Fantasy Vexpara | Hell Unraveled

[The One Eyed Bandit]

Around the two Ouros, the battlefield unfolded in a chaotic symphony of Magic and heat. The Black Demon flung spell after spell, spewing out twisted, immense magics as if they were nothing more than a trivial chore to him. Her allies too, bolstered by the polluted atmosphere fought with an enhanced ferocity. It was a sight, she figured, that'd make Kendra proud.

None of that was her concern, however. The soaring fireballs, the storms of bullets, and even the hulking enemy demon were not her problems to worry about. Indeed, she'd have to grit her teeth, narrow her vision, and focus only on what was right in front of her; the wounded. As an Ouro, it was her job to let the others handle those sorts of things. Davis, Haruka, Nathan, Angelica, Robyn, she needed to trust that each and every one of them had her back, and she'd have to have their in return. They were all that needed to matter to her. Their stamina, their wounds, their condition, she needed to block out everything else. Even the flames nipping at her neck and rampaging demon at her back.

Honestly, it was a little exhilarating.

As Nik impacted down on K's shoulder, she caught her half of the weight without hesitation. The woman was certainly of a beefy breed, but between both herself and Irma they seemed to have things handled.

More to the point, Irma's magic was making quick work of the captain's wounds. Radiant, beautiful light spread out and smothered the woman's wounds, sealing the superficial ones within moments and leaving the major ones not too far behind. It always impressed her whenever she was it. The sheer efficiency of properly trained Magic, that is. In comparison to her own approach to the healing arts, even an idiot could tell which to add to their dodge ball team, so to speak. That just meant that she'd be best off directing her attention elsewhere.

"Lattimore is stable, but she won't be getting up anytime soon without further aid." She spoke plainly, without even looking Irma in the eyes. Instead her gaze was fixed upon their still-standing teammates, seeing where she could lend her aid. "Do you think you can handle things here for the time being? I'd like to provide the Cranes and Blooden with whatever support I can. I doubt Davis is in a good state after taking the brunt of that crash."

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Coin]

The balehound thrashed, snapping jaws threatened to sever soft flesh as Davis wrestled with the hellbeast. The two were fighting for their lives, an ugly display of blood and grit. Davis would be the one to triumph as her knives plunged into the balehound again and again, until the fight was all but gone from it. One final stab through the bottom of the jaw delivered the deathblow as the hound fell still, a predator felled by a greater hunter. Without missing a beat, Davis recovered from her melee and was back in action. Nik would have been proud, if she had only seen it.

---

The Ouros worked quickly on patching Nik back up, sealing her most severe of wounds first so that the hunter-captain would survive the trauma. She winced, hissing between her teeth as the Plague sewed muscles back together, fused broken bones, and most importantly began to return emytherium to Nik's bloodstream. Though she was nearly unconscious when she fell into K's grasp, the rush of healing magic accelerated her heartbeat and sharpened her failing senses. Adrenaline and war flooded her body as returning pain soon evaporated back into a desire for ultraviolence. Nik's breathing hitched as a numbness fluttered across her heart from the sudden rush of infernal magic.

Nik was nowhere near at full strength yet, but she could at least move and fight. She shook free of the Ouros' healing as she grabbed her fallen sword and got back onto her feet. "I owe you two big time. I would have given a lot to have Ouros like you two back in the army. A lot of soldiers would have." Nik examined her left forearm which had been little more than bone and cooked sinew a minute ago. Fresh muscles, flesh, and skin had replaced the old and she was able to move her hand again -- though sluggishly. Good enough. "I'm going after that demon. Don't stop me until he is dead. If I die first, please watch over my plants."

Without another word, and before either could stop her, Nik took off with her truesilver sword in tow. Blood still slipped from wounds that were still untouched by Plague magic. Her charge was true as she sprinted to join the melee. She would see to the rest of them when her team was no longer in danger.

---

Lightning-fast reaction and the heavy miasma of emytherium in the air saved both Haruka and Angelica from being cooked alive by the black demon's magma vomit. Angelica willed a protective gate into existence to intercept the stream, traveling through the abyssal dark, and exiting out of a paired portal above the black demon's head. The magma fell and splashed onto its antlers and head. Flesh and ivory sizzled as the magma burned bright. The black demon reeled, stopping his attack just as Angelica's gate gave out. The fiery liquid clung to the antlers, and burned scales and flesh away to reveal the bone of its skull, but the demon had fight in him yet.

"You RUNT!" The black demon dropped to all fours, shaking magma from its head, then bounded straight for Angelica and Haruka. The crystal heart thudded as he snarled. A rush of celerity magic coursed through its body, shimmering silver around his haunches as the heart shrieked with infernal corruption. In only a blink of an eye, the black demon had already closed the gap and was towering over them. A swift backhand sent Haruka sailing a dozen meters away onto the street before the lesser demon could dodge or ready her guard. The other claw came down quick as lightning, scooping Angelica into a death grip. The black demon's grapple tightened as he threatened to squeeze the life out of her, he brought her up to snout-level with him. "Squirm your last moments like a worm, or submit to your Hunger. Don't you want to kill me?"

simj26 , The One Eyed Bandit , Roleplay Skittle , The One Called X , Aldur

 

[Aldur]

Haruka​

She didn't expect such a large, hulking brute to move lightning fast. A grave mistake, by all accounts. It wasn't the sheer mass and force with which she had been smacked silly, but the landing. Haruka attempted to correct her body whilst flying through the air, but alas, she had to redirect her flight on short notice. The sword she held just half a second ago was sent on a different path, though she didn't know where, nor was she able to see. Haruka tried to bend her knees and redistribute her weight to her lower body to-

*THUD*

She hit the cold, hard, slippery concrete before she could redress herself properly and rolled for far too long before her back hit a broken wall. Frantically, her eyes searched in vain for a glimmer of hope, a reflection of light upon a shiny, metal blade. Nothing. The pain hadn't registered through Haruka, her blood boiling with adrenaline and emytherium alike. She tried to sketch a motion with her left leg, but it didn't budge. It felt awkward. She made mental command after command but nothing happened, her leg just wouldn't move. Wasn't a good sign.

She made an attempt to stand on her left arm, and that's when she realized her right arm wasn't bending right. It flopped lifelessly around her chest until Haruka felt a searing pain between her neck and shoulder. Her right arm suffered the full contact with the black demon's strike. She gave and leaned back on the broken wall. The way she sat, Haruka was offered a prime seat overlooking the scene that was about to unfold.

The heavy arm of the odious stag grappled a vulnerable Ica. The display reflected itself upon Haruka's iris and what would follow would burn itself on her cornea for the rest of her sorry life if she didn't move that instant. The wounded demon struggled, falling over, face-first into the debris. With tears in her eyes, she forwent with the pleasantries and pushed with her left arm, rolling over on her back. She then planted it on the ground to her right side, pushing down as hard as she could and flinging her body forward. Back on her belly, Haruka attempted to crawl back to her kin and their assailant.

The One Called X , Coin

 

[The One Eyed Bandit]

There it was. The next wave. A sweeping tide of violence that washed out across the battlefield and mercilessly crashed into her comrades.

K grimaced.

She knew well how these operations were supposed to work. She played along with each and all of the Augur's orders, and they protected her in turn. That was the safest way to do her job. The best way to do her job, but; But, the guild was already in shambles. One of their strongest assets was on a rampage, one of their smartest fighters was too busy fighting for her life to think, and both of their most experienced seniors were battered beyond belief. This was not a time for her to be worrying about her own safety.

"Irma, Nathan." The warm spark of magic begun to dance between K's fingers. "I'm moving out now. I'll handle Hudson and Davis." Without a chance for retort, K broke away from the pair the moment she found a window, and the consequences were immediate. The moment she stepped out from behind Nathan's barrier, she felt it. The sizzling heat of the emytherium-bolstered magics being flung around the battlefield and the venomous fury of the Black Demon, both bore down upon her like a predator that'd found new prey. The pressure was almost enough to make her turn and run.

