[h3][center][i]Chikako Momomiya, Alsius Argentum and Christopher Nocte[/i][/center][/h3]

The Gifted woman was trying to fall asleep when she heard blood curdling screams outside of her room. She figured one of the maids had just been flashed something inappropriate and turned in her bed. More screams echoed through the hallway, causing her to eventually wake up very, very irritated. She grumbled as she walked to the door, making a mental note that Joachim was living up to his Wanderer title.

Upon opening the door with a tired and irritated expression, a splatter of blood that might've ended up on the door ended up on her cheek. It took her a moment to process what exactly she was seeing: bloodied hallways, corpses on the ground and dark figures making their way to her.

That last one made her wake up and her sweater was thrown into her room as she removed her bone blade from her arm to deflect a hit that was meant for her shoulder. She gritted her teeth slightly as another assailant came from her other side, to which she brought an arm up and a scythe blade was exposed. Chi shoved the original one backwards and kicked the second away from her.

[b]“Divines fucking damnit, where are you, Joachim?!”[/b]

In chaos, there was no sign of her fellow Gifted. Wherever he was, he had been gone long before the violence had started up, so there was no hope of finding him in the middle of it. However, Chikako had other problems, considering the two attackers that had practically gotten on top of her with more in the wings... Until, suddenly, another shape shot through. Due to the speed of the movement one might have thought it was the Wanderer himself for just a moment, but the colors were all wrong. Instead of black and purple it was silver and red, and much too large for that matter.

Instead it was the Direwolf who came to a stop, sword stabbed through the head of one of the assailants to pierce through the throat of the next. He easily dragged both bodies forward along his blade for a few feet before he brought his thrust to a stop, ripping the blade away from the both of them afterwards. This certainly wasn't the Wanderer, who now kept as close to mercy as he possibly could; this was Alsius Argentum, whose brutality had not dulled.

[b]“Hm. And here I thought these were friends of yours. Where's the Phantasm?”[/b]

Though she'd never admit it, Chikako was thankful to see Alsius. She rolled her shoulder slightly, glancing at the two dark figures that he had just taken down.

[b]“The hell if I know. He's probably wandering.”[/b]

Well, she probably wasn't wrong.

Movement came from the corner of her eye and she was surprised to see that it was the two assailants from earlier. Frowning, she sprinted towards one of them, slashing across its chest before sending her blade piercing through its body. She didn't quite consider it killing, since they kept coming back and she doubted they were alive to begin with. The fact that she had to justify her actions in her mind in case Joachim came around the corner and made her feel like a small child being reprimanded by a parent seemed to irritate her more as she went after the second attacker.

For this one, she had jumped, swirling her blade from behind until it made contact with its neck and carved right through, ultimately beheading him. She landed with a small thump and glanced at the Direwolf.

[b]“What are these things?”[/b]

When the foes got back up once again, the Direwolf looked towards them with a very narrowed glare, and continued to keep an eye on them afterwards even as Chikako seemed to finish them. However, even the one that had its head cut off began to rise once again, and the Direwolf once more brought up his blade to take his usual stance, with his right palm forward and above the blade. There were others still surging down the hallway towards them, often dragging along the walls.

[b]“Unnatural.”[/b]

With that single word said, he once more surged forwards. The tip of his blade targeted the headless attacker's sternum, piercing through and out the back. His right fist lashed out, striking the other one nearby in the stomach so hard it knocked it off its feet and sent it back. From there, his hand went back to his blade, and using both blades he lifted the attacker that he had stabbed through up and around, before flinging it forwards down the hallway, sending it crashing into the group. With this done he turned, lowering his blade as he began to walk.

[b]“We're heading around to the east of the inner circle. I have no doubt that's where most of them will be.”[/b]

Chikako did her best to fend off the ones approaching from the wings. While they were down, she turned to Alsius and gave a nod.

[b]“Lead the way.”[/b]

At this point, she was trying to figure out a way to keep these unnatural attackers down. The more they kept standing, the more tired everyone would get. And that wouldn't be any good.

The Direwolf's decision to conserve energy was to take out those immediately in front of him, and then leave them far behind as they continued on through the hallways. It wasn't out of any sort of fear on the part of the Direwolf; after all, none of these strange attackers seemed to be able to land a hit on him, no matter how many times they stood up to try. It was with the goal of efficiency that he kept moving, making his way around the inner circle as quickly as he could.

He passed by the dead and dying, but one that was still alive brought him to a stop quite briefly. When the assassin crashed through the door right in front of him, he drew up rapidly into his stance, expecting it to fling towards him next. However, it apparently hadn't been sent through of its own volition, as the Divine Paladin's young student flung himself after it, pinning it to the ground. Rapidly he began striking it, arcs of electricity crackling out and around with each blow.

[b]“JUST STAY DOWN YOU SON A WHOREMOTHER- WHAT THE HELL-?!”[/b] Suddenly, Christopher's world went sideways after the Direwolf stepped forwards towards him. The knight had grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, dragging him along as he yanked the young man to his feet without giving him a second glance. To begin with he didn't answer, but when he did it was quite (brutally) simple:

[b]“Stop wasting time on non-threats and get to the Serios.”[/b]

[b]“LET GO OF ME DAMMIT-!”[/b]

Chi was right behind Alsius--and now the Paladin's student--and she held up her blade to his neck and glared impatiently.

"Shut up and do what he says."

Without so much as turning around, she brought the back of her fist up, it slamming into the face of an attacker who might've thought to catch her off-guard.

The eye of the young man twitched once when the blade from someone who was supposed to be an ally was brought to his neck, and then again when she so easily smashed another attacker. Only then did he speak, almost muttering, [b]“Divinesdammit I thought he was the only psychotic bastard I'd meet but, noooooo, I have to run into more-“[/b] He yelped then as Alsius flung him forward so that he could take his stance. While Christopher stumbled before bringing both fists forward to take out one assassin, the Direwolf shot past to take out another three. Secure on his feet, the Paladin's student followed after Alsius, not without muttering, [b]“I hate my life, I hate you all, fuck this shit, fuck that shit, fuck that thing's face, fuck its couch…”[/b]

So on and so forth.

Chi held up from behind, slashing and slamming the assassins with ease. She had thought of changing her weapons, mainly to make things slightly more interesting for her, but thought otherwise when they came in waves.

[b]“Geez, they're like roaches. Bloodthirsty roaches.”[/b]

[b]“-fuck this education, fuck this- Oh, I get it, because they swarm, right-?”[/b]

[b]”Silence.”[/b]