BrokenPromise

South Town Scuffle: Two Wolves (Terry Bogard VS Broken Promise)

@Terry Bogard So yea, China Town.

South Town Scuffle: Two Wolves (Terry Bogard VS Broken Promise)

As the title helpfully suggests, this is going to be a fight between Terry Bogard (the player) and myself that takes place in South Town.

What might be less apparent is that it’s also some unholy crossover between SNK’s King of Fighters Universe and Roleplayer Guild’s Symphony of Esper Universe. Two worlds with a pseudo anime aesthetic where people fight each other but otherwise have almost nothing else in common. Yet if you can suspend your disbelief long enough, there might be something here that interests you.

Terry and I have talked about the duel extensively. It would be boring to cover everything or give you the play by play, so here’s where we’re at.

Terry Bogard (the player) is going to be playing as our very own, big and masculine, dad avenging, tournament winning, fist flying, seismic slamming, Terry Bogard (the character)! While I will play as some iteration of the tall and thin, monster slaying, syndicate toppling, dagger flipping, spirit summoning, Mika Fang! We’ll put up the sheets once we’re ready to show them to the world, but we keep getting ideas by looking at the other one’s sheet and I’ve decided this time I’m going to need to fold and let Terry have the better sheet.

The fight is going to take place in South town, preferably in or near China town. Yes, South Town is actually a city for those who didn’t know. So inside of South Town you have China town. I think this would be a good place given the influence Chinese characters have had on both of our characters. That and someone has to throw fried noodles at least once in our fight or I’m calling it a failure. Either way I thought of this just now and have not talked to Terry Bogard (the player) much regarding this specific detail. We did agree that the best thing to do would be to get things rolling so that we knew what we were forgetting.

Additionally, this is going to have some fighting game logic in it. Not an excessive amount, just a bit of fighting game flavor. Expect some meter management to take place during the fight. Terry Bogard (the player) has taken parts of several iterations of Terry Bogard (the character) and made them into a combatant. I turned Mika Fang, who is a PvE RP character, turned her into a fighting game character, then back into a PvP RP character. This strange conversion process plus KoF and SoE/SoH having vastly different settings and power scales is why some suspension of disbelief is necessary. We’ve agreed to scale our characters to something along the lines of Jojo’s bizarre adventure to smooth things out, though probably with a lot less dismemberment and death. Which is a shame, because I find those a lot of fun...

Is there anything else to say? No!?!??!

Let the insanity begin!!!

Do you listen to music while writing?

I was asked this recently."Rarely, maybe a few times a year" is the short version. It's weird because on a rare occasion I'll grab music to give people who read my posts something to listen to, but I usually don't listen while writing.

I think there are a few reasons for this. The first is that it almost feels like a handicap when taken too far. I've talked to a few people who need everything to be perfect before they can even think about writing. They need to right soundtrack, to be well rested, to have a nice day without any setbacks, their favorite drink in their favorite cup with that silly straw, to be pain free, etc. Listening to all the things that need to be right for them to be creative is exhausting. It takes more work for them to prepare than write anything.

Really though, I just find music to be distracting. It's hard for me to listen to a song and not be taken to different moments of my past or just think about the media the song is tied to. If I hear "The Only Thing They Fear is You," I'm going to start thinking about Doom Guy and monster slaying. Doom Guy is cool and everything, but I'd rather find my own way through a scene. It feels more original that way.

The few times I do listen to something while writing it's always a song I'm less familiar with. Something that can direct my thoughts without screaming "remember that piece of media I was from?" Or "remember when you first heard me?"

Battle Toyale — Christmas Rumble!

@Shinny Is this dead or are you very, very busy?

