Avatar of Dreaming One

Status

Recent Statuses

3 yrs ago
Current It just is.

Bio

Most Recent Posts





The Abyss pulsated with its ground shaking, with its inward pulled out skies molding the peaks of the mountains and the dirty, damned soul stained skies forming a swirling storm to come and crash on everyone gathered and still in their stable existence.

Amidst them all stood the fusion of two, gazing over the gathered who were ready to clash with her - one more time, and clearly for the Abyss it will the last. The bits and fragments of Data flying in the flickering and twitching motion as they were exposed by the shapes of the place coming undone, the geometry eroding in the exposure of its actual nature.

Amidst this crashing and disintegrating, coming undone world, a ray of light fell down through the bleak and twisting landscape. A radiating light of an aura crowned a new visitor to arrive in this wretched place - which Nephuna met with a quite known, familiar curled smirk of Runa's; shaped on her lips she faced the Valkyrie whom raised her weapon in an invitation to fight, and test their strengths.

"Oh? And who would you be? A Valkyrie?", Nephuna said in a calm tone of Runa's, her voice splitting into two at each word spoken, "And judgment will be done by both sides a challenge awaits EVERYONE", a growling yell of Nephy's rage pushing through.

Raising a hand, Nephuna would call together an army of summoned spears. Ripping into the air like glitches in the matrix of time, the weapons would come around and turtle up. Shield upon shield like a great phalanx, braced together in tight formation that weathered Kanbaru's storm. Immediately as the waves crashed uselessly against it, they'd spring outward and upward and aim for the whale summoner with incredible speed. Maybe she could deflect some, if most but it was simply impossible to deflect all as they came down to eviscerate.

"I'm not your liar, whale! If anything, I've always listened to you. You've been a fun sparring partner and WHEN THIS IS OVER I WILL REWRITE YOU WITH MY NEW TOWER AND MAKE YOU THE SLAVE YOU ALWAYS WERE MEANT TO BE!" Runa didn't take things personally with the whale, Nephy did.

In the spiraling crashing noise coming from the line of spears being destroyed by the precise series of shots coming from the cloud of smoke, multiple Nephunas blink near the source of it; right near Marianne after she's fired. As the parts of the spears flicker in the air, before fading away into nothing, erased, Nephunas inspect the weapon she's used and her pose, some are taking notes. Five of them are in total hovering around her, moving in the blink of an eye.

"Interesting move, but we saw that five minutes before." Runa's voice called in a soft intonation, as Nephy let out a bloodied snarl and would slash out in unison to slice at the target's head, chest, legs, and feet in a blinding and sparking display of unity and strength. "I think you don't have a full understanding on what is going on here. I... AM *THE* DATA. A MASTER ABOVE YOU." Nephuna's voice cracks and swaps between Nephy and Runa's personalities, violence banging against cold precision.

The voice rocking and shaking in two in the wild yelling and calm flow, both lacked hesitation, both lacked and did not desire to have anything that could hold them back - and true to that beings of Data could've feel the shifting transition that would appear in the underline of every line of code Data possessed: Nephuna's structure of being reforming and reshaping the Data, subjugating it, twisting it in both directions of linear processing, seeping through it like a virus. Just erased spears pulled back from the shards and back into their shapes right from the non existence, restored from being undone, recovered from the Data itself.

"I AM THROUGH PLAYING GAMES!" The central and apparent main Nephuna has not moved an inch in the center. Nephy jerks Runa's hand around and forces her to skewer herself with Nekuromata, slicing into her black heart to unleash power outward. Both beings inside feel and share the pain together. Runa's side of the mind expreses itself with a frown shaped over Nephuna's face, a clear sign of displeasement oh how the blade pierces through the flesh, ripping it apart. "That's rather unpleasant. Why one would have for a nature to be released this specific way..?", a question rhetorical was asked, as they both knew why and how; a question which was answered by Nephuna herself as her voice descended into a loud howl echoing through the area and the time around it.

Black and shadowy images of wolves are unleashed from her chest, clawing out with claw and fang as they descend upon the gathered spectators to mop up the rest. Specters that knew nothing other than hate and murder.

In the distance afar, on the edge of the event horizon, created by the swirling and decomposing data, collapsing into itself, a lonely Nephuna was pulling up a pair of massive speakers to stand one beside the other. A click of a button followed made speakers to produce a soft dull clicking sound, and from there, moving in shaky dancing motions Nephuna approached a nearby standing record player and put a round vinyl piece onto the turntable, a needle dropping on the groove soon after. A tune started to play, slowly gathering in its powerful emotion across the battlefield as the said Nephuna beside the player started to dance around the speakers like if they were some sort of sacrificial fire.

All the while, several Nephunas have gathered at the beating heart of the tower. The usual cavern walls of the abyss are collapsing into green data stretched out over black void as the computer mainframe is directly under attack, deforming under the continuous assault of attacks. Several copies are unleashing powerful strikes into the glowing blue core, and it begins to crack under the pressure. It's seals are powerful, shaped as massive chains held together by a gargantua lock, requiring much more force than this.

"Come and stop me now. All at once, if you can. If not I'll leave you to waste as I seize control of this Tower."

The Abyss is no more, the Tower exposed in its digital nature completely. It's now a fight for the Tower itself.




Thomas exploding onto her with the power of the golden eyes was something Nephy had never expected. She had thrown away the runt as a useless hanger on that lacked the power the other team members had. Now she is getting pulverized and nearly obliterated as a violent hit of great energy cracked her cold shell and sent the wolf flying. She landed several yards away, colliding with a cavern wall and falling to the ground in near pieces.

Her fake body is breaking down, her face coming undone like an old mask. Her veins are black with the witchcraft that powered her struggling to keep working after all the damage sustained. Like an automaton falling apart to rust, Nephy is breaking down and coughing up black bile.

"What the hell is all of this..." She'd wheeze through heavy pain, attempting to stand herself up. She couldn't even see Thomas or Kanbaru, having been flung so far away. She'd attempt to pull herself up but instead fall flat on her backside, letting out a pained gasp.

"R-runa! Runa!" She'd call out, desperation settled in her voice.

It felt like the end for a moment, that her life of pain and struggling would end here in this damp and ugly pit, a thought that terrorized her cold heart.

A contrast to all the noise, it was peaceful. Quiet and silent, with only faint echoes of explosions coming from far away, the battlefields Runa left in her one final attempt to escape the cold and methodical rage of Katie’s. The demoness used her spear to hold onto and help herself stand still and walk onward, carefully, enjoying every second of this moment of peace.
They were at the eye of the storm. It was all brought in here and now they could enjoy this short moment of peace. Runa stepped carefully, slowly - it could’ve looked as if she was wandering aimlessly, but she knew perfectly where to go - one gift to herself from the knowledge of the future. Careful, slow footsteps to shuffle along the dead sandy lands of the Abyss. She walked alone, through the desert, through the barren landscape, with a massive fire storming behind her.

"I am here, Nephy. I am here.”, the wolf would hear to be said above her as with a grunt the demoness would finally drop sitting on the ground, breathing heavily and grunting still, blood leaking from her wounds. Her hands softly clutched at Nephy’s shoulders and pulled her closer, to her, head resting on demoness’s lap.

"I think...I think I'm dying..."

Nephy struggled to pull herself up, supporting herself on Runa. She could barely move and possibly suffered from a concussion. The world was spinning and images were not clear. She only felt Runa and her flickering presence, and gravitated closer to it for comfort and safety.

"I can't...not the true death. Not here! We're not ready yet!" The wolf barked, summoning her remaining strength left.

Runa’s body felt as real as it ever was, the demoness had to put all her remaining strengths and her entire will of existence into supporting her being from slipping away; the waves of time and data corruptions were washing over her, aiming to claim her and make her disappear forever. She struggled against it with her whole being - as usual, never showing it, her smile as cold and cheeky as always.

As Nephy were coming closer to her, Runa pulled her closer, holding in her arms, while she struggled to sit properly, tossing away the remains of her ruined clothes, leaving her sitting in her shirt and shorts alone. The warmth of her wounded body collecting over Nephy, giving her the sought comfort, as they were to gaze from the distance at the sign of the great collapsing.

