destinystrings | Conquestum Paradisi

Awww no. Ferrus doesn't bother making any fanfare in summoning his own persona - instead, a gun seems to form above his body, taking aim at Mochizuki. Aw yeah, mutation skills.

Then it's time to just start firing his pistol at Mochizuki; it's not his bolter, at the moment, but a revolver. She'd summoned her persona - and he wasn't waiting to get hit with a spell before he attacked.

Ferrus is smart to shoot first and ask questions later. As a resuly, Mochizuki doesn't get a chance to cast magic. That should buy the others time to act.

She is far too busy blocking the bullets Ferrus is sending her way with lightning-fast slashes of her katana - wait wait? She didn't have that pulled that out before!

"Hmph. Annoying."

"Who are you calling a freeloader?!"

Rune begins firing as well, just a tick out of sync with Ferrus, with Undine hovering back, ready to be called upon if healing was needed. She isn't using any of her elemental settings -- not yet, anyway -- sticking to normal rounds.

"We agreed to come here because we wanted to help a world that was dying!" she continued. "Your government deciding to help us was just a nice gesture, nothing more!"

Damn right he's shooting first. Last time he didn't, the dude he was against blew himself up.

Since then, he's made a habit of shooting first.

The katana response only earns her an annoyed sound as he moves to firing the revolver with one hand, thankful for his glove keeping his wrist from snapping as he draws the other revolver, speedily alternating shots between them. By the time he's run out of bullets, he's off to automatics - and he's timing it with Rune's shots to try and keep her from doing anything but blocking shots.

Worst case scenario, he can start hucking lightning balls at her.

So remember when they had started delegating jobs and whatnot?

Tomokazu decides that his, at the moment, is to not get killed. As the shooting begins, he has the sense to hurl himself to the ground and take cover behind a set of bleachers. Behind him, the automated camera swoops in overhead to get a better view of the fight.

"Rather be a pet than a fucking murdering bitch."

He wasn't Anoli, but that didn't mean he had to be nice. The reporter turns on his microphone and begins to speak quickly and clearly.

"Terror continues to mount in the Attack at the Grand Prix as many in the crowd reveal themselves to be affiliated with those arbiters of chaos, the Anoli. Continuous on-the-scene footage will be provided; folks, this reporter isn't going anywhere even if he wanted to! We open now to a live broadcast of a heated battle in the works; journalist Kiyoko Mochizuki, minor celebrity of some little renown with the Hinoto-Ri Local News, appears to have donned a mask to engage our Visitors in battle. Nothing is confirmed at this time, but it does appear as if she has chosen to side with the enemy. Two unidentified Visitors are currently engaged, one of them a young girl. Folks, the Anoli could be anywhere tonight, anyone and anywhere; at the risk of causing undue concern, we must once again urge you to stay in your homes."

He continues on in this vein for some time, though the others are probably too busy fighting to catch it.

((Feel free to skip me now in favor of the fighting! I'll respond if anything is directed his way.))

It takes Mochizuki until both Rune and Ferris are in sync with their attacks for her to realize the reporter had left the scene. And, unfortunately, she's much too busy dealing with the vermin to figure out where he had crawled to.

"Damn it!"

The Anoli had made a grave mistake. Tomokazu may have been a fool but he was a fool who knew who she was. She should have concealed herself and kept her cover... no, her decision to attack Tomokazu was not the problem. She should have finished him off. Made sure he was truly dead before moving on. But now she has to deal with these pathetic distractions, and as much as her, they are proving to be more of a challenge than she had anticipated.

The katana can only block so much and it was becoming a nuisance. The Anoli jumps back. She throws her arm out when a bullet hits her in the side. The hit knocks the breath out of her, and she lets out a pained gasp but...

Strangely, getting shot doesn't phase her. Mochizuki turns her masked face in Rune's direction.

"... You truly do not understand, do you?"

There is actual pity in her voice. Whether it's genuine or patronizing, Mochizuki gives no clear indication. Instead she throws her wrist out and, with a loud yell -

"Then allow me to enlighten you! Azrael!"

