[center] [color=fff200]Karin Level 6: 50/60[/color] Location: Astral Plane Word Count: 1,423 Points Gained: 3 New EXP Balance--- [indent][color=fff200]Karin Level 6: 53/60 [/color][/indent] [/center] [hr] The scouting party was over. The Seekers had found what they were looking for. Shockingly (not), it was on the other side of a portal into the Astral Plane. The last time Karin entered such a place, it didn’t go well. The Kanzuki was determined to redeem herself and put on a better showing. Navigating the Astral Plane was just as easy as it was last time, being: mostly easy. While the fall into the infinite abyss was not a welcoming sight, as long as Karin had access to her arms, a missed jump could always be recovered by just firing her grappling hook above her and latching onto the solid bottoms of the floating islands. The safety blanket made Karin navigate with confidence, and her previous experience aided her in this endeavor. Their goal? Find Iron, this VIP, and figure out what she knows. She’ll probably ‘owe them one’ after all this is over, anyway. Soon they stumbled into, as it was aptly put, a ‘turf war.’ [color=fff200]”Not chimeras indeed. Mindless killing machines of flesh and steel alike, it seems. Dispensing of them shall always be a public service.”[/color] As the battle commenced, one of the cannon wielders was left unattended too. As it fired its strange projectile, Karin grappled hooked onto a nearby floating isle to get a better angle on it. At this point, she attracted its attention, and it began to fire upon her. The stone exploded behind her as she cartwheeled away. It fired upon her in the air, but she used her grapple hook to yank herself to the ground. Dodging each subsequent blast, she got closer and closer. Finally, when she was too close to dodge, she grit her teeth. [color=fff200][i]”Say-yah!”[/i][/color] Pushing forward, her palm met the blast head on and blasted straight through it. The voidranger had backed up to the edge at this point, and Karin kicked the gun out of its hand, spun, and snap kicked it into the abyss. Karin turned her attention to the rest of the battle. Showered with projectiles, the centaur, the mighty mechanical-like Trampler, was going to wreak some havoc on the field. Karin narrowed her eyes, thinking of her battle against the monstrous enemy she battled in the Astral Plane. And the mechanical monster and its insipid bully of a pilot she felled not long ago. Karin would challenge the centaur warrior, with the aid of her allies. She fired a hook past its head, causing it to turn and look. Karin latched onto a island and zipped forward, crashing across its face with a slam. She landed on the side of the floating island and looked back at the Trampler. Deciding it was her current biggest threat, a massive bow shimmered into its hands. The arrow was tipped with a rotating diamond construct that swirled with similar shapes.[color=fff200][i]”Tch!”[/i][/color] Karin leapt out of the way as the Trampler's arrow pierced the island and went out the other side. Certainly she didn’t want to get hit by [i]that.[/i] Sailing through the air she landed with a role and sped towards the Trampler, her profile low. It moved with impressive speed and met her much faster than she expected. With her dash she could change direction on a dime, however, and shifted out of the way as it slammed its spike-like hooves into the ground. Karin zipped back and slammed her palm up into its joint. The Trampler was a little over twice her size, but big or small the knee was always a prime target. Thankfully, she felt her hand push into its strange metal skin, instead of bouncing straight off like it did against the scorpion. Already being struck by her teammates, she also spotted some literal cracks in the armor that she made sure to exploit. But it was quick to retaliate. Karin had to make sure not to get pinned under its hooves. But since it couldn’t stab her, it settled on much easier, wider swings. Caught mid-dodge, Karin braced for impact and was knocked away. [color=fff200]”Ah!”[/color] She landed quickly and rolled back to her feet, getting back into the fight. Or, at least, she planned too. A whole rift in reality appeared in the air in front of her, blocking her path as the Trampler prepared its ability. Karin was flattened against the ground by a glowing block of energy. It dissipated quickly, leaving Karin in a starfish position on the floor. Her eyebrow twitched as she deadpanned at the sky above. Another rift opened, and she rolled out of the way this time. Another, and another, it kept trying to predict where she was going to go. And when it thought it had her eager to get closer, it surged forward with a stomping of its hooves. But Karin jumped clean over the rift, the polyhedron smashing into the ground well below her, and as it reared back she slammed into it, almost causing it to lose balance. She dropped and rolled, kicking out at its hind legs. It stepped forward and then kicked back at her, its legs like a piston. Karin absorbed the blow with a spark of defensive ki, but she slid backwards with a trail of dust, and the pain in her arm was a dull, booming ache. [color=fff200]”Hmph.”[/color] The Trampler had its arms crossed, its emotions unreadable other than a vague aura of superiority and evil as it rotated to face her. Karin hoped to wipe that smug aura away by nailing it between the eyes with her grapple hook. It went to snatch the hook off immediately. Karin disconnected her hook in the next instant, dashing forward and focusing more palm strikes on its already damaged knee. It bucked and kicked wildly when it had the chance, and Karin rolled away to prevent being squashed. She had to stay close, but not too close. Too far, it’ll use the bow. Too close, it’ll step on her. As always, Karin dances in and around her enemies' most ineffective range. Before it can get a bead on her, she is back in. Strike, strike, strike, Karin yells, her palms turning red from the impact on steel. [color=fff200]”Pardon~”[/color] She smiles, getting out of range just as quickly. Trampler charged after her, and the smile faded as she barely avoided getting rammed into. It stopped, turned, and aimed to, well, trample her once again. This time it kept running, skidded to a stop, and summoned its bow at her. Karin needed to close the gap quickly. She dashed, latched her grappling hook to the floor in front of her, and then pulled herself along. The arrow tip grew in intensity. She wasn’t going to make it. Karin had to retreat- she looked around for cover. A familiar feeling passed over her- a heart pounding surge of adrenaline. Blazermate had swept in from her duties attending to the entire field and had seen fit to grant Karin a dosage of invulnerability. [color=fff200]”Thank you, Miss Blazermate!”[/color] Karin shouted and ran forward. [color=fff200]”Leave the rest to me!”[/color] The arrow was fired, and its tremendous force came to nothing when Karin met it with two palms. It slowed her for a moment, but she fired a hook at its forehead again, and then pulled herself forward, leaving the uber. It swept at her but Karin pivoted turned, and then retracted the hook when she was behind the Tramplers upper body. Now she was on its back, her hook pulling its head backward. [color=fff200]”R-R-RESSEN HA!”[/color] Leaving behind a trail of after images, Karin spent a super meter to turn into a vertically spinning blade. She erupted forward and cleaved into its head from behind. Its damaged legs buckled. On the final strike she stopped her spin momentum dead and turned it around into a devastating palm strike downward, slamming the Trampler face first into the ground. Karin let gravity carry her downward, where she impaled the back of its head with her feet. Karin’s boots sunk lower as the thing dissolved into ash, her eyes closed and her smile delicate and refined, like she had just drunk some fine tea. [color=fff200]”Mmhm~. Splendid.”[/color] Opening her eyes, she regarded the spirit of the Trampler thoughtfully. Its arrow ability, in particular, would be quite useful for Karins problem of limited range. She picked the spirit up and held it in her hands. Karin would hold onto it until a better time for speaking to it arrived. They had a mission to uphold, after all. Time was of the essence.