Majoraa

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Not even an hour in, rip bozo.

Anyways if I'm gonna be sticking around I'm gonna need to hunt down faceclaim pics.

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Oh.

Uh.

Would Cthulhu technically work as a Ult Persona or do I have to think of a secondary thing?

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Tbf I just wanna break geneva conventions with the Great Old One lmao

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Persona: Maui
Personality: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

@Cu Chulainn

Oh the urge to post Goomaui here.

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Keeping an eye on this tbh.

May snag Cthulhu.

World of Light

Level: 4
Experience: 29/40
Currently In: The Under, Necropolis
Word Count: 4,323 (+5 Exp)
Collab with @Zoey Boey, @Double, and a bit from @Archmage MC

Jesse met up with the others in the boss room that someone- the Knight, apparently, had defeated. Normally she might advise against doing it alone, but the Duke of Flies was hardly a significant threat. So it was likely that any of the Seekers could solo any of these rooms, even if it would be a pain in the ass.

As Nadia took the lead, Jesse stood over the hole and looked at the others still yet to leave. "Anyone wanna group up with me for a bit?"

Omori was standing in front of the pitch-black doorway, his attention turning from the goat mounted on top, to Jesse, then back into the room itself. He was curious about it, yeah, but at the same time, it unnerved him. Nadia had the right idea to avoid going in. It had a familiar aura to it. One that said, "You shouldn't be here". And concidering what he saw when the feral took the nightlight? Something like a severed, crimson-colored head distorted into eternal agony was a literal NOPE.

Raising his upper arms up, he backed up from the Devil Room and to behind Jesse.

Right about then came the heavy foot steps of Ganondorf's boots. He had watched the two other Seekers show their hesitation to enter the dark opening. As he walked past he gave them an incredulous look before simply shrugging his shoulders, "Fine then. I'll take point if no one else will." Given his background, it made a frightening amount of sense why he would have no fear for these sort of places. He was raised, not to fear the dark, but to conquer it and command it. This, he'd long ago decided, would be no different.

Jesse felt like she should pat Omori on the head or something, but decided that would be inappropriate. She squinted and smirked, amused at Ganondorf's expression and interpretation of events. "Well, don't let me stop you, big guy. By all means, show us how it's done." She gestured to the hole.

"Hmph." replied Ganondorf with a huff, "This place does not frighten me." he added while he approached the hole. He leaned over and gazed down into it, unable to see where it led. But Ganondorf, true to his word, was not afraid. He offered one more glance to the Seekers behind him and jumped.

Jesse glanced at Omori. "Somethin' about this place means that you don't break your ankles when you fall, right? Otherwise, I dunno, I could give you a piggy back ride or something." Jesse said. She took a step and dropped down into the hole.

Once everyone was down there, Jesse picked a direction she saw that people weren't going.

"This way, fellas?" She said, summoning her Service Weapon. She peaked inside the dark room. "I don't see anything but...sometimes they appear right as you enter."

The Gerudo merely shrugged, "The sooner we're on our way, the sooner we will be able to leave this wretched hole." he said in what sounded like slightly more annoyed tone. Even if he wasn't afraid of this place, that didn't mean he couldn't get tired of it after a while.

After a moment to swap out his weapons, Omori peeked into the room with Jesse, machete and flintlock in his hands. "They can pop out of the ground." He mentioned, thinking back to the Ulcers in the Caves. The boy couldn't help nodding at Ganondorf's statement. As long as they didn't run into any more spiders, he'd have no problem clearing the rooms ahead.

But something crossed his mind. How were all three of them going to step inside at once? Sectonia could blink into the rooms, but he didn't know what his current teammates could do. "...So are we all hopping in at the count of three, or am I getting tossed in?"

"This is my tried and true strat." Jesse said, floating into the air above Ganondorf's head. "Then you guys just go in underneath me. On three. Wait, no, on go. So it'll be three, two, one, go and then you go." Jesse said.

"So we'll do that right now. Three, two, one, go." She floated into the room, looking down to make sure they were beneath her.

Without giving it too much thought, Ganondorf reached down and quickly grabbed the boy by his shirt and just carried him through the door underneath Jesse. He wasn't exactly fond of the idea of giving people rides on his back like he had previously done with Nadia so maybe this would be next best way to handle this? Omori appeared indifferent to being picked up by the scruff, either way. Jesse furrowed her brow and smirked incredulously, but if Omori wasn't complaining neither was she.

Once through, he let the boy back down on the floor. It really was inconvenient that these doors automatically locked themselves after only a single person stepped through. He supposed this was why the Hero of Time had to work alone for the most part.

Immediately, he and the others got a good look at what they'd be up against this time. Three bizarre organisms, or perhaps collectives or organisms, patrolled a room of boulders arrayed with regular spacing. Each one appeared to be a chain of empty-eyed heads that dragged themselves along at a surprising pace with grubby little mits that extended from their cheeks. From their gaping mouths extended a tongue that they used to latch onto -or God forbid, into- the creature in front of them, allowing them to hustle along in a grotesque game of follow-the-leader. These Buttlickers happily charged toward the Seekers in an attempt to both heabutt them and rip at their skin with their centipede limbs.

"Okay, who comes up with this shit? Omori, stay away these from things!" Jesse said. Not entirely out of concern for his safety, but just because they were really gross and Omori wasn't wearing big shoes like Ganondorf. Jesse switched to Shatter and took point out of the three of them. She used Shield and formed a wide wall in front of her, forming a psychic bulkhead to force the abominations to crawl around it. She could move or readjust the wall or herself as she pleased as long as it was infront of her. Ideally this would give her teammates enough time to kill some of them while they tried to maneuver around the wall.

"This would be easier if I had my red hands back..." Omori tiredly sighed. Sticking with ranged weapons seemed like the best option in this place, but he was low on ammo for one gun, Revolver didn't work like that, and the flintlock he held now required him to face these...eloquently named centipedes head on. With Jesse constructing a barrier to force the creatures to go around, the boy went to one side and began stabing what he could in their ugly heads, if not cutting their bodies up into sections.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the wall, the King of Evil had already drawn the white sword from its scabbard, "Tch, disgusting creatures." he scoffed with a scowl. Even he was getting to be sickened by the sight of these abominations. When one of them got close enough to his end of the psychic wall, Ganondorf wasted no time in stabbing at it and hacking it apart with the despicably holy weapon he held in his hands.

One of the buttlickers' tongues wrapped around Omori's machete, seemingly in an attempt to disarm the boy. He wrestled against it in a dangerous game of tug-o-war, a few other centipedal creatures beginning to swarm after seeing an opportunity to attack.

Until Omori fired his gun point blank, catching the few in an explosive blast and freeing his blade. ...It still had the tongue wrapped around it. Gross.

Lastly, Jesse flung her Shield wall at the last centipede, shredding it into pieces. "Nice!" She offered the two of them a pair of high fives- Up High for Ganondorf and Down Low for Omori. Ganondorf just thought she was waving for some reason and decided to raise a hand to wave back if only to humor. He didn't expect her to suddenly slap her hand against his, which left him with a quizzical look on his face. Omori on the other hand, casually took the offer without any words. Jesse nodded and smirked at the noble effort.

As the last gruesome Buttlicker exploded into ash, a silver chest dropped onto the smeared blood in the center of the room. Popping it open rewarded two coins and a silver key, a far luckier bounty than most of the fighters had received thus far. With the promise of greater reward for the greater risk they now faced in mind, they could proceed to the next chamber, unaware of the change in pace it would present them with.

Ganondorf reached down and picked up the key and then examined it with curiosity, followed by exasperated sigh, "Look at me, grabbing silver keys out of chests. Just like Him." he said the last word of that sentence with a sharp degree of venomous hatred.

The monochrome youth picked up the two coins in turn. His brow rose at the vague mention of someone Ganondorf didn't seem to like, but didn't bother asking. "Might be useful." He said, looking at the silver key. He didn't know if a locked room was down the direction they were moving or if a golden chest will appear. "We'll just have to keep moving. Let's go."

What greeted the trio next was a room of stone brick, with floors of dark gray tiles of varying sizes and white walls illuminated by fiery sconces. They stood on an overlook in front of the door connected by a bridge lined with red masonry to a rectangular center area. Just a few feet below the bridge lay a knee-deep pool of water, a far cry from the bottomless pits encountered before now, but the Seekers' focus lay on the enemies that awaited them across the span. Rather than more fleshy or fecal monstrosities, a gang of giant living bullets stood there, with cylindrical gold-colored bodies, silver caps, and little faces. A bullet with a darker gray hue and an eyepatch sat at a table in the middle of his squad, but at the sight of intruders he flipped the table onto its side to use as cover, and the Bullet Kin opened fire with magnums. The shots whizzed through the air much slower than real bullets, but with four shooters they filled the air, and the Bullet Veteran did not hesitate to add his own much faster and better-aimed gunfire to the mix.

Ganondorf had to dive out of the way to avoid taking any bullets, "Bah, cowards!" lemented, having always hated this sort of ranged weaponry. But that didn't mean Ganondorf was above returning the favor. He did just that, summoning the Duke of Flies to unleash a volley of twelve flies that would home in on as many targets as possible for their single attack.

Jesse sprinted forward and created another psychic Shield wall. Once again her Saturnus symbol glowed brightly and seven projectiles of the ground began to circle around her, ready to strike defensively. The bullets' bullets slammed into her Shield, but Jesse held firm and tried to offer her teammates a safe fall back position- while she closed the gap. If it ain't broke..." She thought to herself.

After the Duke of Flies had cleared out what it could, Omori casted Sad Poem on the Bullet Veteran to slow it's firing speed, then rushed in to clear out the rest. Of course, having to rely on getting up close to the enemy meant taking a bullet here and there was inevitable. Though he didn't mind at this point, he was willing to bleed. Just as long as they didn't shoot at his backpack. Collecting the spirits of these Bullet Kin would most likely give him the ammo he needed for his other pistol, so showing no mercy here was necessary. For every couple of strikes the boy managed to connect, he'd fire his flintlock to gradually snuff the Bullet Kin out. But someone still had to take out the leader.

As soon as the Duke of Flies vanished, after Omori rushed in following his spell, Ganondorf readied the White Sword and followed suit. Since the boy was focusing on the Bullet Kin, the Gerudo took it upon himself to focus on the Bullet Veteran. It was tougher than its weaker cousins, but being slowed by Omori's spell would render it practically helpless against Ganondorf just the same. With enough powerful swings of the white sword, the Bullet Veteran fell soon enough. And the King of Evil elected to ignore its spirit, remembering that spirits like that didn't prove to be of much use to him. One of the others could have it if they wished.

Even after the last Bullet-Kin rusted away into ash and a spirit, the acrid, almost stinging smell of gunsmoke hung in the air. To compensate the Seekers for their fresh assortment of bullet wounds, a most interesting reward manifested itself in the center of the room where the firefight went down: a gun. At least, it looked like a gun, but the bulbous red shape on the end of the barrel poked a couple holes in that theory. If nothing else, it looked like it packed a punch.

