Rapping his fingers on the wheel, Jonas kept his eyes focused on the road, smiling lightly at the confirmation. They would be there in fifteen minutes, as per the instructions on the GPS, excellent. He briefly turned Otsy's way, flashing her that faint smile and giving the wolfish merc a visible thumbs up before pressing his hand back to the wheel.
Of course, that wasn't the only thing to smile about. If he had similar ears to Otsana, they would be perking up at the honeyed words she said.
"Heavy competition huh," he murmured to himself, peering over at the skimpy clothed woman. He analyzed her briefly, how her face was arced, tracing where her eyes were drawn to.
For the briefest second, he was able to catch a glimpse of what she meant as they sped along the road. As the figures passed on by him, the doctor returned his head to the designated position. Pursing his lips, he tilted his head to the side, squinting at the mix of decrepit torn structures and intact buildings. A small sigh escaped his lips as he nonchalantly began clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, tracing each of the establishments as if they were the solution to all of his problems.
He only briefly nodded, peering into the rear-view mirror, he was able to get a better idea of what their appearance was, even as they slowly began to decrease to the size of his thumb. Both looked to be heavily armored individuals with interesting tech on them; Jonas's eyes struggled a bit over who to primarily focus on.
The only part of his flesh he could see on one was his face and even then that told a short story; thick hair lined his face and he looked more like a grizzled soldier as the doctor squinted briefly, barely taking note of the mans scar. Hmm... he could always ask if Otsy recognized that armor as it did look rather futuristic to say the least.
Musing on that, there was the other who was similar to her male counterpart - the only part of her flesh he could distinguish was her head, olive or chocolate in tone and long dark hair which contrasted with the armor heavily. White steel plating that wasn't as intricate in details as the other, save for something glowing on the side of the shoulder, as well as some sort of jet-pack attached to it.
Both of them looked like peas in a pod... so what was their story...
Taking a turn, his line of sight was severed with the duo, at least for now as he continued driving down, following the wolfgirls lead and veering off to the side upon seeing the crumple corpse of a robot in the middle of the road. Only thing he did was grouse in disbelief, shaking his head as he momentarily looked upwards; could they at least clear the streets or something?
"And we'll be walkin' out with a nice paycheck for our work," he said with a silvery tone, loud enough for Otsy to hear as he shiftily looked around with a normal grin at Brown, with a subtle hint of impishness.
"Earned from a grueling challenge I bet," whispering to no one in particular as that devious smile dissipated, eyeing the little... lady.
Hopefully she heard that at least.
It wasn't long before they came across a small MAVERICK checkpoint, with was left to Otsana, thankfully with relative ease. Noticing her motion back to them, the doctor gave a small wave and an invisible grin before placing his hands back on the wheel.
Slowly, but surely, Jonas continued to follow behind the wolfgirl as the rain began to slowly beat down, becoming more and more apparent with the sounds of Otsy murmuring something about the tarp. Of course, they would have to find a parking spot... and looking over the lot caused him to do a double take, raising an eyebrow with his mouth agape for a split second before composing himself.
It wasn't that difficult to drive and grab the closest one... it was more or less that this place was moderately filled up with differing vehicles; even some MAVERICK personnel vehicles had taken the spots closest to where the hot-springs would be.
Grinding to a halt, Jonas popped open his side of the jeep, yanking some tarp out from the back, causing the trash left to spread over his seat. Sighing, he just shook his head before performing some minor stretching, grunting and groaning before peering back with a slight frown, glaring over at Brown.
"Make sure ya pick up the trash y'left behind, 'kay," he jutted his chin out, grimacing over the discarded wraps and such that littered the back of their jeep before slamming the door.
Waltzing over, the doctor handed one portion of the tarp over to Otsy. In one fell swoop, both of them threw the tarp over, obscuring the bike from any sort of damage from the rain. Cracking his neck, Jonas reached into his satchel, delicately shuffling the items within around before producing two umbrella's.
"Hey Otsy, I have an extra umbrella; y'want it," he inquired, reaching out to offer the woman a second umbrella he had packed.
