that was also a cleansing spell. It removed the effects of the Miasma from the duo. Then it healed up the slight damage that they had both taken. Yuuki from the outright damage and Salem from his ability.

Asphyra started to take damage from that spell. She started screaming in agony. This time Salem did not feel like being merciful. “You bastard!” A toxic cloud of gas was released from her body. “GET OUT OF RANGE!” Salem shouted before he took down his bubble, and dashed back out of the room from which the toxic gas was in. Salem knew what he was capable of. He also knew what that kind of gas could do. Salem could have defended himself but he could not afford to waste his mana. It was a lot for him to focus on and do the hard carry of this fight. He was starting to wonder if it was possible for the dude to use any magic. If he could not this would become a lot more exciting.

“If you are alive and you can hear me, try to take her out with all you have.” Salem was being generous. The toxic gas that was released was easily seen by him. He could not be blinded. So to him the gas was more of a mirage type of gas. Something that was a mild annoyance than anything of substance.


[511][1,061]

Yuuki Was not really sure how much longer he would be able to stay on his feet having the effects of the miasma now doubled on him it was an effort to stand up straight and maintain a defensive posture as it was also getting hard to breathe, though Yuuki was doing a good job of not showing that he was experiencing any effects from the miasma as that would quickly make him a easy target for Asphyra which was something Yuuki definitely wanted to avoid since he would then become a burden to Salem as he would likely never hear the end of that if he had to carry him through this fight as they were so close to victory Yuuki Could not afford to be so careless at this exact moment since Salem clearly was not one for more offensive situations and came off as Yuuki as more of a support role even though he had seen Salem fight in close quarters.

"Hey, Asphyra how did it feel to be penetrated by my blade?" Yuuki asked in a mocking manner "Probably been a long time since you've had anything penetrate you." Yuuki said further mocking the women by "Then again something as old and wretched as yourself is probably so dry nothing down there but dust and disappointment." Yuuki said further trying to anger the Yoki as angry people made poor decisions, but his words seemed to have an effect on the Yoki as her visage grew angry and dark as she sent vines from several different directions which Yuuki easily carved up into shreds of plant matter "Is that all you got?" Yuuki said mockingly "One would think you'd have more then that having gone through such a dry spell." Yuuki further mocked her as he was really on his last leg as that defensive move drained most of what he had left until he felt something wash over him seeming to restore his stamina taken by the miasma.

Yuuki was unsure what had actually cured him of his affliction until he looked over to see Salem with his staff out which told Yuuki he had likely cast some form of healing spell "Thanks." Yuuki said as he gripped his hilt with a new found vigor he had not had previous to the spell being cast while also examining the room and noting the ceiling was only ten or so meters high but he couldn't effectively see what was up on the roof but he had an idea however he was obstructed from executing it as Asphyra shouted your bastard at the top of her lungs with Salem Shouting to get out of range and Yuuki was too far from the door to get out of the room so he ran towards the wall jumped off it the remaining five or so meters and jammed his katana into the stone of the ceiling using his muscles to pull himself into a upside down standing position as he watched the area below fill up with what looked like a much more potent miasma but from his position he could still clearly see Asphyra who was looking everywhere but up.

Yuuki was not sure where Salem had went as Asphyra seemed to be looking for him as she apparently seen him as the biggest threat which that line of thinking was not exactly wrong if she eliminated the healer Yuuki would be much easier to deal with since he lacked the ability to cleanse himself of the powerful and toxic miasma which put status effects on what ever it came into contact with that was a living being. Yuuki was using a lot of his athleticism to remain in the standing position upside down on the roof when he heard Salem call into the room and say something about if he was alive he should hit Asphyra with all he had which caused Yuuki to grin but he said nothing in return as that would give him away and at present he had the element of surprise and it would be foolish to give that away as he could end this with one hit but it would be risky and would be relying on Salem's ability to quickly cleanse him after the attack.

Yuuki bent his knees gripping tightly on to the hilt of his katana and lunged from the roof ripping his katana from the stone as he flew at his unaware target katana poised to remove her head in a single swing of his blade and right before his blade made contact with Asphyra's neck Yuuki said "Die you crusty old cunt." As his blade bit deep and through her neck as her body slumped to the floor spraying Yuuki in blood and gore  as he fell into the miasma the dead Yoki's head rolling to a stop near the door they had entered the chamber from.

PWC:820
TWC:2,023

The fact that the toxic gas was lingering in the air made Salem a tad bit nervous. The human body was more prone to dying from toxins. The fact that humans were so prone to just dropping dead was making him nervous. Salem did not care for Yuuki personally. He did care for completing his job and to a lesser extent his image. If Yuuki died that means he would fail the mission he got from Sleeping Calamity. It would mean he would lose at his own game that he chose to play. It would be funny to some in a different light. The fact that he was using Yuuki’s life as a mere stake in a game, a semi fun game that he would lose if Yuuki was dead.

Salem started to think about the possibility. If humans were so fragile and prone to dying, would it be possible for them to come back. Salem had never given the art of resurrection serious thought. Coming from a spiritual being he was used to death being the natural end and expected consequence of things. He had never considered doing something as unnatural as resurrection on a thing. This time he did consider it, since if Yuuki was dead bringing him back would be just as fine as making him live the entire time. Winning was the feeling that Salem was holding the most dear to him when it came to this game that he was playing.

