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Multiple Settings Project Guf (CLOSED)

Characters
Here
Lore
Here
















  • filler tab! ignore
















  • h


















mood



amused, mischievous, & playful







location



tecnet headquarters







outfit



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interactions



alexia, angelica, flemming, & alexandra







tags



Monologion Monologion AI10100 AI10100 true force true force Bush Bush








月红莲








nine lives

 
It was difficult to see through the spore cloud, but his connection with the afflicted fed their senses into him, muddling into a hive mind of his choosing. The 'office' afflicted had been cut in half at the waist before they could move further into the hallway, with the person responsible being a mage with dak hair. Someone he wasnt entirely familiar with. But given that the afflicted could sense four others in the hall of similar caliber, one of which Baron recognized as Morgan Dismas, he figured she was with the Crimson Hand.

The 'office' afflicted tumbled forward onto their hands, rushing at the closest assailant while their thick blood poured from their guts like dark red ichor. The legs, however, stumbled around a bit uselessly. They skittered on their hands till they were close enough. Launching themselves up, Baron intended to use the 'office' afflicted to grapple the woman.

With the spore cloud filling the 150th floor with a particulate heavy fog, Baron took the opportunity to use his partial concealment before it settled. Ordering the two 'security' afflicted on either side of him to fire at the closest assailant in bursts, he readied his rifle at the Crimson Hand- heavy footsteps behind him caused Baron to roll over and take aim down the steps- just in time to dome three security guards. Likely the reinforcements the CEO called for. At least the early birds.

He didnt have much time then.

At this rate, whomever was a breathing individual would have started at least seeing things. A proper breath at this level of potency drove humans mad, though mages usually responded to the does with just over hallucinogenic panic. Till they got fresh air. He could use that to his advantage here, clear the way for Peirce. She would get a hit the spores as well, but he could guide her through it if need be.

"Five Crimson Hand agents outside the meeting room, including Dismas. Im blocking the emergency exit, straight a cross," he spoke firmly into Angelica's psyche, downing another security guard rounding the steps with a single shot, "Spores are settling in the hall outside. This will be our last message." He could already feel his connection with Angelica snapping, hanging on by a few thin threads as the spores were filtered out of her system.
 
Fr. Flemming Hammershøi, OQV

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It was chaos. Everywhere people were running and screaming, terrified of the outbreak of violence. There had been a bullet, cones of ice, and at least three people had become something akin to thralls in the service of Alexia's would-be assassin. The whole situation was a right mess and Fr. Flemming had to start thinking fast as to his options. 'I guess this was a job for an Oblate after all, Archbishop...' The priest thought to himself, realising the extreme danger that any other cleric would be in here. Flemming began analysing the room for targets whose magic he could dispel- and Aidan immediately became his target. After a sharp intake of breath, Flemming let the words of the 68th Psalm form on his lips... But before he could do so, Angelica made a mad dash for Alexia- probably in some vain feat of heroism. 'Bloody politics!' Flemming thought, as he broke his concentration and turned to her as she ran towards danger. One of the thralls nearly tackled her. Flemming immediately began reciting the 68th Psalm in his native tongue, this time, with Aidan's thralls as the targets...

"Når Gud står op, da splittes hans fjender, hans Avindsmænd flyr for hans Åsyn, som Røg henvejres, så henvejres de; som Voks, der smelter for Ild, går gudløse til Grunde for Guds Åsyn! Men retfærdige frydes og jubler med Glæde og Fryd for Guds Åsyn!"

He chanted, that God might melt the enemies as wax before the fire. He knew not how long God would steal away the enthralled mage's magics, but it was enough to cause the one charging for Angelica to stumble into her without any adverse effect, knocking both to the floor. Flemming ran over to the two individuals, and helped Angelica up.

"Madam Pierce, this is chaos- we need to get out of here immediately! The whole place could come down around our ears at this rate!"
 
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Zack looked down at his outfit after Lyli mentioned that he was dirty, realizing that he is still covered in Julius' blood. "Shit, I'm sorry," Zack told both his old friend and his new friend. "I know this looks really bad Endy but, trust me, I'm only covered in the blood of my coworker. Er-that's not much better...uh...well, to clarify, he rips off his body parts to access weapons he stores inside himself. He regenerates, don't worry! He's like a starfish...well, he doesn't duplicate, actually...that was a bad example. Let's just...get moving already." Zack proceeded to follow Lyli, with Endy soon to follow.

"Hey, I bet he can totally fly!" Zack told Lyli after she doubted Endy's ability to. "I didn't think I could be able to fly until I tried it myself...after losing all my limbs but I still tried! He's a powerful wizard and he's my friend! He trusts me, right?" Endy then spoke, revealing his true feelings about Zack, which slightly hurt Zack's feelings. "Oh..." he spoke softly. "I mean, I understand. I did take you hostage. I'm glad you're giving me a second chance though! I promise this will all make sense once we assassinate Aiden Graham and get out of here. I will have all your questuions answered. Maybe we can meet and get pizza one day! I know a great pizza place North of here. I'll make sure to give you my Discord once we're out of here." Zack was so energetic and lively, happy to meet a new friend and oblivious to the warning that Lyli gave him about interferring with their mission. Zack was too busy thinking about that hypothetical pizza he was going to have that he almost didn't catch the walkie-talkie that was thrown at him. Hell, after the mission, he could go and get pizza to celebrate a well earned victory. After all, assasinating some random shareholder shouldn't be too hard...right?

Zack, Lyli, and Endy were approaching Morgan and Julius. Zack stopped Endy in his tracks before they were in eyesight of his bosses. "Wait here," Zack told Endy. "If they find out you're helping us, they'll reduce my pay and you'll get in trouble. I'm been trying to save up for the PlayStation 6 and I cannot have my pay reduced again-" BANG. Morgan fired the shot at Aiden, catching Zack off guard. Zack then turned back to Endy. "Well, I guess we won! Here, my Discord is-" Zack suddenly stopped in his tracks when he began picking up a familar smell. It was a smell he hated. Lyli also told them to stay in place while she ran of to confront an old enemy, all the while screams were coming from the meeting room. "Baron..." he muttered to himself. Zack turned to Endy. "I got to go now! Lyli needs my help fighting this bad guy named Baron. He's here right now and I bet he's attacking those poor, screaming people," Zack said, suddenly coming to a realization. "Hey, you wanna be on my team? I need you to rescue those people in the meeting room while Lyli and I confront Baron. Help them out but don't let Aiden escape! Alll those people are counting on you...no pressure, though! Okay, bye!" Zack began running towards Lyli, leaving Endy all by himself. "Meet me on the 50th floor when this is over!"

Zack ran towards the smell, encoutering Lyli and the army of zombie-like office workers approaching her. Zack, while holding his nose with his left hand, stuck out his right hand in front of him. "Eat fire, assholes!" yelled Zack (sounding like Squidward with his nose covered) as a large wave of fire shot out of his fingertips and all over the zombies, setting them ablaze and destroying the spores that were in this close promixety, ending this inital wave of the wannabe undead. Using the fire, however, was a huge mistake, as it triggered the building's sprinkler system, rendering Zack powerless. "Shit!" Zack exclaimed. He sighed before pouring out a pistol from his right arm. "Guess I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way," he told Lyli as more zombies began to pour from around the corner. The Baron must not be too far behind, Zack thought, aiming his gun at the emassing army. Wait a minute...is Angelica here?

Despite Angelica's best attempts to tackle Alexia, a strange magic caused her to trip and the bullet was fired anyway. She blacked out for a minute or so and when she woke up, she noticed that not only was Alexia still alive and surronded by autommons but Aiden was also gone. Strange, she told herself. After getting Baron's last message, Angelica became determined to get up and escape but not before Flemming offered her help. Motherfucker, she thought. This guy really thinks he's Jesus or something. Doesn't know when to fucking quit. "You're right, father," Angelica spoke, pretending to put on a vuleranble appearance. "We must get out of here!" She then got up from her spot and pointed at the door leading to the hallway with the emergency exit where Baron's spores were. "There!" She exclaimed, trying her best to act oblivious to what was on the other side. "There's an emergency exit on the other side of that door! Let's go!" Angelica yelled, grabbing Flemming's hand and began running towards the door. And become a fucking zombie while you're at it, father, Angelica thought to herself, doing her best to contain her smile.

Suddenly, Angelica and Flemming were stopped by one of the three shareholders that Aiden striked with cones of ice; a Thrall. The Thrall jumped at Angelica and swung a mean punch at her, knocking her to the ground. The Thrall pulled out a glass shard and prepared to stab Angelica on the floor before she rolled out of the way and got back on her feet. The Thrall threw the shard at her, which stabbed her in the left shoulder, causing Angelica to gasp in pain before she was forced to block another swing at her by the Thrall with her right arm. Grabbing the Thrall's left arm, she pulled the shard out of her shoulder and attempted to stab the Thrail before the Thrall dodged out of the way and hit Angelica's face with their knee, which led into a kick that launched Angelica into a set of chairs. The Thrall rapidly approached her, resulting in Angelica rolling off of the chair she was now, using her position on the floor to trip the Thrall with her legs, before getting back up, grabbing the chair, and slamming it into the Thrall's head as it was getting back up. As the Thrall was laying on the floor, Angelica noticed the ice cone that was still inside it. Using her powers, Angelica moved the ice cone telepathically through the Thrall's body at a rapid speed, slicing the top half of the Thrail in two.

Angelica stumbled onto a chair, still reeling from the stab wound. She turned over to Flemming. "I was taught self-defense in high school," she lied to cover face. "Now help me up," she commanded him. However, before anything else could happen, a strange Nepil entered the room and began taunting her, Alexia, Flemming, and some detective named Lex, much to Angelica's confusion and annoyance. Excuse me?! She thought to herself as Honglian began playing around with all these people that were in danger. What the fuck does this creature even know? Acting like it knows me. Annoying piece of shit. I won't let someone like the likes of it expose my secrets! "As the CEO of New World Shopping, I refuse to share hidden details of my corporation! For the safety and privacy of my employees and customers. I will not be making any deals with you," Angelica addressed the Nepil. Suddenly, the sprinkling system turned on, which began to slowly heal Angelica. Good, she thought to herself. Soon, I will be able to get out of here and maybe kill this creature. Maybe Flemming too.

She began looking around the room to see if anyone else was going to oppose this creature when she noticed Morgan entering the room. Not this motherfucker, she thought to herself. This is all your fault! My heist was going so well but you and your weird new employee just had to ruin everything! Boy, I'm going to enjoy killing you! Angelica proceeded to stand up, still reeling from the stab wound but still slowly getting healed by the sprinklers. "That's him!" Angelica exclaimed, pointing at Morgan and acting scared. "That's the one who fired at Alexia! He's here to kill us!" Angelica began forming an ice sword with the water being sprayed. "Stand back! I'll take him! Flemming, get everyone to safety!" I sure do play a good hero, Angelica complimented herself. Now bring it on, you fucking bitch. Angelica pointed her sword at Morgan, egging him on.
 