The pitter patter of the rain was one of the only consistent sounds in the vicinity as each drop slowly began to beat down faster, more in number, more in impact. The sounds of vehicles pulling into a lot, followed by the ignition being turned off were arrhythmic as well as the sounds of footsteps following it. Few nomads lingered in the parking lot, sometimes trying to chat with their friends and others asking MAVERICK soldiers to direct them to the hot-springs.
Despite this all, the clearest thing about these nomads here is that they kept a relatively safe distance away from other groups, staying within their own bubble, discuss differing subjects or the mission at hand. In truth, this was no more different than high-school cliques that never socialized with anyone outside their groups, save for those rare occasions where they stepped out of their little bubble.
As most nomads parked or moved across the street, it became more apparent as to how much of the streets were commissioned by MAVERICK. Soldiers stood at organized checkpoints, often waving in vehicles coming in as well as giving the nomads an easy way to cross the streets with no problems at all. The checkpoints held thick amounts of machinery in the form of large vans which were manually connected to each other, via ebony metal cylinders overhead. A few large spotlights were attached to these cylinders, being inactive for the most part.
Other than that, they had poles set up around every corner they occupied, each of them being a bit far away from each other. These speakers often had three or four MAVERICK personal huddled near it, observing an inspecting the area, as well as telling anyone who got close that it's just for making announcements and that they should just move along.
Moving on from the streets covered with traversing nomads and MAVERICKs, through an alleyway and down another emerged a large, sleek building with silver walls and reflective rain-dulled windows. It stood out like a sore thumb amongst the more "rural" buildings across from it; to make it even more obvious and out of place were the amounts of black tents and black vehicles piling up near each other.
Groups of soldiers filed in and out, whether it was out of the large vehicles that cluttered most of the parking lot or the actual building containing the hot-springs. Multiple thin black chairs and tables were organized in a neat line, allowing people enough space to move through as well as scoot out of a chair with no problem. Most of the people in there were nomads, some looking bored out of their mind, or playing around with their own abilities. Most MAVERICK soldiers just stood listlessly near points of interest, or sat at one of the tables as well, cleaning their guns, chatting about minute things, or playing a card game.
Though, once you removed all the smooth, durable, easily compact and foldable black chairs and tables, you were just left with a wide open lobby with a fancy floral design on its floor with simple looking wood tales with a brown outline and tan inside being out of the way, as well as chairs that matched the simple, yet ornate floor. Large glass panes that displayed the outside world were either clear as day, cracked, or were replaced with a simple, MAVERICK labeled wall that looked out of place as much as the other characters here.
Along with that, there sat a middle-aged Japanese receptionist behind the layered, marble counter with a curved edge that peaked over the rest of the structure. If anything, he looked bored out of his mind, rapping his fingers against the counter whilst staring listlessly at the door with glazed over eyes. Usually when someone came over to him to chat, they would ask to change the channel the TV in the middle of the room was on, or some other asinine question.
Eventually, something broke the sounds of the rain clicking and clapping against the sidewalk as the wind began to furiously brush over the landscape. Buzzing, followed by static noise emanated from the speakers before crackling out, become silent once again. For a few seconds there was no voice... at least until a minute passed on by when someone clearing their throat came onto the mike. Their voice had a feminine edge to it that was crisp, harsh, and ready to do business...
"Attention all Nomads assisting us in tracking down and putting a stop to these robots: report to the Asarigawa Hot Springs immediately! In ten minutes, we will debrief you all on your role in this situation, as well as the procedures and hierarchical standings you will need to be aware of when conducting business with our agents! If you do not know the way to the Hot Springs, one of our fellow soldiers will point you towards where you need to go." With that announcement, there was a light buzz before it clicked out, leaving the pitter patter of the rain as the only consistent source of sound once again.
The skeleton stood still, vigilantly keeping an eye on the area. While he did stop to take in the two challengers, one of them was a relative unknown to him whilst the latter's legacy was something he was familiar with. He nodded his head down, orbs standing still in place as he studied said goddess. Slowly, a hand rose to scratch his teeth in a sort of reflective gesture. While there was the troubling rain afoot, there was still the fight to try and take note of...
While the other hand of his slowly gravitated toward his notebook, he ultimately jerked his arm away, painfully feeling that there was bigger issue at hand. The way they both carried themselves gave him some pause, resulting in him circulating his skull around to survey the area.
