Match of the Millennium

Description: Agent Max Evory tracks the Kitsune Queen to the suburbs of London, only to find a scene of gristly carnage.

[KIYOMI]
The sly vixen knew many ways to fool the senses of those around her, especially when it came to conceal herself to the naked eyes. However, when it came to her scent, the kitsune's powers were of little help to dissimulate her trails and Scotland Yard's technology had revealed itself to be quite efficient at tracking down the woman he met in this illegal casino.

From the casino he could easily hunt her down on a secluded residence, probably one that belonged to one of the man that was playing in the casino. A luxurious sight to behold with a large iron gate that circles the couple of hectar of lands. A small road leads from the main gate toward the sumptuous manor and from afar, no activity seems to be going on inside of it as not even the slightest hint of light is to be seen inside, leaving only the dim moonlight to guide those who venture there.

[MAX]
MI-6 had identified the residence in question, run the potential schematics with the help of an aircraft high overhead with a spotter camera, and the planning division had given Max Evory the full rundown of his infiltration plan, plus a vest and belt of necessary measures to assist him. He hid the entire affair under a black combat jacket, his sidearm holstered beneath his left shoulder.

Using his mastery of thieves' Parkour, he had mounted a wall and landed on the other side, to the west wing of the mansion, where the servant's quarters were located. Crouching, he quietly reached beneath his jacket, pulling out a pair of goggles. In the dim light beneath the moon, he slipped them over his eyes, a black skullcap on his head and black paint over his cheeks. Combined with the goggles, his face is entirely hidden.

Max rises, a fish knife in his hand, as he lurks through a small grove of trees near a garden pathway, intent on approaching carefully.

[KIYOMI]
It was hard to figure out who was the owner of this residence. Legally, it was owned by shell companies, enough to prevent the gouvernment and other troublesome meddlers from disturbing him and his business. Though it was implicitly known to the locals as the residence of a small crime lord who had plenty of shaddy business.

It was the sort of place you'd expect a few armed men to be wandering around, a few security cameras here and there to allow guards to know if people were attempting to tresspass in his residence.

The gardens were quiet... Almost too quiet. No one was seen in the vicinity and when he finally approaches closer through the garden, Max is able to see one of the crime lord's henchman lying against a wall. From a distance, one could almost think he just decided to take a rest and sit down, but the truth was much dire.

Unfortunately, the man had been killed : a deadly slice of a blade on his throat leaving him bleeding himself to death.

[MAX]
Max pauses, as he sees the guard laying against the wall, lifting his goggles to his forehead and carefully watching.

After a few moments of listening, the quiet echoes of crickets mingling with the various sounds of the copse, Max fails to spot any sounds from the crime lord's minion.

Knees bent low, he duck-steps over to the man and looks down at him, a gloved finger lifting his chin and seeing the cut throat.

Max slides his goggles back on, and rises, moving through the garden towards the servant's quarters quickly and with purpose, moving into the mansion before his quarry escapes.

[KIYOMI]
Everything was dark and quiet inside the servant quarters ~ it was mostly used for the few trusted men that stayed to guard the place while the other staff of the house came in periodically during the day to perform the other chores.

A path of death had been left in the wake of the Kitsune, half a dozen men who have been similarly fatally injuried with little marks of struggle, obviously caught by surprise and disposed of efficiently before they could react.

Some noises on the second level of the residence betrays the presence of someone. Light footsteps that can be easily heard in all of this silence.

Apparently they came from the master's chamber.

[MAX]
Max stuck his foot into a metal terrace outside the house, and climbed up on the metal criss-cross meant to support vines. Hefting over into the balcony, he kept his knife out as he carefully opened the door that led to the second floor.

Max removed his goggles, sliding them away under his jacket, and crept inside the home, down the hallway and towards the master's chamber. Face black and hair hidden by his skull cap, his fingers articulately manipulated his knife, moving it into a blade-down position.