She wasn't cut out for this. Right now, she should be pushing papers and looking for a boyfriend. Her parents wouldn't have to worry, and she could like to a nice, old age. Her subconsciousness screamed that at her, and more. But her body carried on regardless, deaf to the tirade of rationalization that was being spewed at it. It'd already made up its mind.

"Hudson!" She yelled, a suppressed trembling sneaking its way into her voice as she barely bobbed and weaved around the mere aftermath of the Black Demon's wrath. "Heads up!" Her words were short and simple. A warning that she was about to do something reckless. In her left hand, her Magic danced with a slowly brightening light, while her left dug into her inner coat pockets. From within, something faintly clicked.

Then, it flew. A grenade, packed to the brim with powderized quicksilver flung out from K's hands. Its pin pulled well in advance, it detonated only moments before it made contact with its target, the Demon's elbow. If this thing's body still worked like a person's then that should have at least loosened its grip. The detonating was close to Hudson, too close, but this was the best she could do. In rhythm with the grenade's flight, the bolstering magic that'd been charging between K's fingertips bolted out across the short distance between K, and both the Lesser and Greater Demons. Only moments before the grenade detonated, it surged into her muscles, filling her with a strength a notch greater than what she'd pumped into Tsukiko. She'd need it.

Despite the risk that her tactics proposed, K didn't have time to sit around to see the results. She had too much to do. Her heart was already beginning to race faster and faster. A cocktail of concentrated adrenaline and primal fear flowed through her veins, down into her legs, and she bolted. Making a break straight into the quicksilver cloud that clung to the Demon's skin, K stuck as low to the ground as she could. In spite of its size, between herself and the stag, K was the clear loser in terms of speed. So she would have to take advantage of as many cheap tricks as she could. Shock, confusion, common sense, they were all the weapons she needed to wield against this foe.

From the cloud, she made a beeline straight for Davis. Through the chaos of the battle, she couldn't assess her wounds with the most clarity, but even a blind rodent would have been able to tell just how terrible a state her arm was in. As she broke past the demon, and her hands were already working in tandem again. Her magic wouldn't be able to properly heal wounds with a severity like what had been inflicted upon the gunslinger woman's arm, so she'd need to compensate for it with yet another dose of strengthening magic.

As soon as she was within arm's reach, K seized hold of Davis's arm. Her healing magic flowed into the wounds that could be called salvageable, and then the strengthening magic washed over them as soon as they were repaired. The few functional muscle fibers that remained within Davis's arm would, quite literally, have to pull both their weight and that of their mangled neighbors.

"Davis. This is just a quick fix. If we make it out of this alive, make sure to get yourself to a proper medic, understand?" She spoke without hesitation, though she was clearly far more on-edge than the feigned confidence in her voice would imply.

Lucem Roleplay Skittle The One Called X simj26 Coin

 

[The One Called X]

Angelica Hudson
"You RUNT!" the creature bellowed, and Angelica laughed. But then-

It was too fast, Haruka was gone, Angelica tried to dodge the hand coming for her but she couldn't move, couldn't even stand, and then she couldn't breathe. Her ribs. Everything hurt. Her right arm was free, the left was-

The demon's grip tightened. The noise that escaped between Angelica's teeth was something between choking and a scream. Her ribs were cracked for sure. She bared her teeth as she met the demon's eyes, and spat acid onto his hand.

"Don't you want to kill me?" God, what a stupid question. There wasn't much she could do about it, so she flipped him the bird.

She was going to die, she knew, and she didn't have any ideas, and her strength was on the verge of giving out. And then, K's voice.

"Hudson! Heads up!"

That was all the warning she had before the surge of strength and the grenade. It was all she needed. She could think again.

She couldn't go for the heart again, not now. She had to get away, first. So- two birds with one stone.

A hellfire shield blazed into being between her and the Truesilver grenade, at the demon's wrist. With any luck, it would sever his hand.


Coin

 

[Katsuya]

- Magnolia Noir -​

Checking and confirming the revolver’s readied state, the tired Crane quickly took the ruined boots off to grab her knife; hiding it at the back and her legs free from the constricting burnt leather. Barefooted. Then she snapped the offered pouch on her right side of the belt, checking how many reloads she could have. She shortly nodded, quirking the corner of her lips in a grateful grin. “You too.”

Then she jogged back in the fray, holding the revolver with one hand on the grip and the other cupping the bottom, pointing the barrel at the ground as she stepped out of Nathan’s barriers. The fluxing heat from the spells with the cooling rain contrasted and prickled her skin, but she ignored it. Her green eyes staying on a certain dark figure that’s emanating malice as she circled around it in hopes it doesn’t see her at all. Her brows furrowed as sweat dripped from her chin.

Going to Robyn is a bad idea. For all she knows, he could be stationed far away to shoot with his rifle or he could be hidden from the demon and her presence could make it notice them. Magnolia gritted her teeth at her other idea, already hating it but believing it’s necessary. If the others can fight close, so can she . . . Hopefully.

As she got closer and closer to the field, hiding behind the bigger pieces of the building, a loud hiss grabbed her attention and she peeked over the large debris. Her eyes widened when she realized that someone must have thrown a truesilver grenade. She wasn’t close enough to be affected by the demon-burning weapon but with a few more steps, she could . . . And she is behind her target. Perfect.

Taking a few breaths and coming out of her hiding spot, Magnolia jogged closer before stopping at several meters away, she raised her arms. Cursing them as she noticed how shaky her arms were from the recoil she suffered before. She can feel her impatience raising up in her chest, wanting to already shoot but she had to wait. She has to wait until she knows for sure she can hit her target and not waste bullets —- there!

Without a second more to lose, she pressed the trigger and shot several bullets to it’s legs until she has to reload, reaching in the pouch to take a new batch in the revolver. The tiny crane jogged to the left, sharply whistling in order to catch the demon’s attention. Her heart is pounding against her chest and pumping hard from fear of dying and determination of keeping the demon away from those who are hurt.

Roleplay Skittle Coin The One Called X The One Eyed Bandit Lucem simj26

 

[Lucem]

Nathan Pierce

Things were getting worse by the second. The number of injured members was growing, and the Black Demon didn't seem to be slowing down at all. Vorbieva may have been back on her feet, but the blood pouring from her unhealed wounds didn't inspire much confidence. If that wasn't enough, one of the Ouros also insisted on charging ahead. It was unlikely that either of them would last very long if the Black Demon decided to focus on them. Losing one of them would've dealt a crushing blow to Vexpara, not to mention everyone's chances of living through the night.

Until now, he'd been following orders by guarding the Ouros. However, now that they were separated, things became a lot more difficult for him. Instead of maintaining his distance to keep both of them safe, he'd have to make a tough call. He couldn't be in both places at once, so he had to put more effort into guarding one of them, hoping that the other didn't get crushed or burned to death. This would've been a lot easier if there was a second Augur around, but he was stuck doing the work of two. The headache that came from having to deal with this was a lot worse than having an entire building fall on him.

As much as he would've liked to complain, he didn't have that luxury right now. Time passed faster on the battlefield than it did anywhere else, and hesitating for even a moment had an effect on everyone. He could groan later if Lattimore was going to chew him out for this. If things went wrong, he could hardly be blamed for it.

Like before, Nathan used Gate to gather the scattered rubble, creating extra protection for Beauregard and the wounded. With all that was happening around it, the Demon had no reason to go after the members that were outside of its radius. However, it was best to plan ahead, so he added a little more insurance to enhance his earlier preparations.

Gray wisps trailed from the young man's fingers as he covered his limbs in tiny circles, preparing for the danger ahead. When the last trace of infernal magic vanished from the center of his chest, Nathan charged forward, reviewing the layout of the battlefield and the positions of his fellow guild members. With the wild mutt dead, there was only the Black Demon to worry about. Right now, it was distracted by the impact and cloud of smoke from Kagenetsu's grenade. However, it was fast and could immediately pounce on the woman after it recovered. She was the most vulnerable Ouro at the moment, so he had to do his job and keep her safe.

