Children of the Night - Attack on the Library
[Toggle Names]Description: Echo and Kiyomi show up out of nowhere to attack the NOL Southtown Base. Amandine and Noel respond, but did they count on... Ragna?
[KIYOMI]
The sun has just set down a few hours ago leaving place to the starry sky. Everything was quiet around the Novus Orbis Librarium base in Southtown, the access to the base being limited at this time of the day and the guards being out and patroling around the perimeter as usual.
However this was about to change drastically...
The ground in the vicinity quakes, the tremor growing ever stronger for those who happens to be inside the buildings in the compound as if something was pounding and trampling the earth outside. And it was the case...
An hulking Behemoth that seemed to have come almost out of nowhere came in charging through the electrified fence with relative ease, horns cleaving through it. The creature itself was an imposing beast almost the size of a small vehicule, large grey plates all over its head and massive arms like he was covered in scales.
Shortly after his breakthrough, dozens of beasts rush through the fence and lunge into any nearby guards they can. The wave of creature was surging toward the command center...
Shortly after the initial charge, coming out of the veil of illusions that allowed them to process this close without being noticed comes to most humanoid of them all in the lot, a woman with a dozens of tails behind her. She glances at the various beasts and monsters that rushes pass her and, as if commanding her forward, she lets a beastial rallying 'awooo' to which most seem to answer.
It doesn't take long for those who are within the buildings to hear the echoes of an alarm ringing, most likely.
[ECHO]
Assaulting a straight up military base to break into it's hidden magical vaults and steal what's inside? Who would be crazy enough to try something like that?
Well, Echo for one, especially if she's getting paid. Or if you just make things interesting for her.
The white-furred vampire bat lady is here, in one of her full-length black dresses and black patent leather stiletto shin-high boots, she might not seem dressed for it--but a closer inspection of the belt at her waist says otherwise... For strung around her waist are pouches, skulls and various other necromantic fetishes (no, not /that/ kind...) to fuel her dark magic!
Echo strides in after the behemoth and hordes of beasts, a few bats chittering as they swoop and flap around her as she's silhouetted against the moon, she grins and raises an arm--her hand becoming wreathed in some kind of pale green glow, the earth continuing to churn and rumble around her as skeletal /things/ begin to crawl up through the topsoil, bony hands bursting through the ground!
[BENEZET]
The voices had called to Benezet Desire for days, those souls yawning from within the Novus Orbus Librarium's detention centers. Good or evil, it didn't matter, a life was a life, and those sanctioned to trap the darkness for the shade had forgotten the light. Benezet had been roused from his bed, his peaceful rest interrupted, as the sorceresses of the islands sent him to Southtown on a Geas to light a match in the spectral reminisces of those minds that sought to study Benezet's world.
Benezet's world was that of Guinee, the resting place of those souls lost to the madness of powerful men.
Dressed in a valentine purple mortician's suit, his widow's peak hair slicked back over his inhumanly narrow head, the Darkstalker Bokor slinked along with a steel knife in his hand, following along behind the rush of monstrous beasts.
Benezet had come to place his fey hand on the head of a foe to tap their link to the Majigen, and see what legends they had created. His knowledge of talismans and fetishes and the ritual of ages past could be enhanced by a bloodline that would join the organization that the Darkstalkers were assaulting.
What sort of legend would have been created, past the glimmering mirror, to raise a man to fight an enemy such as those he fights now? Surely, powerful magicks could be obtained by tracing the individual's consciousness through the veil.
[RAGNA]
Ragna's mission is the destruction of NOL.
This base was no exception.
Dressed in his classic attire, with his sword in hand, he felt he could...sense the souls inside this facility. tortured. experimented on. God knows what else...but in order to find the man who took his arm, who betrayed those he cared about? NOL had to be destroyed. Ragna notices folks of all kinds either attacking or defending the facility...so it was time for Ragna to join the fray.
Be it man or beast, Ragna will defeat those who try and stop him.
With a loud voice, he bellows out.
"TERUMI! WHERE ARE YOU?!" he probably wasn't there, but it was worth a shot. could attract the army of beasts though, which is always a fun time. even though he wanted to destroy NOL just as much as they seemed to.
[KOTO]
Of all the weirdness to find one Koto Mukai, being approached and brought along for an otherwise peaceful interview was not exactly on his list of things for the winter holidays. Let alone, it had interrupted some of his training, too! Seriously, you had to train. And training was good for the body, soul, and mind. Plus, he was a hero dang it!
Still, he had come along peacefully. And was even being taken very, very peacefully, too. No fighting, no trying anything fancy. Just a young man there for questioning. He wasn't even in the front door but being taken by a set of officers who were there simply to escort him through. At least until the alarms sounded. And he was told 'Stay there' before he heard the crunch of something around the corner.
That is Koto's que to transform, his pose being quick as he sweeps his hand across, calling out "Henshin!" before he moves around the corner, a bright prismatic energy covering him as he stops at the scene before him and tilts his head.
"Uh..." Koto is caught in a moment of awkwardness before he looks at the rather impressive pack of beasts, the behemoth, and some other things there. Even if he has super powers, the young man is a bit at a loss for words before he makes a quick pose, "Hey! Care to turn around, or would you rather face Mega Dragon Fighter J-Dragon?" Not the best line, but well. Koto certainly, in his wildest dreams, never expected to be looking at a literal mob of DarkStalkers practically.
[NOEL]
Yawn. Streeeeeetch. Noel was just going to nap for a minute or two, and then head out and maybe some nice window shopping.
It's awful dark for that, though, and what is that infernal -noise-? How can a girl get some sleep around h--
Oh. OH. The intrusion alarm! And there's some distant shouting, too, drifting in from outside. Noel's ears perk up a bit as she looks around in confusion, trying to remember.
And then the second tremor. She wobbles around a bit more, barely able to stay upright, until her mind finally clicks on and she starts to hear the beginnings of the din of battle outside.
She hurriedly throws on her boots and hat--best thing for bedhead!--and very nearly panics looking for her guns, Bolverk, before her brain finally spins up to actual consciousness and she remembers it doesn't matter where they are.
She always has them. Always.
Regardless, she stumbles out the door, makes a mad dash down the corridor, and out into the deepening gloam, interspersed by powerful spotlights and the beginnings of sporadic fires.
Her expression hardens as she sees the Darkstalkers attacking everyone willy-nilly. Her frantic, emotional state starts to even out already, her sheer humanity beginning to give way.
See? Bolverk really is always there. It's so helpful.
She snaps her arms out to both sides, and runic circles spring to life, passing down her arms and over her hands, leaving two gleaming chrome handguns in their wake. She hasn't spotted Ragna yet, though...
[ECHO]
"Well well well, aren't you a sharp dressed man, welcome to the party, pal," Echo grinned as she saw Benezet slink up alongside the other monsters, putting her hands on her hips as her skeletal horrors rose up from the ground. "Voodou man, you will be of assistance, I think, and the lovely silver-haired boy from the other evening, oooh, be still my heart," the skirts of Echo's dress began to flutter as she buffeted the air with her wings, raising her arms to order the skeletal begins to begin attacking those that are assaulting their beast horde.
"GO MY CHILDREN, SWEEP OVER THEM LIKE A TIDAL WAVE OF DEATH!" Echo cackled insanely, giving herself away as definitely a target, (tm), admidst all the chaos with the beasts and behemoth rampaging around.
