Plight of a Demon, Fury of a Girl
Rurik stood there, battered and bloodied, just watching the demoness close in on him, his hands still pocketed. One might have thought he was all talk and his bluff had been called. One might have also thought it was a stupid fucking bluff to begin with.
He then seemed to lean into the punch. As he did, a burst of energy coiled up in-between his face and her fist, knocking the blow away. He then slipped a hand out of his pocket and turned his palm toward the demoness's gut, unleashing all the power he'd stored up while they were talking. It was unfocused, just raw kinetic energy pouring out. All he needed was to push her back and leave her unbalanced.
He then took a breath, and his form loosened up.
He'd never been a fan of the final application of his power. He preferred to sit back and let his enemies come to him. He'd let them make their mistakes and then punish them. If he had to use that power, then that meant he had to get serious. If he had to get serious, then he didn't want that fight to begin with.
Today... today was just a little different.
He waited until the demoness either steadied a bit or picked herself up off the ground -- until she made a good target. He set his feet... and then flew. Power burst from beneath his feet and he closed the distance between them in a blur. He'd said he really wanted to punch Kath in the face, and he had, but that didn't count. No, this was a punch. When he wanted to hurt something, this was what he could do. All his momentum culminated in a flying punch aimed across her jaw, and then on impact he let out another burst from his fist, doubling down on the attack.
He meant it as a blow from himself and the world -- reminding her that life didn't give a single fuck about who you were. If it wanted to tear you down, it would. He was happy to pass the lesson along.
The demoness felt her toes digging into the ground as the combined kinetic force pushed her back, then the hard double impact of the punch across the face. That dull, sorry ache spread through her whole body, as she was thrown away, deeper into the park.
There was a feeble luck in that punch, however. It threw her clear, enough to let the stream of water let off by the back flipping David cleave along the ground where she'd been right into Rurik.
She felt her back slam hard into an old tree and slid down the course bark to a resting position.
Reaching up she adjusted her jaw. That could be bad. If she had to heal herself she couldn't do anything for Katherine. The Katherine part of her mind didn't make things any better. Fight, fight, fight it went, incessantly. Infectiously.
She shook her head and pulled herself up, fire leaping from her palm into the scratches she left as she gripped the old tree. It would star burning soon, eating away at this old growth from the inside. Not the most worthwhile kindling, but every bit counted now.
Rurik was caught somewhat off guard by the water. What the hell was Yuuto doing? Wasn't he a professional or something? With another burst he juked out of the way, but it killed his momentum somewhat, letting Kath begin to get up from where she'd landed. He spoke again as he walked toward her, though keeping an eye out for more random bursts of water.
One more and he swore he'd actually kill that idiot.
"Sure, fine, I wagered your sister a few times. But she's still around, so I'm sure you can figure out what that means," he spoke coldly. "I beat every little piss ant who challenged me into the dirt. You think you're the first idiot who thought they could take me because they knew kung-fu? You're not better, Kath. You're not special. You're just annoying." Oh sure, he'd actually lost once or twice, and him winning had little to do with Christine still being around.
But Kath didn't need to know that right now.
He didn't charge in again, there wasn't an opening this time. He simply walked until he was just out of arm's reach, eyes locked onto her, full of defiance. And condescension -- so much condescension.
"I'll give you this, boy, you have a strong right hook." She whispered so as not to be heard by Christine. "More than strong enough to keep what you've gained through combat. But amongst all the trees you've felled I believed you've overlooked the forest." She mugged at him, and feigned a swipe with her nails.
Rurik didn't intend to let her touch him again. He knew full well he couldn't reliably counter every attack like he had before, especially not now that she knew he could do that. Most of his fights had witnesses, so plenty of times he'd seen people try to predict him with varying results.
The best answer was usually to do away with finesse and introduce them to the ground with overwhelming firepower.
He darted to the side with a small application of his burst and then threw both hands out to unleash a double-barrel blast of destabilized energy at just shy of point-blank range in an attempt to flatten her.