“Don’t you think it is… rather poetic that in the reach of freedom, it being so close to us now; we have to suffer the lowest of our existence..? We are very close, Nephetos. Take a rest right now, look at the fruits of our efforts”, Runa said, lifting her hand up to point at the dance of fire and glass in the distance, which reflected the flickering shades of Abyss being corrupted.

“All we need is one last push”

"I know...we can make it...I want to try...we need to come together."

Nephy's fondness for poetry was lost at the moment in her desperate state. She'd strain to pull herself together and use Runa's legs to support herself up onto her bottom, sitting next to her.

"Come into me and we can finish this...now is the time. I offer myself to you, and I'll be your weapon to shatter this jail."

Runa’s hand, warm and soaked in blood caressed over Nephy’s cheek, rubbing it softly like this and looking eye to eye with her when Nephy spoke up. A frozen smile on the demoness's lips held still as she parted her lips to speak.

“A secret there is to reveal to you. In the state I am in now… this power of ours would work the most extraordinary. The most marvelous of all times”, Runa said. It was true, her essence stained and corrupted by the shape of entropy allowed Runa to reshape it according as she saw fit. She closed her eyes and concentrated in her inner sense, her inner existence and twisted the remaining bits of herself to form a shape. To form a circle.
Her lips unstuck from the smile to part and press against Nephy’s in a warm blood soaked kiss. Pressing Nephy closer and feeling the circle starting to fill.

Their bodies flickered against each other, shape of breath shared and to become united, the shape of eyes watching at each other were to reflect the endless corridor of possibilities.
Hands touching pushing through each other.
"Let's claim what is ours."

Nephy returned the kiss, squeezing Runa's hand desperately like a child gripping it's mother. She'd open herself up to the flickering demon and offer all the strength, power, and pain that made up the wolf's being. It was time to bring down this jail by any means necessary, and as Runa said to claim what was theirs.

"Let's do it, together!"

Two became one.

***

A bright light of explosion was to be observed from every angle of the Abyss, and the whole realm was to become subjugated to this light for a moment or two. The concept of the “moment” itself was to dissolve in this light, as the time stood still only to expose the spraying shade of the blue light piercing through the ground and lighting up the ground under everyone’s feet, the corrupted and damaged matter of the Abyss itself was to become gripped by the light and squeezed in its firm, unyielding hold.

And then the world started to twist, its shape turning and coming out of its rigid condition; the broken caskets of the old world shattering and sweeping into dust as the winds were to crush through them and to erase their shapes from existing. The mountain peaks were to touch as they leaned and bent towards one another and ground peaks were to disappear in the cracks of reality falling apart. Grounds were to touch the sky with its broken edges and the sky itself exposed in swirling darkness, the shapes of the souls imprisoned there shifting the clouds into the grimaces of vile rage, pointed downwards onto the reality which was to close up on the top.

The falling and shaking Abyss revealed its true form - an isolated prison of no exit, an inside wrapped sphere.The heart of the abyss is laid bare and exposed, a large blinding light that is sealed over by powerful chains enshrined by god like denizens long long ago. The only way out is through.

Flickering into existence and taking shape, Runa and Nephy's combined body is able to stay together in a single sphere. Clad in a long black cloak with striking contrast of white and black in her long hair, the ultimate challenge in Abyss floor prepared herself. The Nekuromata flickering with the edge that Runa's spear had as its main attribute, the raging winds blowing and bringing the dust up through which the figure were to approach with of little effort and attention to the raging nature with the floating crown of Runa's spears shaping a massive fan behind her, edges aimed at whatever was in front of the approaching warrior.

A line was to be said with two voices, speaking simultaneously.
"This world has opened up at last. Revealed its true shape. There is no escaping this place, unless..."

The pair of cold eyes of two souls held cold rageous fire as its owner looked over the folded and twisted landscape.
"...Unless it is to be destroyed. It is to be done. And you will be, together with it".



Now that was not how she “expected” things to go - but expectations in case of Runa who defied time by her existence was a matter of somewhat different approach compared to creatures of different perception of time, one would say “normal” perception of time, but the term of normality made of little sense to Runa. As she viewed expectations different from others - they were more of a sketches of the future to come into a shape, shaped up from the multitude of perspectives her abilities allowed her to see, to take into consideration and narrow the events into the outcome she saw the most fitting for the collective of her presences. Even though the slips occasionally were to happen anyway.

But new circumstances were nothing but a new context for a new path to shape forward from where they ended up being in their existence. The turns of events were to unroll this way and now Runa had only to put it into a new perspective and onto new tracks - after all it was easier than putting them back on the old tracks.

The demoness shifted and flickered in the air, disappearing from being seen by anyone - in presence and sight she just vanished into nothing and from the same nothing she appeared alongside where the dragon fell. The dragon which was back to being Katie - despite everything the little Princess managed to get that beast to come into senses. It picked Runa’s interest for thinking through it later, but as of now she had other things to do.

“How fitting that you would end up laying in here”, the demoness was to say to the laying Katie. They both were to find themselves into a massive crater - a gigantic hole in the earth, a wound inflicted into the Abyss from the explosion and erosion old and massive - yet the ground around the place remained cold and lifeless, and was not touched not by moss, not occupied by a variety of creatures and monsters inhabiting the place. And it was not only the rocks alone - instead of the rocky ground on which one would expect to find themselves, Katie and Runa stood on a piece of structure made by a hand knowing of art and craft - and unlike the structures of the fort they were at before, this looked way more grandiose and rich, regal and signifying power.

They were standing on top of the palace which too was brought down from above to find its grave in this dark world. The various signs and marks of the crater and the palace were to look inward imploded, as if the ground itself was to blow up from inside, as something tried to burst out of the darkest depths of this place, and yet it was clear that the collision happened from above, creating massive walls of rocks to surround them.

“Remember my story about the world above us which once found its death and fell into here, like in a rain? It started here.”, Runa said as she made her way towards Katie, in a calm pace and her usual smile frozen on her face, “I do think it is a rather impressive exposition of how hungry this place is. The Abyss. It yearns to swallow everything on its way. It erupted here, reached over the above and pulled the world from above into itself, devouring it. It matters little if it is a single person or a nation. Such is the nature of this place. Hungry bottomless pit.”

A blackened blaze is what Runa found as if drawn naturally to the distortion that was Katie. The fiery energy died down, slowly but it did so like a dying flame, until the blackened etches formed into a familiar dark coat. Katie was no worse for wear, for the most part, scuffed and face down into the ground seemingly unconcious. Whether the sheer impact of her fall caused the crater or it truly was some relic of a time once told, it was hard to say, but she was beyond the help and the distance of the others. As Runa approached, a soft crack filled the air and a splintered section of the palace's pillars fell off like a jagged lightning bolt in front of Runa's feet. It was a bad omen, a sign of misfortune, but probably the only warning the demoness would get.

A plume of blackness manifested out of Katie, forming into a scaled spectral fist that launched itself outwards towards where Runa was standing. Whether she dodged or not wasn't really a concern, the arm's owner slowly lifting herself off the ground. "I really, don't give a shit. Lecturing like that is bad for my migraine," said an unamused Katie, already back to her feet and scuffing off the dust from her attire. The arm remained behind her, still attached to her frame and hovering like a massive cannon ready to fire again. "It's not often I get pissed like that. Maybe I should thank Riku for the pep talk."

Runa’s emotions and reactions were hard to read by anyone - and herself in that case as well. She felt the rising mass of energy forming around the downed girl, the shape of it coming to seep into the ground on which they stood and infecting the marble of the palace with a tingling flicker of electricity shifting and acting out of place - yet visibly Runa paid little attention to that omen. It was not about omens from now on, it was not about survival and winning either. A multitude of roads opened before her and she had to narrow that labyrinth down to a singular path.

The black haze to shape and manifest itself into a massive fist launched towards the demoness, to which she only flickered and moved aside from its trajectory, seeing Katie to rise up from her as hazy state and now standing face to face with her, the blackened cloud of her anger still held into a formed fist, visibly twitching from its readiness to strike once again if desired.