Looking to Brawl in a Farm House

@TideTypedWrong Oh damn, I've already booked a fight with someone else but this looks like it could be fun. If nobody takes you up on this I'd consider it in the future.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

”Chocobo? Ari, I think you’re dating yourself…”

— Mac

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Cradle
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Cradle Supply, Connected, Gifted Item (Aigorost) | Monstrous Form, Exposed, Mercy, Distrust
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 20 | AGI: 20 | VIT: 20 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Remaining: 8 Gold, 30 Silver, 39 Bronze
Total: 12 Gold, 162 Silver, 183 Bronze

It was a wild ride that lasted part of a small paragraph but it was over now.

At the end of it all, Mac was still clutching Chicken Ultra Crushing Mega’s neck like her life depended on it. She took several shallow breaths before sitting upright. The creature seemed to have been tamed.

”Good boy.” She misgendered it on account of being tired. When Mac was a police officer many years ago, she had worked with dogs from time to time. Almost all of the k-9 German Shepherds were males on account of them being bigger and scarier than their female counterparts. Only visually though. The females quite often ruled the roost so the speak, and could be more vicious than their larger counterparts.

She created an illusionary pair of blinders. It wouldn’t do for the chicken to be turning everyone to stone. Also, Mac gave the chicken a mask filled with some seed. That should keep it content for the moment.

It was time to see how everyone else was doing. So Mac closed her eyes and phased back into the lab with everyone else. With a brilliant flash, she had reappeared.

…

Right, she was Iron Mouse when she departed. Mac had always intended to come back in her true form, but she had also planned on coming back after the super clucker had been slain. Man this was a bad idea. But so long as they kept it out of the queen’s hands, everything would be fine.

”Hey everyone.” Mac waved. ”Name’s Mac. I’ll be taking over for Knight of Tonight.” She looked at Alicia. ”We’ve met in the past. I was Suwako. Well, pretending to be her, at least for a little while.” Then her voice got quieter. ”If you have any beef with me, we can sort it out later. Just… don’t tell MDP I’m Ashley. It would break her heart.”

---

Yea, I bet you want to surrender…

— Chloe Irving

Chloe Irving

03 03 03 03 03
10 10 06 17 04
23/12 | Babe/Baby | Spirit
Mystic orb, Gauntlets | Third Eye, Tentacles | Horror
Wings, Enhanced Outfit, Big Damn Hero, Blood Magic, Interdimensional Home, Sorcery, Enhanced Transformation
Dominator | Dark Weapon
Nagash

6 Gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze

Trigger Warning, Violence

Chloe had broken out into a cold sweat. She hated this. She hated this. She had become a coin broker precisely so that she wouldn’t have to endure such humiliating rituals. Dark magical girls always had a few mental mutations that made them dislike being treated a certain way, but even before that Chloe had always desired control over her domain. She wanted to be safe, live in comfort, and not work too hard for it if she didn’t have to. But even as a coin broker she wasn’t above landing in sticky situations.

The restraints had come off, but Chloe was still catching her breath. What would have happened if Lily wasn’t there to answer in her stead? If Gaia hadn’t "freed" the wooden boy? If Mayra hadn’t fought the caterpillar? If MDP hadn’t taught her how to make friends? One of the bloody skeletons helped Chloe to her feet.

"What an unusual turn of events!" One of the leaders had said. "Typically our soldiers are mindless killing machines that only serve their lieutenants will. Though it seems that for whatever reason, those strings had the ability to… um…" He scratched the side of his head. "I am truly unsure how such a thing could have happened. The magic in this realm is very strange, more confounding than the Crystal Labyrinth of Tzeentch."

"More like the Dominion of Slaanesh." While Lily grouped together with her boyfriend, Gaia, and Connie, Chloe was reminded of how very few friends she had out here. She didn’t envy them, of course. It was good that couples like Lily and Alexander existed in the world, and even bonds of friendship as strong as what Connie and Gaia had. What she had with her own girlfriend could turn into something over time, but seeing their love for each other reminded Chloe of how her relationship with Penny was over now. What a selfish thing she turned out to be. But there was no need to take out her frustrations on some who weren't here. There were plenty of equally deserving people who had graced Chloe’s presence. She turned on her heel and walked towards the rest of her group and Mayra. Her lips curled into a sickeningly sweet smile, and she patted the dragon girl on the back. Cautiously at first, as she didn’t want to get burned.