As he looked over each nook and cranny, a singular thought punctured his head - inexperience. While it was blatantly obvious that the child, known as Karliah, had informal training based on her stature, Makoto appeared no differently than the standard martial artist. This is when the orbs began to slowly decrease in length but increase in width until they became nothing more than a thin, red, glimmering lines. While there was the way she held herself, he also noticed it through the so called "windows of her soul-" the eyes.
They appeared no different to him than the boy with a foreboding blade - cocksure, seemingly full of tenacious, overbearing confidence. That part was only made more explicit the moment he saw her smile - t'was a inhuman one, but nevertheless arrogant smile. Of course, that was followed up by what looked to be a punch with all her power put into it - curious was the necromancer as he scratched at his preserved teeth as he effortlessly sensed the areas ki.
He sensed that raw power behind the punch, yet something more beyond the barrier of her ki. T'was an interesting find - made him ponder on if
that was the reason Makoto's family resonated across the world. Even so, the next set of actions helped him realize how green these two were based on how the strike was deflected, as well as the inelegant punch that Karliah sent towards the other girls gut. If he still had lips, he would be forming an o with his mouth right now; the best he could do was let his jaw slightly drop as his orbs rolled around in his cranium.
Confirmation bias was traveling through every nook and bone in his body as he attempted to purge such thoughts as he observed the fight go on. Desperate explosions of ki lit up the area as the skeleton began circling his head once more, observing the vicinity as the rain began to pick up more and more. Along with that, he began to test the area, see if there were any fluctuations in ki...
... and by god were there. It was difficult to pin down due to everyone's energy, as well as the suddden explosions in the ring. However, he felt it - small traces of ki, coming from... somewhere, possibly outside of the ring. Despite it all, his jaw nearly detached once he began inferring where all this energy was foiling down into.
His eyes blinked out of existence for a millisecond before reappearing, much like the nearly undetectable ki... and why did it seem so familiar?
That thought was interrupted by a sudden explosion from the ring, tearing it to shreds. Returning his jaw to the original position, he saw the energy violently burst around him, tearing at every crag, precipice, lights, anything it could curl its claws about, molding and shaping new life... or was it bringing them from beyond?
Regardless, Aldous was already dettaching his head as soon as he saw the ground crack and crumble around him, watching as an oni began to instantly tear the pavement around them to shreds. The reaction as a simple one as he sent his own head flying over the oni as his body flew into one of the holes, following after the flying skull.
Even with the repositioning, there was another oni that he sawing eyeing him, winding up a strike to as a baseball player would do to a baseball with its large, spiky club that looked meshed together from the concrete, arena, and metal stands; a crude amalgamation of a cultural weapon.
Its too bad it wouldn't be that simple.
Emerging from the ground, Aldous's headless body instantly flew up from the ground, striking the stone oni's jaw with a ki-powered uppercut, causing the creature to stumble and double-back. Quickly as it came, Aldous's head descended back to the earth, only to be met with a bony hand clutching at his skull; he watched as the oni began recovering. Cracks formed on its face as stone pieces of its cheeks, nose, and even one eye and a part of its jaw came tumbling down, yet it looked unperturbed as the skeleton quickly reattached its head.
As soon as that was done, the necromancer brought up his fists, his jaw tightly compact and unmoving as the red orbs which floated straight in place. That's when he waited, studying what he could of the opponents hardened composure before he saw that club rise up, as well as his opponents fist cocked back. Utilizing this knowledge, he kept an eye on the right arm pointing the club to the skies above.
Once it came rushing down, he knew what he had to do next. Ducking to the left, Aldous watched as the club bashed the floor in front of him, spurting up dust and other debris in the process, but he put more focus on fancy footwork, moving into to make jabs and straights at the opponents exposed side. Once he saw the oni realize its plans failing, it abandoned the weapon, albeit temporarily from what he predicted, to try and slap the skeleton away with its backhand.
However Aldous charged up a glob of green, ethereal goo which sputtered and bubbled with a ghostly imitation of his head inside. Once the face was in clear view, he thrust his arms out, shooting the spectral sphere directly at its face. From the way it growled and clawed at its face, it was a success with more pieces flying off.
