Level: 3 (9/30)
Word Count: 1,039 (2,147 total)
Location: Western Coast - the Courtyard
EXP: +2
Sephiroth observed the creatures closing in around her with a haughty stare, the point of her blood covered sword held down and to the left. Clearly she didn't think too much of these odds, even in her weakened state, an attitude resulting from the combined aggressiveness and arrogance of the two other personalities crammed within her head. This was not to say she was lax when it came to strategy, of course, for even now she was formulating the best way to eliminate these filthy beasts. Rather, she was fully convinced of the ease with which most of these beings would fall, save for the larger one that had attacked her first. It was much bulkier than the rest were, and as such she doubted it would be slain in a single stroke like the bulbous servant from a few minutes prior was.
Confident and even jovial in manner, the partygoers spread out into a semicircle around Sephiroth. The Esquires, eager to show off in front of the ladies, stepped forward first, while the tittering Courtesans were only too happy to let their companions put their best feet forward. Though less in number than the others, the far more monstrous Chevaliers moved in as well, crawling like tanks over the marshy soil. With sneers and smirks the Equires produced pistols, taking aim at their foe like firing squad, and together unloaded a chorus of smoky gunfire. With their opening volley spent they unsheathed rapiers and moved forward on the many heels of the loathsome Chevaliers. A few of the monsters lashed out with their cruel claws, but others slammed their limbs into the ground to detonate buried blasts under the earth.
At the same time, with their betters having opened the floodgates, the wretches behind Sephiroth made their own move. Two Bloodlickers charged from the pack and ran at the swordswoman from behind, their stringy hair and long tongues flapping behind them.
Sephiroth swung her blade, deflecting the majority of the already inaccurate rounds as they flew towards her, though a few managed to slip by to leave small gashes and tears across her skin and clothes. One even went so far as to lodge itself in her right shoulder, leaving quite the nasty marr and a momentary distraction that saw the former SOLDIER launched into the air as a result of the detonations following the hail of gunfire. Righting herself as best she could, Sephiroth whirled round to send several discs of darkness hurtling back down towards the Bloodlickers and Chevaliers in an attempt to thin out the rapidly thickening swarm that was beginning to crowd the area where she was going to land.
The thrown discs fell among the few bloodsuckers that had almost fallen upon her, sawing into bodies and limbs with cruel viciousness, but for all the damage dealt and parts carved off none of the horrors died. When Sephiroth landed, the three nearest Esquires thrust their rapiers her way in an attempt to skewer her. One aimed rather sloppily for the head, the other for her stomach, and the last her bare leg in order to disable her. A courtesan faced with the swordswoman's back, meanwhile, gathered herself up and launched forward, her nose extending to sink through Sephiroth's hair and into her back.
Sephiroth managed to react fast enough to deflect the first strike aimed for her head, its sloppiness only helping that endeavor, before twisting out of the way of the sword thrusting towards her stomach, though she was caught directly in the leg by the last one. Conveniently however, these movements combined with her rigging kept her back from being punctured, reducing the incoming damage to a thin cut across the side of her ribcage instead. Bringing her blade back down, she struck at the three Esquires who’d attacked her, using her free hand to send the all too familiar orangish-red gout orb of flame that was Flare back at the courtesan that had tried to drop in from behind.
The sheer length of the blade managed to bloody the Esquires and keep them at bay for a precious second, but when she turned to face the Courtesan she caught a brief glimpse of a
horror awakened by the taste of fresh blood before she disappeared into Sephiroth's blossoming flame. A moment later the insectoid monstrosity lunged from the inferno to slash with raking claws. Sycophant mosquitoes appeared as the Esquires composed themselves, but before any of their thrusts came her way another Courtesan's Careless Whisper planted a seed of stress-inducing horror in her mind. Then a Chevalier's Buried Blast went off beneath her, and joined by a fourth compatriot -whose defense another Courtesan was strengthening-, the Esquires attacked again. The drunk one launched himself at her nose-first, using The Thirst like the mutated noblewoman had a moment ago.
Sephiroth managed to sidestep the courtesan's smoldering claws, though she quickly found herself launched upwards once again even as her mental defenses were continually assaulted. And, as if things weren’t already bad enough, the Esquires had renewed their attacks with a vigor greater than that which had come before. Bringing her blade down once again, she aimed to cleave the oncoming Esquire’s head in twain, charging up an orb of darkness to deal with the other two once she was done.
Well-aimed technique and the power of momentum landed Sephiroth a critical hit on the famished Esquire, and her cold steel dove deep to end the vile gentleman's life. Unfortunately, one enemy meant nothing at the center of this horde. Sycophants dive-bombed her from above, with one's long nose sinking into the skin behind her ear. Its abdomen swelled up as it entered its Bloodlust form the next moment, and the ghoulish whir of its wings intensified. Her dark spell struck two of the Esquires, but the one under the Courtesan's arcane protection shrugged off the damage to land a skewering repartee, while the third who escaped the sorcery stabbed at her already-wounded leg once again to further hinder her mobility. A Chevalier closed its claws around one of her rigging-arms, crumpling the metal into uselessness with its strength, and forcing Sephiroth to wrench free if she wanted to escape. The Bloodlusting Courtesan ripped at her sword arm with her claws, an untouched one let fly a second Careless Whisper, and the tongue of a Bloodlicker encircled her ankle. All the while the Horror throbbed like a wound inside her that joined with the Enraging Slights of the jeering Manservants to compound her stress.
