[center][h3][i][color=#079FE0][b]ℳ[/b][/color] [color=#7D0000]a i r y e ll[/color]  [color=#079FE0][b]Ҝ[/b][/color] [color=#7D0000]a s i o[/color][/i][color=333333]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[/color][sup][center][color=333333]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[/color][color=000000][i][b]s ᴀ ɴ ɢ ᴜ ι ɴ ᴇ[/b][/i][/color][/center][/sup][/h3][sup][sup][sup][sup][img]https://drfhlmcehrc34.cloudfront.net/cache/7a/2e/7a2eca87d796d9fd03a702d75817da61.png[/img][/sup][/sup][/sup][/sup][/center][center][h2][color=#000000][u][b][i][sup]Tracking Shadows[/sup][/i][/b][/u][/color][/h2]
[i][u]Ominar
Day 3 - Night[/u][/i]
[sup][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kASL3Vd5fkA]Theme I[/url] [color=#7D0000]♦[/color] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkwkPPTXb7k]Theme II[/url] [color=#7D0000]♦[/color][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hkmuTvkp_s]Theme III[/url][/sup][/center][hr]The night beckoned him and he answered its call, glass scattered in the air behind him, his great crimson wings spread wide, form hurtling through the air. Each breath, each movement, brought him closer to his query.

The Shade thought she could run and hide, but only the former was possible, and she couldn’t run forever. With his gun still in hand, Mairyell soared over the city and every time the Shade surfaced he aimed and fired.

Even with wind resistance and bullet fall off, his bullets full of Brisn hit the shadows she emerged from 7 times out of 10. With Brisn in her system to any degree she would slowly find her strength sapped and will flagging. He waited, eyes closed as he soared, using his hearing and smell to navigate a middle ground as she ‘bounced’ between shadows in different directions, trying to throw him off the trail.

Then, all at once, her scent faded. His eyes opened and he angled off, feet striking the flat roof of a skyscraper as he slid to a stop, wings flapping once. He took in the air and the vis within it.

Nothing. He exhaled and a smile came over his face, amusement turning his crimson eyes purple. He chuckled lightly and it mounted into a laugh as he shook his head and spoke aloud, [color=#2E6A95][b]“Had me for a second, but illusions are tricky to get right when you don’t understand your target’s senses properly.”[/b][/color] He turned around in a swift spin, a grin plastered across his face. He released a tiny, weak pulse of Brisn, shattering the illusion by absorbing it, to reveal a number of shadowy tendrils striking out at him. He didn’t move fast enough and so they pierced him.

Lifting up its would be prey, the Shade slid its shadowy limbs  all the way through the vampire’s body, impaling him on them. He laughed.

The Shade’s features screwed up in frustration and then pain, as the Hunter’s blood began to disintegrate her limbs. The blood rapidly began traveling up the tendrils and he watched as the Shade’s eyes widened, as it yelped, and then severed its own limbs, sinking into a shadow to escape.

[color=#2E6A95][b]“Hahaha, oh, I’m almost glad you showed up. I’d been itching for a good hunt. Still, shame about Alice, a real damn shame. Those kids too, they won’t be forgetting you. Of course, that’ll be the only thing you’ll be living on in: Their memories.”[/b][/color] His amusement vanished with those last two words as he leapt back into the air, wings unfurling as if from nowhere. He was airborne once more, following her trail as she hopped further and further between shadows.

Her vis signature was getting weaker by the moment and it wasn’t because she was getting further away. About ten minutes passed of him following her at which point he landed on another roof and sat down. Taking in a deep breath he memorized the scent of her blood, of her vis, of her lifeforce, and then closed his eyes and waited.[hr]
Two hours passed of him sitting, waiting, meditating, and checking his phone. He sent a text to Aeris that read “Alive and Well. Hunting the Shade. Kids alright? No word from Raiden.”

Sending the message, his gaze lingering on Aeris’ name for a moment, he almost missed the moment that the Shade’s signature stopped moving. Pocketing his phone he pushed himself to his feet and took in another deep breath, Brisn pumping through his veins.

Revitalizing his body and pumping adrenaline through his system, he walked to the edge of the building and drew [i]ℛend[/i] once more. Taking aim in the direction of the Shade he let the scent of the Shade ruminate in his mind as he expanded his senses via a healthy dose of Brisn and vis. Sounds grew sharper, smells more distinct, sensations almost uncomfortable against his skin.

He raised his arm higher, angling the muzzle of the gun upwards from his intended target, then adjust for wind resistance over the mile or four between them. Small slits in his skin sliced open as he punctured his own flesh with blood, letting the liquid flow up his arms and into the gun. It glowed a fierce blue, pulsating with his heartbeat.

