[hider=Smoke and Ash][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/i60t4Yi.png[/img][/center] [b][u]Vandrell: Hawthorne Manor[/u][/b] As a thick cloud of violet hued smoke descended upon and blanketed the battlefield, a light emerald light shot across the courtyard, Lisette’s arrow aimed and launched straight towards Lucifer in the final moments before his body became obscured. Laced with the archer’s nature affinity magic, the empowered arrow streaked throughout the air, and aimed directly towards Lucifer, it… It connected head on. Lucifer didn’t notice it until the last second, and the bulleting arrow connected straight with his forehead. His body juddered and recoiled, his knees bending as his body toppled backwards slightly, but he did not fall. Instead, he managed to stop himself, and for a time, his body remained motionless. He bore no evidence of grimace or anguish that the attack hurt. He felt nothing, instead his body simply reacting to the force of the attack. He lifted himself back up, running one finger along his wound, to then eye the blood smeared. He licked it clean, before a sly smile crept on his lips. He wasn’t sure where that attack came from, but if anything he was grateful. As futile as the Guilders’ efforts were, he was rejoiced to see that they could put up some manner of fight. Otherwise the time remaining until his Lord Abraxis’ ascension would be much, much more boring… And then he appeared. A shadow growing in size, bursting forwards and towards him. Sharp metal became thrust towards him, with Lucifer narrowly dodging the attack intended to impale his abdomen. His wretched smile grew, whilst his golden orbs for eyes glimmered with interested surprise. Julius had marked where Lucifer stood before Trixie’s smoke grenade had erupted, and his course remained undeterred. They would stop him, for these people who were his friends, for the sake of the world, for justice, they would win! [img]http://i.imgur.com/cfXWu5X.png[/img] Julius gripped the staff’s handle tighter, stopping the charge of his body and forcing his might into swinging the glaive to the side, with the hopeful aim of gashing Lucifer’s side. And to his own disbelief… he did! Having trained for so long with his old, heavier glaive, he was still unprepared for how light his new one was, or how it retained the same level of sturdiness. And now… now a faint trickle of blood coated the blade’s edge. But that was all it was, a faint trickle. The wound was so shallow it could be called a scratch at all. And Lucifer- Lucifer was already now suspended in the air, his right leg lashing out, his foot colliding with the skirmisher’s face and sending him reeling backwards into the thick smoke with a sharp yell. Lucifer pondered for a time on pursuing Julius, to remove him from the chessboard for good, but stopped. He was curious to see what other talents and abilities the rest of his guests held. And the closest was- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [img]http://i.imgur.com/0ZOCUcl.png[/img] “A bow and… arrows…?” Don asked, after he and Selan had righted themselves and his companion bequeathed him the weapon Dylan had summoned for her. Don looked over at the weapon in his hand, not sure what to make of it. It was certainly an interesting looking weapon, and the barbed arrows were very sharp indeed (so much so that Don actually pricked his fingers on them, resulting in a shrill yelp), but Don wasn’t sure how good he would be with such a weapon. Lisette might be able to do more with the arrows, but… well, it didn’t matter. He may or may not be able to hit the broad side of a barn but it was better then nothing and it could help! …maybe? “Selan, what do you think we should do?” Don asked, at a loss for how they should proceed. His head was also waving about, to and fro, searching for his partners in the sea of smoke. His thoughts also focused on the Pride’s sole missing companion… but said nothing, not wanting to mouth his worry in front of the woman who he wanted to reassure. They had to be strong. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ey!" Moira had shouted. "So who are you then?!" "Lucius" Syed replied rather quietly in comparison, his voice shaking despite his concentration. Moira's grip on her greatsword tightened. Shut up Sy, she wanted Lucifer to respond so she could sort of judge what direction he was in. "Wha? Bloody hell, what's with the makeover?" [b]“You are far too loud.”[/b] A voice shocked both Moira and Syed’s attention. Turning around, they searched every which way they could for the ominous voice, before finally realising that…! [b]“I think we should sever that tongue.”