World Tree MUSH

    It's a world whose name doesn't matter, if it even has one. One amongst hundreds in the tapestry of the Tree's branches, occasionally linked here or there by emerging Vines.

    Lush green plains and sunlight, endless, interrupted only by the wooden structures of a small village, houses, watchtowers and fences, and the mechanical drilling that fills the air.

    And the metallic airships.
    They don't fit in.

    Large rectangular blue ships positioned around the village. Contrasting the villagers' poorer, mediaval clothes, the machines that guard the perimeter are definitely not from there. Humanoid robots, some with axes and swords for arms, with metallic faces and glowing red eyes.

    None are allowed to leave the village, it seems. In the center, a larger cluster of those magitek troopers guard a drilling rig of sorts, next to which are crates of excavated, glowing ore. Probably valuable, or dangerous, or both, to attract a military. The villagers don't seem to have the technology to harvest it themselves, so they might not even have known.

    And nearby, Vines opening, as if beckoning for random wanderers to address this.

The call has been given. He must answer. 

 As those metallic ships rained down to landing from the perfect sky, the battalion of those metallic soldiers would find that someone was just...approaching. Dressed in clear attire of an ominous person, with his long hair covering his right eye and a black cloak covering his body until the knees. He might be hiding a martial melee weapon. 

 Sasuke Uchiha had answered the call. 

 though he just...keeps moving, as if approaching that massive ship to stop it's extraction...until. 

 <<Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu>> and out of Sasuke's mouth came a literal fireball coming right for that ship! 

 Guess he's no friend to whatever invaded this village.

    A blast of fire rocks one of the magitek ships. Its plating scorches badly, but more than that the impact causes it to crashland near the village. From the open belly of the transport pours out a full regiment of those humanoid robots, clicking and whirring as their red eyes, lit, focus on the man that brought them down.

    The village doesn't stay quiet either. The troopers there snap to attention, as the presence of a threat is sent across the local network. Drilling operations don't stop, though - they must believe they have plenty enough of bodies to both address the issue, and also to keep the harvester safe.

    Machinegun fire, then, comes from two separate directions entirely. From the village, a half a dozen of the robotic beings are detaching from their posts, one hand removed to reveal cannons that open fire. From the crashed ship, it's more like two dozen of those robots, half of which are firing, the other half of which are breaking into a surprisingly quick sprint to close the distance. They won't, yet, but they sure are trying.

     Well...least he has their attention. 
%t As the ship falls straight to the ground, THANKFULLY missing the village, Sasuke simply seems to barely move certain directions to avoid their fire. plus he was durable enough and skilled enough that others were just flicked away with a finger. 

     Then the horde comes. It's clear by now that the Uchiha has only one arm, but he also has a Kusanagi Blade. AKA a mostly curved sword. He rushes forward, almost effortlessly slicing down the machine-like warriors who try to end him.

    Wouldn't do for them to crashland on their mining operation. That much the pilot seemed to understand.

    The magitek troopers fare far less impressively when it comes to preserving themselves, though they're sturdier than they look. A lost arm or leg doesn't seem to stop them entirely - they're content enough to crawl to keep firing from the ground, at least the ones that aren't sliced apart entirely.

    Numbers do fall. Thirty becomes twenty in an instant, and a few more that are missing a limb but still valiant. They adjust their tactics.

    Five close in, suddenly enhanced by unusual speed. Black mist seems to leak from between the joints of the robots, otherwordly and definitely unusual. They swing their axes, rapidly, sometimes making their entire bodies spin like a top too.

    It's a distraction, though. Two of the ones missing a leg and an arm are trying to reach Sasuke's feet to self-destruct.

    All the while at the village, a woman in red and black's gone and perched herself atop one of the wooden watchtowers, apparently curious.

     This is barely even a fight for Sasuke. Even if the Konoha ninja is unaware that Aranea is watching him from a distance, Sasuke is //still// making short work of her soldiers. He's making this look easy. Nevertheless, a bullet flies at him and he cuts it cleanly in two without looking...before slicing through three more soldiers. But...he notices that he'll need to be more thorough as he notices that even without arms and legs, the machines still move. He'll have to go for decapitations most likely. 

     So in a blurr, he utterly destroys the heads and chests of two machines that come at him. The two robots taht were just crawling in faux desperation finally reach Sasuke and do blow up! 

     But all that was there was just a shattered piece of wood. 

     Nay, The Uchiha's blade had become encompassed by lightning. <<Lightning Style: Chidori Stream>> and suddenly, lightning BURST all around him as fierce electricity channeled in all directions, as if to effectively attempt to eliminate the machines that immediately surrounded him.... 

     Assuming these things are even affected by lightning.

    Spoiler: it works a lot.

    Magitek is all sorts of great, but the more robotic creations, the walkers, the humanoid troopers, trade the sunlight vulnerability of their power source for more traditional vulnerabilities. Like electricity!

    The lightning ripples out, reducing the workforce to... not quite zero, but close enough. A few straggling troopers, sparking quite badly and twitching like broken toys, are doing their best to reach Sasuke, without any success. For all intents and purposes this squad isn't going to bother him anymore.

