“Hm. I may not be as young as I was back in the military, but age hasn’t rendered me inept of leading.” Yes, Balalaika could confidently say that about herself, and it was clear by the floating girl’s tone that nothing would be able to get past her devil may care attitude. Nonon wouldn’t be able to see how Hotel Moscow carved out a home for themselves in a city filled to the brim with insane criminals and loudmouthed tyrants. As well as Balalaika would never witness the wonder of Satsuki defeating countless academies in the creation of Honnōji. Frankly the accomplishments of the latter massively trump the former, and it would only serve for the boot to further smudge the dirt of shame in Balalaika’s face knowing that Satsuki did so at such a young age. But the Russian woman didn’t know about the future accomplishments of a Japanese teenager, and those far away thoughts would be the last thing to come to mind once the legendary dragon attacked. 

The beast itself was far more monstrous and terrifying than she could have imagined, and moved like nothing that inhabited late 20th century earth. At the sight of the incoming dark-like matter being launched at the group, a strategic retreat was in order. Nothing so significant as to spell defeat, just far enough to exit the firing zone. Now behind a tree, the woman in question watched her fellow challengers advance, and looked to her hip where the gun she carried rested. “No, this won’t do a thing…” Her hand hovered over the pistol for a few moments, clenched into a fist, and then went crashing into the side of the tree. It seemed like there was absolutely nothing the blonde could do to help in this battle. 

A scowl practically crept over her face thinking that she’d be useless even if she had the sniper rifle that saved comrade lives. Her eyes flickered from person to person, desperately trying to find purpose, all until she saw what Twitch was doing. The rat scampered along, making his way in very close to the dragon. Maybe the rodent had some sense in him after all. Could it be that the beast wouldn’t be able to reach attackers if they fought from its underbelly? It made sense, as it’s limbs wouldn’t be very effective from that angle… “Everyone who lacks ranged weaponry, try moving in under the beast! It shouldn’t be able to reach you from there! It may also be weak in those areas! If we can cripple it, it won’t be able to fight back!” 

So the woman was barking off orders, while everyone else fought to the death? Only the weak would willingly idle about in sight of a perfect fight, Kane knew that. But at least she proved to have some purpose, unlike the galactic fool who crawled behind some rocks like the pathetic worm he was. And what use were the useless in a competition like this? Not very much, really. Kane really wanted to hurt something, and Ba’al would look like a prime candidate the more and more he faltered. But Kane wasn’t stupid, he understood that the man’s skills could come in handy in different situations, and was willing to give the man a chance to prove himself. It didn’t help that the goody two-shoes Vash and others wouldn’t take kindly to one of their friends being burned alive, so the masked giant instead focused his time on the dragon that swooped in. 

The miasma itself wasn’t too hard to avoid, Kane was quick enough to dive under the large zombie that the group had. The remaining darkness that seeped through proved to sting at his flesh; while painful, Kane couldn’t love it more. Barely anything a mortal man threw at him managed to register, so this experience was a godsend. His breathing became heavy and audible with his fingers clawing at the dirt on the ground. There was a need in this man to dole out the pain he’s taken and then some, and if he hurried, maybe everyone else wouldn’t get to the dragon first. At first chance Kane stood from his cover, raised his arms into the air, and then brought them back down again. Like a shotgun blast, flames erupted from the ground on the upper half of the dragon, targeting its front legs and head. One way or another, this thing was going to meet its end.