Sephiroth's Stress is now 89
Sephiroth let out an annoyed, slightly pained, grunt as she bore the brunt of all of these blows. Things weren’t looking good, and to make matters worse now she was practically pinned in place. Though perhaps she could escape if she got her rigging free. It wouldn’t be easy though, not with the way the beasts had decided to gather around, making it damn near impossible to use her sword, and far too risky to fall back on magic. Even if Gigaflare was more than enough to eradicate her foes. No, her only choice was to try and escape, much as it disturbed the personalities swirling around inside of her. Although even they were beginning to get wary, realizing that things wouldn’t be as easy as they first thought. So, jerking forwards a bit, Sephiroth used what strength she had in her bloodied arm to stab at the Chevalier that had taken hold of her rigging.
With any luck the blade would strike true, giving her a window of opportunity in which to escape.
Masamune sliced across the Chevalier's face, causing it to jerk away. In doing so it ripped off through the already crumpled joint of one of the rigging arms, causing the cannon batter to fall to the ground. That still left two batteries, plus the shark drone she had yet to use, but she was free except for the Bloodlicker's wretched tongue now coiled around her ankle. As she prepared to reatreat, however, she took another pair of stabs and even a cheap shot from a Supplicant, but it was the Bloodlusted Courtesan that struck truest. She went low and stabbed her nose below Sephiroth's ribs, but this time rather than draining blood the attack left something of its own. Some warm, ephemeral sensation surged in the wound, making its way inside.
The warmth that Sephiroth felt worming its way through the wound in her chest
definitely wasn’t good, the cavalcade of cheap shots she’d taken mere seconds before aside. She didn’t have much time to devote to it, however, and quickly moved to slice off the Bloodliker’s tongue. From here she stabbed at the courtesan, pulling it free from her chest and hoisting it aloft on the end of her blade before swiftly casting it aside. Seeing how all of her exits were blocked, Sephiroth mustered all the strength she could, her plan to spend it all in a massive leap that would hopefully see her clear the swarm and land near or on the other side of the iron gates.
Just before the pile of enemies grew thick enough to seal her fate, Sephiroth burst free from the horde. Even with her load lightened, the rigging weighed her down, so she came down between the lesser bloodsuckers and the Courtyard gates. She'd broken free of hell, but it remained at her back until she could quit the place completely.
The former SOLDIER didn’t waste so much as a second, summoning up Flare and sending it streaking towards the lesser bloodsuckers as she rushed forward, hoping that it would be powerful enough so that she could finally be free of this place.
Without looking to see the results of the explosion behind her she sped through the gate, her feet pounding across the slimy earth. Her wounds screamed,, her nerves shook, and her mind swam from stress, but she was out of the Courtyard. Yet untamed swampland still lay before her, and as she reeled on the edge of the mire she felt on the verge of something in her breaking. A part of her fought for control, urging her to speed across the fetid water to safety. And her instincts told her that she could.
Suppressing the chaotic storm of pain, nerves, and stress as best she could, Sephiroth focused solely on instinct. Moving forward, she paid the dilapidated estate behind her little mind as she ran out into the fetid swamp, doing her best to keep a clear head so she could navigate it at least somewhat successfully. Even if she didn’t make it to the edge, if she could make it back to that hut she’d stumbled across early, then she’d know she was on the right track.
When her foot touched the water, it did not sink in. Instead, some sort of repelling force kept her on the surface. It took a moment to adjust after getting both feet on, but after that just a little leaning in the desired direction was enough to slide her across the surface, and not a moment too soon. The horde of bloodsuckers crowded the shoreline, with the nobles stopped at its edge and their underlings willing to wade a little way in. The Chevaliers didn't stop, however, so she couldn't afford to stick around.
Just when she seemed to be in the clear, the muck in front of her exploded. Before her eyes rose a
grotesque aberration. It spread wide its hideous, mutated maw with a blood-curdling gurgle, and from the fleshy tunnels in its back crawled a squirming host of mosquitoes. The sight of the horror, on top of the realization that freedom had been snatched from her very grasp, combined to push her over the edge.
Sephiroth's Stress: 105
Sephiroth's resolve is tested...
Sephiroth stopped dead in her tracks, the hand that held her blade trembling ever so slightly, though whether such was from pain, fear, nerves, or some combination of the three, not even the SOLDIER herself could say. She was at the brink of what felt like a complete mental break. One similar to, though not nearly as intense, as the one she’d felt in Nibelheim all those years ago. Simmering deep within her was a rage, a rage at the disgusting beast that had dared halt her escape, a hate for the swamp and the filth that grew within…
And most of all…
A hate for the being that had brought her here in the first place. Feeling her anger reach a tipping point, she took up her Masamune in both hands and charged the beast, aiming to stab right through its head, even if that was far too merciful for it.
A loathsome roar went up as tainted blood splattered the night, and what followed was naught but butchery.
Banned
