-Yume, Ayame, and Mugi : The Rending Revenant! A Breach on Campus?!-
It was nighttime in Montagne. Most students would be attending the ball. Some, though, decided not to. Some simply used the time to be alone. The library, for instance. Or perhaps use the time to get some extra sleep after a day of work or study. Most of the time, it didn’t matter one way or the other.
Tonight though…
Well, tonight some of these students just got damn unlucky.
To the unsuspecting students of the Garden, they were one of the Really unlucky ones.
Quietly, something crept into the room, its form obscured by the shadows as it crawled across the floor. It quickly moved to the ceiling, two skeletal arms being revealed in the moonlight, along with black, bladed claws on its arms. Two piercing red eyes loomed overhead as it clawed the ceiling, moving towards one of the rooms.
It slid through the crack between the door and the floor, nothing more than leaving black vapors behind. As soon as it entered the room, it spotted its target. An Arachne. Perhaps if it had any intelligence at all, it would have been distracted by her lack of clothing, but a mindless husk didn’t feel such things.
Instead, it lifted itself off the floor, standing about as tall as your average man, revealing a legless creature that was using nothing more than a vague, wispy trail of black to stand on. Its claws twitched slightly as it tilted its head at the woman before it.
It raised a claw, and aimed to peirce the Arachne’s heart.
Ayame had chosen not to attend the ball. Instead, she opted to take a well-deserved rest after dealing with the human pups. They were so rowdy and excited that the poor fox teacher was about to pull out her ears in frustation. So after classes, she dragged herself to her room and collapsed, falling into a deep sleep.
And she would have stayed asleep until morning, except something felt terribly wrong.
The fox's ears perked up, twitching ever so slightly as she intently listened for any signs of an intruder. She waited for what seemed like hours, before flopping back on her futon. "Nothing wrong," she thought to herself. But that nagging feeling ate at her gut, rendering her unable to sleep. With a soft sigh, Ayame quietly walked out of her room and headed towards Yume's room. She cracked open the door and slipped inside, all ready to cuddle the arachne and finally get some rest. "Yu -" Before she could finish saying her friend's name, the fox gasped at the sight of the creature poised to kill Yume.
On instinct, the fox lunged forward, her teeth bared as she let out a yowl. "Don't touch Yume!" With the flick of her wrist, a huge swirling ball of wind shot out towards the creature.
The wind slammed into the creature, who then slammed into Yume. Thankfully, the sudden force of Ayame’s attack knocked the creature’s claws right away from Yume, only managing to scratch the Arachne’s shoulder.
The thing recovered quickly, however, and it slowly turned to face its assailant. It’s head twitched, turning completely sideways as it observed Ayame.
Then, it laughed as its head immediately straightened.
Whatever the thing was, it lunged for Ayame, claws poised for her neck.
Wh-what the heck? The Arachne suddenly felt a surge of pain as her torso and bosom were rammed by something incomprehensible, leaving a few bruises... before flinging her onto the wall, and onto the floor, face first. Yumes body was wracked with pain, all while displaying a flushed face. Why did Dream Yume have to perform such erogenous feats? That wasn't going to score her any points with the people encompassing her, save Lyssa... more importantly - what exactly hit her? Having sand in her eyes and being dazed from the rude awakening were not gorgeous options as she pushed her part of herself off the floor.
"Nngh, wh-wha-," she mumbled as the jumbled figure of ivory and dusk turned its back on the girl. Looking to her side, she noticed a slight shred of crimson teeming down her shoulder. Coughing a bit, she rubbed her eyes, fully upright and exposed. What the Arachne saw was an embodiment of a nightmare as her pupils dilated, her eyes widening in shock as the malevolent creature lunged at Ayame. Yume was unable to do anything particularly useful, considering the facet that she was awake.
Covering her mouth, Yume did what she could by swiftly scuttling over to her closet, ripping away one of her clothes and tossing it in hopes that it might obscure the creatures vision if she was lucky enough since she was still kinda sleepy. "Get away from Ayame you vile being!" As she screeched, she procured another kimono rather swiftly, as the general safety of the fox girl was much more important.
She had sucessfully diverted the creature's attention, only to put herself in danger. Ayame's ear flattened, her eyes shutting closed as she waited for those sharp claws to rip out chunks of her flesh. But then Yume started to throw her clothes at the creature, blocking it's vision. Her friend's attempt only slowed the creature enough so that Ayame could dart to the side.
"Yume!" She cried out, "Run! I'll distract it!" The fox, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to kill this monster, started to throw out more wind balls. In the back of her mind, she wondered how this dark thing managed to sneak into school grounds...
