Hunt the Executioner (Mikomi)

Your toe slides through the course stone opening in the door until you feel the hole stop. The tip of your toe gently brushes the backside of the stone door as you patiently wait for what is to come. An eerie silence befalls the area, your breath quickens, a bead of sweat drops from your forehead, and finally, something happens. The eyes of the skull begin to glow a deep red, as if by magic. The door shakes for a brief second as a demonic voice billows forth from the door.

"The Demon has found you worthy"

Then in an instant, without warning, a cold piece of steel slides across the opening of the hole, the very hole your toe is currently in. It happens so fast, you barely have time to react before the pain sets in, warm red blood pooling around the opening of the hole. The steel slides back, releasing your toe, only to reveal that it is no longer there. Blood begins to pour from the cleanly cut wound as the stone door shakes even more violently this time, sliding sideways into the earth revealing a dark hole boring its way into the earth.

A warm, dry and musty smell meets your nose as you slowly make your way into the tunnel. Its dark, all around you a stone corridor descends deeper and deeper into the earth, but you push forward. After a few moments the tunnel levels out, only to open up into a small stone room. It is incredibly dark, however a few beams of light can be seen from the ceiling, tiny cracks in the stone and ground allow for slivers of sun light to enter, giving you just enough light to help you see. The room is made of stone for the most part, and is a perfect square, twenty meters by twenty meters. You look around the room taking notice of the fact that it seems to be barren. Until your eyes see it, and stop.

Directly across the room from where you entered, against the wall is a massive stone statue. It depicts an evil looking man, his face covered and his eyes staring intently at you. In his hands, a stone depiction of the very blade you came here to find, The Executioner blade. On either side of this statue is a door, one on the right side and one on the left, shrouded in darkness. As you take in the awe of the statue, you notice a stone plaque at its base, with words etched into it. You close in on the statue to get a closer look, seeing that these words appear to be scratched into the stone.

"Here, the final resting place of a man with no name. Feared through out history, only to meet his demise by an emotion no one knew he possessed. Thousands of men slaughtered, cities cleaved, and nations shaken, only to be conquered by love. This is not the story of the Executioner, but the story of the woman who finally tamed him. For this tomb belongs to three souls, The Executioner, his wife, Vivian Stern, and the sword that coated this land in blood. Those who stumble upon this grave, take this as your warning, turn back, leave this cursed place alone. For the man who holds the blade is not the demon you must fear."

The words linger on your mind, unsure of what to make of what you just read. You take a moment to gather yourself, you now have one of three choices to make. Do you take head of the stones warning, turn back and leave the tomb? Or do you venture deeper, taking either the left or right tunnel, both that without a doubt take you on a surprising and unexpected journey.

Mikomi hopped unceremoniously through the door on one foot. She tied off the severed toe with a stream of curses spilling from her mouth. She stopped the bleeding quickly, and looked around. Drawing her bow and an arrow to stay ready. She glared at the writing on the statue, "Cute, I'd say something nice but my FUCKING TOE HURTS. And now I'm talking to a statue"

Still sputtering curses, Mikomi hobbled through the left tunnel.

You turn to the left, eyeing the left tunnel, that is the path you choose to take. As you make your way down the left tunnel, it gets harder and harder to see, as the light from the previous room slowly starts to fade away. Eventually you are engulfed in pure darkness, unable to see a single thing around you. You place your good hand against the tunnel wall, using it to guide you along, until the wall is no longer there.

Even though you can not see, you can feel the room open up, the air circulating around you. It is warm, dank and dry, however you can feel a light breeze coming from the other side of this darkened room, signaling an exit of some kind. You stand at the end of this tunnel, staring blankly into a pitch black room. You do not know its size, or what lies beyond, only that to venture further you must cross this room.

Mikomi moved slowly into the room, drawing her katana and replacing her bow before she entered it. She kept low, and stepped slowly, testing the ground in front of her with her katana. Not wanting to fall for traps like she had in the Howling Fortress. She held a kunai in her other hand.

