[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISM1z9BSED0][img]https://i.imgur.com/5B3hkEZ.png[/img][/url] [sub][@Ponn][@Crusader Lord][@FamishedPants][@Izurich][@SilverPaw][/sub] She imagined it, in the milliseconds before impact. Tempered steel slicing through wood, then flesh, then bone. Her battlestaff broken in half by a singular strike, her vision flipping upside-down as her upper body fell off her lower body. Death arriving, her survival instincts incapable of doing anything to prevent it. But an Esper’s Instrument was unbreakable, and the crimson staff was sturdier than any shield in the world. It bent against the force of Lenore’s blow, but the blade did not so much as touch Wukong’s flesh. Taking advantage of that same force, she loosened up her stance, utilizing the unholy nun’s own power to grant her some distance. Distance to reengage at a range that suited her staff. Distance to give her some time to recover. It sounded great in her mind. Wukong, however, was fighting atop a very high wall, and had just allowed herself to be knocked off the edge. With hardly a yelp, she disappeared from the ledge. [b]“Centrocius, down!”[/b] And with her opponent having flung herself off the edge, Lenore was free to speak as she wished, the Magic Sense that she had imbued herself with giving her just enough time to see what was about to transpire around her. A beam was always going to be devastatingly fast, but they had, once again, been fighting on a wall. A half-second was more than enough. Front legs digging into the wall, Centrocius hurled itself over the ledge as well, Valkyrie’s beam only blasting the tip of its tail off. Lenore winked at the sniper, tapping a finger against her temple, before charging for Breacher, at the same time as Centrocius leaped up again, front legs forcing down her shield as its jaws rose above and opened wide to rip the shieldbearing Esper’s head right off. In that moment, [i]Su[/i] had a choice to make. Defend herself, and ruin the combination she had envisioned with Jacqueline, or sacrifice herself, and enable the combination she had envisioned with Jacqueline. Bipartisan thrummed, magical energy reaching its apex, ready to burst out at any moment. She couldn’t leave Mika alone. Not for the life of a single vampire. The handgun cracked, pieces of her wall ripping out to follow the bullet’s trajectory. They slammed, unified, into the roof of the skeletal beast’s jaw, pushing it off the wall as well. More trails of debris followed its descent, restraints of tile and wood, stone and glass, binding down its upper portion. And with one enemy removed, Breacher’s shield clashed with Lenore’s sword, the two now locked in mortal combat. And Wukong, having gathered her wits just in time to tuck into a roll as she dropped five meters into the ground, soon found herself mired in ash and smoke. Every inch of exposed skin burned at the gasoline-accelerated fires, her flesh melting and fusing with her battlestaff. Smoke seeped into her lungs and wrecked havoc from inside out. In her current state, even though she was so close to Arzendale, even though she was in [i]striking[/i] range of him, she had to escape. Not that the monstrosity that landed after her would allow that. Bones rattling as it crashed into the ground, Centrocius lunged for Wukong clumsily, its head and front limbs bound but its back legs still functioning. Though neither of them were in perfect condition, the monstrous speed of the steed easily surpassed Wukong’s, and it fell atop of her, bony and debris-ridden mass pinning her down upon superheated shards of stone. She could feel it, white-hot agony lancing deep into her back, her chest constricted by the monster even as her lungs hacked and convulsed at the smoke. Arzendale’s immaculate posture, so close and yet so far. Her body, inching closer and closer to unconsciousness, then the inevitable death. [i]Her soul seeped out of her body and expanded to reach the entirety of the world.