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lylianna noelle leon



N
oelle's bright aquamarine eyes were glued to the scene in front of her -- the undead that she had cut in half, who's lower half is now simply stumbling around while the top half was crawling towards her direction.
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although not even the slightest of emotions were being portrayed on her facial expression or through her clear eyes -- a handful of thoughts were actually processing through her mind. ' what happens if i just.. remove the limbs.. would it just wiggle it's way towards me? also are they like zombies? do i have to aim for the head? it's causing for such a mess, i hope the blood doesn't get on me.. ' the thought of being unclean made lylianna despise the corpse that was slowly heading towards her. the thick trail of crimson that was pouring out from the top half and the bottom half.. the thick scent of metallic hung in the air like the fumes. raising her right hand, with the silver threads -- difficult to actually see if one weren't fully paying attention, gripping onto the bottom half that had tumbled over -- noelle had flung it across the office building, colliding into the freshly clean glass panels with an insane amount of strength. crash. the sound of glass shattering.

as the lower half was flung across the building, hitting the window, the wires seems to have retracted back into her left hand's ring. the bottom half was also flung out the window, which ever poor soul is going to have to witness a body missing the top half.. being on one of the higher levels of the tecnet building had it's pros.. the air pressure was insane, clearing out the fumes that had lingered out from said spore infested walking bodies. although, lylianna was a bit slow on the idea as she had already inhaled a bit of the fumes that were exposed into the air. " fuck. " cursing underneath her breathe, she could feel the fumes working it's horrible magic against her. her head felt a bit woozy, although it didn't affect her too badly considering she had been trying to hold her breathe and cover said fumes from entering her nervous system.

as if lylianna was avoiding to use her abilities in front of baron, wanting to use it as a trump card if it comes down to it -- the member of the crimson hand reaches down to her boot that was secretly hiding a 5 inch dagger, as soon as the half corpse had come close enough, she had strung it up before shoving the dagger from up his mouth into his brain. the strong draft of air, dragging the air within the building and wafting it out; lylianna's eyes immediately shifts over to baron's. " unlucky that we are so high up in the air, your fumes don't work as well. " the female meant what she was saying, she wanted to know how well they would have fought and how well she would have held up against him. ever since young, the ebony haired female would never back down from a fight -- to her, it was a test of her limit and how far she can go.

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lylianna grew up with a relatively peaceful and fulfilled childhood, her family had always spoiled her, so there were no memories that would come back to haunt her. instead.. it ended up making her vision blur up and it made it hard for her to fully concentrate initially, this caused for her ability to dodge to be a bit more rough. she was capable of dodging the attack that was thrown at her initially but it caused for her to stumble, her right arm getting slightly grazed by the corpse's ability. " i will throw your corpses out these windows. " as if she was threatening baron, she could not careless about the lives of said corpses, lylianna hates when things are getting in her way.

although as if just on cue, her closest friend within the crimson hand had followed after her already -- a blast of burning fire blowing past her. as the fire alarm has gone off, setting off the sprinklers; lylianna's eyes narrows over to zack. the sprinkler soaking her hair and her attire, " at least the blood smell is being washed off now. " as she had commented about zack's appearance and the scent of metallic. now it was a mixture of harsh wind because of the air pressure coming from the broken window and the sprinkler, it was like a storm within the floor of 150.

" as long as you can aim, zack. " noelle meant what she said earlier, she will continuously throw out these corpses out the window; two reasons, one is for clearing out the spore fog and the second is to get said corpses out of her way. " stay on high alert, i can sense more coming from another staircase not just from this one in front of us. " as the darkness manipulator had said that, she had also broke all the nearby lights -- casting them into a shaded area, this would give lylianna a much bigger advantage as she can restrict certain movements of the undead corpses. although another one of her worry is zack's flames.. the brilliant flames causes for her eyes to be irritated and would make it a bit harder for her to fully focus her attention, but with the lights all destroyed around them with only what natural light could peak through -- lylianna is practically thriving now.







MOOD

on high alert & irritated



OUTFIT

here






LOCATION

tecnet headquarters




INTERACTION

baron & zack













coded by xayah.ღ
 

V A N D Y R , L E X
Interacting with: Monologion Monologion B E A R B E A R ​

The meeting room exploded in chaos. Moments before Aiden could reach Alexia, a bullet lodged itself into the attacker. However, oddly enough, it had not been enough as Aiden regenerated right in front of all of them. Something was terribly wrong— like a puzzle piece finally connecting, she concluded that this person was not Aiden Graham. There was no way that a regular shareholder, a mage as he may be, was capable of such a thing. As if that wasn't enough, he proceeded to kill three more mages in a show of magical supremacy before they rose up once again, now infected by this "Aiden's" Tenebris energy. Thralls. Fantastic.

Then there was the problem of the shooter. When she looked back, she only had mere moments to really look at who he was. Her eyes widened in immediate recognition— of an event that had happened so long ago that she was practically a greenhorn detective. "Volkanovski...?" She muttered, previously under the impression that the entire family got wiped out. Before he could think about it any more, he disappeared alongside Aiden.

Focus, Lex.

But life would not stop throwing curveballs as the familiar, almost overwhelming, presence of her master appeared. Of course she would appear during all of this chaos. They looked at each other and Lex could only give her a resigned look as she was, undoubtedly, making a deal with Alexia whose life was in such grave danger. And then immediately started taking shots at everyone else. "Trying not to get everyone here killed. I just wanted to listen but no, can't have peace around here!" She shot back to Honglian through telepathy.

One of the thralls appeared to be stalking to another terrified civilian and three knives were embedded into the thrall. Lex let out a huff as she took control of a few more knives and enhanced the power behind the telekinetic magic and shot them with enough force that anyone that the knives could push the thrall back onto the wall— pinning its head and hands onto the building. There were a lot of advantages of being a fighter from far away but she wasn't sure if that was enough to kill the thrall. While other people dealt with the other thralls, Lex walked over to the exit Angelica was heading to and opened it to make sure the coast was clear.

The concentrated amount of Tenebris energy hit her almost immediately and she slammed the door shut. "Everyone! The exits are compromised by another mage!" Angelica Pierce was engaging the shooter's companion and she may as well have been telling the truth. But something didn't add up. Then why did Aiden take one of their units? Or was it an accidental conflict of interest? She shook her head and turned to the priest. "Father, the air outside is corrupted. I'm not sure what it does but it can't be good. Do you have anything to cleanse it or something?"
 
ENDYMION

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Shit! Shit! Shit!

Endymion’s head spins the same way that pieces of a broken dish skitter across a floor. He’s definitely gotten a lungful or two of whatever chemical warfare is going on in the 150th floor foyer. It’s disgusting, the way it coats his mouth in a way that’s not entirely unfamiliar and makes everything buzz around the edges. And as he stands around for a few moments longer, panicking, hands in his hair, whipping his eyes back and forth to make heads or tails of anything that’s happening, he definitely gets another good huff, this time which allows shadows of women and people he almost knows to lurk in the creeping corners of his vision.

So really, if what he does next is incredibly, painfully unnecessary, and messy, and violent, and probably problematic to the situation as a whole…. well, what else could one expect?

The air’s starting to taste like fever and all Endymion can focus on is this: Zack’s last command, before he flew away as fast as he arrived, and left Endymion to fall ass-first into the mess of a lifetime.

All those people are counting on you!

Was it true?

…It didn’t matter. If he hesitated, there was a very real chance that deaths would occur, deaths that he could have prevented.

So Endymion clapped one hand over his familiar’s eyes and pointed the other hand at the meeting room door and shot a blinding, blistering photographic ray at it to blast it entirely off its hinges.

The metal frame is still bubbling around the edge. Endymion bounds forward and pops his head into the room, yelling,

“HEY! Quickly, anybody in here, we gotta go- Haaah-!!!”

Sprinkler rain, stray knives whizzing past, remnant flames, and a bullet here and there halt any more words coming out of his mouth. Perhaps they had it under control in here, and Endymion should have left them sealed off from the rest of the insanity.
 
Julius

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Julius swiveled his gaze around. "Aidan" had brought them into sections upon sections of white sheeted dinner tables. The tables were arranged in groups akin to that of the 5 side of a dice. A 200x200 foot room, Julius lowered his gun to his waste, smoke still sifting out of the barrel. He turned his attention to the target, none of what he observed or researched about Aidan had just come into play.
"Ahh, a few more tricks up your sleeve Aidan. That's quite the "quaint" way of switching magic up, fucking a homunculus of your sister every night to murdering your coworkers and parading them like puppets-" Julius gave Aidan a shit eating grin, he could hear his heart rumbling in his head. It was the same as any other target, overly confident and calm. Julius slowly encircled Nosk, his hips gently swaying along the cloths, it was akin to watching an apex predator circle its pray.
Thump...thump...thump... Aidan's heartbeat remained the same in his head. Dropping the fact he was able to hear him from a remarkable distance with all the background,
"I'm actually quite the shot, if anything, I'm quite impressed. From my understanding, you just took a 50. cal. to the gut and shrugged it off, no gimmicks or magic, the only other person who could that is me... you successfully hid 2 different types of magic that would take decent skill from your coworkers for years only to make some sorta move on your boss, that's a bit funny to me really.." Julius holstered his gun. He fluffed his hair up and locked eyes with Aidan, piercing into his soul, faintly getting a twitch feeling from the eclipse birth mark on his back. They had entered into some sorta draw. The air was heavy, if not for picking up on every little orchestra in his ears, the silence would have been deafening.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging you for making a move like that," Julius' finger drifted to the underside of a table before snickering, "I just think a chicken shit like you could never have pulled it off-!"
Julius launched the table in the air, in between spins, time seemed to slow down, and he met Aidan's gaze. Using his inhuman strength, he flicked the table at him, using it as cover. He anticipated Aidan was too prideful to move, banking on him to destroy it.
He charged close behind, aiming to meet Aidan with a shoulder check, and back kick to the chest hard enough to send him through no less than the wall. Even a light blow from Julius felt like the force of a truck, it was only compounded through his natural talent and martial arts training. The twos physical prowess were worlds apart.
Curious as to this personality swap, Julius was aiming to not draw a weapon yet, this CFO had piqued his interest, and he immediately understood his higher place on the food chain. He watched Aidan bowling ball through 2 walls, colliding into some accoutant. Not letting up pressure for a second, Julius flash stepped towards Aidan, grabbing him by the ankle and using his momentum to slam him onto his face bloody. "Pathetic-!"
Before he could even lift his head, Julius slammed his fist into the back of his skull with enough force to send him down multiple floors. He followed down to where he stopped tumbling at floor 153, which had seemed to be some massive artificial jungle used for testing. He landed faintly in an ankle-deep stream, a sadistic smile flashed towards his adversary. He wondered how that beatdown would feel in comparison to a bullet.
"All that boasting to Alexia just to be turned into a human tumbleweed." Ever the assassin, Julius made sure to back his boast up, and didn't let his guard down. This was gonna be quite the tale next time he saw Morgan.


