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Fantasy Vexpara | Hell Unraveled
- Thread starter Coin
- Start date
Coin
world's okayest lobotomite (they/them)
CHAPTER 2
Cross over.
Cross over.
"...tonight with breaking news -- what appears to be a major police-exorcist emergency unfolding near the Brooklyn Willow Rest neighborhood tonight. Details are just beginning to come in, some which suggest that the incident may be terrorist in nature. Authorities are urging residents to remain indoors, and cooperate with the evacuation...
Nik could smell patchouli and lavender, even if just for fleeting a moment. Through the abyssal blackness, the scent of a freshly picked laurel of flowers lulled her into a stranger's ethereal comfort. She felt like she was floating, like pollen fluttering weightlessly in a pleasant breeze. The wolf then exhaled the imagined smells from her lungs, and every neuron in her brain fired at once, all in screaming in blinding pain. Her eyes flickered open as she gasped for breath. There were no scent of flowers in the next lungful of breath that assailed her, only the sickly acrid miasma of burning emythrium and the iron of blood.
The hunter-captain was nearly buried under rubble and debris. Dusty bricks, destroyed furniture, and warped support beams surrounded her, no, cradled her from certain death. Every corner of her body radiated in sharp pains, and she could tell that at the very least she had cracked several ribs. Her left arm was mangled and burnt enough to expose a pale bone around her forearm. Warm blood streamed freely from a gash on her forehead, clouding her vision with red as she attempted to force her way out of the rubble. The huntress groaned in pain as she used her good arm to steady herself upright, rubble and drywall rolled off her armor like an avalanche. As she slowly came to, she began to piece together what had happened.
She had been stationed on the northern stairwell, waiting to breach the second floor in unison with the southern stairwell team. Knight and Xiang were at her side, waiting on Granger's signal on the other end of the building. The plan was simple, both Granger's team and Nik's team would enter the second floor in unison and search for their mystery figure. However, as soon as the go-order was given and Knight rammed the door open with her shoulder, the Blooden was incinerated by a blinding green fireball. The huntress fell to the floor in a wordless heap as the emerald inferno devoured her. At least it was a quick death as the flames sizzled through her armor and flesh.
Nik and Xiang immediately took cover against either side of the doorway. Knight had been a tough nut, serving two tours in Iraq and almost a decade of work as a PMC -- to have taken her down in a single attack was cause for major concern. Xiang understood this, and nodded to Nik; the two didn't miss a beat. Nik tapped her earpiece, and spoke with a practiced monotone despite the situation, "This is Vorbieva, man down. Repeat, Knight is KIA. Unknown hostile contact on second floor -- Class 5 emytherium spike, at least. Granger, pull your men back. Kendra, advise."
Meanwhile, Xiang plucked his right eye from its socket and levitated it with minor telekinesis to peek around the doorway. The eye, and its glowing purple pupil darted back and forth, analyzing the hallway as the Crane focused his infernal magic. Only a few seconds passed before a lance of viridescent flame pierced his floating eye like an arrow through a cherry. The eye ruptured, splattering both hunters in specks of blood. Xiang howled in pain as he clutched his empty socket, "Diu! Bastard, one bastard!"
"Come now, hunters, now is not the time for child's play! A warped voice thundered from down the hall.
Nik was furious. She could hear indistinct and urgent chatter coming from her headset, but it was lost under the the roar of her racing blood as she turned the corner into the second floor hallway. She grit her teeth as she summoned a wall of blazing hellfire in front of her with her left arm and steadied her automatic shotgun in her right. Through the flickering hellfire, she could see a lone figure opposing her down the hall. Even from her enhanced vision, he was difficult to see through the hellfire barrier. His stature was bipedal, but his feet were cloven, curled ivory horns sprouted from his forehead, and his exposed skin was scaly crimson. It was clearly a greater demon, and a whole two heads taller than even Nik. In his hand he clutched an orb of neon green fire so potent that it made Nik's eyes water just glancing directly into it.
The wolf began her charge with teeth bared, and her hellfire shield glowing hot. The whipping flames of her shield melted and warped the tacky floral wallpaper as she broke into a sprint. She squeezed the trigger on her shotgun, showering the demon a hail of buckshot with each low thud, until the drum magazine clicked empty. The greater demon clenched his fist, creating a wall of green fire that shielded him from the onslaught. Tungsten buckshot hissed and melted, falling to the floor in tiny red hot globs of molten metal -- none had found their mark. Heat from his shield was so intense that the carpet and walls surrounding him caught fire from the flare of radiating heat alone, encircling the demon in a halo of flame. He grinned, displaying sharpened teeth that filled his mouth like daggers. The demon hacked up a warped laughter that echoed through the halls, his voice rumbled a low baritone as he spoke, "Petty, a demon like you deserves to be more than a dog to humans."
Fearing no prey, Nik continued her charge, tossing her empty shotgun aside and withdrawing a truesilver-tipped knife from a belt sheath. She let out a cry, ready to sink the blade into his neck, but was halted in her tracks by a bolt of fire that crashed against her own shield like a tsunami. The heat cracked and ruptured her barrier, green flames sprouting through the gaps like weeds through concrete. They scorched her ablative armor, searing her flesh underneath, but she didn't feel a thing, and tried to push forward driven only by ferocity and adrenaline. Every ounce of her infernal magic poured into maintaining her shield, but she could feel her body, her magic failing. The edges of her vision began to blacken as each labored stomp rattled her bones, until she could no longer force her legs to move. Her shield was holding, but just barely, the green flames were beginning to envelop her own crimson. The heat was so intense that her ends of her hair began to singe and the tears that fell from her eyes evaporated before they could roll down her cheeks.
At last, her body and magic could take no more, and gave way entirely. With one last yelp, the wolf tumbled backwards and blacked out before she even hit the ground.
That was the last thing the wolf remembered before she woke again. As singed and battered as she was, she was still alive. She always came out alive.
---
"Sorry I'm late! I'll get the door, old man," Oskar rushed up the staircase, boots echoing up the stairwell as the eccentric Blooden joined his team. He patted Granger on the shoulder and stepped in front of him as pointman.
Veronica scowled at Oskar, letting her handgun droop a few inches as the hunter cut in front of the rest of their team. Veronica was always a stickler for plans and rigid procedure, which always clashed directly with Oskar's brutish spontaneity. She rolled her eyes and shifted off to the right to make room for him in front of the stairwell door. "It wouldn't kill you to be on time for a single operation, would it?"
Oskar already had his shoulder on the door, and flicked the safety off on his compact MP5. He turned to look down at Veronica and gave her a knowing grin, "I'm here now, aren't I?" The Blooden tapped his earpiece as he broadcast to Nik's team on the other stairwell. "This is Granger team, we're breaching in 5 seconds."
The hunter gave a check to everyone in the team behind him before he turned the knob on the door and slammed it open with a barge of his shoulder. His sub-gun swung up, rail-mounted LED darting back and forth and illuminating the dark hallway. The rest of his team piled in behind him, weapons and lights leveled to saturate the hallway with spells and bullets.
However, there were no targets to sight -- just a dark, empty hallway. Oskar took a tentative step forward, then another that creaked the floorboard beneath him, then just as he raised his foot for the next, Veronica grabbed him suddenly by the back of the collar. She yanked him back, and nearly off balance despite how much larger the Blooden was to the Augur. Veronica hissed, "Stop, you idiot. You almost blew your foot off, or worse."
She knelt down and cast an infernal illumination spell with a wave of her hand right over the spot that Oskar was about to step on. A glyph of ancient demonic script formed a pale red rune the size of a landmine on the floor. Veronica studied the rune and furrowed her brow. "Ambush runes. These are paralysis glyphs, not --"
Before the Augur could finish her sentence, the sound of hellfire and gunshots echoed further down the hall and around the corner. It had to be Nik's team making contact with something on the other side of the building. The hunter-captain's voice blared through the team's communication link, "This is Vorbieva, man down. Repeat, Knight is KIA..."
"We have to hurry, can you disable the rune or not?" Oskar asked with increased urgency. The fighting on the other side of the building had returned to an eerie silence and a sense of creeping dread crept up their spines.
Veronica shook her head, her brow furrowed in frustration, "U-uh, yes, but there is an issue." She sent out a pulse of infernal illumination that raced down the hallway, exposing no less than a hundred identical ambush runes placed across the floors, walls, and ceiling of the hallway. "It would take a dozen Augurs to clear all of those within an hour. We need to find another way to the captain."
Oskar's finger snapped up to his earpiece in frustration, "This is Granger team, we're blocked off from South Stairwell entry. The hallway is littered with ambush runes. We have to retreat for now and assist Captain Vorbieva from the North Stairs. The captain needs help, if anyone can get to her first, do it."
---
Xiang's heart was beating out of his chest. Through the nearly unbearable pain that wracked his eye socket and radiated into his head, he had managed to drag Knight's smoldering corpse onto a landing one flight of stairs down, charring his hands black in the process. He wanted to collapse right there next to her, but the captain still needed his help. Each roar of hellfire and thud of Nik's shotgun dulled the pain just a little more until Xiang found it in himself to trudge back up the staircase. By the time he stumbled back to the door frame, he was already too late. He saw Nik collapse to the floor as the greater demon's hellfire overwhelmed hers. She never stood a chance, not even with Xiang, but she went anyways. Xiang always thought she had some admirable stupidity that could be called bravery to some, and perhaps he was just a coward compared to her.
"Worthless dog, Xiang heard the demon's distorted voice call out as he closed the gap to Nik's unmoving body. A new orb of hellfire materialized in his palm as he prepared to deliver the killing blow.
Before he knew what he was doing, his body was already in motion. Maybe it was some of the captain's bravery, or the stupidity rubbing off on him. Maybe he couldn't bear to let another comrade perish. All of his infernal magic coursed through his veins, as his body and gear turned entirely invisible. Deceit magic coated the bottom of his boots, silencing his steps as he broke from the doorway and sprinted towards certain death. As the glowing fireball the greater demon leveled upon Nik grew brighter, Xiang propelled towards his target as fast as his legs and magic could take him. When he was just a couple meters away and he could feel the radiant heat stripping away his invisibility magic, he leapt into a flying kick aimed directly at the greater demon's wrist.
Xiang could feel the flesh of his unprotected legs cooking away, but he knew when he saw the flash of surprise on the greater demon's ugly face, he had caught the bastard off guard. Through the searing pain, he could feel the collision as he met his target. This caused the fireball to surge short, erupting the ground at the demon's feet. The floor gave way as supports were obliterated by a point blank burst of emytherium-rich hellfire. Xiang's marred body was tossed back at the explosion, crashing to the ground not too far from the captain's. The last thing he saw before his vision gave out was the greater demon attempting to clamber for stable ground before falling through the hole in the floor that he had created himself. A grin drifted to his lips. There was no way the bastard would survive against everyone on the ground floor.
---
You did well, well enough.
"A thousand apologies would never suffice, brother."
There is no need to apologize. It was lofty of me to presume pesky hunters would be easy prey.
"There is still time. They are weak and disorganized, I can--"
Silence, child. You will do no more. Open the Hell Maw.
"Yes, brother. Your will is mine."
The greater demon steeled himself as he shook the rubble from his form. He knelt, as if addressing an unseen regent, and plunged his right claw into his chest. Ribs shattered and flesh tore as his claws wrapped around his heart. The sheer joy of serving something much greater than he was enough to wholly ignore the pain of death. With one yank, he severed his heart from his body, still beating. It was steeped in the glow of a thousand slain and it was beautiful. A gem he had been nurturing since his birth, all for this moment. All of his infernal might poured into his heart, and a flash of green energy seared his eyes blind. One last spell, and his purpose was complete -- he had become the harbinger.
---
"Knight is what?" Kendra's heart sank. She froze in her tracks and forced her earpiece further into her ear as if it would help her hear better. "Vorbieva, take your team and fall back. We'll regroup and send a larger unit up with you. Do not engage." Silence returned its answer before it was shattered by the roar of hellfire and the clatter of automatic weapons fire from upstairs. "Nik? Nik! Retreat, I said do not engage!"
Lattimore cursed. She was losing control of the situation, and causalities would start racking up if she didn't reign the operation in. Causalities meant caskets, and --. The guildmaster cut her train of thought off and focused on the task at hand. She wasn't far from the stairwell herself, but it would take some time for others to organize and respond. Kendra could get there first, but she wasn't the best at fighting alone. The least she could do was hold her own until help arrived. That was the only plan she could formulate with the hand dealt to her. Would Janus have done something else?
There was a resounding crash that made the floor rumble beneath her a few rooms away. Kendra stopped dead in her tracks, and listened hard for a few moments. She could hear what sounded like a voice coming from that direction but it was too faint to make out. Soon, any hope of hearing was drowned out by the blaring alarm of the emytherium meter on her wrist. She checked the meter as the readings spiked from neutral, to mild, to high, to critical. Kendra could feel the emytherium poisoning in her eyes glowing, reacting to the surge of demonic energy a few walls away. At last, the gauge on her meter snapped and though Kendra did not want to believe it, but bad had gone to worse in just a few moments. A reading that high could mean but one thing: a Hell Maw was opening.
"Everyone on all channels, take cover, now!" She bellowed into her earpiece, and prayed that no one would hesitate.
How many would die? Dozens? And what of the thing that would emerge from the Hell Maw? Kendra knew she could survive the blast with her magic, but she didn't know if she wanted to. They had been too late, and she walked her guild into a trap. It seemed better suited for her to join the dead, than to bear the shame of surviving. Tears already welled in her eyes as the emytherium signature erupted. She surrounded herself in the nick of time with a shell of displacement magic, teleporting debris and raw emytherium into the void of outer space.
Kendra swore she could hear the dying screams of those who were not so lucky.
When the emytherium surge was over, Kendra counted to ten, then let her displacement magic drop. The magic fizzled away and she was surrounded in a thick dust, standing alone among rubble. Police cruisers were overturned, almost all of the apartment had been leveled, and the surrounding buildings fared only slightly better. Her radio link was dead, and little else stirred around her. A single light source shone through the dust and chaos, bathing everything in a ghastly green glow. The light itself hummed like low static, sounding the trumpets of Hell themselves. Lattimore could just see it through the debris -- a menacing being that stood twice her size.
Across its body, obsidian scales shimmered in the light like a mail of malevolent armor. Cloven hooves dug into and cracked the pavement, a barbed tail sliced the air as it swayed, and ivory claws splayed in search of fresh meat. The demon's head was that of a stag's, though its bottom jaw was disproportionately large and lined with hundreds of jagged teeth. Atop its skull was a crown of antlers that warped and curled together to form a demonic hex. At the center of the rune of horns, a single still heart of viridescent crystal. It emanated an aura of dread that was impossible to ignore.
"I am BORN," A thousand deafening voices rumbled from the black demon's maw. Its voice boomed so loudly that it quaked the very air itself.
A being of true evil, from Hell itself, had manifested before them.
Kendra couldn't waste a moment. With two quick-cast portals, she was a mere twenty meters from the demon. She mustered her magic with an inhale, and let two ethereal chains of golden light surge forth from her palms. Each of the chains found one of the demon's ankles, rooting him in place as they tightened. Scales sizzled and burned as holy magic dug at its ankles. It let out a piercing cry as he tried to break free. The chains creaked and cracked, but held taught. Binding magic wasn't her forte, but it would hold the black demon in place for another minute at least. Hopefully it was enough time for her guild to recover.
The black demon roared, turning towards Kendra's direction and pointing a claw at the guildmaster. "Die!" it bellowed as a bolt of red lightning surged forth and streaked towards Lattimore. Before she could even bring her hands up to weave a displacement portal to redirect the bolt, it struck her in the abdomen and sent her hurtling a dozen meters back away from the rubble and onto the street. As she landed, she gasped for life as pain consumed her. The rest was up to her guild.
Holy crap. I don't know where to start. Welcome to the reboot, I guess. This post will serve as an end to Chapter 1 (including the parts we didn't get to) and the start of Chapter 2 -- Hell Unraveled. A lot happened in this post, so if anyone has any questions about the main bulk of it, please ask me over Discord. Inserting your character into current happenings is entirely up to your creative discretion. Good luck, and aim for the fleshy bits.
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simj26
Awful, Terrible, No-good Layabout
Last edited:
simj26
Awful, Terrible, No-good Layabout
We'll Sort This Bitch Out
While demons have infested the world, driving under influence was still a real thing- a very real thing that was against the law, even. It was, then, anyone's guess why Davis was behind the wheel of one of Vexpara's armored utility vehicles, with passengers. It wasn't, however, to say that she was incapable of driving. In fact, it was the complete opposite. Even with one hand clasped onto the metal flask in her hand, she expertly maneuvered the large vehicle through the traffic, as easily as a weaver would thread a needle. Every once in a while, she would take a gulp from the contents of the flask, in spite of the growing worry in the expressions of her companions.
Haruka’s attentive yet timid gaze continuously shifted attention from Davis’ flask to the road. After a painfully short amount of time, Haruka caved in. The blade part of her large sword was peering through the peeking hole in a constantly open car window.
“Can I uh… have a swig?” said the demon, eyeing the flask with thirsty eyes.
To be quite honest, Davis barely registered their presence, as she focused entirely on the road ahead of her. It happened again. This was the second time that she had to feel the emethyrium rip through her mental faculties, overloading her mind with unnecessary information, with sight beyond that she was used to processing. This was the worst case scenario, and she didn't need the distress signal from the deployed group to know that shit had hit the fan. She had gathered all of the remaining available operators, grabbed every weapon she could think of, and shoved them into one of the armored vehicles, and sped off, scratching the paint off the roof as she blitzed through the garage before the door had opened fully. Her foot firmly pressed on the accelerator, it seemed as if she had forgotten that there had been a brake on the vehicle, as she swung through alleyways, slipped in between traffic, and skidded onto sidewalks, the SUV roaring its way to the epicenter of the blast.
