7th Protocol--[Action all over the place] ☢

[idkmybfforin]

[This wasn’t the first time someone precious to her had gone quiet. Orin had stopped talking right several days ago, but Okuu assumed she would come back to her senses soon.

But she didn’t.

She should have expected this; it happened to her master, her master’s sister…and now her best friend. For a brief, horrible moment, she felt like the only creature in all the world.

Then the yatagarasu had started whispering to her, and Utsuho knew she was not alone. The voice preached fire, unfettered burning destruction like a sun allowed too close to the earth. Normally, discipline kept the voice at bay—what little discipline could be forced into her head. It was easy to ignore the voice when one barely heard it.

…but this time, it was different. This time, that all sounded like a very, very good idea.

Utsuho shook out her wings and leapt into the air, heat shimmering at the edges of her feathers.]


[ACTIVE STUFF]

[The hell raven was moving fast this time; no lazy, mindless circling today. The heat gathering at her wings flickered into flames now, as if the air around her was catching light. More heat gathered into the octagonal cannon covering most of her arm until the light grew too bright to look at—and then tore free in a fiery beam that seared an ugly scar into the formerly pristine road below.

When Utsuho cast her other arm out, suns appeared at her fingertips—tiny, miniature suns that grew alarmingly and then sped away as if thrown, arcing out across the sky until they burned out the instant her focus went elsewhere. Some fell to the ground like stars and burn out in the grass there or hiss and spit clouds of steam when they sink into the pond; the hell raven wasn’t really paying attention. She wasn’t aiming at the ground for the most part, some small bit of her remaining conscience saying her master might be down there, her best friend, her master’s sister…most of her anger was directed at the sky, but engaging a challenge was not beyond her senses.

For all that could be said of Okuu’s lack of intelligence, there certainly wasn’t much remaining in her eyes now. She was angry, very angry, and wasn’t thinking and didn’t want to think.


It probably won’t be too long before she gets herself droned, but in the meantime.

For today’s forecast there is a chance of angry gods flying overhead. You know, the usual for Mayfield.]

Comments

[idkmybfforin]

[COME AT ME BRO

The prospect of injury doesn't deter her in the slightest--if she even heard it at all to begin with.

Utsuho thrashes furiously, the temperature around her spiking and her wings arcing up from the ground to begin beating again and fire beginning to gather at her hands once more.]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin grits his teeth, continuing to shove back down on Utsuho with his boots and the muzzle of his shotgun as she attempts to get back up. It isn't until he notices the heat, though, that he reacts.]

Wrong answer.

[Balin pulls the trigger. Youkai flesh, meet lead shot.]

[In a failure of cosmic irony, Balin is not actually using birdshot in his shotgun.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The flesh and tendon and bone part almost instantly at such point-blank range, severing the hell raven's arm and showering them both with a spray near-black and near-boiling blood. Utsuho shrieks furiously, but as her arm comes off so does a burst of strength enough to toss Balin off of his feet--or at the very least off of her.]

[walking_nuke]

[It all happens too fast for Balin to react—he's thrown to the ground by Utsuho's newfound rage, several feet away from her. He was too busy processing the fact that Utsuho's blood is black—and scalding, from the sensation of what bits splattered on to him in the midst of getting thrown off.]

—Fffffuckin'!—

[The shotgun fell out of his hands in the midst of all that, but it's still strapped to that sling, so it isn't far from his reach. He's already trying to scramble to his feet while picking it up with one hand, as adrenaline starts coursing into his body.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The hell raven rises to her feet, raises her wings, and takes off again--but low, sweeping very, very close to Balin.

She leaves the arm cannon--and the still twitching arm inside--behind.]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin's just getting to his feet to see the hell raving coming right at him. Losing her arm hasn't slowed her down at all. These youkai must have a lot of willpower to be capable of feeling pain yet still fully function ...]

[Balin pumps the shotgun and starts running perpendicular to Utsuho's flight path, looking to duck behind another parked vehicle on the street. He might not get out of the way in time, though—and knowing this, he turns and fires another shotgun shell at her.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The shell caught Utsuho full in the face, tearing open her cheek and blasting her jaw apart. That made her pause, and made her wrathful bellow sound distressingly warped.

She clutched at the ruin of her face with her remaining hand, the bleeding stump of her right arm flailing uselessly. Whatever regenerative power was intended for it was instead redirected towards the head wound, the more pressing issue.

The jaw knit back together first; burning red strands like muscles lacing the bone into one piece and then connecting the jaw to the rest of the face like proper muscles. The skin was slower to recover, but once the hell raven could snap her fangs together again she didn't seem to care.

