Trip To Funky Town [Mission]

[Vice Ysal]

Cold. It was just a state of nature and sometimes it could even be a figment of the mind. A psychological thing, experts said, that the mind really was over matter. Sitting there on top of a rock, a scarf wrapped around his neck and virtually alone in a vast wasteland of shadows, Vice wanted nothing more but to call bullshit on whoever egg head decided that that was a legitimate reason to not bring in a few heat insulating clothes to help with the cold. He wasn’t sick, far from it, he was healthier than ever. It just so happened that it was too goddamn cold without any of the sun backing him up for once and that made all the difference. He wasn’t quite sure if that would be a thing but the study of the possible weather patterns in the outside city could spell the outcome of a raid.

Like everything else in this world apparently.

Bout of paranoia aside, the young man simply continued to fiddle with the auxiliary zippers made available to him courtesy of his biker jacket. Breathing into his gloved hands to circulate his warm breath against his face, the Civilian tried once more to reassess his current situation. He was running an errand for the blonde woman over at the gap, something about funky tunes and cds and smashing shadows in an effort to obtain a couple. The mission sounded linear enough, calling it easy with past experiences to go by would be going full retard, and that’s not all, he was apparently going to have a partner for this one.
Beats going solo, that much he’ll admit.

Unless said partner was a useless shit but Vice had at least made it a point not to be prejudiced with the Users and the occasional Normals like him. If he could do this, granted he did a lot more than the average normal, then it stood to reason that others should be capable of it as well. Another loose gust of the most random of winds passed by and the young man shivered in an attempt to warm himself up. Packing a new weapon with him, top quality equipment according to the owner of Laharl’s smithy, and his trusted firearm, Vice was pretty sure he could hold his ground. The three medicine packets he had with him would just reinforce that fact.

“Goddamnit it’s cold.”

And still he was alone.

[Holly Mason]

To say Holly hated winter would be an understatement.  It was a terrible season and she wished she could get away with living further south so she wouldn't have to experience it anymore.  Strangely enough, the creation of the blockade and the awakening of her persona made it easier to deal with.  The outer circle was definitely colder than the inner circle, but after doing a quick favor for the strange blonde woman, she received some armor that protected her against ice-based attacks.  The jacket was very effective at combating the cold as well, which made sense.  Just to be safe, she still made one small change to her usual battle ensemble before heading out into the outer circle today.  Rather than her usual red tank top she decided to go with a red turtleneck instead.  She briefly considered just wearing a scarf instead, but the thought of a shadow grabbing onto one end and strangling her, or it getting caught on something in the heat of the moment made her reconsider.

Today, Holly was on a mission.  A very strange mission, but a mission none the less.  Apparently the strange blonde woman wanted someone to go beat up some shadows to find some music or something.  She still wasn't quite sure if that woman could be trusted, but such a job seemed benign enough.  Apparently she was going to be working with someone else too, not that the woman actually told her who it was.  God, she was so annoying.  Knowing who she was working with was kind of important!  Fortunately, the mission would take place in somewhat of an obscure location so she would be able to meet with whoever this person was fairly easily no matter how obtuse that god forsaken woman wanted to be.

Eventually, she came upon the spot.  She planned to be a few minutes late as always so that she wouldn't have to wait on other people.  Considering there was already a person there, it looked like she wasn't going to have to.  Much to her surprise, it was one of the non-users.  She was a little taken aback, not because she thought he was incapable, but because having normals fight just felt wrong to her.  It was a useless emotion, but one she had trouble shaking.  There was no one else here, so he was definitely the one she was supposed to be doing this job with.  Well, it wasn't like she was about to send him home, so she strode up to him with her usual cocky smirk on her face and no hint that she was still somewhat uncomfortable working with him.  It was a personal problem, he didn't need to know.

"Fancy meeting you here.  I assume you are looking for something 'funky?'"

If she was indeed supposed to be working with him she was sure he'd understand what she meant immediately.  If not, well she supposed she might actually have to wait awhile.

