Description: Baiken goes hunting for the Butcher and bites off a little more than she can chew.
The Butcher is infamous.
That's really the only word for it. The public believes him to be a deranged serial killer; they don't know his name or his background, beyond the fact that he is apparently a copycat of an older murderer. To them he is a person - a terrifying person to be sure, but just a person. They trust the police to deal with the matter, to bring whoever it is to justice - to make it stop.
One person believes she knows better. Where the papers say 'a person wielding weapons of terror', Baiken hears 'monster'. She has first-hand knowledge of the terrible things in the night, because she was once attacked by someone very much like him.
Baiken doesn't trust the police to solve this matter. She doesn't trust anyone to solve the matter - except herself, by the only means she has available to her. Monsters hurt nobody if they are dead and gone.
Though she had been upset when she'd lost her belt, it means Baiken had nothing tying her down. She ignored her professional contacts; she took no scheduled fights for money. She had something more important to do. It was for that reason that she came to Southtown to stalk and hunt, her knowledge of monstrous beings serving her at least fairly well.
Baiken has not seen the Butcher yet. That doesn't mean she hasn't been trying - every night since she actually arrived in Southtown. She knows there have been more attacks in places she wasn't. All that does is make her step up her search across the city, and in regions nearby. Places like Southtown's import harbour, where there are a hundred dark alleys and a thousand places to hide. It's active, even at night - but there are some places where few people go, and the constant low-grade violence here means that attacks may occur but not be obvious.
It seems, in short, like a place she really ought to look, and that's why the night brings Baiken stalking through the dark sides of the harbour, sword at her hip. She frequently stays high, on buildings to make it easier to scout; jumping from one to another seems to give her few problems.
It is not hard to find someone who wishes to be found.
Baiken had simply had bad luck; nothing more, and nothing less. Another figure has been strolling around Southtown, occasionally praying on a stronger-looking thug or individual for reasons unknown. Picking them away, without causing the public to be alert. As far as the media is concerned, there has been only the apartment massacre, unsolved although nothing to bring undue alarm. After having lost his squallid little apartment, he's indeed in the docks, 'resting' in a trance of partial awareness. He does not sleep, not like a normal person does, only enter states of dormancy...
Which is why both he and Baiken sense each other at around the same time. Himself, a dark and twisted void. A deeper nightmare than she likely expected, as if a hundred twisted voices wove into a single being. She has fought many Darkstalkers in her time since losing limb and eye, but this may be the most fitting term for monster yet. How many souls are trapped inside him?
And how large is his own? Eyes snap open, and suddenly the world fills with mist. In the general direction that Baiken felt the creature, before she could home in on it, a cloud of dense fog rolls out in all directions. It feels vile and repugnant, but suddenly within the midst a shadowy form manifests and then lands heavily on an adjoining warehouse, causing his summoned obsfucation to dissipate immediately. This... Baiken has heard of this.
'The Slayer of the Mists' was a story heard before by her when she was young. Speaking of a great mist that ebbed and vanished, punctuated by screams. Of fifty people, perhaps twelve lived to tell the tale. Could that be him? It is nearly impossible such ancient evils could share the same abilities...
But right now, the Butcher is in a more modern take. Black leather pants, along with a bike jacket, thefted from his latest victim. He wears the front open, dark bronze with blonde hair settled in dense cornrows. Outwardly, nothing looks untoward about him. Normal teeth are grinning, normal eyes are slit, but it's obviously a mere mastery of shapeshifting. This is not his true form. No; he might be able to take any form he desired, she could sense.
"Ah... that look in your eye. I like it. Are you strong...?"
In a city the size of Southtown, a few deaths quite easily go unnoticed - especially when they primarily involve the poor, the criminal - people that the mechanisms of the city rarely trouble themselves with except when they cause problems. Oh, maybe eventually someone will put together that the rates of people vanishing are a little higher than usual... but maybe not. It might be lost in probabilities.
Which is why Baiken is not surprised that people /are/ vanishing, and that most people don't realize it. Why would they? They're people that most of the city doesn't want to see.
Baiken herself has a spiritual presence. A ball of rage and hate against what is different, against what is monstrous; she doesn't fight to protect people as much as she fights to kill what she does not understand, what she despises, and what hurt her long ago. It is popular, among some people, to believe that anyone willing to fight demons and monsters for no reward must be a good person. Baiken puts a lie to that. She wants to /kill/ what she feels tonight.
