York
Just a newbie...
Although clear with hostile intent, the villagers that were around to attack the group weren't all that bad compared to the first time. There were relatively not that many to begin with. Only a couple of them. For those that didn't have their heads transform immediately, a few villagers who locked eyes with Death ceased to be without much struggle. A sign that his powers were still intact.
The rest were either shot by Jackson and Garrus, or impaled by the ice created by Saki.
❝ It's clear from here on out, let's keep going but with our guard up! ❞ Mion saw that there was no signs of more active villagers to the staircase leading up to the Furude shrine grounds. With Mion and Keiichi opting to show the way, Add had his Dynamo drones spread out around the group to further scope out for any possible ambushes. Nothing seemed to be picked up just yet.
As they went up the stone stairs, a noticeable amount of villager corpses were scattered on the ground, all of them missing their heads. The dead body count continued to rise as they got closer and closer to the shrine.
❝ ... there's no way those kids that got captured made this mess... something's not right here. ❞ Add pondered this out loud as the shrine finally came into view upon them reaching the top of the stairs. Almost like the setting had suddenly transformed, the moon above them had turned blood red, illuminating the surrounding area in a foreboding shade of crimson.
The shrine building was just up ahead, and it didn't seem to be heavily guarded at all despite the obvious signs of activity within. That brief window of opportunity wouldn't last forever, however.
One of Add's Dynamos would be abruptly flung at the group, landing to the ground with slash marks and sparks flying out of it. Obviously, something did a number to Add's drone. Spotting a shining glint from the bushes, Keiichi realizes that Mion was in range for whatever was lurking in the forest's bushes nearby.
❝ MION! WATCH OUT!! ❞ Keiichi yells, getting her attention to the incoming danger. It was happening all too fast, that something was moving way too fast for her to readily act. Without a second to think it over, Keiichi pushes Mion out of the way, getting deeply slashed through his back.
Mion stares in absolute horror once she helplessly watches Keiichi collapse to the ground unconscious, and witnessing the culprit quite literally crawling out of the bushes. A large pulsating mass of flesh dragged its way towards the group with its numerous scythe-like tendrils.
❝ You've got to be kidding me... ❞ Add cursed upon seeing the creature reveal itself, already annoyed that one of his drones was destroyed. Still, he prepared his Dynamos for an attack that would need time to charge. Glancing over, he took note that Mion was trying to move the unconscious Keiichi out of the way. With his hands full here, Add could only hope that the others in the group can prove themselves useful right about now.
@Not a Writer @Takumi @Crimson Spartan @York @Jeremi @dark @Minerva @Lucky @ShadowCoyote0
Looking through the telescope, Sunny would see the brief glimpse of the villagers dragging two girls into the shrine building. It doesn't take long for him to see the rest of the group along with Mion and Keiichi head off in the direction of the shrine, most definitely heading into a rescue mission. Soon, he would see a large fleshy monster appear near the group at the shrine's entrance. Before he could look through the telescope, the sound of someone climbing up the ladder to the attic could be heard.
❝ You're still here? So much for making this a clean investigation... ❞ Satoko sounded more annoyed than confused that Sunny was still here at the school safehouse. Walking up to the telescope, she didn't request to see through it, simply watching from afar with her own eyes.
❝ Sheesh... that's a problem alright. But if you're here... ❞ Satoko comments on the situation, somehow having a rough idea on what was happening out there. Before she could finish her statement, the feeling of something grabbing their ankles suddenly took place. Satoko glances down immediately to see shadowy hands stemming from the wooden floorboards tightly grabbing her ankle and Sunny's.
❝ C-crap! She's already here! ❞ She loses her cool, eyeing Sunny and waiting to see if he had any bright ideas on how to deal with this.
@Capri
SUNNY
@Gummi Bunnies
"Ghah...!"
Sunny gasped out in fear. Quickly grabbing his knife he tried to slash at the monstrous shadowy hands. If it worked and he broke free he would attempt to do it again on the monstrous hand grabbing Satoko's ankle.
Whatever Death was doing apparently worked though Jackson understood where Garrus was coming from. Still deciding not to comment he focused on pushing forwards with the others. He chose to hang back to wards the back now given the nature of his scoped weapon it made sense as they approached the shrine. This didn't seem heavily guarded which set off red flags in Jackson's mind as he started scanning the nearby bushes.
However he was not prepared for what came next as something suddenly lashed out at Mion only for Keiichi to take it instead. Jackson's eyes widen as he saw what amounted to a large mass of flesh came out of the bushes the realization of how unprepared he was for this shit. Jackson was stunned but thankfully the soldier training kicked him sending the soldier into autopilot as he raised his rifle the number for fighters around him overriding his current fear.
"Civi down! Garrus! Sev! Covering fire!" Jackson calls out to the only two people he even remotely knows as he fires a shot at this mass of flesh hoping to draw it's attention so it hopefully won't go after Saki. An order given entirely out of desperation as his mind tried to formulate a strategy.
@Not a Writer @Takumi @Gummi Bunnies @York @Jeremi @dark @Minerva @Lucky @ShadowCoyote0 @WTFIsThis!