“I am not surprised. In the end, all of this is just a challenge to you all, adventurers. No matter”, Runa said and crossed her arms on her chest, her eyes cold and passionless as never before, “Yes, the princess managed to break against all odds. She is quite an interesting character. Things lay ahead of her, but she remains the most elusive. Evaded both you and me. Quite an interesting trait.”

"Out of everyone here, you're the one that always makes the least sense. Every time too. I bet you have experience in that," Katie said deadpan. The fist behind her began to fizzle away in drenched black smoke as the air itself contorted and burned. "If I'm remembering right, something, something, you and that mutt want out. It's all since come back to me, and every time I remember you being the most annoying one." Katie sighed to herself more out of the effort than anything else, already unlatching her blade and pointing Pendragon right at the demoness. "Frankly, I think I blame you for this whole mess. Or, well, I've got all this lingering rage still inside and you're the closest thing to kill," said Katie with a faint gleam in her gaze.

"It's nothing personal. You just piss me off," she said before gunfire filled the air and Pendragon lighting up.

“Oh, thank you for the compliment”, Runa said in regard to the line of making no sense to Katie, “I do feel it is only fitting for you to be at disadvantage to how you see things, but it is a matter of a perspective in the end”

Runa shrugged and watched the fist of anger fizzle and drench away, leaving a trace of smoke and burned air behind it, a cloud of shadows rising and coating the space around Katie as the girl then drew her blade out and pointed it at the demoness standing idly.

“Wanting out is only natural, is it not? But then again, no matter. We are at the different disposition now and the time of talking is no more”, Runa said looking at Katie and that sword of hers, while stretching her hand somewhat sideways in order to summon her spear, which soon shaped up in its form in Runa’s hand, alien and flickering as was herself.

“I do not take it personally, of course I don’t. We just happened to be at the place of space and time here, and we are at war which will help us both. So come. Lend your help.”

A shot rang out, echoing and bouncing between the marble of the palace and the rocky walls of the crater, as the charge was fired at the demoness, who again, met it with a flickering shape and disappeared from its trajectory, only to appear again in a fragment of a moment later - Runa’s dashing motions shortening the distance between her and Katie with the blade of the spear aimed at her in a simple and direct attack

"Nice trick. You must be the life of parties down here," Katie mused. She was already charging at the demoness step for step in a flicker of speed, blade swung low to high with enough force to smack back the spear the moment the metal clashed. Violent sparks rang out between the two, Katie's strength and experience hardly displayed in her motions. "I never took you as the fighting type. You left that part up to Nephy, so maybe you shouldn't bite more than you can chew." War or not, it meant very little to Katie in the moment. Already with the distance closed between them, she balled her free hand into a fist before launching a flat out punch into Runa's face. Or stomach. Or wherever really, as she aimed in the demoness' general direction, heels ready to pivot and dash towards the next spot Runa wanted to flicker towards.

"If it's having your head lobbed off, I'm happy to help."

The metal clashed, the metal caused the sparks of the fighters’s energy to fuel the air with shades, the weapons swinging and finding each other in the trajectories both girls put them into caused cascades of stretched out shapes of color painting the paths the weapons went in before the collision and after them. Even though Runa indeed did not appear as a fighting type, her agility with the spear was more than obvious to show she was more than capable of using this weapon and putting it into use. Even though the direct attack the demoness put on was rather easy to evade and deflect, Runa herself deflected and evaded well.

But it came out to be that her dashing was not the only way to abuse time and disrupt it. Right as Katie’s fist made its impact with Runa’s stomach, pushing through the solidness of her body and causing the demoness to take a step back, or two - pushed behind; a flickering motion was to appear again, but coming not from Runa..
But from another Runa, who appeared right behind the girl, the very same spear in her hands, flickering and aiming to strike down at her in a motion which made the appearance of the reality before Katie’s eyes itself to acquire cracks on its surface.

“You might want to consider saving that energy of yours”, both Runas said in the momentum.

"And you might want to watch where you step," was Katie's response.

Her instincts told her to turn and turn she did, Pendragon raised up as more metal kissed metal, pacing her steps as she spun away from between the two Runas. No sooner was she away did the first one find her foot stepping into a cracked portion of the ground. It gave away immediately as debris and crumbling terrain fell into the distance, the dark abyss that made for the ruin's pools. Katie was already back in position, Pendragon still aimed at both now. "You should have paid attention to that omen. Don't you know it's bad luck to hang around a raven?" she said with the shadow of a smirk. With two of them that made for two targets each for Pendragon to ripple and fire off bullets dense enough to rip through stone on impact as they launched out of the blade's mechanism.

Pair of spears hit the empty spot, making the ground to crack and shatter under the force of both strikes as Katie made her way away from between two Runas and gained a position to aim at both of them now, with the marble ground underneath them all to once again remember the sensation of scars to run through as the floor started to crackle and pieces of structure disappearing in the black pit of the Abyss under one of Runa’s foot; taking a moment for them to once again find a better positioning.

“Not bad. Usually it takes this little trick alone to solve it. You are the second one to do this. Congratulations”, one of the Runas said, the other applauding to Katie once after - only for both of them to flicker away in a quick dashing motion - away from the shots fired at them which left the drilling holes in the stone around them and two spear wielding figures to shorten the distance once again: one using the other’s spear as a platform for a jump during which she disappeared from the view into the flickering absence, and the other one once again aiming the piercing strike at the firing girl, slashing directly at her weapon of all things.

"Call it luck or call it a curse, but call it what it is. An advantage."

Katie continued firing off shots, the air billowing with smoke from Pendragon's discharge. No sooner did they ripple in the air and crack sound with force did the two demons flicker out of time again. "Oh typical. Are you going to do that the entire time?" Katie jumped away from the one rocketing towards her, blade brought up to slash upwards instead of blocking or deflection. Once more the sheer force in her swing was enough to send the air flowing, if not blow back the demoness entirely. But no, she wasn't supposed to play defensive. She wanted the demoness' head, didn't she? That notion alone made her pivot a step forward before rocketing at Runa be it blown back or not. Pendragon dancing along her fingers like bladed death, she slashed voraciously and without mercy.

As Katie went offensive, her swings aiming to push the demoness further back to stun her and further to launch at with a rocketing speed - the second Runa from before appeared once again from the position unorthodox for appearances in general even for the demoness herself. The raven aiming to blow the deadliest of slashes, cutting through the air and making it to flicker similar to how Runa herself did, made the first one to evade and play defensive - but then out of from under Katie’s feet the Runa who disappeared amidst the jump before, rocketed herself - the inertia gained by her in the jump - which she only accumulated as she flickered out of the place - was now to come out in the full force. Even though it was to come upside down in perspective, the power itself was there and the demoness’s kick was aimed at the attacking raven; enough of the force to disrupt her attack at the very least.

“Entire time? Now you make no sense to me. How amusing.”

But with the second the third would come as well, with the support of the first one they were to close up on Katie and start striking at her with the piercing strikes of the spears, aiming to abuse her offensive assault; the Runa who was to launch herself upwards was to slash her spear against the air, making the reality to shatter and crack once again and the small shards, reflecting fragments of reality with the edges sharp the demoness was to launch at Katie, throwing them at her with the spear and leaving the deep blue cutting shades of color to follow the thrown pieces and disrupt the coloring palette of the place they fought at: each shape of a trajectory disrupting the colors to be seen through.

"Oh so you can do more than buck and dodge," Katie mused at the demoness' manuevers. The multiple copies were little more than body shields for her to contend with as far as she was concerned. Pendragon was swiftly brought down with the brunt wide width of the blade taking the kick meant for her. Runa's-well one of them-boot met with the weapon before Katie threw them both backwards with a followup swing. Skidding backwards, she suddenly found herself in the opposite position from just a moment before, swinging and spinning Pendragon to deflect and physically bat away the spear strikes aimed for her by Runa's next onslaught.