Alexia
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Death was something Alexia held no experience with firsthand. His family had boosted vitality from magic, and any attacks on conspirators or rivals he had other people do, and others still call the hit. All around this prince was death at the moment. He watched his CFO mow down his fellow socialites, in what should've been his safe, ivory towel upon his pearl of a city. So much was happening at once, it was hard to weave the signs for a teleportation spell. He could only pray in his head to whatever force worked the universe that he weaved faster. Just as he was close, he felt the strange, ancient energy of something inhuman. He could barely process what she asked, going on auto pilot. A delayed reaction hit and his made a fist, intensifying his flame rings and boosting them outward, causing the fire to travel faster up the ceiling and halfway into the room.
"You cocksucking runt, watch who you're talking to. You're not even supposed to be here-" he watched her dance around the room, making eye contact with Morgan. There was a certain sign of corporate betrayal in his eyes.
"I paid you well..." he thought, forgetting the group worked for whoever paid highest. He thought to himself that this was quite some sloppy work. Just as he looked back up with answer for the Fox, he started weaving, two signs away
"Here's my proposition, you leave, and I won't have my staff blow you into a Million pieces." Alexia couldn't stand the idea that even a single Nephil had breached his barrier, and now one had thought she held the right to talk him as an equal, no, talk down to the most powerful man in the world.


Other npcs
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Alexia's two automatons moved slowly. They stood at 9feet tall, bearing a resemblance to a knight made of blade. In this instance, they were almost beautiful with the combination of fire and water encompassing them. One moved towards Endymion, the other pursued morgan. As if linked by the same brain, they both took a broad slow swing, their scythe-like arms were programmed to target whoever's energy was not cleared by the building.

Alexia's call had sent out for a task force. Being the CEO, the immediate danger in his voice put things into DEFCON 1. Soon, 2 choppers were circling the building. Fly up and down, while 2 mages were using scrying spells through each floor trying to make out what happened. Meanwhile, a squad of 30 non mages armed with silver bullets descended down the rooms one by one from room 160. Their task, kill, contain and retrieve Alexia.
 
Nosk
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​
Nosk smirked at the man's comment, it was clear that Julius thought Aiden was still alive in this corpse puppet, ah how fun Nosk nearly laughed at the thought of it. However there was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind, why exactly did these people want Aiden dead? These were no average mercenaries either, hell this man before him was effectively invisible to mages, so what is going on here? His eyes followed the man before him, Nosk laughed at the homunculus comment as it caught him off guard completely "Wow! How interesting, no wonder Aiden spent so much time in those top floors!" Nosk continued laughing at the thought, how disgusting how depraved it was all so amusing to him "You think so? Honestly I think I made them much more useful as thralls." He shrugged at his own comment clearly not giving a single care to the situation or the people he just murdered
Nosk simply smiled at the rest of this man's spiel. There was nothing else to say, you're going to die here soon can't you understand that? Their eyes locked, Nosk would allow him the first move to break their little draw. The moment the table sprung up from its resting place the temperature around him plummeted, ice coated his right hand forming a psudo-gauntlet as he smashed through the furniture piece, a shower of splinters and chunks of wood flew throughout the room. This man far surpassed Nosk's initial expectations, he could feel two things the moment this man's body came in contact with him he was no ordinary human either, the other feeling was his ribs cracking from the kick he just received.
Ah how interesting, if only this host wasn't so utterly useless perhaps Nosk could enjoy himself here. Colliding with the accountant reduced the bystander to a broken mess, There was no time to recover despite the wounds he was receiving beginning to regenerate, his bones forced themselves back into place, before he could stand or even think he was blasted through multiple floors landing into some shitty jungle.
Nosk spat up blood watching it flow down the artificial stream, struggling to get up he grinned, this entire situation was just too amusing this pain was exquisite, in all the years he lived there were few people that interested him like this man. Nosk laughed as he slowly got up slamming his hand into the artificial stream, immediately sending ice creeping over the water's surface. "Keep going! I want to see everything you can do!" He yelled out maliciously as large blades of ice sprouted from the river of ice he just created, surely one of these will skewer that piece of shit but just to make sure... This man appeared to be a close range fighter in that case... Nosk freezes the air around him creating four cones of ice nearby, launching them in addition to his assault. All we have to do is keep this man away, if he can't use his brute strength he is utterly worthless. He flashes Julius a smug grin following the barrage he just unleashed.


Morgan
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​
Morgan's expression didn't change in the slightest as he continued his way into the room, the only slightly surprising thing to him was the sprinklers turning on. The man holds out his hand watching the water drip off his hand, it was almost calming despite something annoying yelling in his ear along with that nephil being here. Morgan sighed at the sight of Honglian, he had no grudge against her but her mannerisms were quite bothersome, besides he had no desire to make any contract with her, whatever he wanted was forever out of reach. He sighed once again, he couldn't even light a cigarette with all this damn water being sprayed everywhere. "Haven't I told you before? Nobody is stupid enough to take one of your contracts." He hoped his words were true, nothing good can come from that woman.

Now where did Aiden go off to? He attempted to track down the man's tenebris energy however there was simply too much interference, between all the mages running about to the large mass of energy flowing through the halls it was a useless effort, well he wouldn't be able to focus on much anyways with that annoying thing yelling about in the room. Ah right Angelica was here wasn't she? His eyes fell onto her, it looked like she was hurt already, and she was challenging him instead of running and hiding? A rather bold move, foolish yet bold. "You misunderstand, I don't have interest in you at the moment." He spoke without any ego simply stating facts "The only reason you're alive right now is because I wasn't involved with your contract, then you hid away until it expired." His gaze moved from her and towards the pair of automatons "Besides why is a simple businesswoman like yourself trying to involve yourself in this?" He says this dismissingly, goading the woman to drop her facade.
And all of a sudden Zach's friend fell into the room. Perfect, thank you Zach. Morgan sighed once more stepping past Angelica and towards the man. The idea of the automatons targeting him as well was almost bothersome. He stopped between the man and the two machines glancing back at Endy. "What happened to the other two?" He couldn't imagine the pair of Lily and Zach losing however this was just to receive confirmation. I suppose this mage was his responsibility now, he'd better do a good job otherwise he'd hear it from Zach later. Morgan raises the machine pistol he had been holding to meet the two automaton, his expression remained vacant, he only hoped these damn sprinklers would shut off soon.
 
ENDYMION
​
His burst of heroism has been used up. So has his brain, while we’re at it. Endymion freezes on the spot and does nothing but watch the automatons approach.

As the living-blade-armour-knights trudge through a sea of broken glass as shrapnel, they swing their arms in an arc, and their blades glitter with droplets of condensation that catch the firelight nearby. Steam rises from any lingering flames being showered by the sprinklers and makes the whole room dazzle, too. Endymion’s spore-addled brain comes to a flying halt. It feels much like the way a hamster runs too fast and goes flying off its little wheel when its paws can’t keep their traction any longer.

“Beautiful,” he says out loud, though it comes out much quieter than he intended. Would the shimmering knights even have heard him? It suddenly feels very important that they know how beautiful they are. After all, the lurking shadows that had begun to creep in to his mind had all but fled at their sight. Endymion ducks out of the way of their swinging blades. He thumps to the ground on his knees and shields his head with his arms; even on the attack, they move so gracefully-!

He’s a little bit cross when somebody steps in between him and the machines. Can’t a man even await his own death in peace anymore?

It’s fine, though, because this new man has a giant gun and seems to know Zack— and, hey, he almost forgot about Zack! His kidnapping feels like a lifetime ago by now. He wonders where that boy went. Endy thinks he left with someone else, but to be honest he’s never really paid much attention to beautiful women.

“They, uh. Left,” he says, unreassuringly. He quickly tries to clarify. “He seemed cool with it?”

Endymion hasn’t risen yet from his earthquake drill pose. He’s not entirely convinced that he won’t lose his balance and fall through the floor if he tries to stand up. Hallucinogenic gas on an empty stomach and no sleep hits hard, as it turns out.

“Oh, shit, the things,” he ends up saying (like a genius), when he remembers the killer machines approaching. It’s probably rude to let this guy fight them off alone while he cowers. Endymion does then lift his head and fire off a spark of light in the automaton’s direction. It skitters across the floor and leaves burn marks in the tile; his fingertips smoke with the effort.
 
The 'office' afflicted, the upper half at least, writhed in the wires it was suspended from, trying to claw at whatever got close. Baron's connection to its sense were partially cut off as the dagger was plunged into the center of its brain. And, with the widows shattered by the lower half of the afflicted, the spore cloud now only lingered within the stairwell. Rather than the rest of the 150th floor. A nuisance.

The Crimson Hand he was fighting seemed to peer through the smoke in that moment, staring directly into his grey scleras behind the visor of his rebreather. He could barely hear what she said from the senses of the 'office' afflicted, but the remark made him smile. This wasnt his ideal environment for a fight, no. But he was adaptable enough.

At that thought, he felt the threads of his influence over the other afflicted he had hidden around the building closing distance. It was easy to stash the afflicted in advance through out the tower, particularly if they were made from people whose positions usually overlooked by others; janitors, interns, visitors, lower rung security guards... any of them who could take a simple command so he didnt have to puppet them the entire time. 'Do what you are told, idle at these locations,' etcetera. Ten assorted afflicted joined him in the stairwell where he was station, another thirty or so occupied the other, smaller, less marked stairwell. He ordered the other thirty to plow through whatever was in their way into the meeting room. With the only caveat being to not harm Angelica.

The fire that suddenly blasted in front of him made Baron flinch back, eyes wide. The flames cooked through whatever spore cloud was lingering on the 150th floor and singed a forth of his fighting force. Every fiber of his being screamed at the threat, the heat wave promising the mycelian within him a quick end.

His shock was only eased by the sprinkling of water from above. The water bounced off of his hooded layers as he regained his focus, luckily fast enough to notice the security guards attempting to push through his horde on the stairs below. Without much thought, he downed three more security guards, totaling about ten bodies strewn about the stairs below him. They had managed to take down two of his twelve afflicted within this stairwell. It wasnt entirely surprising, only a few of them were guards. The rest were unarmed. Which was... unideal. He couldnt focus on the Crimson Hands and the security personnel ascending the steps. They would be easily overwhelmed should any of the automatons join their forces, let alone a fighting force actually worth their salt.

Deciding not to leave the armed bodies to waste, and taking in a deep breath through his nose, he lifted his hands to loosen both of the valves on either side of his rebreather. Maxing out his lung capacity, Baron exhaled with a bit of force to carry the reserves in the tank that was flush against his back. A thick red cloud billowed from the valves, swirling around his head like a crimson halo before flowing like smoke within the stairwell. Thanks to the water sprinklers the cloud wasnt so easily swept up by the wind but it did linger closer to the ground with the weight of the precipitation. It was no matter. His main targets were the bodies anyway. Though a long enough exposure while prone would result in an afflicted, so long as the victim had lungs.

He tightened the valves back down with a slight groan at the strain. If only he had packed a neurotoxin... but he had a paralytic. Ordering the eight afflicted in the stairwell to attack any non afflicted entering their space, save for Angelica -if she could make it here in time- Baron lifted his rebreather for a moment to pop a capsule of powdered pufferfish organs. He would have added a capsule with the haemotoxin, but he didnt want to a potentual loose bullet in all of this mayhem grazing Angelica to be deadly. The two he had arrived with were still firing their pistols at the Crimson Hands, though mostly just to provide suppressive fire. He took another moment to let the capsule dissolve in whatever was left of his altered digestive system. After about thirty seconds, Baron tugged the leather glove off of his right hand and rubbed his fingers together till a black oil carrying the paralytic toxin greased between his fingers. Adjusting still in his prone position in the red cloud, he pulled a grooved 7mm-08 bullet from one of the four satchels he had on his belt, rubbing the oil into the bullet before racking it into his modded Technet rifle and taking aim at the Crimson Hand he felt would cause him the most trouble. Using the chaotic senses of the other afflicted in the room, Baron shot through the smoke, aiming at the dark haired woman's torso.
 