"Fantastic job! If you were one of my cronies, I’d even consider rewarding you. And it’s quite rare I have anything nice to say about them." She looked at the caterpillar. "You can run along now. I may not be able to free myself from a curse, but I am quite capable of handling prisoners."

Chloe raised her hand, and her tentacles sprouted out of the ground. They wrapped around the caterpillar’s knees before pulling them to the ground. Another pulled her waist back so that she was sitting on her ankles. Two more coiled around her wrists and pulled to either side, holding her in an "A" pose. A sixth one coiled around her neck, for no other reason than it made Chloe feel in control. The coinbroker made sure she was standing in front of the girl.

"Did you feel powerful a moment ago? I would have." Her eyes trailed upwards into the sky. "To be judge, jury, and executioner, it sounds exhilarating! To hold that kind of power over your victims. Though I have to admit, it’s a bit… primitive for my tastes." Her tentacles pulled tighter as she lowered her eyes. A seventh tentacle slid up the length of her back and prodded her cheek. "The Mint performs interrogations. We only care about what we learn, passing judgement is someone else’s job." Her eyes shifted to a morghast standing by her side. "Unfortunately for you, we’re also businessmen, and we owe the lord of the dead our tithe of bone."

Chloe raised her hand, but it wasn’t tentacles that raised out of the ground. It was two of the Mortech Juggernauts she had made years ago a while back. The research done on Penny had been destroyed, but why did Chloe care about that? It was easier and more effective to take what she had learned and apply it to a magical construct like enchanted bone than the cyborgs the Mint had planned on making. If they did have to fight Penny, these ones wouldn’t get hacked. You don’t fight fire with fire, especially if your fire is smaller.

"Nuncio, Sammy." She pointed. "Devour."

Caterpillar had caught Chloe at a bad time. She wasn’t feeling very merciful right now. But this wasn’t just an act of brutality to satisfy the primitive part of Chloe’s sadistic psyche. Ossiarchs were effectively bone golems enchanted with souls. Once that had pulled her physical form apart, they could absorb her soul and all of her memories. Withholding information from them would not be a choice, regardless of what she tried. The Mortech Juggernauts were more than normal ossiarch, they were an extension of Chloe’s own mana. They were tied to her ability to manipulate souls, of which few people could claim were her better. There would be no brainwashing these puppets.

A caterpillar is supposed to mature into a butterfly when it enters a cocoon. This caterpillar’s cocoon was made out of bone and nadirite steel. Chloe and Mayra couldn’t see what was going on, but it wasn’t hard to imagine. Bony appendages came up before coming down sharply, over and over, always more bloodstained than the last. They weren’t aiming to end her swiftly. They would take as long as possible, while making it as excruciating as possible. It didn’t matter what the caterpillar said or did, if she screamed or kept it all inside, or even if she started singing. Her reaction would amuse Chloe.

If Mayra stuck around, maybe she wasn’t amused. Perhaps having the flesh slowly extracted from a helpless opponent wasn’t to her taste. She could end her suffering if she so chose. Maybe a part of her pitied the caterpillar enough to try and stop Chloe. But it would be futile. Regardless of her actions, a group of mortisans would step in to finish the job. The soulreaper would cleave the caterpillar’s soul out of her body, the soulmason would catch it, and the bonemason would finish extracting her bones from her corpse. Now the caterpillar would have no escape. Her soul would be split apart. Her fears, her worries, her happiness and desire would all be stripped away. The soulmason worked like he was merely shucking the husk off of corn. Once she had been distilled into her relevant memories and useful aspects, the soulmason would mix her in with a few other souls and pitch the amalgamation into the newly constructed ossiarch bonereaper the bonemason was working on. Though he too needed to use additional bone from the fallen to finish her construction.