Dealing the final blow, Aldous back began to twist and turn in abnormal and inhuman way, hunching, cracking, ready to burst. Suddenly, in eruption of ki, his neck suddenly shot up like a bullet, smashing through what remained of the stone onis face before it tumbled backwards, falling to the ground, lifeless. Following that, the sounds of snapping happened, his body flying up to reconnect with his head as he landed on its remains.
Jumping off, the skeleton scanned around, trying to discern if the only person he interacted with was still in the vicinity, crushed, or elsewhere duking it out with these creatures. Of course, she spotted him faster than he expected, whipping his head behind him as he began charging up a spectral flare and throwing it into the crowd.
"I don't exactly understand what objective someone wishes to get out of an annual event, but to answer your question," he paused, splitting up his energy between holding out an arm with skeletal pieces slowly forming together, from the head, to the intercostals, to the tarsals and all, as well as staring off into the distance for a few seconds, scanning the area.
"... they are, yet they aren't oni," he finally said, finishing the formation of his skeleton before pointing out, commanding it to assist in the battle at hand.
"These statues each have different ki signatures of varying levels, yet they all share a similarity of-" Before he could even finish, he barely made out bellowing within the crowds and the sight of a metal man, clad in armor, as well as a tabard that was a mark of... the God's Hand. Aldous could only barely register the moment before ducking out of the way of the zealots fist, only to find that part of it had managed to damage a bit of his cheek due to its energy; he could practically feel the ki radiating off of it!
Despite this all, he ended up stumbling back as the place he somehow managed to strike began to form a crack, as well as cause bits of bone to tumble out; to make matters worse, an oni behind him attempted take advantage of the situation, swinging their katana to the side in an attempt to bisect him. Deftly, Aldous began to swiftly turn into a swarm of bones as he flew backwards, encapsulating a part of the oni temporarily as it became disoriented with the amounts of limbs, spines, patella's, books, a crown, and so on striking and smacking her.
Eventually, he appeared behind him, reforming into how he was before while charging an attack and blasting a hole through the onis weakened back with a spectral flare.
"A zealot out of all things?! Just wh- no," he spat as if uttering a hex, glancing over to the side at the woman in her stylish garb. While small pieces of his face missing was an obvious, his glowing red orbs were slit diagonally, similar to the way an ordinary human would furrow their brows.
"I'll explain the rest in full later Miss, right now we need a plan," he spoke with a guttural, yet light tone of voice as his head slowly twisted back to eye the armored maniac. His orbs slowly began to thin out, little by little before flying back to look in the direction of the now costumed woman.
"... which I could create in the span of a minute or two if I just had the oni's to deal with, not the oni's and a wretched zealot."
The announcement, the cheering of the crowds... they were nothing more than white noise to Verga as she felt the drops of rain tap lightly against her own hardened cheeks, not even eroding it to a minuscule degree. Her breathing was still as the rain continued to pickup, blinking whenever a drop ever so slightly neared her eyes, blocking it with deftness as she frowned lightly. She stayed as motionless as a statue, ignoring the fight of desperation erupting in the arena.
At least, that's what she did until the sounds of cracking and different gasps of surprise turned into shouts of terror. The floor around her began to feel weak, shifting and crumbling as she deftly turned to stare right at the ground, only to find a large stone hand grasping at the pieces of the arenas flooring, now falling to pieces.
She could only launch herself back, pushing past and knocking over other nomads who were in her way, only to peer back to find a hand rising from the earth, ready to bash the side of her face out. Swiftly, she hopped back, only to be smashed across the top of her head with a bit of concrete as she turned in the debris direction.
Verga could only curse in spite of her inability to notice, let alone dodge in time, bearing her fangs with her hands being as rigid and clawed, aiming straight down at the ground.
"I've gotten slow," were the only thoughts that echoed through her head as the world began to crumble around her.
Its too bad that she wasn't the one to follow. The world around her clawed hands began to fold inwards, swirling and gravitating toward that invisible center that tore the area around her, bring in detritus, rain, and one unlucky nomad swirling around the whirlpool of gravity. The stadium around her was reduced to nothing but ruin; she couldn't stay in the singularity - she had to move, and find the source of this affair.
