The Guardians of London: Third Echelon CHAPTER THREE [6 Slots Open]

[Lord_Ascendant]

There was a thump somewhere out of view of them all...and in slid a shadowy being. It was half snake and half man, the way it slithered and hissed. "You rang, madame?" and it laughed a little at its own joke.
"Oh don't even try, my mind is far too alien for your pitiful magics to fathom. Actually, that kind of tickles..." and here the creature flinched and itched the back of its head.
The creature spat some sort of foul liquid at Hadrian, not venom but like an alien loogie. It was light brown and smelled of dead things. It began to slither away crooning towards some awkward looking ghouls whose arms and legs were twisted horribly and began to tend to them.

 

[Hussmann54]

From down the corridor came a clanking and cluttering. Four large beasts shuffled down the hallway, carrying something large and white. There movement was slow, clearly their burden was heavy.

"Took nigh twenty to bring him down. We lost at least a dozen. He was a fighter..."
From within the cell, the groups ears perked up.
"Was..." Another snorted.
"This armor will fetch a high price. Rare stuff, especially since they are an endangered species."
Another chuckled.
The group looked in horror as Ruebens limp body was hauled past.
Bastian looked in despair, hoping to see some sign of life, some flicker of life, a marking upon the mask change. Nothing but his own reflection stared back. Sure enough, two large punctures in the armor could be seen. Blood could be seen staining the silver around them.
"How'd he bite the dust then?" Another guard asked in passing.
"We found him in the sewer, trying to get in, we waited till we got reinforcements and then rushed him..."
The chatter of the group faded out of earshot as they faded out of sight.
"Sure he is dead?"
"Yeah, checked his pulse and everything. His heart stopped beating half an hour ago...."

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

From within the cell, Zjar'q raged. His skin became smooth and black like obsidian and his back erupted with large wings made of the same sleek blackness, the membranes foggy and white like frosted glass. His head was now on a narrow, elongated neck and shaped like a sharp-nosed dragon. His eyes were burning bright as his sharp talons struck at the metal, his blades emerging as white hot daggers held in two other arms protruding from his sides.
Zjar'q gnashed his teeth and cursed at the creatures as they threw Reuben's body into the charnel pit with Lurker and the mass of ghouls and other corpses.
Bastian didn't know Acrypha but what Zjar'q was saying was obviously laced with anger and hatred.
"Come closer and let me tear your throat out!" Zjar'q's fully daemon form barked out, gripping the bars with his talons.

Bastian crawled over to the edge of the cage to look as Reuben's crumpled form. He started to cry; he had been a hero to the end...he began to to feel more sick and his stomach still felt like it was leaking blood and magical energy. Breaker went over to him and pressed her hands to his stomach, channeling the water in her small waterskin to help ease the wound.
The guards left, their clanking metal armor covering the sound of creaking bones...there was only the ugly black serpent creature carefully sewing at a ghoul, attaching a third arm to its torso. Zjar'q snarled and shook at the bars, breathing a little bit of flame on the bars...eyes narrowed in anger.

 

[Daft Sikes]

Hadrian, after wiping off the spit off of his face, laughed mirthlessly.

"It looks like five other people just joined my shit list today." His arm was enveloped in a pulsing red energy. He lifted his arm and pointed it at the serpent. "You first." A red tendril shot out from his finger and entered the serpents head. It stopped it's stitch work and turned to face Hadrian.

It let out a threatening hiss, showing off its fangs. "What did you do to me, mongrel?
Hadrian smirked. "This." His eyes flashed brightly for a second, before dying down.
The serpent lunged at Hadrian, before stopping and clutching at his head. It cried out in pain, falling onto the floor and shaking uncontrollably. It's writhing continued for a few minutes, until all movement ceased completely.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

"Remind me in the near future to never get on the bad side of a Sanguinimancer..." muttered Breaker. Zjar'q kept slashing at the bars and breathing fire on them, to little effect...
"This metal is thick and strong, I will need time to weaken it."

 

[Hussmann54]

A short time later, more of the beasts arrived and retrieved the limp body.
"They want to examine the armor." They left without another solitary word.

Elsewhere in the maze of corridors and hallways, the boy lay on an autopsy table. Three of the beasts were examining the mechanisms of the wrist blades. The other weapons laid out on a table against the wall. One of them reported to his superior, a minor general amongst the enemies ranks.

