[center][b]Collab between Sage and Savato - Pride and Wrath [/b]
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[i]Someone's in a hurry... [/i][/center]

Keifers' slow movements had likely spared her a lot of problems as the target host had arrogantly launched an attack directly at the queen piece of the squad, and considering the speed of the assault one could easily assume the morbid intentions of the fugitive host. She had only started to take out her foot as the reinforced door had been pierced clean by the raging appendage, slipping right under the girl's shoe. Though, it wasn't like it was 'close' in any way, she had a large, tinted window right before her which allowed a clear vision of the man's movements. She had anticipated the offensive approach with his sudden movements, and could calculate with relative ease that the tentacle was aiming low enough on the door to proceed in stepping in anyway. The vile woman chuckled, slightly surprised as to how violent that man was, that same man who showed pity to a worthless sodier, everything got so very interesting. 

One of the accompanying elite soldiers had the reflex to deliver a wave of three shotgun shots on the now stiff tentacle used to pierce the door, in hopes of severing it in half. 

The shotgun shots blasted the tentacle a short distance away, ripping off small chunks of flesh as it did so. A faint screech could be heard as the tentacles were hit, as if the appendages were alive. Damian quickly withdrew the tentacle, and spun, slashing at the line of soldiers with a sweep of a newly emerging tentacle. The force of the attack was enough to take down a tree, and while it did threaten to crush the soldiers, it also left Damian locked in his spinning momentum.

"[b]Sergeant, please do with the other two~ Now.[/b]" 

Keifers was now slightly reluctant with the idea of stepping out so early in the game, after all the squad appeared to do just fine without her anyway. As for the soldiers in question, well the guy who previously shot down the first tentacle was also the first one to get sweeped by the tentacle's attack, followed by the closest one after him. The rest had just enough time to drop down with their weapons still pointed at the man, the other two, thanks to their armor, took little damage but were thrown rather far away nonetheless. 

The diving sergeant had pointed the transport tank's main canon toward the mass of logs used to hide Damian's buddies, threatening to blast them away with a single explosive shot. The simple movement of the canon and the screeching noise that followed made the intent rather obvious to the opposing host. 

"[b]Oh wait! Don't shoot just yet![/b]" 

Ordered the sadistic major, fully seated on the passenger's seat as she spectated the soon to be bloodbath she'd orchestrate no matter the outcome. 

Damian, having completed his spin, panted as he looked on in a steadily rising rage. He noticed the M.A.T point its cannon towards where his two men were hiding. His expression quickly reduced to a more sober, unagitated one as he realized just what was happening. [i]'All of that for nothing. Great,'[/i] he thought. [i]'Hope my poker face hasn't gotten any worse.'[/i]

"HA! Is that it?!" he spat at the squad. "AY FRECKS AND TIZZ, YOU BETTAH RUUN!" he cried in a bout of near-maniacal laughter as he shook his hands to relax his muscles. While he continued to stare down at the metal hulk before him, two tentacles slowly slithered out of his forearms, ready for whatever move the squad made.

"[b]And we got him~ Good job Sergeant. Now keep quiet.[/b]" 

She hopped out of the vehicle in an agitated manner in contrast to her previously slow movements. She was a little moe motivated now that she had a dominant position in this very situation. The opposing man could easily notice the only female individual of the M.A.T without a form of body armor walking in the open and straight toward him. Hands behind her back, she attempted to look as solemn as possible, knowing that the man before her was no pushover. 

"[b]Hello. I'm Major Keifers. I sure hope this laugh of yours is proof of your surrender. Well, quite honestly, I'm just waiting for an excuse to send your friends back to Kingdom come and beat the hell out of you in the process.[/b]" 

Her arrogant stature and wording didn't make her sudden speech any more enjoyable combined with evil threats. She wanted him to burst, to justifiy her every inhumane act to the higher ups in the army. And most of all, she wanted to crush him. Step by step, the gap between the two individuals closed, leaving little amount of time for Damian to make up his mind. 