Clinging on for dear life in the back seat, the answer as to why exactly she'd let that woman drive alluded K. How she'd managed to bob and weave the heaving behemoth of a vehicle all the way to the incident site was beyond her, but there had been far too many close calls on the way here for her tastes. In the end, results were still results, but she'd definitely be making a footnote to keep a solid five paces ahead of Davis, whenever they were carpooling like this next.
She finally seemed to grasp the concept of a brake as the SUV neared their destination, but only just enough to know that it stopped the vehicle. The passengers would learn on that night, the necessities of a safety belt, especially with an alcoholic cyclops driving the vehicle. The SUV came to a screeching halt some distance away from the ruins of the objective that the team had been attempting to clear. She wound down the window and peered out from the lowered tinted glass. In the center, a demon hovered, and at the side, the guild master. The other members were scattered throughout the area, decimated and weak. This was like Broken Wing all over again.
However, she didn't have an armored truck back in Broken Wing, and neither did she have a truesilver rocket launcher.
“Woah woah woah! Deer Hunting Season isn’t on for at least 20 more days! Anyone got a musket?”
Without turning, Davis ignored Haruka's quip, and muttered "K, get the rocket launcher.", then turned to Haruka. "No, you may not have a swig," she growled as she took another one herself. "Stuff's not bottomless, and I need every last drop to last me through tonight." After all, what she had in mind needed more than just a flask of liquid courage.
Davis's orders slipped from her lips with an almost disturbing calmness. In the midst of her manic driving, it was easy for K to forget just what sort of woman Davis was. Cold, cool, calculated, and concerning. To be able to keep such a level head as she did was an admirable thing to be sure, but there was a fine line between where the calm mind ended, and where apathy set in.
"On it! Haruka, look alive, we don't want this thing frying you too." Now was hardly the time to concern herself with that, though. Snapping herself out of the mild panic that the trip had sent her into, K reached over her seat and took hold of their secret weapon. With a single, mighty heft, she pulled it up and out of the trunk, letting it fall upon the unoccupied space to her side.
“Hey! How do I work this thing? The only thing I know how to reload is a printer.”
Davis clicked her tongue. Civilians. "Just point it at the problem and pull the trigger." There was no recoil on a rocket launcher, so it shouldn't be a problem. Even if it missed, it would be a big enough distraction. Besides, there was nothing left to blow up other than the one issue in front of them. "K, I need you to fire at Big and Ugly, and I'll give him the ol' fender bender treatment. Haruka, disembark, and get swinging once we're on top of him. Don't let 'em recover, don't give 'em a single inch. You're good at that, aren't you?" She took another sip from her flask, then capped it. Slipping it into one of her vest's pockets, she stepped on the accelerator and the brake, revving up the car. "Ready?"
“You gonna run him over?” Haruka asked with a gleeful grin. “Say no more!” She took the sword out of its peeking hole and opened up the sunroof. With a motion that took a little too long due to the problematic length of the Nagamaki, Haruka let the blade slip through the hole and followed it herself. In a few seconds, the girl had been standing still atop the SUV, sword pointed at big ugly, glowing with excitement.
“Whenever you’re ready, girls!”
She wanted her to fire it. The office lady who hadn't even shot a pistol before. She wasn't quite sure where Davis's head was at today, but maybe it wasn't as level as she'd originally thought. Still, there was hardly any time for her to be talking back at the moment, so she'd just have to cross her fingers and improvise. With a nod filled half with determination, and half with pure anxiety, K barged up and out of the SUV, making its seats into her footing, using the roof to steady her aim.
"Got it!" Sweat forming on her brow, K leveled the barrel with the demon as well as she could. It was nothing if not massive, but she still had her doubts. What, for example, if it was quick enough to dodge? What if it just portaled it back at them? She swallowed, and then produced a well-worn earpiece from the depths of her coat pocket.
"All Vexpara members, copy! Agents Kagenetsu, Davis and Tsukiko reporting in! Any able bodied agents, brace for impact, there's something hot coming in big bad and ugly's direction! Any Augurs, please assist in making sure it finds its mark!"
This was as just as much of a gamble as the rest of this little rescue operation of theirs, but it would definitely help out their chances a bit.
Haruka would not lie to herself, watching K try and make sense of the rocket launcher prompted a quiet chuckle and a smirk to find its way on the lesser demon’s lips.
“Rest that bit on your shoulder… aim a bit higher… Cool cool!” She pointed at the back end of the launcher with the tip of the blade, before she pushed on it so that its trajectory would direct the rocket to the meatier parts of the big ugly.
“R-right, thanks…” K muttered under her breath. Even with Davis’s ‘advice’ and Haruka’s fiddling, she still didn’t like their chances. As slim as they might have been though, they were the only ones they had. So with a deep breath and a quick prayer, she took a firm grip of the trigger, and then squeezed.
Davis released the brake, and sent the armored truck forwards, pitching straight for the black demon. Clutching onto the steering wheel, she freed one hand to pull out her sidearm and aimed it out of her window, emptying it at the target in tandem with the rocket-propelled grenade headed towards the demon.
Soon as she felt the car move, Haruka lowered her torso and brought the blade at eye level, pointed directly towards the big bag demon in front of them. It actually took her by surprise when Davis hit the gas and the rocket launched from under her almost simultaneously. As soon as the car caught some momentum she let out a deafening roar and slumped lower, preparing for a leap forward. Her afterimage mimicked her moves down to her breath.
The resultant debris from the explosion of the grenade, whether it hit or not, barely affected her sight on the demon. Her one eye flared golden, as she plowed through the smoke, and slammed the car straight into the black demon.
The moment the grenade found its mark, K dropped the launcher back into the SUV with a heavy thud. She’d only a moment to spare. Without a word, magic sparked between her fingertips, a ladder of yellowish energy shooting up the space between her fingers before coming to a single, blazing point. Without missing a beat, a dancing storm of magic surged through the space between Haruka and herself. As it made contact with the young demon, she’d feel it flowing through her veins, seeping into her muscles, and imbuing her body with a blazing, foreign strength.
A fraction of a second before impact she sprung with unnatural speed towards the hulking mass in front of her, blade pointed forward, glinting with anticipation.
The One Called X
Enlightened Squid
Angelica Hudson
...repeat, Knight is KIA... class 5 emytherium spike...
Angelica froze in her tracks, eyes going wide as she raised a hand to her ear, as though tearing out the earpiece would change what she had heard. In the entire time she'd been with Vexpara, she'd never been on a mission where someone died. She didn't have time to process it before she felt the bright flare of energy, and she knew, then, that the presence she'd been feeling since she stepped into this hellhole of a building had made its move. God, her gut instinct had been right. She should've taken one look at the place and run. All of them should've run. She was already snapping her fingers as Ms. Lattimore's urgent voice came over the comms. A crimson shield shimmered into place, covering every nearby hunter.
Angelica felt the emytherium spike again, and knew that her shield wouldn't hold.
She didn't really think, for the next few seconds. She grabbed Maggie and threw them both to the ground, landing hard on her bad leg. A shield of hellfire, the strongest Angelica could muster, flared white-hot over them even as Angelica felt the force of the explosion rip through her larger shield like paper. People were dead, she knew, because of that. Perhaps it was that moment of weakness that let it happen- the very edges of her shield starting to waver. Fuck. She let go, diverting the energy to the shield above them, curling over Maggie protectively, doing her best to shield the smaller woman from the small debris and emytherium that flooded under the narrow gap between the shield and the floor. She shut her eyes tightly. Then there was just the sound of chaos overhead and the blood rushing in her ears and the smell of rubber burning on the soles of her boots where she'd cut it just a hair too close with the shield.
Then, quiet, broken by Angelica coughing on the dusty air. There was a low hissing noise as debris slowly melted and vaporized against the shield's heat, and drops of molten metal from a support beam trickled down to solidify on the ground. It would've crushed them, but Angelica couldn't quite bring herself to care.
Once, when she'd been much smaller and far weaker, she'd lost a fight to an older girl. She didn't know what it had been over, but she did remember being choked out and the near-heavenly sensation of being able to breathe again. This was like that, but- more. Different. Better. She was running high, still, from the flare of emytherium, and for the first time she could remember nothing at all hurt. Her eyes seemed better, too, as she peered through the dust to the massive figure that appeared in the distance. But- there were more pressing concerns.
It was becoming unbearably hot in the tiny space. A bead of sweat dripped off her chin and landed on the floor, where it hissed and bubbled. Christ, she hadn't even done that on purpose. She could feel her socks beginning to disintegrate from the acid of her sweat. She couldn't seem to reel it in. Shit, she had to get away from Maggie now. She looked up again- the beam, she'd have to burn through it. Normally there'd be a question of if she could, but- not now. She knew.
"Maggie, hold still. I'm gonna get us out. Just- try to curl up as much as you can and then don't move."
She had to get the timing perfect. She closed her eyes, focused carefully, and dropped the shield. The beam fell in three pieces- two on either side of them, and a two-foot-long chunk behind them, where it had been sent by Angelica's Gate. She exhaled as she let the gates collapse, and rolled off of Maggie, pushing herself up to kneel. The air was clearer here, and she could see the black stag.
The demon was grotesque. A thing that shouldn't be, that didn't fit in the world. It practically reeked of ill-gotten power, vile and... and perfect, too, in a way. Angelica remembered reading somewhere that the word sublime referred to something that was beautiful and horrifying. It fit. Her eyes were drawn to the pulsing heart encircled in the beast's antlers. It was hideous, yes, and entrancing. For the space of a heartbeat she was half-hypnotized, frozen. If Maggie had spoken to her, she wouldn't have heard.
This was what all the death had been for, then. The leftovers would be enough. The thought seemed foreign, not her own, though she knew it was. Enough to make you stronger. Enough to give her a chance against the bastard. She could rip that beautiful crystal from his crown and swallow it down, down, down, claim that strength for her own, and all she had to do was-
And then Ms. Lattimore pinned it down, and the lightning flung her out of Angelica's view. She gasped sharply, feeling as though she'd been thrown back into her body from some great distance. Oh God. Jesus fuck.
"Bastard," she hissed. The rush was beginning to fade. She hated it. She wanted it back, the strength and surety. She had to take the fucker down.
The leftovers, she thought again, and shook her head. Her colleagues. Angelica could feel the weight of the sedative shot in her jacket pocket. It occurred to her that she should probably give it to Maggie. Maggie could be trusted to knock her out if need be. But- no. No. She was fine. It wouldn't happen again. It was just the fucking deer bastard, screwing with her head.
She pushed herself to her feet- or tried to, anyway. Her bad leg flared with pain, her head spun, and with a choked-off scream she collapsed down to all fours. "Son of a bitch," she gasped. Her whole body ached, now, and she was hungry to the point of almost feeling nauseated. She wanted to charge the damn thing head-on, let it see her face, but her fucking leg. Her head. Everything. Fuck.
The leftovers. Soft throats and hearts heavy with blood.
No, goddamn it. She was stronger than that. Angelica Hudson was not like other demons. She didn't Hunger like they did. She just needed-
The roar of an engine broke her train of thought.
Angelica felt a slow smile spread across her face as she saw the SUV barreling directly towards the monster. She had something to work with, now, as long as she worked fast.
God, but she was hungry. She tried to swallow and coughed instead, pinkish saliva splattering across concrete and hissing as it corroded. Didn't matter. Just had to do the job and keep the bad thoughts at bay. Angelica was good at that, not thinking about things.
Angelica planted both her hands on the ground and pushed down. She hadn't ever called on this much magic at once. It was a hail mary, but if they didn't put this thing down fast-
Her head hurt. Her head hurt so much. She was sure she had screamed. She was lying on her side in the dirt now, and she pushed herself back up to sit. Eyes on the target. She had to have eyes on the target.
The heart, cradled in a crown of antlers. An ugly beautiful thing. Hers to break. Angelica's smile turned vicious. Her eyes were red as hellfire. "Eat this, motherfucker."
Her column of fire burst out of the ground at the demon's back, blazing blue-hot, aimed directly at the crystal.
Katsuya
...repeat, Knight is KIA... class 5 emytherium spike...
Angelica froze in her tracks, eyes going wide as she raised a hand to her ear, as though tearing out the earpiece would change what she had heard. In the entire time she'd been with Vexpara, she'd never been on a mission where someone died. She didn't have time to process it before she felt the bright flare of energy, and she knew, then, that the presence she'd been feeling since she stepped into this hellhole of a building had made its move. God, her gut instinct had been right. She should've taken one look at the place and run. All of them should've run. She was already snapping her fingers as Ms. Lattimore's urgent voice came over the comms. A crimson shield shimmered into place, covering every nearby hunter.
Angelica felt the emytherium spike again, and knew that her shield wouldn't hold.
She didn't really think, for the next few seconds. She grabbed Maggie and threw them both to the ground, landing hard on her bad leg. A shield of hellfire, the strongest Angelica could muster, flared white-hot over them even as Angelica felt the force of the explosion rip through her larger shield like paper. People were dead, she knew, because of that. Perhaps it was that moment of weakness that let it happen- the very edges of her shield starting to waver. Fuck. She let go, diverting the energy to the shield above them, curling over Maggie protectively, doing her best to shield the smaller woman from the small debris and emytherium that flooded under the narrow gap between the shield and the floor. She shut her eyes tightly. Then there was just the sound of chaos overhead and the blood rushing in her ears and the smell of rubber burning on the soles of her boots where she'd cut it just a hair too close with the shield.
Then, quiet, broken by Angelica coughing on the dusty air. There was a low hissing noise as debris slowly melted and vaporized against the shield's heat, and drops of molten metal from a support beam trickled down to solidify on the ground. It would've crushed them, but Angelica couldn't quite bring herself to care.
Once, when she'd been much smaller and far weaker, she'd lost a fight to an older girl. She didn't know what it had been over, but she did remember being choked out and the near-heavenly sensation of being able to breathe again. This was like that, but- more. Different. Better. She was running high, still, from the flare of emytherium, and for the first time she could remember nothing at all hurt. Her eyes seemed better, too, as she peered through the dust to the massive figure that appeared in the distance. But- there were more pressing concerns.
It was becoming unbearably hot in the tiny space. A bead of sweat dripped off her chin and landed on the floor, where it hissed and bubbled. Christ, she hadn't even done that on purpose. She could feel her socks beginning to disintegrate from the acid of her sweat. She couldn't seem to reel it in. Shit, she had to get away from Maggie now. She looked up again- the beam, she'd have to burn through it. Normally there'd be a question of if she could, but- not now. She knew.
"Maggie, hold still. I'm gonna get us out. Just- try to curl up as much as you can and then don't move."
She had to get the timing perfect. She closed her eyes, focused carefully, and dropped the shield. The beam fell in three pieces- two on either side of them, and a two-foot-long chunk behind them, where it had been sent by Angelica's Gate. She exhaled as she let the gates collapse, and rolled off of Maggie, pushing herself up to kneel. The air was clearer here, and she could see the black stag.
The demon was grotesque. A thing that shouldn't be, that didn't fit in the world. It practically reeked of ill-gotten power, vile and... and perfect, too, in a way. Angelica remembered reading somewhere that the word sublime referred to something that was beautiful and horrifying. It fit. Her eyes were drawn to the pulsing heart encircled in the beast's antlers. It was hideous, yes, and entrancing. For the space of a heartbeat she was half-hypnotized, frozen. If Maggie had spoken to her, she wouldn't have heard.
This was what all the death had been for, then. The leftovers would be enough. The thought seemed foreign, not her own, though she knew it was. Enough to make you stronger. Enough to give her a chance against the bastard. She could rip that beautiful crystal from his crown and swallow it down, down, down, claim that strength for her own, and all she had to do was-
And then Ms. Lattimore pinned it down, and the lightning flung her out of Angelica's view. She gasped sharply, feeling as though she'd been thrown back into her body from some great distance. Oh God. Jesus fuck.
"Bastard," she hissed. The rush was beginning to fade. She hated it. She wanted it back, the strength and surety. She had to take the fucker down.
The leftovers, she thought again, and shook her head. Her colleagues. Angelica could feel the weight of the sedative shot in her jacket pocket. It occurred to her that she should probably give it to Maggie. Maggie could be trusted to knock her out if need be. But- no. No. She was fine. It wouldn't happen again. It was just the fucking deer bastard, screwing with her head.
She pushed herself to her feet- or tried to, anyway. Her bad leg flared with pain, her head spun, and with a choked-off scream she collapsed down to all fours. "Son of a bitch," she gasped. Her whole body ached, now, and she was hungry to the point of almost feeling nauseated. She wanted to charge the damn thing head-on, let it see her face, but her fucking leg. Her head. Everything. Fuck.
The leftovers. Soft throats and hearts heavy with blood.
No, goddamn it. She was stronger than that. Angelica Hudson was not like other demons. She didn't Hunger like they did. She just needed-
The roar of an engine broke her train of thought.
Angelica felt a slow smile spread across her face as she saw the SUV barreling directly towards the monster. She had something to work with, now, as long as she worked fast.
God, but she was hungry. She tried to swallow and coughed instead, pinkish saliva splattering across concrete and hissing as it corroded. Didn't matter. Just had to do the job and keep the bad thoughts at bay. Angelica was good at that, not thinking about things.
