Ieji didn’t like their own fighting techniques very much. That was usually the primary thought running through their head whenever things came to a straight fight like this.
Learning how to utilize smaller weapons - especially thrown ones - had always been Ieji’s preferred method of fighting. But when enemies had Domains, or sometimes even techniques like Emery that completely invalidated most thrown weapons, it was a skill that was often near useless.
Of course, nearly perfect aim with poisoned weapons were almost unfairly useful against people who couldn’t fight off the poison, and the several bodies that were convulsing on the floor around the current battlefield spoke to that.
Ieji and Glenn had ended up in the area with the most surviving enemies, which was fine. Ieji was probably the third most proficient in removing weaker threats from the board, and numbers one and two were currently a little preoccupied with rage. And Avuri had basically halved the enemy numbers in her opening move, so there was that too.
As it was, there were a few remaining Cultivators, aside from the one who was laughing maniacally, that were still standing and prepared to fight. Glenn would listen to Ieji’s request, create a small copse of trees in their little arena, and then Ieji would clean up the enemies. Hopefully Glenn would also listen to the second half of Ieji’s request - to not watch the fight. Ieji didn’t want to scare the poor guy; they kinda liked the trio of Avuri’s cousins.
And therein lied Ieji’s dislike of their own techniques, no matter how effective they were.
When Ieji had been taken in by Vale with their other siblings, Ieji was without question the worst off of the lot. The whole group of them had been tortured in various ways, with plenty of lasting damage and scars, but Ieji was unquestionably the one who had come closest to being forcefully warped into a demon.
The lasting effects of that were difficult to reckon with as a child. Ieji wasn’t just ‘creepy’ the way the whole family played it off. Ieji had a warped - nearly demonic - version of a Domain, even as a child. It wasn’t something average Cultivators could sense or feel like with normal Domains either; it took Vale tracking down a near-ancient dragon spiritual healer to finally figure out what was going on.
Ieji was, unfortunately, cursed with an aura that literally unnerved those around them and caused fear. There was no way for Ieji to control it or stop it - only empower it. And it had caused no shortage of problems growing up.
Combined with the already deep emotional and psychological scars in place from their torture, Ieji’s time growing up made things worse before anything got better.
While everyone in the family made an obvious effort to include them, Ieji could tell that their siblings were always wary and a little afraid. Even the older ones. It took nearly two years of constant exposure to the aura before its effect began to wane on them, and basically three full years before it seemed to no longer affect them. By that time, a fair bit of damage had been done.
Ieji had gotten too used to trying to be as neutral as possible to avoid sudden scares. No sudden movements, no bursts of emotions, nothing. Three years of tamping down everything had left Ieji stunted when it came to emotion.
Ieji’s life did improve immensely from there, though. Once Kota and the others had become basically immune to Ieji’s aura, they spent the next several years slowly dragging Ieji back out of their shell; and as long as they were at home, it worked.
Over time Ieji had developed the coping mechanisms that they still used now. Ieji had fully functioning emotions and was capable of feeling just as much as anyone else. But they had learned to hide it out of necessity to be around others, as strong emotion could make the fear aura cause panic in others.
Ieji also grew as a Cultivator, same as all of their siblings. And the growth there was perhaps more alarming than the emotional scarring. Evidently, Ieji had been designed to be an emotional warfare weapon, and the fear aura was only the beginning.
By the time Ieji was old enough to begin working on their own techniques and specializing beyond the basics, their tortured upbringing had led them to very specific techniques. The strong desire to be someone else that wouldn’t terrify people just by being near led to Ieji’s talent with disguising techniques.
And, as an added bonus, Ieji was able to develop such a technique that not only physically changed their body into that of someone else, but it even masked their aura, which allowed some semblance of a normal life - as long as they were not themselves. It also led to their immense talent as a spy.
Ieji was never sure how to feel about being proud of, or even enjoying, their ability to so fully ‘become’ someone else. They felt like it should be a sad thing, being so talented at not being ‘Ieji’. But it was also hard not to enjoy and take pride in how good they were at it.
And then there were the techniques that Ieji had developed after entering the Sky Realm. Those were the techniques that Ieji was definitely not proud of, and the center of the fighting style that they hated; but had developed because it was strong.
Among their family members, only three knew the techniques existed. They were somewhat twisted, and Ieji was nearly ashamed of them. They had only told Vale, Kota, and Emery - though Ieji knew that it was likely the Avuri knew by now as well.
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Those were the techniques that Ieji had always relied on in dangerous moments like these. And they were what they used now.
Glenn had done as requested. He had begun training originally as a wood-focused Cultivator before joining the Stone Breakers, and had developed his skills with those plant based skills as a base. Or so Ieji had been told, anyway. But they were glad to see it was true when plants began to grow from the ground.
“Between the ice and crappy ground, not much is going to grow.” Glenn called. “You’ll have to make do with bamboo!”
No sooner had the words left his mouth then bamboo shot up around the entire area. It was a patchwork of thickets and blank spots, creating something a pseudo maze; and Glenn was seemingly gone. Ieji thanked the man for making himself scarce after giving them a perfect battlefield to wreak havoc.