The air shimmered once before cracking, splintering more so from the demoness' abuse of time than anything else. It was beginning to get annoying and even a liability as those same shards of fractal reality came pelting at Katie like an ice storm. "How nice," she muttered, spinning Pendragon horizontally in one hand until the blade became more akin to a buzzsaw. More importantly, it was a shield against the fractal barrage as the shards burst on contact meeting the spinning metal. "I can do this all day Runa so let's cut this short-"

A heavy weight seethed somewhere in her chest that made Katie flinch. It burst at her nerves with a sharp pain and made her stumble about, some shards getting through and hitting her leg with equal pain. "Shit," she hissed, knowing full well the familiar sensation drawing upon her. She tore away the shard from her thigh and kept up her defense even as the fatigue of her prior rampage finally caught up to her in spades.

“So can I. Days and hours, weeks and minutes are of no matter to me. Or to us. However you would like to comprehend me”, Runa said with little additional tone put into the words - there was no hate, no cheeky intonation, no smugness. The words were cold and merely informative - informing Katie on the fact that this can go on, go on more and more, and the demoness would know of little fatigue.

The storm of shards of reality itself were still storming at Katie who covered herself behind the shield of her weapon as Pendragon adapted to Katie’s tactic in its spinning protective shape. Runa - or rather Runas - kept on pushing with the same tactic, only to drag on time a little more: the Runa in the air was using her spear piercing through and castiving more of the sharp reflective shards at Katie, managing to land a few hits. All while it was to come as a cover for two demonesses on the ground to shorten the distance between them and Katie, and while one was to push at the spinning weapon in order to stop its defensive shape, the other was to come from a flank and pierce the ground underneath Katie’s feet in order to send cracks across it too, the reflective shards forming underneath the raven, forming its spikes upwards, aiming at her and soon to burst at her like a closing beartrap.

"Tch."

Gravity distorted and bent along Katie's form. As if handled by an unseen force her body was launched off the ground and away from the Runas and their pronged assault. Pendragon remained spinning in her hand and with a hurl of her arm she threw her blade like a shuriken right at the one sending the shards her way. Pendragon hissed in the air as it traveled in trajectory, slight indentions made along its surface and wherever else it made contact with as space ruptured around the weapon before finally cutting through the attacking Runa. It grinded and cut into Runa's front and midsection before slicing through completely. The demoness, one of them at least was left with two halves flying with the dripping segments of her upper and lower torso sucked into the whirlwind that was Pendragon like a black hole.

Throughout all this Katie continued dodging and moving, running along the ruined structures of their environment parallel to the ground with little gravity to stop her. Some shards made their mark, piercing her coat and leaving red blotches along her inner shirt. These were soon dissolved away instantly with blackened flames as dark ichor came out of a coughing mouth. Black blood seeped and was spat from her lips as the tension of the black dragon's usage strained her body more and more.

“Oh no”, one of the Runa’s said once the launched Pendragon aimed directly at one of the demonesses and cut her in half, leaving the cut into two body to fall limb and disappear into the spinning blade of Katie’s sword, lost from sight in the crimson explosion.
“How unfortunate”, the other one said and gazed between that crimson cloud of dust and bones and Katie who kept on evading the piercing attacks of the spear and the shards; the ground from which she jumped away by altering the gravity explode into a mass of broken glass taking from reality, crumbling into a mess of poking sharp edges.

“Anyway”, another comment spoken - right from under that mass of broken glass by Runa who appeared from under that broken and twisted shape and launched it directly at the spinning Pendragon, causing the bear trap of the shards to explode like a grenade - the sliced up glass was to be spread all across the area, pushed onto to spread across by the Pendragon itself. Runas who remained on the battlefield flickered on the spot, allowing for the shards to come pass by inflicting little damage to them.

The entire field became a landmine of glittering edges and sharp reflections no thanks to Runa's latest move. It nearly reminded Katie of another person fond of glass but she refused to acknowledge either familial relation, at least not in the heat of a fight. She continued flipping and jumping back, defying the air around her. Staying still was hardly an option at this point and Pendragon was soon called back to her, spinning in the air and caught back in her hand. More and more red began to coat her uniform but her step didn't falter even as she landed on the top of a lopsided pillar. With both hands on Pendragon's handle she lurched back and slashed downwards at the area below.

At once a viciously black stream of energy burst out from her sword. Like fire it consumed everything, taking with it the rain of reality shards aimed her way. Moreover, it engulfed the remaining Runas in its sheer density and mass, the black energy eating them apart in its wake with a hunger that consumed the battlefield until the ground looked much like the land above with dark flames latched onto much of every known surface.

The massive tower of black light erupting from the blade once again summoned into Katie’s hands, fell crashing onto the palace, onto the ground on which they took battle and in that crashing the tower of black energy fell and collapsed into the mass of the fire, which in its endless hunger devoured the place around. The raven standing still on one of the columns was to see how the black fire clinged and spread through, catching up onto everything in its way, spreading and taking everything into itself.

The gasping flickers of the fire were to reflect in the cloud of glass shards which were now levitating idly in the air; the black light reflecting and forming lines and connections between each shard. Now all looking like a massive brilliant made out of black agony, its lines flickering in the fire alive and hungry and its edges slowly turning and shifting, moving; making the diamond to ever change in time, pulsating, and yet to remain still in time.

The Runas that were on the ground disappeared in the flickering darkness, consumed without a sound made and now unseen. For a moment only the storming of the fire was to be present, as the fire sought out to consume even the sound ambience into itself.
But then a voice would appear from one of the other pillars. As calm and cold as usual, Runa’s eyes directed at Katie’s, demoness holding her spear still for the moment.

“Devastating blow. Can you do even better? I am sure you can. I admire your ruthlessness, even though you don’t even know if you can land a fatal blow or not”.

Katie's answer was another volley of shots at the sole remaining Runa; for now. "You already know I can do better. Or did you forget the big black dragon?" Katie deadpanned. She cared little for the beauty of carnage that was their battlefield. The ruins looked even more ruinous and the power exerted from Katie's efforts left even the ground scorched hard. Another round of coughs seeped in Katie's system with more black blood splotched from her lips and spat out somewhere into the glass inferno below without care. "You ready to give up yet or what?"

“Of course you can, but you are holding back too, are you not?”, Runa replied and dashed with another flicker from the incoming series of shots aimed at her, moving in zig zags across the fallen structure of the ruins, evading both the fires of Katie’s power and the fires of her shooting.

“The nature of the events unfolding here are slightly off from what you might acknowledge in your perception. But no matter.”, Runa replied and as another series of shots were fired at her she waited for a little longer before disappearing into the flickering motion - and so the projectiles fired disappeared with her; only to emerge from a different angle together with the demoness evading them - only the projectiles were now flying towards Katie herself.

All while the shapes of Runas to emerge from the zig zagged trajectory of the first demoness were to come into existence and in a jointed effort one was launched upwards with others to follow with a flicker: the jointed hands of numerous Runas fused the spears they held into one to form a massively charged weapon, looking at this point like a gigantic magical drill which sought the collision with the ground - and of course with Katie which was on its way.

"Does it look like I'm holding back," Katie deadpanned with another splurge of black fluids boiling from her lips. If Runa was expecting the beast from before she'd have gladly gotten it were it not for the pain deeply rooted inside Katie. It was as if her stomach was trying to consume itself and every nerve felt like a firecracker of stinging pain. It nearly made Katie buckled and certainly was enough to make her handling of Pendragon wobble and shake at best. The demoness easily avoided her shots just as Katie avoided her own, the bullets redirected back towards her from Runa's mimicry of time. Leapt away from her perched position, Katie saw a myriad of different Runas all converge on her spot each with a spear each that was conjured and molded to form one singular point that no doubt rippled through this time frame.

"Fuck you-"

The drill lurched into a barely raised Pendragon as fractural sparks of time and leaked space emanated from the collision. The same spectral arm from before was summoned in some attempt to punch the lance away, only to falter and spurt out with another lynch of pain coursing through Katiee's body. The drill did it work against Pendragon's flat side but the momentum was too great. Katie was immediately forced down and down into the wreckage that blazed beneath her with the lingering wisps of her curse igniting the air hotter than any of her black flames. A great crash resounded as a plume of dust and debris marked her collision with the area baked in it.

