VitaVitaAR

Fate/Eternum

Mihama Nanako

Nanako opened her mouth. For a moment, she wanted to say she'd taken cover because of the arrow barrage. Because it was still close, and that if she took cover it wouldn't force Meltryllis to have to consider her when she dodged too. But then she shut her mouth just as quickly. All she would do if she spoke would have been to upset Meltryllis. Nothing she could say would do any good. So she took the admonishment.

... If she was being honest, the sight of Meltryllis's dance through the arrows had been so beautiful it made her heart hurt even more. Her Servant was graceful and lovely, and yet she had ruined everything about the friendly relationship they could have built. The relationship she had envisioned when she thought about summoning a Servant...

Weakly, Nanako shook her head. Now wasn't the time, it couldn't be...!

The hulking figure with the Roman sword slowly rose, having cratered the wall with its impact. It did not move as a natural creature, its upper body bent backwards before reaching a more normal posture with an ugly snapping sound. Had Meltryllis's kick broken something inside its body? Had the snapping sound been it self-repairing?

"... Oppressssooooorrrr..." it groaned, stepping forward, maw hanging open to reveal that hanging tongue once more, drool dribbling to the ground.

"Wh... what is that...?" Nanako found herself saying, as the shadowy figure raised its sword once more, preparing to charge. But that wasn't all.

With more time to take stock of the situation, and able to see past the damaged wall, Nanako realized with horror why there were no workers around. All she saw was a single arm laying limply, blood pooling around it... blood on the more distant walls, blood... there was so much blood beyond the damaged wall. They were dead... the workers here were dead...!

A hail of arrows suddenly rained down from the upper windows! This time, it looked as if they were aimed to try and drive both Nanako and Meltryllis towards the hulking shadow beast!

@PKMNB0Y

Mahou Shoujo no Hex Night: A Magical Girl Battle RP

Hmm, trying to figure out what to actually have Hikari do in my next post.

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

As soon as @Chi posts, I can update there too! Especially if someone does a certain thing.

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

@Ebonsquire: That would be a good time, honestly.

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

@Ebonsquire: Hmm... I'll allow another signup.

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

Indeed, there were shapes on the walls. After a few moments, it was obvious what they were, as well. Marked in a faded black material that could have been ink or something else entirely was multiple sets of intricate sigils. They covered the walls, lining every surface. But without any magical interference, it would have been incredibly difficult to see them at all. What was immediately notable was the simple fact that manually drawing these sigils onto the walls of the alley would have been impossible. Not simply due to the fact that anyone doing such a thing would have to have been spotted at some point, but also because of the height of the walls and how far up they were. There was no way anyone could have painted them that high without equipment.

But, if the killer was skilled with displacement sorcery...

Suddenly, a faint glow travelled across the symbols. Immediately the alleyway seemed to stretch rapidly in both directions, flooding with darkness. Of course, any proper mage could discern just what had occurred. This was unquestionably a closed space, and the sigils were powering it.

How it had been activated and why would have to wait, for out of the shadows their leaped a set of five attackers. They were strange automatons, white and gold with a vaguely female shape. They attempted to encircle the group, spinning their razor-coated arms, their blank, feminine faces showing not the slightest hint of life.

@Anza@Bartimaeus@KoL

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

@Bartimaeus: The other two alleys will get some excitement shortly, too.

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

Arinne didn't need to be a medical expert to figure out the nature of the bloodstains. Some where from the victim's mouth, the rest were from the extracted organs. Even if the killer took plenty of precautions, it was difficult to avoid leaving behind that much. But without supernatural abilities, well, it was hard to say that it would actually be of any use. Thankfully...

Lillia's specializations made this a great deal simpler. Indeed, the flowers were adeptly tracing the location of the pilfered organs. But it was strange. Rather then most of them pointing in the same direction... they had clustered in sets. Three sets were pointing to the same places, and one set was pointing slightly upwards, all around them. As if the organs were far closer by then anyone had expected.

"... What's this?" Arinne frowned, "I understand one of the flowers is indicating towards the corpse itself, but the others..."

She paused for a moment. Perhaps the three clusters were indicating where large amounts of organs had been dumped? But no, what sense did that make? What was the purpose of taking the organs if...

Arinne's eyes widened.

There was a sudden surge of magical energy. With it, the alleyway suddenly lengthened, stretching both ways, darkness flooding to fill the new space around them.

This was some sort of closed space! A sort of domain created by a mage, within which they can set certain rules or parameters! But how!? There couldn't have been another mage nearby... unless it had already been in place. Was this how the victims were isolated?

But what was the point of activating it now?!

"Tch. Whatever their aim is, they have no idea who they're dealing with," Arinne commented, the initial surprise wearing off as she folded her arms, "I'll simply dispel it. If they're not actively maintaining this field, then there's no way it'll withstand a direct assault."

But that wasn't it.

From the darkness, a figure almost immediately emerged. Arinne caught sight of a metallic flash to her left. Magical energy flared through her very being, flowing down through her arms to her fingertips as she spun in response.

"Winter comes for you!"

It was another simple single action-spell. But that was all she had time for. She had to delay. Immediately her attacker was slowed, and she had a chance to perceive what it was in full.

A doll.

Of a sort, at least. It was a simple shape, vaguely feminine, the face sculpted to match its figure. White and gold, it was clearly some sort of machine, an automaton, its oddly curved arms lined with razor-sharp blades...

"Saturday!"

No other words needed to be said to indicate what Arinne wanted the other girl to do.

But this wasn't the only one. Further attackers, identical to the first, emerged from the darkness. There were five of them in total, raising their curved, bladed limbs.

(Battle Theme time)

@Rin@Raineh Daze@TheFake

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

I'll tell anyone who investigates what's on the walls, it felt kind of unnatural to include that in the post before anyone actually looked at it. ^^;

Mist City Story: An Urban Fantasy Mage RP

Given the nature of the killings, and the fact that there were no external injuries at all, the source of the bloodstains seemed obvious. The smaller one was likely bleeding from the victim's mouth, and the large one was likely where the extracted organs had landed in a gruesome pile. Beyond that, there was little that could be identified. The crime itself was butchery, but the murderer seemed as if they were aware enough not to leave any conventional evidence behind. There were reasons beyond the nature of the murders that the crime was baffling to the local law enforcement, after all.

But that didn't mean no supernatural evidence was left behind.

Examination of the walls would indicate something somewhat unusual. There were faint black streaks, something that perhaps would go unnoticed by law enforcement as it wasn't any clear indication of any sort of evidence. However...

Any examination would indicate that it was actually quite pertinent to the investigation itself.

@KoL@Anza@Bartimaeus