Diana frowned and bit her lip her. Never thought the vexation would continued. Abandoned to her fate by Lightbringer and losing her best summon in a contest against the cultists in what she thought it was her speciality. She felt weak and useless, her limbs and temper only staying put due to sheer pride and refusal to stand down. She stood in place, despite Michael saying so.

"THey will be used as spell components. We all be if we don't stop them here and now. Or turn them into other creatures as we speak. We could run and save our lives, true... but people have fought here valiantly, and now they're attacked at their weakest. Even for someone like me, some lines shan't be crossed." Diana gritted her teeth. So what if he had Ulf. "Open a escape route if you must, but I will stay by these people and win time." She paused.

"Initially people did not have gifts, Michael. We relied on these kinds of arts to keep the Adversary at bay." Diana said, as she cut her hand with an scalpel. A sacrifice of blood was a very minimum.Allfather, Lord of Thunder, King of the Skies, if you exist, any of you, I could use some help. She thought to herself as she spotted one of the trauma response machines, the defibrillator. The closest thing to a miracle made of lightning to revive people. Also a device with a lot of energy. Without thinking twice, she energized the pads, and pressed the bloody hand against them.

It hurt, a lot, and even the searing of charring and flesh could be felt, as Diana's barely functional body struggled against the electrical spasms the machine was giving. She was bumped backwards, a jolt finally ending. In her hand a coalesced lightning bolt. The spell had been a success. A sword of lightning. Probably not the most powerful of ritual magics, but anything would work now.

"I am the sword in the darkness.!" She recited an ancient pledge.

"I am the watcher on the walls.!" A tentative swing of the humble spell, that seemed to be about to fizz out, as if embers in a storm.

"I am the fire that burns against the cold! the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.!"

She began to walk, sword at the ready, her frazzled hair waving alongside, with little more than her underwear and the tatters she was in.

"And you shall not find me wanting, Thrall of Demons" She added in a hiss, as she began to swing her blade at the nearest undead.

Bruuts waited in his room, but no one ever entered. Instead, he heard what sounded like noises of a confrontation outside. He peeked his head out and watched what went down. After seeing Michael, Brutus knew he had to help. It certainly looked like his companion was having a few issues with standing. However, it was then that the girl shocked herself and conjured a sword of lightning. Brutus smirked. He approached the cultists from behind. "Allow me to also provide some shock and awe." Brutus intoned, attempting to tag the leader and a few other cultists as well. Once he hit 5 of 'em, he would then light them up with his Flashfield for the usual 15 seconds.

It had appeared Kheraket's magic had accomplished its task - he drew the cultist's attention away from the students. However, it also seemed the man had a contingency plan of sorts. Several bodies around the room - including a doctor's which was only a foot or so away from Kheraket - began twitching, bringing along that cold tingle that Kheraket had felt earlier. Before they pulled themselves into motion.

The smock-clad body lunged at Kheraket's ankles, causing him to stumble backwards to make an attempt to not be trapped. He lost his balance, giving him little time to prepare his stance for the other two charging thralls. But, fortunately for him, the very students he had just protected from the Draugr were taking action while their enemy was distracted. Several flashes throughout the Medical Pavilion signaled the various gifts of all of those present being utilized - one of them had summoned an elemental sword, and slashed at one of the foes. But some powers were more subtle at times.

The orb of Kheraket's staff grew dark, becoming enshrouded in a haze of shadow, before an inky, elongated arm shot out and dug wicked claws into the Pavilion's doorway, preventing his fall. The boy brought his other not-grabbed foot down on the wrist of the doctor, and although it probably wouldn't hurt, it would weaken the corpse's grasp enough for him to pull both his legs back and land him in a crouch.

But by then one of the charging zombies was upon him. Kheraket tumbled to the side, the tails of his longcoat flaying the air as he moved from the doorway. The shadowy claw flayed its own target as it withdrew from its clasp on the wall, tearing at the zombie's back as the boy attempted to avoid its rush.

The shade is a somewhat weak creature - but they are flexible. They are one of the easiest summons Kheraket traffics normally. So much so that he can summon them within seconds, and deploy them in various fashions. One of his most favored methods is to use them in combination with his staff for formidable melee reach.

But a shade was not likely to defeat the Necromancer alone. However, he was outnumbered - perhaps he would retreat.

"Jokey, how's our viewcount?!" Drake called over to her side.

"Enough," He replied.

For a normal captain on a normal ship their station would be at the helm, but they were on the deck right now. The rest of the ship had been emptied of its inhabitants. The boarding lines retracted inwards because it would look weird if they stayed out. Jokey was sitting down with a laptop out in front of him, connected to a slew of expensive looking equipment. It was clearly a recording set-up, or perhaps even a streaming set-up, as well as several other monitors strewn about keeping eyes on various news feeds and surveillance cameras.

"Alright, let's go live in a minute or so, Jokey how do I look?"

She'd managed to grab an appropriate pirate outfit in time for the summons after the rest. Had to look the part, after all.

"You honestly expect me to be able to do anything if you look bad? We didn't bring the right stuff, although I don't know what the hell that'd be for a makeup tech."

"You didn't even grab a mirror?" Drake pouted.

"I'll black out one of the monitors for you, should be shiny enough to see your relfection." He fired back without so much as looking up from the screen.

"Guh, guess it's good enough. I can't really be that picky, anyway, let's get this show on the road." She said, psyching herself up.

The man she called Jokey pressed a button and the equipment surged with power. A digital portal opened in the air, right on deck.

"We're coming to you live from Demon War 1.1! For those viewers only just now tuning in to whatever's going on, we're currently floating right above the big boss at the center of it all. Unfortunately since we don't really know anything else there's nothing else to report on, so let's get to the main event! Log in and get to battle stations!" Drake said to the camera.

This wasn't exactly being broadcast onto all the nearby news stations or anything like that. They were just streaming online directly to their viewers. But on the S. S. Cervantes, this act meant so much more. Through the portal small spirit like sprites appeared. This was a very unorthodox way to harness a platform for sure. Those at home tuning into the stream would find that an extra button had appeared on their screens.

For every person who pressed a button, a sprite appeared. Their perspective suddenly changed from the camera to the sprite's.

"It's a few of you each to a cannon, it's the first time I've done this so I can't tell you how many, but it should pop up on your screen if you look at it!"

Controls for the sprite were WASD, space bar for rising, and control for falling. When they went to a part of a cannon, a short tutorial would pop up telling them how to operate each part. Each sprite could only manipulate one part of the cannon, but roles could be rotated without issue. In the end, all of them would be firing the trigger as well.