Fr. Flemming Hammershøi, OQV

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Father Flemming knew immediately that he had to act. He didn't much like the idea of taking orders from a CEO like Angelica, but she was right. He was ultimately a noncombatant, and he needed to lead the survivors out of this collapsing deathtrap. Upon seeing the conference room doors blow off their hinges, seeing another young man pop his head through, and hearing the nearby detective's cautioning about the dangers of the air quality, Flemming knew he had to be the one to lead this wayward escape party. He summoned all his faith, gave the Cross around his neck a passionate kiss, and began to intone a prayer- not a psalm as usual procedure would call, but an improvised one. Raising his voice, he found himself crying out amidst the bullets and flames.

"O Herre Jesus, min søde frelser. Til mig har du betroet dette tårns stakkels sjæle, hvis liv hænger på dødens afgrund. Hvis det er din guddommelige vilje, så giv os enhver sikkerhed. Velsign vores skridt, led vores luner og vis os vejen gennem din barmhjertighed, som vil føre os til sikkerhed. Rens den vej, vi går, for al ulykke og lidelse, og lad ikke et hår på vores hoveder synge eller et åndedrag, vi tager for at blive forgiftet. Som du lovede dine følgere, så vær med os på vores vej. Amen."

With that, a bright light began to emanate from Flemming's right hand, cleansing the surroundings of fire, poison, and immediate dangers. He also felt his senses calm as he was able to call to mind an exact blueprint of the tower- with knowledge of which safety stairwells were accessible and which were not. 'Thank you, Lord, for hearing my prayer...' He thought, before rushing to the doors and calling out to the others seeking escape.

"I know the way out, and I can cleanse the way forwards! If you want to get out of here alive, follow me! This might be our only chance before the whole building comes down!"

Flemming shouted, gesturing to all the noncombatants in particular. He gave Lex a glance, inviting her along, as well as all the others who did not appear to be connected to any of the apparent warring factions that were all seeking each other's heads. As he approached the melted doorway with the mass of innocents behind, he noticed the automatons coming towards the young man and another well-dressed figure who looked to be his... boss? No... the young man didn't seem to know him. Either way, to protect the exit, the people he was recuing, and the two men standing at the doorframe, Flemming used the Divine Magic to immediately deactivate the tenebris energy in the automatons, causing them to collapse onto the floor.

"Everyone! Follow me out!"

Flemming called, as he led the Mass forwards to the open doorframe, hoping to add the two men there to the number of rescued.
 
Zack turned over to Lyli, smirking. "Of course I can aim," Zack boasted. "Watch this!" Zack then turned towards a zombie that was approaching him, fired straight into his face before rolling off to the side to shoot another zombie that was walking beside the first one. Two zombies approached Zack from the left and right, resulting in Zack pulling out a knife out of his right arm and throwing it straight into the right zombie before shooting the left zombie. Zack then ran over to the right zombie and pulled out the knife just as a zombie was about to overtake the kneeling man, resulting in multiple stabs to the chest as Zack was getting up before Zack threw the knife at a zombie approaching from behind him. He ran over to pick up the knife again before dodging a swing by another zombie, resulting in Zack punching the zombie in the face, knocking him off his feet allowing for Zack to fire at him as he was falling down. Noticing more zombies approach from the opposite stairwell as Baron, Zack transformed his left arm into his minigun mode while he held his pistol in his right arm before beginning to fire into each direction, taking down waves of approaching zombies. Zombies fell to the floor, decimated by bullets.

However, his minigun eventually ran out of bullets and his pistol was only down to one. Zombies still approached from both angles. Worse is that, in the fight, Zack began to inhale some of the fumes that Baron's zombies kept spreading, resulting in a coughing fit after running out of bullets. "Can't...hallucinate...now..." Zack tried telling himself, completely failing as his father appeared in front of him, gloating at his son.

"Honor your legacy as a McGill, a family of heroes, Zack," his father told his son. He was covered in blood that leaked from his business suit; the same one that he wore on his last trip to the bank. His forehead had a giant bullet hole in it, completely bleeding out and disturbing Zack. "I died a hero, didn't I? It's time for you to do the same," Zack's father exclaimed, grinning as more zombies began to approach them.

"Shut up!" Zack retorted. "You're not even real!"

"I am as real as your perception of me," Zack's father retorted. "The story you believe in...it's as real as the man who stands before you."

Zack didn't want to listen, stabbing an approaching zombie with his knife. He stared at his father with anger and frustration as he grinned at the boy; his own mind playing tricks on him. However, as he was staring at his father, he caught in the corner of his eye Baron loading a sniper rifle and aiming it at Lyli. "Shit!" Zack exclaimed, running towards Lyli. "Lyli, get down!" He commanded, ready to tackle Lyli to the ground. Zack's father couldn't help but smile at the foolish attempt of heroism. "Like father, like son, right?" He gloated as Zack ran towards Lyli, not wanting the hallucination to get the best of him.

"A simple business woman like myself will not terrorists like you cause havoc," Angelica heroically exclaimed, still putting on the appearance of a hero and hoping to not expose her true intentions. You have been a thorn in my side for too long, Angelica thought to herself. I can't wait to kill you. Just then, a mysterious man entered the room, demanding everyone escape. Morgan approached the man, whose name was Endy, and spoke some words to him. Another new member of Crimson Dawn? She thought to herself. How many twinks are they gonna recruit into their forces? I wouldn't be surprised if Flemming here is one of them. Probably is a big fan of Daredevil or something. Then Flemming shut off the automatons in front of Morgan and Endy, saving their lives. My suspicions grow more possible with every moment.

"Get out of here, sir!" Angelica yelled at Endy, pretending to be oblivious to the possibility that he could be working for Crimson Hand. "That man you're speaking to a terrorist and one I will deal personally!" Angelica began manipulating the sprinkler water all around her, causing her to begin to levitate as many ice projectiles began to form around her. She summoned a ice shield and sword, hardening it to ensure it would be difficult to break. All I need to do is play the hero until all of the others leave, Angelica thought to herself. Baron has prepared my exit. However, if I can kill Morgan while I'm at it, I might as well. Angelica fired her ice projectiles at Morgan before rolling onto the ground and preparing to smack Morgan with her ice shield, which would daze him enough to allow Angelica to stab him in the shoulder. If not, Angelica was preparing a back-up attack where she was using the sprinkler water to lift up many of the chairs behind her, ready to strike at Morgan or even Endy at a moment's notice. Die, you son of a bitch!
 
A thick coppery fog fills the kneeling space above the floor. It tastes positively rank, and so Endymion forces himself back to his feet as quickly as he fell. His legs feel a bit jelly still. Probably from his poor breathing; his lungs, while miles recovered from their damaged state in his childhood, never fully returned to the capacity a healthy young man like him should have.

He drags his eyes to the gunman defending him. This man? A terrorist? To be fair, that businesswoman would know more about anyone here than he would. Still Endymion finds it a bit hard to believe. Or at least, he feels much more inclined to side with the people who have not sent raging automatons upon them all, terrorist or not.

“I don’t—“ he starts to call out, although his voice soon peters off into nothing. Who is he trying to respond to? What could he possibly say? Nothing that’s happened in the last hour aligns with anything he’s experienced before. He couldn’t possibly argue or defend anyone in any meaningful way, not when his brain is still centrifuging itself in his skill.

Instead he whips his head around to track the young priest’s movements. It’s not hard, as his palm glows stark and takes the poison haze with it. Once again; beautiful.

“Okay. I’m— I’ll follow you. I can’t stay here any longer.”
 

V A N D Y R , L E X
Interacting with: ​

Maybe there was some small part of Lex that found something sickly gratifying that Alexia would be backed into a corner but that proved to be the farthest from the truth as automatons whirred into action to protect the CEO and his rescue in the form of helicopters rising to the floor had come. He had the home field advantage and he would come out of it alive— what the press would say afterwards would be smoothed over, she was sure. To be targetted by a CFO, a tale spun of betrayal and jealousy that they could play right into their cards. Lex could already see the headache, the mountains of papers and reports as well as the inevitable intense debriefing for the detectives present.

Someone else entered— screaming at them to leave the premises immediately. How this man had gone through the thick layer of Tenebris Energy outside and came out unscathed proved to tell a lot about his resistance and his quick dispatching of an automaton proved that he was, at the very least, a capable mage. The man Angelica seemed intent on fighting approached the new guy— had she not heard the conversation, she might have misunderstood that they were in the same group. However, their little newcomer seemed to be just as confused. Probably just someone who got pulled into this mess.

The Father had begun his prayers and she could only hope that it was as effective as she heard the reports say. She had never worked with the divine practitioners before due to certain conflicts of interest. Still, she would not be foolish enough to not trust a man of the cloth. "I'll be going with you." She answered the Father's look with a resolute nod before moving towards the young man. An odd fog began to exude into the room with the same properties— someone was certainly trying to stop them from leaving. She helped Endymion up to get his bearings. "You okay? I'll help you out but we need to stick close to him."

Lex wasn't sure if the Father could hold up in a fight so she surmised to stick as close to him as possible to cover their exit. Whatever the threat was, she couldn't allow them to touch the citizens. So she resummoned her knives back to her, letting the thrall fall limply back onto the ground. With that, she followed the Father out into the thick fog, hoping that it wouldn't knock them out instantly thanks to the purifying power of the divine.
 
Julius
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Julius perceived all the counter measures as if it was a frame-by-frame replay. Clearly Aidan didn't get the gist of what he was dealing with. There was no lack of options Julius had in the toolbox for this moment, but the problem lay in the fact the client wanted the body. Why? It's such an odd thing to want. Head as proof sure, but the whole body? Can I take his limbs off? Blast his face? Julius was thinking all of this as these chicken shit ice attacks.
He threw the bag of his gear into the air, catching one of the blades of ice. Finely crafted, something is off here. This is a decent amount of spell and skill foreign to Aidan. Julius' best guess was that a spirit or demon was possessing Aidan, it would explain the 50 cal. he took to the torso, but it could also just be extensive training.
Swiftly moving into the forest Julius taunted the walking corpse, it was the equivalent of watching a shadow scurry when faced with light, silent, quick, and nerve racking. He had already come up with his next move. Dodging the rest of these fodder level cones and blades was the equivalent of a ballerina doing an everyday routine. By all accounts, nearly getting filled with lead from Zack, or decapitated by Lylianna was more harrowing.
"I could've chopped you up into a ribeye by now," Julius grinned appearing on the bank of the river. This was possibly the worst kind of place any mage could fight him; plenty of area to hide, darkness to envelope him, environment to bounce off. He slowly started to walk along the riverbank, twirling the ice blade Aidan had gifted him, it was about the length his leg.
"You aren't going to get out of this, you're a fly in a spider's web right now, but I do have to ask: Aidan, is that really you in there? Different magics, newfound confidence, what's going on here buddy?" Julius knelt down, wrapping the blade along his back and peering into the eyes of Aidan. His ears twitched and he could hear the kill squad moving closer and closer. Part of him wanted to wait and see if Aidan would use them as thralls, but a louder, Morgan sounding voice screeched at him to finish the job and get the fuck out of here. His expression soured, and a stone-cold murderer's face was in its place.

