Majoraa

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

@TGM

I will punch you gently then. You wont feel it but the intention is there! >:^

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Might reconsider my hesitation on apping, but that's a lot of quality names to compete with for a spot.

@TGM

Me? Quality? The audacity. We al know I just toss things out like a dart board and it somehow works.

Persona ~ Alone at Sea (PERSONA WITH A BOAT 𓊝)

Not even an hour in, rip bozo.

Anyways if I'm gonna be sticking around I'm gonna need to hunt down faceclaim pics.

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Oh.

Uh.

Would Cthulhu technically work as a Ult Persona or do I have to think of a secondary thing?

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Tbf I just wanna break geneva conventions with the Great Old One lmao

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Persona: Maui
Personality: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

@Cu Chulainn

Oh the urge to post Goomaui here.

PERSONA RP WITH A BOAT

Keeping an eye on this tbh.

May snag Cthulhu.

World of Light

Level: 4
Experience: 29/40
Currently In: The Under, Necropolis
Word Count: 4,323 (+5 Exp)
Collab with @Zoey Boey, @Double, and a bit from @Archmage MC

Jesse met up with the others in the boss room that someone- the Knight, apparently, had defeated. Normally she might advise against doing it alone, but the Duke of Flies was hardly a significant threat. So it was likely that any of the Seekers could solo any of these rooms, even if it would be a pain in the ass.

As Nadia took the lead, Jesse stood over the hole and looked at the others still yet to leave. "Anyone wanna group up with me for a bit?"

Omori was standing in front of the pitch-black doorway, his attention turning from the goat mounted on top, to Jesse, then back into the room itself. He was curious about it, yeah, but at the same time, it unnerved him. Nadia had the right idea to avoid going in. It had a familiar aura to it. One that said, "You shouldn't be here". And concidering what he saw when the feral took the nightlight? Something like a severed, crimson-colored head distorted into eternal agony was a literal NOPE.

Raising his upper arms up, he backed up from the Devil Room and to behind Jesse.

Right about then came the heavy foot steps of Ganondorf's boots. He had watched the two other Seekers show their hesitation to enter the dark opening. As he walked past he gave them an incredulous look before simply shrugging his shoulders, "Fine then. I'll take point if no one else will." Given his background, it made a frightening amount of sense why he would have no fear for these sort of places. He was raised, not to fear the dark, but to conquer it and command it. This, he'd long ago decided, would be no different.

Jesse felt like she should pat Omori on the head or something, but decided that would be inappropriate. She squinted and smirked, amused at Ganondorf's expression and interpretation of events. "Well, don't let me stop you, big guy. By all means, show us how it's done." She gestured to the hole.

"Hmph." replied Ganondorf with a huff, "This place does not frighten me." he added while he approached the hole. He leaned over and gazed down into it, unable to see where it led. But Ganondorf, true to his word, was not afraid. He offered one more glance to the Seekers behind him and jumped.

Jesse glanced at Omori. "Somethin' about this place means that you don't break your ankles when you fall, right? Otherwise, I dunno, I could give you a piggy back ride or something." Jesse said. She took a step and dropped down into the hole.

Once everyone was down there, Jesse picked a direction she saw that people weren't going.

"This way, fellas?" She said, summoning her Service Weapon. She peaked inside the dark room. "I don't see anything but...sometimes they appear right as you enter."

The Gerudo merely shrugged, "The sooner we're on our way, the sooner we will be able to leave this wretched hole." he said in what sounded like slightly more annoyed tone. Even if he wasn't afraid of this place, that didn't mean he couldn't get tired of it after a while.

After a moment to swap out his weapons, Omori peeked into the room with Jesse, machete and flintlock in his hands. "They can pop out of the ground." He mentioned, thinking back to the Ulcers in the Caves. The boy couldn't help nodding at Ganondorf's statement. As long as they didn't run into any more spiders, he'd have no problem clearing the rooms ahead.

But something crossed his mind. How were all three of them going to step inside at once? Sectonia could blink into the rooms, but he didn't know what his current teammates could do. "...So are we all hopping in at the count of three, or am I getting tossed in?"

"This is my tried and true strat." Jesse said, floating into the air above Ganondorf's head. "Then you guys just go in underneath me. On three. Wait, no, on go. So it'll be three, two, one, go and then you go." Jesse said.

"So we'll do that right now. Three, two, one, go." She floated into the room, looking down to make sure they were beneath her.

Without giving it too much thought, Ganondorf reached down and quickly grabbed the boy by his shirt and just carried him through the door underneath Jesse. He wasn't exactly fond of the idea of giving people rides on his back like he had previously done with Nadia so maybe this would be next best way to handle this? Omori appeared indifferent to being picked up by the scruff, either way. Jesse furrowed her brow and smirked incredulously, but if Omori wasn't complaining neither was she.

Once through, he let the boy back down on the floor. It really was inconvenient that these doors automatically locked themselves after only a single person stepped through. He supposed this was why the Hero of Time had to work alone for the most part.

Immediately, he and the others got a good look at what they'd be up against this time. Three bizarre organisms, or perhaps collectives or organisms, patrolled a room of boulders arrayed with regular spacing. Each one appeared to be a chain of empty-eyed heads that dragged themselves along at a surprising pace with grubby little mits that extended from their cheeks. From their gaping mouths extended a tongue that they used to latch onto -or God forbid, into- the creature in front of them, allowing them to hustle along in a grotesque game of follow-the-leader. These Buttlickers happily charged toward the Seekers in an attempt to both heabutt them and rip at their skin with their centipede limbs.

"Okay, who comes up with this shit? Omori, stay away these from things!" Jesse said. Not entirely out of concern for his safety, but just because they were really gross and Omori wasn't wearing big shoes like Ganondorf. Jesse switched to Shatter and took point out of the three of them. She used Shield and formed a wide wall in front of her, forming a psychic bulkhead to force the abominations to crawl around it. She could move or readjust the wall or herself as she pleased as long as it was infront of her. Ideally this would give her teammates enough time to kill some of them while they tried to maneuver around the wall.

"This would be easier if I had my red hands back..." Omori tiredly sighed. Sticking with ranged weapons seemed like the best option in this place, but he was low on ammo for one gun, Revolver didn't work like that, and the flintlock he held now required him to face these...eloquently named centipedes head on. With Jesse constructing a barrier to force the creatures to go around, the boy went to one side and began stabing what he could in their ugly heads, if not cutting their bodies up into sections.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the wall, the King of Evil had already drawn the white sword from its scabbard, "Tch, disgusting creatures." he scoffed with a scowl. Even he was getting to be sickened by the sight of these abominations. When one of them got close enough to his end of the psychic wall, Ganondorf wasted no time in stabbing at it and hacking it apart with the despicably holy weapon he held in his hands.