"Take aim and hold it!" Drake shouted. Administrative controls were in Jokey's hands so they wouldn't be able to fire before he released them anyhow. "We wait for the signal, then we fire!"
@Gentlemanvaultboy@KillamriX88

---

"You never told me what those... Tools were for," Alto said.

"Oh yeah, well right now they're for nothing." King said. He put the sack and net in his cape and suddenly they were gone. "It did its job already."

In its place he pulled out his usual weapon.

Another ability, then? Or some sort of technology? Frankly the enigma known as King was one he didn't have the energy to deal with today. Even if the incident ended well, there was a lot of clean-up to see to. Still, if there was one thing he needed to take away from the experience, it was that King didn't wield a simple bag of tricks, he was wielding force here. One way or another it was always hard for him to take King seriously until the fight began. But when the fight began, Alto could feel conviction in his every strike.

There was a lot to King. He needed to know more if he wanted to be his enemy, or his ally.

"Go for the knees, I'll go for the eyes," King said.

No more talking then. Alto would lead in with a God Speed Flash and strike from behind then.

"Proceed," Alto said as they launched into action.

@Gentlemanvaultboy@KillamriX88

Andreim

Feeling and also seeing one of the copy-man's bodies try run out of the water made the young man grin as he shot up a couple of jagged ice peaks out of the watery field before the man and then homed in on the centre where he stood. Lise had wanted to deal with the by her own, but time was important and they could not be wasting their time fighting these pests. Then came the explosion, and how the clones appearantly came to detonate on losing their masks. Andreim set his sight on the fireball using enemy, and quickly made up his mind on how to defeat his opponent.

He shot up several peaks of ice around the fireball user, seeking to fully envelop him in a coffin of ice, the ice pillars tilted in a manner to also prevent the man from jumping out. With just enough air and space for his fireball to detonate right on himself, and being in such a tight space he wouldn't be able to dodge his own power.

To be destroyed by the power you have sought to wield against us, is quite the fitting end for unpure things like you.

Though it was always good to have a backup, as he had seen how the enemy seemingly were exploding upon having their masks destroyed. The young man quickly gathered a small orb of water in his right hand, ready to attune it to ice and fling a ice dagger, using the tip of his finger in a flicking manner at the fire user's mask would he somehow survive, or sling it on one of the other remaining targets.

Michael was surprised to see Diana summon a blade made of lightning. Was there any limit to her powers? And more importantly, were they really doing this? Another individual came to support them, which Michael was grateful for, but this was still a dangerous situation to be in. With everything going on, though, he'd feel guilty if he were to run away on his own, and that wasn't something Michael wanted to have on his consciousness. Sighing, Michael muttered to himself, "Dammit, guess I'm still a fool."

Michael looked down at himself and attempted to reapply his Body Arts, altering them to increase his speed and agility, as well as reaction speed. Before he could do so, however, the ink already on his body began to reform, changing shape to become the Body Arts he was intending to draw on himself. Michael was stunned for a moment, and he soon realized what had just happened. Clearly, this was an upgrade to his powers, and it had to be discovered during such a critical time. A shame there was little time to experiment, as for now it was time for action. Michael followed after Diana, keeping an eye out for the reanimated people that would get in Diana's way. If any did, Michael simply ran ahead of Diana, using his body to ram them out of the way before proceeding to draw restraining Body Arts on them to keep them from moving.

@Dezuel @RoflsMazoy @Crowvette

"Interesting, they're holding out quite well. I think one of them is going t-" A mysterious figure began to speak to himself as he watched from atop one of the arena's walls, noting about how well these two were handling themselves before he watched a trap spring up around the fire-mage. "He is very dead, and the other will soon follow. I need to intervene, or they'll get away unscathed. Time to see how well they react to mind games...."
The sound of a horrific scream could be heard from a nearby atop one of the arena walls, before an came barreling towards Lise, leaping from the wall with apparent super strength towards her in an attempt to terrify the poor girl and force her to freeze in place, just like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming big rig. He let out a long drawn out horrific screech as he descended, the voice of a demon echoing from within.

"I've met few who can handle being near this form, let alone when it surprises them. If this breaks her concentration enough, it'll give the replicant time to renew his numbers. The other will die, but his foolishness was his undoing. As much as I'd want to, I can't save him." The cultist reasoned as he dropped towards the poor girl who was his current prey.

Blood Reserve: 3 Gallons to 2 Gallons.

Lise

"Huh?! What kind of festival is this?!!" Lise took a step back instinctively from the newcomer. She felt a chill looking at it. "You commoners have absolutely no sense of restraint! What kind of tasteless costume is that?!" It disgusted her about as equally as some of the "fashion" that Lise witnessed among the streets. She could only assume the costume was some kind of homage to their filthy harvest gods.

Her shadow reformed into two servants between her and the monstrous cultist, both of them ready to intercept the newcomer. "And furthermore," Lise continued, rubbing her ears, "It is extremely rude to be so loud in public!"

"Must I teach these peons manners all by myself, Andreim!?" Lise said exasperatedly.

@Crowvette@Dezuel@supertinyking

The strange cultist descended through the air, his tentacles flapping in the breeze as he sailed downwards. His scream seemed to raddel the world. It was little wonder, then, that all eyes were on him and not the figure that detached itself silently from the wall behind him and shadowed him as he fell. The figure reached out with one of its arms, and as it did so the arm seemed to untangle like woven thread into three log, rippling, tubes of meat and bone. They lashed greedily forward, to entwine themselves in this rivals own tendrils and squeeze, to teat his strength agaist them.

Gilliam smiled a cruel half smile as he fell. He was half of a lot of things right now. Half a head. Half the number of arms. Burned and frozen, one half the dapper butler the other the scabbed over mass of meat. The pretender William's damage still pitched and tingled. He'd intended to make his showy escape then hide in the dark, secret places of the arena until he could find some isolated biomass to reconstitute himself.

It was lucky for him that these people had appeared. No one would miss them. Probably.

Besides which, he wanted to see the look on the Dewitt's faces when they heard he'd protected an actual princess.


@Scarifar@rawkhawk64@Bartimaeus@AtomicNut

Ria had looked up as soon as Diana had summond up her huge monster and had fallen out of bed in shock. From there she had watched the whole altercation up to now, standing on her knees and looking over the edge of her bed. First demons, now cultists? She was to high for this nonsense.