When the mists appear, Baiken stops moving. She tenses, shifting into a lower stance, hand on her sword's hilt as if she expected to be attacked at any moment. Her single eye narrows, as if by sheer focus and determination she could see through the fog. She cannot - but it fades, at least enough to make the man (who she does not think of as a man) visible.
Baiken pays more attention than most to old stories of monsters and demons. They aren't always right, but they often have fragments of the truth concealed in them. So whether this man is the Slayer of the Mists or not, Baiken remains on guard. He's more than what he seems; that, at least, is absolutely clear to her. If she was the sort of person who worried about things like that, she might regret having looked for the Butcher alone, but she is not. Anyone else would only be a burden.
She does not speak to him at first. Her hand slides down the hilt of her sword, resting on it in a manner that looks casual but is not, as it can turn into her reverse grip in a flash. Baiken stares at him, her single eye still narrowed, her missing one flat and slack except where the scar pulls the flesh.
"I don't speak to things like you." Baiken's voice comes out as something just above a snarl, and it's followed very shortly by Baiken herself; she makes a mad rush across the rooftop, charging toward the Butcher. Only at the last moment does she draw her sword, slashing in the same motion she draws it - and she keeps running after her slash, passing by.
"I kill them!"
COMBATSYS: The Butcher has started a fight here as a boss!
THE BUTCHER
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COMBATSYS: Baiken has joined the fight here.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Baiken successfully hits The Butcher with Suzuran.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 0/-------/----===|
"Things...? Yes. I suppose speaking to 'things' like you is a recent hobby. One shouldn't..."
The Butcher was far too lax. Baiken rushes forward with incredible speed, and he only just begins to unfurl his arms and shift when the blade manifests. Ripping through shoulder to hip, slicing away leather. The feel of it was strange, meaty but not in a manner she's so used to in her countless years striking down beasts. Her instincts would tell her it's an important clue, but not why.
"...talk to their food..." he finishes, before turning around. Then she might notice two things strange. There's not a single drop of blood upon her sword, as clean as when first drawn. And there's only blackness where she cut, beneath his skin. Slowly it begins to knit back into place, although it will likely take a few minutes to fully vanish. He doesn't look very pained or discomforted by it in the slightest.
"How long has it been, since I've been hunted by a sword?! So nostalgic. Not since I was roused last some years back. Ahhh... the fires, and the screams. Delicious. But they all die. No matter how much I say such cliches. 'It's pointless.' 'You can't win.'"
"'I'm immortal.'"
The latter marks his transformation, smile twisting overlong. Teeth slowly transform into sharp, twisted shark-like canines, sawtoothed along the edge. Fingers warp until claws form. His muscles seem to bulge out as well. But this... is just the surface. She's still not looking upon the real thing; except for his eyes, blackening to strange clouds of mist. A twisted long tongue lolls out, wavering in the air. "I've only sampled a soul as strong as yours a couple times... I'm going to enjoy this...!" He then kicks forward, explosion of force denting the roof. Splayed fingers raking down, intent on striking into the woman and driving her backwards further down the building's roof to the edge. "Come, hunter! SLAY me!! But it won't be as easy as when I was a child!!"
COMBATSYS: The Butcher successfully hit Baiken with Strong Claw.
- Power hit! -
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/-------/=======|
Almost all of the things Baiken has cut in her life bleed. Sometimes the blood looks a little unusual, but it is still /there/. Never has she cut flesh and drawn nothing but blackness and mist.
Baiken snarls, whirling herself around to continue to be able to see the Butcher. On the misty roof, there's only a limited amount of room to move without dropping down from it. That's an option, though - and some other things she can see. If nothing else, Baiken tends to be resourceful about her violence.
But right now she's working herself into a fury, or the Butcher is doing it for her. His transformation seems to signal to Baiken to not look away, and his words are slowly (or not that slowly) enraging her. He's pushing some buttons, even if he doesn't mean to - though she would not put it past him to do so, if he knew her history. Few people do, but 'few' does not mean 'none'.
She stares at those eyes of his like she could put them out with her gaze alone. And then she nods, very slightly - almost imperceptibly, really. She will take this challenge. She doesn't want to die here - but only because she wants to spend her life killing That Man. Beyond that, she doesn't care - and something like the Butcher, or the Slayer in the Mists, is probably her greatest challenge to date.