Angelica planted both her hands on the ground and pushed down. She hadn't ever called on this much magic at once. It was a hail mary, but if they didn't put this thing down fast-
Her head hurt. Her head hurt so much. She was sure she had screamed. She was lying on her side in the dirt now, and she pushed herself back up to sit. Eyes on the target. She had to have eyes on the target.
The heart, cradled in a crown of antlers. An ugly beautiful thing. Hers to break. Angelica's smile turned vicious. Her eyes were red as hellfire. "Eat this, motherfucker."
Her column of fire burst out of the ground at the demon's back, blazing blue-hot, aimed directly at the crystal.
Katsuya
Last edited:
Lucem
Ten Thousand Club
Nathan Pierce
Rising from the pile of damp rubble, Nathan let out a low groan when he could once again feel the sensation of bone-chilling rain splashing against his body. Vision clouded by a haze of settling dust, it took him a moment to make sense of what just happened. His immediate reaction was to look toward the two women in his company, making sure that both Beauregard and the civilian were in one piece. "You two still alive?" Considering that he almost got crushed while trying to cover them, he was hoping for a favorable response.
Almost immediately after letting out his voice, Nathan's words were replaced by a brief fit of coughing. The Infernal shield that covered both women disappeared as he grabbed at his chest. Neither the falling debris nor the use of his Wrath magic were enough to put him in too bad of a state, but something else was definitely wrong. It was far from the worst pain he'd ever felt, but he was experiencing notable discomfort. Considering what just happened, he had a few ideas why, but the answer was obvious when taking into account the current state of his body. A faint glow illuminated the remains of the apartment complex, pouring out from the poisoned Augur.
He didn't have much time to consider what was happening before it was already over. As soon as he heard the panic in Lattimore's voice, he went to cover his fellow Hunters. With the sound of that transmission still ringing loudly in his ears, he looked for the person who gave it. Unfortunately, he quickly found her.
When the guild leader crossed his mind, he saw her being tossed away like a piece of garbage. In the opposite direction of where she was propelled, there stood a massive ebony body adorned by ivory claws. Its sharp teeth were on full display as it released a deafening roar, the volume of its voice only dwarfed by its strength.
"Shit." To say that things took a turn for the worse was an understatement. Not only were they now dealing with a Black Demon, but the highest ranking members of the guild were either dead or incapacitated. He ran a hand through his dusty, wet hair, trying to figure out how they were going to deal with this. While he had enough experience to retain composure in a situation like this, coming up with a plan of action was the tricky part. As of right now, one misstep could easily lead to everyone's deaths.
Luckily for the young man, the roar of an approaching engine was what he needed to clear up some of the fog that clouded his thoughts. From his position, he had an excellent view of the hectic scene. A large car was gunning straight for the stag-like creature, a strategy that was only slightly less insane because it was one of Vexpara's vehicles. In addition to the SUV itself, he could also spot the women that peeked out from its openings. To his surprise, one of them was the guild's second Ouro brandishing a rocket launcher. Did she even have experience firing a regular gun? Nathan shook that thought away before rising to his feet. If he had doubts that she'd hit her mark, then he'd have to do something to ease that concern.
Dust and droplets of water fell from his dark sleeves as he raised his arms, moving them carefully along the path his eyes followed. Slowing his breathing, he did his best to focus on the speeding car as he positioned himself. He had been using Gate magic for years, but this time felt different. Rather than the discomfort that plagued his body moments ago, there was something else stirring inside of him. It was like a voice whispered straight into his mind, telling him he could try to push his limits a little further today. He could only hope it wasn't the emytherium making him go crazy.
When the rocket flew through the air, Nathan was quick to release the mental trigger he had been building up, causing gray, ember-like wisps to flow from his hands. At the same time, two similarly colored portals appeared in the distance, allowing the projectile to meet its target. While his spell proved to be accurate, he couldn't make any judgements about the rocket's effectiveness yet. The demon remained obscured by the resulting debris, but that didn't seem to bother the women as they continued their assault without missing a beat, followed shortly by the blazing heat of Infernal fire.
Whether the Black Demon would be damaged from the attack remained to be seen, but the attempt did buy him enough time to come to a decision and act on it. Using the visual obstructions as a distraction, Nathan created two more portals, but there wasn't a rocket going through them this time. Instead, he placed one at his feet and the other near the SUV, hoping the person he had his eye on would find her way over.
Nathan was suited to close-range combat, but he had doubts about whether charging in to provide support would be the right choice. Right now, there was one confirmed casualty, but the amount of deaths could easily increase. He was also still under orders to guard the Ouros. Despite having mixed feelings, he chose to keep following that order for now. When more Vexpara members were accounted for, dead or otherwise, he'd have to make a call on whether it was necessary to step in.
Thankfully, getting Kagenetsu over to the leveled building wasn't an issue. Aside from it being easier to guard her if she was closer, she'd be able to help deal with the injured guild members. Beauregard couldn't tend to everyone by herself. It was also too dangerous for a non-combatant to be near a demon of that level.
Once the new group was gathered, Nathan went straight to work, moving behind Kagenetsu. "Start searching for survivors. Even if you can't heal them, try to keep them stable for as long as possible. Try to stay away from the Black Demon if you can. Call out if it gets too close." Not sparing a second for greetings, he finished tracing the invisible circle, causing wisps to flow from the older woman's back before fading away. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get our boss."
After moving a few steps away, Nathan began tracing a much larger circle among the debris, looking in the direction Lattimore was sent flying. Considering how tough she was, he assumed that the leader would still be alive. While setting the second portal, he looked to Angelica in the distance. The injured guild members were important, but he was also concerned about her.
With one step forward, he moved several meters from his starting point. As he repeated the process once again, his thoughts still lingered on the other Augur. Like him, she was also dealing with the effects of all that emytherium in her body. Although, like other demons, her issues manifested in ways different from a human Augur. If she gave into the Hunger right now, the current situation would become much worse. He'd have to be prepared for the worst possible outcome.
Multiple scenarios played out in his head, but he still remained focused on his goal, finally making his way over to his fallen leader. He didn't look into her condition too much, only enough to see if she could be moved. Right now, it was important to get her back to the Ouros. Picking her up as gently as possible, he tried to keep her from rocking around in his arms as he took the portals back to his starting location, each of them closing as soon as he slipped through the transparent gates.
Roleplay Skittle
The One Eyed Bandit
Coin
Rising from the pile of damp rubble, Nathan let out a low groan when he could once again feel the sensation of bone-chilling rain splashing against his body. Vision clouded by a haze of settling dust, it took him a moment to make sense of what just happened. His immediate reaction was to look toward the two women in his company, making sure that both Beauregard and the civilian were in one piece. "You two still alive?" Considering that he almost got crushed while trying to cover them, he was hoping for a favorable response.
Almost immediately after letting out his voice, Nathan's words were replaced by a brief fit of coughing. The Infernal shield that covered both women disappeared as he grabbed at his chest. Neither the falling debris nor the use of his Wrath magic were enough to put him in too bad of a state, but something else was definitely wrong. It was far from the worst pain he'd ever felt, but he was experiencing notable discomfort. Considering what just happened, he had a few ideas why, but the answer was obvious when taking into account the current state of his body. A faint glow illuminated the remains of the apartment complex, pouring out from the poisoned Augur.
He didn't have much time to consider what was happening before it was already over. As soon as he heard the panic in Lattimore's voice, he went to cover his fellow Hunters. With the sound of that transmission still ringing loudly in his ears, he looked for the person who gave it. Unfortunately, he quickly found her.
When the guild leader crossed his mind, he saw her being tossed away like a piece of garbage. In the opposite direction of where she was propelled, there stood a massive ebony body adorned by ivory claws. Its sharp teeth were on full display as it released a deafening roar, the volume of its voice only dwarfed by its strength.
"Shit." To say that things took a turn for the worse was an understatement. Not only were they now dealing with a Black Demon, but the highest ranking members of the guild were either dead or incapacitated. He ran a hand through his dusty, wet hair, trying to figure out how they were going to deal with this. While he had enough experience to retain composure in a situation like this, coming up with a plan of action was the tricky part. As of right now, one misstep could easily lead to everyone's deaths.
Luckily for the young man, the roar of an approaching engine was what he needed to clear up some of the fog that clouded his thoughts. From his position, he had an excellent view of the hectic scene. A large car was gunning straight for the stag-like creature, a strategy that was only slightly less insane because it was one of Vexpara's vehicles. In addition to the SUV itself, he could also spot the women that peeked out from its openings. To his surprise, one of them was the guild's second Ouro brandishing a rocket launcher. Did she even have experience firing a regular gun? Nathan shook that thought away before rising to his feet. If he had doubts that she'd hit her mark, then he'd have to do something to ease that concern.
Dust and droplets of water fell from his dark sleeves as he raised his arms, moving them carefully along the path his eyes followed. Slowing his breathing, he did his best to focus on the speeding car as he positioned himself. He had been using Gate magic for years, but this time felt different. Rather than the discomfort that plagued his body moments ago, there was something else stirring inside of him. It was like a voice whispered straight into his mind, telling him he could try to push his limits a little further today. He could only hope it wasn't the emytherium making him go crazy.
When the rocket flew through the air, Nathan was quick to release the mental trigger he had been building up, causing gray, ember-like wisps to flow from his hands. At the same time, two similarly colored portals appeared in the distance, allowing the projectile to meet its target. While his spell proved to be accurate, he couldn't make any judgements about the rocket's effectiveness yet. The demon remained obscured by the resulting debris, but that didn't seem to bother the women as they continued their assault without missing a beat, followed shortly by the blazing heat of Infernal fire.
Whether the Black Demon would be damaged from the attack remained to be seen, but the attempt did buy him enough time to come to a decision and act on it. Using the visual obstructions as a distraction, Nathan created two more portals, but there wasn't a rocket going through them this time. Instead, he placed one at his feet and the other near the SUV, hoping the person he had his eye on would find her way over.
Nathan was suited to close-range combat, but he had doubts about whether charging in to provide support would be the right choice. Right now, there was one confirmed casualty, but the amount of deaths could easily increase. He was also still under orders to guard the Ouros. Despite having mixed feelings, he chose to keep following that order for now. When more Vexpara members were accounted for, dead or otherwise, he'd have to make a call on whether it was necessary to step in.
Thankfully, getting Kagenetsu over to the leveled building wasn't an issue. Aside from it being easier to guard her if she was closer, she'd be able to help deal with the injured guild members. Beauregard couldn't tend to everyone by herself. It was also too dangerous for a non-combatant to be near a demon of that level.
Once the new group was gathered, Nathan went straight to work, moving behind Kagenetsu. "Start searching for survivors. Even if you can't heal them, try to keep them stable for as long as possible. Try to stay away from the Black Demon if you can. Call out if it gets too close." Not sparing a second for greetings, he finished tracing the invisible circle, causing wisps to flow from the older woman's back before fading away. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get our boss."
After moving a few steps away, Nathan began tracing a much larger circle among the debris, looking in the direction Lattimore was sent flying. Considering how tough she was, he assumed that the leader would still be alive. While setting the second portal, he looked to Angelica in the distance. The injured guild members were important, but he was also concerned about her.
With one step forward, he moved several meters from his starting point. As he repeated the process once again, his thoughts still lingered on the other Augur. Like him, she was also dealing with the effects of all that emytherium in her body. Although, like other demons, her issues manifested in ways different from a human Augur. If she gave into the Hunger right now, the current situation would become much worse. He'd have to be prepared for the worst possible outcome.
Multiple scenarios played out in his head, but he still remained focused on his goal, finally making his way over to his fallen leader. He didn't look into her condition too much, only enough to see if she could be moved. Right now, it was important to get her back to the Ouros. Picking her up as gently as possible, he tried to keep her from rocking around in his arms as he took the portals back to his starting location, each of them closing as soon as he slipped through the transparent gates.
Roleplay Skittle
The One Eyed Bandit
Coin
CerpinTaxt
A Man With No Face
Robyn
This sucks.
This sucks.
Robyn was struggling to recall where he was, or what he'd been doing in the first place. Everything felt awful. He looked around at the blackness surrounding him, a few cracks of dim light making it clear something was above him. That and the rather heavy weight on his chest as he laid on his back. His hands felt around, feeling what he could tell was pieces of wood and other parts of the building that had come crashing down. How long had it been? Hours? Maybe it was days and he had just woken up. His ears were ringing, blocking out much of the noise surrounding him; it only served to help distort how much time had passed.
Regardless of how long it had been, he had to get out of this rubble. His gloved hands gripped what had once been a support beam and lifting it from his chest, and trying his best to move it away from him in the small space he was given. It was enough to get Robyn to be able to sit up at least and focus on freeing himself from this trash prison. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, making the walls which surrounded him clear. Just pieces of the floor and the wall of the closet he'd apparently hidden in. All of it in shambles. A swift kick towards what seemed to be a point of leverage gave him a big enough opening to make his escape and out onto the open world.
Looking around at the ruined landscape was jogging his memory at least. Something about breaching..and then...boom. He remembered someone had been killed, and then Lattimore told them to take cover. His eyes looked back at what had once been the closet before letting out a harsh series of coughs. I guess that's where I picked. He looked down at himself, inspecting his outfit and trying his best to find where his weapons had gone. His clothes were mostly fine if a bit tattered in spots; though he was covered head to toe in what seemed to be soot and dust. He looked like some poor coal miner costume for a Halloween party, complete with various scrapes and cuts. His hands went to his holster and breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the familiar shape of his revolver. "At least that's still there.."
His hearing was coming back to him, the eternal ringing slowly making its retreat as he reached into his prison to find the familiar feeling of his lever action. Was he the last one alive? To be fair it wasn't like he looked around himself lately. He could be in the middle of some big battlefield with no awareness at all. He pulled the rifle from its hiding place and took to actually inspecting the area around him, right as his hearing came back.
All Vexpara members, copy! Agents Kagenetsu, Davis and Tsukiko reporting in! Any able-bodied agents, brace for impact, there's something hot coming in big bad and ugly's direction! Any Augurs, please assist in making sure it finds its mark!"
Oh hey..reinforcements ah..wait, big, bad and ugly? Robyn went back to looking around, his eyes focusing on the grotesque demon that stood in the destruction it had caused. It certainly was big, and ugly. Scary too..he hadn't seen a Black Demon before..at least not in person. What was something like this doing here? Nearby was the SUV, making its way towards the beast with someone carrying large ordinance with it.
Regular bullets weren't going to do a thing to this asshole that was for sure. Robyn unloaded his rifle with practiced motions, letting the normal bullets clatter to the ground before quickly retrieving a few of his hand loaded cartridges and feeding them to the rifle and ending it with sliding one in the chamber by maneuvering the lever. Finding Lattimore and the others could wait, he supposed. He had to assist in dealing with the threat at hand.
"This is Robyn, I'm still alive..thankfully." He let out a sudden series of coughs after he spoke into the comms, spikes of pain coming from his chest causing him to kneel for a moment and grasp his chest. Not good...he was a bit worse off than he thought he was. The beam probably broke a few ribs when it hit him and all that adrenaline that had been steadily leaving his bloodstream had kept him from feeling pain. "I think I broke a few ribs..I'll try to provide support to those fighting the Black Demon." He spoke once more and readied his rifle and began to aim. Others were already beginning to fight off the demon face-to-face and with flames. He couldn't risk striking one of their own with a bullet..he'd have to shoot at places that would help but endanger his teammates the least.
His attention went to the demon's legs. He could incapacitate or cause it to fall and leave it helpless! The smoke left by the grenade striking the demon made it rather hard to see, but it would be near impossible to miss someone as big as this demon was. He adjusted his aim and began to fire off shot after shot towards its legs, aiming for where its bones would theoretically meet so as to cause as much damage as possible. He hoped it did something even if it just distracted the monster for a few moments.
Coin
simj26
The One Called X
Katsuya
Magical artist
- Magnolia Noir -
“I feel sick . . .” Magnolia breathlessly muttered as Angelica coughed, breaking the seemingly peaceful silence. Her dazed wide eyes stared at the debris as the metal beam dripped, thinking it’s like watching ice cream melting on a summer’s day. There was a ringing in her ears and her back felt numb from the vibrations. Everything happened all at once, from hearing the horrible news about Knight to suddenly landing on her back and seeing the chaos happening around them. She held onto Angelica like a little girl would hold onto her teddy bear, clutching her fists on the back of the taller’s shirt while watching and feeling the collapse around them. She couldn’t close her eyes. She couldn’t. Her heart is pounding too hard. In the back of her shaken mind, all she could register is the intense heat around her and the weight on top —— Angelica!
That sudden spike of emytherium is sizzling on her nerve endings right now. Gods, she hoped Angelica is not tripping out. That sizzling is worse than having a sugar rush and Magnolia is just a half demon-! She couldn’t imagine what the younger is feeling right now-!
With a silent nod, Magnolia curled as much as she could, ignoring the tingling nerve endings as she watched Angelica’s actions. —- Was that acid sweat dripping off her skin?!—- She froze still and once she felt Angelica’s body weight shifting to one side, the short crane relaxed and let’s her go; sitting up and taking in the environment around them. The whole building crashed down —- how many people died just now? —- and she was about to say ‘Thank you’ to the old teen when she spotted the black figure. Her words of gratitude died on the tip of her tongue.
Like the old teen beside her, Magnolia couldn’t look away from the floating purple heart that’s within the branching antlers. There was just something entrancing about it —- the young crane shook her head (she’s gonna regret that later in the form of a headache) and shot her hand on Angelica’s shoulder, shaking it lightly. “Angelica? Angelica, come o- Oh Jesus-!” She flinched from the lightning, snapping her attention back with wide eyes as she watched Mrs. Lattimore being flung back.
