The fists of an angry god clashed against a blade of twilight. Oros was mad, but it was Glex’s maniacal laughter that filled the air. Even as blood and frogs fell from the heavens they continued to exchange blows. A fist the size of Oros’s torso collided with the roof. Asphalt and tar was thrown about as the mad ronin tumbled to level footing. Shar struggled to remain by Oros. She needed to be close enough to not get separated but not so close that she risked injury. This wasn’t selfishness on Shar’s part. If she was taken out there would be little Oros could do to keep up with their opponent. [color=e3bbc6]”I had hoped this would be over already.”[/color] Shar pointed her butterfly topped wand at Oros. [color=e3bbc6]”It’s normally not this exhausting to keep you on your feet.”[/color] [color=tomato]"Just keep an eye on her."[/color] [color=e3bbc6]”What do you think I’m doing?”[/color] A butterfly flew into Oros’s shoulder. Her skin acquired a healthy glow like that of a silk cocoon. [color=tomato]"Don’t let her out of your sight!"[/color] Oros growled. [color=tomato]"Her whole gimmick is hyper positions. If we can keep an eye on her, she can’t do anything!"[/color] Glex only chuckled. [color=ffd323]"Why would I want to go anywhere? I plan on playing the entire set!"[/color] [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FSp3maO.png[/img][/center] Just because a problem was predictable didn’t mean it was easy to deal with. The amphibians emitted a cacophony of croaks, and Betty pursued Finn with a fanatic’s single minded determination. Finn was fighting on his back heel but drawing a dangerous sword woman away from his allies would help his team out. Their opponents were outnumbered, so even getting just one of them to split off should tip the scales in their favor. In addition to this, he knew he could outthink Betty. She was the berzerker with the giant sword, and he was the duelist with the fencing rapier. A spark of inspiration flew from his blade. Betty saw the attack and side stepped it. But hitting her directly had not been the intent. With a zap, the frogs wet bodies detonated. Corrosive flesh was scattered in all directions. The frog bile splashed Betty’s back and legs. Enough that her melody couldn’t protect her from it all. Betty howled like a demon. The pain was significant, but it wasn’t slowing her down. [color=ade81b]”You fucking imp!“[/color] Betty’s sword arced through the air. Her blows were aimless, but Finn didn’t need to be reminded of how deadly each one was. Her sword cut through the asphalt roof like it were made of brownies. And that wasn’t Finn’s only problem. The frogs had started jumping onto him. His arms, shoulders, even his legs were gradually filling up with frogs. He’d have to be careful if he didn’t want to end up like Betty or worse. But he couldn’t remain stationary as Betty’s sweeping blows were coming closer. It was an afterthought, but Finn got a glimpse of souls that had appeared once Finn slew the frogs. They sunk into the roof as soon as they appeared. Breacher and Pac-A-Fist’s shots passed each other, but none hit their marks. The storm made aiming difficult even at short range like this. But with a wall of metal moving towards the Gemini espers, the best thing any of them could do was run. Before they took cover, Jacqueline fired a melody at the sports car while they retreated. It was a hard target to miss. On impact, the vehicle shook. There wasn’t a single piece of glass in the car that didn’t shatter from the impact. Pac visibly bounced in her seat as shards of glass bounced in her lap. She couldn’t hit much before and now it was going to be impossible. Pac went to put on her seatbelt as a bolt of shadow tore her hand from her wrist. The the shadows attempted to pull her through the window, but it only managed to pull her torso into the steering wheel. *Honk* She briefly looked at the stump and then back out the broken window at the Gemini espers. [color=orange]”Damn it!”