[i][/i][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5FqwUwv.jpg?1[/img]
[h3][b][color=00aeef]Chinami Nadakai[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

Thankfully, the boys appeared to be in a trusting enough mood, despite the circumstances, to ask no questions. Which was really quite good, because they were extraordinarily low on time. Time that was being wasted by their questions, leaving her unable to get much of a word in sideways aside from answering. At the least, however, she managed to apply the Anti-scrying suite of enhancements. And while they were nattering, she decided to slap [color=00aeef][i]Gift Ward[/i][/color], [color=00aeef][i]Enhancement Solidity[/i][/color], and [color=00aeef][i]Gift Draining Ward[/i][/color] as well on them. While it wouldn't restore what they'd lost, not immediately, it would protect them from being drained further and stop Nightman from tearing down her protections as easily if he got a hand on them. The last of the three, she added to her current suite as well, along with refreshing her current set, just to hopefully close up any lingering cracks from the Doctor's assault.

To the blond, she replied, still in a whisper, [color=00aeef]"Not quite a captive, if barely so. It was too close for comfort, but I got the sense that something was wrong beforehand and came prepared."[/color] In regards to the mention of Nightman's allies, she grimaced. [color=00aeef]"I'm well aware. My Gift makes information gathering much easier. Hence, the preparation and my current freedom."[/color] She then shook her head. [color=00aeef]"I have half a plan at best. Nightman has every advantage, and his power is too dangerous to take head on."[/color] Her [color=00aeef][i]Gift Analysis[/i][/color], meanwhile, whirred along to her enhanced perceptions.

[i]Core power, Throne de Lux.[/i] This time, with a deeper read, Chinami couldn't help smiling at the strength of the ability. It seemed some measure of luck was with her to have allies like these in her time of peril. Though... strangely, there was a certain feeling of unease she couldn't shake about the power, a feeling like a polarized magnet that almost made her want to flinch away. She could only downturn her lips in confusion at that.

[i]Purifict Anatomia.[/i] The vast breadth of restorative measures available to this branch ability got her appreciation.

[i]Lux Energia.[/i] Once more, that strange sense of unease rippled through her, but on an objective level, what she saw was of particular asset.

[i]Damoclaiomh Solais.[/i] A third time, greater than either before, she felt that strange sense of unease, enough so to make her want to turn her gaze away. It was strange, almost like she was being stared right back at... But Chinami shook the feeling off. It was just a powerful sword, and if what she was reading was correct, then it hadn't been stolen at all by Nightman. Rather, it was something that couldn't be taken by the unworthy, by the unroyal. And Nightman, the pathetic thief, was the furthest thing from it.

[right][color=32CD32][s][b][i]"Oh? This One professes mine greetings upon thine august self. It has been some time, has it not?"[/i][/b][/s][/color][/right]

Chinami opened her mouth to tell the boys she was about to teleport them away, a good faith gesture of warning, only to be interrupted by the brunet. Frowning, Chinami's foot tapped on the floor in a rather stressed manner, as she tried to fly through his questions to get to her damn point. [i]They were running out of time![/i] [color=00aeef]"In order: He drained our fucking powers for himself, because he's a godsdamnned Gift thief, and I [i]really[/i] couldn't care less about his goals."[/color] She paused, a strange sensation of strength filtering into her. A quick check and identification of the brunet's lone Gift as being [i]Core Power: Highest Heaven, Lowest Hell[/i] solved the mystery. A Gift enhancer... [i]useful[/i], enough so that she felt like she was almost back to full strength. The odds against Nightman had just gotten far less slim. Even if he'd taken a fair amount from her, she should still hopefully be able to brute force through with this much of her original power restored. Not that she planned on being quite so reckless, but she very much appreciated having the option.

Shaking her head, Chinami refocused on the situation at hand. The brunet was saying something about leaving timed messages in the case of his disappearance, which was... Somehow even more paranoid than she was in some ways, but she could honestly respect it a bit... especially given that it wasn't paranoia if you were [i]right[/i]. And well, looks like both she and him had been very much been correct. He was further speaking of Nightman potentially having very powerful friends, a worry she also shared, but she shook her head. [color=00aeef]"We can worry about that later. Right now, it's going to be bad enough just trying to get us all out of this clusterfuck intact. Look-"[/color] She licked her lips nervously. [color=00aeef]"We need to [i]get out of here[/i], [i][b]now[/b][/i]. I can, indeed, teleport us out of here, so hang onto my hands and-"[/color]

The lights [color=1b1464][b]f l i c k e r e d[/b][/color].