But he's so /fast/. He springs at Baiken, and her attempt to bring her single arm up into a defensive parry with her sword is simply too slow to manage it. The claw digs into her side, driving her backwards - but Baiken is a lot tougher than any woman her size and build has a right to be, and strong. She pushes back, resisting, sword held to try to keep the Butcher from biting her; while Baiken gets close to the edge of the roof, she does not fall off. The pain staggers her; it does not stop her.
She snarls, "That's exactly what I intend to do. I'll leave your corpse for the crows - if you even leave one!" Baiken's sword arm is locked with the Butcher, trying to hold him back - but her empty arm is free. It almost looks like Baiken shrugs, and a straight length of metal drops down, sharpened on both sides as well as its flat tip. Baiken swings it wildly, trying to smash the Butcher away from her by sheer enraged strength; this is not a finesse weapon, though its large size and wide sweep make it effective enough as a battering tool.
COMBATSYS: The Butcher interrupts Youzansen from Baiken with Chum Bucket EX.
~ Cruel hit! ~
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/--=====/=======|
As expected, the Butcher charges forward, another brutal claw sent towards the girl when she seems vulnerable; this one is evaded with some effort and perhaps a few torn lines within her clothing, before his teeth snap forward and find her blade. Had it not been there, it seems to have been headed for her throat. A loud grating noise before she rips it free, tearing open his cheek with no further effect than has been seen so far. "Oho... you're durable..." Both of his hands find his pockets, a strange and peculiar defense. But it makes him seem far more vulnerable than he is -- for one of his greatest weapons happens to be something few are used to defending against. He suddenly lunges forward, twisting sidelong. The weapon rakes across him, shredding his outfit, but it seems to not slow him in the slightest. Teeth find the shoulder of her severed arm, sinking in deep with preternatural power. Before he thumps his elbow right upon her wound, causing a new flare of pain for no reason other than raw sadism. A savage jerk of his head follows, trying to push Baiken to the point her heels hover over the two story drop to the debris-filled alley. His arms are held out wide, daring her to risk leaping back and escaping those claws. He's got a good five black cuts within him, but they do not bleed, leak mist, or anything. Simply... slowly closing. Was his warning at the onset genuine? Did she lack the means to kill him with physical force? Some Darkstalkers have potent lifeforces, requiring seals, special weapons, or counters to slay. Everything she's seeing indicates this monster is one of them. Meaning the true fight here is for her pride. "I won't let you run." he almost purrs out. "Not so rare and wild a soul as yours... it's too late to regret facing me, wretched human. How many of my kind have you slain? How many of them commited any sin? How many of them only commited a sin because of how humanity ostracized and hated them?!"
Baiken's missing arm has... something there. Metal, chains. Whatever it is, her sleeve slides back over it, even ripped - but her secret weapons are at least known. She has more than just that metal bar, which she's pulled back up with some practiced movements of her arm and body.
The Butcher may not be possible for Baiken to kill right now. That isn't going to stop her from trying. She rarely flees. Some people have called her too stubborn; others, too stupid. Just pain isn't going to do it, though, not immediately. Pain is transitory. And there's always the possibility that the Butcher /isn't/ impossible to kill... just difficult. She has some skills yet to be tried.
Baiken feels her heels leave the ground. She leans her weight forward, standing on the front part of her feet for a moment. She is grinning despite the new blood trickling down both sides of her body - or perhaps 'grin' is the wrong word. What she's doing is too feral for that. Her eye is showing too much white around the odd pink iris.
"Not enough of you freaks." Baiken tests her footing - poor, but she could stand here if she wanted to. For the moment. "Don't even try to convince me you're anything but a monster. I know enough, Slayer in the Mist." Hunting for an opportunity, Baiken sees one. Her claw drops out of her sleeve on its black chain, jingling as she swings it around with her sword arm.
She does not throw it at the Butcher. She throws it the other way, catching onto a light; the light isn't on, but that doesn't stop her from kicking off the roof - and the stomping kick sends up a green square of chi, flipping upward and discharging a rather large pink burst at the Butcher!
Though Baiken would not be heartbroken if the burst of chi struck the Butcher, the primary goal of stepping off was to reposition herself. Attached to her claw by a long chain, Baiken swings herself in a wide arc. The claw detaches from the streetlight partway through her arc, sending her flying at another roof. Once there she has to pause for a moment, using her sword arm to pull in the chain so that she's not dragging her claw behind her.
