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The Story Begins
People were dying left and right. Everywhere one looked, there was a gruesome scene taking place; a child being cut down or a man being devoured. Looking back, paper lanterns were probably not the best idea in a village built mostly of wood. It burned, creating a stifling heat that started to spread across Hakone.

Before the attack, Otomo and Yamada Taro were on their way to the temple through the main thoroughfare, perhaps for their own reasons but most likely to pray or find shelter for the night. Either way, when the Yure burst from the ground, these men were the first to see them start swarming towards the temple. Looking up the lighted path that led uphill, stood a man who had unsheathed his weapon, ready for the fight. Refuge was only a dozen or so Yure away, a number that would start to dwindle once the priests and shrine maidens rallied for battle.

A little ways farther from the main thoroughfare, was a small teahouse. It was close to the docks, where most Talay tourists had disembarked from their passenger ships to watch the Ritual War. What they did not anticipate were the Yure who had emerged from the ground like malevolent moles. Li Tsu Zhang and Lei Fu Hai were enjoying a drink or two, of which most did not care to remember when the first patron was cut down. Three, four then an increasing number of Yure made their presence known inside the room. One of the child waiters strayed too far; coming within range of a claw. She would surely be cut down if some one did not act now.

The temple's bells rang. It was a call to arms and it also carried promise of a safe refuge to those who could make it. At the moment, the temple held priority and Ryouichi Zanji was making good time towards the temple, having encountered little in the form of Yure so far. By the time he was at the base of the hill, a platoon's worth of Yure (that would be around a dozen) had formed up between him and his destination. Their backs were turned however as their attention was elsewhere. The one who held their attention was Sasaki Mitsuki, one of the temple's priestesses. She was clearly outnumbered and Weh no Su or not, she needed his help in defending the temple anyway.

OOC: I'm not so sure about the placement of the characters, and it's annoying to type on a PS3.

Otomo looked at the vast number of yure that appeared from the ground, ready to assault the temple. "So many,.." he said quietly in horror. He was only going to the temple for shelter, and perhaps, a calmer place than the village. From the hill, Otomo had seen a man preparing to fight, his sword unsheathed. Seeing this, he gave a sigh and raised his staff to his waist, and readied himself.

Taro quickly unsheathed his dagger, mumbling to himself "Just gotta get to the temple..." as he prpared to fight, lest he be killed. He saw a man with a staff preparing to fight as well, and a man ahead of them on the path was also preparing to fight. Three people against so many Yure... as long as each could hold his own in a fight, everyone should get to the temple. Hopefully, anyway...

Zanji found himself lucky due to the lack of Yure on the way, that is until he found the very large swarm directly in front of him. He felt like keeping himself untouched for a while and planned on sneaking around this large swarm, until he saw the attention of the Yure focused on someone else who seemed to be overwhelmed at the moment.

"Oh, so now I HAVE to fight them" Zanji thought to himself as he proceeded to attack.

Zanji took thee swift downwards slashes with his naginata aimed directly for the weak spot of the Yure.

Fu Hai's weapon was tied into a bundle, and he doubted Li Tsu Zhang would be able to use his weapon any faster than himself. The waitress would be in trouble within a few seconds, protecting her overshadowed the other thoughts in his mind. He couldn't have cared less about his tea, he made a sprint to go between the waitress and the Yure, flinging his cup-and the entire table, for that matter-onto the ground. His advantageous height had allowed him to reach his destination before anyone even heard the expected sound of shattering and banging. He was adept at fighting without the aid of a weapon, and just a few brutes were much less than he could handle, especially if Tsu Zhang got ready as well. He imitated an eagle, confident he was fast enough to be able to take out at least one with just boxing.

Mitsuki was panting having felt that she had been holding off the Yure for quite some time now. She swiped at on cluster of Yure with her fans outstretched in front of her, spinning on her heels quickly before she swiped again at another cluster of Yure. There seemed to be a countless number around her while she fought, and she was even beginning to doubt whether she'd be able to handle all of them singlehandedly. "I will not fall you demons!" she exclaimed while spinning around and dodging another one of the Yure that had managed to get close to her and strike.