"Surrender isn't in the Roy vocabulary," Damian said with a sly smile. He didn't feel fear, but he knew in the back of his mind that every second he spent letting his pride fuel his actions was a second closer to his possible demise. He wasn't thinking strategically; this wasn't the ideal route he had planned for he and his men. But that didn't matter anymore. "And what's stoppin yah? An eye for an eye, right? Might as well take those two chumps; you and your whole squad seems like a fair trade!" 

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He then jabbed his left hand forward, shooting a tendril straight towards the woman's torso, aiming to pierce through her. The attack was quick and straight on, with enough force to render any attempt of blocking it useless.

The men behind her were still ready to react when needed, and these were one of those situations. Keifers wasn't too worried even if they were not to react accordingly, but the title 'elite' wasn't just decoration. They were on the ground, weapons aimed at the man, so of course as he aimed his arm toward their superior, Damian's arm would be greeted with three high caliber shots, one missing and the others tageting directly the elbow and forearm. Another one aimed for his knee, which was a rather easy target considering the man's lack of movements. 

Nonetheless, Keifers swiftly drew out her Kinetic infused knife from behind her back and with that same movement would be used to block the tentacle. Because of the Kinetic core's attributes, once the tentacle would have contact with the blade if the shots wouldn't be enough to derive the trajectory of the attack, allowed her to deflect such a strong strike without too much problem. 

"[b]That sounds like a shitty deal, even for a gangster. Last chance before your buddies become collatoral damage~[/b]" 

"FUCK!" As Damian's tendril was swatted away by the shots and kinetic field, he followed the force of the impact and spun once again while his tendril shot back into his arm. He felt a bullet graze his leg, and it was enough to cause his knee to buckle. However, he fluidly fell to the knee that was nearly hit by the shot and fired off his second tendril, aiming past the woman. The tendril flew past the unarmed lady walking towards him and split into its three constituent fibers which aimed for three diferent soldiers.

'[i]I suppose he's telling me to go screw myself.[/i]'

She thought to herself as he spun around like an enraged monkey. Morel was silent, not even uttering a single gasp in the woman's mind. He was in reality petrified with fear that his beloved host would die by the hands of the abomination she was facing. Once Damian landed, the Major had her knife ready in her right hand so she could counter the same type of approach. However his targeting was suspicious, he wasn't aiming toward her, the angle was way too off considering how close they were she could deduce that rather easily. 

As she let the tendril go pass her, still ready to block it sideways if he were to go creative, Keifers could only guess he was aiming for the weaklings behind her. The sporadic shots in reaction to the tentacles charging at them were proof of that, however they were caught by surprise and couldn't even land a single shot right with stupor keeping them disoriented and the fact that they had to be careful to not shoot their boss. Keifers giggled, apparently satisfied that he gave her such a wonderful opportunity. Before the tendrils had reached the men, her free hand flattened, only to hurl a second later a speedy orb toward the divided mass next to her. By that time the soldiers were screwed, but the speedy orb shot at near point blank range had hit two of the tentacles simultaneously. The effects were absent, and to anyone who didn't know Carol-Ann's abilities this seemed strange. The tentacles had become bombs, bombs that would detonate in a cloud of blood and flesh in about five seconds. 

Damian could feel a disturbance in his spirit as his tentacles were invaded by some sort of outer force. However, it wasn't before each tendril had latched onto three separate soldiers. It took no longer than the five seconds for him to have gained control of two soldiers behind the woman, shooting a barrage of rounds from their firearms at the unsuspecting enemy's back. In a mixture of explosion and gunfire, Damian screamed as his tendrils were reduced to disintegrating masses of flesh, while the storm of bullets still flew towards the rear of the woman without armor.