She smiles, and as he began to move she jumped up as she'd always intended. The blast collided with the tree, shattering the bark and with it the fire that had been growing beneath. The flames jumped greedily in his direction, as though hungry and alive, bolstered by the sudden exposure to fresh air.
The demoness landed amid the now smoking branches. "You see? Through your actions you've courted only misery, and not only for yourself. You certainly gained nothing tangible from entertaining such challenges. You have made yourself neither a lord of those you defeated nor seem to have any interest in doing battle for its own sake. It puzzles us."
Rurik's eyes widened at the sudden flare-up. He felt the unbearable heat hit him before instinct drove him to burst away from it. Heat and fire, some things never changed when fighting Kath. He shook his arms to make sure no embers were left clinging to him and took a deep breath to calm himself down.
"I don't need to lord over anyone, Kath. I just need you to shut up." He looked up at her tiredly, looking almost bored. "Now I'm gonna give you til' the count of five to get out of that tree before I force you out of it the hard way. 1..." He needed a second to recharge anyway...
She had just about enough of hearing Rurik’s stupid bullshit. It was incoherent ramble as far as she was concerned, a stupid boy spouting big words that added up to complete nonsense. Lot of words, no meaning behind it. Rurik has always made her angry, but him thinking he was right, or that he won this little fight? That was just above and beyond the stupidity she could tolerate.
Her will could not be contained by some mere demon, not when it came to Rurik and protecting her sister. Her flames engulfed the Demoness in her mind as pure unbridled rage took over. Her form seemingly melting into one coherent mass that while still resembled a human, it had little of it’s features. She had gone above and beyond anything she had ever done with her body, the mix of urgency and annoyance tapping into her inner reserves to fan her flames into an inferno.
Her hands and body moved on her own, the Demon’s will subdued in a flare of heat that swept across the park. “2.” Kath hissed as she exploded from the tree like a bullet shot from a gun, her fist primed and ready to collide with Rurik’s jawline as she launched at the boy with mind boggling speed.
Boom!
"OH SHIT!" Rurik had to launch himself backwards as Kath dove at him. It looked like he'd finally gotten Kath angry enough to pop back out. He could feel the impact of her landing even as he dodged it. She'd come much closer to actually hitting him than he'd have liked. Fighting her was always such a pleasure... "You seem angry. Is it something I said?" He mused with a bead of sweat sliding down the side of his face. "Ah who am I kidding? That's default for you."
His plan had worked, but a little bit way too well. Now what? This was going off the rails.
Let’s see how good you are at talking shit when I’ll knock your teeth out!” Kath exclaimed as she stared with her glowing eyes at Rurik. She had lost her temper for sure, but she was surprisingly mindful for being this angry. Not that it amounted to much, this was Kath that we are talking about after all, but it gave her a slight sense of clarity. And it was enough for ehr to know she had the upper hand...before she would pass out. She didn’t care about any plans the demon had, she just wanted to beat Rurik up while she still could. If she dies after it from blood loss, at least she will perish in glorious combat.
She didn’t give Rurik much chance to take a breather. Less talking and more fighting She motivated herself as she jumped right after Rurik, a hand ready to punch him in the face, while she prepared herself to follow up with a knee to the gut as soon as she landed at the same time.
"You young fool." Came a voice, a face manifesting from the flames enveloping Katherine's body. The demon looked sternly at the girl as she flickered and waved. "I was barely keeping you alive as is. Can't you feel your wounds opening up while you throw this tantrum? Is this the hill you choose to die upon?"
I won't die. Not yet! The flames will stop the bleeding...for now. Kath thought. Nothing was supposed to happen like this. Yuuto wasn't supposed to have a sword and she wasn't supposed to get hurt. But...things don't always go as you want them to. More often than no they go out of control as soon as they start. But if I die now, at least it will be in combat. Then you can keep your integrity too
Rurik once more tried to shoot backwards, but it worked about as well as running away from a falling tree in a straight line. Why was she so fast!? His surprise at her speed sort of scrambled his brain and he tried to deploy his shield in a panic. Normally it would have been fine, he'd been able to, somewhat, sustain it through Cassius's full power launch, but the half-baked shield he threw up crumbled under her attack. Rather than tossing her back, it barely canceled out her momentum while he was thrown on his ass. He needed a plan before he was just curb stomped.
