The Grandos Paradox

[Riddle78]

(Ali and Ryker are ejected from the RP for inactivity. Fall has dropped the RP due to character disconnect.)


When the prisoners were released,five immediately ran out the room. Three appeared to be siblings,one of whom had a blindfold over his eyes. They ran into the room that Koboi was covering,and rummaged through the pile of confiscated materials,and retrieved their property. The Bockrath sergeant and the gentleman from Almaz were still rummaging when the family left the building. Moments later,the two stragglers retrieved their belongings,and made for the exit. However,they were intercepted. The Mage was pinned to the doorframe in the main foyer by a large steel spike,and the Mundane was immolated. "Mundane,Partner,help me cover the next room! The rest of you,your belongings are on the pile in here! MOVE!" Koboi moved into the next room,spinning his axe and muttering. When the first foe appeared,Koboi saw his lips moving. A Mage. Koboi pointed his dagger at the Unity Front Mage,and a focused blast of wind tore into the main foyer,plucking the hostile Mage up and slamming him into the wall opposite. He went through,and several large chunks were left behind on the jagged edges of the hole and damaged rebar.


Then the second opponent came to the door.


The woman was suspended in a reinforced harness built into the chest of a massive magickally powered exosuit. Her head was exposed,and her limbs were partially exposed,but that mattered little as the suit had what appeared to be a giant belt-fed crossbow mounted to the right arm,with an Impact Mace mounted to the other,with a jury rigged piston assembly. And it was all pointed at them. Koboi hurled his axe at the walking mountain of steel,but the suit operator simply moved the left arm in the way,causing the axe to get stuck in the armoured limb. I'm worthless for now... I hope Estus and the Mundane can handle this... Koboi took cover behind the doorframe of the room the hostages were tied up in,just as a massive steel spike hurtled into the room and embedding itself in the pillar that the hostages were tied to moments ago,missing everyone by some miracle.

 

[Chaotic]

The thief froze as they mentioned her lack of weapons. Without a thought, her hands betrayed the location of where she normally hid her twin daggers. Feeling nothing there, her cheerful expression instantly clouded before shifting to something more dark and uncontrolled. Catching her slip in personality rather quickly, she tried to smooth it to a look of grim determination with moderate success. The man resembling a magical walking mummy shouted back at the group to help guide them to where their weapons were held – They were still close, she noted with a small bit of relief.


As she started to move for the room, she noted the carnage in the hallway. Narrowly escaping a brush with death for what was starting to feel like the umpteenth time today alone, she raced forward in spite of the immensely sized crossbow bolt that had attempted to snuff out the lives of those still in the room. Her eyes flitted to the woman in the giant exosuit for a second as she ran. She looked so cold and confident atop her magitech harness . . . the expression in her eyes was a clear declaration of death.


Diving into the room, the girl skidded across the floor before tumbling quickly back to her feet. Her eyes took but a second to find her familiar daggers and she scooped them up before taking a defensive position near the door. She was no match for the magitech unit out there as she was . . . she needed time to think up a plan. Holding her daggers in a white fisted grip, she monitored the hall carefully and ran a mental checklist of available assets.

 

[Pristine Dark]

Estus followed koboi quickly into the next room with dagger and falcata drawn, desperately trying to break free of the sluggish rut of normalcy. Though she would make due of necessary, things just always seemed to go more smoothly when she was focused. She continued forward in what felt almost like a brisk jog despite the fact that it was meant to be a flat sprint. Though her eyes darted from point to point, she had still failed to notice the enemy mage as quickly as she should have.


“Shi—” Was all she managed to think before what might as well have been a small hurricane rushed past her, sending her now free flowing hair flying wildly. “I should have seen that…” she thought to herself chidingly. “Work harder Estus. Quit being such a liability and earn the damn name!”


As the next opponent entered, a walking tower of magic and steel, Estus’ jaw all but dropped. She halted her forward momentum, hopping backwards a bit in an attempt to once again leave its attack range, narrowly avoiding a single massive projectile launched by its giant crossbow. Koboi’s axe quickly rushed past, though this machines pilot proved to be no amateur and brought it’s left arm to bear more than quickly enough.


Using this momentary opening, Estus tossed up one of the daggers in what was meant to be a killing strike. Instead she watched in horror as it simply bounced off of its left shoulder…several feet off target.


“No way…” she thought as she readied to throw the a second, feeling altogether more than simple embarrassment. “…In front of another Inquisitor…and even one of the Bockrath special operatives…Damn it Estus!”


Smirking smugly from her harness, the exo-suit’s pilot swung their mace arm down, forcing Estus to give up on the second shot and duck for cover. The sound of Estus’ heartbeat flooded her ears as she dove forward and into the strike, narrowly skidding underneath.


Immediately on contact, the wall exploded away into debris as smoke trailed from one of the many knobs along the mace. “An explosive impact mace! Pull it togeth—”. Wasting no time, the pilot jutted her elbow backwards, clipping Estus as she tried to spin back to her feet and sending her skidding haphazardly across the room.


