Post by Kahn Hisan on Sept 1, 2013 19:22:20 GMT -5
Kahn stood motionless a training dummy in front of him, his eyes were closed. He was in deep focus attempting to the coax the shadows to his side, and force them to take a specific shape. Such an art was difficult to master, he had been attempting it for months. He was frustrated with his slow progress, but he should have expected some barriers to mastering an entirely new art. How foolish of him to think this would be easy. He felt the shadows in his right hand slowly begin to dissipate...his irrelevant thoughts had distracted him. He returned to focusing, and moments later he would have a shadow shuriken in his right hand, and a fake bomb in his left. They both had a dark appearance, but only one of them had an actual effect.
A breeze would pass, and then Kahn would strike. He quickly threw the shadow bomb at the target dummy, and it would bounce off the wooden frame, and fall to the ground. Completely harmless, but the slightest thunk could be heard as the shadow shuriken embedded itself in the dummy's chest. Moments later it would dissipate into nothingness, returning to the shadows that once called it's home. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, he had been training for hours. It was nothing new, he was used to such training when he was a Kinkou. He was hoping that he would have been out of this place with his younger sister in tow, but an opportunity for escape had not yet appeared. On the brighter side is that the more time he spent here, the more he would learn about Zed and his Noxian allies' plans. They had been surprisingly quite thus far, then again Jericho Swain was called 'The Master Tactician'. No doubt the Grand General had some plans for Ionia, but was still waiting for the opportunity to present itself.
Such thoughts would have to wait till later, right now he had to be training. Zed was a strict teacher, and would not have a disciple slacking. Thus his eyes closed once more, and he went back to focusing on summoning multiple shadow shurikens.
Post by Master of Shadows on Sept 11, 2013 1:08:04 GMT -5
From behind Kahn a faint whistling could be heard for the briefest of moments, a brush of air upon either side of his face would be heard followed by a heavy loud *Thunk*, showing just how much force had been behind whatever had shot past Kahn's head. Now embedded within the training dummy's head, throat and chest were three shurikins pitch black and had seemed to simply appear within the dummy, large splinters had erupted from the impact and sprayed onto the ground. From behind Kahn a low voice sounded, "Train like you fight. Fight like you train." Zed emerged from the shadows behind Kahn, reciting the code he, Zed, the Master of Shadows had begun to develop, "Distracted thoughts will kill you."
Zed raised a hand, the shurikins within the dummy simply dissipating into nothingness as a ball of inky darkness formed within the palm of his hand, "The mind is your strongest weapon." The ball elongated and solidify into a long curved katana, "It is also your worst enemy should you allow your focus to slip." The katana looked to liquidate itself, the inky black form melted and dripped to the pavement before the Master of Shadows forming a circle of darkness before him.
"What do you wish to achieve, Lotus Hunter?" His crimson eyes burned like embers as they bore into the trainee before him.
Post by Kahn Hisan on Sept 22, 2013 4:49:19 GMT -5
The moment the shurikins passed his head Kahn drew two kunai knives and turned toward whoever threw the shurikins. Even when he saw it was Zed, he didn't relax for a moment. No doubt the Master of Shadows would scold him for such an action after claiming he should train like he fights. He could tell from the sound that the dummy he had been using for training was badly damaged if not destroyed. Zed had a point being distracted would get him killed, perhaps he could have Zed aid him with what was distracting him. At a later time, for now he would simply listen to Zed's speech.
His eyes carefully watched the ball of shadow become a katana, then only to have it liquefy and form a circle of darkness around Zed. Now he would relax slightly, and his visible eye would meet Zed's blood red glare. His mastery of the shadows was oceans apart from Kahn's. The last thing the Lotus Hunter wanted to see was the gap between their abilities widening itself. After all, Kahn had a different objective, but seeing this gap would not help him accomplish that objective. He would bow before finally answering Zed.
