He could see the threads of magic and glow of life, all he had to do was close his eyes for that.
Necromancer. A magic-wielder whose powers focussed on death and the dead. That was a power steeped in darkness that was typically an area for villains. Not always though.
"Come," whispered Naruto, extending power out. "You who died unfairly. You who died too soon. You who were wronged by this Wood. I can feel you there. Come and avenge your deaths."
And they came.
The wood of the silvery tree cracked.
Skeletal figures ripped their way out of the ground, out of the wood, out of the riverbed. They didn't, for the most part, have any weapons to use and several were ripped apart instantly by branches.
One had an axe. Rusted and dull, but it was still enough threat to be taken down by a swarm of giant spiders.
For a moment, everything was quiet save the rustling of leaves and the snapping of bone under wooden limbs.
Then the tree shivered as skeletal rats and moles began attacking its roots.
Then, impossibly, one of the victims of the tree broke free.
She was dead.
She knew this, the Final Truth, with a complete certainty. The tree had taken her in despite her struggles. Her body had been pierced by spikes of wood that had spread and stilled organs. Her lungs no longer drew breath. Her heart no longer beat within her chest.
It was a bit of a surprise to hear Naruto. To feel the pulse of some not-quite-chakra stretch within her and fill the gaps that life had once filled.
Sakura Haruno drew breath as she broke the tree around her, her strength more than doubled. She was not a skeleton or zombie though, more of that odd power had flowed into her.
She retained her memories for the most part, she was still herself as far as she could tell. She was even aware of the wounds along her ribs and temples healing as a rune burnt itself into her forehead.
"Deathhhhhhhhhhh," whispered Sakura as she snapped branches and ripped bark away. She noted how much faster she was as she avoided attacks heading her way.
Then she was briefly buried in spider bodies. Teeth snapped closed on a limb and sucked life and energy out of one spider and then the tree itself felt her cold touch.
She was draining of life the very thing that had killed her. If she could feel anything but cold, she was sure she could appreciate that.
The Woods screamed in rage.
Villages that had watched the Woods slowly grow closer reacted in appropriate fashion. Flocks and herds were gathered closer to homes. Windows were shut and barred. Men gathered up axes and prepared tinder piles so that fires could be lit quickly.
After all, if ANYTHING came out of the Woods - it could only bode ill for whatever was in the path of that.
So it had been for generations, and if they could even think of moving away - they would have done so as soon as the shackles in their minds could be loosened.
Creatures swarmed the area. Living creatures corrupted and made monstrous by the Wood contested with unliving creatures whose eyes burned with foxfire lights.
Killing wounds applied to already dead flesh didn't do much, so the bodies were instead broken and scattered.
In the middle of it all was the undead Sakura, who used her immense strength and speed to good effect against the various agents of the Woods.
The various living abominations fell quickly before her, coating her with blood and gore. She didn't care, using a spider's leg as a club for a few minutes until it came apart from the abuse. As a spider bit into her and tried to fill her with venom, she simply grabbed the mandibles and ripped them off. She wielded those in the manner of daggers or kunai.
It wasn't obvious immediately that they were retreating, slowly working their way towards the edge of the Wood. Once that did become more obvious, the path there was left deliberately open. The Wood deemed it needed more time to study what had just happened and to develop an appropriate countermeasure. Letting this annoyance go would allow it that time.
Skeletal figures, many of them the size of children, led the way. Others, more adult, followed. Finally came Naruto and Sakura, the latter holding the shoulder blade of some extremely large beast as if it were an axe.
At the edge of the forest was a burned swath where Naruto paused. "Okay you guys. Stand guard here. Anything coming out, smash it up."
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(Posted Thu, 23 Jul 2015 16:15)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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