"Shows over-" Gone. Julius uprooted a rather large tree and hurled it at Aidan in a flash, it was like throwing a softball. In essence, this was just the table move but with a larger object, and a more brutal follow up. There was no testing here, it was time for a kill shot, as much as Julius enjoyed playing with his food, he was a professional, and professionals have standards. He jumped to the ceiling and bounced off it with the same spring as a basketball, going directly for Aidan. His plan of action was to bulldoze his knee into Aidan's jaw, send him into the ground without sending him through it, and plant his own icicle into the center of his throat. There was no time for playing, only collecting a check.

Just as his feet had touched the ceiling, 4 of Alexia's squad had come into the jungle, ready to terminate anyone they saw.

Alexia
​
Feeling suspiciously like Marie Antoinette, Alexia perceived this as the poors clambering at his gates. Rather than letting them eat cake, he was more inclined to have them eat lead. Angelica screaming only helped the church bell level headache he had going on. And now a fight between her and his former contractor was going to break out.
"Good riddance... AGH" Alexia started to cough. Baron's smoke was starting to enter his lungs, and his panicked breathing wasn't helping other than inhaling more of it. While the spores of the floor had been cooked, a rather concerning amount had still entered his lungs. Alexia looked at his hands and began to panic, in his eyes they were skinned down to the bone. His hysteria led him to move out of the way, tracking his rings of fire along with him, setting ablaze to Amber
Magically, Alexia had a pact with the building. Tecnet had bound a primitive spirit into most of their buildings, with Alexia being granted a pact with them so he could control them. As he started to freak out and descend into hallucination, He squeezed his fist, magically closing the doors that people were escaping out of, slamming the doors shut as the fire roared in the room.
Throwing his hands on his head, Alexia lost control of his rings, eventually burning himself and casting himself on fire. The proud prince of Tecnet, screamed in agony and gnashed, whipping himself out through the window and begun to fall to the earth.

Just as this had happened Alexia's kill squad repelled into the very window he had just fallen out of. 4 soldiers had locked their eyes on Morgan, Angela, and Endy respectively. Covered in gas masks, they needn't worry about Baron's spores, and the fire roared against their bright blue armor.
 
Nosk
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Despite clearly being at a disadvantage the entire battle Nosk's twisted smile never fades, he stands to his feet river water dripping off his hand, he would most likely lose this host if this continued in this manner after all Aiden's body is reaching its absolute limit. For just a moment Nosk considered bringing out That Sword but dismissed the idea almost immediately, after all he wanted Alexia alive, what a shame... This game could have gone on longer. He notes Julius' current location the moment he speaks staring him down. "Then why haven't you?" Nosk replies smugly, goading the man into striking once again. He begins stepping closer to the man before him holding out his hand, ice crawling along it taking the shape of a javelin, Nosk twirls his newly created weapon satisfied with is current state, his eyes meet Julius's, if looks could kill the man before him would be torn apart. He sighs and shrugs at the question replying far too casually. "Interesting isn't it? Would you believe a Nephil taught Aiden this?" He laughs at his own comment before continuing "No, I think I'll leave you to figure that bit out on your own. It'd ruin our game now wouldn't it?"

Before Nosk had a chance to mock the man before him anymore something quite disappointing happened to the tenebris energy signature he had been keeping an eye on the entire fight, that of Alexia's. Seeing it plummet out of the building was perhaps the one thing he didn't want to happen. Nosk's smile faded leaving him with an expression of disappointment before he sighs once more "What a shame, it appears dear Alexia made his exit. Oh well! I guess he shoulda contracted some mavericks am I right??" His expression shifts into a twisted grin as Julius makes the next move. That's right, go ahead and thrash about a bit more before you get torn apart. Nosk attempts to roll out of the way of the tree projectile, only to be met with Julius above him. Perfect. This was the decisive moment, as the ice blade tore through Nosk's throat he thrust the javelin through the stomach of his opponent. He would have laughed at Julius's misfortune if it wasn't for the fact that his throat had a blade through it.


Morgan
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Both machines were out of commission, that was only one mark off the long list of problems Morgan had to deal with currently. First there was the matter of the rest of the people left in the room including that priest, Alexia, and Zach's new friend, at the very least Mr. Endymion was able to tell him that the pair of Crimson Hand members he left in that hallway were still alive at the very least. This means that he could focus on the next threat, Angelica. She has the potential to be a problem if she were to meet up with Baron, however it appears she intends to throw her life away. "Idiot. I just said, the only reason you're alive is because I wasn't involved last time." It wasn't a matter of ego, it was simply a matter of fact. Morgan quickly switches out his machine pistol for the much larger magnum revolver he also had in his coat. "Six shots..." he counted each round and with a click he raised the gun towards the woman, lets get this started.

Fighting at a distance was no longer an option, Morgan rushes the woman down in the blink of an eye in a speed similar to Julius's flicker step, if she wished to use her projectiles now she's be at risk of shooting herself. To begin his counter-offensive with his free left hand blood burst from his own vein coating his entire hand in a crimson ichor, it coagulates, hardening to the point where it can be indistinguishable from steel, he strikes the woman's shield with force comparable to getting hit with a car to stop her current assault. Morgan aims the revolver in his right hand at her stomach pulling back the hammer and squeezing the trigger, if she was fast enough she could guard with either of her created tools, however if she didn't attack at all she would be forfeiting her temporary advantage.
 
The bullet carrying the paralytic blinked through the smoke, creating a brief tunnel through the spores from the off gas of his rifle all the way to its target. The boy next to her seemed to see it coming, pushing the Crimson Hand just as the bullet was about to hit its mark, grazing her side rather than punching a hole through her gut. But that would be enough. The woman with the long dark hair and lethal precision was quickly seized by the tetrodotoxin once it broke the skin. As a mage, she woudlnt die from such a poisoning. But still, its effects would lower her heart rate, slow her breathing, weaken and arrest her muscles into stillness. Enough to get her out of his way.

Very few of the afflicted managed to get near the room where Angelica was taking her stand against Morgan. Their perception was blinded by the holy light and fire, but he gathered what had happened before the doors slammed shut. She wasnt going anywhere while Morgan drew breath and not enough of his spores survived to reconnect with her.

Baron grit his teeth. So many of his afflicted were downed by that boy. However, without the overwhelming heat of that flamethrower his afflicted were slowly recovering on the ground. Though they werent likely to be getting back up in time to make much of a difference in this fight. Even so, with the automatons taken out, along with the stairwell being well defended by his afflicted, he could kill or incapacitate the last standing Crimson Hand in this hallway. Then move to the closed doors to assist Angelica.

And it looked like the boy was out of bullets. Moving from his prone position to a knee, Baron loaded another paralytic round into his rifle and took aim. The smoke from the dense spores swirled around his head as he moved to prepare to rush the door after his shot, but he didnt take his time. With a muted bang from his silenced rifle the bullet raced headlong for the boy's sternum.

Active Effects: Potent spores below knee level in vicinity. Hallucinogenic spores in vicinity. 34 afflicted in vicinity (4 armed with pistols, 30 close combat).
 
As Zack tackled Lyli to the ground, the bullet that was meant to strike Lyli the torso instead hit her side instead. However, it was enough to knock the female unconscious, much to Zack's horror as he looked over her. "Lyli? Lyli!" Zack began to cry out. "Lyli, you okay? You there?" Zack put his head next to her chest, hearing a slower heartbeat and began to slow her her breathing. Her eyes wouldn't move either, keeping a blank stare at the ceiling no matter how hard Zack shook her to wake her up. "Lyli, wake up!" He cried out. Realizing there was nothing he could do, Zack began to develop a panic attack, becoming more tense and harder to breath, resulting in Zack placing his hand on his chest. "No, no, no...Lyli!"

"So much for being a hero," Zack's imagery father began to taunt.

The panic attack, however, would be the thing that saved Zack's life, as the placement of his metal hand on his chest prevented Baron's next bullet from hitting it, implanting itself in his hand instead. Zack looked over at the bullet, looked back at the direction in which it was fired, and plunged the bullet out as he got up. Panic began to transform into anger as he began to confront the one that attempted to murder both him and his best friend. "You...mother...fucker!" Zack exclaimed as he pulled out his pistol with his last bullet remaining, aiming it at Baron. However, as more of his zombies began to regenerate and enter the hallway to protect their masterpiece, Zack, thinking more clearly than he has ever before, aimed his gun towards the sprinkler that was right above him. "Burn to death, you son of a bitch!"

He fired his last bullet at the sprinkler, destroying it and preventing water from pouring over where Zack were currently standing. With the lack of water in the proximate area, Zack regained his powers, which he put to good use as he unleashed a massive wave of fire in front of him, burning all the zombies that protected Baron and inflicted the hallway with so much the fire the sprinklers became too slow to extinguish it. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Zack screamed, his anger being the fuel for such a fiery blaze that absolutely decimated everyone in front of him. As zombies began to crawl from behind him, Zack pointed one of his hands behind him, blasting those zombies with a barrage of fire as well. "BURN! BURN, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" Zack exclaimed, absolutely pissed as he destroyed the army around him. He turned his head back towards the direction of Baron, where his imagery father stood in the middle of the flames, seemingly unaffected by such a devastating attack.

"If only such anger was present on that day at the bank," he began to gloat. "And yet, no matter how hard you try, you can never ever truly destroy your greatest enemy."

"SHUT UP!" Zack exclaimed, as his metal arms were getting hotter and hotter. Eventually, Zack started to feel his arms overheat, eventually losing control of the fire he was spitting out. The fire became hotter and hotter as it's intensity continued to increase far beyond Zack could reasonably control. The last time something like this happened...was when he blew his original arms off his body. "Uh oh," Zack spoke. He knew an explosion was coming. He pointed both of his arms towards the direction of Baron (away from Lyli as well) and prepared for a massive blast, hoping to take out his enemy. His father, however, began to walk towards the boy, growing larger as he let the fire transform him into an abomination meant to haunt his supposed son, towering over him as he transformed into a fiery demon whose human appearance slowly burned away.

"This is what you have turned me into," he gloated. "The anchor that'll tower over you in these waves of guilt, before you fall deep into it's waters and drown in despair. At that point, your fire powers will not be able to save you-"

Zack has had enough. "SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!" Zack pointed his arms towards the hallucination above him at the same time his flames were ready to blow. A massive blast shot out of Zack's hands, hitting the ceiling in front of him, summoning a giant explosion that shaked the entire hallway. Zack's anger turned into fear as he realized what he just did. "Oh shit!" Zack exclaimed as he ran over to Lyli, placing his body over her to prevent the incoming collateral from hitting her as the ceiling between Zack and Baron caved in, separating the Underground Pillar from Crimson Hand as the explosion unleashed a fury of falling debris that eventually blocked off the hallway. Zack held onto Lyli tight as the hallway kept shaking until eventually stopping. Zack raised his head and turned to see what has happened. All the zombies, Baron, and his father were nowhere to be seen. Zack breathed a sigh of relief. The fight was over; they were safe.