"Wise words, Master Zed, what I desire is a greater mastery of the shadows. After all that would help me achieve my vengeance. However, I feel as though I am lacking, I have been practicing for months, and have very little to show for it. Perhaps, my progress is what one might call 'average', but for me that is far too slow. I will not know when I will need the more advanced arts that you just demonstrated. The sooner I learn and master them, the better off I will be."
Post by Master of Shadows on Oct 5, 2013 19:16:57 GMT -5
Zed kept his gaze locked upon Kahn, the pool of shadows currently beneath him slid over a few feet and began to form the shape of a humanoid figure. It rose from the darkness, silver eyes shining as they bore into Kahn's form. Zed stepped forward, crimson eyes burned like coals as though they were the eyes of a demon. Blades on either of his arms slowly unsheathed as he gauged how Kahn would react, "Then I will train you until you break. And then you will be rebuilt only to be broken once more. However long it takes." Those near demonic eyes locked with the Lotus Hunter's, "I will personally see to it that you will beg for death before your time here is at an end."
Many thought the Shadow arts corrupted those that used them, driving them to inhuman cruelty. Zed however knew better, it was not cruelty, it was not corruption. Only those who were weak claimed it was cruel, only those too afraid to grasp the power at their finger tips called it corruption. And now it would be time to test if Kahn was strong enough to endure.
"To cause paranoia or anger in an opponents mind is a greater weapon than even the finest blade." As if to illustrate this, the silver eyed clone threw an arm out to the right, a blur of darkness and another shadow clone appeared. This one soon to mimic the movement of the last, creating another, this pattern continued until there was eight clones now surrounding Kahn. "One will come. Then two. then four. Then all eight. And then me. You will defend yourself as long as you are physically possible, to the point of death if need be."
Kahn watched the pool of shadow form into one of Zed's many clones. Something he had learned to fear, yet respect. The creation of a shadow clone was the pinnacle of success. The red eyes that were forged in the fires of hatred then returned to him. Observing, watching how he reacted. Kahn did react, his stance shifted into a standard katana wielding stance, and his knees bent. His eyes darted between the silver and demonic eyes that belonged to Zed and the humanoid shadow he created. His words did not register surprise, Kahn had learned to expect this from what he had observed, not to mention his initiation as well.
"Begging has never been something that has come easily to me." He would reply, it was true even when he was tortured four years ago...he remained tight lipped. He would rather die than let secrets leave his lips. His eyes never left Zed or his clone, even when Zed spoke Kahn's gaze shifted between the two of them. The grip on his katana tightened and loosened as he was trying to find that happy medium to hold his blade. The Master of Shadows was imparting his wisdom on the Lotus Hunter, wise words they were. After all no matter how much one may claim to feel nothing in terms of fear....they all had their breaking point. The human mind can only withstand so much. The Lotus Hunter watched more clones appear and separate from the others, how interesting. He would have never thought that you could use a clone to create another clone. A technique like that would be very valuable. At his words, Kahn would simply nod.
"If that is what I must do in order to gain power, then so be it. Let us begin."
Post by Master of Shadows on Oct 19, 2013 5:57:11 GMT -5
A single clone that stood to Zed's immediate right took a step forward, even the simple movement of walking forward seemed almost hard to follow. Darkness swept from the clone's body, shrouding it's limbs a black shadowy smoke making it impossible to tell where exactly its arms and legs were as it manipulated the shadows around itself.
Zed simply stood, observing, wondering how Kahn would fare against the shadow clones that he controlled, "Are you afraid?" He questioned, his voice held no emotion as he spoke. before the clone who had stepped forward suddenly kicked off, it kept its body low to a ground as it ran toward the Lotus hunter, arms out to the sides leaving a trail of misty shadows in its wake, the hollow silver eyes locked onto Kahn's. It was aiming to do a simple attack, easily avoidable but hard to see due to its limbs being obscured. The clone would try bring charge in low, sweeping it's arms in two crossing arcs in front of itself in order to amputate Kahn's legs from the knees down.
