Fantasy Hunter's Moon: The Sin & Sentence [IC] [CLOSED]

[Emperor Sagan]

The gleeful high of the execution reminded her of the old days. It had been so long since she had performed a kill of this magnitude, and the satisfaction was immense. And not entirely technically easy - crawling up the priest's back and angling herself properly to get a sword through the skull was no small task. It was what the bastard deserved, anyways, for standing in opposition to them. And kicking her across the floor. The ride down to the stone ground was an amusing little fall as she clutched onto the now-dead priest's shoulder, bringing her to a standing position on his back when the corpse hit the floor.

She eyed her handiwork. A good few hits, and that final stab through the head from above. Not bad, maybe next time she could - Chop.

Loque's axe went through the priest's neck with ease as she loomed over it. At first she didn't realize what had happened, for her thoughts had been thoroughly on herself, but the subsequent kick to the head to send it flying shook her from her revelry. All the happiness from a moment ago was done away with in an instant, replaced by a ferocious fury equal to that of her demeanor in battle. She flicked her sword and angled it directly at Loque, body tense in anticipation.

"Demon! Bitch! That was my kill! My head! [You insolent wretch!]" Any of the lingering pain from her wounds was momentarily forgotten in the sheer anger she felt. How could this demon have the audacity to perform so grave an insult? She barely knew the woman. Certainly, they were no friends, but this was far beyond even a playful insult. She'd not have done this even to an enemy. Had one of her own men done this, she'd have them flayed and left to bake in the sun, and fortunately none had ever been so foolish to do such a thing. When it happened among the ranks, she sanctioned the duels herself, and even then if the head-stealer had been victorious, it never erased the stigma of their dishonorable act.

The nature of the inquiry was all that was holding her back as true rage grasped her. She was nearly shaking. "Return head or I take yours!"

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"So, Senya! Very interesting trick with the fire-" says Loque, approaching her calmly until she gets an unpleasant earful of Inari's insults.

"Return head or I take yours!"

Loque turns back to look at Inari, says nothing, and faces Senya again. "Do you think you can show me how to do it later?" she continues.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob cringed as the Priest of the Damned was killed by Inari. Even if the priest was an enemy and a demon, Jakob considered such brutality barbaric. Then again, maybe he's in no position to say anything, having completely destroyed the brains of three different demons while the others fought the priest. He began to load a fresh shell into his trusty shotgun and began walking towards Vincent. "Now whats the plan boss? I imagine we gotta talk with 'em demon ladies again, right?" As he tried talking with Vincent, he heard Inari trying to pick up a fight with that Loque woman, better to stay out of their way unless things get violent.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

The insult was worthy of death. Kioshi, the spirit blade, sensed this and vibrated violently in her hands as the horrendous spirit within sensed its master's displeasure and the severity of the insult. It was miraculous that she didn't give in and commence the execution immediately, for the man who had brought her here to perform this inquiry had also saved her life, and thus she was indebted to Winchester and obligated to perform this job. But did that cover restraint in the face of a near-treacherous move?

Loque turning her back was like a trigger, and Inari launched forwards. Sparing the blade, she leapt forwards with her feet out to deliver a flying kick to the demon's back.

 

[Breadman]

"That was fun." Henderson looked over the dead priest's body, trying to figure out if there was anything interesting on it. Nothing. Just whatever interested Loque had. She didn't even want a bite out of him like she was craving earlier. Did he taste bad or something? Not being one to miss out on something new, Henderson tried to satisfy his curiosity. He tore off the arm he was trying to earlier but couldn't. At the same time Inari was screaming something, but he didn't say much as he took a bite. 'Tough, chewier than most things I've had before. Odd taste like elk." He said out it out of habit. If people cared to listen or not was up to them. He thew the apendage away when he was done taste-testing in. Holy demons were now on the menu. Maybe their magic makes them taste better? He would need to try the other demons to be sure. But not right now. Now he was wondering why a head was the cause of turmoil.

 

[K0mori]

As the priest was felled, Anya let out one last celebratory howl, leaping onto the fallen torso momentarily and circling around repeatedly as if chasing her tail, although it wasn't actually visible due to her greatcoat. She bounded off the body the moment Loque kicked the head, and this time she did chase it- down the nave of the cathedral and out the doors. A moment later, she charged back in to the sound of Inari's ferocious reprimands. As she delivered a kick to Loque's back, Anya skidded to a stop on the bloody and slick stone floors, and with a devilishly playful look in her amber eyes, dropped the severed head at the kitsune woman's feet. She was oblivious to the fight that was brewing in front of her.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

The kick slammed a now furious Loque right into Senya, bruising her a little. She was ready to unleash a horde of Escarian insults onto her, but seeing Anya bring the head back in gave her an idea.

Loque picks it back up, and with her fire magic, burns it into a crisp.

"Here's your fucking head, you Redonian dog!" she screams as the head withers into ashes in the flame. The former head, now a pile of dust in Loque's hands is blown at Inari's face like a miniature sandstorm.

