[IC] The Devil Hunter Agency

[Kazemitsu]

As Kaze moved to catch up with Beniha he was growing increasingly more annoyed. These damn woods were hindering him and he couldn't just level the place or use his more widespread attacks. He needed to move someplace more open, and he could not walk on water. When he caught up a little he took note a good portion of the swarm of bugs were solely focused on him. "I'm gonna let you take care of this situation. I'll handle the bugs." He stated while his wing-like arm swung out.

It caught a rather large trees branch and swung him up into the air. This wasn't just a little baby height gain, he was very much airborne, a dozen stories up. The bugs that had been gunning for him followed him up. It was kind of interesting to see them so blindly focused on him, but that just made his oncoming task easier. Turning in mid-air he waited for a bug to approach before he gave it a thrust kick, splattering it like the rest that met his touch and sending him further up into the air.

Normally in the air options were limited when it came to movement. But the swarming bugs, spreading out now, made for good rebounding points. He might not be able to run fast but every time a bug came to him he struck it, and was blasted off in the opposite direction. His blows weren't wild at this point, they were calculated to send him to another target, like an elaborate game of ping pong or pinball. As he zipped through the air, back and forth up and down and cross-ways, a greenish smog was trailing behind him. Acidic vapor was pouring from his mouth as he 'flew'. Any bug that tried flying through it began to melt into a nasty sludge that rained onto the ground below. He wasn't one of the strongest in his branch just because of his physical prowess, with proper preparation he could cause massive damage in a wide-spread area like he was doing right now.

[Octo]

Hanako watched Limen spontaneously assemble something like a gurney as he spoke. Whatever his ability was, it was definitely one of those weird crazy ones. A lot of demons favored weird, crazy powers over the more straightforward ones she often saw from DHA agents. Then again, Hanako's selling point was toilet-based teleportation so it wasn't like she could judge anything.

"Eh? Hey, Limmy-Limmy-Bo-Bimmy-Banana-Fanna-Fo-Fimmy-Fee-Fi-Fo-Fimmy-Limmy! Be careful with that one, I'm still playing with her," Hanako complained as Limen unceremoniously threw Da-Xia onto the cart. Whatever that contraption was, she couldn't sever any part of it with her telekinesis. She puffed out her cheeks as she floated alongside Limen towards the action.

"I've thought about joining the dark side, but I'm way too OP to be evil, Limewire. Like in those Isekai shows where the protagonist has what seems like a crappy power but they stretch the meaning until it's crazy dumb strong. I used to be a Human, so I want them to have a fighting chance. Besides..."

Hanako floated closer to Limen and threw in an over-indulgent conspiratorial glance left and right.

"A demon should know better than to trust a demon, and this Envoy lady stinks of 'things I'm not telling you'. How many demons do you think get an Envoy? What does that even mean anyways? My guess is, uh, you know Antediluvian vampires? From, like, VtM? I went through a goth thing. Anyways, once they wake up, they're gonna eat all the other vampires and absorb all their power. Something like that. My evidence for this assertion? None at all. And yet it's still equally as substantial as everything else we know about this whole thing. That said, Leapin' Limen, it's no fun if one side just curbstomps the other so I'm gonna try and prolong this thing until I can learn more."

She threw in at least twelve knowing winks to get her point across, and a set of finger guns.

[TheWendil]

Despite her predicament in being trapped, Mai’s prowess in deducing the situation was enough to see fit in earning her rank as a Devil Hunter. The great presence around her felt more like a solid hand than the air pressing down on her body. Her analysis of the environment around her proved to be useful because the sound of movement filled around her ears. Something, whatever it was that held her, was moving, big enough to grasp her completely in its hand.

Invisible to the normal eye, the creature soon lifted Mai up higher from the ground. More noises filled the air, teeth creaking as a set of invisible jaws loomed over the Devil Hunter like a cavern ready to collapse upon her head. The only indication of its presence was the humid, acrid breath washing down Mai’s face and slightly stinging drool plopping down like rain. A row of teeth made manifest above her as the creature flickered into view, its camouflage slowly made out.

