Zombus Amogus

Spoiler:

https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t49689-halloween-event-2021

A nightmare scenario, this was certainly not, but Kozai couldn't help but feel like he'd run into situations like these before, in his youth. An uncomfortable dream, and then a jolt into an unfamiliar place. He could have sworn that something like this had happened, somewhere, sometime. Oh well. This was a classic, now, wasn't it? Kozai had read books with this kind of setting before. A town on the verge of sunset, with civilians everywhere boarding up and fortifying, preparing for some kind of onslaught. The only question remaining, of course, was the one every literature fanatic kept in mind.

"Will they shamble, or will they run?"

The place was a village he'd never seen before, but some of the signs, the plant life and the stars peeking out from the darkening sky gave Kozai a pretty good idea of where he was. His paths, as it turned out, were also with him. He animated them, and with but a thought they assembled behind him. In the distance, the various groans and sonorous cries of the oncoming horde began to get slightly louder. Kozai double checked the gear he had on him, and finding it to his satisfaction, he took up a rooftop position with his paths spread out around the area.

[213]

What a bizarre place to be. This wasn't where the Nova had gone to sleep. In fact the man was certain he was no longer in the village. The entire setting had changed. The man knew he was asleep, but would this be a dream or a nightmare, that was the only question on his mind. A moan from a bisected corpse dragging itself across the ground was the first clue it would be a nightmare.

It dragged itself with its arms pulling the thing across the ground as it left a trail of blood and gore from its innards as it yanked itself along. The Terumi would simply walk away from the thing it wasn't fast, but it kept following. Using the surface walking technique he would climb up a building and take note of the path standing upon it. It had eyes like those of Taichi and his daughters. "Now, I even dream of these six ringed eyes. Perfect." Akabayashi would say looking around to see groups of zombies slamming into buildings in an effort to break in.

From this roof he could also make some others standing atop the roof. "Your friends with the same eyes I take it?" He would say once more addressing the path who was a short 5m away. From past knowledge there would be seven in total hanging about. Thus far he could see three, but surely there were more around.

This dream was quite awkward there was a level of control the man had that he experienced in no other dream or nightmare before. A phenomenon called lucid dreaming, but usually the person experiencing such a thing only had limited control of the dream. Weaving seals for melting apparition technique the doctor would seemingly barf a stream of muddy acid down onto a group of zombies who had answered the stressed growns of their bisected friend. Zombies obviusly didn't feel pain as they kept clawing and slamming the building until the acid dissolved them entirely. "Skellinger would love this place." The Terumi would state looking down onto the pile of zombie soup, that had also melted a bit of the building and sidewalk.

"What exactly do we do in this nightmare? Kill all the zombies and save the poor townsfolk. Of course, that was the desire of the dreamscape as calls for aid echoed throughout the place.

WC: 400

Kozai knew this man. Right, that Terumi from Hoshigakure. Having access to the personnel files for every person in the village had saved Kozai from countless awkward situations. Knowing everyone else's name seemed to make other people uncomfortable at times, but Kozai liked to think of it as keeping them on their toes, as it were. In this particular case, however, Akabayashi Terumi was of a high enough status in the village for Kozai to take him seriously. No time for introductions or fucking around. His path turned to the man and responded.

"Not quite how it all works, I'm afraid. One person, many bodies." As much as Kozai would have liked to flex his superior rank within Hoshigakure, he figured it would be for the best if they simply cooperated for now. After all, two strangers in a strange land filled with zombies had to work with what they had. "I'll debrief you in Hoshigakure, if we remember this experience." That's right, Kozai had had dream jaunts before, but every time, it felt like something had conveniently stolen his memories. As such, he found it increasingly unlikely that the two of them would remember their time here. Still, that didn't mean that this zombie horde wasn't worth giving some effort.

By "some", of course, Kozai meant "barely any". He'd fought people who'd used shambling corpses as minions before, and just increasing the number of them didn't really mean anything to him. With a brief gesture of his hand, a small black orb manifested in the sky.

"Consider staying away from that", Kozai said as the jutsu activated, pulling debris, buildings, terrain and the undead up into the sky. Kozai peered at the buildings as they ascended. Yes, this was a village he'd never been to before in his life. Why, then, was this the spot for these dream jaunts? Probably a question that everyone who was pulled here asked.