Where had he gone?]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin didn't stop moving even when he'd seen his shot land in her face; he ducks behind another vehicle, giving the shotgun another pump while tuning out the youkai's inhuman roaring. He waits for a minute before peeking around the corner of the vehicle to check where Utsuho is now—]

[—Damn, he really did get her good. Not good enoough, though, as he now sees her rapidly mending the damage. Regeneration ... should have known. Well, he knows how to counter that.]

[Standing up from behind the car just as Utsuho finishes with the haphazard mending of her body, Balin manifests his tabula once again. Only this time, there's two Logos Elements shimmering on it.]



[He keeps his hand splayed out toward Utsuho. Something like a vapor is spiraling out of his palm and lancing right toward her body—not instant like the lightning bolt, but it's homing directly onto her. That "something" just so happens to be a mist full of superantigens and virulent toxins, like the kind produced by flesh-eating bacteria. It's the Improved Rot form of Ruin.]

[While these toxins are designed to work on any organic-based physiology, there isn't enough of these toxins to kill Utsuho, should they be fully infused into her. They'll definitely wreak some havoc, though.]

[idkmybfforin]

[There he is. There he is. Her hand drops away from her face as she lashes out again--and as if thrown, not-so-little balls of flame follow, streaking towards Balin.

That strange cloud she didn't notice until too late, when her next breath burned like the fire had turned against her. The mangled stump of her arm had begun to glow with regenerative light, but the light quenched into an ugly blackness, as if the limb were turning necrotic. The hell raven gags on the next breath after that--and the next after that, coughing a substance between inflamed tissue and blood.

She backwinged away from the cloud, uncertain what to make of this strange smoke.]

[walking_nuke]

[And this is what cover is for! Balin drops to the ground, behind the car—and letting those goodness gracious great balls o' fire sail overhead. The ambient heat created by those fireballs is still painfully hot, though—it singes the back of his hair and leaves something like a sunburn on parts of his skin.]

[He clenches his teeth as pain washes over his body. It might not be nearly as bad as the damage he's inflicted on the hell raven ... but she can regenerate.]

[Once the fireballs have sailed past, Balin pops up from behind cover again, taking advantage of Ruin's effects on the hell raven—by firing two more shotgun shells her way.]

[idkmybfforin]

[JUST WALK IT OFF MAN

That unnatural burning recedes, replaced instead by pain she was far more familiar with. Wounds opened up again on her leg and torso, making the yatagarasu's eye flare briefly.

Then she hops forward, lands heavily on the car Balin's hiding behind, and peers over the top.

Boy, she sure is mad.]

This makes me wish I took more screencaps of Balin casting Logos Abilities back in TR. XD

[walking_nuke]

[Balin had been ducking behind the car deciding on his next move; the sound of hell raven feet slamming onto the car startles him. Instinct takes over.]

Shit!

[Balin springs up out of his crouched position, heading for the back side of the vehicle while turning to face Utsuho. He's manifested his tabula, with the script of the Eloh flickering and scrolling through its holographic-like form, but he hasn't actually invoked anything yet.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho snarls terribly at him, fingers twisting into the metal beneath her hand.

Near-black blood dribbled from the wound in her face, from her torso and ruined stump of an arm, making her look quite savage. Her wings were tented to either side like massive tripods, keeping her upright where she might have wobbled.

She was gathering her strength again. All of those wounds and the whatever-it-was-from before made it hard to lunge immediately to the next round.]

[walking_nuke]

[For a moment, Balin wonders if she's had any sense knocked into her yet.]

[But that lasts only for a moment, given her animal-like snarling. At this point, she might only talk if she's been worn down almost completely.]

[Another Logos Element appears on the Tabula:]



[Yep, he's unleashing another bolt of lightning on Utsuho. This one isn't nearly as loud, but the bolt itself is still pretty strong. Less taxing on his mental stamina to use Discharge instead of the stronger flavors.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho was prepared this time--at least, a little bit. She still didn't get out of the way in time, but that prickling, burning light didn't put her out as much. It made the hell raven shudder, but not fall.

The fingers of her remaining hand dug into the metal even before the convulsions stopped. The instant they did, Okuu beat her wings to lift off again--and carried the car with her. With one arm.

And then she threw it at him. Also with one arm.]

[walking_nuke]

[Following the Discharge that Balin unleashed on Utsuho, Balin continues to back up and get distance between him and the rampaging youkai, keeping his shotgun trained on her center of mass as best as he can manage.]

[When she takes off, Balin tries to shoot her down with the remaining shotgun shells in the magazine—though the spread of lead shot and the car getting in the way probably kept Utsuho safe from getting hit. It's only after he's out of shells in the magazine that he takes a moment to be amazed that the youkai is flying while holding on to a car with one arm.]

[... Uh oh.]