[/i] Her Journey Had Not Yet Concluded. But Arzendale cared not for the terrified screams of an Esper roasting away. Without his body restrained and with Breacher having called out her fallen ally to assist, he immediately leapt to the side, anticipating the melody that would inevitably fly towards him. It was simple enough to predict. A two-pronged attack, one from the front and one from behind. All you had to do was step off to the side, and both would miss. The magic of an Esper was so [i]narrow[/i], after all, nothing compared to the consuming might of a vampire’s bloodwork. And look at that! The melody that should have flew past him didn’t even appear! A smirk formed, a supremely smug expression carving apart the Sanguine Sovereign’s face as he tilted his head to the side. She died, hasn’t she? A mis- A chunk of crude metal pulverized his side and ripped his left arm right off. Jacqueline had not died. She hadn’t even just survived. Through agonizing pain, through the dread of death, through blood loss and darkening vision, she had held on, her focus as sharp as her axe. In any other circumstance, she may have missed. But just as her Powerful spells had delayed her effects just long enough to make things worse in the past, now, that extra one second had brought her the time to wait out her opponent’s reactions, their caution. It wasn’t a push spell by any means, but the mere action of a ‘leap’ meant that there was a predictable location, based off of velocity and parabolic curves, of where they would land. And though monsters were incomprehensible creatures capable of corrupting all physical matter, the laws of gravity applied to all equally. She had landed her beam, and the monster bled…but did not fall. Incomprehensible monstrosities were equally constructed of incomprehensible matter. They were not so weak-fleshed as humans, keeling over from the loss of a paltry arm, a lung and some other organs. They could exist as skeletons, as phantasms, as animated objects. They were monstrous in vitality, and Arzendale snarled at the destruction of his suit, the only thing that [i]wasn’t[/i] replaceable. [b]“Miserable wench,”[/b] he spat, his grip on his wand tightening into a fist. [b]“I had deigned to give you a moment for a soliloquy upon your deathbed, but I suppose I should’ve done this from the start. Blood of my blood, fuel my ire!”[/b] No heads fell, but blood flowed all the same, darkening the hoods around their heads before leaking out in thick, irregular strands. Jacqueline too could feel that pronounced force pulling at the contents of her veins, her blood crawling out of her nose and ears, her mouth and eyes, accelerating her demise, coagulating into the triple-overlaid magic circle that formed Arzendale’s bloodcraft. An attack not directed at her, but at her fellow agents, at Breacher, forced to remain on the wall by the swordsmanship of the Sister of Sacrilege. [b]“May God have mercy…”[/b] The circles glowed, rotating with greater power. [b]“…for I shall not!”[/b] Lenore smiled and disappeared. Valkyrie did not move. Her enemies were all in front of her, and the only one that possessed any ranged attacks did not have line-of-sight of her, blocked off by the wall that Breacher had raised. Any other enemies were delayed by those more capable of holding their ground in melee combat, and she, the sniper, was safe to settle down in her spot, focusing on the distance, focusing on her scope. It mattered not, the charred stench of Silhouette’s body as he writhed right by her. It mattered not, Wukong’s sudden fall, nor Jacqueline’s eminent demise. Valkyrie settled into the safety of the ‘distance’, into the regularity of her ‘mission’, into the comfort of her ‘job’. No distractions were necessary, whether they be shadow or fire, smoke or [i]blacklight[/i]. A sniper ought never to get comfortable in their nest, for an Esper did not need to aim, did not even need to [i]see[/i], in order to Spawn a melody. The nun transplaced with the sniper as Arzendale’s great craft completed, a channeled deluge of crimson rushing towards Breacher and Valkyrie with the force of an avalanche. If either of them met this head on, the results would likely not be pleasant, but at the same time, this was perhaps the best chance that they had to strike back. If Breacher moved to impose herself in front of Valkyrie, she could shield the sniper long enough for her to escape into the slope behind. If Valkyrie chose to brave the storm, she could fire one shot towards Arzendale through the deluge, and perhaps slay him right then and there. But that would depend only on who acted first. And even that would solve only one of many questions. Who would stabilize Jacqueline? Who would heal Wukong? . .. … Light, warm and bright. Light, red and sticky. Light, bloodied and ruined. Light, light, light, light, light. Her mind was light, but her body was heavy, torn muscles aching with effort, ears numb to the echoing anguish of those she had left behind. She had no choice. She had no options. She had a mission. She had an objective. She would avenge them. She would bury them. She would return them. Myriad thoughts oozed out of her mind as she continued to climb. Hands planted to the sides. Feet braced against the steel. Inching like a spider. Crawling like a worm. No