Well, he had one idea... but it was all or nothing at this point.
He dug his heels into the dirt and used another burst to send him sliding backwards to a momentarily safe distance. The grass was slick thanks to what's-his-ass, but the mud and grass stains meant after this his jacket was pretty much ruined... again.
He rolled to a knee and went to put a hand down to steady himself only to see stars. Pain exploded up his arm and he realized not only did he get knocked over when he shield failed, but his wrist and perhaps more had totally snapped under the pressure.
Thus he was left on one knee, right arm tucked against his chest in pain while he glared warily at Kath.
He'd liked his odds better when he'd thought he had two hands...
Katherine winced at the pain and her eyes darted to Rurik. He seemed hurt. Broken. Ripe for beating the living soul out of. "You're done for asshole!" She shouted as, rage taking over her as she let out a battlecry to ring all the ears before she launched herself at Rurik for a finisher, her arms ready to strike as a ploy, truly aiming to knee her opponent.
The throbbing that was radiating more and more up his arm was really making him reconsider his bravado here. Honestly, the only thing keeping him going was the sound of Kath's voice... and how much he wanted to make it go away. Even if Clara hadn't been there and he could have risked telling her he was actually kinda trying to help, would she have listened? His abundance of cynicism told him "no."
So in the end it truly was just resentment fueling him.
He had to time his next move carefully. He'd left a little something behind when he'd slid across the ground, pumping his energy into it as he went. Now Kath was running at him across that very ground. He set it off, and it honestly wasn't much. But all he needed was to remove her footing. It didn't matter how fast she could run if the ground disappeared from beneath her feet.
He wanted her to fall... fall so he could catch her. By the face. With his fist.
With everything he had left, he would burst from his crouch and throw an empowered left at her jaw.
BANG! As Kath ran across the ground Ruril's energy blasted off, sending pebbles flying up at the girl but she merely shrugged them off in her rage. But the small hole it cause proved to be a greater problem.
Even if it wasn't too significant in the end. Propelled by her momentum, Kath's leg made contact with the ground a second later anyways, and she had ample time to adjust to the laughable hole that Rurik's last ditch effort made. Was he at full power this could've been a challenge, but without any sauce behind his power? What a joke.
Kath didn't care, she had no sympathy for the boy. She didn't see a sliver of truth in his words or lies in her own line of thinking as she continued her dash near uninterrupted. No, her entire world had become one with this finishing kick, this last attempt for a girl who embraced death and wished for nothing more than to see the sole source of grievance in her fleeting life defeated and to make sure the most precious thing to her was safe: her sister. She couldn't miss, she couldn't lose. Not now when there won't be any more chances. She let out a scream as she propelled her knee forward, towards the bursting Rurik.
Rurik felt his fist collide with her face, right in the jaw. It was a meeting of two huge forces and his powers couldn't protect him from it. He could punch a rock without breaking his hand, but this was a bit much. The shockwave rattled the bones in his arm and it kinda hurt, but then went blissfully numb. That was probably a bad sign.
It was too late for him to realize at this point that Kath's raw power had let her just surge through his trap. Not undeterred, but not quite as vulnerable as he'd been hoping... not even close. He might have gotten lucky, his punch had to have thrown her off otherwise what had happened next would have been catastrophic.
He felt a blazing hot impact right on his solar plexus. He popped backwards from it, but somehow landed on his feet... unable to breathe. He let out a high-pitched squeak of pain. Rocked and doubled over by the impact as he was, he couldn't even see what had become of Kath. He could only hope she was too down and out to hit him again.
He managed one step before falling to his hands and knees and puking as the pain turned his stomach. Fortunately it had been mostly empty this time.