The clothing Yume threw landed on top of the creatures head, though did little to stop it, for it did not need eyes to see. Thankfully for Ayame, however, those blasts of air were more than enough to occupy it for the moment. They blasted into the thing, knocking its almost weightless form back several feet, forcing it into a wall.
As she prepared to throw more clothes to blind it, Ayame imminently dodged, screeching for the Arachne to escape this gruesome fate. While she wasn't exactly the fastest, Yume wasn't one to leave her roommate behind. Swiftly tying the kimono around her bosom, making a makeshift bra of sorts, she skittered as quickly as she could as that nightmarish... thing was blasted back into one of the walls by a room. "I-I'm not l-leaving you b-behind!" As the girl shouted, she swooped in and grasped the fox girls hand, dragging her out of the vicinity with her.
Exiting the house, the Yume quickly glanced back before deciding to descend the tree house. "Quick, jump on my abdomen," she hurriedly spoke, as the Arachne began ascending to the side before making her way down. "I'm not the fastest Arachne alive, so can you please try and dissuade that thing with your abilities Ayame?" Surely that ghastly specter would escape the gusts and continue its fervent pursuit. They needed to distance themselves, find help, a teacher or the headmaster would suffice.
Yume was right, it didn’t stay down for long. Its body slunk to the wall, its claws clinging to it as it climbed towards the ceiling. The air balls didn’t seem to work very well when it was anchoring itself to something. Let out another chilling cackle as it watched the two of them leave. It dropped to the floor, becoming nothing more than a shadow moving along it.
It swiftly followed the two out of the rom, following after the spider and fox without slowing down.
"O-okay!" Her wind balls weren't doing much to the creature now so Ayame decided that it was high time to do what Yume said. She clung on to the arachne's abdomen as they began to run away, making their way down the treehouse. Surely the creature would have some trouble getting down the large tree, but with one glance over her shoulder, Ayame spotted a dark streak trailing after them.
She whimpered in fear and was filled with dread. There was nothing she could do to stop it. The fox wanted to transform and dash away to safety, but she couldn't bear to leave Yume behind. "I'll try my best," she encouragingly said to herself as she formed another wind ball in her hand. She threw it to the ground a bit ahead of the shadow, but instead of exploding like the others, the ball just sat there harmlessly. However, as soon as the shadow reached the ball, Ayame snapped her fingers and slices of wind shot out. The dirt and grass exploded, leaving a good sized hole on the ground. She didn't know if her wind nades were effective, but they sure did make a lot of noise.
"Yume!" She yelled over the noise as she chucked another wind nade. "I really hope there's a teacher or someone that can help us because I don't think I can f-fight this thing."
The creature slammed right into one of the bombs, the force of the blast actually knocking it back a few feet as it landed on its back. It was only a momentary solution, however the thing immediately rolled back onto its stomach and returned the relentless pursuit.
And it was gaining ground.
It would easily dodge any more wind balls or grenades thrown at it. It may have not been the brightest thing, but it seemed to learn quickly.
Yume nodded as she kept fleetly moving, weaving down the tree as she kept an eye on the thing trying to assault them. "Who knows, lets hope there's one wandering around the campus." In truth as she tilted her head to keep scanning for the revenant(?), noting that it was moving a bit faster than her. At this rate, she was fairly certain they might end up eviscerated since most faculty members were likely regulating the ball... wait.
"Ayame, I have an idea! We need to find a safe place for me to fall asleep; then I'll distract it and you head for the gathering Headmaster Livia spoke about; trust me," she exclaimed, watching as the creature evaded more of those balls of wind Ayame conceived. This thing was relentless! Neither of them might actually complete the plan if that thing caught up... so Yume did the only logical thing she could...
"Ayame, can you create a gust of wind to break my fall," the Arachne questioned as she swiftly took the plunge, plummeting faster than usual, hopefully creating some distance. Either way, the only thing she thought they could do was use her wind abilities to speed both of them up.
"Yay! It's just about done." Mugi cheered as she was closing on finishing her mobile stand. Originally she was going to make a nice little building hopefully recruiting someone to help, but now she was just making a mobile one, going around campus and mostly to where there were crowds. Originally she was going to follow her dormmates to the ball, but by time she showed up, the two were gone. Sadly, she went back and started to work on her stall. She didn't have a date or anything so what was the point? Still, she followed these blueprints closely and added her own little quirks to it to make a Mugi-esque stall. "Alright, I should be ready to have this working tomorrow!"
