Kotodama X Budo

Tae Iori stood in the middle of a decimated Shibuya neighborhood. The dying sunlight beamed off the obliterated car parts that littered the streets. Flames danced across the asphalt in tandem with the embers stifling the air.

Tae remained stone-faced in midst of all of the destruction. Whether it was from genuine apathy and growing too accustomed to this scenery she didn't care enough to distinguish. All that mattered to her at that moment was eliminating the current obstacle between her paycheck.

" A vulgar beast such as yourself is a blight upon this world. You only exist to cause needless pandemonium and install fear upon the people. More importantly, I don't get paid until I kill you so do me a favor a fucking die already!"

Standing in front of Tae was a bulky monster easily more than twice the size of her six-foot stature. The difference between Tae and her target was as clear as night and day.

One was a hulking giant clad in majestic vermillion metallic armor that could easily tear through any mere mortal.

The other was a thin young woman whose only means of defense came in the form of bandage wrappings around most of her body with leather straps covering her legs and fists. It was an odd choice of attire that led Tae down the path of victory in countless battles.

" RRRRRGHHHHH!!!!" The creature could only screech an animalistic roar in response to her choice words. Such was the nature of a Mugon Oni. Born from the unconscious thought of humanity, these creatures were written words given physical form. Each one was tied to a specific Kanji and it was their purpose to destroy the concepts associated with that Kanji.

The Mugon charged straight ahead to Tae, effortlessly wreaking havoc upon anything in its path. To a keen eye, one could see that objects were being destroyed before the Mugon even made contact with it. Stop signs bent on their own, windows spontaneously shattered, and any nearby debris turned into dust without reason.

Tae did not lose face even in front of such adversity. Instead, smirked as she bit her thumb to draw blood that was then smeared across the outfit. This gave way to the bandages expanding profusely from her body, with more than enough length to cover the entire street.

To call her choice of attire a wrapping of bandages was perhaps inaccurate. What appeared to be bandages were actually a large collection of paper scrolls, each one inscribed with kotodama poetry. Tae scanned the sheets of paper until she found a verse that would do her justice.

" Like the sun above

I command thee to rise

Slay thy Enemy!"

With that spell, Tae's voice became the deadliest of weapons. All the glass shards and metal shrapnel that littered the streets levitated in the air and dashed at the Mugon as if compelled to fly. This was the glorious art of Kotodama no Budo at work. In response to the onslaught of Mugon Oni, the Iori clan crafted a martial art that fused Karate with the magic of Kotodama. It was a long-held belief of the country that each word possesses a soul and within those souls, a hidden power can be drawn. Such was the nature of Kotodama no Budo.

The debris accelerated at the Mugon with all the speed of a machine gun round. They would surely piece through their target like a knife against butter.

Or not.

Both metal and glass shattered into endless bits upon entering the Mugon's radius. The attack had done nothing to slow its advance.

" ACCURSED CUR!" Tae dashed to her right with just barely enough time to dodge the punch. It did little good for she soon found herself caught in the monster's destructive aura. Her ribcage cracked and her footing became displaced; sending her careening into a vacated store. Tae would've crashed into a wall had she not crafted an artificial spider's web using her scrolls at the last second.

" Hmph. It appears that destruction itself is thy incarnation. You're gonna be a real pain in the ass, aren't you?"

The Kanji 破壊(Hakai) flashed in her eyes, a sign she had successfully deduced the enemy's root element.

" Hakai, huh? That kanji leads to downfall and ruin no matter how you look at it. A one-tracked kanji for a one-tracked monster. Let us see which one has a greater grasp on the word. I too shall become a destruction incarnate!"

Tae flipped her sandy blonde hair and stretched her palm open to Mugon. It was then that Iori Clan crest, a lily flower tattoo on her upper back, glowed a brilliant crimson color and so did her eyes. The scrolls shifted through the air as they did before until Tae read another poetry verse.

" To be bereft of life is the fate of all those who enter my domain! I shall not slumber until the enemy is slain! 破壊(Hakai)!"

The scrolls coiled around Tae's fists at a dizzying speed. They manifested into the shape of mighty gauntlets with the hakai kanji slapped on the wrist area. Tae flung herself forward with her scrolls to pound the Oni with a fierce right hook. The monster was sent stumbling a few steps back from the fierce blow. The only way to properly exorcise a Mugon is to defeat it with its kanji element.

The two warriors clashed at each other like savage animals. The mugon clawed at Tae with an attack that cut through the air and maybe even space itself. She crossed her arms in front of her to parry to blow, but her exposed skin was sliced open. The scrolls immediately patched up the wounds.

Tae responded with a rising uppercut, but the Mugon countered by slamming his oversized fist onto the gauntlet. This clash of Hakai energy birthed a shockwave that turned their immediate surroundings into rubble.

