Honda Tadakatsu vs. Ōtakemaru

Sporting Event / Competition

A feeling of almost tangible tension swept over the audience as Honda Tadakatsu and Ōtakemaru finally began their much-anticipated battle. Both were semi-legendary figures. The invicible warrior, who had never been wounded in battle, versus a goddess of the Oni.

As Kikkawa no Myōkyū officially signaled the start of the match, Tadakatsu acted first. She drew her fabled spear, Tonbōkiri, back and released a shockwave of bleeding energy that flew across the arena on black wings to slam into her opponent. Ōtakemaru, despite not moving quickly enough to anticipate the attack, met it with two arms raised. The Bleeding Dragonfly split across her defense and vanished harmlessly. The attack had drawn some attention from the crowd, and some of the more martially-inclined in the audience recognized it as a ki technique.   Ōtakemaru responded by walking through the dust of the arena and into melee range with Tadakatsu. As she approached, her skin cracked and hardened, becoming not unlike the surface of the great mountain from which she took her name. The two giantesses clashed in a flurry of attacks and counterattacks that was dizzying to perceive. It was clear that Tadakatsu was the more skillful fighter, and she was able to turn the attacks back on her opponent more often than not. Even Tonbōkiri's splitting edge, however, could not pierce Ōtakemaru's mountainous hide.   As the two fought in earnest, their auras mingled and reacted, expanding to cover the entire stadium and beyond. Some warriors in attendance found themselves shaken to their core by the level of strength on display in front of them. Others were completely paralyzed by the overwhelming presence of the combatants. As one, most of the civilians in attendance, and even some of the generals of weaker constitution, fainted completely away.   It did not escape Matsunaga Hisahide's notice when the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was one of those completely paralyzed by the battle's effects. He stuided her, and Matsutada Tadamatsu, passed completely away, as though debating with himself whether to take advantage of the situation. Apparently, he decided against it, and returned to watching the match with a smirk.   Ōtakemaru's attacks were growing more and more powerful, blue fires engulfing her arms as she made cut after cut through the air with sharpened hands. Tonbōgiri met each attack on equal footing, however, and Honda Tadakatsu remained unharmed. With a mighty slash, she landed one cut on the Great Mountain Peak. It was not a felling blow, but enough to tell of what was to come.   Carefully directing the battle through her superior speed, Tadakatsu began luring her opponent into a trap. Ōtakemaru noticed what was happening, but with her relatively slow reflexes, there was little she could do to remedy it. With a series of four strikes, Tadakatsu pushed Ōtakemaru briefly off-balance. Then, before her opponent could recover, she swept upward with Tonbōkiri in a single strike with all her strength behind it. The weapon's blade caught Ōtakemaru under her calf, and continued upward, slicing the mountain almost in twain. Falling backward with enough weight to crater the dust, Ōtakemaru was dead.   As before, a gaggle of Mōri priestesses appeared to carry off the onigami's body. Strangely, however, these were dressed differently. Clad from toe to horn in white, opaque garments, not a sliver of flesh was visible with their faces covered by snarling hannya masks. Curious, and not a little unnerved by the reappearance of the masks she* had seen beneath the arena, Hashinara Yoshitakatomo called upon her historian Kubokuma-dōnyo, but she could only express that which many others had already realized: The change may have been in respect of Ōtakemaru's status as a deity of the oni, but the choice of hannya masks was strange. Hannya were, after all, a symbol of vengeance and hate.