[b]Lily vs Smiler - Round 1[/b] Wrong. That was the first word that came to Lily's mind as she gazed upon her opponent. Something about him... [i]it[/i] felt universally wrong. She couldn't tell if it was just a general feeling or a quirk of her nature; a sort of sixth sense she had not known she possessed, but she knew without a doubt that the thing in front of her was not natural. It could not be. And she, a creature of magic and science, both human and inhuman at the same time, felt shivers crawl down her spine as she looked upon this amalgamation. [i]It should not be,[/i] she thought to herself, gritting her teeth. She had witnessed demons tear lovely fey creatures apart, seen those of inhuman beauty turn into terrors that could break minds. [i]She[/i] was someone who could induce such terror that an untrained mind threatened to rip itself to shreds. And yet, knowing all of this and having witnessed it multiple times before, something about her next opponent struck her as utterly wrong. "Ugly sunnovabitch." The words came from beside her, from Brucie who was peeking out at the thing again. He tucked his head back in and looked down at her. She removed her glasses and put them back into the coils of one of her tails, turning them off. She had to agree with Brucie, in one fashion or another. He was ugly in a way. They might've not see it the same way, but nonetheless she found herself nodding at his assessment. "So whatcha wanna do?" He asked, keeping his voice low. "I'm not sure," she whispered, placing a hand between Mouse's ears, digging her nails into his fur. For some reason she always felt calmer whenever Mouse was near. He appeared to be a normal dog, if very trusting and quick to bond, but his mere presence seemed to bring tranquility, doubly so when one took the time to touch him. All things considered she suspected that Mouse was no normal dog, but so far had little to go on beyond vague observations and ideas. "But one thing is for certain, he is ranged, so don't try to get close before he is distracted or he'll gun you down." Brucie nodded, absentmindedly checking his water gun, or what remained of it. "Speaking of range, d'ya think we could find some missiles? Used up all mine against you. Would like to be able to blow people up from a distance." She gave him a nod but spoke no further, taking this chance to look past the boulder, but briefly masking her own presence. He was looking straight at them. [i]"Your souuul...I need it. Give it, sooo tasty. Won't ask nicelyyy... I must feeeeeed"[/i] He was worse than a Bakasura. And - she got the sense - more cruel than a Redcap. And he knew where they were. The drone, she suspected, had given them away. The low whir of its rotors was hard enough to hear from a distance, but whatever this thing was evidently had better than human hearing. Much like Lily herself. And it only got worse from there. An extra set of arms, a helmet that screeched with awful music, and black blood flowing from the corners of his mouth. The more she saw of him, the more she was convinced that whatever it was, wasn't natural. It was than that she decided; she wouldn't leave him standing. Brucie might've been unnatural in his own way, but he was more like her, a creature of science and magic. This other thing was not right. And she would burn it to cinders if she had to. Glancing up she found the drone easily enough, still hovering behind the rock, pointed directly towards the thing on the other side. Now that she thought about it, why hadn't Oren announced the beginning of the fight? They were both here, and were ready to fight. So why hadn't he- Gunfire interrupted her, making her ears pin themselves against her skull, tails whipping behind her as she instinctively made herself as small as possible, pulling back behind the boulder. Blood dripped down her cheek from where one bullet had punched clear through one of her ears. It hurt, but it wasn't anything new. No, she turned the pain into fuel. As her tails roiled behind her, she brought her hands together in front of her, and started conjuring a ball of intensely blue fire. "No announcement yet, and he attacks? Fuck it then. Brucie," she muttered through clenched teeth, "take a few steps back." He nodded and did as told, giving her a few paces of clear space, though he remained in the cover of the boulder. When she had enough space she stood up, thankfully still covered by the boulder currently being besieged by the things rifle, and spread her arms out. The singular orb of cobalt fire split in two, which then became four. They continued to multiply until more than a score of orbs hovered in the air around Lily. She took a deep breath, holding it for a few moments, eyes closed and ears strained for any sound. The firing stopped. Her eyes