[center][b][h2][color=fff200]Walking Church[/color][/h2] [h3][color=7bcdc8]Noah Anderson[/color][/h3][/b][/center] Light shot out from her cross, and blood of the shadow demon splattered down upon Noah. Staining her clothing and splashing her face. The chill of it was horrible, and the wet feeling made her skin crawl. Plenty of gorey films and games had people covered in blood, and after experiencing it firsthand, Noah could safely say that she didn’t understand in the slightest how anyone could stand it. Her stomach rose to her throat for a moment, and Noah counted herself lucky that it didn’t get into her eyes. The whale demon wailed so terribly that Noah’s ears rang, but it was clearly one of pain. It had stopped where it was, no longer approaching to bite her in half. Noah’s cross swung behind her as she frantically darted out from between the jaws of the demon. At its side, Noah found one of the demon’s eyes, and without thinking, changed course. Both hands gripped her cross tightly, and with every inch of force she could muster, thrusted her spear into the eye of the demon as deep as she could manage. She didn’t dare use more magic, even in her panicked state, Noah could feel how little she had left. More of that disgusting blood would certainly coat her spear, but that was something she ignored. Her mind only cared about ending the threat to her life before her. With her cross embedded inside the demon, it would surely scream out once again, but with it blinded like this… Whether or not she stabbed deep enough to reach the brain and ensure its death wasn’t the first thing on Noah’s mind. With that sniper down, she could run over to her fellow espers and get their help without as much of an issue, or help them, if it was needed. She planted her foot on the demon, and yanked her cross back out of its eye socket. Noah held her cross behind her with one arm, and took the opportunity to run to her allies, not checking whether or not the whale demon had properly died. She had run from the whale only fast enough to see the scantily dressed swordswoman teleport away, and Noah blanched when she saw the state of the skull faced esper, her stomach rising up again. [color=yellow]“Oh my god- what happened to your arm?!”[/color] Noah nearly shouted, horrified. She couldn’t help but feel some measure of guilt, as well. Perhaps if she’d been more conservative, thought her melody usage through more, she might have enough to spare on some kind of healing for her ally… but with as little as she had left, she couldn’t afford to spare any. Whatever had gone on with his fight, it had clearly been much more difficult than her own. At least, he had survived. Raphael looked… Well, she didn’t really want to say it, since it would be a very rude thing to say about a man who, as far as Noah could tell, was very devout, but… She decided it would be best to not focus on it. Instead, at Raphael’s words, Noah’s attention was drawn upwards to the trains roaring above. She wasn’t getting a very good view from where she was, but it was pretty easy to tell which one was which, even from the bottom. One looked kind of normal, and the other was all fleshy and red. Noah was relieved, in part, but couldn’t help the dread mounting slowly in her stomach. If things had gone so sideways before they even got to play their parts in this mission, she couldn’t help but worry that things would get even worse from here. And not to mention, she was pretty close to her limit… Suddenly, an arm wrapped around Noah while she was distracted, and she found herself held in an underarm carry. [color=yellow]“... Uh...”[/color] Her cross was held awkwardly in one hand, and Noah tried to position it to not scrape off the ground. She turned her head to the side, more than a little bewildered, and she saw the skull-faced esper being held under the priest’s other arm. She blinked a few times when Raphael picked up the other freelancer's severed arm, fighting to keep her stomach under control, and then they were propelled into the sky. [color=yellow]“Whoa-!”[/color] Sudden as it may have been, Noah found the short distraction welcome. Even if the raging hurricane made it a bit difficult to appreciate the view. It kept her mind off of the last few minutes… minute? Seconds? She couldn’t tell how long that battle had gone on for. They couldn’t have been fighting for that long, but at the same time… Her eyes drifted to her cross, and her eyes widened. Red blood had mixed with the black, and it was steadily being washed away by the rain. That was right, she realized. She’d almost killed that woman, hadn’t she? She hadn’t really been thinking about where she attacked, but if she’d just aimed upward a little more… Noah swallowed, and brought her focus elsewhere. Raphael had made one heck of a leap, and they were on top of a futuristic looking train. There were a lot of espers all clustered about, and given that neither of the Black Sabbath nuns were attacking… things were probably fine here? Which was good. Raphael set her down, and she got to her feet. She watched with morbid fascination as the skull faced esper’s arm was stuck back into place with a healing melody, courtesy of Lexi. Something she wished she could’ve done, but, again, didn’t have the mana to spare… Lexi approached her, next. Noah’s face got a little red, but she was too mentally drained to have much more of a reaction than that. And, even if it was a bit strangely said, Noah did appreciate the other nun looking out for her. [color=yellow]“A whale tried to.”[/color] Noah said, a little out of breath. [color=yellow]“Didn’t let it. I think a bullet, um…”[/color] Noah checked her shoulder, and found that gash from the bullet grazing her as the battle started, still bleeding. [color=yellow]“... Yeah, a bullet caught my shoulder a little, but... I think I should be fine to fix it myself after this is all done?”[/color] It wasn’t very big, and she could probably fix it right now, but Noah just didn’t want to risk finding out she needed that little bit of mana later. Her eyes again turned towards the other unfamiliar, but not hostile, espers. [color=yellow]“Um… Looks like things went well for you guys?” [/color] [hider=Noah's Stat Block] [center] 23 | Female | Freelancer | His Guidance Five Pointed Cross | Spear | Arcane | One Sin and a Hundred Good Deeds Holy Shroud of the Unknown Saint | Consecrated Body Faith of the Transient People | Light | To Be Heard By All [Reveal (2), Purity (4)] {Damage (2), Damage X (6), Shield (4), Reflect (4), Magic Sense (4), Heal (6), Major Heal (18), Stabilize (0), Purify (6), Dispel (6), AoE (2), Full Extend (4)} DAMAGE: C | SPEED: D | SENTINEL: C | 244 PHYSICAL: E | ARCANE: A | CHAOS: B | 244 [/center] [/hider]