Raising a hand, Nathan connected with the preset spell he had placed on Kagenetsu when she arrived. Feeling the rush of emytherium once again, he knew the already existing speed of his timed gates would be increased, giving him a chance to pop through before the goat could think about crushing the transparent portal once again. Almost immediately, the hunter appeared from the gate at the woman's back, prepared to shield her from any attacks as she rushed to help the others. At this angle, he'd also be able to avoid entering Noir's line of fire.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he sped toward the Demon, quickly deciding which set of weapons would be best for the situation. Reaching for his usual set of lined wires and the Truesilver knives that connected to them, he quickly attempted to wrap the demon in a mix of bondage and blades, much like a spider trying to trap its prey. While the wires alone proved to be effective weapons against demons in the past, their true potential was shown when they were used in tandem with his magic.

With Hudson's barrier in place, he wouldn't have to worry about hurting her. As he gripped the wires, infernal lightning crackled in his hands, soon traveling throughout the net he had cast. While he focused on maintaining the powerful surge of crimson electricity, his other hand reached for one of the swords strapped to his back. Instead of the one that had been gifted to him by Vorbieva, he opted for the heavier of the two. It was an imposing weapon with centuries of history behind it, far too grand to be in the hands of someone like him. Even if he would've preferred to never lay hands on it, he wasn't dumb enough to turn down a free sword when Truesilver was so expensive.

Nathan aimed to do as much damage with the weapon as possible as he held the Demon in place, stabbing at its scale-free back. Even with his protective gates ready to be used at any time, it was still dangerous. However, this was how he operated. He was never a ranged fighter.

Coin The One Eyed Bandit The One Called X Roleplay Skittle Katsuya

 

[simj26]

Davis
Davis grunted, in replacement of thanks to the kind soul that repaired her arm. Or, at the very least, left it in a less mangled way than it was before. Still, it was better than nothing. The excruciating pain had been dulled out of her mind by the time K had made her way to her. The surge of strength that ran through her arm, and her body, however, gave her some reprieve. She couldn’t stop now. No rest. She would have plenty of time to rest after this mission was over, or whenever she keeled over. She adjusted her shield, and trudged forwards, back into the foray. She brought her shield upwards, along with her rifle, and steadied her aim, straight at the demon’s head. She took a deep breath, held it, then fired. She adjusted her aim, and fired once more, then another one. All three struck the demon in the head.

“Eyes on me, scum!” Davis called out, her voice rising above the noise of battle. A fire burned within the remaining eye of hers, a certain fury that came with the strength that surged through her arm clear for all to see. To the uninitiated, it was merely determination. To the veterans, however, there was nothing else in her eyes but pure hatred. “What, too weak to deal with things without your big, scary demon powers? Too scared to come up and face me one-on-one? Is this what demons are?” Davis dropped her aim and stretched out her arms, her mouth twisting into a cruel smirk. “Gotta depend on God-given bonuses, huh? Can’t hope to live and die on your own terms? Promote your kind’s power all you want, but all I’m seeing is a big baby who can’t stand on his own without having to resort to using his baby Infernal magicks.” Davis’s smirk grew ever wider. She took a few steps back, raising one hand, and beckoned towards the target. “I should be glad, you know, to have demons like Haruka and Hudson with me, and not pitiful garbage like you, who can’t even raise his head up without going on about how supreme your kind is.” Davis dropped her hands to her side. “Truth is, you’re just a being of the past, unable to eschew the old ways of his kind, doomed to forever fail, and fail, and fail again.”

Then Nathan took his chance. Davis’s smirk fell, as she took to action immediately. Her rifle fell to the ground beside her as she charged forwards, taking the opening Nathan and Magnolia had given her. Her knife flashed in the light, as she drew it from her shoulder. She ducked and slid towards the demon’s feet, letting Nathan handle his upper body, and ran her knife through the demon’s ankle. She released her grip of her knife, and dug her hand into the ground. Using the momentum, she pulled herself back up straight, drawing her second knife from her boot. She dived forwards, and slammed her makeshift shield into the demon’s side with the combined weight of both the shield and her body.

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

Irma Grace Beauregard

Breathe. Just breathe. It was all she could do to stay calm. The echo of her heart beat in her ears was almost as loud as everything else going on around her. Just breathe. She was where she was supposed to be, doing God's work. It was what she was meant for, helping the good of heart fight the things that would end their world if allowed to. A deep breath in and another one out, her attention focused on her job. On the outside she appeared as calm as always and as long as she kept her head clear and didn't allow her thoughts to run rampant, she was still relatively calm on the inside.

Irma gave a slight nod to K, her brow furrowing slightly, though the appearance was mostly hidden by her baseball cap, "sure. Do what you gotta' do," the reality was that K didn't really need to stay there and help, it was unnecessary and she was needed elsewhere. As though to punctuate that unspoken point, Nik was already stirring and preparing to return to the carnage. Irma's spell intensified momentarily as she gave one less push to heal up Nik's wounds, they were healing from the inside out but in the end all that was left were wounds that could be treated by simple stitches, mere flesh wounds so to speak, "wait wait!" Irma quickly sprinkled some cauterizing powder on the more serious wounds that hadn't been sealed before giving Nik a firm nod and watching her go on her way. At least she wouldn't bleed to death... hopefully, at least not from her current injuries.

By the time K spoke again and announced she was departing, Irma had already moved on to Miss Lattimore, tossing her pack down beside the woman as she then crouched next to her. She didn't have any inkling of what K might be up to, assuming that she was just going to heal who she could as well as she was able. As Irma placed one hand over their leader's most severe injury, her other hand went to the woman's chest, she was keeping track of the emytherium in Miss Lattimore's blood while simultaneously healing her with more plague magic. She wove the plague spell into her patients blood, reversing the internal bleeding and turning it around to heal the wounds that it seeped from. Her eyes closed as she focused on the two types of magic she was using jointly, her brow furrowing as her body jerked slightly from the sudden explosion that sounded from the battlefield amidst all the sounds of magic and gun fire.

Breathe. In her mind she told herself this again, but now she was also saying it to Miss Lattimore. She could feel the guild leader's heart beating beneath her hand as it rested against her chest. The surface burns she had suffered could wait, the more serious things needed to be handled now, and that included dealing with the extreme excess of emytherium that would be in her blood after being healed by all this infernal magic, "Miss Lattimore?" She spoke in her soft southern accent that was still present even after all this time as though she didn't want to let it go, a subtle shake to her tone that was hardly noticeable but there was evident worry in her voice despite her attempt at appearing calm, "you with us?"

Interactions: Coin The One Eyed Bandit

 

[Coin]

The black demon's vice tightened around Angelica. His snarling visage curled into a wicked grin, showcasing an array of jagged opalescent fangs that could rend steel. This servant of hell was enjoying killing his kin, relishing in the life fading from the prey in his grasp. Gnarled claws closed as the lesser demon's bones fractured, cracked, then broke. Micro-splintered bone from her battered rib cage jabbed into her organs, causing heavy internal bleeding -- no doubt an agonizing way to go.

Then, there was a high-pitched whining as a baseball-sized canister sailed through the air. It was a blur of grey and black as its perfect arc ended just below the black demon's elbow, exploding in a flash of sparks and pale smoke. A low thud reverberated through the night as tiny fragments of truesilver flew in every direction, piercing the black demon's hide like a knife through butter. At the same instant, a surge of magic coursed through Angelica's body, allowing her the brief burst of strength and revitalization she needed to summon a new wall of hellfire between her and the explosion. A handful of fragments of truesilver made it through the hellfire shield, peppering the lesser demon's face and torso with tiny bits of burning shrapnel. However, the explosion caused the black demon's muscles to twitch ever so slightly, loosening its death grip on Angelica. This allowed the hellfire barrier to carve through scales, flesh, muscle, and bone all in one as white hot flames severed the black demon's hand from its wrist.

Gravity took over as Angelica, still encased in the black demon's hand limp hand plummeted down to the concrete below in a splash of blood and rain. The black demon shrieked in pain as its other claw grasped onto its missing stub. The roar itself was louder than the explosion, ringing ears and echoing through the streets. The truesilver shrapnel from the grenade caused scales across the black demon's chest and arm to sizzle and dissipate, opening new gaps in its armor.