longer human, but esper, expected to make decisions mercilessly, unkindly, against terrors the human mind had feared as merely the stuff of delusion and nightmare. She climbed, for what could she do but climb? Compressed into this space with only one way out, her melodies muted in the sheer worthlessness of her notes, she could only struggle. Struggle, until finally, she wormed her way out of the chute, collapsing upon wine-red carpets. A hallway. In the distance, the battle raged still, but she could not hear the voices of her allies. No Breacher with sharp commands. No Leroux with a battlecry. No Wukong with a snappy pun. No Silhouette with verbose observations. No Valkyrie with deadpan facts. Was it distance? Or was it demise? She stumbled, step by step, approaching the heat and the light, the flames and the fight, until finally… Orion was on the second floor. The foyer. Off to the side, she saw the massive painting of Justin von Carnage, depicted in hateful elegance, his imperious countenance as immaculate and inhuman as expected. Beneath the open hands he posed in the picture, fountains of blood were installed, ever-flowing, flanked by torch-bearing suits of armor. The second floor was untouched by the carnage below, the only stains the ones left in Orion’s own wake. Did that monster rest soundly at night, knowing that just two stories below, indescribable human suffering occurred? Was that what [i]allowed[/i] him to rest so well? But the mission, the mission was what mattered. She had only a small part to play. She would not be the one to rip out the vampire’s heart from his chest, to watch him suffer before extinguishing his miserable existence for all of eternity. She was still only a trainee of an agent, the potency of her magic the only thing that was good about her, and even then, she could only muster one melody. A single spell to critically affect the circumstances, from an Esper that none below were aware of. Jacqueline laid, guts splayed. Lilliah struggled, burning alive. Su and Silmeria tensed, calculating and deciding. Samuel could not be seen, could not be spotted. This was where Fate converged. This was where Fate diverged. And in Ashley’s hands, laid the power to shape Tomorrow. [hider=Map] [url=https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rIkMeqN0k9T6nbsSVNhOE_Ck95jw9t5KnCIfnjUpDn0/edit#slide=id.p]Floor 1[/url] [/hider] [hr] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oMNwI4Gyq0][img]https://i.imgur.com/rtlB6LL.png[/img][/url] [sub][@OwO][@mantou][@ERode][@Majoras End][/sub] Nothing is quite as raw as the untempered emotion of youth. With his life on the line, as well as that of the other freelancers and Betty, he chose to remain, even with her greatsword coming for his head. He ducked under the blade just in time for it to pass. The blade sliced through Jane’s back, opening her up and severing her spine in one swing. Her warm blood fell on Finn like rain. [b]”Such barbaric weapons...“[/b] was all she got out before toppling forward. But the boy’s focus wouldn’t let him react to it. Not her words or her crimson that stained his shirt. He sprinted forward with Klava at his side. But she was not here to help him rush down Betty. As he ran, she slid, and Klava did little more than issue the boy a warning before sliding past his target. But with Betty’s swing concluding, and Finn closing the distance, what would happen next? There were many online debates about swords. If one or two-handed weapons are better, and if an anime greatsword could be viable in a fight. Most of these were perpetuated by fantasy and RPG fans with little experience, but medieval reenactors and historians mostly agreed on these points. Two-handed swords were almost always superior to their one-handed counterparts. While heavier, the extra hand on the hilt gave you much more leverage over your sword, which allowed for faster and stronger attacks. Many medieval armies gradually shifted to using two-handed weapons as armor improved and the need to carry a shield was lessened. One-handed blades were employed by light infantry units in Europe, and saw a lot of use as self defense weapons. Larger swords were considered too dangerous to allow for civilians to use, and were generally restricted to the military. But that didn’t mean that one-handed blades were strictly inferior. When breaching a castle or clashing with an enemy army, sometimes shorter blades were employed. Bigger weapons were only more viable when you had the room for them. Finn understood this, and raced to close the distance. Betty didn’t have a standard great sword. It was among the longest, comparable to