[h2]Zone 1[/h2]
[@follycle][@ShwiggityShwah][@Delta44]
Hiroki’s hands wrapped against the lower jaw, trying to force it closed. Kuuki dove in as well, her full efforts given into pushing that incapacitating gas into the nostrils of the Beast. At a distance, Azukina ignored her own limits as well, a white-cold blast coating the lower half of the Beast’s body as it laid there on the ground.

But, for all that effort, who was it that held back the Beast’s wicked claws? Nostrils slatted closed as the invisible gas waved through his face, the man within the monster considered this situation briefly. In terms of execution, it was still sloppy, but in terms of guts, it was what he liked to see. So he held back the claws that rent and counted to ten in the back of his head, even as he faked a struggle that had Hiroki and Kuuki flailing about trying to maintain their grip.

Were they close? Yes. Could they have been closer? Yes. Was this victory gained through skill and merit alone? No. Still, that’s why they were here.

[b]“Alright, that’s enough.”[/b] A clear baritone voice, like that of a trained thespian, reverberated through the roar of the blizzard and the scream of the jet engines. Reaching out with his hands, the Beast gently pulled Hiroki off of him, before his powerful tail pushed him up off his back into a sitting position. His tail worked to extract Kuuki as well, after which his nostrils flared open once more, taking in the sweat and the blood and the dirt and that almost undetectable ‘sleeping gas’. [b]“Azukina, you’d best stop as well, ‘fore you hurt yourself too much.”[/b]


The Beast waited until the black-and-white girl stopped before moving to brush the frost off his legs as well, sparkling bits of ice and snow falling off his scales.

[b]“Good efforts all around, you three. But remember that victory alone isn’t enough. Capture and rescue are the same in that one has to move both civilian and villain away from the scene of the crime, after all. From this point on, I’ll be ‘unconscious’. So good luck bringing me back.”[/b]

And with that, the Beast stopped talking, and with a rather impressive death-groan, fell back to the ground, turning into five hundred pounds of scaly deadweight.

Combat was exciting, and the adrenaline gave them all a hell of a high. But now came a different task.

How much strength did they have left in their tank?
[h2]Zone 5[/h2]
[@zelosse]
Well, that went as well as she expected. She almost felt sorta bad. Doubtlessly he had been blindsided. Perhaps she’ll show him a bit of mercy then? She [i]was[/i] allowed to do that, right? Yeah, she’ll do that. As Kaito trembled, gripping his flute but not moving an inch in any direction, the anachronistically dressed woman let out a breath and let go.

Instantly, air could be sucked back into his lungs once more, the oppressive aura of murderous intent gone so quickly that it could have been just a dream. Gone was the terror of death, the all-consuming monstrosity that dwelt within the flesh of that storm-eyed woman who even now only absent-mindedly twirled her parasol.

[b]“Foolish justicar,” [/b]she crowed half-heartedly, [b]“Has your mind finally caught up to your eyes? What stands before you is true evil, of the likes that you’ve never encountered before. Bow before me, worship me, and perhaps you may still escape this ordeal with your pitiful life.”[/b]

Her tone darkened, even if it still sounded like an amateur reading lines off a bad script.

[b]“But know that any attempt at fighting back will be met with absolute eldritch calamitous disintegration.”[/b]