As the duo weaved down the path, Ayame kept using those blasts of wind to speed the slow Arachne up, while keeping away at the ever encroaching creature. The thing was learning, and most of the shots Ayame used weren't even landing on target as it would just dodge and dive into the shadows. Along with that, it was gaining footing, er floating speed on the duo. It seemed rather hopeless to delay the inevitable, but they kept on moving at a volatile, fleeting rate. "What is this monstrous being? Why is it pursuing us specifically?"
As they continued, Yume took note of a fork in the road, noting that the Headmaster gave the specified location to where the meet up was at. Trying to distract it was purely out of the question as Yume gave a frantic look to the right. "Ayame, to the right! Launch me that way," she exclaimed pointing to the side of her. As she was about to land near the crossroads, there was wind beneath her exoskeleton, the breeze pushing her up in the general direction...
... of Mugi and some peculiar stand she was by. Yume's eyes widened in horror as she slammed directly into the stall, causing some damage not only to the stand, but herself also. This night was rather painful as black and blue began to congregate around her stomach as she collapsed to the ground, grunting in pain. Looking up, and back at the barely visible shade pursuing the duo. "Urgh, M-mugi," Yume groaned as she began pushing herself up, eyeing the horrifying specter outline. Pointing at it, she stared at the girl with pleading eyes.
"Th-that thing... please, get out of here and warn Headmaster Livia with Ayame." Yume was willing to give her life if that meant there could be an end to that creature. While it was frightening, part of her wanted to run away, let someone else take care of business... but, it wasn't right... there were some tears streaming down her eyes due to the fear invoked by the creature, and from the new injury she received.
"Please, go..."
"I don't want to die... I don't! Please, don't leave me here to die!"
The thing was relentless as ever, following the girls without a care for the attacks being lobbed at it at all. As the two slammed into Mugi’s stall, the creature only cackled again, approaching its targets.
Ayame squeaked when the pair crashed into a stall. She fell to the ground, her wide eyes on Mugi before closing briefly. A part of her wanted to do what Yume had said, to leave with Mugi and find help. But that meant Yume would be all alone to deal with that thing. "No Yume! You're hurt a-and I'm not going to abandon you," the fox declared. She got up, bracing herself in case the creature decided to leap on her.
"Mugi, help Yume up and get out." She fought back her own tears and fear, using all the courage she had to not run away. "Or we can all stand together and fight."
They were saying things, but Mugi wasn't really paying attention. The stand. . . She's been working on it for the past few days. . . She missed the ball to work on it. So. . . Much time lost. She even had made it look nice with her own decorations. The wind around them all began blowing harder and felt slightly cooler. "M-my stall..." Her hands turned into tightened fist and she voiced something again. "Nooooo!!!!!!" She bawled. If it wasn't for them already being frozen, the small bits of ice flying off the side of her face would have falling down her cheeks. Now she just seemed like a little girl, throwing a tantrum over having a toy broken.
"I worked so long on that!" The air got colder as she complained more, her breath freezing cold. She needed to hit something. She hardly noticed the arachne or the fox even and the first thing she saw was some weird skeleton thing. "It's all your fault!" She really didn't even know, it was just her scapegoat and what she was going to take out all of this anger on. Using her power she collected all of the ice she cried out and drew moisture out of the air to make them bigger, however slight ot was, and projected them all at the creature. The winds grew stronger and were aimed directly at sad creature, buffeting it constantly. The entire time she was crying pitifully.
The creature didn’t know what these balls of ice were, so several smashed into it, buffeting the creature and doing quite a number on it. However, it still wasn’t enough even if it looked like it took some damage. It sliced through one of the balls of ice with its claws, and dodged another as it made clear its ability to adapt to different attacks was almost impossibly high.
Soon enough, it had closed the distance enough for it to hunch over, and use its arms to propel itself right at Mugi.
Yumes fears were going to come true once more - she was going to lose her friends and be alone again and there was nothing she could do to save them since Ayame was vouching to stay behind and help Yume recover from the twist and or battle this specter. Of course, that was a thought, but it was closing in, cackling maniacally... and then the unexpected happen. A sliver of hope appeared through the barrage as Mugi wrought destruction on the foe for wrecking her stand, mercilessly going out. Of course, over the mere seconds that passed on by, the creature began to counter her attacks.
At this point, Yume would have to be either feigning ignorance or be very oblivious that this thing could swiftly adapt whilst taking punishment like it was nothing. She wasn't much of a fighter, but from her prior experiences with "guests" gave her some insight to the way they acted - heck, some of them even tried to slaughter the dream version of her to no avail. "I have an idea! Stay unpredictable; keep it busy while I try to fall asleep because then... she will help you."
