[h3]Lily vs Jiang - Round 3[/h3]

Cacophonous music battered Lily's ears, more sensitive than a normal human's. The intense light swirling around her opponent, was bright even around the corner of the building she hid behind. She had intended to induce such terror in Jiang that he would simply fall and give up, effectively throwing him into a fear-induced coma, which she'd then use to take his... soul. She still had trouble thinking of the process as taking the soul of another, since it was something that was followed by instantaneous death were she to do it under her own power. Why that was could wait for later, however, as she currently had a man going berserk a dozen metres away from her, and a mechanically augmented shark looking to her for directions. 

Lily hit the wall behind her, frustrated. She didn't know what was going on around the corner, and part of her didn't want to find out. She'd learned long ago to be wary of beings, no matter how humanoid, suddenly shedding powerful light or sounds. She doubted they were illusions, as she should easily have been able to see through them, but then what was it? It wasn't fire, which ruled out a creature like that of a phoenix, nor some toxic miasma or... or anything she knew anything of. A woman who lived among gods and demons, fought against and with monsters, and had even become a creature more spirit than human herself, and she had [i]no[/i] idea what was waiting to face her just around this corner. The lack of knowledge grated on her, reminding her all to much of her earliest days when she'd barely known what to expect from her own powers. 

She didn't want to simply throw Brucie out into deep waters and hope he could swim. She didn't know what to expect from some random loudmouth, who suddenly started emitting light just seconds after being shown a little bit of eldritch horror. The problem was that the only way she could find out what was happening, was to look. And so... She did. Telling Brucie to stay where he was, she carefully crept towards the corner and poked her head out, quickly finding the source of the light and sound. Near-blinding though it was, she could just faintly see the man inside, covered in tentacles of light. A few moments passed and he seemed to be completely unaware of them, as well as on the defensive - there were no visible weapons, at the very least, and the tentacles did not seem designed for offense. But were they? She was in relative cover, and based on what she had seen he was nowhere near as fast as she was, so it was relatively safe to assume that she could get back into cover if he suddenly went on the offense. 

She exerted her will slightly, using the friction from between her tails to create heat. The heat she molded and gave shape, resulting in a tennisball sized orb of cobalt fire hovering near her. She designated Jiang as her target, and immediately the orb sped forward like a rocket, leaving a trail of embers in its wake. It flashed white and gave off a boom upon impact, but there were no other effects. Much to Lily's dismay, the light surrounding Jiang was hardened, creating a protective shell around him. 

She was about to form a second orb when the music suddenly changed, and with them did the tentacles. The music became a mix of fast-paced trumpets and drums, and the tentacles - "Oh. Shit." Lily ducked behind the corner as the first cannonball came rocketing towards her. The intense light had gone and instead was replaced by half a dozen cannons circling him. He no longer looked afraid, either. The one glimpse she'd gotten of his face showed something near fanatic, furious even. A wave of sand sprayed her in the face from where the cannon turnhad crashed into the ground, barely a metre from her, leaving tiny cuts on her cheeks. A sound like a boulder shattering came from behind her, along with a section of the wall being torn out by another cannonball, having missed her by inches. Her eyes widened as she realized just how much danger she was in. She turned to Brucie and yelled the only word that came to mind, [i]"RUN!"[/i]

He did, and so did she. They followed the wall, turning the corner to put the entire building between them and Jiang, the sound of the cannons providing a backdrop, as if to some maniacal symphony which, in this case, it actually was: the concussions in the music being played was matched perfectly with the cannons shooting, although with some shots inbetween. [i]That doesn't help me![/i] She shouted at herself. The entire building was now between them, and it seemed that luck was with them and Jiang didn't know where they are, simply keeping the cannons aimed loosely towards where he had seen her, destroying that part of the building with ease. 

"Cannons and music... That guy's got some freaky fireworks. How do we even get near that?" Brucie asked, peeking through a window, but was only able to see through to the part that had been destroyed, walls obscuring the rest. 

"The easy answer would be to just distract him with illusions, but I fear he'd know the second the first shot passed through it. And if we step out in it, I have few doubts that he'd put holes through us. So you stay out of this. However," she moved one her tails forward, depositing the Flask into her hand, "I need you to fill this. I'm fast, so I think I can at least run circles around him." Brucie took the flask and she stood up, almost jumping as a section of the building's roof caved in on the other side. The cannonshots had yet to stop. They just continued, as did the music. "I'll probably be needing it. Don't go out, you'll just get yourself killed." 

