[h3][b][u]Bangwudo Island Garrison, Pt. II[/u][/b][/h3]

Ki-joon awoke with a start, fumbling as he grasped for his sword. He was sitting in the garrison courtyard, among the broken bodies of his subordinates and the Ithicist entourage that had sailed to the island. He blinked, regaining a sense of orientation. He remembered the fox, Narai, and the vision of Kau Rong, both of which had all but disappeared. There was no trace of either, and the warmth that had permeated the air was gone, replaced by a still cold.

The Hokksulgugae pulled himself up to his feet and took a deep breath. He felt different somehow. Renewed? He looked down at his one remaining hand and flexed his digits. It was certainly his own. Yet he concentrated, and a tingle of vigor seemed to seep through his veins as his heart pumped. This must be what the fragment of divinity feels like. His sight was different too; things had a greater spectacularity to them in a way he could not put into words.

The door Lady Kau had vanished through was ajar, and Ki-joon drew his sword, readying himself to catch up to the priestess. The steel of the blade caught his reflection, and he paused, leering into the face that stared back at him. He recognized his own features, but they felt different somehow... like he was more substantial? Solid? He wasn't sure what the right words were.

When he'd finished his moment of vanity, Ki-joon strode across the lawn and through the garrison's portal. The hall led down into the armory, and he followed its route, passing weapon racks and stacks of equipment. Ki-joon wondered why, of all the places to go, Kau had chosen to venture into the structure to pursue the rogue spirit.

"Lady Kau?" he called. The hallway carried his voice down its length, and he leaned in as if expecting it to talk back. There was no immediate answer to greet him. "Lady Kau!" he added volume to his voice, but again there was silence. Though his words had been met with the still of the keep, somehow he had sensed an all-too familiar presence, two in fact. One was fair and pure, the other everything that the former wasn't; polluted and unnatural. He cursed, trudging around a corner that directed him to the main foyer.

There he was greeted with the sight of the corrupted deity. At one point it might have been described simply as "a giant turtle", but that was before it had been corrupted. Its once mighty shell was now shattered, long jagged cracks could be seen running up and down its length. These cracks seem to pulse and glow as if a fire was lite underneath the deity's shell. In addition to its normal legs was three sets of arms that might have been human-like except they were far too long and skinny, ending in clawed digits instead of human fingers. These arms rested on the deity's sides in a fashion similar to a the legs of a spider. From its lower jaw protruded two long tusks from which some sort of foul fluid dripped from. 

And before this creature was Kau Rong, her body swaying in motion as she swung the chain of her chain-jian over her head. The creature let out a low grow before hurling itself towards her with astonishing speed. Kau Rong flipped over one of the deity's arms, landing in a forward split with another of the deity's clawed appendages sailing just inches over her head. She spun her jian about, the deity crying as one of its clawed hands fell to the floor.

Kau Rong quickly rose back to her feet, the chain once again swinging over her head. The two foes seemed to eye each other for a moment, both looking for a sign of weakness. Both making minute changes to their stance in search of an advantage. As the deity inched forward ever so slightly Kau Rong found such a weakness. She lashed out with her point, the weighted end wrapping around one of the deity's forward arms. She then darted towards the opposite side, pulling on the chain as she did so. The effect was almost comical in how she basically hit the deity in the face with its own arm. More importantly it temporarily blocked its view, allowing her to step in close enough and sever another clawed appendage before the deity even knew what was happening. 

Letting out a screech of anger the deity charged her. She flipped forwards, over the deity's head, landing on its broken shell. She then charged towards its rear end, keeping a firm grasp on her chain. The sound of broken bone could be heard as she reached the opposite end of the deity, the arm that Kau Rong had caught in her chain was now little more than a mangled mess. 

And then the corrupted deity did something unexpected. Black mist flowed out of its mouth towards its injured limbs. For a moment the mist seemed to over around the injuries, but then it quickly became more substantial and in a matter of seconds the mist was completely gone, the deity's limbs no longer showing any sign of being injured in exchange.

"Lady Kau!" Ki-joon hissed under his breath, and watched the Ithicist and the reptilian spirit perform their deadly dance. As the monster reconstituted its damaged limbs, Ki-joon emerged from his corner, stepping from the dark of the hall into the open space where the pair did battle. 

"What are you doing here?" Kau Rong mouthed. She seemed to regard Ki-joon for a moment before mouthing "Oh" and shifting her attention back towards the corrupted deity. 

The turtle entity turned towards the Hokksulgugae, belching a challenge to its newest adversary. The thing stooped low to the ground, gathering leverage for its next move. The next moment, it was upon him, pouncing from the floor with its array of legs.

Ki-joon skated around the deity's jaws, which snapped at the air in attempt to catch its new enemy. A flash of Ki-joon's sword left a deep gash in its shoulder, though he knew mere physical woulds would not impair the thing for too long. The maneuver landed him a few feet away from the priestess, and he tossed her a glance in recognition.