The Anouli casts a hideous bout of Foul Breath on Rune. Mochizuki jumps again after, trying to put distance between her and her enemies.

Rune had to stop her barrage at that, putting a hand over her mouth as she coughed harshly. Stupid status ailment boosters; some of the beasts in the frontier had them too, and they were annoying.

She raised a hand, motioning to Undine. The Persona cast Aques, though not directly at Mochizuki or her Persona; it was aimed at the ground, hoping to trip her up with all her jumping around.

Status ailments? What were status ailments? Ferrus didn't get one of the boosters, and what with his mask's filter it was debatable how well they would have worked. His Persona levelled itself at the Anoli, again, as well - no room to miss. Ferrus could hear where the announcer was (hearing implants rock) and he was satisfied with attempting to drive her away from that general area.

So yeah, hey, Mochizuki. Enjoy a barrage of bullets! He'll be moving forward to try and push you back, as well.

((ooc: Do you mind if I use any of Ferrus's powers? He might be able to unleash what amounts to a taser on her or basically magnetic-pull at her katana. ))

It's becoming very apparent to Mochizuki that things were going downhill very quickly. Even her quickly thought-up plans are going awry. The thought that she might actually have to use stronger magic, on the Visitors no less, makes her blood boil. Tomokazu had been her only target! How did things come to this?

She lets out a loud snort. The barrage of bullets hit their mark, but they don't do much damage to her. But what Ferrus's attack does manage to do is get her on the move. The Anoli did not pay much mind to Rune, and despite Mochizuki's speed the pooling of water catches her off-guard. She slips, losing her footing and falling.

"I'm done playing games!"

Azrael hovers nearby, ready for her next order. The Anoli throws her hand out again, and the Persona casts Guillotine. Dark energy flows from it's scepter and launches at Ferrus. It's meant more to get back onto her feet, and she does so covertly while Azrael attacks.

[ ooc: sure, feel free! Mochizuki still has a few tricks herself, so I hope that's fine!

Also, I thought I had shown you a reference to her persona so I figured I'd do that now! Sorry about that! ]

[ ooc: Definitely! Not sure how hard Guillotine hurts beyond being LARGE DAMAGE x2, but he's just gonna brave through it here and you can define how hard it hurts if you feel it'll hurt more or less. :D Otherwise he's just gonna be like OW when this is over. ALSO he is unsilenced, ran an RNG and it declared 39/100 for the attack. :)

Also, just skipping Rune - whomever wants to tag, feel free to tag next. ]

Ferrus hadn't been playing games in the first place: Mochizuki could suck it, for all he cared. The slip was a prompt for Ferrus to actually jolt forward, sprinting in spite of her calling down Azrael on him.

He took the Guillotine head on. It hurt like a motherfucker, but Ferrus was not giving into the pain - he was hurt, yes, but he wasn't going to fall just from a single spell.

(Even if it did obscene phys damage.)

He'd take advantage of her having fallen, of course - his left hand would reach out to initiate a strong magnetic pull on really anything on her. The focus was, reasonably, her katana. Hope you were prepared for that, Mochizuki! It's relatively easy to pull away from, but he's hoping to waste your time you could spend escaping.

(If he had his chance, he was planning to literally tackle you, so...)

Edited 2013-01-26 21:53 (UTC)

"F-Ferrus, you okay?!"

D-damn, he actually took that head on? And still kept going? What the hell was he made of, titanium and sheer badassery?

Well, either way, have some Dia for your injuries. She's not exactly sure what else she was supposed to do.

His move to take her weapon works. When she finally realizes what is happening it's too late. She has a strong grip but it isn't strong enough. The Katana flies from her grasp and falls away.

Well shit.

She laughs, half in shock. Really. Does he think the only thing she has up her sleeve is a katana? The attack was intended to be a major blow, but she had no idea how well it worked! She threw at him had been meant to simply distract him, though considering that it didn't seem to visually detract the visitor in the slightest from taking her weapon, the only thing Mochizuki managed to do was to get back up.