Fighting the Mugon was like fighting a mirror image of one's self. When Tae went with a right hook, the Mugon attacked with a left blow. Direct combat proved to be tedious but thankfully Tae's scrolls could act as extra appendages to give her an advantage. Tae swiped one scroll at the Mugon's feet to knock him off balance and used another one to pin it to the ground. A sinking crater was slowly forming around the area the Mugon was pinned to. Now that his back was fully exposed, Tae could see the Hakai kanji displayed in small font near the oni's shoulder blade.

" This is where we part ways, thou wretched creature." Tae reeled back his fist to slam it into the weak point only for the ground beneath her to turn into a sinkhole. Her footing was lost and she fell into an earthen abyss.

' What the hell!? That bastard must've used his ability to destroy the ground beneath me. It's certainly smarter than it looks.' Tae cursed her luck as clawed her way out of the hole with her scrolls. No sooner had she left the hole, an air rendering slash struck her down the center. Blood accented her skin and the ruined asphalt.

Her tattered body was sent sliding down the street and crashed into a stop sign. With her blood-covered eyes, she could see the Mugon making a crazed sprint towards her. Tae limply stood to her feet to chant her next battle poem.

" With the fangs of a starved beast, I shall swallow the prey that stands before me!" Two strands of scrolls animated themselves to form jagged edges that resembled a clawed mouth. They shot at the Mugon as if on a quest to eat it.

Fangs and fists collided in yet another explosion of hakai energy. The Mugon held the fangs in place with his massive hands but was being pushed back ever so slightly. Even with the fangs digging into its armor, the Mugon did not yield. Both warriors refused to relent in their attacks and it was this clash of inexorable willpower that gave way to an expanding shockwave which further decimated the neighborhood.

" This battle has been drawn out long enough! Let us put an end to this farce!" Tae closer the distance between them with record speed as she shot herself past the giant's legs. It tried in vain to stomp on her but it only ended up stepping into a mini crater she created. The Mugon's grip on the fangs loosened and they cleaved through the left side of the creature.

With the Oni's back exposed, Tae seized her moment to strike. The Hakai Kanji shone brilliantly in her open palm that then turned into a fist.

" O spirits of Nature, remove this blight and return the Earth to its true form! Hakai!"

Her fist slammed into the Mugon's shoulder blade and its root element as a result. The creature screeched its final death wail before it evaporated into a red mist that consumed the entire city district. Tae's vision was completely blocked out for the next few seconds but once she could see again, the city had returned to its former glory.

The streets were freshly paved without a single crack in them. Homes and shops stood tall. Most strikingly, verdant flowers and hedges adorned the once completely industrial scenery.

Within the darkness of an alleyway stood a small who had watched the entire affair with her mouth hung in silent wonder. Tae sensed the pair of eyes locked onto her and quickly approached the girl.

" What are you staring at, commoner? Why gawk when you can just as easily spread the news of my joyous victory? Be off and spare not a single detail of my valor!" The girl was shocked by Tae's shameless self-appraisal but soon found it in her to take off running. Her heartbeat with excitement as she imagined how impressed her friends and family would be with her tale.

Tae's mission was done but one question lingered in her mind: What would a world without destruction entail? If the Oni continued to rampage, the concept of destruction would lose its meaning. Would such an event lead to a world without pollution and violence? Or would it simply result in a forever unchanging stagnant world?

Tae could not be sure. There have only been very few times where a Mugon had successfully erased a concept and the calamity that sprung from such events had always been monumental. Even now she struggled to fully return the world to its former state.

She spent the next few minutes walking around aimlessly until she heard the familiar sound of a helicopter landing within her vicinity. From within the copter exited a woman whose ebony skin stood in contrast with her almost radiant white afro. Her heels clicked against the asphalt until she stood barely three inches in front of Tae.

" Amazing work as expected, Iori Tae. You bring honor to the Iori clan with every Oni you vanquish. Here is your paycheck." She handed Tae a paycheck that held a generous amount of zeroes. Tae snatched the slip of paper like a tiger clawing at its prey. Her eyes glistened and the ends of her mouth arched up in splendor.

" The delivery took longer than necessary but I am always grateful for your patronage. I say I've earned myself a vacation for the rest of the month."

" Not just yet. Additional Mugon sightings have been reported in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. All of our other operatives have their hands full at the moment which only leaves you to take on the task."

" You're crazy if you think I'm taking on any extra baggage! Tell my family to get off their lazy asses and pick up the slack! Honestly, I have half a mind to-"

Tae's tangent was cut short by her assistant locking lips with hers. All of the noise in the city was droned out as the two were frozen in that moment. " If an additional paycheck isn't enough to entice you, then I hope that did the trick. You always are your cutest when you're angry. Let's not waste any more time. You have a country to protect.

The scrolls instinctively wrapped around Tae's face as if they wanted to conceal their owner's blush. She followed the assistant to the helicopter while cursing under her breath.

' That was a real dirty trick; using the only thing I value more than money. I'll repay her in kind once we return home' she thought to herself as the helicopter flew off to the next battle. Moments of peace were fleeting for Tae Iori, but she didn't mind as long as she had that woman by her side.