Time Traveler Katsumi

Eye of the Tiger

{That night, at a certain temple...}

SCCHHHH...

The tree leaves shivered, rustling as an ominous wind swept through the darkened temple.

"Honored priest... in time, will this place be attacked as well?" a young man, one of the esteemed priest's acolytes, asked warily as a chill traveled up his spine. He and another fellow acolyte were supposed to be watching while the priest prayed this evening, should he have need of any assistance, in light of the recent attacks on other temples.

"Not 'in time'..." the elder priest said calmly, pausing in his prayers to address the young follower's concerns. "Already... I can feel evil energy closing in, above this temple."

"Eh!" the two acolytes exclaimed in alarm, breaking out into a nervous sweat, as they glanced up nervously at the ceiling, trying to sense the danger for themselves.

"You should hide," the priest advised them, but it was too late. The evil was already upon them.

"Hmm... it seems you can do a bit more than those we've met before you," it mused, sending a wave of kamaitachi into the temple.

SLASH!

"U... Uwah!" the two boys yelled, frozen in fear, as the priest ran in front of them, whipping out his prayer beads.

SHNKT!

"So, you've come... youkai!" he shouted, pulling the beads tautly in front of him, raising a protective barrier to block the deadly attack.

CRRRASH!

"How impertinent, putting up a barrier just like that," Kagura remarked as she stepped into view, holding Naraku's white infant in one arm and her fan in the other. She slid her fan open a little wider. It seemed this priest had some skill.

"Hmph... So, you youkais are the woman and baby I've been hearing about..." the priest said, keeping his guard up as he gauged his opponents. It was obvious Kagura was a force to be reckoned with, but that baby... 'This infant... compared to the woman... he is actually many times worse!' he realized, tensing, as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. This was bad...

"Heh-heh-heh... Maybe this old monk will know something about the borderline between this world and the next..." the white infant said deviously, snickering. He seemed to be a lot better than the others they had already tried.

"!" the old priest gasped in surprise and alarm. What were they—!?

"I... It spoke...!!" the acolytes shouted with disbelief, also alarmed.

Monk... Will you be able to handle the next one?" Kagura asked, smirking ever so slightly, as she raised her fan to attack again. "Ryuuja no Mai!" she shouted, sending several swirling blades of wind crashing towards them.

KSHNKT! KSHNKT!

"Ugh!" the old priest grunted, gritting his teeth, as he strained to repel her attack with another barrier. He was getting too old for this crap!

—SNAP—!

The priest's eyes widened with a sick realization as he felt the tension in his string of prayer beads suddenly break, and he watched as the dark-red beads began to scatter as they flew up into the air. The old man cried out in pain and shock as the deadly wind vortexes pierced his body, mortally wounding him. His body hit the ground with a sickening thud. Though everything appeared to be happening in slow motion to the doomed priest, in reality Kagura's deadly attack had only taken seconds. The two acolytes were stunned.