COMBATSYS: Baiken successfully hits The Butcher with Tatami Gaeshi.
- Power hit! -
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/-======/=======|
"Eheheheh... I AM a monster... but I was born human..." the Butcher comments, before suddenly blinking in surprise at that name. The blow takes him off his feet, mouth gaping open as spittle flies free. It actually rips right /through/ him, a few black globlets appearing in the air behind. He lands heavily on his feet, digging in his toes to stop his forced retreat. Sucking in a deep breath, the wayward inky liquid is sucked in and swallowed. Yet again, it doesn't seem that even blowing right through him is causing any adverse effects. "Slayer in the Mist...? Yes. I feasted for quite some time on this country. So many strong-willed fools like yourself." His black eyes narrow, before another burst of mist flows out. It's far faster this time, and in an eyeblink it would whisk across Baiken in her new position. Within it is horrible cold, before suddenly there seems to be /four/ large shapes. Each of them begins to lash out, a brutal onslaught of sweeping claws, snapping teeth, two attempting to grapple, twist, yank upon Baiken. A horrific melange of cackles whirls in the gray void, before all of it vanishes, leaving only a single one of him behind. "Slayer of the Mist... the Crimson Ghost... Sword Eater..." The latter one might come as a surprise. It was known for a time that talented men at arms were picked off and killed, but that they fell prey to this man? He did mention she was not the first to test steel against him with no success. "I've been all over this world. Each time I awoke, reveling in the gluttonous sin of my food's civilization, and eating until sated. I'm already half full... worry not. Soon I'll return to the dark, taking with me the essence of every soul I've stolen...!!"
COMBATSYS: Baiken fails to interrupt Massacre from The Butcher with Baku.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 0/-------/-======|
Baiken actually had a plan.
She needed some distance to put it into effect, though - because this is one of the more complicated maneuvers she knows how to do. It doesn't depend on her sword or her strength of arm, but something very different - something else Baiken is skilled at, but not in the same way.
So she lets the Butcher talk, listening to his words and learning. She has already learned a lot - if she survives. She lets him come for her - but what she was not expecting is four at once with a chilling wash of mist to cover their approach. If they even approached at all; she couldn't see them coming - and when Baiken can't see something coming, it must be difficult indeed, as despite having but one eye she still sees plenty during a battle.
Baiken stomps her foot. A pink-red glyph appears in the air in front of her - but one of the Butchers' images (or possibly the original one) goes right through it before it stabilizes, causing it to drift like released smoke in the mist. It does little to stop him from going through - a tingle, a wash of chilling energy, little more.
Baiken goes down under the onslaught. Not permanently; she struggles to rise even as one of them savages her back and side. Even using her empty sleeve's chain to help keep the Butcher away from her torso on that side, she can't manage it - and another carves into her other arm, nearly causing her to drop her sword. She hangs on mostly through white-knuckled determination, snarling defiance even as he rips at her.
One thing became certain in the midst of the assault; which one was real. The moment that burning chi sigil appears, one howls in pain and grasps at his back. The other three are undeterred, continuing to rip into her before slowly beginning to dissipate along with the Butcher's concentration. When it all fades away, he's panting heavily, looking to be far more affected by a failed sealing technique than he was by all of her slices and onslaughts before. "You... know how to seal?!" Baiken felt it. An incredibly powerful 'Anti-Darkstalker' spell is in effect upon the man. Carved into his very soul, it felt like. As if hungering for her to succeed. What might the effect have been...?! "Still... still those wretched, outdated techniques survive?! Forget devouring your soul!!" Suddenly the mist blossoms, and /Three/ Butchers rush out, biting at her brutally in tandem. Each aiming to sink saw-toothed teeth in and rip, before repeating it, a total of nine blurred bites. This is followed by a last bite, aimed at her throat -- with intent to crush it beneath teeth able to shear through metal as he twists in a ripping motion, growling loudly. "You're going to be nothing but a corpse now. Hahaha... I really DID drop my guard a bit too much... 'that man' told me this city would be safe...!!"
COMBATSYS: The Butcher blitzes into action and acts again!
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Baiken dodges The Butcher's Feeding Frenzy.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Baiken blocks The Butcher's Chomp! EX.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken feels a surge of energy. Victory /is/ within her grasp; he's not nearly as invincible as he claimed. If she could, she'd repeat the assault - but she can't, or at least not immediately. Such a technique is difficult; it's hard for her to bring up power and hold it just so, releasing it all at once. She needs some time to gather the energy again.
