destinystrings | The Soul Still Burns, Part One

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The Soul Still Burns, Part One

Who: Sarah and Open
Where: Hinoto-Ri
Summary: Sarah is hunting. God Eaters work best in packs.
Warnings: Sarah's powers are really gross.

Shortly after the group of volunteers is spirited away to find McGonagall, Sarah puts a brief message on the Visitor Network.

"Found signs of Susano'O during the 13th Hour. Beginning extermination operations tonight. Backup appreciated."

Later that night, she suits up in full combat regalia and heads out, looking for trouble.

Feel like being backup?

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Roger. Be there in a second.

[A second after she hangs up there is a familiar poof sound behind Sarah.]

Sarah's response is instantaneous.

"Duck!"

So saying, Sarah throws herself into a side roll, dodging the swipe of a massive scorpion creature's glowing tail.

[Misfit is thankfully able to get it together to bounce out of the way in time. She reappears beside Sarah.]

That thing came out of nowhere. What is it?

"Deusphage Susano'O!"

Sarah ducks under a swipe of one pincer and slashes at its front legs before dodging back again.

"It's from my world!"

I assume we need to thrash it then. You can still hit something even if you can't see it right?

"Standard combat loadout of homing bullets, yes. Not enough to put it down, though."

As she says this, Sarah switches her God Arc over to Gun Mode, pointing the large, crossbow-shaped cannon at the Aragami.

Cool. Follow my lead, I figured out an awesome combat strategy.

[Misfit vanishes in her usual cloud of smoke reappearing right in front of the monster. As soon as she lands she teleports again this time reappearing a few feet to the left of the creature. She does this several more times before bouncing back to Sarah.]

It's a smoke screen. Hit it now.

Sarah shifts her stance into something wide-legged and braced as she pulls the trigger once...twice...three times, the recoil of firing the gun pushing her back nearly a foot as a trio of bright purple lasers streak upwards. Overhead, three orbs of purple energy pulse sullenly as the Deusphage thrashes at the smoke.

As Sarah switches back over to Sword Mode, the Divine HDH bullets hanging overhead discharge their payloads, yet another trio of lasers streaking down to crash against the Aragami's tail before exploding, sending the scorpion-like beast reeling, the blade of its tail shattered.

"Aim for the front legs!"

Before she even finishes the sentence, Sarah dashes in, hacking at the Susano'Os legs.

[With her big trick used up there's only one thing left to do, summon her persona.]

Zelus, come out. Twin shot at both its claws.

As the Twin Shot strikes home, Sarah briefly considers summoning Fenrir but decides against it - Fenrir has a broad range of utility, but Cleave is as strong as it gets for Physical attacks. Instead, she goes with her Velvet Persona, a blue card spiraling down out of thin air as she dodges out of reach of the claws and crushes it with one hand.

"Hyah!"

There's a muffled whumph sound as she unleashes Mother's sole attack, smashing the Susano'o to the ground as it finally collapses.

[Misfit walks a bit closer to the now still monster, making sure to stay behind Sarah.]

Is it dead already?

In response, Sarah unleashes the Predator Mode of her Arc and allows it to feast. When she doesn't immediately start glowing, she nods once.

"Dead."

The maw of the God Arc tears free of the Susano'o, a twisted hunk of metallic wreckage clenched in its teeth. Sarah eyes it with something akin to sadness.

"...oh. That's what you wanted most, Rebecca?"

[Misfit has her eyes closed for this part. SHe'll never get used to that.]

Is it done yet?

"Rebecca's finished eating, I think. The Aragami should be melting...soon...huh?"

Sarah's voice trails off as she stares down at her God Arc in a mixture of fear and bafflement, the blade writhing about.

"What's happening?"

Black tendrils shoot out from the handle of the Arc, but rather than forming into the normal many-eyed maw they simply cocoon themselves around the blade, eventually withdrawing to reveal that the Arc has mutated into something new - a smaller copy of the Deusphage's tail blade, blood oozing out of it.

Does that not normally happen?

[Misfit takes off her cape, not wanting to touch the thing with her bare hands and moves toward it to get a closer look.]

"...don't try and touch the Arc; I'm pretty sure you'll register as compatible at this point."

She peers a little closer at her Arc, which is...apparently named Rebecca for some reason?

"...that's Deus Blade Takiri, huh. The database wasn't kidding about the blood."

Yeah, why is there that much blood?

Also what do you mean compatible?

"Rebecca's security system is pretty simple - anyone that's not me, she devours."

Pause.

"But I'm pretty sure you're in the right range of genetic tolerances that you could be a God Eater if you wanted, and more importantly, you're my friend. So she'd try to help you."

A pause as she indicates the rapidly decaying corpse of the Susano'o.

"We're pretty sure the first of these things was made like that."

Flynn sends a brief text to Sarah a few hours after the message is posted.

I will join you tonight.

Later, as the sky turns red overhead, Flynn arrives punctually at Sarah's door.

Edited 2014-05-22 00:27 (UTC)

Sarah's in full combat gear - long coat, combat-tailored slacks, reinforced shirt, all in a red designed to hide bloodstains. Her God Arc is slung over her shoulder in its strangely wing-shaped Blade Mode, each of the individual crimson 'feathers' the length of her forearm and slick with some strange, clear fluid.

She takes a moment to stare at Flynn before nodding sharply.

"Lieutenant Sarah Snowdon. Thank you for the assistance."

In a contrast to the heavily armed Sarah, Flynn is dressed only on his Samurai uniform, with his sword belted to his waist. A a demon, he did not have much need for weaponry - his own magic was usually enough.