"Hold on." Chloe stepped closer. "I’ll decide what we turn her into once they show me how useful they are." She turned to the newly created ossiarch. "Caterpillar." She didn’t know if that was her name, but she kind of looked like a caterpillar, so that was what she named it. She named all of her creations after the people they used to be. "Tell me something useful about the queen. Is there an easy way to enter her castle? Does she have any secret weapons? Your answer is going to be very important in determining your future."

The Mint did not hold trials. Job interviews before employment were always carried out by a senior manager, however.

Legeeeeeeeend! Animations broke again!

@LegendBegins

Remember when gifs stopped working?

Remember when you showed me how to make APNGs to prevent the web host from converting everything into a webp format?

Well that's not working anymore. It seems even PNGs are converted to webp files now. I even tried re-uploading a file that worked before only for it to, well, not really work at all.

I was going to post this in mahz's dev journal, but I figured he's got a lot on the front burner there and you might have an idea.

UPDATE:

What I find kind of interesting is WebP format supports animations. I can take a file I made in GIMP (in WebP format) and drag it into my web browser and it plays flawlessly. But when it gets uploaded to the guild, it no longer works.

Symphony on High

"Oh boo-hoo, get over it already."

— Finnegan Vanhorn

Yea, a bunch of espers might have been a little out of their element fighting a giant magic resistant walker. Having a giant reach out of the heavens and try to crush you while this was going on made everything more complicated still. But this was Pax Septimus, so of course there also had to be an army of gun nuts lead by Baleful Sofron just outside their otherwise closed off arena. Closed off minus the area above where “Elroy” was standing. And with all of this shit going on, this was when Ashley decided that things needed to be a little bit more dangerous for Mika. Yes, get the monster to smash the mech with its giant fist. It’s not like Finn is totally going to be expecting that, or that it put Mika in an extremely dangerous position. But honestly? This was okay. Mika was the best suited for tasks like this, and Elroy seemed like he was already trying to kill her.

"Try to cover for me, Par-ah-dice.”

It was good that Finn was presently, and perhaps even justifiably, trying to crush Ashley with his giant murder mech. That gave Mika an exposed back to jump onto. The demonic giant tried to punch her again. But this time Mika was aware enough to not get totally crushed by the thing. Each fist in her wake left a giant crater in the floor. Once she was on the mech’s back, she held on for dear life.

"Still having girl problems, Finn?”

The mechanical pilot groaned. She was still vindictive over that? Such a lack of priorities. ”At this rate I’d rather take my chances with another guy than put up with a mad woman like you!”

With his attention drawn to a singular target this time, the mech let off another surge of lightning to trap Cerberus against it. It was, in hindsight, probably not the best move to pull. Trying to force her off would only give one of the other agents an opening, and he was still trying to be smart about how he uses his mana. So the solution he came up with?

Give “Elroy” a free hit against her. He was confident that his mech could take it, just this once at least.

This would be the second time Mika had been crushed under the giant’s fist. Her body disappeared under the giant’s fist as it careened into the mech. It sounded like a car crash, with metal and bone twisting in unnatural ways. The mech was magic resistant and too thick to be greatly damaged by most attacks, but mundane materials, regardless of the enchantments, would always be at least partially susceptible to chaotic energies. The back of the mech bent inwards, sparks and oil flew out of its right shoulder. During the cacophony of destruction, Mika reappeared behind a pillar with Raven.

"I don’t recommend giving it a bear hug.” she spit.

With a tug, Elroy freed his hand from the twisted mess on the mech’s back. Of all the attacks that hit the mech so far, this one inflicted by Finn’s own ally was the most significant. But Elroy didn’t seem to enjoy the attack any more than Finn did. The monster looked at its hand and howled. Such an attack would likely not be so easy to bait out in the future.