Her grip on Angelica’s shoulder tightened as if she was afraid that she might just —- yep! She’s trying! She’s trying to go over and fight that thing. Magnolia caught her before she fully went down on her knees, softening the landing. It was then that she saw a familiar looking SUV with someone carrying a . . . I-is that a rocket launcher?
With an idea of what’s about to happen, Magnolia perked up and her eyes rolled to Angelica, seeing her grin maliciously; and she couldn’t blame her. After all, they watched this demon hurt Mrs. Lattimore. Might as well have some pay back. Gathering her scattered determination, she looked around and spotted her rifle, crushed under the debris. She clicked her tongue and pressed on her comm only to find out that it’s not working. An annoyed sigh passed through her lips and she ripped the earpiece out, now realizing that her hearing aid must be fried too. Which might explain why she could barely hear anything now, despite seeing the teen’s lips move —- must have been cursing —- or not hearing the van’s engines coming close. She did see Nathan’s figure going over to Mrs. Lattimore’s position.
With her rifle crushed and not having much offensive spells, Magnolia felt like she couldn’t do much. Useless, she thought to herself. Not even her dinky little dagger in her boot can help in this situation, Truesilver or not. If she can’t throw it, it’s not useful. Gritting her teeth, she wrapped her arms around Angelica’s waist, stabilizing her stance while planting one foot on the ground as she kneeled. Then she focused her energy into one spell, winding it up tightly like a heavy duty spring when pushed down.
If she can’t attack or distract, then she can get Angelica to move away from whatever the demon might throw at them. That and the explosion from the rocket launcher will cause. It’s the least she can do for the girl who saved her life twice.
simj26
CerpinTaxt
Coin
The One Called X
Lucem
Last edited:
Coin
world's okayest lobotomite (they/them)
The air was fuzzy with Hell-static, resultant from the black demon's surge of red lightning. The thunderclap had shattered any unreinforced windows nearby, and created an eerie silence as hearing returned to the hunters. That silence was broken by the squealing of tires as Davis and her team began their armored cavalry charge. The black SUV hurdled towards the demon, still held in place by Lattimore's holy magic shackles. It was the perfect target, and they just happened to have two perfect weapons for the job -- a souped-up armored SUV and a truesilver rocket launcher.
All fifteen rounds of Davis' handgun were expended, and the few hits that it did generate did nothing but shatter against the black demon's scales as if they were armored plates, and succeeded in bringing the black demon's attention away from their more vulnerable guildmates. The demon swung around towards them, rattling the golden shackles that sizzled the flesh at his ankles just in time to see the rocket streaking towards him. He raised a clawed hand and created a hellfire barrier that screamed white-hot, preparing to incinerate the rocket and the SUV in one blast, but it never came. The rocket disappeared into Nathan's gate created just in the nick of time, then reappeared in a second gate behind the black demon. Thanks to the young Augur, the rocket found its mark, striking and sticking into the demon's shoulder blade. The propellant screeched for half a second as the delayed fuse worked as intended, truesilver dart dug deeper into the broken scales before detonating into a flurry of shrapnel and smoke.
The demon howled in pain as it was knocked forward, catching itself by planting a fist into the concrete. A huge crater of wiry red flesh and shattered scales was all that remained of the rocket's impact zone. Immediately, unseen plague magic began to stitch the gore back together at an alarming rate and the crystal heart at the center of the black demon's antlers surged to life. In the course of a few seconds, the wound had sealed itself up as the heart thudded audibly like a bass drum. Once the healing was finished, except for the armored scales, the heart stopped beating once again. The black demon hardly had a moment to recover as the next to assault was Haruka, leaping from the SUV, protected with the assistance of K's magic. The swordswoman plunged her sword into the first thing it could find on the writhing behemoth, a spot near its bony solar plexus. The magic of her nagimaka incinerated several of the black demon's armored scales, but failed to penetrate its flesh. Fragments of singed scale fell from its chest, like shattered ceramic plates.
A split second later, a four and a half ton armored SUV crashed into its legs. The crumple zone of the vehicle folded in on itself as the engine was destroyed, massive leg bones cracked from the force of the impact as the demon lost its balance and forward from the combined assault. Inside the SUV, the force of the crash would have felt like slamming into a brick wall at speed. The airbags deployed, ablative armor chipped, and the bulletproof glass cracked at the crash. As jarring as it was, the remaining occupants would have had only a few moments to spare before the massive demon fell on top of the car, crushing the roof and cabin under its weight.
"Insects!" the black demon roared as it struggled to regain its posture. Both hands' claws surged aflame with hellfire as the black demon push off the ground and back upright. The heat from the hellfire turned the moisture of the concrete to steam, breaking it down and turning it the spot where both claws had been into two puddles of lava. Still dazed at the constant assault of the guild, his claws swiped lazily at Haruka, Davis and K, forcing them to pull some distance or flee as not to be eviscerated or incinerated. The moment he had the chance, he gripped the golden shackles that held him in place, squeezing them until the holy magic shattered and dissipated.
He was free from his temporary bindings, but the assault was not yet over. A pillar of blue flames, Angelica's hellfire, erupted from the concrete from behind. It crashed into its target like a tidal wave of fire, the crystaline heart at the center of the black demon's antlers surged to life as flames washed over it. A single piercing crack exploded from the heart, as the crystal began to give. Superheated emytherium hissed from the crack, ionizing the the air around it, but the heart still held. The black demon's attention immediately turned towards Angelica and Maggie. He bellowed, picking up the crumpled SUV at his feet with his fiery claws. With one mighty toss, he hurled the flaming vehicle towards the two hunters with uncanny accuracy. "Such refined hellfire! You should embrace your power, demon, not subject yourself to as a dog to your human masters!"
Before he could follow up with another attack to incinerate Angelica and Maggie, truesilver bullets began to pepper the black demon's still-healing leg bones. The measured beat of well-aimed shots rang out through the night. He growled as the truesilver burrowed deep and singed his flesh. He dashed backwards, repositioning a few meters away and creating a gap between himself and any hunters that pursued close quarters combat. In the same maneuver, he lobbed a massive comet of hellfire in Robyn's direction. Though it would not impact him directly, the force of the resultant explosion would certainly incapacitate the frail hunter if he did not seek cover.
At the black demon's new position, he plunged both claws into the concrete, opening a gate that spewed bright hellfire in all directions. The wave of heat was so intense that the rain turned to steam vapor around it. The black demon reached within the gate and grabbed the limp body of a balehound by the scruff from the gate. He tossed the balehound to the ground and the gate shut, sealing the hellfire away again. From the demon's cracked heart, a beam of green light shot from its core and into the balehound's body. In a matter of moments, the demon hound stood at attention at its master's side. Its fur was matted and grey, its eyes a piercing green, and magma-like saliva dripping from its wicked maw. The balehound was average for a beat of its size, just smaller than the SUV that Davis and her team arrived in, but it appeared much more malevolent than its earth-born kin. It let out a distorted howl as poised to pounce at any that ventured too close.
simj26
The One Eyed Bandit
Aldur
The One Called X
Lucem
CerpinTaxt
Katsuya
All fifteen rounds of Davis' handgun were expended, and the few hits that it did generate did nothing but shatter against the black demon's scales as if they were armored plates, and succeeded in bringing the black demon's attention away from their more vulnerable guildmates. The demon swung around towards them, rattling the golden shackles that sizzled the flesh at his ankles just in time to see the rocket streaking towards him. He raised a clawed hand and created a hellfire barrier that screamed white-hot, preparing to incinerate the rocket and the SUV in one blast, but it never came. The rocket disappeared into Nathan's gate created just in the nick of time, then reappeared in a second gate behind the black demon. Thanks to the young Augur, the rocket found its mark, striking and sticking into the demon's shoulder blade. The propellant screeched for half a second as the delayed fuse worked as intended, truesilver dart dug deeper into the broken scales before detonating into a flurry of shrapnel and smoke.
The demon howled in pain as it was knocked forward, catching itself by planting a fist into the concrete. A huge crater of wiry red flesh and shattered scales was all that remained of the rocket's impact zone. Immediately, unseen plague magic began to stitch the gore back together at an alarming rate and the crystal heart at the center of the black demon's antlers surged to life. In the course of a few seconds, the wound had sealed itself up as the heart thudded audibly like a bass drum. Once the healing was finished, except for the armored scales, the heart stopped beating once again. The black demon hardly had a moment to recover as the next to assault was Haruka, leaping from the SUV, protected with the assistance of K's magic. The swordswoman plunged her sword into the first thing it could find on the writhing behemoth, a spot near its bony solar plexus. The magic of her nagimaka incinerated several of the black demon's armored scales, but failed to penetrate its flesh. Fragments of singed scale fell from its chest, like shattered ceramic plates.
A split second later, a four and a half ton armored SUV crashed into its legs. The crumple zone of the vehicle folded in on itself as the engine was destroyed, massive leg bones cracked from the force of the impact as the demon lost its balance and forward from the combined assault. Inside the SUV, the force of the crash would have felt like slamming into a brick wall at speed. The airbags deployed, ablative armor chipped, and the bulletproof glass cracked at the crash. As jarring as it was, the remaining occupants would have had only a few moments to spare before the massive demon fell on top of the car, crushing the roof and cabin under its weight.
"Insects!" the black demon roared as it struggled to regain its posture. Both hands' claws surged aflame with hellfire as the black demon push off the ground and back upright. The heat from the hellfire turned the moisture of the concrete to steam, breaking it down and turning it the spot where both claws had been into two puddles of lava. Still dazed at the constant assault of the guild, his claws swiped lazily at Haruka, Davis and K, forcing them to pull some distance or flee as not to be eviscerated or incinerated. The moment he had the chance, he gripped the golden shackles that held him in place, squeezing them until the holy magic shattered and dissipated.
He was free from his temporary bindings, but the assault was not yet over. A pillar of blue flames, Angelica's hellfire, erupted from the concrete from behind. It crashed into its target like a tidal wave of fire, the crystaline heart at the center of the black demon's antlers surged to life as flames washed over it. A single piercing crack exploded from the heart, as the crystal began to give. Superheated emytherium hissed from the crack, ionizing the the air around it, but the heart still held. The black demon's attention immediately turned towards Angelica and Maggie. He bellowed, picking up the crumpled SUV at his feet with his fiery claws. With one mighty toss, he hurled the flaming vehicle towards the two hunters with uncanny accuracy. "Such refined hellfire! You should embrace your power, demon, not subject yourself to as a dog to your human masters!"
Before he could follow up with another attack to incinerate Angelica and Maggie, truesilver bullets began to pepper the black demon's still-healing leg bones. The measured beat of well-aimed shots rang out through the night. He growled as the truesilver burrowed deep and singed his flesh. He dashed backwards, repositioning a few meters away and creating a gap between himself and any hunters that pursued close quarters combat. In the same maneuver, he lobbed a massive comet of hellfire in Robyn's direction. Though it would not impact him directly, the force of the resultant explosion would certainly incapacitate the frail hunter if he did not seek cover.
At the black demon's new position, he plunged both claws into the concrete, opening a gate that spewed bright hellfire in all directions. The wave of heat was so intense that the rain turned to steam vapor around it. The black demon reached within the gate and grabbed the limp body of a balehound by the scruff from the gate. He tossed the balehound to the ground and the gate shut, sealing the hellfire away again. From the demon's cracked heart, a beam of green light shot from its core and into the balehound's body. In a matter of moments, the demon hound stood at attention at its master's side. Its fur was matted and grey, its eyes a piercing green, and magma-like saliva dripping from its wicked maw. The balehound was average for a beat of its size, just smaller than the SUV that Davis and her team arrived in, but it appeared much more malevolent than its earth-born kin. It let out a distorted howl as poised to pounce at any that ventured too close.
simj26
The One Eyed Bandit
Aldur
The One Called X
Lucem
CerpinTaxt
Katsuya
Last edited:
Katsuya
Magical artist
- Magnolia Noir -
Suddenly a blur of black and white leaped to the far right just as the SUV crashed, debris flying shortly. Skipping to a stop on her landing, Magnolia ignored the cuts from the sharp concrete on her now steaming and hissing bare feet. The smell of burnt rubber and leather was drowned out from the cooling rain as the sidewalk cracked from the landing. It was rather funny to see Angelica, who is taller, securely carried like she was a wiggly toddler by the short crane; held tightly around her waist and an arm underneath. But it was necessary. She didn’t want the angry Auger to fall off when Magnolia jumped with her spell.
With a loud growl, offended by the demon’s comment towards her comrades, she snapped her head around. Her wet hair smacking Angelica’s side as her glare grew acidic. Sure, she could barely hear the sentence, but she heard the words ‘dog’ and ‘master’ and she knows that demon is talking to one of them; most likely the teen in her arms. Her tanned cheeks turned red the more she thought of what he might have said. Taking a deep breathe, Magnolia opened her mouth and yelled. “Go to hell, you-! You-!”
She quickly picked the first insult that popped in her brain. “You deer jerky!” Not an insult. That’s not an insult. Magnolia was never good at insults.
Embarrassed at her choice of words, the short crane powered up her spell again. Not liking that the demon just summoned a hellhound that looks like it needs a rabies shot.
Coin
The One Called X
Last edited:
Roleplay Skittle
Eternally Awkward
Irma Grace Beauregard
Despite being protected by Nathan's barrier, Irma didn't immediately move after the emytherium surge had subsided. She was curled up face down, one of her arms shielding Erin while the other was protecting the back of her own head, both possibly wasted efforts when considering the infernal shields they were each protected by, but call it force of habit. Her mismatched eyes were squeezed closed as she shook away the settled anxiety that the recent event had caused her, reciting a prayer under her breath. After a few moments of steady breathing she finally raised her head, an expression on her face as though she were expecting to see something that wasn't actually there, her eyes shifting around in their sockets warily.
Nathan's voice had been like a distant echo, the ringing barely subsiding and only being replaced by the pounding of her pulse as it beat in her ears. It wasn't until he entered his coughing fit and the barriers dissipated that she actually moved from her fetal position to sit up on her knees, a concerned expression coming over her dust powdered face that was complimented by the similarly powdered baseball cap atop her head. The virtual onslaught of infernal energy that had bombarded everyone in the vicinity was something that Irma just couldn't contend with and she doubted that she could do anything reasonable to alleviate its affects on Nathan at the moment given the limited time they obviously had to do anything. With this in mind, all she could really do was check on Erin.
She had managed to collect a sample of the green goo that had been infesting the savage wounds in the girl's shoulder. The wound had been cleaned and Irma had applied a clotting agent to help stop the bleeding before quickly though carefully bandaging it so that they could get on the move again, though she knew that these small things wouldn't alter the girls' condition, "I'm fine but I'm afraid Erin's a little worse for the wear... she needs blood and more treatment than I can give her," Irma's voice was trembling slightly though oddly calm at the same time, like she was trying to control her tone.
All of her poise and fortitude nearly went out the window at the sounds of that single word that was bellowed and followed by a crackle of red lightning that sent Miss Lattimore flying in the opposite direction. Irma gasped. Her eyes had barely caught the sight of her because of all the rain, steam, and whatever else that happened to be floating around in the air seemingly just to obscure everyone's vision. She shook her head in disbelief as her gaze returned whence the attack had come and it was then that she rose to her feet, standing beside Nathan with a wide eyed look on her face. There wasn't anything she could do to help except provide relief for those that couldn't fight.
She was standing right beside her Augur guard, but wasn't as quick to divert her gaze from the beastly creation that had propelled Miss Lattimore away with a single strike. The screeching of tires didn't catch her attention immediately, almost as though she thought she were hearing things though she was soon to catch sight of the familiar company vehicle as it roared into view, her vision almost too unclear to take in the full sight of what was happening, but the circumstances reached home when the full attack of the SUV and those within it reached the demon shortly followed by multiple other attacks from survivors around the ruins of the apartments.
Irma had an idea what Nathan was planning when he started opening additional gates and since she was virtually useless just standing there gawking at the developing battle, she immediately got on the move. Of course she wanted to check on those whose locations she could pin point based on where the attacks had come from but since they were capable of launching their initial offensive, she didn't think that was top priority at the moment and so opted instead to seek out the closest group of whose last location she was aware. She scrambled through the ruins as best as she was able, her journey made easier by the stability of her boots, though it wasn't without it's own perils on account of loose debris as well as slick surfaces and the ever looming knowledge that she could actually be walking over bodies at each moment.
Interactions:
Lucem
Mentions:
Coin
Despite being protected by Nathan's barrier, Irma didn't immediately move after the emytherium surge had subsided. She was curled up face down, one of her arms shielding Erin while the other was protecting the back of her own head, both possibly wasted efforts when considering the infernal shields they were each protected by, but call it force of habit. Her mismatched eyes were squeezed closed as she shook away the settled anxiety that the recent event had caused her, reciting a prayer under her breath. After a few moments of steady breathing she finally raised her head, an expression on her face as though she were expecting to see something that wasn't actually there, her eyes shifting around in their sockets warily.
Nathan's voice had been like a distant echo, the ringing barely subsiding and only being replaced by the pounding of her pulse as it beat in her ears. It wasn't until he entered his coughing fit and the barriers dissipated that she actually moved from her fetal position to sit up on her knees, a concerned expression coming over her dust powdered face that was complimented by the similarly powdered baseball cap atop her head. The virtual onslaught of infernal energy that had bombarded everyone in the vicinity was something that Irma just couldn't contend with and she doubted that she could do anything reasonable to alleviate its affects on Nathan at the moment given the limited time they obviously had to do anything. With this in mind, all she could really do was check on Erin.