Davis taunted the demon, but it was deafened and blinded by the sudden surge of pain and truesilver. Rounds from the soldier and Magnolia found their mark on the demon's weakening armor, causing him to stumble further. Seizing the moment of opportunity, Nathan sent forth his wires that just barely found purchase around the massive demon. As soon as they were taught, crimson lightning arced from the wires and across the demon, paralyzing it as wave after wave of infernal lightning shocked his nervous system. That itself bought enough time for Nathan, Davis, and even Nik to charge in with their truesilver blades drawn, hungry for death.

Nathan kited behind, harrying the unarmored back, while Davis went low with twin knives. Truesilver blades found purchase in the demon's flesh, stabbing, slashing, and burning it, filling the air with the smell of burning flesh. Nik was the last to arrive in the melee, taking a leap into the air when she was about fifteen feet away. A burst of hellfire at the heels of her feet sent her rocketing towards her mark with her longsword pointed forward like a truesilver warhead. In a surprising display of dexterity from the hunter-captain, she pierced the soft flesh between the radius and ulna of the black demon's intact arm. The sword plunged clean through one end, and out of the other as her momentum carried through and rammed into the black demon's forearm. She tackled and dragged the faltering demon down to the ground with her, pinning one arm to the ground with her sword and blasting it with hellfire bolts to keep it from swiping at her.

The demon's other stubbed arm flailed around, a fountain of demonic blood spraying into the air as it tried to find purchase on anything to bludgeon to death. Before it could do any real damage, a truesilver-tipped crossbow bolt tore through the air, nearly soundless in the chaos of the fight. It impacted with the demon's free arm, the bolt sinking through the stub and lodging itself deep into the wound that Angelica had created moments ago. As the truesilver ate through the demon's flesh, a series of cracks from a nearby rooftop echoed as tungsten core rifle rounds found their mark on the same arm. From atop the adjacent apartment's rooftop, hunter-captain Valentin Bishop at last found his opportunity to fire, and not a moment too soon. His assault had left the demon's other arm maimed and paralyzed, while Nik held the other down with infernal strength.

Nik's gaze snapped over to Davis and Nathan. Her face was soaked with blood and rain, parts of her hair were on fire, and her eyes shone a bright rose color from the emytherium that was coursing through her body. Her voice was a low growl, but easily heard over the chaos of battle. "Nathan! Davis! The heart!" Her gaze drifted up, eyeing the crystalline heart caged by the black demon's antlers. Though cracked and spilling out raw emytherium, it was still pumping vigorously, desperately attempting to maintain the black demon's failing form. This was their chance to kill the demon before it could take any more lives.

---

Though Irma's magic worked quickly on top of K's stabilization magic, Lattimore did not wake. She was breathing and her heart was beating strong, but the extent of the hit she took was a lot to address, even for Irma's skill. It would take time for the Plague to set her vitals back in place, and recover from a direct chaos bolt hit. As Irma worked, Lattimore squirmed, her face twisted in phantom pain as the emytherium worked its way into her blood.

In Lattimore's mind, this was her worst nightmare. If she could not care for her children, her Vexpara, who would?

The One Called X , The One Eyed Bandit , simj26 , Katsuya , Lucem , Roleplay Skittle

 

[The One Called X]

Angelica Hudson
Angelica barely felt the truesilver debris striking her exposed skin, though it burned. It was eclipsed by the rush. It had worked, it had worked, she was free, she could breathe-

She was falling. Shit, shit, no-

Impact.

Her scream was weak, trailing off into coughing that wracked her body with pain as her ribs shifted. She'd taken the bastard's hand- fuck you, asshole, who's weak now-

(You. You're weak now. You can't even move, idiot, whispered a voice that sounded vaguely like Haruka)

- and it had shielded her from the worst of the impact but now- she was on her front, face down, the air was close and rank but she was breathing, in sharp fitful gasps, but it felt- it didn't feel right. Something was wrong in her lungs. Her throat felt- wrong. Slick. She coughed again. There was blood dripping out of her nose, her mouth. Her throat was full of it. A panicked whimper tore itself from her chest. She had her good hand under herself, and she pushed up- onto her back, at least, so her face wasn't shoved into the mess of blood and flesh-

She grit her teeth against the urge to scream, it would only hurt more. Her vision went white at the edges. Everything was fuzzy. She blinked up at the dull sky. It was not easier to breathe.

It was still alive. She couldn't be done yet. Just one more. One more push. She closed her eyes. Yes. Just one more push. Deep breath. One more push to finish it, and then she could rest. She had that much in her. She had to. There was no other option.

She turned her head- her spine, at least, was intact- and located the stag. The heart was unstable, and her heart sang- she had a chance. She just had to hit it, just had to aim true, and she could end it all. She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

A faint red glow shimmered around her hand, but she didn't even notice that amid the sudden rush of agony. Her strength left her entirely as her arm and head fell back to the ground. She couldn't breathe, not at all, her lungs were full of blood and her chest wouldn't move and she was going to die here-

She managed a breath. Her vision was still grey. This was it, she realized. Overload. It was taking all the magic she had left to hold her organs together enough to keep her alive.

Her eyes welled up with tears, slowly streaking through the gore and grime on her face towards her ears. They finally had a chance to end it, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do.

 

[Lucem]

Nathan Pierce

Not wanting to be crushed, Nathan quickly repositioned himself as Davis and Vorbieva pushed against the black demon, causing the large stag to finally fall. Nobody was giving the beast a moment to breathe, all of its attempts at fighting back immediately stopped. Even Bishop had reemerged, helping his fellow captain restrain the demon's limbs.

Nathan didn't need to wait for Vorbieva to call for him. As soon as he had the opportunity, the young man moved in once again, focused on the glimmering heart he failed to hit before. His grip on the wires tightened as he joined his superior, not trusting the demon to lie there and accept its defeat. Even if every part of its body had been immobilized or chopped to bits, he refused to let his guard down and give the enemy even the slightest opportunity to worm its way out of this situation.

His knuckles whitened as he aimed his sword between the large antlers, watching for any sign of retaliation. A good number of his teammates were too injured to fight, and the rest would only grow more fatigued as the battle went on. This was their best and possibly only chance at putting an end to this fight before things got worse. With that in mind, he brought down the blade with great force, putting all his strength into what would hopefully be the last strike. Just let me go to bed already!

Coin

 

[Aldur]

Haruka

She brutally, repeatedly drove her forearm onto the ground for support and pulled herself closer to Angelica. For the most part, she ignored the sharp pain above her knee and only winced in pain when it became unbearable. Deep breaths in and shallow exhales out, inch by inch, she pushed through. And then it was the ringing. The awful, awful, deafening bellow of a dying behemoth. Haruka couldn't focus. She felt dizzy, close to throwing up, she couldn't even cover her ears. Stunned, on the cold hard ground, she made one last effort. She kept her head down and drove forward until her last arm became sore.

Slowly, her hearing would return and as she got closer to Angelica, she could make out her sharp, hindered breathing.

"Angelica?" she cried out with half the vigor she could muster. "Please keep breathing..."

Haruka's stoic demeanor collapsed under the weight of the situation and a sniffle betrayed her concerns for her companion. With twice the vigor she could muster, Haruka shouted to anyone who could hear her.

"REQUESTING MEDICAL ASSISTANCE!" Her voice cracked. One could hear the tears in her eyes by that point.
She then crumbled to the ground, next to Angelica. In an act of raw emotion, Haruka grabbed Angelica's hand and continued in a coarse voice on the verge of being lost. "Please don't stop breathing..."

The One Called X

 

[Coin]

Truesilver fell upon the night. The blade was a relic, an artifact, in every sense of the word -- a museum piece rather than a piece of kit. Nevertheless, the truesilver edge was more than a match for even a lord of Hell. As soon as the truesilver came down onto the heart, there was a brief moment of high-pitched screeching as the blade impacted, then shattered the layer of emytherium that surrounded the heart like a pane of glass. The blade disappeared into the heart with little resistance, cutting through the emerald like an errant blade of grass. The black demon's thrashing and struggling stopped almost instantly as every muscle jerked and locked stiff. Nathan's sword had found its mark true, and the heart of darkness sizzled and bubbled, filling the air with a heavy acrid smell of burning carbon.