Post by Kahn Hisan on Oct 26, 2013 21:39:33 GMT -5
Kahn watched one of the many shadow clones stepped forward, but it was rather odd seeing how obscured the shadow's form was. This would certainly make it difficult to see oncoming attacks, and counterattacks, but not impossible. After all Kahn's eyes were trained to pick up the smallest difference in details, as when you are a Kinkou assassin, you have to be through and certain about the information you gather and your target. Interestingly enough Zed asked if he was afraid. Fear was a natural reaction to such a situation, but for the most part every day one would be a step closer to death.
"To be honest, I do feel fear. Perhaps that is weakness, maybe it is wisdom. As each day passes the flower of life wilts away, but I must admit fighting someone of your reputation is a reason to feel fear. Granted, I assume many do not get a chance to fight back, if you are fighting seriously." Meaning that most of Zed's opponents were not graced with the knowledge of Zed's presence. Moments later the clone dashed toward the Lotus Hunter, Kahn reached into one of his pouches and drew a kunai. The clone's intentions were a slow simple strike with razor sharp blades, but Kahn knew far better than to wait for the last second.
The Lotus Hunter jumped away throwing the kunai knife he had drawn moment before. The knife was aimed at the middle of the clone's head, the Lotus Hunter hoped to use the clone's forward momentum against it allowing for a swift and easy kill. However, should the clone not be dead from the blow, but stunned then Kahn would rush forward thrusting his katana at the clone's chest. Hoping to pierce through it, and ending this battle with was little effort as possible. However, if the kunai was ineffective then he would assume a standard kendo stance preparing for the next strike.
Post by Master of Shadows on Oct 28, 2013 5:42:35 GMT -5
"He who fears nothing, is either a liar or a fool." Zed's voice rung throughout the area, his voice still retaining the detached cold emotionless tone. Zed himself watched every one of Kahn's movement's like a hawk, how his first reaction was to go for the Kunai, something Zed remembered from their previous spar before Kahn was accepted.
Without warning while the first Kunai flew through the air toward the initial clone, two more clones had already started to move behind the Lotus Hunter, rushing toward him as he focused upon the original, one aiming to cripple the legs by slicing the tendons in the backs of his knees, while the other went for a killing blow, choosing to attempt a strike at the base of his skull should he not be aware of them moving. The kunai impaled the first clone's forhead causing it to pause briefly only to be impaled by the katana through its chest, the clone's empty eyes would look directly into Kahn's, showing nothingness within them. Silver glowing eyes that held no emotion, nothing but gaping wells of emptiness, yet they also seemed to hold an alien intelligence about them, something that looked to be out of place in this world as though there was an entity behind them, observing and studying from a different plane of existence.
While the fight continued Zed folded his arms across his chest, his own crimson eyes burned like smouldering coals, none had passed this, all buckled under the ruthless onslaught, very few had ever managed to defend against and defeat the clones in order to face Zed, so far none had ever bested him, "Fear is a weakness, fear can be exploited. Yet he who is unwilling to overcome those fears is a coward." Zed's voice sounded once more, also testing if kahn could keep focus on both responding to Zed while keeping his senses sharp enough to fight effectively, "What is it you fear most, Kahn?"
Post by Kahn Hisan on Oct 28, 2013 22:49:27 GMT -5
As Kahn was charging in to impale the first clone, he noticed the two clones circle around him intent on attacking him from behind. He would have to make this killing blow quick. He felt his blade plunge into the shadow clone's chest, there appeared to be little resistance, like he was cutting through water itself. He looked up briefly, and saw the hollow, cold, yet observant silver eyes meet his own. There was something behind those eyes that did not fit in with his knowledge of this world, whatever it was it caused a chill to run through Kahn's veins. The Lotus Hunter removed his katana quickly and with little resistance. He then quickly turned to see one of the clones aiming to slice the tendons in his knees, the other aiming a fatal blow at his head.
