Match of the Millennium

Description: The tides of war are unrelenting. Faced with the prospect of utter chaos in Southtown, those who before defended the YFCC and their compatriots devote themselves to forging a new safe haven for those displaced by the combat, as Hotaru Futaba provides her own family estate as a refuge. Yet even this oasis draws the attention of the mechanized armies rampaging through the city. What is their objective in battering down the gates to this place of asylum? Who is the enigmatic foe leading their forces? Hotaru, side by side with loyal friends Alma Towazu and Shurui Chiang, fights to defend the innocent and to learn the truth. Yet though their efforts are formidable, little is resolved by the destruction and subsequent mysterious abduction. What are the motives of the powers that be? Does any hero exist who can penetrate the infinite void at the heart of this battle...?

The walled in property of the Futaba family was never meant to be a base of operations. But then again, Southtown was never supposed to get invaded by an army either, so all bets are off by this point. The estate has become a gathering point of sorts. Many caught at the YFCC have been lead back to this place by those in better health. Food and medical supplies have been gathered, the rooms occupied as one by one, people have been encouraged to turn to the property for shelter to weather the storm...

It still looks like the wealthy estate it has always been. But things have shifted some. Wires strung across beams in the yard are handling drying clothes. The grass covered yard, normally immaculately maintained, looks downtrodden from the dozons of feet that pace across it throughout the day. The fountain and man-made brook have been shut off for the sake of conserving water. Some of the windows of the home are open and there's a constant murmur of activity all about the normally dead-quiet estate.

So far the invasion has been a remote thing from this hilltop neighborhood. With a vantage point to view the city below, the plumes of smoke, the sounds of gun fire, or the cry of sirens are witnessed from something of a distance. The occupying forces don't seem interested in the outlying regions so much. A small detail Hotaru has kept close to her heart for comfort; a way to ease her worries as she keeps herself busy organizing and overseeing things around the manner.

With the rooms slowly filling up, she stands out front, arms folded as she stares at the family dojo occupying the other side of the lot. It will be time, soon, to open the building up for additional beds. Food, linens, and other supplies have been 'borrowed' from the neighboring estates that sit empty now; abandoned by well-to-do families eager to evacuate the warzone at the first sign of trouble.

A rattle of the sidewalk gate snaps the girl's attention that way. Hurring off the front porch to open the gate, she ushers in a young man that looks rather roughed up. A quick exchange of soft words tells her that he's a refuge from Gedo. That his arm is cut. And that he hasn't eaten for two days. Offering him a supportive but strained smile, Hotaru gestures toward the three story home. "Please, head inside. Shurui will meet you at the door to get you situated."

Tiredly, Hotaru rubs her hand over her eyes as the Gedo refuge hurries on toward the house. One last gaze is cast out over the street before she pulls the gate closed again, latching it locked once it's in position. It's been a long week with no sign of things letting up for Southtown. At least the growing gathering of fighters and non-fighters alike have been left alone thus far.

The NESTS war machine collided head-on with the second incarnation of the YFCC bastion and left both amidst debris and disrepair. It is hard to speak of victory in a time of utter chaos, when it occasionally seems unclear what it would even mean to win, and harder still to speak of it when the Center again lies in partial ruin. But lives were spared and beliefs were stood for-- and for Alma Towazu, to perpetuate both life and dignity is the greatest of human victories regardless of circumstance. Such lofty sentiments may be even harder to understand than usual when so many have already lost their houses, their freedom, and any hope for present safety or a worthy future, but they are all the more welcome by those who have suffered. It takes courage to open one's home to those in need at a time like this, and as unbelievable as what the heroes of this hour are attempting is, it is hard to suspect a man still swathed in bandages of alterior motives.
This as much as his own native presence is what explains the successes of Alma Towazu, who emerges through the gate breathing heavily and quietly sweating, unzipping his still surprisingly pristine white zip-up sweater to reveal said fresh bandages criss-crossing his burnished bronze skin, encasing the numerous puncture wounds that were the fruits of his doomed duel against NESTS's Foxy. Approaching the fountain, no longer running but its water not yet entirely stagnant, he bends down to splash water over his face and hair, letting it drip down his chin and onto his chest; the mild-mannered young man finally releases a gentle sigh, his contemplative expression contrasting faintly humorously with his unconscious efforts, of which he is clearly unaware, to rearrange his stylishly unkempt hairstyle.
Behind him have arrived several small families, the adults shaken but still alert, some of the children heart-breakingly blank-faced with the trauma of sudden war. These are the few more who have not been able to escape either the city or the streets. They have nowhere else to go. Alma has been traversing a city at war, doing what he can as an individual in individual moments but focused mainly on bringing survivors in need back to this final haven. There still is no broader plan. For all his administrative skills, this is the most he can do for now. It was a difficult choice, abandoning the YFCC for now, but it is no longer a target and will not serve as a base. The volunteers have been safely scattered, but in the past days it has been the memory of their courage that still warms Alma's heart.
There are others who appreciate the importance of integrity in the face of death.
Now, once more, Alma has united in person with the friends whose bonds he eternally feels within his heart. It is vaguely selfish, he feels, but he cannot help his perspective, one that has always seen every endeavor in the light of his own salvation: for all the suffering that has been thrust upon this city, he is happy for the opportunity to be brought once more so close to the people he loves.
Of course, even appreciating this fulfilling intimacy, Alma yearns with silent righteous zeal for the day when he can launch a counter-attack. To counter-attack, they need a real force. And, he thinks privately to himself, they need an enemy. He, for his part, is not so sure their adversary is as obvious as it seems. What is Geese Howard's part in all this? What is the dark reality of the YFCC's benefactor, and does Alma even have the power or werewithal to resist him? He will, if nothing else, be unable to ever look K' in the eye again if he cannot-- but perhaps that is the price he will pay for a greater responsibility to his charges at the Center. He will see. The sacrifice of choosing between responsibilities is not new to him. But beyond the ethical choices at stake, his strategy itself is in question; this world demands the art of war. Earth is the fact of a city in chaos-- but what is Heaven?
Glancing over to see Hotaru engaged in a strained but kind exchange with a wounded Gedo student,

Glancing over to see Hotaru engaged in a strained but kind exchange with a wounded Gedo student, Alma smiles softly, his eyes -- their weariness masked by clarity of intent -- warming sincerely as he raises in hand in salute at his sworn sister and good friend.
Perhaps, he reflects, Heaven is something like this.

It seems like forever, when Shurui came running to Hotaru with Ichiro alongside her. Not much of a crowd, but the situation had forced the gril to move fast. Something about being discovered and having to run...

No one followed immediately- wait, no, people did follow. Refugees, following the rumors quickly spread around by desperate coversation of places to stay and areas not under attack just yet. A number of them were Gedo students, such as this one, seeking shelter now that their beloved school had fallen. The quiet of the mansion has long since dissipated, much to Shurui's initial distress, but, shortly, she became a force of domestic nature, pondering through reserves and stretching food supplies via way of soups and utilizing whatever eatible parts of meat she figure out how to use before they went rank. She was everywhere- folding clothes, discerning injuries, taking over where Hotaru became too busy.

So far, it seems that, where other plans have failed, Hotaru's plan had succeeded.

".... You're... in my math class." The Gedo student stares at the short girl in the hallway, still shell-shocked by events not even he with his background could discern. "... You kept missing class. W-wha." Shurui turns a stern eye to the cut, then about his body as he stands there dumbfounded by yet another piece of mundane normalcy placed into a context that seems horribly wrong. "The cut's not too deep," she comments. "There'll be some people in the back who'll bandage it up and make sure it doesn't get infected." The advantage of multiple people? Mutiple talents. The gedo student mumbles a thank you and shambles off, leaving Shurui to finally spot the returning Alma, now washing his face.

"... You shouldn't push yourself too long. You're gonna be no use if we get attacked." Shurui sternly tilts her head as she walks towards the blonde, a hint of deep concern hidden in her voice and eyes. "... Get some rest while you still can, 'kay?" .... She could take her own advice, really. As could Hotaru. But really, the saying still holds: there's no rest for the weary.

Things could easily get worse at the very moment they let their guard down.

What is heaven?
A distant and impossible dream.
Certainly, there are ways to emulate it. To symbolize it, for brief, fleeting moments. And in the deepest of chaos, the bastions of sanity often seem like that little sliver of utopia that is just within grasp. See, the Futaba Estate. The grand property is livelier than it has ever been before, as people seek shelter from the hell that has become of Southtown. There are the meager -- the families, the non-combatants, those who only wish to be safe. But there are others: fighters, those seeking a spot of rest before thrusting themselves back into the fray. Those with unique abilities, seeking a rare moment of peace. In hell, a place where there is no anarchy could well be considered heaven.
But what is heaven if not a fleeting moment that exists only to be yearned for when it's ripped away?
The Futaba Estate is busy, but tranquil. In peace, and, for all intents and purposes... unsuspecting. In most cases, even the vile and amoral power structure of NESTS and Shadaloo wouldn't bother with the suburbs of Southtown, the civilian areas -- there'd be no benefit to it. Futaba Estate should be, by all accounts and purposes, safe.
But this theory is interrupted with the sound of a single shot.
It sounds like a cannon going off; cutting through the civilian area like a thunderous clap, shattering any thoughts of peace and calm. As Hotaru seeks to close the gates? A tremendous blast aims to KNOCK them open -- and knock /her/ over in the process. The source? Off in the distance, the sizeable mini-tank Charybdis is charging towards the Futaba Estate at full momentum, gun barrel smoking as behind it, soldiers wearing the dismal and ominous colors of Shadaloo start to stream in, in force. There is no warning, no leeway; this is, in all intents, a blitz assault. Why? Well.
Peace can't last forever.

COMBATSYS: Charybdis has started a fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Invader has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Alma has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Alma
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Hotaru has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Alma
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Invader          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Shurui has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Shurui           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Alma
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hotaru
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Shurui has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Invader          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////////]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Hotaru with Medium Shot.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Invader          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |==-----\-------\0           Hotaru

At the gate, Hotaru lingers, hand resting at the metal frame for an idle moment. A glance along her shoulder brings her eyes to rest on the recently returned Alma. Her eyes meet his for only the briefest of moments; they speak of gladness to see him well and unspoken but abundantly apparenty gratitude for the expeditions he is chancing by going further into the city. The world keeps moving because of people like him, she tells herself. With him and the others gathered here, they'll pull through this. His salute is returned with just a fraction of a nod, a whisper of a smile before Hotaru's attention shifts to the initial houseguest of so many to come, as she vocalizes concern about Alma's effort. He is pushing hard. They all are. With a soft sigh, she turns to finish locking the gate. Clothed in civilian, casual clothes, she has on comfortable jeans and a short sleeved, red chinese-styled top; comfortable work clothes, which is what matters lately.

She doesn't even understand the sound when it's heard, much less react in time to do anything about it. A cannon? This close? If she had been more military minded, she might have thought to establish scouts along the roads leading to the estate in an effort to foster advanced warning of something like this. But she's a fighter and a high school girl. And she's doing the best she can.

Azure eyes go wide then immediately close as the stonework of the estate gate explodes into a shower of white stucco and rubble. The metal portions are crushed flat and the immediate location obscured in a cloud of powder, smoke, and the smell of burning grass. Coughing noises from within the cloud are the first clue that Hotaru is at least still conscious, before she stumbles out into the open again, covered in white dust, left arm bleeding from a gash incurred by flying shrapnel. "They're-" she croaks before coughing again. "They're here!"

Movement out of the corner of her eye catches her attention. A duo of soldiers pouring in through the newly made opening. Even dazed, she can recognize the threat they represent. Planting her left foot, she swings hard with her right foot, aiming to plow one man into the other with a punishing kick to the head!

Alma smiles, fountain water and sweat glistening on his smooth brow as he regards his friend, his eyes those of a man at home.
"Thanks," he says simply. "I'll try."
Shurui: as usual, she should speak for herself. It's a bad habit of hers that Alma continues to be greatly fond of, only more so after their recent instance of psychic therapy. It is an act that he has engaged with so directly only with Hotaru and Shurui themselves. Of course, the circumstances with Hotaru were especially unique; it was his first time, and even he, so committed to sharing his heart's contents, was unprepared for what emerged. Nevertheless, to have mastered such a strange and special art and to have healed a mind's wounds with it is satisfying enough itself; to make it a proof of great trust between two who otherwise might never have achieved it is in a class all it's own.
Yes, truly, for Alma, this is a kind of heaven. But unlike many of those who lust after paradise, he has never assumed that salvation would be eternal.
That philosophy turns out to be for the best.
He does not startle, even when the gates explode. "Hotaru!" he shouts instinctively, eyes narrowing; but there is no terror, only conviction. "Withdraw to the main house!" he calls to the recently arrived families, stunned and horrified that the violence has arrived even here, and shaken to action perhaps more by the preternatural intensity in the young man's voice than the reasonableness of the suggestion, the immediately begin to retreat. Shurui alone will see it: the flare-up of the YFCC director's aura, that radiant but usually gently restrained halo of white laced with pinks and purples surging up to reveal the stalwart tones of gold and rose that lie dormant within, their influence streaking through as his posture straightens and his eyes blaze. Alma's passion is ever close at hand; this has been more in evidence than ever.
Unhesitatingly he moves to counter-attack.
Bounding with long strides over to the gate, Alma leaps atop the low wall that accompanies it, his eyes widening faintly as he sees the nature of their opponent. He cannot resist a moment of shock at this, his brow furrowing, and absurdly, he can only reflect: This will be very educational. He's never fought a tank before. Blinking, he wastes only a second before shaking off the daze and summoning his soulfire to his hand. "Hotaru!" he calls again, but rather than aid her in shaking off her daze, he takes a more indirect approach by moving to staunch the flood of troops, assuming a poised stance as he fires off a series of spiralling darts of white spiritual flame, their wider impacts potentially overcoming multiple lesser troops whose psychic defenses are at best untrained. Even a man with a strong will cannot match a fighter; mercenaries likely lack either quality.
"Let's use the gate as a funnel!" he suggests over the roar of gunfire and the chaos of ensuing battle. "We'll hold the line until the tank comes through, then attack from both sides!"
There have been worse strategies, but--
How do they hurt a tank in the first place?

"You'll do it. There is no try." Shurui's shoulders relax, her eyes weary but strangely amiable. "... And get those bandages changed." Strange, to see the tables turned so quickly- Shurui has somehow suffered less than many of the people here, including Alma. While his mind is clear and free of anything close to mirroring Shurui's condition that one cool Feburary day, Shurui feels the irony in her now lecturing a man who presented Hotaru with her limp but peacefully sleeping charge. "You look like you're healing pretty well, th-"

*KABOOM*

The problem with being paranoid is that when you're right, you don't have the same satisfation as being right about a math problem, or being right about advice not taken. No, you're just a little bit more prepared as the shit proceeds to hit the fan, and you get to share in the horrid fun that follows. Such is the dilemma of the paranoid. Hotaru and Alma seem to follow this line of reasoning, being as prepared for the invaders as much as one can for a blitz attack. Shurui seems to be the only one who does startle, so involved in her light lecturing of Alma that she momentairely forgets herself. "Shit!"

People. Invaders. And something with people inside, a... tank? How the hell are they supposed to tackle a tank? Does this mean there's more elsewhere? "... Why the hell do they have to come here? There's nothing for them to gain..." She squints her face in contempt, then rubs her face, attempting to think. She could hide as well and allow Alma and Hotaru to buy her time, but to leave them to a fate like that? Such tactics would have been fine if there was another place to go, but now? People are too tired or wounded to move with the speed needed to evade such a force. No, it's better to take a stand now, and seeing Alma's brilliant aura and Hotaru's steadfast nature is enough to make the girl reconsider her initial reaction.

Thus, Shurui presses forward, tailing after the shining Alma. "I'm fighting too!" she declares angrily, leaping up in the air as she gathers her hands in front of her. "This is for messing with Gedo!" Arms fly out in an arc, releashing a barrage of psychic bullets, sending silvery hail among the invaders as Shurui lands on her feet.