Boxing Glove

You have acquired:
Boxing Glove
A gun that shoots a limited-range boxing glove with a chance to stun. Each time it kills an enemy, it gains a star up to 3 stars. When at 3 stars, it can be charged to consume the stars and fire a high-damage super punch.

"That's an... interesting weapon." Ganondorf mused, though he did not bother taking the object, "I don't much care for this type of weapon. So one of you can have it instead."

After crushing all the spirits in this room for extra ammo, Omori eagerly grabbed the Boxing Glove. Ranged attacks seemed to be a good option down here, so he'd take what he could get.

...He'll need a moment to heal himself before moving to the next room, though. The boy searched his inventory for any health items left.

Jesse had dropped her Shield, looking over Omori's shoulder at the boxing glove gun. "God, I hope that thing actually works." She said, admiring the novelty weapon. "And, uh, by the way, you don't need to get yourself shot for no reason. We're not in any rush here." She said.

Omori glanced back at Jesse. He simply shrugged in response, letting the snacks restore most of his health. "I can take worse." The boy told her. Though the amount of damage he took in fights so far was a bit concerning, he could admit it. "I think I got enough ammo from those bullet guys to use for my other gun. It's just that this one doesn't work like that." The boy held up his flintlock as he explained. "...Sorry for not being careful." He softly apologized after a moment.

"Nothing to say sorry about, you're the one getting shot." Jesse said. "We seriously need to invest in some real firepower for you. Not a literal flintlock. Your...magic? Abilities? Whatever it is you do to them is good stuff, even without guns and knives. So in the meantime feel free to play it safe. I can move with my Shield up, so if you want me to advance just say the word."

Omori nodded, the corners of his lips quirking up into a faint smile.

Two down, two to go. The next stop on the heroes' journey looked like a normal one, although it presented an unexpected new hazard. In addition to the four creepy little Vis that tottered around the place, just waiting for someone to step into the same row or column so they could pull open the wound on their stomachs and unleash a beam of caustic blood, four blocks of spikes lay in a square around the center of the room. If a Seeker steeped in front of one of its sides, it would slide at high speed across the floor in an attempt to impale the tragic hero, then slowly grind back to its original position for another go. Everything in here seemed to operate by the cardinal directions, but without those limitations, the newcomers could form a plan of attack to overcome the dangerous threat.

Jesse got to work, using Grip to shoot the Vis from a safe distance one by one. With no greater swarm of projectiles or enemies to worry about, she was making quick work of them. When there was only two left she stepped in the path of a spike block. "Shit!" She swore and as a gut reaction Evaded backwards, turning into a blur of speed before reappearing by Ganondorf and Omori.

The spike block began to retract to it's fellows. "Uh, watch the spikes. They bite."

Omori furrowed his brows at the Pokies. "It's either an elaborate trap, or those things are alive somehow..." He said, trying to figure out a way through without having more holes made in his body. He held a hand under his chin. "Think we can break them?" He suggested.

"If by 'we' you mean 'me.'" Jesse joked, extending a hand out wards the spike blocks. The one that had just tried to get her jostled, cracked, and was ripped from the ground before being promptly flung into one of the other critters, splattering it. It tumbled and fell into pieces.

She shook her hand, flexing her fingers.

"So be it." muttered Ganondorf as he concentrated dark magic in his hands and then focused that energy in front of him,"Times like this call for more... expendable allies." he summoned Phantom Ganon, who at first stood in front of his master before floating upward and over the spike blocks where it could then slay the remaining two Vis by stabbing at them from above, outside the range of their vision and attacks.

The monochrome boy wasn't in range to stab the other two pokies or use Bread Slice on them, so Omori casted Mock to gradually shatter them, the red hands stabbing into the spike blocks until they broke.

The reward for their thorough efforts was...a nondescript pill. It barely made a sound as it appeared and fell onto the ground. Omori glanced at it and rose a brow. Should any of them even take the gamble? He didn't exactly trust it, so that left the other two to decide.

Jesse warily eyed the pill. She glanced down at the symbol on her hand that was relatively unobtrusive and granted her a new ability. On the other hand... "If there was one thing I learned from moving to New York, it was to not pick up random pills on the ground and eat them." She said. And the previous power she acquired activated on touch. Could a pill activate on touch? "I think I've pushed my luck enough for the day."

Regardless of their choice, the trio would find that the last room was...already finished. Somehow, Sectonia managed to get ahead of them, from the item room nearby if what she explained to them was any indication. Omori had to respect the queen bee for finding a way to skip ahead. The red symbol in the center of the room did have him curious. Unlike the grotesque and peculiar the team had seen so far, this room and the reward it held had a different air to it itself too. The boy walked up to the Boon of Ares, and reached out to it.

As Omori's outstretched hand grew nearer to the blazing red emblem, a sound gradually filled his ears, subtle at first but swelling fast in intensity. It was a cacophony of impassioned voices, a tumultuous song of war cries and screams, punctuated by the percussion of weapons against one another. By the time he worked up the courage to actually touch the divine insignia, the roars of battle became deafening, but in the instant he made contact they faded away. So to did the world itself, trapping the boy within an infinite dark space with horizons of flame. Distant silhouettes waged an endless struggle; arrows flew overhead. And before Omori loomed the majestic visage of Ares, the God of War.

In armor of gleaming gold and spotless white he stood tall, his silver hair parted to one side and adorned with a laurel wreath, black like the spikes on his shoulders. In his hands he held a glossy black blade with a wicked edge, and in his empty red eyes and knowing smirk there lurked not malice, but the capacity for infinite cruelty. However, he did not move or animate in any way; instead, he seemed more like a vision, or a projection, than a living, breathing person here with Omori. "Well, well," he began, his voice deep and smooth. "Just who is it that has come seeking the blessing the God of War? Don't answer, mind you, this little chat of ours is strictly one-way. Nevertheless I can sense quite the fighting spirit...could you be a fellow dealer of death? I know that you must have many aspirations, my petitioner. To be plain with you about my own motive for a moment: As long as you continue bringing swift and steady death, you shall have my unyielding support."

A scroll of parchment appeared before Omori, and it unraveled as it floated in the air. Three options were listed out on it:

• Curse of Pain (special/abnormal weapon attacks inflict Doom on opponents, which causes a bloody sword to appear over their heads for a couple seconds, after which it descends for extra damage)
• Blade Dash (full-body evasive maneuvers that cover enough distance will leave a Blade Rift behind. These horizontal spinning blades, essentially bloody red saws, deal constant damage to enemies they cut into in the brief window they're active)
• Battle Rage (after slaying a foe, your next attack or special/abnormal weapon attack turns blood red and deals more damage)

Omori's eyes were drawn from the projection of War to the parchment, then thinking over the options shown to him. It's not every day you'd be offered a bit of extra help, from a god no less! He'd probably have to choose wisely, and they all sounded strong too. But if he had to pick only one...

Not wishing to waste more of Ares' time, the monochrome boy decided to take the Blade Dash ability for himself.

The visage of Ares seemed pleased. "The more you slay your enemies, my friend, the stronger the bond between us, I think. War's such a wondrous thing, in truth. It solves so many different problems, whilst perpetuating its own inevitability. Let's keep it up, then, hm?"

Then the realm of war receded, like a dream lost upon awakening. Omori stood back in the Necropolis once more, surrounded by the black stone and eerie green spirit-flame of Tartarus, with the other Seekers all around. To them, the divine sigil had merely burst into light, with no other strange occurrences. Yet the spirit of war now burned inside Omori, marked indelibly, like the pilot light of a flamethrower. All it needed was fuel.

...Had he just made a pact with a god?

...

Awesome.

As Omori did that, Jesse glanced around, pleased with this development. "Hey, nice to meet up with someone else. Good to see you, Queen Bee." She said.

"Hm, so the Insect beat us here?" asked the King of Evil, but merely shrugged afterward. Less work for them to do, he supposed. And it seemed the only items to be found were a sigil in this room - similar to the one that appeared after the Duke of Flies was defeated - and a rotten fruit in a recently unlocked adjacent room. Well neither of those were of any consequence to the Gerudo. The meant that the only remaining direction to go would almost certainly lead to the boss room.

"Well then, who wants to venture into the last room and challenge the boss of this floor?" he asked the Seekers currently present, "I imagine they get stronger the deeper we go, and I suppose I could use a new servant to call upon." he faced the ominous door on the eastern wall, but decided to wait for a spell in case anyone desired to follow him in. Sectonia eyed Ganondorf, questioning why he would want abominations under his command.

"I'm down." Jesse said. "We're kinda on a roll." She crossed her arms and casually leaned by the door.

"I should see what one of these 'bosses' look like myself. I missed the last two, and I could use a release for my fury." Sectonia said, thrusting her swords down to clean the blood off of them. Sectonia observed what happened to Omori, as he was a perspective minion, if a bit diminitive. Perhaps this boss would show Sectonia what everyone did, as she hadn't observed much thanks to the nature of this dungeon.

She then glanced at the item room, asking. "So, are any of you intereested in the rotten fruit? It seems to give a power over the creatures here, but as to what that is I do not know. And I for one do not want to eat a rotten fruit."

"Concidering a literal nightlight imbeded itself into Nadia when she grabbed it?" Omori spoke up, stepping back over to the others. He shook his head in distain. "I'm not risking turning my head into a tomato. As for the boss room..." He glanced at the door, trying to see what was waiting on the other side. "I guess it was a matter of time before I tossed my hat into the ring."

Admittedly, Omori felt better with a 4th fighter on their small team. With their combined strength, this boss could be cleaned out in no time!

...He quietly hoped his friends were still okay.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

"OH,SO SHE GETS AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ROYAL BITCH, WHILE I'M STUCK HERE PERFORMING OPEN HEART SURGERY ON THE IRON GOLIATH?!"
"They've breached containment? Huh. Time to kill some terrorists then."
- Finn and Oliver

Battle Stats

Finnegan Vanhorn

Age: ???/15 | Gender: Male/Male | Beast | Uniform
Cane-Sword, Nightmare Ray? | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Invulnerable?, Avatar?, Killing Blow?? | Crimson Cradle
Disguise Artifact, Enhanced Transformation, Big Damn Hero, Masculinity, Overcity Shift, Flexibility, Hammerspace Handbag, Ouju-Sama, Snowbun
Cradle Supply, Connected, Encore, Physical Prowess, Mana Font? | Exposed, Mercy, Solo Performance

STR: 03 | AGI: 05 | VIT: 03 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 04

STR: 11_x4? | AGI: 12_x4? | VIT: 12_x4? | MAG: 13_{×4 + 1?} | LCK: 11_x4?

Oliver Kyle

Age: Fokin' Dead, Mate/15 | Gender: Male/Male | Spirit, Chemicals | Flowing
Bayonet Rifle | Duplication | Crimson Cradle
Dual Weapon, Ally, Big Backpack, Masculinity, Blood Magic, Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, True Sight, Phylactery, Possession, Intangibility, Sixth Sense
Cradle Supply, Connected, ???, Magical Overload| Exposed, Mercy, ???, Monstrous Form

STR: 03 | AGI: 03 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 04

STR: 10 | AGI: 10 | VIT: 12 | MAG: 12 | LCK: 12

"FUCK!"