The drill kept on pushing down and down onto the Katie blocking it with the Pendragon - the massive spinning spears fused into a singular force piercing through the space and time and quite literally spinning it around itself, like if a machinery rotor made a hole in the continuum and through which the said rotor would spin it further around. The fragments of time and space were flickering in the collision of Katie’s blade and Runas’s joined spear, the flickering shards and pieces of past and present, reflecting on each other showing future - many futures in which both would see the images to possibly come, or possibly never to appear.

Fighting the drill would be like fighting the force of space itself, it was the weight of the world falling on Katie’s shoulders and forcing her down into the ruins, pressing her down into it, as if aiming to make her one with the said ruins. Dust and dried blood flickering in the air and shifting through the reflective mass of glass from before, as the landscape for both of the fighters was to fuse into the blackened shade of flickering absence, robbed off of its contents.

From afar, where the rest were to see it, it looked like a massive circle of flickering black, where the fire collided with itself across time. The heat rising up and with it the drill gaining more of the momentum in its intensity, a singular voice to come to Katie through all the noise.

“Try it.”

Power.

Despite her natural prowess and own experience, it was clear to Katie the enemy in front of her was greater than her own strength. It was severely obvious she was lacking in. Power. The endless pools of her own curse beckoned at her mind among the taunting words left by the floating Runas. It was an option but fatal at this point, and she could already feel that beast begin to consume at her heart, tearing into her own chest. She lacked. Power. There was something else. Something greater than that desire; a deep and unending urge to kill. The enemy before her was a target. Something she wanted to vent at, to throw all her frustrations upon. To kill.

Power. Kill.

The two words blended in her flickering mind among blood and rubble and the unending noise of the lance drill with consciousness sliding in and out of reality. They melded into their very concepts but burned away with that same passion that she sought. She wanted power. She wanted to kill this demoness. She wanted both. More. There was more. Something pulsed near her hip and she latched onto it without thought like a parasite. No sooner did she do so did a new energy enter the air and she screamed. A horrendously choked noise echoed in the Abyss as the fractured sky started to crack once again; but whereas before in the dragon's rampage there was destruction without relent, now there was the tell-tale sign of coding and token numbers, data glitching as the Floor itself was affected, as if something was overloading its systems.

Power. Kill.

These two ideas made itself manifest through Katie's flesh as a storm engulfed her broken body, eating her apart in a viel of black until she emerged again. The lance stopped, breaking down at its core molecule by molecule. Even the flames parted away suddenly by a gale as Katie stood like a point in the storm, the Bastion card fully absorbed into her.

"......."

And then it came to a roar. The roar. It came from Katie and from the deepest pits of her entire being. It was obvious to Runa - to all of them as they looked down from behind the glowing, flickering, reality shattering shape of a drill. They could not read what exactly happened, but they could sense the shift, the change in what Katie was to appear the moment before and in how she was to appear before them now. The change came together with that roar.

The chuckle, it was a reaction from Runa. Looking at them from Katie’s perspective she were to spot them spinning and floating, clinging at the handle - or handles - of the combined spear, shifting around. They were all the same, and yet they could have some difference in their appearance, some were to have different hairstyles, some wore different dresses. But they all looked down at her, the mass of blue eyes was all directed, pointed down at her, looking into Katie’s eyes, with the cold deep blue of the color drilling through in the gaze, as if aiming to look right through her. It was as if the ocean of the Abyss itself looked deep into Katie. Coldly.
And after the roar came quiet. Her entire self consumed by and coated in the black of the veil disappeared and then reemerged anew - bringing the splash of energy tremendous and destructive, causing the reality behind the reality itself to finally show up as behind the shifting shattering reflections of the Abyss, the glitches of the Data emerged to be seen for the eye of anyone now.

“Finally”.
Runa said, seeing these glitches to emerge, all while the great lance of hers came to the disappearance once Katie’s energy explosion disintegrated it, it followed with the variety of Runa’s to flicker away too; leaving only one to stand before newly appeared Katie, eye to eye, face to face.

“Now you see. Now we both see.”

Runa's words were met with a slash through her that crept from her shoulder to her abdomen. Before the demoness could finish Katie was upon her, eyes empty and the intent of a killer marked across her features and aura. The glitched data that made the Abyss' falls faltered and soon stabilized back to normalcy. There was no rampant outbreak of madness like before, only the cold and calculation of the Bastion card puppeting Katie's body. Something was wrong. The slash did more than harm Runa, as a great entropy ate away at her body....no, her data. All things were data in the Tower after all, and even this Abyss prisoner was no different. The final death loomed upon Runa as her body broke itself down into fractal code and numbers. Erasure. Katie slashed again, this time at Runa's arms until both were lobbed off and dissipated.

Purged forever from even the confines of time, let alone the Floor's data.

Katie now too moved like a pure force, pure power - just as she desired it to be. Her body was fast and she quickly closed the distance between her and Runa, sliding through her appearance and slashing through, slicing her body into pieces. And more so this time it leaked with more than just her time, or presence - now it leaked with the Data.

Heavy weight of entropy touched upon Runa’s shape and presence, biting away a bit of herself as yet another body of hers appeared atop of the column once again, looking down on Katie and her own body fading away into the leaked data.

The touch of death creeped through her body, feeling its cold rush rushing through her presence, as if trying to find something in there.

“Better, much better.”, the demoness said, looking around the Abyss amidst which they stood still, despite all the damages done. Not the first time this place took such a damage, but certainly now of all times they pushed up to the limit, and it was just a bit before pushing it further on.

“Don’t stop, raven. This time is not over yet”

She was standing there.
Watching closely.
Watching with a smile - and this smile meant little in regard to her usual smirk shaped on the lips. A cold and distant smile as if it was imprinted on her face permanently, on the never changing, constant, unamused face; it was not the case for the smile she wore on her face at this very moment. It probably was a detail of difficult significance to others and easy to remain unnoticed by many around her - or could be by everyone - but it was not to be missed by herself: Runa looked at the scenery unraveling before herself with a smile expressing an emotion of something that she would probably try to explain as joy. It was not to be put simply into the words as the source of that emotion lied elsewhere - it lied not in what she was watching to happen in front of her, it was not what caused it, and it was not what it was meant to cause further on as well. No, it was none of it, and all of it at the same time; the source of what she felt as joy was what she saw in that coenscision of events and all the numerous, countless branches which she saw, in which she was. She saw it all, she was everywhere, she felt it and at this very moment, her fragmented, scattered all across existence found the moment to align towards and in so to layer into the one specific spot of utmost precision.
What she planned, had come to fruition. All the little details, all the little movements. All was moderated by Runa - Runas, all of them - to find a loophole in the great plan of the Abyss and its fate and reach for that loophole and abuse it in her favor.

It was far from over though. There were still things to be done. But to feel all of this come into a single point of time, to moderate it into existence was a joy frilling the soul of the demoness, even though her eyes did express only the glint of intent somewhat uncanny to appear in the depth of the bottomless blue.

The dragon arose and it brought the excessive parade of pure power and destruction. The beast which once slumbered inside of one, now has awakened and growled, shaking the walls of the cavern with its loud growl full of pure undirected overconsuming rage. Its shape grew only more and further led to the cave around them to shake and to crumble, its walls painted with cracks and rocks falling out of them.
But it was only a mere beginning.

Standing still and watching, watching this rage in taken shape to grow in tensity, Runa only observed for the moment. Waiting for the beast to take the form which would show to her the path of its totality - the path which denied being looked onto, the path which denied the future. The path of destruction, the path of overconsuming destruction.
The path of apocalypse.

The demoness looked around and, watching closely at what was happening around her - Kanbaru addressing Thomas and Riku, pushing them into a fight, Akiko who already was seeking out the opportunity to strike the dragon at its possible weak point. But there was a resonance of hesitation formed in a cloud of doubt lingering over Nephetos's head and seeking deeply in her eyes. Runa sensed it, was not very difficult to for her as she knew the undead samurai all for too long of a time to pick up on things alien to her behavior like that on a moment. Without a word said she rested her gaze onto the space before Nephetos and a moment flicker she was standing right in front of her, eye to eye.