COMBATSYS: Alma successfully hits Invader with Sacred Wave.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          0/-------/---====|=------\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |==-----\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Invader with Riot Act.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Shurui
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |==-----\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Invader dodges Hotaru's Light Kick.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Shurui
[              \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |==-----\-------\0           Hotaru

Shadaloo troops pour in, guns held at the ready. Yet, for anyone even remotely familiar with the uniforms of Shadaloo, there's something distinctly different about these; nothing immediately noticeable, but subtle changes have been made to the uniforms here and there, unusual insignias emblazoned across the breast of the uniform. It's unusual--
--But it's not something that can really be dwelled on, not in the midst of a war. The attack comes swift and suddenly -- and fortunately, the defenders of this place are ready for it. Psycho Power converges from dual sources as silver and white converge into one point; soldiers still streaming into the estate are caught completely unaware as those spirals and bullets of flame crash into them in twin explosions of raw psychic power. "What the he--"
BOOM.
The explosion is enough to blow back many of the first line of troops, limbs flailing as burnt bodies fly in every direction; many hit ground unconscious and injured extensively. But where many fall... so many more surge back in their place. It is as Hotaru charges forward with that spinning kick that the troops finally respond, suddenly scattering and leaping -just- out of the way of the young girl's mighty blow as each swing their guns towards her.
"Target Alpha confirmed; proceeding to disable!" This roar is accompanied by the sudden firing of those rounds, all aimed for Hotaru -- intent to be used to keep her at bay as the men reorganize and attempt to recover from the sudden surge of chaos. Yet... one thing Hotaru might notice?
The bullets are all rubber.
Of course, there is another problem to be concerned with: the rapid approach of the Charybdis just beyond. What once was only a distant threat is now suddenly upon them /all/ as the heavy mini-tank /barrels/ through the gates; within, a dim, muffled voice transmits: "Locked on to designated targets. ... Securing objectives."
And that said, the machine's massive left arm swings upwards, its large gatling gun suddenly letting out a sweeping spray of artillery fire upon both Shurui and Alma. And while the barrage may be painful, may be tremendous -- it is still decidedly lacking in real bullets. All rubber armaments. But why?

COMBATSYS: Hotaru reflects Suppression Fire from Invader with Kobi Kyaku.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0           Shurui
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/-------/=======|=------\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Hotaru

Alma and Shurui are moving into action just as Hotaru's fighting instincts begin to catch up with the disorienting opening volley and the close call of being nearly blown up right along with her gate. But as she lands, she realizes that her choice in counter attack might not have been the smartest. Men pouring through the opening in the wall circle around, avoiding the kick meant to take the first couple of them down.

Guns are trained. Details barked into coms. Orders shouted. While she helped in the war in Thailand, the girl had never dealt with actual military units. Fighting against small groups sure - comes with the territory of being a fighter. Dealing with a unit of men all at once? That's not exactly part of her weekly training regimen! Going for one or two will leave her an open target for the rest, she muses in the precious few moments she has before triggers are pulled. There's only one way to defend herself!

With a cry of "KYA!" she twists out of her landing into a reverse roundhouse kick the same instant the bullets go flying. A swath of cerulean chi follows in the wake of her motion, forming a barrier capable of turning back the volley. Each bullet that would have struck her is sent flying back, each one imbued with a small portion of her sapphire blue chi. The motion is fluid and by the time she snaps her foot back down, the agile girl is already leaping into a forward flip intent on taking her outside the center of the unit.

Alma's plans were heard. Deal with men, attack the tank when it gets close. She's fought these things before. Shadaloo again, she muses even as she lands again in the grass in a half crouch. It's only then that she notices - the sound of the bullets, the way the ones that miss any certain targets rebound. Rubber ammunition? They're here to round them up not kill them. To what end she can't even begin to worry about just yet.

"Keep it up, don't get overwhelmed. Try not to get surrounded!" she encourages. Others are camped a lot over - the walled in old church building. Are they too under fire? The fighters housed there would certainly be helpful right now!

COMBATSYS: Alma dodges Charybdis' Heavy Chain Gun.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Charybdis        0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0           Shurui
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Hotaru

"Hmph!"
Alma's grunt, were it audible over the roar of gunfire, might sound the slightest bit indignant, as though he finds being attacked by conventional weaponry somehow patronizing. But even if he might feel bullets are beneath him, in the end they are above him-- the hard rubber half-blasting to dust the low wall he was perched upon as he leaps down and rolls in the nick of time, debris cascading harmlessly around the graceful youth.
Far more gratifying than seeing his Soul Power cast aside the soldiers was seeing it joined by a silver companion, the sense of Shurui's aura swelling near his reinforcing an already steeled resolve. With it he approaches, not retreats from, the tank which attack he narrowly avoided, smoothly uncurling into a sprint toward an adversary no ordinary man could ever expect to face alone. Alma is aware of this conventional belief, but he does not experience it himself. The tank has some semblance of an 'aura' in his perception if only because of the meaning it has been imbued with by its drivers, its companions, and those it has been sent to confront; this makes him all the more aware of the significance of its apparent invulnerability. As far as he is concerned, that makes it all the more crucial that he strike hard and fast, and do significant and visible damage.
That, more than words, will rally his fellows.
"Hrraahhh!"
The beautiful man runs bowed, his fingers scraping the grass and dirt. His arm suffused in a growing halo, sparks begin to rise, but the plantlife does not ignite even as they brighten and glitter, leaving an incandescant trail behind him as the 'heat' intensifies. As though his fingertips are matches that must be struck, this dragging motion finally and abruptly explodes into a plume of soulfire that consumes his entire arm, a howling inferno of energy, an illusion honed into substance.
"UUUUAAAAHHHH!"
Rising as he reaches the tank, Alma sweeps up his arm, bathed in the light of his own passion, and that fire explodes into a cutting blade, a sword with which to cut down the unrighteous-- or their chariot. Bearing down with all his heart, Alma's arcing strike seeks to shear away part the vehicle's protective shell with a blade that briefly extends to almost his own height in length, his head snapping back as he cries out to the heavens with the rapturous agony of his own effort.
This is a weapon of war, and he is only a man.
But he shines brilliantly.

COMBATSYS: Shurui blocks Charybdis' Heavy Chain Gun.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-----==|===----\-------\0           Shurui
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Hotaru

The initial strike was mindbogglingly well coordinated- the three of them are making much more progress that Shurui had initially imagined in a short amount of time. With the attack comes the counterattack, however, as the tank focuses in on Shurui and Alma, letting loose a wave of bullets towards the two as Hotaru takes on the swarm of invaders.

Unable to successfully attempt to evade enemy gunfire, Shurui flinches in instinct, raising her arms to block as she's pelted by gunfire. Instead of the sensation she was expecting, it instead feels like a brick wall divided into small bits of crushing pain, each neglecting to do more than embed against the skin but in doing so becoming as painful as any normal bullet. Though, can one truly expect the certain sort of pain a normal bullet makes, much less several? All bullets hurt.

The spray of bullets over, Shurui lowers her arms, staring at the evidence they left behind in her aura. ".... Rubber...?" Indeed, her body seems to show no signs typical of being punctured by something- only the painful preludes to bruises that will no doubt make themselves manifest on her arms in a few minutes. They're not here to kill, apparently. Maybe it's to instill fear? No, too many soldiers. They wouldn't have so many to spare just to get the fear of god into the refugees of Futuba mansion. To capture them? .... But why?

This question gets drowned out in the need to aid her companions. "Shit, Alma, don-" He's attacking... the tank? She boggles, despite the potentially impressive display her second sight lends to her. ... He's going to need help. "God, you gonna totally ignore Hotaru's advice?" She races in after Alma, pressing to the opposite side of the tank in a pincer attack. "God, I'm fucking nuts to be doing this..." Wedging her feet against the ground, she propels her fist forward in the small space between her and the tank, her fist charged with grey psycho power as it hits against its metal cover.

She's actually punching a fucking tank. God, Alma. You owe her.

COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Alma's Blaze of Glory EX.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0           Shurui
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis dodges Shurui's Velvet Fist.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/-------/=======|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Invader endures Hotaru's Reflected Suppression Fire.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Invader          1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

"Wh-- what the hell is that?!"
Fighters really aren't an uncommon thing in this world; but still, even to trained, hardened soldiers, they can be a surprising -- and frightening -- sight to behold. Case in point: when Hotaru catches that array of bullets in mid-air, many of the men are stunned at the sight; their ammunitions, caught up in mid-air... by a kick. That swathe of blue fire that blooms through the air is a telling sign of what's to come, though; the men -- at least some of them -- aren't quite /that/ incompetent.
"Everyone -- scatter!"
A second later, bullets are repelled back into the mass of soldiers with faint ripples of sapphire to accompany each ricocheting shot. Some of the men turn and dive; the others? Know full well that, even /with/ chi, rubber bullets can't /kill/ them. "Switching targets; assist the Charybdis, disable target beta-- gnhf!" The commanding officer is blown backwards as a rubber bullet smashes into him with tremendous force, knocking the man /straight/ off his feet. The others? Begin to surge forward, some knocked aside by the bullets, the others using the chaos and cover as a distraction to hurl a single object forward --
It is as Alma Towazu descends, as his searing blade is greeted with the massive right appendage of the Charybdis, clashing in a rain of sparks and Soul Power -- as he is knocked /away/ with one mighty swing of the mini-tank's heavy, cumbersome body, that he might notice--
The flashbang falling to his feet with a clatter.
The stun grenade goes off in a bright flash and a deafening boom as the Charybdis suddenly moves with an amount of speed and agility seemingly unlikely for the amount of armor strapped onto it; swerving /just/ out of the way of Shurui's sweeping, burning punch a second after pushing Alma away, the tankette's treads tear across the ground with the vicious sound of ripping rubber and metal. It propels /forward/ as the flashbang goes off, and as the soldiers all open fire on a hopefully-distracted Alma, unloading a proverbial payload of gunfire upon him -- the Charybdis lashes out, PISTONING its right arm forward to strike Alma's sternum like a battering ram... before those three appendages on the limb all suddenly detach, aiming to do little more than launch him on a series of grappling wires straight through a nearby wall of the estate.
"Be /careful/!" shouts one of the soldiers. "He /said/ they need to be in /top/ for--"
"He can deal with a few broken bones," replies the tinny voice within the Charybdis. "/Relax./"

Hotaru lands deftly, having escaped being surrounded with her deflection and quick action. Bracing, arms raised, she prepares for another volley from the well armed soldiers. Waving rapidly toward the house, she encourages, "Get away from the front windows! Move to the back!" If they can't stop this thing, then who will? Who else to protect those who turned to her house for refuge? But their aim has shifted off her for a moment - Alma's high damage abilities seemingly having bumped dealing with him up in priority. The forces are coordinated, changing focus in unisen toward her spirtual brother. The mechanized assault vehicle proves well armed with countermeasures to the attempts to take it down. Metal limbs managing to deflect Alma's attack; flash bangs to- What?!

She gets her arm up over her eyes just in time to avoid being blinded by the brilliant white light. "Alma, they're going for you!" she warns, knowing she isn't going to be able to divert the soldiers with any kind of blitz attack. They seem to follow orders far too well for any distraction she would be able to muster that fast. Lowering her arm from her eyes, she glares at the fast moving machine. They may not be trying to use lethal force, but there's no taking something like THAT lightly. It is stoppable, she reminds herself. She fought similar constructs in Thailand. They're tough, versitile, and able to dish out damage. But they are stoppable.

Gritting her teeth, the young fighter springs forward, slipping behind the leading ranks of the troops in a direct charge for the distressingly agile fighting machine. The target is that right arm of Charybdis - the piston about to unleash a potentially debilitating attack against Alma. She doesn't stop as she gets in range as she springs into the air aiming to deliver a sideways, crushing kick against the appendage. If she can damage it, great. If she can divert it even a few inches, good enough. With all the strength she can muster in a single jump kick, the girl gives it her best shot. "KYA!"

COMBATSYS: Invader successfully hits Alma with Disaster Area.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Alma with Grappler Drive.
Glancing Blow

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

Alma Towazu is right about one thing:
He owes a lot to his friends.
Lacking the ability to intuit any specific 'intent' from his mechanized opponent, perceiving only a haze of projected meanings as a kind of aura guideline, Alma cannot anticipate the mini-tank's startling evasive capabilities. That it could move to parry his assault, knocking him away and to the side, takes him aback-- even moreso that it is able to dodge Shurui's contribution to their pincer attack. Gritting his teeth, recognizing the juggernaut as the formidable adversary here, Alma attempts to focus all of his senses, physical and psychic, on Charybdis and seek to predict its next move.
He might have been successful were his tactics not otherwise flawed. Untrained in conventional warfare, only animal instincts alert him to the eerie tinkling of a canister being tossed by his feet. He moves to cover his body, but does not expect the flash; stunned by the loud roar, it is all he can do to turn away from the rain of bullets he knows will follow, the hard bruising rubber impacting painfully against his back. For all that, he remains unbowed, a testament to the surreal resilience of a fighter-- but blind.
This is less of a problem than it should be. Unable to hear, unable to see, Alma lacks any conventional sense with which perceive Charybdis's movements; but he relies on such senses only marginally in any case. He staggers, seemingly stunned, yet when that right 'arm' snaps out toward its seemingly totally vulnerable target, Alma dodges immediately, twisting his body to the side in an impressive display of desperate acrobatics. It is a worthy testament to his unusual abilities.
Unsupplemented, it's still not enough.
But perhaps he realized this; perhaps the aura he was witnessing was not his opponent's and instead his ally's. Hotaru's kick might not make contact, but it must be reacted to, and it is this reaction Alma counts upon as he dodges toward his sworn sister and away from the direction that attacking arm will be forced to move to block or evade her. It is thanks to her, not to his own latent abilities, that even while blind and deaf such advanced weaponry can only graze him.
"Rrrraahhh!"
He will not let her efforts go to waste.
Rushing in once more, by all appearances utterly unfazed by the nature of his opponent and the continued lack of two crucial senses, Alma attacks with a vicious strikes of physical strikes, unflinchingly seeking to bury his fists and feet in the streamlined metal of the mini-tank, pounding away with the awesome courage of a martyr.
Hopefully he won't have to become one.

What's more infuriating than possibly shattering the very bones of your hand against a tank? The tank *dodging* said possible bone-breaking punch. Shurui's knuckles hit air instead of metal, which, after her initial anger at being 'forced' to attack something so unorthodox, is sort of a let-down. She gloats aloud. "Fucking tank! Why the hell did you pricks have to come here anyway?! Afraid a bunch of refugee families gonna mess your shit u-?"

Eyes, blind to detail but still sensitive to light, blink shut at the sudden flash of light; concern instantly overwhelms vain rage. Her ears ring loudly, the muffled exclamation coming through her lips seeming no more than a distant murmur. "Sh-... Alma!" Her second eye, uneffected by the temporary damage done to her physical sight, catches sight of a familiar aura, like a small sparrowhawk sweeping in to claw at the tank's arm- no, not a hawk. Hotaru. Right. Attack the arms! At the same time!

She darts to a managable side of the agile Charybdis, scrabbling up on its side until she can manage a foothold and then leaping into the air. Her arms reach behind her, hands combining to form a double fist, which, should she hit her mark, come down upon the arm opposite Hotaru like a mallet of flesh and momentum.

COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Hotaru's Medium Kick.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Alma successfully hits Charybdis with Combo Attack.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Shurui's Strong Punch.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

At first, there's no answer to Shurui's direct and angry questions and condemnations. The soldiers and the mini-tank that rolls out amongst them are too focused on the battle; orders come first. Banter can be saved until after they're tucked safely away within their holding tanks and properly sedated. Whoever sent this men -- they knew to send individuals who simply would not mess around.
Eventually, the soldiers reorient themselves, spreading wide in a circle around the Charybdis -- and subsequently, around the trio of fighters that are now attempting to converge on the machine. They form a perimeter, watching and waiting, guns at the ready -- waiting for an opportune moment in which to strike. There's no escape now, they're assured of that.
It's just a matter of time.
In the meantime, there is the Charybdis to deal with. And it goes miles to ensure gathering the attention of the fighters that seek to defend this precious refuge; Hotaru's kick swings and the arm jerks just -slightly- towards the side before the blow can land, leading the kick towards impacting against the side of that heavily-armored appendage with just enough force to swerve it /just/ out of the way of Alma's body, giving him ample time to escape the majority of harm. Unfortunately, the tank's armor is heavily reinforced, and what Hotaru manages to do to it serves better as a measure to save her friend than deal any lasting damage. At the same moment, Shurui comes in on the other side, that hammering blow crashing against the opposite limb; /this/ time, the Charybdis doesn't try to move, but instead swings that gun-laden limb /at/ Shurui, stopping her assault preemptively and distill much of the force. The two young fighting girls are held at bay by the heavy arms of the Charybdis -- so what of Alma?
The pincer goes off perhaps far better than planned; with the tank defending against both Hotaru /and/ Shurui, it doesn't have much time, if /any/, to respond properly to Alma. Left wide open, the psychic is given free reign to pound directly into the machine with a series of powerful combination blows, doing enough damage to actually dent the armor -inward-, each sounding off a metallic crunch before the force is enough to send the machine /backwards/ with the squeal of treading. Smoke and dirt kicks up as the Charybdis is knocked several feet backwards, coming to a stop.
"... Why?" that tinny voice finally asks.
"Hah. Wouldn't -you- like to know?"
One of the many, heavy guns of the Charybdis swivels around at this point, firing off a single, booming round of heavily reinforced rubber -- straight for Shurui, with pinpoint precision.

COMBATSYS: Invader focuses on her next action.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/-------/--=====|==-----\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////       ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

The heel of her foot connects, but the metal is nothing if not ridiculously tough. That this beast of a machine was made to deal with fighters is evidenced by its extremely powerful plating if anything. Hotaru's leg bounces back a little as she makes her landing, not having landed as crushing a blow against the armored surface as she had hoped she would. This thing was tough. There is solace found, however, in believing that she nudged its am just enough for Alma to be spared the worst of its intended attack.

It's not the slightest bit slowed though, it seems. Not even as Alma's combination serves to knock it some feet back, tearing ruts through the previously well maintained lawn, the combat vehicle still seems to be about as strong as ever. Flashbacks of her time in Thailand - the battle by the shore when a newly arrived band of fighters had to deal with not one but two of these death machines... "Aim to disable it!" she encourages. "The gears on the side!"

One thing's for sure. She WOULD like to know what this was all about. Shurui's demands aren't going to get an answer though. And Hotaru suspects there's nothing they could do even should they win to get these men to talk. For now, defending this place is all that matters. Fears about what lies in way should they fail are forced from her mind before the doubts can take root. She's back on the offense immediately after, taking to the air, unleashing a flurry of windmilling strikes in order to force her way past the barrier of soldiers surrounding the tank.

The moment her feet touch the ground, however, she's slamming her right palm toward the nearest gear with as much crushing force as her body can muster in a single strike. Arm, leg, and torso strength lend power to the strike. Damage to its mobility might help turn it into a sitting target and more easily dealt with. "YA!"

For his part, Alma has abandoned all hesitation. He may not know whether his true enemy is Shadaloo or Howard Enterprises itself, but one enemy is clearly right before him, and in its face he has no use for pondering. Still, his conscious mind is not so utterly consumed by righteous fury that he'll deny feeling a little satisfaction at the resounding impact of his blows, rending metal and pushing it back.
He would like to acknowledge the debt he owes Hotaru and Shurui for their assistance in the last exchange, but he can only watch as another blast is launched at his silver-haired friend. Alma grimaces faintly, his usual restraint failing to disguise the intensity burning in his gaze, and turns to regard the soldiers reassembling their formation inside the shattered gate. He cannot allow them to form a vanguard. Since Hotaru make her move, he too lunges forward, plunging toward the barrels of the guns.
With preternatural agility he weaves past, his right hand flaring up brightly and abruptly, the tangible sensation of psychic weight that accompanies it rendering the technique all the more startling to the soldiers he manages to bypass. Any fighter that breaks through the line of soldiers will expose themselves to fire from behind unless the soldiers are otherwise occupied, but he must take that risk.
This mini-tank must be disabled at all costs.
Hotaru's suggestion is a worthy one, and Alma quickly adapts to it. The lance of energy that is trailing his fist like a comet angles downward as he swoops in, aiming for the tread opposite the one Hotaru is attacking. It is another impromptu pincer attack. They may be fighting a very unlikely battle, but--
"Together!"
Their teamwork leaves little to be desired.

COMBATSYS: Shurui overcomes Medium Shot from Charybdis with Quartz Shard.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Charybdis        0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |====---\-------\0           Hotaru

The attack hits, but all that it leaves the short girl with is smarting hands and a tongue that tastes like metal from where her teeth scraped the side of her month upon impact. To add insult to injury, for every epic jump there must be a landing, and what Shurui accomplises, while fairly competent, is nowhere as graceful as Hotaru's own landing. The soles of her shoes grip the overturned earth as she hunches down, fingers splayed in the dirt. "Do I have to force it out of you?" Strange talk from a girl facing a tank, but Shurui's well aware of the absurdity of her situation. Simply put, she can't keep her damn mouth shut, and she knows it. "'Course, sounds like you got something waiting for us. Am I hot or cold on that bit?"

The immediate answer, intentionally or no, is bullets.

Grey ethereal energy gathers in Shurui's loosely cupped palm as her mental sense times her strike. She then lets that arm swing around, producing a single arc of flying energy that moves like a rock from a slingshot, immoblizing the bullets and burning past them, leaving an acrid wisp of burnt synthetic rubber in the air as the arc continues to course towards the tank.

It's then that Hotaru's command and Alma's encouragement registers in Shurui's mind, albiet a second too late to immediately time her attack. "R-right!" answers the Gedo girl, energy now flushed out away from her hand. She makes a glance at the myriad auras of troopers circling the tank nervously as she drops to the ground, fingers splayed and touching the ground to absorb the shock of landing. Shouldn't they deal with these guys first? They're sitting ducks, acting like this...

COMBATSYS: Charybdis dodges Shurui's Quartz Shard.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Charybdis        0/-------/--=====|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=====--\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |====---\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Alma successfully hits Charybdis with Self Expression.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Charybdis        0/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |====---\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Hotaru's Fierce Punch.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Charybdis        1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  //////////////////////////    ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

Sitting ducks? Or /preparing ducks/?
/Think about it./
Regardless, it likely is /not/ a good idea to keep attention focused on the tank, and away from the soldiers now very carefully circling around Hotaru, Alma and Shurui in a tight circle. Is it out of fear that they stay back? It might be. But given the look in their eyes, it is likely something entirely else.
Unfortunately, by the time that anything can be done about it, it's too late; the trio's attention has been summarily taken up by the tank as it swerves backwards from its attempted shot at Shurui. The sudden arc of energy that that slices through the artillery shot carries on at high speeds -- only to be swiftly outmaneuvered by the swerving, remarkably /deft/ movements of the Charybdis. Psycho Power slices /just/ beyond the mini-tank's defenses as it veers off to the left, coming to a sudden stop. From within, its operator notes a sudden surge in energy dimly from the machine's sensors. "What is--"
The answer comes from the lance of Soul Power that crushes into the machine's right tread with phenomenal enough force that it rends through part of the machine's lower body. An explosion sets off, rocking the machine backwards and very nearly tipping it over onto its side -- only for Hotaru to burst through the ranks of soldiers as they scatter outward, almost helpfully obliging her plight to penetrate through their would-be barrier. That palm thrust swings forward--
--and is met with the sudden upwards /swing/ of the machine's right appendage with a clattering BOOM of impact.
"Dammit all, the right tread is damaged. Do it -- NOW!"
The second that muffled voice transmits from the Charybdis, those soldiers -- who would have seemed to have been forming a shield -- begin to converge. Not a shield, not a protective barrier.
A trap.
Men suddenly charge forward into, perhaps suicidally, close range with the kenpoist as she clashes with the Charybdis. Hoping to overwhelm in simple, raw /numbers/, they aim to kick, punch, strike her with the butts of their weapons, all to take her off guard, knock her away from the tank. The machine rotates around, another gun barrel pointed at Hotaru -- a modification to this particular model of the Charybdis. A canister is shot out, and in mid-flight, it /explodes/, shooting outwards in a thick veil of conceiling gas meant to obscure and distract from the kenpoist's attentions... just as the machine suddenly bursts through the veil of smoke in a sudden hail of gunfire directly behind Hotaru. A cheap trick --
--but they're not exactly fighting in a sanctioned combat event, are they?

COMBATSYS: Hotaru blocks Invader's Savage Beatdown.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Charybdis        0/???????/???????|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Hotaru effortlessly dodges Charybdis' Light Chain Gun.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Charybdis        1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=====--\-------\0           Hotaru

The troop tactics are smart. The soldiers, individually, pose little threat to the fighters, especially if the talented martial artists have a chance to focus their attention on their attacks. The tank, however, is a proven threat and the toughest target to deal with. By surrounding it as they have, the troops are forcing the trio to take risky shots through the midst of them in an attempt to deliver strikes against the menacing contraption. Even as the Kenpo arist lands and begins to lean into her crushing palm strike, Hotaru realizes the gambit she's charged into. There was no choice. For as long as that vehicle remains mobile, any one of them could be incapaciated with one wrong misstep.

She leans hard into the strike, holding nothing back, even as the heel of her hand rebounds off the metal appendage of the advanced technology. But the cost of such aggression becomes abundantly clear as the trap is sprung and the men rush in to keep her pinned down. It's a battle of many against one as the Futaba girl defends herself. But they might have underestimated the threat the girl poses. Her recent years of arduous, relentless training have paid off, and it's a moment of perception that has her reacting swiftly to the surging attack with the expertise of a young master martial artist.

Weaving around punches, knocking back weapon butts with her forearms or palms, ducking between kicks, the girl proves to be a difficult foe to keep pinned down. Her direction is forced, all the same, by the direction of the skirmish, forcing her back away from the proud metal beast. She doesn't see the attacks coming, one after another, so much as sense them. Instincts honed by fighting against many of the best, most talented fighters the world has to offer, have the girl reacting almost a half step before the men can act, as if in that moment of clarity she was predicting the future, one second at a time.

It leaves her able to focus on something else entirely. Such as the canister lobbed from the amazingly versitile invention. A cover of obscurring clouds cover the girl from sight as the machine gun opens fire, rubber amunition whistling through the air. The dull patter of rounds striking empty grass are heard before Hotaru rises up over the height of the cloud in a swift yet graceful leap, her right arm aglow with her signiture azure energy. A cry announces her evasion over the field of fire as she spins her body, swinging her right arm into the attack, unleashing a sphere of concentrated force hurling at a sharp downward angle toward the tank. "HAAA!"

It was a risk they chose to take.
"Hotaru!!"
And one that they were able to handle.
That /she/ was able to handle, at least.
Alma finds himself in mid-lunge, having already hurled himself toward the mass of attackers. His piercing lance of soulfire scored a direct hit, and he felt the right tread of the formidable mini-tank melting to slag beneath his might, but he could not revel in this visceral sensation for long-- the sharp intuition of a friend in danger manifested as a painful jolt, needles of ice in the back of his brain. It is thus that Alma only becomes conscious of his movements once he has already committed to them, darting bravely through multiple lines of fire on a beeline of assistance, and it is in this soaring moment that he has the opportunity to witness the glory that is the Futaba scion's fighting style.
Perfect. She's perfect.
It's a shining moment, one that surely cannot last forever, one that even as he watches in awe clenches at his heart with brotherly paranoia, that she will slip, that she will finally stumble. Yet she pushes it farther and farther, sweeping even by the mini-tank's own ambush before responding with her own counterattack.
"Yaaaaaahhh!"
And so the battle cry that Alma unleashes as he lands in the midst of the remaining and repulsed soldiers is not merely one of fury but one of pride, a lionizing roar as he lashes out rhythmic sweeping kicks with the savage grace of some noble beast. He seeks to incapacitate with every strike, crushing whoever might fall into his path; it is ambitious for even a trained fighter such as himself to spread his attention to so many, but he will not be daunted. This is more than vengeance or justice.
This is to drive home the point.
Did they really think they could touch her?

The closest Shurui wants to be to a prepared duck is attempting her boss's resturant's crispy duck recipe. To be akin to that duck is something she would *not* prefer. Reality never goes the way you want it however; if it's not you who's getting a savage treatement, it's someone decent you actually like.

Like Hotaru. Shurui's mental eye looks on in horror as the pig-tailed girl's aura is consumed by the Charybdis's concealing smoke, soldiers beating down upon her as if to force their energies to overtake hers. A seizure of panic momentairely grips at Shurui's heart to see the very same girl who tended loyally to her the last month or so, only to dissolve into resolve as Hotaru emerges from the smoke effortlessly, bringing a smile and a clear laugh to the usually serious girl's face. "... Haha!"

Now, to take care of those goons before they gang up on her or anyone else again. Temporarily exhausted by her decision to overtap the well of energy in her soul, Shurui's not ready to pull any epic attack maneuvers out of nowhere just yet. At least, not in time to prove herself as brilliant or daring as Alma. No, instead, she simply jumps into the fray after her follow psychic, a series of light jabs and kicks spread out over whatever is left from Alma's attack, whether it hits or not. Take care of the goons, THEN the tank. This is a philosphy she can appreciate for now.

COMBATSYS: Invader blocks Alma's Autumn Rain.

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                      \\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/----===|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |====---\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Invader with Combo Attack.
- Power hit! -
COMBATSYS: Invader refuses to go down!

[                \\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        1/-------/=======|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                         \\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |====---\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Charybdis with Hakki Shou.

[                    \\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        1/----===/=======|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                         \\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |======-\-------\0           Hotaru

"Did we get her?"
"No! No, she's-- look out!"
"What the fu--"
*BOOM*
This is the sound a tank makes when it blows up. Cacophonous and deafening, the sound of metal being rent asunder invades the Futaba Estate like an enemy force unto itself as the searing blue chi of Hotaru Futaba impacts with the heavy hull of the Charybdis. The edge slices into the torso of the mini-tank before everything simply blows, literally sending the hulking machine /flipping/ through the air. Chunks of armor are sheared off, flipping through the air; its water gun turret is simply /blown off/ as it flies, droplets of water spraying the hard ground of the estate. It is only by some miracle that the machine lands on its treads--
--right in the midst of the grunts sent to support it.
"What th-- holy shit! What is-- AGH!"
The sudden, deafening impact of the tank so close to home is more than enough of a distraction for the soldiers such that the assault from Shurui takes them completely off guard, /slamming/ into the masses. Alma's series of brutal blows help keep the men on their toes, guns shattering as they attempt to fend off the impressive kicks with their own weapons, some knocked away... and the majority of the rest? Simply blown back by Shurui's surprising team-up assault with Alma. Suitably distracted, much of the rest of the troops are simply /blown/ away from the kicks and punches of the psychic, some flying into walls, others simply collapsing, unconscious.
The group has dwindled considerably. What was once an impressive fighting force has now become withered masses. But do they retreat?
"Target--Target Gamma! NOW!"
They do not. Oddly enough, the soldiers continue to fight, even with the odds against them -- as if assured that this is simply according to plan. The troops turn, eyes alight, and charge... /right/ for Shurui. Rifles and guns held outward, they seem to simply try to /bumrush/ the girl -- yet their attacks are coordinated. Blows of the rifle butts to the head and body seek to disorient and disable, before one of the men rear upwards, seeking to drive his fist into her stomach... right before another aims to simply /uppercut/ her with his rifle with strength enough meant to launch her upwards into the air.
"Now!"
"Yeah, I got it."
The tinny voice of the Charybdis' operator is about all Shurui will get to hear before the steel machine explodes from directly behind her, aiming to capitalize on surprise to launch all of its grappling arms /straight/ towards her, to catch her within its grasp... and constrict.