a Scottish claymore or German zweihander. Even if her hand position gave her some leverage, it wasn’t clear if she would be fast enough to counter. Perhaps the outcome would be determined by the esper’s individual abilities and tactics rather than their weapon choice. Finn’s melody allowed him to pop up and thrust at Betty, but his targets were limited. He didn’t want to mortally wound her, which made a lot of areas off limits. The head, torso, and upper legs were all filled with essential organs that could be fatal if punctured. But the intent was to knock her down, so he started with a thrust to her shin. But Betty’s swing had concluded, and she was ready to move. Betty slid her leg back, almost showing Finn her profile as he thrust. One of her hands ran up the back of her sword as the side of the blade dropped in front of Finn’s attack. Her sword did not budge when it was struck by Finn’s rapier. His next attack, and the attack after that, and even the one after that, they would be stopped by Betty’s massive blade every time. Even when he went to get around her sword, she was able to move it just in time to deflect the incoming attack. But Betty was not merely defending herself, she was preparing a counter attack. Black spores swirled around Betty as she prepared a melody of her own. By the time Finn had noticed it was happening, it activated. Betty hopped into the air and was shoved towards Finn. He had just enough time to bring up his blade before she smashed into him. His indestructible rapier kept her blade out of his innards, but the two of them were flying towards Bob. Klava was oblivious to what was going on behind her, and between being slippery and moving at high speed, she couldn’t have stopped if she wanted to. She would be contending with Red shortly. Red launched a fireball at the fast approaching esper, who leapt over her fireball with grace. While Klava flipped through the air, Red pulled a dagger from her waist band and prepared to fight. Many would question her choice to stand her ground, but Red was fighting on behalf of all her siblings. Though determination and fervor could not substitute skill and power. Red was little more than a young woman with a knife, while Klava was a mighty esper. On Klava’s second rotation, she managed to throw Red’s knife out of her hand, and then delivered a swift stroke to the woman’s neck. Red clutched her throat with her hand, but it did little to stem the flow of blood. She sank to the floor while Klava aimed her knife at her target. She had no need to prepare her melody because she prepped it on the way over. She planned this. She would not miss. But then why was Gunther smiling? Just as Klava called out her attack, just as azure frost left her fingers, the burning barrel that she had blocked earlier flew in front of her target. The keg detonated from the impact, quenching the burning fluid trapped inside. This revealed a stray spirit, which promptly flew into the barrel Klava was hiding behind. Something that Klava had not been privy to was Gunther’s abilities. He entered the fight late, and his powers were never explicitly revealed to her. When she created her perfect approach to eliminating him, she hadn’t seen how his fearsome magic operated. While he had three spirits tied up fighting her companions, she had opted to change her strategy and allow Jane to die at the hands of Betty’s sword. While this did take Jane out of the picture, it gave Gunther plenty of time to prepare a defense for her eventual attack. He had seen her skate by, and simple logic dictated she had to come out the other side. That was especially true with Bob stomping his way in that direction. Perhaps he didn't know she would attack him, but that hardly mattered when Gunther was going to strike first. No time to dodge, not even enough time to think, the barrel slammed into Klava and carried her through the air and into a stone wall. Much like last time, the giant keg wasn’t able to build up too much speed. All of her fractures were made worse, but that wasn’t all. The barrel started to spin in her lap. The wood texture was abrasive, and the spaces between the boards on the keg acted like a grinder, which tore into her with every pass. It cut through her clothes, it peeled at her flesh, a slick note wasn’t going to get her out of this one. Klava had failed to assassinate Gunther, and would need to return [i]now[/i]. But she wasn’t the only one gunning for him. Apollo had positioned himself on top of the kegs and sneaked up on his opponents. Sure enough, Gunther was there, his attention wholly devoted to the previous assassin. It was going to take