Rurik Alexeev
Kath glanced at Thobias as he appeared through the portal. He knew the boy from family dinners where his father and her parents would bring the kids. They’d play together, but those times were gone. None of them were as charming and cute as they were before, and their parents hardly find use for them in meetings. Not like they’d wanna go either way. She flinched at Thobias’s remark, and her rage got a new meaning when she saw him peeking at her sister’s pants. It was Christine’s fault for not wearing even a bloody skirt, but this didn’t give Thobias a damned right to peek at em. “Argh, why you bastard. If you like the color so much, I’ll sear your tongue black for those words once I’m finished with Rurik!” She turned back to Rurik once again, ready to come to blows. “It’s time to dance. I’ll break you into the rhythm.”
Rurik’s face actually went a little pale at Christine’s “encouragement.” It seemed she would be no help at the moment, and somehow he just couldn’t bring himself to ask for help more directly. Although, how did one get more direct than “help me?” Oh well…
Rurik faced off against Katherine. It seemed he had no choice. But he could always try to be “diplomatic.” He held up his hands, as if trying to ward off a hungry dog. His palms felt like they were being sunburnt.
“Look, Katherine, is this really necessary?” Of course it wasn’t, but it was going to happen anyway. Any hope of calming her down had fled thanks to Thobias’s little stunt, not that there’d had any to begin with. That said, maybe he could buy an extra few seconds to charge up some extra potent bolts. “I mean, really? Beating up your sister’s boyfriend in front of her? Not a good look, especially for a high-class lady such as yourself.” Lady was really stretching it. “Also… I’m just really sick of hearing about it from you.” His expression hardened suddenly. That had been enough time.
BLAM-BLAM!
Bolts away.
Rurik’s little speech had left Kath only more eager to beat him to submission. She was ready to jump any second, waiting for the right moment. She knew Rurik wouldn’t be so stupid as to talk to her in such a “friendly manner” without a plan, so when he shot the bolts it came as no surprise. Kath dashed to the side, evading one of the bolts but having to block one with her arms. It stung, but the adrenaline numbed the pain into oblivion. “That’s it, you’re finished.”
Kath closed the gap between them with a quick hop, immediately followed by a sidekick from her right leg, sweeping it in front of her.
Rurik grimaced at how quickly she'd closed the gap. Clearly he should have made stronger bolts.. When on the warpath, Kath was basically a force of nature. Also, it was unbearably hot being that close to her. Gross. He ducked under the kick and rolled backwards to clear some distance again, all the while charging up more energy. He was going to need multiple direct hits to even slow her down.
Actually, just firing off bolts was probably a waste of energy. He took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it due to the burning sensation it caused in his lungs. That said, he, perhaps surprisingly, stopped and stood still, arms up in a defensive posture. He was normally not known for one to stand and fight, especially against someone like Kath, but in this dilapidated hallway, he had little choice…
Thobias who had been observing the events so far, and also mourning the loss of a perfectly good afternoon, stepped forward, putting his hands on Rurik’s shoulder. It took quite an effort to walk up to him, as the stream of heat coming from Kath was mind-numbingly effective as a deterrence. But Thobias wasn’t gonna let his schoolmate become a punching bag for an Abigail, no matter how strong he was. “You're gonna want to close your eyes.” Thobias watched as Kath readied for a punch, her furious gaze burning with otherworldly fire. Must’ve had a rough day. Kath usually doesn’t go into full gear, because of certain disadvantages. But when she does, she’s a terrible nemesis, with unmatched speed and power. Too bad Thobias had a reaction time like no other. “Toodles darling.”
Before Kath’s punch could reach them, Thobias teleported across the hallway nonchalantly, bringing Rurik along with him. The temperature here in the turn was much more bearable, almost cold compared to Kath’s burning aura. “Rurik I’ve a plan to cool this hothead down, but I need you to distract her while I conjure another portal. That okay?”
Meanwhile Kath turned around, fixated on getting the better of the two. “You’re not gonna get away with this Thobias.” Her face was calm, but her eyes spelled fury. She put her palms together and channeled her inner fire into them, releasing it as a beam of plasma spiraling towards Rurik and Thobias.
“Is pissing people off your specialty or something?!” Rurik exclaimed, not that he was one to talk…
Rurik’s face was more serious than normal, but not in the “I’m into this fight” sort of way. It was more of a “I’m stressed and feel like I’m about to die” sort of way. He had no choice now but to throw up his shield. The plasma beam reflected off, arcing through a wall and tearing a charred gash into it and probably igniting any furniture on the other side. Kath was gonna burn the place down around them at this rate. He had to shut off the beam and fast.
He grit his teeth. Shield or not, the heat from the beam of plasma was penetrating the shield and threatening to melt the skin from his palms. He angled the beam back towards Kath, directing it right at her face. He didn’t expect it to hurt her, but hopefully it would distract her or throw her off balance. It’d definitely blind her if nothing else…
The searing plasma directed back at her didn’t exactly please Kath. by the time it reached her it was mostly dissipated, but it was still as if someone blew wind in your face. It didn’t hurt her, but it was annoying enough for her to care. She turned her head away first, but it was no use: the stream of heat was messing up her focus. Beside, she felt as her temperature was seeping away slowly. She pulled her palms away from each other to stop the beam.
Kath turned back, frowning in anger and biting her lower lip. She shook her arms, approaching Rurik with slow steps. “Now you’ve really pissed me off.” Her steps left charred marks on the floorboards, and her shirt and skirt waved around like flags in the wind. That was when she had noticed: her shirt began to slowly peel away from the heat.
Stupid fabric. She’d have to finish this quick or else she’d be naked as a firstborn by the time it is over. Her rational self cried out, hoping that it would stop the pointless rage. But there was no response. As she inched closer to Rurik and Thobias, her steps became faster and faster until she was running straight at them.
Thobias wasn’t quite done just yet. His eyes were closed and he had his mind set on a place where he wanted to portal to, but it wasn’t exactly clear. If he messes this up, he might risk not being able to surprise Kath again. It seemed like she was focused on Rurik for the moment, but who knows when her tantrum will turn against him. He opened his eyes and spotted Kath running towards them, fists ready to break bones. “Couple more seconds Rurik, and I’ll cool her down.”
Rurik took a moment to enjoy the slightly cooler air before Katherine began her charge once more. He rolled his eyes at Thobias’s words. Yeah, sure, he’d just go ahead and continue doing everything. Whatever he was planning had better work.
Rurik sighed as Kath closed in. He really hated using his Burst. He hardly ever did. Hell, most people didn’t even know about it. It wasn’t that it was hard to do, so much as it was just annoying. It required him to, you know, actually move. But standing still was sort of an extremely terrible idea right now.
He decided to compromise. As Kath’s first punch flew, he used a sort of “mini-burst” and he was able to quickly lean out of the way. To an observer, it looked like he just had really, really good reflexes. Thanks to Bak, he actually kinda did, but they weren’t that good. At his normal speed, Katherine would have torn him apart at that range.
And so it went for the next punch, and the one after that, and even a kick or two. He should have done this the last time he fought her, it would have hurt less…
That said, she was a much better fighter and-
“Fu- OW!” Rurik stumbled. She hadn’t hit him dead on, but her fists were so damn hot that just a graze across his cheek hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. Well, that was fine, he hadn’t been planning on just dancing around with her. It was hard to do while constantly expending energy on his bursts, but he’d been gathering up one more attack all the while. He let the next attack come and he spun around past her to end up behind her.
He aimed his palm at her back and unleashed. KA-BANG! It sounded more like a gunshot this time, an overcharged bolt that had lost all stability and just exploded out as a torrent of raw energy. After barely two feet it would have lost most of its punch, but he was a lot closer to her than that…
Punch after punch, Kath had finally managed to hit Rurik. A simple graze is all, but the smell of burnt skin reinforced her resolve. Each punch grew more and more powerful as her heat sapped by the beam returned to her. Rurik couldn’t possibly hold up against her much longer. She launched her elbow towards Rurik, hoping for a quick knockout, but the he dodged out of the way, right around to her back. Kath spun on her heels, hoping to connect another punch, but a powerful blast interrupted her, throwing her backwards.
She had felt something hit her, but she blanked out from the force of the blast, coming to lying on the ground. Or was it? For a moment she totally forgot about Thobias, but she could definitely hear his groan of pain. She located the source of the sound quickly: the blast had thrown her into Thobias, who was now lying beside her. And looking at her.
“Oh, hey Kath.” Thobias wasn’t prepared for Rurik’s move, and when Kath bumped into him it threw him off balance. So there he was now, burning heat in his side, face-to-face with Kath as they both lied on the creaking wooden floor. He waved with his hand, and then blinked away just in time to avoid a nasty punch aimed at his head. He re-appeared behind Rurik with a frown on his face. “Rude, Kath, I took you for an elegant woman. Perhaps you need some medicine to calm you down?”
