[center][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/GqYn1tO.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/L4GDi1Q.png[/img][hr][hr][hider=Afro Samurai - When The Smoke Clears
][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWI0F66MgwY[/youtube][/hider][hr][/center]

With all three blades in hand, the creature with the blades lept through the air, bringing them all down, blade first on Saskia and Clementine. However, the latter raised her hand and created a transparent glowing blue dome around them. The creature was stopped in its tracks, falling to the ground, as Clementine briefly dropped the shield and shouted.

“... Here’s your opening, kid!” She aimed her pistol at it.

[color=DC143C]"... Not a kid,"[/color] Saskia muttered, moving forward and raising a leg. They stomped it down at the fallen creature, a short, sharp bone spear shooting out from their foot to impale it. Piercing through its stomach, it quickly sat up and used the momentum to stab at Saskia with all of its blades. However, another glowing barrier appeared, blocking all the attacks as it rose to its feet.

“I’m going to drop it again! Get out of the way!” Clementine said.

[color=DC143C]"Shit."[/color] Saskia gritted her teeth, snapping the bone spear where it met her foot with another spell and jumping back. The blood blades on her arms unformed, flowing towards her back to form a tendril she used to push her further out of the way. The barrier disappeared, and the blades curled inwards… leaving it open for a moment. Saskia’s tendril shot forward, right towards its chest., piercing through it, causing it to drop its swords as it gripped the tendril. It charged forward, using its strength to close the distance and raised a sword in the air and brought it down towards Saskia. Unable to retract the tendril fast enough, she forced a short, thick bone spear out of the palm of her hand to block the sword. It began to chip, but was just able to hold up. 

A blast from Clementine’s hand came out and sent the creature stumbling backward, causing the tendril to pop out… revealing its beating heart. However, its lungs were destroyed in the process… and it gasped for air as it grabbed its chest. Before it fell to the ground, holding its gaping wound in its hand.

Before it finally expired.

“... See?” The white creature said from above, poking his head through the hole. “No place in The Society.”

Clementine whipped around, aimed her pistol at the White Creature, and let off a round. It missed entirely and hit the ceiling.

“That was rude,” he laughed. “I can see how you felled Mala’Boolaan… but I have to kill you, or else [i]my[/i] position in the Society might get questioned.”

[color=DC143C]"That would be a shame,"[/color] Saskia said sarcastically, panting lighty. They cautiously angled their blood tendril to be in front of them, glancing around for Lisa and Ella… who were still running around the room. [color=DC143C]"Come on down then, we don’t have all day."[/color] 

“Mind telling me where his friend’s at, then?” The White Creature said. "Or have you seen the Pale Lady?” 

[color=DC143C]"Why would I know?"[/color] Saskia narrowed their eyes up at it. Dead, she hoped. She pointed to the hole in the wall Vanessa had been kicked through. [color=DC143C]"Probably down there if you’re needing a little mid-fight chat."[/color]

“Well, just stand there for me!” The White Creature shouted, then laughed.

“... [i]I’m[b] riiiiiiiiiiiiight[/b] here![/i]” The Pale-Lady laughed as she brought everyone’s attention to one of the doors. She had that eerie smile on her face… well, what was left of it. Half of it was missing, revealing skull and bone and what little flesh she had left hanging off the side of her face. She still smiled, though.

Behind her was the creature with the massive arm… missing his other arm, and several dents in his chest. There were [i]massive[/i] bruises across its chest and arm, and its knee was crooked… however, in its enormous arm, it held Vanessa by her torso as she was limp.

“‘Nessa!” Clementine shouted before raising her pistol.

Lisa had stopped chasing Ella and turned on her heel as her eyes shot wide open. Ella also ground to a halt, taking steps back to be next to Lisa, looking horrified.

[color=DC143C]"Shit,"[/color] Saskia hissed under her breath.

“Ah, ah, [i]ah![/i]” The Pale Lady wagged her finger. “One muscle flex, and she’s [i]dead![/i]”

The Pale Lady asked. “If you want your sister to come out of this alive, turn your pistol on those three so we can [i]finally[/i] get this over with!”

"I would never!" Clementine said.