"Save the townsfolk? Bah. A waste of time. My assumption is that we either survive the horde, or simply remove it, and from what I can tell, we're both powerful enough that the latter is becoming more of a viable option." Surely, Akabayashi didn't truly believe that they had the time or ability to save the people of this cursed, benighted town. If anything, Kozai intended to cut a path through the undead, and get the fuck out of this place.

[401]

One person many bodies? How the hell does that work? There were so many questions to ask with that single statement, but then he added more. "I'll debrief you in Hoshigakure, if we remember this experience." The doctor's face hadn't changed, but he was certainly curious. There were similar events in the past that the doctor couldn't quite recall like lucid dreaming in the land of iron. Perhaps, asking this ones name or how mutiple bodies are connected would be a fruitless endeavor.

As they floated the man would assume it was just part of this dreamscape produced by the man he did not know, who had quite the practical approach similar to his own. "I agree, saving these people is impractical. We have no guarantee of reward and eliminating this horde of undead solves that problem anyway." Tapping a piece of lumber drifting upward toward the dense black sphere a giant would form and grab the Terumi its size and strength being enough to resist the gravitational effects of the mystery person.

"I'll start over here." The Terumi would call out to the stranger. He would avoid his puddle of acid the giant jumping down from the roof of the floating house. Crashing into some zombies that were floating toward the rift. Zombies that hadn't been crashed into however were crushed on impact with the black hole or whatever it was in the sky, adding to its mass and increasing in size as time went on. Its certainly was not a black hole, was all that the Vulture had gathered.

The giant would smack zombies and crush them under heel as it moved about. Throwing debris at some if they were distant. Some people were spared in this process others killed, but unless this problem was solved quickly they would die anyway. Through the man's movements he could see that each person bitten would become a zombie in seconds. After spotting a path the doctor would relay this information. "If you get bitten by one of these infected you become one in moments. It may be easier to wipe out the whole town. No living to infect no new zombies. If the path concurred the doctor's avoidance of still boarded up homes would cease and the giant would smash through them to the horror of the people barricaded inside. Their screams stopping when they were crushed under stone, wood, or whatever else was inside.

WC: 409

The mass of undead flesh, steel, glass and stone surrounding the core of the Chibaku Tensei continued to grow larger as the jutsu progressed. What a useful technique. Kozai saw what Echo Uchiha had been so worried about, now. Control over gravity, nay, over the foundational forces of matter was no joke. He wished he could conjure Echo's ghost and have a good, long conversation with him about this Rinnegan. What had happened to such a powerful man, and a jinchuuriki no less, to make him wary of power like this? Well, one way or the other, Kozai was quite determined to find out. No secret would be hidden from him, if he could help it, especially not one that affected him as closely as this one did.

It appeared that the pathogen of undeath, as it were, was some kind of fast-acting agent. A virus, then? It seemed the most likely, at any rate. Well, Akabayashi was simply speaking common sense, in that case, though he was perhaps a little overenthusiastic. 

"Not a bad idea, but we needn't waste energy purging the whole village. Just this sector will do, I think." With one of his paths in Akabayashi's field of vision, Kozai would indicate a rather wide swathe of the village. "As long as we act quickly," he began, as he spread his arms and initiated another jutsu, the energy and power gathering around him, "we should be fine." Killing innocents? Bah. The notion that innocence had anything to do with consequences like these was a notion that Kozai had cast aside long ago- Nay, better to say that such an idea had never resided within his mind to begin with. The power snapped and crackled, and then lifted Kozai into the air as it took shape, forming the Susano'o's tengu warrior giant shape. Kozai's was a lurid scarlet, with but a single, central, cyclopean eye. Power, speed, protection... it was all he really needed. He needn't even worry about contamination via his paths, since they were technically already dead, and controlled through the black receivers embedded in their bodies. In short, this was the perfect setup for a slam dunk Hoshi victory, as usual.

The Susano'o stretched out its hand, and with a light humming noise, a sword materialized there. With a few quick motions, he began to simply move down the tract of land, sweeping through this mysterious village with a sword capable of shearing through mountains. Like he had considered before, this was going to be easy work.