Was all Finn could respond with when Justine told him the soldiers broke through containment. It was also partly out of surprise when someone caused him to careen off his intended course. His weapon cut through the chain with ease. Finn's attention snapped to Iron Mouse as she explained what black magic bullshit the Tin Man was working with. "Oh NOW you tell me?!" The boy yelled back in response, gritting his teeth as he contained his irritation. But she had a point. Something like this would be useful for the Cradle. As she went to work, breaking the chains apart with her gun, Finn swiftly took out the remaining ones until the hatch holding the hearts was wide open.

Then Iron Mouse got knocked away, leaving him to face this beast alone.

He wouldn't have time to react when the Tin Man tried to hit him with a back swing. Driving his sword into the giant's arm, Finn narrowly avoided suffering the same fate as Mouse did. But for how long?

"This place is getting crazy, Finn! The spades broke through and are shooting everything that moves!! Is everything okay on your end?!"

The enemies broke through their defenses? That's even worse.

"I'm stuck dealing with the Tin Man alone, what do you think?" Finn responded almost too calmly...

"Mother of- Look, if this is too much, just say the word and we can blow this joint!"

Finn glanced back at the Tin Man's hearts.

"...Nah."

This really was getting ridiculous, and he didn't exactly have any other ideas that didn't involve using his new powers. So if this didn't work? He'll be ripping this bot's arm off and smacking him around with it. He casted his free hand at the collection of hearts, and focused on shifting them into the Overcity alongside himself.

---

Awe. She looked so nervous. Oliver remained patient as Connie introduced herself. With his spirits evacuating the last of the civilians, that gave him a bit of time to talk with her. "It's nice to meet ya, Connie." The ghost smirked. When she thanked him for helping evacuate the town, he waved it off with a chuckle. "S'nothin! Looked like ya needed the help anyways, now we just gotta wait until.....Oh shit." First, Justine called out that the flying soldiers were also suicide bombers, then he saw that the spades slipped through the barrier and began opening fire on...well...everything.

"Well then!" Oliver quickly grabbed Connie and sprinted away from enemy fire, talking to Finn through their coms. As long as nothing happened to him, the phantom could take a bullet or two as long as Connie wasn't hit. The collective of spirits and clones on their end began their retaliation against the card soldiers, Oliver expending more mana to keep their numbers from dropping.

Symphony of Espers

"Whoever says "It can't get any worse": kindly go fuck yourself."
Current Location: ???

Under the cover of darkness, the boy was forced to navigate through the building silent and cautious. His eyes couldn't exactly adjust to it instantly, especially out of his esper form. So Finn was stuck moving along the wall as if he was in a maze. He remained quiet. The last thing he wanted was the wrong person to spot him, armed or not. In his free hand he held his pistol, and his health-kit remained in his pocket.

Christ, it's way too quiet... Maybe I should just risk it and call out for-

His train of thought came to a halt when his next step accidentally knocked something over. Great. Then a sudden light shining itself in his face caused him to shield his eyes with a pained grunt. The source spoke up. He found Pac-A-Fist.

"Uh, y-yeah." Finn spoke up as he blinked away the temporary blindness inflicted on him. He spared a quick glance to the plant that could've screwed him over, but her next question was a bit more interesting. "I don't see any reason we should. Justin is gone, the diver's been dealt with, and I'm sure both of us are too low on mana to do anything else." He answered honestly, looking back towards Pac's direction.

"I just want to make sure you two are safe and sound. That's all."

”You two? You must be talking about Betty.” Pac exhaled before setting the flashlight on a nearby table. ”I don't know about her. Speaking for myself, well, I've been better. I have an appetite for blood now, but at least my actions are my own. Justin must have died. It's the only thing that makes sense.” Finn could hear her come closer. Her arm was partially illuminated by the light. It was still difficult to look directly at the light, but it was possible to see where she was. ”I was fully aware though, of everything that was going on. I couldn't defy Justin though. I am thankful that girl with the pigtails was there. You all did well, but she went out of her way to make sure I was safe.”

Finn pocketed his gun. "It's good you've regained your senses. Honestly. The bloodthirst can hopefully be managable until we can cure the rest of your curse." He said. He then frowned. "Every other esper got ambushed during our fight. I'm...not sure if the freelancers made it out better than we did. When this darkness dispates I can go and look for them next." The boy explained. "...I hope that creep didn't hurt you, Pac. I wish I could've helped more but I was a bit...busy." The fact that the both of them might've been aware of everything concerned him greatly.

”It doesn't matter anymore. He's dead, and that means there might be some hope for Betty and me.”

"Do you know where Betty went, by the way?"

She pointed at the light. ”She ran right past me. I think she ran out the emergency exit as soon as it stopped hailing. Wait, no, it's more complicated than that.” She held her chin. ”She had been bound by a melody. It took her some time to shrug that off. I was helping her get free when I noticed I was in control again. My will had been restored. I tried to talk her into surrendering with me, but she was so angry. She batted me away with her arm and ran out the back. I don't think she had a light with her, but thralls have an easier time making their way around in the dark.”

At that, his heart once again dropped to the pit of his stomach. He hurried over to the flashlight and snatched it up from it's resting place. "That was my doing. She was still trying to kill me even while untransformed. I thought I could get her inside before the hailstorm did us both in, but I was stupid AND running low on energy. She fucking knee'd me in the gut." Finn explained with a grimace. He then shook his head. Or rather, he shook away any grim thoughts trying to surface. "Her being angry at me or at the world aside, if this shit continues any further I might actually murder someone for the hell of it so let's go!"

”I um, wow.” Pac followed after Finn. ”It'll probably be better if I go with you anyway.”

"You won't have to supervise alone."

Pac-A-Fist may have caught some movement beforehand but for Finn, it would be as if Samuel had simply come into existence at that moment, his voice originating from only a short distance behind the boy. Standing up from a crouched position, a click could be heard as he turned on his clip light attached to his shoulder. "Sounds like we really should get moving. I'll help however I can... aside from the murder, at least."

Finn's head snapped around to look at Samuel with widened eyes. How long had he been sitting there? Seemed oddly calm at the mention of a possible crime but then again, the boy was opperating on a short fuse. It could've just been a mindless slip of the tongue. He regained a bit of his composure quickly. "No matter what happens, don't hurt her. Okay? Come on." Was all Finn said before he began moving in the direction of the emergency exit.

”He doesn't seem as scary as you do.” Pac kept up with Finn, but she did glance at Samuel every so often. ”I wasn't sure how Gemini would react to me. I'm glad we don't have to keep fighting. Do either of you have an idea as to how we're going to catch her?”

Finn scratched the back of his neck. "Could have me act as bait." He went on to explain: "She literally disregarded the rest of the fight just to try and pursue my ass. If she's still livid, no doubt she'll take the opportunity to try and finish me off."

Samuel followed the other two out of the emergency exit. He swept the immediate area with his clip light while they continued to speak about their intended plan. "That plan puts you at the center of attention and at risk," he noted, clearly unhappy about it. "If Justin's taint is still causing her to be aggressive, could the bait not be anyone?"

The boy furrowed his brows without looking back at Samuel. "Unless you have a better idea...? It's either lure her to us somehow or hope we miraculously run into her by our own volition." Finn's expression broke into a tired frown. "And I'm getting sick and tired of dead ends..."

”I wouldn't call slaying Justin a 'dead end.' I mean-”

"I wasn't even one of the ones to slay him though. They were." Finn clarified, sparing Samuel a quick, grateful smile before looking back to Pac. "But you know what I meant."

She sighed. ”I don't have a lot of mana left. As a thrall I'm not totally defenseless but I'm sure I'd get hungrier as I get more beat up. So I don't think I'll be of much use if a fight breaks out. Catching someone alive is tough, especially if they're strong. But your friend said something interesting.” Pac briefly looked at Samuel. ”If Betty is still under Justin's spell, why did I regain control of myself?”

For once, Finn had no idea. He opened his mouth with the intent to offer some theories, then quickly shut it with a grimace.

"...A good question," Samuel finally said after a period of silently cursing himself for not asking that very same thing. He turned to Pac-a-Fist before asking a question of his own. "Then perhaps it is not the same affliction? I overheard you say something about her being under the effect of a melody?"

The boy groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just a restrain melody, my doing, she was angry before that. It has to be something else."

"Ah, I see." Samuel seemed a little disappointed.

”Her anger was unreal. It has to be part of her dark blessing, right? She wouldn't be mad like that for any other reason?” With a huff, the trio stopped at an intersection. ”I suppose that's not going to bring us closer to her. We need to find a way to track her and you need a plan for when you find her.”

Finn already had one. The problem was that her being pissed to high heavens was very most likely his fault too, he just kept silent when asked. If he could just...

Hahah...Is it bad I'm concidering asking Baphomet if he can help...?

His mouth twitched into another frown. "Not like any of us have a built-in GPS for this kind of situation. We could split up here to cover more ground, but something tells me neither of you will agree to it." He deadpanned, shining the flashlight he held around to look for anything out of place. There had to be something!

"I do not trust this darkness," Samuel said bluntly. "With everything that has happened today, I hope you can forgive me for being uncompromising. I won't see another agent perish today," Samuel declared, shining his flashlight around in search of a clue. "As for tracking her... I must admit, I am at a loss."

He pondered for a moment. "I wonder if she may have retreated to a familiar place nearby? Though I wouldn't have the slightest clue myself where that might be."

At that, something crossed Finn's mind.

"Could she have fled to The Great Escape?"

In waving around his flashlight, Samuel was able to spot some footprints. The blood rain had stopped, but the sanguine streets had yet to drain. a single pair of footsteps led deeper into the darkness. Pac looked to the others.

”I wouldn't rule it out. She probably doesn't know it's a hub for the freelance espers. Or at least, I never told her it was.”

"Even a potential lead is better than none."

While he wasn't quite willing to separate to cover more ground even if that may have been a better way to blindly search for someone, he was willing to take what they could get. And, perhaps thankfully, they had a little bit to go on.

As he spotted the footsteps in the blood, he followed their trail as much as he could with the clip light, stopping as they became impossible to see through the darkness. "Eyes on some footprints leading further that way," Sam relayed to the other two, directing them with a pointed finger. "I find it unlikely, but it is possible these are not hers," he cautioned, though he certainly wasn't suggesting they ignore them.

Finn's eyes widened once he noticed the footprints. Finally, something to go off of! He began to follow the path in a quicker pace even before he started talking. "Come on!"

”We’re just going to keep following her?”

Despite her protests, Pac followed after the Gemini agents. The footprints seemed to go on forever. The light would cut through the shadows, but there would always be more footsteps to follow. But while it was always dark, it wasn’t always quiet. Before long, the sounds of combat reached their ears. Melodies and spells, blades and claws, screams both monstrous and human. The diver’s death didn’t mean anyone could go home. There was some light ahead too. But at this distance, it looked like flickering stars.