Although the creature wasn’t entirely revealed in its hideous glory, its flesh rippled in an outline distinct from the background of its surroundings. Even flashes of its true visage bled through for Mai to witness as the Youkai known as an Imori towered above her, ready to consume her completely. By its lizard-like complexion, it seemed the best candidate responsible for the shed skin found earlier on the shrine grounds.

It only paused when it sensed the Fake-Envoy gathering the last of the salvageable black rocks. Driven by instinct like all Youkai, the Imori turned itself completely invisible again and lumbered towards their position and to the Fake-Envoy. Its footfalls left little sound, and to the outside viewer, it was as if Mai was floating in midair, gliding over to the Fake-Envoy’s location.

[OwO]

They were in view. Well, not really. The darkness of the dome had made it difficult to see further than a few feet in front. She could hear them, though. It helped that the constant stream of bugs around her chose to focus on whatever the owners of the voices were doing. The tornado of feathers that surrounded her lit her way. It wasn't much light, but it was enough to ensure that she wouldn't trip on things in front of her. Then, the ground in front of her reflected the light from her feathers. The fact that the rocks she could barely see were being sucked away wasn't something she noticed. Years of experience taught her that reflective surfaces were ghoulish and were to be avoided. She was getting there in age, too. One bad slip...

She leapt during her sprint. Her feathers that surrounded her coalesced in two parts. One, a platform beneath her feet she could jump off of, avoiding the ground as much as she could. The second formed a ball in her hands. It was unstable creation, wishing to break apart at the first possible moment. Still, she leapt off the quickly vanishing platform with the ball in hand. In air, she pitched it at the two having a conversation. Quickly, it burst into a bright torrent of feathers loosely aimed at whatever was in the area.

Using the cover of darkness, she moved along the ground. When she was within reach, a blade of flame formed as she drew from an invisible scabbard. An immense iai designed to slice at whatever was in front of her. It seemed like an outstretched arm. Hard to tell in the darkness. It might have just been another insect leg.

[Dreaming One]

And so the two met eye to eye; no matter on how imperfect a material world could be in a perception of an orb, the gaze that this orb was to hold in itself, the gaze which was not just a mere gleam and glance in an eye, but more of a moving and shifting shape of a will - ill or not - to look through it and onto things - this gaze was clear in its intents and in the reveal of what one wanted and what one was. And upon two to meet it was obvious for both. A demon met a demon. Truly a wonderfully coincided flow of events. Haruka could only respond with a wide grin to that.

“Ah, of no matter how we prefer the meal readied up, I do feel we both share the love towards the main dish in all the same way. No matter how it is presented”, Haruka said to the demon before her and as he pulled his hood off of his head to reveal his face she responded with a light bow - like if she was to meet a business partner; even though in a sense it was indeed somewhat truthful in the situation, “An experience after all is all about the little differences we have learned to enjoy", she said again, straightening yet again and flashing her grin to the fellow demon.

“Oh. so I see now.. It is not a song, it is a cry of an infant yet to come to our world..”, she said with a chuckle as she put one of the rocks she picked up earlier and studied it closer to her eye and an ear, “It is a cry of a little baby yet to come. A formless mass forming up into a mind and a shape to move and act. A joyful sight to behold.”.

Haruka put the stone into the pocket of hers yet again and observed over the forest and the demon before her, keeping on to listen to him. On the mention of DHA and the boys and girls from it she could not help herself but to scowl and roll her eyes; the simple combination of three letters spoken out loud make her seem to be simply annoyed.

“Urgh, of course they would come and try to spoil everything. Pests, even worse than these disgusting bugs”, Haruka said as she looked at the youkai getting closer to the pair standing and having an idle pleasant chat all amidst the chaos and panic. Haruka herself enjoyed such an ambience, she was sure that the demon in front of her was of the same opinion.

“You know how they say, the enemy of my enemy.. Not to say I am quite interested in hearing more about this baby”, Haruka said and once the bugs got closer to them, she glanced away towards the knife still stuck in the tree and in a blink of an eye, or even less than that, she disappeared only to reappear behind one of these frenzy creatures: only with the pair of knives in her hands already. A quick series of shanking slashes onto the frenzy youkai followed with Haruka blinking away from it the same second, reappearing beside the fellow demon. The traces of her slashes glittering with the yellow afterglow were still present in the air for a moment before she was to blink away.

