Rhomaia wrote:Charlia wrote:Their attacks were... interesting. If a little bit pathetic. A gust of wind? Against a demon's thrall? A gust of wind. Even if it was strong, even the original body had had some control over air. It was so easy to make it calm, so easy to weather. The serpent's mental attack was... well, not much better.
You think you can harm me that way, little snake? Perhaps the original owner of this body would have faltered. I am not a weakling.
That wasn't to say it didn't affect her; it did.
But it wasn't very effective.
Hestia's attempt was a little more interesting, one that actually made her reel back. After all, human bodies were so fragile... even with the added protection she'd provided. Regaining her footing, she said, "Admirable. Your resistance is admirable. I expected as much. Let's keep playing, shall we? I think I'll call this one 'tree of death!'"
Thick shadows shot out from her body, splitting into 'branches' that reached to hem in her opponents, splitting again and again and then moving to spear right through them.
"This is so much fun," she said gleefully. "I'm so glad I got to do this."
Pillowtalk
The search for 'Katelyn' had ultimately proved fruitless for the young Jaegar, as even from the dark skies above there could be found no trace of the lone pyromancer he sought. Try as he might have to track the girl's mana, he was no adept when it came to that art, a fact which was far from surprising given the fact that he was still a novice when it came to magecraft in the first place. He did not possess a single drop of Noble blood in his veins, nor any font of magical knowledge from which to pull from. In so many respects, he was just like any other Commonblood here on the island, weak and unrefined.
Yet, the boy did not require a hint of magical prowess to see the battle beginning to unfold below him, and owing to his naturally sharp eyes, he had found his target in a heartbeat. A single girl in the center of a clearing and surrounded by most of the students and teachers from the Academy grounds, obviously one of the students herself based on her height and attire. But that most definitely wasn't the thing about her that caught his eye. No, far from it...
It was the crazed, 80's slasher movie kind of smile that sent shivers down a man's spine should he take but a second's glance, the kind of smile that simply screamed, 'Hey, look at me! I'm gonna commit mass homicide with a hop, skip, and a jump, just like mother wanted!' Morbidly humorous though that sounded, Kar imagined it could only be anything but for everyone on the ground.
For a moment she only raised her hand against the students and teachers surrounding her, but there was no magical effect arising from the action. With his eyes still focused on her, and having remained far out of the girl's range, he silently brought the sable flute out from the inside of his dark cloak, clutching it as one would a sword's hilt. In this brief moments after, he only quietly observed, not concentrating on the anguished faces of the crowd around her. As far as he could tell, she was only causing some kind of minor trouble to the students and teachers, or at the worst some foolish and vague threat that would be easily dealt with.
Unfortunately, Kar couldn't have been any more wrong at that point. Soon enough, dark matter exploded out of her body in every direction, resembling what could only be described as a bloody black snowflake from the Jaegar's position. That much was far more visible in it's purpose, and infinitely more telling as to the girl's intentions. Gripping his flute in a vice, the thought of ending her life there and then came quickly to the boy, knowing that by killing her now he could potentially save the rest and eliminate a very credible threat to the safety of the island's inhabitants. Yet, she was only a student here. Killing her would do more harm than good for him as a hunter, and likely destroy any chance that he had of finding a place here...
And so, he had his objective.
Incapacitate the girl and prevent as many deaths as he could in these passing seconds, without killing her.
Putting his lips to the mouthpiece and his slender fingers to the keys, an ominous tone sounded from the instrument, the dark and cold evening wind joining in the beginning of his little performance. In the crisp air surrounding him, countless tiny will-o-wisps flared to life, their ghostly blue light shining upon the hunter as he continued his song, the song continuing on and steadily rising in it's tone, the forbidding melody audible from even the ground as the azure flames joined in seven orbs around him, shaping themselves into ethereal, burning greatswords as they hung in the sky.