Which means she has to survive until that point, something that the Butcher is apparently unwilling to let her do. Still, her feral, near-insane grin/snarl returns, her eye showing even more white than before as she fights herself for control.
"Of course I can kill you," Baiken snarls, before continuing to ask, "What man." Baiken states it more than asks, really, and it doesn't help that a mere moment later, she howls, "What man? Who sent you?!" The Butcher's burst of speed is answered with a sudden surge of her own; she never stops moving on the new roof. The blurring figures come in and Baiken is leaping, kicking up a cloud of harmless but concealing dust and dirt as she throws herself backwards. The last one goes for her throat, but she interposes something between his jaws and her throat, leaving her slammed into but not bitten.
It's her claw hand. The Butcher crushes the claw in his teeth, twisting and shattering the 'box' the claw 'fingers' attach to; harmless for Baiken, except that it leaves her with a damaged weapon - more than a weapon, really, but a whole tool. She uses that claw more than anything else up her sleeve. For most people that might be a good time to leave; for Baiken, she sees it as giving her time to regather her energies.
"Come on, then!" Baiken whips the ruins of the claw around, as if she was going to attack with the bladed 'fingers' for as long as they hold out. It is purely to get the Butcher's attention; her actual attack is redrawing her sword, suddenly making a short, precise cut at the midline, then another much bigger one. She might not be hurting him by cutting him, but wounds do open - and if she can tear him in half, it should at least slow him down long enough for her to try what she did a second time!
COMBATSYS: Baiken successfully hits The Butcher with Fierce Strike.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/-------/=======|
"The man... who woke me up before I was ready... what business of it is yours?!" the Butcher growls out, sounding more annoyed than anything else. "The one who rewarded me with the scent of flames and the sound of screams!! Watching from the hills nearby was ecstatic... if only I could have taken part~" He's momentarily distracted by the thoughts, dulling his attacks somewhat when they rip out. Teeth crunch heavily on something... something -- not flesh? He rips it mostly in twain, spitting away a few broken shards of razor edge. It's torn up the inside of his mouth, but to little effect. The initial cut she did upon him is mostly closed now. There's a sense of him weakening all the same... eventually, he'll reach some point where his essence fails, but there's no longer any doubt that isn't fatal. No. Even sealing him wouldn't be. But perhaps that cruel fate is better than sending him to whatever hell monsters go to? Both of the wicked slashes rip heavily into the Butcher, peeling deep with the same strange, liquid-like resistance. He lets out an annoyed snarl, before suddenly twisting and lashing out with his hand. Aiming to sink them all within Baiken's midsection, before biting towards her side. With the intention of savagely drawing in opposite directions, trying to eviscerate her bodily upon the rooftops. "Stupid girl... what use is your trick... if you are still weaker than me?!"
COMBATSYS: Baiken dodges The Butcher's Riptide.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/-------/=======|
Cruelty is not something Baiken concerns herself with. If what she does is cruel, she does not care. She doesn't go out of her way to hurt people... but the Butcher, to her, is not a person. He is a thing to be exterminated; his emotional state is not worthy of being considered except, possibly, to manipulate or bluff.
Angry as she is, Baiken is more likely to be the one being manipulated. She's furious; only her skill at arms is keeping her from lashing out wildly. That and sheer stubbornness, as she continues to impose her will on the battlefield. He slashes with his hand, trying to dig into her side; Baiken twists away, a shuffling step that keeps her just out of reach. It's bare inches. She's not trying to escape.
"I'm strong enough to deal with you," Baiken says, raising her hand and getting into the same position she started the seal from last time. That /is/ a bluff; she still isn't quite ready for it, and so Baiken twists her body, flinging out the ruined remnants of her claw arm. Rather than hook with the bladed fingers, since those are damaged or missing, she simply tries to wrap the chain around the Butcher's arm and drag him off balance by main strength! With his injuries, she's counting on him being weaker, physically, than he was before; if he's not, this has little chance of success unless she gets lucky.