One of the buttlickers' tongues wrapped around Omori's machete, seemingly in an attempt to disarm the boy. He wrestled against it in a dangerous game of tug-o-war, a few other centipedal creatures beginning to swarm after seeing an opportunity to attack.

Until Omori fired his gun point blank, catching the few in an explosive blast and freeing his blade. ...It still had the tongue wrapped around it. Gross.

Lastly, Jesse flung her Shield wall at the last centipede, shredding it into pieces. "Nice!" She offered the two of them a pair of high fives- Up High for Ganondorf and Down Low for Omori. Ganondorf just thought she was waving for some reason and decided to raise a hand to wave back if only to humor. He didn't expect her to suddenly slap her hand against his, which left him with a quizzical look on his face. Omori on the other hand, casually took the offer without any words. Jesse nodded and smirked at the noble effort.

As the last gruesome Buttlicker exploded into ash, a silver chest dropped onto the smeared blood in the center of the room. Popping it open rewarded two coins and a silver key, a far luckier bounty than most of the fighters had received thus far. With the promise of greater reward for the greater risk they now faced in mind, they could proceed to the next chamber, unaware of the change in pace it would present them with.

Ganondorf reached down and picked up the key and then examined it with curiosity, followed by exasperated sigh, "Look at me, grabbing silver keys out of chests. Just like Him." he said the last word of that sentence with a sharp degree of venomous hatred.

The monochrome youth picked up the two coins in turn. His brow rose at the vague mention of someone Ganondorf didn't seem to like, but didn't bother asking. "Might be useful." He said, looking at the silver key. He didn't know if a locked room was down the direction they were moving or if a golden chest will appear. "We'll just have to keep moving. Let's go."

What greeted the trio next was a room of stone brick, with floors of dark gray tiles of varying sizes and white walls illuminated by fiery sconces. They stood on an overlook in front of the door connected by a bridge lined with red masonry to a rectangular center area. Just a few feet below the bridge lay a knee-deep pool of water, a far cry from the bottomless pits encountered before now, but the Seekers' focus lay on the enemies that awaited them across the span. Rather than more fleshy or fecal monstrosities, a gang of giant living bullets stood there, with cylindrical gold-colored bodies, silver caps, and little faces. A bullet with a darker gray hue and an eyepatch sat at a table in the middle of his squad, but at the sight of intruders he flipped the table onto its side to use as cover, and the Bullet Kin opened fire with magnums. The shots whizzed through the air much slower than real bullets, but with four shooters they filled the air, and the Bullet Veteran did not hesitate to add his own much faster and better-aimed gunfire to the mix.

Ganondorf had to dive out of the way to avoid taking any bullets, "Bah, cowards!" lemented, having always hated this sort of ranged weaponry. But that didn't mean Ganondorf was above returning the favor. He did just that, summoning the Duke of Flies to unleash a volley of twelve flies that would home in on as many targets as possible for their single attack.

Jesse sprinted forward and created another psychic Shield wall. Once again her Saturnus symbol glowed brightly and seven projectiles of the ground began to circle around her, ready to strike defensively. The bullets' bullets slammed into her Shield, but Jesse held firm and tried to offer her teammates a safe fall back position- while she closed the gap. If it ain't broke..." She thought to herself.

After the Duke of Flies had cleared out what it could, Omori casted Sad Poem on the Bullet Veteran to slow it's firing speed, then rushed in to clear out the rest. Of course, having to rely on getting up close to the enemy meant taking a bullet here and there was inevitable. Though he didn't mind at this point, he was willing to bleed. Just as long as they didn't shoot at his backpack. Collecting the spirits of these Bullet Kin would most likely give him the ammo he needed for his other pistol, so showing no mercy here was necessary. For every couple of strikes the boy managed to connect, he'd fire his flintlock to gradually snuff the Bullet Kin out. But someone still had to take out the leader.

As soon as the Duke of Flies vanished, after Omori rushed in following his spell, Ganondorf readied the White Sword and followed suit. Since the boy was focusing on the Bullet Kin, the Gerudo took it upon himself to focus on the Bullet Veteran. It was tougher than its weaker cousins, but being slowed by Omori's spell would render it practically helpless against Ganondorf just the same. With enough powerful swings of the white sword, the Bullet Veteran fell soon enough. And the King of Evil elected to ignore its spirit, remembering that spirits like that didn't prove to be of much use to him. One of the others could have it if they wished.

Even after the last Bullet-Kin rusted away into ash and a spirit, the acrid, almost stinging smell of gunsmoke hung in the air. To compensate the Seekers for their fresh assortment of bullet wounds, a most interesting reward manifested itself in the center of the room where the firefight went down: a gun. At least, it looked like a gun, but the bulbous red shape on the end of the barrel poked a couple holes in that theory. If nothing else, it looked like it packed a punch.

Boxing Glove

You have acquired:
Boxing Glove
A gun that shoots a limited-range boxing glove with a chance to stun. Each time it kills an enemy, it gains a star up to 3 stars. When at 3 stars, it can be charged to consume the stars and fire a high-damage super punch.

"That's an... interesting weapon." Ganondorf mused, though he did not bother taking the object, "I don't much care for this type of weapon. So one of you can have it instead."

After crushing all the spirits in this room for extra ammo, Omori eagerly grabbed the Boxing Glove. Ranged attacks seemed to be a good option down here, so he'd take what he could get.

...He'll need a moment to heal himself before moving to the next room, though. The boy searched his inventory for any health items left.

Jesse had dropped her Shield, looking over Omori's shoulder at the boxing glove gun. "God, I hope that thing actually works." She said, admiring the novelty weapon. "And, uh, by the way, you don't need to get yourself shot for no reason. We're not in any rush here." She said.

Omori glanced back at Jesse. He simply shrugged in response, letting the snacks restore most of his health. "I can take worse." The boy told her. Though the amount of damage he took in fights so far was a bit concerning, he could admit it. "I think I got enough ammo from those bullet guys to use for my other gun. It's just that this one doesn't work like that." The boy held up his flintlock as he explained. "...Sorry for not being careful." He softly apologized after a moment.

"Nothing to say sorry about, you're the one getting shot." Jesse said. "We seriously need to invest in some real firepower for you. Not a literal flintlock. Your...magic? Abilities? Whatever it is you do to them is good stuff, even without guns and knives. So in the meantime feel free to play it safe. I can move with my Shield up, so if you want me to advance just say the word."