Kahn quickly grabbed one of his many smoke bombs and threw it at his feet. Immediately his position became obscured by a cloud of white smoke. Moments later Kahn rolled out from the cloud to the right of the clone trying to strike the base of his skull. At this point he heard Zed ask what he feared there would be no reply as Kahn had to commit to this attack. He lunged forward coming out of his crouched position with surprising speed. His katana was aimed to pierce the clone's stomach. If the blow was successful, Kahn would channel for a moment before generating a shadow kunai and stabbing the clone in the throat. At this point he would reply, "I do not fear death, if I did then I chose a poor profession. What I fear is failure of any mission and weakness that prevents me from carrying out a mission." He would reply while tearing his shadow kunai out of the clone's throat and shoving the 'dead' body aside. Then the Lotus Hunter would quickly turn to face his other attacker, while occasionally glancing to where Zed was standing to see if anymore clones would join the fray.
If the attack fails then he would quickly draw a Sai to help parry or deflect the counter attack that these shadow clones may unleash. At this point he would answer Zed's question, "I do not fear death, if I did then I chose a poor profession. What I fear is failure of any mission and weakness that prevents me from carrying out a mission." One of his eyes would glance over at the other clones to see if they were eager to join the fray.
Post by Master of Shadows on Oct 29, 2013 1:43:45 GMT -5
The clones backed off, the small area of smoke making it near impossible for the naked eye to view Kahn within it, though the one that had attempted to strike at the base of his skull was soon assaulted by lightning fast reflexes. Each clone was just as skilled as Zed, but Zed himself toned them down so they would not outright kill Kahn, this was a test to see how far he could be pushed before breaking. Ninja or not, Kahn was still but a man. And all men had a breaking point, Zed just simply wished to see where it was in order to gauge the potential he had and to see what kind of personality he had, so far, Zed was far from impressed.
The attack to pierce the clones stomach was parried by the clones arm blade by using the momentum of the katana against itself the clone was able to cause the sword to veer fare off to the left, at which point the arm that had not parried the blow would sweep up in a brutal arc intending on impaling kahn through the bottom of the jaw.
While the two fought, the second clone had moved fast, quickly positioning itself behind Kahn sandwiching him in. From behind the clone would dash in to strike at Kahn's lower spine with a closed fist, focusing on shattering it with one punch while Kahn's sword was being parried.
"Then consider this a mission. A mission you are doomed to fail, there is no way you can win. The end result will be death, Kahn." Zed's crimson eyes watched patiently for Kahn's reaction. So far the rest of the clones were simply standing completely still, the alien intelligence behind their silver eyes observing Kahn fight.
Kahn felt his blade get knocked off course from its intended target, at least he drew his Sai to help him out in a situation like this. Granted, he did not have much time to think, he could only act. The Lotus Hunter stabbed the Sai in the gap between the armblades. The grooved hooks of the Sai fit nicely around the arm blades, however in this position the Sai could do what it did best. Parry and redirect an attack somewhere else. In one swift motion he yanked the Sai and captured arm blade to his left causing the attack to miss. Once the immediate threat was dealt with, he would combat roll out of the way of the other attack. Getting a few feet of distance between him and the two shadows, the Lotus Hunter would turn around. The combat situation was reset, neither side had an advantage now.
Kahn sheathed the Sai he had out earlier, and reached into one of his pouches. From that pouch he produced a fragmentation grenade that would detonate on impact, however he was not done just yet. After a moment of focusing two shadowy copies of the grenade would appear in his hand. Granted, these fakes were nothing like the shadows that Zed manipulated, meaning that they were harmless and disappear a few moments after impact. He threw the grenades toward the two shadows, the fake ones would land in front of the shadows, while the real one would land a few feet behind him. Kahn's hope was that the fake grenades would drive the shadow clones back into the lethal range of real fragmentation grenade. Regardless if this ploy was successful, Kahn would assume a neutral combat stance.
