Mosaic City, located along China's coast, is quite large city sometimes called the Crossroads Between Nations due to its diverse population. While it was once a large tourist spot, the city was placed under a blockade as the military appeared claiming there was a radiation leak. The true hazard, however, is much more sinister.
Post by Soren Jensen on Mar 3, 2014 23:36:44 GMT -5
For a second time, his blow cleanly connected. More than that, it seemed, from the severity of the wound, that the man was weak to Pierce. He could just share this information with his allies, then. The man fell asleep, but was quickly reawakened by the healer girl. That just left the verification of her stance on Pierce. Completely ignoring the first two, though the man's notation of her being a prime target was agreeable, Soren began to turn towards Chidori, only to receive the flurry of slashes and the next punch. He half-stumbled forward from the kinetic force, but his approach was slow and steady.
Still, he took damage from slash, too. How disappointing. He really needed to get back to his strength from before.
With a twirl of his spear, Soren prepared his third usage of Dream Needle. If she was as weak as the other two believed she was, then this would be a simple clean-up if neither of them could revive her. Otherwise, he'd get the information he wanted. Whether or not he would retreat after this attack depended on the outcome and how badly he was attacked by the other two. Whatever the case, he thrust the pole-arm at the healer, pleased with the current progress.
Post by Chidori Tsukino on Mar 4, 2014 5:35:28 GMT -5
It seemed their enemy was almost...toying with them. He used the same attack again and again, and judging by the severity of Vice's reaction, she could only hazard a guess that he was weak to such attacks. Her brow furrowing in a mix of annoyance and concentration, Chidori awaited for the wargod's next move, her eyes darting slightly to the spear as it came surging towards her; pointy objects were still bad, even if it wasn't quite to the same degree as edged weapons. For her anyway.
The blow connected cleanly, lancing through Juno's protective bubble to scrape against her shoulder as she ducked instinctively - despite that, she still took the full brunt of the blow, since any attack on her persona still hurt her. Nevertheless, it was a habitual response to try and dodge an incoming weapon strike. Gritting her teeth in silent anger, the mute's chocolate brown eyes flared with emotion as she considered her options; Vice was hurt rather severely, and each of them had now been attacked at least once by the enemy. In addition, they were also suffering from the damage sustained from the grotesque Shadow. That being said....her anger was being piqued - the mute so desperately wanted to strike directly at their enemy, rather than playing the backline role like always.
Should she risk the possibility of Vice being taken out by another attack, just to sate her own desire to strike? No...she couldn't do that. Even in that moment of emotional irrationality, Chidori's base desire was to help others - she couldn't ignore that instinct. Channelling Juno's power, she distributed it in a healing wave that washed over the three of them, restoring some of the damage they had sustained thus far.
Breathing was getting difficult and he was beginning to feel a bit light headed. Too many attacks had been tanked out, one of which did quite a bit of damage to him regardless of his armour. Heck, it probably didn't even matter now that it had a gaping hole in the leather fabric. Everyone had been stabbed and the systematic breaking down of their group by this singular shadow was too intelligent. Unlike the previous shadows who simply attacked with whatever was available, this one was probably scoping out weaknesses by attacking everyone with the same attack. To say that it was solely relying on the sleeping effect of its spear would be something else entirely since it should have gone for Chidori first had that been the case.
Not exactly the best time to be mulling about this--Vice didn't exactly have a lot of lee way in regards to his focus to spare. He was pretty sure that everyone else was probably feeling the effects of the previous battle and with how heavy the attacks that were being thrown at them right now…Clicking his tongue as the healing effects began to work its way into his system, Vice once more called out for some of his spiritual energy for Arondight to release a move he never thought he'd be using. The ghostly apparition raised itself and reached out for the opponent with a hand wreathed in a purplish glow.
If 1, Fear takes effect if possible. xaP36WlG1-41-4
Finally, the shadow's attack failed to put anyone to sleep. Although Chidori was targeted, she managed to take the blow and heal the three of them. That was fortunate. If that was the strongest attack the shadow had (doubtful, but still possible), then so long as Chidori didn't get put to sleep they would be able to handle it. And that, at least, could be avoided if necessary, at the cost of putting herself into sleep mode again.