She soon noticed that there was a commotion stirring from behind the sea of Yure. Guttural shrieks of discontent rose from the crowd whose attention seemed to have temporarily shifted from her to see who their new opponent was. It would make sense for she to fight towards whomever was helping her and exterminate the Yure in a pincer fashion. She continued to spin with her fan, attacking the Yure swiftly, her sleeves trailing in the air behind her fans. Occasionally she would close one of her fans and smack the Yure on the head with the iron fan made makeshift club. She would not allow these creatures to reach the temple. "You demons sure have grown bold!" she said out loud, not even sure if they could comprehend her words.

((Just so you know, Li Tsu my character's given name, I just westernized the name a bit.))

Li Tsu stared, his eyes flicking between the coffee and the oncoming horde, weighing up the values of the two courses of action available to him. On the one hand, he could savour his tea and enjoy watching the fight between Fu Hai and just about everyone one else. Fu Hai was probably competent enough to save the girl and even hold the incoming... whatever-they-were... off while he enjoyed his tea. Fu Hai's too by the look of things.

Then again he could go and help fixing his reputation and possibly even being dubbed a hero.

Quickly won over by this last thought, Li Tsu thought about how he was going to go about this. His hammer wasn't much use to him over in the back-room so he'd have to use his sword, a notion which didn't please him in the slightest. And that was all there really was to it. Sighing, Li Tsu quickly drained both mugs, trying to keep as much of the precious liquid in his mouth as possible to savour the taste. Still mentally grumbling, he lept to his feet, sending the table in front of him flying for effect. He drew his sword and angrily slashed at the pot plant on the windowsill nearby as well as a nearby beast and made his way to the centre of the room wishing he wasn't talked into leaving his helmet and hammer with the staff.

((I'm assuming the waiter's female, just because of the time you gave, only women children were waitresses in the Imperial Asia. Feel free to tell me off and I'll fix it.))

((Yeah I'm pretty sure this particular waitress is female. There are waiters too, I just followed the French convention of making plurals male, my bad.))

Otomo and Yamada had readied themselves. Most of the Yure had gone off in search of hapless villagers to cut down. The few that stayed looked no less deadly. They were taller than the two men by a noticeable bit and their claws were like that of a crab. The first one launched itself against Otomo, all limbs intent on seizing the poor man and feasting on his flesh. The other two advanced slowly, as if they were playing with Yamada, lashing out from beyond the reach of the short dagger.

And before any of the Yure could further press their attack on Sasaki, one of their number was cut down, hissing away in to nothingness before the rest began turning their attention to this new threat. They formed a rough half circle on either side. They drew back and then lunged forward in an effort to drown the two in claws.

Lei carelessly took a stance while the claw hew downwards as the beast paid no attention to the fancily posing newcomer. Yure were beings of singular focus. The scream was horrifying, the child was gutted as tears streamed down her face, before fading away slowly as her blood emptied from her wound. By the time Zhang had swatted a beast away and arrived at the scene, the other patrons who were still alive were able to collect themselves.

"To the temple!" said one as they all tried to find their own means of escape.

The door way right behind the very same Yure who had slain the waitress and if Lei thought taking different poses would change his fate, he was wrong. Then again, he was not alone and tucked beside the entrance was a giant maul and helmet, no doubt belonging to Zhang. Another Yure that Zhang had angered and neglected to kill came up behind them. With the panicking crowd moving frantically, one of the lanterns landed on some piece of timber that made up most of the establishment and sparked a fire which spread quickly to the roof overhead. It would not be long until the building was brought low.

This was one of many fires that started appearing in Hakone, illuminating the slaughter of the defenceless. Otherwise, the battle raged between the militia and the Yure. The temple's meagre garrison could not save them all but they would have to do its best as more and more flocked to the temple.

Yamada focused as he slashed his dagger forward, the blade extending and hitting one of the Yure on the face and creating a 'clang' sound. The blade drew back as fast as it had lashed out, no damage done to the beast. Yamada knew that it had done nothing- his attack had simply been telling the beasts to stop fooling around as he jumped backwards in an attempt to distance himself and dodge any potential attacks. There were two Yure, and he had to stab each on the back. Hm. His blade once more extended as he slashed again, hitting the tiles of part of a burning roof. A number of tiles fell towards the other beast's unprotected back.

Zanji succeeded in attracting the attention of about half of the Yure, this being a somewhat good thing. On the plus side, the person being overwhelmed beforehand has less to worry about. Now Zanji has his own group of Yure to worry about for himself. He swung his blade from left to right, while ghosting it through the Yure. When the blade reached the end of the line, it became solid again, ready to strike. Zanji quickly pushed the end of the staff forward, hooking the curve of the blade around one of the Yure in an attempt to kill it off.