Omori nodded, the corners of his lips quirking up into a faint smile.

Two down, two to go. The next stop on the heroes' journey looked like a normal one, although it presented an unexpected new hazard. In addition to the four creepy little Vis that tottered around the place, just waiting for someone to step into the same row or column so they could pull open the wound on their stomachs and unleash a beam of caustic blood, four blocks of spikes lay in a square around the center of the room. If a Seeker steeped in front of one of its sides, it would slide at high speed across the floor in an attempt to impale the tragic hero, then slowly grind back to its original position for another go. Everything in here seemed to operate by the cardinal directions, but without those limitations, the newcomers could form a plan of attack to overcome the dangerous threat.

Jesse got to work, using Grip to shoot the Vis from a safe distance one by one. With no greater swarm of projectiles or enemies to worry about, she was making quick work of them. When there was only two left she stepped in the path of a spike block. "Shit!" She swore and as a gut reaction Evaded backwards, turning into a blur of speed before reappearing by Ganondorf and Omori.

The spike block began to retract to it's fellows. "Uh, watch the spikes. They bite."

Omori furrowed his brows at the Pokies. "It's either an elaborate trap, or those things are alive somehow..." He said, trying to figure out a way through without having more holes made in his body. He held a hand under his chin. "Think we can break them?" He suggested.

"If by 'we' you mean 'me.'" Jesse joked, extending a hand out wards the spike blocks. The one that had just tried to get her jostled, cracked, and was ripped from the ground before being promptly flung into one of the other critters, splattering it. It tumbled and fell into pieces.

She shook her hand, flexing her fingers.

"So be it." muttered Ganondorf as he concentrated dark magic in his hands and then focused that energy in front of him,"Times like this call for more... expendable allies." he summoned Phantom Ganon, who at first stood in front of his master before floating upward and over the spike blocks where it could then slay the remaining two Vis by stabbing at them from above, outside the range of their vision and attacks.

The monochrome boy wasn't in range to stab the other two pokies or use Bread Slice on them, so Omori casted Mock to gradually shatter them, the red hands stabbing into the spike blocks until they broke.

The reward for their thorough efforts was...a nondescript pill. It barely made a sound as it appeared and fell onto the ground. Omori glanced at it and rose a brow. Should any of them even take the gamble? He didn't exactly trust it, so that left the other two to decide.

Jesse warily eyed the pill. She glanced down at the symbol on her hand that was relatively unobtrusive and granted her a new ability. On the other hand... "If there was one thing I learned from moving to New York, it was to not pick up random pills on the ground and eat them." She said. And the previous power she acquired activated on touch. Could a pill activate on touch? "I think I've pushed my luck enough for the day."

Regardless of their choice, the trio would find that the last room was...already finished. Somehow, Sectonia managed to get ahead of them, from the item room nearby if what she explained to them was any indication. Omori had to respect the queen bee for finding a way to skip ahead. The red symbol in the center of the room did have him curious. Unlike the grotesque and peculiar the team had seen so far, this room and the reward it held had a different air to it itself too. The boy walked up to the Boon of Ares, and reached out to it.

As Omori's outstretched hand grew nearer to the blazing red emblem, a sound gradually filled his ears, subtle at first but swelling fast in intensity. It was a cacophony of impassioned voices, a tumultuous song of war cries and screams, punctuated by the percussion of weapons against one another. By the time he worked up the courage to actually touch the divine insignia, the roars of battle became deafening, but in the instant he made contact they faded away. So to did the world itself, trapping the boy within an infinite dark space with horizons of flame. Distant silhouettes waged an endless struggle; arrows flew overhead. And before Omori loomed the majestic visage of Ares, the God of War.

In armor of gleaming gold and spotless white he stood tall, his silver hair parted to one side and adorned with a laurel wreath, black like the spikes on his shoulders. In his hands he held a glossy black blade with a wicked edge, and in his empty red eyes and knowing smirk there lurked not malice, but the capacity for infinite cruelty. However, he did not move or animate in any way; instead, he seemed more like a vision, or a projection, than a living, breathing person here with Omori. "Well, well," he began, his voice deep and smooth. "Just who is it that has come seeking the blessing the God of War? Don't answer, mind you, this little chat of ours is strictly one-way. Nevertheless I can sense quite the fighting spirit...could you be a fellow dealer of death? I know that you must have many aspirations, my petitioner. To be plain with you about my own motive for a moment: As long as you continue bringing swift and steady death, you shall have my unyielding support."

A scroll of parchment appeared before Omori, and it unraveled as it floated in the air. Three options were listed out on it:

• Curse of Pain (special/abnormal weapon attacks inflict Doom on opponents, which causes a bloody sword to appear over their heads for a couple seconds, after which it descends for extra damage)
• Blade Dash (full-body evasive maneuvers that cover enough distance will leave a Blade Rift behind. These horizontal spinning blades, essentially bloody red saws, deal constant damage to enemies they cut into in the brief window they're active)
• Battle Rage (after slaying a foe, your next attack or special/abnormal weapon attack turns blood red and deals more damage)

Omori's eyes were drawn from the projection of War to the parchment, then thinking over the options shown to him. It's not every day you'd be offered a bit of extra help, from a god no less! He'd probably have to choose wisely, and they all sounded strong too. But if he had to pick only one...

Not wishing to waste more of Ares' time, the monochrome boy decided to take the Blade Dash ability for himself.

The visage of Ares seemed pleased. "The more you slay your enemies, my friend, the stronger the bond between us, I think. War's such a wondrous thing, in truth. It solves so many different problems, whilst perpetuating its own inevitability. Let's keep it up, then, hm?"

Then the realm of war receded, like a dream lost upon awakening. Omori stood back in the Necropolis once more, surrounded by the black stone and eerie green spirit-flame of Tartarus, with the other Seekers all around. To them, the divine sigil had merely burst into light, with no other strange occurrences. Yet the spirit of war now burned inside Omori, marked indelibly, like the pilot light of a flamethrower. All it needed was fuel.

...Had he just made a pact with a god?

...

Awesome.

As Omori did that, Jesse glanced around, pleased with this development. "Hey, nice to meet up with someone else. Good to see you, Queen Bee." She said.

"Hm, so the Insect beat us here?" asked the King of Evil, but merely shrugged afterward. Less work for them to do, he supposed. And it seemed the only items to be found were a sigil in this room - similar to the one that appeared after the Duke of Flies was defeated - and a rotten fruit in a recently unlocked adjacent room. Well neither of those were of any consequence to the Gerudo. The meant that the only remaining direction to go would almost certainly lead to the boss room.