Maneuvering to the ground, she continuously compressed and uncompressed the singularity, hovering and falling, ducking and weaving, at once becoming a rock plummeting and at another becoming a feather gliding amidst the storm, Verga eventually found herself back on solid footing. This was like her time out in the tundra, save that there were more carnivores running about this time around.
The first thought would of been to fight off the stone beasts, only to then cuss and grind her teeth, realizing that this situation wasn't one she could easily mow down like that bear. She saw the ki of these beasts and they encompassed this place, swirling, clawing, rebirthed from the very precipices and crags of this Earth.
Survival was at the top of her priorities as a stone oni attempted to bash her head in, only to have a new gaping hole in its chest, with Verga ducking beneath the creature with the same resting bitch face she always had. Pushing the corpse aside, she flew through the crowd, weaving, ducking, destroying, and fighting any oni she came across. It didn't look like there was any easy way to open up a path out as the moment she finished chopping off an oni's arm, another three replaced it.
Of course, as she was busy putting the heads of two onis out, a shout erupted across the stadium, enough to get her attention amongst the dust, rubble, screaming, and destruction. Her sharp eyes only flitted to what she presumed was an armored silhouette in the sky before it glided out of sight. She clicked her tongue with admonishment, ignoring the plight at first, only to ponder on if she could use this as a chance to escape or possibly seek the one responsible for this.
She sighed and decided to follow after him, not bothering to waste a technique as she wasted another oni, sometimes just flat out ignoring them and dodging their attacks, not bothering to even give them the time of day. As she did so, she reflected on who might be responsible for such a situation.
An Oni Chieftain was the first thing on her mind, but that was quickly forgone due to the simple fact that there
were no oni's left in this world. Next was a Necromancer, which again didn't make much sense since they involved the undead... and the fact that she saw one blasting one to pieces just a second ago also dissolved that theory.
Eventually, after sprinting, thinking, and fighting, she found herself amongst the ranks of other nomads who were called to arms. Some she noticed right off the bat was the armored man who bellowed out to rally to him, a bland young man, and a large woman draped in blue, including a hood that obscured her entire face.
The moment she heard choke point was the moment she was ready to turn heel and go back to her own fighting to get out of here. A choke point in the midst of an arena... really? That stupid plan wasn't going to get them anywhere, let alone was going to find them the perpetrator of this whole mess. While the bland boy actually had a modicum of sense to him, Verga wasn't going to stick around to hear any more of his ramblings, especially since he decided to go along with this whole plan.
Right now, she had her own plans. Instead of waiting to try and hold a point that wouldn't last, Verga wordlessly dashed away from the other nomads, quickly dashing into the fray once more and holding her hands up against each other, and swiftly sliding one away as she blocked a club coming down on her in place, only to slide to the side and let the oni stumble for a second, recollecting itself. By the time it had another shot, Verga was gone in the wind, swiftly making her way until the clusters of stone oni's became too thick for her to penetrate or weave through.
Squinting her eyes, she held her arm out, hand shaped like a claw as the world began to pull into itself, dragging any oni or nomad into a myriad of colors as they swirled in place, stuck trying to navigate through the powers they found themselves motionless to as Verga stood at the epicenter of it all. It was a difficult task, just to stand there as oni and nomads meshed with the debris and rebars swirled around. It wasn't in her nature to wait...
... but if it got her one step closer to asphyxiating the one responsible for this mess, then she would impatiently wait for the chance.
As attentive as he was, he had an idea over who to cheer for already - The Goddess of Battle (and beauty)! He had heard of Kurokami and her family... or rather, her grandfather. Clenching his fists in anticipation, he muscled someone over, giving them a mixture of a nasty glare and a cocksure smile which seemingly did the trick. As the other person rolled their eyes and moved over, he began recalling some of the older movies made about him and his feats.
To Katsuo, this dude was one of the original nomads, the dude that set the trends that popularized nomads... and if this was his granddaughter? Ohhhooo boy, he would love to learn more about her... in a totally wholesome way, yeah.
The rigid bow was enough to try and get him to lean just a bit over the arena, squinting to get a good glimpse of her gi. Of course, the girl in the hoodie bowed back down and put up a stance that made her look akin to an... orthodox stance? Peering past her fists, he noticed that she was pretty hot too.