Yume wasn't so sure that she would fall asleep so easily, especially after the array of injuries she procured, along with the adrenaline surging through her with a beating heart. Backing up a few meters as she begrudgingly spoke that last statement, noticing that the enraged Mugi wasn't keeping up all that well and the creature managed to shatter the frozen attacks. Yume was powerless to do anything at the moment, save for give a couple commands.
"Ayame, wind grenade that vile being," she exclaimed, hoping Ayame could hold her own for now as she knelt down into a meditative position. Closing her eyes, she breathed in an out, a hushed gust of air coming in and out. If she couldn't fall into slumber with these methods, maybe there were other (painful) practices that could be utilized to make her sleep...
Then maybe she could use the fantasies to her advantage, whatever they might be - Lady Asibikaashi safeguard them.
Mugi started throwing ice projectiles at the creature but to no avail. The thing propelled itself right at the weeping girl, claws outstretched. Ayame threw out a huge wind ball at it's side, throwing it off course. At Yume's request, she procured several wind grenades in rapid sucession. Taking one glance behind her, she knew that Yume was trying to fall asleep. The fox deliberately stepped in front of Yume, determined to protect her so she could sleep.
Irritated by her lack of damage to the thing, Mugi took a deep breath as it grew closer and blasted subzero winds on it, rapidly freezing it. Its very being became more and more brittle as it froze more and more, even becoming a little icy as it continued towards the Yuki-Onna.
The revenant was quickly closing in on the Yuki-Onna. Most would have probably attempted to flee from the attack, but Mugi’s quick reaction rendered the shade completely immobile. The creature was completely frozen, almost instantly with its claws just inches away from the yuki-onna’s face. One solid smash could probably break the thing into tiny pieces, saving the girls from further harm.
Now was a great time to break something. Whatever the heck this thing was, was all frozen up and ready to shatter into pieces. Mugi brought her fists up and slammed down as hard as she could, smashing the monster to a bunch of pieces. . . Though she hurt her hand a little on one of the splinters of ice. "Ok. . . I feel a little better now." She said as she gripped her slightly bleeding hand. Nothing a decently sized band-aid couldn't cure.
The pain was too much for Yume as she sat there, trying to slough off the thoughts of misery and physical pain wrought upon her. As her eyes stayed sealed, the sounds of battle raged on, making her even more perturbed. The force she put behind shutting them wouldn't assist in causing the girl to fall asleep, rather it just made the pressure more toxic. Tears seeped through as she barred her teeth, trying her hardest to invoke her other side. However, it was no use as the creature kept ravenously assaulting them... well, from what she knew.
Eventually, the sounds of the ice pelting the creature came to a silent halt... which meant one of two things - either they defeated the creature or... or... please let it be the former. Bracing herself, the Arachne slowly opened her eyes to peep at what was happening. What transpired allowed the young woman to chill out as she stared at the nightmarish being encased in ice. Not exactly what she was expecting... before Mugi slammed her fists into the ice, shattering the image into tiny bits.
Relief and tension were alleviated, however, there was bit and pieces of Yume tarnished. The only thing she truly did was weigh Ayame down, almost causing both of their deaths, and then dragging Mugi into this. Worst of all, she didn't exactly participate in assisting either of them in her mind. Sighing, solace and tranquility were temporarily restored, but what was the downside to all this. Staring at the ground, Yume pondered a mere moment as she looked at the two, shaken but happy.
"W-well, at least that thing is dead," Yume nervously mumbled, chuckling as if to keep herself from falling apart. Staring at the chunks, along with the crimson dripping from Mugis wounded hand, Yume felt the need to at least try and do something about this and not be useless. Slowly walking behind the stand, the spider set to work, spinning up a simple patch of silk that could function as a temporary bandage. "Er, give me a moment Mugi, I can halt the bleeding for you - it's the least I can do after you protected us from that thing."
Yume gave the girl a patient smile as she swiftly wove the simple gauze. As she did so, the girl looked up at the others, some worry lingering on her face. "W-we should warn the Headmistress about this... who knows how many of those destructive beings could be prowling aimlessly around the campus? Let me treat you, then we'll get a move on it ok?"
"Also... sorry about your stand - I can use up one of my sick days to help you restore it if I have your permission."
Mugi looked over the spider silk gauze and gave thanks to Yume before replying to the Spider's offer. "Thank you, Yume. That would be helpful since. . ." All she had to do was look at the stand to make her point. "Anyhow, if you guys could go to the Headmistress, that would be great. I need to get home now I guess, and make sure this cut is taken care of. Good evening. I'll talk later." She started to walk home which took her right past the frosted skeletal figure she had just smashed to bits.