    But then, someone else just might!

    Her duty's to guard the mining rig, and clearly this man's not going to be satisfied with just a pile of robotic corpses. Buying some time for the fodder to get those crates of ore to the ships, and wrap up, ought to do just fine.

    And besides, who doesn't like a good fight now and again.

    A flash of red light forms into a spear, but then Aranea is gone from her perch. Sasuke's senses would pick up on her moments later, when the tip of hear spear, alongside her body riding the weapon, suddenly crashes down towards him from the sky, with enough force to shatter the ground underneath him if he blocks, or lets her hit it.

    "Hey there, handsome. Care to dance with someone who's got a bit more life in her than those empty shells?"

    Dance, specifically to this.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL7kYY_q9g4

     With the last of those soldiers dead or at least immobilized, Sasuke moves his sword into reverse hand. Only....they weren't the only combatants here. Where's the Command- 

     Oh, there she is. With a sudden reaction, he lifts his blade to come into immediate contact with Aranea's spear-tip. However, the force of the impact causes Sasuke --and the ground around him-- to completely INDENT into the ground, causing a shattering clash of force...even if Sasuke remains completely solid and undettered, even with his single arm. 

     Clearly he's no weakling. 

     "Are you the one in charge of this?" clearly he speaks about the situation around them. and if Aranea looks closely? that uncovered eye of his transforms into the Sharingan, because the ninja knows that if he takes Aranea lightly, it could be his undoing. Thus, he tries to push her off to create distance...then immediately rush in with his blade for some armed dueling. slashes aimed for every part of her body. But he needs to be careful about that spear. 

     He knows it's....different, at least. It's not like any spear he's ever seen before.

    "I'll take that as a yes~" Aranea singsongs, smile easily visible underneath that helmet of hers. It doesn't exactly cover much of her face, though the horn and the metallic tail is a nice touch.

    Sasuke backs off with a push, and so does Aranea without resistance. She lands away, twirling her spear and taking a careful stance immediatly, the weapon's point trailing the ninja as he moves.

    "In charge? Nothing like that. On guard duty, more like. Hope that's not an issue?" Evidently not, given the ninja charges right back in. The weapons clash, and at least so far there's nothing too unusual about the spear. Blows are traded back and forth, but as much as Sasuke can't draw blood, she can't get past his swordplay either.

    The brief exchange is playful, but Aranea seems to be revving up. Getting in the mood, so to speak.

    "Info for info, why don't you show me what that eye of yours does in exchange? Shouldn't keep a lady waiting, you know!"

     While Aranea may be playful in personality, Sasuke clearly appears to be on the more serious side, showcasing not even an ounce of emotion other than a critical and analytical expression on his face. Not even for an instant does Sasuke's eyes move away from Aranea. Her stance, her distracting speech, the kind of armor she wears. Everything is being taken into consideration before he even makes a move. 

     Though he does listen as she speaks. Anything that could give him more information about who she is and who she works for. And why she has these....lifeless machines working as footsoldiers. Did a civilization just decide to not use people anymore? Far less effective, but... 

     Anyway. 

     Sasuke and Aranea are clearly evenly matched as far as armed combat with a little bit of hand-to-hand thrown in is concerned. So....to throw in a little excitement, Sasuke narrows his eye. "Fine." and suddenly, that eye starts to glow just a little bit, and Sasuke lunges at Aranea again, though when/if she strikes at him, she'd notice that he's avoiding things far easier. Like he's almost seeing the attack coming before it's even thrown, while the accuracy of his own attacks have significantly improved.

    Aranea does attack - she couldn't not take that bait. A sudden improvement in skill doesn't go unnoticed. Sasuke's blade even manages to get uncomfortably close to her, rather than meeting that spear at every swing. There's something around Aranea - some kind of field. It's barely visible, but when his sword strikes close, it seems to be slightly slowed by a red glow. It's like slashing through syrup instead of air. Whatever THAT is, it doesn't extend far from the dragoon. Not even a foot.

    "Is that all you'll say? Come on now, even the Glaives have more interesting things to say!" Usually it's angry yelling, granted.

    Her spear hums. Red lights flare to life across the weapon, particles trailing behind the swings. She can't just make herself more accurate or better at predicting the ninja's strikes, but she CAN hit faster - and with more range.

    That red energy's not just making the weapon swing faster, it's causing shockwaves of dark-elemental not-quite-magic but it's probably indistinguishable from it.

     Oh yes, the Ninja was far faster and more precise than anyone should have been. But, as Sasuke's blade seems to utterly slow down and face extreme resistance in the form of some kind of invisible force field around Aranea, his eye seems to focus just a little bit, the eye glowing that crimson color just a tiny bit brighter, as if it might evolve to... 

     Nevermind! deal with shockwaves. 

     The force of the shockwaves tosses Sasuke backwards, but it doesn't seem to have done any real damage aside from that, though now that Sasuke was at a distance, his Sharingan seems to evolve into a Mangekyou Sharingan, and suddenly... 