quite a shot to get a projectile seven meters and have it fall onto Gunther, but at least there was no reason for him to move out of the way. Room was limited, but he did his best to get the projectile to fly down the passageway and hit Gunther’s head. He watched as the ball of light soared outwards. It had cleared Klava’s iceberg when Gunther could feel the sun’s rays on his back. He turned his head just in time to see… Impact. A pyromancer’s arm had been sliced by a ray of light, causing his left forearm to fall to the floor. Brown clutched his stump and growled. Apollo had correctly assumed that nobody could see through the giant cracked iceberg. What he hadn’t taken into account was that the pyromancers on the other side would be paying special attention to it. Billy was a monster strong enough to contend with Justin himself, and his punches were strong enough to fracture icebergs. His southern accent might have been funny to the freelancers, but to the pyromancers, there was a demon on the other side of the ice, and he’d break through any second. As soon as Brown saw a strange light, he did everything in his power to protect Gunther. Even sacrificing his own arm. [b]”Oh sweetheart! Are you alright?“[/b] Gunther’s eyes surveyed his surroundings. [b]”Just keep my siblings' souls close!“[/b] Brown growled through his teeth. [b]”Shit!“[/b] Meanwhile, Finn and Betty flew towards Bob. As soon as Finn’s back collided with the brute’s metal body, Betty’s knee slammed into his gut. His sword was still held in front of him, but he was delaying the inevitable at this point. It was hardly a deadlock. Betty not only had the heavier weapon, but seemed to have the greater amount of physical strength. Their faces were inches apart. Finn could see the madness in her eyes, he could feel her breath on his face. [color=ade81b]”You just don’t know how to make good decisions, do you?“[/color] Bob groaned. Not like a human groans, but like steel groans when it moves. Its vision was cast on Jane’s lifeless body. Bob hadn’t taken a single step after she was slain. Was it sad? Was it going to fight Betty over an accidental, if careless and unnecessary attack that could have been avoided? Maybe if Bob was human. But Bob was a machine. As complex as its comeback algorithm was, it had a simple program to run in the event of Jane’s death. And in situations like this, who would Jane blame for her imminent demise? What order would she give the creation that would most certainly outlast the aging alchemist? [b]”INITIATING_ANNIHILATION_PROTOCOL!“[/b] Bob clapped its hands at its sides. [b]”PURGING_VICINITY_OF_ALL_VAGRANTS! TEN…NINE…EIGHT…SEVEN…“[/b] In the next aisle over, Finn could hear Gunther command his allies. [b]”I got this ya cutie-patooties! Fall back to the break room and the rest of us will see about holding them here!“[/b] Betty grit her teeth. [color=ade81b]”See what I mean? Dumbass…“[/color] Betty hopped backwards while pulling her sword against herself. This caused the edge of her blade to sink into Finn’s shoulder as she hopped backwards. Afterwards, she ran for the staircase at the end of the hall, passing the occasional glance over her shoulder. But it only took her a few seconds to vanish as fast as she had come. Red had come back from the dead to cover her escape. She brandished her dagger and shambled towards Finn. He could blink past her easily enough, but then he would be alone again, way too far ahead for his allies to assist him. He needed to decide how badly he wanted to keep Betty in his sights. Gunther slinked into the wall while Black and Brown made a beeline for the exit. Even as the glacier crumbled behind them, they didn’t look back. It seemed like the enemy forces had retreated, but there was still so much going on. As soon as Billy stumbled through what remained of the ice. He caught a glimpse of the “spirit golem” that had surfaced. Only now that it had moved through a lake of fire, its body was wreathed in magical flames. Billy looked to Apollo and pointed at the burning abomination while stepping away from it. It only grew bigger as it pulled more puddles of wine into itself. [color=lightgray]”Got anythin’ for this?”