“What’s wrong with these vermin?”, she asked while she threw one of her knives right at the next nasty insect; all of that happened right before the explosion of feathers swooshed right beside. She heard the projectile incoming, but did not see it - though it did not matter too much for her as her eyes instead again gazed aside and towards one of the knives of hers: once the explosive feathers made their impact and blasted all around in the ferocious dance of the piercing shards Haruka herself disappeared from the view, again, dancing between the spots in the forest using the two knives she threw already in order to evade the torrent of feathers.

Coming back from the blinking around the spot, she threw one of her knives back at whoever held the enormous blade and was to throw the feathers pack into her, the shiny metal of Haruka’s knives lightly blinking themselves against the flickering light casted by the blade. She tilted her head as she looked, playing with a knife in her hand - the sharp blade flickering between her fingers, as she grinned wide:

“Oh, this one is no vermin, this one is..”, she started to speak, before noticing that explosive feathers left few parts of her blazer cut. She frowned and scowled, yelling in an annoying tone: “Do you know how much this shit costs!?”

[Lonewolf685]

Rufus

"A real shame these youkai don't share our tastes. Begging for a meal when they should have asked the wizard for a brain!" Rufus sneered, contempt oozing from his every pore as mindless insects surged from the woods to consume all in their path. Locusts who would and could never aspire to be anything but pests, they were lower then the DHAs in his view. It was almost enough for him to release his moral restraints, but the presence of the humans stayed his hand from unleash wholesale carnage upon the swarm.

So the first of the bugs to try a claim only found itself flying into the scything claws of it's nearest kin, rather then being launched into the caldera of an active volcano. Like an irate conductor his hands whipped about, slivers of un-reality opening to swallow one bug and launch it into another in the moment of their attack, locking both into an instinctual death spiral as they struggled and tore at one another. That they had no other response only cemented their view as lesser beasts. "Pfft. At least you can teach a dog a few tricks. If the bugs aren't pollinating flowers, to the flyswatter with 'em!"

And while he would have done that in time, the humans had finally come face to hood with Rufus and his latest associate. An associate who zipped about in a fashion that was distinct from portals and teleportation. He laughed his approval as Beniha charged, a rain of feathers falling before him. Slashing both hands upwards, a tear rose before him from the ground to the crown of head, swallowing the burning flight before a second portal opened it, disgorging the attack back the way it came.

"What's this, attacking without introducing yourselves? No witty banter? Where's that famous human empathy and compassion you use to judge your lives above all others~? Let me have a taste of that delicious hypocrisy!"

[Flood]

Gods Play Dice With The Universe
It's Your Turn Now
Carnage One
Let's Samba!

How fitting for a vampire to shy away from the light, that incandescent beauty which illuminated the glaring horrors just beneath the skin.

Whatever consequences came of Maria's actions on her team was promptly discarded as she dove down on her foe and cleaved her in twain, but the response given was not the satisfying splatter of crimson that Maria desired. She did not feel the monster's bones shatter as her beloved Hunahphu drove through her body like a superheated knife through butter. All she saw were dainty flowers scattering through the air as the "real" Shika approached from behind. Maria turns to the source of the cutting comment, yet she doesn't look offended or angry in the slightest. Instead she laughs and rubs the back of her head as she blushes a little. "My my, flattery will get you everywhere with this girl~!"

She takes one hand off of Hunahphu and snaps it out to the side, a small bracelet on her wrist suddenly glowing as it unfolds into a round slab of wood decorated with images of the moon. "Grace is something you Easterners worry about way too much honestly. I live my life the way I want, and if I happen to look disgraceful while doing it then why should I care?" The blush fades as her smile widens further, revealing a set of sharp pointed teeth that changes the tone of her smile drastically. "I mean honestly, caring about what you have to say is like caring about the opinion of a mangy hound! Would you give a shit about what a walking corpse has to say?"