Many of the shootings had stopped, which was what she expected from the man's assault. People acting strange after coming into contact with him, it wasn't too difficult for the field tactician to notice what was Damian's intention here. As the men turned their guns toward their boss, ready to fire down at her, a blue wing had taken shape on her back, almost as if it was always there but only revealed itself now. The swarm of bullets would consequently touch the wing as it responded with a weak, forward jerk. The air pushed by that miniscule movement had turned into explosives, creating a bizarre and one directional explosion at the direction of the rest of the swarm of bullets. 

The release of pressure was strong enough to stop the remaining bullets on their tracks while the first wave left a few holes on the wing used in this scenario. Morel's spirit energy was used to slowly fill up these holes. Following this, the tentacles had exploded as planned. 

'[i]Jeez this guy's not letting go. Glory to the pirated personal cams, don't you agree Morel?[/i]' 

The creature in her was just as terrified as before, since it risked both their lives once more. The fearless yet reckless major had been spared the burden of a gunshot wound by the data she gathered earlier throught the dead soldiers' cameras, but this was also the reason why she was so reckless. She had enough intel on his abilities to figure out, more or less, what certain feints would lead to. Hidden behind the cloud of blood from the tentacles' self-destruction, she launched her being toward the agonizing man, knife in hand and attempting to sever his unscathed arm with one clean vertical slice. 

While Damian had been clutching his arm in pain, he noticed the woman's dash and prepared for the worst. He instinctually shot his free arm up, shooting a tendril in her general direction while he attempted to turn away from her.

"[b]Gotcha now.[/b]" 

His reaction was the reason she had her blade up, but as it came to contact range, she did not hit it with the blade. Her timing was off, oddly enough, causing her knuckles to hit the tentacle instead. Her arm had appeared to be shot from the assault he had previously performed. She didn't feel the wound from the gunshot until she employed her arm so swiftly, likely due to adrenaline. But it didn't make much of a difference in the end. As her weak fist hit the tentacle, the air between her flesh and the apendage had turned explosive with the motion she had just performed. A force strong enough to stop bullets and push away heavy men had befallen the sporadic tentacle, ending it upwards as it followed the movement's direction. 

The threat was now handled and an opening was made. With her next step, she'd created an explosion from her feet, projecting her body in a much faster speed than anyone would expect from her. Her end goal was to sever the arm he had just used to counter her, with her knife. 

Damian's right arm was blown back, and his left arm lay limp on the other side, exposing his entire front to the oncoming attacker. Time seemed to slow for him as he felt himself nearing failure with every passing second. [i]'Let me have it, Damian,[/i] came the chilling voice of Triliq. Damian's eyes widened and he felt a lump forming in his throat. He didn't want to, but he felt he didn't have a choice anymore. [i]'GIVE ME CONTROL DAMIAN!'[/i] In a final moment of acceptance, Damian closed his eyes. 

As his arms were flung back, his entire body trembled and jerked in a flash in which hundreds of tendrils exploded out of him, seeming to come from unseen pores spread across his body. He became the central point of a large, piercing web that shot a tendril in each and every direction, cutting through anything that stood in each tendril's way. The tendrils stretched far until they latched onto the surface of a tree, and what remained was Damian's aching body, suspended in air, void from the damage.

The strike from the Kinetic knife had done no damage to the opponent, but at least it insured no damage from the abomination's body. The forward projection she had performed on herself allowed her to control her landing a few feet behind the man's previous position as she turned around to face Damian's new aesthetic. 

"[b]Hah. Aren't you an ugly freak. I guess it fits parasites like you. Morel, give me both wings in case I'd need them.[/b]" 

The creature's silence was proof of consent. But she did not use both wings, actually they were both absent at the current time. Keifers wasn't too sure as to what she would have to do here, it was quite obvious he was revealing something new to her as she previously thought he was limited to his arms. Taking a bullet wouldn't be an option this time, she had to be clean about her method. Patiently, she waited for him to show something she could exploit, otherwise she could simply solicit the tank and shoot the suspended man down. 

