VitaVitaAR

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

While the scale of the phantom samurai's influence on the area he inhabited naturally indicated he was no ordinary ghost, seeing him actually fight only served to drive home that fact all the more thoroughly. Even at this range, Arisa could feel the air ripple. His presence was one that was driven by dedication, obsessive and focused. He was a ghost whose power had not faded away at all due to sheer and unbridled unwillingness to quit.

He truly believed that he was still serving whatever purpose he had been here for in the first place.

They'd have to defeat him head-on.

Flames surged over Ifrit, building and collecting over the wide, heavy blade as Arisa took a step back, drawing in a deep breath. The flames built, condensed, and---

With a swing, she sent them hurtling from the blade, slashing a path right through the nearest Ashigaru and sending the ooze that composed their bodies sizzling to the ground. Hopefully, they'd be suppressed by Agent Mae's efforts as well! Sprinting over the goo, the redheaded agent darted around to the samurai's flank as Agent Zhao initiated his attack, aiming to deliver a crushing, burning strike to the ghostly samurai's right side.

Meanwhile, it seemed as if some of the oozing soldiers were struggling to reform due to Agent Mae's efforts. The ninja, who had previously caused something of a ruckus, did not appear to have a strong enough presence to fully reform. Some of the Ashigaru were forming more slowly, while others struggled more then that, but it was clear that their capacity to revive was stronger in close proximity to the samurai.

And it appeared that the phantom army was well aware of Agent Mae's efforts.

The hulking, muscular-looking ooze phantom suddenly lurched forward, katana raised as he made a bid to charge for the Korean medic's location, aiming to at least disrupt her. As he grew closer to the initial source of the smoke, it was clear his speed was decreasing, his physical power lessening, but his presence was far stronger then the Ashigaru who could not approach and were wavering under the purifying smoke.

And alongside the sohei, another more powerful phantom rose.

Something was different, here. The features seemed more defined, more elegant, a feminine visage as opposed to the at least apparently masculine soldiers so far. The phantom was clearly armored from head to toe, but its proportions were still distinct enough. The details of a face, too, could almost be discerned.

The naginata gripped in both its hands gleamed, and much like Arisa had moments before...

It broke off, leading a flanking contingent of Ashigaru away from the dense smoke in a bid to strike the rear team from the opposite side.

@Raineh Daze@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO@Rune_Alchemist@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

While there was no longer any visible bodies, the rank scent seemed to only grow worse. The fact that there were no animal calls, despite the prospect of plentiful food(scavengers didn't care much about decay, did they?) only made things feel more ominous.

Youmu was hardly an expert on animals, but what Kochiya said made sense. Whatever ate the boar went through one of the softest parts of the creature, and it hadn't touched the bones or a lot of the thicker muscle. Plus, if it was using venom, that must have meant it probably wasn't very strong, right?

Poison wasn't the weapon of the powerful, right?

At least, that's what made sense to the young Konpaku.

The rotten stench that permeated this area of the forest made it clear this was the creature's killing grounds, at least. Where it hunted and fed. Youmu grimly noted it was certain she was smelling the remains of older victims.

Predators had to hunt, but that didn't make this any less grotesque, and she had no idea what would have eaten like that. A snake? But why would it chew a hole into the boar like that? Snakes normally just swallowed things up, right?

Normally-

At that moment, something landed ahead of Youmu with a soft thud.

Roukanken left its sheath in an instant.

It was no snake.

Before her eyes was an enormous centipede, thick and close to a whole meter in length. A feeling of revulsion struck the half-phantom, her entire body tensing as a chill ran up her spine and she flinched.

Gross gross gross gross gross...!

But at the same moment she adjusted her grip, and as the horrible thing started to move Roukanken's edge already reached it, dividing its writhing body instantly in half.

She was disgusted, but she wasn't afraid.

These things had to be what killed the boar, and they had to be what was driving the other boars out of their natural habitat.

Blue, viscous blood dripped from Roukanken's edge as Youmu sprang back and slid into a ready stance.

There were so many, now, but that didn't really matter. They were disgusting, but even alone she could have handled them.

A thin blade of light projected from Roukanken's edge, whistling through the air and slashing through the swarm in the same instant that Mokou's explosive attack struck, slicing multiple centipedes to ribbons.

@Izurich@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Lugubrious@EchoWolff

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Why did she get this sense of disappointment? The boar had attacked them first?! If it hadn't been for Fujiwara's sudden appearance, Youmu would definitely have been trying to demand answers!

But the Hourai Immortal's sudden appearance made that somewhat more difficult.

"If we could meet the goddess, I think I'd have to teach her a lesson," Youmu found herself agreeing, "She could have at least contacted Yuyuko-sama first. But I don't think I could turn away from what's happening here, either..."

