There he was, the general. Not even a little bit intimidating. Plain white shirt, blue jeans, and flip flops. What the heck? The only slightly intimidating thing was his eyes… those eyes full of murder and hatred.
I almost laughed, but Tommy went all out. He started guffawing like a madman. The general just sat there and grinned at us. Tommy’s face was turning blue from laughing so hard, so I kicked him and he calmed down.
The general got up; he was also shorter than I expected. He was about my height. He walked up to me, held out his hand, and asked:
“What can I do for you?”
I ignored his hand, and was about to speak when Tommy answered first.
“We want to kill you.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because the Daimyo told us to.”
Now, the general started to laugh at Tommy, but got himself under control quickly. Tommy managed to keep a straight face throughout the entire time.
“You mean that ninja deity?”
“Yeah.”
“Looks like you’re going to hell for disobeying your god.”
He walked back to his chair, opened up the seat, and reached inside. He pulled out a small dagger that made Terra gape with desire. It was the diamond dagger. It was very short, but looked incredibly sharp.
Terra slowly reached for something under her skirt, and just as slowly pulled out a shuriken. Tommy was busy forming a pentagram, and Juliet just stood there shuffling her feet. I drew my katana and prepared some lightning.
The next thing I knew, the general was gone and Tommy was on the floor, wriggling with pain. Juliet helped him up, and Terra and I were back to back, looking for the general. I heard a rush of wind next to me; the general. I managed to block the dagger going for my spleen with my katana, which was now fully charged. Terra jumped around, and threw her shuriken, but the general was gone again, and the star hit the wall perfectly.
She ran over to get it, but right as she got there, the general appeared and she froze with intimidation. He plucked the shuriken out of the wall, and put it in his pocket. He noticed that she kept eying his dagger, and chuckled to himself.
“Oh… you want my dagger, huh?”
Terra didn’t respond in any way; she didn’t know what to do or say. The general had the potential to kill her right there. She was about to run when she was knocked to her feet, along with the general. They both got back up, and the general immediately his head to look at Tommy, who was readying another gust of wind. Then the general was behind him, and was about to plunge his dagger into Tommy’s back when Juliet planted an explosive on his back and was about to slash his head off with her claw when he decided to appear in front of me. I somewhat expected it, so I struck him, a bit hastily but surely, and he went sprawling onto the floor towards his chair. The explosive activated, and the chair was blown to pieces, but the general had disappeared. Tommy ran for the door so he could ready his nullification spell to get rid of the general’s insane speed, but he found that it was locked. He shot a bolt of lightning at it, but the jewels on the door didn’t budge.
We all looked around, carefully, to make sure he wasn’t behind any of us, when Terra screamed. I turned over to her, and the general was in the air, ready to drive his dagger into her head, when Tommy shot another bolt of lightning at him in mid-air. The general was flung against the wall, but right as he was about to hit it, he appeared above Juliet, who held out her claw and braced herself, but the general was hit in the side by three of Terra’s shurikens, and I took this chance to run up and strike.
Right as I brought my blade down on his bloody chest, he was in front of Tommy, who had been preparing his nullification spell, and Juliet ran in to sink her claw into his body, but it was too late. Tommy was unable to run because of the intense concentration needed, and the general thrust his elbow into Tommy’s chest, which destroyed the spell.
As Tommy was trying to recover his breath, the general disappeared. As I looked around, while Juliet was helping Tommy, I heard something up above, and glanced up. The general was up on the chandelier. He was still holding Terra’s shurikens which he had plucked out. He threw them at the unsuspecting Juliet, but Terra and I jumped in. I managed to block two of them with my katana, which had lost its electricity, and Terra took care of the other two with her dagger.
Juliet dragged Tommy over to the corner, where she stood in front of him, so he could cast his nullification. He was taking very deep breaths and his eyes were closed. Meanwhile, the general was busy with me and Terra, Terra with her dagger in one hand and a shuriken in the other and me with my flaming katana.