Crashing back into the wall hard, blood escaped her nose in a slow drizzle. “If that had been just a bit more on target…” she began to think as she fell to her knees gasping for air. She looked up quickly as she clutched tightly at the falcata and felt her heart skip a beat. The pilot had already drawn a bead, and a second shot was already prepared…it was over.


“I— I cant die here…” Estus began as she started forward anyway, ignoring the fact that every part of her body was crying out in pain; ignoring the fact that she’d never make it to her before she could shoot. Her mind flashed back once again to her very first encounter with the Unity Front…of the man for whom her gem used to belong. “If I die…who’ll stop people like him…”


The world's volume and color again seemed to be turned on high as the pilot began to jut her hand forward, the command to fire. Estus jerked her body as hard as she could to the side, feeling the strong breeze as the missile skidded past her, ripping away a small portion of her corset jacket with it. Even as it became clear the shot was a miss, the mace arm was already moving in for the swing…though somewhat slower than before, as if she were uncommitted to the strike.


“If I die…how many more will follow me because of their actions?” Estus continued in her head as she again slid beneath it, just as its piston went off in an attempt to grind her away into nothingness


Running at top speed, Estus nearly cleared the remaining distance…but even here she was disrupted somewhat. The pilot commanded her suit back upright and into what was meant to be a kick to her chest.


“If I stop here…what will these bastards do to the rest of Almaz!”


The world seemed to sharpen further still as Estus launched herself into a forward one handed tumbling flip, slicing out at the heel of the exosuit in the process. As she started back towards her feet, her now free arm quickly ripped free another dagger from her back holster which she immediately threw on spin, stabbing deeply into some of its more obvious tubing.


The exosuit pivoted, bringing its mace in a slow sweeping blow as Estus landed. Spinning on the balls of her feet as soon as they made contact with the ground, Estus stepped in quickly…easily avoiding the large knobbed mace and grabbing out at the axe that was still embedded into it. Pulled along with the mace’s swing, Estus rose quickly into the air…just above the swinging arms shoulder.


“This is it!” She shouted out instinctively, kicking off the arm and falling bullet-like towards the mech with both falcata and axe in hand.


With all the strength that she could muster, Estus threw the axe down…watching its metal dig into the shoulder a bit before its taunt chain pulled it free entirely. Halfway through the fall, Estus brought her throwing arm down to the falcata to wield it in both hands before finally slamming it down into the newly opened crack and squeezing its trigger.


The combination of her swing, the falcata’s impact mechanism, and the sheer momentum of her jumping fall proved far too much for the already compromised arm. Within moments of Estus crashing to the ground and hopping backwards away from any retaliation, the mace arm crashed to the ground with a loud metallic thud. Despite all this...the only thought running through her mind was "Save Almaz and earn the damn name!"

 

[The Empress of Ice]

Taking a step back to hide and trigger the shiro-shots instead of brain-killer shots Fay smirked. She had seen more variants of bullets then bread in her life and was insanely proud of it. That is until her mind was back in the game. Taking in every detail to the very moment Fay felt a slight wind pass, to only turn around to see Bandage finish off a foe with magic. "Can´t live without it can you?" She muttered to herself, reloading her guns to then hide behind the door. A woman shot an arrow of sorts which made Fays hair lift in the passing wind, like an earthquake. Sighing she crouched to let Estus pass her and rolled her eyes. Going to probably use her powers to won´t she? Snorting she stared as the young lady did the unexpected, she used her body. Not her hands, wand or any other item but her body and weapons Fay found interesting due to the fact that Finn and most mundane made use of weapons in that area. Or like her, beautiful hand-guns made by the best of the best for the best of the best.


Stopping her train of thoughts, Fay stood up, slowly approaching the distracted woman to stand near the scene, crouching; ready for action. The special ninja training by Finn did her good, made her a sneaky little tease. Letting the scene drag out till Miss Lady Killer had her arm practically chopped of Fay jumped to action, taking out her guns. A few limbs were not covered; mostly her head which made it a bit difficult but still bearable. She was a giant though, making it harder for Fay. When Estus fell back Miss Lady killer turned, shooting a projectile at Fay. Of course, the idiot mage of a girl had already pissed her off. With a sigh Fay barely avoided the projectile shot from the bow. Her left arm almost stricken Fay stepped her game up. Letting her reflexes take over she avoided possible death barely and came close enough to use her gun like a melee weapon. Taking the back of her gun Fay jumped up to hit Miss Lady Killer on the head to be slightly pushed back. Sending another projectile, this time scratching her left arm she hissed. "That will freaking scar..." She barely whispered before avoiding what she called a melee blow; a hand as a crossbow almost striking her. Jumping to the left Fay shot a bullet which flew past Miss Lady Killer as she ducked to the right. Another massive damned spike shot and Fay fell on her hands in a push-up position. Her guns in front of her, she rolled to her left side; grabbing Bloody Rose on the way.