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

Finding the place that the woman described, you look around in search of the shadows that had the CDs you were looking for. You weren't really given much of a description to go on, so this might take a bit.

On the bright side, you certainly found shadows to fight. But which of them actually had the CDs you were looking for? You'll be finding out soon enough.

Funky Shadow

• Fatal End
• Media

Absorb: Repel: Null: Wind Rs: Wk: Elec

Funky Shadow

• Fatal End
• Media

Absorb: Repel: Null: Wind Rs: Wk: Elec

Jazzed Specter

• Zionga
• Life Drain

Absorb: Repel: Null: Ice Rs: Wk: Fire

Jazzed Specter

• Zionga
• Life Drain

Absorb: Repel: Null: Ice Rs: Wk: Fire

[Holly Mason]

As expected, it wasn't at all difficult to find shadows in this place, however that blonde woman continued to infuriate her.  She didn't have any way of knowing if these were the right ones or not.  Did that lady just like to waste peoples' time?  The job would get done much faster if she just gave them all the details.  Fuming on the inside, Holly took a look at her adversaries.  Part of her just wanted to take her frustrations out on them, but she had another idea that was even more amusing to her.  Her persona was all about bringing out peoples' inner strength and destroying any strength their enemies might have had.  This was a reasonable test to see just how effective that was.  Her supporting a guy with no persona vs four shadows.  It was probably dangerous and this probably wasn't the time for something like this, but life wasn't interesting without a little risk right?  Somehow, she didn't think that he would complain about being able to be incredibly badass for once.

"Looks like we have some company.  I'll leave it to you, think you can handle it?" she grinned.

Holly summoned the card to her hand and sliced it with one of her knives.  Once again, the mischievous looking brown-haired woman appeared before her, though today she just looked somewhat bored.  Shortly after, both her and Vice were enveloped in a bright orange light.  She opted to increase their attack power first because they could actually feel that.  Decreasing the enemies' defensive power would let him hit harder, but there was nothing quite like the empowering feeling of the buff.  She would continue doing this until there were three stacks, only stopping if either of them really needed healing.  Once they were fully buffed, she would begin debuffing the enemies with Rakudna.  This was probably excessive for these kinds of enemies, but she was honestly curious to see how quickly a normal could kill a group of shadows with her power.  Once again, she would only stop to heal if either of them needed it.

Honestly, if he hadn't finished them by the time she was done doing this she'd be a little disappointed.  Holly would still let him finish them off himself unless either one of them would be in mortal peril otherwise.  No amount of experimentation was worth someone dying.

[Vice Ysal]

Outnumbered two to one, with only one of them actually having the potential to summon a persona into the fray. Well, there was no reason to not be confident about his chances of surviving. Stretching his limbs to get them warmed up a bit before throwing himself into the fight, Vice then began to walk in between Holly and the bunch of shadows that have begun to arrive in front of the unlikely duo. When the woman, Holly Vice reminded himself, had asked if he was ready, the red eyed civilian had to stop himself from giving out some stupid one liner to reiterate the fact.

"Heh."

A small exhale of mirth was enough to announce his confidence to his partner. Readying his weapons, the sword firmly resting in his left hand as the heavy revolver felt it's triggered caressed on his right. There was some kind of unspoken signal between Vice and the shadows when the first buff had been placed on him. The empowering skill felt so much more effective now, when he had a chance to actually fight back and do some damage as opposed to standing at the back. His muscles became tougher, and his body became antsy for the rush of a battle. The skip of his feet and a small hop later, the biker had moved to the right whilst one of each monster type followed after him. The rest opted to stand back for the moment and that was a bit worrying.

Still, the moment the second buff had been placed on him, Vice charged whilst firing at the Funky Shadow. The screams reverberated into the air as one of the Jazzed Spectres launched itself at him. The gun was shoved back and in the same movement did Vice pull out one of his swords. Armed in both hands, the cross guard he had placed up to absorb the incoming blow had pushed him back. A hop back and forth, the red eyed civilian grinned further as he lunged in for an attack that had completely pierced through the hide of the Jazzed Spectre. It roared in defiance and Vice let go of the sword in order to insert the muzzle of his revolver to finish it off when the Funky Shadow he had shot at first intercepted his intention with a full body tackle.