[/color] Gunther had also flown out the back of the sport car. The attack hadn’t been of any danger to him, but it was impossible for him to know that from where he had been hiding. The mechanical contraption’s charge stopped as it assumed a defensive stance. [b]”A little spooky…”[/b] Su fell back with everyone else, but she remained between the floating cars and the rest of Gemini. She fired her pistol at one of the watchtowers and bridged a roof of debris between the two facing the apartment complex. Those underneath could hear the blood and frogs smashing into it. A welcome shelter from things to come. Ashley continued to fire on Justin. She ignored the blood, she ignored the frogs, but it was getting harder to do so every second. They leapt onto her body as she stood unmoving. Their tiny suction cupped toes helped them cling to her legs and back. One even managed to land on her cheek. It croaked into her ear as if to bid her good evening. Her shots weren’t landing where she wanted them to, but they were hitting the blood barrier. Marrie wished she only had frogs to worry about. But with some earnest action she might be able to set the vampire lord back. She gave herself a wind barrier not as a form of defense, but as a form of offense. The frogs that were coming her way were launched towards Justin’s blood barrier. Between his fast approach and the acidic frog guts coming his way, a large hole in the blood barrier was burned open. Bloody spikes caved in on themselves as the barrier was diluted with the frog’s entrails. But Justin didn’t stop charging forward, nor did Marrie stop casting melodies. Another barrier of wind formed, this time on Justin himself. But he was moving too fast for Marrie to do anything else. He seized her by the neck and hoisted her body over the edge of the dragon sculpture. That was when he hesitated. The blood that should have been forming his barrier was now being repelled away by their wind barriers. Crimson orbited them like moons but stayed a good distance away. [color=662d91]”Had we continued to engage in melee, I might have applaud your efforts“[/color] Justin flung Marrie straight at Ashley. She’d have to do something if she didn’t want every single frog on her body to detonate. But Justin didn’t care about that at the moment. He turned his head towards Su. And opened his eyes. [color=peachpuff]“Hngh!”[/color] Su struggled to move, but her movements were jittery and sluggish. As if unseen hands were holding her in place. [color=662d91]”That one, Gunther.“[/color] Suddenly, the safe from the commissioner’s room tore through the roof right under Su’s feet. It elevated her off the ground and up in the air where there was nowhere to hide. Her shield was up, but what was she protecting herself from? The real threat were the mechanical abomination’s arms. Two cars that likely weighed a ton or so apeace. And they slammed together on either side of the agent. If Su said anything it was buried under the sound of a head on collision. The metal made an ear splitting screech as it stretched and bent. The shattered glass rained down like tiny diamonds, and the blood soaked vehicles threw crimson in all directions on impact. It was impossible to tell if Su had managed to survive or not. There was too much blood to tell if any was hers, and she had been completely enveloped by the two cars. But it didn’t take long for a soul to fly out of the wreckage. [color=662d91]”I think we’re evened up now, aren’t we?“[/color] Justin closed his eyes with a grin. [color=662d91]”You thought you could fight me without consequence? Think again! You’ll all join Gunther’s spectral army soon enough!“[/color] With a wave of Justin’s hand, the blood in the air formed into a blob and shot off several tendrils. It then homed in on Ashley and Marrie attempting to coil around the rookie espers. The mechanical behemoth resumed moving forward again. This time Gunther remained behind his contraption while Pac fired at Jacqueline and Samuel. But they were under cover and she couldn’t fire on them directly. With a snap of her fingers, a space ship from a popular arcade game appeared in the sky. It swooped behind the gemini agent’s position but hadn’t started firing yet. That would change soon though. But regardless of how much blood was shed, the Diver would not be satisfied. [quote] [i]"And the Lord said [...] Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt." […] When Aaron stretched out his hand with the rod and struck the dust of the ground, lice came upon men and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became lice.[/i] — Exodus 8:16–17 [/quote] Thousands of lice fell like sand on top of the precinct roof. The frogs that had been fine chilling were starting to detonate. They would be difficult to see if it wasn’t for the fact that there were so many of them. It was hard to tell if there was anything special about them at a glance, but they did seem to resist the burning entrails of the frogs. More so than the precinct roof.