[KIYOMI]
The master chamber is an extravagant wide open space with large windows allowing the room to be basked in the moonlight. A voluptuous canopy bed covered the left wall with somptuous blood-stained silken covers. A man was lying on the bed half-naked, his wrists bound agaisnt the frame of the bed, blindfolded and gagged. Someone had stabbed him through the heart, the only injury but a precise enough to snuff away his life. A bucket filled with ice had a bottle of champagne and two glasses standing on a small table beside the bed.

The walls had a few exotic paintings and libraries filled with books and on the other side of the bed was a large wooden desk with various things engraved into it. The many drawers of the desk had been opened and left like that, items discarded back and forth. A couple of books had been thrown down on the ground, a woman standing between the library and the desk, searching through them for something.

[MAX]
Max pauses, taking the whole scene in, before he delicately reaches to his jacket and opens it, sliding his knife back into the sheath.

"Something I can help you with?" comes his Scottish brogue, as he steps into the incadescent light of the moon through the windows, standing in full with the open door behind him. He watches the woman closely, palms at his sides and his rugby player's hands open, still and sure.

[KIYOMI]
Hearing the man's voice, Kiyomi's ears perk up a bit and she lifts her gaze up to see the dark silhouette of the man. Her eyes narrow into a glare as she fails to recognize him, but the man's voice was just enough to hint her at to who he was... A voice she had heard before.

Kiyomi's lips curl into a smile and her body relaxes. She puts the book aside on the desk, "Another cockroach... And here I thought I had dispatched of all of them," The woman moistens her lips, a soft chuckle escaping her throat. She still wore the same elegant crimson evening dress from the casino, the one that allowed him to track her down. This time, however, she had a scabbard at her waist held by a red leather belt around her hips. Her hand instinctively lies on the pommel of the katana but she does no movement to draw the weapon.

"You are too late ~" Kiyomi says, "... Or just in time, depending on how you see it," She says, her smile growing a bit wider, "The cherry on the top... After what you've done to us..." As if to punctuate her words, Kiyomi's long tails finally appear out of nowhere, snaking their way up above of her and spreading around of her like a wind fan, a swarm of squriming furry fox tails.

[MAX]
"I'm just a curious bystander, just like England," comes Max's reply, his fingers knitting together as his hands slowly curl.

"Tell me, kitsune," a question arises. "Are all Darkstalkers this savage, when it comes to defending their interests, or is this just your set of loyalties?"

Max steps forward, the wind buffetting around him.

"Tell me, how does Jedah Dohma feel about us? Are you his agent?"

[KIYOMI]
Arching a brow Kiyomi seems relatively surprised about Max's knowledge about japanese mythical creatures. "Someone has to do the dirty work, I am sure you understand... The life of a few of you will spare the lives of hundred children of the night..."

The mention of Jedah causes Kiyomi to chuckle softly, "So, this is the one you are interested after? The Dark Messiah, the Savior..." Kiyomi says though she doesn't give him the answer he sought.

"Oh, you're no bystander, I am afraid... And like them, you will have to pay," The Kitsune's fingers curl up around her blade, the tails swaying back and forth in a mesmering, tantalizing away as they not only attempt to distract Max but weaken his mind and subjugate his mind.

Kiyomi dashes at Max, lunging at him and drawing out the blade at the last moment to slice his midsection once she's within reach.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Kiyomi           0/-------/-======|

COMBATSYS: Max has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Kiyomi           0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0              Max

COMBATSYS: Max blocks Kiyomi's Celerite Nocturne.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi           1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0              Max

[MAX]
Max's hand slaps downwards as the blade comes out, slapping it atop its flat end and pivoting into a backstep, the edged point catching him across his body armored stomach but not going as deep as consequence of his shift.

"If I'm not a bystander, you're not among your better interests, dear."

Blood across his stomach, he lashes out with a left hook above the blade-wielding side, before a jab at the chin with his left hand while Kiyomi dodges or recovers, and then a hard uppercut from his right, stepping forward into the shot.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi blocks Max's Three of a Kind.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Kiyomi           1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0              Max

[KIYOMI]
The sudden way he deflected her blade left the kitsune open for Max's counter attack : the first jab hitting the mark, causing the Kitsune to stagger a step back but she recovers swiftly enough to prevent Max from pressing his advantage, lifting her free hand to raise her guard against the incoming uppercut and block it before it connects with her chin.

