Dante
Legendary
Kuro did not need to see. He had already seen. Long before the dome birthed its jagged cathedral of frost, before the temperature could truly fall, before the first droplet of blood could crystallize mid-air—Kuro Yuki had already chosen who would die first. It wasn’t Yumaro, It was Higetsu. He hadn’t moved and that was his mistake. The moment Kuro’s chakra surged into the field, Higetsu remained stillness in contrast to chaos. A sentinel, proud, poised, and utterly unaware that stillness, against Kuro, was not silence—it was a signal. A beacon. While Yumaro launched like a precision warhead and the mist screamed to be unshaped, Higetsu stood grounded in that first breath of cold frozen solid within ice, his organs stopped with the mere connection of the frozen glaciers which conveyed not just sharp outlook, even one who could completely change their body in liquid would fall prey to the freezing effects. It was simply a preservation of what was yet to come.
The moment Yumaro burst into motion and the mist began reacting to his pressure waves, Kuro vanished into his own kingdom, untraceable. Not via speed, not through displacement or flicker. He merged. His body, spliced with chakra and bred from bloodlines meant to vanish in winter’s heart, became one with the frost created by his might. In silence, a sliver of his being split, sharpened, and threaded itself through the dome’s icy marrow. This was of course the second route of youthful Mizukage, speedily entering within the Ice which he brought forth. Yumaro may have forgotten that once there is ice there is a way especially for a Yuki of his caliber, he was no longer at the point he was mirroring his lineage of his clan.
Beneath the roar of Yumaro’s hydraulic fury, beneath the shivering hum of Samehada tasting chakra, a whisper moved. A whisper of Kuro’s killing intent, condensed into the mist’s nerve system. He preyed upon the weak and to him Higetsu had nowhere to run, because he stood solid within the Icy confines of his attack. One which had multiple functions, it served as prison, executive attack and defensive structure. He would appear through the reflection of a spike which was still within the wake of Yumaro’s attentive blast, but it was within that same glass of Ice stood Higetsu, even he who was one with water couldn’t escape the might of the Yuki.
The eyes of thermally enhanced Yuki pinned upon Yumaro through the mist which still concave them but the prospect of him running into nothingness was more, because even with all his efforts the Yuki had already planned ahead, doubtfully no one saw it coming not even the target which was Higetsu.
“Yumaro what do you think of this Swordsman, what a weakling, right? ” He mocked him whilst appearing beside the frozen target. Resting the Axe of the Kabutowari upon the glacier.
"Do you believe you can entertain me, even just a little?" Kuro’s voice was cold, composed, and utterly venomous. "You and that Samehada of yours?".
As he spoke, the temperature plummeted again—not just the air, but the very chakra that threaded through the battlefield thickened, locking the environment into a breathless frost. The ice encasing the field tightened its hold, not just on the world around them, but on Higetsu himself. There was no oxygen left in the thin, crystalline air. No chance for the brain to function. No chance to fight. The Hōzuki’s famed Hydrification Technique—once a pride of his clan—meant nothing here. Not against Kuro Yuki, who had already calculated every counter. Whether it be the air that your breath or simple the water which pre-existed he was already made to feel the wrath of Kuro Yuki. To Kuro, the only way to subdue a body that turned to water. Was to freeze every last drop.
The Yuki stood tall, unshaken, unmoved, with the Kabutowari within his grasp. His breath not even visible in the bitter cold—as if nature itself bent to avoid disturbing him. The "King," as he called himself, stood as something greater than a shinobi. He stood as a force—and to him, Higetsu was already irrelevant. He glanced, briefly, in Yumaro’s direction not with pity—but with the slightest flicker of memory. After all, both Higetsu and Yumaro had once fought at his side, repelling that mammoth intruder. For a moment—only a moment—Kuro considered whether Yumaro might show compassion. Whether the Kaguya would recognize the significance of what just happened. But even if he didn’t—Kuro didn’t care.
His focus had shifted, Fully utterly, to Yumaro by now, the Kaguya would have sensed it: The falsehood in everything. The betrayal, the setup, the trap… all of it meticulously frozen in place, like the battlefield itself. Kuro took a single step his breath rolled like mist, yet somehow didn’t disperse.
"Let us begin this fight—"A statement, not a request towards the Kaguya who had his back to him. Not a challenge, but a decree of intent and war, because what came next would be destruction. Not unleashed all at once, but as inevitable as an avalanche already falling and there would be no mercy within it. The moment Kuro's voice slithered through the frozen mist, something could easily be shifted within Yumaro—not panic or hesitation, but in confirmation. Kuro knew highly that the brute was gonna attempt to use the Sameheda and its abilities throughout the fight so he was prepared now to fight him within the aid of his Ice, but was this something Kuro was willing to do? He care little about being.
Location: Mist Training Ground
Posting Order: Kuro Yuki → Higetsu → Yumaro
Post Time Limit (PTL): 3 Days.
Skip Points: lll