Tumbling aways, Vice ignored the pain that shot up his left arm as he pulled back on the trigger back at the currently impaled Jazzed Spectre. The coalesced feeling of power that had formed in his core brought forth some kind of unearthly confidence in him. He didn't feel any faster but oh god did the muscles in his body tell him something else. He couldn't quite trust Holly fully but he could give her his back. If anything, he was sure that she was competent. Focusing on the opponents in front of him, Vice took on a fatal end right in front. It was dangerous enough that he couldn't mitigate any of the damage and the feeling of blood gurgling at the back of his throat as his body hugged the funky shadow but the young man kept standing. He had felt pain much harder than this and had survived even worse conditions.

A bright light emanated behind the Funky Shadow as the impaled Spectre vanished into thin air as Vice's bullets had impacted it again. Staggering backwards and away from the Funky Shadow, Vice had half a mind to pop a packet to help deal with the increasing pain but the sudden alleviation he had felt had told him that Holly really had his back. Marginally turning his head enough to catch her eyes, he gave the User a thankful smirk before turning back to the battle. A one on one, that just right up his alley. And with all the buffing and rebuffing happening around, it should be easy. He was about to charge forward, manic grin ready to tear apart the bastard when he felt the hair on his back rise.

A zionga had zipped past Holly's defences it seemed and went straight for Vice's back. A splattering of lightning forced him down, blinding light covering his vision as the cold rock beneath him cut open the side of his forehead from the impact of his fall. Nonetheless, Vice ignored the blood, and the pain, and charged forward with his remaining sword. Caught off guard from the tenacity, the Funky Shadow he had fought didn't see the incoming strike aiming to mutilate it. Black Ichor splattered all over his face as the liquids fell down on his clothing. Turning around, Revolver at the ready, the biker turned around and whipped his gun into firing mode. Eyes focused and the bullets whizzed past Holly and took down one of the Shadows from doing anything stupid.

With her own attack, the blonde User had taken down whatever remained of the shadows. Standing there, covered in black ichor from top to bottom and the wound on his forehead slowly healing up, Vice walked forward a bit to face Holly who slowly healing them of both their accumulated injuries. A light grin on his lips, and a bit of embarrassment in his face. It honestly looked wrong to see such a happy face on Vice, much less when he was covered in his own blood and the ichor of his enemies.

"Not quite up to your standards, I guess?"

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

Well, you managed to beat the shadows. Upon closer inspection they seemed to have dropped something! Some sort of music discs, apparently.

It looks like you did it. The mission is complete. Only, upon picking one up, the disc slowly deteriorates into dust. Unfortunately, the remaining discs simply dissolve from a light breeze of wind. Maybe this music was a bit too stale? Luckily, there seems to be a few more suitable targets nearby.

Hip Shadow

• Fatal End
• Media

Absorb: Repel: Null: Wind Rs: Wk: Elec

Funky Shadow

• Gigantic Fist

Absorb: Repel: Null: Wind Rs: Wk: Ice

Crazy Specter

• Bufula
• Spirit Drain

Absorb: Repel: Null: Ice Rs: Wk: Fire

Jazzed Specter

• Zionga
• Life Drain

Absorb: Repel: Null: Ice Rs: Wk: Wind

[Holly Mason]

"You did better than I expected," her lips curled into a mischievous smirk, "but in the end I think it was more telling of my abilities than yours."

Her tone was good-natured despite the words.  Their buffs faded once the battle ended and Holly walked forward to claim their prize.  She had a particular swagger in her step that showed she was very clearly pleased with herself.  It was great to see what the full extent of her abilities could do.  The guy certainly had skills of his own, but being able to fight shadows like that 4 on 1 and only need a little bit of help was pretty awesome.