[Balin triggers Sprint again and takes off running just as Utsuho throws the car at him—running toward Utsuho in hopes that'll keep him from getting crushed by heavy metal.]

[It works—to a degree. A piece of the car is snapped off by the impact and rebounds backwards, striking Balin in the back and causing him to tumble to the ground.]

—Ungh!

[He's still got enough adrenaline in his body to try and walk it off. He's staggering to his feet, having let go of the shotgun and letting it dangle freely by the sling while he reaches for that big ugly sidearm in his thigh holster.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The hell raven sails by overhead, not paying any mind to all those fresh injuries that opened up on her wings and shoulders. Freed of the car's weight, she sails up above the roof of the nearest house, turns about in her hovering--and drops to the roof, wings resting on the eaves.

She doesn't launch st him again immediately; her arm was too busy glowing, reforming and regenerating the severed surface. It was much slower going than what it had been on her face, with the light a much duller, almost sickly looking rust color.

Instead she's just perched there, only a little ominously. She could stamp that life out whenever she liked, but...in a moment. When she caught her breath.]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin unholsters the pistol, holding it in both hands. His posture is a little hunched from having that piece of car whack him from behind, but he keeps an eye on Utsuho's movements, ready to move at the slightest hint of further aggression.]

[When it's clear she's preferred to back off for the moment, Balin carefully approaches the house where she's perched. He's aware she's trying to regenerate her wounds, but ... maybe she'll talk now.]

Had enough?

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho snorts, disdainfully. When she speaks...her voice is a bit different. Mechanical, echoey; like something else was using the hell raven as a mouthpiece.]

What do humans know of anything, I wonder.

[The eye in her chest was focused on Balin very, very intently.]

[walking_nuke]

[Wow, this was not how Utsuho talked the past two times that Balin encountered her. His expression softens a little, a testament to his surprise.]

Yeah, real cute. What is'ere to know about'a crazy bitch tryin'a repeat what she did back in'at Gensokyo place? Tryin'a kill anyone who so much as talks to her?

[For a moment, he wonders if bringing up what Satori once said to him would snap her out of this rampage—though he discards that thought when he recalls that Satori really doesn't care who lives or dies in this town.]

[idkmybfforin]

...you know nothing of pain.

[Utsuho lurches forward in an almost robotic fashion, wings spreading with an only stiff kind of grace. She sails at Balin...and then past him, turning stiffly to follow the street in an unnaturally straight line.

No sounds of destruction follow her--or much sound at all, even as her form shrinks and power fades to a grey nothing.]

1/2

[walking_nuke]

Oh fuck you! You wanna talk about pain? I lost my family, my friends, my planet to genocidal fucks like you! I fight on'a front lines every day! You don't see me tryin'a nuke everyone in'is town—

2/2

[walking_nuke]

[Indignant rant interrupted by incoming nukebird! At first, Balin raises his pistol as she flies at him, trying to sidestep away from her flight path. His aim slowly lowers, though, when he sees just how different Utsuho's behavior is now. He lowers the pistol entirely when, watching Utsuho fly past him, he can see her shapeshifting. Is she really retreating?]

[He watches her flight for a few moments more ... Then his gaze turns to look in the direction of the street, where he notices the black splotches of blood still on the street, as well as the hell raven's weapon. The amputated arm is probably still inside ... Or maybe it shifted into a tiny wing? Either way, he's walking over to go pick up and examine the arm cannon while holstering the pistol.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Nope, it's still an arm. And it flops partway out of the cannon like a dead and bloody fish as soon as Balin picks the thing up, revealing the nasty, charred burns on the skin. The burns seem to be old, however.

The cannon is carved with geometric glyphs at the near end, most not making any sort of sense. Some are simple lines, others more complex triangles.

On the opposite end is a ring of crooked rods that look for all the world like misshapen nails--and the barrel itself, which is dormant and quiet now.]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin turns the control rod over in his hands, taking note of all the details—including that arm. So body parts removed from the hell raven remain in the state they were in at the time of amputation, eh ...]

[Balin idly tries to remove the still-twitching arm from inside the control rod while contemplating the significance of this thing. It didn't look like an implant, so it must be some sort of regained equipment or weapon. Crazy as she was acting, Utsuho didn't seem too concerned about losing this, which means it's either disposable and she has more of these on hand—if not here then in Gensokyo, at least—or ...]

[Either way, he's definitely going to take this home with him. ... He'd take the arm, too, if there were any AFS Medics or just plain ol' biologists in town with the skills/powers/equipment/what have you to analyze it. He's really curious how that woman could fly with those wings and carry a car in one arm while doing it. Probably boosted by something like Logos or magic, but he'd love to know for sure.]