There was a final wheeze from the demon's still form as it exhaled a final breath, chest deflating softly. Its piercing red eyes never shut, staring into the rainy abyss and clouds above. The heart at the apex of its antlers was cracked and skewered, and the shimmering light its once shone dimmed, then faded entirely. Though invisible to all except the keenest of hunters, the heavy emytherium that once surged through the demon's body was cascading from its body like a wall of hellish fog, a telltale sign that a demon of high caliber had indeed been slain. It would not be long before the corpse began its decay and steady return to the realm it was borne from.

Nik was among the first to move. She breathed a sigh of relief, shut her eyes and allowed herself three seconds of rest. One. Two. Three. Her eyes opened and her heart rate began to steady as her grip on her sword went slack. She so desperately wanted to slip into the unconsciousness that tugged at every inch of her body, but she still had a job to do. Lattimore was down, and it was up to her to fill shoes far too big. Nik left her massive sword embedded within the demon as she hobbled down from its corpse and onto the cold, wet pavement. She tried her earpiece, but the thing was a mess of melted plastic that fused to her skin. She ripped it out with a grimace and tossed it away.

"Secure the AO," the hunter-captain called out in her hoarse and grainy voice. "Davis, Price, make sure this thing never moves again -- secure the body." Nik started her slow limp towards Angelica and Haruka, "K, get in contact with NYPD, fire department, hazard teams -- tell them it's safe to move in. Get a triage set up a street over, and for the love of all, make sure Lattimore lives."

Nik fell to her knees in front of the bruised and battered hunters before her, "Haruka, kid, are you still with us? You guys did great, you two just need to hold on a little longer." Her healing magic was exhausted, and incapable of addressing wounds like theirs anyways. The least she could offer them was her best attempt at comfort, and basic first aid.

Lucem , The One Eyed Bandit , The One Called X , Aldur

 

[Lucem]

Nathan Pierce

Even though the demon had taken its last breath, Nathan refused to loosen his grip on the sword. The heart may have been destroyed, but he didn't want to risk something terrible happening if the target was still alive. He eventually relented when the large quantity of emytherium left its body, removing the blade from the demon's head. However, he didn't let his guard down completely. He still wasn't in a position where he could relax.

With how close he was to the demon, he could see its features clearly. He didn't have much time to observe when he was trying not to die, but that wasn't an issue now. He had a front-row seat to the creature's death, watching the life leave its body. It was just a corpse now, but it felt like it was still watching him. Those familiar red eyes made him feel uncomfortable, filling his head with unnecessary thoughts. Not wanting to feel the lifeless gaze linger on him any longer, he quickly got up, turning away from the demon. The pair of eyes wasn't the only unpleasant thing that came with being so close to the body. The horrible stench surrounding it was also pretty bad.

The overwhelming scent of carbon was almost enough to make him plug his nose. His abnormal sense of smell was enough of a reason to make the odor unbearable, but the memories he associated with it only made things worse. In the past, that smell was usually followed by one of the special meals he was forced to eat. His father and grandfather always insisted on picking out the worst body parts, as if those would be the best to help him grow big and strong. He could already feel his stomach churning.

Ignoring the demon's posthumous assault on his senses, Nathan sheathed his sword and immediately went to work. Following Vorbieva's orders, the Augur approached the wreckage of the Vexpara vehicle. Just like the guild members, the SUV had taken a lot of punishment, damaged beyond repair. Thankfully, the equipment inside was still in decent shape. The black demon's body was large, but it seemed like there was just enough truesilver banding for the job.

Returning to the body, he took a quick look around the area, seeing just how much damage had been done. A lot of people had been badly injured. They were surrounded by debris and fire, trying not to bleed out while being pelted by heavy rain. There were also some members who weren't so lucky. It would take some time before an official death count was released, but it was clear that the losses were great. Guild members aside, there were also the apartment residents to think about. His group only managed to find one survivor before everything went to shit. The black demon may have been dead, but when he took everything else into account, it was hard to call this mission a success. Well, it was over now. Thinking about stuff like that wouldn't do any good. Everyone had a job to do right now, including him.

 

[The One Called X]

Angelica Hudson
In, out. In, out. Breath after breath. It hurt too much, so she stopped. It was nice, for a few moments, the respite from pain, and then her body dragged in air again and her ribs shifted and she might have passed out or maybe not, maybe this was just what being conscious felt like now. Useless, useless, useless. Not a hunter, this one, always hiding and running and tossing around hellfire like false owl's eyes on butterfly wings, not a dragon, not the jackal, just a weak rabbit after all, and a broken one now, can't hunt can't run can't hide just waiting to die here-

Someone took her hand.

With effort, she turned her head. Haruka. She was... yes, she'd called for the medic. Keep breathing, she said.

"Tryin'" she mumbled. "Hurts."

She didn't want to die here.

The pain would get better, she had to endure. It had to stop sometime. It would get better. It would get better. It would get better. It had to get better she was tired she wanted it to stop it had to stop-

"Haruka, kid, are you still with us? You guys did great, you two just need to hold on a little longer."

Nik. She was still on her feet, then. Angelica wanted to scream. Her eyes welled up again instead.

"Sorry," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain. Fresh tears traced the tracks of old ones. "Couldn't put him down and-" she started coughing, her shoulders lifting as her body tried to curl in on itself, collapsing to the ground again with a series of wheezing gasps. Her vision was greying again. Her free hand clenched into a fist. "Fucking useless," she choked out, tears in her voice.


Aldur Coin

 

[Katsuya]

- Magnolia Noir -​

Everything was slow to her. Even as she pulled back the revolver as to not hit her teammates, Magnolia can see how the malicious demon fell from the truesilver swirling around him. How the captain swung her sword. How Nathan jumped in to deal the fatal blow to the heart. How that tantalizing heart stopped beating.

How Angelica’s body heavily landed on the debris filled ground and Haruka dragging herself to check on the teen.

Magnolia can feel the paralyzing shock rolling through her body as one thing came to mind, lowering the gun and putting it back to it’s holster. It’s over. The demon is dead. She can breathe. Without meaning to, as if instinct was in control, the tiny Crane was walking closer to where Haruka and Angelica was, thinking that they would be okay. Thinking naively that the teen would be jumping up again like she always has and their pink teammate would stoically shake her head until-

"REQUESTING MEDICAL ASSISTANCE!"

Magnolia snapped out of it, blinking owlishly as the world suddenly rushed back to normal. She vaguely realized that she can hear someone’s voice despite the loud ringing in her ears, making her believe the voice was screaming or yelling. Haruka. Her voice was rough which was weird for the half-demon to hear. That’s when she realized what was being said and quickly spun around. Heat emanating from her newly burned feet and a loud burst of air blew away the smaller pieces of debris as she bursts her way back to her childhood friend and the unconscious head of Vexpera.

”IRMA!” She shouted once she was close enough and stumbled in her stop. Crunching rocks under her feet. “Irma! P-please come with me!“

Magnolia gasped, gripping her knee with one hand and offering the other hand to the quiet woman in front of her. Her glowing green eyes snapped to Mrs. Lattimore as Irma turned her over. Her dry throat gulped in her ever growing worry, not realizing that she’s shaken up from everything. She didn’t dare say anything while Irma did her thing until she grabbed her hand to help pull her up. Then she securely held her friend up within her arms, quietly apologizing for any discomfort and to her unconscious boss that’s lying on the ground too —— auuuugh, everything is soooo messed up and bad — before blasting her way to Haruka. Having to stumble her stop once more and almost dropping Irma, but she tightened her grip as she planted her feet firmly.

That’s when Magnolia saw Angelica’s condition, loosening her grip on Irma’s waist before her knees gave out. Her bum hitting the ground as she leaned forward, placing her hands down to hold herself up while giving Irma space to do her job. “A-a-Angie?” She whimpered in a squeak, not being able to hear what the downed teen was saying in her gurgles nor able to read her quivering lips. Not when she can barely keep her composure to even focus what she was saying.

