Renewed Confidence [Mod]

[Layla Amare]

The battle in the cemetery had been an eye-opener for Layla.  First, it had showed her just how far she had to go.  That shadow had been far and away stronger than anything she had fought thus far.  Probably stronger than anything anyone present had fought.  Fighting shadows was, more than she had thought at any point since her initial awakening, a matter of life and death.  But it was the thrill of that that brought her back to the shadowlands after everything was over.  In addition, many of the others in that fight were stronger than her.  So, it stood to reason, that she could get stronger as well.

This time, she'd made it much deeper into the outer circle than before.  Rather than being caught in the subway tunnel or in the sewers just as she left the subway tunnel, she'd made it down several streets before finally coming across a towering skyscraper in front of her.  From before the blockade, she remembered that it was some kind of really important office building, but she couldn't remember what for.

"Nothing to do but find out now, I guess," Layla said, slowly making her way inside.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

A pack of Shadows appeared!

Grand Maya

• Cleave

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Slash Wk: Fire
Simple Maya

• Pulinpa
• Agi

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Ice
Cruel Maya

• Assault Dive

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Pierce

[Layla Amare]

Well, what a surprise. A pack of shadows were already waiting for her at the entrance. They were more formless masses with masks, crawling along the ground, but unlike the last time she encountered such shadows, they weren't color-coded. In fact, this time they seemed to only be differentiated by their masks: one was rather elaborate, one with rather plain, and one was somewhere in between but with a very menacing expression. "Easy enough," Layla said, taking a step back from the trio. The last time, the only threat came from sheer numbers. But on top of better sustainability and experience this time around, she also had means for dealing with multiple opponents.

Grinning with confidence, Layla called forth Yamantaka, who spread his arms wide and traced a familiar mandala pattern on the ground not under one enemy, but across an area that encompassed all three. Light shone from the lines on the ground, erupting from all across the area that had been traced out, hitting all three shadows at once. As the light faded, they each set on Layla in turn, with a charge attack, a small fireball, and a chopping attack with an oddly sharp edge for a mostly formless arm. Each of the attacks sent flashes of pain through Layla's body but, much like before, they weren't life threatening. Compared to what she had experienced the other night, they weren't even particularly serious. Shrugging them off, Layla called forth Yamantaka again and unleashed another wide-area light attack, defeating two of the three shadows. Only the plain-masked one remained 'standing', barely able to push its mask above the ground. But it did, raising formless arms for one more attack...

...that completely missed. All Layla experienced of it was a brief flash of light, directly in her face, but it faded just as soon, leaving her standing around like normal. "Well, that was anticlimactic," she remarked, bringing her otta down in a snapping strike to finish it off.

[Erithania]

Here's a fish. You'll need it.



More than you'll need that stinky money, anyway.