They seemed to have readily taken the bait, and a large multitude of Yure went to face the stranger whom she hoped she would live to thank afterwards. Which allowed her to hold her ground against the half that stayed to attack her. She swung her war fans around herself creating room for herself, and the remaining Yure seemed quick to comply slowly as she fought them out of her way. Mitsuki's eyes widened to the realization of her current situation, she hadn't been herding the Yure, the Yure had been herding her. They stood in a half circle around her, hissing in their usual horrid manner. She had to credit these Yure for being much more intelligent than she had originally thought, perhaps to intelligent. She was still shocked that they would have the nerve to even come so close to a temple, something was surely not right. However she would have to consider that at a later time, for now she would have to worry about surviving their onslaught and protecting the temple.

As soon as the stepped back faining retreat she opened her hand and allowed a rock inscribed with the symbol fire to roll into the palm of her hand, and another with the symbol of air to roll into her other hand. She was determined to banish them back to wherever and restore the village's purity, but first she would need to weaken them. Just as the Yure rushed forward to attack she casted her incantation. "Fire of the heavens, strike those who defile this holy land." She smacked the rocks together which resulted in the sound of thunder and a bolt of lightning jumping from her hands to the charging Yure. "Might I remind you demons that you are on holy ground?" she said her eyes flickering in the light. It would soon be time to commence the cleansing.

The Yure seemed to shriek, halting only for a brief moment as the ghosted blade went through them. They may have expressed shock but given the situation, it was hard to tell. Either way, Ryouichi's backwards swing caught the last one in the line, the back of the blade biting shallow. The unfortunate Yure started hissing and dissipated but not before stumbling in to the others unbalancing and leaving them all open to attack, or exorcists. Speaking of exorcism, Sasaki's incantation of sorts sent the Yure reeling. Dazed by the force of nature running through their forms, they stumbled in to each other like the clumsy maid stereotype, lying in a heap.

Elsewhere Yamada's creative method of dispatching Yure was a success. The burning tiles ignited the fur, though the flames itself were not nearly hot enough to actually melt Yure, resulting in a new kind of sound. It was like a human scream, at least, a scream for one that was on fire. The Yure standing behind it recovered from the momentary daze it was in from behind hit square in the face before finally registering the demise of the one beside it. It was a small distraction.

Otomo charged the Yure as fast as he could. He knew that he wasn't much of a tactician, nor he could simply grab the claws of the beast without knowing how strong they are and with the other limbs ready to strike. Before making contact with the Yure, he quickly jerked to the left, and swung the staff at it's back, not to directly kill it, but to at least daze it so he could escape.

((Slight name confusion here))

As Zanji tugged the blade out of the back, a bolt of lightning shot out horizontally towards the Yure he had been fighting. He watched as the Yure fell over on top of each other. Zanji was just as shocked by the bolt as the Yure were. He knew they weren't dead, but simply dazed, so Zanji proceeded to climb on top of a Yure and stab it straight in the back. He lifted his naginata towards the sky, blade pointed to the Earth, and thrusted downwards straight in the back of the collapsed Yure.

Now was her chance! The talismans had worked much more effectively than she previously thought they would, though she wasn't complaining. The man whom had aided her by alleviating the amount of Yure that swarmed her now took advantage of the Yure's dazed state and stabbed his naginata into them. Taking out four spell tags she threw them into the air, their relatively fresh ink glistening in the moonlight. She would have to act quick, for she didn't know how long they would stay subdued and she wasn't sure whether the two of them would be able to slaughter the rest of the Yure before they regained consciousness. The tags spun around her slowly acting as if they were kept in orbit by her own gravitational force.

"Heavenly Master watching from the sky, look upon me and hear my cry. Keeper of honour, of judgement, of light, vanquish these demons with your holy might!" The spell tags ceased their orbit and flew away from her, one heading North, South, East and West. "Yure begone!" she exclaimed. Even though she was in her opinion an accomplished exorcist, her surrogate mother, the shrine maiden Akane always told her to always prepare for the unexpected. It wasn't that she doubted herself, more of that she was wary, because it was clear that these Yure were a tad bit different than the others she had encountered in the past.