"The mask has no eye holes, it is used as a scrying orb. This armor was meant for use by imperiomancers."
"What of the markings?"
"Multiple languages, and no apparent theme to what is written that we can decipher."
"Good, continue you-"
The general was cut off by the startled shout of the examiner. The body had suddenly jerked, as if some unseen force had grabbed its chest and pulled it sharply upward.
A silence followed as the four stared at the once again limp form.
"What was that?"
"I-... I dont know..."
Apprehension was so thick in the air it could be cut with a knife.
After a few moments, they dropped their guard, breathing sighs of relief.
"Well, any-"
"GAAAHHHH!" Suddenly a shout resonated from under the mask and the figure reared up and brought the wrist blades into the two closest foes. Quickly getting off the table he rushed the third before he could react. As his body fell limp to the floor. The general backed into the corner, pitifully grasping for his weapon.
"What the fuck?!!?!"
The suit of armor merely looked for a second then turned, grabbed a sword off the table and began to corner the beast.
"What the fuck? How?!?!!" In a flash a sword was run through his leg, and before he could retaliate his own weapon was ripped from his hands. The iron clad man crouched, starring at him.
"What are you going t-to... do?"
"Im going to send you on a little trip..."
The beast laughed. "To hell?"
A muffled laugh was returned, one of an almost truly hysterical nature as the man shook his head.
"No, no, no... you have no sense of creativity... I dont want to send you to hell... Actually.. the big man upstairs wants a word with you... and he isnt happy.... please step into his office."
Suddenly the sword was plunged into his chest. The beast howled in pain. As the life faded from him, the ironclad one began to gather his weapons...
"Goddamn you Rueben...."
The figure only turned his head as he stopped for a moment "Who the hell said I was Rueben?"

Meanwhile back in the cells, after another guard had bashed at Hadrians face with the blunt end of his pole arm as punishment for retaliation. All was quiet again. Nobody had noticed a guard in the chair slouched, apparently sleeping. Pyotr had begun swaying his head while humming a song in his own tongue. With one of the turns of his head he suddenly did a double take. Tied to a bar in his cage was a small flask. A note tied to it with scrawled handwriting.
"Enjoy."

Suddenly one of the guardians looked up and gave a startled "WOAH!"
Crouched on top of the cage, elbows resting on his knees was Rueben.
"Hey there fellas..." He gave a small wave. But the voice was one only Bastian recognized.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

"Nick..." said Bastian, crawling to a sitting position as Breaker continued to mend his wounds "Is Reuben is there? Did he live?"
Kin's armored form was silent and Bastian dropped his head and shook it.
"Poor kid..."
Zjar'q was laying back. The metal of the bars hard turned out to be necromantic, able to regenerate as soon as it was cut. They had been there for three long days. Long enough that the beatings and the constant need for healing had made Breaker's water almost run out. She stood up from Bastian and went to check Hadrian's black eye, he growled as she let the little bit of water run over and around the bruise...healing it.
Another scream pierced the silence; it had been going on for a long time...there was no sense of day or night in the dungeons. The Dark Skull was giving birth and her children had rushed to her at once, leaving them in the "care" or the armored guards and the ugly ghouls they used to carry them to the torture devises.

Lurker, who had spent many hours trying to move in different ways was able to stand for small portions of time and had hobbled closer to the edge of the pit but was unable to mount it successfully. His regeneration was slow, but it was clear everyone was determined to escape.
"Just wait until I can stand..." said Lurker, kicking at the face of a ghoul to keep it from gnawing on his foot again "I'll give her something to scream about."
A few shows of power and anger from Lurker and Hadrian had them tortured the most, Hadrian especially for his creative uses of Sanguinimancy in murdering the dungeon's keepers. One of whom he had sent his entire digestive tract inverting out his mouth...another had their bones pulverised from their blood pressure being increased too far beyond their body's limit...the blood had splattered the walls then.
Rena was being protected by Zjar'q whenever he wasn't trying to break the bars...but she too had been poked, prodded, probed and examined...samples of flesh cut from various places and fluid samples removed. Currently she was sleeping, Zjar'q was siting near her in his human form but the eyes glowed with Zjar'q's light.

 

[Hussmann54]

"Rueben achieved something me and Silas hadnt in 40 years of work. He waited until the opportune moment to infiltrate, I thought it was a suicide mission. Rueben knew it was. He blocked his thoughts from me as we entered. I had no idea what he was up to. Then as they struck him down....."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One hour ago....

Kin watching from the abyss of the mask, helpless. "GODAMMIT RUEBEN YOU FOOL!" He shouted, but his host went on undaunted. The fight was only slightly drawn out, and soon, a spear found its mark through the armor.