Still, as Diana summoned up a sabre of pure lightning and stepped forward to bury it in the nearest zombies back she couldn't help but admit she enjoyed the girls moxie. She pulled out her phone, sporting the message that king had sent out calling for the Vigilantes to assembled, grinned, and started recoding.

If they were about to die, she wanted to share the truth of his badass this girl and Michael met it at least. She would ignored that little implication Mikey made about abandoning her to her fate, for now.

It wasn't long before the worn turned on the zombies, though. After all, Brutus was still here and with flourish he proceeded to light them all up. The zombies seized up stiff and the masked necromancer fought to resist the electricity but found himself unable to move and he twitched and spasmed in the flash field.

The zombies, muscles seized by the flash field, resorted to jerky hops to try and get to their prey but Michel leaped forward, quickly driving his rubber souled shoe into the nearest one and sending it flying into the others, knocking the way clear
to the main enemy before setting about restraining them.

And Diana could feel it, her weapons being pulled in her grip. Guided almost, drawn in by the electricity Brutus was pumping into their targets. The two longing to meet together.

On the ground a the downed zombies began jerkily, sloppily, banging the masks into the ground on the necromancers order.

Andreim

The scream had alerted him of the incoming third cultist, just how much interference would get in their way? Andreim raised both his hands in preparation to interupt the incoming cultist.

No matter. These cultists have in their twisted schemes made us stronger, this will further aid in supporting my dream.

As Lise's voice was heard, he couldn't help but agree. "They cannot scream very loud underwater." He attuned to cold and began to shoot jagged ice shards out of the watery area around himself and Lise to prevent anyone from getting near, such as any of the remaining copies. Then came the shadowed figure after the cultist, it was a creature of flesh, bone and tentacles. That was surely not allied with the cultists. The creature had been on team with the ninja and the ghostly boy, so it was possible he was also in on the attack on Katherine. The new monster's judgement however would have to wait, the ninja would not be as lucky would he come in their path now. These cultists were seemingly not aligned with Clara and her goons however, meaning there would be someone else about pulling strings.

"We're leaving, Lise. Let these monsters duke it out, we have more pressing matters to attend to. We cannot waste them here." The boy went closer to Lise and attempted to place his arm around her waist before creating a large vortex of water for them to travel upon, towards the direction to where Katherine had gone.

Diana for the most part gritted her teeth. She was one step of losing consciousness each time she swung, each time she breathed. She was well and truly spent, the last embers of her defiance always one step from being snuffed out. But she steeled herself. She held, gritting her teeth and rectifying her poise. She knew that, were she stop struggling, people who had done their best would have been swiped away by the cultists.

The sword. A person with an electric blessing. A change in the fight's tendency. Diana breathed heavily. Sometimes, even the gods themselves showed the path. She decided to trust her gut, and aiming her blade. she thrust it with all her might, aiming for Brutus' heart. "Go!" She yelled at the more-than-possibly empowered Brutus. "Sunder them!"

@Gentlemanvaultboy @Dezuel @Crowvette

"Well then, this is a surprise. I smell burnt flesh, and mangled bone. Tell me, are you doing this out of altruism or do you step from the shadows for a different reason, kin?" The Cultist asks, before turning to look at the creature who grip their tentacles in his. He felt them squeeze, and it was almost like a tender moment of interlocking fingers while holding hands, and squeezing with all you could. Of course, it was nowhere near as innocent, rather a test of strength. The Cultist obliged this test, and squeezed back himself, and he was very strong. Unnaturally so, the tentacles pulsing with a wave of heat as more blood flowed to them, inflating the muscle even further.

"Either way, I must now show you how foolish your little attack was. I doubt this will kill you...but it'll hurt." Sneered the Masked monstrosity as it flicked its mass of tentacles which bound it and Giliman together, sending the poor creature flying into a nearby wall, then into another, across the floor, and then overhead to the otherside of the cultist. "Tell me when you yield, and we'll talk possible recruitment. We could always use more like myself..." The Cultist calls out to Giliman, not in a condescending tone of domination, but as if he was extending an olive branch.

Those fleeing from the Cultist could catch glimpses of Giliman's form being tossed around by their former assailant, perhaps they'd feel bad. Maybe the sight of the monsters fighting each other might make them relieved. Either way, their escape was no doubt assured unless some other entity intervened.

Brutus glanced over at Diana as she thrust her weapon at him. As soon as it came into contact with his body, Brutus could feel the electrons start coursing through him. He cut off his Flashfield as he continued to absorb the energy. The electrons (and resulting electricity) thrummed through his body, causing him to start sparking all over. His body practically sang with energy. "Y'all might wanna get outta the way. This ain't gonna be pretty." Brutus stated. He felt... something... something guiding him, telling him how to configure the sheer overload of energy that he was experiencing right now. And it would be dangerous. As soon as his 'allies' were out of the way, Brutus held his hands out. "Alright, here we go! Firing the cannon!"



An explosion of electricity ripped out of Brutus' body, pure and condensed electricty. As a singular mass it lanced out, disintegrating anything unfortunate to be in its path. In all honesty, it looked like some sort of beam attack from those foreign cartoons he'd watched as a kid. Brutus panted as the energy finally stopped flowing after a few seconds. He was sure that if he'd tried to pull that off without the girl's help, he would've been completely wiped. As it was, he felt like he'd just run a marathon with his electricty enhancement turned on the entire time. He turned to Diana.

"Thanks for that boost." He held a hand out to her, trying to keep his eyes on hers, instead of her rather scandalous appearance. "Name's Brutus."

Plight of a Demon, Fury of a Girl

---

Rurik stood there, battered and bloodied, just watching the demoness close in on him, his hands still pocketed. One might have thought he was all talk and his bluff had been called. One might have also thought it was a stupid fucking bluff to begin with.

He then seemed to lean into the punch. As he did, a burst of energy coiled up in-between his face and her fist, knocking the blow away. He then slipped a hand out of his pocket and turned his palm toward the demoness's gut, unleashing all the power he'd stored up while they were talking. It was unfocused, just raw kinetic energy pouring out. All he needed was to push her back and leave her unbalanced.

He then took a breath, and his form loosened up.

He'd never been a fan of the final application of his power. He preferred to sit back and let his enemies come to him. He'd let them make their mistakes and then punish them. If he had to use that power, then that meant he had to get serious. If he had to get serious, then he didn't want that fight to begin with.

Today... today was just a little different.

