[img]https://i.imgur.com/fl5E36F.png[/img] [@Crazy Scion][@Hammerman][@KillamriX88] [hr] No. No no no no nononon[i]ononono![/i] [hr] Bak had barely had time to grapple with the disgust that came with saving Alto when the man screamed his head off with such force that it lifted Bak up off the ground and sent her flying back. She'd landed with a harsh crunch, something she'd noticed had been a reoccurring thing over the past few weeks. David was flung down nearby, and as Bak looked up from the dust she city could feel as much as see the lightning cracking across the mans body as he leaped at the two of them. Bullets wearn't going to atop that. She doupted even miss lines could. Time seemed to flow in slow motion as she watched, like her brain was trying its best to make the most out of each individual second that was passing. She'd heard Papa describe this once when old friends of his from the revolution had shown up to share drinks and reminisce about their younger days, and from their stories she knew what it was. This is what happened when you were watching death barreling toward you, unavoidable save for the grace of the gods. Her first thought was the teleporting boy, whether he'd be able to get away from this, because she couldn't see herself getting up in time to cover him. Wasn't he the one that had brought her here anyway? Well, it wasn't like that mattered now. She thought about Vittorio, and was happy for a moment she'd told Rurik about that ring. She'd hate to think of it abandoned, gathering dust in the dark all alone. A thing as pretty as that deserved someone to came for it, after all. A morbid part of her actually thought that maybe having a new friend to avenge would be the push Vittorio needed to keep on living. So that wouldn't be so bad. In a way she would almost be saving him. She worried for Clara. She wouldn't be able to find another monster like Bak for a while, that was for sure. Mr. Mephisto was very resourceful, though. They'd find a replacement for her. She couldn't imagine the student body being too broken up over her, but she smiled at the thought that maybe she would live on as boogyman ghost story they told to jeep delinquents in lone. Do your homework and do not loiter in hallway, or you would hear the mechanical footfalls of the monster Tsarevna coming for you. Oh, she realized. Maybe this was how you became monster? When you disappeared you shed all the fear and sadness that could identify you as a human, leaving behind only the terror you'd wrought in your wake. You get reborn as a story, one that gets told over and over, mutating and becoming more horrible with each retelling as the details were sanded off to make you a more perfect horror. Had that happened already? Were people from the homeland already spreading stories about her? She smiled at the thought. That was fine. Bak was okay with this. Then Rurik ruined it. [hr] What? How? Why. Why!?! [i][b]HE HAD ONE JOB!!![/b][/i] That peaceful acceptance that had been covering her like a heated blanket was violently ripped away as Rurik appeared in from of them and all of a sudden time was moving much too fast for her liking. The lightning cracked evil, lighting the whole area in a sick glow. The girl from before jumped after the man, but that lightning seemed to fend her off all on its own. His path was unimpeded. He was coming right at Rurik. This was not okay. This was not acceptable! She was supposed to be the one protecting people, so why was it all her friends instead? Why did Vittorio have to get shot? Why did Yuuto have to get beat up? Why was it Christine had to watch her sister and the man she loved nearly kill one another? It was stupid. It was all so stupid! Her friends were all stupid! And she was stuipidest of all for not being able to stop any of it. She was too stupid to stop them from being stupid. As she be a treated herself a soft glow began to start creeping its was up the side of her missiles pod. A soft white glow, like light shining off down feathers. She looked at the man coming toward her friend, and decided no. Not one more. She wasn't going to sit by and let one more friend get hurt on her watch. Even if she thought it was useless she had to try. The glow became a radiant light as she shot her missiles at the man, each once leaving a sparkling trail in their wake in streak of smoke. The went wide. It wasn't surprising. Without her targeting computer she couldn't aim them very well, and the quartet of shining projectiles were on course to sail past the man in midair. Then, like a snake, a bolt of that lightning lashed out and bit into one of them as they flew past. The missile didn't explode so much as burst like like an over filled water balloon, and what came out wasn't fire and heat but something hard to describe. A shining light spread out enveloping the man, David, Bak, Rurik, and Nanaca as the mans fist collided with Rurik's shield. All around them small lights danced like feathers in the breeze as the light expanded into a large translucent dome. Inside was...it was kind. Like falling into the softness of your bed after a hard day and bursting yourself in your pillows until the day washed away. Be a ease, it seemed to say. Be at ease. No harm will come to you. As it assured this a force seemed to pull at the cultists punch, lowering it's power greater still. Bak's missile pod let out a gurgling, mechanical shriek, seemed to vomit some kind of black bile from its tubes, and shut down. [hr] [center][h2]Gilliam[/h2][/center] [@supertinyking][@AtomicNut] [hr] Gilliam flopped around on the ground like a fish choking on air as he upchucked the remains of his bone sword. It had shattered in light of the mans transformation, and as he hacked them up to clear his airway the man murdered Luigi. Damn shame, that. Still, he wondered what a man so steeped in oil would taste like. Of course the man had to ruin it by actually surviving. Manipulating his body he slithered up to Luigi, climbing up his leg and coupling around his shoulders to watch the bird man fly away. He didn't think he would be back to full size for a while after this. "My apologise, I can't seem to form the legs to walk right now. Can hardly run without legs." He said as he eyed the other cultist hugrily. "I do have to agree about those masks. It seems I'm week to enemies that can self destruct. Though that just means we have to cut off his arms." He tried to play it off, but he desperately needed some new biomass to replace that which had been blasted off. Not only that, he could feel a sort of itch in his cells that he couldn't identify the cause of. Something that was making replication and regeneration harder than normal. Not just the fire. Something deeper that that. Something was wrong, fundamentally. He called out to the demon that had appeared to come to their aid. "Madame." He called out. "Might I enquire what that man tasted like?"