Angelica heard the explosion from inside the shareholders' room as she was fighting Morgan. Baron, she thought, hoping to establish a mental connection with her employee. What exactly are you getting yourself into? Please tell me you have a way out of here and that you still have the Tecnet papers. God, I hope this mess wasn't for nothing. She then returned her attention back to Morgan. She watched as Morgan zipped around, avoiding all of her icy projectiles and showing off just how much of an powerful menace the leader of Crimson Hand was. You think you're so cool? Angelica thought to herself. Try zipping around on this! Angelica's thoughts proclaimed as Angelica, using the small puddles of water that formed on the ground, turned the floor into a slippery ice in an attempt to cause Morgan to slip if he wasn't too careful. However, before the ice could take shape, Morgan punched Angelica's shield with the force of a car, causing the shield to crack and split in two and sending her flying back but with Angelica able to land on her feet.

Despite Zack and Lyli being safe, Lyli, however, still needed help. Zack got off of her and proceeded to pick her up before beginning to book it away from the collapsed cave-in. "Gotta find the others!" Zack exclaimed as he ran past the fire that he shot out and was currently burning the unconscious zombies laying on the floor. Running through the hallway with Lyli in his arms, Zack eventually came across one of the entrances to the shareholders' room. Realizing Morgan and Julius were mostly likely in there, Zack, putting Lyli down first, began to kick down the shut door. "Come on!" He exclaimed.

"Ohhhhhh, Zack," a voice called from the hallway, causing him to tense up. "You really think you can just get rid of your hallucinations by blowing them up?"

Becoming angry at the sound, Zack finally managed to kick down the door, noticing a huge wall of fire surrounding the entire room, which included a huge group of bystanders stuck at another exit, hoping to get out but were trapped by the fire. "Endy..." He muttered, recognizing his "friend" from earlier. Using his powers, Zack cleared his exit of the fire before picking up Lyli and running back into the room. "Everyone!" He shouted at the bystanders in the corner. "This exit is clear! I defeated the bad guy that caused all of this! It's safe! Now get out of here-" However, as Zack was running, he accidentally slipped on some ice and fell on his ass while still holding Lyli. "Ow!" He yelled.

Wait a minute, Zack thought to himself. Ice? Why would ice be here...unless... Zack turned his head towards his side, where he noticed Morgan was fighting someone particular. His heart sunk, he began to freeze up, and his breaths became faster. His eyes widened at the horrific sight as a laughter from his father echoed throughout his head before being drowned by the screams he heard on that very day. The day he died, when those men came into the bank and stole everything that didn't belong to them. The person who ordered those men was standing right in front of him. The person who gained from his loss. The person whose men murdered his father, whose laughter had became louder and louder. Zack's panic attack was for all to see, including the person who he was looking at, as she caught a quick glimpse at him while she was landing on her feet.

"Angelica..."

Angelica stared at the boy for only the briefest of moments before she turned her attention back to Morgan. Must be another Crimson Hand member, she thought, remembering what she was going through when she was Zack's age, suddenly becoming even more angry. Morgan, you're a fucked up man for hiring a child. As Morgan pulled out his pistol and fired a bullet at her, Angelica used what was left of her shield to block the attack and, after grabbing a chair behind her that was being held by the water droplets she was controlling, rushed forward at Morgan and hit him with a one-two smack with the chair; first, she used the chair to knock his gun out of his hands, causing it to slide a few feet away, and then she smacked Morgan in the face with it. Angelica then jumped into the air backwards, throwing the chair straight towards Morgan's face while also commanding all the other wet chairs to begin flying towards Morgan from different angles, flying beneath the jumping Angelica before she landed on her feet.

Just then, a kill squad belonging to Alexia managed to grapple into the room just in time, pointing their guns towards Angelica and Morgan, recognizing them as a threat. This is what I get for being the hero this time, Angelica thought to herself. Using all of her remaining icicles and much of the remaining water in the room, she constructed an ice wall between her and the soldiers. I'll handle the terrorist, thank you very much, Angelica thought to herself. Don't make my image look bad now. However, through the construction of the ice wall, Angelica was left wide open to a counter attack from either Morgan or Zack.
 
The businesswoman and the young priest practically sweep Endymion off his feet and away. It’s not much romantic. Down the halls, round the doorways, clip your shoulder on the frame— it’s a mad dash for any semblance of safe ground to stand on.

The thing about being a mage, is, well… it requires a lot less brain power than is commonly thought. A strong intuition will get you just as far as any book; when harnessing the elements themselves, one mustn’t help but exercise a certain amount of primitivism.

Endymion credits this sixth sense for the way his arm shoots out to stop his travelling companions in their tracks. Like a parent coming to a screeching halt at an intersection. Not a moment later does a man come crashing, stumbling out in from of them. He’s clearly no longer sound of mind. And he is not a small man either, in statute or power, but the way he curls over himself and shrieks panic… like a slug, salted. It compels one to react. Primitive.

So Endymion reaches his free arm across his body to hook one finger into the back of this man’s collar. It does nothing to stop him from plummeting to his death and showering them all with fine glass shards.

“God damn it—!” Endymion shouts, even if he’s not really sure what he’s damning anymore. His own loss of innocence today, perhaps? Ha. As if he ever had anything left to lose.

His only awareness of the shooters that begin to descend through that very same window is of a flash over his shoulder as he darts away with his companions. There’s no more time for thinking; simply reacting. He simply lets himself be taken over by whatever little animal instinct is leftover in his psyche; the biting, kicking kind. Lead the way, me.

…

“Zack!” Endymion calls back, and then clams up. Just as quickly as they are reunited do they separate again. An ice sheet, impenetrably thick, breaks off the room into fragments. The shadow from before descends over their shoulders and into the fray. One chaos has been traded for another.

Endymion drags one hand roughly across his face. His fingertips are already sparking and they leave little burn stars on his cheeks. He’s really,

really,

beginning to get tired of being put in this position.

So he shoots a photon beam out of both hands and watches it ping-pong into the soldiers. The light casts tiny glittering rainbows all across the icy floor. Suncatcher of burn you to death.

With a distraction cast Endymion scrambles back to Zack’s side. He grabs Lyli by the shoulders and hauls her upright against his side. When he’s done he holds one steady hand out to Zack.

“My turn to do the saving. I’m not usually this confident, so I think we should probably try and get outta here before it wears off and I pass away on the spot. ‘Sides, Beryl’s getting cold.” He forces himself to hold Zack’s gaze with the most lucidity he can muster. “Unless you still have…. uh, hero business here?”
 

V A N D Y R , L E X
Interacting with: ​

It was like a series of unfortunate events really.

While the priest had done an excellent job of purifying the spores in their immediate vicinity, it didn't reach all the way to Alexei who was now suffering a delusional break as the doors closed on them and fire began to spread. Great. Great. Fantastic. She turned back to see his burning body fall straight out of the window as four soldiers rappelled in to handle... the intruders and Angelica?

Off to the side, said intruders were fighting. Angelica seemed to be laser-focused on defeating this man and he finally retaliated. Another person burst in from the other side carrying an unconscious lady. Well. Lex watched as Angelica erected an ice barrier between them and the soldiers. Endymion shot out a light to attack the soldiers and aid this new person.

So, Lex had a few choices. One was to help Tecnet's soldiers stop this madness happening. Second was to bolt over and maybe help Alexei to prevent him from falling and splattering into the ground. Or third, which was more enticing, was to just use the other exit to get the people out. Given all these choices, Lex did have one choice that pertained to her job specifically. Detectives didn't fight head-on as much as possible.

So, Lex shepherded the civilians through the magic, casting her own telekinetic barrier against the group to protect them from any stray spells and bullets. Her eyes gravitated to Endymion and Zack, saw the fury in the latter's eyes while looking at Angelica. Ah, they were dealing with this now, huh?

She made sure to try and keep the fire away from their path of escape with her telekinetic barrier and made sure everyone got out with the priest still purifying the air.

 
Julius
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ACK!
Julius was taken aback. Both from the fact this man was still kicking, and the ice-cold blade shoved halfway through his gut. He could feel both the bladed, jagged, borderline serrated edges tear through him, compounded with the subzero temperature this thing was packing. Even for Julius, this was packing some kick to the nerves. Julius knew it was time to quit playing around, he should've flattened this smug fools head 2 floors ago.
"This kind of move couldn't just be pulled off by some ghost, this requires experience doing this kind of thing. A demon would've been far more aggressive" Julius was attempting to piece together who was in Aidan's body. Something wasn't adding up, typically possession spells will kill the mage using them if they die in the body. There was no way any ordinary body hopper would risk this move.

"Was the hit placed on Aidan or whoever's riding this corpse-" It didn't matter right now. Julius placed his thumb on his index finger, as if to crack it. Pulling his finger off and releasing the comet dagger, he gripped Nosk's arm with the strength of a hydraulic press, crushing his bone into dust before throwing him into the air, his eyes meeting Nosk's during takeoff and piercing into his soul.

"Open fire!" Alexia's kill team. Julius was keeping tabs on them even throughout his deduction. Pulling his arm off and rapier out, Julius disappeared as the triggers were pulled, reappearing amongst the screams of the kill team as they turned into diced bits and a red river led into the stream. Before Nosk was allowed to Icarus to the Earth, he threw his dagger and sword into the air, kicking them deep into his Nosk's arms, crucifying him to a tree, 8 feet up.
Julius let up for a second and grinned. The dagger disabled magic and counteracted spells, having it embedded in you was a death sentence. Letting him squirm in pain, the Child of the Eclipse went and grabbed his duffel bag, he could faintly hear the commotion downstairs.

"Hope Morgan is doing well babysitting those two." He walked back over, his boots splashing in the kill team before picking up one of their submachine guns and a few mags.
"Thats quite a good look for you" his method was about to turn him into Swiss cheese but hopefully the client would appreciate all limbs. He proceeded to pump a mag into Nosk.

"Don't worry, we've got as many as we need. Say hi to your sister after-" He grinned, before pumping 3 more into this cocksucker. "Looks like 4 is your limit..." Ears slightly ringing, he watched as Aidan's head sunk and the signs of pain gave up. Had Julius been using a larger round the tree would have likely caved in. He was surrounded by red at the moment, if anyone had walked in it was nothing short of a horror scene. Ankle deep in the dead, Julius crushed the smg in his hand, and went to retrieve Nosk.
That hit had brought him down to probably 70%, it was good blow, and he rubbed the wound. Julius had a slightly elevated healing factor, enough to close it up, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel it at all. Aidan's body was nothing short of mangled in the torso. "Probably gonna get a pay cut for this." He tore Aidan off the tree, catching his tools with more care and regard for them than the life he had just taken. He whipped the blood off both, reinserting them inside of his bones before looking over Aidan.
"What on earth could have been riding his body?" He kneeled down, sniffing the air around him. No sulfur, hmm, not moondust, what co-
The Herald
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A shadow came over the vision of Julius Volkanovski for the briefest of seconds. The feeling of death enraptured him. It was the same gloom as the day Roland had destroyed the Volkanovski family. He felt the softest skin of a freezing hand caress his neck and he flipped into the air turning around, drawing his dagger yet again. The raw fear made up for the blood loss affecting him. Stood towered over him was the Second Beast. It was hard to describe the feeling. It was as though he stood in the presence of annihilation.