"Oh... come on.... I didn't even teleport this time!" He gasped, trying to keep the world from spinning.
Just before her knee connected into the hit she had imagined she felt the sharp pain in her jaw as Rurik's fist collided with it, painfully knocking her teeth together as a numbness spread through her jaw like wildfire, and her vision turned blurry. She could tell that he gave everything into the punch because even with the ungodly amount of momentum she put up the punch was nearly enough to bring her to a halt. She stumbled forward a few meters before she nearly collapsed down onto her knees from the nausea that hit her. She saw stars and it felt like someone drilled a screw straight across the jaw and then painfully started twisting it.
She wanted to swear something but then realized her jaw was dislocated from the punch. Which she didn't even know was possible while in this form. She reached down to her mouth and then with a painful groan she snapped her jaw back into place. "Fuck!" She snarled angrily and shook her head a few times, hitting her temple with the base of her palm to regain focus. Probably not the best idea when you definitely have a concussion, but she was past those concerns now. She could feel the wounds sapping away at her strength with every second, even if her form stopped herself from bleeding for the moment. As she could feel her stamina running out as well now that her fire consumed more than ever. Still, Rurik lay on his knees before her. She allowed herself a small grin as she made a few unsure steps towards him. "Better stay down pukeboy."
"Selfish children, and you say you don't love this bloodshed. You've killed us for it." The face of the demoness said bitterly as it danced in the flames. Then, as if to twist the knife, she nodded toward where the Ice was now spreading from the feet of the panicking Christine. "And look at what you've both done to your poor sister."
"I... resent that..." Rurik gasped out. "Just... gimme five..." He made a feeble attempt to stand. Nope. "T-ten... seconds..." He panted heavily. There was no way he was fighting back. If she attacked, it'd be all about survival. Assuming he could muster the strength to even escape. Every time he tried to gather energy, he'd need to stop to focus on trying to just breathe, and he'd feel his energy seeping back out of him. He could barely think straight.
Kath clenched her fist angrily as the demoness's words sank in like a bitter acid that ate it's way through the walls she erected to justify her cause. She peeked over at Christine, her eyes quickly darting away in shame. She might die here today once her power runs out, and as much as her rage wants her to beat the soul out of Rurik, it would be pointless bloodshed. She couldn't break her sister's heart like that. Christine...she wanted better for her. "Come on, stand up!" She commanded in a way that didn't take no for an answer and held her hand out for Rurik. "You fought valiantly." She winced as she felt her powers seeping away and the pain returning. She didn't think she had much longer, so at least she could make amends.
Rurik flinched and shut his eyes tightly against the beating that was about to c- Wait what?
"Wait, what?" Rurik said aloud. He almost thought it was a trap, but to be fair to Kath... she wasn't that clever. He tentatively reached out to take her hand, but then noticed the blood starting to leak into her clothes again. "Uhhh, you got a little... uh..." Wait, he hadn't done that. And she'd been fine a minute ago.
And then it clicked. The demon had been fine. While fighting she'd seemed fine, but now she was totally powered down... so...
Shit.
Well she was still standing, so that was a good sign, right? Standing up was usually a good thing. Dead people couldn't stand, after all. She probably just needed a doctor. If she could still stand then surely a doctor could do something. It'd be a real pain if she died after all this effort.
Maybe Clara could help. She'd teleported them there after all.
"Well, it seems things have come to a resolution." Clara looked past Christine, only just barely acknowledging her. She no longer needed Christine's cooperation. She strode past the distressed girl and over to the two fighters.
"Hey, so-" Rurik began.
"Well done I suppose, now we should see about removing the demon. This is our best chance." Clara spoke over him. Well so much for her helping.
"I dunno, seems like it's asleep or something. But hey, Katherine's back in that saddle. I'm sure Christine will be happy about that, what do you think?" Rurik subtly shifted between Clara and Kath... as if it would actually matter.
". . . Indeed." Clara's eye twitched ever so slightly. She was starting to see Rurik's hand now. Of course she'd been suspicious but she hadn't expected him to actually hold his own enough for it to make a difference.