“Your hand is not as quick and merciless as it tends to be in times of different than now, Nephetos. ”, Runa said with her usual smile, “We have come to this moment, Nephetos. We have reached it, or would I say we made it to reach to us. And yet something holds your hand from the grip on the sword. What would that be?”

The remnants of what used to be the phantom Touka had nothing left to say, nothing more than harsh gurgles and curses towards the other girl, vibrant and hateful. The JSTR paid no heed of these intrusions as it continued to hold comfort to its living vessel, a saintly expression painted on a face only Kanbaru could see. But before such grand goals could be accomplished and they set on such a path, there was the Tower that stood before them. Indeed, it was their only obstacle unless one counted Akiko's stubborness. That was neither here nor there when they had so, so many steps to lay forward, some of which included the two coming closer to them.

As the first to break free of her delusions, it was natural Runa would seek Kanbaru out. It was a meeting long overdue, the parasite in Kanbaru's head prodding her temples in a certain direction. Was that excitement? Some sort of euphoria? It was something that caught the JSTR's attention as it made Kanbaru notice not just the demon, but the demon her pet tag along. The others of their party still remained in their own little fantasies, no doubt walking in circles like Riku and Thomas. Whatever was to be said would have no ears to lend to. The JSTR focused itself peculiarly on Nephy, though the wolf could not see the specter.

The whale followed her parasite's prodding, turning with surprise to find Runa approaching her for the first time since they'd fled the pizza party. She startled, shifting behind the JSTR with a hysterical laugh as she rubbed at her eyes to try and erase any signs of her breakdown. It was a fools errand but she made the attempt and emerged with a flicker of her bravado sliding into place, but with Touka's bisected specter gurgling on the ground she was far from boisterious.

"Somehow I'm not surprised to see you two together so amicably. Call it familiarity but you strike me as good friends." She said, leaning against her nun for emphasis before stepping forward to clap Runa on the shoulder. "Good on you. Glad to see you have someone special making this hole in the ground a little more tolerable. We'll have to find the time to dish all the dirty details while Nephy's busy, kay?"

Nephy was sat up on an old and cracked stone wall, blasted apart from age or ancient battles. The ruin was her perch and from it she looked down on Runa and Kanbaru. She'd kick her feet idly as she licked her nails between her fangs, coated in the blood of some beast she had slain some time ago. The kill still tasted fresh on her tongue, an intoxicating taste.

"I do not like the whale, Runa. I don't know what you see in her. She is much too clownish."

The wolf launched herself off and landed next to Runa, running a hand through her ragged mane which would pull out some mangy hair.

"And she carries something else with her. I don't know what it is yet. I just feel it." Nephy's instincts could only skim the surface of the parasite deep in Kanbaru's heart. All she could tell is something was off, and Kanbaru appeared like she had two heartbeats instead of one at times.

Runa’s presence was as flickering as ever, her shape alternating between spaces and between points of view as her ghostly shape appeared here, and appeared there. She alternated between times and shapes of adventures to come, and witnessed some glimpses of the fantasies forced upon them to witness, to perceive.
She found it all quite amusing.

Nephy soon found her way to appear in the place, sitting idly and approaching Kanbaru, as the demon would finally do too, making sure that the other adventurers were too busy at the moment to have even a hint of the conversation they were about to have. The demon stepped quietly and silently, as if she was not here in the first place.

“Oh yes, I do feel it too quite as well too. And this is what we actually need to discuss. Or rather, with what we has to have a discussion”, Runa said and approached Kanbaru with a light bow: “I must apologize for this inconvenience but there would be no other way to have this… talk a heart to heart between us here and we do need to have one indeed in order to… work through the situation we are having at hand”, Runa said, her words are as usual full of mist and smoke, no clear intentions only directions her voice would take.

It seemed quite a bit of work and setup to prepare just to gain an audience with the duo, but the JSTR was no stranger to lofty goals and such like that. Although, much like Nephy, there was some apprenhension to be felt among the two parties. For every bit of fascination and interest the JSTR held towards the wolf, there was an equal amount of disdain and dismissal aimed right at Runa. There was something about this blue demon that sent every motion inside Kanbaru's head to kill on the spot, to rend apart and tear whole as she dared to make a mockery of standing before her. The rampant and killing impulse faded just as fast as it came with no such justification of why coming from the JSTR.

Perhaps it saw something the whale didn't, something in the demon's past; or perhaps her future. Regardless, it held begrudging pervalance towards Runa until it faded back to indifference. All the while, the JSTR focused too much on the mangled wolf that served as Runa's companion. Much like the demon, there was something very fascinating about....ah. There it was. How interesting indeed. The virus could see why its vessel took such a fond liking to this chosen one....but these were ruminations for another time. The question of the hour hung in the air above both parties until the JSTR directed Kanbaru to speak out what they both knew what was wanted.

Ever since the pizza party the JSTR kept its sights on Runa, for despite her alterations and splinters in time and space, her goal remained all the same; getting out of this hellhole.

It was fittin in a way that the white haired companions to Runa and Kanbaru were radiating such hostility, both nun and wolf radiating an intense desire to murder their partner's counterparts. But neither gave way to homicidal impulses and instead opened up discussions like the civilized people they weren't. The quantness of the situation roused further levity in the whale who through an arm around the multi phasic Demon's shoulder and pulled her into a sidewards hug, trusting her parasite to keep the two in the same phase state.

"So, you two have come for me and my friend's help to get out of here? Not surprising. We are rather good at that, and lucky for you two we happen to be in the business of helping other's dreams come true. In fact we can get Nephy here a miracle substance called Shampoo that would make her hair the fluffiest, silkiest, loveliest thing you ever touched!"

Nephy's ears go flat and she gives a not subtle hiss when Runa is snatched up in Kanbaru's embrace. She wasn't worried for Runa, moreso frustrated her one companion was getting touched by this oddly smelling whale. She hadn't forgotten the motorcycle bike either, she had scrubbed her cheek for hours.

"Does this have anything to do with the boy?" Nephy asked Runa, knowing she had been acting funny since their encounter. She had wanted to intervene in several Tower members now, and it was beginning to bother the wolf. Yes, it was good for the plan but playing with their food like this was not something she liked to do.

"Or is the little red girl. The weird one with the invincibility?" Nephy listed off the various things she remembered, struggling to make sense of things.

The motion of Kanbaru’s hand to land on Runa’s shoulder made a slight flicker in the shape of reality around them - Runa did concentrate her presence in here for that forming embrace was to land properly and in so they were now with Kanbaru in a sideways hug, despite demon’s more frequent flickering on spot. Kanbaru’s arm would acquire a flash of various distorted colors, as if the light itself would have troubles coming through the shape of the demon girl.
Who kept on looking around with her eyes cold and deep, two blue mirrors reflecting who - or what - ever she was looking at, and giving not chance of reading through her mind what was there in her head, and what did she want.

“Boy.. and a girl… and more. They are all important, Nephy. Kanbaru here too is important. And her mysterious companion will too”, the demon replied, looking over her wolf companion and then landing her eyes at Kanbaru again. She certainly did know more than she led on.

“As for your services yes, your help would be the most crucial now. Me and Nephy; we must leave this place. We must leave the Abyss. And I am sure we realize here what is the way for this to happen.”

False.

It played over and over again in Kanbaru's mind, and she could feel the entity behind her deepen its smirk. False. They didn't need the broken boy or the red cloaked girl. All that they needed resided in only one. Something shimmered behind and above Kanbaru, not too dissimilar to the effects shifting around Runa's constant state of influx. Physical hands rested on the whale's shoulders with an all too real grip as a great shadow loomed out from her back, hunched over the girl. Dissipation inversed on itself and flesh formed fully with the JSTR manifesting for the first time in outside observation. Its lower half crept out from Kanbaru's back like a shadow while the saintly nun continued resting its hands on its vessel.