All at once, the hunter's tune stopped, and the phantom blades fell from their unseen strings, descending like shooting stars from the night sky. Arranging themselves in a circular pattern before their inevitable landing, they cut through the shadows with simplistic ease, and like a flame to rotted wood, the azure embers feasted upon the dark matter, consuming them as a bonfire would tinder. From there, tongues of fire trailed between the burning blades, forming a ring of bright fire around the possessed girl. Yet the vegetation did not blacken and die from the heat, for the fire would not feed on the land's life, but upon the Dark Mana that the forest had only moments ago been enriched with...
The song that played was like a dirge. Rabbit was certain he had heard it in some place, in the distant past. Yet he could not tell where. This made no difference, however. Kar had arrived, and he had played the melody to summon his swords. A good number of them hung in the air, as though they were hung to the stars by invisible threads. Their glowing-blue blades aimed downward, and Rabbit was worried that he was going to try and kill Hikari. Thus, when the blades fell down, he stepped forward for a moment. "No!" he shouted.
Yet then he saw that the blades merely landed around her. They were long enough and strong enough to hold her in place, and Rabbit was relieved. He then saw that the Dark Mana was being pulled out of Hikari's body. The demon's presence. "...Oh...heh..." Rabbit breathed, as he stood back and blocked his own body with his broadsword. As a branch snapped across the blade's flat side, he peered from behind his weapon at the young Jaegar's handiwork. He was certainly more skilled than Rabbit had given him credit for.
At the same time, of course, he realized that he was bleeding. He looked down at his white kimono, upon which the bleeding cut in his shoulder would be visible. He began to focus some Mana on healing the wound, and his tried to wipe the black fluid off his clothes. Kar could not see such a thing. Otherwise, he would begin to suspect him. Even the slightest suspicion could mean the end for him, and he was not ready for that. Even more so, he was not willing to die at the hands of this boy.
The black smear was still visible on his clothing and skin, and he was lucky that his hair covered the six years in his back and kimono, from the ritual performed only an hour ago. Fortunately, he was not Kar's main focus right now. Yet at some point after the battle, he would be that focus. Kar had not shown any graciousness in their first meeting, and so things would only slide from there. Even now, as he fought, he had to make a mental note to not summon anything that might look like Dark Mana. Even as his body reacted positively to the idea of sealing away a demon, and he was slightly pained by Kar's attack that absorbed Dark Mana, he controlled these unholy instincts and continued to fight.
Yes...until the time has come, there is no need to worry...he will remain on your side...When the time comes, he will know...and so it will begin... he thought, wistfully and determinedly. Considering so much that had happened to him in the last few weeks, including being arrested by the International Mage Committee, giving his fragile identity to Aloysus and Mercillia Abendroth, revealing that identity to nearly the entire Academy, he figured that by this point he would be dead. In fact, the night that he had confronted Ruta outside the bar, he had not fought him because he had been waiting for Ruta to kill him. He was absolutely certain his time had come, and so he had remained calm and had waited for the sword to pass.
When it had not come, he was grateful, but he was also almost disappointed. Ruta had been the one. He had held the sword to his throat. All Rabbit had held from him was where to stab him, and he would have told him if Ruta had been absolutely set on refusing him mercy. He had smiled peacefully behind his mask, as he had spoken to Ruta, and for a few seconds he had truly felt close to him. He had felt that this was how it was supposed to be, and he had felt at peace with himself. Yet then he had risen, as Ruta had changed his mind, and Rabbit had felt...relieved, but empty. After all of that, after the person he had wanted to kill him had refused him, he was not sure how to think, and so he had followed him back to the hotel like a shadow. Even now, as Ruta had returned, he still had these thoughts and could not rid himself of them.
Mana holds me in her web of fate, and watches all of my pain...watches all of the pain of my fellow Beings, my students, my colleagues, and myself. So watches me as I await that moment...How long does she desire to keep me hanging in her web, struggling like a miserable insect? he thought, before another incoming branch jerked him back into the fight.