Alice
@Not a Writer @Takumi @Crimson Spartan @Gummi Bunnies @Jeremi @dark @Minerva @Lucky @ShadowCoyote0 @Everybody
The journey to the Shrine wasn't easy, but... Surprisingly, they experienced less resistance than Alice expected. The zombie-like creatures which she had assumed to be the calamity construct's familiars. If they were getting closer, and they were somehow coming up against less resistance as they got closer to the calamity construct, then... It must be planning something.
Rather than spreading its forces thin, maybe... The Construct itself was about to challenge them in battle.
And once they got close to the Shrine entrance, as Keichi was brought down by a large, pulsating mass, she realized what she was looking at, or so she thought.
"That's it! That's the calamity construct!" She shouted.
There was a pause as she glanced over to Keichi, seeing the others defend him as Saki began to heal Keichi, she looked relieved.
But soon expression turned into a determined one as she faced off against the large, pulsating mass of flesh.
"I'll use all the mana I can muster to contain this! This creature, we'll finish it... Right here, right now!" She shouted.
Then, after taking a moment to set her familiars she left at the school building to an autonomous state, she closed her eyes, and raised her hands to either side of her, mana crackling around her body as all the magic circuits in her body lit up, illuminating her very form with a almost circuit-like network of red markings.
"To make the world a better place, to cure the world of it mistakes... I summon thee, oh world of mine. A place where dreamers wake. The place he once called... Paradise!" She shouted.
And then, something changed.
The Shrine itself was suddenly surrounded by an endless field, gears and old weapons lay everywhere.
Beneath the ground, there was the subtle glowing of bluish wires, the same once Alice used to manifest her familiars. These wires began to snake up from the ground, forming swords, and other simple weapons. While some of these weapons acted autonomously, fighting along side bird-like creatures, that appeared to act like a more powerful version of Alice's familiars, there were plenty of these sorts of weapons free for the taking.
At least for however long Alice's spell lasted.
It seemed she was prepared to give this battle everything she got, now that they were close to stopping the Calamity Construct here in its tracks.
???
@Capri @Gummi Bunnies
Meanwhile, in the school building, Alice's familiars, whom had been patrolling the school grounds for any lingering threats would sense something off...
As Sunny began to fight the shadowy hands clawing at him, a lone, avian familiar managed to make its way to him, soon followed by another. They seemed to stop to analyze the situation briefly, and then... Lit up as they began gathering mana within themselves, and firing upon the shadowy hands, skillfully avoiding Sunny in the process.
As these were the same kinds of familiars Alice employed in battle many times already, it seemed obvious they were on Sunny's side, though it was hard to say how well they would fare against this unknown threat on their own...
@Not a Writer @Takumi @Crimson Spartan @Gummi Bunnies @Jeremi @dark @Minerva @Lucky @ShadowCoyote0 @Everybody
The journey to the Shrine wasn't easy, but... Surprisingly, they experienced less resistance than Alice expected. The zombie-like creatures which she had assumed to be the calamity construct's familiars. If they were getting closer, and they were somehow coming up against less resistance as they got closer to the calamity construct, then... It must be planning something.
Rather than spreading its forces thin, maybe... The Construct itself was about to challenge them in battle.
And once they got close to the Shrine entrance, as Keichi was brought down by a large, pulsating mass, she realized what she was looking at, or so she thought.
"That's it! That's the calamity construct!" She shouted.
There was a pause as she glanced over to Keichi, seeing the others defend him as Saki began to heal Keichi, she looked relieved.
But soon expression turned into a determined one as she faced off against the large, pulsating mass of flesh.
"I'll use all the mana I can muster to contain this! This creature, we'll finish it... Right here, right now!" She shouted.
Then, after taking a moment to set her familiars she left at the school building to an autonomous state, she closed her eyes, and raised her hands to either side of her, mana crackling around her body as all the magic circuits in her body lit up, illuminating her very form with a almost circuit-like network of red markings.
"To make the world a better place, to cure the world of it mistakes... I summon thee, oh world of mine. A place where dreamers wake. The place he once called... Paradise!" She shouted.
And then, something changed.
The Shrine itself was suddenly surrounded by an endless field, gears and old weapons lay everywhere.
Beneath the ground, there was the subtle glowing of bluish wires, the same once Alice used to manifest her familiars. These wires began to snake up from the ground, forming swords, and other simple weapons. While some of these weapons acted autonomously, fighting along side bird-like creatures, that appeared to act like a more powerful version of Alice's familiars, there were plenty of these sorts of weapons free for the taking.
At least for however long Alice's spell lasted.
It seemed she was prepared to give this battle everything she got, now that they were close to stopping the Calamity Construct here in its tracks.
???
@Capri @Gummi Bunnies
Meanwhile, in the school building, Alice's familiars, whom had been patrolling the school grounds for any lingering threats would sense something off...
As Sunny began to fight the shadowy hands clawing at him, a lone, avian familiar managed to make its way to him, soon followed by another. They seemed to stop to analyze the situation briefly, and then... Lit up as they began gathering mana within themselves, and firing upon the shadowy hands, skillfully avoiding Sunny in the process.
As these were the same kinds of familiars Alice employed in battle many times already, it seemed obvious they were on Sunny's side, though it was hard to say how well they would fare against this unknown threat on their own...
