[img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/59130ec9-ed14-4987-990a-43bfc6f37c8a.png[/img] [@Ponn][@Majoraa][@ERode] The school girls were almost evacuated, the threats were dwindling. Ashley was asked to clear the way, and she obliged with a crack of neon green energy. It took a moment to wind up, but it was nothing the drunken cowboys were going to see coming anyway. It flew over one’s shoulder and landed in a cluster of them before detonating. The release of energy was enough to sear the flesh. They hollered and hooted, tumbling out of the ball of green light as smoke rose up from their bodies. Some weren’t moving, some writhed in pain. The way was clear. Naturally, the highschoolers could barely fathom what was going on around them. Had that weird cosplayer just thrown a molotov? Was that kid holding a chainsaw? Why were those furries trying to tie up the business woman? Would their friend survive being struck in the side of the head with a hammer? There was almost too much to process, to the point that they barely reacted when Finn swooped to their side and ushered them through the group of smoldering cowboys. [b]”Omigosh! I think he touched me!”[/b] But she didn’t stop moving. Even if they couldn’t understand the situation, they knew it was one they didn’t belong in the middle of. The diner seemed like it was starting to calm down. The Cowboys were down to seven or eight scattered members and must have realized they were way out of their fucking element. The two that remained near Ashley had taken a step back and looked like they might be considering the door. There were an equal number of the more powerful dryads, but some of their members had become quite exhausted from having their mana burned. Surely between their backup and with most of the teenagers being out of there soon, they wouldn’t be hard to deal with. This just left the shadow wizard money gang, who were in the middle of casting a spell. While Ashley had called for having the wizards neutralized Estelle decided on a more diplomatic approach. It was impossible to see what was going on under those dark hoods of theirs, as only a pair of glowing yellow eyes were visible. What was visible was the growing fireball, and the shield they were erecting to protect themselves from its detonation. But was this a surprise? Ashley had just called to have them taken out, there was a chainsaw wielding emo among them, and someone was shooting spells through the windows. Even the dryads beside Estelle stopped attacking when they realized they were all going to be incinerated. This gave Estelle enough time to call out to the remaining girl, who was stubbornly looking at Dante. [b]”I know Amanda’s back there!”[/b] She pointed behind him. [b]”What are you doing with her?”[/b] [b]”I don’t have time for you.”[/b] He didn’t wait for her to respond. He swung his hammer at the side of her head, and she stumbled into the wall. Sand poured out of her face before she sunk to the ground. [b]”Where was I?”[/b] In a flash, he charged towards Finn and sifted through everything in his way. Countertops, overturned tables. None of it stopped him before he arrived at the boy’s position. Finn was able to get his sword up just in time to deflect it, but he stumbled backwards from the attack. While he was reeling, Dante stomped his foot into the floor, and it came out from under Ashley, kicking one of her feet out from under her. He then yanked his foot out of the tile floor and swung his massive hammer at her. It looked like he was going for a [i]very[/i] wide swing. Violet kneeled on the ground and placed her staff across her lap. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if deep in meditation. Then nothing happened. Though the school girl that was beside the counter started to stand back up again. Her eyes were closed, but she was grumbling something. [b]”Amanda…Is in the caffeine… The coffee shop… I’m coming.”[/b] Using the countertop for support, she started to walk towards the exit. But she wasn’t going to make it out before that fireball went off. Estelle hadn’t seen a lot of fireballs, and couldn’t correctly guess how much stronger a level four fireball was when compared to a level three. But this one was as tall as a man and looked like a small scale sun. The heat was drying out her skin just standing next to it. The three mages had closed themselves in a shield just as the fireball was launched. There was no way to tell exactly how destructive it was, but that didn’t matter. Even if there was no good place to direct the fireball, she [i]could[/i] try to minimize the damage. But what was the best thing to do with it? While Dante seemed unbothered by the ball of fire, the other bikers were scrambling. Some ran to take cover behind overturned tables or to flee out the front door. [hr] [img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/49e43850-6b94-4e43-94d0-440214371bfb.png[/img] [@The World][@Nakushita][@TaintedMushroom][@FamishedPants] Regardless of what was trying to bring Justin down, he decided he needed to go up. Just up. Not left, not right, but up. Up above the danger, up above the chaos. If the ground was going to get sliced up by some unseen swordsperson, he was going to fly up above. He’d worry about getting down later. His legs weren’t going to take any of Sovereign's bullets, but he might get a fracture or two if he didn’t have a plan for the landing. At least some of the gunmen had lifted their barrels at the suddenly airborne target. Well, that was more fortunate