She reached down to pick up one of the disks only to have it turn to dust in her hands.  Suddenly her whole demeanor changed.  Her eyes narrowed and her smirk turned into an irritated frown.  Her posture remained fine; if anything it was even better because she always got to the urge to want to feel taller when she was angry.  She thought it made her seem more intimidating.  Holly balled the hand that she used to pick up the fake disk into a fist and shook it slightly.

"Why didn't she give us more information?  I hate working for that woman so much."

Before she could let herself get too irritated and before she could complain much more, another group of dancing shadows appeared.  There was no guarantee that these shadows would have what they were looking for either, though at least it'd be cathartic to beat them up a little.

"If these disks are going to keep dissolving until we get lucky I don't think I should keep that up.  I don't want to waste energy and then not have any when we really need it.  You'll have to manage with one," with a swift hand motion, she summoned her persona and cast Tarukaja.  "I'll take that one," she pointed at the Hip shadow and summoned her persona to strike it with her wind spell, which did absolutely nothing to it.  "...You take that one, I'll take the ones over there," she could not hide her irritation if she tried.

Before she could refocus her attention on her new targets, they sent a couple of attacks at her.  The first made her instinctively twitch: it was an ice spell.  Normally that would mean nothing but excruciating pain, but she barely even felt it.  It was more like getting hit by a wind spell all things considered.  This armor was more effective than she could have hoped if it let her shrug off a spell like that like it was nothing.  The other one used lightning, which hurt a lot more in this case.  That one would be her first target.

Once again, she threw a blast of wind at it making it writhe in pain.  That was not the reaction she expected, but it was a very good reaction.  Her wind hurt it quite a bit, the shadow was obviously weak to it.  Once she cast, she darted towards the crazy specter.  Her experience suggested that it was possible to get shadows to hit each other with certain skills, was it true for these kinds as well?  A lot of the elemental spells just appeared on top of the target, but she figured it was worth a shot.  As she ran, she looked over her shoulder to make sure her partner wasn't dying over there.  She was probably better off finishing off these two than helping him finish off those, but she could at least throw a couple of heals in his direction if he needed it.  An attack from the shadows fighting her brought her attention back to them.  The attack didn't do much damage, but the shadow looked...a little less injured after it.  Not enough that one more blast to the face wouldn't finish it off though.  The other one just made her feel mildly chilly again.  This armor was awesome.

One more blast of wind to the injured shadow was indeed enough to finish it off.  The other shadow decided to be irritating and leech some of her spiritual power rather than attack.  Holly's eyebrow twitched.  She was trying to conserve that to some degree, so even losing just a little bit of energy pissed her off, perhaps more than it should.  The shadow's limited offensive options weren't enough to drain her strength below what she could heal with little effort, but she did find herself more tired than she expected.  She found it unlikely that the normal managed to finish off two shadows in the same time it took her to finish off two shadows, one of which was weak to her attacks, so she turned to aid him in finishing off the remaining ones.  She would have to use her weapons instead of her persona, but it was just as well at this point.  Hopefully these shadows would have what they were looking for.

[Vice Ysal]

"True enough. Then again, you're the best support I've had ever since starting out so hurrah."

Vice retorted with a smirk much similar to Holly's tugging at the side of his lips. Back handed compliments and bare handed sarcasm were such fun things to throw around but unfortunately, not a lot of people ever thought of them as enjoyable. This particular User found it funny at least, so that's something of a silver lining to a rather not quite dreary situation. Working with others wasn't really how he went ahead with things, seeing as this is actually a first for him, but the red eyed civilian was quite pleased to have found a worth while teammate. The fight had been easy enough as well, a few bruises here and there but for the most part the battle wasn't something that he had to worry over so much. Again, it was a testament to how lucky he was in actually getting a partner who knew what she was doing. If he had gotten someone like Isolde for this though, well, Vice wouldn't tread on that ground just quite yet. Stretching his arms as the feeling of power that had been brimming inside him began to fade away, he had allowed Holly to go do her thing. Given that she did the most in the fight, it only seemed right that she be the one to get the drops and whatnot. A sign of respect if you will, and that wasn't something Vice gave out willy nilly.