Using his eyes to the limit. Salem could see the Yokai looking around. That put another smile on his face. He joined her in looking around but did not enter. He tried to find Yuuki with his eyes. If he was damaged but alive he could heal the man up. If Asphyra found him first and he was injured. There was no small chance that the injury may upgrade to a permanent sleep. While looking around Salem finally saw his battle buddy. What he was able to witness was impressing him again. He had not looked up earlier out of habit so he had not seen him. The only thing that gave him away was the movement. Yuuki came down from above like a beast. His control over his sword and his ingenuity was a really great selling point. Salem had doubts that he would be able to pull off a movement like that. Even more if it was a movement with such fine movements. The best he could do was fly around and hope for the best.

Watching the moment Yuuki struck could only be called a work of art. Salem compared it to seeing a snack strike at some unsuspecting prey. It was sad Asphyra did not see it coming. Her head had gotten separated from her body. It was a very impressive and clean cut. The blood splatter even had a decent spray mark on the ground. Making it look artful in a grotesque type of way. Salem would have called it growing crimson rose or something as equally as artsy, if he did not think it would be in poor taste. Salem even had to give bonus points for Yuuki to make such a decisive blow.

The head that rolled his way and towards the door brought him out of his reverie. “That was a nice blow. Clean and efficient. I have to say that was impressive even by my standards.” Salem spoke as he walked in, picking up the head on the way. He waved his staff at Yuuki, allowing the man to be enveloped in a pale green aura. Since Salem believed the man battle was about to start. He thought now would be the time to cover his friend in a defensive body armor, not to mention that it passively healed. Not as much as a healing spell but it was enough for it to do something.

“Blows like this can be deadly against normal people, but when it comes to more spiritual beings or even undead types, it becomes a bit useless. You have to damage enough to where they stop healing, or pretty much incinerate everything by some magical means. Right, Asphyra? Seeing as how your body stopped bleeding you should be fine. Well close to fine.” Salem said in a smiling sing-song way. The fae was speaking from experience back in the days when he did not have a physical body himself, things like a missing head was more of an annoyance.

He let a pregnant second pass before getting annoyed. He waved his staff at the body of the yokai. That caused a scream of pain and displeasure to arise from her month. It proved the point that she was alive. “You wanna tell me the reason why you and your husband came back. Who now that I am speaking of. Do you want to tell me where he is as well? It would save us all time if you were cooperating with us. I will also make sure you go out permanently a lot more easily. I will even cut out the torture portion for you.” Salem believed himself to be an excellent negotiator. To him torture was also a decent game to pass the time. It was not his fault it was a game that he had gotten very good at. It helped that when you healed bodies you could pay attention and learn more things about them. It made it easier to find out the various bits and pieces he needed to understand how they worked.


[926][1,987]

Yuuki's body was wracked with pain as the miasma began to take its effect, though Yuuki seen it as a fair trade considering the Yoki was now dead and if he had to give his life so that another child was not harmed so be it though he really wished he could have said goodbye to Sophie and Yumi, but alas life was never fair and likely wouldn't be in this instance either unless Salem made it to him in time he was likely a goner. Yuuki could be satisfied that he went out like a badass and died the way most samurai would hope and dream to go out on the battlefield with their honor in tact something Yuuki had often wished would have happened during the Joyan civil war not to long ago as he felt like he should have never left that battlefield alive.

Yuuki awaited the cold embrace of death until he felt his body become enveloped by a green aura as it's warmth drove off the icy talons of death as it purged and cleansed the miasma from his body the pain slowly fading and subsiding that he was finally able to move again as he staggered to his feet Salem spoke stating that it was a nice blow and impressive even by his standards "First time she's given head in a while." Yuuki choked out still in some pain as the spell Salem had cast appeared to be slow acting and was gonna take a bit longer to heal him fully though Yuuki wondered why Salem had not used a more potent spell on him which made him wonder if Salem knew things were about to get worse. Not that Yuuki minded at all since he was alive for now and that was enough for him to be able to face what ever challenges may come after her defeat.

"Thank you." said in a sincere manner as he wiped blood from his face wondering what came next as Salem began what Yuuki thought was a lecture as he stated blows like the one Yuuki had just performed were effective against mortal beings but had very little to almost no effect against spiritual beings or the undead as they did not inflict enough damage to negate their healing ability as he asked Asphyra a question noting that her body and stopped bleeding "Damn you! You just had to ruin it... I was gonna devour the naive one once he succumbed to the miasma." She said angrily in a disembodied voice which gave Yuuki the creeps.

Yuuki didn't disagree with his naivety as he knew he was still wet behind the ears on many things but he wasn't gonna let some Yoki talk shit "Hey at the very least you should be honored you  got to give me head Asphyra." Yuuki said in a mocking and sarcastic manner before Salem pointed his staff at the now intact body which elicited a pained scream from her as Salem began to question why her and her husband had returned to the mountain and this castle also inquiring about where the location of her husband was and that if she saved the pair time by cooperating he would make her death a quick and painless one "We returned to harvest souls and to potentially possess the shogun, as for my husband... he's around." She said as she gestured around her before making a last ditch attempt to hinder Salem with the vines again.

PWC:584
TWC:2,607