She began to approach the large mansion-like building slowly, walking at a casual pace.
[KIYOMI]
It seems the overwhelming swarm of beasts has taken the military facility by surprise in the middle of the night, or they managed to attack at the right moment between changing shifts or something as the reactions from the military is a bit slow... Gun fires can be heard in the distance from NOL forces fighting back the surging waves of werewolves and other beasts that dashes in.
The large behemoth was occupied bashing into the building as if it was some sort of siege weapon, wrecking some of the towers and tearing holes in the main building and allowing the smaller beasts to make their way inside of the command center. Its job here was done... But it was there to bash into any opposing forces that could show up. Kiyomi remains behind, a glance spared in Echo's way as she gestures with one hand for her, "Go... You have seen the path in your visions... Be swift and quick, we won't stay here forever," Kiyomi says as she remains wary.
As Kiyomi hears one man comes out of nowhere and shout out in anger, she glances up to the armored beast and whistles to get its attention. A wicked grin grows on her lips and with a simple gestures she tells him to trample the man.
The large behemoth lets go of the piece of wall it had in its large clawed hands and throws at an incoming military jeep, causing it to crash. It turns its attention toward Ragna and without a second thought, like a hulking rhino it dashes head first toward him with loud growls, the hard pounding and trembling.
[BENEZET]
Benezet Desire looks to Echo with lowered eyelids, not annoyed but wary. "I am a neutral agent of the night, vampire, but tonight you may find solace in my kinship." Benezet looks up to the front line of the battle, the huge beasts slamming through lines of troopers as gunfire laces towards the swarm of monsters in tracer-laced lines of fire.
The night lit up brightly and balefully by gunfire and spotlights, Benezet stoops down and begins dashing, his long legs slapping over the turf as he dashes forward. His jangling body carries him towards the facility, before he sends himself flying up into the air with a bound. He sails through the air, the tails of his jacket flapping behind him, before he lands on a machine gun nest. As there are shouts from the soldiers beneath him, the brave men scrambling for their holdout sidearms, Benezet leaps over them and goes dashing past, leaving them confused and disoriented.
[RAGNA]
Ragna notices Noel, and he recognizes her. His eyes narrow, and he starts running towards her! following the chaos of the beasts. "You." he says in recognition. NOL members have a certain...type about them. With a powr leap, he targets her easily, landing near her.
NOL's number 1 on their shit list.
Ragna the BLoodedge. "You're one of them." if she knows his face or his name, she knows why he's here. He points his blade at her. Gonna have to get past her first, or she'll hinder his objective.
COMBATSYS: Kiyomi has started a fight here.
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Kiyomi 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Kiyomi has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Kiyomi 0/-------/-======|
[NOEL]
BLAM! BLAM! Noel may have ran into this complete cluster on the edge of panic, but her expression now is...dispassionate. Controlled. Even -mechanical-, in a lot of ways. Her eyes are almost flat green, far from their bright, expressive normal selves, and she's slowly walking forward, one huge handgun in each hand, calmly winnowing out skeletons one by one. Occasionally she needs two or three shots to take out one of the more wildly aggressive Darkstalkers, but the truth is, most of them are elsewhere, far from the undead minions they probably didn't know would be here tonight.
And then, a very serious wrench is thrown into -that- plan, when Noel's opposition went from mindless undead mooks to quite possibly the most dangerous threat the NOL has ever faced! She blinks rapidly, and the flat, dispassionate look in her eyes suddenly vanishes, her normal bright, expressive features springing to life even as she draws back in extreme dismay as it clearly sinks in just whom she's facing.
The Bloodedge. Ragna, his name was. Every wanted poster, every database on the opposition the NOL faced, had him at the very tippy-top. Captain Hazama said, over and over again, don't face the Bloodedge. And he never, ever cuts Noel any slack for circumstances. The Bloodedge is attacking -her-! What else can she do?
Still, she thought to herself, as she grimly tightened her grip on her pistols and leaned way back in a defensive gun kata stance, that those wanted posters were -terrible-. They barely looked anything like him.
COMBATSYS: Noel has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Kiyomi 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Noel
COMBATSYS: Ragna has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Kiyomi 0/-------/-======|-------\-------\0 Noel
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Ragna 0/-------/------=|
[KIYOMI]
The rampaging beasts were taking care of most of the NOL soldiers who were starting to gather their wits and starting to offer up some resistance to the group of Darkstalkers. In the end, Kiyomi's plan wasn't to try and destroy the base, but just make enough of a distraction for the second part of her plan.
The Darkstalkers were swarming the facility and Kiyomi remained right in the middle of it all... A smirk on her lips as she watched the chaos that was wrecked by the unexpected assault.
Hearing Koto shouts out to the beasts that were advancing forward, Kiyomi turns her attention to see the would be Super Hero that had already thwarted her plans before and she narrows her eyes into a glare.
"If you know what's good for you, you'll leave before you die like the rest of these scums," Kiyomi says, an act of mercy, but Kiyomi had no time to fool around with him and her words might be enough to disuade him to back away from all of this.
Instead the Kitsune draws out her katana and walks foward to join her pack into this battle, toward the only human looking creatures she could see in sight in the battle field -- both Ragna and Noel. Her blade shimmers with energy, glowing brightly as Kiyomi perform a few slashes in the air which causes psychic waves of energy to be thrown in Ragna's way.
Looks like the Kitsune was going to get right into the middle of the fight between those two... but to Kiyomi, all humans were enemies.
COMBATSYS: Ragna interrupts Lame Spirituelle from Kiyomi with Inferno Divider.
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Kiyomi 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Ragna 0/-------/-----<<|
COMBATSYS: Ragna has joined the fight here in the center.
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Kiyomi 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[RAGNA]
Ragna looks prepared to attack Noel Mercilessly. But he senses it. He feels it.
Someone's about to attack him. So imagine his surprise when he feels the psychic waves of Kiyomi's blade coming straight for him! So what does he do? Well, the answer is simple. He quickly slices his sword upwards, sending a wave of black and blue energy that slices through those psychic waves to strike back against Kiyomi HARD! A good hit!
"Surrounded, huh?" he glances back to Noel then. second the attack is done, and he still seems like he's going to approach her and attack. But he doesn't. Not yet. "Where's Terumi."
[ECHO]
There is a lot of chaos on the battlefield, people are coming and going--monsters are attacking folks, getting blown up, there is a goddamned BEHEMOTH wrecking shit. It's just the kind of environment that Echo enjoys, really. The bat lady is standing amidst it all, cackling and ordering what looks like a mob of undead--partially consisting of her skeletal minions but also some of the darkstalkers that had shown up and got cut down by any of the security. The mob of undead are currently trying to batter down the gate and front door of the large mansion-like structure as Echo looks on, wishing she had a drink with some honey perhaps after so much cackling, overseeing what is going on with Kiyomi, Noel and Ragna.
"Aww, be easy on the white-haired one, he's a good customer of mine! Heck he's my most recent one! D'ohoho~" Echo blows Ragna a kiss as Kiyomi tries to murder him, apparently.
COMBATSYS: Echo has joined the fight here on the left meter side.