He waited until the demoness either steadied a bit or picked herself up off the ground -- until she made a good target. He set his feet... and then flew. Power burst from beneath his feet and he closed the distance between them in a blur. He'd said he really wanted to punch Kath in the face, and he had, but that didn't count. No, this was a punch. When he wanted to hurt something, this was what he could do. All his momentum culminated in a flying punch aimed across her jaw, and then on impact he let out another burst from his fist, doubling down on the attack.

He meant it as a blow from himself and the world -- reminding her that life didn't give a single fuck about who you were. If it wanted to tear you down, it would. He was happy to pass the lesson along.
The demoness felt her toes digging into the ground as the combined kinetic force pushed her back, then the hard double impact of the punch across the face. That dull, sorry ache spread through her whole body, as she was thrown away, deeper into the park.

There was a feeble luck in that punch, however. It threw her clear, enough to let the stream of water let off by the back flipping David cleave along the ground where she'd been right into Rurik.
She felt her back slam hard into an old tree and slid down the course bark to a resting position.

Reaching up she adjusted her jaw. That could be bad. If she had to heal herself she couldn't do anything for Katherine. The Katherine part of her mind didn't make things any better. Fight, fight, fight it went, incessantly. Infectiously.

She shook her head and pulled herself up, fire leaping from her palm into the scratches she left as she gripped the old tree. It would star burning soon, eating away at this old growth from the inside. Not the most worthwhile kindling, but every bit counted now.
Rurik was caught somewhat off guard by the water. What the hell was Yuuto doing? Wasn't he a professional or something? With another burst he juked out of the way, but it killed his momentum somewhat, letting Kath begin to get up from where she'd landed. He spoke again as he walked toward her, though keeping an eye out for more random bursts of water.

One more and he swore he'd actually kill that idiot.

"Sure, fine, I wagered your sister a few times. But she's still around, so I'm sure you can figure out what that means," he spoke coldly. "I beat every little piss ant who challenged me into the dirt. You think you're the first idiot who thought they could take me because they knew kung-fu? You're not better, Kath. You're not special. You're just annoying." Oh sure, he'd actually lost once or twice, and him winning had little to do with Christine still being around.

But Kath didn't need to know that right now.

He didn't charge in again, there wasn't an opening this time. He simply walked until he was just out of arm's reach, eyes locked onto her, full of defiance. And condescension -- so much condescension.
"I'll give you this, boy, you have a strong right hook." She whispered so as not to be heard by Christine. "More than strong enough to keep what you've gained through combat. But amongst all the trees you've felled I believed you've overlooked the forest." She mugged at him, and feigned a swipe with her nails.
Rurik didn't intend to let her touch him again. He knew full well he couldn't reliably counter every attack like he had before, especially not now that she knew he could do that. Most of his fights had witnesses, so plenty of times he'd seen people try to predict him with varying results.

The best answer was usually to do away with finesse and introduce them to the ground with overwhelming firepower.

He darted to the side with a small application of his burst and then threw both hands out to unleash a double-barrel blast of destabilized energy at just shy of point-blank range in an attempt to flatten her.
She smiles, and as he began to move she jumped up as she'd always intended. The blast collided with the tree, shattering the bark and with it the fire that had been growing beneath. The flames jumped greedily in his direction, as though hungry and alive, bolstered by the sudden exposure to fresh air.

The demoness landed amid the now smoking branches. "You see? Through your actions you've courted only misery, and not only for yourself. You certainly gained nothing tangible from entertaining such challenges. You have made yourself neither a lord of those you defeated nor seem to have any interest in doing battle for its own sake. It puzzles us."
Rurik's eyes widened at the sudden flare-up. He felt the unbearable heat hit him before instinct drove him to burst away from it. Heat and fire, some things never changed when fighting Kath. He shook his arms to make sure no embers were left clinging to him and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"I don't need to lord over anyone, Kath. I just need you to shut up." He looked up at her tiredly, looking almost bored. "Now I'm gonna give you til' the count of five to get out of that tree before I force you out of it the hard way. 1..." He needed a second to recharge anyway...

She had just about enough of hearing Rurik’s stupid bullshit. It was incoherent ramble as far as she was concerned, a stupid boy spouting big words that added up to complete nonsense. Lot of words, no meaning behind it. Rurik has always made her angry, but him thinking he was right, or that he won this little fight? That was just above and beyond the stupidity she could tolerate.

Her will could not be contained by some mere demon, not when it came to Rurik and protecting her sister. Her flames engulfed the Demoness in her mind as pure unbridled rage took over. Her form seemingly melting into one coherent mass that while still resembled a human, it had little of it’s features. She had gone above and beyond anything she had ever done with her body, the mix of urgency and annoyance tapping into her inner reserves to fan her flames into an inferno.

Her hands and body moved on her own, the Demon’s will subdued in a flare of heat that swept across the park. “2.” Kath hissed as she exploded from the tree like a bullet shot from a gun, her fist primed and ready to collide with Rurik’s jawline as she launched at the boy with mind boggling speed.

Boom!

"OH SHIT!" Rurik had to launch himself backwards as Kath dove at him. It looked like he'd finally gotten Kath angry enough to pop back out. He could feel the impact of her landing even as he dodged it. She'd come much closer to actually hitting him than he'd have liked. Fighting her was always such a pleasure... "You seem angry. Is it something I said?" He mused with a bead of sweat sliding down the side of his face. "Ah who am I kidding? That's default for you."

His plan had worked, but a little bit way too well. Now what? This was going off the rails.

Let’s see how good you are at talking shit when I’ll knock your teeth out!” Kath exclaimed as she stared with her glowing eyes at Rurik. She had lost her temper for sure, but she was surprisingly mindful for being this angry. Not that it amounted to much, this was Kath that we are talking about after all, but it gave her a slight sense of clarity. And it was enough for ehr to know she had the upper hand...before she would pass out. She didn’t care about any plans the demon had, she just wanted to beat Rurik up while she still could. If she dies after it from blood loss, at least she will perish in glorious combat.

She didn’t give Rurik much chance to take a breather. Less talking and more fighting She motivated herself as she jumped right after Rurik, a hand ready to punch him in the face, while she prepared herself to follow up with a knee to the gut as soon as she landed at the same time.

"You young fool." Came a voice, a face manifesting from the flames enveloping Katherine's body. The demon looked sternly at the girl as she flickered and waved. "I was barely keeping you alive as is. Can't you feel your wounds opening up while you throw this tantrum? Is this the hill you choose to die upon?"

