mickilennial
Feyblue
Kronshi
Sky Blue
Majoraa
High Moon
Emberdawn2
VirgoDrago
CitrusArms
//Night 0 | Location: Nameless Forest - Clearing
@OwO@AThousandCurses
At times, they dodged by a hair’s breath. At times, they struck the dirt then kept going.
And through it all, they both noticed.
These beams, despite being so bright, despite being of energy, had no heat.
But whether they would make anything of it was unknown, not as the distance closed and they put their plan into action. Shun once again as the distraction now, presenting the greatest target possible. Rin slipping into the shadow, her grip tight upon her spear.
The phone sailed through the air, rotating.
Time slowed, senses sharpening to a razor point.
And then, the light cut out.
A blur within the night, and Shun’s phone split in half. A moment later, she could feel that same premonition, her body bisected. Instinct drove her arms upwards, before a sharp impact rocked them. She was sent rolling into the grass, hot pain lancing up her forearms. They had been cut by something, blood oozing out from the clean slice through her flesh. Her unnatural hardiness had prevented her from losing her arms, but that didn’t change what was presented before her.
To call it a tail wasn’t appropriate. Its true nature was that of a five meter long blade, capable of cleanly cutting through metal.
The Long-Tailed remained where it was though, sinuous form content on guarding its packmates.
One was enough, for the other now…
Rin did not possess the physical speed that Shun had, but her mind was sharpened in its stead, time flowing at a slower pace. She could see through the dark, could see the forms of the monsters before her. Could see the light gather upon compound eyes, ten whole eyes clustered together in the grotesque manner that only nightmares could grow.
Distantly, she recognized that Shun’s advance had been thwarted, saw the trajectory of that blade-tail slice through the wind itself.
But what she saw more clearly was the flexing of muscles, the bundling of tendons. Two eyes, affixing upon her, recognizing her attempt at a flank.
She lunged with her spear, and yet the point struck air, her target leaping back and directing the ball of light towards her now. She had gotten her attention, and up close, she could see how it bubbled, volatile, then split, bursting like fireworks. Two dozen smaller beams, saturating the area she was in.
Like the flicker jabs of a professional boxer.
@baraquiel@Yankee@Vertigo@Cu Chulainn@Nakushita
It bubbled out between clenched teeth.
A thick rust, coating his mouth.
And yet, it felt so distant too.
…
Sasuke recognized, perhaps, that he had never broken a bone until now.
Asahi was beside him, hurling phones into the dark, a cacophony of different genres competing with the panicked cries of his classmates. Some of them were trying to rally together, Masami and Mayumi scrambling to get weapons into the hands of those fit enough to do something. Others were crying out in the dark, trying to locate and confirm the state of friends, family. He could hear Ayane shout something incoherent.
Could see the beast, the hulk-phant, treading upon blaring phones as sprinted towards him. Crushing memories underfoot, silencing songs at an afterthought.
“Go.”
His fist struck Asahi’s back. A paltry gesture, but meaningful nonetheless. He was strong, back home. Now, Asahi was strong, no matter what his friend felt.
“I’m with you.”
And Ayana too, was with them.
She was a disaster, really. She was actively shouting at the hulk-phant that she could hardly see but could definitely feel charging in her direction. She was practically provoking it, and wasn’t even doing so in a way that drew it away from Sasuke and Asahi. No, Ayana, with a fresh (but sorta messy haircut) and a set of clothes that didn’t smell like smoke, had charged forth with nothing but a jagged piece of metal that she wrenched from the frame of the bus and had then practically flung herself at the monster, thrusting forth.
Only she could see, this close, what had happened to her weapon.
It had crumpled against the skin of the monster, too fragile, too malleable, to withstand the duress upon both ends. And that just left Ayana hugging the front limb of a hulk-phant, her feet scrambling against the dirt but only able to slow its charge.
Slow its charge, and be blind to its head craning down, its jaw opening up.
About to tear her head off with a bite.
That was what Asahi could see, as the furnace within his body grew colder and colder, embers blown to black by the creeping fear. He was strong. He had to be strong. But these monsters…weren’t they all stronger?
They were.
Masato could feel it, the sheer animal strength of the monster before him. It was like being trapped in an arm-wrestling match, slowing feeling the burn in his muscles, slowly giving way to this creature that just had enough of a physical advantage to make him feel like he could overcome it if he had the right positioning.
But he was set. Both hands grasping upon the digits of the hulk-phant’s singular foot. He was stuck in the dirt, stuck in the grave he had dug for himself, stuck with great responsibility of a power that wasn’t great enough.
He was set.
And then, he wasn’t.
Of course.
His limbs had the strength to contest, but he was still just a Japanese middle schooler. He was shorter than his male peers. It was never a contest when it came to mass. And just as how Masato could grip the monster’s paw, the monster’s paw could grip him too. Digits squeezing against his arms, the frontal limb lifting him up.
His legs kicked against nothing.
And then, like that, Masato was slammed back into the earth, the air driven out of his body, his back thrust into the grave. Without his legs beneath him, without an upright posture, there was no way for him to resist it now, not with his arms alone.
No matter how much he burned, with anger, with indignation, it was not enough.
The weight of the hulk-phant’s foot was the weight of a world that would deny him his freedom for three more years, no matter what he did.
...
"Why me?"
Moonlight caught the sharpened tooth.
"Because you're like me."