She almost seems to float at the apex of her leap for a moment - the backward force of her projectile adding just a little longevity to her leap. But as Hotaru completes her spin, she falls back to the grass like anything else would, landing in a half crouch before rising back up to standing. The sound of contact reached her ears even before she whirls around to face the enemy once more, hands raised, eyes sharp as she does her best to not let anything slip past her notice.

The number Alma and Shurui do on the surrounding men brings a glimmer of hope to her heart. They can do this. They can fight these forces off of the property. They can hold the home and keep those who have sought refuge here safe. Under different circumstances, she might have allowed herself the faintest trace of a smile. But in war there is no time for that. Especially as the next plan of attack becomes clear and all turn to focus on the young Gedo girl K' dropped off at the mansion weeks ago like some kind of lost stray. "Shurui!" she gasps, springing into action.

Into the very fray she had sprung free of moments before, Hotaru charges. The men surrounding Shurui might find their focus fire disrupted as the Kenpoista begins slamming her way through what remains of their ranks. Palm strikes "YA!", sweeping kicks "KYA!", trips "HA!", shoulder tosses "HAAA!", neck holds, arm twists. Her progress into the mob is fluid, each attack step leading into the next one, as if she was merely iterating over a practiced routine that just so happens to consist of as many swift, painful attacks as possible in short order! Whatever it takes to distract, disrupt, and disable as many of them as she can manage as she tries to plow her way back toward the surrounded girl. Of course there's still that terrible tank on the loose. But right now it's a numbers game, and she can't leave Shurui alone against the mob!

Their tank is half-dismantled; their formation is crumbling. Still, the enemy forces press on. But Alma Towazu is as confident in the teamwork of his fellows as he is consumed with righteous fury at his adversaries' attempts to harm them, and there is not the slightest mote of doubt in his mind that they will overcome these obstacles.
Though to be fair, he's not thinking much about it.
"Hraaahh!"
Thoughts of victory or defeat seem to Alma only a convenient premise for strategy, and for him they have faded long ago; he feels only the dire need to stand here for what he knows his right, by the people he loves. To sense Shurui plunging in after him, laying waste to the soldiers around them while Hotaru unleashes another devastating blow upon their tankette foe, is a feeling nothing short of triumphant. Yet this only makes the twisting outrage all the more agonizing when before his very eyes their enemies turn their attacks on the girl, and he cries out, a roar of indignation. By the time he has moved from his poised post-attack stance, however, the nimble Hotaru has already moved, lunging into the mass of opponents, aiming to throw them left and right-- he hesitates, uncertain how he may best be of service.
The tank bursts into view, grappling arms extending.
How helpful.
"Enough!!"
Shouting defiantly, Alma leaps heavenward, soaring above the melee.
"I /banish/ you from this place!"
And, soulfire erupting around his right leg, consumed by the fervor of the moment, Alma suddenly, impossibly shoots at a downward angle as though shot from a bow, the halo forming about his extended limb like a divine hammer aiming to crush what is left of the tank as Alma shoots past. If the machine can withstand the impact, Alma will face a jarring descent downward. But if it can't, at his speed--
"Return from whence you came!"
He is likely to kick right through.

COMBATSYS: Shurui dodges Invader's Dogs Of War.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Charybdis        0/???????/???????|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[                         \\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |======-\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Shurui with Steel Snare.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Charybdis        1/----===/=======|===----\-------\0           Shurui
[                         \\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |======-\-------\0           Hotaru

Shurui's attacks come so naturally as to seem automatic. There's no longer any words that pepper her movements with angry cuss words or taunts, just hard and fast movements from soldier to soldier with a clear mind that was never completely evident in televised matches. There, Shurui fought with the satisfaction that losing was an option. Here? It's finally hitting her that running is no longer a viable plan. She's the stray cat in a corner against a group of hungry dogs- she has to fight back. It is no use to feel desperate just yet, however. Not when she's fighting this battle alongside at least two other people in her line of sight.

The reactions come just as quickly as soldiers come in to focus on her. She almost expected this; she *is* the weakest link in the chain that's formed in this line of defense. Take that fact and keep going, there's no room for failing. She pants as rifles and fists are wedged aside, the deflected attacks only managing to inspire light bruising on her body at the most.

However, it's one girl against many soldiers, all who have managed to coordinate their attacks successfully in the small amount of time allotted to them. Leaping backwards to avoid a meaty fist attempting to barrel into her stomach, Shurui manages to turn her face in the direction of a disturbing sound coming from the tank itself: the sound of screeching metal. Arms successfully constrict around her, inducing a crack as a rib gives way against their embrace. Coughing spittle as her face constricts in pain, desperation posesses the Gedo girl now as she slams a freed hand against the side of the constricting fingers. "-SHI *cough*!"

COMBATSYS: Charybdis blocks Alma's Shooting Star EX.

[                       \\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Charybdis        1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0           Shurui
[                         \\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |======-\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Charybdis with Quick Punch.
- Power hit! -
COMBATSYS: Charybdis refuses to go down!

[                        \\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Charybdis        1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0           Shurui
[                         \\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/-----==|=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |======-\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Invader endures Hotaru's Combo Grapple.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Charybdis        1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0           Shurui
[                                < >  /////////////////////         ]
Invader          0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

Attempts to bash in the poor legally blind psychic desperately attempting to defend the Futaba Estate are all for naught -- or so it would seem. However... they provide an excellent distraction for the Charybdis to strike. Constricting arms of flexible metal wrap around the Psycho Power user with vicious force, compressing inward as if seeking to simply crush her. The pressure increase as the men begin to advance again--
-- But Hotaru helpfully puts a hitch in all their plans.
Before the men can even level their guns on Shurui, the kenpoist suddenly /bursts/ through their thinning ranks. Normal men would simply flee. They're outgunned here, and it is painfull obvious. But they don't.
Why?
Regardless of that lingering question, Hotaru's fluid and brutal assault manages to break through the ranks. Palms crack bones, kicks steal away breaths, trips and neck holds wrest the consciousness from the men as the ranks are blown through like a horde of dummies. The remaining men are all brought down, with only a few sparing soldiers sweeping out in chaotic, errant sweeping sprays of their assault rifles, sending volleys of rubber bullets flying through the air towards Hotaru.
The Charybdis? Faces similar circumstances. Where once it was constricting the life from Shurui, now she /smashes/ a hand against the metallic coils with enough force that she is broken /free/ from their hold, several snapping off from the force exerted in dangerous sparks of electricity. "God dammit!" shouts the voice within. "You little bitch, I don't care what the boss said, you're DEA--"
And then there is Alma, descending foot-first like a meteorite of fire.
"Wha--"
The impact is deafening, and the explosion it renders is bright. Yet, in the fading remnants of soul power... two silhouettes can be seen: Alma Towazu, still suspended in mid-air, and the Charybdis beyond him, arms extended, intercepting the blow. The dust begins to settle -- and it would appear that Alma's attempt were for naught. Save the reason he hasn't descended yet?
That foot has blown through the Charybdis' arms... straight into its torso.
Straight into its core.
Electricity crackles dangerously, in increasing volume. Within, the tank operator struggles, panicking. "No -- no!! The core's breached, I gotta -- I gotta GET OU"CHOOM.
In one deafening and blinding explosion, the Charybdis explodes as its core simply overloads, raw kinetic force, flames, and metal schrapnel engulfing the area, friend and foe alike. And when explosion dies?
There's nothing left but a superheated husk of the tank that was.

COMBATSYS: Invader can no longer fight.

[                        \\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Charybdis        1/---====/=======|===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Charybdis with Algorithm 178B.

[                            \\  < >  /////////////////////         ]
Charybdis        0/-------/-======|===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis takes no action.

                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis can no longer fight.

                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Invader's Point-Blank Fire.

                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////////     ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Hotaru with Algorithm 178B.

                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                 |=======\===----\1           Hotaru

She manages to tear a path through the ranks of the remaining soldiers, dealing with them one, two, or three at a time all in hopes of sparing Shurui the worst of the mob assault. Even when they whip their weapons around to return fire, she's more than ready to deal with them. A cartwheel to one side, a ducking roll back the other way, a hand spring over their heads, and Hotaru is out of the targeted area of fire in an instant, touching down lightly.

Unfortunately for her, her trajectory brought her down right next to the bulk of technology about to go terminal. Voices indicating the dire condition and very imminent detonation reach her ears, but there's no time to escape it. The girl would be seen bringing her arms up, bracing for the worst before obscurred from sight by the close range detonation. Shrapnel and parts go flying, and a second later, so too does she as the young estate owner crashes back down ten yards away. Bloodied and bruised, but still quite conscious as she rolls up into a seated position and shakes her head, hands resting at her temples and rubbing lightly.

Closed eyes open with a blink as she surveys the wreckage left behind then quickly checks to Alma and Shurui's whereabouts, pushing herself to standing, using what's left of a fence pole for support. At last she allows herself a faint smile, one hand wiping at her cheek and mouth, then her arm across her eyes, waiting for her vision to clear a little. "Whew." she exhales, leaving it at that. They did it, right? But they'll need to figure out how to bunker down for possible future waves. Maybe recruit more fighters to their cause if they're to hold this corner of Southtown much longer...

Realizing that one of her hair ribbons got blown free by the final blast, the girl grips her now much more free hair idly, twisting it around her fingers idly. There's plenty to replace it inside once order is restored. No need to make a fuss about it.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru gains composure.

                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Alma with Algorithm 178B.

                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  //////////////                ]
                                 |=======\======-\1             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

~ I'm... ~
Alma doesn't need to be a psychic to feel what's coming, but--
~ I'm stuck. ~
Gazing mildly down at the collapsed tank armor in which his kicking leg is lodged, a faintly contemplative gaze taking the place of the fire before in his eyes as he regards the dangerously pulsating light emanating from within, he exhales quietly.
It's not exactly what he had in mind.
But all things considered, the small enduring kernel of his conscious mind remarks as he rolls smoking across the battle-sundered ground, things could have gone a lot worse. He allows himself a moment of respite, chest heaving, staring vacantly up at the sky through bemused eyes, before feeling down with his hands to make sure his leg remains. It does, fortunately, though his designer jeans are much the worse for wear. He feels a slight sting of regret; Giorgio let him keep these after a particularly good shoot. Well, they perished honorably.
Good enough that they did not.
Rising to a sitting position with sudden alacrity, massaging his injured leg slowly, Alma allows himself little time to recover, pushing himself to immediate readiness though there appears little sign of an opponent. Danger could emerge at any moment. He doesn't look to regard his companions; he can sense they are still alive.
What matters is that this is over.

COMBATSYS: Alma gains composure.

                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |===----\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  //////////////////            ]
                                 |=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Charybdis successfully hits Shurui with Algorithm 178B.

                                  >  /////////////                 ]
                                 |=======\-------\1           Shurui
                                  >  //////////////////            ]
                                 |=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

The pain that shoots through Shurui's hand masks any sort of surprise she would have gotten from her desperate chop actually allowing her to be released from the the Charybdis's grip. Falling rather ungracefully to the ground with a grunt that's overshadowed by the drama unfolding in the tank's cockpit, the girl suddenly becomes aware of a crackling sensation in her head- a sense of mechanical energy building to a level that shoots past the auras of the unfortunate men inside.

Her sense is telling her to get the hell out.

Yet, instead of heeding that sense and what it evolved to do for her, Shurui's attention is instead called towards the struggling aura of Alma. Without resorting to any sort of thought process that would usually plague her actions, the girl reacts on pure emotion, hands beginning to claw up the side of the tank in order to somehow yank the blonde free, her movements easily unnoticed. "A-"

The blast occurs, sooner than Shurui had expected. In vain, she tries to throw her arms ahead of her in order to absorb some part of the explosive force, but it instead hits her head on, throwing her backwards through the air and away from the fire. Landing on soft mud with a cough, Shurui just lies there, at first. Then, panting between successive coughs she does a half-hearted turning of her body, allowing it to rest with her back to the ground and her face to the clear sky.

It's blue. Her ears are ringing, shushing any semblance of noise from the outside world. Her sense of touch is overloaded by burns. Her eyes? Well, they're the same. She closed them. All that's there is the hum on her extra sense, grabbing onto the subtle hums of familiar auras around her. "...." She silently regards the sky, then closes her eyes. "...." She can take her time. ".... assholes."

COMBATSYS: Shurui gains composure.

                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  //////////////////            ]
                                 |=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

Smoke whisps about the charred expanse of the Futaba Estate's front gates. The smoldering remains of the Charybdis topple over, melted metal splattering with the short, sharp 'CLANG' of impact. Heat rises, dissipating from the freshly-made warzone as the tattered fighters recover themselves from the aftermath. Hard fought, but -- even with that last hurrah, there was never really any chance of them losing. Not fighters like them. Not even with the mini-tank's presence. The manpower, the resources -- they just weren't enough. Are the invading forces simply spreading themselves too thin? Or...
"Odd."
The voice comes almost literally from nowhere. In fact -- the voice comes from further /within/ the estate than Shurui, Hotaru and Alma are. Originating towards the entrance of the building proper, by the graceful and beautiful fountain decorating the estate grounds, stands one man: tall, dressed in an impeccable, black suit, with a head free of hair and dark sunglasses completely obscuring his eyes from sight. The main is frowning, a large, pale hand resting on the edge of his glasses as his head tilts ever-so slightly upward. Though slightly unusual, he seems, for all intents and purposes, to simply be a pale, bald man in a suit.
Save for the simple fact that he might as well be a void to the spiritual eye.
"I estimated you all fairing slightly better than that."
The dreadful lack of sensation seems to almost permeate from the man, as if threatening to devour everything in the estate as he turns simply, slowly, towards the trio of recovering fighters. "Still, you have overcome the roadbump. Your powers, as expected, are worthy of greater attention." As he speaks, the man slowly removes those shades... revealing nothing more than blank, stone-like eyes, shimmering for a brief moment with a pinkish-violet hue. "And it is greater attention that you shall have." The man begins to loosen his tie as his skin seems to almost literally /bleed out/ into a hue of grayish pink. Swirls of black and white gather up around him, beginning to burn away at his suit -- the tangible essence of void-like nothingness made manifest only in vague, psychic tremors. "For you who would strive against inevitability, look upon me..."
Slowly, the suit is burned away, the clothing rendered into ash as, underneath, there is revealed only stony, pale-pink skin... and at the man's mid-section? A swirling yin and yang orb, rotating where an abdomen should be and crackling with unwholesome power.
"... and know that Seth has come to teach you the meaning of futility."

COMBATSYS: Seth15 has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  //////////////////            ]
                                 |=======\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

They destroyed it. At last. There is a sense of victory within, and while she's relieved to hear the cough and curse from Shurui, and comforted to see Alma recovering where he landed, she is far from elated. There's unconscious men lying about, and possibly deceased within the metal husk of what was once brutal, armored combat vehicle. She can't regret any broken bones or lost lives like one might expect, but that doesn't make it any less grim. She is, ultimately, a girl determined to survive. If the encroaching wolves want to hurt her and hers, she won't be paralyzed by guilt or regret for what she has to do to keep them all safe.

She doesn't really want to voice the thought going through her mind. A girl her age shouldn't have to think these things. 'We need to sort out any dead, bind any that are still a danger. Then we need to figure out how to fortify for future battles.' What happened her could happen again. And again. And again. There's no time to enjoy the moment; there's nothing to even enjoy. A breath is taken in followed by a slow, controlled exhale as she sorts her thoughts.

And that's when the voice comes. She didn't sense anything amiss. Not that she was ever the best at such things, but to have no indication of one more lingering presence until he spoke provokes a soft start of surprise. Her hand slips from her tousled hair, her arms resting at her sides as she regards this new arrival. He hardly seems to be here for sanctuary. Which means he's one of two things - someone in a position to offer much needed assistence... or, unfortunately, someone here to continue what the initial force began.