”Hahahahahahahaha! Woopsie doopsie!” Morning Dragonfruit sighed. ”I guess I should have considered something like that could happen.”

”It’s fine! I can fix that later!” The Timekeeper called out. ”You did good, Elroy!”

“This is why you should only hire professionals.” Klava got out of her seat. “I’m going to get some fresh air.” And with that, the top of the mech opened just long enough for the ice maiden to fly out. The cockpit sealed itself before she landed on the ground.

”Well if she’s going to do funny memes out there, I think I’ll fly wing man with you my boy.” Metal arms from inside the mech lifted the cursed TV and set it in Klava’s spot. ”Oh goodness! It’s still warm! Well, ready when you are.”

Finn nodded, turning his focus back to everyone else.

”Be careful, Maiden!”

From the mech’s torso, he began firing sharpened disk plough blades at the agents, aiming its flamethrower arm in an arc as well to force them to scatter further.

Klava flew through the arena with the control and speed of a humming bird. The sashes on her outfit wrapped around pillars to guide her trajectory through the air. Her frictionless movement allowed her to skate across the walls, ceiling, while narrowly avoiding the occasional shot from Raven’s pistol. For the moment she was towards the back of the room, surfing towards Mika and Raven’s position.

Which was just as well, because things were getting pretty frantic in the hallway.

Regardless of how meager or solid Sofron’s spell was, it had the same effect. Binky and Marrie could feel their ability to project their melodies had been suppressed. While the green haired agent swapped out her magazine, she gave Marrie some affirmation through a nod.

Marrie didn’t even get through the threshold of the door before she was put on the defensive Sofron through a punch with enough force behind it to slide his feet across the floor. It was fortunate that Marrie had decided to use a less expensive melody here, but she found that even that felt too immense while under the effect of Sofron’s Baleflame. Her melody came out silver instead. But maybe that was a good thing, as it seemed like Sofron was attempting to pummel her with his fists.

What ensued was a melee. Even if he was fighting with his hands, it was as if they were made of steel. Her blade couldn’t cut into his flesh, and he had little issue punching her bladed attacks as they came at him. It felt like they might be evenly matched. While Sofron was able to expertly defend himself, Marrie’s training left no openings for him to exploit. Then they both found an opening and went for it. Sofron reached for Marrie’s neck, and her blade found its way into his sternum.

His wound bled. That bartender’s vest he was wearing was stained red by the attack. Yet he still had plenty of strength to hoist her off of the ground. She was suffocating.

”You imbecile.” His grip tightened. ”Lay waste to the woman who keep me company if you must, but I am immortal. I doubt the same can be said for you.” His other hand caught fire. The flame was bright enough that it left an afterglow in Marrie’s eyes when she looked away from it. ”But I’m willing to find out.”

He brought his hand to the side of her head. The heat was cooking the flesh off the side of her face, but her earlier melody was probably diminishing the effects a bit.

”Marrie!” Binky managed to put a few rounds in his legs and torso, but other than make him bleed it didn’t seem to have any effect. She had to redirect fire once his cronies had moved to capture the doorway. ”Shit!”

---

"Maybe now you can do something useful?”

— Bookman

"I believe that was still four contracts, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.” He grinned, and his perfectly white fangs stood out against his jet black flesh. Even his gums seemed to be made of inky darkness. "As for Timekeeper, hmmm, it’s a black pocket watch he keeps on his person. It’s called the Swallowtail. Knowing the name might help if you put your Endless Eclipse to work on it. But we’d rather you not do that right now.” The goat man chuckled. "That’s right, you’re an employee now. You are not to go after Timekeeper until we give you the green light. However, you are free to acquire Cerberus’s Red Oroboros. It’s a red jade pendant depicting a dragon swallowing its tail. Alternatively, Orion’s grimoire is a target. It’s an emerald sphere that she wears like a necklace.” Bookman pressed a button on his cellphone before dismissing it into a ball of ash. "Now, how about we decide your first hires?” He began flipping through the pages. "There are so many to choose from, if you need more time-”

But Himiko didn’’t need time. She immediately pushed her finger between two pages and flipped to the two contracts that laid side by side. Bookman leaned in close to observe what she had picked.