"Well then, who wants to venture into the last room and challenge the boss of this floor?" he asked the Seekers currently present, "I imagine they get stronger the deeper we go, and I suppose I could use a new servant to call upon." he faced the ominous door on the eastern wall, but decided to wait for a spell in case anyone desired to follow him in. Sectonia eyed Ganondorf, questioning why he would want abominations under his command.

"I'm down." Jesse said. "We're kinda on a roll." She crossed her arms and casually leaned by the door.

"I should see what one of these 'bosses' look like myself. I missed the last two, and I could use a release for my fury." Sectonia said, thrusting her swords down to clean the blood off of them. Sectonia observed what happened to Omori, as he was a perspective minion, if a bit diminitive. Perhaps this boss would show Sectonia what everyone did, as she hadn't observed much thanks to the nature of this dungeon.

She then glanced at the item room, asking. "So, are any of you intereested in the rotten fruit? It seems to give a power over the creatures here, but as to what that is I do not know. And I for one do not want to eat a rotten fruit."

"Concidering a literal nightlight imbeded itself into Nadia when she grabbed it?" Omori spoke up, stepping back over to the others. He shook his head in distain. "I'm not risking turning my head into a tomato. As for the boss room..." He glanced at the door, trying to see what was waiting on the other side. "I guess it was a matter of time before I tossed my hat into the ring."

Admittedly, Omori felt better with a 4th fighter on their small team. With their combined strength, this boss could be cleaned out in no time!

...He quietly hoped his friends were still okay.

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

"OH,SO SHE GETS AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ROYAL BITCH, WHILE I'M STUCK HERE PERFORMING OPEN HEART SURGERY ON THE IRON GOLIATH?!"
"They've breached containment? Huh. Time to kill some terrorists then."
- Finn and Oliver

Battle Stats

Finnegan Vanhorn

Age: ???/15 | Gender: Male/Male | Beast | Uniform
Cane-Sword, Nightmare Ray? | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Invulnerable?, Avatar?, Killing Blow?? | Crimson Cradle
Disguise Artifact, Enhanced Transformation, Big Damn Hero, Masculinity, Overcity Shift, Flexibility, Hammerspace Handbag, Ouju-Sama, Snowbun
Cradle Supply, Connected, Encore, Physical Prowess, Mana Font? | Exposed, Mercy, Solo Performance

STR: 03 | AGI: 05 | VIT: 03 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 04

STR: 11_x4? | AGI: 12_x4? | VIT: 12_x4? | MAG: 13_{×4 + 1?} | LCK: 11_x4?

Oliver Kyle

Age: Fokin' Dead, Mate/15 | Gender: Male/Male | Spirit, Chemicals | Flowing
Bayonet Rifle | Duplication | Crimson Cradle
Dual Weapon, Ally, Big Backpack, Masculinity, Blood Magic, Enhanced Sustenance, Awareness, True Sight, Phylactery, Possession, Intangibility, Sixth Sense
Cradle Supply, Connected, ???, Magical Overload| Exposed, Mercy, ???, Monstrous Form

STR: 03 | AGI: 03 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 04

STR: 10 | AGI: 10 | VIT: 12 | MAG: 12 | LCK: 12

"FUCK!"

Was all Finn could respond with when Justine told him the soldiers broke through containment. It was also partly out of surprise when someone caused him to careen off his intended course. His weapon cut through the chain with ease. Finn's attention snapped to Iron Mouse as she explained what black magic bullshit the Tin Man was working with. "Oh NOW you tell me?!" The boy yelled back in response, gritting his teeth as he contained his irritation. But she had a point. Something like this would be useful for the Cradle. As she went to work, breaking the chains apart with her gun, Finn swiftly took out the remaining ones until the hatch holding the hearts was wide open.

Then Iron Mouse got knocked away, leaving him to face this beast alone.

He wouldn't have time to react when the Tin Man tried to hit him with a back swing. Driving his sword into the giant's arm, Finn narrowly avoided suffering the same fate as Mouse did. But for how long?

"This place is getting crazy, Finn! The spades broke through and are shooting everything that moves!! Is everything okay on your end?!"

The enemies broke through their defenses? That's even worse.

"I'm stuck dealing with the Tin Man alone, what do you think?" Finn responded almost too calmly...

"Mother of- Look, if this is too much, just say the word and we can blow this joint!"

Finn glanced back at the Tin Man's hearts.

"...Nah."

This really was getting ridiculous, and he didn't exactly have any other ideas that didn't involve using his new powers. So if this didn't work? He'll be ripping this bot's arm off and smacking him around with it. He casted his free hand at the collection of hearts, and focused on shifting them into the Overcity alongside himself.

---

Awe. She looked so nervous. Oliver remained patient as Connie introduced herself. With his spirits evacuating the last of the civilians, that gave him a bit of time to talk with her. "It's nice to meet ya, Connie." The ghost smirked. When she thanked him for helping evacuate the town, he waved it off with a chuckle. "S'nothin! Looked like ya needed the help anyways, now we just gotta wait until.....Oh shit." First, Justine called out that the flying soldiers were also suicide bombers, then he saw that the spades slipped through the barrier and began opening fire on...well...everything.

"Well then!" Oliver quickly grabbed Connie and sprinted away from enemy fire, talking to Finn through their coms. As long as nothing happened to him, the phantom could take a bullet or two as long as Connie wasn't hit. The collective of spirits and clones on their end began their retaliation against the card soldiers, Oliver expending more mana to keep their numbers from dropping.

Symphony of Espers

"Whoever says "It can't get any worse": kindly go fuck yourself."
Current Location: ???

Under the cover of darkness, the boy was forced to navigate through the building silent and cautious. His eyes couldn't exactly adjust to it instantly, especially out of his esper form. So Finn was stuck moving along the wall as if he was in a maze. He remained quiet. The last thing he wanted was the wrong person to spot him, armed or not. In his free hand he held his pistol, and his health-kit remained in his pocket.

Christ, it's way too quiet... Maybe I should just risk it and call out for-

His train of thought came to a halt when his next step accidentally knocked something over. Great. Then a sudden light shining itself in his face caused him to shield his eyes with a pained grunt. The source spoke up. He found Pac-A-Fist.

"Uh, y-yeah." Finn spoke up as he blinked away the temporary blindness inflicted on him. He spared a quick glance to the plant that could've screwed him over, but her next question was a bit more interesting. "I don't see any reason we should. Justin is gone, the diver's been dealt with, and I'm sure both of us are too low on mana to do anything else." He answered honestly, looking back towards Pac's direction.