Suddenly Kin was thrown to the ground inside his mind. He went to stand up and as he did he saw a familiar figure sitting in his chair.
"What is going on Rueben?"
"Im done here Kin."
He took one of the cigarettes and lit it in a manner not unlike Kin would.
"Its called a game changer. I knew I couldnt get in alive, so Im not."
"Rueben, I want you to think long and hard about this-.."
"I have, and you are meant for this, this is your armor, not mine." He took the cigarette from his mouth and watched the smoke drift up.
"So you are just going to die and leave me in the armor..."
Rueben stood up and walked to Kin.
"Not exactly my friend, not exactly... just make this count..."
Suddenly he reared back and landed a kick to Kins chest. It was like gravity stopped working as Kin was hurled into the apparition of the galaxy which swirled in his mind.
He fell through time and space. Start flew by like raindrops. He fell and fell and fell... but towards what?

Soon he hit a solid floor. Another blank white space. But soon the space became filled with things, not his, not Ruebens. Two large levers protruded from the ground. One with a sign saying "me first" the other "Then me when you are ready for a shocking truth."

He pulled the first and suddenly the world changed again.

For the first time in almost a hundred years, Nicholaus Kin could feel.... at first he felt pain, two massive wounds in his body, one in the back, one in the side.

"GOODDD WHAT THE FUCKKKK!!!" he screamed in his mind. He fell to the floor, writhing in pain. But soon the pain slowly subsided... the wounds gone....

He was in a room.... he felt hands.... calloused hands... the light sound of clinking... Where was he?......

Kin looked at the second switch, realizing just what happened.
"Rueben you bastard....I can't believe it...."
With a loud crank the lever turned. Suddenly a force hit him like a hammer and knocked him to the ground yet again. He groaned... this was getting old.

Then he heard two beast like voices....
"What was that?!?!"
"I... don't know...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mask looked at Bastian. "For years we tried to do this thing, me and Silas. We created pure new life, and it was an incredible feat back in the day. We said, "why not transmute the living into the non, and vice versa... well my death was the first. I was sent into the mask... but Rueben.... well.."
He lifted the mask. Underneath was not a cold dead pale face, but warm, moving flesh. Rueben it was indeed...
"Rueben found a way to switch it back....." Kin looked at Bastian for the first time ever with his own eyes, not a mask.... "He left me with two gifts. He had it planned out from the beginning. He had been storing energy for weeks. The first was a burst of Light energy.... I didnt believe it at first, but the feeling was undoubtedly it and Im still not sure how, but he used it to heal the body and replenish blood in a matter of minutes. The second gift was a shock strong enough to make a heart beat once more. Although... I think he is still inside the mask... when all this is over... im going to search every nook and cranny of it.."

Kin had been looking down, but soon picked his head up. "Anyways..." He seemed suddenly full of vigor. Rubbing his hands together he continued. "Enough about my past, lets talk about your future shall we?" He looked around for a moment. "Ah!" He walked over to the guard they thought had been asleep. "Oh him? he isn't asleep, he is dead..."
In the back one of the guardians murmured something like "How did he even...?"
Kin took the keys from the body and gave it a little push causing it to fall to the floor. Walking back over the dead one, he grinned "what can I say? I still got it!"
He walked to the cell and began trying the many different keys on the lock. Each time with a disappointing "no".
Over and over he went through the key ring.
"No..... still no..... no..... no..... nope...."
"So, you are living in Ruebens body?"
"Correct-a-mundo! Look at the big brain on Bastian!"
Suddenly the door swung open. Four or five of the great beasts ran in.
"Drop the keys and move away from the door!"
Kin had only a strange smile on his face. He turned only for a moment to face the challengers. "But if I drop them I will loose my place..." He turned back and shuffled through more keys. "No.... still nothing..... no....." He turned once more. "You know, you guys really should have some marking system on these things.....no...."

"I WANT YOU TO REMOVE ALL OF YOUR WEAPONS!"

"All of them? Do you know how long that will take? Ill be here all afternoon. I must have at least fifteen on me." He gave a small chuckle as if a friend had told him a joke. "Besides, Ill make a mess of the place. We wouldnt want that now would we?" He winked at Bastian then whirled around and wrenched the spear being thrust at him clean from its wielders hands, then driving the wrist blade through its skull. Then the other two fell to his hand as they attempted to charge in after. The monsters last comrades watched in fearful anticipation. Kin turned, a grin wider than his shoe size on his face. "Oh dammit, you made me loose my place....No respect for my work.... none at all.