Fay took a glance to the very spot she had been a few seconds ago; it was pierced by a massive steel spike. With a smirk she jumped up on her feet, shot a shiro-triggered bullet and watched it as it pierced a small visible limb on her left leg. The Lady just took a shaky breath and smirked. "Hurt a little, but I have tasted worse." She spoke as she stared at were her now chopped of left arm. Fay couldn´t help it and put her guns inside her jeans belt. She jumped around for twenty seconds, avoiding the shots from the giant crossbow and melee blows. Then she simply stopped and starred at Miss Lady Killer. "Shiro, Trigger." Taking a step back, avoiding another blow from Miss Lady Killer and doing a back flip to land on her feet, Fay stared as a ticking sound was heard. "Time´s out, Missy." Fay smirked when Lady´s eyes widen, her body starting to shake vividly and with a screech, she fell to the floor. "Shiro, off." Fay stared as Miss Lady Killer´s shaking slowed down, her screams stopped and soon enough she stared into nothingness. Lips slightly part and her body as still as an statue.


Having come out with a small slash on her right cheek and left arm Fay stared at the dead body; her eyes soft and her lips was graced by a small smile. A soft chuckle heard through out the room as she started to empty her cache and took out the Shiro-triggered bullets, entering normal ones.

 

[Darksoul90]

The room the mountain of a man had led the group to was amazing. It seemed rather marvelous that there was even food and drinks prepared for them all to feast on! Tatsuo smiled as he stood there near one of the chairs by the table as he watched most of the others eat and speak to one another. In reality, he wasn't that hungry. He did however, taken a liking to the red wine that sat there unattended on the table. The large round room was now filled with hungry and chattering people, how amazing. Tatsuo grabbed a wine glass and poured in a bit of the red wine from which the bottle was already opened. He wasn't planning on drinking too much of that anyways, since this meeting they were attending was of "political importance." And, he wasn't much of a drinker, anyways.


Tatsuo's mind just kept being bombarded with questions about this meeting. Even the same old questions he had asked himself already, had made their way into his thoughts. And now that he began to think about it a little more, he felt oddly confused about this meeting. He wasn't really all that well with anything that had to do with politics. And he figured that most of the others in here were in the same position with politics as he is. So why them? Eventually, Tatsuo just shrugged it all away as he stared down at his drink. After a while of just staring at his drink, he decided to take a sip of it. And before he was even able to savor the moment, a large group of people in blue and grey uniforms came into the room, surrounding Tatsuo and the others. He just stared at them as they formed a circle around them and began chanting in low tones, but enough for them to hear.


But, that was all Tatsuo could get from his blurred memory as he is now currently bound onto a column, along with having his hands strapped around above his head with what looked like to be a rope. He blinked a few times, trying to get a clear vision of the room. The first thing that he noticed was that he didn't have his swords on him. The next thing he found out was that he wasn't even wearing his own cloths anymore, aside from his pants that is. He was utterly confused. And pissed off that he was taken from his things, especially his necklace and swords. And now, it didn't seem as if him and the others who were also trapped in the room could do much in order to free themselves. What was strange was the gunfire outside of the room and the alarm that had went off. Could there be someone trying to save them from captivity?


And before they knew it and girl ran into the room they were in and had it off against a guard as the woman stayed behind cover while the guard returned gun fire at her. Eventually, the woman was able to kill the guard, which had made it seemed as if the room was finally clear. After a moment, Tatsuo and the others were free by the same woman who had killed the guard. Her companion seemed fired up for a fight after the mundane woman stepped out of the room and fired her gun. After rubbing his arms because of the bruise the rope left, he couldn't help to wonder too where their weapons were at, seeing that one of the men who were freed had questioned their saviors.


Then, what looked to be the leader of his small group, the bandaged man told them that they were able to retrieve their belongings over in the next room. The bandaged man then headed out to start the battle as he had simply killed the first enemy that attacked him. And moments later, after ducking for his life as a spear suddenly pierced itself on the pillar they were all bound to by MERE seconds, Tatsuo quickly ran towards the other room right behind one of the woman who was also freed, in which he remembered was Lexi after hearing her say her own name a couple of times. The hallway they had to run across was where the heat of battle was at, with dead bodies lied down on the ground and steel clashing against one another. And that spear that had miraculously missed him and the others must have been the weapon of the second enemy the bandaged man had to fight. He was just glad that they made it out of that room alive.


Thankfully, Tatsuo was able to make it to the other room. He found his belongings, along with his white buttoned shirt, his coat, necklace, and most importantly his swords. He immediately unbuttoned the shirt he was currently wearing, and was able to put on his clothes. Once he was done with that; and with putting on his necklace, he picked up his two swords and strapped them on both sides of his waist. Now, he was ready to move ahead, but saw Lexi examining the hallway by the door. Quickly, Tatsuo made his way beside her and stared at the hallway where their saviors were currently battling at. The same woman who had freed them took on the mech, while the mundane woman and the bandaged man had their own taste of blood.