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Noel
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Kiyomi 1/------=/=======|
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[NOEL]
She was going to defend herself, really, she was. Noel's palms started to sweat as she held Bolverk in a pair of white-knuckled grips. But fate clearly had different plans in store, as the fox-tailed woman attacked Ragna! Noel never expected that, but it doesn't matter, as Ragna still looks ready to pounce on her. She's outmatched, even if this Darkstalker isn't only attacking her...she's lost...alone...afraid...defenseless.
No. No. None of those things are true. It's wordless, a worm burrowing into Noel's brain, snipping off all the nerve endings that might lead to defeat.
Or, just maybe, the ones that might lead to understanding.
Her eyes flatten out again, her panicked look shifting into a placid stare as she looks at Ragna calmly. Coolly. Entirely without emotion.
Her eyes shift as she blinks, a blue like a glassy mirror reflecting the sky. She shifts her stance again and whirls her guns into a ready posture to the sound of two dispassionate words: "Let's begin."
She stays back, poking from a distance, staying safe for now. "Optic Barrel."
COMBATSYS: Ragna blocks Noel's Type XI - Optic Barrel.
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Noel
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Kiyomi 1/------=/=======|
[ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|----===
[KIYOMI]
The Kitsune might have been careless here ~ not expecting this reckless man to be aware of his presence when she had decided to approach the duo. The swiftness and agility with which he turns his attention to her and retaliates is astonishing...
But the strength of his wave of energy even more so as they hit the Kitsune right on, the blast of energy knocking her back and disarming. The blade falls into the ground and the kitsune collapses on the ground, her fall only cushioned by the myriad of tails behind her.
Much like a swarm of tentacles, they help her get back to her feet, her kimono torn on the side. One of her tail even moved with enough dexterity to scoop the katana from the ground and bring her back to her wielder's hand.
Kiyomi turns her head to the side and she spits out blood from her mouth, a thin trail of blood going from her temple down the side of her cheek, "Impressive... But in the end, your fate will be the same as all of them..." The fact that the other humans start firing at Ragna confuses the Kitsune for a moment and she takes a moment to assess just exactly what is going on...
Two humans fighting one another... Her lips curl into a grin. It was perfect, let them wear each other out a little and wait...
COMBATSYS: Kiyomi focuses on her next action.
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Noel
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Kiyomi 1/------=/=======|
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Ragna 0|-------|----===
[RAGNA]
Well, looks like it's finally time. Ragna just cracks his neck as Noel means to be brave and strike back against him. "Not wise." and Ragna enters a stance as he's suddenly fired upon! He lifts his arm up, blocking the blast...bullet seemingly just...falling out of his dense flesh. He cracks his neck then, and enters a stance.
With one step, he attempts to lunge like a madman at Noel!
Ragna was out for blood, and a Kitsune...nor am onster, nor a human was going to stop him from finding his target...and taking one step closer to ending NOL. he strikes at Noel! attempting to slash at her with his blade.
[AMANDINE]
"What the SHIT." A shrill voice echoes down one of the NOL corridors. It's followed shortly thereafter by a steady clack of thick heels. Shortly after that, a particularly short and petite woman rounds the corner while pulling rollers out of her hair and a slipping a sleep mask off of her forehead, tossing it aside. She tugs on the ties of her corset and threads them behind her, then smoothes out her dress.
"SOME people were trying to get their BEAUTY SLEEP," Amandine shouts at no one in particular. "UGH. Assholes!!!"
It's at right around this time that the Behemoth rounds the corner in a full charge, barreling down at Amandine. The short woman perks up, looks at the charging monster, and...narrows her eyes. She glares daggers at the monster as it stampedes, making no effort to move despite the vast difference in size. Why doesn't she move? She's going to be trampled!
The Behemoth and Amandine impact each other like a wave smashing into a sea wall. The little chef slides back gradually, gripping the monster by the horns as it starts to slow down as it tries to bowl over her. Without warning, she suddenly lifts the monster up by its horn, pivots into a spinning hammer toss, and hurls it through the wall back into the courtyard. It's hardly enough to fell the monster (probably), but now it's someone else's problem.
"OH," Amandine says, "It's an ATTACK." A pause.
"Well, SHIT. TANTALUS!!!"
A heavy cauldron, certainly large enough to cook meals for a small army, rolls around the corner on its rim. Chains unravel from around it, slipping around the small woman's waist.
"Since we're CLEARLY surrounded by INCOMPETENTS, I guess there's WORK to do." She stomps off, toward the sound of the fighting, the cauldron's feet grinding along the ground behind her. It's a sound that's ... almost as irritating as her voice. Almost.
COMBATSYS: Amandine has joined the fight here on the right meter side.
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Amandine
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Kiyomi 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Noel
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Ragna 0|-------|----===
COMBATSYS: Noel just-defends Ragna's Hell's Fang!
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Amandine
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Kiyomi 1/-----==/=======|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|---====
[ECHO]
Echo is in fact sipping from a tea cup when Amandine stalks out, her heels making quite the racket. Don't ask the bat where she got the tea from. Probably the playful tea ghosts.
"A cauldron? you're not a witch, you're a... chef?" Echo spies the apron, her ivory fangs beginning to show as she grins slowly.
"That's handy, I was getting a bit famished myself. Dead souls--to me!" Echo begins to marshall some of her undead spirit powers to her, her hand raised and glowing a phantasmic green color to her wrist, ghostly energy radiating off of it in thick tendrils.
"I hope that thing cooks barbecue, I'm looking to eat hearty tonight, for we dine in HELL!" the bat lady's eyes flash, opening wide.
[NOEL]
As Ragna dashes in towards Noel with terrifying speed, it's clear that that kind of headlong charge was exactly what she expected. She spins one of her guns in a rapid circle in her palm, at just the right angle to make Ragna's strike skitter harmlessly to one side. "Now," she says, in exactly the same tone as before. She's right there, and Ragna has overextended. Perhaps she can take advantage of leverage and send him flying!
She reaches out and tries to grab Ragna.
COMBATSYS: Ragna fails to interrupt Type VIII - Return Fire from Noel with Dark Claw.
- Power fail! -
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Amandine
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Kiyomi 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Noel
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Ragna 0|-------|--=====
[KIYOMI]
The Kitsune moistens her lips as she stares at the battle between the two humans, obviously amused by what was going on. Her lips curl into a smirk and she tilts her head to one side, "Well, well... Ain't it ironic," Logic would dictate for her to stay behind and let them both fight each other and pick on the victorious one, but Kiyomi wasn't going to let Ragna take advantage of her pack like this.
Yet in the end, both of them were her enemies and she'd rather prey on both of them rather than cowardly waits in the shadow. She was better than that.
As Noel seems to have the upper hand in all of this, Kiyomi decides to strike her. Her tails moving over her hand, swaying almost hypnotically as she approaches Noel and lunges foward, a first illusionary copy of herself lunging at Noel and slashing out for her midsection while the real Kiyomi charges into Noel a second later as the psychic replica disappears, going for a rising slash at Noel.
[AMANDINE]
Amandine slaps at her dress, beating away dust from the wall she steps through to get to the heat of the action. When Echo speaks to her, Amandine looks up, brushing her tremendously long hair out of her face. She frowns.