"I just want to make sure you two are safe and sound. That's all."

”You two? You must be talking about Betty.” Pac exhaled before setting the flashlight on a nearby table. ”I don't know about her. Speaking for myself, well, I've been better. I have an appetite for blood now, but at least my actions are my own. Justin must have died. It's the only thing that makes sense.” Finn could hear her come closer. Her arm was partially illuminated by the light. It was still difficult to look directly at the light, but it was possible to see where she was. ”I was fully aware though, of everything that was going on. I couldn't defy Justin though. I am thankful that girl with the pigtails was there. You all did well, but she went out of her way to make sure I was safe.”

Finn pocketed his gun. "It's good you've regained your senses. Honestly. The bloodthirst can hopefully be managable until we can cure the rest of your curse." He said. He then frowned. "Every other esper got ambushed during our fight. I'm...not sure if the freelancers made it out better than we did. When this darkness dispates I can go and look for them next." The boy explained. "...I hope that creep didn't hurt you, Pac. I wish I could've helped more but I was a bit...busy." The fact that the both of them might've been aware of everything concerned him greatly.

”It doesn't matter anymore. He's dead, and that means there might be some hope for Betty and me.”

"Do you know where Betty went, by the way?"

She pointed at the light. ”She ran right past me. I think she ran out the emergency exit as soon as it stopped hailing. Wait, no, it's more complicated than that.” She held her chin. ”She had been bound by a melody. It took her some time to shrug that off. I was helping her get free when I noticed I was in control again. My will had been restored. I tried to talk her into surrendering with me, but she was so angry. She batted me away with her arm and ran out the back. I don't think she had a light with her, but thralls have an easier time making their way around in the dark.”

At that, his heart once again dropped to the pit of his stomach. He hurried over to the flashlight and snatched it up from it's resting place. "That was my doing. She was still trying to kill me even while untransformed. I thought I could get her inside before the hailstorm did us both in, but I was stupid AND running low on energy. She fucking knee'd me in the gut." Finn explained with a grimace. He then shook his head. Or rather, he shook away any grim thoughts trying to surface. "Her being angry at me or at the world aside, if this shit continues any further I might actually murder someone for the hell of it so let's go!"

”I um, wow.” Pac followed after Finn. ”It'll probably be better if I go with you anyway.”

"You won't have to supervise alone."

Pac-A-Fist may have caught some movement beforehand but for Finn, it would be as if Samuel had simply come into existence at that moment, his voice originating from only a short distance behind the boy. Standing up from a crouched position, a click could be heard as he turned on his clip light attached to his shoulder. "Sounds like we really should get moving. I'll help however I can... aside from the murder, at least."

Finn's head snapped around to look at Samuel with widened eyes. How long had he been sitting there? Seemed oddly calm at the mention of a possible crime but then again, the boy was opperating on a short fuse. It could've just been a mindless slip of the tongue. He regained a bit of his composure quickly. "No matter what happens, don't hurt her. Okay? Come on." Was all Finn said before he began moving in the direction of the emergency exit.

”He doesn't seem as scary as you do.” Pac kept up with Finn, but she did glance at Samuel every so often. ”I wasn't sure how Gemini would react to me. I'm glad we don't have to keep fighting. Do either of you have an idea as to how we're going to catch her?”

Finn scratched the back of his neck. "Could have me act as bait." He went on to explain: "She literally disregarded the rest of the fight just to try and pursue my ass. If she's still livid, no doubt she'll take the opportunity to try and finish me off."

Samuel followed the other two out of the emergency exit. He swept the immediate area with his clip light while they continued to speak about their intended plan. "That plan puts you at the center of attention and at risk," he noted, clearly unhappy about it. "If Justin's taint is still causing her to be aggressive, could the bait not be anyone?"

The boy furrowed his brows without looking back at Samuel. "Unless you have a better idea...? It's either lure her to us somehow or hope we miraculously run into her by our own volition." Finn's expression broke into a tired frown. "And I'm getting sick and tired of dead ends..."

”I wouldn't call slaying Justin a 'dead end.' I mean-”

"I wasn't even one of the ones to slay him though. They were." Finn clarified, sparing Samuel a quick, grateful smile before looking back to Pac. "But you know what I meant."

She sighed. ”I don't have a lot of mana left. As a thrall I'm not totally defenseless but I'm sure I'd get hungrier as I get more beat up. So I don't think I'll be of much use if a fight breaks out. Catching someone alive is tough, especially if they're strong. But your friend said something interesting.” Pac briefly looked at Samuel. ”If Betty is still under Justin's spell, why did I regain control of myself?”

For once, Finn had no idea. He opened his mouth with the intent to offer some theories, then quickly shut it with a grimace.

"...A good question," Samuel finally said after a period of silently cursing himself for not asking that very same thing. He turned to Pac-a-Fist before asking a question of his own. "Then perhaps it is not the same affliction? I overheard you say something about her being under the effect of a melody?"

The boy groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just a restrain melody, my doing, she was angry before that. It has to be something else."

"Ah, I see." Samuel seemed a little disappointed.

”Her anger was unreal. It has to be part of her dark blessing, right? She wouldn't be mad like that for any other reason?” With a huff, the trio stopped at an intersection. ”I suppose that's not going to bring us closer to her. We need to find a way to track her and you need a plan for when you find her.”

Finn already had one. The problem was that her being pissed to high heavens was very most likely his fault too, he just kept silent when asked. If he could just...

Hahah...Is it bad I'm concidering asking Baphomet if he can help...?

His mouth twitched into another frown. "Not like any of us have a built-in GPS for this kind of situation. We could split up here to cover more ground, but something tells me neither of you will agree to it." He deadpanned, shining the flashlight he held around to look for anything out of place. There had to be something!

"I do not trust this darkness," Samuel said bluntly. "With everything that has happened today, I hope you can forgive me for being uncompromising. I won't see another agent perish today," Samuel declared, shining his flashlight around in search of a clue. "As for tracking her... I must admit, I am at a loss."

He pondered for a moment. "I wonder if she may have retreated to a familiar place nearby? Though I wouldn't have the slightest clue myself where that might be."

At that, something crossed Finn's mind.

"Could she have fled to The Great Escape?"

In waving around his flashlight, Samuel was able to spot some footprints. The blood rain had stopped, but the sanguine streets had yet to drain. a single pair of footsteps led deeper into the darkness. Pac looked to the others.

”I wouldn't rule it out. She probably doesn't know it's a hub for the freelance espers. Or at least, I never told her it was.”

"Even a potential lead is better than none."