She had managed to collect a sample of the green goo that had been infesting the savage wounds in the girl's shoulder. The wound had been cleaned and Irma had applied a clotting agent to help stop the bleeding before quickly though carefully bandaging it so that they could get on the move again, though she knew that these small things wouldn't alter the girls' condition, "I'm fine but I'm afraid Erin's a little worse for the wear... she needs blood and more treatment than I can give her," Irma's voice was trembling slightly though oddly calm at the same time, like she was trying to control her tone.
All of her poise and fortitude nearly went out the window at the sounds of that single word that was bellowed and followed by a crackle of red lightning that sent Miss Lattimore flying in the opposite direction. Irma gasped. Her eyes had barely caught the sight of her because of all the rain, steam, and whatever else that happened to be floating around in the air seemingly just to obscure everyone's vision. She shook her head in disbelief as her gaze returned whence the attack had come and it was then that she rose to her feet, standing beside Nathan with a wide eyed look on her face. There wasn't anything she could do to help except provide relief for those that couldn't fight.
She was standing right beside her Augur guard, but wasn't as quick to divert her gaze from the beastly creation that had propelled Miss Lattimore away with a single strike. The screeching of tires didn't catch her attention immediately, almost as though she thought she were hearing things though she was soon to catch sight of the familiar company vehicle as it roared into view, her vision almost too unclear to take in the full sight of what was happening, but the circumstances reached home when the full attack of the SUV and those within it reached the demon shortly followed by multiple other attacks from survivors around the ruins of the apartments.
Irma had an idea what Nathan was planning when he started opening additional gates and since she was virtually useless just standing there gawking at the developing battle, she immediately got on the move. Of course she wanted to check on those whose locations she could pin point based on where the attacks had come from but since they were capable of launching their initial offensive, she didn't think that was top priority at the moment and so opted instead to seek out the closest group of whose last location she was aware. She scrambled through the ruins as best as she was able, her journey made easier by the stability of her boots, though it wasn't without it's own perils on account of loose debris as well as slick surfaces and the ever looming knowledge that she could actually be walking over bodies at each moment.
Interactions:
Lucem
Mentions:
Coin
Aldur
Memory Dealer
Haruka
Haruka leaped through the air with a surge of hellish energy. Overwhelming bursts of emytherium deluged and danced through the young demon's body. She landed with grace and with bold motions on a concrete floor that heated faster than should be possible. Without looking back, she guided her way with deceitful miming, cloaking herself to evade the stag's range. A tactic she would thank herself for committing to.
The stag was being attacked from all fronts and, in retaliation, would spawn a most ungodly balehound, who would come alive at the behest of its newfound master. Another obstacle in Haruka's way. The nagamaki failed to taste demonic flesh earlier and beckoned for a chance to take a bite. She felt it almost salivate in expectation. Alas, the hound was in its way.
"Davis, do you read?" She whispered to her comm unit. "I'm gonna need suppressive fire on that dog. I need it out of the way." A plan was being formulated. Haruka's mind leaped from idea to idea, until it lay still on the chance to incapacitate the demon further. Its legs had been met with unstoppable force and they were waiting to be revigorated. Tough luck. The girl circled the stag and its hound aided by illusion magic, keeping a safe distance until the hound would be dealt with. In anticipation, she began signaling a hastening enchantment. Her blade would find its way through the damaged knees of the stag in an instant fashion.
simj26
The One Eyed Bandit
rotworm
The rocket struck true. Despite her lack of experience, with the aid of her squadmates she'd managed to score a clean hit. It felt a little strange. Despite having been in this business for close to a year now, as an Ouro she rarely found herself with a weapon in hand like this. In fact, she'd made a point of avoiding it as much as she could. Even if she was fighting an irredeemable incarnation of evil, something just didn't feel right about leveling a weapon at another sentient being.
But, she couldn't allow herself to worry about that right now. Davis, Nathan, and Haruka had brought the rest of the guild time. Precious, precious time, and there wasn't enough of it to go around for her to be contemplating the morality of shooting a demon lord.
When Nathan's portal snapped into existence, she flung herself through it without hesitation. On the front lines she was nothing more than a liability. As she landed on the other side, her eyes darted around to assess the situation. Kendra was in shambles, Nik was nowhere to be seen and she didn't even want to think about how many civilians were laying dead in the rubble right now. Now the she was in the midst of it all, the gravity of the situation was becoming clearer and clearer. Chaos. Hell on Earth. Those were the words that the scenery called into her mind. Still, it was her duty both as and Ouro and a Hunter to keep a level head.
Where there was chaos, she had to bring order.
"Nathan. Set Kendra onto the ground." As Nathan emerged from a gate with Kendra in tow, K was quick to start setting things in motion. Irma was certain a better Ouro than she was, but she had no idea where the woman was and Kendra needed treatment now. As Nathan lay Kendra down, magic once again crackled between K's fingertips. Warmly and steadily, it washed across her skin, enveloping her hands in a comforting glow as the spell activated.
Taking a knee and laying her hands across Kendra's chest, their magical sheen would thin and spread, forming a thin envelope around the older woman. Within it, her wounds begun to slide shut, the damaged flesh binding itself together, gently aided as the evolved transformed once again, taking the form of magical bandages and sutures.
"That should keep her stable until Irma can give her some proper attention." She spoke as she rose, her eyes once again darting around the battlefield all the while. "I'm going to see if I can find Vorbieva. If luck is with us, we'll be able to get her back on her feet." She still wasn't clear on what exactly had led to this situation, but she didn't doubt for a second that Nik was still alive out there. That woman was too angry, stubborn and scary to let herself get killed.
Lucem
But, she couldn't allow herself to worry about that right now. Davis, Nathan, and Haruka had brought the rest of the guild time. Precious, precious time, and there wasn't enough of it to go around for her to be contemplating the morality of shooting a demon lord.
When Nathan's portal snapped into existence, she flung herself through it without hesitation. On the front lines she was nothing more than a liability. As she landed on the other side, her eyes darted around to assess the situation. Kendra was in shambles, Nik was nowhere to be seen and she didn't even want to think about how many civilians were laying dead in the rubble right now. Now the she was in the midst of it all, the gravity of the situation was becoming clearer and clearer. Chaos. Hell on Earth. Those were the words that the scenery called into her mind. Still, it was her duty both as and Ouro and a Hunter to keep a level head.
Where there was chaos, she had to bring order.
"Nathan. Set Kendra onto the ground." As Nathan emerged from a gate with Kendra in tow, K was quick to start setting things in motion. Irma was certain a better Ouro than she was, but she had no idea where the woman was and Kendra needed treatment now. As Nathan lay Kendra down, magic once again crackled between K's fingertips. Warmly and steadily, it washed across her skin, enveloping her hands in a comforting glow as the spell activated.
Taking a knee and laying her hands across Kendra's chest, their magical sheen would thin and spread, forming a thin envelope around the older woman. Within it, her wounds begun to slide shut, the damaged flesh binding itself together, gently aided as the evolved transformed once again, taking the form of magical bandages and sutures.
"That should keep her stable until Irma can give her some proper attention." She spoke as she rose, her eyes once again darting around the battlefield all the while. "I'm going to see if I can find Vorbieva. If luck is with us, we'll be able to get her back on her feet." She still wasn't clear on what exactly had led to this situation, but she didn't doubt for a second that Nik was still alive out there. That woman was too angry, stubborn and scary to let herself get killed.
Lucem
CerpinTaxt
A Man With No Face
Robyn
I wanna go home.
I wanna go home.
His bullets seemed to be doing at least some good, hitting their mark again and again until the beast decided to move; conveniently right as his rifle ran out of ammo. He watched the demon move from his previous spot and away from the hunters that had been striking it with close-range weapons, a large fireball being thrown his way. "Shit." He mouthed, his eyes focusing away from his teammates and towards the deadly comet heading his way. He stood to his feet instinctively only to clutch at his chest again in pain and he collapsed to his knee again. Damn..could he even run from this thing? His eyes darted around frantically for something he could get behind or hide in; something close so he wouldn't need to hide.
It seemed luck was on his side when a portal materialized just a few meters from him. One that could take him towards Nathan and away from the fireball. He didn't have time to think about it as he forced himself to his feet once more and began to rush towards the mortal as a growing pain filled his chest with each step. "Come on..come on!" He whispered to himself as is free hand clutched at his chest. He was so close, but all he wanted to do was collapse into the dirt. With each step, he could feel the heat of the fireball increasing as it got closer and closer to him.
With one final step, Robyn dove forward and into the portal; collapsing just a few feet from Nathan; right as the fireball collided with the ground. The Crane wheezed as he clutched his chest, on his hands and knees as his rifle sat nearby. "Damn..this hurts really bad.." He whispered to himself before looking back up and towards Nathan before giving him a nod of appreciation. "Thank you. I..I'm going to find a place I can still provide support from..somewhere that damn thing hopefully won't find me." His eyes focused on Irma who seemed focused on looking for people before figuring there was little she could do to help with his chest problem.
Getting to his feet once more was a challenge, he could feel the sweat pouring down his face and his legs shaking as he finally stood up. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go home and go to sleep, but he had to press on. The remnants of a nearby brick wall would do the trick, he supposed. He sat himself down next to it and leaned against it for a few moments as the pain began to ease. It wasn't going away completely but he figured someone with healing magic or some fancy medical tools would come to help him when this was over; he'd just manage the pain for now.
He could finally see where the demon had gone now that he wasn't focused on nearly dying at least. It had summoned a massive mutt to help it out; a big and ugly bodyguard for its big, ugly face. Robyn went about reloading his rifle once more, inserting a mixture of truesilver and tungsten rounds. "Please actually be effective..you're absolutely expensive.." He mumbled to himself as he inserted his hand loads. While his truesilver bullets had to be carefully created with just enough powder to do some good, these tungsten bullets were given an extra amount of powder to give it an extra boost. It was expensive, it was going to kick like an absolute bitch, and he had no clue if it was going to be any good.
"Time to see how it goes." Robyn raised the rifle once more and steadied it as he took aim towards the balehound and fired, intent on at least injuring or causing it to retreat to allow those in the front of the battle to take on their new best friend. He had to make sure that thing wouldn't throw another fireball his way though, he had to hide where he was shooting from. His shooting slowed down as he went about splitting his focus on both casting magic that gave the illusion of a separate crane firing from a different location and actually firing from his location.
Coin
Lucem
Roleplay Skittle
simj26
Awful, Terrible, No-good Layabout
DavisShit! She was still in the car when the demon recovered. She pulled against the door handle, and threw her body against the door. It didn't budge. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck," she began to chant, as if it would save her from the fact that the demon, having ignored her presence, was now picking up the vehicle. She drew her truesilver knife and thrust it into the airbag, giving it an impromptu ventilation port, and tried the door again. She couldn't see from her missing eye, but the sudden shift of gravity and the feeling of vertigo told her everything that she needed to know- the demon had thrown the damn car. Fuck, shit, balls. She only had one chance at this. She focused on the shift of gravity, and at the point where it started to shift downwards to the door, she yanked against the handle, and slammed her whole body against it once more. The door broke away from the car's main body, and she found herself falling down to the ground.
She hit the ground as gracefully as an overweight American would dive into a swimming pool- which was to say, not at all. She stifled a cry of pain as a sharp, burning pain lanced through her left arm. It felt as if it had been set on fire. There was no doubt she had dislocated something. Fucking CHRIST. Without much time to lose, she stumbled to her feet, one hand supporting her other arm, groaning as she lifted the car door and her arm. She dug the car door into the ground, and gritted her teeth. She only had to do this twice in her life, and she still wasn't used to it. She closed her eye, and slammed her arm into the car door with a sickening snap. She had to get an Ouro to fix the rest of it later. She took hold of the door once more, and, wielding it as a makeshift shield, she turned around, then paused, something else having caught her eye.
It was the glow of life within the rubble of the destroyed building.
Something stirred inside her, and she started towards the direction of the rubble, and was about to break into a sprint when the thrice-damned hellhound erupted into existence, forcing her focus elsewhere.
"Damn it!" She cursed and turned her attention away from the destroyed building, bringing her rifle up and towards the hellish canine, positioning her grip onto the broken window as a stand. She crouched down, and opened fire, launching controlled bursts at her target. She couldn't-- she wouldn't leave the previous team behind in the debris. God damn these demons! Why was it always these stubborn bastards that had to come out of the woodwork? Why did they always have to give her so much pain? She tried everything- she distanced herself from them, barely remembered their names, never looked them in the eye, but even now, she could still recall how they looked like, and their voices, interwoven with the ones from so many years ago. "Damn it!" she cursed again as her missing eye flared up with a pain she never felt for so many years, as the pink demon's voice piped through her comms set. "Yeah, I got it!" She yelled through the comms, and continued to fire upon the damned dog, until the gun clicked empty. With a cry of rage, she swung her rifle behind her, and whipped out her knife once more. Like a gladiator with his shield and sword, she charged straight at the dog, intent on gutting it by her own hands if she needed to. There was no time left. No time. She needed to save the others. The faster she got rid of the problems, the faster she would be able to do that.
She hit the ground as gracefully as an overweight American would dive into a swimming pool- which was to say, not at all. She stifled a cry of pain as a sharp, burning pain lanced through her left arm. It felt as if it had been set on fire. There was no doubt she had dislocated something. Fucking CHRIST. Without much time to lose, she stumbled to her feet, one hand supporting her other arm, groaning as she lifted the car door and her arm. She dug the car door into the ground, and gritted her teeth. She only had to do this twice in her life, and she still wasn't used to it. She closed her eye, and slammed her arm into the car door with a sickening snap. She had to get an Ouro to fix the rest of it later. She took hold of the door once more, and, wielding it as a makeshift shield, she turned around, then paused, something else having caught her eye.
It was the glow of life within the rubble of the destroyed building.
Something stirred inside her, and she started towards the direction of the rubble, and was about to break into a sprint when the thrice-damned hellhound erupted into existence, forcing her focus elsewhere.
"Damn it!" She cursed and turned her attention away from the destroyed building, bringing her rifle up and towards the hellish canine, positioning her grip onto the broken window as a stand. She crouched down, and opened fire, launching controlled bursts at her target. She couldn't-- she wouldn't leave the previous team behind in the debris. God damn these demons! Why was it always these stubborn bastards that had to come out of the woodwork? Why did they always have to give her so much pain? She tried everything- she distanced herself from them, barely remembered their names, never looked them in the eye, but even now, she could still recall how they looked like, and their voices, interwoven with the ones from so many years ago. "Damn it!" she cursed again as her missing eye flared up with a pain she never felt for so many years, as the pink demon's voice piped through her comms set. "Yeah, I got it!" She yelled through the comms, and continued to fire upon the damned dog, until the gun clicked empty. With a cry of rage, she swung her rifle behind her, and whipped out her knife once more. Like a gladiator with his shield and sword, she charged straight at the dog, intent on gutting it by her own hands if she needed to. There was no time left. No time. She needed to save the others. The faster she got rid of the problems, the faster she would be able to do that.
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The One Called X
Enlightened Squid
Angelica Hudson
The SUV was hurtling towards her, and then- she was somewhere else, and her feet were off the ground.
Maggie, she realized belatedly. Maggie was there too.
You- you deer jerky! She was shouting, and Angelica snorted despite the throbbing pain of her leg and the dull ache in her torso. The heart and liver, she guessed, not that it mattered much. She and Maggie were both rather incompetent with off-the-cuff insults, though Angelica tended to default more to profanity.
Still. The demon's words. "Such refined hellfire! You should embrace your power, demon, not subject yourself to as a dog to your human masters!"
Angelica smiled again. She hadn't killed him, but she'd felt the crystal give way against her flames. She'd damaged him. The rest of the team- what was left, anyway- was continuing the attack. Angelica's brow furrowed. He could heal any damage nearly as fast as they could inflict it. The heart, she thought. It was the only thing that hadn't repaired itself. The balehound- Davis could handle that, she decided.
Meanwhile, and more urgently, she could feel Maggie mustering energy to jump again- most likely farther away from the stag, and most likely intending to bring Angelica with her. No. She couldn't leave the fight, not now, not when she'd tasted blood and hungered for more. It didn't matter if she could stand or not. All the magic demanded of her was a strong will and one working hand. She had both. She wasn't quite at her limit for emytherium- her body wouldn't really start shutting down for a while yet. She had one or two bouts of shock and awe left in her, but she'd have to make it count. She gave the battlefield a quick once-over from her position kneeling beside Maggie, noting anything that could be useful.
Nathan had gathered the Ouros and a few others to him. He'd retrieved Ms. Lattimore, too, though Angelica couldn't tell if she were alive or not. She blinked hard against the stinging in her eyes. Irma had broken off from the group- to look for survivors, presumably- and one of the Cranes had found a nest to fire on the demon from. The balehound was still occupied with Davis, and now the other Crane. He'd done some damage to the stag's legs, and Angelica felt a rush of- not anger, exactly, but- jealousy. My kill, wailed something primitive inside her. My hunt, my prey. She shook her head. Everyone was going for the legs. Trying to bring the stag down, immobilize it. Angelica had the beginnings of a plan.
A plan, like what she'd come up with as a child to evade or scare off the street gangs. It was almost kind of fun. Nostalgic, even, in a way that got miserable on the rare occasions she thought about it too much.
First- get away from Maggie. The half-demon would most likely try to get her away from the front line, and that wouldn't do at all. And, something unpleasant murmured in the back of her mind, it will remove the temptation to let her stop you from doing what you know must be done, if you want true strength. Angelica ground her teeth and ignored the thought. That had nothing to do with anything. She wanted Maggie to be safe. Irma- she'd need someone with her. Angelica tapped Maggie on the shoulder to get the Crane to look at her. She couldn't be sure that her hearing aids hadn't been fried along with the comms. "Get to Irma," she said, pointing out the Ouro making her way through the rubble. "She'll probably need your help."