The tiny Crane is too scared to look anywhere other than Angelica’s face, afraid that if she does, she’d vomit from the sight of blood, oddly angled limbs, and the traumatic open wounds that’s waiting to spill her innards out. She frowned, grimacing at the rare sight of tears, thinking she’s crying from pain and not from being upset with herself. Then she forced a large and shaky grin on her abnormally pale face as she gently placed a hand over her bloody one. Hoping the mention of food will be comforting or enough to distract her from the pain. Okay, that’s reaching, she knows, but she wanted Angelica to stay awake.

“I’ll make your favorite food once you’re better. Just hang on while Irma helps you, okay?” Magnolia’s voice wavered at the end. As if choking back her sob.

Coin Roleplay Skittle The One Called X Aldur

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

Irma Grace Beauregard

No response. It wasn't something that she hadn't expected, her speaking to the unconscious woman had just been hopeful murmuring -- a way of keeping the thought that this person was alive and would remain so while in her care. Perhaps it was more a way to remain positive while also being a form of comfort, mostly for herself. She had virtually blocked out the chaos beyond the makeshift barricade that hid them from the view of the combat, focusing her all into sealing up the most lethal of Miss Lattimore's wounds while their comrades literally fought for their lives.

The civilian they had rescued was still there, hooked up to fluids that hung from a collapsible IV pole in the hopes that they might help keep her alive until she was able to get the more thorough aid she was in desperate need of.

The Emytherium that was coursing through Vexpara's leaders veins was reaching the limit and Irma came to a point where using the magic still was unnecessary as well as dangerous, "sorry about this Miss Lattimore," she spoke sincerely, whether or not the woman heard her didn't matter because the words were necessary for her own mind's sake as she retrieved one of the infernal ipecac capsules she had formulated for just such an occasion, carefully placing it at Miss Lattimore's back teeth before pressing her jaw up, waiting for the sound of the capsule as it popped and released the medication before she began running her fingers along her throat to encourage her to swallow.

Irma was rolling Miss Lattimore onto her side so that she wouldn't choke on her own vomit once the Emytherium relief compound took effect, when she heard the cry for medical assistance. She was already removing her coat and balling it up when Maggie arrived to retrieve her. Irma's hair was soaking wet from the rain and nearly as soon as she got her coat off, the dripping tail began assisting the fresh rain from the sky in soaking the fabric of her black turtleneck, her face only barely remaining dry because of the ballcap she still wore. She settled her wadded up coat behind Miss Lattimore to keep her propped as she gave a nod to Maggie, securing her pack on her back before the Half-Demon scooped her up, they were probably both lucky she was small.

As Maggie swiftly carried her to where the severely injured Angie lay, Irma held the rim of her cap and squinted her eyes shut against the wind and rain as it beat down more forcefully against them. Her other hand held onto Maggie's clothing, helping secure herself when her friend almost dropped her. She settled firmly to the ground as Maggie released her, smoothly continuing the downward motion and kneeling beside Angie before immediately setting to work. Her mismatched gaze drifted analytically over the Lesser Demon's form as she removed her backpack and set it beside her before briefing glancing to the additionally injured Haruka, it seemed that there were few that had escaped this battle unscathed.

Angelica was in bad shape, though despite this, Irma was seemingly unfazed and her movements didn't show any hesitation as she drew a phial of clear liquid from a reinforced zipper pouch along with a sterilized syringe and alcohol swab. She deftly tore the packaging of the swab, using it to sterilize a spot of Angie's skin on her arm before ripping open the packaging of the syringe and slipping the cap from the needle, speaking to Angelica as she filled the syringe, "Ang... you did good... it's over. I'm goin' to give you somethin' to help you rest now darlin'," she spoke comfortingly and calmly despite the circumstances, her free hand holding Angie's arm as she gave her the injection, "don't worry... I'll take care of you."

Outside of giving Angelica a break from all the pain, the sedative would keep her from losing control because of all the errant Emytherium in her system, it would also allow Irma to introduce more Emytherium into her system in order to heal her more excessive wounds. There wasn't a moment to spare, especially with the lack of Angie's own plague magic keeping her alive. Both of the Ouro's hands hovered over the most extreme points of Angelica's injuries as the bright white light of her healing magic flowed from them and seeped into the Lesser Demon like smoke. The plague spell immediately set to work as Irma knelt beside her injured comrade with her eyes closed and her brow furrowed while she focused thoroughly on guiding the magic towards its task, the ethereal tendrils of soothing light swirled with the blood that was leaking in Angie's body, manipulating it to turn back on the wounds it escaped from and heal them while guiding any of the excess towards repairing the damaged organs that were trying to fail the body they belonged to.

Interactions: Coin Katsuya The One Called X
Mentions: Aldur

 

[Coin]

Hunter-captain Valentin Bishop let out a sigh of relief once the black demon had been neutralized. There was relief, but also remorse that so many had been extinguished to bring such an evil down. Certainly Vexpara would be facing the brunt of the media and federal investigation over the case for months, maybe years. That didn't matter to Val -- all that bullshit could wait. His guildmates were dying, and he was still in shape to help. The hunter-captain ensured once more that his rappel rope was tightly secured to himself and the ledge of the apartment building he was about to scale down. He approached the ledge and grit his teeth. This would hurt.

Val had been relatively unscathed in the apartment collapse and suffered a dislocated shoulder which he promptly popped back into place. Ideally he would have let a doctor set it, but unfortunately he needed full control of his body to be considered combat-capable. The result was painful, but functional, and nothing compared to the price that other exorcists paid that night. In a few pained hisses, Val rappelled down the apartment building and rushed quickly over towards the stench of past infernal combat.

- - -

Nik was no more grim than she normally was. Death and killing was a close neighbor of hers, and though it never got easier, she could at least steel her appearance from betraying her true emotions. From most, at least. In that, many guild members respected her cold and calculated nature compared to Lattimore's lax-professionalism. She was an anchor in a roiling storm that everyone could rely on, even when things couldn't look worse.

The fact that Nik couldn't help Haruka or Angelica bothered her. She saw herself in both of them -- far too willing to put themselves in grave danger at such a young age. A lump formed in the hunter-captain's throat, and she felt her lip tremble at her grisly past threatening to haunt her. Thankfully, Maggie and Irma were thundering towards them to provide aid. Nik lowered herself further on her knees to the two wounded demons before her.

"Every dawn is wrought by the brave." Nik hushed in Stygian -- the ancient demon lect. Though Nik knew little Stygian, most demons were familiar with that simple phrase that predated human civilization. With that, she pushed a fist into the wet concrete and lifted herself off the ground just in time for Irma to arrive and administer aid.

Nik managed to hobble no more than a few meters away before the sound of jogging approached her from behind. She stopped in her tracks and turned to meet her fellow hunter-captain, Valentin. The look on his rogue-ish face turned from neutral to concerned in the blink of an eye. Val took unfastened his helmet and tucked it under his arm, revealing a head of matted-down blonde hair. Nik merely acknowledged her colleague with a nod.

"Nik, you look like you fell into a woodchipper," Val huffed in his ever-condescending Parisian accent.

"Feel like it," Nik mumbled in return. "Got word on Lattimore? I'm looking for her."

"You're worse off than she is."

"She's not like me," Nik flared her nostril in a half-hearted growl.

Val shook his head and looped a thumb into his duty belt, "They're going to airlift her to an ICU. NYPD is just waiting on a hazard team to transport her in something so she won't radiate a trail of emytherium large enough to be tracked by Chinese satellites. She'll make it, Nik, but that means we have to handle the after-action while she's out of commission."

Nik rumbled an acknowledgement.

"You look like shit, Nik," Val reached out and put a hand on the hunter-captain's shoulder. Normally, Nik wouldn't have allowed him to touch her, but she was far too tired and sluggish to keep up. "Let me handle the press conference and the police department. You go with the injured back to HQ and make sure everyone gets treated. Yourself included. I'll hold onto a handful of exorcists here just to help with the cleanup and look good for FOX 5."