"Now now, thoust had a deal remember..." Julius tried to make it out. The figures cloak wrapped around him the hands of space beyond stars. His hands, no multiple, multiple hands descended to Aidan. They lightly caressed his body, feeling every inch as though they were the tongues of snake. There was an uncomfortable love to them that made Julius think he had just done Aidan a massive favor. "Surely thou were not intending to steal from me, Child of the Eclipse?" Every hair on Julius' neck stood up, from his perspective, the devil had just appeared, knowing everything about him.

Julius charged full speed, there likely wasn't any mage on earth that could react to this from such a short distance. As Julius went to stab the figure, right before he connected, he stopped and was staring at a reflection of himself. What the fuck-
He started to fall through an endless bookshelf, even with enhanced senses, he could barely perceive what was happening as he tumbled through an infinitely high and infinitely long bookcase, slamming into a book the size of a tower. Not being allowed to get his bearings, Julius slowly floated through what could only be perceived as a tesseract. He was surrounded by whispers in ancient Enochian, as he peered into various memories of his life. Missions he went on with the Crimson Hand, playing with his cousins, falling asleep after a day of training with his father.

Julius was suddenly thrusted upward, at such speed that the assassin hurled his stomach into the void. He felt his bosom burst out. He cried out in pain before some invisible force crushed into a spiked ball, eviscerating him into a bladed baseball, his conscious fading into oblivion as he gained seemingly infinite speed through the cosmos.

Right before Julius could stab the devil in black, he felt a small, baseball sized object rip through his entrails and he coughed up blood, and the pain of what he had witnessed buried through his conscious.

"Ahg, what the fuck... just happened-" Gripping his stomach and falling to his knees, Julius face planted into the dirt. He was in so much pain that he could not even let out a cry. He simply gasped for air and prayed to God.

"Thou should feel blessed, I have bequeathed thee but a droplet into the truth of this world..." 2 of the figure's hands clapped together, and a 50-pound bag of gold fell unto the Earth. Shadows lovingly wrapped around Aidan's body, and he disappeared as they came undone like a ball of yarn. "We had a deal, and I will honor it. However, you have seen mine face, most unfortunate." Julius's fingers gripped into the dagger, and he used any strength he could muster, pushing the pommel onto the ground to help get himself up.

"Thou did well, had you not bitten the hand that feeds, I might have let you live with the bonus of the Truth...all limbs intact. And you came out rather unscathed against one of this calibre. You, who walk in between this world, would have been useful, I had plans for the other marked ones that the First favored in here as well. But it would appear thou are not fit to serve mammon..." The figure started to chip the nail of one of his pinkies off, and the nail fell into the ground with the grace of a feather. "I shall rend unto thee and thine kind Gomorrah, and the weeping and gnashing of teeth!" Darkness yet again enveloped Julius Volkanovski's vision, and the shadow of death had left.

Julius could barely think, he shoved the dagger into his rib bone, and bit into the bag, carrying it as best he could with the blood of his entrails leaking out. The pain of his condition and the sheer damage had not left him, he gasped for air, crying out to Morgan, Zack, or Lyli, as he tumbled his way out of the room and down the stairs, landing face first into a window, shattering it. Picking himself up on his last leg, Julius felt a biblical sense of dread. He pulled himself up and gazed out the window. His vision was fading, and it was hard to keep his eyes open. But he could see a glowing dot in the distance.

"Another trick it seems-" Julius' eyes widened as it grew brighter. He realized something akin to a missile was heading straight for them. He kneeled down, realizing he couldn't run away fast enough, hugging onto the gold and his duffel bag for dear life. "Fuck me I guess, brace for-"

A shard of the comet slammed into the top of the building.​
 
Nosk
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​
Nosk smiled in smug satisfaction witnessing the man before him writhe about after being impaled, he circled the man for a moment as his throat weaved itself back together, flesh stitching flesh until no more blood seeped from the wound. Nosk gives a mocking bow hearing the quite on the mark comment from Julius as if to confirm his suspicions. "You're getting closer, but not quite on the mark yet. You ought to think bigger... This modern age has so many wonderful things crawling about." He spoke completely calmly, as if his throat wasn't just gouged out a moment ago, his twisted smile never leaving the face of Aiden.

The event that followed however caught the mage off guard, that weapon was something unique, it was something Nosk clearly recognized... A defining feature of this man. Something he had just a moment to think about before the bones in his arm were broken in a matter of seconds, blood splashed, the room was laid with chunks of what used to be Man. Nosk couldn't help but cackle at the sorry state he was left in by this man, his shrill laugh filled the room. He considered tearing his arms off to continue this game, but the winner has already been decided. He tilted his head, eyes locked onto Julius "I wonder where you got such a thing..." The mage before him made yet another mistake, showing his full hand when this was simply the first game, on top of that... Morgan... Another name to remember. Seems like you have quite the attachment to a few of the other mages on the lower levels. How exciting...

The first barrage of lead was indeed painful, searing hot in fact. However... This pain was nothing before the various ideas he was gathering at this very moment. How shall I pay you back our next meeting I wonder? A second mag clattered to the floor, followed by more wounds, more pain. Another mag. The host he had been puppeteering around was left in a sorry state, no more years of life to play around with. His broken body continued to stare at Julius, his eyes full of hatred, yet he still smiled, laughed even. He spoke with a very slight rage buried beneath a mocking tone "Don't worry... I'll be seeing you again soon." The comment was clearly directed towards his "killer" before the man Aiden simply couldn't take anymore. The body went limp, blood pouring from the many holes carved by the gunman. The Ouroboros symbol's glow faded, leaving a broken corpse behind.

The pale man cut the strings of his puppet, watching it fall in a twisted heap. What a shame, he nearly had everything within the palm of his hand. Onto the next one. The pale man slowly and lazily plucks the second puppet from his vast collection.

Yuri Belekov was the name of the detective, he was in his late 20s, he was looked quite fondly by his peers despite his recent leg injury leaving him unable to participate in many current cases. He sighed sitting in his rather dull apartment, thinking about That Case while Channel Merlin News blared in the background, the two host spouting whatever current bullshit they were paid off to say. Yuri stared at the rather poorly crafted ceiling as he sat on the couch, two days until his birthday and he was still gonna be stuck in this apartment huh. "Just my luck" he muttered to himself, his eyes fell upon his journal sitting atop the mess that was his coffee table, perhaps today he'd have a spark of inspiration, a different angle even on the Ouroboros Case. This was something he had been pursuing since the start of his career, it fascinated yet disturbed him; the various activities all carried out by people with relation the the same symbol... It just didn't add up to him. Was it a cult? A demon? Or something else. He could feel himself getting closer to the answer, there was just something missing.
Yuri poured himself a drink, setting it aside on the table before flipping open his journal, he had regularly scribbled down his thoughts on the matter. Various things such as the cult theory or the fact that those with the symbol seem to act oddly before death, he flipped through the pages, until he reached the current date and with it his heart sank. The only sound that filled the room was the news, speaking about some incident in Drezzen, he didn't even dare breathe while looking over the page that stared back at him. Rough scribbled handwriting, obviously panicked was written on the page, a few simple words "They are all the same person." He attempted to regain his composure, however... He couldn't even remember writing such a thing. Something's off. A shiver was sent down his spine, something is definitely wrong. He felt the need to hurry up, faster, he weaved the spell to scan his own memory, was there anything about writing this page? No. Nothing. Blank. Something's off. He cursed, his panic ever growing, something must have happened. Did whatever he was pursuing find him out? Was it someone he knew? "Dammit Dammit Dammit!" He cursed again, a sense of dread overwhelmed him. No, Something is terribly off. He weaved another spell, engraving it onto the journal, a projection of his recent memory just in case, before tossing the book into a lockbox. The sight of his television was no longer comforting, what the hell was going on? Call someone. You need to get someone here NOW. He retrieved the phone from his pocket, dialing the number of one of his contacts, someone he trusted and often shared information with. The sense of dread he felt earlier reaching a peak.
And then, Nothing. His hand fell to his side, his fingers dug into the cheap piece of technology that was ringing a moment ago, glass and metal showered the floor near his feet. The man smiled, running a hand through his hair, seemingly satisfied he laughed to himself. "Now then, let's see what kind of man you are then. Consider this our second game..." The face of Julius filled his mind, the ouroboros has claimed yet another victim, slinking off the skin of Aiden only to wear the skin of Yuri Belekov. "Just think about how much fun we'll have next time!" Nosk exited the apartment, leaving behind another few victims just for fun.


Morgan
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Morgan watched as his weapon clattered on the ground, sliding out of reach, an annoyance however he would simply retrieve it later. He raised his hand to guard his face from Angelica's first assault allowing himself to be pushed back a few feet and on guard to counter her next few actions. She was slow, far slower than him or Julius and lacking in a comparable physical strength to the man he considered his equal. Morgan made sure to take note of everything within the room prior to engaging with Angelica, including the various corpses strewn throughout the room, his weapon and now the kill team that just arrived. He smashed the first few chairs thrown his way, wooden splinters showering the frozen floor, before he caught the leg of one of the chair projectiles thrown his way, and returning it to sender with the addition of his own force behind it. Yet something so simple wouldn't be quite enough to kill her. How shall he approach this? In that moment he thought up a handful of ways to kill this woman, he simply had to select one. He took a deep breathe, his cold empty eyes meeting her own before deciding on his next move.

The moment Angelica decided to erect her ice wall, forcing the deathmatch between the two, Morgan swiped two fingers upwards and with that the thrall Angelica recently killed twisted apart, its own blood shot out from it, wretched crimson tendrils ending in blades were fired at her arm, pure constructs of this corpses blood. Morgan was quite disgusted by the nature of his magic but usually it was rather effective. He stepped over to where his gun had departed his hand while his magic continued its assault. He retrieved it aiming it at its intended target, he felt nothing in this very moment. Not hatred nor pity. She simply dug her own grave. Morgan's thoughts were interrupted by something unexpected. A deafening explosion, something large just struck the building. His thoughts immediately turned to Julius. Was he alive? What the hell happened up there? This sudden event left the man wide open.
 
Baron’s muscles tensed as he prepared to run, but hesitated when he saw his bullet lodge itself into the boy’s mechanical hand rather than square through his sternum. It should have been his send off. The Crimson Hand was clearly hallucinating and distraught over his partner being taken down. Distracted. Volatile. Easy. Instead, his attack served as the lynch pin to spurring the boy into action. Further delays.

He stayed kneeling as the Crimson Hand made eye contact with his visor, racking another bullet, sending whatever afflicted could still run in the boys direction as he took aim again. The two of them matched barrels for nothing but a split second. Baron’s trigger finger slowly squeezed, aiming more carefully this time, though once again hesitated when the boy pointed his pistol sky high. He realized what the Crimson Hand was up to before he even said anything.

Eyes widening- changing aim to the boys hand rather than his chest- it was too late.

The fire was intense enough to send Baron reeling back further into the stairwell, nearly falling down the steps in the process, finding partial cover behind the adjacent wall. The two afflicted standing by the doorway blocked the fire from doing more than bake Barons shins. They couldn’t do much else before they turned into charcoal.

He felt as 18 souls broke their connection to his psyche as they were burned to oblivion. And then some. The Crimson Hand’s manic scream mixed with the roar of wild fire in a way that no longer sounded like a human voice. It was demonic to Baron’s ears.