[422]

Two constructs paraded about the village leaving death in their wake. Zombie upon zombie was crushed, cut, pulverized, and smashed as the wood human of Akabayashi and the Susanoo of Kozai went about different avenues to reach an end goal. It was mindless work that left the doctor to his thoughts on who the mysterious person working with him was and how multiple bodies were connected, but also unlike any clones the vulture had witnessed. As shadow clones and other clone types usually had the appearance of the person who created them. All of these paths looked completely different outside of the same eye pattern.

The doctor assumed most of this dream would be forgotten upon waking up, if not the entire thing. So, with caution to the wind the man would crash through some more buildings and smile as the screams of the family inside drew the attention of more zombies. Their pleas of please help and save my children were what the doctor wanted most. Their voices and panic roused the infected into action. The dead lurched hungrily saliva pouring from their mouths as they ran toward their prey before being kicked to the moon by the giant. Blood splattered in all directions as the giant kicked the bags of meat sky high leaving any trace of their forms gone when they finally shattered against the ground or whatever buildings they crashed into.

In a dream there were no consequences and the vulture would use this night to its fullest. Picking up some of the debris the giant would grab the trapped father and turn him into paste with a loud squish, much to the horror of his onlooking family. The giant would stomp out the remains of this man's family and their home. No more pleas for help would be answered. Akabayashi was here to kill and thats all that would happen from here on in.

There were a few times when Akabayashi spotted some paths doing their own things to kill the zombies and the susanoo in the sky was impossible to miss. The zombies were going down, but it seemed like there were always more to refill the cut down ranks of undead. Where were they all coming from and how would they end this dream as there was no ene in sight as far as the Terumi could determine. Hopefully, one of the two could come up with a plan.

WC: 406

As Kozai elevated and increased his distance from the ground, the area outside the village became more clear to him. It wasn't quite what he expected, though he was familiar with landscapes like these. Brush and scrub, mostly, with a rocky outcropping here and there. Secondary and primary succession had done its work on this land. Hundreds of years ago, in all likelihood, a glacier had started grinding its slow path through this area, and for whatever stupid, idiotic reason, a group of self-obsessed dipshits had decided to found a village here. No intellectual titans to be found here, of course.

The steady stream of undead was still pouring in toward the village, from one direction, it seemed, rather than from all around. There was, on the horizon, a grove of some kind, poking its spindly trees from out of the gravelly surroundings. Perhaps, a graveyard of some kind, then? An ancestral burial site, maybe? These zombies looked a little too fresh for that, however. Well, there was really only one way to find out. With the limited time he had left, he would have to destroy it with his own two hands. In other words, he mused to himself, it was just business as usual.

His Naraka path would inform Akabayashi of the existence of the undead nest, indicating its position and the distance from the village. With that done, Kozai's Susano'o would pivot, and rocket toward the nest, reaching down an arm to sweep up his Deva path as he went. Behind him, the chibaku tensei would begin the termination of its function, as the pull slowed, then stopped, leaving the enormous stone compressed orb suspended in the sky above the village. How fortunate that, in a few minutes, neither of them would be around to foot the bill for the incredible chunk that had been scooped, as it were, out of the village.

Kozai saw more of the scene around him as he flew. What a shithole country. Biological succession could do a lot of good for an environment, but it was too soon to be building anything sustainable here. Soon, larger spindly trees, and then perhaps proper pines would replace the rubble here, but that wouldn't be for another few hundred years. As he neared the Nest, he could pick out a few odd details. It didn't seem like much of a graveyard to him, most like an old, purposefully cultivated grove...    

[406]

The ball in the sky was growing bigger and wider by the moment. Its mass growing as each zombie, person, or piece of debris crashed into it. What would happen when it all came crashing down? Anything inside was crushed as layer upon layer was added and compacted. You could even see the blood stains as each zombie or person collided into gray stone before being crushed by whatever the gravitational field picked up. Luckily, the wood human could avoid its pull or the doctor would have found himself in quite the mess. That technique was nothing to laugh at.

There was plenty more rampaging to do about the area. Multiple buildings still stood even though two titans and a gravitational field were trying their best to level the place into a pile of rubble. Whether the other man and his paths were trying to kill the regular people wasn't clear as the doctor was taking in the scene, but focused on his surroundings. The man's vicinity was not clear of infected as they began climbing up building to jump onto the titan. What the infected didn't understand was that the giant had human limbs and could swat them like flies as they landed on its midsection. The giant wasn't a T-rex and couldn't reach the insignificant gnats trying to bite their way into the wooden giant or its creator standing on the giant's shoulder.