[/color] Though Apollo would notice that the area he was laying in had gotten a bit more tight, as Klava was now resting on his backside. Bloodied, battered, with the skin on her stomach and thighs stripped away. She had made use of his ass to move to safety. And in all the chaos, Protector regained her composure and continued to fight. An esper was not protected from their own AoE note, and Protector was in the middle of hers once it triggered. Perhaps a display of self mutilation was supposed to ease her mind after her earlier actions. Regardless, espers are resilient to the effects of the arcane. Her body was spiked all over by her magic, but so were her opponents. Moreover, the swing of her spear was something that was directed straight at the animated corpses. Without heads, they were still able to move, but without legs, it was less effective to do so. Their spirits were no longer confined to just their bodies, however. With their old forms minced, their souls sought out the barrels that lined the walls. They split up to pick an isle, and then floated in space, gently tumbling in the air. [color=75c159]”Protector!”[/color] Tetrad chirped before approaching the knight. [color=75c159]”I’m going to break that barrel, but then we need to run past it, alright? Who knows where the next one’s going to come from.”[/color] Once Tetrad was sure she had Protector’s attention, she tossed a card at the floating keg. It managed to wedge itself inside the barrel and shove it into the whole wall of them. It wasn’t the sort of destructive “boom” that most other melodies had, but it was enough to open the barrel up and dump the wine out. It wouldn’t be nearly as bad if the barrel came their way. [color=75c159]”Run for it!”[/color] And so, the scene was set. Betty and two pyromancers rushed to the next floor while Gunther’s spiritual army contended with the freelancers. Tetrad prepared to make a break for it and join up with Billy, who was confronting a burning blob of alcohol. Behind them were two young pyromancers, still too out of it to move. Ahead of them were two espers. A fair ice maiden with marred beauty, and a faceless man that had to ration his magic between healing his allies and harassing the enemy. And in the right aisle was a furious young boy with a choice to make. With every passing second, Red came closer. With every passing second, Bob got closer to detonating. It remained to be seen if the wine cellar would claim more lives before Justin appeared. Blood and wine bled into each other, and the mansion’s owner enjoyed both. [hider=Tetrad] [center] 21 | Female | Maverick | Fortune Pit Boss | Staff | Arcane | High Roller Croupier | Graceful Gambit | Gravity | Draw 4 [Weightless, Suspend], Stabilize, Damage, Push, Transplace, Extend, Heal, Zone, If: Friend, Else DAMAGE: E | SPEED: C | SENTINEL: D | 750 [Silver projectile][Push][Damage] = 72 P A I N PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: C | CHAOS: D | 344 [/center] [/hider] [hr] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Pzx1NDTtI][img]https://i.imgur.com/OYSa6cT.png[/img][/url] [sub][@The World][/sub] Marrie would have difficulty backing up with three giant green toddlers stabbing at her, but it wasn’t like she needed much room to jump off one's shield anyway. She could step over their heads if they weren’t flailing their machetties, so hopping off a goblin’s shield wasn’t too hard. Only it wasn’t quite as glamorous as she had seen in her animes/adventure flicks. The goblin lacked the upper body strength to push against Marrie’s foot, so she just sort of half trampled him when she stomped the garbage can lid into his chest. But hey, she wasn’t going to get impaled! The “archer” goblins cast aside their slingshots and pounced onto Marrie as she ran past them. one hugged each of her limbs, scratching and biting as hard as they could. more effective than stabbing with machete? Hard to say. [color=MediumAquamarine]”Yes Senator! Anything to serve our country!”[/color] Stacy picked up her leg to start marching towards Marrie’s position, but Highway to Hell opened its mouth and blasted her with a stream of acid. Her body was thrown through the air, where it smashed through the door Marrie was trying to kick down. If she had been just a few more inches to the left… Regardless, the path ahead appeared to be really wet, and narrow when compared to the open cavern. Before long, the remaining goblins ran in after it, not wanting to suffer the wrath of the demonic snake at their heels. They picked up Stacy’s body and started to run deeper into the tunnel with it. It was at this point that Marrie noticed the body was missing something. [color=MediumAquamarine]”Armstrong!”[/color] A bodiless head called out to Marrie. [color=MediumAquamarine]”Ya gotta help me!”[/color] It seemed that Stacy was still able to move her limbs, but was having difficulty orienting herself without her head. The massive serpent was upon them now, however, and it was poised to strike. Would Marrie attempt to recover Stacy’s head, or would she use the distraction to retreat further into the tunnel?