Damian groaned in pain as he felt his spirit drain rapidly. [i][b]'You won't have long to escape. Use the farthest tendrils behind you to slingshot yourself away, then yo-'[/i][/b]

"NO!" he cried out to his kage, though his voice could be heard clearly around him. "I'm tired of running...." 

The tendrils slowly began to retract back into his body, and he fell down, onto his knees. "Ego cecidi..." he said softly.

She couldn't believe it, was he serious? She clenched the wound on her armed arm rather tightly with her free hand so she could confirm this was true and she wasn't completely doused by insanity at this point. 

"[b]Are you serious? A gangster pansy talking like he's some kind of wounded warrior.[/b]" 

She didn't seem as playful or happy as she was when this all started. She was ecstatic when she could finally brawl again and bring about destruction in order to prove her dominance. But he kindly submitted when things were getting deadly, he had enough while she wanted more. She grazed her teeth against each other, barely swallowing her anger. 

"[b]Fine then.[/b]" 

As she stored away her knife, she picked up the pistol on the same belt befoe pointing it at the man. 

"[b]I'd kill you if this was Sovereign a year back...[/b]" 

She had wasted no time, as she uttered the first half of her sentence, she had shot twice at the man's knees, aiming both bullets perfectly on their designated targets. The lightning infused land bullets were the most damaging of bullets, working as fragmented pieces of metal once they hit something. Damian cried out as he felt the bullets ravage his kneecaps and muscles. "FUUUUUCK! AGH! MY FUCKING...UGHHHHH!" He clenched his teeth at the pain keeled over, quickly losing feeling in his lower legs.

"[b]... But I gotta assume my responsibilities, ya' know? You must be familiar with that.[/b]" 

She claimed, finishing the job by giving the exact same treatment to his elbows, or at least she did her best to pop them as they were evidently smaller targets. Her words were in synch with the man's cries of pain, as if she were completely immune to any form of empathy one could feel in such a predicament. The man could see the lack of care in her eyes, she only focused on the message she was passing on to him. 

"[b]So. Eye for eye, huh? That's how you work? That's the kind a thing only a victor gets to say, my friend.[/b]" 

She stored away her gun, there wasn't anymore use for it unless she were to burst in a fit of rage and execute him almost randomly. The soldiers swiftly caught up to the two fighters, weapons all pointed at the menace who appeared to be down for good. One slowly approached in an attempt to taze the agonizing man behind the neck, hopefully knocking him out cold. 

[i][b]'I hate you, Damian,'[/b][/i] came the angry voice of Triliq who began to sift through Damian's mind. Damian didn't say any more. As his vision slowly began to fade and he fell forward, he looked to the side to see his men having run off safely. Despite the pain, he managed to crack a weak smile before passing out and hitting the ground with a thud.

Indeed everyone was more focused on Damian and forgot about the two weaker targets, even the driver sergeant was more preoccupied by the situation at hand. It wasn't like they were lost, if they wanted to they could locate the rare few living creatures with humanoid traits running about in this forest, but they had more important matters to attend to. Notably, the medic oriented soldier, one of the few that didn't get any damage, had quickly joined the major's side to patch up her arm fast enough. Keifers was infuritated, her teeth clenched and her cheeks red. Things didn't go as she wanted. 

Once the path finished, she waved her soldiers to escort the prisoner back to the tank. She took her own good time to sit herself back in the driver's seat in the tank. Despite having a hole on the door, she was too caught up by wrath to even care. The orders were to return any captured host, and so she would do just that. A few minutes later, they would arrive back at the improvised military camp. The military personel would handle the rest from there. 

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Damian was half awake when he felt himself chained up, the sound of metal doors slamming shut nearly waking him entirely. He could barely make out the voices he heard as the whirring of some sort of machine began echoing in the metallic room.

"The new shipments arrived. Prototypes for the new collars, wanna bring them in?"

"Yeah, let's try that. He's already weakened."

"Alright, we have to save one for Cronus though."

"We'll just give the collar a single attempt. If he doesn't budge, then we'll have to resort to much harsher measures."