Then he was gone again, which was really pissing me off. I looked up at the chandelier, and sure enough, he was there. I was starting to get some kind of sense of his location…
He jumped down to strike at Juliet with his dagger, who blocked it with one of her claws, and plunged her other claw into his stomach, which did not go very deep at all. She then headbutted him, which seemed to hurt her more than it did to him. He had no reaction to the claw that was ripping away at his intestines, or even the headbutt. He just used his other hand to start jabbing away at her, with swift punches all over her body. She couldn’t seem to get her claw out of his stomach, nor could she stop blocking the dagger.
Then, Tommy opened his eyes and everything went blank. A second later, everything came back, and the general was on the ground. Juliet’s claw was drenched in blood, and her forehead was bleeding a little bit.
The general stirred a little bit, and pulled himself onto his knee. His white shirt was now a dark red. Terra and I closed in on him, and watched him try to get up. He succeeded, and looked around at us. He tried to do his little dash, but only succeeded in falling back down.
“What… happened?”
“I used a nullification spell. That dagger of yours is useless now,” Tommy answered.
“No… This dagger cannot be useless… it is my entire life…”
“Looks like I’m taking your life from you, then,” said Terra. She reached down and took the dagger.
“Your time’s up, general,” I said. I plunged my katana into his back and felt… nothing. I didn’t feel any energy in his body, nor any flowing into mine. Then I remembered that Tommy was still using his nullification spell.
“Can you turn off the nullify, Tommy? I’m trying to take his energy.” He did, and I felt weight on me again.
I tried again, and still nothing. It’s like everything he ever had was in the dagger. I looked over at Terra, who was looking at it lovingly. We began to walk back out.
“One down, one to go,” she says.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“This diamond dagger is the vessel of Hermes’ Dagger.”
“What?” I was confused.
“You see,” she started to explain. “Long ago, thirteen Deities created the world as we know it. When they ascended to the heavens, they left their weapons behind, knowing they would no longer need them. They are known as the thirteen Deity Arms. These weapons are the strongest creations in the universe. You may not realize it, but that weapon you’re holding right now is one of them. The Ares’ Katana.”
“Ares’ Katana? I don’t think so. This is the Clause Katana.”
“Clause Katana? Nope, never heard of it. The Ares Katana has the ability to absorb the souls of those whom it has slain. It was named after Ares because he was the god of bloodlust.”
“The Clause Katana does that too… I believe you’re mistaken.”
“No, I’m not. Now I understand.”
“Understand what?”
“The katana was stolen by some guy named Lior or something… He goes under many names. Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Santa Clause. He must have stolen it and given it his name.”
I never realized I was holding a weapon of such value… It was incredible to find out.
“So what did you say about that diamond dagger of yours?” I asked.
“The diamond dagger, as I said, is the vessel of the Hermes’ Dagger, another one of the Deity Arms. The Hermes’ Dagger is spiritual, and when infused with the diamond dagger, it has the ability to amplify one’s physical and mental capacities. It was split in half when Hermes decided that he only wanted deserving people to use it. He made one part of it the diamond dagger, and the non-physical part is in a shrine, located somewhere that I don’t know. That’s why the general had such great speed.”
“Do you know of any other kinds of Deity Arms? Like, one for Spell Shinobis to use?”
“Yes, actually. The Rhea Scroll. I’m not sure of what it does or where it is located yet, but I am completely sure it is a Deity Arm. As for Juliet, there is a pair of claws known as Cronus Claws. They allow the bearer to be able to use instant regeneration, which includes being able to recover from any kind of damage that may be done to the body, from minor cuts to a severed arm. Not only that, but gives them a slight increase in agility. I’m not sure where that one is, either. There is a map, however… But that’s just as rare as the actual weapons.”
I could see the desire in Tommy’s face. He looked really excited about all of this. Looks like I’m stuck hunting for Deity Arms, now. Might as well. Maybe I’ll collect a few useful souls along the way.