The petals assault Maria from every side, yet the dance continues. Her steps are reminiscent of a samba dancer as she spins and steps around the deadly blades, her hips never stop shaking as she aggressively dances her way towards Shika. What cannot be dodged is deflected, what cannot be deflected is blocked, and what cannot be blocked is simply taken head on as she burns her way through the storm. A death by a thousand cuts won't stop Maria as she pushes forwards, swinging at Shika once more to tear her apart. This time though, Hunahphu wakes up. A trail of crimson down her arm connects to the handle of the macuahuitl and it drinks deep of its user's blood, the jagged obsidian along its edge coming to life like a chainsaw revving up. And from that friction is born the flame of the sun proper, lashing out at the beast to consume it with it's arrogant incandescence.

[ERode]

_{@TheWendil@Flood@SilverPaw@dioscuri}

The archer was occupied and the swordswoman was bound, with Envoy's substitute having retrieved the last of the unshattered black rocks. It was a situation that basically guaranteed their victory at this point, and Shika was ready to call it a night. End it off in a bang, really. But Rufus's portal didn't pop up again to retrieve them, and in all their genius, the corpse-flower hadn't actually gotten anyone's contact information. Did demons that smelled of garbage or spent all their time holed up in a bar even know how to use a phone? Hell if they knew...and the unwanted attention those rocks were drawing now caused another problem.

So Dandelion pulled some threads, as Envoy's substitute stuffed the rocks in her shirt, vastly improving her figure, other puppets surged out, launching themselves with wild abandon and paradoxical cries of terror and refusal towards the floating Mai. If that invisible force wasn't going to kill the Devil Slayer, then Shika would have to. And while the mob did their dirty work, Busty!Envoy continued to run, slipping into the forest surrounding the shrine.

With administrative work taken care of, there was only the matter of the only credible threat amongst the trio that dared intrude upon the banquet of...Kirara Rodriguez Matured XVIII Evening Star SS Plum.

Mesmerizing technique. Awe-inspiring brutality. A woman aflame, tangoing with roses turned blades. Sanguine liquids bubbled, then evaporated within the inferno cast by Maria, red fumes swirling cyclonically around her. What would have slain lesser hunters had hardly scratched the woman, mere superficial scratches endured. And though Hunahphu was singular, it was all-destroying; the razor petals of the vampiress's spell were burnt away till naught remained but the crimson mists. Mist that, alone, would not stop Maria!

Whirling around to face the woman that refused to just die, the vampire's beautiful countenance twisted into a snarl as they drew out their own hand. Crimson mist sucked into that pale palm, coalescing into a broadsword of deepest red, so gluttonous as to devour even the moonlight arcing over the peaked roof of the holy temple. Kirara swung the sword to meet Maria head-on, weapons clashing in a duel between two titans of supernatural and physical might!

For a moment, there was a stalemate.

And in the next, the chainsaw roared to life!

Hunahphu ripped through sword and flesh like butter all the same, the vampire only barely managing to twist their body out of the way as their dismembered arm and leg immolated to ash instantly. The sacred weapon struck the ground with meteoric force, aftershocks sending Kirara flying away. They skipped against the ground once, twice, and then crashed into the sacred tree of the shrine, their gorgeous updo undo in the flight. Through a mess of hair, the devil's face contorted with vengeful fury, fresh blood seeping out of the charred stumps of the right side of their body. "Brute bitch!" they spat, the atmosphere itself weighed down by the magical energy surging out. "Leave it to a godless savage to only be good at shaking their hips and hitting like an ape!"

Scarlet roots shot into the ground, then burst back out as rows upon rows of three-meter high spikes raced out to skewer Maria.

"罪人の処刑! [Execution of Sinners!]"

[OwO]

Cleaved was an insect's body as Beniha's blade cut through their strange biology. Really, these bugs were beginning to get on her nerves. As her slash finished, a knife came flying by her head. It missed by virtue of Beniha remaining in motion. From the iai to her "sheathing" of her fiery blade, she didn't stop moving. It was only natural that a blade in the dark didn't hit its mark. Though, it came a little close for comfort judging by the subtle feelings of wind on her cheek. Next came the feathers. The torrent of feathers that came back at her were given a similar level of care. More or less, she didn't react to her own feathers at all. They simply avoided striking their master, instead choosing to circle around her as they dissipated into the darkness.