The swarm of tails seem to grow agigated like countless tendrils that tries to shroud them both in darkness, an eerie sight to "My people is thirsty for the blood of your kin ~ and you are a perfect offering," She replies with a sadistic smile, her facial expression distorted with her hatred.

The vixen lifts her blade in the air and swings it down for a cleaving blow ~ however at he last moment, the display of the vixen fades away, the illusion striking through more in Max's psych rather than a real blow while the real Kitsune thrusts her blade straight for Max's midsection to impale him, hoping the illusion might deceive him and breaks his guard.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi successfully hits Max with Estoc Chimerique.
- Power hit! -

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Kiyomi           1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0              Max

[MAX]
Max takes a circling step as his uppercut is buffeted back down.

Lurking in the darkness within the tails, Max flinches down at the vision of the cleaving blade that then passes through the pair, before he's impaled on the blade and grabs it with both hands, taking a stumbling step back to brace himself.

Blood spluttering out his mouth with a gasp, he pulls himself from the sword, his hands covered in blood from his grip.

Max goes faltering in with a charge, with a hard right hook aimed at the kitsune, then a sudden, swift boot upwards at her groin to keel her over. Should these succeed, he grabs her behind her neck with a hand, pushing her down, then delivering a hard chop to her back to knock her to the ground.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi eludes Max's Fierce Combo.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Kiyomi           1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0              Max

[KIYOMI]
The Kitsune's graceful movements left her almost dancing mesmerizingly along with Max's charge, his fists lost in the fluffy curling tails, the woman avoids his kick. However when his hand finally reaches for her neck and grabs her, he can feel the Kitsune's flesh fading away from his grasp, vanishing into thin air and leaving only a lingering laughter behind. Another deceiving illusion and mind trickery...

"Things are often more than meets the eyes, darling ~ do you really have any idea of the attrocity your governement has done to us!?" Her words betray the Kitsune's presence, her swarm of tails reappearing in the darkness as she lunges at him, both hands holding her sword as she shouts with fury, her blade coming from from above to slash his shoulder.

COMBATSYS: Max interrupts Power Strike from Kiyomi with Dancing Blade.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Kiyomi           1/-======/=======|======-\-------\0              Max

[MAX]
As the kitsune fades to nothing between his fingers, Max spins around, looking up and around, in all directions.

"Human society exists by rule of law, Darkstalker," Max intones, reaching into his jacket where his knife sheath is.

Then, the kitsune comes rushing in, and his knife flashes into his hand.

He shoves forward as the blade cuts along his shoulder and he jams the knife inwards into Kiyomi, looking her eye to eye.

"Darkstalkers are our legend of what lawlessness is."

"Not everyone understands, certainly not the dead man on the bed."

[KIYOMI]
The pain of the blade sinking into her flesh causes Kiyomi to grunt in pain, the woman's eyes wincing from the sensation of her blood dripping down from the knife's wound. The kitsune remains locked in place with Max for a moment, long enough for him to speak to her while their gaze are fixing one another.

The Kitsune pushes herself away, swirling on her heels and causing the tails to turn around her like a protecting twirl before she regains her composure and fighting stance. "Darkstalkers are a thing you human cannot comprehend. Your so called laws don't apply to creatures of the night like us, there is no justice for us in your world... Some of us thrive on violence and carnage because you, humans, have shown us only that,"

The tails start swaying slowly, their hypnotic lure causing the room to feel darker, as if they absorbed the light and shrouded Max's senses.

TWhile she shrouds his senses, she attacks : the kitsune moving at him at various angles, from his side, left and right, above and below, in front and behind, each assault coming from her or a deceiving psychic illusion. Were the cut real? Hard to say, only the real Kiyomi's one were, but the pain he would feel certainly is.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi successfully hits Max with La Danse des Cents Entailles.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Kiyomi           0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1              Max

[MAX]
Max throws his knife to the side as Kiyomi breaks the lock, the blood splattered blade spinning across the floor of the room.

