You're Not Invited [Isamu/Natsumi]

After realizing there was no way for her to buy a ticket to this super fancy party, Natsumi was going to have to get in her normal way: from above! There wouldn't be anyone on the roof, right? Shadowed by a dark hoodie in the night sky, Natsumi slowly lowered herself to the highest roof. The party was on this weird island with super old buildings rising in elevation along the island. Finally, she landed.

Like a ninja, Natsumi had her face covered. Along with her hoodie, she wore baggy black jeans and military boots. To say she looked cool was obviously an understatement. There were two guards up here, one for each hand. She reached out, her reiryoku following her movements and wrapping around the bodies of each gun-toting loser that protected the Duvalier. Soon, both were in the ocean.

Natsumi found the ballroom quick. A large glass dome covered it, so she looked down from the roof. Perfect placement! There were so many people dressed in super fancy outfits, lots of food, and so many fancy drinks too. Then, Natsumi saw her. She recognized that Duvalier bitch immediately. It was finally time for Natsumi to get her revenge, and she didn't care if anyone else here got hurt either.

Natsumi's anger quickly took over and she let her reiryoku crawl over the roof. Soon, things began to shake, the glass dome shattered, and the whole roof crumbled inward. Massive stones and thousands of glass shards began dropping in on the guests. As people screamed, Natsumi prepared to jump down, but suddenly the ground fell out from under her, and she plummeted into the gal-...

"STUPID DUVA-..." Natsumi shot up from her sleep. It took a second to realize where she was. It was the early morning. The air was cold and the grass was itchy. Wearing shorts was probably not the smartest when you fall asleep on the ground outside. She stood and wiped off her legs before looking around. Behind her was the City of Light, a place she had no plans to return to, so she kept walking away.

The only way Natsumi could go to that damn gala was in her dreams...

Nineteen years old. Somewhat tall for the average female, but that's to be expected considering the information he was given. An escaped lab experiment with an obsession for taking down the Duvalier. A foolish notion, definitely, but he isn't here to judge.

Children are always the type who end up in reckless situations by nature. After all, he was a living testament. Even so, that didn't distract him from carrying out his little mission here. He's been hiding in the shadows long enough. From those little public interactions and her constantly wandering around with posters, he couldn't exactly attack her in broad daylight.

That would have been messy and traumatizing for those innocent bystanders in the COL. Nah. If he was going to follow through with this, it had to be clean. Now, for the approach. He has a few tools in his arsenal, a duffle bag filled with explosives. His more specialized items are hidden elsewhere. What would catch an unsuspecting target off guard?

Time to find out.

Since she's far and away from the City of Light, he doesn't need to worry about causing a commotion at present. Controlling the flow of his spiritual energy, he intends to make it difficult to where his first strike will come from. Lighting a firework and tossing it off far into the air, it is possible Natsumi would only view it as a colorful, albeit odd, distraction. The next part was crucial. In a flash, he appears a few meters away from her, tossing a live grenade at her from behind.

Mushin

Now, she's in his direct radius to strike from unsuspecting angles, the ideal position to reach her quickly and efficiently. But, he isn't intent on striking her just yet. He vanishes to another area among the trees on the outskirts of this city, cloaking his spiritual energy to remain elusive. Firearm in hand, he's already planning out the next set of actions. If they aren't successful, that's fine. Part of this job did come with things going awry. At the very least, they'll make for fine distractions. She looks like the ditzy type, too. Prime material for a target in his books.

Natsumi was distracted by the firework, but not because the colors were pretty. Instead, she was confused. She only saw them on TV, watching shows with Natasha... She didn't understand where this was coming from, so she looked around for a parade or a party, something to give her a clue why it went off. Natsumi was not expecting the sharp, burning pain that struck her back. Her powers reacted to protect her, creating a shield that stopped only a percentage of the damage the grenade caused. The force of the grenade sent her flying about ten feet. Natsumi stopped herself from rolling, sliding on her feet until she stopped.

"Who's there?" she shouted, looking around for the enemy. An intense rage on her face, she screamed out into the air, "Show yourself you FUCKING COWARD."

Coward? Heh, guilty as charged. I can't imagine a reputable man indulging this kind of work.

Interesting. It connected, but she isn't sporting any intense damage. It must be related to her ability if he had to ponder a guess. He chose well. Striking her with a sword would have seemed less than ideal. She's on the alert now, but from the looks of it, she isn't aware of his presence yet. Good. It was always fun when he could keep most of his cards held to his chest. Hiding in the shadows even now, Isamu nimbly walked along one of the trees, his gaze following the startled woman as he held his firearm in hand. How could he attack her directly? If she was erecting a barrier of some sort, the likeliest option was to continue throwing off her senses long enough until he could pinpoint a window from which she couldn't defend herself.