While he saw glimmers of blonde hair, he noticed her harsh yet luscious green eyes and other feminine features that made his heart bounce. Katsuo kept his eyes locked on her as he continued peeking through her fists.
Eventually, the battle commenced, a duel that... was probably skewed towards the lovely Kuromaki. Rushing in was a rookie mistake, something
he would never do as he pulled back, chuckling to himself as Karliah rushed forward. Despite this, he did keep a close eye on her body movements and how each action affected another portion...
Before wincing a bit and looking away the moment Kuromaki struck Karliah's leg, baring his teeth and grinding them in discomfort before pressing one hand against his own knee. Brutal... wouldn't want a cutie like her to get banged up that much... ugh, why was this world so cruel? Eventually, he was able to bring himself back to the battle as soon as the wails of pain died down.
As the match went on, Katsuo seemed to get more and more into the battle between both ladies, judging by the way his eyes were glued to the stadium and both opponents. If one went about comparing him to a wide eyed child in a candy store, there would be no discernible difference between the two... after all, both of them were eating up the candy with a large smile on their faces.
Eventually though, there came the all out attacks! All or nothing! This was the stuff that defined the movies! The final blow where both the nomad and the villain struck each other with dead silence following! Katsuo was practically beaming at this point... before obscuring his own eyes, closing them as stone and dust flew from the arena itself...
... followed by more rumbling going on around him as more fissures formed on the ground. What the hell?! Was this the outcome of their final attack?! All the color from Katsuo's face slowly began to drain. It wasn't long before he was staring in horror at the earth below him, yelping as he fell back, bumping into another nomad, who seemed to be faring worse than him. Crumpling on top of him, Katsuo rubbed his hair, brushing away any dust from his eyes as he grit his teeth, confused at the screaming that permeated the arena.
When he opened them, it was... difficult to make out the world around him as his heart began pounding. Of course, a shiver went down his spine and eventually, he was as pale as a ghost when he caught a glimpse of the... stone demon overlooking him with piercing, cold blue glare. In combination with the other nomad pushing him off, as well as the forcibly scrambling off.
Now on his hands and knees, Katsuo witness something that made his mouth go dry and every bone in his body tremble - the sound of that nomad yelping in primal terror as a terrible cracking sound echoed from the poor saps abdomen. Pleading whispers were the only thing he could hear as the swordsman began to fearfully back away as blood leaked from their body, only to witness an explosion of blood coating the ground around him, with bits of blood and flesh splattering on his face as the demon.. no, no, oni, they looked like oni...
It didn't matter what they were... all that mattered to it what it was about to do as it delivered the coup de grace to that other nomads head.
Scrambling up, he only had so little amount of time to draw his sword, trembling a bit as the oni turned to face him. He felt that glare weigh down on him as it slowly began to face the boy, stoically grasping its club. Come on Katsuo, what would Guts do?! He would brave this shit and kick everyones ass!
Baring his teeth and furrowing his brows, he put on a bravado, returning his own glare towards the creature as it began to raise its weapon up. Within those few seconds, Katsuo took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes, letting his energy gather in the blade. As the swordsman did so, his weapon began to glow a deathly shade of crimson; with it powering up, Katsuo pressed his palm against the fuller of his blade as the beast swung at him.
... and with fierce determination, Katsuo swung the sword at it, shoving the spiked weapon off to the side, causing the oni to stumble a bit. This gave him that chance to strike as he lunged forward, swiping his sword like a baseball bat at the thing, leaving a nice chunk of it missing as it stumbled back a bit, attempting to regain his composure.
This fearsome hero would of gone in to beat it down!... if not for the panic around him as other battles transpired, with people bumping into him, causing the swordsman to be imbalanced... not to mention the ringing in his ears as a result of the gunfire... he could only ponder over how those two ladies were doing as he rolled to the side, grunting in pain a another oni smashed the spot where he was last standing on, only to crash into another oni...
Eyes widened as he peeked over his shoulder for a split second, only to pivot around with a horrified expression on his face as he brought his sword up to block once again. As much as Katsuo wanted to try and protect himself, the fact that he bumbled up a bit gave the stone oni enough time to smash its makeshift club into his sword with staggering force. The swordsman couldn't help but hiss and grunt in pain as the fuller slapped back right into him, causing him to fly back a foot before careening backwards, crashing into another nomad.
