The Next Morning, With Alvarcus
"Summoning Jutsu!" I place my hand on the ground and a small cloud of smoke fills the room.
"Hey Al." Shirokumo says once the smoke clears.
"Hey Shirokumo." I greet him. "So is Dokuso ready to be summoned?"
"Should be. She's had plenty of time to prepare and she knows that it'll be happening around now." He nervously looks around. "Just make sure it's only you two here. She isn't a fan of... well socializing. She hates going out, always says something about how only her poisons understand her."
"Great." I groan out in sarcasm. "Well I need her skills. I'll just have to put up with her."
"Yeah... have fun with that. I'm going back." Shirokumo poofs away.
"Yay, time to summon an antisocial spider and ask for her help. I'm sure nothing can go wrong." I fly through the hand seals for the summoning technique. "Summoning Jutsu!"
Instead of smoke filling up the room, something different happens. It's almost like a mass of shadows spawned into existence, like whoever was summoned didn't want to make the traditional flashy entrance and opted for this more discrete one instead. In moments the shadows fall away and disappear into nothing revealing a large spider where they were.
Large doesn't do Dokuso justice, she's massive. She has to be the size of a full grown leopard. She's easily the second largest spider I've personally seen, the first being Arachne. Her exoskeleton is a pure dark black. There's not a speck of dust on her or a mark of imperfection, except for one exception. There's a brilliant red hourglass mark on her abdomen. She's a black widow spider. For one of the best users and makers of poisons, I shouldn't be surprised that she's one of the most venomous spiders in the world.
"Dokuso-san, it is a pleasure to meet you." I give her a respectful nod of my head.
She quickly takes in the room, making a special note of all the exits and best hiding spots. She's paranoid, that's a marking of a survivor. That's a trait of a warrior, of a shinobi. That's interesting.
Finally her gaze settles on me. She does a quick once over of me, observing my spider-made attire and the concealing nature of my clothes. There's a hint of approval gleaming in her fourth eye. "So you've met the Weavers. Bet that was annoying."
That's... not how I expected her to respond at all. "They do take some getting used to." If that's how she want the tone of the conversation to go, I am more than happy to oblige. "They're best in short doses. And when they're not making me clothes."
"Ha! Finally someone agrees with me. They tried to give me a bright orange scarf. Said it matched my black exoskeleton. Can you believe that?" Dokuso chirps out. "To business then. You wanted poisoned weapons, Summoner?"
I irritably roll my eyes, she doesn't see it. Even if my mask is off I have my sunglasses on. "Just call me Alvarcus. There's no need for the 'Summoner' stuff. I'm just another guy who can summon spiders, that doesn't mean I should get a fancy title out of it. If anything it should be Alvarcus the Spider Summoner. That does us both justice."
She snorts. I didn't know spiders could make that noise. "You... you I might be able to stand. In short doses of course."
"Whatever." I give a halfhearted shrug. "You were right. I need poisoned weapons. What can you offer me? A vial of poison or something? Maybe a brush to apply the toxin to weapons?"
"I've got better." Using one of her long, hairless black legs she reaches under her and pulls out a harness of sorts with what must be multiple weapons strapped to it. It looks like a belt or a sash made to hold a set number of kunai or knives. "Each of these has been soaked overnight in different poisons I personally made. Each one will do exactly what I made it to do, barring those who have techniques to counter the effects or are adept enough at medical jutsu to neutralize it. Even then, my poisons are fast acting. They could run their course before they can be countered."
Dokuso, using another leg, grips one of the handles of a weapon. On further observation, I notice that each of the six handles are different colors, no two are the same. She pulls out the blue handled weapon. "This blue one is the one you specifically requested, it will paralyze an opponent after ten seconds of being in their system."
She grabs the green handle next. "The green will sap their strength, making them feel weaker and tire quicker. It basically shortens their stamina."
She grabs the next handle. "Yellow will cause their five senses to distort. They'll hallucinate, they'll feel things crawling on their skin, they'll hear noises that don't exist, they'll taste things not in their mouth, and they'll smell things that are not there. Each sense could feel either something foul or pleasurable, it could be either. Don't be surprised if they start laughing randomly because they feel like they're being tickled."
Dokuso pulls out the fourth weapon. "Orange is one of the more dangerous of the poisons. The others are not fatal, eventually they will run their course and be flushed from the system. This one can kill. Once it comes in contact with flesh it melts it away. It's acidic, it will cause wounds to fester and become infected. If stabbed in the right spot, it will eat away organs and cause death."
Next is the fifth weapon. "Red is my personal favorite to use. It causes intense pain wherever it enters the body and will spread throughout it. Lightly scratch someone on the hand, five minutes later they're begging you to cut off their arm."
Dokuso draws the last weapon. "Black. This one is fatal. One scratch with this will cause death within minutes. Do not even draw this unless you want your target to die. Be beyond careful handling this, should you cut yourself summon me immediately. I will apply the antidote and hopefully it will save you. There's still a 90% fatality rate even with the antidote applied. That is how dangerous this one is."
~Don't worry host, only the orange one has a chance of working on us. All the others I will not let circulate into our system, including the black.~
Thank Kami, that makes me feel much better about accepting these.
"So uh... just one question for you." I point at the blades that are laid out on the floor between us. "Are those made out of teeth?"
If a spider could grin, I'd be looking one. Dokuso seems glad that I brought that up. "Yes they are. The teeth were taken off of some of my prey, in fact I used some of these poisons on them."
"Okay. But why teeth?" I really hope there's a reason.
"If they undergo a specific process I can make teeth capable of being soaked and absorbing liquids, in this case my poisons. Whereas metal can't do that, you'd have to apply a new coat of them daily, maybe even twice a day and they would require a special sheath to keep them away from the elements." She quickly sheaths all the blades and holds out the leather harness to me. "Using this method the blade will be able to hold the poison for at least a month. This way I don't have to go out as often."
I take the harness and fasten in to me. It's a muted black leather and it's slightly too long to be a belt for me. Instead of wearing it around my waist I'm wearing it draped over my left shoulder, across my chest and back, and around my right hip. It's a sash of scary teeth.
Dokuso scuttles over and using her two front legs adjusts it for me so it fits better. "Plus it looks much more intimidating. Everyone uses metal, but seeing someone come at you with a fifteen centimeter long tooth? That's scary."
I chuckle. "You know, I think we will get along just fine."
"Short doses." She cheekily responds.
"Of course. May I call on you if I need more poisoned blades or a specifically crafted poison?"
"Yes. But I would like notice first, I have my own life to live."
"I can do that."
She vanishes the same way she came, in a swirl of shadows. They rise up from the floor like tendrils of the night and surround Dokuso in moments. Then they settle back on the floor and dissipate into nothing, never to be seen again.
"I've got to make my shunshin look like that."
...
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