     <<Amaterasu>> 

     Black flames of pure darkness seem to come flying at Aranea at extreme speeds. If she was caught with this, even that could spell out some bad news for Astraea, as the flames are extremely difficult to douse and are quite //hot//.

    Not very chatty, then. That's a shame. It almost seems like Aranea loses interest there for a moment. It's the judgmental glare of someone who's bored, stuck on-duty, and was really hoping you were the solution, but you've thoroughly let her down. You should feel bad.

    The few moments the two spend apart, Aranea uses to adjust something on her spear. The trailing red light gets a bit stronger around it, as does the idle hum of whatever powers it.

    Not quite as impressive as black flames you can't put though though. It doesn't take an incredible warrior to tell Sasuke's fire is neither normal nor safe, and the dragoon bends her knees in response, before shooting upward into the sky. The land scorches and burns where she used to stand, all the while the commodore, airborne from the strength of her jump and the thrusters on her spear alike, glares down at the ninja with momentarily renewed interest.

    Was that magic? Did it really matter what it was called? If it looks, swims and quacks like a duck...

    "Quite the bag of tricks! Guess it's my turn."

    Aranea's spear twirls, pointe downward from high up. She places a foot on its head, angles herself just right - and down she goes, spinning on top of it.

    Red lightning trails behind the dragoon, making her more akin to a lightning bolt than a falling spear strike. The impact'll send lightning everywhere too, so she doesn't even need hit directly.

    On the other hand, she'll be vulnerable for a moment when she inevitably has to recover from that signature jump attack.

     Sasuke might be the least chatty person Aranea has ever met in her life. Well, aside from the machines she likely often travels with, if the Uchiha had to guess. But he is only slightly surprised as Aranea manages to just easily dodge Amaterasu. No easy feat. Not by a mile and a half. 

     Okay...guess he'll have to take her a little bit more seriously now. Though as Aranea leaps high into the air, almost farther than Sasuke could see with his Sharingan, in the last moment, he unclips his cloak to let it float away to allow ease of movement, before suddenly he summons lightly in his hand, as if to strike her spear with his blade. 

     <<Chidori>> 

     Both blades SMASH together with incredible might as lightning hurls everywhere, annihilating a few houses most likely along with utterly breaking the ground around them. But nevertheless, Aranea has momentum on her side, so Sasuke is launched backwards as opposed to smashing into the ground...simply because he was able to shift his feet at the last second. Regardless, now without his sword as it was planted a small distance from him, Sasuke still looks ready to fight. 

     THe man is durable. 

     He simply takes a small breath, watching Aranea. "Not Bad." he compliments.

    Momentum is great to strike, but it also means you crash harder. Aranea's not one who fears g-forces or falls, but Sasuke's counter-blow was nothing to scoff at either. Not to mention that, riding her spear like that, dodging wasn't exactly an option. That magitek shield might be omnipresent, but it's also not THAT great.

    Where Sasuke is sent back one direction, Aranea is sent the other. The major difference is that she isn't disarmed, that spear shifting back to her hands with a brief flash of red light. It's used to stop her flight backward, planted into the ground to then be used as support to lean against.

    "You're not bad either, pretty boy," she says, or maybe teases, right back at the ninja. She'd definitely take him out for a drink or two, under any other circumstances.

    "But I think that's all for today. Village is yours! Honestly, I can't stand those things either, so I don't blame you for wrecking them." She motions vaguely to the still twitching pile of magitek trooper limbs and pieces.

    Behind her, ships take to the sky again. The major difference from before is that the village seems rather empty now, save for the residents. The machinery is either gone or scrapped, and the robotic guards are gone.

    "Not very profitable for me to fight when the job's already done, fun as you are. Maybe we'll meet again sometime. It's Aranea, before you ask. Try not to die in the meantime, I'd hate not to find out what else you can do with just the one arm~."

    She leaps! Backwards. Towards one of the transports taking off overhead, to land through the still-closing cargo doors.

     Sasuke rises to his feet as Aranea speaks to him, his hair still covering his other eye....what was that hiding? Perhaps something far stronger than the Sharingan? Who could say. Nevertheless, it's also easily visible that Sasuke's left arm is //missing//. Clearly not something Aranea did, but something from long ago. He just has a sleeve just flowing with the wind as nothing resided in it. 

     He doesn't seem to mind being called 'pretty boy', but through some jutsu, he calls his sword back to his hand, placing it back into it's sheathe as his foe retreats for now. She was a powerful one. Almost forced him to activate his Susanoo or even his Rinnegan. 

     "Sasuke." The Konoha ninja speaks bluntly to Aranea, nodding lightly to her. He did find her personality rather amusing and friendly. Maybe she was one of those people who were just 'villainous' by situational convention. From there, he simply walks over to his cloak and wraps it back around his shoulders. His eyes never leaving those ships until it's clear that they arn't coming back. A small sigh coming from him. 

     Not many people can fight him one on one and live to tell about it. 

     The worlds just keepsgetting better and better.