Ieji let their Domain flow out unimpeded now. While they wouldn’t be able to remain hidden using their traditional stealth and assassination techniques anymore, this fight was already past that point anyway. Instead, the intel of enemy locations within the thicket based on their own Domains would be more useful.
Ieji picked a target and moved. While everyone in the thicket would have a rough estimate of everyone else’s locations, what Ieji needed was the ability to break sight lines. They pulled their favored close ranged weapon from their storage ring - a rope dart, crafted by Emery, from Vale’s scales. It was a deadly weapon, and one similar to the thrown weapons that IEji favored, but more usable in close quarters with the braided metal cord.
As soon as they sped around a small copse of bamboo to meet with their first enemy, Ieji used their technique. Similarly to earlier, a black mist seemed to appear from nowhere and surround Ieji’s body. However, this one was different; rather than settling around Ieji’s body, the mist seemed to form a cloak that billowed out around them and wormed its way through the area, getting into all the cracks and crevices around.
Ieji had no idea who or what it was that the enemy Cultivator saw coming around that bend, but it certainly wasn’t Ieji. The man stumbled backward, his face went ashen, and he stared at Ieji in horror.
Ieji muttered an apology as their dart flew forward once, striking the man in the left shoulder, then twice, striking the lower abdomen. Each time, Ieji yanked the wire, pulling the dart back and keeping it in motion for the next strike. They watched as the first target slumped, succumbing quickly to the poison in the dart.
It was a strong hallucinogenic and paralytic, that fed nicely into the fear caused by both Ieji’s aura and the actual technique that they currently were using.
Ieji had named the technique ‘Nightmare Shroud’, figuring the childish, edgy name might help curb how actually horrifying it could be to others. Combined with the abrupt fear caused by Ieji’s aura, the Shroud would simply make Ieji appear as some kind of nightmare to the viewer; whatever horrors the viewer’s mind made up in that moment come to life to kill them.
Ieji hated it. More than once, a victim had passed out from the fright alone. Twice it had actually killed outright from the scare alone.
And it wasn’t even the worst technique in Ieji’s arsenal.
Five more Cultivators went down the same way as the first one. Two quick jabs of the dart in vital areas and most were paralyzed by fear and unable to continue the fight. One of the Cultivators took three doses before falling. Two had wet themselves upon seeing whatever nightmare Ieji provided.
Ieji couldn’t have been more relieved that Glenn had made himself scarce for this as they went throughout the small little bamboo forest and took out each threat one at a time.
Of course, they left Terrane for last.
The young man had been laughing maniacally for some time as Ieji had been removing their subordinates. Yelling out taunts, calling names, the works. Ieji ignored him and went about their business until they were the only two left in the field.
When Ieji finally did show themselves to Terrane, the man stopped and stared at whatever it was that he saw.
“Damn.” He said, the laugh finally stopping long enough for him to speak. “The fuck is wrong with you?” He seemed to be examining Ieji from head to toe. “You look absolutely mangled.”
Ieji sighed. This was the reaction he feared the most - lack of fear. It happened now and then, mostly when encountering three types of people. One was the most obvious - those simply not afraid of death; people who had come to terms with their mortality and were comfortable with it were typically unafraid of the Nightmare Shroud.
Second were people who were too full of themselves and arrogant to consider death a threat. In Ieji’s experience, the more arrogant someone was, the more afraid of death they typically were. In fact, this technique had worked wonders against some of the most arrogant people Ieji had ever seen. However, there were two people in the last ten years that had, in fact, been so arrogant - so entirely full of themselves - that they had gone beyond that and believed themselves infallible. This technique had failed against them.
Third - and the category that Ieji thought Terrane fell into - were those that were simply unhinged in certain ways. Whether they had been around so much death that it simply didn’t affect them, or a literal unhinged murderer, there had been a few cases like this where they simply didn’t ‘feel’ fear the way most people did. Terrane gave off that vibe, but Ieji couldn’t really be sure.
They let the Nightmare Shroud drop. The fear aura was still in full swing, however, as that would still be effective.
“Sorry to scare you.” Ieji said flatly. “Terrane, right? Any chance you’d like to just turn and walk away from this?”
The man made a face, snickered, then full on laughed at them. “Excuse me? You’re kidding, right?” He swung his hand toward the summit and by extension, the basin. “We were told there were demon kids up there that need killin’ and paid a real hefty sum to get it done.” The smile that split his face was crazed. “And while I suppose it’s a shame that only a few of us are left standin’, that makes our shares bigger. So fuck ‘em. And fuck you.”
Terrane stomped in place, shaking the ground. A beautiful sword made of some kind of metal and earth composite rose from the stone before him, and it seemed to carry an intensely compressed huge amount of Qi. He grabbed it by the handle and took a rather traditional sword based stance. As Ieji stood quietly, Terrane let out another unhinged laugh. “Well? Come on then, I don’t have all day!”
Ieji looked Terrane up and down once before sighing. Yes, Terrane was almost certainly in that third category of simple unhinged people. And Ieji had a way to deal with them too. Even if they hated it.