Rurik swallowed -- now what? If Clara wasn't gonna teleport Kath to a doctor then who? Where the hell was Thobias when you needed hi- Wait... was that him over there? When the hell had he shown up!??!?
"Yeah, but I think we should probably get her and Christine to a doctor now," Rurik suddenly raised his voice for no particular reason... while shooting anxious glances at the boy over Clara's shoulder.
". . . perhaps. . . but first. . .
please move." She spoke a little more forcefully. Christine and even Rurik could be useful in their own right. She didn't want to have to force the issue with them if she didn't have to. But she would.
Christine continued to watch over Clara as more and more of her surroundings turned cold. Uncharacteristically of her, she didn't trust her at all. If she made a move, she would freeze her instantly.
Meanwhile, to her displeasure, Rurik and Kath continued their fight. She could only continue to shout at them to stop as she was guarding Kath from Clara. Thankfully, the fight didn't continue for much longer, and it ended with Kath's victory.
However...
"Kath!"
When she noticed all the blood seeping through her clothes, she quickly ran towards her.
"Kath! A-are you alright? A-a doctor! We have to get you to a doctor at once!"
She no longer cared about Clara. Her attention was fully aimed at her gravely wounded sister.
Thobias watched the entire fight from the rooftop, not particularly out of sight but far away enough that most people wouldn't bother to look his way. Not while there was a spectacular fight going on right in front of their eyes. And he too enjoyed watching it, it was certainly worth sticking around for a little longer. Both Rurik and Kath took some savage punches straight to the face, and both were still standing. He knew he could never take any of that, but he also wouldn't really stick around. Or care enough to start a fight like that anyways.
But as things escalated and Kath seemed to have finally grasped victory, things turned grim again. Even the friendly notion of Kath towards Rurik didn't lighten the mood as Clara closed up on them. And Kath was starting to bleed again. Bad. Heck, even Christine popped in to defend her sister! It seemed like nobody wanted Kath to die, even if she was quite hard to talk to most of the time. Well, brash maybe, but not hard to talk to. If you didn't piss her off. Like Rurik. But that's beside the point!
This was his time to act. He just hoped that everything would go according to plan. Liam and Sarah were ready to intervene, and if things turned really ugly even Brutus could intervene. Let's hope it won't come to that. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Here we go!"
With a flash of light, he appeared right by Christine and Kath, placing his hands on their shoulders as he flashed an arrogant Smile at Clara. "Sorry to drop in and ruin the party, but the show's over." He glanced at Rurik and winked before disappearing with another little flash, bringing Christine and Katherine away with him. And then he followed up with a dozen or more in quick successions, getting them a good block or two away in a few seconds. "This should be far enough..." He finally stopped when he couldn't even remember which direction the park was and then opened a portal back to their hideout. "Okay, time to go you two." He said and pushed the two girls into the portal before following behind them and closing it.
Liam and Sarah were right there, a table already cleared and prepped for Kath to lay down on. Thobias beckoned at Liam and smiled at Christine. "Don't worry, Kath will be fine. If Liam can't patch her up, nobody can." Sarah and Liam quickly got Kath onto the table and prepared to stop the bleeding on the girl. Everything should be fine now...it was just a shame he couldn't watch the tournament any longer.
Christine did not see what’s coming in the slightest.
Thobias suddenly appeared out of nowhere, touched her and Kath, before teleporting them away. And they continued to teleport several times in a near continuous manner. Even if Christine wanted to protest, she wouldn’t be able to due to how nauseating the whole process was.
Thankfully, they eventually stopped, at some distance far away from the park.
“T-Thobias, where are we--” Her protest was cut short by him pushing them into one final portal that teleported them once more. Where? She had no idea in the slightest. And that immediately sent her into full alert mode.
But apparently it was a place where Kath could get the treatment she desperately needed, according to Thobias, so Christine calmed herself down. And now, she could only watch as the two treated her wounds.
It’s alright. I know you’ll be able to make it, Kath...
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