"*A* chef? *A* CHEF?!" Amandine puffs up her cheeks. "I am the BEST DAMN CHEF here!!" She stomps her foot, which would be cute, or maybe silly...if it didn't crack the pavement around it. "Do you SERIOUSLY mean you came HERE without knowing who the HELL I am?!" Amandine's mouth curls into a smile, and then she raises her hand and breaks into raucous laughter.
"Ohhh ho ho! That's RICH. You guys don't even have good INTEL. Well!" Amandine beams, "We'll see who gets BARBEQUED!" Amandine tugs that massive chain, then swings that enormous cauldron like a wrecking ball toward Echo.
"Wait," A pause. "What the HELL? Are those ZOMBIES?"
[RAGNA]
All food jokes aside, Ragna gets blasted right in the chest by Noel's firm offense! Ragna though...doesn't seem to have really gone anywhere. HE slides backwards just a little bit...but then he stands ups traight, cracking his neck. "You fucked up." Ragna though, sees Kiyomi fly out of nowhere straight into where they were.
Wow, that was freaking fast.
But, Ragna is now trying to catch Kiyomi off guard, wielding his blade and bringing it down overhead, the sword charged with black and red energy...like that of the Black Beast.
Game on.
COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Amandine's Medium Strike.
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Amandine
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Kiyomi 1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0 Noel
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|--=====
COMBATSYS: Noel dodges Kiyomi's Estoc Chimerique.
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Amandine
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Kiyomi 1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0 Noel
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|--=====
[NOEL]
Noel was already at point blank range with Ragna, thanks to his charging in, and whatever he tried to do to her, Noel was faster by far. She grabbed him by both shoulders, slammed her feet into his stomach, and backflipped off him.
Now, as he aims a strike at Kiyomi, the rhythm of battle shifts and Noel's attention also turns to the kitsune. Sure, she could strike at Ragna again, but Kiyomi cannot be ignored or underestimated, and she has to be kept off balance.
Noel leaps skyward, straight up and over both the illusion and the real Kiyomi, never really realizing which was the real one. On the way down, she whirls in midair, Bolverk blossoming in a twin spiral of point blank explosions. Again in precisely the same tone, "Type Thirteen."
COMBATSYS: Kiyomi blocks Ragna's Nightmare Edge.
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Amandine
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Kiyomi 1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0 Noel
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Ragna 0|-------|-======
COMBATSYS: Noel successfully hits Kiyomi with Type XIII - Revolver Blast.
- Power hit! -
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Echo 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Noel
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Ragna 0|-------|-======
[ECHO]
Yep, Amandine is totally cracking the pavement under the heels of her shoes. Oof, there's definitely a market for Amandine out there if she ever wants to get out of the chef business, that's for sure.
Echo blinks and tosses the teacup away as Amandine swings that giant cauldron at her. Echo brings her hands up--getting thrown back into the air--her wings flaring around her with a snap--cushioning her flight and allowing her to gain some control over it, like opening the wings of a hang-glider.
"Oof, aren't you a little bite-sized spitfire, there? I think I know some other creatures that'd love to take a BITE out of you, d'ohoho~" Echo's eyes glow red for just an instant--and Amandine may notice several of Echo's skeletal horrors burrowing through the earth at her feet, trying to grab and latch onto her!
COMBATSYS: Amandine endures Echo's Abracadaver.
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Echo 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Amandine
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Kiyomi 1/--=====/=======|===----\-------\0 Noel
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Ragna 0|-------|-======
[KIYOMI]
With Noel leaping out of the way and Ragna recovering just in time to lunge at her, Kiyomi has little choice but to turn her undivided attention to him. She turns on her heels swiftly, her tails swaying around her in this tantalizing display of constant movement as her katana rises up to block Ragna's blade.
Yet even if Kiyomi was able to block the blade, sparks fly between the two as the black and red energy cackles through the magical blade and surges over Kiyomi, scorching the Kitsune's forearms along with her kimono. She grits her teeth and braces for it, attempting to hold her ground, part of her katana's steel cracking underneath the magical blade's power.
Before it truly breaks though, Noel's midair spins and point blank shot hits Kiyomi right when she's at her most vulnerable, the bullets hitting right in her midsection and causing her guard to finally break, combined with Ragna's assault the result is rather explosive and Kiyomi is knocked back by the impact of the combined bullet and surge of magical energy.
Falling to her side, one arm wrapped up at her bleeding midsection, the Kitsune's body trembles from rage and pain. How swift her defeat had been at the hands of those humans... She should have listened to reason and remain out of this. Her blade is still searing hot from the energy, broken and useless, and she remains too injuried to pose much of a threat much logner...
Kiyomi tilts her head back while she remains on all four, letting a long wounded howl out of her throat, a call in the night that unleashes a powerful wave of psychic energy while her tails attempt to shroud Ragna's visions and senses in an attempt to shrug off one of her attacker and drive him off while she tries to recover.
COMBATSYS: Ragna dodges Kiyomi's Enfants de la nuit.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Noel
[ |||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-======
[RAGNA]
THe only thing that Kiyomi has seemed to accomplish is that A, she was able to deny Ragna his initial strike, rolling backwards. But her attempt at clouding his mind? Utter failure. He doesn't let his mind be troubled, nor does he get blasted away by this mysterious offense. Instead? His eyes shift to Noel anyway, and he rushes at her! Let's see if he can cut her down to size. Suddenly, his sword turns into a scythe, and he'll try and slice her, and drain her of vitality. However much is up to how deep the wound is if he hits!
[AMANDINE]
The cauldron swings out to the end of its chain, dragging Amandine slightly with its weight and momentum before she sets herself and jerks it back with a snap. Tantalus subsequently drops like a stone, cratering into the ground when it falls. It's a short-lived victory for Amandine, however, as zombies are soon swarming up around her.
"OW!" One bites into her, but seems to struggling to tear away a chunk. Several more latch on, and Amandine disappears into the horde.
"Damn, RUDE-ASS ZOMBIES!!" Amandine bellows, knocking one away as she walks out of the mob, still carrying zombies that are too stubborn to let go.
"LEGGO!" Amandine shouts, "YOU SMELL!! And you're FILTHY!!" The chain rattles again, Amandine swinging Tantalus around her head with increasing speed. The chain bowls over one zombie and smashes another as the weapon continues to orbit.
COMBATSYS: Noel blocks Ragna's Soul Eater EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Echo dodges Amandine's Mix Stir Beat.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|=======
[NOEL]
As Ragna's and Noel's strikes slam simultaneously into Kiyomi, Noel should have looked satisfied, or at least appreciative. Instead, her flat blue eyes narrow slightly as she noticed...well, -something- powerful and dangerous in whatever Kiyomi was doing.
She sees Kiyomi targeting Ragna--fine and dandy--but that doesn't stop her from flinging herself headlong onto the ground, not knowing what was about to be unleashed.
It turns out that effort was utterly wasted, as whatever she did didn't seem to do much to Ragna at all. She gets up to a kneel, but Ragna is on Noel like a flash, his scythe swinging around like a crimson tornado, and she has no time to dodge. She blocks upwards with both gun barrels crossed, catches the blade in the V of the twin barrels, and twists the deadly blade away--but not without a wave of black and red energy slamming into her anyway.
She skids back several feet from the blow, but it's not enough to stop her from retaliating. She's silent this time, trying to catch Ragna off guard before he can duck beneath her quick forward leap. She tries to scissor his head between her legs before he can react.