"Christ..." The boy tensed up, cursing under his breath at the sounds of ongoing conflicts. The last thing they needed was to get swept up in...whatever the hell was going on while they weren't able to fight back. He couldn't even tell if there was anyone he recognized in the darkness. Too loud for his liking. Finn carefully pulled out his pistol.

"Alright, guess we're going stealth mode or are we just gunning for it?" He whispered, keeping his flashlight low.

Samuel became tense as things began to sound more and more dangerous. Naturally, the potential of getting caught by something malevolent was one of the main factors he considered when rejecting the idea of splitting up, so this only reinforced his feelings on the matter.

His immediately switch to a lower profile answered them far before his hushed voice did. "Doesn't sound like the situation is going to wait for us, but we shouldn't give ourselves away until we know what we're dealing with, either." If those cries were monster, a pistol was quite effective at doing nothing to it, and Samuel wasn't going to be casting any melodies.

"...Okay, stealth it is then."

As the espers drew closer, the fighting got louder. Not only that, but the bloody tracks became harder to follow. While it was easy to spot fresh footprints on a bloody street, they became harder to follow when you added other footprints, crumbling debris, corpses. Betty’s tracks were becoming harder to follow, but she had to go this way. Unless she was strong enough to jump into one of the buildings?

The lights were drawing closer, and their source was clarified. The Ruinous Commet had been this way. Her flames had taken to all the vehicles in the alley, and by the smell, a few bodies as well. The espers’s noses had long become accustomed to the smell of blood, but melting flesh was something most of those present hadn’t quite gotten used to.

The group stopped in front of the corpse. He was holding onto a sniper rifle, and the upper half of his head had been replaced by a raytube. Pac-A-Fist clasped a hand over her mouth without saying anything.

I believe those belong in old CRT TVs, don't they? How very strange... and awful.

Having an unfortunate amount of experience in situations where having a nose was a disadvantage, Samuel wasn't especially phased with the malodorous corpse. His power often had some... undedesirable methods to achieve the purpose of killing people, to say the least. He believed that such brutal deaths should be reserved for monsters, not humans.

Eventually, the sniper rifle found Sam's attention and he glanced between his baton and it a few times. It was pretty obvious he was considering taking it before they left.

Of course, Finn had the same idea. He pocketed his sidearm once again, held his flashlight in between his teeth and attempted to pry the rifle out of the corpse's grip. Despite the smell of charred flesh or the sound of his own rapid heartbeat bleeding into his ears, he didn't seem too phased by it. Strange...

Unfortunate they couldn't drag the corpse back to the higherups for analysis right now. Burnt or not.

But not as unfortunate as the local sound of gunfire.

He felt it before he heard it. A bullet ripped through the stomach of his chassis while the assailant leaned out the window. the glass tube stuck in its neck lit up when the rifle’s muzzle flashed. Pac-A-Fist whipped around and fired several rounds at the sniper. One of which struck the glass cathode tube and shattered it. The sniper tumbled backwards and out of sight.

Cursing under his breath, Samuel hurriedly shone his light around to spot any more threats lurking in the darkness before they could attack. He did not see any on his sweep, but that meant little for their safety. So by the time that Pac-A-Fist had finished dealing with the assailant, Samuel had already transformed back into his Esper form. A quick nod was his way of communicating thanks to the girl before he moved over to assess Fable's condition.

"You've been shot, Fable," Samuel made the rather obvious observation with a purpose as he made deliberate eye contact with the boy. Taking a bullet out of nowhere could easily send someone into shock even if it wasn't immediately fatal. "Are you still with us?"

Both of Finn's hands were pressed up against the bullet wound, dyeing them red. The poor boy was shaking like a leaf, still recoiling from the unexpected attack by how rapidly he was breathing. He was shot. He was shot.

He never looked so terrified.

"...H-Hurts...I'm fine but, i-it hurts..." Was all he could muster out in response to Samuel. Looks like that was a yes.

Sam could not entirely hide his relief that the boy was still coherent, his tone briefly losing intensity. "Good, keep pressure on that wound so we can keep it that way."

As if waiting for him to finish, the group could hear something in the distance. Samuel once again looked to that rifle...

The gunshot, or maybe Finn’s agonized scream, drew someone’s attention. They could hear hurried footsteps rushing to their position. She had soot all over her face.

"Fable?" She approached the clockwork esper.

But she was met with the barrel of the sniper rifle being pointed at her as she tried to get too close. Samuel did not recognize her and was clearly ready to pull the trigger if she did not respect their distance. "STAY RIGHT THERE!" the chorus of voices that followed his own repeated in varying speeds and intensities. "Who are you and what do you want?" he questioned.

Mary pulled back her arms. "Wah? I-Im-"

”Cthulya is a friend.” Pac reassured Sam. Even she looked a little nervous with his apparent aggression.

Samuel was clearly on edge, but he had no reason to doubt what Pac-A-Fist was saying. "In that case," he lowered the rifle in cooperation, leveling an apologetic look toward Cthulya. As he was currently transformed and his face was static, the 'apologetic' part probably didn't get across from his body language. "I apologize for the aggression. I was not expecting a friendly face so soon after an ambush," he paused, considered something, then added, "This place is just as safe as it looks."

"Which is to say, not very." Mary agreed. "There’s snipers and the largest weretiger I’ve ever seen out here. We need to go inside and-" Mary ended up cutting herself off again. Her eyes wandered over Finn’s prone form. "Oh my god!"

”Keep an eye out for me.” Pac kneeled down beside Finn and examined him. ”Alright, Fable, you with me?” She patted the side of his head. ”Stomach wounds are one of the most painful injuries you can receive, but they are survivable. The sooner we get you to a hospital, the better. I’m sure Gemini has their own facilities that are going to be better than anything Pax Septimus has.” She forced a smile. ”Entering the Esper state isn’t going to heal you, but you might find it easier to move if your other form isn’t too badly hurt.” She looked at Samuel. ”We should really leave.”

_{"Not...c-coincidence..."} Finn couldn't help uttering from what Mary explained, prying one of his free hands away from the other to grab his Grimore. A broken chuckle slipped out of him. The one time he's untransformed, and he got caught off guard. "Fuck my life..." With that, he turned back into the Timekeeper.

Taking a deep breath, the mechanical esper stood back up. "Well I dread the moment I have to revert back." He was lucky enough to have healed before attacking the Holy Diver. The boy was still shaken up, but at least he wasn't in pain like this. "Let's not waste any more time out here than we need to. We'll talk more inside." He picked up the flashlight he dropped off the ground. _{"God, what am I going to tell my parents?"}

”Pax Septimus was just hit by a series of crazy storms. It shouldn’t be too hard to think of an excuse.” Pac looked for a door. ”There’s so much rubble.”

Mary stuttered. "W-w-w-w-w-what are you doing!? Heading inside will protect you from the snipers, but there are still monsters about. This. Place. Is. Not. Safe!"

”It would be preferable to get Fable to a hospital, but I don’t think we can make him turn back right now.”

Pac and Mary might have been considering their options, but Samuel was not going to let someone else get the jump on them. They weren’t being quiet, and Fable’s scream could likely be heard by everyone in the district. And a certain thrall couldn’t resist Fable’s cries of anguish.

With a shriek, Betty launched herself out of a second story window and dove for the esper’s position. Her violin was poised overhead, ready to smash whatever it hit to pieces.

Welp. They found her.

Quickly spinning on his heel towards the direction Betty was approaching from, Finn held his weapon up to block the blunt instrument.

Samuel naturally redirected the borrowed rifle toward their sudden aggressor, but even had he wished to ignore Finn's request, he wasn't confident enough in his marksmanship to shoot with friendlies so close. Not unless he absolutely had to. But since he had given them some space to look at Finn's wounds, they were surely in a better position to help him.

And so Samuel held back and waited. Hitting an ally wasn’t something he was willing to risk. But he may have overestimated the help his esper allies were able to offer. Pac-A-Fist’s pistol was in her hand, but she likely had the same reservations about shooting someone so close to an ally. Mary on the other hand was armed with her puppet and little else. Neither of them had much mana to speak of.

When the blow came down, Finn was knocked onto his back. From there, Pac and Mary took two very different approaches to dealing with Betty. Pac-A-Fist stepped back and focused her pistol on Betty, but Mary moved in to punch some sense into the thrall. But Betty had an eye on the cthulian esper. As soon as her violin left Finn’s sword, she plowed her makeshift club into Mary’s ribcage. She clutched her side and toppled over as Betty prepared for another swing towards Finn.

With an audible, disappointed sigh only hidden from notice by the cacophony of combat, Samuel discarded the rifle and returned to using his Instruments as he moved to assist Finn once Mary had been knocked down.

"Damnit!" He practically lept up from off the ground when Mary got hit, letting his rapier collide against the instrument and move it off course. "Stop it, Betty! He's gone, he won't hurt you anymore! We don't have to fight!!"

Samuel had gotten close enough to threaten Betty by the time Finn had started trying to appeal to her, deciding to wait to see if it was in vain or not.

But it didn't look like Betty was going to hear Finn out. She was raging out of her mind. Someone with sound thinking facilities likely would have hesitated before jumping into the situation she had put herself in. The only reason why Betty hadn’t been bodied already was because no one wanted to hurt her. Mary was laying motionless on the ground, Pac held off on shooting, and Finn remained on the defensive. But Samuel…

He drove his knife into her just as she was getting ready to swing. She didn’t even have time to react before he shoulder tackled her, wrenching out his blade as she tumbled sideways. She was quick to return to her feet, but it was evident she didn’t like that last attack too much. Her right arm trembled as streams of blood ran down her arm. She was holding her violin with her only good arm.

But even if Betty had been weakened, she wasn’t giving up.

With another cry of hatred, she rushed in to attack Samuel this time.

Seeing the injured Betty resume the fighting, Samuel lost a lot of the confidence he had in Fable freeing her from whatever violent fog clouded her mind before she ended up murdering one of them. "This isn't going anywhere. She is beyond reason," Samuel exclaimed, at least thankful that the heat had been taken off of Finn for the moment.

"I don't think we can play nice here, Fable," Samuel was focused on the girl trying to beat him with a violin so he couldn't shoot the boy an apologetic look like he wanted. "She needs to be disarmed and restrained, then we can focus on remedying her."

Finn opened his mouth to speak up, but found himself unable to with the lump that formed. He was right. She hated him, after all. Why would she ever listen? With a grimace, he aimed his pistol at her left shoulder, and fired. "I'm so sorry!"

The bullet ripped through Betty’s shoulder. By this point it was impossible to distinguish between her cries of fury and her cries of pain. She was getting angrier, but she was also getting weaker.

But she didn’t release her weapon, even as her arms started to fail her. With Sam so close, Betty opened her mouth and leaned in to bite the agent.

Finn couldn't let that happen.

The boy fired his gun at the back of her leg in an attempt to stagger her. The temptation was there to just unload the whole clip and be done with it. He was sure as hell they'll both be admitted to a hospital after this is said and done, but he was trying to be smart about this. Especially with Samuel taking the brunt of Betty's seemingly endless ire.