"Spare me the masturbatory villain speech," Beniha told the two intelligent devils. Her voice was as grim as it was annoyed. "I don't give a shit about how much a suit costs or what you think. I'm just here to solve a disturbance."

A light ignited the end of a stick of incense, briefly illuminating her mouth.

"And the way I see it? You two are part of that disturbance."

The feathers that had once vanished now returned. This time, they flew to embed themselves in the area, illuminating the bugs, crystals, and devils that opposed her. She remained in the darkness, the only thing audible being the deep breaths she now took.

She was charging something.

[dioscuri]

Mai gasped as the creature holding her made itself known. She held her breath as its rancid exhalation washed over her and squeaked quite unprofessionally when its slobber drizzled down on her. The DHA definitely did not pay her enough for this. Her panic only got worst as the row of teeth revealed itself to be a lizard-esque youkai though she crushed the thought of potentially getting eaten by a demon down as best as she could.

Not caring to identify the demon right now, Mai used its divided attention to her advantage. Wiggling her arm around, Mai grabbed the short sword she normally carried as a backup. Unsheathing it, she stabbed the creature’s hand that was holding her, deep enough so its grip would loosen. Once it let her go, Mai dropped back down to the ground, punching and slicing the puppets that had been attacking her in her bound state.

Free from her captor, Mai quickly analyzed her situation. While she wanted to go after the girl collecting those mysterious black rocks, she doubted she could get passed the puppets, who were now rushing towards her again, or the still invisible lizard youkai. Cursing, Mai ran back to pick up her sword where it had fallen when she had been picked up by the imori. She easily cut through more puppets before throwing out some explosive charms where she thought the lizard demon stood; she hated dealing with youkai that could camouflage. Maybe if she pissed it off enough, it would reveal itself so she could kill it. Mai was certainly no priestess so she wasn’t obligated to reseal this youkai that escaped.

[Dreaming One]

Haruka could only roll her eyes and grunt in annoyance hearing the response of the Demon Huntress who had come to be a disturbance in this meeting of demons and a demon to come. And a frenzy lesser being going frenzy, the shrill of a bug coming to attack Haruka from behind was to be interrupted and quickly put to none - as her hand darted in its direction like a spring let go - a soft stinging sound coming through the air and cutting through the insect shape in a sharp throw of a knife; putting an end to yet another frenzy yokai

“Tsk. So you are among the boring kind of humans”, Haruka said, sighing deeply as she played with another knife of hers, idly throwing it up and catching it again mid air, “Humans like you are not even fun to eat. Meat is being all stretchy and fibrous from being a drag all the time. Not fun to chase, not fun to hunt down, not even fun to kill. How can you even bear living as yourself?”, Haruka continued, not really addressing the demon huntress anymore, and mostly just expressing her utmost annoyance under her breath.

All while she looked around as the swarm of feathers was to not only avoid their master, but to appear back on them with a twisting illuminating trajectories to spark up the light around the fighting area. The frenzy yokai, the stones still awaiting to be gathered, the spinning feathers. And the pair of demons listening to the heavy breathing somewhere in the not very distant dark - a sign of something to come.

“Oh, I feel she is getting angry there”, Haruka said to her fellow demon as she calmly stepped towards him, still annoyed at her cut blazer and tossed one of her knives towards few of the feathers, illuminating things around them, aiming to cut them away, “Should we consider taking the baby away from here, before her assault of boredom hits it?”

[TheWendil]

The Imori was only slightly above the average intelligence of a Youkai and thus, its train of thought and focus flitted from one target to the other. It was plausible that it entirely forgot about Mai in its grip as it silently lumbered to the fake Envoy. Drawn by the black rocks, it continued its slow pursuit even as the girl fled with the prizes stuffed down her shirt like a common thief. Its eyes blinked just as slowly as one girl escaped while several other individuals rushed forward.