Tatsuo then turned and stared at the girl beside him. Before moving in to try to see if they could help the others out, he wanted to stay here and protect the other belongings that lied there in the room until the rest of the freed members made it to where they were. Which probably isn't that many of them by now. But as he was thinking this through, he stared over to the hallway as he heard the loud metal thud the mace arm from the mech had made. It was an impressive sight seeing that woman chopping down the mech's arm like that. But how many enemies were going to try to stop this group from leaving? He didn't know, and all he could hear besides the others fighting was the mundane woman's chuckle echo across the hallway. Tatsuo then proceeded to unsheath one of his swords, ready for anything.

 

[Kagura]

It looked like getting out of here wouldn’t be as easy as it looked. The bandaged man was already ordering the others forward, to the room his and the other’s weapons were. Nikon moved, like he was ordered to, and barely missed the giant spike that flew through the room. Ruffling his hair slightly, his eyes found Lexi and he followed her, behind one of the guys who had yet to speak really. When he saw what exactly the others were facing in the hallway, he cringed


The fisherman could do nothing without a weapon of his own, though, so he continued to follow the group to where his weapons were. The first his hands found was his harpoon, quick to pick up the chain and sling it before picking up the weapon itself. The knives were close by and he drew them to check the quality and hissing slightly when he noticed some scuffs. Still, he looped the chef belt around his abdomen and shook his head, “This just keeps getting worse…” he murmurs.


Now that he has his weapons, and anger boiling just beneath his surface, he heads towards the door with the other. Tentatively, he moves next to Lexi, his hand automatically moving to the small of her back as he is ready to guide her. The controlled machine is already down but he notes anyways, “I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready to kill someone myself”. His eyes meet the man’s next to him momentarily and nod to him with a tight smile before exited the room and into the hallway.

 

[Riddle78]

Koboi was chanting a spell. His backup plan,if his allies couldn't defeat the woman in the Armoured Assault Gantry was to simply put a massively powerful shock into the suit,transmitted by his stuck axe. When Estus ran past,Koboi wanted to warn her,but he couldn't,not without breaking the chant,and causing the spell to backfire. And so,he watched,and cringed when she sloppily threw her knife,and intensified his chanting when he saw her dive behind the mace strike,watching it explode on impact,and then getting elbowed across the room. Koboi was getting ready to unleash his spell when something miraculous,at least for Estus,happened. Just as the Unity Front agent was lining up the killing shot,Estus exploded into motion,becoming a barely perceptible blur of motion. She twitched,and avoided the murderous bolt,merely tearing away a small portion of her coat. She surged forward,easily handspringing over the foot of the clumsy kick,and handily slicing open an exhaust tube in the proccess,bathing the area behind the gantry in man-cooking superheated vapors. She pirouetted around a sweeping blow from the mace,and proceeded to hitch a ride on the swinging limb,courtesy of the embedded axe,which she grabbed hold of. With a savage sout,Koboi witnessed Estus leap off of the arm,with both axe and falcata in hand. Koboi quickly released several feet of chain to allow Estus to use the weapon. It turned out to be a pointless gesture,as the axe left her hand as quickly as it came into it,and it found it's new home buried to the haft in the suit's sparsely armoured shoulder.


And what happened next nearly stole Koboi's breath.


Estus came down like the bolt of a furious god,both hands on the hilt of the vicious weapon she appropriated form the Unity Front. She struck down,and the moment the blade made impact,Koboi hear the roar of the weapon's impact drive. The blade sank deep into the limb,and slid out,with less than an inch of material keeping the arm attached. A mere second later,the mace arm of the gantry fell off with an ear rending shriek of metal and thunderous crash as it hit the floor. Estus' attack was quickly followed up upon by the Bockrath Spook,who danced around the crippled suit,seemingly toying with the woman operating the death machine. However,the agent quickly drew a beautiful red handgun,and fired a round into the Unity Front agent's unarmoured thigh. After a brief exchange,the Spook uttered a trigger phrase,causing the operator to shriek in agony,then went limp in the harness,dead. Koboi muttered, "Terminus." He ran into the room,quickly coiling the chain and retrieving his axe. "Impressive magic,partner. Alright,standard formation! Melee combatants take the lead,ranged combatants and mages come up in the rear! They'll be coming here! Meet them in the foyer! Keep them busy while I go for their leadership. Take no prisoners,Unity Front grunts only know what directly pertains to them. MOVE OUT!"

 

[Chaotic]

The girl felt a reassuring hand at the small of her back and instinctively glanced over her shoulder defensively before she relaxed at the sight of the man whom she had been speaking with earlier. She couldn’t help but notice that this gesture seemed almost comforting. “Yeah . . .” she muttered through a coldly humorous half grin, “just try to make sure you aren’t the one killed lest I be very cranky as the rest of this lot fails to comprehend the fine art of conversation . . .”