[ECHO]
Echo somehow has the cup of tea back, yes, complete with porcelain saucer. She's sipping at it as the zombies begin to swarm Amandine, peeking one eye open to follow what is happening, before she does a little spittake.
"Wait, what's going on there? Is she /that/ hard to swallow, boys? Jeez, I had to find the one goth loli chef that was made by superball," Echo sighs and brushes her forehead with the back of her hand--swerving in the air this time to avoid the huge cauldron that's being swung at her like a wrecking ball! Skelingtons and zeds go flying as this happens, as well as arms and legs--this place is going to look pretty weird the next day, to be sure.
"Here, a little freeze-drying process--it comes in very handy in food preservation!" Echo swoops down low, trying to lay a palm down against Amandine--one that will begin to supernaturally drain away her fluids!
COMBATSYS: Amandine blocks Echo's Dessicate.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Ragna blocks Noel's Type IX - Muzzle Flitter.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Noel
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 1|-------|=======
[RAGNA]
Okay...Target? Noel.
His strike was blocked, which seems to surprise Ragna. she's REALLY durable. Then he's apparently about to be hurricanrana'd.
Ragna though? Lands on his arm and rolls quickly to his fleet, blocking the impact, but still taking some damage. With a crack of his neck, he lunges forward, attempting to throw Noel straight to the ground with his strength alone.
[KIYOMI]
The third fighter was just what Kiyomi actually needed to be able to get a little breather after the onslaught she had to endure. Her blade might have been broken, but even half a blade was still enough to gut and eviscerate those damnable humans. Using it like a like a broken cane to help her back to her feet, Kiyomi trembles as she gets back to her feet. The kitsune was panting, her kimono stained with the blood from the shots she got from Noel, her free arm wrapped around her side to try and stop the bleeding but it seemed more or less in vain.
Her pride prevented her from running from this battle, not right now. She spares a glance toward the building, where the rest of her pack fights, then back toward the two humans here. As their leader, she had to fight with the rest. Kiyomi readiers her blade and she charges toward Ragna in spite of her condition, lunging at him and swinging her broken blade at him again and again, upward, left right... A flurry of slashes meant to make him bleed and suffer.
[AMANDINE]
Amandine frowns when the cauldron doesn't smash Echo messily. At least no one can ever accuse her of not being transparent about her feelings. When plants her hand on one of the lingering zombies and peels him off before tossing him aside in a heap.
But then, Echo has descended on her and planted a hand. The claw starts to drain away vitality---but it seems like Amandine has a lot to spare, despite her frame! She plants her forearm against the Darkstalker's and pushes away, looking a little disheveled and worse for the wear, but certainly not dessicated.
"Freeze-drying? FREEZE-DRYING?!" Amandine huffs. "I only use FRESH MEAT!" she shouts, staggering away from Echo. "...but DAMN, now I'm thirsty." She pulls Tantalus over, pulling out a bottle of brandy from inside. She tugs it up and twists off the cap before upending the bottle and steadily guzzling it. Once it's empty, she tosses it aside.
"That's BETTER," Amandine pronounces...right before she thumps her chest with her tiny fist a few times. What follows is a loud, echoing belch---and a fireball of chi that erupts right out o Amandine's mouth.
COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully hits Echo with Aperitif.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 1|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Ragna successfully hits Noel with Quick Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/--=====|===----\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 1|-------|=======
[NOEL]
Noel leaps forward and tries to catch Ragna for a forward flip onto his head. It doesn't work--he doesn't land nearly badly enough to take a whole lot of harm on his arm--but he grabs her and quite effectively returns the favor. She whimpers in pain from the slam, but her expression is still placid, her gaze uninterested, as she springs to her feet, her focus entirely now on the Bloodedge.
She charges in, with a deceptive little sidestep designed to pass right by him, and tries to quickly reverse her momentum and slam him in the back with a shoulder charge.
[ECHO]
"Jeez, like a big black lacy water balloon, you are, g'heh--" Echo blinks as her magical water-draining attack seemed to have little effect, at least on Amandine. She pulls her hand back, but not before she gets hit with Amandine's huge flaming belch!
"Gahhh--have you never heard of prilosec, goddamn--" Echo flaps back from Amandine, but this only make sthe fire worse--her dress, fur and hair are on fire. Ow. that looks painful. Whipping herself around to try and put herself out, before the bat lady holds her arms out, getting ready to CHARGE up her energies, getting ready to BLAST the chef girl!
COMBATSYS: Echo raises arms, eyes glowing red as she conjures FELL MAGICKS to her aid!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 1|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Ragna blocks Noel's Type V - Assault Through.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1 Noel
[ |||||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 1|------=|=======
COMBATSYS: Ragna fails to interrupt Rafale d'entailles from Kiyomi with Seed of Tartaros EX.
- Power fail! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 1/-----==/=======|===----\-------\0 Amandine
[ \\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Kiyomi 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[RAGNA]
Ragna is double teamped! Kiyomi AND Noel seem to be targeting him now. "Ow." is all he says. "that is it...if you motherfuckers want to keep this up...THEN BRING IT ON!" Ragna then seems to ERUPT! He rushes forward now, only for Kiyomi to hit him head on..and Noel battering him as well. So, in retaliation, he attacsk the more wounded of the two. Kiyomi. If he can knock her quickly out of the fight, then things iwll be MUCH easier.
[KIYOMI]
The Kitsune was not done with Ragna ~ as she often says to her brethren, for every drop of blood they dare to make them spill, they will pay a hundrefold with their blood... And Kiyomi seems quite inclined to draw every ounce of blood that she is able to get from Ragna, even if her sharp blade is broken in half, she could still cut him... Every slice would not be as clean of a cut, but that would just make it all the more cruel.
After the succession of swift slices, Kiyomi takes a step back as if to focus on her opponent, bringing her blade low, her tails spread out wide like a peacock and swirling in their constant mesmerizing patterns that slowly hinders him in the most subtle and subliminal ways. Kiyomi lunges forward into a fast attack and draws her blade for an agile and quick strike at Ragna's midsection meant to eviscerate him and make him bleed from his abdomen much like Kiyomi's own were bleeding.
[AMANDINE]
"BALLOON?!" Amandine protests, dabbing at her mouth with her sleeve. "Are you calling me FAT?" The chef shouts, but not without snickering to herself when Echo gets ignited briefly.
But then, Echo starts gathering energy. Amandine's eye twitches. "Oh, taking a little BREAK? Well, TWO can play at that game!!"
Amandine pulls her cauldron over, pulling out...bonbons? She shoves one into her mouth. Then three.
"So why are you HERE, anyway?" Amandine says, talking with her mouth full.
[NOEL]
After Ragna is struck from both sides, he turns to Kiyomi, no doubt ready to defend against her deadly sword strike. Noel doesn't hesitate in the slightest. Clearly, it's time to end this three-way fight while Kiyomi's focused on Ragna. She's wounded, yes, but clearly powerful, while Ragna seems to be struggling a bit.
She kicks off the ground, leaping high and, again, straight up, to get a clear shot at Kiyomi over Ragna's head. She levels off both guns at the kitsune and unleashes a rapid-fire stream of bullets downwards! "Bullet Storm!"