Kau Rong jerked her head towards a doorway that led from the foyer to the courtyard. Pausing only a moment to ensure that Ki-joon realized she wanted him to follow before dashing away. The corrupted deity was right behind them, snapping its jaws and trying to gore them with its tusks the entire time. The priestess grimaced, putting an extra burst of speed so that she could reach the doorway before Ki-joon, throwing the entryway open and keeping it open for Ki-joon before darting through herself. The corrupted deity, not one for subtlety, simply smashed its way through the way, throwing stone and broken wood all over the courtyard.

Kau Rong took a deep breath as she set her chain to swing over her head again. Shifting to the left she swung the chain towards the deity, the weighted ball falling just short of the deity's face. It roared as she shifted further to the left and shifted its stance to keep its front to her, putting Ki-joon to its side and slightly behind it. The corrupted deity roared again as its swiped at Kau Rong with one of its clawed hands. She flipped over the arm, her jian flashing out towards the appendage, and she landed at about the same time as the severed hand. She swung her chain at the deity again, this time striking it in the face with the weighted end. The deity staggered to the side as if it had been struck with a warhammer instead of a small ball of steel. 

As Kau Rong kept the beast occupied, Ki-joon approached its rear. His eyes lingered on the fissures along its shell; a throbbing, _ glow radiated from within. An idea materialized, and he leapt onto the thing's broken back. Ki-joon steadied himself as it lurched about, catching his footing along the grooves of the bony plate.

Without a second thought, he plunged his sword into one of the gaps in the shell, driving the blade into the glowing matter. The entity's eyed bulged and it coughed an anguished squawk. Ki-joon dragged his weapon down the length of the fissure, carving into whatever was beneath.

The rows of arms at either side of the turtle-thing thrashed, rocking it from side to side. Ki-joon held onto the hilt of his sword as tightly as his grip allowed, struggling to stay perched atop the fiend. It took off into a sprint, aiming to smash its weight against the garrison wall and unhorse its assailant.

Ki-joon looked up from his butcher's work to see the stone surface fly towards him, and he grimaced, yanking his weapon from the monster and leaping off before it collided with the enclosure. He rolled to his feet, landing less gracefully than he could have done with two arms. When Ki-joon looked back to the entity, he saw it had rolled on its side, taking a section of the wall with it. A grey-green mist seeped from the wounds in its back he'd inflicted.

The shook its head as it regained its footing, but it would not be given a moment's rest. Kau Rong had been right behind it when it had thrown itself into the wall and she now hurled herself at it like a hurricane, a hurricane consisting of blades and chains. Her jian flashed out, constantly connecting with one of the arms or the other. Her chain was in motion except when it wrapped itself around an arm and was securing it for the jian to come flashing in. Her blade move back and forth, shards of metal, shell, and bone seemed to fly wherever she struck. Whenever an arm moved to strike her it was either met with her jian, wrapped up in her chain, or simply found that the space where she had once been was no only occupied by air. As the seconds ticked away she showed no signs of fatigue, in fact she seemed to be moving faster. Her strikes seemed to hold more power even as the corrupted deity started to move slower. And as she moved faster her hair started to change, growing pale. Even as Ki-joon watched Kau Rong's hair seemed to change into the golden hue of Narai's fur.

Her jian flashed towards an incoming arm, the two having passed each other almost quicker than the eye could follow. The arm swung back towards Kau Rong even as half of her jian clattered against stone several feet away. The woman simply dropped the broken chain-jian as she rolled under the corrupted deity's arm, drawing her two kukris as she rose. She stepped in towards the deity's head and stabbed down into its neck with both of the kukris. Then, as it flung two arms at her, she swung herself up over the deity's head, coming to a rest while handstanding on her kukris. She waited there for a moment, before flipping herself forward onto the deity's back, pulling the kukris out in the process. 

As the deity cried out she held one Kukri towards the sky. A whole seemed to open up in the clouds, allowing a ray of light to shine down on both Kau Rong and the corrupted deity. The deity's screams were beyond imagination as the ray of sunlight shone down on it. It thrashed, and as it did Kau Rong spun about on its back, slicing limbs in a dance of light, blades, and ichor.

Ki-joon marveled at the rays of light bathing the priestess and her foe, the latter of whom seemed to be succumbing to the grievous wounds inflicted upon it. He noticed that as the light shone down on it, its limbs refused to regenerate. It was now close to immobilized, and it rolled back and forth on its belly.

With the priestess holding the thing in place, the Hokksulgugae determined the final blow was to be delivered. He sheathed his sword, to which the priestess gave him an almost disconcerted look. He answered her gaze with a simple smile and positioned himself before the face of the deity, closing his eyelids and relaxing his muscles. The color of the immediate space surrounding the Hokksulgugae flared with saturation and reality seemed to flicker and dance; not unlike the refraction of a hot, desert horizon. A great energy was building around the noble, and the entity seemed to become more panicked, its great eyes bulging open.