Suddenly a spear flew passed Kin, the same spear in fact that almost stabbed him. In the chaos of the moment one of the guardians reached out of the cage and pulled it in, then threw it into the neck of the second monster as it was attempting to sneak up on him. "Ah thank you my dear..." There was a loud clang as the door swung open. He offered a hand to her as she stepped out "Im sorry.... It is 'Breaker', is it not?"

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

With a wrenching crack, Lurker was standing up in the room after crawling out of the pit.
He slowly rotated his head 360 degrees with several wrenching pops and cracks. Rotting flesh hung from his bones and the stench of death rolled off of his body. His eyes were burning orbs of green fire. A set of green fiery wings spread out, appearing from his back where scraps of cloth from his clothing hung. With each step he shook ash and dust from the wings and his body, and it began to drip candle wax and slowly an aura of pure blood-curdling death emanated from him.
Each word spoken shook the tower to its roots, rattled through the sky as dawn approached.
"I AM THE LURKER IN THE DARK; I WAS THE FIRST OF THE NECROMANCERS, FIRST TO CROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE AND RETURN WITH HER BLESSING. PRIMEVAL AND ETERNAL, I WAS ORDAINED IN DEATH AND FIRE. I AM THE GROOM OF THE GREY MAIDEN, AND THE FATHER OF A NEW FAITH OF DEATH AND LIFE, OF SHADOW AND LIGHT. MY BLOOD GAVE LIFE TO THE TALLOWS THAT GUARD THE TOMBS OF THE GREATEST OF MORTALS. WHAT HOPE DID YOU EVEN THINK YOU HAD AGAINST MY MIGHT? YOU WHO HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF DEATH AND THE ASCENDENCY HAVE WRIT YOUR DOOM FOR MY WRATH IS AWAKENED!"
Here Lurker bellowed deeply and from his mouth came a cloud of darkness coalescing into a cloud of night terrors that passed through Kin harmlessly but the guards screamed silently as their forms crumbled, their armor rusting away before their very eyes. He began to walk, his aura of sickening death surrounding and clinging to him like a cloak of disease and rot. It passed harmlessly over the Guardians and as he left the room, shrieks could be heard as creatures ran from Lurker's fully awakened anger.

"We should probably hurry...Necromancers like Lurker can keep up that state only for a short while, even if he is what he says he is..." said Bastian, standing up and clutching his chest wound. In his head, Bastian rattled off the names of the Necromancers of the Ascendency...the line of power that led from common Necromancers to the Grey Maiden.
Akrathus, Dakron, Thallidus, Mordreth, Bakuron, Eldreth the White, Oroboros the Eternal, Thanatos the Crown Prince, Aldreth the Groom, Ildreth the Bride, and the Grey Maiden...
"But wait that would mean Lurker is Aldreth, Archon of the Necromancers..."
Everyone stopped to look as Bastian.
"What? He's a non-canon Archon who created the order of Necromancers we know now. His wife was the second person to become a Necromancer but they were both supposedly killed on the pyre when Archon Geistflame declared the purge of all those who followed the heretical factions that worshiped Aldreth the Dead and Malireus the Seer...we know them now as Necromancy and Annatang..."
Again everyone stared.
"Didn't any of you pay attention when you were initiates? They taught us all this! If Aldreth the Dead never actually died it makes sense he survived by becoming Star-Born..."
Then Bastian looked at Kin and said "Lurker, if he is Aldreth the Dead and the Archon of Necromancy, has power equal to the Dark Skull. They could clash forever and never beat each other."

 

[Kuroneko Aisha]

Rena had done her best to be passive-resistant during the past few days. She would voice her opinions and protests, but she never spoke outright against her tormentors, or actively resisted them. She had learned long ago that blatant refusal only resulted in a sore bottom, and she didn't think that these horrors would simply spank her for disobedience. Now though, she was waking up from her nap, still a little miffed that they had taken another sample from her. What stopped her from voicing her thoughts was Lurker as he went on a shadowy rampage against the enemies, followed by Bastian explaining that Lurker was the first to become a Necromancer. That meant he was the most powerful right? Looking over at Bastian, she asked. "T-the way he is now, he won't hurt us right? He's really scary right now." She was practically hiding behind Zjar'q as she waited for an answer.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

"Lurker can't hurt us unless he wants to. I think he's channeling all of his fury at the Dark Skull...which means everything carrying her taint is fresh meat for him..." said Bastian, turning to look at little Rena.
Mohammed came into control again and turned to pat Rena on the head and smiled before climbing up and with a few deft strikes of his blade Pytor's cage went crashing down and slammed into the ground of the inside of the cell.