Max shivers as the room grows dark, unaware of what is happening, before Kiyomi comes rushing in, direction by direction, cutting him with illusion after illusion, before he is left stumbling backwards against a wall. Heaving himself forward, he throws himself to the ground and pulls his Walther out, coming to an upright position in a kneel, both hands bracing his pistol.

Sweeping his aim into position, he fires a flurry of shots, his braced arms soaking up the recoil.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi wards against Max's You Know My Name.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Kiyomi           0/-------/--=====|====---\-------\0              Max

[KIYOMI]
When the darkness finally dissipates, Kiyomi stood still with her blade drawn a few feet away from Max, a cruel and sadistic smile on her lips. She hardly had the time for any sort of vitriolic remark about her opponent as he quickly retaliates and forces Kiyomi to stagger back into a defensive stance, her blade twirling back and forth to deflect the bullets from her body.

The deflect bullets scatter in the walls by her side, some behind her yet not without piercing through the swarm of tails behind her, some of the bullets even grazing her arms, drawing blood from the flesh wound.

At the very least, his barrage of fire was enough to infuriate the kitsune who was driven back. Her blade begins to glimmer from spiritual energy and Kiyomi growls in an attempt to push him back. She swings her blade in the air in front of her which projects a phantasmal arc of energy at Max.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi successfully hits Max with Lame Spirituelle.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Kiyomi           1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1              Max

[MAX]
Max is thrown aside by the arc of phantasmal energy, his gun flying out of his hand. He careens across the room with his legs up and slides into a wall, the heavy racket making a painting fall to the ground nearby. Spitting up blood, he rolls onto his fore, pushing himself to his feet unsteadily.

"You're not going to be able to hunt in London forever," Max reasons, wheezing, as he stares at Kiyomi from across the dim room. "Eventually, you'll have to deal with the blood you've drawn, drawing in the other hounds."

Max burst s across the room with a rapid gait, thrumming at Kiyomi like a football player, before he hurls himself down with a slide kick.

COMBATSYS: Max successfully hits Kiyomi with Diving Kick.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Kiyomi           1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1              Max

[KIYOMI]
The Kitsune laughs at Max's words, "Let them come!" Kiyomi says as she opens her arms, "Let the hounds come to their doom!" The woman says with a wide sadistic smile. She moistens her lips and adds, "The more hounds that hunts the fox, the fewer there will be after her kits!"

The Kitsune draws her blade to intercept Max's incoming charge, but when he suddenly leaps into a sliding kick, she fails to react properly. The velocity of his kick along with his charge enough to knock her off balance, Kiyomi flipping foward, falling flat on the ground.

The fall was enough to daze her momentarily after she knocked her head on the ground. Kiyomi slowly rises back to her feet -- which almost looks like a pillar of fur that rises up, until the tails swirl open to reveal Kiyomi underneath. "I will know no rest until all those who would threaten us die!" She shouts as she lunges forward and thrust her blade at Max's shoulder.

COMBATSYS: Max fails to interrupt Quick Strike from Kiyomi with Parkour Tackle.
- Power fail! -

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Kiyomi           1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0              Max

COMBATSYS: Max has reached second wind!

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Kiyomi           1/------=/=======|====---\-------\0              Max

[MAX]
Max bursts to his feet and turns around, charging back at Kiyomi as they both mutually recover.

He lunges off his feet in a tackle at her, throwing himself through the air with the intent of slamming into her with a shoulder tackle at the level of her shoulders. But, as she meets him with her own attack, his miscalculation is made clear, as her blade impales him through his shoulder and leaves him hanging off her blade, his arm hanging limply at his side as he shakes and spits up blood, on his knees before her.

"Your weapons in this battle..." he says with a wheezing heave. "Are precious few, compared to the arsenal of Her Majesty."