Before Maggie had the chance to stop her, she pressed a hand to the ground, and a small portal opened, closing immediately after dropping her at her destination. She couldn't maintain a portal with that kind of accuracy for even ten seconds, emytherium high or no, but it had been enough time to let gravity do its work. She landed- her good leg taking the impact, this time- near the demon, past the balehound (and Haruka, though she didn't know it), close enough that she had to look up to see her target. She pushed herself up, leaning heavily on the remnants of a wall. Dark purple was starting to cloud her eyes.
The fire had damaged the heart, but not enough. No matter how hot it burned or how controlled it was, it was still fire, and not suited to a precise, intense attack. Angelica focused on the crack left by her previous attack, raised her arm, and snapped her fingers. A hellfire shield- well, a ribbon of solidified, white-hot hellfire- burst from her clenched fist, speeding towards its target to weave through the barrier or horns and batter the weak point. Angelica felt a burst of pain over her right eye, and her nose started to gush blood, crimson pouring down her face to soak her shirt. It didn't matter. She needed to win. My kill, she thought. Mine.
Katsuya
Coin
The SUV was hurtling towards her, and then- she was somewhere else, and her feet were off the ground.
Maggie, she realized belatedly. Maggie was there too.
You- you deer jerky! She was shouting, and Angelica snorted despite the throbbing pain of her leg and the dull ache in her torso. The heart and liver, she guessed, not that it mattered much. She and Maggie were both rather incompetent with off-the-cuff insults, though Angelica tended to default more to profanity.
Still. The demon's words. "Such refined hellfire! You should embrace your power, demon, not subject yourself to as a dog to your human masters!"
Angelica smiled again. She hadn't killed him, but she'd felt the crystal give way against her flames. She'd damaged him. The rest of the team- what was left, anyway- was continuing the attack. Angelica's brow furrowed. He could heal any damage nearly as fast as they could inflict it. The heart, she thought. It was the only thing that hadn't repaired itself. The balehound- Davis could handle that, she decided.
Meanwhile, and more urgently, she could feel Maggie mustering energy to jump again- most likely farther away from the stag, and most likely intending to bring Angelica with her. No. She couldn't leave the fight, not now, not when she'd tasted blood and hungered for more. It didn't matter if she could stand or not. All the magic demanded of her was a strong will and one working hand. She had both. She wasn't quite at her limit for emytherium- her body wouldn't really start shutting down for a while yet. She had one or two bouts of shock and awe left in her, but she'd have to make it count. She gave the battlefield a quick once-over from her position kneeling beside Maggie, noting anything that could be useful.
Nathan had gathered the Ouros and a few others to him. He'd retrieved Ms. Lattimore, too, though Angelica couldn't tell if she were alive or not. She blinked hard against the stinging in her eyes. Irma had broken off from the group- to look for survivors, presumably- and one of the Cranes had found a nest to fire on the demon from. The balehound was still occupied with Davis, and now the other Crane. He'd done some damage to the stag's legs, and Angelica felt a rush of- not anger, exactly, but- jealousy. My kill, wailed something primitive inside her. My hunt, my prey. She shook her head. Everyone was going for the legs. Trying to bring the stag down, immobilize it. Angelica had the beginnings of a plan.
A plan, like what she'd come up with as a child to evade or scare off the street gangs. It was almost kind of fun. Nostalgic, even, in a way that got miserable on the rare occasions she thought about it too much.
First- get away from Maggie. The half-demon would most likely try to get her away from the front line, and that wouldn't do at all. And, something unpleasant murmured in the back of her mind, it will remove the temptation to let her stop you from doing what you know must be done, if you want true strength. Angelica ground her teeth and ignored the thought. That had nothing to do with anything. She wanted Maggie to be safe. Irma- she'd need someone with her. Angelica tapped Maggie on the shoulder to get the Crane to look at her. She couldn't be sure that her hearing aids hadn't been fried along with the comms. "Get to Irma," she said, pointing out the Ouro making her way through the rubble. "She'll probably need your help."
Before Maggie had the chance to stop her, she pressed a hand to the ground, and a small portal opened, closing immediately after dropping her at her destination. She couldn't maintain a portal with that kind of accuracy for even ten seconds, emytherium high or no, but it had been enough time to let gravity do its work. She landed- her good leg taking the impact, this time- near the demon, past the balehound (and Haruka, though she didn't know it), close enough that she had to look up to see her target. She pushed herself up, leaning heavily on the remnants of a wall. Dark purple was starting to cloud her eyes.
The fire had damaged the heart, but not enough. No matter how hot it burned or how controlled it was, it was still fire, and not suited to a precise, intense attack. Angelica focused on the crack left by her previous attack, raised her arm, and snapped her fingers. A hellfire shield- well, a ribbon of solidified, white-hot hellfire- burst from her clenched fist, speeding towards its target to weave through the barrier or horns and batter the weak point. Angelica felt a burst of pain over her right eye, and her nose started to gush blood, crimson pouring down her face to soak her shirt. It didn't matter. She needed to win. My kill, she thought. Mine.
Katsuya
Coin
Aldur
Memory Dealer
Haruka
Haruka had faith in Davis and her being able to lay down a volley of bullets that would let the demon sneak around the balehound unnoticed. Robyn's own barrage of bullets was a welcome addition to the plan. One variable that hadn't made its way into Haruka's plan was Angelica's wild card. Before Haruka could cover a significant distance on the stag she noticed Angelica in the corner of her eye, leaning back against a frail wall that looked like it was seconds away from giving in. Haruka then decided to change her course after witnessing a white-hot hellfire burst escape Angelica's hands.
She had realized.
Haruka rushed through her Haste spell and reached Angelica in seconds. Invisible as she was, she kneeled and put her arm under Angelica's good leg and the other against her back. Almost instantly, Haruka swept Angelica off the wall and ran as quickly and as far as she could in the short span of time, and put her behind solid cover. Then, instinctively, Haruka's open palm met Angelica's cheek in a sonorous smack and immediately covered the cheek with the same hand, in an almost motherly way.
"Cool off, 'Ica. Look at me... Do it or you'll catch the other one." Haruka brought her other palm close to Angelica's face and then rested it on her other cheek. She had been keeping eye-contact with Angelica and would redirect her eyes to herself at the slightest hint of Angelica trying to look away.
"Why are we here?" pause. "Answer!"
The One Called X
Lucem
Ten Thousand Club
Nathan Pierce
While Kagenetsu tended to Lattimore's wounds, Nathan watched as the Black Demon quickly recovered from the recent onslaught of magic and truesilver. Considering how strong these things were, it didn't come as a surprise that it was still standing. Still, that didn't mean it was in perfect condition. Many of its protective scales had been removed, seemingly unable to regenerate like the previously damaged bones and tissue. There was also the crystal that glowed whenever the demon repaired its body. That spot was pretty much begging to be hit. Hudson's attack only managed to crack it, but that meant it was more vulnerable now. A few more good hits would probably cause a lot of damage.
Unfortunately, the demon wasn't content with just standing there while it was being analyzed. In a rage, it grabbed the SUV with flame-covered claws. Instead of going after the hunters that quickly escaped from the vehicle, it seemed more focused on getting back at Hudson for that earlier blaze of hellfire. The new recruit had Noir to look out for her, but the same couldn't be said for Oliver.
As soon as he saw the infernal comet hurtling toward the Crane, Nathan changed position, raising his arms once again. As the gray wisps reappeared, two portals formed, bridging the gap between Oliver and safety. Shortly before the flames slammed into the rubble, the young man appeared at his side. He didn't come out of it unscathed, but it looked like he could still move for now. They didn't have enough Ouros to help everyone at once, so they had to focus on helping out the people that weren't so fortunate. "If you get a chance, aim for that thing on its head, or where there're no scales on its body."
Right now, Beauregard and Kagenetsu were focused on finding Vorbieva. Finding her was important, but having the Ouros running around was dangerous. They had to find the captain as soon as possible and have a set space for treating injuries. If one of them took one of those comets to the face while trying to find her, then a lot of people were screwed.
Once again, Nathan began using his Gate magic, carefully clearing away the rubble that was most likely crushing the missing Blooden. Instead of just sending all the debris to a random location, he gathered it close to Oliver, trying to give the Crane more cover to shoot from. Each second felt like hours, being careful not to accidentally suck in the injured woman while also remaining aware of the big bad creature. Eventually, he spotted the small pile of moving rock. Clearing away the rubble, he unearthed the burned hunter. Sure enough, the wolf was alive. However, she needed medical attention.
Worried that moving her would worsen her injuries, Nathan continued to use the portal to bring the woman to the rest of the injured. He did so slowly, trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. Once she had been moved, the Augur called out to the Ouros, trying to get her the care she needed. "Over here!"
While Vorbieva had even found, there was still one more member of her squad that was unaccounted for. Nathan wanted to keep up the search, but the current situation didn't allow for that. Once again, the stag-like demon was stirring up trouble for the hunters.
Naturally, the situation found a way to get even worse. In addition to a Black Demon, they now had to deal with its pet. The Balehound wasn't on the same level as its owner, but having to fight both at the same time made things a lot harder. What also made things harder was their own demon, charging in while high on emytherium. Hopefully, Tsukiko would be able to do something about that before the problem got any worse. Although, the Black Demon probably wasn't nice enough to wait while their guild got things sorted out.
Right now, Oliver and Davis were dealing with the Balehound. Tsukiko wasn't too far and could help if Hudson didn't give her too much trouble. The problem was that the Black Demon had an opportunity to close in while everyone had other problems to deal with.
Running through the rain, Nathan put some distance between himself and the injured. He could still get to them and the Ouros in an emergency, but he wouldn't need to worry about them getting caught in the crossfire if the Black Demon got mad again and decided to burn his face off. He had to think carefully about his position before going through with this.
Taking a deep breath, Nathan raised his arm, aiming his palm toward the demon. By now, it was pretty obvious that he and Angelica were being affected by all the emytherium. His Gate magic had been buffed by a noticeable amount, letting him cast faster and further than he normally could. With that in mind, he could assume that his Wrath magic would also see a similar increase.
Red sparks replaced the gray wisps from earlier, circling his arm as he narrowed his eyes. Even before he finished casting, it was easy to tell that this was much stronger than his usual spells. He could feel electricity shooting up his spine, begging to be released. The tingling sensation continued to spread throughout his arm and the rest of his body, but he kept the limb steady. Precision was important right now. If he couldn't fight up close like usual, then he had to make sure that this was enough.
Finally exhaling, Nathan fired the bolt of lightning toward the demon, watching as the crimson static cut through the darkness. It was stronger than usual, but he didn't want to just rely on that temporary boost in strength. Moving as quickly as possible, the Augur opened another set of portals, one positioned at the demon's back like before. He probably put too much thought into things like this, but he went through with the idea. Thinking that the demon would probably expect another shot from behind, the portal at its back was meant to distract from the other that popped up, aimed at the crystal heart between its horns. It glowed whenever it tried to heal, and it did so again when it brought out the Balehound. If he was lucky, a good hit on it could help stop it from regenerating, or break the connection it had with its pet.
CerpinTaxt
The One Eyed Bandit
Roleplay Skittle
Coin
While Kagenetsu tended to Lattimore's wounds, Nathan watched as the Black Demon quickly recovered from the recent onslaught of magic and truesilver. Considering how strong these things were, it didn't come as a surprise that it was still standing. Still, that didn't mean it was in perfect condition. Many of its protective scales had been removed, seemingly unable to regenerate like the previously damaged bones and tissue. There was also the crystal that glowed whenever the demon repaired its body. That spot was pretty much begging to be hit. Hudson's attack only managed to crack it, but that meant it was more vulnerable now. A few more good hits would probably cause a lot of damage.
Unfortunately, the demon wasn't content with just standing there while it was being analyzed. In a rage, it grabbed the SUV with flame-covered claws. Instead of going after the hunters that quickly escaped from the vehicle, it seemed more focused on getting back at Hudson for that earlier blaze of hellfire. The new recruit had Noir to look out for her, but the same couldn't be said for Oliver.
As soon as he saw the infernal comet hurtling toward the Crane, Nathan changed position, raising his arms once again. As the gray wisps reappeared, two portals formed, bridging the gap between Oliver and safety. Shortly before the flames slammed into the rubble, the young man appeared at his side. He didn't come out of it unscathed, but it looked like he could still move for now. They didn't have enough Ouros to help everyone at once, so they had to focus on helping out the people that weren't so fortunate. "If you get a chance, aim for that thing on its head, or where there're no scales on its body."
Right now, Beauregard and Kagenetsu were focused on finding Vorbieva. Finding her was important, but having the Ouros running around was dangerous. They had to find the captain as soon as possible and have a set space for treating injuries. If one of them took one of those comets to the face while trying to find her, then a lot of people were screwed.
Once again, Nathan began using his Gate magic, carefully clearing away the rubble that was most likely crushing the missing Blooden. Instead of just sending all the debris to a random location, he gathered it close to Oliver, trying to give the Crane more cover to shoot from. Each second felt like hours, being careful not to accidentally suck in the injured woman while also remaining aware of the big bad creature. Eventually, he spotted the small pile of moving rock. Clearing away the rubble, he unearthed the burned hunter. Sure enough, the wolf was alive. However, she needed medical attention.
Worried that moving her would worsen her injuries, Nathan continued to use the portal to bring the woman to the rest of the injured. He did so slowly, trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. Once she had been moved, the Augur called out to the Ouros, trying to get her the care she needed. "Over here!"
While Vorbieva had even found, there was still one more member of her squad that was unaccounted for. Nathan wanted to keep up the search, but the current situation didn't allow for that. Once again, the stag-like demon was stirring up trouble for the hunters.
Naturally, the situation found a way to get even worse. In addition to a Black Demon, they now had to deal with its pet. The Balehound wasn't on the same level as its owner, but having to fight both at the same time made things a lot harder. What also made things harder was their own demon, charging in while high on emytherium. Hopefully, Tsukiko would be able to do something about that before the problem got any worse. Although, the Black Demon probably wasn't nice enough to wait while their guild got things sorted out.
Right now, Oliver and Davis were dealing with the Balehound. Tsukiko wasn't too far and could help if Hudson didn't give her too much trouble. The problem was that the Black Demon had an opportunity to close in while everyone had other problems to deal with.
Running through the rain, Nathan put some distance between himself and the injured. He could still get to them and the Ouros in an emergency, but he wouldn't need to worry about them getting caught in the crossfire if the Black Demon got mad again and decided to burn his face off. He had to think carefully about his position before going through with this.
Taking a deep breath, Nathan raised his arm, aiming his palm toward the demon. By now, it was pretty obvious that he and Angelica were being affected by all the emytherium. His Gate magic had been buffed by a noticeable amount, letting him cast faster and further than he normally could. With that in mind, he could assume that his Wrath magic would also see a similar increase.
Red sparks replaced the gray wisps from earlier, circling his arm as he narrowed his eyes. Even before he finished casting, it was easy to tell that this was much stronger than his usual spells. He could feel electricity shooting up his spine, begging to be released. The tingling sensation continued to spread throughout his arm and the rest of his body, but he kept the limb steady. Precision was important right now. If he couldn't fight up close like usual, then he had to make sure that this was enough.
Finally exhaling, Nathan fired the bolt of lightning toward the demon, watching as the crimson static cut through the darkness. It was stronger than usual, but he didn't want to just rely on that temporary boost in strength. Moving as quickly as possible, the Augur opened another set of portals, one positioned at the demon's back like before. He probably put too much thought into things like this, but he went through with the idea. Thinking that the demon would probably expect another shot from behind, the portal at its back was meant to distract from the other that popped up, aimed at the crystal heart between its horns. It glowed whenever it tried to heal, and it did so again when it brought out the Balehound. If he was lucky, a good hit on it could help stop it from regenerating, or break the connection it had with its pet.
CerpinTaxt
The One Eyed Bandit
Roleplay Skittle
Coin
Coin
world's okayest lobotomite (they/them)
Lattimore was in bad shape. She had taken the full blast of a crimson lightning bolt from a black demon. Though the guildmaster had been injured before from all manner of maladies, infernal and not, this one truly brought her closest to death's awaiting doors. Her overcoat and clothes underneath were singed, and streaking burns ran jagged across her abdomen. Though the surface wounds seemed nonlethal, the internal damage far more severe. The guildmaster was bleeding massively internally, and she had gone into cardiac arrest, only being saved by K's trauma spell. The plague magic flared the emytherium that saturated her blood, restarting her heart and regenerating cells at an alarming rate. Once the spell was in motion, the emytherium would proliferate the plague magic, keeping Lattimore stable and most importantly, alive. However, the magic would not stop unless treated by another skilled healer. While Lattimore was alive and recovering, the plague-enhanced emytherium would continue to poison her body until the magic would kill her over the course of several hours -- not her wounds.
Nik was decidedly in worse shape than Kendra, but the iron wolf was used to trauma, if one could be used to something such as it. The sights and smells of combat flooded her brain with much needed adrenaline to keep her conscious as she struggled in her coffin of rubble. Though her body was battered beyond operational effectiveness, she needed to get back into the fight. Her guildmates were fighting her fight, dying for her inability to hunt her prey. She struggled against the debris fruitlessly over and over again, until suddenly weights began to simply disappear from off her. Gate magic, she figured. Someone had found her. She wheezed a sigh of relief, and her shattered ribcage burned as a reward.