"I've faced death once before and escaped with my life. Who is to say that I will not do so once again?"
Post by Master of Shadows on Dec 4, 2013 15:55:12 GMT -5
Had Zed truly been using the clones full potential, Kahn would have been dead long before now. But, what would the purpose be in killing the man? He may still have his uses and could become a valuable ally should he be capable of growing if he showed loyalty to the Order. Zed watched as he survived against the assault, his eyes completely impassive as he watched from behind the chrome mask that obscured his face. He was somewhat impressed by the shadow duplicates of the grenade that Kahn had created, but still he had much, much more training to be had before he could be called anything other than amateur at the shadow arts.
"I say so." Was all he said in response to the Lotus Hunter's question, "You will die here, I will make sure of that. It will be drawn out, painful and exhausting. But, in the end, you will die." he stated in a matter of fact tone. Instead of following the initial plan, Zed and all the clones would vanish from sight, seeming to simply sink into the ground before coming nothing more than a series of fleeting dark spots moving across the ground making it incredibly hard, near impossible for the untrained eye, to keep up with even one of them.
The black shadowy figures slitted across the stone pavements, up nearby walls, never stopping always moving in unpredictable patterns. Until from one of the shadows upon a nearby wall behind Kahn, a black image would jump, moving faster than any normal human had any right to. Blades prepared to strike fast and precise toward his spine, preparing to cripple him. Another would emerge, from in front, another and another all from various other directions leaping, blades aimed and ready to slice at the Lotus hunter.
Though every strike was intended to /look/ deadly, they weren't they were intended to cause immense pain. To try break the focus Kahn had, Zed had made sure that the clone were now attacking with speed and precision that he knew Kahn did not yet have the ability to defend against. But, it was all part of Zed's brutal training for the Lotus Hunter. He wanted power, power came at a price. He would be broken down, he would be crushed. And only when he begged for death, only when he had given up all hope that there was any chance of life, would Zed finally rebuild him into a true Shadow Ninja.
Shadow people follow him everywhere he goes. Looking over his shoulder, the paranoia flows.
Did Zed really intend to kill him? Was he found out? Had he been discovered after all he had worked for? While the Lotus Hunter was distraught, his face did not show it. No, he would not die here...there was still much he had to accomplish. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zed and his clones sink into the surface of the earth like it was mud or a puddle of some sort. This was very concerning, and he watched these spots move at great speed all in different directions. He tried to keep up with them all, but inevitably lost track of one or two. Damn, this was going to be difficult, one or two could be the end of him, but he could not locate the stray ones no matter how hard he looked. Suddenly shadow clones leapt from their spots, and were preparing to unleash a flurry of attacks that would be difficult if not impossible to dodge, fortunately Kahn still had his agile lotus technique to aid him in dodging. He prepared his state of focus and slowed his breathing as he watched all of the attacks, the time was no-
His focus was interrupted as he felt something plunge into back hitting his spine. He let out a cry of pain and coughed some blood out. He tried to ignore the pain, but it was very difficult, granted he was about to be in more pain then before due to the flurry of attacks that these clones were going to unleash on him. He managed to draw his katana back into a defensive postion, but it did not do him much good and only granted him a partial block. All of the clones' blades found their mark, wounding the Lotus Hunter badly and he cried out in pain in response to those wounds. Blood seeped from his wounds as he collapsed to all fours, and coughed up more of it. Agony filled his joints, but he could not stay down. He knew Zed would not stop because of his weakness, he forced himself to his knees. This pain....was unbearable, and judging from the blood loss...he did not have much time till he blacked out. A darkness that he had no doubt he would not wake up.
