~char~
after seeing my name written next to shino maebure on the tournament bracket i began to make peace with myself, the harbinger of death is in a league of his own. i hail from the cloud village and i put my training above all else, i was always the weakest link but after nearly killing myself through grueling training that i do to this day i am no longer weak. i run a dojo in the cloud village where i train the next generation of warriors, then the trajectory of my life shifted entirely after meeting the man known as shino maebure.
maebure appears to be around 60 and has for as long as ive known him, he has an eerie presence, almost suffocating. maebure told me about the 10 and the power becoming one would give me, but the only ways to become one is if a 10 dies from natural causes whoever is viewed as the strongest individual outside of the 10 will become number 10 and every other 10 will move up a place, the other way is by killing a 10. merely defeating one of them in combat won't do anything, to become one the hard way you have to taint your soul by killing. i envy those that managed to become a 10 without having to slaughter another human.
"the match will now begin!" i feel like the simple act of walking to the arena where i was going to fight and seeing my opponent in the flesh made my life flash before my eyes, all i can think about is shino maebure, i remember the cold rainy night he came knocking on my door, how evil his face looked with his shoulder length silver hair stuck to his face from the rain.
"im dissapointed char" maebure says to me in a stern voice that can be heard throughout the entire arena, "i thought you would've gone for my head immediately" i breathe heavily, maebure has his hands in his pockets and he walks towards me calmly,
"what are you thinking about char?" maebure raises his hand and my mind goes blank, what was i thinking about?
"are you ready to fight me now? or do i need to pick your brain apart more?" maebure clenches his fist and i remember the night my life ended.
i had a son when i was 20 years old, my wife died during childbirth and i never remarried, the day my son turned 18 is the day i met maebure, he and my son where connected seemingly through fate but in reality my son was one of the 10, he was an elite shinobi that was incredibly skilled in combat, he was a hero and leader to many. shino maebure told me that if i became one of the 10 i would have the power to bring my wife back to life, he was able to manipulate me as easily as if i were clay. i turned him away and i thought that would be the last i saw of him and it was for nearly two years, during a particularly cold winter my son fell ill, even after the snow melted he didnt show any signs of getting better. and then out of the blue i was paid a visit by the harbinger of death, he came to my house in the dead of night and said two words before vanishing,
"its time" i woke up the next morning covered in blood, i had slit my sons throat while he slept, i was not able to bring my wife back to life nor was i able to forgive myself for what i had done, that was the night i died.
i fill with rage and throw a punch at maebure, he dodges,
"thats more like it char!" he sidesteps my flurry of attacks like its nothing, "youre going to make me sweat if you keep this up!" he raises his hand again and my vision cuts out of the fight and in the blink of an eye i see myself killing my son in a hundred different ways each more gruesome than the last.
"come on now char, you cant even hit me once?" maebure taunts me as he ducks and weaves through my attacks,
"divine intervention, cold wind blows!" i shout, activating my divine intervention, its an ability that allows me to change any part of my body between solid and gas at will, it gives me a wispy look almost like clouds on a windy day. along with my own body im able to manipulate the air around me turning it into armor, the air can be condensed into solid objects and im virtually unstoppable. the one way to kill me in the form is by taking out my "core" when i enter this state a large hole appears in my chest where a heart would go, instead its replaced by a floating ball of energy, the eye of the storm if you will.
"let me see what you've got char" maebure sounds serious now, i raise my arms and point them at him, my wrists explode in a powerful burst of air that shoots my fists off and directly at maebure but he dodges, i use the air to make new hands and shift them into blades, condensing the air makes me incredibly effective weapons but they arent sturdy, my blades are nothing more than sharp wind. i use the wind to propel me quickly towards maebure, i dont even care about the rules anymore, im going for the kill. i slash at him with my wind blades but he still is able to dodge every attack, i make my entire body turn to gas and it lets me get behind my enemy, i focus as much of the air around me as i can into my hands and release, a blast of cold wind hits maebure directly, the beam tears through the base of the stadium like butter leaving a large hole in it. i release the wind beam and standing in front of me, completely unscathed is shino maebure.
"im almost impressed" he says with an evil smile
"h-how" i stutter
"like this" maebure removes his hand from his pocket and strikes me once in the stomach, its so fast i can barely see it happen, i fall down, my divine intervention deactivating. he crouches down and speaks to me in a voice only i can hear,
"i thought i saw a flicker of your old fire for a moment back there, but in the end its pointless to try and reignite a flame thats long since burned out."