Shika’s puppets were as clear as day to see compared to the camouflaged Imori, making them easy targets for both the lizard Youkai and its reluctant passenger. Just as the Imori raised its spare arm to whack away the puppets, searing pain suddenly washed over its grip. It hissed and dropped Mai like a log. The Devil Hunter was quicker to respond and react than the creature, already getting to work disposing Shika’s puppets in either sliced bits or crumbled heaps. Another wave of puppets soon descended on Mai but this time she was better prepared.

The sound of steel ringing in the air was the last the puppets knew as one by one they were picked off by Mai. Just as the Imori was recovering, the ground exploded in a flurry of smoke and fire. While some missed their mark, there was enough of the bombarding charms to drive the Imori back in a hissing rage. Its attention gone from the fleeing fake Envoy, its invisibility flickered away as the great lizard stood rigid on all four legs, now visible to Mai.

Its eyes circled around in its sockets before shutting close as the smoke filled the area. Temporarily blinded, the Imori lashed out with its great heaping arms to smack away at puppet and Mai alike with no aim or sight to its trajectory. It even turned about to slam its tail into any unfortunate bodies in its path in some half-intelligent attempt at revenge for the girl who had caused it so much annoyance in the last minute or so.

[Kazemitsu]

Up above the fight between Beniha and the two sentient youkai Kaze was bouncing around like a ping pong ball at a tournament. He was going at speeds that the normal human eye would have great difficulty following. Unfortunately the giant man was growing bored and frustrated. How many of these damned insects were there?! He stopped pulling his punches and what began to ring out were loud thooms of wind rushing away from his fists with each strike.

The wind pressure alone squashed the insects further away from him and sent their bodies reeling into the barriers blocking out the light. Potentially breaking them with the bodies of the insectoid youkai. Not that he really needed light, with his draconic eyes he was seeing their demonic energy. Thankfully he couldn't see his own, he'd have been completely blind with how much energy was flowing off him. It was obvious the wilder his emotions got the wilder his energies became.

Clearing the space around him with rapid and powerful punches to spread his acid and snipe further insects he turned his attention below finally. Beniha was taking on two higher tiered demons. Their human shapes didn't hide the demonic energy flowing off them and it was too pure to be like him and Beniha. The bugs at this point were designated as pests and there probably wasn't that many left to be worth a damn. Turning he punched the air, sending himself in the opposite direction with a crack.

Kaze's skin darkened as the giant wings on his back faded away in wisps of black energy. With a crash he landed just off to the side of Rufus in a cloud of dust. A set of glowing red eyes wide open and deep set in a black scaled face were the only real discernible feature. Along with the giant mans fist drawn back. If he had paid attention to the brutal mans fighting, getting hit by that would be either incredibly painful or incredibly deadly.

[samakama]

It took Limen a few moments to process the profoundly absurd nickname he had just been given. Perhaps, he considered, it would be wiser to withdraw from this bout sooner rather than later, for clearly he had been thrashed in the field of folly by his foe.

“Try not to touch the cart, Hanako. It might fall apart, and take Da-Xia with it.” Just ‘Hanako’ — a concession of defeat. Limen kept quiet for a while, leaving only the ghost’s ramblings and the distant sounds of battle to be heard.

Somehow, despite knowing the meaning of the vast majority of the words Hanako had just used, Limen had comprehended absolutely nothing. “Vitiem…?” He hadn’t the faintest of an inkling as to what Hanako was talking about. It was certainly apt for a vampire to vitiate. But for whatever reason, he had a feeling that she hadn’t been referring to the Latin verb. And antediluvian vampires sounded like abject heresy to any denomination, unless that was how the Nephilim were referred to nowadays. And what manner of ectoplasmic dust allergy did Hanako have that was making her blink so much — no, wink? At him?

She was winking as fast as a hummingbird beats its wings. Two decades on the moon had no doubt been too long of a sojourn, for now Limen could very confidently declare himself out of touch.

He sighed. “I think I need a refresher on the latest pop culture. But assuming I caught the gist of that right — well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Perhaps we will fight side by side against Envoy if and when that day comes.”

