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"Do you hear that, my child?"

The loyal servant squinted, temporarily blinded by the light as she and her Master emerged from the entrance to the ancient shrine, back out into the biting cold winds. The arena was some distance away, but smoke plumes were already rising from the sides, and the cacophonous roar was audible even at this distance and through the driving rain.

"It's...beautiful, my lord," the servant stammered.

"They cry out in victory," the Master said triumphantly as he held his fist aloft, the magical gauntlet on his hand shimmering in what little light remains. "They repay the children of Jimmu for every life taken from them, one for every brother and father taken...one for every daughter..." The servant clutched her robe tightly around herself as stone oni charged from the entrance behind her, barreling towards the arena to participate in the sacking.

"It is a shame their voices do not return with them," the servant said offhand.

"Hm?" The Master turned sharply to her, his gaze fixing on the cowering servant intently. "What is it you are saying, my child?"

"Well, sadly my lord, they are unable to speak on your behalf," the servant continued cautiously. "The crimes of the children of Jimmu are ancient. Many will not remember why they face this retribution." The Master pondered this, flexing the fingers on the magical gauntlet contemplatively.

"It cannot be helped," the Master said. "But the blood will be repaid nonetheless."

"But Master," the servant said reverently, tugging her face scarf tighter around her. "To the children it will just be slaughter, like the slaughter they once brought to these Oni. Without knowing what is amiss, surely they will appear no better then the humans that-"

The servant stopped with a strangled yelp as the Master suddenly lurched forward, clenching his fist around her small neck and lifting her into the air.

"You. [i]DARE.[/i] To. Call. Us. [i][b]HUMAN!?!?[/b][/i]" The master, spitting every word at her with a ferocity that burned white-hot even in the cold mountain air.

"I...master...please..." The servant choked for breath as she began to pass out, only to be shocked awake as the master tossed her aside like a rag doll, leaving her a sputtering wreck in the snow.

"If you were not owed a debt from me for my return," the master warned her. "I would have torn you in two for that remark."

"F-forgive me, my lord," the servant said, weeping with both utter terror and relief. "I...only wish to see justice served..." 

The Master sighed, looking at his whimpering servant groveling at his feet, pondering her words more thoroughly then before. "Hmm...perhaps the children do need to know what this punishment is for. If only so that justice be served at long last."

"None have suffered more then you have, my lord," the servant said meekly. "But if you ask of me, I will eagerly be your herald."

"That will be... unneeded, my child," the master said, loosening his overcoat in preparation as he looked up at the dark clouds circling faster and faster. "I must see to the enchantment...but for the sake of justice, I will not hide behind others like a coward."

Then over the driving rain and the distant roars, a new sound echoed up to the mountains, a sound like a rushing wind. The servant and her master looked to the distant valley, where a large figure sped towards the arena riding a trail of ice.

The Master scowled as he watched the figure moving towards the arena brawl. "Who is this that dares to interfere?"
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The situation was grim. Her handler from Sanctum would have looked white as a ghost if he wasn't already one when he told her the news that the Mount Fuji shrine had been unsealed. Everyone knew that the unsealing of that shrine meant the end of Nihon, and the death of millions of people from a threat that could tear the world apart.

Still, Klara couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement. It was her first mission after all, and a rather important one too, even if her only real qualification for the assignment was being one of the only Mythics here that could respond to the threat. She was ready though, and she was going to knock this one out of the park, ironically by knocking her way into one.

[color=0054a6]"Coming through!"[/color] Klara shouted as she Subzero Slide-d up behind a charging band of Oni, knocking aside the few that didn't jump out of the way and catching one on her shoulder and throwing it behind her, where it hit the ground head first with a stony sounding 'crunch!'. The Oni ahead of her turned around at the sound of a conflict, surprised to see an enemy nearly as big as they were, and charged forward, their weapons raised.