False.

It stared in its serene mask at the two but more importantly, focused its full brunt towards Nephy. There was a low but shrill noise that only the wolf's trained ears could pick up on, reminescent of metal shrading against each other. It was probably the best method of communication between the JSTR and its newfound liking because its sentiment was shared to the wolf. No, there was no need for the others. There was one among them with the power to weaken the Abyssal walls and barriers that kept them imprisoned, especially whatever law held Runa in place. A dark force of energy resided in the one named Katie, and this sentiment was shared to Nephy and its vessel.

It was one thing to feel the JSTR against her but she could certainly come to enjoy her in the flesh, especially when she was hugging another babe as well. The impression of lies drifted through her head, her parasite telling her that Nephy and Runa weren't being very upfront with her. That was fine. Kanbaru knew the best way to address deceit was her special brand of blunt force honesty.

"I can see you two want out, and it just so happens my friend and I can do that for you if you're willing to help us get the pieces we need. A particular piece, with a nasty habit of stabbing her problems, and who just so happened to befriend an old compatriot of mine. You've probably seen her already. She's kinda like Nephy here in temperment." Kanbaru looked back over her shoulder past the nun, winking at the irate lupine for added measure.

At the feeling of the wave of power crashing against her and the sight of the shadow clawing out from Kanbaru's back, Nephy drew Nekuromata. There's a clean pull of the blade and it flashed briefly, poised to strike.

"Runa she does not come alone! Something is inside her!" Nephy warned, expecting a fight immediately. Her instincts were telling her to flee, a first feeling for a long time of dull mundane encounters throughout the abyss. Something else as powerful as them was inside here now, which rung alarm bells in the wolf's head.

The information about Katie hadn't gone ignored. Nephy had been attracted to her for unsure reasons, but now knew clearly what the raven had been holding in her heart.

"It wants the raven, the black haired one. What do you want with her? What power does she hold?" Nephy's tone became more demanding. She'd look to Runa to see what she would do, prepared to fight or even perhaps flee if the warnings she felt were true.

Runa watched the appearance of JSTR with some silent amusement - while not showing any signs of emotion to be expressed, besides the usual held back smile shaped on her, the lack of any action she took was the sign of her being impressed and intrigued by this turn of events.

“I imagined your shape differently. It is always elusive to the eye, perhaps it is due to your nature being of such elusive and never lasting shape?”, Runa asked, looking up; she did take a slight step aside though, watching JSTR to take form and then approach Nephy with some sort of communication situation. The words further revealed by Nephy made Runa to tilt her head and ponder over their meaning - in her case it was an attempt to discover what was already discovered, to remember what was never forgotten because was never realised.
Such was the way of time for her.

“A raven, huh? Now that’s interesting..”, Runa said, looking back at Nephy, Runa’s smile held no meaning to people not known to it; but Nephy could read its message this time with the light tilt of Runa’s head - “the hunt is soon to be on”

“What kind of power would that be..”

Now wasn't this interesting. The wolf's actions betrayed her true values, and the JSTR would have raised an eye if the programming allowed such human monikers. Why did any of that matter to the wolf? Katie was a means to an end, and the end was escaping was it not? Surely the wolf was no stranger to pawns and pieces, to sacrifices that needed to be made for her own survival. That was the law of the Abyss, the only law of instinct Nephy should have known in her fractured existence. All the same, it caught the JSTR's amusement to see her so riled up on a suggestion. No, there was no hesitation of it; in order to escape, they would need the force inside Katie to act as a conduit.

It reminded Nephy as such, flashes of a bestial thing laying waste to the lower dwellings of the Abyss, that which Nephy caught sight of and knew. There was no point playing pretend. The wolf knew exactly what sort of things festered inside that girl and how its power could be utilized in weakening the barriers. All this and more passed from parasite to vessel to wolf, and eventually to demon. It was simple, truly. All that was needed was just a push and Katie could unravel the festering inside her. And then, the two were free to utilize that chaos for escape, to shatter the walls foever.

"Funny you call her a raven when she's a brunette. And what's with the panic, I thought it was obvious I had the JSTR here with me. After all she helped me fight you." Kanbaru folded her arms as she found herself bereft of a huggable demon. She'd make do inverting positions with her nun, finding herself the one draped over her back, arm curled to tenderly cup the shark's cheek in her hand.

"It's all rather simple. We need Katie, or rather, we need the monster beneath the skin. For reasons we...don't see any point in telling you, killing her is strictly off the table, and really it wouldn't help you. But if we all come together, we can isolate her from the more bleeding heart members of our party, and I know Akiko won't lift a paw to help. Then, oh then little corpse wolf, you can get to do what you're best at and push her over the edge." Kanbaru said laconically, only to blink as the faint gurgles of a specter reached her ear.

"And, obviously, you can't kill Ami to do it. But with all those prickly spirits inside you, someone has to know how to haunt a broken little girl like Katie, no~?"

Nephy didn't like this one bit. Katie and her weren't exactly what you could call friends but something about this felt deeply wrong that the wolf could not place. She couldn't dare entertain the idea she liked Katie and wanted to protect her, but the cold looks both Runa and Kanbaru gave and the idea of ripping out the beast inside. It sounded too much like things the wolf had experienced herself.

She would sheathe her blade and give a forlorn look to Runa, and then back to Kanbaru.

"It will not...hurt her. Right?" The wolf asked to Kanbaru, her voice lower than her usual malice filled tone.

"We need her alive. For the beast. Of course."

It was already decided. The JSTR physically wrenched its lips into a near-deranged smirk as it felt what occurred just further away. A change in the wind, a spike in the air. They didn't need Nephy and Runa, only their cooperation and that much was enough. Akiko had proven herself useful after all, worthy of their mantle and namesake. By choice or chance, the deed was already done and all in the area could feel it, from Runa to Thomas. The world around them shook as one by one the occupants in the cavern were roused from their delusions.

The air became heated and charged with a sickening energy as the Abyss itself shook from a sudden force breaching it from the inside out. A monstrous noise rang out through the air, one that rattled Nephy's undead bones and threatened to unravel her from the very core. Yes, there it was. That was what they were looking for.

Confusion in Thomas’s voice spoke enough on itself, more so than anything it spoke of his distrust towards everything, mainly in Runa herself as she stood there, looming over the knight boy like a mirage or an ill spirit. Maybe she was either, or even both of these things. She leaned over to Thomas’s face, getting closer so her eyes met with his eyes - in the direct gaze. In that gaze Thomas would not see any emotion, in the deep blue of Runa’s eyes there was nothing clear to be seen except for the said endless blueness of her eyes, as deep they were, they were also cold and almost lifeless - in a similar sense of how an ocean is to be seen lifeless - a mass of water stretched over the land with the waves shifting; so were her eyes, light lightly shifting reflected in them. but the blue of the color remained cold and impenetrable.

“You did not, but you will learn. This is how power is acquired. It might look intimidating at first, but you will be able to learn. You will”, Runa said, before leaning even closer, so only Thomas would hear her words: “What I did is to make sure of your future survivability. You may thank me later”, she said with the voice of hers never changing at all, which possibly added some uncanny undertones.

She moved her head away after that and nodded to Riku, giving her the usual smile as she responded: “Indeed, he has. That knowledge will open many doors for him to step through and discover things which may potentially bring him in the spotlight of a world. One of them at the least of it. It is quite a lot”. Runa said and stood up, motioning to Riku, Thomas and the others to stand up as well: “We have not much time to spare, unless you want the ill spirit to catch up on us. Follow me, the tunnel will provide us quick passage underground”, Runa said and went into the said passage she opened a moment ago, taking the position of leading the party of adventurers onward.

She stepped into the entrance and further into the tunnel - the walls of the cave narrowed the path down under the ground into the rocky area, otherwise prepared for the escape prior to: the staircase made out of the stone for easier descent as well as various plants and moss of fluorescent nature - which were put too specifically and with a certain sense of measure on the walls for them to be growing there naturally - to illuminate the corridor; even though despite that calm and somewhat shy presence of green-ish light making sure the walls were to be seen - the end of this passage was covered in the distant darkness, impossible to understand where it would lead towards to.