for the people down below. For Justin, this wasn’t looking too good. Getting down safely was starting to look a bit more difficult. Marrie also needed to escape a dangerous situation, but she decided to go about things in an entirely different manner. For one, she was going to remain on the ground, and two, she was going to change the trajectory of the threat rather than the target. After shaking off her minor panic attack, she threw a melody into the smoke. The idea was to clear out the smoke, but it didn’t really have that effect. Magic was bullshit, and that was just as true for enemy espers as it was for her. The smoke screen lightly dispersed in the path of her melody, but the rolling fumes were quick to return to their shape moments later. It was no more effective than fanning the air with a pingpong paddle. Even when the melody activated, the swirling winds weren’t quite strong enough to disperse the smoke. It thinned them a bit, but it was still difficult to see the nun hiding within. However, when the nun fired a bolt of smoke at Marrie while she retreated, it veered off course and missed its target. At the very least, aiming would be a bit more difficult. Marrie made her way to the giant engine where she could take cover. [b]”Ahhh… Fuckin’ brat.”[/b] Nova huffed her cigarette before pulling back into the smoke. Meanwhile, Asher was making an effort to kill some of these ugly assholes. Like many (freelance) espers, he had assumed that just because his opponents were numerous that they were merely fodder to be killed in stylish fashion. But one does not risk melee combat with a guy called “dead head” unless he has a few moves up his sleeve. The fact that he had [i]fucking cathode raytubes[/i] for eyes should have tipped off everyone that he wasn’t entirely human. Bui Asher didn’t care how human he was, he cared about how stylish he could look frying this turd. His technique was equally excessive both in how violent it would be and how much mana he would dump into the attack. Whatever didn’t get instantly incinerated was melted like cheese. His target didn’t even scream. He even had a little left over in the tank to finish off the wounded guy from earlier. [s]Usually the GM is the enemy of fun and runs a tight ship to make sure rules don’t get abused. Using a beam to hit two targets without the channel or other such note would usually be a no-go, but sometimes you gotta let the wookie win, and what would Asher be but Han Solo’s best friend? [/s] And Himiko talked some more. She also fired her guns a few times and managed to get two of the construction workers on the upper levels. The others were either hidden behind a smokescreen or were at too obtuse an angle to be fired upon properly. [center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/40b268e9-9477-4d81-97d6-81ce4b87c2d3.png[/img] [color=tomato]"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"[/color] [color=888888]— Mika Fang[/color][/center] At this stage, Mika found it easier to just let the weird golden gun lady talk. That didn’t mean she had to listen to any of it though. It was just background noise. What she had to do was stay focused on her target and make sure no other hostels got her. Lenore had just used a melody, so she didn’t have to worry about her using another one right away. Meanwhile, Mika [i]did[/i] have a melody up her sleeve. She should have the advantage in this situation. In fact, she was already preparing it while she engaged. Lenore was a good swordsman. She had her back against a wall and would lose this fight as soon as Mika got in close, but she was very good at keeping Mika just out of reach. She’d swing her sword in an arc, and then use her momentum to comb back around before she could advance. Lenore had likely fought espers for years compared to the few weeks of preliminary bootcamp Mika had. She knew she wasn’t going to beat her in straight up melee. Which was why… There! Mid swing, Mika had managed to fire a root at one of her arms, pinning it to the wall. That look on her face, she was panicking! Mika didn’t waste any time. With her opponent momentarily vulnerable, she lunge forward and- A wave of gunfire ripped through the smoke. They might not have been able to see the gunmen, but the gunmen clearly had a way to see through the smoke screen. The bullets ripped through the smoke and hit where her body was, only for her to vanish and reappear up on the balcony. [color=tomato]"Crap!"[/color] She growled before charging towards the other men on the balcony. Mika wasn’t the only one that had been fired on. The two distant gunmen on the ground floor had fired upon Asher and Himiko. While Asher was partially covered by the cat spirit, Himiko was standing out in the open. Fortunately, she hadn’t used a melody yet and might be able to defend herself before taking too much damage. As for Justin, the balcony construction workers hadn’t fired many shots before Mika charged their position. Bobo on the other hand… The end of her gun caught fire. [b]”Let’s make up for last time.”[/b] Liquid flame spewed out of the end of her gun, coating Justin’s leg. Lenore pulled a steel cylinder out of her pocket and chucked it in Marrie’s direction. It flew closer and closer to her, until it suddenly became Lenore. Meanwhile, back where Lenore had been standing, a flash bang went off that blinded any of the espers on the first floor that were thinking about returning fire. She pointed at her own eyes, then Marrie, before holding her blade in front of herself.