Azure eyes study the suited man from head to toe, the girl taking steps forward. This is her property, she should speak to him, she reasons. But her steps slow as he evaluates their performance in dealing with the strike force. So he observed it. More than that. He knew about it. No. He /planned/ it. "This was some kind of test then?" She sweeps her arm to the side, gesturing behind her. "What of them? You pit them against us just to satisfy curiosity??" If only she had known... Would it have changed anything? She isn't sure it if could have. If they had held back... she shakes her head, grimacing.

The suit burns away, the promise of greater attention issued to the battle weary trio, and Hotaru stays rooted in her tracks, teeth gritted, her right hand clenched at her side. The glasses come off, his skin shifting hue. It's unlike anything she's ever seen before. Is he human? Or yet another experimental nightmare from the labs of NESTS? She glances toward Alma, then Shurui in turn, checking to make sure they're on the same page as her. This new threat must be dealt with just as the previous one. They're not going to leave them alone until they force every last one of the invading menaces back out of the walls of the estate.

"I don't know why you picked now of all times to come here. We were not a threat to your plans here, but merely offering refuge to the many people you and those with you have run out of their homes." A breath in is taken, "But you come here now to force the point. And you /will/ be dealt with." This time she doesn't look to Alma and Shurui. They'll know what to do here. She can trust in that. And then she's on the offense to lead the charge.

Sprinting forward, she slides into a lower stance from a half-yard away, maintaining an extremely low profile for a fraction of a second, making her a bit harder to counter attack. She's there for only a transtition point, however, before she plants her hands into the crushed grass and sweeps with her foot, attempting to draw this new arrival's guard low. She'll follow through, if possible, by spinning up to a second strike with the same leg aimed at chest level, to take advantage of possibly mis-directed defenses with crushing force. "KYA!"

Alma's posture has finally begun to settle, his senses relaxing slightly; he cannot detect anyone else's presence. With that, the true difficulties arise, as Hotaru herself could easily attest. Alma too has no desire to dwell on what he must consider: that some of these men may be dead as a direct result of their actions. Most disturbing is that he cannot bring himself to feel fear-- that he, of all people, seems numb to this likely possibility. It was not so long ago that he witnessed a murder, another man's death, for the first time; after all this fighting, the first death he had ever experienced. Whence that wrenching agony? Blank-faced, his gaze sweeps their fallen foes, wondering if his fierce instinct, thinking first only of further battle, was misguided. Why not first concerned with the fate of his adversaries?
He is so certain that he is right, and they are wrong.
And then further, right and wrong fade into meaningless obscurity in his bright eye, seeing only that he needed to fight here, fight to the death or suffer a worser fate, that of abandoning his very soul, and those who are so close to it.
It is the raw certainty of his own convictions, not the possibility that he may now be a killer even if only by assocation, that stirs a hint of fear within Alma's breast.
He does not doubt himself, but--
How far does his integrity extend? For how much could he take responsibility, if he were pressed? He trusts himself, trusts that there is a limit, trusts that he would know. Yet still, warily regarding his own deadened feelings, he is again reminded of Seishirou Ryouhara, that false messiah.
"Kuhh--!?"

Something about the mental image of that man stirs Alma out of his reverie, compounds the uncertainty that is growing within him even as his psychic senses reveal nothing, and he turns-- to see a man standing behind them, right where they should have been preventing anyone from reaching. Quickly Alma rises, his surreal grace returning, sharpening eyes disguising that his senses reel. How? Perhaps that he thought of Seishirou was for the best; here is another man with an empty aura. Intuitions aren't always psychic.
Unusually, the young man is completely silent. Hotaru speaks for him more than well enough. This gives him time to steady his emotions -- it helps that his initial instincts, though they may have been callous, were right -- and admire the make and weave of the man's suit.
"...heh..."
Those who strive against inevitability?
"...heh heh!"
Alma's chuckling is faint, but genuinely good-humored.
"Seth, is it."
Hazel eyes, momentarily dulled, now sparkle again.
"Know this--"
He lunges, tattered clothes rippling, body blurring.
"Alma Towazu is here--"
He leaps then, up and /over/ Hotaru as she crouches low, instinctively playing off of her attack. While she sweeps the ground, he strikes from above, feinting a fearsome-looking and dramatic kick to distract him only to acrobatically curl in and transition into a knee strike, attempting to slam his knee painfully into Seth's face. And as Hotaru follows up with a strike to the chest, Alma will pivot off of Seth's shoulder with his palm, controlling both his own aerial momentum and attempting to partially control the movements of his opponent, pushing himself away with one hand even as he lashes out with a crushing hook punch to Seth's temple with the other.
"--to teach you that futility is no obstacle!"
This is in the name of dignity, in the name of love.
Bring on the impossible.

Shurui isn't sure if she's truly killed anybody, today or any day before that. It just doesn't enter her frame of mind. There is only the mantra that repeats in the background of her mind: she killed no one; she's just a kid. She fought back because she might have been placed in a situation worse than death. Rubber bullets doesn't mean they're being gentle in the planned aftermath.

The ringing persists in her ears. She can't hear anything. But there's a new aura. Someone stepping into view. It makes her sixth sense hurt like dust swept into someone's eye. Buzzing. Someone's talking? She drowsily sits up, grey hair and pink raw skin streaked with cooling mud. She barely takes one look at the newly revealed Seth to be jolted back into reality, her body reacting to the new disturbance by forcing itself into a defensive stance. Murmuring. Hotaru's voice. '-run out.... homes.' It's getting clearer. Slowly. '-dealt with.'

That man's aura... what the hell is with his midsection? Is he attacking them? Is this the guy the earlier invaders were referring to? ".... The guy's midsection... It's weird..." Alma and Hotaru are already attacking, but Shurui stays behind, still cautious about trudging in immediately. It's a blessing afforded to her by the fact that she isn't alone, yes, but she's not quite ready to charge in while she has an ability to make her preperation.

A man who comes alone to a fight, even if it's against three weakened fighters, has either got to be an idiot, or know *exactly* what he's doing. Shurui seems to stare through the man's body, eyes widening to take in every available data. This man is a wall, but every wall has its cracks. She will pinpoint them and bring him down while she still stands.

COMBATSYS: Shurui focuses on her next action.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                 |======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Hotaru's Aggressive Strike.

[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/-------|=======\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                 |======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Alma successfully hits Seth15 with Combo Attack.
- Power hit! -

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0           Shurui
                                  >  ///////////////////           ]
                                 |======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

"To satisfy my curiosity?"
The words sound mildly bemused as the stony, unnatural gaze of Seth focuses entirely on Hotaru, as if seeing -past- her. Those lifeless lips curl into a smile as he lifts a hand before him, tinges of black and white crackling at his palm. "Humanity is such a simple species. Can you not see the obvious staring right in front of you?" The hand snaps forward, almost dismissively. Seth's eyes narrow.
"You will understand soon enough. If you survive."
And then they come. And Seth does not even move, deigning instead to wait for /them/ to come to /him/ -- as if simply curious to see what they will do. The answer comes quickly in the form of Hotaru's slight form lunging at him from below. "Interesting tactic," the unusual man notes mildly before /slamming/ his right palm down, smacking into that initial kick and stopping it flat to simply -end- the attempt before it even gets a chance to begin. "But I already know it--"
And then Alma crashes into the man's face.
The impact elicits an odd, crunching sound as Seth is struck, forcing him /away/ from Hotaru before he can reciprocate her attempt at harm. The resultant pivot and blow to the temple more than enough to stagger the shimmering aggressor. Falling backwards several steps, Seth ultimately comes to a stop several feet away from Alma, coming up to a full stand as he pits all his attention towards the psychic.
"Then let the education begin. Of course...
"... you didn't think I would come here completely alone, did you?"
And just as Seth speaks? About ten feet from the entrance of the Futaba estate, gunshots can be heard. Rapid-fire weapons unleash a hail of rubber bullets upon the prone form of Shurui as, off in the distance, the advancing forms can be seen: a second, last wave of troops, advancing swiftly upon the trio.
"I do not believe in coming unprepared."
White energy glows at Seth's right hand as he braces his right leg backwards. Eyes narrowed, he /slings/ that appendage forward, shunting off brilliant white energy in a distinctive crescent form that rips straight towards Alma Towazu -- a form and delivery that anyone could recognize as--
"SONIC BOOM!"

COMBATSYS: Invader has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0           Shurui
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  /////////////////////         ]
                                 |=======\=------\1           Hotaru

Her kicking combination is brought to a sudden halt as the lone fighter slams his palm into her leg. The damage it does to the girl's momentum is apparent as she stumbles slightly, caught off guard and vulnerable to counter attack. Alma sees that Seth doesn't get his chance as he strikes against the side of his bald cranium with enough force to drive him back from Hotaru, buying her time to recover her footing and step back quickly, arms raised to the defense.

Her jaw is set tightly. He read through her initial approach, but that doesn't mean anything, right? She had to cover a lot of distance to make the attack. He had time to prepare and predict. She shouldn't read into his comments too strongly. As he speaks up again, the girl glances over her shoulder. Of course. More troops. "Look out, Shurui!" she warns, hand extended, gesturing toward the men. There is a moment's hesitation - that desire to go deal with the new arrivals and keep them from surrounding any one of them. But that would leave Alma alone in contending with the one who seems to be in charge...

She resolves to stick close by. She needs to explore his ability to get a better feel for what they're dealing with. And the only way to do that is to contend with him directly. Hopefully, she muses, Shurui can hold her own for a moment. Energy rips over his forarms as he utters a name familiar to anyone in fighting. Given a moment, the girl would wonder at it. But he isn't slinging the power her way, and she hopes to find an opening should he be distracted with his attack on her friend.

Falling back on the basics, the girl tightens up her stance, tensing like a readied spring. And then she makes her move, lunging into the air via way of a short arc, twisting her body into a sweeping, windmilling palm strike with each hand, aiming to draw his guard high. Should her feet touch the ground, however, she'll lunge into the real attack, aiming to ram her right shoulder into his chest before snapping her right arm forward for a follow up, crushing palm strike. "YAA!"

Her left arm slams out in the opposite direction, providing just enough counter-force to keep the girl from tumbling over as she otherwise pours all of her forward momentum into an attack meant to shatter the balance of this confident foe!

COMBATSYS: Alma blocks Seth15's Sonic Boom.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\0           Shurui
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

Alma grimaces slightly with the impact of his crushing blows, both at the unnatural sensation emanating from his adversary and at the marginal damage this enigmatic man seems to have sustained. Not the sort of person to be fazed by appearances, the youth did not dwell for a moment upon the bizarre orb apparently embedded in the man's torso; it barely registered to senses focused entirely on the annihilation of any threat to his friends, his cause, and his honor. Yet he cannot deny a growing, grudging admission that the aura before him is practically unreadable-- not subconsciously disguised through profound will, as with Ryouhara and others of his ilk, but otherworldly, vague. Not twisted, like Yamazaki's; yet not as obviously vacant and hollow like the weaker products of NESTS. An aura is a visual identity; it is a genealogy of the self. Is there a history to this man?
Alma cannot tell.
A faint queasiness rises up within him--
"Grhh!"
And he wills it away only just in time.
Even were his psychic perception at its maximum functionality, Alma would struggle with this man's sheer speed. His guard snaps into position in the nick of time, eyes widening with the energy's impact, but even then he struggles to maintain his footing, skidding back several meters, only his intuitive mastery of his own momentum allowing his body to ripple and move with the force passing through it. He keeps his feet-- but the sounds of battle being engaged once more behind him is a worthier distraction than visceral confusion. Turning his head quickly, he lowers his chin to balefully regard the ambush threatening to flank them, and drown Shurui in new foes. He can't leave that to her, even if this new opponent will require all the attention they can muster.
"Shurui! Are you alright!?"
Even as he speaks he is unleashing a gout of soulfire summoned up from within, spinning fluidly as his hand casts up and releases a spiralling dart of energy as it goes. He twists again and again, and with each sweep of his arm a second and then a third dart bursts forth, each streaking past Shurui in an effort to occupy some of her opponents.
Such technique requires his full attention.
Hopefully Hotaru will be alright, for the moment.

COMBATSYS: Shurui parries Invader's Medium Shot!

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1           Shurui
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

It was a good idea to stay back at first. But in assuming this strange man came alone, Shurui made a horrible mistake: leaving her back open. Now, prone to any attack that may come from further forces streaming in to take their prize in her ironic bid in playing it safe, it'll take a miracle to make sure this doesn't turn out for the worst.

It doesn't. But Shurui wouldn't be the sort to call it a miracle. As still and focused on her sixth sense as she is, the introduction of a new calvary seems almost expected, even as her sound is barely establishing itself to its former sensitivity. So, when that first trigger is pressed, Shurui is ready, flinging her body behind an unfortunate tree, her dive and subsequent standing covered by the psycho-powered darts of energy flung by Alma.

Alma's yelling. Something. Something like, is she alright? Her eyes widen slightly, then tighten in resolution, giving Alma a firm nod, an arm rubbing some cool mud off her cheek. Instead of giving Alma a vocal reply, she opts for a mental, her mind briefly connecting to his for a brief instant before dashed off, the girl now physically running ahead away from the invaders and towards their tan-skinned leader.

< ... The invaders might leave if the leader's down.>

It's more a bit of offered hope than a strategy; most likely they will have to deal with the soldiers as they come closer, but for now, she can at least throw as much force against this single, powerful entity before her body quits. With a quick exhale, Shurui flings her arms outside, a scattering of psycho grey bullets flying in the air towards Seth.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Shurui's Riot Act EX.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1           Shurui
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Hotaru's Soushou Shin.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1           Shurui
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Invader blocks Alma's Sacred Wave.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1           Shurui
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////////          ]
                                 |=======\-------\0           Hotaru

Stunned and off-guard from Shurui's deft and able evasion of their surprise assault, the supplemental Shadaloo forces are left too surprised, for a moment, to notice Alma Towazu suddenly turning his attentions towards them. Amidst the ranks, one of the men notices the sudden crackle of energy that is building up at the young man who has turned his gaze towards them.
"Watch out! Six o'clock! Six o'clock!"
Men turn and scatter, breaking their formation for a brief moment to distill the impact of Alma's assault. Those spiraling dart of soulfire strikes the ground near the soldiers in a sudden explosion. Many are able to shield themselves from the expulsion of pure psychic force, blown backwards as their feet skid and tumble across the harsh earth. Some are simply blown away by the force as the blasts leave a scorching mark across the earth, leaving a dazed, and slightly scattered, squadron.
"D-Dammit! Get him! Get him already!!"
The men act fast, scrambling up from their prone positions as one swings the butt of his rifle, aiming to /slam/ it brutally into Alma's left kneecap. Another? Aims to attempt and capitalize on a hopefully weakened balance by rushing in, attempting to just /clothesline/ Towazu straight into the ground with a mighty, blood-curdling yell.
Yet, even as the men fight, the one commanding them stands calm and composed, one foot pressing toes-first into the earth as the other braces itself, almost as if in preparation. Solid, stone-like eyes drift from Hotaru to Shurui; a thoughtful expression twitches at Seth's features. "Psycho Power, is it?"
Grey psycho bullets pepper the air, and yet, in a flash... Seth's arms are suddenly extending, /far/ beyond what should be their reach, limbs like elastic stretch upwards and smacking each and every 'bullet' of energy aside, stopping them before they can even grow close to touching his body. Energy burns at his palms; he ignores it, those arms suddenly snapping backwards as smoke rises upward from his hands.
"But not enough--"
A second later, Hotaru thrusts herself bodily forward with those windmilling palm strikes. She aims to make him guard again. Instead?
Those strikes hit nothing.
When Hotaru attacks, the being known as Seth simply is not... /there./ There is a brief flash of light before the man vanishes completely, leaving her to continue with those combination blows at absolutely nothing. Until...
"There is nothing you can show me that I do not already know."
The voice comes from behind. And Hotaru has all of a second to react before the almost alien-like man lunges at /her/, his own arms sweeping forward in a series of windmilling strikes that is almost identical to her own. His feet touch the ground, his shoulder rams forward, before one powerful palm strike aims for her chest.
"YAA!"
Tit for tat.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Hotaru with Aggressive Strike.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |=======\===----\1           Hotaru

It all happens so fast. The spin and lunge meets no resistance, leaving her shoulder slam sending her just a bit off balance before she slams her hands out in an attempt to provide the necessary counter force to regain prompt control. It isn't fast enough. The girl is drawing back, attempting to return to a more solid stance from which to defend herself when the opening palm strikes connect wht the side of her neck and shoulder.