COMBATSYS: Baiken successfully hits The Butcher with Kabari.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/-----==/=======|
"Strong enough... Don't make me laugh." The Butcher hisses out, before suddenly shifting his stance and then turning towards her. "I can end this any time I feel like it..." He lifts up his left hand, bloodied heavily by the wounds torn into Baiken. Suddenly she lashes out, and an attempt to maneuver away fails -- he's caught and yanked heavily, but in a flex of his body it's clear his strength remains as it was, brutally twisting and snapping down his teeth to sever the chain at the links with a growl.
"Like... THIS."
He snaps up his fingers. Blood splatters out, aiming to hit Baiken in her good eye. A great wall of mist goes surging out, but seems to vanish almost immediately upon touching the other girl. She'd then sense the man was standing behind her, poised in a follow-through for some attack. Did he throw one...? If successful, the sudden manifestation of horrific wounds ripped across her flesh a few moments later would be a good herald to it.
"Now DIE...!!"
COMBATSYS: Baiken just-defends The Butcher's Genocide!
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/-----==/=======|
It didn't work. Baiken releases the chain to avoid being pulled off balance herself, but it ends up not mattering when the Butcher severs it. This is going to force her to re-equip - nothing she can't do, and she's more interested in success than economy.
People regularly go after Baiken's one eye. She's used to it; advertising a weakness guarantees that unscrupulous, desperate or tactically inclined opponents will go after it. She closes it for a moment, ducking her head, and blood splatters across her forehead; opening her eye again, she starts to move almost before the Butcher does.
She can do nothing against mist. Baiken doesn't even try, holding her sword in a bit of a different grip. She sidesteps to the side, apparently dodging nothing at all, slapping three times with the flat of her sword at the thin air.
The Butcher is almost certainly going to be surprised when his enormously, impossibly fast attack - is parried, her blade ringing with the impacts so close together it makes a single noise rather than a series of metallic chimes. Baiken has a very, very similar maneuver, and just this once she managed to see it coming, in some kind of martial trance.
Her lips curl. "Last chance," she says. "Do you want this over quickly? Or do I have to make it slow?!" With the last word, Baiken attacks again; her foot lashes out, trying to hook around the Butcher's foot and drag him towards her at the same moment she stabs straight down, a bloody thrust that might well pin him to the rooftop if he was made of flesh and bone and not something more fluid.
COMBATSYS: The Butcher dodges Baiken's Armed Combo.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/----===/=======|
"...Hahaha." The Butcher whirls around, lifting up his heel and avoiding the attempted hook of Baiken's foot. The thrust of the blade is whirled around, before he's suddenly coming towards her once more, an almost vicious dance now as they whirl in the quickly dissipating supernatural mist. Attempting to snap his teeth upon her throat and rip out a hearty chunk of it, although even if he succeeded it's liable she can shift to somewhere less deadly. "You still think you have a chance?!" But now he sounds more frustrated -- and perhaps slightly concerned. His dominating start has been mostly torn away by now, but the Butcher appears to be far from defeated himself just yet. "I've already told you... I'm immortal!!"
COMBATSYS: Baiken blocks The Butcher's Aggressive Bite.
THE BUTCHER
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Baiken 1/---====/=======|
Where the Butcher is concerned and frustrated, Baiken is feeling elated. She's wearing it down; yes, granted, if it was a normal person the wounds it had taken already would have killed it, but supernatural or not it is losing its lead. An ambush predator ... but Baiken survived the ambush, and she has a weapon to use against it that it didn't originally expect. That puts the ball in her court.
She's hurt, though. Baiken is using all the room on the roof but she's running out for a second time; she uses the shoulder of her missing arm to push into the Butcher, keeping him from snapping a hole in her throat but worsening the wound he delivered to it already. It's like grinding it against a wall; it /hurts/. She's bleeding from a dozen wounds, some of which are quite serious.
Baiken was always good at ignoring pain.
"Nothing lives forever; life is a momentary event." Baiken almost appears to have dropped out of her mindless rage for a few seconds, which is a dangerous thing for the Butcher - not entirely, though, judging by the crazed look in her one eye as she draws in power. This is something the Butcher has seen before; this is something the Butcher wants no part of. "BAKU HOU!"
This time, Baiken manages to form the entire red and pink symbol in the air. There is a sense of pulling, of wrenching, as Baiken's power threatens to clash with the Butcher's own unless he stays away from it - but if he doesn't, the power flows into something that looks like nothing so much as a colourful pattern on a card, highly stylized mist or smoke.