[/b] Lucifer was held aloft, mere feet above them, his right hand swooping down in front of him, his glisteningly sharp nails pointed directly at Moira. In the next second, another violent slash piercing the air was fired straight at the Berserker. --- [b]Bunanigans[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/wv6nkSY.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/T07Xw1w.png[/img] “I think we should sever that tongue.” Syed's eyes widened in shock as he abruptly ended his spell. He felt him move, but he was that fast he couldn't keep up...! However, a thin smirk spread itself across Moira's face. At last, she had gotten his attention. Now she needed to make sure she didn't waste it. For once, she only said one word. "Bingo." Syed moved to dive out of the way of the incoming attack, not trusting his shielding magic to be able to withstand a blow like that. Moira on the other hand dug her heels into the ground and brought her blade before her. There was an almighty crash, followed by a splash of blood. Moira was sent sliding backwards from the sheer force of the blow, although her hold on her blade remained firm. The slash has deflected off her blade, leaving great gashes into the earth behind her and out of sight beyond the thick fog. At least mostly - the slash had also glanced off her shoulder, shearing the already damaged plating off completely and revealing the horrific wound Frank had inflicted in it's full gory glory. Along with the new gash, it really wasn't a pretty sight. "Darling, I've been doing this for 25 years," Moira snarled as she mentally blocked the pain as much as she could. It really wouldn't do to put more pressure on the healer. She could deal. "You'll have to join the queue." Hopefully, if she kept talking, the others would be able to find where they were. And with that she dug her foot into the ground to launch herself towards him. Simultaniously, reading her body language as easily as he could read a book, Syed made swift, precise gestures then thrust his hand out towards Lucifer. He gritted his teeth as bright, blueish-white electricity exploded from his fingertips straight towards Lucifer. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up, he really didn't. But if he could stall Lucifer for just a second, give Moira time to strike... Moira gave out a yell as she swung, aiming for his torso. --- [b]Dannyel[/b] [img]http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag138/enrika01/Dylan2_zps27cb5f1e.png[/img] As if the fight couldn't get any stranger, Dylan found himself face to face with a bear. The bear growled at him, seemingly in a friendly fashion, and Dylan sudden realized that it must be one of Lucien's summons. "I don't know," he said simply. Lucifer was somewhere around, and he had heard Moira and Syed, but he was no tracker. Through he magic he could sense Selan's location, but he doubted that would really help. "I don't know what to tell you!' Then Moira was attacked, Lucifer's clawed hand hitting her though she was able to deflect most of the attack. He could hear her snarling response, and Syed's sizzling electrical strike. "There!" he shouted to the bear, directing it towards the sounds of battle. Despite knowing that he was of no help, Dylan followed behind the summon anyway. --- [b]Rexcalibur[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/yO2NSRJ.png[/img] She didn't see it - she didn't see it at all, but she definitely heard it. A body thudding to the floor, metal clanging alongside it - accompanied by a familiar shout. Trixie shrieked and ran to Julius' side. She bustled through the arena of smoke as she trailed the familiar sounds. When the silhouette of his fallen figure came into view, her bolting footsteps slowed to a stagger, and as if her knees carried weight she dropped to the ground and crawled to the skirmisher on all fours once she was closer to him. Tears arose in her eyes. The man laid there, quiet, his face contorted. His weapon had been lost with Lucifer's counterstrike, dropped somewhere in the haze. Trixie thrust her hands in her open belt pouches, her fingers wrapping around the remaining contents of both in a single grip. The smokes were used up, the splats were gone. The stinks would probably make things worse, but she still seemed had a handful of ammunition left, just a handful. All she had to do was run back to where she dropped her guns, that's all, that's it, then maybe she could pull something off, maybe she could help her friends before more of them succumb to this hurt. If not at least help delay their fates a little more. He was an unstoppable monster that needed to be stopped, but who could do the stopping? Trixie lifted her hands from Julius' shoulders and, still crouched, slowly turned around. Her nose twitched. Ears, ears, she picked up some inhuman growls, pattering feet, Boss talking, the jump of static. There! He must be over there. So all she had to do