While he wasn't quite willing to separate to cover more ground even if that may have been a better way to blindly search for someone, he was willing to take what they could get. And, perhaps thankfully, they had a little bit to go on.

As he spotted the footsteps in the blood, he followed their trail as much as he could with the clip light, stopping as they became impossible to see through the darkness. "Eyes on some footprints leading further that way," Sam relayed to the other two, directing them with a pointed finger. "I find it unlikely, but it is possible these are not hers," he cautioned, though he certainly wasn't suggesting they ignore them.

Finn's eyes widened once he noticed the footprints. Finally, something to go off of! He began to follow the path in a quicker pace even before he started talking. "Come on!"

”We’re just going to keep following her?”

Despite her protests, Pac followed after the Gemini agents. The footprints seemed to go on forever. The light would cut through the shadows, but there would always be more footsteps to follow. But while it was always dark, it wasn’t always quiet. Before long, the sounds of combat reached their ears. Melodies and spells, blades and claws, screams both monstrous and human. The diver’s death didn’t mean anyone could go home. There was some light ahead too. But at this distance, it looked like flickering stars.

"Christ..." The boy tensed up, cursing under his breath at the sounds of ongoing conflicts. The last thing they needed was to get swept up in...whatever the hell was going on while they weren't able to fight back. He couldn't even tell if there was anyone he recognized in the darkness. Too loud for his liking. Finn carefully pulled out his pistol.

"Alright, guess we're going stealth mode or are we just gunning for it?" He whispered, keeping his flashlight low.

Samuel became tense as things began to sound more and more dangerous. Naturally, the potential of getting caught by something malevolent was one of the main factors he considered when rejecting the idea of splitting up, so this only reinforced his feelings on the matter.

His immediately switch to a lower profile answered them far before his hushed voice did. "Doesn't sound like the situation is going to wait for us, but we shouldn't give ourselves away until we know what we're dealing with, either." If those cries were monster, a pistol was quite effective at doing nothing to it, and Samuel wasn't going to be casting any melodies.

"...Okay, stealth it is then."

As the espers drew closer, the fighting got louder. Not only that, but the bloody tracks became harder to follow. While it was easy to spot fresh footprints on a bloody street, they became harder to follow when you added other footprints, crumbling debris, corpses. Betty’s tracks were becoming harder to follow, but she had to go this way. Unless she was strong enough to jump into one of the buildings?

The lights were drawing closer, and their source was clarified. The Ruinous Commet had been this way. Her flames had taken to all the vehicles in the alley, and by the smell, a few bodies as well. The espers’s noses had long become accustomed to the smell of blood, but melting flesh was something most of those present hadn’t quite gotten used to.

The group stopped in front of the corpse. He was holding onto a sniper rifle, and the upper half of his head had been replaced by a raytube. Pac-A-Fist clasped a hand over her mouth without saying anything.

I believe those belong in old CRT TVs, don't they? How very strange... and awful.

Having an unfortunate amount of experience in situations where having a nose was a disadvantage, Samuel wasn't especially phased with the malodorous corpse. His power often had some... undedesirable methods to achieve the purpose of killing people, to say the least. He believed that such brutal deaths should be reserved for monsters, not humans.

Eventually, the sniper rifle found Sam's attention and he glanced between his baton and it a few times. It was pretty obvious he was considering taking it before they left.

Of course, Finn had the same idea. He pocketed his sidearm once again, held his flashlight in between his teeth and attempted to pry the rifle out of the corpse's grip. Despite the smell of charred flesh or the sound of his own rapid heartbeat bleeding into his ears, he didn't seem too phased by it. Strange...

Unfortunate they couldn't drag the corpse back to the higherups for analysis right now. Burnt or not.

But not as unfortunate as the local sound of gunfire.

He felt it before he heard it. A bullet ripped through the stomach of his chassis while the assailant leaned out the window. the glass tube stuck in its neck lit up when the rifle’s muzzle flashed. Pac-A-Fist whipped around and fired several rounds at the sniper. One of which struck the glass cathode tube and shattered it. The sniper tumbled backwards and out of sight.

Cursing under his breath, Samuel hurriedly shone his light around to spot any more threats lurking in the darkness before they could attack. He did not see any on his sweep, but that meant little for their safety. So by the time that Pac-A-Fist had finished dealing with the assailant, Samuel had already transformed back into his Esper form. A quick nod was his way of communicating thanks to the girl before he moved over to assess Fable's condition.

"You've been shot, Fable," Samuel made the rather obvious observation with a purpose as he made deliberate eye contact with the boy. Taking a bullet out of nowhere could easily send someone into shock even if it wasn't immediately fatal. "Are you still with us?"

Both of Finn's hands were pressed up against the bullet wound, dyeing them red. The poor boy was shaking like a leaf, still recoiling from the unexpected attack by how rapidly he was breathing. He was shot. He was shot.

He never looked so terrified.

"...H-Hurts...I'm fine but, i-it hurts..." Was all he could muster out in response to Samuel. Looks like that was a yes.

Sam could not entirely hide his relief that the boy was still coherent, his tone briefly losing intensity. "Good, keep pressure on that wound so we can keep it that way."

As if waiting for him to finish, the group could hear something in the distance. Samuel once again looked to that rifle...

The gunshot, or maybe Finn’s agonized scream, drew someone’s attention. They could hear hurried footsteps rushing to their position. She had soot all over her face.

"Fable?" She approached the clockwork esper.

But she was met with the barrel of the sniper rifle being pointed at her as she tried to get too close. Samuel did not recognize her and was clearly ready to pull the trigger if she did not respect their distance. "STAY RIGHT THERE!" the chorus of voices that followed his own repeated in varying speeds and intensities. "Who are you and what do you want?" he questioned.

Mary pulled back her arms. "Wah? I-Im-"

”Cthulya is a friend.” Pac reassured Sam. Even she looked a little nervous with his apparent aggression.

Samuel was clearly on edge, but he had no reason to doubt what Pac-A-Fist was saying. "In that case," he lowered the rifle in cooperation, leveling an apologetic look toward Cthulya. As he was currently transformed and his face was static, the 'apologetic' part probably didn't get across from his body language. "I apologize for the aggression. I was not expecting a friendly face so soon after an ambush," he paused, considered something, then added, "This place is just as safe as it looks."

"Which is to say, not very." Mary agreed. "There’s snipers and the largest weretiger I’ve ever seen out here. We need to go inside and-" Mary ended up cutting herself off again. Her eyes wandered over Finn’s prone form. "Oh my god!"