"You know full well that police investigators and the press will be all over HQ too, Val," Nik narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, but our PR officers are there, not here. Let them do the talking, remember to shut all the blinds, and we'll be fine," Val assured as he started to peel away towards the ramshackle police barricade. "Speak later -- we'll keep in touch."

"Remember to smile, for the camera, pretty boy," Nik muttered under her breath as Val jogged away. She was certain he heard her anyway. Once Val was far enough away, Nik turned the other way to the gathering of Vexpara vehicles.

It was going to be a long night.

- - -

Tires screeched in the rain-soaked road near the collapsed apartment complex. A Vexpara SUV, unscathed, ripped from a side alley and swerved around rubble and craters all the way up to the festering corpse of the freshly felled black demon where it skidded to a stop. The driver's side door practically flew open as Claudia Morensberg tumbled out of the SUV. She had accidentally turned the car's highbeams on as she barreled out, which practically blinded Davis and Pierce as they were securing the corpse.

Claudia was a young woman, in her early twenties, and very clearly a guild intern at Vexpara. Though she had only been with the guild for less than six months, she had quickly been established as the 'excitable one' by most of the guild. This excitement often lead to errant clumsiness, which happened so often that some would mistake it as eager displays of malcoordination. Despite this, and some unofficial complaints, Lattimore personally vouched for the girl. Some careful digging by some more keen and connected members of the guild revealed that Claudia was the daughter of a bigshot within the German Federal Intelligence Service -- whatever that may imply.

"Scheiße!" Claudia shouted to the hunters as she clambered halfway back into the SUV to shut them off, bumping the horn for a split second. "Sorry, sorry!" Despite the chaos, she eventually managed to shut the highbeams off and smooth her composure as she closed the rest of the distance on foot. She was a short lass, no more than 5'4", a little extra in figure, and topped with a dirty blonde bob cut. She was very clearly not a hunter, as she was dressed in office attire -- a skirt and blouse with jacket. A laminated Vexpara badge hung from her neck , and a messenger bag was slung over her shoulder, rattling with metal and glass equipment as she jogged to the scene. She stopped just short of the demon and looked to the pair of hunters, then to the corpse.

"This is... this is incredible!" Claudia exclaimed, mouth slightly ajar. She was hardly containing her normally reserved German accent as she thumbed her thick glassed up the bridge of her nose. "A black demon? Here in New York?"

She dropped to a knee in front of the demon and opened up her bag, donning a pair of latex surgical gloves and opening a rack of surgical scalpels on the ground besides her. "Please, don't mind me, I'm just getting some samples back to the lab!"

Lucem , The One Eyed Bandit , The One Called X , Aldur , Katsuya , Roleplay Skittle

 

[Lucem]

Nathan Pierce

Instead of being allowed a moment to rest after restraining the black demon, Nathan's hard work was rewarded with a blast of blinding light to the face as another vehicle cut through the darkness. As he rubbed his eyes, he could hear a familiar accent coming closer, filling him with a sense of dread. By the time he could see again, Morensberg was already standing next to him and fussing over the decaying body. His vision was still clouded by a few dark spots, making it even harder to see during the rainy night. Getting blinded like this was arguably worse than having an entire building fall on him.

He was an overly cautious person, so he didn't like the idea of being around a massive klutz for extended periods of time. Seeing her reaction to the bound corpse was almost like watching a kid open presents on Christmas. It felt like all that effort was just wrapping a gift for this eccentric.

Nathan was quick to leave once the woman began preparing her equipment. He did his part, so he'd let her deal with the rest. Just looking at the demon's face was enough to make him feel uncomfortable, so he definitely didn't want to be around when she started messing around with its insides. The smell of carbon would probably intensify, making things a lot harder on his stomach. Nausea aside, he was still dealing with the effects of all that emytherium overwhelming his body.

He managed to avoid sustaining any major physical injuries, but it remained to be seen how the emytherium would affect him in the long run. He had built up a tolerance over the years, but this experience was a first. Well, even if it developed into something serious, he was still in better shape than most of the others. Compared to them, he definitely got off easy this time. Although, he still wasn't looking forward to riding his bike all the way to headquarters.

As the thought of the bike crossed his mind, the Augur inspected the spot where he left it. However, instead of his bicycle, he found a mess of metal and rubber in its place, the wet pieces covered by debris. It looked like he wouldn't have to worry about pedaling in the rain anymore. Just as he wondered what else could go wrong today, the young man let out a sneeze that made his head pound. There it is. It was going to be a long night.

 

[The One Eyed Bandit]

When the Demon fell, Katsura felt her knees buckle.

As the adrenaline in her veins started to dwindle, the magnitude of the situation properly began to set in. The smell of hellfire still hung in the air, intermingling with the tainted pungency of the blood that was now trickling from the Greater Demon's corpse.

As a recent addition to Vexpara's roster, this had been her first major incident. Unlike some of her fellows, she'd sent the most of her life pushing pencils, not slaughtering hell-beasts, so this sort of aftermath was quite new to her. It almost made her feel sick. Her greenness aside, though, she was still a professional, and at the very least was able to maintain an outer shell of composure until she could find her way to a pair of closed doors.

"Davis." She approached the grizzled woman from behind, and spoke sternly. While she might not have been a trained medic like the other Ouros of the Guild, she was still an Ouro, and that afforded her some authority over the wounded. "The healing I applied to you is only going to get you so far. Get yourself either to a hospital, or line up to receive aid from the other two. My magic isn't going to be enough to properly heal up that arm of yours either way."

"I doubt I'll be of much help here now, so I'll be heading back to HQ to... See if there's any paperwork I'll be able to help with, I suppose. This incident is going to be a nightmare on so many levels. Authorities,Press, Administration... Maybe I can get some of it out of the way for Kendra so she doesn't have to deal with so much after she's recovered from her injuries. If nothing else."

With that, the scene quickly begun to buzz with activity. Backup had arrived, as well as vultures too. Daddy's girl included, though it wasn't like she could rightly complain about the her background. Either way, she wasn't interested in being harrowed with questions by whatever pains in the neck that ended up being drawn in by the settling dust; so she made a break to get away from ground zero as soon as she could.

"Pierce!" She called after the perpetually grim-looking boy. "I guess that sorry heap was your ride home, huh? Sorry about it. Want to split a taxi?"

Lucem simj26

 

[simj26]

Davis

The adrenaline was fading from her body now that the dust was settling, so to speak. She didn’t bother to reply to the guildmaster’s orders, and shuffled over to her dropped rifle quietly. Now that her body had been lulled into a calm, everything was beginning to hurt. She was no stranger to these pains, and had experienced agony in places that most people didn’t even knew existed on their bodies, but, nonetheless, it was a painful reminder that she was still living. She gingerly picked up her carbine, and slung it around her, then slowly made her way back to the dead demon. Her eye surveyed her surroundings lazily as she came to a halt next to the body. Too early to give an ‘all clear’, she knew, but far too late to be bothered with that fact, she kicked the dead body, attempting to elicit a response from it, just so she could shoot it in the head again.

Much to her dismay, nothing happened. She groaned, and dropped down beside it. She reached for her side with her left arm, then winced as the pain returned to her. She let out another expression of exasperation, and moved her right arm instead, patting around her side for her flask. She finally found the silver canister, and fished it out from its hiding spot. She bit down on the cap, and, in a show of a lack of care of how she appeared to the others, unscrewed it with a few twists of her hand. She raised the flask, and poured its amber contents down her throat. God knew she needed the buzz. She didn’t want to know how many died, she didn’t want to know how many survived. She didn’t want to know anything. When the civilian came up to her to tell her about her injuries, Davis couldn’t give less of a damn. She didn’t care. Death passed her by today again, and came for many others. Who were they? She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. She took another large drink from the flask, and felt the burn of the alcohol pass through her system, dulling the pain.

“Shut up, civvie, and go home,” she waved at the office lady who had approached her, just a second too late, as she was already moving away from her.