was- Something had gripped her. Something cold. Trixie froze in place, her heart skipping one beat, two, before she turned around. Did he... did he teleport behind and... was he going to...? "Don't." "J... Ju...?" Julius might not comprehend emotions adequately, but he understood the drive to fight all too well. He had already sat himself up, with one hand gripped around Trixie's stick-thin arm, by the time the child turned to face him. While Trixie would manage even less of a scratch than Julius' or Lisette's attacks had, if Lucius decided to silence the prankster's annoyance as decidedly as he did Marcus, Nikki, Selan, Julius, or Moira - she was as good as minced. Only when Julius understood that Trixie had changed her mind about charging in (through feeling the tension in her arm loosen, more so than by her visage) did he release his clutch on her. Trixie sniffed loudly, once again turning to 'see' the battle against Lucifer play out. The smoke slowly began to dissipate. "Th, then, what... what can I do... Mister?" She sniveled. The thought of fleeing perturbed her thoughts, but she refused to admit it. Superheroes don't run. They win. They lose sometimes - but they ultimately win. Right? So how could she help them win against an unstoppable monster? Was there any stopping him? She didn't want to die. Superheroes don't die. Superheroes can't die. So why was she so damn scared? Trixie sniveled again. Supersis woulda known what to do. Supersis woulda... ...where was she? --- [b]Taerinn[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/VQL4rMN.png[/img] Selan shook her head. "I don't know..." She surveyed the battlefield, barely able to even see the movements of her comrades. The smoke swirled and swooped downward, a sign that something had moved upward. Moira's silhouette grew larger as she slid backwards. The smoke bomb was a blessing and a curse -- at least Lucifer was forced to focus on one or two of them at a time. "If we flank him, perhaps we can attack him from the rear... With all this smoke, it's possible that we could disorient him... but..." But unless they could communicate with the others, it would be impossible to coordinate such a plan. Lisette was much better with a bow and arrow and has the advantage of long-range attacks, while Trent and Trixie could attack from above... But where exactly were they? "Come on, we shouldn't stay in one spot." She tugged on Don's arm and began walking clockwise. "Keep an eye on his movements, we need to surprise him, not the other way around." This isn't hopeless... she reassured herself. We've come this far, we can finish this, all we need to do is regroup... --- [img]http://i.imgur.com/q5PjiIP.png[/img] "I can't see...!" Lisette muttered, walking counterclockwise from where she had originally stood. She couldn't see anyone else, and she definitely didn't want to get too close to the cloud of smoke. Her bow was half-drawn, as she found herself currently unwilling to risk shooting blindly at the variously-shaped silhouettes moving around. Kapi was walking right at her heels, which she didn't like at all; just like in the Woods of Weir, it was equally dangerous to hide him amongst the rubble as it was to take him along with her. As she reached the northeast side of the courtyard, the cloud began to dissipate, much to her luck and relief. Lowering herself to a crouch yet again, she readied another shot and began channeling magic into the tip of the arrow, waiting for another opportunity to attack. --- [b]Fox of Spades[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/9iZrspN.png[/img] "I don't know, I don't know what to tell you!' The bear tilted its head to the side as it let out a discontented huff. There was too much smoke, too much chaos and confusion. Its ears perked up as it tried to listen but too much was going on and it was almost impossible to tell anything apart. It let out an irritated growl, baring its fangs at the mist that had enveloped the entire battle field. Lucien couldn’t do much from so far away so he made his bear sit still, made it listen and sniff at the air. A metallic clank followed by a familiar voice rose above the chaos and the bear snarled viciously at the sound, jumping up like a coiled spring and running across the battle field towards the sound. However, it slowed down somewhat so Dylan could keep up. Lucifer would pay ten times over for messing with them! He’d freaking pay! As his medium got closer to the scene he saw outlines that looked like Moira and Syed. It was easy to tell them apart from the others and for that he was thankful. Soon, another silhouette became noticeable. The bear dug his claws deep into the earth and sprang forward, leaping into the air and lunging towards what seemed to be Lucifer with his teeth bared and ready to bite.[/hider]