Unfortunately for the duo, said disks had a really shitty life expectancy and decided to be whisked away into the elements after turning into useless dust. Well now, wasn't that just a bummer? Stopping the half formed snort from ever escaping his throat, it sounded something like a funny gurgle on his part, Vice simply turned over at where his partner had now focused her attention on. Soon enough, the small thrum of power began to run its course in his limbs and the young man nodded over at the girl's direction.

"I've got a few Med Packs with me so I should be able to last long enough for this round."

The words 'no need to heal me' went unspoken. It also meant that the girl could focus more on her own fight than worry about him too much. He may have been a Civilian, a normal person without the capacity to summon a persona as of yet, but he's been in tougher situations, while being alone even, and time after time he'd come out of them relatively alive. And then the girl called out first dibs on a target…which didn't quite work out so well since the thing was apparently exempt from her particular element. Rolling his shoulders as Vice familiarised himself with the increase in strength, the young man then began with his own fight against two of the other shadows that had been generously left behind by his partner. Wasn't that just sweet of her?

Lunging forward, swords now at the ready, Vice was slightly surprised at the amount of boost a single Tarukaja had on him. He didn't quite over shoot the distance but he did arrive closer to the target than he had intended to. It was also fast enough that Vice didn't expect any resistance as he barrelled his sword into a slashing motion against the Hip Shadow. It screamed, but not quite writhed to the point of a slash attack being its weakness, and rolled backwards. Unfortunately, having nothing to push off from quickly enough, Vice had to deal with the remaining shadow tumbling against him. That tumble wasn't quite gentle as the description could had said and was actually strong enough to send Vice careening against the ground. Used to being throw around like a rag doll, the normal had to learn a few tricks to minimise the damage. Rolling off some of the pain, the young man brought up his hand that now carried a revolver with him and opened fire at the already damaged abomination. It screeched again, and this time had fallen down into what could have been some kind of kneeling position.

Vice couldn't tell, not like he ever could with this amorphous freaks and their creepy physical make up.

Nonetheless, the battle was still going in his favour despite his supposed weakness to every type of attack and being ganged up on. Maximizing what ever he could with the buff that had been placed on him, Vice slugged on through the battle. Dodging, blocking with chip damage, all the tricks up his sleeves. The remaining shadow grunted, it's body a bit more sluggish than before. It had turned around, and Vice briefly entertained the thought of the thing actually attempting to run away. Instead, the thing turned around again as if it was trying to get some momentum as a Gigantic Fist came flying the fuck out of nowhere straight at him.

Needless to say, it was one hell of a sucker punch.

Still, it didn't mean that Vice had been put to the count. Just a bit more worse than wear but he could stand. Never mind the aching chest, that seemed to get hit a lot, and his weary arms. The girl had already finished with her segment of the fight and it was more so of his own pride at the line now. He was going to finish this one before the girl even thought of trying to aid him with anything. Any and all help would only received after this round, getting any now was admitting that all the times he survived on his own before was simply due to luck rather than skill and as a man who prided himself in these things, that just wouldn't do.

A blade flew through the air, the blunt edge being the one unfortunately making contact with the shadow, and it was enough to catch the thing's attention. Vice probably had some one liner readied at the back of his head, and he would have even said it out loud had he been alone. Since he wasn't alone, the young man just settled for taking the shadow down silently.

"Well, that took care of it. You alright?"

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

And again, you managed to defeat the shadows that had appeared. And, again, they dropped the discs you sought. Thankfully this time they did not crumble away upon physical contact. In fact, they seemed rather durable. This was a good thing, seeing as you alerted the supposed "leaders of the pack."

Two powerful looking shadows quickly make their way over towards you. They are certainly not friendly, of that you can be sure. They are also far too fast for you to outrun. Your only option now is to finish them off so they you can bring these discs back to that damn blonde lady.