It isn't the worst hit she's mustered this fight, but it does leave the smaller fighter forced off balance just as she had hoped to do to him. Jarred, she's just about to get her footing under control, the soles of her feet finding just enough traction in the grass. She realizes an instant too late that the oddly constructed opponent was mimicking her own attack, however. The opening strikes were just to throw off her defenses just as she had intended. Eyes widen just before the crushing shoulder connects with the featherweight's chest, "Ah!" A gasp escapes her lips, her arms flailing as she stumbles back into prime position to at last be struck by the heel of Seth's palm.

Driven off her feet, she hits the ground in a slide on her side before coming to a stop, a grunt for breath escaping her lips. How is he using her style? Not just the gist of it; the common Kenpo aspects that anyone might pick up... but right down to the fundamental techniques practiced by the Futaba family. Startled, she rolls to her knees, hand resting against her chest, one eye closed in a wince. Given a choice, she'd call retreat. The three battle worn fighters might not be up to dealing with this renewed threat...

But there isn't a choice. Behind them is her home - a refuge, a small sanctuary for others to fall back to. Running would leave the estate vulnerable. They can't run. A glance is cast toward her comrades as Hotaru forces herself back to standing, teeth gritted. They're not going to retreat. That much she can believe. She has to commit herself in full.

She closes her eyes for only a fleeting moment before returning her focus to Seth. Resolve renewed, she glares back at him. Not in petulant defiance but in stern reprimend. He's forced these circumstances upon them. There can be no holding back. Whatever happens is simply the corner they were surrounded into.

The chi she builds is no secret as Hotaru draws heavily from the world around her. Friends, allies, the spirit of her home and the hopes of the people behind her... It's more than enough to fuel her attack as she responds against Seth. He may understand her art, but simply understanding may not be enough to save himself from the determined force with which the Futaba girl responds as she closes distance again. This time utmost speed is hers as she snaps into a slide from a yard out, bringing her precariously close to Seth. Does he know this?

A crushing, chi-laced kick serves as her opening strike as Hotaru backflips into a high arc. The energy adds force beyond what her body can muster alone. The apex of her arc would serve as her transition point - a moment to shift into a sharp dive back down into the war leader in a bid to tackle him to the ground just long enough to unleash all that pent up energy into a point blank detonation against the man's bare chest! A combination of determination, technique, and hope may just be enough to carry the girl through the combination. It may just be her chance to even the score.

COMBATSYS: Alma dodges Invader's Bonesmasher.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/------=|=======\-------\1           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

What a difference there is.
Alma regards his scrambling foes with an almost casual air, nodding mild-eyed at Shurui's telepathic suggestion. She is right; but he cannot allow them to be completely surrounded. If she is going to move to the attack, he will have to repulse these soldiers lest they be swarmed.
But what a difference there is, he reflects as he weaves smoothly and with minimal wasted motion out of the way of the swinging rifle, between these soldiers and their naked leader. This 'Seth' has an aura utterly impenetrable to Alma's senses, so unfamiliar that he cannot perceive it in any intelligible whole that would give him insight into his future movements. But these men, their training obvious and their equipment top-notch but their spirits wanting--
"Hmph."
They are so predictable.
For his part, Alma has never judged based on the distinctive vibrancy of aura that characterizes fighters in his vision, has never assumed that it signifies a necessarily superior being or seen it as necessarily different from such qualities as superior talent or intelligence, even if it may have a broader spiritual significance. Ducking easily under the attempting clothesline, he feels offers nothing less than his full attention, and feels just the same basic level of respect for anyone putting their bodies at risk that he does for even the most sinister of opponents. But it would be easy, the kernel of his conscious mind offers as he spins gracefully into the middle of the throng, to see them as simply pathetic, lesser souls.
No wonder psychics turn to evil.
Alma has positioned himself at a most vulnerable point: directly in the middle of all his surrounding enemies. Perhaps this will be perceived as a mistake; his expression reveals nothing. But the truth is made clear by the revealing light of his inner fire as his upraised fist ignites with a resounding burst, a plume of surging fire spiralling around his arm as he roars out with the intensity of his effort, plunging toward the ground. With the impact of his fist is a brief silence and an oppressive radiance, an eerie and vaguely static charge--
"Urrraaahh!"
Before a geyser of raw Soul Power explodes all around him, subsuming his body in scintillating color that threatens to consume the soldiers arrayed about him as well; having drawn into their midst, he now attempts to devour them from the inside, rending their very wills with the demands of his righteous imperative: let your hearts once more return to the sea of fire from whence they emerged.
Let the power carry you away.
It's not his fault that such rapture is also painful.

... His aura stretched. No, his -physical body- stretched. Shurui's eyebrows raise, impressed, yet immediately sink down as Seth directs his attention towards her, commenting on the very energy he swatted away. "... Psycho power?" The expression on Shurui's face seems mildly confused. "What'd you m-"

Her attention is immediate drawn to Hotaru, her eyes immediately sensing the similarities between his and her movements. Seeing this, Shurui is at once caught between two emotions: a strategic curiosity of how this man manages to have known enough about Hotaru's style to at least seem like he is miming it, and, secondly, a sharp concern for the attacked pig-tailed girl. The fair subtler qualities that mark his movement as an exact miming of Hotaru's own style are unnoticed, however- this man could have perhaps practiced the same style as Hotaru from the start. A coincidence, maybe?

It doesn't matter. Seth's previous words cease to have meaning now; Shurui needs to be by Hotaru's side. Attempting her best to time her strike after Hotaru's (or attempt to take advantage of Seth if Hotaru misses), Shurui tries to slam her fist against Seth's side, a wisp of Psycho power igniting from the knuckles into a lance, piercing through the slate-colored man's body and manifesting as a sharp glowing blade at the other side, existing only until she releases him from her hold with another punch of her other hand.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 parries Hotaru's Ten-shou Ranki!

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Seth15           0/-------/-----==|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Shurui successfully hits Seth15 with Subtle Knife.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Seth15           0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Invader dodges Alma's Full Confession.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Seth15           0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

Let it not be said that the power put forth by Alma Towazu is frightening. In fact, if these forces weren't so well-prepared... most of them would simply be dead right now. But these men are not the same as the ones from before.
And Seth has made sure that they know what they are dealing with.
As it is, it is by preparation and sheer luck that the men note the sudden surge of power that spirals around Alma's arm. Noting his position, how he has put himself in the midst of them, one of them realizes soon enough. "SCATTER! NOW!"
Boom.
That geyser of overwhelming psychic force is unleashed, and instantly the men dive. The sheer force is such that many of them are simply /blown/ away by the resultant surge of power and, while not harmed by the energy, smash into the ground below in rough tumbles simply as a result of the raw and overwhelming force. The others? Land scattered across the estate in crouches or otherwise defensive positions, panting and looking slightly panicked. But these men are professionals. They know what to do next.
"SHOOT HIM DOWN!"
Instantly, guns are trained and unloaded upon Alma in a sudden, relentless spray of rubber bullets, firearms discharging from multiple sources as they seek to simply set him off balance from the multitude of directions. It's not meant to be debilitating. But distracting? Definitely.

Snapping back into place, Seth's guard would seem momentarily compromised with the full momentum of his thrust. His gaze is cold -- almost clinical -- as he recovers his stance, snapping backwards. Despite his condescending smile, there is a level of detachment to him not simply in his spiritual sensation, but in his entire behaviorism -- as if he were doing little more than observing ants desperately trying to climb a mountain.
Short amounts of tinged pink and violet energy crackles around Seth as Hotaru recovers from his blows, tilting his head vaguely to the side. "Kenpo. But with a unique slant on it. Ultimately, however..."
Futaba lunges, with uncanny speed, with phenomenal power. Chi spikes as she lances outward with a kick. Does he know this?
"... it is not that hard to break apart."
The kick strikes air as Seth moves only /slightly/ beyond the reach of Hotaru's assault, moving like a whisp -- and far faster than his size would suggest. Like his body was made of fluid, he shifts /just/ towards the side as Hotaru suddenly veers /downward/, hands snapping forward to, with the most gentle of touches, redirect Hotaru's momentum such that she drives into the /ground/ instead of his body in a moment of speed that takes place in a fraction of a second.
"You have attempted to challenge that which is infinite. May the price be equal to your folly--"
And that is when a single fist drives into Seth's side.
The impact is hard, like punching a wall of brick -- as if his body were made of harder materials than should be natural -- or perhaps, simply because he was prepared. The Psycho lance /drives/ into the man's back, shunting out through the other side in a churning mass of power. His eyes widen--
--but the second that Shurui's hand makes contact, he disappears in a sudden flash of light and a brief and condescending laugh.
"Do you even know the power your wield?"
The question comes from behind as, much like before, Seth strikes out -- seeking to grasp Shurui, and then simply /hurl/ her into the air. He disappears once more in a flash, reappearing /directly/ beside her to grip her up, clamping her head between his legs... and then suddenly /descend/ like a rocket, spiraling around chaotically in that distinct piledriver maneuver made so well-known by a certain Russian and another certain Mayor. "HMPH!"

Again soundly bested by the enigmatic foe, Hotaru's descent is far from smooth as he sends her tumbling into a roll before she comes to a stop yards away, managing to recover herself just before tipping over completely. A gasp of breath is released, eyes widened. The way he moved - translocating without moving like a normal man. That explains how he got between them and the estate when he first made his presence known, she decides, the magnitude of this power he weilds sinking in quickly. Glancing over her shoulder back toward the battle, she watches as Alma sends troops scrambling but unharmed. This new wave is better than the last. And it isn't with a fancy but ultimately defeatable metal contraption at their lead this time.

The ease with which he has been reading her techniques shakes her confidence. How can she fight someone like that? Her skill had always come from reading styles and keeping one step ahead... But how can she hope to do that here? Her eyes narrow slightly. He is reading her techniques perfectly, but he himself isn't perfect. Each time she's attacked, it's allowed Alma or Shurui to land their blows. For all the ease with which he's dismantled her techniques, he seems to only be able to do it to one of them at a time!

"Don't give up," she whispers to herself. Keep the pressure on. Every moment he spends focusing on her techniques is a chance for her friends to get through his guard. Pushing herself back to standing, she's winded from her exhertion but hardly exhausted. From distance she can't stop his retaliation against the poor Gedo girl. All she can do is hope for the best as she closes the distance once again.

Without warning she gathers herself, tensing up once more before unwinding into a lateral kick through the air, right heel leading the way as she attempts to catch the monster in the upper back. It might just be in hopes of distracting him at this point. But if it works, it may be worth it all the same!

COMBATSYS: Alma dodges Invader's Strong Shot.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Seth15           0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

Ah, that they would turn their backs on such beauty.
Their loss, Alma can only conclude.
More accurately, he is impressed by their coordination; they have truly trained to the limits of their abilities. He knows for a fact that he is facing many men; he can clearly and easily perceive each individual aura, fainter though they may be. Yet in his intuitive vision he feels as though what he is facing is not many men but many limbs, knotting together through discipline and training into a single body-- as though he is a single man facing an amalgam of a man. This is their advantage; this is what makes them a formidable and worthy foe.
In this instance, it is their undoing.
For in the midst of his rapturous release, every sense heightened, Alma can detect their group intention as though it were a sound echoing throughout a theater, resounding unmistakably. He cannot move; he is committed utterly to this attack, though he has merely scattered them, has only bought his friends time in making his stand. Yet it does not occur to him, in the rush of the moment, to analyze that point in conjunction with his foreknowledge. All he can understand right then, as he endures and embraces the sundering of his own sense of self in the effort to painfully evoke the same sensation in others, is that danger looms.
Only in these moments are his limits forgotten.
Only in these moments--
Can the world enfold him utterly in light.
He disappears.
For a second or three, at most. But it is unmissable. Great psychics can do this at will; Alma has never mastered the art. But he has practiced it, and in the midst of wielding his most powerful techniques, he has utilized it to profound effect. The bullets fly through the air, they scatter against the ground, casings fall like rain. But, their clips momentarily depleted, the invaders will look upon a man untouched by their assault, gazing at them calmly, unscarred.
He's not entirely aware that he's done it.
It just makes too much sense for it to feel unusual.
Hazel eyes glimmering with renewed power, deep breaths silent and sure, Alma Towazu stands tall, his eyes sweeping the opponents arrayed before him-- as though he might hold them at bay with his mere presence.

COMBATSYS: Alma gathers his will.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Seth15           0/-------/----===|-------\-------\0           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Shurui blocks Seth15's Screw Piledriver EX.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Seth15           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

It hurts when she makes contact with Seth's skin. Tears well up in Shurui's eyes as she goes through with her attack- ... only to disappear the second she releases him. "...!" She's already turning by the time Seth begins to reach for her, but, even if she's reacting, it's not fast enough to evade him. And thus, she's sent flying high into the air, barely aware of the presence that winks into existence beside her. But aware she seems to be, her body reacting even before her eyes make any notion of noticing him, twisting just so that the grip is missed. .... She evaded him, yes, but now she has to answer to gravity. Falling to the ground with a loud grunt and an unappetizing crunch of yet another rib, Shurui shakily stands up, bile choking from her mouth. Disgusted, she wipes her mouth with the back of a muddy sleeve, panting from overexertion and pain.

It's not that she refuses to shut up. "I know.... what it *is*," Shurui mumbles, her body weaving backwards as her arms and feet assume a battle stance. "... Just never... heard anyone call it *that*. ....'Just called it psychic power." Her senses latch onto Hotaru's aura nearby, the fellow girl's energy providing a small sort of comfort and hope, even as Shurui looks back at impossible odds. "... N' stop it with this 'impossible' shit... Would you like us more if we just caved in? You're gettin' somethin' out of this..."

Talk. Stretch out things so you can rest. ".... I don't think any of us really *care* about our chances..." Shurui begins, now dashing towards Seth, " we're just a pack of dogs, protecting our den!" Curling her body around in order to gain momentum, Shurui bends her leg, twisting around in order to launch at Seth's midsection. Not graceful, not anything, really; just pure force until she can manage something more challenging for her body.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Hotaru's Medium Kick.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Seth15           0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Seth15 interrupts Heavy Kick from Shurui with Shoryuken.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Seth15           0/-------/=======|=======\====---\1           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

"The fact that you do not even know the proper name means that you have barely even scraped the surface. Tell me -- would you like me to teach you about it?"
Seth lands with a solid -whud- of feet impacting earth, ending in a simple, crouching position. Lifeless eyes rotate towards where Shurui lands, though it's hard to even -tell- that much, given the solid quality of his gaze. He lifts, slowly, easily, psychic tremors rippling around him like a faint disturbance in the form of tendrils of white around his arm.
"I will grant you understanding in the desolation."
The Shadaloo men curse as their assault goes for naught. Not only that -- the man /disappears/ for a brief moment of time as they fire -- only to reappear in an entirely different location. They look befuddled for a moment -- but then, they've seen this before. From Seth -- from Vega. "Tch... this son of a bitch..."
Spreading thinner into a wide circle around Alma, they wait in preparation for him to attack. But instead? ... They receive nothing. Alma does not move, instead gathering more power to him. The soldiers hesitate, and then...?
"... Move to target Alpha!"
The soldiers suddenly twist, turning away from Alma -- it's not out of cowardice, but rather, tactics. He is immobile -- they'll take this time to shave some attention away from their commander. Several of the men detach at this point, one of them making a pointed rush towards Hotaru -- faster than the others. As Seth twists to suddenly INTERCEPT her kick in mid-air, batting it aside with one powerful arm as the leg crashes into his appendage with a painful throb of impact, that man leaps... and attempts to intercept Hotaru with one jumping kick.
"HRAAAGH!"
It likely will not end well.
With a deliberate calmness, Seth snaps back /away/ from Hotaru at almost the exact same moment that the man flies towards her. He focuses his gaze on Shurui, that horrible gaze focusing entirely on her. Energy throbs around his arm, that blinding whiteness accompanied by that same, chillingly void-like sensation.
"A dog is nothing more than an animal."
And with that, Shurui is suddenly met /midway/ through her charge, preempting her assault. As that kick lances in, she'll find a powerful, burning fist CRASHING into her jawline with unbelievable force. The way Seth lifts, the way that energy trails around him as he twists. The form is perfectly, undeniably--
"SHORYUKEN!"