I won't die. Not yet! The flames will stop the bleeding...for now. Kath thought. Nothing was supposed to happen like this. Yuuto wasn't supposed to have a sword and she wasn't supposed to get hurt. But...things don't always go as you want them to. More often than no they go out of control as soon as they start. But if I die now, at least it will be in combat. Then you can keep your integrity too

Rurik once more tried to shoot backwards, but it worked about as well as running away from a falling tree in a straight line. Why was she so fast!? His surprise at her speed sort of scrambled his brain and he tried to deploy his shield in a panic. Normally it would have been fine, he'd been able to, somewhat, sustain it through Cassius's full power launch, but the half-baked shield he threw up crumbled under her attack. Rather than tossing her back, it barely canceled out her momentum while he was thrown on his ass. He needed a plan before he was just curb stomped.

Well, he had one idea... but it was all or nothing at this point.

He dug his heels into the dirt and used another burst to send him sliding backwards to a momentarily safe distance. The grass was slick thanks to what's-his-ass, but the mud and grass stains meant after this his jacket was pretty much ruined... again.

He rolled to a knee and went to put a hand down to steady himself only to see stars. Pain exploded up his arm and he realized not only did he get knocked over when he shield failed, but his wrist and perhaps more had totally snapped under the pressure.

Thus he was left on one knee, right arm tucked against his chest in pain while he glared warily at Kath.

He'd liked his odds better when he'd thought he had two hands...

Katherine winced at the pain and her eyes darted to Rurik. He seemed hurt. Broken. Ripe for beating the living soul out of. "You're done for asshole!" She shouted as, rage taking over her as she let out a battlecry to ring all the ears before she launched herself at Rurik for a finisher, her arms ready to strike as a ploy, truly aiming to knee her opponent.

The throbbing that was radiating more and more up his arm was really making him reconsider his bravado here. Honestly, the only thing keeping him going was the sound of Kath's voice... and how much he wanted to make it go away. Even if Clara hadn't been there and he could have risked telling her he was actually kinda trying to help, would she have listened? His abundance of cynicism told him "no."

So in the end it truly was just resentment fueling him.

He had to time his next move carefully. He'd left a little something behind when he'd slid across the ground, pumping his energy into it as he went. Now Kath was running at him across that very ground. He set it off, and it honestly wasn't much. But all he needed was to remove her footing. It didn't matter how fast she could run if the ground disappeared from beneath her feet.

He wanted her to fall... fall so he could catch her. By the face. With his fist.

With everything he had left, he would burst from his crouch and throw an empowered left at her jaw.

BANG!

As Kath ran across the ground Ruril's energy blasted off, sending pebbles flying up at the girl but she merely shrugged them off in her rage. But the small hole it cause proved to be a greater problem.

Even if it wasn't too significant in the end. Propelled by her momentum, Kath's leg made contact with the ground a second later anyways, and she had ample time to adjust to the laughable hole that Rurik's last ditch effort made. Was he at full power this could've been a challenge, but without any sauce behind his power? What a joke.

Kath didn't care, she had no sympathy for the boy. She didn't see a sliver of truth in his words or lies in her own line of thinking as she continued her dash near uninterrupted. No, her entire world had become one with this finishing kick, this last attempt for a girl who embraced death and wished for nothing more than to see the sole source of grievance in her fleeting life defeated and to make sure the most precious thing to her was safe: her sister. She couldn't miss, she couldn't lose. Not now when there won't be any more chances. She let out a scream as she propelled her knee forward, towards the bursting Rurik.

Rurik felt his fist collide with her face, right in the jaw. It was a meeting of two huge forces and his powers couldn't protect him from it. He could punch a rock without breaking his hand, but this was a bit much. The shockwave rattled the bones in his arm and it kinda hurt, but then went blissfully numb. That was probably a bad sign.

It was too late for him to realize at this point that Kath's raw power had let her just surge through his trap. Not undeterred, but not quite as vulnerable as he'd been hoping... not even close. He might have gotten lucky, his punch had to have thrown her off otherwise what had happened next would have been catastrophic.

He felt a blazing hot impact right on his solar plexus. He popped backwards from it, but somehow landed on his feet... unable to breathe. He let out a high-pitched squeak of pain. Rocked and doubled over by the impact as he was, he couldn't even see what had become of Kath. He could only hope she was too down and out to hit him again.

He managed one step before falling to his hands and knees and puking as the pain turned his stomach. Fortunately it had been mostly empty this time.

"Oh... come on.... I didn't even teleport this time!" He gasped, trying to keep the world from spinning.

Just before her knee connected into the hit she had imagined she felt the sharp pain in her jaw as Rurik's fist collided with it, painfully knocking her teeth together as a numbness spread through her jaw like wildfire, and her vision turned blurry. She could tell that he gave everything into the punch because even with the ungodly amount of momentum she put up the punch was nearly enough to bring her to a halt. She stumbled forward a few meters before she nearly collapsed down onto her knees from the nausea that hit her. She saw stars and it felt like someone drilled a screw straight across the jaw and then painfully started twisting it.

She wanted to swear something but then realized her jaw was dislocated from the punch. Which she didn't even know was possible while in this form. She reached down to her mouth and then with a painful groan she snapped her jaw back into place. "Fuck!" She snarled angrily and shook her head a few times, hitting her temple with the base of her palm to regain focus. Probably not the best idea when you definitely have a concussion, but she was past those concerns now. She could feel the wounds sapping away at her strength with every second, even if her form stopped herself from bleeding for the moment. As she could feel her stamina running out as well now that her fire consumed more than ever. Still, Rurik lay on his knees before her. She allowed herself a small grin as she made a few unsure steps towards him. "Better stay down pukeboy."

"Selfish children, and you say you don't love this bloodshed. You've killed us for it." The face of the demoness said bitterly as it danced in the flames. Then, as if to twist the knife, she nodded toward where the Ice was now spreading from the feet of the panicking Christine. "And look at what you've both done to your poor sister."

"I... resent that..." Rurik gasped out. "Just... gimme five..." He made a feeble attempt to stand. Nope. "T-ten... seconds..." He panted heavily. There was no way he was fighting back. If she attacked, it'd be all about survival. Assuming he could muster the strength to even escape. Every time he tried to gather energy, he'd need to stop to focus on trying to just breathe, and he'd feel his energy seeping back out of him. He could barely think straight.

Kath clenched her fist angrily as the demoness's words sank in like a bitter acid that ate it's way through the walls she erected to justify her cause. She peeked over at Christine, her eyes quickly darting away in shame. She might die here today once her power runs out, and as much as her rage wants her to beat the soul out of Rurik, it would be pointless bloodshed. She couldn't break her sister's heart like that. Christine...she wanted better for her. "Come on, stand up!" She commanded in a way that didn't take no for an answer and held her hand out for Rurik. "You fought valiantly." She winced as she felt her powers seeping away and the pain returning. She didn't think she had much longer, so at least she could make amends.