Disco Ninja Frog

• Garula
• Auto-Suku
• Zionga

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Elec, Slash


Snazzy Inferno Samurai

• Agidyne
• Auto-Suku
• Fatal End

Absorb: Repel: Null: Rs: Wk: Ice, Pierce

[Holly Mason]

It looked like they were both relatively fine after that, but Holly opted to heal them both real quick before taking a look at the disks.  Better safe than sorry even if she was starting to feel a little tired.  Once again, she stepped forward to collect the disks, expecting them to turn to dust just like the last ones, but these ones held up fine.  She smiled slightly as opposed to grinning like she normally would.  This entire mission was just annoying.  That blonde woman was just annoying.  Why did she even sign up for this anyway?

"Looks like they're good, let's get out of here."

Just as she was starting to turn around she sensed something, something bad.  It felt like they had more friends to play with first.  Before she could warn her partner, they practically appeared out of nowhere.  Holy shit they were fast.  Well, if he missed them at this point he was blind as hell, so there was probably no need to warn him.  The shadows were just staring them down; the frog was staring at her and the samurai was staring at him.  Vice appeared to respond in kind.  As much as she wanted to tell him to get out of here she knew it would be useless.  Even normally it'd probably be useless, but he had this particular expression on his face that made her understand it was even more futile than usual.  The expression was a little scary, but it was one she understood well.  He was excited.

"These ones are strong, be careful," she paused for a moment to put up one stack of Tarukaja.  "I hope you'll use my power well.  Don't disappoint me, if you die here I'll never forgive you and I'll mock your pathetic attempt to fight them for all eternity."

Her voice was deadpan, yet oddly gentle.  Well, if he was going to take the samurai then her target was the frog.  It was somehow appropriate that she was going to be the one to take down an embodiment of horrible dancing.  She readied some knives, and summoned her persona for another stack of Tarukaja.  She didn't think she'd be able completely stack Tarukaja and Rakunda and still have enough energy to take out the shadow, but she could definitely manage a full stack of Tarukaja.

Before she could fire off the final stack, the frog started dancing.  It was just embarrassing to look at, she definitely had to put this thing out of its misery quickly.  It pointed towards the sky and a large ball of electricity formed on its finger, then it pointed at her and the bolt hit her square in the chest before she even realized what hit her.  She could barely follow these attacks at all, what the hell were these things?  The attack hurt, but it wasn't anything she hadn't experienced before.  She was sure she could take a few more rounds of that, and as long it was focused on her everything would be fine.  She summoned Anaisa Pye to cast Tarukaja on the pair one last time.  This was all the strength she could afford to give him.  The frog sent another sudden bolt of electricity at her chest.  Holly recognized its wind up, it was very difficult to miss as it was a complete trainwreck, but she could never follow the attack itself.  She would just blink and miss it it was so fast.

Now it was time to attack.  She sent a blast of wind in its direction.  The frog tried to swerve out of the way, but the blast still clipped its arm.  It hurt the shadow, but not as much as she was hoping.  The shadow continued to send volleys of electricity at her, and she continued to send blasts of wind at it, while healing occasionally since it was doing more damage to her than she was to it.  Fortunately, the shadow didn't seem to have that ability.  She would win by attrition at the very least.

Then the shadow started looking at Vice.  Holly hadn't been paying much attention to the battle between Vice and the samurai, but she was sure it'd be bad if he got hit by both of them at once.  Rather than send another round of wind at him, she opted to try to pin the shadow to a nearby wall with her knives.  She tossed them perfectly in her opinion, but the shadow contorted its body in a way she thought was impossible and managed to dodge them completely.  It managed to dodge several of her wind attacks as well, these things were just unnaturally agile.  Normally it'd just be irritating, but this time it was just disastrous.  The shadow was going to hit the guy that couldn't stand up to these strange magic attacks while he was busy dealing with another shadow and her attempt to stop it had failed.  Before she could try again, a bolt of lightning formed on its finger again, but this time it wasn't being aimed at her.

Her first instinct was to heal him immediately, but something about this course of action just felt wrong.  The shadow was almost dead.  If she hit it, maybe it would never be able to attack again.  That must have been what her instinct was telling her.  She sent one final blast of wind at the shadow, and as predicted, it vanished in a puff of smoke.  Now she just had to hope he could hold out long enough for her to heal him.