Retreat was considered- perhaps he could approach the meeting room from the roof. But there were certainly armed special units out that way, and it would likely take him too long to reach Angelica at that point. And pushing through those flames was out oft he question. However, he didn’t have much time to think about his plan x's, as the hellish screaming and fire was quickly replaced with an ear shattering boom. Debris and plaster rained down on the stairwell and the joining hallway in a rolling collapse of the ceiling above them. It broke the wall of hellfire in dust and building materials, with several large pieces falling onto his upper back before he could move further down the steps. One beach ball sized chunk of stone hit his head hard enough to send him seeing a glimpse into the afterlife he likely would never experience. It was an abysmally dark second that sent him to the ground till his mycelian could reknit his neurons back into something similar to human. A blink or so later, Baron peered bleary eyed to see four of the nine surviving afflicted creating a lattice above him with their arms and torsos, blocking the remaining offending debris as it continued to rain down on them in scattered sizes.

He didn’t recall ordering them to do as such, but it didn’t exactly matter. The rumbling had stopped. Standing as the afflicted unraveled themselves, Baron noticed his rifle obscured by a thick layer of dust next to his boot on the ground. Reaching out to it, his dominant arm refused to respond. And sent shards of pain up his back. Curious, he looked to his noodled arm and sighed, rolling his shoulder back in place with a wince and flexing his hand to ensure its function. Satisfied though frustrated, he retrieved his rifle from the ground. With a quick motion of his hand he dusted it off from all the detritus and ensured his weapon hadnt taken any damage. Then, he looked to the wall of fuck-all that blocked his way towards the meeting room. More problems.

Without further delay, he swung his rifle over his newly socketed shoulder and began clearing the rubble with the other surviving afflicted joining him in sync. Not that he or the other afflicted were particularity strong, but they could push their humanoid bodies to their limits, lifting weight that tore their muscle fascia only to have it heal seconds later. Still. It wasnt enough to clear this obstacle to Barons liking. Every second was crucial to their success in leaving this place alive.

As if on cue he heard Angelica’s voice filter through his thoughts. It took him a bit off guard, causing Baron to pause in his work. She must have inhaled enough of the spores released into the hallway before everything got torched. And, apparently, things were not getting better on her end. Fancy that.

He muscled a large piece of debris out of the way with an aggravated huff. “The papers are secure. And the digital copy. The exit… has been blocked. Clearing it now,” he said with an unconscious tap to the papers still tucked against his chest under his coat. As much as it was nice to confirm Angelica wasnt dead and therefore giving him a reason to face the human torch, his patience was running thin on this whole ordeal. They could have been gone ages ago, if this plan hadnt gone to shit.

It was hot on this side of the rubble. Perhaps from the fire, or the working bodies. Likely both. Thinking about how close he witnessed hell over a stack of papers filled his mind with terrible, irritated plans. Something akin to storming into that meeting room and throwing Angelica over his shoulder. Certainly getting stabbed with ice in the process. Maybe then he would jump out the window, taking the impact just to be free of this place. A foolish dream. One that didnt get them any closer to actually getting out of here. So instead of acting on impulse, he committed the afflicted to only clearing enough to make a shoulder width path in the downfall to save time. It would have to do. Except... the building shook once more with more fervor than the previous explosion. Much more. The debris that Baron had managed to clear shifted into their makeshift hallway, crushing two of the afflicted in its wake.

Of course.


Active Effects: Potent spores below knee level in close vicinity. Hallucinogenic spores in close vicinity. 9 afflicted in close vicinity.
 
Angelica sighed a breath of relief when she heard Baron was still alive and getting them a way out. Good, she thought to him before looking at the window and seeing clouds she could use to guide out the window of. Worse comes to worse, focus on getting out there by yourself with the papers. I have other ways out. Make sure this isn't for nothing. I'll be doing the same, she thought, wishing to make this worth while by finally killing Morgan. However, just then, Angelica was smacked in the face with a chair, which interrupted her perfect landing after she threw all of the chairs at Morgan. Ow.

The rest of the scene plays out. Zack and an army of soldiers enter the room, with Angelica creating an ice wall to protect herself from the troops that have begun to open fire. Zack, however, could only sit there in panic and fear with his unconsious friend on his lap as the woman responsible for his father's death was standing there, acting like such a hero for all of the bystanders that began to follow Flemming out of the room. She always did this; pretending to be a hero when fighting the terrorist Crimson Hands when she was down in the rough with the rest of them. To Zack, who thought his organzation was heroic, it was an appropriation of their behavior; a mockery of real heroes! Angelica was no hero! These thoughts made Zack's panic turn into a deep hatred as Zack's panic attack got worse and worse. He was still on the icy floor, holding an unconsious Lyli watching his greatest enemy attempt to murder his boss. He was powerless, hopeless, afraid...if only a hero could save this hero from this curtain predicament!

Thankfully, he came. Endy is back everyone! Zack heard Endy call out to him before he ran to the fallen boy, helping Lyli off of his body before offering his hand to help him up. Zack stared at the hand for the briefest of moments. He felt part of his anger and panic begin to fall away. Everything was going to be okay; Endy was here and he's going to help Lyli. His old friend will be safe. His new friend will be safe. He will be safe. Zack took Endy's hand, helping him to his feet. He was still breathing heavily and trying to keep himself composed but he felt better with Endy near him. He almost gave him a hug but realized it wouldn't be comfortable with Endy lifting up the unconsious Lyli. Speaking of Endy, Endy asked him if he still had any hero business left. Zack took a quick look around the room; Aiden, the sole reason they were here, was nowhere to be seen. Julius wasn't here either; strange. He's probably taking care of Aiden right now...whereever they are. Aiden's probably dead right now. The mission is most likely over, Baron has been defeated, and the civilizans are escaping. There's only...

BOOM!

A massive explosion shakes the entire building. Zack once again falls to his feet while Angelica is alerted back to Morgan, who seemed to have become dazed from the explosion. Angelica briefly looked over at him, seeing him once again pointing his gun straight at her all the while the body of the thrall she murdered remained nearby, drained of its blood by Morgan. Angelica, not taking any more chances, lifted the icicle from inside the thrall's head and stabbed it straight through the hand that Morgan was using to hold the gun. Angelica grinned. All of the civilizans are gone...I can finally be myself. She then grabbed another icicle from the ice wall and flew it straight into Morgan's other hand before lifting him into the air, sticking his arms out like he was being crucified.

Zack got up from the ground before noticing the horrific sight that laid before him. "Morgan! NO!" He cried out.

Angelica's grin turned into a frown as she heard the boy scream. She turned back to Morgan, slowly walking towards her prey. "You seem to not understand this city, Morgan," she gloated at the crucified man, still under the impression they were after Alexei and not Aiden. "You try and mess with my supplier; you wind up a dead man. Tecnet and this city are mine...but I'll let you enjoy one last glimpse of it on the way down." Angelica then flew Morgan straight out the window; the sound of windows scattering sent shockwaves through Zack's ears.

"NOOOOO!" He cried, believing his boss was doomed. Suddenly, most of his panic turned into hatred. "You fucking bitch!" Zack summoned a detractable sword from his left leg, which folded out to become a sharp and deadly steel blade. Getting into a ready stance, Zack turned to Endy, finally ready to answer his question "Yeah...I still have hero business to do here."

Zack rushed towards Angelica, filled with hatred and rage as he pointed his sword straight at his target. Angelica took notice of the boy, unamused, and turned the floor he was running on into ice, causing him to slip and fall, dropping his sword across the floor. As Zack was reeling from the blow, Angelica grabbed his right arm and held it tight, bringing the boy to his feet as she lifted him to his feet. She began to freeze the metal arm, giving Zack a sudden feeling of freezing cold frost that was soon sure to spread to his actual skin. Zack tried to break free by using his other arm before Angelica grabbed it too, leading to double the freezing and Zack's limbs to begin to feel numb. Angelica then turned her attention to Endy, who was still standing in the room "I have realized you aren't actually a Crimson Hand member," she calmly told the man "That being said, you shouldn't be associating yourself with these murderous, backstabbing criminals. Hero business, my ass."

"Y-y-you leave my f-f-friend alone, you b-b-bitch!" Zack told the woman that held him tightly, unable to escape.

Angelica turned her attention towards Zack. "The same goes for you too," Angelica calmly the boy while he was being tormented. "What are you doing in Crimson Hand? You're just a kid. Someone your age shouldn't be involved in a wetworker organzation. Do you seriously believe you're a hero? You kill for money."

"Y-You murdered my f-f-f-father!" Zack cried out.

Angelica had no idea who Zack was talking about. "I have killed a lot of fathers. Your case isn't special...well, I guess how you choose to react to it is. Being a murderous criminal at such a young age, taking lives and profitting off of it...I'm sure your father would be proud of you..."

"I'm sure he would be," the halliculation of Zack's father said, reappearing next to Angelica to haunt Zack, much to his dismay. Zack's heart sunk when he saw the two of them stand next to each other. He didn't want to see his idol next to the monster that ordered his death.

Angelica leaned in closer to Zack, whispering in his ear. "Do you know where I was when I was your age? So innocent, so silly...I've bet you lived a life of wealth and security. I used to be just like you; I was the daughter of an oil tycoonist, living a happy life before they came for me...those men who ripped me of my childhood...made me a slave...made me a murderer...just like you. I had to watch as they executed my fellow prisoners in front of me to teach the rest of us a lesson. The blood gushing from their necks...some of them were hanged...others had their heads copped off...all because they wanted freedom...they wanted to go home. They didn't want to make cocaine, they didn't want to kill, they didn't want to be on some stupid island...they wanted to be a normal person...but they didn't have a choice."

Angelica ripped her head away from Zack's ear before looking him straight in the eyes. His neck was mostly in ice. His dead father was smiling at him. Angelica stared at the boy and told him; "But you do have a choice...and you choose to be this?! YOU PURPOSEFULLY LET YOURSELF INTO THE DIRT AND CRAWL AROUND LIKE THE REST OF US?! NO! I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO BE THIS! WHY, BOY, ARE YOU DOING THIS TO YOURSELF?! GO HOME! BE INNOCENT AND HAPPY! The more you stay in this criminal underworld, the more shit you will see! You will be scarred. You will be abused! You will be betrayed! TELL ME, BOY! WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

Zack, whose head was barely above the ice, spoke. "Z-Z-Zack..."

Angelica looked at Zack, up to down and all around. She didn't recognize him. "Zack, my child," she told him. "Run away from this life before it consumes you. Run away while you still can. Don't be like me, you understand?! And if that son of a bitch Morgan is still alive, you fucking tell him that he has no right putting a kid like you through hell and back for his own selfish gain! You hear me? DO YOU HEAR ME ZACK?"

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes..."

"Good." Angelica then proceeded to let go of Zack. "Consider that a warning." Angelica proceeded to walking towards the window, summoning a cloud to come and pick her up. Zack, seeing the opportaunity, picked up his sword again, and rushed towards Angelica again, still filled with anger and rage. Angelica, noticing and breathing a sigh of disappointment, grabbed Zack by the neck and lifted him into the air, with him struggling to get out. "It's always the hopeful ones that are the most hopeless."

Unbeknowst to them, whatever effect the meteor had on the building was beginning to show it's card. In a split second, everything was about to change.
 
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