With that thought out of the way, she glanced into the foyer cautiously after picking up her stolen luggage. For a long moment there was no one in her field of vision before three mundane soldier-like individuals breached one of the doors. Each had what looked to be magitech based bladed weaponry. As these mundanes rushed the two easily visible women standing around the fallen mech, a rather arrogant looking man stepped through the door with a disinterested expression on his smug face. It was almost immediately obvious that he was a mage and by his confident person she could only assume him to be a good one. Noting the almost nonexistent movement of his lips as he tried to disguise his initial casting, the thief rushed forward.


In what could only be described as a suicidal tumble, she flung herself underneath the swinging blades of two of the three mundane guards before breezing past the last of which was to slow in his attack to threaten her. Seconds later, she was within striking distance of the mage. Using the momentum from her charge, she brought the dagger up for the killing blow . . .The blade raced over his skin for a terrible moment as the blow looked to be true. Only the girl holding the dagger was able to notice the faint hum that ran down the hilt from where it had connected with the man’s skin. Realizing her mistake now that it was too late to pull back, she watched in horror as a split second later the dagger exploded into tiny shards before its blade fell away.


Lexi’s eyes widened in terror as she silently grieved the loss of her precious dagger. Seeming to act on instinct alone, she tried rushing past him and escaping the caster before he could gather another spell. As she moved, however, she noted with pleasure the slight change in his stance as he readied to take advantage of her momentary openness. That was exactly what she had been hoping for. Completing her deft spin, she caught the strap of her luggage bag around his throat and pulled tight. A terrified squeak as his latest incantation was cut short rewarded her efforts quite satisfactorily.


“Cast now,” she purred into ear with a flirtatiously dark expression. Her very words dripped with cold, malicious intent towards this man who had broken one of the only two things that had ever rightfully been hers. “I thought so,” she continued as he struggled to try to pull at the strap which was so effectively cutting off his air supply. Pulling it suddenly forward as she pulled him quickly towards the ground, she brought her knee up to meet the falling mage. A sickening crack and odd tipping of his head rewarded her efforts as she pulled the bag free and spun to a spot out of sight of the breeched door.


She swallowed hard at having so easily been lured into dropping her adopted lighthearted persona. At this point there was only one way to reestablish it, although she was less then fond of method. If she wanted to keep her innocent persona running, she would have to show emotion . . . real emotion . . . something that she never did.


A frustrated and heartbroken wail broke free of her throat as she hugged the hilt of the dagger tight to her chest. Her face clouded in a combination of grief and honest hatred for the people that had taken something so precious from her. In perfect honesty, she didn’t care that they were trying to kill her or the others, but this was beyond what she could forgive. They had taken away one of the twin daggers that her adopted father had forged for her before his death . . . This defining piece of herself was missing and she felt honestly and completely lost without it. A look that could only be described as death crossed over her deceptively innocent features as the other dagger disappeared back to its rightful hiding place. She did this with such fluidity that even the most skilled inquisitor could, at best, hope to gather a general guess of its location from the movement. Then she turned towards the door, trusting the others to handle the mundanes, and waited for a chance to satify her current bloodlust . . .

 

[Pristine Dark]

Estus readied for another quick assault upon the exo-suit with her surprise readily apparent upon her face. While she had expected some damage to the arm, perhaps even disabling it, she had never dreamt that she would cut it off entirely. She had heard how powerful impact weaponry could be, but had always preferd weapons with a sleeker profile. That was a preference that had just been changed.





As the Bockrath agent started to engage, Estus saw her chance to strike. She started forward with every intent on trying again right above her head, wanting to find out first hand if it made it down to her head or not. Before she could get back into range, the world suddenly went flat.





“No, not now. Just a little longer…” she thought to herself, even as every pore of her body cried out with the agony she had previously ignored.





The world continued to grow darker and darker, till it all seemed to be covered by a thick woolen blanket. Clutching at her forehead, Estus put forth as much of her will as she could manage simply to stay upright; to continue to uphold the image an inquisitor of Almaz should. Even still, the world seemed to race past her at a dizzying pace.


“Time’s out missy.”


“What on Grandos is wrong with me. Almaz needs me damn it, pull yourself together.” She demanded of herself. “You mustn't fall. You CAN’T fall… Not now, not before you’ve destroyed the Unity Front.”





“Impressive magic, partner…”





“Magic…? What magic…?” she thought to herself while her senses struggled to make sense of the world around her. “My bluff in the alleyway? Is that what this was all about… preemptively selling the work of the impact falcata as some form of magical enhancement?”








Estus nodded firmly, making her weakened body sway heavily in the process.


“Alright, standard formation. Melee combatants take the lead, ranged combatants and mages come up in the rear. They’ll be comming here. Meet them in the foyer. Keep them busy while I go for their leadership. Take no prisoners, Unity grunts…” Koboi finished, though the last of his words became even quieter than a whisper.