When Ki-joon opened his eyes again, they flared like light bulbs. His hand was outstretched, from the center of which burned a ball of sunlight. The arm connecting it to his body was wreathed in a golden flame, and thought it burned fiercely, it refrained from searing his garments. Ki-joon drew himself into a crouch, then leapt up at the enormous face, hurling his arm, grasping the dazzling orb, overhead.

For a brief second, a form engulfed Ki-joon's body, a translucent front-half of a golden fox. Its jaws were agape, barring rows of sword-teeth. As his weight came down above the grotesque head, a howl escaped Ki-joon's lungs that was not his own. He swung his fist forwards, crashing the power gathered in his palm into the bony crown. Ki-joon's arm broke through the skin, burrowing itself into the skull with a tremendous roar of raw might. The luminescence from Ki-joon's hand burst from its eyes and orifices like a jack 'o lantern, and the fox vision clamped its jaws shut around the bulbous head. The light pulsed once and then an explosion from within bathed the entire garrison in a blanket of white luminosity.

When the light receeded, the body of the entity had dissipated, strands of greenish-black vapor trailing through the air. Kau Rong fell to the ground as the solid form at her feet gave way. Ki-joon was left standing where he landed, fist outstretched. The fox vision had vanished with the blast. 

Throwing the tattered remains of her kukris to either side, Kau Rong walked over to Ki-joon and placed a hand on his shoulder. Her blindfold was now where in sight, having been lost sometime during the battle, and now she looked directly at him with piercing grey eyes. They now seemed to look at him, through him, seeing more than what physically was. Her eyes showed no question in that he had a sliver of divinity in him, but seemed to ask how it came to be. She reached up to her head wound and flicked some of her blood onto the ground.

"Very rarely do men receive so much power directly from an Ithicist deity. You need to be careful." Her blood formed the words. 

Ki-joon nodded with a roll of his shoulder. "I'll take your word for it," he replied. As Ki-joon read the blood-script, the bodies of those who had fallen seemed to evaporate into thin air, leaving no trace of the corrupted deity's passing, with the exception of the damage to the garrison and the lack of soldiers present. "The soldiers- What's become of them?" His only answer was a silent shrug.

Kau Rong opened her mouth as if to say something, but halted as her eyes locked onto something behind Ki-joon. As he turned around to look at what she saw the form of a small, brown-furred fox came into sight. It was a small thing really, small even for a fox. One would have to describe it as normal in everyway. Normal, except for the eyes that is. Eyes that held an intelligence the likes found in humans. 

The fox stared at the two for a moment before bounding away in the direction of the docks. Kau Rong followed without a moment's hesitation and Ki-joon soon found himself moving alongside her. The couple would occasional lose sight of the fox, only to turn a corner and see it waiting for them. Soon they found themselves standing on the docks, the fox no where to be found. 

It was when they were about to give up the search and head back to the garrison that Ki-joon spotted a ship on the horizon. Within the hour the ship, a small transport junk from Otnemarcas, was slipping into port. A small party of Otnemarcasans, priestesses, war maidens, soldiers, and even some merchants, spilled off of the ship and moved towards Kau Rong and Ki-joon with intent.

"I'm glad you're alright" a priestess said as the party came within earshot. "The archpriestess sent us after having a premonition."

"So what happens now?" Ki-joon asked. He stepped forwards, resuming the role of Hokksulgug's Bangwudo Administrator. 

"We'll leave a small garrison here before returning to Kunland. The archpriestess was quite specific in that she wanted us to get underway as soon as possible." The priestess responded. "She wants to see you both." Kau Rong stepped forward and whispered something into the junior priestess's ear. "No" the priestess answered. "I know only that she wanted us to get the two of you and disembark from the island as quickly as possible." 

Ki-joon raised a hand to interject and asked, "The Daekuang will want a report of what happened here. Must I be at Kunland so soon? There are still duties I must fulfill."

"I'm afraid the archpriestess was most insistent. I'm sure you can compose your report on the voyage to Kunland and then have it sent to your homeland from there." The priestess put her hand on Ki-joon's shoulder and started to steer him towards the ship. "Now I know this is... irregular, but the archpriestess mentioned something about Irochi's wrath and, to be perfectly honest, I don't want to be out here any longer than necessary if Lord Irochi is pissed off."

"I suppose there's no helping it. I'll inform my lord when I have the opportunity." Ki-joon sighed and allowed the priestess to guide him onboard. He wrapped his robe tightly around his shoulders and turned around to help Kau Rong over the vessel's edge. As she climbed onboard, Ki-joon caught a glimpse of the garrison, likely the last he'd have in a long time. Mere minutes later and the island was shrinking in the distance.

---

The priestess's fears towards Irochi's wrath were well placed. A storm descended on the ship as it left port, throwing it off course and ending any hope that it would return to the embrace of Kunland's shores.

[hider=Summary]-[i]More[/i] shit happens on an island north of Hokk.[/hider]