Nevertheless, Runa led the party of adventurers on - for some time they would all remain in the narrow tunnel of the cave, with little of anything to look at, with an exception of moss and fungus growing on the walls of the cave. A hum could be felt coming from somewhere outside of these cave walls, a hum on the frequency so low it was impossible to properly hear, but the texture of its presence would most certainly be reflected on each of the adventurers one way or another.
It felt like a breath of the water massive. Or something that lived there.

Soon enough Runa was to break her silence once they all approached what seemed to be the end of the tunnel, her voice as usual calm and undisturbed by anything: “Watch your step now. The passage might get a little tricky now.”, she said and stepped into the darkness.. which resulted to be a little pocket of shadow, casted on by the steep angle the passage took. Past that angle, following Runa, the adventurers were to see a wide and open space of the underground cave, stretching onwards to the places beyond the eyes could see, the walls shaping the cavern towered over the party and made them look tiny compared to these walls, stretching downwards, into the blackness of the Abyss. The path were one for them to take from that exit - the continuation of the passage they just used went along one of the walls from one side and with the bottomless pit from another. The cave was illuminated by the light sipping through the cracks in the walls on the sides and above them - it was rather unclear what the light itself was and what was its source, but one thing was certain enough - it was not strong enough to cast away the darkness of the pit gaping below the path they stepped on. It was enough only to make them see towards where the path continued - the set of staircase once again, disappearing into the what looked yet another ruinous building, wood and stone of the building structure merging with moss and rock of the cavern forming some way of entrance into what otherwise remained unseen by the darkness of this place.

“We are almost there. Our way out is through that staircase”, Runa said and made the first step along the path before them.

In her almost typical manner, Runa appeared as if out of nowhere, almost as if a spirit of the Abyss itself, seemingly materializing out of the vile air of the underwater prison - to appear beside the rather energetic Kanbaru and the newcomer to join the party. Twists and turns of the ruinous structure of the fort revealed not only the demon herself, but both Thomas and Riku to follow her through the passages and hallways of no actual sense: though both of them looked worn down, they were both alive. Leaving the Fable pair to take a short rest the demon stepped up to take some leftover of the food alien to her and take a bite, while observing over the newcomer; coming up to her she took a light bow, leaning her torso down and greeted her with a smile curled on her lips.

“Welcome. It is rather surprising to witness yet another traveller here, and more so one known to others. My name is Runa. Pleasure to meet you.”, Runa said, even though neither her voice nor her face expressed any tone of actual surprise or astonishment; her tone in fact remained as calm and neutral as ever and her eyes of two blue cold crystals gazed idly over the newcomer, looking her from head to toes. Seemed like if she was expecting the newcomer to appear in the end, but there was no clear indication towards any of that. After a moment of pause, Runa spoke again, feeling the familiar creeping shade of cold to touch over her skin: “I am afraid though that we would have to delay the proper introductions. The foul spirit has once again caught up on us. We have to move.”, the demon said simply, feeling and seeing both the degenerative effect of the presence of death pure and corrupting, the shade of the fog venomous towards the air itself it seemed as the structures around them all started to expose their fragile and ruinous nature and being.

Runa with taking no extra time, went past both the resting adventurers and the newcomer, aiming to reach the far deep end of one of the constructed hallways and with a spear summoned in the hand of hers to break through the seemily firm wood; breaking through it with ease and exposing the tunnel passage leading out of the fortification they were resting in.

“Unknown to be exposed into existence, such we will be safe from the pursuing presence of the spirit foul for some time. Yet we have no said time to spare and we should be in haste. After all, you all should not stay here for too long and I see no clear desire in your eyes to stay either way.”, she said and went past back to check up on adventurers again.

“A word of advice - do not try to predict this spirit’s motions and how they would to unravel in the future”, Runa said to Akiko as she stepped past by her, “The noise you saw once you were to look into me would be as dense for you to witness again, if you would attempt to do so with this spirit. Concentrate on fleeing at the moment”.

With that said, she stepped towards Thomas and Riku, to check up on them as well, “How is your wound, young knight? And how are your eyes? A moment of reflection of course you would like, but I am afraid we have to move now.”, blue eyes would then look at Riku: “Be sure to help him if he requires it. Follow me through the tunnel. The rest will catch up.”

Time passed by much faster than it should’ve been; but it was surely no surprise as Aurora for that whole hour was quite invested and busy into fixing her bolide back in shape, making sure to repair the most crucial damages done to Spike, while more cosmetic and less important pieces like the body of paint (which frankly was a mix of paint and dirt at this point), she quickly patched up with some quick plasters of adhesive tape.

Blue electric tape! Always a winner!”, she said to herself, not paying much attention at the moment to the fact that bright sea blue color on the dusty yellow looked rather alien, but it did bring some hand-made and post-apocalyptic feel to how Spike looked; which in a sum of everything probably gave Aurora some bonuses in terms of how she appeared before the crowd and how her potential fans would perceive her: a road warrior. No matter the fact that she was in fact an ex-coffee machine.

Speaking of coffee..!”, she cheered to herself as she approached a coffee machine in the repair shop and ordered herself a cup. An AI and the android made a little chat about the coffee and ingredients, before Aurora heard the announcement.

Don’t get too stuck with the coffee only! You too can become a racer one day! You just have to belieeeveeee!”, she said to the coffee AI as she went back to Spike. It was not clear if the coffee machine was ready to follow her advice just yet. Aurora though had enough faith in herself and Spike; but more than anything else she had most of her faith put into speed itself.
There was no time left for her to spare on anything. It was running short on her, slipping through her efforts, through her attempts to make haste. The only thing in her mind that kept her hopes alive and going was that Montag was already on his way to help the girl - after all there was quite a lot of time she spent on distracting most of the guards and police workers in here, the mayor himself and the various guests he had in the villa - who were most certainly quite amused by the display of the poor to come on the party; most certainly in a way how a person would be amused by a theatrical performance.

She was sure there was an opening large enough for the detective to act. Even though she herself remained rather useless to the whole operation in terms of action, she could at least win some time. Such was her mindset when she opened the door to the villa in full determination to get to the second floor and reunite with Montag as soon as possible.
Soon enough though that mindset was taken away from her.

Through the ruckus in the kitchen she saw Montag, held down by a woman with a clearly seen pulsating tattoo on her neck - the pulsating with dim and deep blackness, swelling, almost shining on the surface of the skin. Abigail could have sworn she saw what she saw, even if her mind was not giving a space for that seen image to be processed through anyhow. It was alien, it was not meant to be - yet there it was.
So were the woman’s words.

It was unheard and impossible to make sense out of - but what Abigail looked as clear was the eyes of Montag locked onto woman’s in a gaze hazy and almost lost to its owner. She knew that haze in a life mundane - opium, alcohol. That looked the same, but it felt different, Abigail could not really understand why, her mind could not make any direct understanding on what was going on, yet her guts - and frankly her fate - were screaming that something was wrong. The pulsation of the woman’s tattoo only made this feeling stronger and more intense - it was as if something inside of Abigail’s heart was making her heart to rush more intense, and that tensity was speaking to her on some deeper, inner level of her entire being and existence.

Usually people would call it an animal within, a rageful instinct driven beast. But in that case, Abigail felt something different from that. Something that spoke to her in the language of faith. She was not able to put it into words, she only knew it like she knew how to breathe.
Whatever was happening to Montag was wrong.

And so her body moved accordingly. Woman’s body spoke of danger, her words unheard were spoken like a venom to drop into Montag, and there was only one clear thing to do - to stop her. Abigail rushed through the kitchen, closer to Montag, trying to push through the bystanders, various cooks and waiters running around, stumbling as she went, getting up on her feet again and in that motion, clinging onto one of the waiters and pushing him right into that woman’s aiming to stop her from holding Montag by hand and talking this venom into his mind.
Next thing Abigail did was to grab onto Montag’s hand and pull him away from the woman, trying to break that weird connection of their eyes.

© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet