[IC] || The School of Death ||

[azoicsiren]

---

Rei was looking at her nails, in order to curve her impatience. Obviously more interested in her manicure cuticle, that were starting to fray, then her fellow students but Enzo words caught her interest and she looked up. Watching as his dark thoughts seeped into his smile.
A serious tone clinging to his words and it drew her interest, especially his involvement.

Icy orbs hidden behind Her Sunglasses, Watching the unfamiliar girl who walked into the kitchen and started making her breakfast. She noticed her beauty and her curves, a fit of sudden jealousy took over and she wasn't sure if she was threatened or enthralled.

Oddly enough, when she spoke, Rei found herself agreeing with her and looking back to Enzo" Despite the poor choice of words, I find demons quite fascinating. I feel to know one's enemy you must get close. As dangerous as it might be... So this is why we must go into the line of fire ourselves even if it's our lives. Someone will learn from it. Besides Enzo, You can't tell me you never enjoyed your own carnage of slaughtered demons. One cannot learn if one does not try." she sighed" Now calm yourself before you have an aneurysm"

Her eyes shifted to the mumbling student but she didn't even bother responding to his nonsense. Crossing the kitchen from the doorway over to Drakus and leaning her back against the counter next to him as he gathered ice

" Come with us... " Now leaning in to whisper

Or should I tell the story on how this small girl was able to slice that pretty little cheek of yours. The Shame that might follow. They'll all get a good laugh I'm sure "

Her smirk was almost venomous as she threatened him with embarrassment. The fact of her loss didn't bother her in the slightest. she still was able to mark him and that was a sign of weakness she could exploit to her selfish wants and what she wanted was him to accompany her to the village. After all, she did get all dolled up for it.

Slowly she reached up towards his shoulder and grabbed hold a piece of wet reed that was stuck to his shoulder and she pulled it off, revealed it to him before letting it drop into the sink. A look of disgust on her face as she wiped off the slime on his coat.

" You know maybe you shouldn't come..after all, you look....tired...I'm sure you can't handle something so trivial as an outing in the state your in " She looked away from him, disinterested at the moment:: @Dark Light@AwesomeZero5@Double Capybara@Calatrava

[Calatrava]

@azoicsiren@Double Capybara@AwesomeZero5

"Wolves and lions lack conscience and awareness," Enzo replied to Deborah with a huff. "While they are merely acting on instinct, demons fully know that, when bisected, neither human halves grow back. They know that they are killing us, and unless you deliberately threaten a wolf, you won't really be mauled. Demons on the other hand..." Her naivety really irked Enzo, and if she was comparing wolves to demons, then, it was hard for him to take her seriously.

With Rei, however, he felt a cold pang to throb his heart.

"I don't take pride or pleasure in ending the life of another," Enzo replied, taking a few steps towards Rei. "When I kill demons, I don't think of how glorious the fight was or how awesome I performed. I don't fight for glory or to prove," He shot a glare at the unfriendly, silver stallion. "That I'm better than others." Enzo grimaced before finally standing in front of Rei, onyx eyes scrutinizing her. "None of those interest me. I fight for those who cannot, for those who are not as fortunate as us, and for those who are threatened to be swallowed by the things darker than them."

While he never really knew how skilled Rei was, as a fellow legacy, he had an inkling of just how proficient she might be at the art of reaping. Aside from her peak health, she also possessed the capacity to kill without hesitation. Her eyes were like daggers, and Enzo knew that while they were both legacies, she could easily defeat him without even trying. She had the skill to back up her confidence and she did not hesitate to stain her hands.

However, she lacked empathy and kindness. Something that reapers needed but aren't taught.

"I fight for a peaceful future. One where children can live and play without fear of being torn apart." He mumbled before he backed off with a few steps. "I don't think I'll live longer, but you guys will. You might fall in love or pop out some kids, and I want to devote my efforts into creating that world for your future families. I won't have my own, but I'll damn make sure you guys can." He shook his head, resigning to the fact that these people will never understand where he's coming from. Always at the cusp of the death with every decision being a vital crucible between ruination and redemption-- he never really expected any of them to know the value and weight of life. They were all of the same age, but his years were numbered. He was forced to grow up earlier, to leave a legacy of putting others first until his beaten body could stand no longer. "That's why I don't enjoy 'my carnage of slaughtered demons'. It reminds me that peace is still so far away."

Still, he had to lighten up and shove away the melancholy when one of the newer arrivals greeted them in the kitchen. He could almost swear the guy looked like a lanky dog with its bangs too long for its face. He barely could make out the guy's eyes, and even with that, the boy's weird speaking patterns unnerved Enzo to some extent.

Strangely enough, he could feel some sort of connection with the newcomer. Whether it was because they both looked like literally one cough away from tumbling into their respective graves, Enzo could see himself in the kid. Skinny and with a posture that screamed 'put me out of my misery', the only thing they differed in was the guy's lack of an unhealthy pallor.

"Hey, there," Enzo coughed before smiling at him. "Nice to see you up. There are pancakes and eggs if you're hungry." He approached the lad before extending his hand in greeting. "Name's Enzo. I don't think I've met you before? I didn't see you during the introductions."

[Dark Light]

@azoicsiren

Combat of words
_{DRAKUS VULL}

Deflect, misdirect, retaliate, conceal injury and most importantly, never forget.
Rei was prodding open wounds with salt covered fingers. Drakus was greatly displeased with her ultimatum. If there was something he despised more than people wrongly challenging his skill or misguidedly gloating about a lack of, it was people trying to manipulate him.
Or at least thinking they could...

It irked a dark malicious rage deep within him, a vile displeasure that could not be hidden from his eyes.
It was a cold hallowed stare, one that emanated out wide and filled the air with an undeniable presence. Lesser creatures would tremble or flee, those sensitive to auras would be pained or washed over by darkness. His heart and mind truly held something unholy...
Yet he only smiled at her, it was a fake cruel smile but he held it well. Beside the glimpse at his soul through his eyes, the rest of his face remained emotionless and calm. A contradiction that only added to the eeriness of it all.

”Please, contain your emotions, your childish flirting and round about flattery won’t work with me.“
He said, voice filled with a self centred arrogance.

”I’ll come when I am ready, after all it could prove to be quite an educational opportunity, watching the Kappa devouring bone and flesh. “
A sadistic smile cracked through his blank face.
”But if you’re afraid, and just trying to egg me on as backup, don’t think for a second that my presence offers you any more assurance of safety. None of you are worth the sweat on my brow.“

[AwesomeZero5]

@Calatrava@Dark Light
Paine was unsure whether or not it was a good thing to not gather a lot of attention or a bad thing. He felt like it was probably from saying something weird, maybe he should have focused less on introductions and more on topics they were all interested in. Everyone likes to talk about demons and magic, right? At least that was his brief assumption. It was the best guess he had considering they were all in the same school for those particular topics. Well there was the topic of combating demons through other means to bring up to, but magic could definitely a big factor when it came to that.

“Oh! Hi there. Nice to see you up as well.” Pained looked toward Enzo. He looked at the rings around Enzo’s eyes. “Did you actually sleep? I don’t think I was able to get any last night. I was kind of reading too much into a bunch of transformation spells and I skimmed briefly about this demon wolf with a serpents tail and gryphon’s wings, it was really interesting to look at but there wasn’t much in its…Pancakes!.”

“Oh, sweet pancakes!” Paine would say in a sudden excitement with a large grin popping across his face. “Oh! Oh, my bad Enzo. Uuuh, no probably didn’t see me before. I was asleep for most of introductions I think, or half paying attention. Another reason why I was up all night.” Paine chuckled nervously.

Paine would try gripping onto Enzo’s hand firmly and giving it a shake. “Oh yeah! Forgot, I go by Paine for the most part. It’s spelled like ‘pain’ as in physical pain but with an ‘e’ attached to the end. Big sis had a work name too so I decided to make one. ” Paine nodded along.

“Alright, quick question if you could transform into anything using moonlight rosewater, what would it be?” Paine tried to make small talk or at least there was an attempt.

“Wait! Did someone say Kappa? Are we going to hunt Kappas today after eating pancakes? Oh heck yeah! That sounds awesome. If we’re lucky we may able to capture one or something. I think the school would be pretty happy about that for our first field trip. I’m surprised they’re taking us out in the field so early. Oh wait, it’s not a field trip is it?” Paine’s eyes would dart over to Drakus and were darting between them and the pancakes. It would probably be hard to tell considering all the messy hair in the way of Paine’s eyes.

[azoicsiren]

---

She wanted to say more to Enzo but her attentions were obviously drawn elsewhere. Besides, she seemed to piss off enough people for the day.

Her smile slowly faded as the color in Drakus eyes ignited with rage and she could feel the darkness piercing her very being.

An unfamiliar feeling to Rei since she was always the one to install dread in those around her.

His smile was more than devastating to her ego. Only a clear reminder of why she often was distant from others.

She couldn't stand to stare in his eyes any longer and looked away, uncomfortable.

Filled with instant regret of her actions. Just like himself she always had a front, Manipulation being her best tool to get closer to others at her comfort level.

If anyone else gave her this reaction she wouldn't be bothered but Drakus wasn't anyone else to her.

she actually cared about his opinion and as that realization sank in, she loathed him for it.

She tried her best to look unphased and keep it concealed but instead, something genuine came forward

" I just wanted to get to know you...Is that so wretched?... After last night I felt you were more than worthy of my affections..."

she sighed and gave a fake laugh once she realized how vulnerable she sounded and it sickened her.

" My Mistake "

Feeling rather ridiculous, she stepped away from the counter and grabbing hold of her Katana. She walks out of the kitchen, Her head held

up high as she did and out of the house. she slammed the door shut and walked quickly down the path::::
@Dark Light@Calatrava

[Dark Light]

@AwesomeZero5@azoicsiren

New pains
_{DRAKUS VULL}

Drakus didn’t understand why he was feeling frustrated after that altercation. Something about it was bugging and toying with him, confusing unfamiliar feelings that he couldn’t identify surfaced beneath his skin, unsure how else to deal with them Drakus suppressed them and painted it as hate.
That was something he could relate to, that was something he could understand.

With all the ice he could muster Drakus pushed his way past the messy haired mumbling new comer.
”Pain, how fitting. A’pain it is then, now out my way, a’pain.“
Drakus lashed out in a cruel low whisper as he made his way to his room.

While he had committed to giving up his sleep in favour of watching the others at the Kappa pond, he wasn’t about to forgo bathing. He didn’t want to travel there with them anyway, much preferring to arrive on his own time.

[azoicsiren]

---

Down the path and through the tree's Rei briskly walked. Her feet treading the ground roughly as her pace matched her anger. After twenty minutes of this, she started to calm down. The fresh air aiding in this transformation. Why was she so upset. She couldn't get over the feeling. Maybe it was the rejection. Maybe it was the hopelessness that he was able to make her feel. The darkness in his eyes..Enticing and deadly .she couldn't shake the feeling of despair. Approaching the kappa pond. She sat down on a few boulders on its outskirts. Her eyes, a looking glass, reflecting the movement of the water. She stared into it almost mindlessly before her eyes narrowed at something, The sun, directly above reflected off a small glint of metal that began to float to the top. Something Sickle shaped. Was that Drakus weapon? It surfaced and only confirmed that it was indeed his Kusarigama from the night before. Slowly It began to sink back down as if trying to lure her. She scoffed and folded her arms across her chest before slipping off the rocks and slowly approaching the pond to get a better glance. She circled the pond, pondering on how she would fish the weapon out without getting wet. After all, she didn't want to let the bastard think she cared too much about him. However, it was rather maddening to let the Kappa's take possession of it. They didn't deserve it. She sighed and looked up at the sky, tapping her fingers across her arms" fine..." she spoke to herself and started to slip off her shoes, a familiar habit. Taking off her sun hat and placing her glasses inside it. She tied her hair up into a ponytail and bounces a few times, warming up her body for the dive. Taking a deep breath she plunged headfirst into the warm, murky dark depths of the water::

@Dark Light@AwesomeZero5@Calatrava

[AwesomeZero5]

Paine didn't understand what was going on between the group, there seemed to be some sort of relationship issue. It wasn't his particular field of expertise so there was no reason to try and do much about it, it was barely the first day of school after all. He was glad to have a new friend among the group however. Even if one of them seemed to be acting a bit cold due to some relationship issues and the other seemed to be a jerk, it was better to have made one friend than none.

"Not to go to the pond or to go to the pond or to go to the pond. Not to go to the pond or to go to the pond. Well if we go to the pond we could actively be in danger, however the danger is demons. The danger kappans specifically. I want to go see a kappa, heck if we're lucky their might be a small enough kappa to try and capture. That would be pretty awesome! Although there is the risk of getting hurt."

Paine had paused only to eat the breakfast that had been sitting around, and only paused for a few minutes as he practically started to inhale the food.

"But everyone else here seems to be rather confident. Which means they're actually a bit strong or idiots, and while some of them did act like jerks that doesn't mean they're idiots. Well, sometimes it does but not a lot I don't think. They weren't a full scale dumb idiot kind of person so they're probably not. So they could probably take a Kappa with two of them at once, yeah." Paine let out a pause.

"And if anything goes wrong we can try to simply run back. Kappas have to be careful not to topple over, so all we need to do is maybe find a hill along the way or perform evasive maneuvers and be careful not to get caught. Seeing as people are already going there it's probably have a lot more strength in numbers and such than leave the alone, right?"

Paine paused to get out of a chair and put his dishes in the sink. He would wash them down and keep talking.

"Not only that, if anyone in particular is in trouble I can try helping them out. It shouldn't be too hard unless someone goes head first in the water where we have a hard time seeing them or fighting, although I don't anyone would risk that unless they're very desperate.. Cucumbers! Don't forget emergency cucumbers as back ups. It has saved a few lives when it comes to Kappas, I think or according to a bunch of reading. So yeah, it won't be too much of an issue going there."

Paine would put on their official robings rather than their pajamas, gather a few cucumbers from the fridge and head off to see some Kappas. There was bright and wide grin spreading across his face the whole while. He didn't want to get surprised attacked along the way, so he was very careful to create four thick invisible barriers around him and kept them moving along as he walked and talked. He had a bit of time to focus and create them along the way too to bolster their size, but there was still a few small gaps but the barriers generally covered the vital spots and would still stop or be in the way of most attacks

"What did school want us to do today anyways? Maybe just acquainted and used to another but this is going to be so much more fun! Plus, easier to find out how team work or balance each other out by a combat exercise. I think."

"Hi there I'm here to check out th-"

Paine would arrive probably a moment before Rei dived into the water. His rather excited and happy face from a second ago would change to a degree of worry and horror as Rei dived in. This, this may be an issue. He certainly hoped she new what she was doing, or maybe had some cool water based ability in which she had the advantage in. Maybe she was a water bender and could easily tear apart everything inside and could see under the water, not to mention above all breathe. That was hopeful thinking though.

Just to be safe, he created a thin but thick barrier without sharp edges, roughly next to where he saw her dive in. He extended it outward to act like a thin handle bar about 6 feet long in length and an inch in width to grip onto. He was going for having the 'handle bar' go deeper into the water rather than having a large handle. Either way he prepared to pull the handle bar out at a sign of struggle or if she grabbed onto it. It was doubtful but some safety was better than none. He made sure not to get too close to the water himself.

"If ya need help, feel around for a handle bar!" He called out.

He hoped and doubted she would need it, at least not immediately.

@azoicsiren@Calatrava@Dark Light

[Calatrava]

The Harbingers of the Swarm

---

Major Battle: @azoicsiren @AwesomeZero5
Mentions/Possible Reinforcements: @Dark Light

As Rei went under the water, Enzo staggered up to the side of the pond as he rolled his eyes before glancing at Paine with a bored expression. Enzo placed a steady hand on the hilt of his blade before sighing in exasperation. "I swear, Rei and that silver stag will be the death of each other. While I'm not saying love, I can definitely see that they deem each other as equals as compared to the two of us. We're just the fucking side characters in their fucking cunt of a novel." Enzo shrugged his shoulders as he bent down, scooping some of the pond's water in his hands. The murky darkness of the pool was not unnerving to say at least, but Enzo wasn't sure if the others could smell that strange pungent odor which wafted by his nose as he got closer to the water. The scent itself wasn't strong, and if it wasn't for Enzo's past experience with demonology, he would have easily missed it.

He lifted the water to his nose, taking a deep whiff of the murky liquid. Immediately, Enzo's eyes widened, his free hand tightening on his blade. Enzo cursed for a few seconds before finally spilling the water and lifting his moist finger to his mouth in order to taste and confirm his suspicions.

The tangy and sour flavor of the water filled his mouth and it took everything for Enzo not to gag as he spat unto the ground. The boy stood up, almost like a prey who sensed a predator stalking it in the vast wilderness. There was nothing around them but miles of trees and shrubbery, and from what Enzo tasted, if the three of them screamed, no one would be there to hear.

The first thought that jettisoned inside Enzo's mind flashed like lightning in his eyes: they were in danger.

"The water... diluted with tons of Kappa blood, but that's not all," Enzo turned to Paine with a worried expression, the fatigue in his eyes replaced with the trained vigilance of an experienced killer. "The taste of corruption... like, the kappa has been corrupted but the corrupted blood tasted familiar... from back home: the mambabarang..."

As Rei dove deeper, the disturbance she caused caused a bloated figure to float to the murky surface of the pond, just in front of Enzo and Paine. The arachne legacy held up a hand to cordon Paine back from the decomposing kappa corpse as Enzo approached. The lad drew his kris and poked the kappa's putrid corpse. However, the moment the blade touched the soggy flesh, the corpse's skin burst into horrid fissures as a swarm of insects crawled out of the crevices on the body. Apparently immune to drowning and water, the insects began forming a dark cloud on the water's surface before attempting to creep towards land. Much to Enzo's horror, their nightmare wasn't over: more and more kappa corpses floated to the surface, now with insects bursting out from their bodies.

Suddenly, the corpses twitched to life, the kappas springing into action as a few of them jumped to the surface with insects pouring out from their emaciated figures. They were definitely dead, but some dark spell was weaved into them, and these insects were now controlling them like puppets.

"There's a fucking witch..." Enzo backed off, still making to stay in front of Paine as if protecting him. His eyes snapped to the remaining kappas who were now reanimated in the pond. Their dead and blank eyes blinked before they dove to pursue the serpentine legacy, to drown her for her naivety. "How did a fucking witch get inside the academy?!"

Then, one of the kappas lunged at them, prompting Enzo to counter with a swift slash. The kappa's soft flesh melted against Enzo's blade as it was decapitated in half. As it fell to the forest floor in a bisected heap, insects flowed out of its halves. But, behind them, another kappa leaped out from the shadows as it targeted Paine with the aim of burrowing its insects into him. However, before the beast could sink its claws into the boy, Enzo muttered a chant as a large armored warrior faded into existence with a burst of hazy smoke behind Paine. The kappa slammed against the spirit-armor before writhing on the floor, but the spirit-armor, known as the Panday, heaved its greatsword with tremendous strength and brought it down on the demon with such force that its head splattered into a bloody, insect-filled pile.

Backing away to give himself some space, Enzo knelt on the ground as he panted just as the Panday followed suit behind him.

"It's better if we flee, but we can't leave Rei to drown!" Enzo shouted to Paine as he spun his blade. "I'll hold off the kappas on the ground! Try to see if you can help Rei! Once she gets out, we bolt for the hills! I fucking told you there's a reason this pond is off-limits!"

The remaining four kappas on the land twitched and hissed at them, their mouths frothing with black blood and swarms of black insects. Their green flesh was turning black and blue, necrosis setting in as their eyes bled the same onyx blood. Their movements were eccentric, unpredictable as if they were possessed. Then, without warning, they rushed at the two with their claws outstretched. Enzo and his spirit-armor dashed against them, meeting the kappas in combat before he turned to Paine.

"Go! Help Rei!" Enzo managed to shout before cleaving a kappa in two and quickly backing away to not let the spilling insects get on his body.

There was so many questions floating in his mind, but the most disturbing of them all was the query of how a witch was able to get inside the academy without any of the teachers noticing. Something was going wrong, and Enzo had a feeling that this was just a prelude to a deadly and, probably, fatal symphony in their life as students in the School of Death.

Maybe this was the reason this school was aptly named.

[azoicsiren]

---

Edited post - Rei leaned over the pond looking down at the shiny object below when a hand emerged from the water and grabbed hold of rei's ankle. Suddenly pulling her in, From a distance, it would look as if rei willingly went into the water but if anyone knew rei well enough they would know Rei wasn't the best of swimmers. She learned to hold her breath for lengthy amounts of time but as for everything else she was useless. Panic-stricken, Rei sank to the bottom. She tried to keep her composure since she knew panicking wasn't going to help her one bit. Down into the murky water below, the liquid stinging her eyes. she looked for that glimmer of metal once again.
The temperature changing from warm to cold and the light growing dimmer. She let herself sink to the bottom of

the ponds dark depths. It was peaceful down on the bottom, the silence was alluring.

What if she just stayed here? No one would miss her. No one would notice her absence.

Death by water... How pathetic

As these dark thoughts clouded her mind a sense of hopelessness came over her.

Suddenly a figure of white swam in the distance and it was larger than any kappa she has seen.
She leaned forward in the water, her hands gracing against a curved object and she felt around grabbing hold of its handle, it was Drakus weapon.

she quickly grabbed the chain of the weapon and pulled it towards her but it wouldn't budge. Something had a hold of it. Maybe that same something that pulled her into the water. Taking hold of the chain she pulled herself along its length as it leads her deeper into the dark. Any moment she waited for a kappa attack but none never came, where were all the kappa? Finally, she discovered the source of her problem and it was quite a relief, seeing a large golden cylinder wrapped around the end of the chain.

She reached for the object and a wrinkled waterlogged hand revealed itself from the darkness and grabbed hold of Rei slender wrist. Able to free herself from its grip and swim backward. The face of a bloated old woman darted forward towards rei, screaming at the horrifying old woman that began crawling onto her. Her long claws digging into her flesh and tearing the skin along the side of her legs. blood seeping into the pond. REI didn't have much time now that she released most of her oxygen from the scream. Taking the chain of Drakus Kamakura and yanking it towards her person.

The cylinder hitting the witch in the back of the head and rei wrapped that chain around her leg, so she wouldn't lose it.

she'll be damned if she made it to the bottom of this pond to leave empty handed but at this rate, she wasn't sure if she would make it at all. Placing her foot on her shoulder of the witch and pushing off her, she lunged for the invisible lifeline that entered the water.

Grabbing hold of it, she could hear the muffled voice of someone up above and pulling it desperately. Began laughing and she could hear it clear as day under the water. The hags mouth opened a plague of bugs swarmed towards her. Rei tried to get away, getting herself free from the witches grasp and starting to swim up to the surface but her efforts were futile. The swarm of insects engulfed her being.

They bite, They stung. They crawled under her clothing and tried to enter her body through her orifices.

A living nightmare.

@AwesomeZero5@Calatrava

[Dark Light]

@azoicsiren@Calatrava@AwesomeZero5

There was indeed a hand reaching down into the water, but it was not searching for Rei. A red crimson cloud grew around it. It gathered like a small storm cloud in contrast to the bright sky above, even mimicking lightning with small zaps of magical energy dancing around in it.

Drakus had seen the others engage the new Kappa and slid around in the shadows to avoid any such confrontation. Helping himself to a wooden raft he had noticed during his earlier scuffle, Drakus pushed himself out to the center of the pond. Such basic methods he felt were beneath him but at this point he hadn’t the magic reserves to do much else. The lasts of which he was using now. Leaning over the edge of the poorly constructed floating device, in the middle of the pond, his eyes were shut in deep concentration as his hand gently sway in the murky warm water.

But then she grabbed him, with a sigh of inconvenienced disappointment he pulled her out the water and dropped her on the small space beside himself.
No words followed as the craft bounce about, only a stern glare.

---

Earlier
He had felt it, something very wrong. It hollowed him to his bones. An icy chill running through his veins. This was not like his usual haunting day-mares, this was not the ghosts of his past or side effects of his fatigue. His blood was telling him that something bad, vile even for his standards, was taking place in that pond.
His left over magic, his spilt blood, the dropped weapon... Something. Something was screaming at him, dragging and pulling him back there by his veins and arteries.
Did this have something to do with the sudden surge of power he experienced earlier? Either way he could not ignore it. He was far from recovered, having only just slipped into his icebath when the feeling consumed him.
He heard the others leaving as he got up and dressed himself in new attire. Arming himself with his swords he took off after his comrades.

[AwesomeZero5]

“Silver stag? Oh, you mean the jerk guy. Also considering the context of the story and the fact we’re the side characters that usually for the best. It usually ends up in some tragedy where nobody listens to the ‘fool’ or ‘prophet’ character despite them being 100% all the time when talking about characters other then themselves. If I had to say it was like a story or something, I guess I would bring it closer to the marriage of the moon daughter and the demon price or something along those lines. Although probably best not to talk about that one, considering the way it ends but it’s the best that comes to mind right this minute.” Paine tried not to envision the somewhat brutal ending to that tale.

“I guess there’s also the wise man, but they tend to know things that the protagonist would figure out on their own anyhow given time to use their own cunning but that’s more in some ancient myths rather than modern story telling.” Paine would scratch at the back of their head and stick their tongue out, trying to concentrate or change topics a bit.

That was when he noticed Enzo testing the water. It didn’t seem like something to be approved of, though in small doses it probably wouldn’t make someone sick or have parasites, Paine hoped. The worried expression on Enzo’s face put Paine on high alert, although he was already in a state of worry and caution to begin with.

“mambabarang? That sounds vaguely familiar and pretty bad. Feels like it’s connected to baba yaga somehow. Oh!” Paine’s face briefly shown worry, but not for himself in particular but for the others around him. The expression didn’t last long as an excited grin was creeping onto his face at a fair paced crawl, it was clear he was trying to fight it but his curiosity and interest was getting the better of him overall.

“Nea-, I mean oh no there’s a witch. Reasonably that is a terrible, terrible thing and can put many lives in danger and the like.” Paine nodded along, trying his best to sound worried and or scared. It was probably coming a lot more as faked overall, since his voice was warbling a little and struggling to maintain a constant emotional tone.

“Well, if they learned how to disguise themselves, maybe it’s a spy, maybe it’s just a rogue student who’s actually evil, perhaps they managed to get here from the ocean and used other smaller demons to hider their scent, perhaps they turned into a fish and swam and blended in.” Paine would respond to the question as to how a witch could have possibly made it close to academy grounds.

“Maybe someone ate or got infected with other demon stuff and turned into a witch. Okay, that’s the last one I got there.”