If it forms - and it will, if the sealing does its job - Baiken slashes through it, viciously. One might expect this would cause the power to return. It does not; it would cause the Butcher's essence to become agonizing, as if slashed through the heart. Plus whatever other problems he has from it...
...all she has to do is make it work.
COMBATSYS: The Butcher blocks Baiken's Baku.
THE BUTCHER
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0|---------------|-==============
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Baiken 0/-------/-----==|
"You make it sound like... I consider my immortality a BLESSING!" growls the Butcher, twisting away and lashing out with his claws once more, the strike just barely missing the girl within such close proximity. But then the seal once more forms, and he howls in pain. A light is visible through his jacket on his back, that seems to be causing him incredible pain. He staggers backwards from it, veins rippling black and expression becoming more nightmarish. But just as she cuts, he dissipates once more into mist. The cut slashes through it, purifying much of the demonic power. He does not immediately return, nor does the mist spread as it did before. After a few moments he seems to collapse down to his knees, panting heavily. Close. So very close. "...Fool. ...That was your... last chance!!" He then rushes forward, opening his maw wide and attempting to strike it down upon her arm, intent on ripping his claws in after. Savage, feral, cornered, the monster acting more like it's namesake now with every moment. If she wishes to take him down, it had better be soon...!! His essence may falter, but it seems to recover quickly. A battle of attrition will do neither side much good!
COMBATSYS: The Butcher successfully hit Baiken with Strong Bite.
THE BUTCHER
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1|--------------=|===============
[ \\\\\\\ <
Baiken 0/-------/=======|
"If you want to end this, then go! Return to the earth!"
She's starting to flag, whether she wants to or not. Baiken has no supernatural ability to heal; her wounds are not knitting any faster than any other fighter's. What she is is stubborn to the point of madness, determined to keep going despite the condition her body is in. Eventually, willpower isn't enough to keep her moving.
The Butcher's teeth close around Baiken's arm. She feels the teeth dig in, the claws a moment after, and Baiken knows she will not be able to fight for much longer as the sharp surge of pain hits. She lets out a sound like a strangled grunt, forcing herself to not react to the blood coursing down her remaining arm. She can't keep this up much more; her mind doesn't seem to be working right, to say nothing of her body.
And then Baiken does something that might be stupid.
Baiken moves forward. With teeth clamped into her arm, she can't actually /go/ anywhere, so it's more of wrapping her body partially around the Butcher, bending her legs so she's in a partial squat. This means that her body is against his side, her sleeve resting against his back. It feels slack and loose for a moment, until something metallic and blunt presses up near where that light was shining through his jacket.
"Die," Baiken snarls, as the dragon-headed weapon fires. No projectile - just a sudden burst of smoke and flame and pressure from where the barrel of the cannon jabbed up against his back, angled so that if he vanishes it will go over Baiken's head. Let's see if he can mist his way out of /this/, Baiken thinks, as satisfied as she's going to get.
COMBATSYS: Baiken successfully hits The Butcher with Random Weapon.
THE BUTCHER
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1|--------=======|===============
[ \\\\\\\\ <
Baiken 1/-------/=======|
"The earth rejects me, ignorant fool!!" The Butcher states; his own regeneration versus tenacity. In truth, his willpower is not exceptionally above that of any other's, but he milks the powers granted him. He's not used to people being able to fight anywhere near his level, and as the girl begins to grow used to his abilities, it becomes apparent that raw instinct is not entirely sufficient. He looks savage now, black wounds carved into an unbleeding body, spattered crimson all over with her own blood, face looking straight out of some horrific zombie movie. He slipped forward, drawing back an arm before suddenly feeling her rest against him. Momentary surprise is a mistake, and he doesn't leap away in time to escape the blast. His side vanishes, black orbs floating in the air where they were cleaved from his form. Reeling and staggered, he trembles heavily, before inhaling shakily to draw the essence back into himself. This time he coughs, and for a moment his veins pulse black again. "Haa... haa... Enough. ENOUGH...!" And then the Butcher suddenly erupts into mist. Only this time, violent, brutal slashes randomly start striking within. The ceiling is ripped up like tinfoil, teeth ripping through it. Phantasmal monsters rampage as it ripples towards Baiken -- and then she would be awash in the sea of wild, random, unguided assaults, aiming to tear her down from the bottom up before finally dissipating, the Butcher appearing on the far side opposite with one last slash sinking into the nearly destroyed roof...!!