It took only a few minutes but before long and emerged from the rubble. Nik was covered in ash and blood, limping from a mangled leg. Among torn flesh and exposed bone, it looked as if she had just walked away from a point-blank mortar strike. Several layers of her armored had been shorn and burnt away, revealing patches of blackened skin. If she had not been wearing it, the wolf wouldn't even be walking. She unclasped her truesilver sword from her back and gripped the weapon in her good hand and its sheath in her ravaged left, using it as a crutch to navigate through the rubble. Her vision was clouded in blood, and she could hardly make out faces as she stumbled towards nearby K and Irma. Nik was assuredly imposing before, but even as she was nearly a walking corpse she towered over the two Ouros. The wolf rasped out, reopening a wound her minimal plague magic had sealed and revealing a few teeth behind the gash on her jaw, "Get me back out there."
That was all her body could muster before her sword clattered to the concrete and nearly collapsed her full weight fell upon K.
Lucem
,
The One Eyed Bandit
,
Roleplay Skittle
Coin
world's okayest lobotomite (they/them)
Davis was lucky to have survived, and a sane woman would have walked away from being nearly being crushed not once, but twice in the same SUV. However, the soldier dutifully pursued death until her attempts would finally catch up to her. In this way, Davis was most similar to the hunter-captain, Vorbieva. Even the magazine clicking empty on her carbine was no cause for her to retreat. Thirty rounds of full metal jacket peppered the balehound from her carbine, the bullets sinking into infernal flesh before the balehound growled and hellfire erupted from bony vents on its spine. The red flames danced as it curled the fire towards the direction of Davis' gunfire. The latter half of the magazine's bullets found no purchase as they were melted away by the barrier.
Unlike more powerful demons, the balehound could not effectively pursue a target and maintain its hellfire barrier simultaneously. While it protected itself from Davis, it presented no more than a stationary target to Robyn. With the Crane marksman's custom load of tungsten and truesilver, his shot was easily capable of bypassing the balehound's weak hellfire barrier. The first shot slipped right through the hellfire as it collided with one of the bony spine vents and cracking the bone. The balehound recoiled in pain, howling as its hellfire dissipated entirely. It skittered backwards for a moment, unable to spot its attacker. In this moment of hesitation, it presented another stationary target as one more custom bullet tore into the balehound's rear calf. The truesilver round tumbled and took with it a fist-sized chunk of infernal flesh as it crippled the balehound. It attempted to ignite its hellfire again to protect against the marksman, but only a gout of harmless spark hissed from the vents. The balehound was effectively stunned, giving Davis a chance to move in for a close quarters takedown.
While Davis and Robyn had the balehound occupied, it allowed Angelica to move up uncontested and Haruka to lurk nearby in search of an opportunity to strike. The black demon's maw curled into something akin to a wicked grin as Angelica appeared before him through an infernal gate. This is what he wanted, he wanted her to face him this close up. Though a white-hot streak of hellfire pierced through the air, hurtling towards the emytherium heart at the apex of the black demon's antlers, it did not stand idly to be attacked so savagely. He raised one hand to protect the heart and slammed his other fist down onto Angelica like a fiery hammer.
Angelica's hellfire found purchase on the black demon's protective hand, searing away scales and flesh and bone. The blast had blown a hole straight through the demon's hands and caught the surrounding antlers on fire but did no further damage to the crystal heart. Angelica herself would have been left a red splatter on the pavement were it not for Haruka's divine intervention. The Blooden swordswoman just barely swept Angelica away before the black demon's fist pulverized the pavement where they were a moment ago. The ground cracked as it gave way and revealed the cavernous sewer works beneath. The blooming hellfire from the strike was close enough to singe away some of the hunters' hairs as they fled to relative safety.
"Yes, demon child! Give in to your desires. You want the power to defeat me, and you know there is only one way to accomplish this!" The black demon taunted as the crystal heart thrummed to life again. The hole in its burned hand began to stitch close in a lattice of flesh and sinew, albeit slower than previous wounds. The black demon turned towards the cover that Haruka and Angelica disappeared to, opened its maw with jagged teeth on display as it roared a gout of blazing hellfire-magma towards their general direction. The magma clung to concrete and melted everything it touched, with even a splatter of the volatile substance hot enough to cause severe burns.
Sensing another familiar disturbance of magic behind him such as the last time he was attacked from behind, the black demon flinched out of the way from the rear portal. Instead of retreating, the demon dove towards the gate that was intended for its crystal heart in one alarmingly savage pounce. It wrapped its good hand around the portal, its claws glowing purple with a destabilizing magic. The black demon crushed the gate in its grasp, shattering the magic like a pane of glass. The red lightning in transit through the gate found no exit as it was lost in infernal space. The destabilizing spell that crushed Nathan's gate sent a jolt of pain through the Augur's spine, and even if he tried, he momentarily could not summon any more gates. To make matters worse for the young mage, the black demon was not satisfied enough with crippling his primary source of offensive power. The black demon summoned fire between his claws, and flung a ball of hellfire towards Nathan that splintered into a dozen smaller blobs, showering the area with incinerating flame.
simj26
,
Lucem
,
The One Called X
,
Aldur
,
CerpinTaxt
Unlike more powerful demons, the balehound could not effectively pursue a target and maintain its hellfire barrier simultaneously. While it protected itself from Davis, it presented no more than a stationary target to Robyn. With the Crane marksman's custom load of tungsten and truesilver, his shot was easily capable of bypassing the balehound's weak hellfire barrier. The first shot slipped right through the hellfire as it collided with one of the bony spine vents and cracking the bone. The balehound recoiled in pain, howling as its hellfire dissipated entirely. It skittered backwards for a moment, unable to spot its attacker. In this moment of hesitation, it presented another stationary target as one more custom bullet tore into the balehound's rear calf. The truesilver round tumbled and took with it a fist-sized chunk of infernal flesh as it crippled the balehound. It attempted to ignite its hellfire again to protect against the marksman, but only a gout of harmless spark hissed from the vents. The balehound was effectively stunned, giving Davis a chance to move in for a close quarters takedown.
While Davis and Robyn had the balehound occupied, it allowed Angelica to move up uncontested and Haruka to lurk nearby in search of an opportunity to strike. The black demon's maw curled into something akin to a wicked grin as Angelica appeared before him through an infernal gate. This is what he wanted, he wanted her to face him this close up. Though a white-hot streak of hellfire pierced through the air, hurtling towards the emytherium heart at the apex of the black demon's antlers, it did not stand idly to be attacked so savagely. He raised one hand to protect the heart and slammed his other fist down onto Angelica like a fiery hammer.
Angelica's hellfire found purchase on the black demon's protective hand, searing away scales and flesh and bone. The blast had blown a hole straight through the demon's hands and caught the surrounding antlers on fire but did no further damage to the crystal heart. Angelica herself would have been left a red splatter on the pavement were it not for Haruka's divine intervention. The Blooden swordswoman just barely swept Angelica away before the black demon's fist pulverized the pavement where they were a moment ago. The ground cracked as it gave way and revealed the cavernous sewer works beneath. The blooming hellfire from the strike was close enough to singe away some of the hunters' hairs as they fled to relative safety.
"Yes, demon child! Give in to your desires. You want the power to defeat me, and you know there is only one way to accomplish this!" The black demon taunted as the crystal heart thrummed to life again. The hole in its burned hand began to stitch close in a lattice of flesh and sinew, albeit slower than previous wounds. The black demon turned towards the cover that Haruka and Angelica disappeared to, opened its maw with jagged teeth on display as it roared a gout of blazing hellfire-magma towards their general direction. The magma clung to concrete and melted everything it touched, with even a splatter of the volatile substance hot enough to cause severe burns.
Sensing another familiar disturbance of magic behind him such as the last time he was attacked from behind, the black demon flinched out of the way from the rear portal. Instead of retreating, the demon dove towards the gate that was intended for its crystal heart in one alarmingly savage pounce. It wrapped its good hand around the portal, its claws glowing purple with a destabilizing magic. The black demon crushed the gate in its grasp, shattering the magic like a pane of glass. The red lightning in transit through the gate found no exit as it was lost in infernal space. The destabilizing spell that crushed Nathan's gate sent a jolt of pain through the Augur's spine, and even if he tried, he momentarily could not summon any more gates. To make matters worse for the young mage, the black demon was not satisfied enough with crippling his primary source of offensive power. The black demon summoned fire between his claws, and flung a ball of hellfire towards Nathan that splintered into a dozen smaller blobs, showering the area with incinerating flame.
simj26
,
Lucem
,
The One Called X
,
Aldur
,
CerpinTaxt
Katsuya
Magical artist
- Magnolia Noir -
Guilt and dread pooled in the pits of her stomach as she watched Angelica leap into a gate portal and closed it behind her; not letting Magnolia follow. Why did she do that? She’s injured and could barely walk —— there’s the emythemrium rush too! What will happen if she went crazy mad with power?!
The tiny crane took a deep breath and held it, trying to calm down. Angelica seemed sane enough when she tapped her shoulder and mouthed the words. She did let Magnolia know where she saw Irma and realizing that she couldn’t exactly fight without her gun, Angelica must have thought she would be more useful to help Irma. With that in mind and trusting the injured Auger, the tiny crane muttered a spell under her breathe. Rain sizzled on her heated skin as her body faded away; seemingly disappeared on the spot to others as a strong heat wave waft over to anybody close by. She didn’t want to bring the demon’s attention with her. Just in case he wanted to go after the ouros first.
Her bare feet crunched the small rubble as she quickly made her way to where she believed Angelica pointed, barely able to hear gunshots and the bursts of fire from the ground. Though she did flinch at the sudden sight of red lightning striking down from somewhere —- Nathan. She spotted the gloomy young man as he made a few more gates. He was a little closer than she thought. He was close to Mrs. Lattimore the last time she spotted him, perhaps if she goes that way, she’ll be able to reach Irma. Maybe.
With that in mind, she ran closer to where he stood. Acid green eyes searched around to look for the boss’ body but she wasn’t there . . . Oh. Did Nathan move or is Mrs. Lattimore somewhere else? No matter, she’ll just sneak away from—-
Magnolia hummed as she skidded a stop. Her eyes widened as her faded shadow is starting to appear back. Her five minutes are up, she’s going to be visible again. She just missed her chance to sneak away. Then she saw the rubble around her turning red from a growing light . . . Source?
The tiny crane looked to her left and loudly yelped as a ball of hellfire splintered into smaller blobs of doom. Without thinking, Magnolia ran to Nathan’s side with her arms raised up. Hinted orange-red fire whirled around her arms and sprouted out, forming a curved wall above their heads. She gritted her teeth, getting ready for the intense recoil —- she can already tell that it’s going to hurt a lot more than usual —- and steadied her stance to hopefully handle the impact as she countered.
Unbeknownst to her, Magnolia’s disguise melted, dripping off like fudge as her body appeared from seemingly thin air.
After the attack and feeling the numbing pain stinging her arms and shoulders from the recoil, she looked over to Nathan and made her way to where he pointed; where Irma and K should be. Wincing as she ran, her arms shaking. Once she was close enough, Magnolia opened her mouth and called out to a very familiar Ouro.
“Irma!” She slowed down to stop beside her and signed quickly; explaining that her hearing aid is dead and if there was anything she can do to help. Magnolia looked ragged like everyone else, having a burnt leather smell, shaking a bit, and her bare feet scratched and cut from rubble. Her rifle was missing —- obviously something happened for Magnolia to not have it in her hands. However she looks determined to help in something, her glowing eyes dimmed eerily from using spells.
Coin
Lucem
The One Called X
Roleplay Skittle
Last edited:
Lucem
Ten Thousand Club
Nathan Pierce
Black Demons were really something else. Even after taking all that punishment earlier, it was still quick on its feet. It even managed to counter a portal cast at the last second after flinching, keenly aware of its most vital weakness despite all the distractions. Of course, a missed shot was the least of Nathan's worries.
When the demon dug its violet claws into the portal, it also felt like it was digging through his back, trying to get a firm grasp on his spine so it could break his vertebrae as well. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world, but he clenched his teeth and put up with it. Giving into pain and letting it stun you was a good way to get yourself killed. Fortunately, his family made sure to literally beat that lesson into him until he developed a tolerance for it. Although, high tolerance for pain wasn't too useful if you got hit by a hail of hellfire.
Like he expected, the demon was too proud to let a human get away with trying to crack its heart. He could feel the blazing heat speeding toward him, growing in intensity as the sphere suddenly burst into dozens of smaller comets. His initial instinct was to put more distance between him and the fiery shower, but the portals refused to form. "Shit."
Nathan could tell that his inability to use Gate magic wouldn't last long, but that wasn't very comforting in this situation. He didn't think the hellfire storm would wait for him to recover, so even a momentary disability made things pretty bad. Putting distance between him and the others turned out to be a good decision, but that didn't really do anything to help him out.
Without Gate, he'd have to fight fire with fire. He raised his arms, channeling scorching hellfire instead of infernal lightning. He focused on having the flames take the form of a protective barrier, feeling the familiar rise of energy that told him this spell would be stronger than usual. Suddenly, a wall of fire erupted, standing in the way of the demon's attack. However, it didn't belong to him. Instead, Noir was now next to him for some reason. While he wanted to say something along the lines of 'what are you doing' or 'why are you here', his better judgement told him to drop it and focus on not getting cooked.
While Noir could put up a barrier, he knew that they worked differently than his. There was a pretty bad drawback for her, so there was no guarantee that she'd make it out alright. The number of injured hunters was quickly growing and adding another one to that list would make things a lot more troublesome, especially with so few Ouros on hand. He'd have to try to keep that from happening.
Keeping his attention on the sky, Nathan watched the rain disappear as it collided with the airborne flames. Digging his heels into the ground, he widened his reach, trying to cover Noir as his own barrier formed. He knew that his spells were stronger than usual, but now he could feel how much hotter the fire was. Even visually, there was a noticeable difference. The blue contrasted heavily from the normal red, creating flecks of purple as the embers collided.
Eventually, the clash was over and the flames dissipated. Once again, he could feel the rain fall on his face as he let out a deep breath. He complained about wanting to stay out of the cold earlier, but he preferred being chilled to the bone to being warmed up this way. Still, he made it out in one piece. Noir didn't seem to be knocking on death's door, so that was good. Hopefully, his shield managed to lessen the resulting recoil. In a way, it may have been a good thing he wasn't able to use Gate magic to get away. If he had gotten away without knowing she was there, she might've been charcoal by now.
"If you can move, help Oliver fire on the targets. Aim for the crystal and where there're no scales. Try to cover the Ouros too." While pointing toward the others, Nathan noticed that Vorbieva was already back on her feet. Well, somewhat. The fact that she, of all people, couldn't hold on to a sword was a bad sign. Even if she got patched up, sending her back out could be a bad idea. An injured captain was a lot more useful than a dead one.
Even if his lightning hadn't hit, it still kept the black demon occupied for a bit. It couldn't vomit magma and tell at him at the same time. Hopefully, Tsukiko had dealt with Hudson by now and could put more pressure on it while Davis and Oliver focused on the Balehound. Right now, he still had to stick to his original order.
Coin
Katsuya
Black Demons were really something else. Even after taking all that punishment earlier, it was still quick on its feet. It even managed to counter a portal cast at the last second after flinching, keenly aware of its most vital weakness despite all the distractions. Of course, a missed shot was the least of Nathan's worries.
When the demon dug its violet claws into the portal, it also felt like it was digging through his back, trying to get a firm grasp on his spine so it could break his vertebrae as well. It wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world, but he clenched his teeth and put up with it. Giving into pain and letting it stun you was a good way to get yourself killed. Fortunately, his family made sure to literally beat that lesson into him until he developed a tolerance for it. Although, high tolerance for pain wasn't too useful if you got hit by a hail of hellfire.
Like he expected, the demon was too proud to let a human get away with trying to crack its heart. He could feel the blazing heat speeding toward him, growing in intensity as the sphere suddenly burst into dozens of smaller comets. His initial instinct was to put more distance between him and the fiery shower, but the portals refused to form. "Shit."
Nathan could tell that his inability to use Gate magic wouldn't last long, but that wasn't very comforting in this situation. He didn't think the hellfire storm would wait for him to recover, so even a momentary disability made things pretty bad. Putting distance between him and the others turned out to be a good decision, but that didn't really do anything to help him out.
Without Gate, he'd have to fight fire with fire. He raised his arms, channeling scorching hellfire instead of infernal lightning. He focused on having the flames take the form of a protective barrier, feeling the familiar rise of energy that told him this spell would be stronger than usual. Suddenly, a wall of fire erupted, standing in the way of the demon's attack. However, it didn't belong to him. Instead, Noir was now next to him for some reason. While he wanted to say something along the lines of 'what are you doing' or 'why are you here', his better judgement told him to drop it and focus on not getting cooked.
While Noir could put up a barrier, he knew that they worked differently than his. There was a pretty bad drawback for her, so there was no guarantee that she'd make it out alright. The number of injured hunters was quickly growing and adding another one to that list would make things a lot more troublesome, especially with so few Ouros on hand. He'd have to try to keep that from happening.
Keeping his attention on the sky, Nathan watched the rain disappear as it collided with the airborne flames. Digging his heels into the ground, he widened his reach, trying to cover Noir as his own barrier formed. He knew that his spells were stronger than usual, but now he could feel how much hotter the fire was. Even visually, there was a noticeable difference. The blue contrasted heavily from the normal red, creating flecks of purple as the embers collided.