Rurik flinched and shut his eyes tightly against the beating that was about to c- Wait what?

"Wait, what?" Rurik said aloud. He almost thought it was a trap, but to be fair to Kath... she wasn't that clever. He tentatively reached out to take her hand, but then noticed the blood starting to leak into her clothes again. "Uhhh, you got a little... uh..." Wait, he hadn't done that. And she'd been fine a minute ago.

And then it clicked. The demon had been fine. While fighting she'd seemed fine, but now she was totally powered down... so...

Shit.

Well she was still standing, so that was a good sign, right? Standing up was usually a good thing. Dead people couldn't stand, after all. She probably just needed a doctor. If she could still stand then surely a doctor could do something. It'd be a real pain if she died after all this effort.

Maybe Clara could help. She'd teleported them there after all.

"Well, it seems things have come to a resolution." Clara looked past Christine, only just barely acknowledging her. She no longer needed Christine's cooperation. She strode past the distressed girl and over to the two fighters.

"Hey, so-" Rurik began.

"Well done I suppose, now we should see about removing the demon. This is our best chance." Clara spoke over him. Well so much for her helping.

"I dunno, seems like it's asleep or something. But hey, Katherine's back in that saddle. I'm sure Christine will be happy about that, what do you think?" Rurik subtly shifted between Clara and Kath... as if it would actually matter.

". . . Indeed." Clara's eye twitched ever so slightly. She was starting to see Rurik's hand now. Of course she'd been suspicious but she hadn't expected him to actually hold his own enough for it to make a difference.

Rurik swallowed -- now what? If Clara wasn't gonna teleport Kath to a doctor then who? Where the hell was Thobias when you needed hi- Wait... was that him over there? When the hell had he shown up!??!?

"Yeah, but I think we should probably get her and Christine to a doctor now," Rurik suddenly raised his voice for no particular reason... while shooting anxious glances at the boy over Clara's shoulder.

". . . perhaps. . . but first. . . please move." She spoke a little more forcefully. Christine and even Rurik could be useful in their own right. She didn't want to have to force the issue with them if she didn't have to. But she would.

Christine continued to watch over Clara as more and more of her surroundings turned cold. Uncharacteristically of her, she didn't trust her at all. If she made a move, she would freeze her instantly.

Meanwhile, to her displeasure, Rurik and Kath continued their fight. She could only continue to shout at them to stop as she was guarding Kath from Clara. Thankfully, the fight didn't continue for much longer, and it ended with Kath's victory.

However...

"Kath!"

When she noticed all the blood seeping through her clothes, she quickly ran towards her.

"Kath! A-are you alright? A-a doctor! We have to get you to a doctor at once!"

She no longer cared about Clara. Her attention was fully aimed at her gravely wounded sister.

---

Thobias watched the entire fight from the rooftop, not particularly out of sight but far away enough that most people wouldn't bother to look his way. Not while there was a spectacular fight going on right in front of their eyes. And he too enjoyed watching it, it was certainly worth sticking around for a little longer. Both Rurik and Kath took some savage punches straight to the face, and both were still standing. He knew he could never take any of that, but he also wouldn't really stick around. Or care enough to start a fight like that anyways.

But as things escalated and Kath seemed to have finally grasped victory, things turned grim again. Even the friendly notion of Kath towards Rurik didn't lighten the mood as Clara closed up on them. And Kath was starting to bleed again. Bad. Heck, even Christine popped in to defend her sister! It seemed like nobody wanted Kath to die, even if she was quite hard to talk to most of the time. Well, brash maybe, but not hard to talk to. If you didn't piss her off. Like Rurik. But that's beside the point!

This was his time to act. He just hoped that everything would go according to plan. Liam and Sarah were ready to intervene, and if things turned really ugly even Brutus could intervene. Let's hope it won't come to that. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Here we go!"

With a flash of light, he appeared right by Christine and Kath, placing his hands on their shoulders as he flashed an arrogant Smile at Clara. "Sorry to drop in and ruin the party, but the show's over." He glanced at Rurik and winked before disappearing with another little flash, bringing Christine and Katherine away with him. And then he followed up with a dozen or more in quick successions, getting them a good block or two away in a few seconds. "This should be far enough..." He finally stopped when he couldn't even remember which direction the park was and then opened a portal back to their hideout. "Okay, time to go you two." He said and pushed the two girls into the portal before following behind them and closing it.

Liam and Sarah were right there, a table already cleared and prepped for Kath to lay down on. Thobias beckoned at Liam and smiled at Christine. "Don't worry, Kath will be fine. If Liam can't patch her up, nobody can." Sarah and Liam quickly got Kath onto the table and prepared to stop the bleeding on the girl. Everything should be fine now...it was just a shame he couldn't watch the tournament any longer.

Christine did not see what’s coming in the slightest.

Thobias suddenly appeared out of nowhere, touched her and Kath, before teleporting them away. And they continued to teleport several times in a near continuous manner. Even if Christine wanted to protest, she wouldn’t be able to due to how nauseating the whole process was.

Thankfully, they eventually stopped, at some distance far away from the park.

“T-Thobias, where are we--” Her protest was cut short by him pushing them into one final portal that teleported them once more. Where? She had no idea in the slightest. And that immediately sent her into full alert mode.

But apparently it was a place where Kath could get the treatment she desperately needed, according to Thobias, so Christine calmed herself down. And now, she could only watch as the two treated her wounds.

It’s alright. I know you’ll be able to make it, Kath...

---

@RoflsMazoy@rawkhawk64@Crazy Scion@KillamriX88@6slyboy6@Hammerman

Fast. Even for the huge, masked man, that was all that he had time to think as Alto blitzed the gap between them and struck from behind. Striking form behind was as good a tactic as any, it was a vulnerable spot. And an obvious one. He lifted a leg and stomped as Alto made to strike. The resulting ripple sent through the veil should have been enough to push the boy away, but still... he was fast.

He felt the tip of the blade scratch him even as his own attack shoved the boy away. Predicting and actually having the time to react to such an attack were two different things. He would have to be careful with this one.

"I see. So you are dangerous," the man said. "Very well... I will take this seriously." He turned to take a step toward Alto but then blipped out of existence.