He exhaled and shot once, twice, three times. He spread his wings and took off, pushing himself more than before as he climbed. Then he dove.
[hr]
Hiding in the darkness in the outskirts of Ominar nursing her wounds, the Shade shuddered faintly, its form expanded to fill the entire warehouse. Having eaten a few people on her way to her lair, she felt a bit better. Still, she didn’t feel certain that she had shaken the Hunter, not certain at all.

How the hell was he finding her to begin with? Why had stabbing him hurt [i]her[/i] It was like his blood had been acidic….

...and god those eyes, always changing colors. Piercing blue, dark crimson, and purple. She frowned, the narrow glowing eyes and mouth in the darkness shifting slightly. Those traits sounded familiar somehow.

Acidic blood. Eyes that shifted between three colors. Hunter. Vampire.

Wait. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be [i]that[/i] unlucky, right?

The north wall suddenly fractured in one spot from two impacts. Then a burning sensation lit up part of her extended shadow form, and she screamed as blue flames spiraled outwards through her, lighting the inside of the warehouse and engulfing her in pain even as they slowly began to fade.

[i]Fuck,[/i] she thought, [i]I’m dealing with Sanguine.[/i]
[hr]
Form cutting through the sky like a bullet wreathed in blue flames, Mairyell made his approach. It only took him three minutes to cross the distance between him and his prey. Extending Brisn in front of himself, he increased the acidity of the blood throughout his body. He could almost [i]feel[/i] it shifting to a black coloration before the Brisn absorbed a significant portion of it. He felt lightheaded for about ten seconds before his Core outputted enough vis and blood to replenish his body.

Thus, the Brisn struck the roof of the warehouse before he did, effectively ‘burning’ through it with the stored acidity of his blood. He opened his wings, they slowed him, broke, reformed and then held. He redirected his Brisn at the ground and used it to slow himself further.

The cement floor of the warehouse [i]still[/i] cratered from his landing.

Eyes glowing purple in the darkness, he felt himself pierced from several directions by tendrils. He released a blast of Brisn, disintegrating all of the Shade’s vis directly around his body, before transmuting the remaining energy he’d released into an aura.

"I won’t come easy, Sanguine,” the Shade roared, condensing herself into a much smaller space within the warehouse. The air seemed to warp around Mairyell as the licentia exerted her vis on the shadows in the warehouse, using them like a physical force to press against his aura.

He stalked towards her, gaze meeting hers. The pressure grew as the distance shortened and he found himself slowing down. Gritting his teeth he exhaled, flaring the aura of Brisn around him with each breath. He kept moving.

[color=#2E6A95][b]“This isn’t enough to stop me, [i]Shade[/i]. You’ll have to try much harder than that.”[/b][/color] As if on cue, his Brisn flared, flickered, then faltered, the sensation of it in his form dimming as well. His brow raised before his eyes widened, the Shade’s gaze suddenly right before him, its form enveloping him, he felt just the faintest thread of wariness enter him.

Steeling himself, he tried to exert Brisn, but it was in vain. The only way that was possible was if she was using some kind of anti-magic, which was...rare for a being of her sort. Dangerous too. Sadly, that sort of thing only worked to deal with proper spells. Taking a breath he exhaled, and let his skin split in a hundred places, releasing blood from his body. He couldn’t control it, but that didn’t matter. He moved, using his prodigious strength to escape the Shade’s clutches.

It was like trying to run underwater. It took a few moments, but finally he got up to speed and increased his blood output, releasing streams of it like whips and trails as he moved.

The pressure lessened, as did the intensity of the dispell, allowing him to channel Brisn through his body again. Immediately he could run faster, shifting into a blur as he circled the licentia.

She lashed out at him, and occasionally hit, quite nearly cleaving an arm off at least twice. Her hold weakened further, his speed increased, until he jumped into the air above her, and stopped. Unveiling his wings he sent a blast of air downwards at her and the blood that had been building the air around her form, held there by the pressure of the shadow’s under her control, suddenly struck inwards. The droplets came together into numerous needles, and pierced her. She screamed, the burning of the acidic blood harming her even as she was.

He fell onto her, talons made from blood digging into the shadows of her body, pinning her down as his wings wrapped around her. Claws made from blood digging in as he closed his hands on her. The needles of blood merged with his crimson wings, and a cocoon formed around her form. A blue glow spread across the blood, trapping her completely.

He rose from her, wings melting into his form as he stood over the trapped licentia. Raising his hand he made a few lanterns from Brisn, lighting the area around him. No screams. No reaction. Good. He only smelled her scent from within the cage of blood.

[color=#2E6A95][b]“We’re going to take this slow, [i]Shade[/i]. I’m going to bite this little prison I’ve made, and drain your vis until you’re a barely conscious group of soul cores. When I am satisfied that you have suffered enough, I’m going to take you to my associates. They’ll decide what to do with you. Scum.”[/b][/color] He then sat down, texted Aeris that he’d be available tomorrow, and set to work.