As he abstained from any attacks targeting vital points on Betty, Samuel made it a point to abuse the injuries she had sustained. He chose her working arm as his main target but would swing from the injured arm's direction, try to force a lockout with the violin so that he could use his offhand to strike, etc.

...How so very close...

Despite how nervous bullets flying so close to him made the more experienced G.E.M.I.N.I agent feel, Samuel remained determined to keep her locked in conflict with him. He had no other option besides, and the injuries were starting to have a more pronounced effect on Betty, whose body seemed less willing to continue the fight than her spirit.

But man, her spirit was tenacious. On Samuel's end, the bite was rather a bit awkward for him in particular. He wasn't about to risk her accidentally killing herself on his blade, so he had decided to try to meet her with a strong elbow.

Sam’s elbow connected with Betty’s head before she could bite him. While Finn’s shot was certainly risky, he did manage to miss Samuel despite their close proximity. They were so close in fact that Pac-A-Fist was still hesitating to fire. But maybe she wasn’t going to need to. Betty was stumbling back, and it looked like she was on the verge of falling over.

Then she transformed.

The blisters and burns all over her body hadn’t gone away, but she was more than strong enough to hold her sword at the ready. Her ceaseless howl continued as she swung her blade towards the gemini espers. Even the nearby building couldn’t halt her blade. It’s outer wall crumbled under the heft of her blade.

"Nothing's working!!" Finn cried out as he moved out of distance from her attack. Hurting her seemed to make her worse, but trying to get through to her without violence didn't do jackshit! He was so close to just...giving up...

Who was he kidding? This wasn't worth the hell he had endured.

He didn't deserve to get popular cause of a fight that was never his. Some fucking relationship Shimr made them out to be. He just wanted to go home and forget everything that happened this whole incident.

"...I'm sorry for everything." The mechanical esper spoke in a small voice to no one in particular, then fired the rest of his clip at the swordswoman, timing it to avoid accidentally hitting his fellow agent. When he ran out of ammo, he charged in for a stab.

Samuel had naturally made it a big priority to avoid being cut by the blade, so he was not quite as concerned with what Fable was doing until things became a lot louder. The staccato of shots ripped through any notion of understanding Samuel had and left the man confused.

What were they doing anymore?

While reason escaped everyone, reality unfolded. And the reality was that a wounded, brainwashed esper like Betty wasn’t up for a lot more pain. Samuel was staying clear of Betty’s sword, so it wasn’t too difficult to avoid hitting him. Beyond that, Betty couldn’t defend herself mid swing. The physical bullets had little difficulty ripping through her pulverized flesh. Her shoulder, her legs, the building behind her. The erratic spray would have killed a less resilient esper, but Betty still clung to life. Her howls had quieted down to an agitated growl, and the flow of blood blinded her sight. Even if she had the strength to raise her sword, she wouldn’t know what to do with it. The distant sound of combat was enough to mask the boy’s advance.

Finn ran Betty though. The world seemed to freeze once his sword was hilt-deep in her torso. A few weeks ago they were calmly drinking coffee while getting to know each other. Now she was just another monster Finn had to cut down. She hissed as she slid off the blade and collapsed in a heap. Betty had been defeated.

After a minor conflict and having only suffered multiple gunshot wounds and stab wounds, they had successfully neutralized the threat Betty posed... and maybe Betty herself? It wasn't pretty, at least, and the pitiful mixture of blood, stress, and exhaustion weighed heavily on Samuel, who was more than ready to regroup with the others and leave the terrible day behind them. Whether Betty was with them or not didn't personally matter to Samuel.

Whatever emotion the Timekeeper felt faded into a cold indifference as the beserker finally collapsed. "That's for what you did to me back at the mansion." A quiet voice carried a careful spite. He may be an idiot, but he wasn't that stupid. He moved to kick Betty into laying on her back. Dead eyes stared down at her. He almost didn't look human. "You know, for all the shit you put me through these past few weeks, I could just go ahead and finish you right here and now." He spoke, resting the point of his rapier where her heart was. "But leaving you like this would make us even, wouldn't it? Just depends on whether or not I do what you weren't able to last time. I do wonder, will it'll bite me back in the ass no matter what I do?" Despite his words, Finn pulled out the first aid kit from his pocket. He crouched down, and casted his gaze aside. "And you call me a dumbass? You're borderlining on suicidal with how stubborn and pissed you've let yourself get. ...Then again, for the former, I admit this is hypocritical coming from me. But you have a life, don't you? Friends, family, dreams, were you really willing to abandon all that? You're lucky to have people that care."

Finn would have to wait for her to untransform to do anything about her wounds. Until then, he was taking the opportunity to finally drill some sense into that thick skull of hers.

And to apologize.

"...I really am sorry. For everything." After a moment, he spoke again, repeating his words. "You have every right to hate me, I get it. I let Mary scare me out of the diner, I let a behemoth corner me before I could head back to find you, and...I let Justin hurt you." Finn let the words form themselves, but he avoided looking back at her. "I wasn't the only one worried about you either, many of the freelancers were. I've been taking every lead I could off Shimr, but it seemed that no matter what I did, I was always...too late, too weak." He frowned. "I should've been there to protect you, but I failed." But the boy’s pent up emotion did nothing to move Betty, who remained unresponsive. She laid there as blood seeped out of her wounds. Maybe that's why he refused to look at her.

"But maybe you'll get the chance to make it up to her. Now isn't the time for regrets or despair, save that for when you know you've failed," Samuel produced a small glowing ball from his person, kneeled down beside the beaten Esper, and touched it to her, applying the Stabilize note it was enchanted with. Samuel hadn't discarded caution entirely and was ready to introduce Betty to the pommel of his sword if she got a second wind and chose to attack again, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that. He also hoped Veronica's power could even help for Finn's sake, but tempered his expectations.

Hopes aside, the poor visibility and uncertainty of the surrounding area made for a poor place to attempt to mend someone's critically-serious injuries, let alone when Betty was liable to turn aggressive again if she regained her strength. Samuel wanted out and fast, knowing there wasn't much point to cuffing a transformed Betty. "But I think we'll need a bit more than just this cursed darkness for that, and I'm running on fumes and borrowed power. If she's going to survive, we need to get her some real help."

As he prepared to lift or help lift Betty under the bold assumption they weren't just going to leave her there, the older agent glanced around, settling on Pac, who had been rather quiet, not that the situation had encouraged small talk or anything. "I appreciate the discipline, especially in light of Justin's tainted influence," the demonic voice said after noticably lingering on the gun she had. He didn't say anything more, though, his concerns now on getting out of danger as safely and as quickly as they could given their encumberance.

Pac-A-Fist snapped out of her trance. ”I guess.” she lowered her gun and approached Mary. ”I’m just hoping nobody else has to die today. Did you save her? That stab looked fatal.” But Betty’s esper form was holding out. There was a purple stain where the ball had touched her. When she picked up Mary, she winced. ”I just hope Elroy and the other freelancers are okay.” She turned towards Finn and gave him a good hard look, but said nothing. Without wasting any more time, she followed Samuel away from danger.

And no one but Finn could hear it, but a certain deer headed demon chuckled somewhere in the darkness.

"..." Finn said nothing as they picked up their wounded and left.

He just sat there, eerily still. He already said what he wanted to say, no matter whether or not she lived or died. Baphomet laughed at him. He didn't react. The mechanical husk lagged behind the two as they made their leave.

World of Light

Cleaning up the Caves

Sectonia’s @Archmage MC, Nadia, Omori’s @Majoras End

Word Count: 5615 (+6)

While Omori didn’t exactly need to get cleaned by Sectonia’s antlions, he did take a moment to rest before following the rest down the hatch. If this place had more spiders deeper in, he’d be in for a heart attack or two, so he had to mentally prepare himself for the worst. The Knight had cleared the dung filled room relatively unscathed. They took a moment to mend any wounds with the SOUL they had amassed, but they were also a bit…smellier than usual. The queen bee’s minions had to prioritize cleaning up the stink-bug a bit more thoroughly. The two were some of the last to hop down into the caves.

It smelled like a corpse in there. That might be an exaggeration, but at least the Basement had better lighting. The headlamp Omori wore shone its light around the room as he glanced from door to door, deciding on where to go first. Nadia went east, Ganondorf went west. He had already fought alongside Therion, so who else could he assist?

Hm… Maybe the queen bee lady would let him tag along for this floor.

Omori caught up with Sectonia just a moment after the wasp queen cornered Nadia in the shop on her way out. While the feral seemed ready to blow the big bug off again, the sight of three shiny pennies sparkling in Sectonia’s outstretched hand made the words catch in Nadia’s throat. She crossed one arm, rested her other elbow on it, and covered her mouth with her hand in a contemplative pose–all to make it look like she hadn’t immediately and shamelessly changed her mind about Sectonia for three one-hundredths of a dollar. “Hmm…” She flicked her tail back and forth for a couple seconds, then gave an exaggerated shrug. “Weeeell…that’s a fair trade, I guess.”

She took hold of the bizarre Symbol of Avarice, her nose scrunched up at the way its protruding tongue flopped around. Before putting it on she glanced up at Sectonia one last time as if to say are you sure about this? but instead she raised her eyebrow. “Didja always have that heart tattoo on your forehead? I mean, it matches the big heart on your, uh…” she gestured at Sectonia’s middle. “Abdomen. But I swear that wasn’t there before.” Then again, maybe she just didn’t like looking at the head of a giant insect. Nadia went ahead and donned the Symbol of Avarice, then went through the fading spirits Sectonia collected like a bag of potato chips. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

For Sectonia

You have acquired:

Coin x2

Full Heart

Monster Fluid x3

A liquid bugs suck from monsters. Mixes with insect fluids to form an adhesive. Used when crafting weapons and armor

Vespoid Shell x2

Material of a dangerous winged insect. Used for many purposes

Bnahabra Stinger

A Bnahabra stinger. It's actually a hollow tube that houses paralytic secretions

With the task complete, the cat burglar unceremoniously parted ways with the life-sucking headwear, clawing it off onto the floor. “Ugh!” she griped. “It feels like I lost blood without even usin’ it for anythin’!” Nadia claimed her reward and promptly crouched down to collect her new trinket. The moment she touched it, her money disappeared from her hand, and the item itself vanished too. Blinking, Nadia wondered what happened, only to feel a painful sensation building in her chest. “Nyuh? AAAGH!” In a burst of blood the prism emerged from beneath her skin. She clasped her hands over it and tried to pull it off, only to find it anchored into her upper sternum. “Owww!” she mewled, breathing heavily as the hurt subsided. Ultimately, she had suffered far worse than this, but the circumstances of its appearance left her more shocked and horrified than hurt. With a grunt she re-absorbed as much blood as she could, trying to come to grips with what happened. Smaller than a playing card, it rested against her skin below her belled choker. There seemed to be a pressure-sensitive area on the prism’s blue attachment, and when Nadia pressed it, the device produced a cone of white light directly in front of her. While not too obvious in the well-lit shop, she got the feeling it would really shine in the dark. “Damn,” she groaned as she switched it off. “It’s like it became a part of me.” She zipped her hoodie up to hide it, then unzipped her hoodie down to her navel to fully uncover the light, then shut it off. “Gives ‘flash light’ a whole new meanin’, heh…”