The man found himself in that next instant in a strange world where everything was died a fiery, orange hue and everything in the distance was obscured by a menacing haze. He could still see the world he'd just left but it was barren and empty. But at the same time, the veil was in tatters here. When he looked carefully he could see faint shadows cast by those on the other side.

He took a moment to circle the shadow that denoted where Alto stood. He could not contemplate long, stepping in and out of Limbo had a tendency to cause the veil to fight back and repair itself. And so he stopped in front of the boy and reared his head back before surging back into reality, already loosing a world-shaking roar to buffet Alto.

"Now!" King shouted.

Would the masked man be surprised that, as he returned to their dimension, Alto had replaced his Blade of Light with King's net? If not, maybe he would be surprised when the scream that sunders dimensions failed to render Alto to dust. It wasn't as if the net could absorb all of it unless he happened to be right in his face, and he wouldn't have been ready for any other attack.

King knew where he was coming, and just about knew when, but without knowing what he would do there was only one way King could prepare. He could just leave the job to someone else.

Alto had faster reflexes than he did, so all he had to do was give him the strongest shield. The masked man didn't use weapons, so if he were to appear outside of melee range it would be for a ranged non-weapon attack, which the net wasn't exactly rated for, but it would work.

There was no pre-emptive strike he could've readied, even with a warship in orbit. When the masked man could slip dimensions like that that means they had to save the bombardment for when they'd really need it.

Alto held the net in front of him feeling as foolish as one could get holding out a net to catch soundwaves which could rip apart dimensional walls. It was strange. Where the net was, not even a whisper came through, but it couldn't cover all of Alto. The net itself was also shaking violently. As it wrenched itself free from his grasp he unleashed his counterattack.

"Hyperlight… Stream!" Alto called.

A beam of light shot out from his finger, racing directly for the masked cultist's neck. At the same time, King came down from behind, bringing his Lightsabre to bear towards the cultist's head.
@KillamriX88

@Crowvette@Dezuel@supertinyking

---

This one was strong. Gilliam hadn't expected it to be this strong. He felt the rush of air as he was ripped from his perch and thrown back into the wall, then again, then across the ground, leaving red and pink smears of himself across every surface.

Through it all he could fuel the pulse of life, the flow of fresh blood flowing through the tendrils he'd coiled himself around. He willed his own tendrils change, hard little nubs forming into points as he was slammed into a final place. Thoroughly mangled, Gilliam pulled himself back together as best he could as the prey spoke. He spine of kinship and recruitment, and Gilliam couldn't help but let out a wheezy little chuckle. "I apologize, sir." He said without standing, every word coming out in a strained half whisper as it forced itself out of his broken body. "Bracing though your negotiation tactics may be, I have a previous obligation to consider. And unfortunately for you, you've chosen said previous obligations land as your hunting ground."

There was a sound like someone taking the first bite of a fresh, sweet plumb as the mouths that Gilliam had created on his tendrils began to take the first tentative bites of their counterparts. Long strips of pearly white teeth, sharp as knives, opened and closed to try and bring fresh meat and blood down their new esophagus into his stomach. They wrapped around more tightly, trying to keep their meal from pulling away, intending to feast until there was nothing left of them.

"Oh, beg my pardon again sir. I'm afraid my tournament debut has left me a might peckish."

---

@Scarifar@rawkhawk64@Bartimaeus@AtomicNut

---

There was a loud, crackling boom like the roar of the ocean as the entire room was bathed in light. Brutus's beam, Diana's power, surged across the room and engulfed the wood masked cultist. His form was briefly visible as a black shadow within the light for anyone who could stand to look upon it before vanishing.

When it ended everything was silent. The masked corpses at their feet laid still, their rhythmic head knocking coming to an end. All there was left of the cultist was a rapidly cooling hole bored halfway through the opposite wall, red hot dry wall and cement left melting in its wake.

"That was the sexiest thing I've ever seen!" Ria said, breaking the silence. She limped out from her hiding place. Phone still open in her hand, she gave Michale a rough bump as she grabbed him to help support herself. "You agree, right Michael? You asshole? She wasn't gonna abandon me, no sir, you piece of human garbage. Diana!" She called out across the pile of bodies she's have to cross to get over to her and Brutus. "That was hot. You too, Brutus, holy shit."

It was around this point that she finally noticed a message on her phone. Curiously, she opened it and, upon reading it, gave a mirthless laugh. "Hey guys, message from King. He says that we're under attack. Here." She leaned the phone over so Michael could see it. "Ya'll want to go get in more fights or do we hole up somewhere?"

---

---

@RoflsMazoy@rawkhawk64@Crazy Scion@KillamriX88@Dezuel

---

At some point Bak had stood up. She didn't know when. Maybe it was when Rurik and Christine's sister started fighting in earnest. She was still trying to figure out what was going on. Rurik said they had to fight. Christine was saying no. There was a tension she could sense from them and Clara that she'd never felt before in any meeting. Christine kept getting more and more distressed, casting wind far to close to Clara for Bak's enjoy meant. What was going to happen? She felt like they were going to so something to one another.

While that was going on Yuuto kept up his fight with...someone. She wasn't sure who, but he seemed familiar and that didn't make her feel any better. Was he the enemy? No, he was standing up for Christians sister so...that meant...

It was nonsense! This was all nonsense! Everyone was fighting but no one was anyones enemy! It tore her up. She wanted to protect her friends, but protecting one friend meant maybe hurting another one. It was paralyzing. All she could do was make sure none of their fights came near Vittorio.

Then, suddenly, everything seemed to stop. Thobias, seemingly from nowhere as he always did, appeared and spirited the sisters away. Yuuto and the mystery boy were collapsed in the mud. Clara was still, but didn't seem happy. Bak felt her breathing, which had been sharp and irregular as she watched all this, level out. She felt things come back into focus.

There was no conflict now.

There were only injuries.

That was something she could understand. She focused on that.

Bak was running on autopilot. She stomped over to where Rurik and Clara had been left and put herself between the two of them. "We can not stay here." She said, pleadingly. "We need to leave. Can not go to hospital. We've broken many laws today." She looked pointedly over at Yuuto and Vittorio as she said this, beofre she reached out and closed her hand around Rurik arm, She'd forgotten all about how bloody her gloves were. "I'll carry you. Climb on." She insisted, in a tone that brooked no argument despite its wearyness. "We're leaving." She repeated, talking specifically to Clara. "Call Celestine."

Then, if he didn't hop up, she'd drag him away from Clara. She thought it was very important to get him away from Clara. Clara would tell them where to meet Celestine.