"Not who I would have recommended, but it’s your choice.” Book man closed the tome, and one by one his effects started to disappear. "They shouldn’t be much longer.”

They really wouldn’t. There was gunfire outside the cell. Screaming, and then a quiet. Then there were several loud bangs before a muffled voice said something about searching for a key card. Things were quiet for a moment longer before the cell door slid open. The first one into the room was a knight in pink armor, followed by a diminutive princess.

“I’ll gladly do what’s required of me, but only if it ensures MAGICAL DREAM PRINCESS stays safe!”

“Pwink Pwondah…”

"Magical Dream Princess and Pink Pounder. We bought up their contract recently, but I didn’t expect them to be serving under you directly. Do I even need to introduce them to you?” Given the certainty Himiko had when picking out her guard, he doubted it was necessary. Had her Endless Eclipse given her an insight into these two, or was it all on a whim?

There wouldn’t be much time to think about it.

“Oof!”

Pink pounder, Magical Dream Princess, and Bookman peered out of the cell. The hallway was your typical prison hallway. Cinder block walls lined with doors from end to end. There were a few bullet holes here and there, but not a single drop of blood. There were several unconscious guards, all dressed in blue. But sticking out from the blue and grey environment like a sore thumb was a girl in brown and green. At least what little of her body was actually clad in anything was brown and green. She had a skirt, a bikini top, tube socks, and an uncomfortable number of accessories. If there was something that could give you the impression she was a cowboy, she was wearing it. Save for her ten gallon hat. That had flown off of her head when she tripped.

"Ayana, I presume?”

The cowboy, or horse girl if the ears coming out of her head were to be considered, stood up and dusted herself off. She then took her ten gallon hat and placed it back on top of her head. There were cut outs for her ears, but only one of them slipped into her hat correctly. “That’s me. But how did you know? And who might you be? You look like you could be one of those government guys.” She reached for her pistol. “I bet you’re thinking about putting a chip in Sovereign's head. That way you can track her spending habits or even manipulate them.”

"That’s her alright.” Bookman sat back down. "I’ll get you some transportation. How about you find your grimoire and you can start your first job?”

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"I’m really going to leave this time, I promise."

— Suki Oyama

Kiyo being subservient to Roche’s wishes was indeed something Oros noticed. Though there was little reason to pay it much mind. Everyone knew the hierarchy had Rei at the top, Roche right below her, and everyone else was on pretty even footing below her. Oros had seniority over a few members, but it never really felt like it. Tsubomi treated everyone the same and Nyxia didn’t really respect anyone. Kiyo was an older sister, not the oldest sister. For all her mystery she held no more power than Oros did, and so her kowtowing to Roche’s demands was an expectable act of disappointment.

"I was using the term loosely!" Oros explained to Evil Eye. "Like, if she’s only interested in clearing her personal space and not actively hunting. But saying ‘personal space’ was a lot easier than explaining that." Though the topic soon changed to Willow and the trouble she had gotten herself into. "Wow, I haven’t seen her in town for a while. Even when I go up to find a… shrine, there’s usually a lot of frog blocking my way. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her I can’t even remember her name!"

Oros did her best to ignore Haruna’s extremely cliche use of phrases like "x is in trouble" and "there’s no time to lose," but it was a lot harder to ignore her extreme take off speed. She placed her hands on her skirt to prevent things from flapping around too much. Some would call it wasted effort, given her dress’s semi transparent nature and her opaque leotard covering everything underneath anyway. Regardless, she’d have to show that show off what real speed was at a later date.

"So that happened." Oros added, moments before forgetting it happened.