[Vice Ysal]

"Alright then. Just have to drop it off at the shack and we're done. Hopefully the reward's well worth all this trouble."

The civilian sighed, the tension slightly receding away from his muscles as the presence of the disks finally remained with them rather than disappearing off into the wilderness once more. He hadn't really quite released all of the stress he had built in his body just in case something else came up along the way. Just cause they had the thing they needed to find didn't exactly mean that everything was going to be a trip down complacency. As it were, Vice had done the right thing by still keeping the energy running in his body as his senses suddenly whited out on him. He wasn't exactly sensitive like the Users, being a normal and all, but that was something else entirely. It was a different emotion, a sensation like no other. Power literally thrummed in the air as winds and flames began to dance around the area. He didn't need to sharpen his senses to find where they were, their presence was strong enough to block out every other distraction in the area anyway. The red eyed civilian slowly turned around, his eyes stuck in surprise when it saw the profile of a rather interesting duo. Both were unique, eye catching, and most of all dangerous yet it was the flaming swordsman that had taken away his attention and it seemed it had done the same.

There was some kind of recognition in the air, the same one that Vice felt whenever he stepped unto the arena where blood was put on the line. It wasn't the adrenaline of a match in the Arnis Competitions where they were guaranteed some kind of protection and indemnification should they be injured too much. This connection made by battle was something so much more. He could feel his face contort from shock into one full of glee, an unnerving mixture of adrenaline, excitement, and unadulterated joy. Absent mindedly, Vice noted the face he had received from Holly but pushed it to the back of his mind. So someone from the raid team found out just he was like, good for her. It didn't matter to him, not now, not when there was a presence calling out for a battle. The ring of steel echoed out as Vice unsheathed his weapons once more. He had began to step forward to the uneven battle ground when Holly's voiced pierced through the fog of battle that had clouded his mind.

"Duly noted, Bosslady."

And with his smirk coming back full force did the red eyed civilian continue for the show down.The Samurai himself unsheathed two swords of his own. A gleaming pair of beautiful blades, Vice would admit that it made him slightly envious, before the shadow settled into an agonisingly familiar stance. The young man ignored the sentimental value of that particular style and propped up his own. Moments passed as both sword wielders held their stance. Neither blinked, nor did they make any visible movement. Through some unspoken agreement, though that was probably the Fire Shadow waiting for Holly to fully buff Vice up to make the battle interesting, the two lunged forward bearing all the intent to kill each other. Steel met Shadow as sparks flew off from the flurries of sword styles lashing about. The left sword of the Shadow met Vice's own and the battle of brute strength began. Clearly, as a normal human, Vice should have been outmatched in everything. From strength, to speed, to anything purely dependent on the physical make up of a fighter. Yet thanks to the continuous buffing he had received from his partner, the young man had managed to stand toe to toe against the beast.

Their swords slid, Vice thrown downwards while the Fire Shadow was hefted into the air. A quick reverse in his grip and Vice threw the handle of his weapon towards the incoming blade of his opponent and butted it back with the blunt edge of his own handle. Lifted again, the Shadow's remaining sword sliced through the air and laid a swathe of cuts along Vice's chest. He ignored the pain, grit his teeth, and sent out his own attack that more or less connected with the same area. The shadow too refused to scream. Sweat flew off from Vice's hands, rivulets of the same fluid drenching his back as the sheer proximity to the walking bonfire was causing him to lose it fast. Even the very swords he had used to make battle against his opponent had began to feel the effects of it. Blisters were forming on his hands and his forearms, clothes being sliced by the expert swordsmanship of his opponent, and it was all the young man could do to not die.

Yet this was his technique, the style that was meant to force stronger opponents to fight on his considerably lower level. Attacks that he could not completely follow, that he could not completely outmanuever, if he did not know where they were coming from then he should have been dead come the start of this duel. Still he stood, intentionally leaving openings for his enemy to use and from there predicts the incoming path of the attacks. Blows were exchanged, and Vice's very body began to protest yet he held on. He felt himself getting faster, making every strike cleaner and more precise…or was that simply a trick of his mind and his opponent instead was slowing down? Regardless of that, the young man continued. Blow after blow he withheld from falling down, his injured and taxed body incapable of lasting through such a torturous regiment yet it continued to bear everything he had for the fight.