 

[Doomevil]

As soon as Loque bumped into her, causing to nudge her a little bit. The ensuing fight caused Senya to raise an eyebrow, confused.

 

[K0mori]

Loque's fire magic immediately changed Anya's demeanor. She immediately recoiled and skittered backwards, and, without anything to hunt or to inspire further bloodlust or rage, rapidly began to lose her wolf form. As the fur retreated from her diminishing muzzle, a more human voice emerged. "S-stop it!" she roared.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Inari nearly stabbed herself with her own sword, as she used such great strength to sheath the blade that she could have easily impaled herself. It was liable she wouldn't have felt it at first, anyways. She needed clear hands to maintain some control and not actually break her obligation. To have to commit seppuku after this long would have been a waste.

If one person had any honor here, it was the werewolf, Anya. Evidently the woman was intent to see honor restored, even if she had no hand in causing the dishonor. A proper companion, a good soldier. However, Loque's burning of the head and blowing of the ash into her face caused her to gnash her teeth and attack the woman once more, trying to wrestle her into submission as they lay upon the floor. Anya's plea for them to stop gave her a moment's pause as she stared down at Loque, ceasing her assault for the moment.

"What fuck is problem? Why insult? Why dishonor?" She growled out, wanting to strangle the demon. "I don't know you, and you make such crime! Are you broken in mind!?"

 

[Dmaster]

The hunter sheathed his sword after returning his flail to his person, panting heavily as the stress from that battle was still getting to him. His aim was constantly off from all the gunfire in the background, and at present Hudson could barely hear the exchanges that were happening in the pulpit. Weapons finally sheathed by shaking hands, he put a gloved palm to his helmet and lost his footing temporarily. As the situation began to grow out of control in the church, he stepped over all the corpses and flung both doors open wide as he left for outside. Without a word he excused himself from the brewing shit show.

 

[Infab]

Vincent observed the ensuing fight, giving an audible facepalm as Inari and Loque began fighting. "Undite preserve us." he muttered. If anything, Inari would be the one to get everyone killed. "You are fighting over a FUCKING CORPSE." he finally blurted out, "There's no fucking honor in that. In fact, its dishonorable." Riberta, meanwhile, had stomped over to the side. She was still in her massive alpha werewolf form, looking about and inspecting the bodies scattered about. Making sure they were all really dead. Once she was satisfied, she glanced to Anya, and made a noise similar to a yelp. She wanted to see if her alpha form had any effect on the Tsavanian werewolf. Jakob would likely feel the pull towards Riberta's side, as the man himself was also a lycan with no pack leader. If Anya didn't do anything, it would confirm her suspicions about Anya's lycan shifting state.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"What fuck is problem? Why insult? Why dishonor?"

Very slowly, Loque removes a glove from her hand, and like lightning gives her a backhanded slap across her face. If only Inari was Escarian, maybe then she'd might understand just how much of a grave insult that is.

"Only 'buhroken-en-mynd' thing here is you, vous psychopathe." she grits under her teeth before walking away from her. Looking at Vincent, she shakes her head firmly to signal her disgust.

 

[Damian0358]

As the, unfortunately, familiar noise of verbal conflict arose between the group once more, Takato could feel a greater aura envelop him as he ruminated. The aura he was feeling, it was that of Venextos - it appeared he was healing him. He did his best to turn towards Venextos, giving him a quick thumbs up with his left hand.

As he was being healed, Takato instead concentrated his own qi elsewhere, opening his bag without any hands and bringing out spare bandages that he has. The dark mist not having properly restored itself yet, the 'dark' bit seeming to cling onto his horn-derived miniscule projectiles for the time being, he instead filled the gap in his makeshift right arm. Without the dark mist, he couldn't exactly support himself physically with his artifical right arm, but at least it wouldn't be as jarring as him just having a floating half of a right arm made out of incredibly tiny bits of bone, some having something dark attached to them.

With that done, bandages returned to his bag, he slowly brought himself off the ground, and tried to stretch after standing up.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Vincent was clearly no Winchester, which was a shame. That man would have understood and knew proper redress. Loque's slap caught her off guard for the moment and she turned back to the woman, surprised she actually had the grit to fight back without being an insulting worm, but the woman's true intentions became evident once more following her insult and attempt to walk away. She was not self-conscious about her lack of mastery over the common language, though the turning of the back once more was another insult upon a heap of them. This demon was an insult to demons and common decency. She couldn't even fight or answer for her crime!

Inari lunged after Loque, grabbing at the woman again. "Worthless coward! Dishonorable cur! Get on knees and beg forgiveness!"

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Being grabbed viciously and manhandled the way Inari is doing to her again awakens something very old within Loque, something very painful that she hadn't felt in decades. There's no more thinking in what she does now, only basic instinct, gnashing like an animal just as she did back then to release herself from tight grip.

It's too much for her to bear, she has to scream, an agonizing cry reverberating through the entire cathedral as she flails about madly to get Inari off of her.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

The screaming was grating and Inari could do nothing but grit her teeth, her shoulders hunched at the sonic assault to her ears. She wanted to clasp her hands to her ears but she was too busy trying to fight the woman.