On the other hand, her own attempts to ensure that the three of them had the upper hand in a battle of attrition were failing yet again. Were it not for the fact that Cell Breaker was also her strongest skill, Pyxis would probably have given up on it at this point. As it stood, at least, she did still seem to be dealing damage with it. So, she summoned Pandora again, and fired off another punch from the hand in the box.
Post by Soren Jensen on Mar 4, 2014 13:47:03 GMT -5
His spear struck true and the damage seemed solid. So, to reiterate, the healer and toy were both neutral to his Pierce abilities. The man, the one with the most potential, was weak to it. This was all very good information to get a grasp on. The healer went on to heal probably a majority, if not all, of the damage he had just dealt their team. Still in thought, the Shadow blinked, within the confines of his helmet, when a hand gripped his shoulder. It was glowing purple. Uh, what was it supposed to do? Using his free hand to brush it off his shoulder, the wargod shrugged before half-stumbling forward with the next punch. Exhaustion clung to his body. While he did, otherwise, feel good enough to linger and test further, it would have been expedient to get just one last serving and pull out before anything else occurred.
Shifting around their healer, he turned and stepped back, gripping the shaft of his spear before twirling it and holding it almost like baseball bat. Then, with a full-body swing, he sent forth a pulse of kinetic, thermal energy at the group. Heat Wave was his solution to get the most out of one last attack. If he met that trio again later, then he could test out his fire and darkness. For the time being, though, the results of that attack would be his final experiment.
Post by Chidori Tsukino on Mar 5, 2014 5:44:23 GMT -5
As annoyed as she was, Chidori was also intrigued; this shadow seemed unlike the others they had faced so far - it wasn't the initial presence that they could all feel that came from the strong shadows in each area, nor like the Full Moon shadows either. It was definitely strong however, and the mute didn't think it was going all-out either; they would need to be careful.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, she had to temper her personal desire with calm, collected battle logic and continue healing. It was important, if only in a more indirect way than attacking. Utilising Juno's power (and noting that her body was beginning to wear down from the use of her abilities), Chidori channelled the energy into another wave of healing light.
It wasn't as devastating as the attack that dealt Pierce damage but Vice had to admit that it wasn't something he could just shrug off. It wasn't a particularly amazing way to attack when used by normal shadows but this particular one had something much more than just that. He didn't think that the opponent had any time to cast any kind of self buff or debilitate any of the present users so that was just a natural amount?
Wincing as he took the brunt of the attack, only being able to keep on standing thanks to the relentless support that Chidori was giving them, Vice called out for Arondight once more. He wasn't going to just take this. Another attack from his Persona, another Blade of Fury, to try and injure his opponent as much as he could.
This time, Pyxis finally noticed a change. The shadow stumbled in the wake of the attack, and Pyxis confirmed through a quick scan that the exhaustion had finally taken hold. An unreliable ability finally worked once she had given up on it. How...human. While she was happy to have one more example that defined her more as a living thing than a machine, did it really have to be something like that?
The shadow then retaliated with a wave of kinetic energy, but much like the explosive 'belches' of the Boomer-like shadow that had come before, her armor absorbed and redirected the brunt of it so that she took much less damage than normal. Even with that, though, it wasn't quite negligible. This shadow was clearly in a different class than the ones she had fought so far...save for perhaps the cleaver girl shadow from the school.
The lid of Pandora's box slid aside again as Pyxis prepared another attack. Instead of a hand curled into a fist, though, a series of bladed strikes flashed through the air and toward the shadow, pausing after the attack only long enough to make it clear that something had emerged from the box before retreating into it.
Post by Soren Jensen on Mar 5, 2014 17:02:31 GMT -5
The healer and the man seemed to receive his attack plenty well. The robot, however, seemed to resist Strike moves. It made sense. The healer had only performed healing actions since his arrival. Granted, that was a fine enough course of action, keeping one's allies alive and all, but it made his finding out her full capabilities somewhat difficult. Still, she seemed neutral to everything he used so far. That was something. The man was weak to Pierce. It was a good thing, since that potential for greatness with Megido was certainly dangerous. He also seemed to have an inclination for Slash moves. Finally, the maid-robot was only good for Strike-moves, proved neutral to Pierce, but resisted Strike.