Paine noticed as one of the attacking Kappa got relatively close to them. They had just briefly focused their barriers in front of them to observe and block the attack, but the situation was already handled by a suit of armor appearing. None the less interesting, and all four barriers went back into their main defensive positions.

“Well that’s pretty neat, probably has plenty of uses I’d think.”

“Oh, of course the pond is off limits. It’s already been infested by demons, I don’t think there would be much more need to close it off than that outside of whether or not it was a training practice. Also, I’d recommend a thrust to the head if at all possible, or straight through the center perhaps to break the spine. It may keep less bugs from spilling out and shut down the body from moving, but it also may not but worth a short instead of having to cleave through an entire body and possibly deal with bug…. Bug spray.” Paine laughed. “Bugs spraying on you.”

Paine turned around briefly to help Rei, although by this time. There was already blood mixed into the pond water and Drakus had shown up to pull her out. Great, the less he had to deal with the both of them. That being said, there had to be something that had caused her to bleed initially or attacked her in the water, and there was no particular time to hesitate on the matter.

“Enzo, don’t get yourself infected while my back is turned. If you need help just, scream.” Paine said as he proceeded to sit down and curl up. He was able to thicken his barriers further from taking up less space himself and giving full coverage for the time being and adding an additional barrier above his head that was more sharp than it was thick, with just enough room for additional oxygen and maybe something the size of a finger squeezing in. A monster who approached carelessly would probably get a good cut or hopefully held off. It did take a second or so to set this up though.

He turned the handlebar into a thin (by his own standards) but rather sharp blade and began moving it at a diagonal angle in order to try and cut through whatever was near the blood pool. The now blade was extended to be roughly 9 and a half foot in length, and about half a foot in width. It would be moving about as fast as a standard sword strike and would be as sharp as one too, seeing as Paine’s focus was more on moving and attacking whatever was in the water, rather than Enzo’s situation. It would be rather uncomfortable to maintain this position for long though.

The attack would slice into the Witch's back and keep moving forward. It was likely going to either cut her in half if she wasn't able to get free or leave a nasty scar.
@Dark Light@Calatrava@azoicsiren

[azoicsiren]

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Rei desperate for air inhaled some of the water in a small amount before that hand from the surface reached down into the depth.
Fingertips extended out towards it to grab hold desperately as the red cloud veered off the swarm of malicious insects. An instant relief came over her as she emerged from the water. Once she fell upon the raft, instantly Her body started to reject the water in her lungs over the side of the vessel. Weakly she rolled onto her back and glanced up at him. The scowl on his face matched her own. Of course, it was him to witness her weakness as well as the others. Her humiliation having an audience. Why didn't he let the others save her... he could care less about any of them. she remembered his harsh words over breakfast and thus the reason she even stormed off in the first place. To have to save her like some damsel. Her pride at the moment extremely fragile. she looked away from his disapproving glance

" Just say it."

Knowing he had some harsh words for her. Like a father scolding a child. The cuts on her legs deep and profusely bleeding, the chain of his weapon still wrapped around her left leg securely and cutting off circulation. Slowly she sat up and started to unravel it before dropping it at his feet in, a heaping bundle. Her hair matted to her face and welts along her skin from the insects, she wasn't looking her best but that was the least of her concern. The witch still lurking somewhere below and she was afraid. Afraid of being dragged down into the water again.

Rei suddenly grew pale. Paler than normal And held out her hand to press its palm against her forehead. An overwhelming wave of nausea hit her. At first, you could suspect the blood loss was the cause but if you were preceptive, you'd see the welts and deep cuts on her leg, where the witch and insects penetrated her flesh, started to darken, Black inky veins started to creep out in all directions under her skin, traveling through her blood and trying to connect. The infection spreading rather quickly and Rei's vision grew heavy before falling limb against the raft. The darkness growing inside her. She couldn't remember what happened after that.
Did she die? Did she become Possessed? Or one of the very creatures she sought her life out to destroy. She wouldn't know. she wasn't there. She was no longer.... Rei.

@AwesomeZero5@Dark Light@Calatrava