[h3][color=#9dc5e9]Ikeda Setsuna[/color][/h3]
[@ERode]

Setsuna finally exhaled as the creature shriveled and died, its voice echoing away until its final epitaph - the clink of its gemstone falling to the ground - sounded over the refreshed silence of the theme park. Her blade cleansed, she steadied the scabbard and confidently slid her weapon home. Purpose executed, it locked into its place. There was no room for mercy in their work, no safety in relenting until the core of a Vice laid still before them. Perhaps their job was not truly done until it was consumed. The magical maid descended into sight, prim voice at once steel and song. Setsuna bowed her head. [color=#daeeff]"Likewise. I'm grateful to fight beside someone so strong."[/color]

At that she knelt, prizing the inky gem from the ground. It was not the fear of direct combat or the sting of her wounds that frightened her the most. It was the tingling. The energizing rush of holding a true heart of darkness in her hand, the essence of the nightmares her kind fought and fed upon. Was this what the shark felt as it took its prey? Did nature really enshrine such a rich pleasure in killing, or was this simply their privilege as virtuous guardians? She didn't notice it in her first Vice taken, trepidation at the idea of [i]enjoying[/i] the immeasurable significance of her role introducing itself as she fed. 

Flat faced, she looked up at Anne, smiling faintly as she politely offered over this killing's claim. [color=#daeeff]"Very well, thank you."[/color] Her fist rolled shut around the gem, popping it into quickly scattered dust in her palm. Small tongues of blue flame crept from her wounds, shimmering light returning her body to health as the raw intoxicating power of a felled vice flooded in. She shivered, nerve endings coming back to life, mind clearing.

She stood and straightened, smiling as the maid called a car out of nothing. She wasn't much of a gearhead, but knew enough to recognize class when she saw it. The guys and their car clubs who stopped by the gas station didn't drive things like that. Neon lights and colored brake pads paled before the robust, strong angles of a classic Rolls-Royce. No matter who you were... it was pretty flattering to get ushered into a stylish car by a real maid. Setsuna slid into the comfortable seating, holding her sword steady between her knees and staring out at the road surface from beside it.

It didn't take her much time to think on Anne's words. Her eyes focused on the distant lights of the city center. The flashing red navigation lights of factory buildings and windmills blended with the more welcoming glow of human occupied buildings. [color=#daeeff]"We ought to keep going. We found a Vice cowering all the way out here, I'm sure it's going to be a busy night downtown. They might be better fed... but the number of victims only deepens my obligation to act. Let's go save some lives."[/color] Setsuna flashed a smile at the driver. [color=#daeeff]"At the very least, let's get you a Shard for your troubles, too."[/color]