As if that wasn't enough, the nomad he slammed into was met with a bone cracking strike to the side, causing the boy to be on the receiving end as well. The pain surged through his abdomen as he let out a reverberating cry as he crashed to the side as his howls were lost to the myriads of others scrounging to survive.
Katsuo was barely holding onto his blade as he grit his teeth, trembling as he pressed his palm against the fuller, pushing himself up. He could only shallowly breathe in and out as the hurricane of events unfolded around him as he watched stony feet smash down by him, hustling as if to keep up the efficiency of their brutality.
"... I... was almost trampled over." He was wide eyed only for a brief second before closing them as a reaction to the dust kicked up into his eyes. Grunting to himself, he slowly opened one pupil up to find that he was staring up into the sounds, listening to the grunts and battle cries be replaced with a mixture of gurgling anguish and shattering stone crumbling to the ground beside him.
Other than flinching as soon as an unanimated face of the stony creatures fell in front of him, Katsuo stared straight up to barely make out that the cute girl from earlier was duking it out with another stone oni. What he didn't expect was for the lady to put a god damn hole through its chest before crumpling to her knees. Blinking to avoid getting dust into his eyes, Katsuo knew this was his time to shine!
Pressing his hands onto the fuller, the nomad slowly began to rise, his arms wobbling a bit like jello as he sucked in a bit of air, only to cough a bit when he breathed in some dust. Eventually, great-sword in hand, he stumbled to his feet, staggering about as he began to regain what little composure he had. Looking up, he tightly grasped his blade with two of his hands before utilizing his nomad abilities to hop into the stands, albeit nearly tumbling over.
Once he was there, he slowly began lurching over to the lovely lady of a fighter, eyes shifting anxiously from one angle to the next as the chaos continued to shroud the arena with dust and demise. While he was hoping no one would take notice of someone not being completely down and out, he saw some piercing eyes peering through the fog of war.
It shifted and shambled, coming into nearly full view of the boy and girl, with a club raised high above its head, ready to deliver the coup de grace to Karliah. This situation, while not so hot, could help portray some of his prowess as he rushed forth, holding up the fuller to block the attack in front of the girl. The clash of metal resisting concrete was music to his ears as he held back the assault of the stone oni quite easily, not even breaking a sweat despite his shaking limbs.
Turning his head away, he gave a cocksure grin to the woman which was followed by a wink and a comment,
"Need some assis- AUGH!" Of course, before he could get his one liner out he felt another weapon clang against his blade, this time an oni with a naginata! There was a bit of pressure there with him starting to falter, but this was nothing, right?
... it was only made worse when another weapon crashed against his blade as he began staring down three onis, their glowing blue eyes filled with killing intent. He could handle one, possibly two, but three? Three was pushing it - literally too! Katsuo couldn't help but try to dig his heels into the stands, being forced downwards, the more and more pressure they applied to him.
He winced as he frantically looked around, closing one eye to avoid getting any dust into it, as well as brandishing a canine. His arms were now wobbling more than ever, almost ready to give out any second... fuck... he didn't want to shout for help! This was supposed to be his big chance, his huge moment to shine!
He couldn't just suck it up and ask for help, right?
"GHHHUGGGHUUH," he tried to push back, only to be met back with an equally tremendous force. No matter how much he tried fighting against the tide, he was unable to turn it to his favor. Clenching his teeth, he hissed and growled, still giving no quarter, still attempting to win this fight through sheer strength.
...
... but in the end, he couldn't.
"HEY, COULD SOMEONE HELP US OUT HERE," he shouted out desperately into the crowds, against his better judgement and pride.
... ugh, he couldn't help but shake his head as a result of his actions, feeling like a small part of him cracked from under the pressure. This wasn't what a nomad was, desperately whining to someone else to bail them out! Sweat was pouring from his temple as his breathing continued to become more rapid as time went on, his arms slowly trembling more and more.
While he was semi-pissed at his actions, it wasn't like he had another choice - after all, the moment his defenses were completely chipped away, he and this girl were going to die.