Oros was about to pick up Tsubomi when she squeezed out a request to go on without her, because she would catch up. "Uh, you sure?" While Oros only had moderate strength when transformed, it wouldn’t have been hard to move Tsubomi. More than that, the GEMS had picked her off last time. Did she really want to leave her alone like this? It didn’t seem wise. "Well okay. If you say you’ll catch up."

Oros decided to ignore Roche and her harem. She stepped up to the window everyone had left out of and climbed out of it. "Hey uh, Eyeball? I’m kinda worried about Rainbow. You wanna keep an eye on her for me?"

---

"I have nothing of value to contribute."

— Willow

"Oh yea, I’m great."

As much as Willow liked to talk, she did know when to shut up, sometimes. Nothing that Willow could say right now would make the situation worse for Kaeru. Having a light girl stand up for the detention club had to be a nightmare scenario, and who would wake their nemesis from a nightmare while they suffered?

Speaking of suffering, Willow could feel a presence behind herself, and turned to see Evil Eye floating overhead. She floated up bedside the girl, but didn’t take her eyes off of the two light girls beneath her. "I see why you like her so much." She nodded. "But yea, I can’t seem to find my phone. I think I may have misplaced it, or maybe a dog ran off with it. If you happen to find it I, well, I might have to stop talking about your love life."

Symphony on High

"Wait, your dad died too!?”

— Amanda

Amanda was the offspring of a succubus and a sand man. Two creatures that dealt with the dreams and desires of their victims. However, Amanda was not so in tune with what the people around her were feeling. A fight was going to start, that much she was sure of. But she didn’t have Ciri’s apparent ability to read minds. At least, that was what she assumed she could do based on their first meeting. She noticed Ciri looked at Billy, and as if commanded by her, he shifted into a defensive position moments before Tony pounced on him.

She followed closely. Everyone was fighting, but Amanda was just doing the minimum required to stay alive. Her powers worked far better laying in wait than when directly fighting. She had only been able to take out the Principal earlier because he walked through her sand, much like Finn had walked through her father’s. Throwing sand at nearby cat men probably wasn’t the most productive use of her awakened powers. Though at least it was more useful than firing a gun at those weretigers. It just kind of pissed them off and made them transform. But Amanda wasn’t judging. They really did look like normal humans before they transformed.

A mafia goon whipped his head around as orange fur grew out from his shirt collar. When the weretiger dove for them, Amanda winced and shucked a ball of sand at his face. He collided with her, but the beast had fallen unconscious. Monsters were extra susceptible to magic, so it wasn’t a surprise her sleep spell worked so well on them. She kicked the monster off of her before rallying behind Ciri.

At this point, Ciri had responded to her earlier comment about getting upstairs. Initially she was outraged. Even if Ciri had helped her in the past, asking Amanda to let her father’s murder live a few seconds longer wasn’t tolerable. She couldn’t think of a reason Ciri’s revenge would be more important than her own. Unless… Had “that bitch” killed Ciri’s father? It was the only thing that made sense. Yes, if she hurt Ciri like that, then it only made sense that they should take out this person before moving onto Finn. Besides, she was right by the stairs going up. Maybe they could chase them into Finn and kill them both together. Then they could have a pizza or an ice cream afterwards.

She nodded.

And then they charged.

Viper was fixing to place a round between Trixie’s eyes when she noticed the esper and teenager charging for her position. She sighed when she realized they were coming in too fast to shoot either of them. So instead she stood up and aimed her SPAS down the battlefield and fired. No human could dodge a bullet in flight, but a monster could attempt to block them. It placed itself between Ciri and the incoming lead, greatly softening the blow. It was still enough to knock her on her ass however. Viper fired another shot, this time aimed at Amanda. She stumbled backwards, but it was only a moment before she was running again.

Viper grabbed her rifle and ran for the stairs. Amanda didn’t slow down, even as she gained more distance from Ciri.