For Nadia

Obtained:

Night Light

When activated, a cone of light shines outward in the direction Nadia’s torso is facing. It slows enemies (but not bosses) and shots caught in the beam by 25% for as long as they remain in the beam. However, since Nadia habitually fights in a side-facing stance and changes directions constantly while attacking, it’s tough to make proper use of this item while fighting

At the mention of the tattoo on Sectonia’s head, the bee queen tapped the area absently, unable to see it herself without a mirror. No, she didn’t have a tattoo that was like her breastplate, but she did pick up a heart shaped item that granted power. And after Nadia had shown quite a bit of pain as she had picked up the prism, which embedded itself in her chest. Sectonia hadn’t had pain like that when she picked up her item… but that was concerning. ”Hm… I wasn’t expecting any of that. Not the items, nor… what that object did to you. I will need a mirror to see what this ‘heart’ tattoo you mention is…” Sectonia said, tapping her forehead in an attempt to try to feel how big it was and how it looked on her, before saying. ”At least you confirmed something for me, the Symbol doesn’t do much at all for faded spirits. You can keep all those items, that cartoonish red heart should rejuvenate your health.” still, Nadia had shown Sectonia, Omori, and anyone else watching the potential downsides of these items. Much like Sectonia had said earlier, it seemed whoever designed this place hated beauty, or at the very least punished anyone trying to obtain it.

Omori had to agree. He couldn’t have helped the dumbfounded look that crossed his face as he stood at the door. Luckily for him he was given a headlamp that rested quietly under his hood, but to get a light source embedded into your skin and bones in such a gruesome manner? Okay then, now he was slightly concerned about picking up anything from down here. ”Uh, Mister Ganondorf’s clearing some rooms to the west, if either of you want to follow up behind him.” He finally spoke up, pointing a thumb behind himself.

”I suppose. I would like to see what else is here. Perhaps my magic can at least let us know if an item is worthwhile or not. Although we will have to be careful about the side effects…” Sectonia said, gesturing at Nadia. Both of them could see concern on Sectonia’s face, although it would be up to them to decide what she was concerned about. She did make quite a few glances at Nadia however.

As the others spoke, Nadia remained crouched where she’d fallen, letting things sink in. After a couple moments though, she slammed her hand into the ground. “Damn it! I spent all my hard-earned money on that thing, puttin’ me all the way back at square one, and what do I get for it!? Disfigured! As if I wasn’t enough of a freak show already!” She stood and channeled her pent-up blood pressure into a jet-propelled punch that flew across the room and struck the petrified shopkeeper. Unfortunately, Nadia’s fists weren’t nearly strong enough to break stone, and the remains limply fell over as she retracted her bruised knuckles across the floor in a smear of blue blood. “Ugh. What a hellhole.”

Sectonia, taking a little of the blame for the disfigurement comment, tossed the feral 15 Geo to make up for the money she had lost. It was the least she could do. ”If you want to buy another item, this will work as well as the coins. The spell that permeates these shops seems to only care about ‘currency’ regardless of form.” Sectonia then gave a sideways glance at Nadia. The catgirl would need a beauty session with the Queen after all of this if that was the way she saw herself.

In an instant, Nadia’s ears perked up. “Really!? Well, hey.” Her hands darted around, and in flash all the spilled Geo got scooped into her pockets. “If ya insist.” She took the coins and the heart from the itemizations as well, the latter of which gave her a measure of relief as fresh blood pumped through her system. “At least it sorta…looks like a brooch or somethin’, right? Could be worse.” And I could always crack it off later if I need to, she thought. But until we’re outta the dark, I guess I’m stuck with it.

”Well, its light does seem to slow whatever enemy is in it if I’m reading the magic properly. And you can use that light to see in the dark like I can.” Sectonia said, stating what she could figure out from the item in an attempt to at least make it seem like it wasn’t such a bad thing. It was still crystal after all. Or maybe plastic, but saying that aloud wouldn’t help anyone.

Nadia tapped her new heartlight. “Huh.” Her eyes landed on Omori, still situated by the shop’s entrance. “Er, sorry ya had to see that, kid. I mean, me bleedin’ everywhere ain’t anythin’ new, but at least ya know not to touch stuff, right?” And end up going through something like that? Omori quickly nodded his head. His new friend waltzed out of the shop while speaking, and patted the boy on the headlamp when she passed him. “Whaddya say we go kill some creeps then, eh?”

With that, the three made their way back to the start. By now, Ganondorf’s warpath had turned the first room to the west into a mess of blood, ash, and bone dust, and he seemed intent on pushing further in that direction. Nadia consulted her map, but it did not reveal anything beyond the existence of rooms adjacent to ones already explored, so where to go was anyone’s guess. She decided to hang a left toward the chamber to the south, motioning for Omori to jump in and Sectonia to blink in alongside her. “C’mon! On three: one, two…three!”

The new trio burst into the room to find it nearly cut in half by a pool of water, with another couple repellent turds blocking the narrow routes on either side. Opposite them quivered a gruesome gallery of enemies. Three sagging, misshapen Hives tried to distance themselves as flies crawled from their sores to attack one at a time. Three weeping, pustule-ridden Nests did the same with small spiders. And three Ulcers poked up from the earth at random spots to expel yellow, dart-shaped flies or parabolic blood tears. An audible ”Gck, more wretched…” could be heard from Sectonia when they got a scope of the room.

More spiders too. Ugh. The boy faintly shuddered, but remained composed. ”I can probably get them from here.” Omori pulled out his pistol again. ”But I’m starting to run low on ammo. Think you can keep the bugs off me?” He asked, sidestepping one of the blood tears before firing at the Nests first.

Omori didn’t even have to ask, Sectonia looking at these creatures and their hideousness was quite enraged, summoning a couple antlions to act as distractions as she threw her light rings at the boil creatures as they were the most hideous thing in the room. ”Things get worse and worse as we go down.” Sectonia said as the room soon filled with small light rings fired by the Queen, their unpredictable paths leaving something to be said for accuracy, but the sheer amount of them would hit something. Her antlions meanwhile, of the green variety, began to show their new strength as they smashed at whatever came nearby, taking out any flies or spiders that decided to come their way in a single strike. Still, the boil filled creatures spitting out flies were tough, and as a light ring hit them, they coughed up more and more flies. At least her rings seemed to plow through whatever didn’t resist them.

On death, the Hive ruptured into a handful of flies, some larger and able to split projectiles. Nadia bristled; she didn’t want to wade into water that might as well be toxic with literal crap in the vicinity and airdashing over into the thick of it seemed like a worse idea than usual. “I’m bad with small stuff,” she admitted as she drew out a chain anchor. “But just standin’ here won’t fly.” Rather than try to fight normally, she activated her Night Light at the edge of the water. Its range just reached the other side, and the bugs caught in its glow lost some speed. Nadia could take her time aiming, although it still took focus given the volume of light rings Sectonia kept spitting out. “Mrow!” She hurled her anchor forward, ripping across the surface of the water with enough force to leave a wake behind it. It lodged into one of the Nests, and with a yank on the chain Nadia pulled the monster into the water, where it sank and drowned.

As she reeled in her chain, however, a Dart Fly jabbed into her upper arm. “Hey!” She turned, froze the bug, and took an extra second to get the right angle before splitting it in half with her anchor. Behind her, the Ulcer responsible for the spawn receded into the ground. “Watch it guys, these assholes are poppin’ up on this side, too!”

”Well that just makes things easier.” Omori waited until another Ulcer appeared from under them and plunged his knife into its center mass as quickly as he could. Though not without tanking a bloody tear to the chest. With a pained hiss, he continued firing at the larger enemies before having to reload.

Sectonia’s antlions were a decent distraction. As the Hives spat out flies, the antlions took a large amount of their aggro and cleaned up whatever went towards them. One even shot out a bolt of electricity at one, which arced and destroyed a few more, killing a husk that Sectonia had weakened with her barrage of light rings. Omori managed to injure one of the burrowing things but took a bit of an injury in the process. Speaking of these burrowing things, another one appeared behind Sectonia, or rather, under her, and tagged her with a blood shot and retreated before she could strike it with lightning. She was a tough bug and while she did get damaged, the others wouldn't see her even react to the injury short of striking where the creature was with lightning. Seeing these things would be an issue, Sectonia swapped out her light rings for dark globules, having her lightning staff in her other hand to strike at these burrowing things if they ever came near. Her dark globules didn’t pierce like her light rings did, but any defense these creatures had was ignored as the dark energy bolts hit them as the other husks shrunk enough to explode as they spit out the last of their flies.

All of Sectonia’s magic accomplished something else, as well. It destroyed the odious blockage to clear up one of the side-paths, allowing Nadia to wall-run over using her claws and into the spot where the last couple holdouts cowered. One Nest escaped by crossing under her, fleeing in the direction of Omori while spewing spiders, but she carved through the last Nest with an axe kick into Flying Screen Door. On death a handful of spiders squeezed out from its tumorous flesh, and with a look of abject disgust the feral used her fishtail bat the corpse into the water. “Yuck!” That left just one Hive in her corner, and to prevent more spawns she used her anchor to give it a dip, too. Splash!

Omori snapped his head around, waiting for the last Ulcer to come out of hiding. Once he saw the slightest bit of movement in the dirt, he hurried over to stab it down before it could hit him with anything else. Though with his focus elsewhere, he hadn’t noticed the Nest and its spiders barreling towards him. The boy visibly recoiled, stumbling backwards away from the concerning amount of arachnids that had appeared from another’s demise. His grip on his weapons trembled. Too many. Way too many. Way too many to fight off!

Sectonia, being nearby Omori, covered the boy with her dark lightning, destroying the spiders that ran towards him with a sweep of dark electricity. A trivial matter for her, but she did notice that the boy was outright terrified of spiders. Oh boy did Sectonia have some stories for him with her second in command Taranza being a big spider... But that wasn’t here nor there.

All that hard work went to waste when absolutely nothing appeared as a reward for beating the room. Without any more doors branching from here either, the three could do nothing but head back to the start for the second time. With a few rooms on the west side cleared by Ganondorf and the northern one still in progress, Nadia led the way left, then left again, partially to check and see how the heavy hitter was doing. She found him in the middle of a bunch of pulpy smears, and as she expected, he seemed fine. In fact, he looked more annoyed than anything. Maybe he didn’t find all this dungeoneering very rewarding. Some encouragement seemed to be in order. “Good work, champ!” After giving Ganondorf a thumbs-up and her sunniest smile, Nadia left him to his own devices. To the north lay a golden-rimmed door, locked tight, which made the feral bemoan her decision to use her only key on the shop. Normal rooms lay to the west and south, meanwhile. “Any purreference…?”