[KIYOMI]
As he lies on his knees in front of her, Kiyomi pants softly from the exertion the battle has taken on her. Obviously she was in a much better shape than her adversary and she was well aware of it. The kitsune straightens herself up, her lips curling into a malicious smile, "Your blood is the hope of my people, Mister Evory..." The kitsune says.

She lifts her blade up, to examine the blood she had been able to draw from him, her tongue moving up to lick away some of it, taking a sadistic pleasure from it, "And as long as we have hope, we will fight... Your Majesty's pity arsenal, tsss..." Kiyomi says with spite. The Kitsune shifts her posture and attempts to kick Max to knock him on his back. "... Will never be enough,"

COMBATSYS: Max interrupts Strong Kick from Kiyomi with Cobra Headbutt.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //                            ]
Kiyomi           1/-----==/=======|======-\-------\0              Max

[MAX]
Max grits his teeth as the blade his withdraw, his remaining functional arm grasping at Kiyomi's leg with knuckle white intensity. Blood leaking from between his displayed teeth, and down the sides of his face, he glares up at Kiyomi with red eyes.

As the kick comes, he spins out to the side, his arm refusing to release. He bursts to his feet, slamming his head into Kiyomi's jaw from below, coming back to his feet with all his force, and directly beneath Kiyomi, no less.

[KIYOMI]
Caught off guard by the sudden surge of energy coming from Max, Kiyomi barely has the time to blink as Max swiftly moves out of the way. His head smashes into the woman's face with enough force to knock her back and almost break her jaw. The kitsune howls in pain, her free hand clutching to her face as she moves backward, stopped only by the bed a few steps behind her. Instinctively the tails move on their own accord to shield the woman's body, obscuring the view between her and her opponent. A frail wall of fluff, but enough to conceal her partially in this moment of vulnerability.

Kiyomi spits out blood on the ground and glares up at Max, "I have to give it to you... You are more resilient than the others I've had to deal with..." Her lips curl into a smile, ".. It'll at least give me some satisfaction," She adds, before her hands cltuch at the handle of her katana.

Kiyomi lunges forward and swings her blade low for a wide slash at Max's midsection, a vicious slash meant to eviscerate him. "... But in the end, you'll be no better than all of them! Those who meddles with Darkstalkers must die!"

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi successfully hits Max with Attaque Mortelle.
- Power hit! -

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Kiyomi           0/-------/----===|=======\=------\1              Max

[MAX]
Max screams as he's slashed across the front, blood spraying all over Kiyomi as he stumbles sidelong towards the balcony. His good arm holding his stomach, blood sopping out of him and down his legs, trailing across the floor of the manor bedroom, he spins about and leans against the side of the balcony portal.

Slumping forward, he throws his arm from his stomach towards Kiyomi, a sudden bang of phosphorous burning his hand as it erupts from beneath his jacket sleeve, before tottering towards the balcony's rail, in an attempt to escape (at the expense of a two-story fall).

COMBATSYS: Max has reached third wind!

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Kiyomi           0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0              Max

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi blocks Max's Blinding Heights.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Kiyomi           0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0              Max

[KIYOMI]
Lifting her blade up, Kiyomi was more than eager to deliver the coup de grace when the opportunity would finally arise. She would have done just that, had it not been from the sudden burst of smoke that came out from his sleeve, forcing her tails to spin up in front of her to protect her face from the chemical burn, forcing the Kitsune to spin backward.

The woman coughs a few times the tails spinning rapidly, part of the fur burnt on some of them. They spin to try and ease the pain but also dissipate the smoke left behind.

The woman could try to run after him, but she knew she wouldn't make it by the time he reached the balcony. Was it pity that held her hand? Who knows, but she allows the wounded man to run away, satisfied with the carnage she had done this night.

COMBATSYS: Kiyomi has left the fight here.

[                           \\\  <
Max              0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Max has ended the fight here.

Log created on 13:02:49 11/26/2018 by Max, and last modified on 13:26:23 11/29/2018.