flew open. Swinging one arm in an arc in front of her, twenty orbs of blue fire curved around the boulder and rocketed towards the abomination beyond. A remaining few, directed by Lily's other hand, crashed down on the ground around them, throwing up a dust cloud from the ensuing explosion. Beyond the boulder came an unearthly screech; a roar of anger and pain, as well as several shouted threats. Two things that Lily didn't pay attention to as she ran out of cover using the dust cloud to obscure her whereabouts. Mouse had been left in safety behind the boulder, and Brucie remained there as well, waiting for her to give new orders. As she ran, more and more orbs of fire formed around her, and every few metres she slammed another into the ground, creating another dust cloud that mixed with the first. Her goal - to create a place where both dust and darkness masked her presence. He had robbed himself of his hearing with that awful music, so she would complete the job and take his sight as well. She caught glimpses of his form, small burns covering it, but he had avoided the majority of the blasts. One of his gooey arms had been blown clean off, but even that was regrowing as she circled him. She clenched her jaw and kept running, completing the circle with a last few fire balls sent forward, striking the ground between her and the boulder, and finalizing the dustscreen. A flex of her will sent the light around her curving around her form, hiding her from view. "Dust wooon't saave yoouu~" the thing in the centre sing-songed in its macabre, disgusting voice; like bubbling tar. It spoke slowly and moved little, all tell-tales of being in pain gone from its voice. [i]So it can heal... Or it's very durable.[/i] She took her x-ray glasses from within her tails, turned them on, and placed them on the bridge of her nose. Immediately the world around her came into clear view - the dust screen not longer a hindrance to her sight. It stood in the middle, slowly turning with its sabres at the ready and rifle pointed forward and held close to its body. It smiled wider than should be humanly possible, and she couldn't help but imagineits eyes wide and insane. What was most important, however, was that It couldn't see her. The smoke screen worked. Its ruined arm had healed and, while still standing tall, it reached down to pick up the dropped blade, extending like a piece of rubber. [i]So how to defeat it?[/i] She thought. It could evidently heal, was inhumanly quick for having avoided almost all of her fiery orbs, and it seemed capable of extending its limbs. The range was, as of yet, unknown. [i]Proceed carefully.[/i] She directed her gaze to a spot behind it, pulling the image of a bakasura from her mind, conjuring a copy of the black chitined monstrosity; crouched over with blades for its hands. She made it hiss and pounce, causing It to jump to the side, firing a short, concentrated burst of lead at the creature while pulling a grenade from his belt and threw it at the ground. A vague fuzziness clouded Lily's vision in the following seconds, the smoke grenade taking effect but no completely robbing her of her vision thanks to her goggles. She had the bakasura-illusion mimic the sound of a pained one, adding a series of small bullet holes and black blood oozing from each. Nevertheless, she had it pounce again. This time it was met by a pair of sabres cutting at its exposed belly, the rifle raised to block the bladed arms. Lily dispelled her own invisibility, focusing now entirely upon the bakasura and, by extention, her opponent. The blades seemed to hit the rifle with the clang of metal striking metal, a little tweak to the perceptions of the Abomination had its arms strain under the force of the blow. Nevertheless, the swords struck true and bit into the carapace of the bakasura, spraying black blood before it slumped to the floor, unmoving. "No phyyylacteryy," she heard It say. "Not my meal." Underneath the helmet she saw its mouth widen impossibly, its jaw even extending down cartoonishly. It bent down and scooped up the remains of the illusory monster, and deposited in its mouth. It then closed with a horrible, squelching sound. Only now did she dare dispel the illusion, making it vanish as if it had never been there. And it hadn't. It perked up and looked around, as if something had peaked its interest. "The little meal vanished. Summoned pet. You dismissed it!" He called out. "I know what kind of fighter you are. Coward! Sending pets instead of facing me yourself." He was trying to get to her. To anger her and make her make mistakes. Too bad, she wasn't some green recruit. She almost snorted. [i]You're just another monster.[/i] And like any other monster, she would break him. Mind or body, it didn't matter which one came first.