Kath stood up slowly, both her body and fist leaving marks on the floorboard. She felt blood in her mouth and on her lips. He couldn’t quite protect herself from the blast, but her body handled the sudden acceleration well, draining from her power to shield herself. She swiped the back of her hand along her mouth, cleaning it from blood. After a moment of silence she turned away and spit out some blood on the floor. “The only remedy I need is for you to shut up.”
Once again, she began to approach Rurik, her hands raised in front of her like in the ring. This time, she wasn’t messing around.
Thobias knew this well too, so he decided it was best to fall back and let the two lovebirds fight it out. With a quick blink he appeared next to Christine, enjoying the company of the pretty girl and the cool, fresh air that her body radiated outwards. He was so close to finding the right position for his portal when Rurik’s reckless assault made Kath bump into him. This time, he’ll be staying behind.
Lise and Andreim
Lise shivered. ‘Just how close is he to me? What about personal space?!’ Andreim was close enough that she could feel his breath on her ear. She shook her head, reorganizing her thoughts that had been scrambled from the sudden contact. Lise had seen enough of the the fight to understand the situation now. The team seemed pretty scattered, so at this point the best option was to stick to the plan. Which was going up a level, after Samoth. However, she had a more elegant solution to ascending than Andreim had considered. It wasn’t really anything he could be blamed for, after all, a commoner probably wouldn’t consider the unique benefits of having domestic servants. Lise nodded to one of her shadow maids, and with a single movement the maid scooped her up in a princess carry. “I’m going now, Andreim.” Lise remarked with a wave. The shadowy servant took off in a run, bounding up through the hole in the ceiling.
"I'll be right with you." Andreim gave her in reply.
'Fate has guided me to you and with you I will be… until my dying day.'
Andreim thought to himself as he watched as Lise was lifted up to what he hoped was a safer place. Samoth better not screw around up there or there would be pain to be had.
The shadowy servant which Lise had commanded to carry her up had left Andreim with some admiration of her being a capable princess, he also realized he had unwittingly underestimated her and he was disgruntled by that.
Though even more so he wished he was that shadow servant carrying her!
The battle was going on furiously on behind them, Katherine, whilst powerful had a limit to her power. Especially when facing off against three of the school of Mephisto.
They had to hurry to get up behind them in order to pin them in. Hopefully Samoth would get there first and deal with them. Whilst there was prestige in beating these ruffians, whom he himself would had been part of, would fate have dealt him a different hand.
My main objective has been and still is to safeguard Liselotte.
"Hold on for a little bit longer, Katherine!" Andreim yelled as he moved over to where his water powers were and then he lifted himself to the floor above to stand next to Lise. Looking to her.
"W-we've gotta go and catch up with Samoth. He must have already went down. Stick close to me okay? We cannot waste time with anyone else on this floor unless we have to or Katherine will be in trouble... more trouble. We cannot help others before we help ourselves to where we need to be. Let’s go."
Rurik sighed, he’d thought Thobias had a better reaction-time than that, but it was what it was now. Unfortunately, that meant he had to distract Katherine… again. She was advancing, but not as quickly this time, but she looked a lot more serious now. He wasn’t sure what level of anger and malevolence lay beyond “murderous psycho rage,” but he didn’t want to find out.
He held his hand out like a claw and unleashed a barrage of small bolts from his fingertips, like a battery of machine-guns. They barely held the force of a rubber-bullet, and Kath was more resilient than the average person, but he didn’t need to hurt her, just slow her movements and make her an easy target. Of course she’d push through, but if she was pushing through, then she wasn’t charging through...
Kath approached Rurik with slow steps, designing a plan of attack in her head. With each and every step, a clearer image formed in hear head. An infallible plan that would Rurik out of commission before Thobias could help him. The closer she got, the more projectiles Rurik launched at her. She raised her hands in front of her to shield herself from the weak attacks. Each of them stinged ever so slightly, but they were barely enough to affect her. She kept pushing on, her steps creaking on the decrepit wooden floor…
Rurik timed it carefully. The next indomitable footfall from the burning girl hit the floor. Rurik quickly took aim with his other hand and fired a full-sized bolt-
CRACK One of Rurik’s stronger projectiles hit the ground below her, and the old flooring gave in, her lug plummeting a few inches before it hit the concrete base. “Dammit you obnoxious dick!” She swore at Rurik as she tried to force her leg out. Pipes, cables and broken wood were all in the way, so she tugged her leg harder and harder. The floor creaked, and was starting to give away.