She didn’t have to worry if someone else was going to bother her for long. About a minute later, a Vexpara SUV screeched to halt just in front of her, its headlights blasting its bright light straight into her eye. Jesus Christ on a cross, who the fuck was this? She shielded her eye, and reached for her handgun, ready to draw. She relaxed when the lights turned off, revealing the local sawbones from HQ. Claudia, or something, if Davis remembered properly. She was sure she remembered it wrongly. Either way, she was here for the demon, and the boss was okay with her. Davis grunted, and shifted to one side, letting her work whatever she did on the demon.

Incredible, she called it. Somewhere, mired by all the whiskey, bourbon, and brandy, something stirred inside Davis. Her instincts were struggling to tell her something, almost as if warning her that these words were a premonition of worse days to come.

 

[Katsuya]

Magnolia Noir

​

Magnolia looked where she saw movement, tense shoulders slumped when she realized it was Captain Nik, not the black demon. Her brows furrowed, lips pinched as she watched the lesser demon limp away. Shouldn’t she wait until ambulance comes? Ah-! But this is the captain! She knows what she’s doing, right? Still, Magnolia wanted to say something —like “You should rest until help comes” — but her words stayed on the tip of her tongue. Her sight going back to Haruka and Angelica and she decided to stay. Not say anything as she saw where the wounded captain headed off to: the familiar black SUVs of Vexpara.

Oh! There’s the ambulances! Right behind the SUVs. Good.

Struggling to stand up, her knees trembling from either relief or overuse on her running, the tiny crane waved her arms up to signal the paramedics. Screaming “Two are really hurt!” Once they got the stretchers laid out and carefully placing the pair of demons in, the paramedics lifted them up, and walked back to where the ambulances are. Meanwhile Magnolia signed Irma.

‘I’ll see you later tonight.’ Magnolia asked if Irma was going back to Vexpara to pray and once she got her answer, she hugged her childhood friend tight. Knowing that certain memories are popping up right now because of the rain. “Everything will be fine.” A stretch of the truth. There were a lot of dead teammates, a building is ruined, the whole area smells awful. So much so, that Magnolia is surprised she’s not throwing up yet. The rest of the living teammates are in need of intensive care or helping those who do need it, wounded as well. Everything is just bad, more than bad. For once, the tiny crane wanted to drink hard liquor.

She ran behind the medics, ignoring the aching pains in her arms and stinging burns of her legs.

———-

Magnolia threw up in the hospital, groaning as she felt a nurse pat her back. On her lap is a bucket. Angelica and Haruka are in the ICU, stable but still out of it at the moment. Or that’s what the doctors signed to her. She didn’t look at the clock, didn’t want to know how long she waited until she was allowed to see her teammates.

Muted lime green eyes stared at the moist bandages around her legs and feet, wiggling her toes. Yep, the blisters hurt like a bitc-

“Feeling better?” A nurse asked. Magnolia nodded as she read her lips, passing the soiled bucket to the nurse. “Thank you.” She mumbled, watching the nurse walk away. Then she carefully got off the patient’s bed, deeming her wounds not a big deal compared to others who will need the bed. She hobbled her way to where she can wait in the ICU, ignoring the worried glances and questions she got along the way; she just wants to stay with her wounded teammates.

It was only when the doctor finally gave her the clear to visit, did Magnolia smile and hobbled into the room where Angelica and Haruka were staying at. Sat down on the semi hard couches that were aligned by the walls and window and sighed in relief. Bittersweet relief.

Coin Roleplay Skittle The One Called X Aldur

 

[Aldur]

Haruka

Ba dum tss. The black demon dropped like a bad punchline. She felt the ground shaking and started grinning ear to ear as if someone told her the circus was in town and the clown was up to no good, again. She felt relieved.

Haruka exhaled deeply and gazed at the night sky, suddenly tightening the grip around Angelica's hand, as if to draw her attention to the stars. There were no visible stars in this city. Too much light from the protracted buildings. However, there were stars in her eyes as she felt Angelica's hand react to hers. Haruka's vision was starting to blur. It's raining, still. she thought. The real world was coming back to her second by second. First came the blinding lights which she reckoned belonged to some form of large vehicle, she paid them no mind. Second, came the deafening cacophony of sounds from which she could swear she heard someone familiar, but she paid it no mind. Third came the pain as it became clear to Haruka that the adrenaline was rapidly draining from her body, she paid it lots of mind. Suddenly, she regretted everything that had transpired up to then. Thoughts of leaving the Guild and flicking Kendra off fired up in her brain just as intensely as her pain receptors in her body.

Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. FUCK YOU, LATTIMORE! YOU CAN TAKE THIS DIABOLIC BUSINESS YOU'RE RUNNING AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR...

Haruka was beginning to lose consciousness, which made even her inner thoughts sound like the slurred gibberish of a drunk hobo on the side of any of NYC's many streets. Not too long after she lost touch of what was happening around her. Feverish visages of fantastical scenarios played out in her mind for what felt like one whole year. Part of what she heard was in Japanese, another part was in British and US English and only some of it was in German. Natürlich, konnte sie nichts davon verstehen. The fever dream never once paused to check if Haruka could understand what was going on. It rushed as if someone's life was on the line.

"Where's the fire?" she meant to say, but instead she could barely move her lips and something less than corrigible would even be heard, if at all. The figures who required Haruka's attention in her dream barely seemed like humans at all. She could only distinguish silhouettes. It was as if the verbose entities were being swallowed by a bright light. For a moment, she feared that the light would engulf her as well, but she could barely feel her body and she couldn't move, despite trying. She wouldn't be able to make sense of anything until later.

Haruka woke up in what most people would call a bed, Haruka included. A bed of torture, as she still could barely move and as soon as she tried to, her pain receptors once again fired up all across her body. What came was a half-assed, hollow groan that sounded more like an angry cat than a full-fledged demon huntress. After the pain allowed her to, she no longer felt Angelica's hand. She tried to jolt herself upwards, a maneuver she would come to regret instantly and then resent for the entirety of two minutes. She would try to sound Angelica's name, but all she could do was croak
helplessly. She ought to ask for a raise.

 

[The One Called X]

Angelica Hudson

"Every dawn is wrought by the brave."

“I’ll make your favorite food once you’re better. Just hang on while Irma helps you, okay?”

Maggie? Angelica wondered. Maggie shouldn't be there. Angelica wasn't sure where she was, but it was a bad place, and Maggie didn't belong there.

But- no. It was a mission. A mission. Maggie was part of the team. Angelica only felt like this because-

Because you fucked up, kiddo.

"Ang... you did good... it's over."

Irma. A medic. That was... good. It wasn't time to die yet. Too much to do.

The world was hazy, but she could still feel the cold press of the needle against her arm. She should protest, she thought. Insist that she didn't need it but god help her she was so tired of hurting. She didn't fight the sedative as it pulled her down into oblivion. After a time- seconds or hours, Angelica couldn't tell- it seemed that Nik's words were all that was left in her head.

The brave, she thought. The brave.

***​

Angelica woke up, and she felt incredible.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that they must have given her the good drugs, and that probably had less than cheerful implications, but the front part of her mind didn't really care about those. Did minds really have front parts and back parts? It was a very physical concept to apply to something like a mind.

It was very dark, but that was probably because her eyes were closed. It took some effort to blink them open. The ceiling had the sort of cheap mass-produced tiling you'd expect in a hospital.

A hospital. Yes. That is where they sent people with injuries because that is where they kept the drugs.

But the tiles. The tiles were incredibly funny. They were all squares of the exact same shape and size, but they all had different little patterns of dents in them, which was absolutely hilarious. Angelica giggled, then froze. She'd expected her ribs to hurt, but they didn't, which was even funnier. She turned her head to muffle her laughter- her arms, they weren't cooperating. Had minds of their own, all of a sudden. Possessed, like that one kinda racist movie. She caught sight of Maggie and blinked in lieu of waving.

"Maggie!" she chirped. "Hiiiiiiii." She paused, brow furrowing, thinking hard. "I- There's- I was worried? What was I worried about before? Is it okay now?"


Katsuya