With that being said, she ran down the length of the building, leaving behind a disgruntled Brucie that, in spite of being annoyed that she wouldn't allow him to fight, understood the idiocy of charging down the guy. He was eager to fight, maybe even reckless. But he wasn't suicidal. 

Lily rounded the corner and stopped just before she stepped out on the street. She peeked around and saw Jiang with his back to her, six floating cannons aimed towards the corner where she and Brucie had hid before, blowing it to smithereens even though it was hardly standing at this point. With every shot he shouted something, only a few of which Lily could pick up on: Laowai - [i]Foreigner?[/i] she mused, eyebrow rising - monster, something that she believed translated into 'less than dirt'. He was definitely still conscious, but he didn't seem to be in full control of himself. [i]It's as if he's become... twisted, frenzied. Let his emotions get the better of him and tunnel visioned to the point of not thinking ahead at all, focusing only on the immediate.[/i] She took a cautious step out of cover, standing in the open but near cover. Jiang didn't look back, didn't stop firing. [i]So if he only reacts to an immediate threat...[/i] She concentrated her gaze on a place beyond Jiang, in front of and to the left of him, the opposite direction of where he was firing. A small use of power conjured an image of herself and Brucie, standing unprotected. 

Jiang's head whipped around, and so did the cannons. Their report continued, blasting the area with iron balls. And then stopped. Jiang stood silent, music gone, and cannons silent. He stared intently at the area where the images had been, and just as he whirled around did realisation dawn on Lily. She mentally kicked herself and jumped back into cover, only for the music to resume and the wall next to her to explode. Dust and debris peltered her, but worst was the ball of iron punching through concrete as if it were sand. She didn't so much feel it as hear the cracking sound of her shoulder breaking when the cannonball clipped her. Nevertheless she screamed and fell to the ground, clutching her wounded side. Iron fell around her and she was lucky that none hit, the corner providing some cover. What cannonballs weren't diverted by impacts, flew over her and landed behind her. But she wasn't safe. Not by a long shot. So she fought through the pain, forcing herself to scurry away even as it felt like steel balls were passing, mere centimetres from hitting her. 

From around the corner came Brucie, looking concerned if a shark could. He saw wall being destroyed, the cannon balls whizzing past. And he saw Lily lying on the ground, trying to stay low while scurrying towards where he stood. "Idjit," he said aloud, though whether to himself or to her was uncertain, as he darted forward and grabbed her which only made her curse loudly when he touched her shoulder. "Suck it up," he muttered, though it was barely audible over the cannonfire. He finally pulled her around the corner and into better cover and set her down, elicing another curse. 

"The flask!" She demanded, to which he nodded and pulled it from the compartment in his leg. She took it and drank deeply, wincing as the bones in her arm reset and and the torn flesh reknit. "Fuck. I can't get close, and he [i]did[/i] react when his shots passed through the illusion. Wish I hadn't ruined your watergun." 

Brucie remained silent as she took another gulp from the flask, looking toward the cannonballs not far from them. He looked from them to Lily, back to them and then met Lily's eyes. "You destroyed that door yesterday. How."

She looked at him quizically. "Simply unleashing a bit of magic, I can create a lot of kinetic force. Why?" 

Brucie ran up to the nearest cannonball, picked it up and ran back with it. He handed it to her and gave her a knowing look. Or as much of a knowing look as a hammerhead shark could. "Do it again."

"It... just might work," she said after a moment of thought. "I can't propel it as fast as him, but I can try." She stood up, rolling her now-healed shoulder. "Worth a shot... but I'll need a distraction." She looked towards the other end of the building, where they had been hiding before. "Go over that way, and provide a distraction. I expect you can run fast enough that he can't easily trace the shots." She gave him a wan smile. "Sorry for putting you in danger like this, but I don't think illusions will work that well this time. He'll see through it the instant a shot passes through." 

Brucie, in spite of being about to jump into danger, nodded and smiled as much as a shark could. "Ya got the potion thing if things go to shits. and a single cannon shot won't kill me, I don't think. Now, you go for it when I make the distraction." And with that, he ran off. 