“Are you freaking ready yet?!” Rurik shouted over his shoulder to Thobias. Kath wouldn’t let even that stop her for more than a few seconds. She’d soon tear herself free and Rurik was running out of ideas…
Thobias just watched as the floor gave away below Kath, her leg disappearing ankle high in the opening. He glanced at Rurik with an unamused face, putting on a rather nonchalant expression. “Yes, I’m freaking ready if you’re so interested.” He messed around with his shirt for a second, straightening it slowly. Upsetting Rurik was a paramount goal of this maneuver. In fact, I’ve been ready for some time. Didn’t want to interrupt your fun with Kath.” He winked at Rurik and then focused his attention back at Kath. Damn, she was almost out of the hole. “I’m sorry Kath, I’ll buy you a coffee or something after this.”
He’d had a pretty clear idea from the beginning on what he wanted to do against Kath. It took him one “cool down” pun to realize that it was exactly what he was gonna do. When he was small, he would spend a month or two every summer at his summer’s lakeside cottage. Nice big lake in the mountains and a cozy cottage. More like a mansion, but that’s not important here. Important thing was that the lake was fed by a glacier. Cold AF, Thobias already learned not to jump in it back then. He’d show Kath what he learned. He focused on the ice cold lake’s surface, and a portal begin to manifest itself it. He could feel the cold surge of water enter the dimensional weave. And the other end? He opened his eyes and made sure it was placed right above Kath.
The rumbling sound of water filled the hallway as hundreds of litres of water came falling through the portal, chilling the air and cooling down Kath. At first it was steamy, but then the bubbling ended and the air definitely cooled down. Thobias left the portal open for another second and then closed it to stop the water flow. Where Kath was previously stuck in her otherworldly rage, she now laid on the floor absolutely drenched in cold water. She looked absolutely different from the girl that was standing in her place a mere 10 seconds ago. She almost looked defenseless. Almost. Thobias turned to Rurik, a gleeful smile on his face, his hands on his hip. “How ‘bout that. I’m sure that cooled her head. I hope it was a chilling experience.”
“Yeah, it was real… cool.” Rurik hated himself for falling into that pun, but it was too late. Ugh, his socks were wet now. But there was one last thing to do. Just before the portal had dumped half a lake on them, he’d seen one of the St. Laurel’s students jump to the third floor. And, judging by the footsteps he heard above them, they were just about right over their heads. Rather, more importantly, over Katherine’s head.
Thing was, Rurik wasn’t sorry, and he wouldn’t be buying her any coffee, “Not a good look for you Kath. I think you could use a friend or two!” He was, however, a rather spiteful person when properly incensed. He aimed his hands up at the ceiling over Kath and… let out an annoyed sigh. She wasn’t moving. Thobias hadn’t just put her out, he’d knocked her out.
Rurik grit his teeth. Kath had been a thorn in his side ever since he’d met Christine. He wanted to teach her a lesson, but not like this. Just Christine’s name passing through his head set him straight. He remembered she was right there. Fine, he’d behave.
A little. He pulled some loose change out of his pocket and scattered it across the floor between him and Kath. The students above had now passed over Kath… and right above his little trap. He unleashed hell. Bolt after bolt, like a hole-punch. Up above, it would have been chaos. The floor suddenly exploding, splintered wood filling the air.
One particularly intrepid bolt may have even made its way up Lise’s dress… only to rip its way free, tearing mercilessly through the fabric.
Thobias rolled his eyes as he saw the bolts fly up. Splinters flew around the hallway, and after one of them hit his face, he felt bad for Kath. She was already KO’d, no need to make his drenched clothes get full of sawdust. In the blink of an eye Kath disappeared from her previous spot, and was now in Thobias’s arm who was carrying her. He walked up to Christine. “I believe this angry twin sister belongs to you.” He put her down gently on the floor next to Christine and then walked back to Rurik.
Meanwhile, the floor above buckled and groaned, already beginning to give way and start its tumble down. With a final bolt smashing through the last, stubborn support beam, the section of floor opened up, depositing students and debris back onto the second floor.
Rurik stared down at them, his annoyance with how the day was going clear for all to see. He lifted his hand and gave them a quick wave, “Bye.” He still needed to take his frustration out on someone.
BA-BANG-BOOM! the coins he’d thrown earlier detonated, pulverizing the floor beneath them. Oh, they weren’t just going back one step, but two. At the very least now Clara couldn’t tell him he hadn’t pulled his weight.
“Ugh, the next fights are yours, Christine. I’m tired,” Rurik groaned. “Thobias, do your teleport-y thing and get us out of here. I don’t feel like jumping.” He pointed up at the hole he'd just made in the ceiling. The imps were still out there somewhere, and Christine's wall probably wouldn't last forever.
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