The katana would sweep across the stone floor, clanking and tapping as each touch met with solid stone, until it didn't anymore. About five meters into the room, the steel would be met with no resistance as it continued to tap. The weapon would reveal that in the center of the room was a hole, of some size and shape. With the room being as dark as it was, it was nearly impossible to tell just how large this hole was, but it was indeed there. Mikomi would suddenly stop as the realization set it that the floor before her was no longer there.

"Oh fuck, a giant hole, really, REALLY?!?"

Mikomi proceeded to pull 3 shuriken from her bag. Tossing one 3 feet in front of her, the next 5 feet, and the last 10 feet. If all three fell in the hole, she would try to go around. If any landed, then she would jump across. If one landed then she would not throw any more.

As the woman reared back and tossed her shuriken, she would soon realize just how big this room, and the hole, really was. All three steel weapons would not hit a solid stone surface, but would instead fall into the hole. this hole was at least 5 meters long, according to the weapons that now found themselves at the bottom of the hole.

Mikomi grunted in anger, tossing one final shuriken 5 meters away. If it struck stone, she would jump the 5 meters. She could jump approximately that far.

With a giant leap, Mikomi managed to clear the hole that was in the ground. she flew through the air just barely landing on the other side of the hole, her feet meeting solid stone. A light breeze could be felt blowing through the tunnel, Mikomi now standing at the opening of yet another room. Taking a few steps forward, the woman would see nothing once again, as this room was just as a dark, if not darker than the room before. Yet again, the woman was faced with a dark room, not knowing its contents or its size.

Mikomi stayed low to the ground, moving forward slowly in a crouch, still sliding and tapping her katana on the floor in front of her. Her kunai out in a defensive block. She would move forward 5 meters stopping if something alerted her

As Mikomi moved slowly through the room, she would continue to creep, using her katana to tap the floor in case there was anything in the way. Unfortunately the woman would be unable to see the red marked stones that made up the floor, and would blindly tap one of these trigger stones. Instantly the room would fill with the sound of grinding stone. The room would shake as sand and dirt fell from the ceiling, the grinding sound coming from either side of the room. The walls were closing in, triggered by the stone being depressed. She would only have seconds before the walls completely closed in, crushing her.

The second she heard the grinding stone, Mikomi set off forward in a dead sprint toward the other end of the room. The last time there had been an exit directly across from her. So it was possible there was this time too. She sprinted 5 meters forward, forming quick seals as she ran. Then vanished, using Body Flicker to travel 5 more meters instantly.

90 Stamina remains

The walls continued to push inwards, stone grinding stone as the entire room shook. Mikomi, realizing what was happening, took off in a dead sprint, her goal to reach the other end of the room. It only took her seconds with the help of her jutsu, the woman slamming into solid stone as she made it to the other end. However, as she began to feel around looking for an opening of some kind, she was instead met with smooth solid stone, running the entire length of the back wall. The stone walls were quickly closing in.

Mikomi thought back, she had felt dust and sand fall from the ceiling, maybe there was an opening of some sort, first she jumped up, trying to see if the was a ledge above her on the wall she was facing, then, she ran back 5 meters, to ensure she hadn't missed a hole in the floor. Then she leaped directly upwards, trying to grab the top of the grinding walls, an opening in the ceiling, anything.

Mikomis attempt at searching for an opening or a ledge would end up a failure, as the ceiling was solid stone and connected at all corners, offering no room to budge. However as she turned back, returning to the center of the room, her feet would pound against a wooden surface, unlike the stone floor she had been dealing with previously. It was a small wooden square, only about a meter wide, planted directly into the floor. She had managed to miss it once, and was lucky enough to catch it this time. Throwing open the door, the woman would quickly drop into the hatch before the walls had a chance to crush her.

She would drop into a smaller, more dry room, sand at her feet this time. As she stood, Mikomi would notice that she could suddenly see, a deep red glow filling the room around her. The room was a small five meter by five meter room, with no doors to be seen on any surface. What she did see however was another statue, almost identical to the one she saw in the first room. It was a large stone statue that depicted the executioner holding a stone version of his famed sword, another plaque at its base. As she approached the statue she would notice that the red glow was coming from the statues eyes, two red crystals implanted into the eye sockets. On the plaque read:

"Through the eyes of a demon, ambition was sought. Through the blade of a man, battles were fought, but by the heart of a woman, it was all for naught. To conquer the demon, you must destroy what conquered the man. "

Mikomi thought for a second.