“What is this…?” She tried to ask, but her mouth instead filled with blood that rush out and down her chin. The world continued to spin faster and faster until finally….there was nothing at all…

 

[Kagura]

Although he didn’t like it, Nikon listened, the mage in bandages already directing orders, quick to take any position of authority and lord it. Just like the mages back home… the fisherman smiled to himself, but still prepared to line up in the back, his primary weapon attached to chains. He was also closest to his favourite kind of people, who, minus the people who left, were just the mummy and crazy woman. In fact he was pretty sure the only person he did like was Lexi, although he had never talked to the other man. Still, the prior’s comment about his possible death made him smile thinking about it.


As the group breeched the foyer, he kept alert, shifting his vision until it stuck on something he wasn’t expecting. The crazy lady that had saved him multiple times now… she seemed to collapse under her own weight. There were others in the room just as quickly, all were wielding suspicious weaponry but they also had back up in the form of a smug-looking mage. Almost what Nikon imagined mummy to look if he didn’t like his bandages so much... The man was worried about the fainter, but he would have to wait to see if she was worth it.


Lexi noticed his lips before he did, or maybe she was just that faster than him, already tumbling under two attacks and missing the third. As she swung her dagger at the mage he realized she was leaving him with the mundanes. Well him and bandage man…and if he fainted Nikon might leave him behind…didn’t have the curves to make up for his dead weight. Still, he had a harpoon…


The weapon was out of his hand the moment he moved, headed towards the soldier on the right who easily parried the strike. As the make-shift weapon ricocheted off Nikon gave the cord a hard yank and caught his weapon again, slashing at the same man. As the man fended off this strike, Nikon was already fully committed and drove his harpoon around, whacking the man with the back end of it. A keener smile later as the blade digs into the ground and he uses the momentum to swing his body weight into him, slamming him into an ally prepared to help.


A step around the planted weapon as he pulls it from the ground and easily twists it, fending off the men who are back and already fighting. They want to flank him, but a quick swipe of the harpoon’s range seems to remind them they shouldn’t. It is a stalemate, until Nikon plants his feet and pushes them off him, a quick wrap of the chain around his fingers as he punches one of them and moves to skewer. The mark is hit, but the other has been balanced and now moves to strike him; instead of feinting or dodging, Nikon simply swivels. The enemy’s weapon hits his partner, whose body is taken up by Nikon’s own blade, and the fisherman draws his knife to stab instead.


“Already have to re-sharpen it” he eyes the man, grinding his teeth as he twists the knife “Might as well clean it.” He roughly pulls the blade out, hoping that he was dead dead…and not that weird in between state. As the man falls though, Nikon thinks it’s safe to clean off his other weapon and roughly kicks the other body off his harpoon. His eyes turn to a strange noise, finding Lexi crying on the floor and clenching the sheath of what he guessed was her dagger. There was something bothering him, bbut he didn’t mind it as he went to comfort the poor girl. “Lexi? You okay, hun?” he ventures


(Bad fight scenes woo!)

 

[The Empress of Ice]

Staring as dagger-girl lost one of her weapons she frowned. Her wail was quite heart-breaking and familiar though more different then anything she had ever heard. Wondering were she had heard of it before Fay slightly sighed; feeling a small headache start from her dumb try to remember anything. Letting it go she saw as the harpoon-man finished off about two mundanes. Her heart skipping at the thought of them dead.


With that she felt the decision of going melee if needed, letting her fingers touch the surface of her dagger. Wincing as dagger-girl herself was breaking down.


When a soft thud was heard from the left she shifted her body slightly to see a middle-aged woman with a fairly cocky smirk. She knew her. She ate everyday at the diner. Taking a step forward she curled her fingers at the shaft of her dagger while observing Ann. "Didn´t know you were a terrorist but should have guessed it with your rude way of speech Ann." She muttered remembering the embarrassing moment two years ago. "But of course that shall end today, shall it not?" Ann was just standing there while Fay spoke as she slowly took small steps forward. Then Ann decided to move. "Finally the brat will leave from the adults world." She heard her whisper before Fay dodge the former kick-boxers blow. She barely noticed the small knives she had thrown her way. Doing a back-flip Fay took her dagger out subtly, not waking Ann´s suspicion. Letting the middle-aged woman closer slowly while dodging her crazy blows Fay finally slashed her neck before getting up. With a small smirk on her lips she whispered. "And that´s for daring to steal my last gold piece..."


Fay had soon enough decided to explore her way out, going outside in the hall to only find two men in blue suits waiting eagerly for her. Their eyes lit up as a woman joined them. Her blonde hair up in a pony tail, her blue sun dress slightly to short. "Now boys, please do take care of her....I wouldn´t want to waste energy.." She uttered while checking her nails. Taking a glance up at the men in front of her; their eyes wide she gingerly shook her head. "Very well, I have to do everything around here anyway!" And with those words she mumbled out a language unknown to Fay. With a slight eye roll Fay took her gun to shot the lady. Her shoot went straight ahead, the woman didn´t even flinch as it stopped a millimetre away from her forehead and simply stepped to the side making Fays bullet go through the wall. With a chuckle the woman uttered a few more words before Fay saw the men attack. Their body moved fluently as they manuevered over her. One with a sword the other with a gun. Taking a few steps once in awhile to make sure she never were still so as no bullets would be able to kill her and not being predictable as she defensively took slash after slash from the first man Fay took a step to the right. Her body standing next to the mage as she had shot a bullet before; the mage had turned left while Fay turned right so as they met Fay shot a bullet through her shoulder while dodging a slash from the men.