She went on past Vittorio, stopping to check that he was still breathing before moving on out of the fire scorched area of this park and into the mud. She felt herself sinking as she walked up to where Yuuto lay. She looked down at him, and for a moment felt intensely angry. In a way, this was all his fault. He was the one that had gone too far. He was the one that had ruined the entire day. But as she saw just his injured he was, and how tired he seemed, she felt that anger cool down. There would be time to reprimand him later. For now she hauled him up out of the mud and placed him over one arm. "Do not ever do that again." She whispered, but she wasn't even sure he could hear her.

Then she turned to the mystery man, hovering above him like the blade of a guillotine. "Oh." She said, slightly surprised. She knew this guy. He wandered around the school at night sometimes, taking classes at night. Bak had avoided him, mostly because she'd thought he was a vampire. "You are one of us. Come along. We have doctor that can help." With that she reached down and started to drag him up as well.

After this she'd go get Vittorio, after getting all these gyus arranged semi-comfortably so she could carry him more gently, and they could all find a safe place to rest up and stop being such big fools. Everything was going to be all right. She was going to make sure everything is all right.

Diana's corner of the mouth turned into faint, vindicated smile as the outcome of the battle seemed to be decided by that one blow of the electric man. Truly, the foes were beaten, on the brink of exhaustion. Now, everything crashed down in full force. She tried to answer Brutus' words, as muddy and uninteligible they were, and Ria's jeers, who were a distant sound amidst the blaring ringing of her ears. Her feet failed to suport her, and she dropped on her knees. A faint,warm trickle run down her mouth. Bleeding, she saw, in the corners of her blurrying vision. She tried to call for her, but even her plight was drowned in blood splattering cough.

There was so much one could cheat, reinforce and resist, before paying what was due. Numb and cold and exhausted, she sank into oblivion, the world around her turning into darkness. She saw a light a light... and felt a presence.

"Well, Diana... Tis a pity, but I've come to claim you. Short but remarkable." The disembodied voice said, in a tenebrous gutural but sombre tome.

"The...ferryman." Diana added, and gulped in her mind. So that was it. 18 short years. She did not regret fighting those who fouled creation and the magic arts.

It was then when the voice turned into a rather indignated and feminine squeak."What? No, I am not the old man! How can you assume my glorious self is like that brute, temperamental oaf!" So it was a female grim reaper? Well not that mattered much in the end. "Actually...that reminds me of something, Diana. Can I call you Diddums?"

"Only my family calls me that."

"Well, I am a Moira. I can call you what I want, really. Let's say that I have a way to bend the rules, and since I am fond of your struggle I might be able to bring you back."

"What's the catch, divine Moira?" Diana said, a path out of this situation appearing before her.

"I can bend the rules a bit and say that since this was something related to a demonic incursion, you've earned a reprieve. In return I want part of your lifetime"

"But i am about to die."

"Not that kind of life time. Truth to be told the underworld is a droll place full of rules. I want to spend my afternoons sometimes eating ice cream and doing girl things. But I need to borrow a body so that the higher ups don't notice." The Moira stated.

"Fine then I accept." Diana said, resolute

"So I want a few days a month- wait what, that fast?"

"Not like i can bargain much now."

"That's my little Diddums, resolute and determined to the end. I will be borrowing it now, you're in no position to even continue without a little mending..." The spirit said, and the darkness disipated. Diana's vision was restored, and her aching body seemed to be back to her. Except for the reason she could not control it. She could feel and see and hear... but her body was no longer her own. Something else was moving it, making her to stand tall once again, before staggering to Ria.

"I am sorry, Ria... I am a bit faint now." She added, her hands and head resting on the other's girl chest without any kind of shame or bashfulness. "But I can continue." She eyed the blood on her mouth, and wiped it off elegantly. "For a bit." Not-Diana said, smiling somewhat.

Diana wanted to scream. But she could not. Out of all things, she had just relinquished control to a pervert.

Kheraket regained his footing as the zombie crumpled into the wall from the its own momentum plus the shade's attack. He quickly approached it with a shadowy mass - one much like a fist - sprouting from his staff, before bringing it down forcefully onto the corpse.

The gatekeeper then turned to the previous room again. Several of their undead attackers were seizing up and twitching - it seemed the others could hold their own, at least somewhat. But what happened next showed that they could clearly do more than just hold their own. One of the girls - the shortest of them - spoke a chant, which borne a crackling blade of lightning to her hand. She slashed through the nearest zombie, despite her great visible fatigue. Her willpower was a force not to be ignored.

But then she made an unexpected move. She thrust the crackling blade into her equally electric companion. He seemed to be unfazed by the attack - instead he began to visibly ooze energy. Soon enough, it seemed he absorbed more energy he could hold - he gave a warning. Kheraket heeded it, swiftly taking cover behind the side of the doorway opposite of where Brutus' ray would fire, presumably right at the cultist.

The energy surged forth violently from Brutus' body with a loud crack, thrumming around itself through the air as it shot straight towards the enemy. The attack could be felt even from Kheraket's position, the wild, yet contained, energy blasting a beam of pure hot electricity.

The searing ray seemed to engulf the cultist before coming to a stop some seconds after. The energy had washed over Kheraket and he doubted anyone who was hit by that attack could survive - they'd be reduced to ash. The dark-haired boy stood up and moved from his spot of cover, stepping into the room as he surveyed the deceased people. A shame..

However there were other matters to attend to. The other students seemed to be fine for now - and were conversing amongst themselves. Kheraket took the opportunity to move closer and wait for a chance to ask, "Is this a...regular occurrence in this city..? To be attacked by Necromancers?"

The smaller girl fell to her knees, visibly exhausted of all her stamina. "Oh. Um...is she alright?" he inquiried with a frown.

It was a few moments before she moved again. As she did move however, there was a snap in Kheraket's mind. He felt something there that was not meant to be. A feeling he knew as a calming one in other places, but not here. Being here meant death was afoot.

His eyes glowed a faint blue as his mind peeked into the soul-plane. He looked at Diana. She, apparently, had two souls. One of which - belonged to a Reaper. A helmsman of hell.

Kheraket's mind snapped back to the physical plane, his body having already took a half-step away from the girl now. W-What...Why..? Having a Reaper's soul in a mortal body was not something that should happen. He had no clue what was going on, but he knew that he was probably alone in trying to figure it out - unless he could ask Diana herself. How lucrative that would be...who knew?

But he decided to keep quiet for now. Interfering with the machinations of a Reaper was against his ideals - not to mention that they were technically higher in rank than him, and could boss him around. But he had to inquire what this was about, eventually...