The next wave arrived. The healer healed, the man used another Slash move. The robot, however, provided a small bit of additional information. Soren stepped back from the flurry of slashes. He could have continued fighting, but he had enough information for the time being. Slowly, the Shadow bowed. Quite a show, as it was low and included an arm shifting to his waist. It might have even been interpreted as a show to the Users. However, this was not the case. It was a farewell, a piece of gratitude, and a bit of well-wishing for his deceased ally. He regretted his tardiness. He regretted having let himself go for those years. Had he maintained his strength since his conception, these humans and their toy would have fallen. And, maybe, just maybe, that Shadow would have survived. With a sigh that likely sounded like a bestial howl due to the distortion of his helmet, he stood straight.
Thrusting the shaft of his spear into the floor, he grunted slightly before shifting and effectively ripping the floor up, almost as if it were designed to be a flap. Then, gripping the weapon in one hand, and the top of the “flap” floor in the other, he hopped and dropped through the hole, pulling the flap down with him. It wasn't neat. The destruction was obvious. It was even questionable if that flap would still support walking. Regardless, below, Soren's sudden crash on the weakened floor below caused it to collapse, where he then dropped through an already-existing floor gap. Just like that, he had gone down three floors. Making a dash out of the way of the direct drop, he reverted to his human shape, waving to some of the lower breeds as he dashed by. He'd be well out of the way and gone by the time they made it there. Even if they dropped down from above, they shouldn't have been able to sense him. All was well, for the time being.
Post by Chidori Tsukino on Mar 5, 2014 19:49:42 GMT -5
Vice and Pyxis continued their attacks whilst she healed (even if she wanted to join in with that particular effort), and the shadow seemed to take it rather stoically, once again reminding her that this wasn't an ordinary shadow they were dealing with. In fact, it prodded her suspicions about being toyed with, all of which sky-rocketed when the wargod suddenly swept itself into a showy bow, almost making a mockery of their efforts. Chocolate brown eyes scanning the black-garbed figure with extreme scrutiny, Chidori could do nothing but watch as it retreated in a peculiar manner.
There was no point trying to follow - it would be far gone by the time they could get down the floors. Besides, they were all worn out, and could easily walk into a trap if they carelessly gave chase. Sighing silently to herself, the mute channelled her power through Juno one more time, healing the group that little bit more to get them out of here without too much more difficulty. Provided they didn't run into any more shadows like that, of course.
It wasn't quite on the level of a full moon battle where they needed a dozen of users around his level to win but still, this battle couldn't really be called a battle. The thing just took their strongest attacks like that, and even if they had managed to deal some damage (or so Vice hoped), it just kept bulldozing them over. Vice shook his head, body shivering and spasming slightly from the strain he was feeling for the constant use of his abilities. He had a lot to use, more than the average User, but the fact that he was running dry and that Arondight fell to one knee meant that anything more on that level and he doubted he'd be coming home intact.
At least it was over, even if it wasn't so much as a win as the opponent retreating. When there was nothing left fight in the area, and the cooling effects of Chidori's persona finally uplifted his health somewhat, Vice took that moment to oh so eloquently stagger on his feet and did his best not to fall down.
Did the shadow just...bow? And then run off? Pyxis considered trying to give chase but decided that in their current condition, having just fought two strong shadows back to back, that would just be asking for trouble. They weren't likely to be able to catch it anyway. What had caused it to leave, though? Was it the risk of exhausting itself far too soon? Or had it never intended to fight to the end in the first place.
Meanwhile, Chidori healed the three of them again, and Vice asked if everyone was okay. Pyxis ran a quick diagnostic on herself and, finding nothing wrong that couldn't be fixed with a recharge, answered "All systems go, as it were. And speaking of which, we should probably get out of here before anything else shows up."