COMBATSYS: Hotaru dodges Invader's Light Kick.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Seth15           0/-------/--=====|=======\====---\1           Shurui
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0             Alma
                                  >  ////////////////              ]
                                 |-------\-------\0           Hotaru

Focused as she is on the commanding presence of their leader, Hotaru is barely aware of the battle taking place between Alma and the legion of men determined to take one of them down. Individually, they don't have a chance. As a coordinated team, however, she has seen few troops better in action. The flashes of Alma's power set the area aglow but all Hotaru sees is the shadow that Seth's figure casts, a faint energy rippling over his body.

Thus far he had demonstrated absolute knowledge of her style, unraveling each of her attacks in turn, as if he knew what she was about to do before even she did. His defense against her flying kick is no different as his defenses hold true. Forced to a quick landing as he draws back from her too fast to allow for followup, the increasingly desperate martial artist almost doesn't notice the charging man at her side. But seperating from the pack makes him easy to contend with, Hotaru snapping her focus to him just long enough to extend her arm and catch his assault handily, making his momentum his enemy as she flips him handily while simultaneously stepping to the side.

But he was the first of many to come. Eyes stray across the troops as they approach before shifting back to Seth just in time to witness it. She knows what it's supposed to be as he rises into the air, before he even announces it to deny all room for doubt. The replication is flawless, the power concentrated at just the right moments for maximum force. The accuracy with which the legendary technique is reproduced is stunning. She should know. She's been on the receiving end of Ryu's Shoryuken before. Which is why, ultimately, she's so shocked to realize how soulless this recreation of it is. Empty, lacking any of the emotion the true version bore. For a moment she almost staggers to a stop, perplexed at the incongruity of the sight.

But then it registers; what just transpired. "Shurui!!" the girl gasps. Men close in but she forces herself to move once again, shoving her way past the first two with easy, increasing her speed as she bolts after Seth. "Alma!" she cries out. She needs him now. Shurui is-... She refuses to close her eyes as she tries to catch up, attempting to barrel into the man with all the forward momentum she can muster.

Falling back on one of her most practiced techniques, she lunges at the last moment, seeking a tight grip on his bare, powerful arms, aiming to remove his ability to defend himself long enough for her to transition smoothly into a series of rapid, rising stomping kicks, aiming to drive the heels of her feet into his body on her way up to using his shoulders as a spring board to leap away. She can't stop now. She can't even check how her friend is doing yet. All she can do is try to bring down this powerful leader that seems to know not just her techniques but those of others as well...

Breathe. Focus.
Alma and his allies do not have the strategic advantage of their previous encounter. With Seth's abrupt appearance behind them, the defenders have been forced to split their power in a manner they were not compelled to do before. There is little hope of forming a line and supporting an ally in need; the past minute has been a desperate effort to keep a swarm of minor foes at bay while confronting a greater enemy they are already hard-pressed to deal with. The beautiful psychic knows that he cannot expect Hotaru and Shurui to be certain of victory on their own; he is not certain if, ideally, he should be the one facing off against this horde. They are all growing fatigued, and who knows if this wave will be the last.
Yet for this brief moment, made uncertain by his vibrant -- if unfortunately harmless -- eruption of power, he holds the soldiers at bay with his stare, feeling the fires within him stirring, letting the sensations of battle echo through his very soul. Such moments feel, for all their brevity, as though they might last forever.
The crushing blow to his psyche that he promptly experiences, therefore, as he experiences by proxy the heavy blow his close friend has received, is only all the more jarring.
"Shurui!!!"
The spell is broken.
Hazel eyes widening under the red-tinged bangs that partially obscure them, Alma notices too late that the soldiers have broken ranks to flood around him, his eyes trained on Shurui's brutalized form. It does not occur to him to wonder at Seth's all too familiar technique, one that he himself bore the brunt of; he is too busy reeling at this result. Their grip on the battle, already tenuous, has slipped tremendously with this single blow.
"Rrraahhh!"
But just as he has no space in his mind for analysises of Seth's suspicious fighting style, there is no room in his heart for fears of defeat-- only the raw indignation of a righteous man wronged.
Forget these soldiers. Alma's faith in Hotaru's ability to defend herself is intuitive -- and rewarded -- but he plunges past her, through those that attempted to skirt him, ignoring them utterly, focused entirely upon the dire fate he has planned for the one who would strike Shurui so. Roaring, the gentle administrator become completely the lion defending his pride, Alma sweeps in as Hotaru lunges, his right hand igniting with a lance of searing light to plunge towards Seth's unprotected back; any success, even if Seth endures the spasms of Soul Power coursing through his mind and body, should arch him into a less defensive position, exposing him to Hotaru's own attack. But such tactics are primal; there is not a thought in Alma's head.
There does not need to be.
There is no time.
Shurui must be protected.
Seth must be crushed.
It is obvious, seen in the light of his flame.

Again and again, Shurui's knack for sometimes 'seeing' the actions of others a second or so before they land on her sometimes translates into seeing her doom begin to unfurl. There's no 'before she knows it'- she already knows, and in that nanosecond, she has to rest in the dreadful realization that her body shall go from pained to an entirely new level of wounded sensation. When Seth cleanly connects that flaming fist into her jaw, the world explodes into dark and stars, all sense and reason knocked away and gravity letting go for a second before reclaiming her again, draping her against the mud.

... For a while, she doesn't seem to move at all. Then? Her eyes open. Unfocused. They stay that way.

...Too loud. Why is everybody screaming her name? It hurts her ears. Aren't they supposed to be fighting something? Fighting... Oh. She's on the ground. The battle's still going? Need to get up. Jaw hurts. Face tickles. Oh, blood. Can barely move her jaw. Standing up like some sort of drunken lush, blood flows from Shurui's nose and through the corners of her mouth.

The ground keeps swaying. That man. She can see his aura. The auras of Hotaru and Alma, attacking him. Goddamnit, that hurt. ... If she's going to do anything, have to do it now. Hotaru and Alma can't win this fight themselves. She tenses in the mud, skull hurting as her mouth cracks open to reveal an animalistic yell. She plunges at Seth, a hand gathering grey wispy energy.

COMBATSYS: Shurui can no longer fight.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Alma's Self Expression.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Shurui's Shades of Grey.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Hotaru successfully hits Seth15 with Shin-Jou Tai.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Hotaru

However, with a shudder, she slips into the mud, collapsing completely.

Landing smoothly on his feet, Seth crosses his arms; energy crackles around his body as he stares dispassionately at Shurui's fallen, bloodied body. He continues to stand there, calmly, even as Hotaru cries out -- even as Alma cries out -- even as both charge after her, towards him. He continues to stand as Shurui gathers herself up, and slowly, slowly, rushes towards him...
... and he continues to stand as she falls just short of it.
"And an animal is nothing but an animal."
Seth stands, staring downward at Shurui as she lies prone. That's one. The others -- are already upon him. Gazing distantly behind at Alma as he suddenly surges forward, unleashing that light of Soul Power... only to find nothing there. It isn't teleporting; Seth simply moves, /fast/, pivoting on his heel in a blurr of slate-like colors as the SIN leader shoves himself just to the side of Alma, speaking lifelessly.
"You, too, do not understand it yet, do you?" Energy crackles at his palm.
"Allow me to educate yo--"
And that is when Hotaru suddenly /lashes/ at him, those stomping kicks smashing into his mighty torso over and over in unforgiving succession. Driving him back, Seth lets out a displeased snarl as he snaps both his hands to the side. He stops, panting -- a trail of blood rolling down the corner of his lip.
"Impudence."
The word is uttered as Seth's entire body begins to bleed out from shades of pink, to shades of deep blue, the orb at the center of his stomach suddenly swirling in a chaotic, twitching rhythm. It works like a vortex, to pull Hotaru towards it... where a single sphere of intermingling black and white energy suddenly pulses into existence just in front of the man's abdomen in a void-like, psychic tremor, aiming to assault the poor girl with that churning power.
It is as Seth attacks that the soldiers, in the meantime, catch up to their compatriot, seeking to capitalize on Hotaru's perceived weakpoint; they drive /forward/ suddenly, two this time, seeking to /drive/ the butts of their rifles into Hotaru's back -- ideally, to knock her /straight/ into that incoming sphere of power, even as they themselves snap /backwards/ in preparation for any sort of retaliation. "They're weakened! Take 'em down!!"

COMBATSYS: Hotaru effortlessly dodges Invader's Stage of Emergency.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0             Alma
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Hotaru fails to reflect Tanden Engine from Seth15 with Kobi Kyaku.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Seth15           1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0             Alma
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1           Hotaru

She lands, sliding to a stop in the ruined grass. She saw Shurui fall. Not once, but twice, the girl's resolve carrying her further in one last desperate bid to strike the invasion leader that ultimately fails to land. Alma's attack too, ideal as it was, is also avoided. It's as she had suspected though. Teaming up on the threat challenged his ability to deal with multiple fighters at once. Perhaps it is the way he so perfectly reads his opponent's styles that is his weakness. Maybe he can only scrutinize one at a time to such a flawless degree?

The girl from Gedo is down. Hotaru grits her teeth, sparing a glance over her shoulder to confirm her worry. Shurui won't be moving for some time after that. The only way to help her - to help those inside - is to defeat him. She needs to keep the pressure up, coordinate with Alma until they take him down. And to that end, she gets ready to charge back at the unnaturally skinned man. If she can keep timing her attacks with Alma's, maybe they have a chance.

Only the men serving under Seth's command are swift, moving in quickly to pressure the girl, to split her focus and reduce her chances of defending herself just as Seth himself powers his own retaliation. Avoiding the rifles comes with the same ease with which the girl had avoided most of the soldiers throughout the entire ordeal. Spinning back around to face them, she weaves a step away, leaning back as the weighted rifle ends sweep through the air where she was an instant before.

There's no sense of triumph to accompany her evasion, however. She's well aware the direction they were nudging her. Directly into Seth where she'll be vulnerable. She waits until the last possible second, keeping her eyes on the soldiers as they pin her in closer toward the soulless being. She has to act fast. Has to keep him from knowing her next move lest he dismantle it preemptively...

She can't sense him nor his power. But she can hear him moving near, the rush of that energy sphere trembling under his control directly in front of him... She spins and strikes in one fluid motion, her right foot swinging from low to high, leaving a wake of azure chi in the path of her leg. A counter-strike, one meant to deal with whatever attack he might have had in mind. A defensive barrier against energy or a retaliatory strike against any physical attack, intended to succeed regardless of what she faces.

"KYA-Ah!" The sound of shattered glass accompanies the dissipation of her chi shield as the sphere collides with and overwhelms it at just the right moment to keep it from solidifying properly. The blue energy scatters and the teenaged martial artist collapses, her body trembling from disruptive pain overcoming every sense. It's almost enough to end her there as she's brough to the brink of unconsciousness.

But not quite. Not yet. There's still a monster at her home and a dozen or more uninvited guests to deal with. She's not about to be left lying before they're dealt with! Rolling to her side, she wobbles even as she props to herself up with her hands. Another second longer and she would be overwhelmed by the troops. But she forces herself to standing, back to moving. She can't fall, she tells herself, commanding her body to go forward in spite the pain she feels now. This man must be stopped!

They're falling apart.
Choking with fury, Alma can feel his flames strike nothing, only watch as the counterattack ensues. Hotaru's evasion is beautiful, as always, perfect-- but the bizarre power of the man before them is too difficult to predict, too foreign to overcome. What is this strange vortex? It distorts Alma's psychic vision like a black hole distorts space and time; seeing it in action for the first time, he can hardly bear to look upon it lest a wave of dizziness begin to overcome him. But purging any such fatigue or weakness from him is the intuitive understand that now more than ever he must serve as a pillar for his allies, to give Hotaru the time to rise while she still can, to staunch the flood of their opponents and preserve what little peace remains in this city.
But how many people is he supposed to fight at once?
Alma's answer is to stand directly by Hotaru's side, twisting in after his failed assault to stand directly between her and their mysterious enemy, straining every sense to remain aware of the movement all around him. Gritting his teeth, the skin about his high cheekbones flushing with effort and passion, Alma unleashes a blurring series of punches and kicks at Seth, setting every fiber of his being toward pre-empting any more attacks upon Hotaru's person as she struggles to rise-- but more so than his attacks, more so than even his awareness, the tall youth seems focused on maintaining his stance: poised, elegant, shifting. He does not have to hit his opponent, as much as he wants to. He does not have to know where every one of the soldiers are, as much as he would like to. But he cannot lose his footing, he cannot lose his ground. Even if he cannot create an opportunity for victory himself, he must be /ready/ when one is presented.
At this juncture, no chance must be passed up.
Now, more than ever, he must make a stand.
To fight for what is right; to face injustice with unflinching dignity.
To be worthy of their trust!
Consumed utterly by a devotion so primal as to not require articulated thoughts, Alma forgets what it is to fear, and attacks.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Alma's Combo Attack.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////             ]
Seth15           1/-------/=======|======-\-------\0             Alma
[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1           Hotaru

"Do you understand yet?"
Seth impassively wipes blood from his cold, hard lips, staring down at the fluids with a frown. This far. They've already pushed him this far. His gaze shifts towards Hotaru, his hand clenching into a mild fist as he begins to stride toward her.
"Obviously not. Then I shall carve it into your soul--"
Only to find Alma Towazu standing directly in front of him.
Stony, unnatural eyes narrowing upon Alma as he presents his barricade. His head cants to the side, expression practically lifeless. "You think you are more than an mosquito striving against the hand of a giant." Alma unleashes his passion upon Seth, and for his effort... Seth begins to gracefully glide out of the way; like he was practically fluid, he shifts with a series of blurring movements out of each and every one of Alma's attacks, his fists clenching tight as the young man moves.
"But you are less than that."
The first swing comes as a right hook, aiming to smash into Alma's ribcage. The second, a left hook, to plant into his jaw, a one-two smash one might see more in a boxer than a traditional martial artist. Yet Seth emulates it, right down to the posturing, aiming to simply /knock/ Alma away...
... just in time for the soldiers to spring upwards, intent to simply try to /dogpile/ the man in a blitz rush and proceed to beat him mercilessly with punches, kicks, rifle thrusts -- the attacks of lessers adding up to something far more.

She's on her feet and Alma is at her side. She needed him then. Not just for the barrier he forms by his presence, between her and those who would be no doubt eager to take down the resilient girl; she needed him there to know she wasn't alone in this. That for as terrible as circumstances were, as difficult as this challenge may be, they were together for this last stand. Lacking time to reflect on it, it sooths her nerves in a natural, instinctive way. Bonds like the two share can't be pondered so much as felt, and just as she's close to faltering, Alma is there.

Bleeding at her lip, bruised, scorched, aching, Hotaru refuses to fall even still. They've pushed him this far. Maybe they can push him a little further yet. How much can one man take?? She draws in her breath, watching Alma swing for Seth once again. The man evades him as he had her so often before. His focus is on the young model, however. This may be an opportunity to undo him. She doesn't have much left in her. Conservation at a time like this is not going to pull her through.