[color=0054a6]"But we are headed in the same direction! No need to be upset!"[/color] Klara pointed out, throwing down a Treacherous Floe to slip up a few charging into the front, sliding out of the way as they collapsed like a bunch of dominoes. Klara didn't have time to react before a club swung in her direction, catching the edge of her hood with one of the spikes. [color=0054a6]"Mind the hood!"[/color] she said irritably, shooting a ball of ice in her attacker's direction, which smashed across its face and forced it back. She quickly realized she was getting surrounded however, and summoned a large column of ice in the center of the circle closing around her, high enough to be out of reach of the Oni. Sliding up the side of it nearly vertically, she landed on the top daintily and took a look around. The arena had already been breached, it seemed, and the Oni that were already inside were dwindling, soon to be replaced by the legion trying to clamber up the sides of the ice spire to get her. She couldn't tell how badly the defenders were hurting, but it made the most sense to make her way inside and inform them of what was to come. Klara suddenly staggered on her perch as the ice spire shook violently. Looking down, she saw the Oni beginning to slam their clubs into the ice to shatter it.

[color=0054a6]"I know of your suffering, my friends,"[/color] Klara said to the lot of them, despite the fact that they did not appear to listen. Crossing her arms, she built up frost along her arms, which thickened into gauntlets that extended into sharpened blades of ice. [color=0054a6]"Allow me to bring your souls peace."[/color] Leaping down as the spire collapsed from the repeated blows, she summoned another Subzero Slide beneath her feet and began tearing through the stone Oni to reach the arena. Swinging with both blades to cut an oni in half around the middle, she knocked the upper half of the now lifeless statue into the crowd ahead of her, deflecting an oni's club that shattered one of the blades and retaliated with a cleaving uppercut that knocked the head of her attacker clean off. Klara followed up by rapidly firing three ice blasts ahead to clear the crowd and launching the last ice blade into the chest of an Oni ahead of her, jumping off into the air and kicking it deeper into the chest to make it shatter. By this point she was close enough to hear the screaming over the rainfall, and as she traded gauntlet blows with Onis and their clubs, cleaving off more then a few heads in the process, she also spotted an entrance. One of the tunnels the Oni had used to emerge into the arena had caved in, exposing it to the surface, looking like a much easier route then fighting her way through more of them.

[color=0054a6]"What is that human expression...when in Rome, do as Rome does?"[/color] Shrugging off her incorrect musing, she summoned another ice spire behind her without looking, shoving it into the crowd of pursuing Oni to hold them off as she dove into the tunnel. The good news is that it was a short trip and she made it in good time. The bad news was, she came in shortly after someone else had. The Oni made its displeasure known by swinging around at the interloper, leaving Klara barely enough time to duck behind her right gauntlet as the club smashed against it, shattering the ice and the weapon in turn. The ice giantess prepared for a killing blow, but out of the corner of her eye she spotted a lanky looking human in a white t-shirt and gray jeans standing on a pile of stone oni bodies, seemingly unaware of the two Oni charging up the hill behind him.

[color=0054a6]"Ahh! Hey you, come with me a moment!"[/color] The stunned Oni managed a look of surprise before Klara grabbed a hold of him around the neck, freezing her hands around him to get a grip, and hoisting the stone creature over her shoulder, her muscles burning from the sudden effort of lifting the heavy stone. Dashing towards the man on her Subzero Slide, Klara took aim and hurled the Oni bodily, missing the man by inches and crashing into the Oni coming up behind him with a loud crunch. Using the momentum from the effort of throwing the Oni, she swung around and used the remaining gauntlet to deliver a mighty haymaker to the other Oni, shattering it and the gauntlet to pieces. Rolling the shoulder she used to lift the Oni, she completed her location and came to a stop right in front of Al Denton.

[i][color=0054a6]"I hope I am not too late to assist!"[/color][/i] Klara remarked cheerfully in accented Japanese, turning to look in the direction of the oncoming horde. [i][color=0054a6]"Prepare yourself friend, this fight has only just begun!"[/color][/i]