"What do you want from me?"
"I need someone for a task, you can refuse and continue to rot here instead."
"You look like someone influential, so I'll only accept if it guarantees my sister's safety."
The man pauses,probably to ponder what I just said or to look for a loopholein the agreement to screw me over, regardless, I've already lost something important, I can't lose her too.
"Should you survive my selection process then you and your sister shall be protected."
"Good,now what's the selection process?"
The man motions to the guards and they open the gate.
I walk out but I feel a powefuld burning sensation on my chest making me scream, I rush back into the cell, as I do the pain fades and when look down and a palm print appears on mythe skin of my chest.
When I look up, I see a tall creature hovering behind the man, in a red robe.
"A tall skull faced spirit; isn't that flame bound spirit Ino(prounced ee-naw).
"Ah I see you're not a completely empty heded peassant and you can see him too. He only attacked you because you didn't bow as you emerged from your cage."
"I'm sorry..." I start to cough making tit difficult to speak.
"Good now do the needful."
I walk out of the cell again, the same way as before and Ino places it's molten right hand on my chest again making me scream in pain. My chest now reeks of burnt flesh.
I retreat back into the cell once again.
"I think you may have brain damage, I said kneel!"
"Sorry, but I don't know how to do that."
"Why you..."
The man takes a whip from the guards,before he can stike me with it, I rush forward and tackle him to the ground, the guards surround me and I raise my hand to defend myself but I feel a powerful jolt of electricity from my back paralyzing me as I fall unconscious.
Ino pulls back itseft hand coated with electricity.
I start losing consciousness as I hear the imperial
"Prepare the fool..."
I awake in body armour, a dagger on one hand and a ball and chain tied to my leg .
I find myself in a stadium with people cheering for something. Not far from myself, a man in a similar armour as myself rides in on a white horse.
He dismounts the horse and approaches me.
"You pathetic vermin, I Nobunaga will carry out the great Imperial's mission, only you stand in my way. Surrender now and your death will be swift."
"Please, I need to rescue ny sister."
I slowly wind the chain around my hand.
"Let me have her name and I assure you she will be safe as one of my many concubines."
I could only see red as soon as he said that as I used the chain to swing the steel ball at him, he instinctively unsheathes his sword and slices the chain and evades the ball.
*I can't believe that actually worked.*
I unsheath the sword In my hand but taken aback by the fact that it's blade is broken with only a quarter the length of a normal katana.
The crowd erupts in laughter at my poor fortune. Even my foe couldn't help himself, placing his hands on his hips as he laughed. In that moment, I rushed forward with the broken blade held with both my hands.
He sees the attack and unsheaths both his katana in his right hand as well as the tanto in bis left.
"You seem to have fire within you, let's see if I can snuff it out!"
He rushes forward with his sword and swings it at my neck, I duck underneath but the tanto slashes my face and he kicks me back.
I ignore the sting in my face as I press my hand against it to stop the bleeding.
My foe takes a few steps forward slowly then rushes forward with his katana aiming at my heart.
I jump out of the way and take a hand full of sand throwing it in bis face.
He spits and tries to clear his eyes waving his sword around.
"You vile underhanded..."
I maintain my distance and throw off one of my boots. He rushes in that direction and I leap to slash his neck but his eyes were clear and he catches me in mid air witha sword slash ,impaling me in the stomach with his sword.
This...isn't how this was supposed to go.
I hear the crowd cheer louder and louder ad Nobunga raises both arms upward, he turns to me and pulls out the sword. Blood spews from my abdomen like a fountain.
I roll over to face the ground as all the things in my life flash before me, my wretched father,my sick sister, even the book I used to tell her stories...wait,maybe I can..."
In my fading consciousness, I place my nad in the blood and draw a circle on the ground from an image in the book.
"In my dying breath...I...summon you...the first of the the Earthbound...Ona...!"
The symbol of three concentric circles with a square in tge middle intersecting with all three glows golden and the ground starts to rumble violently.
In the faraway distance, my father is about to take another sip of sake when he feels the rumlings.
His eyes widen
"The boy really did it this time..."
He picks a walking stick and a small pouch and runs so fast, he even outpaces the horse riders rushing to the stadium.
By the time he arrived, a large shadow is cast by a giant towering high over the stadium composed entirely of grey and brown stones, it's feet deeply rooted underground and its limbs are almost touching the ground.
It's chest has the same symbol drawn to summon it with red veins with blood from the summoner.
It looks down at Nobunaga and the sword with my blood on it and swings its arm at him, he tries to run away but the arm made of may large stones flattens him.