”Keep an eye out for me.” Pac kneeled down beside Finn and examined him. ”Alright, Fable, you with me?” She patted the side of his head. ”Stomach wounds are one of the most painful injuries you can receive, but they are survivable. The sooner we get you to a hospital, the better. I’m sure Gemini has their own facilities that are going to be better than anything Pax Septimus has.” She forced a smile. ”Entering the Esper state isn’t going to heal you, but you might find it easier to move if your other form isn’t too badly hurt.” She looked at Samuel. ”We should really leave.”

_{"Not...c-coincidence..."} Finn couldn't help uttering from what Mary explained, prying one of his free hands away from the other to grab his Grimore. A broken chuckle slipped out of him. The one time he's untransformed, and he got caught off guard. "Fuck my life..." With that, he turned back into the Timekeeper.

Taking a deep breath, the mechanical esper stood back up. "Well I dread the moment I have to revert back." He was lucky enough to have healed before attacking the Holy Diver. The boy was still shaken up, but at least he wasn't in pain like this. "Let's not waste any more time out here than we need to. We'll talk more inside." He picked up the flashlight he dropped off the ground. _{"God, what am I going to tell my parents?"}

”Pax Septimus was just hit by a series of crazy storms. It shouldn’t be too hard to think of an excuse.” Pac looked for a door. ”There’s so much rubble.”

Mary stuttered. "W-w-w-w-w-what are you doing!? Heading inside will protect you from the snipers, but there are still monsters about. This. Place. Is. Not. Safe!"

”It would be preferable to get Fable to a hospital, but I don’t think we can make him turn back right now.”

Pac and Mary might have been considering their options, but Samuel was not going to let someone else get the jump on them. They weren’t being quiet, and Fable’s scream could likely be heard by everyone in the district. And a certain thrall couldn’t resist Fable’s cries of anguish.

With a shriek, Betty launched herself out of a second story window and dove for the esper’s position. Her violin was poised overhead, ready to smash whatever it hit to pieces.

Welp. They found her.

Quickly spinning on his heel towards the direction Betty was approaching from, Finn held his weapon up to block the blunt instrument.

Samuel naturally redirected the borrowed rifle toward their sudden aggressor, but even had he wished to ignore Finn's request, he wasn't confident enough in his marksmanship to shoot with friendlies so close. Not unless he absolutely had to. But since he had given them some space to look at Finn's wounds, they were surely in a better position to help him.

And so Samuel held back and waited. Hitting an ally wasn’t something he was willing to risk. But he may have overestimated the help his esper allies were able to offer. Pac-A-Fist’s pistol was in her hand, but she likely had the same reservations about shooting someone so close to an ally. Mary on the other hand was armed with her puppet and little else. Neither of them had much mana to speak of.

When the blow came down, Finn was knocked onto his back. From there, Pac and Mary took two very different approaches to dealing with Betty. Pac-A-Fist stepped back and focused her pistol on Betty, but Mary moved in to punch some sense into the thrall. But Betty had an eye on the cthulian esper. As soon as her violin left Finn’s sword, she plowed her makeshift club into Mary’s ribcage. She clutched her side and toppled over as Betty prepared for another swing towards Finn.

With an audible, disappointed sigh only hidden from notice by the cacophony of combat, Samuel discarded the rifle and returned to using his Instruments as he moved to assist Finn once Mary had been knocked down.

"Damnit!" He practically lept up from off the ground when Mary got hit, letting his rapier collide against the instrument and move it off course. "Stop it, Betty! He's gone, he won't hurt you anymore! We don't have to fight!!"

Samuel had gotten close enough to threaten Betty by the time Finn had started trying to appeal to her, deciding to wait to see if it was in vain or not.

But it didn't look like Betty was going to hear Finn out. She was raging out of her mind. Someone with sound thinking facilities likely would have hesitated before jumping into the situation she had put herself in. The only reason why Betty hadn’t been bodied already was because no one wanted to hurt her. Mary was laying motionless on the ground, Pac held off on shooting, and Finn remained on the defensive. But Samuel…

He drove his knife into her just as she was getting ready to swing. She didn’t even have time to react before he shoulder tackled her, wrenching out his blade as she tumbled sideways. She was quick to return to her feet, but it was evident she didn’t like that last attack too much. Her right arm trembled as streams of blood ran down her arm. She was holding her violin with her only good arm.

But even if Betty had been weakened, she wasn’t giving up.

With another cry of hatred, she rushed in to attack Samuel this time.

Seeing the injured Betty resume the fighting, Samuel lost a lot of the confidence he had in Fable freeing her from whatever violent fog clouded her mind before she ended up murdering one of them. "This isn't going anywhere. She is beyond reason," Samuel exclaimed, at least thankful that the heat had been taken off of Finn for the moment.

"I don't think we can play nice here, Fable," Samuel was focused on the girl trying to beat him with a violin so he couldn't shoot the boy an apologetic look like he wanted. "She needs to be disarmed and restrained, then we can focus on remedying her."

Finn opened his mouth to speak up, but found himself unable to with the lump that formed. He was right. She hated him, after all. Why would she ever listen? With a grimace, he aimed his pistol at her left shoulder, and fired. "I'm so sorry!"

The bullet ripped through Betty’s shoulder. By this point it was impossible to distinguish between her cries of fury and her cries of pain. She was getting angrier, but she was also getting weaker.

But she didn’t release her weapon, even as her arms started to fail her. With Sam so close, Betty opened her mouth and leaned in to bite the agent.

Finn couldn't let that happen.

The boy fired his gun at the back of her leg in an attempt to stagger her. The temptation was there to just unload the whole clip and be done with it. He was sure as hell they'll both be admitted to a hospital after this is said and done, but he was trying to be smart about this. Especially with Samuel taking the brunt of Betty's seemingly endless ire.

As he abstained from any attacks targeting vital points on Betty, Samuel made it a point to abuse the injuries she had sustained. He chose her working arm as his main target but would swing from the injured arm's direction, try to force a lockout with the violin so that he could use his offhand to strike, etc.

...How so very close...

Despite how nervous bullets flying so close to him made the more experienced G.E.M.I.N.I agent feel, Samuel remained determined to keep her locked in conflict with him. He had no other option besides, and the injuries were starting to have a more pronounced effect on Betty, whose body seemed less willing to continue the fight than her spirit.

But man, her spirit was tenacious. On Samuel's end, the bite was rather a bit awkward for him in particular. He wasn't about to risk her accidentally killing herself on his blade, so he had decided to try to meet her with a strong elbow.