"Why you a squealing boar!?" The woman truly must have some boar spirit inside of her. She ate like one, behaved like one, had the manners of one, and now screamed like one. Oddly, she lacked the stubborn and honorable tenacity of one.

 

[Breadman]

"Alright, that's enough out of you." Henderson spoke as he went to grab Inari by the shoulders to separate her from Loque. This was getting nowhere and as much as he didn't care for either's well being, he was becoming increasingly annoyed. "You just threw a head at another member of the group's not an hour ago and now you're throwing a fit over another head." He scolded her while pulling her back and positioning himself between the two. "I know you're some forest creature or some such, but where she comes from, they don't care about honor." He looked back at Loque for a moment before focusing on Inari again, paws still on her shoulders. "Now calm down and get a grip of yourself before you piss off the big wolf over there." He tilted his head towards Ribertta. He didn't know if Inari feared or admired the barbarian woman, but it didn't matter. The alpha bitch had just eviscerated several demons in a bloodbath and was poised to strike again.

 

[K0mori]

Anya nervously looked back and forth between the continuing escalation of the argument and Riberta, giving her a strange look as the noise she made seemed to be directed at her. Despite this, Anya ignored it, wishing to have no interaction with the huge alpha wolf, especially since she was rapidly regaining her human faculties. She adjusted her cap on her head now that it fit once again and rubbed her face as her fangs retreated into the gums. The yellow of her eyes faded back to brown and soon she was standing upright once more, almost fully human. "Please stop fighting!" she shouted at Inari. She was only half-sure of what had caused the woman to become so enraged, as it felt like a foggy memory, like all other happenings when she was in her wolf form. "Find time after mission is finished and make things even then. For sake of all the world!"

 

[EdwardDewey98]

"...I think it'll take more than Undite to preserve us Boss." said Jakob while staring at Inari and Loque as the strange woman promptly attacked the demon, but as he was getting ready to interfere in the fight, Jakob heard a yelp coming from Riberta, it made Jakob instinctively walk towards her, eyes glowing slightly. "...what was that Riberta?" He asked curiously as Henderson attempted to pull Inari away from Loque.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Henderson wasn't part of the dishonor, so she didn't claw and hit at him, but instead glared up at him and then at Loque as she peered at the woman from around the big man. "She insult me! She make worst insult possible! How she not know she do such terrible thing!?" Such a grave insult coming as an accident seemed far-fetched. How could anyone justify the taking of a head to someone else's kill?

Inari's gaze flickered towards Riberta as Henderson mentioned her. "She understand, she honorable." It was, however, Anya's words that cut her a little more. Please stop fighting. Those words earned a small wince from the kitsune. It sounded as if it had come from one of her....

She shook her head. "... but demon insult me! Is such dishonor!"

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

Loque remains pulsating with some sort of anger, still shaking in her place no matter how hard she tries controlling herself. If Henderson hadn't pulled Inari off of her, she wouldn't know what she would've done next. As she stands there, still trembling, everything to her felt as if it's frozen in time; nothing moved and she can't hear anything from whatever the others might be saying. She closes her eyes shut, only reopening them when she finally found the courage to do so, and finally everything seemed to be going back to normal. An audible gasp comes from her as she could've sworn she saw both of their faces again laughing at her. There's nothing she wants to say to any of the others, so she just walks out the door and into the gory messes Riberta had left behind. Before she makes it outside though, she says something to Vincent as she passes him.

"I-I'm sorry, Vincent..."

Through her mask, he could see her crying.

 

[K0mori]

"Then catch her later," Anya advised Inari, somewhat ominously.

 

[Infab]

That confirms things. Riberta gently shook her head, before eventually shifting back to her humanoid form. It looked quite painful, given her huge size, as bones began to crack and shift and fur began to fall off. Soon, she stood there naked, covered in blood. Her muscular body was covered in both large and small scars, marks from combat prior to her becoming a hybrid. She looked to Jakob after her shift was complete, panting from the stress of the shift. "Just confirming something." she said, before looking to where Inari still remained. "If you want honor, aim higher on the totem pole. Priests are weak. 'Holy' men that spew bullshit." she stated, waving a hand to where the priest's corpse remained. "...A true, honorable kill would be a military leader or a member of royalty. Or a rival."

She then looked about at the others that still remained. "...I'm going to find my clothes." she said simply, before turning about and walking towards the double doors at the end of the cathedral's nave. Vincent, meanwhile, watched Loque leave prior to Riberta's statements. She's crying? Soon, he shook his head and looked to the others. "We should move. Takato, can you travel? We can try and tend to your wounds elsewhere. I'm sure there's a place here in Sheol we can camp out for a night or two so you can rest."

 

[Dmaster]

Riberta would see Hudson seated at the top of the church steps outside, not the least bit bothered by the strewn about limbs and piles of torn flesh around him. His elbows were stationed at his knees, his two arms hanging limply as he stared at the descending stairway. As she walked by him he still said nothing, the onset panic he felt now gone and replaced with that consuming emptiness that hung over him.