That might be the first actual inflection she's had in anything she's said this fight.
[ECHO]
"I hope you've got a lot of those candies, because you're going to need them to bribe the ferryman where you're going! I just hope the boat doesn't sink with you on it!" Echo is cackling as she surges with black and red necromantic energies, finally bringing her power to bear.
The bat lady seems to disappear--but she's actually just moving too fast for Amandine and perhaps the others to see--her form blurring as she appears right before Amandine, her jaw seeming to unhinge as she tries to GRAB the goth loli chef, her hands wreathed in red light as she attempts to clamp down with both her hands and jaws, trying to sink in her fangs into that chef and have a bit of an aperitif of her own!
COMBATSYS: Kiyomi fails to interrupt Bullet Storm from Noel with Taillade de l'Esprit.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Kiyomi can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|===----\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Amandine barely endures Echo's Crimson Embrace.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully aids herself with Soup du Jour.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[KIYOMI]
The first bullet was deflect by Kiyomi's broken blade almost instinctively ~ yet her swarm of tails behind her ondulated so widely even if the bullet didn't hit her right on, it ended up losing itself in her tails, grazing the fur and most likely tearing off a patch of fur.
Knowing Noel was going to unleash hell on her, Kiyomi turns on her heels and charges right at her, spinning her blade in an attempt to deflect the other bullets, the storm onslaught that was going to come her way. With little way to defend herself, she figured the best way out of this was to retaliate before Noel would get too much bullets at her and so, the kitsune attempts to elusive dash into her, the tails attempting to mesmerize Noel's mind and make her fire off aim, making her see the kitsune in a blurr, displaced from where she was really.
She charges at her but her foxy tactics seem not to affect Noel who's aim is dead on, each bullet form the barrage ending up hitting the kitsune's shoulder, midsection, thighs... Fortunately, nothing that would prove lethal but still enough of an onslaught to stop her before she can manage to reach Noel.
As she collapses to the ground, vision blurry, Kiyomi is able to let out a needy howl to the moon before she collapses... Enough of an howl to call for help... And help arrives in the form of the huge behemoth beast that had been enduring a barrage of other fire from other NOL soldiers. It grunts and shakes off the militaries around of him and dashes off to Kiyomi's rescue, knocking off creatures in its path and charging for Kiyomi, a large shell over the Kitsune. One of his large hand gently takes the wounded creature, before it finally dashes away from where it came.
[AMANDINE]
"RUDE ASS BAT!!!" Amandine interjects. "Charon would be HONORED to have me aboard! I mean, OBVI--"
Suddenly Echo is gone, reappearing in point-blank range and grabbing hold of the chef. She picks her up and sinks her teeth in, Amandine's legs kicking as she's dangled and steadily drained. She seems to shrink away, becoming decrepit as she dangles. She goes limp after a moment, the bat woman draining away her vitality.
But then she starts regaining energy, whatever she ate from Tantalus earlier filling her with energy once more. Her eye twitches and she drops, the chain of the cookpot rattling as she pulls on it.
"Isn't that a little FRESH, you leather-winged HUSSY?" Amandine asks, giving Tantalus a big pull. She swings it around like a flail, building up momentum as she spins it around on the chain. Considering how much that thing weighs, Amandine sure wields it with ease...and it starts to glow red hot as she swings it.
"At least wait until a SECOND DATE!!" She smashes it downward with such force she goes airborne, the impact erupting with a gout of flaming chi.
COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Amandine's Get Out of My Kitchen.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[NOEL]
Noel wavies!
[ECHO]
"Maybe if you wouldn't sink his boat with that fat butt!" Echo sneers back. The cat-fight factor here has risen to obviously dangerous levels, however this is such a conflict between two clearly superpowered individuals.
"Then again, maybe you'll actually fit on it after that, whew--uurrrrp!" Echo finally drops Amandine after having grasped and began draining out her blood. It's less of a latch on and gradually drain sort of affair--more a torrent firing into Echo's teeth after the initial bite. Vampires in Makai used such a technique, one that Echo could replicate with some skill and ability.
As Tantalus crashes into the bat, she's thrown backwards again--a red streak along the corners of her mouth and along the side of one cheek, from Amandine's blood. She was somewhat shaken from the attack, but she had braced herself against the heavy cauldron as best she could.
"Don't worry hon, you'll thank me later for the miracle weight loss program! Now how about you have a seat over there--" Echo's eyes glowed red and from a dark inky portal behind Amandine what looked like a rusted metallic hospital stretcher rose up behind her--the leather straps on it trying to grab her!
COMBATSYS: Amandine blocks Echo's Necroscopy.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[AMANDINE]
The stretcher crashes into Amandine with a metallic clang, bowling the woman over onto her face instead of launching her up onto it. For such a little, slightly built thing, she's certainly unnaturally dense. Perhaps Echo isn't the only monster around. In any case, the stretcher wheels roll on over her.
And afterward, Amandine climbs to her feet, coughing dust.
"UGH!" Amandine dusts herself off, then spots a tire tread running along her side. "What are you even LOOKING for, anyway?" A pause. "Hopefully it's an ASSBEATING," Amandine shrieks, "because you've FOUND one!"
The little chef yanks the chains of her cauldron, swinging it around to try and smash Echo from the side this time and clobber her into the nearest wall.
COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully hits Echo with Power Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/-======|====---\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[ECHO]
"Hey--no, get /on/ the thing--ack--quit moving around so much!" Echo is over there, wings flapping as she keeps herself aloft, generally freaking out and having a fit as Amandine is apparently too hefty to bounce up onto the stretcher and be secured onto it.
"Then again, I guess the thing was way too flimsy for you, eh honey?~" Echo recovers and makes the best of it, though she's been left open for the return strike of Tantalus--
"HURK--" is the kind of noise that comes out of someone when a giant cauldron crashes into their sides and ribs--the bat lady knocked down and tumbling, out of the air!
"Oof... quite the weight on you there, darling--" Echo spits out a bit of blood, probably her own this time, before bringing herself back up to her feet, diving towards Amandine now for a return haymaker!
COMBATSYS: Amandine interrupts Fierce Punch from Echo with Order Up!.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Echo 1/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[AMANDINE]
"DAMN," Amandine says, "talk about BLIND AS A BAT! I am a PETITE LADY with a PERFECT SHAPE!" A line counts as a shape, doesn't it? Amandine stomps her foot again aggressively even as Tantalus tumbles with a metallic clang.
But even as it does, Echo is moving to wind up and punch Amandine. The little chef's eyes seem to gleam as she sees an opening, and suddenly snaps the chain of the cauldron to launch it into a meteoric rise--one that has so much force Amandine goes after with a tug of the chain around her waist.
"Ohhhh ho ho!" There's that laugh again. "I am a RIOT!"
[ECHO]
Echo finds herself knocked aside by the suddenly rising girl AND cauldron--seeing stars, really. Bloodied and quite hurt, Echo picks herself back up amidst a pile of dust, rubble and bits and pieces of a few of her skeleton servants.
"More like pear-shaped," she spit blood again. "Much like how his operation is going, hah--" Echo's hands were once again wreathed in ghost-gloves, the unearthly light radiating from them spoke of some kind of magic. She raised her arms out and seemed to be gathering energy. Uh oh.