It was far more dangerous for the people living here then many incidents that the half-phantom had experience with, with some exceptions. It wasn't right to simply walk away when people could die and have their lives destroyed.

But, with that being said, that didn't mean that she wasn't considering using her blade to instruct the goddess not to try pulling someone so suddenly it nearly split them in half.

At least if she got the opportunity. Still, Fujiwara's sudden appearance had her wondering if this goddess was still bringing people from their own world and others over.

It sounded like she was desperate...

The odor that ripped Youmu out of her thoughts immediately caused her to wrinkle her nose in disgust, her hands swiftly returning to the hilts of each of her weapons. It was a horrible, rotten scent, one that brought to mind decaying meat that had been left outside to putrify for far too long.

And it turned out that was exactly the case. The bloated corpse of the boar, just as large as the one she'd seen before, was clearly partially-decayed.

She didn't need Fujiwara's warning that eating it would be deadly. That was plain to anyone who laid eyes on it in the first place. But it was't just that it was rotten.

The huge cavity on its belly, rimmed with blackened, dried blood, gave a view directly into the putrid carcass.

It was almost entirely empty. Something had eaten the insides.

Youmu averted her eyes with a grimace, trying to cover her nose with one hand.

"What did this?" she asked. Her eyes were almost watering. There was no other word for that scent aside from vile.

@Izurich@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Lugubrious@EchoWolff

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Boar could normally be pretty aggressive, but everything the hunter said made it sound like this was still an unusual situation. Both for the boar to be in this location, and for it to attack so quickly.

Hopefully, the townsfolk would be able to quickly collect the body. It didn't make sense not to, when they definitely needed the resources. Besides, Youmu herself was plenty familiar with hunting on Yuyuko-sama's request and thus bringing home an animal's body to be prepared.

The fact that this was all so out of the ordinary meant that something had to be happening, didn't it? Youmu couldn't quite equate it to an incident in her mind, not when this place clearly operated differently then anything she knew, but---

The petite half-phantom sighed.

They'd have to go deeper to find anything out, something she quickly agreed with. There was no use stopping now.

It wasn't long before they ran into the others again. Frankly, Youmu still had no idea what was going on with the green machine man. He was like something the kappa might make... or that Kochiya-san might have in one of her games or books.

But according to Scarlet-sama, he was apparently good with wildlife, somehow.

"We encountered one of these boars as well," she responded, "But it was aggressive, and so I dealt with it."

She paused for a moment when she saw the strange marks on the ground and on some of the trees nearby. They were... what were they?

It wasn't as if she was some incredible tracker. Most of the time, hunting for Yuyuko-sama, she simply flew at top speed and took some animal off guard by doing so.

So it wasn't as if she recognized tracks.

But in this case she simply didn't have any clue what possibly could have made them in the first place. It looked like something had scratched the ground and trees hundreds and hundreds of times.

"Er... what... is this?" she asked, "It doesn't look like any animal-"

Where did Fujiwara no Mokou come from!?

The Hourai Immortal just emerged from no-where! Youmu didn't even know she was there in the first place!

"Where... where did you come from?" she found herself blurting out before thinking.

Were there other people from Gensokyo here, just waiting to spring out of the trees suddenly? It's not that she would be opposed to seeing familiar faces, but at the same time it just raised even more questions!

@PKMNB0Y@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

@Nyahahameha: Hmmm.

I honestly feel as if this is a little bit of a mismatch for the RP in its current state. While I'm okay with some extradimensional stuff existing in the RP as can be attested to by some of the anomalies, a magitech elf from another world feels like it's pushing it to me.

For some advice, I'd consider trying to focus in on the technological weapon element instead of having her be extradimensional.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

The path was clear at last.

As another, stronger soldier began to form right before her, Arisa didn't allow its body to complete. She brought Ifrit's blazing shape down as hard and as fast as she could, cutting through it and sending it sizzling back to the ground.

She'd reinforced her legs to ensure she could keep pace as best as possible, to take care of any enemies or obstacles that A-188 may have missed.

The benefit of fighting in a decrepit ruin like this was that it didn't matter if some of it became damaged or destroyed.

The rough center of the old mansion had to be close.

Suddenly the ground in front of them erupted.

Rows of razor-edged spears exploded from the black ooze coating the floor, forming a perimeter. Just beyond them, a larger, muscular figure had formed, black shape clad only in hakama, massive hands reaching out to grab at A-188 and halt her advance. Even if only for a moment.

"Damn it...!"

Arisa raised Ifrit back, but as she swung it down another blade swiftly intercepted, this one holding just long enough to delay her strike.