He manged to get off one of his knees, but he was still crouched. One thing became clear to him, he would not be moving anywhere fast, but he would not just lie down and die. He intended on taking a few of these clones with him if he had any say in the matter. He managed to raise his blade, as his eyes darted around searching for the clones before their next strike. Granted, it would be difficult as his vision was beginning to blur. He blinked once trying to get a clear look at his surroundings.
Post by Master of Shadows on Dec 16, 2013 16:57:13 GMT -5
As Kahn was brought to his knees and bled immensely from his wounds, Zed emerged before the Lotus Hunter, he seemed to almost simply appear from nowhere, "I am unimpressed, Kahn." his voice was cold like ice, piercing through the air with an almost inhuman air about it. Behind Zed the shadows swarmed and pulsated as though they were alive, the clones all emerging from their hidden spots and marched forwards toward Kahn, Zed's voice sounded once more, "What do you want your power for Kahn?" He questioned, "What drives you to stare death in the eyes and defy it?" A single clone walked forwards as Zed spoke, "In your heart, what will you die for?" Closer, ever so closer the clone would walk, a blade unsheathing as he done so, black wisps of smoke surrounded the clone as he moved, "What is worth such punishment?" The clone stopped beside Kahn as he knelt in pain, "Is your will strong enough to endure, are you strong enough to fight for it?" In a flurry of shadows the clone moved, kicking himself off the ground and raising his right leg only to bring it down in a brutal arc intending to bring it down upon the back of Kahn's head.
Zed watched, his eyes unblinking, crimson smouldering orbs in the darkness. Patiently, he wondered if Kahn could draw power from whatever it was he fought for and fend off the last attack.
Shadow people follow him everywhere he goes. Looking over his shoulder, the paranoia flows.
Post by Kahn Hisan on Dec 17, 2013 18:59:24 GMT -5
The downed Lotus Hunter managed to get a partially clear image of Zed, his voice was clear as daylight. The Master of Shadows questioned why he wanted this power, why he needed it so. To Kahn...it was fairly obvious to help him blend in and gain Zed's trust. He was doing it for the mission. From his blurry vision he saw a clone moving forward with it's blade unsheathed, his executioner no doubt. He could have sworn he could have heard the shadow's footsteps, or perhaps that was the blood lost. With every step came another question as to why he needed such power. What else could he possibly need such power for other than the mission? The clone was close now he would have to strike soon, what would be worth enduring such pain for? Suddenly a gleam could be seen in his eye. A revelation had struck him.
It wasn't a what, but a who. He was fighting for his younger sister, Rikako, wasn't he? Wasn't she just as important as the mission itself, if not more? She was one of the reasons he had come here to see if she had survived or escaped Zed's slaughter. Supposedly....she had, and Zed promised that he would see her if he proved himself worthy. That was something real that he could cling onto, that he could endure death and fight for. He saw the clone rising it's leg intending on bashing his head in with it's foot, and the Lotus Hunter was ready to strike to fend off this attack, and strike down this shadow. Even if it might be the very last thing he would do. He had fought like a man possessed once before in his life, but this time....he would be truly possessed.
His vision cleared for a moment as a second wind created from rage, and clarity flowed through his body. He would try to deflect the incoming kick to the side using the flat of his katana, hoping to cause the clone to stagger. If this maneuver was successful then he would force himself, and in his left hand shadows would form in the shape of a short blade. Granted, the manifestation wasn't perfect, as it was formed in a fit of rage and in a state of exhaustion, but it was sharp and jagged. The latter characteristics were the only two that the Lotus Hunter cared about at this moment in time. He would try and plunge the jagged shadow blade into the clone's chest hopefully ending the thing's life. If this was successful then he would stumble for a moment as the shadow blade faded away, and turn his head to face Zed. "I'll....fight....for her..." He would say, before stumbling back and collapsing to the ground unconscious. His body reached the point where he could not continue. The blood loss and exhaustion was too much, and he was now defenseless. Whether he had lived or died was up to the Master of Shadow's whim.
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