COMBATSYS: Echo raises arms, eyes glowing red as she conjures FELL MAGICKS to her aid!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Echo 1/--=====/=======|====---\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[AMANDINE]
"You're INCORRIGIBLE!" Amandine protests, smoothing out her skirt. "This is a CORSET, thank you very much!!" She pats the seat of her dress as it to emphasis. It takes her a moment to realize what she's done.
"Not that I don't have curves of my own!!!"
Amandine walks forward, dragging the cauldron behind her by its chain "Not that it's going to matter in a minute, because all you're going to be seeing is stars!!" Amandine rears back, swinging around with a backhand aimed at Echo while she's charging. "Don't think for a MINUTE that I'm going to let you do THAT again!"
COMBATSYS: Echo just-defends Amandine's Quick Strike!
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Echo 1/--=====/=======|====---\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[ECHO]
"Corset, girdle, it makes little difference from where I'm standing, dear," Echo's eyes began to glow red, and when Amandine approached her to b-style slap her, a familiar inky black portal appeared beneath the bat--her entire body slipping right down into it--and Amandine's slap connecting with nothing at all! What the?!
All around Amandine would come the chittering and screeching of what had to be bats--what sounded like a thousand of them as Echo appeared nearby, raising a hand limned with red magickal energy, as what looked like a red and megante silk-lined box rose up nearby her.
"You're a pretty good attraction, hon--lets see how you like being a part of a REAL magic show!" Echo then sent the large red box--coffin--sailing towards Amandine, trying to catch her with it's lid!
COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Amandine with Grand Guignol EX.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
And as Amandine is caught in the box--she'd find herself... part of a stage magician show?
Red curtains, a raised stage--the glamor of Echo's magic causes it to be real, if only for a matter of seconds.
"Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes on the daring, the ditzy, the copious, Amandine~ our new... lovely assistant," the red satin-lined coffin opens, depositing the girl into... Tantalus? But why is there water in it--and why is it already beginning to get boiling hot...? Echo comes by and deposits a small foil packet of something into it.
"Oof, too much sodium in these, I usually just add half the packet, you know," the water begins to turn a frightful brown brothy color, searing and cooking the girl inside it!
Flames rage up around the cauldron as it begins to heat up, frying the girl, essentially--the entire spectacle bursting into motes of magic shaped like bats, flittering away into the night!
[AMANDINE]
Amandine glances up to see the box closing around her with a click of the lock. She thumps against it, banging on it as she tries to break it open and free herself once more. She does not work fast enough, in any case, and soon finds herself being dumped headlong into the cauldron. For an instant, Amandine is visible in the oufit of a showgirl, albeit one with Amandine's typical sense of fashion. She's dressed in a black and white outfit with lace and an oversized top hat. That is, until she splashes into Tantalus.
The act continues as Tantalus simmers, but there's a low rumble. The murmurings of something unseen, of a darker power far, far beyond Amandine's unnatural strength and durability. In a brief instant, it seems...unhappy. The moment passes as the cauldron explodes with a gout of chi flame and a flash of illusory power.
Amandine sputters, bowling Tantalus over as she tumbles out, her dress soggy and charred and her hair a complete mess. Her face is smudged with dirt and grime.
"UGH!" Amandine spits, "I give you revue TWO THUMBS DOWN!!" She sticks out her tongue and gives Echo a raspberry before yanking Tantalus's chain. The cauldron flies through the air after which Amandine catches it by the rim. She swings it around, despite it being bigger than she is, and tries to smash it again Echo yet again.
"Why are you still here anyway! Why aren't you in, I dunno, VEGAS!!"
COMBATSYS: Echo dodges Amandine's Intercepting Strike.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[ECHO]
"Who says I haven't, darling?~" Echo's regalia for the brief moment also disappears, leaving her looking fairly mundane again in that dark tattered dress of hers. Well, it was less tattered before Amandine's various assaults, to be sure. "What about you? you seemed like you seemed pretty natural in that lovely assistant outfit, babe," Echo grinned, her teeth partially reddish-pink thanks to the blood that had passed over them previously. She looked like she'd been in a car accident.
Echo flaps her wings and dodges back from the thrashing cauldron, making a tsk tsk tsk sort of noise to Amandine.
"Thumbs down? but Ladyfinges are such a delicate appetizer!" Echo's hand gloved red this time, firing what looked like a blood red projectile toward Amandine--on contact, the bolt would create a huge spurt of blood from it's victim.
COMBATSYS: Amandine endures Echo's Blood Gout.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/-----==|======-\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[AMANDINE]
"Then get back THERE, and stop causing trouble for ME, HERE!!" Amandine yowls, charging headlong toward Echo as she dainty hand misses with the slam and instead smashes into a wall with a heavy thump. She jumps and grabs at Echo as she flies away, but fails to get a handle on her before she's gotten her distance.
But then, there's a blood red projectile coming back toward the tiny chef! It hits her head on, but by that point Amandine is charging again, trying to run down Echo. There's a splatter as it draws blood from Amandine, but she doesn't seem to slow down despite the damage. Instead, she reaches forward again, trying to grab hold of Echo and throw her bodily to the ground. If she does get her grounded, she plants a boot, stomping several times before grinding one of those sizeable heels.
COMBATSYS: Amandine successfully hits Echo with Daily Special.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[ECHO]
"Jesus she's real ravenous, this one--ACK!" Echo is being pounded into and then getting a heeled boot ground into her. Well, some people would probably pay for this, to be sure, but Echo is not exactly enjoying it right now, at least not given the circumstances. Plus, Amandine seemed sure as heck heavy right now, what with her trying to crush the sorceress bat!
"Time to lighten the load, here--" Echo formed another of those inky black portals around her--this time beneath her--letting herself /and/ Amandine potentially fall through--the exit portal appearing in the air ten or so feet up nearby! Echo had wings, and could potentially cushion herself... but could Amandine?!
COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Amandine with Another Gate.
[ \\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Echo 0/-------/-======|=======\-------\1 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[AMANDINE]
Amandine starts with that after noblewoman's laugh again as she grinds her heel, seemingly content to grind Echo into bat pate. That is, until the portal suddenly opens beneath them and Amandine is airborne with Echo above her. She drops through it, falling ten or so feet with a heavy thump as she lands on her face. Even so, she seems mostly unharmed from the drop...
But then Tantalus' chain runs its length and Tantalus itself goes through the portal, dropping from above to slam onto Amandine with a thump and a clang.
"Ow," Amandine says, echoing inside the upside down cauldron. "DAMN IT."
She flips it over and off of her, another gout of blood dripping out from her as she does. "WELL," she interjects, "if you won't come DOWN," Amandine tugs around another brandy bottle and starts guzzling. "I CAN WORK AROUND THAT. Cooking is being able to IMPROVISE!!!"
Amandine belches out a great gout of chi flame like a flamethrower, the spray threatening to blast Echo right out of the sky!
COMBATSYS: Echo blocks Amandine's Tarte Flambe.
[ \\\\\ < > /////////// ]
Echo 1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[ECHO]
"Woof, deary, I've not seen this side of you, look better belly up, to be honest," Echo does indeed snap a wing open to swing herself down and land in a controlled manner while the girl does not. All of a sudden--a gout of flame!