”Might as well clear both.” Sectonia said, a bit annoyed that they couldn’t open up the golden room. One of those rooms should have something to open up that door, right?

Luckily for them, Nadia wasn’t the only one who had a key. Having followed the three down the emptied rooms, the knight quietly walked past Nadia and up to the locked door. They pulled out the key they’ve been holding onto and tried inserting it into the lock. Sectonia noticed this, and almost laughed to herself as the small bug creature that had joined them did just what she was thinking. Still, that didn’t stop her opinion, there was something else she was interested in…

”... Well that settles that issue. Now the issue of the ‘hidden’ room I found on the previous floor. It was an isolated room that required a bomb to destroy the wall leading to it. With those rooms clean I can have my antlions look for the hollow wall.” Sectonia said. That being said, she was interested in what was in the golden room and suggested they check that out first.

Within the golden room lay a thick crescent array of rocks, and in the middle stood a plinth with the Knight’s reward: a six-sided block of ice. Getting closer made it possible to see a small, bulbous shape enclosed within, marked as deceased by its big X-shaped eyes. It could only be a frozen baby, so early in its development that it seemed to be little more than a fetus. Nadia wrinkled her nose at it and refused to approach. “I don’t even wanna know.” With a flippant salute she left the others to make of the ‘loot’ what they would, and made for the room to the west. Sectonia had the same sensibilities as Nadia, taking a look at the ‘item’ then leaving the room with a look of confusion on her face. It didn’t seem all that powerful anyway. Omori himself didn’t feel comfortable taking a dead fetus with him, frozen or not, so that left the Knight to take it for themself.

Once the others joined her, she counted down once more and the three began their next challenge. This chamber turned out to be quadruple-sized, but rather than a big pit it featured a bunch of mushrooms. Yet these were no ordinary fungi; Nadia realized as much the moment she pounced into the room and breathed in its air. These necrotic mushrooms absolutely reeked with the the rank smell of death, and the moment that granular musk filled Nadia’s nostrils, their corrupting spores entered her system, nullifying her passive regeneration. Sectonia’s own methods of healing turned out similarly, which lent a new edge to the danger posed by this place’s enemies. Floating above the infestation as if presiding over it, a Swarmer hearkened back to the Duke of Flies in all the worst ways, starting with the attack flies that left behind their brethren to hunt the newcomers down. Meanwhile, a squadron of eight Knights patrolled amongst the mushrooms, their calcified visages completely invulnerable from the front to protect the vulnerable brain matter that poked out behind.

Sectonia grumbled in this room as well. At least they knew where the smell was coming from but this place was still horrid. She began the fight by slowing the Knights with her slow spell before summoning some ice antlions to attack and be a distraction. Thanks to those mushrooms, Sectonia figured that Nadia might have issues with how willy-nilly she shot her own body parts around. ”I can handle these… walking brain golems for the most part. You two focus on what you can.” Sectonia said, throwing out dark globules that she knew bypassed defenses. At this point she knew that mobility was key when fighting these monsters, hence why she slowed the ones that seemed to only charge at them to make dodging them easier.

Omori attempted a few test shots at the less friendly Knights, only to click his tongue in disdain when their frontal lobes seemed to deflect his bullets. He sliced through the attack flies and casted Sad Poem on the Swarmer (assuming it can even feel anything, could’ve sworn it’s face was just a flesh mask at this point.) to slow it down in turn. The boy moved to cover Nadia, shooting at the larger creature.

With the flies’ attention elsewhere, Nadia moved in. Sectonia’s antlions proved ineffective against the Knights, their attacks useless against the little juggernauts’ stony faces while the Knights quickly racked up hits with their relentless advance. Luckily, the queen’s void attacks fared better, able to pierce the creatures’ otherwise invincible defense to exploit their sole vulnerability. When a Knight drew near Nadia switched on her Night Light, then stood ready to face it in a fighting stance. It charged and she jumped over, crossing it up in order to come down with a kick into its squishy bits from behind. “Keep this in mind!” She used Cat Spike to launch her head into the Knight’s brain, her hair hardened like a wheel of blades to cut through like a circular saw. Her enemy fell, but more came hot on its heels, and Nadia’s head rose atop a conjured Copycat body, and together the two of them taunted them. “C’mon, let’s put our heads together!”

The first Knight went for her real body, which gave her Copycat free reign to slash its backside into oblivion with El Gato. She and her double high-fived and reunited into one whole. When two more tried to take revenge with a pincer maneuver, Nadia jumped up and sank her claws into the root-ridden first of the ceiling. The Knights bonked together beneath her, then turned about to part ways, and once the feral dropped down between them she took a bow with Hand in Hand to pierce both opponents from behind. “Get back here!” When her arms retracted she dragged the Knights in, which meant the whirligig slashes of Wheel of Fortune could finish them both off. She flipped back onto her feet with a grin. “That’s some foot for thought!”

As she punned, a fourth Knight ran into her from behind, first stepping on her tail and then barging into her shoulder. “YOWCH!” Teeth gritted, she hopped up to cross it over, but the Knight turned around beneath her and her attack bounced off its face. She took another blow and tumbled into a mushroom, which left her momentarily dazed. Just getting too close to it had her seeing stars, but she could see the monster headed her way for strike number three. “Alright, bonehead” she snarled, getting to her feet. “Let’s see ya block this wack-ass mixup.” When it got close enough she jumped over it, and just as before it turned around. But by that time Nadia already airdashed backward to come down on the same side she started with an X-slash. Her claws cut deep, and with Ear Piercing she finished it off. “I’m always one step a-head,” she boasted.

Sectonia meanwhile kept herself at range, much like before. She didn’t want any of these vile things to touch her, keeping her slow spell up on whatever knight she was focusing down. At least her dark globules could pass through the masks that reflected most other attacks and damage the flesh beneath. Still, with her antlions being nothing more than a distraction for these things, it was up to her slow spell, dark globules, and mobility to deal with these things. At least Nadia was dealing with those on her end. There was one thing that annoyed Sectonia, while this magic item she picked up in Al Mamoon was tripling her spell count, the fact she couldn’t reliably aim her spells anymore was a bit annoying in this case, as even if slow, the Knight’s small size compared to Sectonia made her use far more dark globules than she would like. But a few did hit stuff the others were attacking so that was helpful at least..

Her large size did mean though that there were a few close calls that forced her to fly near the mushrooms, which much like Nadia, caused Sectonia to cough and get a bit dazed when she was near them. She’d have to burn these things when everyone wasn’t in the room. This led to a hit from an attack fly herself, which she easily batted away but still, even the smallest creatures here hit as hard as everything else and that was a concern. But eventually thanks to Nadia and Sectonia working on them, the knights were all dispatched.

That only left the Swarmer and Omori at each other's mercy. With no Knights in the way, the boy went in to stab it in the “skull”, cleaving through attack flies and the occasional pooter until he was close enough for a critical strike. Whatever remained of the swarm’s body dispersed, leaving behind a single Boom Fly, as if it was one last attempt to drag him down with it. He simply moved out of its flightpath and shot it from a reasonable distance, causing it to detonate.

With the enemies dispatched, a gold-rimmed chest hit the ground. Nadia tried to pry it open, but like the locked doors it seemed able to withstand superfluous force. It would probably need a key to be opened as well, but with those in short supply the trio would more than likely be going empty-handed once more, much to the cat burglar’s chagrin. “Dang it!” she griped as she uselessly bludgeoned the chest with her anchor. “Maybe when this is all over, I should actually learn how to pick locks.”

She soon gave up, not wanting to spend any more time among the spores than she had to. Once back in the four-way room where Ganondorf finished his fight, Nadia felt her pulse quicken once more. “Whew, thank goodness. I’m healing again.” She glared back into the fungus-infested chamber. “Whatever those rotten mushrooms were, they blocked my regeneration! If I went down in a place like that…” she shivered. Though a little banged up and out of breath, the trio had more than enough fight in them for one more encounter, and took a southward turn to finish off what looked like the last room on this side of the floor.

This one confronted the team with someone new, as well. Like the last it featured four times the space of a typical room, but this time it seemed to be mostly an abyss, with a mazelike pathway that ran across it in a large zigzag with sheer drops on either side. Nine things with the look of enemies could be found along that route, six of them no more than skulls atop red mush. Three red, pure-meat variants stood out from the rest. All the Hosts lay stationary, the gray ones invulnerable to standard attacks, for someone to get close enough for them to pop up and release a conical blast of blood tears, exposing their tender innards for a brief moment in the process.

Sectonia, ever being the one to get into the fight first, decided to scope out these rock and blood like creatures by summoning her antlions to attack one. A red one; without its protective top went down without too much of an issue from the sustained ice blasts of her blue antlions, although the fact that it was being fired upon didn’t daunt it from shooting a shotgun spread of blood globules that caused an antlion to poof in a cloud of smoke as it was defeated. Sectonia then moved them to try to attack the ones with protective caps. These ones were a bit different, and no matter how much damage the antlions put into them, the creature seemed to take no damage, nor rise up to attack them. When they were commanded to stop attacking, it took a bit, but the creature rose up and fired at them before going back to its defensive position, only revealing its red vulnerable side when attacking.

”Hmph. This room seems like it’ll be easy as long as you are prepared to dodge and attack at a moment’s notice. Although it may take some time to get through it in its entirety.” Sectonia said to the other two, deciding to send her antlions after the other red hosts and giving haste to Nadia and Omori. She was going to sit back for this one, as while she was fast, her size would make her fairly easy to hit.

Before charging ahead Nadia peered down into the darkness of what appeared to be another deadly bottomless pit. Not even her Night Light could penetrate the gloom. “Wait, didn’t those black blobs ya cast earlier take down those freaks with hard shells? Just do that again!” Then again, Sectonia’s magic seemed pretty random at times, and with the royal’s mind made up Nadia might as well be talking to a brick wall. She jogged along the path to the closest Host, which popped up to shoot at her when she drew near. The combination of Sectonia’s haste and her new item’s slow rendered it a sitting duck, and the feral barely needed to exert any effort to weave around its projectiles and snip through its neck before it plopped back down.

”I suppose I could throw those about. I’m not expecting too many to hit though.” Sectonia said as she shrugged and threw black globules at the various hosts. Some hit, some veered randomly, but Sectonia’s accuracy on stationary targets wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it would be since most of the projectile path effects hit a stationary target without issue. If Sectonia had a way to control these effects, that would be super useful, but for now all she could do was fill the room with globes of darkness. Unfortunately, they did not seem able to strike down the Hosts in defense mode, meaning a different tact would be necessary. ”Well… it seems those don’t work. I will keep you two hasted and keep my antlions out, but I feel like these things are better left to you two.”