Sam’s elbow connected with Betty’s head before she could bite him. While Finn’s shot was certainly risky, he did manage to miss Samuel despite their close proximity. They were so close in fact that Pac-A-Fist was still hesitating to fire. But maybe she wasn’t going to need to. Betty was stumbling back, and it looked like she was on the verge of falling over.

Then she transformed.

The blisters and burns all over her body hadn’t gone away, but she was more than strong enough to hold her sword at the ready. Her ceaseless howl continued as she swung her blade towards the gemini espers. Even the nearby building couldn’t halt her blade. It’s outer wall crumbled under the heft of her blade.

"Nothing's working!!" Finn cried out as he moved out of distance from her attack. Hurting her seemed to make her worse, but trying to get through to her without violence didn't do jackshit! He was so close to just...giving up...

Who was he kidding? This wasn't worth the hell he had endured.

He didn't deserve to get popular cause of a fight that was never his. Some fucking relationship Shimr made them out to be. He just wanted to go home and forget everything that happened this whole incident.

"...I'm sorry for everything." The mechanical esper spoke in a small voice to no one in particular, then fired the rest of his clip at the swordswoman, timing it to avoid accidentally hitting his fellow agent. When he ran out of ammo, he charged in for a stab.

Samuel had naturally made it a big priority to avoid being cut by the blade, so he was not quite as concerned with what Fable was doing until things became a lot louder. The staccato of shots ripped through any notion of understanding Samuel had and left the man confused.

What were they doing anymore?

While reason escaped everyone, reality unfolded. And the reality was that a wounded, brainwashed esper like Betty wasn’t up for a lot more pain. Samuel was staying clear of Betty’s sword, so it wasn’t too difficult to avoid hitting him. Beyond that, Betty couldn’t defend herself mid swing. The physical bullets had little difficulty ripping through her pulverized flesh. Her shoulder, her legs, the building behind her. The erratic spray would have killed a less resilient esper, but Betty still clung to life. Her howls had quieted down to an agitated growl, and the flow of blood blinded her sight. Even if she had the strength to raise her sword, she wouldn’t know what to do with it. The distant sound of combat was enough to mask the boy’s advance.

Finn ran Betty though. The world seemed to freeze once his sword was hilt-deep in her torso. A few weeks ago they were calmly drinking coffee while getting to know each other. Now she was just another monster Finn had to cut down. She hissed as she slid off the blade and collapsed in a heap. Betty had been defeated.

After a minor conflict and having only suffered multiple gunshot wounds and stab wounds, they had successfully neutralized the threat Betty posed... and maybe Betty herself? It wasn't pretty, at least, and the pitiful mixture of blood, stress, and exhaustion weighed heavily on Samuel, who was more than ready to regroup with the others and leave the terrible day behind them. Whether Betty was with them or not didn't personally matter to Samuel.

Whatever emotion the Timekeeper felt faded into a cold indifference as the beserker finally collapsed. "That's for what you did to me back at the mansion." A quiet voice carried a careful spite. He may be an idiot, but he wasn't that stupid. He moved to kick Betty into laying on her back. Dead eyes stared down at her. He almost didn't look human. "You know, for all the shit you put me through these past few weeks, I could just go ahead and finish you right here and now." He spoke, resting the point of his rapier where her heart was. "But leaving you like this would make us even, wouldn't it? Just depends on whether or not I do what you weren't able to last time. I do wonder, will it'll bite me back in the ass no matter what I do?" Despite his words, Finn pulled out the first aid kit from his pocket. He crouched down, and casted his gaze aside. "And you call me a dumbass? You're borderlining on suicidal with how stubborn and pissed you've let yourself get. ...Then again, for the former, I admit this is hypocritical coming from me. But you have a life, don't you? Friends, family, dreams, were you really willing to abandon all that? You're lucky to have people that care."

Finn would have to wait for her to untransform to do anything about her wounds. Until then, he was taking the opportunity to finally drill some sense into that thick skull of hers.

And to apologize.

"...I really am sorry. For everything." After a moment, he spoke again, repeating his words. "You have every right to hate me, I get it. I let Mary scare me out of the diner, I let a behemoth corner me before I could head back to find you, and...I let Justin hurt you." Finn let the words form themselves, but he avoided looking back at her. "I wasn't the only one worried about you either, many of the freelancers were. I've been taking every lead I could off Shimr, but it seemed that no matter what I did, I was always...too late, too weak." He frowned. "I should've been there to protect you, but I failed." But the boy’s pent up emotion did nothing to move Betty, who remained unresponsive. She laid there as blood seeped out of her wounds. Maybe that's why he refused to look at her.

"But maybe you'll get the chance to make it up to her. Now isn't the time for regrets or despair, save that for when you know you've failed," Samuel produced a small glowing ball from his person, kneeled down beside the beaten Esper, and touched it to her, applying the Stabilize note it was enchanted with. Samuel hadn't discarded caution entirely and was ready to introduce Betty to the pommel of his sword if she got a second wind and chose to attack again, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that. He also hoped Veronica's power could even help for Finn's sake, but tempered his expectations.

Hopes aside, the poor visibility and uncertainty of the surrounding area made for a poor place to attempt to mend someone's critically-serious injuries, let alone when Betty was liable to turn aggressive again if she regained her strength. Samuel wanted out and fast, knowing there wasn't much point to cuffing a transformed Betty. "But I think we'll need a bit more than just this cursed darkness for that, and I'm running on fumes and borrowed power. If she's going to survive, we need to get her some real help."

As he prepared to lift or help lift Betty under the bold assumption they weren't just going to leave her there, the older agent glanced around, settling on Pac, who had been rather quiet, not that the situation had encouraged small talk or anything. "I appreciate the discipline, especially in light of Justin's tainted influence," the demonic voice said after noticably lingering on the gun she had. He didn't say anything more, though, his concerns now on getting out of danger as safely and as quickly as they could given their encumberance.

Pac-A-Fist snapped out of her trance. ”I guess.” she lowered her gun and approached Mary. ”I’m just hoping nobody else has to die today. Did you save her? That stab looked fatal.” But Betty’s esper form was holding out. There was a purple stain where the ball had touched her. When she picked up Mary, she winced. ”I just hope Elroy and the other freelancers are okay.” She turned towards Finn and gave him a good hard look, but said nothing. Without wasting any more time, she followed Samuel away from danger.

And no one but Finn could hear it, but a certain deer headed demon chuckled somewhere in the darkness.

"..." Finn said nothing as they picked up their wounded and left.

He just sat there, eerily still. He already said what he wanted to say, no matter whether or not she lived or died. Baphomet laughed at him. He didn't react. The mechanical husk lagged behind the two as they made their leave.