Poor Anastasia was still hanging over the charnel pit where the ghouls mangled bodies crawled around, gnawing on one another. She had been brought in the other day after spending three hours screaming inside a brazen bull...her flesh immune to the burn of the fire the pain still seared her. Something made her impervious to their attempts to kill her, a mix of Daemon and Steward made her so resistant to death she seemed immortal...

 

[Hussmann54]

Kin looked over to Anastasia. "Yes, I almost forgot about you didn't I?" He lowered her cage and using a rope to grapple it, dragged it over and onto solid ground. Once there he unlocked the cage. She was huddled in the corner, shaking and shivering. Kin removed the mask mount completely and offered a armored hand which she shook in a weary manner.
"Ma'am, I understand things may seem strange and quite alien to you right now. But I can promise you answers if you can trust me." His demeanor was an odd mix of protectiveness yet submission to a superior.
"It hurts too much to walk..." She said weakly.
"Do you need me to carry you out?" Came Kins reply, a firm yet straightfoward question.
"I-i-think so."
"Yes ma'am." Kin said, then began to gently pick her up. She wasnt actually injured, but the stress of such pain was becoming psychosomatic and all too real in her mind.

"Bastian," he said quietly. "if those two fight forever and ever or whatever, what are the chances we can tip the scales to our favor? I don't mean to sound like im going off half cocked..." He thought for a moment. "Okay Im going off all cocked, I know."

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

"We just need to outnumber her. Her power apparently is in her concentration. Too many of us all at once will fray her focus...and one of our attacks might hit. The problem is without that pure conviction of faith the strikes wont cause any damage..." said Bastian.
"Technically, it's that conviction...wanting to kill them just because can't hurt them or at least can't permanently kill them. You need to have that faithful conviction."
Everyone nodded and Bastian looked around.
"What are we waiting for then, let's go save the world..."

 

[Kuroneko Aisha]

Rena nodded her head to Bastian when he said that their attacks had to have pure conviction behind them in order to work. Staying towards the rear of the group, she said. "I'm going to free Grand Moon, and all of Faerie from the Dark Skull's grasp. No matter what, I'm going to put an end to her curse! People die when they are killed, and that's the way it should be. Raising the dead is something that shouldn't be done, at least to our people." She had a firm look in her eyes, which showed that she was speaking from her heart. There was no more fear in her eyes.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Spoiler: OOC

People die when they are dead?

And imminent post is imminent

The Guardians ascended the stairs, Hadrian at the head of the pack. Loping on all fours he sniffed around at the desiccated bodies around them, slain by Lurker's fury. They reached the peak of the tower after much difficulty, Hadrian was carrying Rena on his burly shoulders by the time they reached the door at the top. It was shattered and there was the sound of fighting.

Within, Lurker was outnumbered while the Dark Skull crouched against a corner of the room, clutching a child in her arms swaddled in dark purple cloth. There were nine dark creatures of varying variety fighting Lurker, and they seemed to be failing. One had already been slain, purple blood spattered on the wall and the body of the master dungeonkeeper crumpled on the ground, a pool of blood forming around its throat and chest. The others; a heavily armored creature with a massive mace, a half-spider with a whip of green fire, a creature seemingly crusted with salt and dust with Fae-like features, a half-dragon beast with two heads, a strange beast of tentacles and madness that fought with a massive array of lightning fast swipes of its tentacles, a gray-skinned creature with no face and wearing nothing but a fancy black suit with a mass of sharp tentacles protruding from its back that swished and cut through the air and slicing into the stone, a beast made of chunky obsidian that used its burly fists and finally a strange monster that was cloaked and hooded, a bleached cow's skull protruding from under the hood. Lurker was throwing out spell after spell, forcing the creatures back and burning their flesh and slashing their bodies, blows also rained upon Lurker but he quickly regenerated. His wings singed the ceiling and in a flap he burned away the maddening mass of tentacles and eyes in a bubbling scream as it went up in flames. Lurker turned, spotted them and nodded. The Guardians looked at the children and Bastian said "Slay them first!"