Love had conquered the beast, a romantic idea.

Love was idealized as being from the heart. So she drew her katana, and struck, stabbing into the statue seeking the heart, "Sorry!"

As the steel weapon was jabbed into the stone chest of the statue, it actually gave way, a chunk of stone being pushed inward as if it was a loose pressure plate. A hidden button built into the statue where the heart would have been, now sliding inwards, only to click, releasing a contraption of sort. The statue would shake and rumble, sliding side ways in the sand until it finally stopped, revealing a hole in the wall. Mikomi would step through, only to be met with an oh so familiar sight, complete darkness. From the feel of it, this room was massive, and had the familiar cool breeze blowing through it. It was hard to tell the shape and size of this room, but it was the largest one so far that Mikomi had entered.

Mikomi clicked her Eyeguard and Range finder over her eyes, activated her Sharingan, and tied an exploding note to a kunai, tossing it. Detonating it when it was at least 10 meters away.

Her range finder and eyeguard would block the flash of light from affecting her Sharinga. And the explosion would illuminate the room, her Sharingan allowing her to take in all the details in that moment.

5 Chakra for Sharingan.

Mikomi would cover her eyes with the proper tools, then toss out a weapon with an exploding note attached. As it erupted, the blast would provide enough light to see for just a few seconds. The room was massive, extended forward for 30 meters, only to end at what appeared to be a wall. There were four more passage ways, two on either side, that extended deep into the darkness, away from the light of the blast. Soon darkness would seep back in, leaving Mikomi with little to no information.

Mikomi returned to the room with the red eyed statue, prying out the eyes with her kunai

Mikomi would hurry back, plucking out the stones with her weapon, both red jewels falling into her palms. They would continue to give off light even as they remained apart from the statue. Rushing back into the room, the red glow of the stones would be enough to illuminate the room. The main hallway extended straight down towards a solid stone wall. The wall had a slit in it, implying it was a door and could somehow be opened. On the surface of the stone door were four circular indents, where something like a coin or medallion could be held. On either side of this main hallway, were two more hallways, making four extra passage ways in this area. The passage ways were not very long, but ended at dead ends as well. From the dim red glow Mikomi could make out what appeared to be tables at the end of each hallway.

Mikomi turned, her katana still out and in a guard position. She moved slowly and carefully down corridor 1, towards the table.

Mikomi would make her way down the hallway marked with the number one, using the red stones to light her way. The tunnel was creepy, made of dark stone, with etchings of history across its surface. The walls appeared to tell a story, with various different depictions of war and battle. She eventually would make it to the end of the hall way to see a wooden table built into the wall. On this table rested four round tokens, like giant coins, and looked like they could have slotted into the holes on the wall back in the main chamber.

On the table would be an inscription that read:

"The lowliest of creatures, living beneath our floor boards, the final splinter in the board of death."

Beneath the writing would rest four tokens, each one being made out of a different material and would bear a different picture. There was:

-A wooden token bearing the picture of a rat
-A golden token bearing the picture of a snake
-A copper token bearing the picture of a hawk
-A silver token bearing the picture of a skull

Splinter, lowly creature. Wooden rat most likely. Mikomi picked up the rat token. And headed to the table in corridor 2.

Mikomi would make her way down the hallway marked with the number two, still using the red stones to light her way. The tunnel was creepy, made of dark stone, with etchings of history across its surface. The walls appeared to tell a story, with various different depictions of war and battle. She eventually would make it to the end of the hall way to see a wooden table built into the wall. On this table rested four round tokens, like giant coins, and looked like they could have slotted into the holes on the wall back in the main chamber.

On the table would be an inscription that read:

"A winding brass road, deadly with each turn, the lowest of three, but a king of his realm."

Beneath the writing would rest four tokens, each one being made out of a different material and would bear a different picture. There was:

-A wooden token bearing the picture of a hawk
-A golden token bearing the picture of a rat
-A copper token bearing the picture of a snake
-A silver token bearing the picture of a skull