Beyond was a figure on its knees.

Clad entirely in dulled, faded armor befitting a high-ranking samurai, anyone who could view it clearly would see that all the flesh had long ago sloughed away and turned to dust.

It was a mere skeleton, surrounded by black ooze.

On one side lay a bow. On the other, a pristine blade that looked as if it had been maintained every day for hundreds of years.

The kneeling figure twitched.

Shakily, its right hand raised, audibly clicking as bones realigned, fingers wrapping around the hilt of the katana.

Arisa could feel it. Anyone could, at this point.

Everything else was a mere extension of this figure. Simply a part of a larger haunting.

This was the true anomaly at the root of it all.

Slowly, bones snapping into place, the figure rose.

The armor plates began to realign. Damage faded, dust falling away.

A sickly crawling, fleshy sound came from the rising skeleton. Dust gathered in the empty eye sockets, twisting together. First it formed what looked like withered, rotted grapes.

But as they stabilized, it was clear they were in fact eyes, reforming at becoming whole again.

Soon, they were staring directly at the agents beyond the spears.

Muscle crawled along the skeleton like numerous red worms, writhing as they covered the samurai's bones in layers, stacking up over one another to form a human shape.

His feet slid apart as his left had joined his right on the hilt of his blade.

Skin was reforming, now. Flowing over his raw, glistening muscle. Hair regrowing.

Those eyes burning.

What stood before them was assuredly a ghost, but undeniably looked nearly alive. A young man, but with a certain weariness to his features regardless.

And yet those eyes still burned.

"On my honor---"

The blade gleamed, not only with the moonlight but with a deeper, far less natural power.

"---You shall come no further."

@Raineh Daze@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO@Rune_Alchemist@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark

Maid RPG: Touhou Fairy Edition

Sure why not.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

@Nyahahameha: You can submit a character, you'll just have to wait until the end of the current mission(which is starting to head to its climax) to intro them. It's actually better for you to start working now, since that means you can be ready for when the mission's done.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

@VahkiDane: Oh god I'm so sorry.

I think she's probably okay now? I'll let my co-GM take one last pass over just to be sure. I'm so sorry for the delay!

Thankfully, now would be a difficult time for a character to join in with events anyway, so you haven't missed much.

Qlippoth Shift: A Supernatural Action RP About Combating Otherworldy Anomalies

"Tch---!"

The left-behind ooze was rising again? It wasn't just that there was seemingly an inexhaustible army ahead of them, but the already-defeated soldiers were reviving from destruction?

Thankfully, it seemed as if they did have a weakness. The ooze they left behind on destruction was being repelled by Agent Mae's efforts, her incense was effective. It interrupted the reformation of any ashigaru that hadn't fully formed, and additionally repelled the ooze and forced it back deeper into the ruined mansion.

But that didn't mean they weren't operating on a much stricter time limit then they'd initially thought.

Arisa knew this meant the current strategy of wiping out each wave simply wasn't sustainable.

They had to reach the source.

"A-188!" she called the shapeshifted anomaly, even as her burning blade crashed down to split another Ashigaru in half down the middle, "Teratoma! Keep going! Tear a path through their formation and head for the mansion's center! We'll follow you!"

With the sohei temporarily dealt with, they had to capitalize on this moment before any more dangerous warriors appeared. If the Ashigaru were forming defenses to prevent them from going deeper, it meant that whatever was spawning them was likely somewhere towards the center of the ruins.

Rather then fighting every wave and relying on Agent Mae's finite number of incense sticks to keep the reanimating soldiers at bay for as long as possible, they'd decapitate this phantom army!

@Raineh Daze@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO@Rune_Alchemist

---

If there was one good piece of news for the Agents in the rear team, it was the fact that Agent Yakumo's blind assault had managed to clear a path.

The ambushing shinobi were swift enough to evade the attack, though one was caught by the foot and pulled under and the dissolving form of the mercenary killed by Agent Zhao was smashed apart.

Agent Tachibana's arrows, too, aided in keeping them to the sides, forcing them to break off their ambush and helping to disperse what remained of the defensive line.

In the face of the tentacle assault, the large, katana-wielding figure seemed as if it decided to take a stronger defensive position deeper in the mansion, retreating down the hall while brandishing its long blade at the same time.

Unfortunately, as vision and hearing steadily returned to the Agents, it was evident that luck wasn't entirely in their favor. The bodies of the soldiers they had slain, left behind, were beginning to reform.

Ashigaru picking up their blades and spears, leveling their arquebuses to take aim at the Agents.

At the same time, however, they had a path forward.

If slaying the soldiers wasn't effective, then---

@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark@Raineh Daze