Eventually, the clash was over and the flames dissipated. Once again, he could feel the rain fall on his face as he let out a deep breath. He complained about wanting to stay out of the cold earlier, but he preferred being chilled to the bone to being warmed up this way. Still, he made it out in one piece. Noir didn't seem to be knocking on death's door, so that was good. Hopefully, his shield managed to lessen the resulting recoil. In a way, it may have been a good thing he wasn't able to use Gate magic to get away. If he had gotten away without knowing she was there, she might've been charcoal by now.
"If you can move, help Oliver fire on the targets. Aim for the crystal and where there're no scales. Try to cover the Ouros too." While pointing toward the others, Nathan noticed that Vorbieva was already back on her feet. Well, somewhat. The fact that she, of all people, couldn't hold on to a sword was a bad sign. Even if she got patched up, sending her back out could be a bad idea. An injured captain was a lot more useful than a dead one.
Even if his lightning hadn't hit, it still kept the black demon occupied for a bit. It couldn't vomit magma and tell at him at the same time. Hopefully, Tsukiko had dealt with Hudson by now and could put more pressure on it while Davis and Oliver focused on the Balehound. Right now, he still had to stick to his original order.
Coin
Katsuya
simj26
Awful, Terrible, No-good Layabout
Davis
She collided into the balehound, her makeshift shield slamming into the hounds flank. She stumbled, and caught herself, just in time to rear her shieldarm back. Tightening her grip on the door's handle, she punched the hound in its snout with the edge of the door, then reared her arm back again, and, without giving the hound any amount of reprieve, swung once more, delivering yet another heavy punch into its face. She repeated this twice more, stumbling forwards just a little each time from the weight of the door and the pain shooting through her shoulders. As she threw forwards her fifth one, her fingers gave way, the door striking into the hound's snout once more. Now free of her grasp, the door fell onto the floor.
Davis didn't seem to notice, as she advanced once more, now delivering one more barehanded punch into the hound's face, then swinging her knife into its neck, burying the blade into the throat. The hound's sputtering fire barely singed her, as she reached forth and grabbed the hound by its ear, dragging it closer to her before it could thrash away, and stabbed it once more, this time through its snout. She withdrew the knife, shifted her grip on the hound, the ichor forcing her to change her hold on it. Her thumb slipped between its jaws, while her fingers curled onto its snout. Its canines bit into her hand, but it was in vain, as the moment she extricated her punctured hand, the truesilver knife in her hand rammed straight through its snout from below, piercing through the jaw and exiting through the roof of its mouth.
Davis threw the twitching hound to one side, its paws struggling to claw the knife out of its mouth. She stumbled forwards, one hand already unsheathing her second knife from her boot. She fell down beside the dog, with one hand gripped over its maw, steadying its wild thrashing, then buried her second knife into its skull. She twisted the knife, then pulled it out, then brought it down again, wrenching the knife with prejudice.
She extracted her knives, wiping them on her sleeves, and returning them to their holsters. Her left arm hung limp on her side, as she shuffled back to her makeshift shield. Grunting, she unslung her carbine from her shoulder and clamped it under her left arm. She removed the empty magazine with some effort, and slapped in a fresh one from her vest. She cocked the rifle, and slung it back onto her body. She had to get back to the fight. She crouched down and fumbled with the door, her hand struggling to find purchase. It was as if her fingers refused to listen to her. Each time she reached down to grab the handle, they refused to close. She grimaced, and then took hold of her torn sleeve. With a tug, she ripped off a length of her blood-stained sleeve, and bound her arm to the door handle. She pulled the cloth taut, and straightened up.
Next order of business was the demon itself. She turned back to the main problem. "Davis to all serviceable comms. Hound neutralised. Concentrate fire on target."
She collided into the balehound, her makeshift shield slamming into the hounds flank. She stumbled, and caught herself, just in time to rear her shieldarm back. Tightening her grip on the door's handle, she punched the hound in its snout with the edge of the door, then reared her arm back again, and, without giving the hound any amount of reprieve, swung once more, delivering yet another heavy punch into its face. She repeated this twice more, stumbling forwards just a little each time from the weight of the door and the pain shooting through her shoulders. As she threw forwards her fifth one, her fingers gave way, the door striking into the hound's snout once more. Now free of her grasp, the door fell onto the floor.
Davis didn't seem to notice, as she advanced once more, now delivering one more barehanded punch into the hound's face, then swinging her knife into its neck, burying the blade into the throat. The hound's sputtering fire barely singed her, as she reached forth and grabbed the hound by its ear, dragging it closer to her before it could thrash away, and stabbed it once more, this time through its snout. She withdrew the knife, shifted her grip on the hound, the ichor forcing her to change her hold on it. Her thumb slipped between its jaws, while her fingers curled onto its snout. Its canines bit into her hand, but it was in vain, as the moment she extricated her punctured hand, the truesilver knife in her hand rammed straight through its snout from below, piercing through the jaw and exiting through the roof of its mouth.
Davis threw the twitching hound to one side, its paws struggling to claw the knife out of its mouth. She stumbled forwards, one hand already unsheathing her second knife from her boot. She fell down beside the dog, with one hand gripped over its maw, steadying its wild thrashing, then buried her second knife into its skull. She twisted the knife, then pulled it out, then brought it down again, wrenching the knife with prejudice.
She extracted her knives, wiping them on her sleeves, and returning them to their holsters. Her left arm hung limp on her side, as she shuffled back to her makeshift shield. Grunting, she unslung her carbine from her shoulder and clamped it under her left arm. She removed the empty magazine with some effort, and slapped in a fresh one from her vest. She cocked the rifle, and slung it back onto her body. She had to get back to the fight. She crouched down and fumbled with the door, her hand struggling to find purchase. It was as if her fingers refused to listen to her. Each time she reached down to grab the handle, they refused to close. She grimaced, and then took hold of her torn sleeve. With a tug, she ripped off a length of her blood-stained sleeve, and bound her arm to the door handle. She pulled the cloth taut, and straightened up.
Next order of business was the demon itself. She turned back to the main problem. "Davis to all serviceable comms. Hound neutralised. Concentrate fire on target."
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Roleplay Skittle
Eternally Awkward
Irma Grace Beauregard
It truly seemed like a lost cause. It was a difficult task staying under the radar as she used her magic to detect any discrepancies in the current emytherium field, making sure her presence was discreet enough to not draw any unwanted attention while still using enough power to discover any survivors, though she was also quite certain that the most dangerous of present hostilities was currently indisposed as he was under siege by her more combative associates. Regardless, she was searching for a virtual needle in the haystack concerning anyone that may currently be pinned under rubble but still otherwise alive, but it was imperative to get any that could still fight up and moving so that they could aid in the battle that was currently being waged against the Black Demon. The way she figured it, the more people that were fighting against the demon, the more time she had to treat those that couldn't fight and the sooner the battle would be ended.
It seemed that she wasn't searching for survivors alone because it wasn't long before she took note of the nearby gate magic, realizing that another hunter must have found someone. With that in mind she hurried back to Nathan and the others, ambling over broken stone and steel as quickly as possible without causing herself unnecessary injury as the form of an alive if severely injured Nik was eventually revealed once the rubble was removed. Of course Irma was focusing on the fact that she was indeed alive because that was a positive note in an otherwise dismal situation and she moved as close as she dared to the Blooden as she shambled out of the debris in order to immediately start using her plague magic as soon as she was close enough in order to start the repairs on Nik's more wounds. Knowing the Lesser Demon, she'd want to delve back into the fray as soon as possible and Irma had a mind to do her best to get her in working order.
Irma didn't try to hold up Nik's weight on her own, knowing full well that her small frame couldn't support the much larger blooden and instead focused her energy on mending her injuries, though her concentration was temporarily disrupted as the massive female collapsed onto K.
"Sh--" was the sound that escaped her as she moved her arms to help catch the weight so Nik didn't crush K, the warm white stream of her healing spells momentarily halted as they wove in and out of Nik's wounds shortly dissipating all together after becoming a soft glow , "woah now..." she'd help to lower Nik to the ground so that she could be treated more thoroughly before wiping her face with her hand. Even with her right eye feeling dry and irritated from all the loose particles in the air which thankfully wasn't as bad as it would have been had it been a dry day, it was hard for her to miss the nearby form of Vexpara's leader where she lay on the ground. It looked like Nathan had been busy, Irma would have admired how dutiful he was if she had time to do so.
Irma turned her gaze on K, her damaged eye bloodshot and her brow slightly furrowed beneath the rim of her dirty ball cap, "what's the status on Miss Lattimore?" she trusted K's expertise, after all it was evident that she had temporarily stabilized Kendra and now the two of them had three patients to tend to and they needed to determine who needed treatment immediately. Though her healing on Nik had stopped for the time being, the Lesser Demon's more superficial wounds had easily been healed which gave her a moment to check on her original patient, the one survivor they had found in the apartment building before it became ruins.
All she could really do was check to see if Erin was still alive before she removed her backpack and set it down beside Nik, her intentions clearly were to heal up the battle hardened woman because she figured she would be the quickest one to get into any sort of decent shape considering she wasn't Human. Once again she put her focus into channeling her ability to cast infernal magic, concentrating on the potent plague magic for healing. Her hands were covered in the soothing white glow that began to flow into again into the more prominent injuries that the Blooden had sustained. With the help of K's magic, Nik could easily be healed in no time and knowing that the fierce hunter was strong enough to hold back her hunger put Irma's mind at ease as far as her emytherium levels.
She had barely even started casting when Magnolia called out to her, a temporary flare in her magic where it touched Nik erupting from the sudden disturbance before the glow diminished slightly as Irma's attention was diverted. She watched Maggie steadily as she hastily explained through hand gestures her desire to help, though her gaze did drift over the rest of the Half Demon's person which was explanation enough. She frowned slightly before nodding, "you'll probably need this," one of Irma's hands lost the spell she was casting as she reached to the holster on her hip, unsnapping it and drawing out the revolver. She held it out to Maggie, already loaded, and waited for her to take it before unsnapping the pouch from her belt that sat next to the holster and handing that over as well. It had extra quick loaders in it that were already prepped and ready to go for situations just like this one. Once Maggie was armed, Irma's attention returned to her task that was literally at hand, "good luck."
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Coin
The One Eyed Bandit
Katsuya
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Lucem
It truly seemed like a lost cause. It was a difficult task staying under the radar as she used her magic to detect any discrepancies in the current emytherium field, making sure her presence was discreet enough to not draw any unwanted attention while still using enough power to discover any survivors, though she was also quite certain that the most dangerous of present hostilities was currently indisposed as he was under siege by her more combative associates. Regardless, she was searching for a virtual needle in the haystack concerning anyone that may currently be pinned under rubble but still otherwise alive, but it was imperative to get any that could still fight up and moving so that they could aid in the battle that was currently being waged against the Black Demon. The way she figured it, the more people that were fighting against the demon, the more time she had to treat those that couldn't fight and the sooner the battle would be ended.
It seemed that she wasn't searching for survivors alone because it wasn't long before she took note of the nearby gate magic, realizing that another hunter must have found someone. With that in mind she hurried back to Nathan and the others, ambling over broken stone and steel as quickly as possible without causing herself unnecessary injury as the form of an alive if severely injured Nik was eventually revealed once the rubble was removed. Of course Irma was focusing on the fact that she was indeed alive because that was a positive note in an otherwise dismal situation and she moved as close as she dared to the Blooden as she shambled out of the debris in order to immediately start using her plague magic as soon as she was close enough in order to start the repairs on Nik's more wounds. Knowing the Lesser Demon, she'd want to delve back into the fray as soon as possible and Irma had a mind to do her best to get her in working order.
Irma didn't try to hold up Nik's weight on her own, knowing full well that her small frame couldn't support the much larger blooden and instead focused her energy on mending her injuries, though her concentration was temporarily disrupted as the massive female collapsed onto K.
"Sh--" was the sound that escaped her as she moved her arms to help catch the weight so Nik didn't crush K, the warm white stream of her healing spells momentarily halted as they wove in and out of Nik's wounds shortly dissipating all together after becoming a soft glow , "woah now..." she'd help to lower Nik to the ground so that she could be treated more thoroughly before wiping her face with her hand. Even with her right eye feeling dry and irritated from all the loose particles in the air which thankfully wasn't as bad as it would have been had it been a dry day, it was hard for her to miss the nearby form of Vexpara's leader where she lay on the ground. It looked like Nathan had been busy, Irma would have admired how dutiful he was if she had time to do so.
Irma turned her gaze on K, her damaged eye bloodshot and her brow slightly furrowed beneath the rim of her dirty ball cap, "what's the status on Miss Lattimore?" she trusted K's expertise, after all it was evident that she had temporarily stabilized Kendra and now the two of them had three patients to tend to and they needed to determine who needed treatment immediately. Though her healing on Nik had stopped for the time being, the Lesser Demon's more superficial wounds had easily been healed which gave her a moment to check on her original patient, the one survivor they had found in the apartment building before it became ruins.
All she could really do was check to see if Erin was still alive before she removed her backpack and set it down beside Nik, her intentions clearly were to heal up the battle hardened woman because she figured she would be the quickest one to get into any sort of decent shape considering she wasn't Human. Once again she put her focus into channeling her ability to cast infernal magic, concentrating on the potent plague magic for healing. Her hands were covered in the soothing white glow that began to flow into again into the more prominent injuries that the Blooden had sustained. With the help of K's magic, Nik could easily be healed in no time and knowing that the fierce hunter was strong enough to hold back her hunger put Irma's mind at ease as far as her emytherium levels.
She had barely even started casting when Magnolia called out to her, a temporary flare in her magic where it touched Nik erupting from the sudden disturbance before the glow diminished slightly as Irma's attention was diverted. She watched Maggie steadily as she hastily explained through hand gestures her desire to help, though her gaze did drift over the rest of the Half Demon's person which was explanation enough. She frowned slightly before nodding, "you'll probably need this," one of Irma's hands lost the spell she was casting as she reached to the holster on her hip, unsnapping it and drawing out the revolver. She held it out to Maggie, already loaded, and waited for her to take it before unsnapping the pouch from her belt that sat next to the holster and handing that over as well. It had extra quick loaders in it that were already prepped and ready to go for situations just like this one. Once Maggie was armed, Irma's attention returned to her task that was literally at hand, "good luck."
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The One Called X
Enlightened Squid
Angelica Hudson
"Cool off, 'Ica. Look at me... Do it or you'll catch the other one."
What the fuck had just happened.
"...Haruka?" Angelica asked, more bewildered than anything else despite the stinging of her cheek. Her brow furrowed. She was getting rather sick of being carried.
Why were they here? For the hunt. To bring the bastard down, and she'd been close, she'd been so close, only the fire hadn't hit, it hadn't been- strong, fast, precise enough- not enough, period- there had to be- she needed to-
He was right. There was only one way. The world felt like it was shrinking, just her and Haruka behind whatever cover it was that Haruka'd managed to find, with the black stag's voice echoing in her head. One way. Give in. One way. Give in.
Yes child let go give in you have always fought so hard haven't you but it's done now it's over it's time to yield, little girl, yield and do what you should have long ago-
Angelica lifted a hand to her mouth and bit down, hard, until her head cleared.
"I don't know what's wrong with me," Angelica gasped. "Haruka. I- I don't- something's wrong with me. This isn't supposed to happen to me."
She looked up. The sight of the demon made her feel vaguely sick, or maybe that was just her body starting to give out. It was too soon, wasn't it? She should be able to do more, but-
She remembered the bright white of her shield, the blazing blue heat of the flames. How could she have been so stupid? That kind of intensity- it would take more power than normal. She almost laughed when the creature opened its mouth to spit magma.
"I'm not dead yet, asshole," she mumbled, and snapped her fingers.
A Gate- large enough to hide Angelica and Haruka from view- appeared in front of them, intercepting the magma. It opened above the demon's head. It was too large to be sustained long- Angelica couldn't be precise, not on short notice, so better to compensate for clumsy placement with size- but hopefully it would do the job.
Aldur
Coin
"Cool off, 'Ica. Look at me... Do it or you'll catch the other one."
What the fuck had just happened.
"...Haruka?" Angelica asked, more bewildered than anything else despite the stinging of her cheek. Her brow furrowed. She was getting rather sick of being carried.
Why were they here? For the hunt. To bring the bastard down, and she'd been close, she'd been so close, only the fire hadn't hit, it hadn't been- strong, fast, precise enough- not enough, period- there had to be- she needed to-
He was right. There was only one way. The world felt like it was shrinking, just her and Haruka behind whatever cover it was that Haruka'd managed to find, with the black stag's voice echoing in her head. One way. Give in. One way. Give in.
Yes child let go give in you have always fought so hard haven't you but it's done now it's over it's time to yield, little girl, yield and do what you should have long ago-
Angelica lifted a hand to her mouth and bit down, hard, until her head cleared.
"I don't know what's wrong with me," Angelica gasped. "Haruka. I- I don't- something's wrong with me. This isn't supposed to happen to me."
She looked up. The sight of the demon made her feel vaguely sick, or maybe that was just her body starting to give out. It was too soon, wasn't it? She should be able to do more, but-
She remembered the bright white of her shield, the blazing blue heat of the flames. How could she have been so stupid? That kind of intensity- it would take more power than normal. She almost laughed when the creature opened its mouth to spit magma.
"I'm not dead yet, asshole," she mumbled, and snapped her fingers.
A Gate- large enough to hide Angelica and Haruka from view- appeared in front of them, intercepting the magma. It opened above the demon's head. It was too large to be sustained long- Angelica couldn't be precise, not on short notice, so better to compensate for clumsy placement with size- but hopefully it would do the job.
Aldur
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