One of the blue eyed paths informed the doctor of the nest and its location. Shortly, after the flying chakra monster would dive before rising back into the air in the direction of the nest. The gravitational field around that time would also cease pulling things toward it. Seeing that the man and his wood human would take the way around, he didn't need debris falling on his head. It may take a bit longer, but it was safer all that crap was coming down eventually and Akabayashi guessed it would be soon.

As he neared the nest location he observed the area. An odd grove in a strange part of the town. Who would try to grow something in a place like this? The ground was clearly worked for farming yet nothing was growing quite yet. Zombies were crushed under heel as the man and his giant pushed forward. The creatures had definitely been coming from this place. Perhaps destroying the area would make them stop.
WC: 402
TWC: 1617

As Kozai came down, he adjusted the Susano'o's position, pivoting so that it was effectively doing a massive belly flop on the grove itself. As it came crashing down, it crushed the odd structures that were attached to the trees, but Kozai got a good look at them beforehand. Bizarre pods, stuck to branches. A few looks around with his Rinnegan told him everything. This was no graveyard, it was some kind of sick zombie cloning facility. And by "sick", Kozai meant totally awesome. He earnestly hoped that he remembered something out of this fever dream, because something like this would totally come in handy. He could imagine it now, a horde of emergency undead, waves upon waves of zombies to cover a retreat or create a distraction. Every weapon could come in handy, in one way or another. As the susano'o dissipated and the debris cleared, Kozai noted that there were only a few zombies left, but what remained seemed... enraged? At the very leased, there was a taxis toward whatever had disturbed their hive. With but a few more handseals, Kozai initiated an elemental disturbance, and the raging aura of the Single Aura Eight Elements jutsu expanded around him, vaporizing any enemy that ventured near him.

Back at the village, the path body spoke again.

"I've obliterated the nest. Mission complete, I suppose." The tide of the undead had been stemmed, and only a few stragglers remained. These would either be taken care of by the village on its own, or would be cleaned up on an individual level by the paths. Kozai himself certainly didn't feel the need to trek all the way back to the village. The aura frayed, then faded around him, and he dropped neatly into the crater that he had created for himself. A stark reminder that he needed to master the telekinetic power of the Deva path to wrap himself up in force before hitting the ground.

[wc 325]

With the Terumi already on his way it was quite annoying when the path spoke again. Well if its done why did he tell me about the nest to begin with?"Understood I will head over there anyway to see what created such a problem." Within the man's gut he knew this was the right course of action. Something about a nest that an unlimited horde poured from intrigued the doctor. There were so many uses if the creatures could be brought to heel and forced into labor. The nest would need protection after they were trained, but that was a task for much further down the line.

The paths that the Terumi passed were still killing stragglers of the zombie horde, but it was nothing compared to their previous assault. It seemed the creatures had begun to lose some of their coordination with the lose of their hive. They no longer sprinted and moved at a bare shuffle and no longer used the landscape to gain an advantage. Indeed, it appeared that the worst was behind them and things were now on the village to handle from here on out. The doctor's and mysterious strangers parts were done. All that was left was to leave whatever nightmare village they were in, but how?

Arriving at the grove all he saw was a crater filled with goo and dirt. It was unfortunate, but the doctor would never know about the zombie cloning pods. He was sure the one sitting within the crater would not tell him. He seemed quite relaxed with everything that had happened perhaps this one did not wish to leave the dreamscape or he was just another part of it. Made up somewhere in the depths of Akabayashi's mind. It was possible, but something urged the Vulture into believing he was real.

"So how do we leave this place?" It was the next logical question. When they were finished the doctor assumed he would be transported back to his home. As he asked a white light appeared in the crater and showed an image of the Terumi sleeping in bed, if Kozai looked inside it would show him sleeping. Taking the obvious clue he would walk through the portal and return to sleep in his own bed the rewards from the nightmare appearing in a coin pouch on the bed.
WC: 392
TWC:2009/2000
Claims: 8,000 ryo, 750 rank ryo, 40Ap, 40AP from max stats, 2009 WC toward Creation Rebirth: Strength of One Hundred. bringing the total to (4824/5000)
Exit