[color=1b1464][b][i]The shadows w r i t h e d.[/i][/b][/color]

Her Spirit was moving almost faster than she could comprehend the danger, its arms reaching out to both boys' shoulders to shove them in opposite directions, as the legs and torso wrenched Chinami's body sideways. A sythe of [color=1b1464][b]b l a c k n e s s[/b][/color] passed through the space she once occupied, almost seeming to sink into the floor. It was a lingering streak of hungry emptiness, a darkness darker than dark, that almost seemed to eat the light... and everything else for that matter, but Chinami could only keep half an eye on the phenomenon in the face of the perpetrator's appearance.

[i][b]The Man in the Suit[/b][/i].

Their physical exit was cut off, and although the endangered trio were spread out, Chinami knew if she could just get her hands on both of the boys again, they could escape... But... what if this was better? This was what she wanted, right? This was the plan? She needed to pick off Nightman's allies first and hopefully deprive him of power. And better yet, she could use this Man in the Suit as a way to learn about Nightman's Gift by proxy! All they had to do was defeat him... [i]quickly[/i].

Chinami's first act was to slap the wall she'd landed near with one of her Spirit's hands, altering the room, as magical runes of an alternate possibility blossomed within the walls. [color=00aeef][i]Incoming Alternate Existence Warding[/i][/color]. With that, Nightman should be barred from ambushing them for a bit, while still allowing she and her allies to flee when the time came. From this point forward, the battle was joined, and the Man in the Suit would not be receiving aid... not without fleeing. Luckily, he didn't seem keen to.

Using her Spirit to enhance her perceptions and give herself extra time to think, Chinami squinted at the Man in the Suit, directing her [color=00aeef][i]Gift Analysis[/i][/color] at him, only to recieve... almost [i]nothing[/i]... a [i]familiar[/i] amount of almost nothing, in fact. Was it possible that Nightman hadn't actually thrown up scrying wards and was merely drawing from his ally's Gift before? The only thing she was able to glean, as with the last time, was a name:

[i]Shroudcaller.[/i] Pretty on the nose, to be honest. She could only speculate what it did at this point... but she might be able to get around his defenses by being [i]indirect[/i].

Upon herself, she immediately bestowed [color=00aeef][i]Mystic Analysis[/i][/color] and chanced a glimpse at the streak of [color=1b1464][b]b l a c k n e s s[/b][/color] left on the floor. It- It was... [color=1b1464][b][i]deep[/i][/b][/color] and almost... [color=1b1464][b][i]hungry[/i][/b][/color], a veritable hole in reality that would swallow anything that touched it for longer than a brief moment. At this angle and under such duress, she could only speculate further than that. She got a sense of more from it, but she couldn't say if the [color=1b1464][b]b l a c k n e s s[/b][/color] led to an empty void, a pocket dimension, outright annihilation or the fucking nothingness of [i]space[/i], not without a closer look... one she was far from eager to get.

All she could do at this point was bark out urgently, [color=00aeef]"The Darkness is [i]hungry[/i]! Do [i]not[/i] let it touch you!"[/color] Enveloping herself in her Spirit and praying that would protect her in the worst-case scenario, she added, [color=00aeef]"His Gift is named [i]Shroudcaller[/i]! Can't tell what it does exactly, but, Blondie, that sounds like your scene! I'll do my best to support you!"[/color] And, indeed, it was... or so she hoped. Her priority would have to be keeping the brunet alive. Of the three of them, he was the most defenseless, and he was the only reason Blondie could fight at what she could guess -based on her own experience- was full power. With that in mind, Chinami began to move to place herself between the brunet and the Man in the Suit.

She didn't know if his darkness possessed the spiritual element required to break through her defenses, but if it could... she stood a much better chance of surviving it than the other guy.

[@KillamriX88] [@Letter Bee] [@Dezuel]