I'll throw another one of these grenades at her and try shooting her from the trees.

His chosen strategy in mind, Isamu grabbed another grenade. This time, manipulating it through mediumship, he's increased the size of it before he tosses it forward this time. It'll create a bigger explosion, and create enough smoke for him to attack from unawares. Completing that action effortlessly, he tosses it forward, up and above Natsumi's head. The resulting explosion accompanying, Isamu shot forward along another tree, firing off a wave of spiritually-enhanced bullets aimed specifically at her legs, each cutting through the air at high speed. Again, he's shooting off to another tree, and then another. An amusing pattern for himself, to be sure, but probably less so for his target.

Natsumi was ready to destroy someone. The searing pain in her back, though easily willed away, was not something she would easily forgive. She was in a shit mood, in a shit situation, and now felt like shit. There were too many hiding spots. While she was in a decent clearing, ahead of her, where she assumed the attack came from, was the start to a pretty large tree line. She kept glancing up and down, trying to spot a person moving around. Natsumi saw nothing beyond the moving leaves.

While angrily gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, something caught her attention. It was another grenade, larger this time. A wave of her hand, almost like she was back-slapping someone, she sent a wave of reiryoku at the grenade. Before it could explode, it was sent flying back toward the tree line, though it was not aimed at anything in particular, since she had not seen the direction in which it was thrown. As it exploded, a sharp pain struck her left thigh and then another grazed her ankle. Natsumi winced, but nothing more. Her body had been in much more pain than this in the past, so it was almost a welcome, familiar feeling.

Still, she was pissed. As more bullets began shooting in her direction, she figured out what was going on. Natsumi shot her hand up, stretching a sheet of reiryoku between her and the forest as more bullets as quickly as she could while running toward the forest line. "YOU FUCKING DUVALIER TRASH. I WILL KILL YOU. NO ONE IS TAKING ME BACK." Bullets hit her shield, but at different angles. She couldn't figure out where they were coming from, so she just ran into the forest and dropped to one knee. She too tried using the shadows of the trees to hide herself.

Oho. Someone had a temper, didn't they? He isn't exactly surprised. If anything, that only furthered his own advantage. The enemy without poise is the enemy closest to the grave. Her reactions aligned perfectly with his expectations. With all that rage boiling up at the moment, all he needs to do is play the role of agitator until the right moment presents itself. There is no need to complicate the strategy here. Biding his time until she slips up is the only approach that'll merit the results he's looking for. The cleaner the execution, the easier the cleanup. Gung-ho as she is about killing so-called Duvalier trash, she probably won't feel all that offended when it's time to die herself, hm? For now, her end isn't at hand, though.

She's resorted to complicating the process by seeking refuge in the verdant foliage of trees. A moving target shifting to a stationary one? It almost felt too easy. If he was the one being attacked, he'd constantly be moving to avoid being hit from an unsuspecting angle, but that's to be expected. She's a young woman. In another life, she's likely better off playing with dolls and listening to her parents. In this one, she's just another target to fill his pockets.

In any case, she's not entirely out of range of his sensory skill, making it relatively easy to track her presence beyond these trees. Dancing in silence, he repeated his pattern of moving from trees until he landed in an ideal location, separated from her location by twenty meters. With a flash grenade in one hand, and his palm to the ground, he shifts into his next attack. Since she wasn't running around at the moment, he was positioned properly enough for it to work.

Manipulating the ground from here to her direct location, Isamu employed his exceptional skill with mediumship to create several spikes of sharpened soil along the ground. At first glance, she probably wouldn't expect it until it got within her immediate area. If her sound is good enough, maybe she'll hear it too, but that's exactly why he has this flash grenade in his hand.

Devoting enough energy to create a large explosion on impact, Isamu winds it up like a quarterback seeking his target on the field. Throwing it forward with similar accuracy to one, he's aiming it directly so it'll drop right from above. Regardless of those results, he's moving in a patient stride around the forest without giving any indication of where his position will be. If she looks one way, he'll go the next. If she aims to attack another, he'll simply shift his body elsewhere. A simple routine for a simple mission. The faster she dies, the better.

It wasn’t easy to move when your back was burning and you had two holes in different legs. The pain was something Natsumi could push through, but only because the anger fueled her. Her eyes darted around the area, hoping the shadows of the trees would give her enough cover to find whoever it was that was targeting her. The strange rumbling sound was unexpected and confusing. Looking back to where it was coming from, Natsumi didn’t realize what it was until it was close, the moonlight allowing her eyes to take notice too late to fully dodge the attack.