The Pale Lady laughed as she put her hands together.

“Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…” She rambled on and on.

Saskia slowly turned their head to look at Clementine, otherwise perfectly still, blood tendril hanging in stasis in front of their chest. They wouldn’t blame her if she shot them. They wouldn’t let her hurt Ella or Lisa, but… they wouldn’t blame her. But there had to be another way. They looked back over at the pale lady. 

[color=DC143C]"Isn’t that a bit cowardly? [i]You[/i] were told to kill us,"[/color] Saskia said evenly, almost sounding bored. [color=DC143C]"Don’t think you can, so you need her to do your dirty work?"[/color]  

[color=e77fbf]”Yeah!”[/color] Ella yelled. [color=e77fbf]That’s very cowardly![/color]

“Who cares if it’s cowardly?” The Pale Lady laughed. “Morningstar wants you three dead. And as long as you’re dead, who cares?! I hope your people will remember you because the Society won’t!”

[color=DC143C]"Good, I wouldn’t want remembered by the Society,"[/color] Saskia said, narrowing their eyes at the Pale Lady. Technically, to most people they were already dead and remembered… But that didn’t mean she wanted to die again.  

[color=e77fbf]”People will remember us- I bet no one will remember you!”[/color] Ella added. 

“[i]Everyone[/i] will remember Morningstar’s Society!” The Pale Lady laughed. “When we locate the [i]All-Blade[/i] we’re going to change the world! All of them! Make the Society a [i]society![/i]” She laughed like a mad woman.

“You three are just a roadblock. A stepping stone!” She rambled.

[color=764820]”Shut up… shut up…”[/color] Lisa hissed under her breath as she tilted her head downwards, staring at the Pale Lady.

While this went on… [i]Spiders[/i]… thousands, if not [i]millions[/i], appeared underneath the door and silently crawled up the walls behind The Pale Lady and The Long-Armed brute. They scrambled together and formed words, [b][code]GET THE WHITE ONE.[/code][/b]. Before they dispersed, only the keenest eye would notice a Hobo Spider crawling up the creature’s body… traveling up its nose, forcing its way in. It attempted to blow the spider out through its nose, but there was a pop before it started violently coughing, dropping Clementine as it fell to its knees. Coughing more and more… as eventually, a toxic and unhealthy mixture of acid and dissolved flesh came out of its nose. Its nostrils loudly sizzled as the acid did its job…. While it was distracted, more spiders began climbing its body and forcing themselves into his orifices.

[color=764820]”Now!”[/color] Lisa shouted.

Ella reached over and snatched her Channeler out of Lisa’s hand, raising it high as a beam of damaging rainbow light shot out of it and right toward one of the pale lady’s (sort of) eyes. At the same time, Saskia’s blood tendril shot forward towards the pale lady’s chest. However, she raised her hand and flipped a chunk of ground telekinetically. She laughed as both attacks were blocked… however, she looked at her cohort at the side. More spiders were being forced down its nose and its throat and exploding into acid bombs. It choked and thrashed on the ground as it coughed up more acid and dissolved insides.

“... Son of a bitch!” The Pale Lady shouted.

[color=e77fbf]”Good job, Lisa!”[/color] Ella grinned, jumping forward. She cast Super Prism Kick, food kicking clean through the chunk of ground in front of the pale lady. Saskia followed close behind with a blood tendril shooting through. 

That smile was erased from the Pale Lady’s face as Saskia impaled her through the stomach and fell backward. She had both hands on the tendril. However, she quickly shot them both up and sent a spray of rubble at the two.  It wasn’t anything significant, but it went at high speeds. Saskia swore, forcefully cutting off the tip of the tendril so it turned into liquid blood in the Pale Lady's hand and retracting it. But she wouldn't be able to retract it fast enough to cover herself-

[color=e77fbf]"Saskia!”[/color] Ella shouted, throwing herself in front of her friend and taking the full blow of the rubble spray. She winced, visibly barely standing.

[color=DC143C]"Ella, you-"[/color] Saskia grimaced, stepping around her quickly and shooting the now shorter tendril at the pale lady again, trying to impale her chest. She had to end this quickly.