Her body went rigid when she heard the shriek. "You little punk...How dare you scar my beautiful body!" The mage had screeched before sending of a orb of fire. Nearly striking Fay as she had turned right the orb followed her movements, the heat grew as Fay turned, dodged, jumped and ran around. Feeling like a mouse chased by the cat she squirmed to right; The orb hit the gun-man while the sword-man stared as his ally fell to the ground. Face burned and unrecognisable.


The Mage simply shrugged it off as she ordered the other man to take care of Fay. The swordsmen attacked her madly, almost as he acted on instinct for the new found hatred he felt for the blue-haired girl. How dare she kill his friend? Fay took her time going defense while the mage summoned up another orb. As the orb was sent of she turned to the right, killing of the insane swordsmen to do a small jump to the left. Her body moved swiftly as she turned for the mage. Her figure was slouched and her body movement slow. As Fay had expected the mage was exhausted from the various use of magic. And with one last bullet Fay shot her forehead, the orbit which followed her around slowly dying before becoming nothing but air. The mage had fallen but only to be followed of a few other mundane and mages entering the scene. Feeling a slight yawn building up though she felt the adrenaline rush she had simply shot those who was unprepared; leaving to mages to fend for themselves with their magic, one with a green shafted sword with a small bird on it.

 

[Riddle78]

(Darksoul was ejected due to inactivity)


Koboi used the chaos of the melee to slip past everyone. He needed to strike at their leadership and interrogate them. On his way out,he saw the robed man with the katanas take a bullet to the nose,with the contents of his skull erupting from the back of his head in an explosion of gore and bone fragments. He didn't notice that Estus was knocked out by her magic backfiring. Unity Front troopers flooded into the hall where the rest of the group was located. Most were Mundanes,but there were enough Mages to pose a significant threat.


Feeling that,with Estus' assistance,they group could hold out long enough,Koboi moved to the room where he had launched the man through the wall of. The room was a disaster. It could have once been a small meeting room,but the central table was demolished,as were several chairs. The debris from the wall breach was scattered about the room,and the unfortunate man that made the hole was lying in a groaning,mangled heap. "Still alive,eh? Stay there. I've got bigger fish to fry." Ignoring the live Mage,dismissing him as too injured to be a threat,and moved into the next room,nearly running into a trio of Mundanes. "Hello."


Koboi rushed forth with his right arm,and drove his cinqueda into the lead trooper's pelvis,a woman armed with a pair of bladed tonfas. Quickly hoisting her up onto his shoulder,he used the helpless victim as a shield against the squad's only male member,armed with a cutlass. Turning his trunk,Koboi lunged forth at the squad's other female member,armed with a bearded handaxe. The lethal point of the rapier pierced her chest and heart,killing her instantly,just as she brought her weapon up to bear. Pulling the sword from the woman's chest,Koboi lunged forth to his final enemy,aiming for the bastard's right eye. The point of the rapier hit the man's tear duct,and deflected off of the nose bridge,and into the center of the eye. With a simple circular swish of the wrist,Koboi mangling the man's eye. Koboi drew the weapon free of the now shrieking man's eyesocket,and flicked the rapier to remove the eye from the weapon.


Koboi lunged forward once more,now aiming for the man's right shoulder. The point of the weapon burrowed into core of the joint,where Koboi levered his weapon up and drove it down,severing cartilage from muscle and bone,rendering the limb worthless. Koboi dumped his shield,and used his right foot to kick the inside of his opponent's right knee,breaking it,then quickly trapped his left heel with his right heel,causing him to fall over onto his back. Koboi thrust his cinqueda forth,into the man's liver,and quickly followed with driving the rapier into his heart. Koboi straightened himself up as he used his sunken weapons as leverage to spin the man sideways. The sheer breadth of the cinqueda broke the man's ribs,combined with the torque,and the blades practically liquefied the vital organs. When the angle became right,his own weight dragged him groundward,allowing the blades to slide neatly through the gaps in the man's ribcage.


"Goodbye." The entire episode taken,at most,twelve seconds.

 

[Chaotic]

The deafening boom of gunfire from the direction of the supply room that she had just left caused Lexi to tense in apprehension. A quick glance was enough to tell her that yet another of the initial group of captives had been rather gruesomely murdered. His demise meant that only Nikon and she remained of the sacrifices. At this point, however, it didn't look like they would manage to keep it that way for long. The ambitious mage girl had apparently been felled as her body now lay in a crumpled state next to the broken mech, and the homicidal psychopath of a mundane had abandoned them to this fate while she decided to explore elsewhere. Ironically, the homicidal agent's absence made the girl feel a bit more secure.