Natsumi ran backwards from the spies, but three hit her. One grazed her leg, the other pierced her hip, and the final created a gash along her rib. The pain hit her harder than the first attack, evidenced by the fearful scream she let out into the early morning air. The sun hadn’t come up, so she couldn’t see much of the blood until a rapid flash lit up the clearing. The loud pop deafened her, but because she had been looking down, it didn’t blind her as long as it normally would have.

“STOP IT.” Natsumi screamed, the words almost caught in her throat as fear began overwhelming the rage due to the presence of pretty intense pain. “LEAVE ME ALONE.” Instead of attempting to use her own legs to move, Natsumi used her mind to lift herself from the floor. She shot above the trees, throwing herself like a large sack until she caught herself in the air. Now flying above the tree line, Natsumi decided it was better to flee, since she couldn’t fight a shadow.

To say he expected that reaction would have been a gross understatement. When cornered by something or someone that is hidden from plain view, panic will always set in. Apart from those of a distinctly superior will and mentality, this sort of reaction never failed to match his expectations. The terrifying shrieks that echoed through the forest were proof that his last set of tricks had earned a significant degree of success. Chasing after her would be less than ideal, even more so if she intended to return to the City of Lights. It wasn't exactly that he feared anyone would find him, but tailing her would be a tiresome exercise by that point, and he wanted to handle this as efficiently as he intended.

His body shot forward through the forest as he increased the pace of his movement, turning his eyes downward to notice the light trails of blood from the last place she occupied. The next turn of his eyes awarded him with the silhouette of her body. It would be a matter of timing distance here, but he knew exactly what he intended to do next. Sweeping his hand around the hilt of the blade at his hip, Isamu entered the process of a twofold manipulation, extending energy to reiryoku and mediumship at that moment. Energy thrummed, steadily rising until it could no longer be contained. Reaching the pinnacle of what he desired in this next attack, he sprung through the air, leaping from the trees of the forest into the air, his gaze locked onto the moving target.

Chisaku Hito'uchi(千割一打, Thousand Rendings, One Strike)

Like that, a wide-ranging destructive wave of energy, unleashed with one fierce swing of his katana, rushed forth. The mass of energy had it been launched on the ground could have likely cleaved through an impressive portion of the forest, but since it was roaring through the sky at a thunderous rate, designated for one target alone, it was executed with the intent of landing a devastating strike. To her, it would have felt like the equivalent of having a mountainous object striking from the skies above. To him, it'll be enough to at least incapacitate her. It's a little too flashy for a job like this, but he's not going to allow her to escape so easily.

There was one thing Natsumi's fleeing did for her: it bought her some time. It wasn't long at all, but in a combat situation, two seconds could be the difference between life and death. Pushing herself along as quickly as she could muster with the pain pulsating throughout her body, Natsumi looked back over her shoulder to see who would inevitably be following her. They wanted her dead, so they would have to follow. That's why she led them away from the forest. At least then she would be able to see them. However, she saw their attack coming for her, not them.

Natsumi used her power to face the attack head on, swinging both arms to redirect the attack to the ground. Her reiryoku followed her desire, the telekinetic power slowing the attack and then moving it just enough to veer it off its original course. However, the pressure behind it sent Natsumi to the ground as well. She plummeted about thirty feet to the ground, screaming as she hit the dirt. Knowing her attacker was coming, she tried to stand, but fell back to the dirt.

"I-It hurts..." Natsumi whimpered. Her back was burned, she was bleeding from bullet holes and the gashes from the spike attack, and now had likely broken a few bones falling out of the sky. Looking back, she waited for her attacker.

Isamu was relatively impressed by the ability she employed to deflect the brunt of his attack. It wasn't a clean cut, but it certainly sent her barreling to the ground below. It wasn't a resounding success, but it was something, and that's all that mattered to him at the moment.

Sheathing his weapon, Isamu would slowly traverse the air until he landed on the ground. He approached quietly, his feet making little sound as he stepped into the clearing. Since she was rendered immobile, his journey was hardly a long one. Cracking his neck back and forth, he would pull the gun from his coat, reloading it as he kept himself hidden under the shades of the trees.

Observing her closely, she didn't exude half of the bark she had loosed earlier. She was little more than a whimpering and injured mess. Even so, a job's a job. He's this close to finishing the task. His pockets will be filled with a few gunshots and a phone call. Cocking his finger back, he wonders about the best position to make this quick and painless. It's better if he can't see her, either. Passing on into the afterlife is better enjoyed by reflecting on fond memories, no?