With the extra dose of speed plus her natural agility, however, Nadia left Omori in the ground. While he lagged behind, tagged by a few Host shots, she went into overdrive. The feral raced down the zig-zag path, fearlessly leaping over the abyss whenever possible to take shortcuts around the tricky corners. The Hosts opened fire again and again, but compared to some of the zoning she’d been through, this was nothing. She slid beneath a bloody spread shot to drill through a Host’s base with legs like corkscrews, then rose and airdashed over a chasm to land in front of another monster just as it hunkered down. It might be immune to damage, but Nadia had just the ticket when it came to cowards who turtled up behind their defenses. “Upsy-daisy!” She hooked her claws into its eyeholes from behind and rocked back, using her legs to help hoist the Host off the ground.

Its momentum sent it up and over and into the depths behind her, and Nadia snickered at the sight of it plummeting into the darkness. “Skull issue.” She jumped to her feet just in time to block another set of shots. As the last Host shielded itself again, the feral unwound her anchor to spin it like a lasso, and with the help of her Night Light she sent it flying the next time the monster popped up. It wound around the Host’s body like a grappling hook before it plopped down again, but with the anchor beneath its shell, all Nadia needed to do was wrench the chain with all her strength to explode the pesky zoner in a shower of blood. “And that’s curtains!” the cat burglar declared. A few feet away, a shiny nickel appeared to herald the Seekers’ third consecutive victory.

World of Light

Level: 4
Experience: 18/40
Currently In: The Under, The Basement
Word Count: 2,225 (+3 Exp)
Collab with Therion @Yankee

As he stepped through the door, Therion found that there wasn't much time for the other Seekers to join him before the entrance was closed off, rock slabs sliding in to block the opening. The room inside looked much the same as the previous few, only this time there were "locals" present as well, for lack of a better word. It was hard to say if they were monsters per se - there were a handful of grub-like creatures crawling along the floor, and two humanoids only a little shorter than Therion himself. They were completely hairless, nude as well as bald, with the flab of their stomachs hanging down well over their waist line. The two fatties turned towards the intruders, and though they lacked many facial features their expressions were obviously angry. With withered scowls the began stalking towards the Seekers.

Omori stepped out from behind Therion and opened fire on the larger enemies with the Boltok Pistol. "These must be where that smell is coming from." He commented, using Mock on one of the Fatties. The red hands swarmed the bloody-teared humanoid before stabbing into it.

Though the bullets ripped into their soft flesh the attack stopped them for but a moment. They were back on the move soon after, steps slow and plodding. The red hands sticking into one of them caused a burst of flatulence from the fatty, curling Therion's lip.

"I'd say you're right."

"Revolting."

The stinging dagger appeared in Therion's grasp, and he flipped it over a few times before gripping it tight and diving in to melee combat. He followed up on the fatty that Omori had mocked, his blade carving through it. It's swings were slow and clumsy, unable to catch the cat burglar as he darted in and out of it's range. The second fatty grunted and tried going around for a piece of the action, but finding it's partner getting in the way of it's attempts the fatty instead turned it's attention to the child that had shot at them, lumbering closer with it's arms outstretched.

A grave mistake, honestly.

The monochrome boy was attempting to crush one of the maggot-like-things under his boot when he looked back up to see the other Fatty changing course towards him. He decided to meet it halfway, rushing up to stab it in the head, then fire a bullet through it's mouth.

Brutal and effective, the combo took the fatty down hard. It fell over onto it's back, twitching, with a new hole in the back of it's head. Suffice to say it didn't last much longer after that.

By the time its body melted into ash, its twin was succumbing to Therion's assault. Its movements were even more sluggish as poison coursed through its body and blood ran from its wounds. It was more disgust than anything else that kept Therion from getting close to it for more than the few seconds it took to slash at it in order to really finish it off, resulting in a slow death for the fatty. It collapsed, heaving, and released another burst of gas that drove the grub-like embryos in the room hop away from it. Then it, too, began to disintegrate.

Therion glanced over at Omori. He'd gotten a decent view of the other side of the small room, finding himself surprised at the kid's ferocity. A raised eyebrow showed the thief's surprise, even if it was hard to tell with the other side of his face covered. Around the, the embryos wiggled and jumped, but didn't make a move toward either of them.

Flicking off the blood and dust off his knife, the kid's attention turned from the disintegrated Fatties, to the surprised Therion, then to the Embryos. "Might as well clear the rest of these." The doors hadn't opened back up yet, so this had to be necessary. Without another word he took to clearing out the larvae, stomping on and cutting them when they jumped.

Therion shook his head, not at Omori's suggestion but to clear his own expression from his face. Like any sensible person he'd been skeptical about taking a kid like this into danger, but after seeing him fight up close it was clear enough the Omori could handle himself at least. The thief joined the grub-stomping, and with the rather docile embryos dealt with and the entire room clear of enemies, a small cartoonish pair of hearts appeared in the center and the chamber doors finally opened. Perhaps not learning his lesson, Therion picked up the hearts. Thankfully he only felt the familiar relief of healing, soothing his self-inflicted burn. Of the doors their were only two: the one they'd come from and one ahead, so it wasn't like they had much choice on which way to go. A soft skittering noise filtered out from the room in front of them, and when they moved on it was immediately clear why.

Spiders littered the area, as big as golfballs. Their beady red eyes reflected the room's dim light as they ran every which way, over small piles of rocks and up the walls. They were small and fast, and there were a lot of them, but if this was all they had to contend with in this room then Therion thought it would be piece of cake.

Omori however...

Once he saw the abundance too many of arachnids, he nearly froze up. Luckily he was just visibly tense, an anxious, not yet fearful expression adorned on his face. He reloaded his gun with shaking hands and the intention to just clear this stupid room as fast as possible. He began firing at the spiders, regardless of how he felt at the moment.

They were difficult targets to hit, given their speed and size. When the first spider was mulched by a shot, the rest of them turned their red gaze at the two people by the closed door. At once they zig-zagged over to the pair, much faster than the fatties or embryos.

"Hope you've got good aim," he advised Omori, oblivious for now to the boy's plight. He stepped forward, swapping the dagger for his short sword. The longer reach of this blade cleaved through a pair of arachnids that jumped at him. They began to swarm.

Okay, NOW was the time to panic.

The boy was doing his best to remain composed so his shots would line up more accurately, but the closer the swarm got too close to them, the faster he ran out of ammo. Omori wouldn't have time to reload as spiders began to leap at him, spurring him to run the other direction. At least it'd get some of the heat off Therion.

The horde of spiders split evenly, part peeling off to chase after Omori. Those that stayed around Therion found a formidable opponent, the swish of his sword easily cutting swathes through their numbers. The spiders that kept low to the ground in order to fit at his legs fared better than their jumping companions, who were cut down before they could make contact. There may have been a lot of them, but individually they were weak enough to be crushed under a boot - and the eradication of them continued on.

With the spider crowd around him more or less dealt with, Therion glanced over to see the progress of thinning out the rest of them.

Omori was busy hacking away wildly at his share of the swarm. A couple of the spiders managed to cling themselves onto him, dealing contact damage. He hissed in pain. "Getoffgetoffgetoff!!!" He haphazardly stabbed at the spiders, practically turning them into a shish-kabob on the blade of his knife.

On the other side, a sharp bite to his side brought Therion's attention back to himself. They spider horde that was nearly depleted had, somehow, grown again to include dozens more of the pests. It was almost like all of the work amounted to nothing if they just kept crawling out of the woodwork.

"Is there no end to them?" he groaned, brushing the spider off of him and pinning the sword into it's squirming body until it turned to ash. If this was how it was going to be, then he didn't want to waste anymore energy on swinging his weapon around. He prepared to cast Wildfire, intending to use it to fend the spiders off and, hoping they reacted like regular spiders to fire, herd them in one easily slash-able pile of bugs. It went as expected, and he splashed the fire around to force the fearful creatures away from himself. As he hastily tried to herd them into a corner, mostly failing, something caught his eye.

There was one spider that looked a little different, larger than the rest by about three times. It was hanging out by the small pile of rocks in the room, ducking away whenever Omori got close to it. It appeared scared, but more importantly - it was spitting out the smaller spiders. So that was why they didn't seem to be making a dent in their numbers.

"Hey!" Therion called to get Omori's attention, jerking his chin toward the baby long legs. "Get that thing!"

The boy's head snapped to the culprit behind the eight-legged abominations. Was that thing afraid of them? If chasing it on foot only prolongs their time here, might was well kill it from afar! Finding an opening to reload, Omori juggled between fending off the spiders and shooting the Baby Long Legs.

Omori found the larger spider to be a much easier target compared to it's brethren. Hunched in it's hiding place as it was, it didn't have much room to get out of the way of the bullets. The first crashed through some of it's legs, sending it tumbling to the ground. It tried to skitter away on it's remaining legs, half-dragging it's body away from the monochrome kid. A few more shots and it crumbled, stopping the spider production.

A flare of orange fire from the other end of the room signaled Therion carrying out his plan and wiping out the spiders around him, after which point he joined in taking care of the group that was still after Omori. He used his sword to kill them one by one, shaking the wrist of the hand he'd cast his fire from to rid himself of the lasting heat.

Not willing to waste any more ammo, Omori took out the remaining spiders with his knife. When the room was finally cleared the boy could finally breath easy, letting his posture slouch as he took some deep breaths. His irises were still whitened. Was that some indication of intense emotion?

"...are you okay?" Therion asked, having picked up the single coin that appeared in the center of the room before turning back to Omori. The spiders hadn't been that dangerous, yet the kid looked pale as a... well, wait, that was how he always looked. But he did seem tense, scared even - which had the thief on edge.

"'Mfine." Omori blinked, his eyes were back to their normal color. "I...really hate spiders...." Was his explanation. He glanced down to the ash covered knife. It was starting to get worn out.

Ah, Therion had heard of that before though he didn't recall the word. He had the inkling that it was a little more than 'hate.' Irrational fear of spiders, though in some cases said fear would probably be pretty rational. He watched Omori calm himself down, remembering that he'd felt the same way earlier when they'd fallen into the Chasm - that gut-churning, bone-chilling feeling.

"We managed to get rid of them all," he said, an awkward attempt at comforting the boy. Indeed, the only thing left of the spiders were ashes and their tiny floating spirits. All that was left to do was put the experience behind them. "And we can see if there are any more in the next room before we go in."

They looked through the newly opened door and found not spiders, but something far more disgusting. "Nope, not going in."

Omori couldn't help siding with him on this one. His face contorted into faint disgust. "Of all things." He looked around the room to see if there were any other ways to move forward-

Then flinched at the sudden reappearance of the Knight. They seemed to have picked up the coin, if the faint glimmer of gold in their hand meant anything. Unfortunately due to the rooms being locked off mid-battle, the small bug wasn't exactly able to help much when it comes to fighting. They glanced down at the coin, then handed it to Omori. He might make more use of it than they could.

"Thanks?" The boy said. The bug nodded, then looked into the next room to see....sentient dung. It didn't look like either Omori or Therion were willing to go in, so that just left the Knight to clear it out. Nothing they couldn't handle, right? The pale bug dashed into the next room, primed to strike.

Therion raised his hands, happy to let someone else tackle the foes in there. The door slid shut without him inside, and locked on the other side all they could do was wait and regroup with the other Seekers.