"Ack--" Echo brings her arms and wings up--scorched by the flaming chi energy, dust kicked up as she tries to put the fires out.
"Augh... so tired," Echo is breathing heavily now, trying to pull back in O2 after the gout of flame sucked the air out of the area around her. Likely also coughing on smoke.
"Got to see this through--dead souls to me!" The area around Echo suddenly grew very dark--shadows surging in--looking like long dark tendrils of smoke, or blackness--before they all rushed out at once towards Amandine, trying to choke the light out of the area around her!
COMBATSYS: Echo successfully hits Amandine with Spirit Wrack EX.
[ \\\\ < > /////// ]
Echo 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[AMANDINE]
"Stop--TEASING!" Amandine wheezes, running on fumes herself. While the little shrimp holds up remarkably well, even she seems to be running low on fuel. She pants as she staggers forward, shadows surrounding her. She's wrapped in tendrilsand squeezed like a python with an awful crunch. Even so, Amandine stagger and stays on her feet.
"Why don't you just...GIVE UP!!!" She stomps forward yanking the pot and hurling it at Echo again, flying behind as she's carried by its momentum.
COMBATSYS: Echo dodges Amandine's Bon Appetit!.
[ \\\\ < > ///// ]
Echo 1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0 Amandine
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[ECHO]
"I can't help it!" Echo fires back, looking quite a bit worse for wear, but still somehow standing up still. As the pot goes sailing toward her, Echo sidesteps out of the way, quickly--the pot brushing against her arm and shoulder, but not making solid contact. As the girl would be pulled forward by her momentum of throwing the pot, Echo reared back and aimed a kick upward toward the girl's chin, intent on using her own momentum to harden the blow! Not that she seemed to have been doing much to Amandine throughout this--the girl was thick-skinned! Or Big-boned--or one of the two!
COMBATSYS: Amandine fails to interrupt Medium Kick from Echo with Short Order Stunner.
[ \\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Echo 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
COMBATSYS: Amandine can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Echo 1/------=/=======|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[AMANDINE]
Between Amandine's exhausted state, her own forward momentum, and Echo's particularly well-timed kick, something magical happens. Amandine surges forward, riding the momentum of Tantalus as Echo aims for her chin. There's no stopping it. Her forward momentum is like a train, and her course is set.
The world seems to move in slow motion as Amandine's face collides with Echo's boot. Her cheek turns as Echo kicks down, clobbering her good...but she doesn't stop moving forward.
The two split, Echo moving downward as Amandine continues to fly. There's a splash somewhere afar off.
[ECHO]
Echo is not at first really conscious of what happened--they swung their full weight and force into the kick--and Amandine went down. She only grasps what happened after a few moments of heavy panting, hands against their knees as they're bent over, like someone who's just run a marathon.
"Phew... talk about biting off more than you can chew, next time it's something more tender for me... hahh... sorry babe," Echo raised a hand again, wreathing it in ghostly pale green energy, her body slipping down through one of her shadow portals, disappearing!
But to where...? Well, that'll depend on how well NOL has shored up it's defense, it appears!
COMBATSYS: Echo has left the fight here.
> /////////////////// ]
|-------\-------\0 Noel
[ ||||||||||||||| ]
Ragna 0|-------|-----==
[RAGNA]
Well, that was interesting.
Ragna is now one on one with Noel, cracking his neck now that his big monsterous distraction was out of the picture. "and then there were too." Ragna clenches his sword-grip a bit harder now that she has his full attention. "You...look like Saya." he narrows his eyes. "AND IT PISSES ME OFF!" because NOL didn't deserve to so much as speak her name. But despite questioning what NOL was really up to, he lunges at Noel in rage, attempting to kick her across the room.
[NOEL]
Noel lands from her vertical leap, Bolverk smoking in her hands, her disinterested, analytical gaze staring right into Ragna's heterochromatic eyes, trying to anticipate his actions.
Her fugue state takes a rather unanticipated turn for the worse as he does exactly none of the things she was expecting, and her flinty emerald gaze softens, she blinks once in mild confusion, as her precisely calculated battle stance shifts. She murmurs half to herself, "I...what? Who's Say--OOF!" as Ragna's kick plows into her belly full force and she's catapulted like a five-foot-nothing rag doll halfway across the paving flags. She doesn't lose her grip on her guns--Bolverk wouldn't let her of she tried--but she groans and tries to rise again to her feet.
[RAGNA]
Ragna watches with a sick satisfaction as his kick knocks Noel across the area. His eyes narrow then as he approaches her with cruel intent. His sword shouldered with ease. "Saya." he repaeats the name. "My little sister. NOL DARES to recreate someone in her image....I'll burn it all. ALL OF IT." and with another swing, he sends a wave of black energy at Noel!
[NOEL]
It's clear enough from Noel's expression that she's not really following Ragna's angry rant. She still looks a bit confused, but she only has the chance to say a couple words in reply. "I'm not...I didn't...?" Her voice trails off as her eyes harden again as the battle fugue sets in. Like this, it's a little easier to see the differences. Noel's blonde hair is still light but darker than Saya's, and that expression, already relaxing to impassivity...even coldness, would never have been on Saya's face.
She's still kneeling, but crouches and raises her arms in a cross block, weathering the Dead Spike as it washes over her. She grits her teeth, but says nothing more as she reaches out with both arms as Bolverk quickly shifts into a shotgun-like configuration, followed by a powerful close range blast.
Still, she's standing and fighting. Maybe she doesn't realize what it is to stand toe to toe with the Bloodedge.
[RAGNA]
Ragna watches as she even manages to power through Dead Spike. She's tough...but not tough enough. "Get out of my way, or I will destroy any trace of your existence." Ragna raises his arm as if he's about to perform Gauntlet Hades before he's pushed back by Noel's response!
Sliding backwards frtom the shotgun blasts, one finally hits him square in the shoulder, but it doesn't seem to have done much damage....either that, or he heals very quickly.
Or both.
He turns his head back to Noel, and proceeds to turn his arm into a demonic looking monsterous claw to strike at Noel!
[NOEL]
Noel's shotgun blasts are probably a pretty effective weapon against most people in close quarters, but the fact is, her strength is clearly Bolverk's versatility. Pistols, shotgun...who knows what else they can turn into?
The downside, of course, is they're simply not -one- weapon that Noel practices with; she has to practice with several. She is not honed to a razor's edge on any one of them, and Ragna, simply put, is truly one with his blade. And, clearly, so is he with the power within himself. The demonic, blood red claw lunges forward and picks Noel up before she can react, and instantly Ragna lifts her up as an almighty storm of red energy erupts around them. Noel is helpless in its embrace...devoured by darkness.
When the storm subsides, Noel flops to the ground, completely unconscious. Her hat sits on some rubble alongside her, and her guns lay useless on thr ground, with no one to wield them. Eyes shut, blonde hair spilling out over the cold stone, she doesn't look all that different from a sleeping Saya.
[RAGNA]
One down.
As soon as Noel is drained of much of her vitality, Ragna drops her on the floor and looks upon his victory. Once that is done, Ragna embraces the darkness, and enters into a full onslaught against the facility!
Using the power of the Black Beast to destroy all in his path...until he leaves, letting the beasts do the rest for him.
Log created on 19:34:08 01/03/2019 by Echo, and last modified on 22:15:02 01/11/2019.