At this point, the acid had dissolved the brutish creature’s throat… making its head fall over, barely attached by the little flesh that wasn’t dissolved. It hit the ground with a loud thud, which caused The Pale Lady’s head to dart in that direction, leaving her open to the combined attack of the two. The tendril shot through her chest, and she gasped as her blood spilled all over the floor. She fell backward, blood dripping down the corner of her mouth… before she went limp.

[color=764820]”... I don’t think [i]anyone’s[/i] going to be remembering you now,”[/color] Lisa chuckled, as she raised a hand. [color=764820]”[i]High five![/i]”[/color]

“Heal ‘Nessa!” Clementine ran over to her sister, sitting her up. She pressed two fingers into Vanessa’s artery on her neck. 

Ella was mid run towards Lisa, hand raised to high five her, and paused. [color=e77fbf]”On it!”[/color]

She raised her channeller, a beam of healing rainbow washed over Vanessa, stabilising her near immediately and beginning to heal her wounds. Ella grimaced, growing visibly weaker as she did. 

Saskia came up behind Ella quickly and grabbed her by the shoulders. [color=DC143C]"Lisa, the healing spiders, now!"[/color]

[color=764820]”... You thought you could get away now could you!”[/color] Lisa laughed like a maniac as she ran over to Ella and wrapped her little arms around her torso. The spiders quickly emerged from her pores, crawled down her arms, and promptly traveled to Ella. They quickly burrowed their way into Ella’s skin; moments later, she began regenerating as all the wounds she sustained during her fight with the creature with the blades were healed.

[color=e77fbf]"Noooooo!"[/color] Ella screamed the whole time, squirming. Saskia chuckled behind her, keeping a tight grip on her shoulder so she couldn't escape.

“... Ah, it was exactly as Ignatius said,” The White Creature poked his head through the hole in the ceiling. “Unworthy of being in The Society. Thanks for getting rid of them for me, I guess.” He shrugged.

[color=764820]”And you’re next!”[/color] Lisa pointed a finger at him. [color=764820]”You said you were going to kill us! What happened to that?!”[/color]

“Well…” The White Creature shrugged. “... I guess I’ll just accept my punishment from Ignatius. Goodbye… I’ll be back.”

The creature retreated into a hole and hopped into a rift that closed behind it. 

“Okay…” Clementine sighed. “... That went better than I’d thought. But, they’ll be back.” 

[color=e77fbf]"And we'll just beat them again!"[/color] Ella said, once again full of energy. [color=e77fbf]"We already beat their strongest, they were nothing."[/color] 

[color=DC143C]”You got really badly hurt,”[/color] Saskia pointed out, rolling her eyes. She properly pulled back in the blood tendril, trying to ignore the wave of dizziness that came over her. She was still holding onto Ella's shoulders, thankfully, which stopped her from falling over.

[color=e77fbf]"Because I was fighting without my wand,"[/color] Ella whined. [color=e77fbf]"Most of it was burns from that… right, Lisa?! You healed me so you saw, right?!"[/color] 

[color=764820]”I-”[/color] Lisa raised a finger.

“Okay, it doesn’t matter right now,” Clementine cut in. “We [i]need[/i] to get out of here. [i]Now.[/i]”

[color=764820]”Do you think Staub-”[/color]

“We’ll worry about that later!”

“Aaaaaaaaaaah,” Vanessa moaned as she was roused awake. She grabbed her head and asked, “What… happened? My head…”

“Help her up,” Clementine said, “You two are staying at our house for the night.”

[color=e77fbf]"Hell yeah, slumber party at Nessa and Clem's- can we watch Sailor Moon?!"[/color] Ella yelled excitedly.

[color=DC143C]”Not important, Ella,”[/color] Saskia sighed. She let go of Ella's shoulders and took a step towards Vanessa before wincing, head swimming slightly. [color=DC143C]”You two are going to have to do that, I lost too much blood.”[/color]

[color=e77fbf]"Don't worry, I've got her!"[/color] Ella bounced into action, jogging over and helping Vanessa up, supporting her relatively easily. 

“Let’s go!” Clementine said, gesturing for them to follow. They followed, carrying Vanessa to their car and they left the PRA.

To the Washington household.