Lily looked at the flask in her hands. She'd consumed a quarter of it to heal her arm. She would need to reserve the rest for if, or when, Brucie had been hurt. She followed him with her eyes as he ran up to the other corner and turned it. Shortly after, his coarse voice could be heard shouting obscenities. A sudden and loud exclamation of a particular swear told Lily that he had been spotted. The cannonfire continued, but no more projectiles came her way. She ran out of cover, satisfied at seeing that Jiang had his back turned to her, and firing at Brucie who was busy running towards the huge scrap heap that she had hidden in to begin with. Iron balls fell around him, but he wasn't hit. Yet. 

She hadn't any time to waste, and so ran forward. She was fast, faster than any human would ever be, but even so she felt slow. Any moment he could hear her footsteps, and make one of those cannons turn around to fire at her. Each step of hers sounded as loud as the cannonfire to her. Each breath, she feared that he could feel. Twenty, fifteen, thirteen, twelve... Ten metres away, she stopped and raised the cannonball, held in both her hands. She gazed hard at her opponent's back, focused the primal power within her, and [i]Pushed.[/i] The cannonball slipped from her hands with a rush of air, propelled forward by an invisible force. Instinct, it seemed, made Jiang turn around just as it happened. His frenzied expression gave way to surprise as one of his own cannonballs came rushing towards him. The surprise, in turn, gave way to pain as the nine pounds of iron struck him in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards and screaming in pain. The song stopped.

Lily didn't stop there, she began running again, forward once more. He was down for a moment, but she didn't want to risk him resuming the music and filling the air with iron again. Lightning crackled and jumped between her limps as she called upon it. It moved, concentrating in her hands. More and more she called upon. Closer and closer she got. 

Standing almost atop him, she met his eyes, angry arcs of lightning bouncing between her fingers. His pained and confused expression met hers as she extended a hand. Time seemed to slow. She saw his eyes widen, lips part. Saw the beginning of a cringe like that of someone expecting even more pain. And she realised something. She realised that the risks were too great. She felt her own lips move unbidden, mouthing a single phrase. [i]I'm sorry.[/i]

Lighting sprang from her hands, connecting with Jiang. The screams were nothing new to hear, nor was the smell of cooked flesh. But nonetheless, it hurt. It hurt to break her vow. To do something she'd promised herself she wouldn't do. And yet... She couldn't afford not to. If she simply tried to grab at his phylactery he would have the time to turn the cannons on her and fire. 

She cut off the electricity after only a few seconds. Seconds that had felt like hours. At her feet lay someone whose name she only knew because a prick with a microphone had said it. She felt no victory, only numbness as she watched the smoke curling up from his corpse, the skin blackened in places. She looked towards Brucie who was, miraculously, unharmed. He looked by with an unreadable expression and said nothing. 

Moments passed in silence, until eventually a loud whine penetrated the stillness. Lily looked towards the wreckage of metal to their left, to where she and Mouse had hidden earlier. [i]That whine...[/i] "Mouse!" Old training kicked in, letting her momentarily forget about the enemy in favour of her ally. She ran towards where she had hidden with the dog before. She jumped up to the small ledge where she left him only to see blood. It flowed thick but, thankfully, hadn't spread far. Not far from her lay Mouse, a small round hole in his chest. He whined and tried to wag his tail as she approached, but managed little more than a twitch. Such a small dog had bled so much. One of Jiang's bullets must've hit him earlier, when she had taken shelter in the shadows of the wreckage. [i]The why isn't important. Heal him! Potion![/i] She shouted to herself, taking it from within her tails. Most of it still remained, though much had been spilled during her sprint. She could only hope that it was enough since he was smaller. 

She cupped her hand underneath his muzzle and poured some of the golden liquid in. "Drink," she said, which he did much to her relief. He slowly lapped it up, and the bleeding slowly stopped. He evidently realised that drinking was a good thing, because he didn't stop until only drops was left in the bottle, and the hole in his side had sealed. His fur was still matted with blood but, thankfully, he was alive. And healed. The life she had taken momentarily forgotten, Lily picked up Mouse and found her lips curling into a smile. He gave her a, she assumed, thankful lick on the cheek and a small bark, which she repaid with scratches. 

She would deal with the body of Jiang Zhao later. For now, she allowed herself to feel happy that she had also [i]saved[/i] a life.