 

[Hussmann54]

Kin pointed to the creature in the suit.
"I get Frank sinatra over here..." He said
The two stepped out from their respective groups.
"Do you know who I am?" Kin asked under his mask. The two faceless figures starred as they circled one another. It only shook its head.
"Nemesis.... do you know what it means? A righteous infliction of retribution administered by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by a horrible bastard..... me" Kin grinned under the mask. Suddenly the monster rushed him, he reared on one leg, using his same side hand to stablize, and swung a bent leg into his chest, knocking the creature flat.
"Hanenmu tours langda" He said flatly, reciting the name of the move. "Get up and I can show you more."
Frank rose and tried to strike as he did. Kin landed a strike with his fist then kicked upward. "Little elephant finds his voice." His foe recovered backwards and attempted to lash out with a tentacle. Kin beat him to it, leaping at him, one knee into his gut and one elbow into his neck. "Westward wind." Without missing a beat Kin regained his footing and landed another strike. As Frank swung with a fist, he blcoked it with his right forearm, and sent his left elbow crashing into its face. "little prince learns valuable lesson."

His Muay Thai was still in top shape, as the monster he had nicknamed "Frank" was quickly learning.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Bastian drew his short sword and dived under a swing of the armored one's mace and slashed at its exposed calf. It howled and dropped the mace with a clatter, and its head exploded in a gout of green fire. With a nod from Lurker, Bastian stood up and immediately began grappling the create covered in salt. It's skin was sharp from the salt crystals and they burned as they cut into Bastian's skin. It hissed and spat a burning liquid into his face and Bastian reflectively closed his eyes and struck out with his outstretched hand and chopped the creature in the throat. It made a gagging noise and kicked him off, sending him sliding a bit before scrabbling up and leaping on him. It was midleap when Jeffrey shot its chest out from it and it careened into Bastian and splattered gore onto his chest and feet as the body came flopping down.
"Kill stealer." said Bastian with a wink, before ducking under the spider beast's whip as it cracked over his head.

 

[Kuroneko Aisha]

Rena had decided to go after the dragon-like creature, and after surrounding her body in a wind she could use for her offensive spells, she charged at the dragon, which turned its head towards her and opened both of the head's mouth. Knowing what was coming, she dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding the streams of intense flame and bitter cold. Hiding behind a stone pillar, she grumbled and said. "This isn't going to be easy. I'll definitely win though!" She dashed once more out of her cover and pointed a hand at the dragon, sending a blast of wind at the dragon, accompanied by blades of compressed air, that cut into the beast. It didn't do much damage, but it did give the message that she was able to fight back. Hiding behind another pillar, she narrowly avoided another mix of intense heat and cold.

Spoiler: OOC

Well, when you think about it it's completely sense-making. When you die, you're naturally supposed to stay that way. Necromancy disrupts that, so when you die, you become undead, rather than staying dead. So the phrase 'people die when they are killed' really does make perfect sense. ^^

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Bastian had his forearm buried in the spider creature as he ducked from the creature flailing arms as its innards spilled out. He turned to see the Dragon focusing on Rena and he went to turn and help but his arm was stuck in the gooey mess and he had to slowly pull his arm from the muck that was currently spilling onto the floor.

He freed himself and with his sword covered in gore he willed his magic out. It was weak but it found its mark, the tiny orange coil made the creature sneeze suddenly as it blew a gout of flame and ice instead of at Rena, at its own feet and it howled in pain. Bastian smirked and dodged an errant bolt of chronomancy which began to ricochet and bounce, a bolt of pure time energy which crumbled the stone it touched. "Watch out!" said Zjar'q, his bolt bouncing all over before connecting with Kin's target making one of its arms shrivel and become useless.

The battle continued, and Bastian saw Lurker battling with the half-dragon...attempting to gain its attention while shouting at Rena. "Your wind! Call forth a gale! Do it now!" and he began to back the creature up towards the balcony, the plan being obvious. Without wings the half-dragon would fall and die on impact with the ground.

 

[Kuroneko Aisha]

Rena had heard Lurkers call and gasped. Why hadn't she thought of that? A blast of wind from below would send him sky high! Or rather ceiling high but still. Bringing her hands close together, she built up her magic into a condensed spell between her hands. After she had charged it sufficiently, she came out of cover and shouted. "I hope you like flying!" Pointing both of her hands at the ground under the half-dragon, the ball of wind magic shot out and impacted the ground before erupting into a huge vortex of wind, launching the half-dragon into the air and over the balcony. She didn't see what happened after due to her distance, but she did let out a small sigh before asking. "I-is it gone?"