It annoys her to think that this rat in a gas mask proved to be a lot more resourceful than she anticipated. The girl could be taken care of later. The one in the gasmask had to be disposed of. He might actually manage to defeat her.

The Anoli jumps back, making sure to avoid the pool of water still resonating on the floor. Her persona casts Debilitate on Ferrus, which, really, should feel foreboding. She has no idea whether the fogged spell will work considering the gasmask. It's a stab in the dark, but a very frantic stab in the dark.

No, Ferrus did not think the only thing she had on hand was a katana. However, it opened her up to being shot at - which was Ferrus's goal.

When his voice comes, it's cranked up several notches and painfully loud.

"Rune! Shoot her!"

He of course, says this while still bullrushing at her. The Debilitate does hit him, but the agile 'rat in a gas mask' doesn't seem to slow - despite the hits to his attack and defense, he's continuing to truck as though the status debuff didn't phase him at all.

This was mildly contradicted by the semi-large gash along the front of his robe, exposing the oily shirt underneath (as well as a sea of wires, in the places where that was destroyed). Considering Ferrus's robe had armor woven into it to reduce shock, it wasn't as long as one might expect - but it was certainly large.

He does dislike the fact she jumped back. He's going to just hope Rune starts taking potshots - he's removed her katana, and thus her defense from them.

...His Bolter was also a tempting prospect, if she proved impossible to catch...

Rune didn't need to be told twice; hell, she didn't even need to be told once. As soon as she saw the katana fly out of her hand, she started running to the side, opening up just as Ferrus started yelling at her. She didn't know what her weakness was -- other than the fact that it obviously wasn't water -- so she was sticking to normal rounds for now.

"Got you...!"

Rune does get her.

Mochizuki flies back once Rune landed another hit, and another. Even though the bullets are less effective, they are making very obvious dents. The Anoli gasps for air as she jumps back again, but she finds that her body is shaking. She sputters.

"You don't understand! Who you're defending - compared to them, we're in the moral right!"

Blood heavily stains her dress, marking it in dark red splatches. That's perfectly fine. She can handle that.

"You imbeciles could never understand! Pathetic mutts! You and all of your kind - you're all the same! So stupid, living off the generosity of the real monster!"

She will not die here. Not to them.

She cracks a smirk.

"I'll... I'll enjoy killing you! Both of you!"

She throws both of her arms up.

"Azrael!"

★ Wings of Death (Medium Physical attack, 60% chance of instant KO from the power of Dark on one enemy, 30% of inflicting Fear and Silence if KO attack fails)

Had the spells before worked? She hopes so, so so much. She knows that her attack connected before and that there had been a reaction. So she puts her soul into casting this spell, and Azrael appears all too eager to oblige.

Dark feathers begin to shower over Ferrus, increasing in number until he is surrounded in a large, heavy orb. It encaves him, expands - the closes in in him. With a loud, painful cry, the darkness slice through Ferrus.

It landed it's mark. Mochizuki full on grins.

Ferrus wasn't going to dignify her ravings with a response, of course. He found that talking to the opponent was unnecessary - after all, even if she insulted anything he valued.

After all, he noted to himself, her opinion was worth dirt to him.

The feathers didn't stop him moving, but he quickly is entrapped by it - it has no issue catching him, given his shittified dodge and defense by this point. The slicing cry sends static shocks of pain through his body, shaking it down to the core. It's all he has left to avoid simply dropping like a rock -- he still does, but he remains conscious, under his mask, for his efforts.

He's also still breathing. But given how loose his robe is, that may or may not be plainly visible...

Rune stopped dead when she heard the rather loud thud, one gun raised by her face, the other poised to fire at Mochizuki again. She... honestly, she never imagined any of them getting this badly hurt; they were the heroes here, after all. They'd beat the bad guys and go home and celebrate kicking ass over a nice warm meal, and...

...but Ferrus was on the ground. Ferrus wasn't moving.

"FERRUS!!!"

It took Rune a moment to realize she had screamed, and by the time she did she was already shaking, arms lowering to her sides. No, no... this wasn't real... this couldn't be real.