Today, though, they were unfortunately more opponents than allies. Rufus was about to eat a tough bareknuckled punch. Well, that wouldn’t do at all — with a glance, Limen placed a few layers of barrier between Hunter and Devil. Unfortunately, the man was probably a Feeder using supernatural (perhaps even demonic!) energies to boost his physical ability. Odds were that he would barely notice the barriers, even with how shiny and unnaturally reflective they’d been made. It was an attempt at a cheap trick at best.

“Two-on-two, or three all if we count ourselves. Quite evenly matched by my reckoning as well. I’d scarcely call this a ‘kerb-stomp’ of a fight.”

The other devil, who was doing far better a job at backing Rufus up, was not a face Limen had seen before. All he concerned himself with was that she had today’s mission objectives in hand.

“Pass the rocks, please! We’ll be on our merry way at once! Unless…” Limen turned to Hanako. “…would you rather make war?”

[Lonewolf685]

Rufus

The scattering of feather's he'd rebounded to the hunter encroaching upon them were the worst sort of projectiles in Rufus' opinion. Discriminatory projectiles that just refused to harm their creator were truly unfair for anyone who relied on an ounce of misdirection to sort out their issues. That didn't even begin to describe his frustration over being denied really ironic methods of murder!

Beniha was charging an impressive attack amidst the haze of darkness, no doubt something indiscriminately firey to burn away the bugs, the rocks, and the most noble personages of the two demons directly before her. Rather rude of her, and he was contemplating how best to abort this attempted infanticide when a crash and a shimmer bloomed from the corner of his eyes.

Well, well, they brought a dragonkin. Really firebugs, this crew is. Rufus rolled his eyes, taking in how the air between them was occupied by thin yet layered membranes. Odd to realize those were meant to protect him and he felt his lips tug upwards unbidden at the idea Lumen was concerned for him. "Thanks Moon Man, but I think I need that punch unobstructed."

Still, an obstruction would only make the brute act with greater force, so it was a net positive he'd reap shamelessly. He turned his back on Beniha and faced the dragon, radiating demonic energy in open challenge Kaze as he hid a portal behind the first layer of barrier between them. His back beneath his cloak shimmered, a portal forming to let the cannon blast of force strike unseen and blow Beniha away regardless of the darkness.

"I've got these two for the moment, so I'll leave you the kids." He said without breaking contact with Kaze, knowing better then to give them any indication of Lumen's hiding place or needing to specify that Haruka was included.

[Octo]

Hanako pouted a little. She had thought that her pop culture-laden speech would be super convincing, but Limen still wanted to work with... those two?

Hanako watched the fight for a moment, noting that the Humans were doing better than she had imagined they would be. The demons, being demons, were making speeches at them. Hanako remembered when she used to enjoy making a good bad guy speech, but watching other demons do it just made her think about how silly she had probably sounded.

Then again, Hanako had been through a goth phase just as recently as the '90s, so it wasn't like she was done making unfortunate decisions. No one could be allowed to find her dark poetry about how much she hated her dead dad. No one. She still hated her dead dad, though. That guy sucked.

"Yeah, OK, well I'll catch you up on however much pop culture you think you missed later. Because, like, I think if you got more of the references you'd totally be on my side," Hanako told Limen as she watched a countless series of feathers dart through the air, seeking out antagonistic devils to exorcise as the big guy leapt around crushing things. The demon bartender appeared to be opening, like, portals or something, and the girl (one she hadn't met) was mostly throwing knives.

"Ooh, very nice," she complimented the hunters in her best attempt at English which, while quite understandable, was very obviously not her first language, "very good, Humans! You can do it!"

She turned to Limen and shrugged.

"Fighting started to get boring a while ago," she said as she surreptitiously pulled the rocks that she could see into the ground, hoping to save a few like a squirrel for later as the demons got distracted by the fight, "I'm mostly here as support, not that it would be easy to get in the midst of that if I tried. Look at that mess! I'd probably get exorcised pretty quickly, and that's annoying. If only I had brought a good weapon, I might be able to help more... well, c'est la vie. Or, uh, mort."