"Flynn." He gives his name quietly. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Likewise. Let's move out."

As Sarah strides forward, her coat swirling around her, she starts talking.

"Susano'o are a type of cannibalistic Aragami; they'll most likely be hunting down a few of the local Ogretail packs. My Persona renders me immune to their physical assaults, but I'll be doing my best to dodge anyway; if they realize they can't hurt me that way they'll switch over to their lasers. They have a heightened resistance to Blaze, Spark, and Freeze effects but are vulnerable to..."

She pauses for a second, casting familiar information into something more suited for the system at use in this world.

"I believe Light. I can switch between melee and distance attacks as necessary; is there a particular combat range you prefer to be in?"

Flynn follows Sarah wordlessly, listening intently to what she said. Resistance to fire, ice, and electricity... Thunder Reign was one of his two main offensive spells. That meant he has to change strategy.

"I am mostly a spell user, specializing in Almighty and Electric magic. Though I suppose their resistance would mean relying more on the former. I can buff and heal as well."

A pause.

"Do these Aragami heal themselves?" If so, Branding them would seal that ability.

Edited 2014-05-22 03:36 (UTC)

"If heavily wounded enough, most types of Aragami will attempt to break from combat and repair their bodies by devouring things. They're only semi-sapient at best, however, so they rarely move more than two hundred feet away, which is well within my tracking range."

Sarah pauses, turning her face up and sniffing at the wind before turning to the left.

"This way."

Flynn nodded again. He couldn't think of anything to reply, so he kept quiet instead.

Sarah seemed to have found the trail of one. As a precaution, he summoned Isabeau to walk by his side. While he might appear to be relaxed and at ease, the youth was in fact paying acute attention to his surroundings. He could sense powerful demons, but Aragami didn't necessarily fall under that category. He had to be careful.

It doesn't take long before Sarah holds up one hand in a 'wait' gesture as she switches her God Arc over to its crossbow-shaped Gun Mode and proceeds to fire off several HDH rounds, the initial lasers streaking upwards before the secondary effect kicks in, laying down suppressing fire from above. Switching back over to Sword Mode, Sarah dashes forward, running flat-out as she rounds a corner and starts hacking away at a still reeling Susano'o.

Flynn expressed a very faint hint of surprise at Sarah firing her... God Arc, but it quickly fades and he follows her around the corner. Seeing Sarah dash forward, he followed her as well, in sheathing his blade and striking the Susano'o. Due to his lack of strength it dealt minimal damage, but what was more important was the glowing Brand that appeared where he had hit it. The insignia was of a circle wit a diagonal slash cut through it, and it pulsed an eerie blood red.

He jumped back immediately after the strike, well aware of the monster's dozen teeth.

Sarah throws herself backwards as the Susano'o braces itself on all four legs, raising its pincers threateningly. Sarah's eyes flick between its legs and the slowly swelling claws before she shouts out a warning to Flynn.

"Scatter!"

The Aragami advances on the pair, snapping forward with a single pincer with each step, the oversized claws strangely resembling mouths.

Flynn nodded again, moving away from the Aragami. An iridescent orb of light was forming in his hands - colours swirled and crackled on its shifting surface - and after it reached roughly the size of a football he hurled it straight at their opponent.

The orb struck the Susano'o's face and detonated, exploding in a burst of multicoloured light.

The samurai himself shielded his eyes, waiting for Antichthon's radiant discharge to clear off before deciding what to do next.

...well. That was...considerably more firepower than Sarah was expecting anyone to be packing for a fight like this; when the light clears out it reveals the Susano'o, upside down and with all four legs curled inwards.

"...It's dead, Flynn."

...oh.

There is a pause before Flynn responded - and even then he simply looked at Sarah with an expectant gaze.

What now?

It's time to eat. As Sarah releases the seal on her Arc, tendrils of black ooze out of the hilt, forming a massive maw.

"Devour."

The Arc sets to with a will, tearing out pieces of the dead Aragami and swallowing noisily.

Flynn watched Sarah's Arc devour their adversary's corpse without flinching. (It's not like this is the first time he's seen this sort of thing.)

After a while, he does speak.

"How many of these do you intend to kill...?"

As the Arc finishes eating and the mauled corpse of the Aragami sublimates away, Sarah keeps her gaze fixed on the Arc as she replies.

"All of them, if possible. My goal for tonight is 20."

The two semicircles at the end of the blade snap together, forming a flanged shield as the tendrils of the maw form a cocoon around it. When the cocoon retracts, the shield is now in the shape of a scowling, demonic face.

"... I assume you will require me to accompany you for all twenty... or do you have another arrangement?"

He speaks after a slow blink, voice still calm and quiet. It's not like he minds.

"I have some backup."

She pauses slightly as her Arc turns back into an oversized sword, her gaze shifting between it and Flynn's unruffled countenance.

"...Most people have more of a reaction to my Arc."

...oh.

Flynn shrugs after a few moments. "I have seen worse." After witnessing a whole room of people getting devoured by a vicious demon... nothing else seems gory anymore.

Or it could be because he just isn't surprised.

"...I'll take your word for it."

She absently swings her Arc, flinging a streak of blood on the wall as she does so.

"In any case, I can handle this alone if you'd prefer to stop."

Flynn shrugs.

"You choose. I do not have any other obligations tonight."

He really doesn't seem to have a preference.

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The Soul Still Burns, Part One

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we can hand wave the end of the thread if you wanna