COMBATSYS: Baiken barely endures The Butcher's Extinction.
THE BUTCHER
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------------
[ <
Baiken 1/-======/=======|
Baiken lowers her cannon. She's so tired she doesn't even pull it back in, leaving the dragon-headed weapon poking out from her sleeve, breathing hard. She can't even hold the wounds on her arm closed - she has no other hand to hold them with. She is in danger of dropping her sword at any time.
And yet the Butcher won't go down. "Then scatter to the winds; it's nothing to me as long as you are gone!" Baiken forces herself to stand strong. Her sword weaves slightly as if she was drunk but she manages to force it up to a guard position. He's still moving, still attacking -
Phantasmal monsters explode out from around Baiken. She charges through them; it's not quite a heedless rush but it's the next thing to it. They don't slow her down, even as they tear at her arm, her legs, her body - she's bloody, on the edge of unconciousness if not worse. She even steps on one or two as she moves, keeping herself up on the damaged roof where she doesn't trust it to hold her body on its own.
And when the Butcher appears, Baiken is there, reaching out with her hand. She's sheathed her sword somewhere along the way, leaving it bare, drawing the very same symbol as before - but the card, this time, is different. She doesn't slash it; she punches it, driving her hand through it while it appears to be on fire.
"If you will defeat me, I will take you with me! BAKU RYU!" Baiken's flaming hand goes right through the card as it still forms, hopefully smashing at the Butcher's power, congealing it and sealing it - but whether she manages it or not, it appears to be too much for her. She's fueling this seal with everything she has - and she slumps, dropping to a knee, gasping for breath as everything fades to black and shades of grey around her in her vision. Too much, too fast, especially with this much blood...
COMBATSYS: Baiken can no longer fight.
THE BUTCHER
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0|---------------|---------------
COMBATSYS: Baiken successfully hits The Butcher with Baku.
THE BUTCHER
[ |||||||| ]
0|---------------|---------======
COMBATSYS: The Butcher takes no action.
THE BUTCHER
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|--------=======
COMBATSYS: The Butcher has reached second wind!
THE BUTCHER
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
0|---------------|--------=======
This time, the Butcher has nowhere to run. He whirls around too slowly, suddenly finding the girl rushing towards him. His eyes widen, stepping backwards with a low curse. "DON'T YOU--" Before suddenly she is upon him. The seal causes him to become paralyzed with pain, and so weakened there's not the strength to turn himself within mist once more. The slash ripples out and bisects him. Slowly he seems to become covered in strange blue runes, rippling out from his back. "No... NO... not... again!! NEVER... AGAIN!!" Blackness whirls around him, surging inwards as the air grows heavy. Before an explosive burst of fel energy dispels the building seal. Baiken had lost too much power; she had come close to putting him back into the darkness, but not close enough. Collapsing to his knees, he's breathing heavily, before looking up groggily towards her. "..." The next thing she would know, she's grasped by the face, and hauled by a strong hand stinking of her own blood. A few heavy leaps take her on an unknown transit, landing hard upon the buildings. "You... I cannot leave alive." Baiken is then tossed upwards, before the Butcher flashes out his hands one last time. She'd notice the deep, dark waters approaching beneath, even as an eruption of wounds bursts open upon her torso. The grinning, demonic visage of the Butcher the last thing before she's claimed by the waves of the shore, past the piers. "So long... hero..." And then he whirls into mist, billowing out before it dissipates, leaving him in a location unknown... he's silenced forever someone who knows too much, and is far too able. Or did he...?
COMBATSYS: The Butcher has ended the fight here.
Baiken is barely concious when the Butcher picks her up. Even half-dead she swings, though it's a weak, feeble thing; even if her sword connects, it hits with the flat and not hard enough to bruise. She passes out a moment later.
She awakens again an instant before she hits the water, when the wounds appear. Baiken has exactly enough time to take a choking, gasping breath before she is thrown up, hitting the water. The mass of concealed weapons is what pulls her down, rolling right side down under the water.
Barely concious, Baiken does one thing before she passes out again; she unhooks the chains on her weapons, sending them to the bottom of the dockside shore, there to sit and rust. The change in bouyancy is enough to send her back to the surface, she hopes; she isn't awake enough to do much more.
She does not, however, discard her sword. Her sword is her life.
Log created on 15:52:48 02/11/2015 by Baiken, and last modified on 17:28:31 02/12/2015.