After a moment, she turned a fierce gaze to Mochizuki as she brought her guns up again, shaking slightly as she managed to keep them trained straight on her.

"You... you bitch," she snarled, pretty damn shocking considering she rarely swore. "We were invited here, and the people of this city welcomed us. We agreed to help this city... but you people bring chaos and death to something that was supposed to be fun, and you say you have a moral right?! There's nothing moral about you!"

Rune shook, slowly pulling her guns away from their view of Mochizuki as she crossed her arms over her chest. She was trembling from rage, fighting to keep herself from exploding. She didn't want this... she didn't wan to let this horrible thing out. The fact that her soul was burning blue around her was a pretty good indication that she's past her limit of tolerance.

"You like death so much?" she hissed. "I'll show you what death looks like on a world struggling for breath!"

Her soul exploded around her as Undine faded -- oh, I'm sorry, did you think the pretty water maiden was her Soul Persona? Nope; instead, the hulking monstrosity that seems to be a massively huge floating manatee with teeth is her Soul Persona.

Edited 2013-01-31 01:24 (UTC)

Mochizuki feels a swell of pride when her efforts pay off. She doesn't even care if the gas mask is still alive. Getting him off of her back allows her a chance. The Anoli even ignores what the other girl is screaming. It's all too pathetic. She is the least of Mochizuki's problems. Escape is the only worry she has right now.

But then... when she turns to face the girl. And catches sight of the new Persona. Her loud panting grinds to a halt.

"No, no, no" she starts, holding her hands to her head. "No no no, what is this?"

Mochizuki starts laughing. This wasn't Undine. This is - this is something she has never seen before. Her only reaction is to laugh.

"You - You damn fool! Don't you dare! You were just going on about death -"

Her laughter comes back around, loud and crazed, but there is fear in her voice too. Her mutation drained her energy. Even if she wanted to bring Azrael back out, she couldn't. Run? Impossible. Absolutely impossible. No exits.

"Did they ask you to come here? No, they didn't! They just take you! I know all about your kind!! I know how this city works! You're vision is blinded by this - this Stockhold Syndrome. They're using you! You are a guard dog!"

She takes a step back. Mochizuki is repeating herself. None of this is working.

She reaches for her mask and rips it off. throwing it on the ground. Her face is the epiphany of fear.

"Do you think I enjoy this? The killing? I don't, but there's nothing I can do! It's absolutely necessary! It's our only option! It's - "

Another step back. She balls her hands into fists.

"You'll see what I mean. One day you'll understand, and you will regret ever going against me and saving that damn reporter! You'll wish you had listened to me! This city will abandon you, just you wait."

She knows this is over. Begging for her life would be pointless. But she's trying to think of something, trying to give herself more time as she continues to walk backwards.

"SHUT UP!"

Rune couldn't stand this; she couldn't think. This is too much... this is way too much. Her friend was dead... she never lost anyone that she cared about like that, never even had to deal with the thought of someone dying on her, and this... this stupid witch was spouting on about how they were being used and... just none of that made sense! All that made sense was Ferrus was dead.

"I know what it's like to be used," she continued, her voice low, cold. It was weird hearing her own voice so serious, without any of her usual enthusiasm. "Being in this city... in this beautiful place? That's not what being used feels like!"

With a wave of her hand, an interface popped up before her -- part of her Persona, no doubt, seeing as the skills listed were all spells for a support Persona. A few attack abilities stuck out however, especially...

...oh.

"I'm done playing with you now!"

Her finger stabbed down on the command, and the Creoth Beast behind her moved, drifting past Rune. Once it cleared her, some strange, sort of purplish-black haze appeared beneath it, bolstering it up into the air and leaving its shadow molding the occasional discarded food item beneath it.

And it was heading straight for Mochizuki.

[ ooc: also, private PMs are an option if you feel it necessary to correct anything I'm doing :) ]

[ ooc: haha, everything is perfectly fine so far! But if I do have something to talk to you then! ]

Conquestum Paradisi

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