The soldiers crowd in around, but Alma keeps them at bay these crucial moments for Hotaru to gather herself for one final charge. She gave him everything she had earlier and he saw right through it. Were less on the line; were there any option besides facing him down, running at that point may have held sway over her mind shortly after.

But there is no choice. They didn't wish for war to be brought upon them, but here it is. Their attempt at providing refuge threatened by powerful foes she can't even hope to understand. She feels like the gnat he speaks of. Helpless to stem the tide of hostility washing over Southtown, pouring onto her property, harming her friends and her. She closes her eyes for a split second. She can't let those doubts take hold. Alma wouldn't waver and either can she.

Not a gnat, she decides. A bee. And as she sprints forward, aiming to intercept Seth at his side even as he turns his attacks upon her soul brother, she aims to sting. Blue chi trails from her hands even as the girl takes to the air, spinning once, targeting him with a set of windmilling palm strikes. Only this time, each blow is laced with her sapphire blue chi as she tries to crush her way past any guard, any attempt to stop her.

A second volley of palm strikes is attempted with a following lunge, before she touches down again. If she found her chance, if she managed to crush his guard, she'll lunge at him, shoulder first, taking to the air before flipping down into a chi-laced knee dive into Seth's shiny cranium!

COMBATSYS: Alma blocks Seth15's Medium Punch.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Seth15           1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Invader          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Invader successfully hits Alma with Savage Beatdown.
Glancing Blow

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Seth15           1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Invader          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

This man must be stopped.
Alma can't touch him. His attention is too split; his opponent is too swift. His head throbs with the effort of sustaining such precision and awareness all at once; his heart aches with the desperation of the moment. But his features remain strangely impassive, as though burned into a mask of serenity by the intense heat within him, as though lesser emotions like frustration can have no hold on a man so utterly consumed by battle.
"Hrnn!"
He may not have been able to strike Seth-- but his efforts are not for nothing. There are few to see what follows, but the results, one man against many foes, are commendable. Though left open from his multiple attacks, Alma's sheer poise and body control allow him to just barely deflect the first punch, the second crashing against an upraised forearm, even the apparent shift in fighting style -- or at least appropriation -- unable to faze the model. Yet even during this he is angling his body out of the way of leaping soldiers as best he can, forced to simply hipcheck some of the few that he cannot physically avoid while blocking Seth's attacks.
In the last few moments, several soldiers manage to slam into Alma's back, but they cannot bear him down. In response he seems to simply shake them off-- but the moment is too slight to employ raw physical strength. No, it is a pulse that seems to bear the men away, a ripple of light that passes through him before he ignites completely, his body suddenly shrouded in sparkling flame, imbued now in a very real sense by the passion that has been visibly fueling him.
Hotaru takes to the air. Alma is already moving.
Before she went low, and he went high, instinctively. Now, instinctively, their roles are reversed. At one with her assault, Alma's blazing limbs blur as he crouches, seeming to almost slide in without losing his center of gravity, beginning with a rapid-fire series of spinning low kicks before, as Hotaru herself rises, striking repeatedly with soulfire-enhanced punches and kicks directly to Seth's abdomen--
"Am I small!? Meaningless!"
And, heedlessly, at the terrifying orb centered there.
"Better to be a wall of any size than the monster it guards against!"
It's not your size that counts, Seth. It's how you use yourself.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 just-defends Hotaru's Sou-shou Tenrenge!

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Seth15           1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Invader          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Alma's Trial by Fire.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Seth15           1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Invader          0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0           Hotaru

It is overwhelming.
The damage Seth has been dealt is apparent, but only just barely, in physical details -- in the blood trailing down his lips, in the slightly weakened posture. All only slight, and all washed away by the simple soullessness that he exudes. Like they were not standing against a man, but a force.
And that is exactly how he wants it.
The soldiers scatter anew as Alma shakes them off, running a tight, constrained circle around both him and Hotaru, guns trained and at the ready. At the epicentre stands Seth, lifting a hand up next to his head and clenching it into a fist.
"It is not the size of your physical body I refer to," Seth explains calmly to Alma at his voice of defiance. He swings in, with those fists blazing, coming anew once more. This time, Seth does not try to move; this time, he stands still for Alma, his own palms suddenly /thrusting/ forward to meet each punch, each kick, with equal force, the numbness tracing along his arms ignored as he greets passion with cold, calculated motions, not once budging from his position. If his arms could bruise, they would be. Instead he smiles, a cold, hollow smile.
"It is the size of your spirit.
"It is pathetic."
At that exact moment, Hotaru sweeps in, aiming to strike at the SIN leader with those windmilling, whirling palm strikes. They sweep in--
"The same is true of you."
Hands engulfed in pure blackness intercept each and every one of Hotaru's windmilling blows in swift succession, the strange, dense nothingness of Seth's psychic energies canceling out each strike in fluid ease. And as Hotaru lands--
"You have been judged."
A single, bare foot lances up to greet her before she can follow through with the next stage of her attack.
"And you have been found wanting."
If the blow lands, it'll seem like a daze. In the span of less than a second, dozens -- possibly hundreds -- of kicks rain in like a phantom's whisper, each thunderous and deadly yet barely noticeable. Another technique that Hotaru should know -- from a certain woman of Tai Chi.
It is as Seth attacks that his men fire -- not upon Hotaru, not this time. Instead, they focus their weapons again on Alma, seeking to unload shots in rapid succession at him -- largely to keep him /away/ from Seth and Hotaru.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 successfully hits Hotaru with Hyakuretsu Kyaku.
- Power hit! -
# Disabling hit! #

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Seth15           1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Invader          0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0           Hotaru

His reaction is flawless again. Each swing of hers is met by his palms, the energy trailing from her fingers with each swing absorbed by the superior power at his beck and call. She tries to slip something through, attempting different vectors and angles, but no matter what she tries his guard is there, absorbing and negating all the effort she puts into her combination. The second flurry is attempted, the girl leaning, probing, lunging, but to no avail.

She's exhausted herself by the time his foot swings out hard, catching her in the side of the head with staggering force. Even if she had not been through the grueling fight, such a blow would have been disabilitating. In her present condition it's more than enough. Her knees go weak as she begins to fall before the real assault comes. Countless kicks in an instant, they're too fast, and she's too numb to distinguish them, each blow battering the girl's body, denying her even a chance to fall as the force keeps her in place where her own strength would not.

She has to make it stop. Squinting, she tries to focus on where the attacks are coming from but her vision is a blow. Spotting motion, she draws her right arm back, identifying Seth's position briefly before another jarring heel catches her in the temple. A pained gasp is released along with a spattering of blood that sprays against the grass. She draws herself back up, her right arm coated with blue as she steps forward, only to be struck in the stomach.

Breathlessly, wordlessly, she begins to crumple, falling forward, eyes closing as she swings her right arm into yet one more kick, unfolding her fingers and sending a cerulean sphere of churning chi back at Seth. She's out before it has even spanned half the distance, collapsed on the ground, arms sprawled.

COMBATSYS: Hotaru can no longer fight.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Seth15           1/-----==/=======|=------\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Invader successfully hits Alma with Medium Shot.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////                    ]
Seth15           1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-----==|

He can't let it end like this.
"Hotaru!"
This mustn't be their destiny.
"HOTARU!!"
Alma Towazu is a man of grace and mild manner, whose faith in his ideals and the necessity of asserting them is tempered by a sincere belief in the harmony of those ideals with the world at large. But all that he can feel as he sees his sworn sister's defenses crushed before him is raw defiance. Perhaps it proves only that there is a naivety to his faith after all, that for all his subtleties he simply refuses to believe that there is any victory for the unjust, that the universe itself would reject such an outcome. But he is not stunned by the shock; there is no wrenching angst at the possibility that he has merely been foolish. There is only uncalculable fury, straining to keep his feet as bullets graze him and hammer the ground around him, his feet slipping as he struggles in vain to reach the girl before she falls.
True passion cannot be denied.
This tenet is bound up with his very soul, irrevocably.
It does not occur to him that he could give it up.
So he does not fall to his knees, so he does not wonder why they could not protect even this single oasis for those ravaged by the conflict. He does not rail against reality or waste his time reeling at it, even as every fiber of his being denies it. His denial takes the form of putting everything he has on the line. Shurui and Hotaru have fallen here; everything in his heart is tested by the agony of this battle. The truth -- of who their enemy is, of who is actually in the right -- is no longer significant, in this most desperate of moments. He simply cannot give up what he believes and remain himself. He has no options.
There is only death, of his body or of his soul.
Plunging forward, Alma chooses to face his fate.
Still stumbling in his haste and from the projectiles that have struck him, he nevertheless recovers as best he can to slip past Hotaru and /under/ her projectile, attempting instinctively to use it as a blind and obscure his actions from Seth, one last unconscious team-up with Hotaru-- before sweeping out with as fierce a low kick as he can muster, attempting to unbalance the man or take him to the ground.

COMBATSYS: Seth15 dodges Hotaru's Hakki Shou.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Seth15           1/-----==/=======|==-----\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Seth15 blocks Alma's Light Kick.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Seth15           1/----===/=======|==-----\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-----==|

Cerulean energies slice outward, threatening to burn against Seth's powerful chest. Yet the attack is slowed by the damages Hotaru has received this fight; the fatigue has set in. And as the arch of sapphire roars free -- Hotaru's enemy snaps to the side, her last effort slicing /just/ past him.
"Do you understand, now, the meaning of inevitability?"
Seth strides past Hotaru calmly, his soldiers following in after him even as their shots are unloaded. THere is still one more to deal with -- coming in directly beneath the projectile just evaded. Unfortunately, Alma's tactics are for naught; as that kick sweeps out, it is met by the man's powerful knee, thrusting /outward/ to /slam/ into Alma's leg and /smash/ it into the earth with the vaguest of stings along his leg. Seth stares -- it is the stare of a man who cares not for Alma's passion, for his anger. The stare of a man who might as well simply be disconnected from the world, watching everything through the looking glass.
"It seems you do not, yet. Very well."
Leaping /backwards/, Seth spreads his arms. His skin once more begins to bleed out into a deep, dark blue as he looks backwards towards the soldiers. "If you desire your meaningless lives, you will remain behind me." The men compliantly, fearfully, stay back, preparing their next move even as Seth observes Alma. "Do you realize who I am yet, child?" As he speaks, dark vapors flow around him, centralizing by the solid yin-yang orb rotating at his abdomen, now crackling with deep violet-pink energy. "I am that which you cannot defeat because you cannot conceive it. Within me I house a universe.
"See the unfathomable you yearn to best."
White suddenly joins the fray as monochromatic energies converge in spiraling trails, attempting to catch Alma into a sudden, powerful vortex, to lift him up and drag him in... straight towards that swirling orb.

COMBATSYS: Invader focuses on her next action.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////                   ]
Seth15           0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Alma fails to interrupt Tanden Stream from Seth15 with Divine Intervention.
~ Cruel hit! ~

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Seth15           0/-------/-------|=======\======-\1             Alma
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Alma can no longer fight.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Seth15           0/-------/-------|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-----==|

What Alma is introduced to is likely one of the most bizarre and unsettling experiences one can endure:
He is sucked into Seth's stomach.
It isn't just figurative. No, Alma is literally swept up into the air, and then /sucked/ into that swirling Yin-Yang symbol. His body is compressed and stretched simulanteously, thrown about what can only be described as an infinite nothingness. Like being stretched across the entire length of the universe, Alma Towazu is subjected to something that should not even be possible in the physical world. Rolled about in Seth's stomach, only vague flashes of the man can be seen. The leader of SIN laughs...
... and then, like a cannon-shot, Alma is launched /out/ of that midsection and into the house beyond.
"Do you see, now?"

Perhaps Alma isn't wrong.
Feelings prove nothing. The attunement Alma experiences to his fallen friends, to his surroundings, to his own inner secrets and even to the foes that surround him as he draws upon the last of his flame, bringing every ounce of available spirit to his fingertips as he senses the growing distortion at the man's abdomen-- this rapture that verges on the religious might be enough to satisfy many people that they have felt the truth, but Alma, who encounters it so often, knows that it could be only a sensation. And consequences prove nothing; winners are not always right, and the mighty do not always deserve what they get; to believe justice is such a simple thing would undermine the very concept. Yet Alma does feel this world respond to his passion. The doubts that may be cast upon his faith are merely the doubts that may be cast upon any man; his heart has striven to the greatest depths that a human being is capable of, his very being consumed utterly by his mission and purpose. Rarely do circumstances grant that a person such as this may be nurtured, one who has no need for ulterior motives, one who could not imagine a life for himself without devotion and sincerity, who feels so intimately his own existential needs. Perhaps, thanks to this, he does understand what people truly want better than they themselves do. Perhaps in this world, he is born to be a hero.
In this world.
But what Alma faces here, he cannot begin to comprehend.
This-- is another world altogether.
What Alma believes does not apply. There is no divinity, symbolic or otherwise, to intervene in a place like this. Eyes widening in utter disbelief, he has neither the strength nor the understanding to contend with what draws him in-- before it devours him completely. How to describe what is encountered there? How does it feel to be draw into a black hole, to be twisted and churned through a process defying our physical laws? What even keeps Alma's physical form intact during this process? All he can do is will himself to survive, attempt beyond all reason to keep his body from being torn apart.
He does not even realize he has come to a stop until he feels flakes of the wall he is embedded in falling down around him, suspended by the imprint his frame has made in the side of the building.
"Grhhh..."
Do you see now, Alma? Presented with a world that defies everything you understand, with the knowledge that there are universes out there totally contradicting the realm of humanity you are so committed to.
"...that's... what..."
But breaking the rules doesn't change them.
"...makes... a monster..."
He's not right; he's an abomination.
"...hhnnngh..."
For better or worse, whether truly or falsely, even after having withstood such torment, even confronted by something that defies entirely his worldview, Alma's enduring spirit belies the broken state of his body.
Who can say what the world contains? What happens when a man lets go of the first principles Alma insists one cannot? Is there a place where such a life can truly be lived, a world like the one within Seth's belly? There is much this young man does not understand. He cannot know what truly is inevitable, what the laws of the universe actually dictate.
But however he may be judged, he did not surrender.
With an open heart, he staked everything on his beliefs.
Even if it will count for nothing--
--even if he /never/ sees--
Alma Towazu was never an insect, in body or in spirit.

That's what makes a monster?
"It is not within the realm of human understanding to know what makes god and what makes demon. There is no difference other than the perception that you choose to constrain yourself to."
Black and white energy disperses along Seth's stomach, crawling upwards into the air as it disappears piece by fractured piece. He holds a hand up as the men begin to advance, shaking his head briefly.
"It is finished." The way he says it would seem to imply a simple matter of course rather than a thing that could have been up to question. And the men don't even begin to try to.
Calmly, Seth strides past the fallen bodies. He looks to those beyond, with a frown.
"The secondary team says they got the other targets, sir. Should we round up these ones?" Seth's lifeless eyes glance towards Alma, and then Shurui, and then... Hotaru.
"We do not need the others," he notes distantly to the men as they begin to advance on Shurui and Alma. "Their energy types are incompatible with the project."
"Should we kill 'em, then...?"
"No," Seth states plainly. His lips slowly pull into a dead smile.
"I would like to see what further despair they can strive to overcome."
With that, the leader of SIN dips down, gripping Hotaru rather ungracefully by the back of the head. He'll scoop her up into his arms at this point, before beginning to walk calmly, almost casually, out the front gates of Futaba Estate.
"And now we may begin the first phase."

COMBATSYS: Seth15 takes no action.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Seth15           0/-------/-------|
[    \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Invader          0/-------/-----==|

COMBATSYS: Seth15 has left the fight here.

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

COMBATSYS: Invader takes no action.

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

COMBATSYS: Invader has ended the fight here.

Log created on 20:12:48 03/08/2009 by Alma, and last modified on 12:17:11 03/21/2009.