"Don't worry about me," she muttered meekly in response to the concern shown by her new friend. "Besides, you can't forget that we are still kind of in a pickle, hun . . . If you are still standing in fifteen minutes, ask me again, 'eh?" This rather grim statement was issued in a surprisingly light tone which bore the trademark humor of this young thief. With that thought, she readied as best as she could for some unseen but inevitable wave of death.


Their chances seemed to be slim to none as she watched a rather large contingent of terrorists flood into the room. Offering the man next to her a challenging yet flirtatious smile, the girl launched herself forward as she swung the backpack on. Utilizing an astounding amount of dexterity even for one as small and lithe as herself, she rolled past the nearest mundane rather easily. In mid tumble she shrugged off one of the armbands of her bag which she used to catch his ankle and knock him prone, causing the weapon to be discharged harmlessly before it slid free of his grasp and across the floor.


Barely regaining her feet in time to sidestep another mundane who had attempted to rush her, the thief spun sharply and used the spin's momentum to let the now partially free bag smack him hard across the face. Catching him now off-balanced and rather surprised, she produced her sole remaining dagger before plunging it deep into his side. Not a split second later heat seared the side of her face and her nostrils filled with the stench of singed hair. A wide beam of fire streaked past, lightly grazing her, before hitting the wall mostly harmlessly.


Whirling about to face the mage, Lexi noticed that the only reason that he had missed her was due to an apparent hesitancy to hit his own allies. This group, as a quick glance revealed, seemed to have been originally composed of two mages and five mundanes. Noting how sharply these odds were stacked against her and the fisherman and realizing that with every dropped mundane this mage's hesitancy would lessen, she did the only thing she could think of.


Charging the man and allowing a punishing blow that glanced painfully off of her shoulder to draw no more than a pained cry from her, the girl brought her bag to bear again. Kicking off of the ground just before reaching him, she let her knees connect hard with his chest as the bag hit him hard in the face. Her expression both pained and desperate, the wounded girl rode the falling man to the ground. The rather morbid crunch of his skull against the floor as it finally connected brought her a slight satisfaction as it announced the elimination of this particular threat.


Pushing herself back to her feet quickly as she readied for her next attack, she tried to calm her nearly frantic thoughts. She was a capable enough combatant. Her chosen calling demanded that much of her. These odds, however, were quite nearly impossible for any lone, close-ranged, melee fighter. If Nikon didn't succeed in splitting the group's attention somewhat, she knew that the two of them would join the ranks of the dead in fairly short order.

 

[Kagura]

The muttered response Nikon got from the girl still made him grin, happy that she was alright and that she didn’t mind his pseudo-nickname. The girl was right though, one of their mages was either passed out or dead, the other had gone on ahead. The one who had threatened to shoot him was gone too, which left him and Lexi with the oncoming barrage. As the people flooded the room, he cursed under his breath, but didn’t miss the flirtatious grin the girl sent back at him. He saw the challenge in her eyes, and reaffirmed the grip on his harpoon before chasing after her.


As she rolled past the first one and tripped him, Nikon took the chance to wound him, making sure he wouldn’t get up again. The next one she took out by herself, and he took the chance to release the net from his belt. There were way too many to handle all at once, and he could at least hope to side-track some of them. The smell of burning hair alerted him to the beam of fire that passed by Lexi, causing him to charge into the field as well.


Lexi tackled the mage and Nikon used the net to his advantage, casting it and managing to entrap two of the mundane. Grabbing some of the ends, he pulled and tied them together, managing to tangle the two in the cast net. Before he could sufficiently pin the net to the ground, he felt a weight hit him, as he was bowled over. His shoulder felt out of place, but he realized it was a body over him, and having lost his harpoon he uses his sashimi knife to his advantage. A simple stab before he lodged the man off him, but then a bookcase…or what looked to be one hit him.


The wood crashed off him, and he realized that the mage was throwing objects at him. The books came next, then a couple planters, each which he either dodged or crashed past as he ran towards this mage. As the man chanted, Nikon realized he was changing tactics and got out his scaler to grab the mage’s arm, pushed away by the force of the spell. As he was thrown, he once again lands on his bad shoulder, hissing, realizing it was definitely dislocated. The mage was still very active, and there was a mundane that was helping the other two.


Nikon still had his chef’s knife, and he took the one shot he had at the mundane, not even bothering at look at his aim. Kicking his harpoon up as he passed, he caught it and ran towards the mage, feeling a little off with his non-dominant hand. The man was charging up another spell, and he paused, to let him fire off the electricity, dodging around it as he swooped towards him. It was a single swipe that landed, but he got the mage’s larynx, and the next thing to come out of him was gurgles.


That solved the mage problem.


Nikon turned towards Lexi, and motioned back towards the 3 mundane that had now fought their way out of the net. One seemed to be wounded, and he was glad he at least tried with the chef knife.