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]

[...that door wasn't closed. It should have been. So Okuu closed it--with a big fireball that burst the door in and...some of that wall. It'd be fine in the morning!

And there was no way she was going to fit through it normally anyhow, but now she had a very pressing reason to. The human was in there--Utsuho didn't need any further encouragement.

Under normal circumstances, some sense of caution might have held her at bay; there might have been a trap there. But certainly not now--and Utsuho had a weakness to traps under the best circumstances.

She plunged straight in through the wall with a bellowing snarl.]

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett hits the floor as soon as she saw the fireball coming, throwing her reinforced jacket in its way as a makeshift shield. However, it was incinerated within the space of seconds. Though it was enough for her to duck away from the brunt of the attack, the fireball still nicked her upper back. Since there was no barrier this time, she was left with a medium burn.]

[Ignoring the pain shooting up her back, she climbs back to a kneeling position and throws another knife at the creature, hoping to distract it long enough for her to reach the singed space where the wall had once stood.]

[idkmybfforin]

[This ploy is successful! ...as the knife pretty much catches Utsuho right in the face. A knife sticking out of her cheekbone is just a bit more pressing of an issue than chasing potential prey at the moment. Utsuho roars to a sudden stop, clawing at her face.]

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett, having reached the scorched space, uses the ash to quickly draw out some runes. The resulting bounded field would be clumsy and noticeable, but it would be enough to confine the fighters to the house for at least a short while.]

[In the sky, the creature with its long ranged attacks had the advantage. However, in the confined space of a house, Bazett, with her melee combat experience, has the upper hand.]

It's over.

[Saying so, she pulls out her third knife, the last one with the pre-carved runes.]

[idkmybfforin]

[It doesn't help that Utsuho can't even stretch her wings out properly now, not without them crashing into the walls on either side. Something else kept her hemmed in besides; some prickling pressure she couldn't quite identify.

She finally tore the knife from her face like some hateful thorn, and glared across the short distance to the human standing over there. The other knife this human held up still didn't register as more than an aggravating pinprick--however painful it may have been. Certainly not enough to check her charge.

With a hiss, Utsuho lunged forwards.]

[answerer_sword]

[From the effects the knife had on the creature, it seemed that despite its powerful fire spells, it could still be hurt using conventional means.]

[Bazett shifts into an aggressive position. As the creature comes within arm's length of her, she throws a punch at its face with her free hand, hoping to knock it out or at least subdue it long enough for her to deal a finishing blow with the knife.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The fist hits Utsuho's face dead-on, but in the process of recoiling her own arms came around. Less of an issue with the one, a more pressing problem with the other--the arm cannon attached to the right was, for all immediate intents and purposes, like a baseball bat. Only octagonal and solidly metallic, it was still moving rather fast as Utsuho swiped blindly.]

[answerer_sword]

[The creature's arm had come up a little too fast. As a result, Bazett could not dodge it and it smacks her in the face. Her reinforcement means that it does knock her out, but it is still enough to temporarily wind her.]

[idkmybfforin]

[With the human suddenly no longer in the way but Utsuho not quite realizing it, her next lunge met nothing but wall. She smacked into it hard enough to make the structure tremble gor a brief moment and shake some of her feathers loose.]

[answerer_sword]

[The bounded field still holds as the creature crashes into the walls, but just barely. Bazett stands up and decides to tackle her enemy while it is still distracted.]

[idkmybfforin]

[As stunned as she was by the impact, it isn't long before she feels something on her again and Utsuho starts to thrash. Her form is composed of very powerful muscle and her wings beat wildly against the field, so it's going to be a very wild ride.]

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett manages to hold on for a while, but not enough to stick her knife in any vital points. Instead, she settles with stabbing the creature between the wings before being violently thrown into her own bounded field.]

Ack, sorry!

[idkmybfforin]

[The knife severs several important flight muscles anyway; though most of the main load-bearing muscles went around the chest, the ones that did the actual lifting of the wings were smaller and much more accessible. Utsuho's left wing collapsed and drags the hell raven awkwardly to the floor, her other with flailing uselessly.]

Re: Ack, sorry!

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett is, temporarily, unable to take advantage of the enemy's weakness. Even with her reinforcement, she had been thrown against the bounded field hard enough to knock her unconscious.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho is similarly disinclined to exploit the situation, what with her wings going all akimbo and no amount of shouting setting them right again. The hell raven half stands and then topples again.

They seem to be at an impasse.]

[answerer_sword]

[After a few minutes, Bazett groans and slowly starts to get up. The first thing she notices is that her opponent is making a squalor while stumbling around. The next thing she notices is that her weapon is gone.]

[Her second knife, the one she had thrown in the enemy's face, is on the floor across the room. However, it would be hard for her to grab it with the opponent stumbling around everywhere.]

[Instead, she shifts into a fighting pose again. Even if she cannot kill the monster with her bare hands, she can still render it unconscious.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho's muscles had only just started thinking about knitting together when she spotted something new, She turned, awkward and clumsy.]

There you are.

[And again she lunged forwards even with her bad wing dragging her down, fingers curled into reaching claws.]

[answerer_sword]

[She is a bit taken aback as the creature speaks.]

Are you...sentient?

[idkmybfforin]

[On good days!

...today is not a good day.

Oh, and she's still coming at you bro.]

[answerer_sword]

[When her question goes unanswered, Bazett ducks down and swings a punch at the creature's torso. One good blow toward the solar plexus should knock it out or at least wind it.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The human weaves between her grasping hands with ease, and Utsuho growls again while she tries to redirect herself.

There is a brief instant where the eye...orb thing appears to be looking at her.

Then the fist cracks into both it and the flesh below and it seems to abruptly unfocus, the impact stopping Utsuho's charge short and knocking the breath out of even her lungs.

The eye itself is hot--very hot, like almost-molten glass. Something in it seems to crack, furthering the appearance of it being mere glass.]

[answerer_sword]

[Bazett pulls back as she feels something burning her Reinforced hand. Pulling back, she finds that the skin of her knuckles have been completely burned away by the heat of the eye in the creature's chest.]

What are you...?

[She mutters, not expecting an answer.]

[idkmybfforin]

[The impact--and all the impacts before--seem to have damaged something a bit harder for Utsuho to simply walk away from. Instead she staggers, the yatagarasu's pupil dissolving into something indistinct--like static.]

[answerer_sword]

[For some reason, Bazett is rooted to ground. By all logic, she should be charging right now to finish off the opponent while it is weak. However, she has an uneasy feeling that keeps her from moving.]

[idkmybfforin]

[Well, Bazett is granted another few moments of reprieve; Utsuho's stopped stumbling about, but the yatagarasu hasn't fully gathered itself back yet. A bit more of the pupil is beginning to take shape, but it's still mostly scattered and useless pixels.

...the hell raven herself doesn't seem very proactive without it.]