All the while did Vice grin, and deep inside he knew the Fire Shadow smiled as well.

It was a lucky strike, his opponent had overextended himself trying to break through Vice's unforeseen technique and the young man did not let the opportunity pass him by. He lunged, sword extending into a stab towards the neck of his opponent when suddenly, a flare of pain erupted upon his back. An unexpected strike, a critical hit that sent him stumbling forward. Balance lost, power fading, Vice spat out blood as he felt a sword plunge through his stomach. He could feel the radiating heat in front of him, next to his skin and almost it felt like he was being burned alive. The pain was excruciating, and though his adrenaline was slowly slipping away and the pain began to compound on him, the thrill of battle stood. A blood curdling laugh escaped Vice's mouth that hurt more due to the strenuous laugh.

And as the last laugh escaped his lips, the world around them shattered. Shards of black glass echoed down to the group of people as the hooves of a mighty steed echoed.Appearing from thin air, the same rider that had appeared long ago in front of Vice raised its scythe and gently rested it upon the injured Vice's neck.

A silent exchange between the two and the shadows behind the hood of the rider tore away at its overflowing red coat as the steed erupted into flames. A massive form came from it, the sound of metal plates grinding against each other as another blood curdling roar more terrifying than Vice's own echoed out. A thrum of unimaginable power broke through and Vice literally pushed himself out of the shocked Fire Shadow's presence.

"Thou art I?"

Vice asked, his voice trembling yet strong.

"And I art Thou."

The Corrupted Knight answered as he raised its mighty blade.

"From the Void of Thy Soul, I Ride Forth."

And the Persona lunged forward, a dangerous gleam to the blade as the sword within its hands tore through the weakened an unguarded opponent. As the ichor splattered against the black armour of the Knight, the Persona simply continued its machinations. It turned around, the hulking mass staring at its summoner through the black visor of its helmet. It cocked its head to side, as if congratulating the injured young man before dispersing into broken glass that was swept away from the wind.

"Took you long enough."

The young man breathed out as he fell to his knees and further aggravated his injuries.

Right, he still had that to worry about. Fumbling about, his hands going into his pockets, the young man ripped apart the medicine packet he had with him before pulling the sword in his stomach out and oh my fucking god that was hurting like a two-timing bitch. Dousing the wound with his medicine and drinking half of it, the young man turned a frantic head towards his partner who was still there and fuck trying to look badass right now, he was gonna bleed to death if she didn't hurry up!

[ChromaticTruthsayer]

You defeat the two enemies that had attacked you. Good job. And hey, they even dropped a few more discs for you to take back! Seeing that you probably have more than enough now, maybe it's time to head back?

Mission accomplished!

You received your reward: Armor Resistance Mod of Choice

[Holly Mason]

The moment she took her eyes off of Vice to finish off her own target she felt a strange presence.  It felt familiar, but at the same time not quite like anything she had ever felt.  A moment later she heard the clang of metal on metal.  It wasn't the same noise their swords had been making throughout the battle.  All of these sensations flooded through her before she could even take a moment to turn her head.  Situations like this just made everything feel so much slower, and right now it felt like it was nearly crawling to a halt.  It only took her a moment to register what was going on and look back at their battle, summoning her persona card to her hand so she could heal him.  

There was another figure there, a large armored person with a sword.  Once her eyes focused on the figure, it was already delivering the final blow to Vice's target.  Suddenly everything made sense, he finally did it.  Her lips curled into a large grin.  While she did want to figure out what made this situation different from all the others he had been in, this wasn't the time.  He looked about as good as she did when she first summoned her persona; that is about dead.  Not wasting any time, she crushed the card in her hand and both of them were covered in a soft blue glow.  That should at least stop him from bleeding to death.

"I didn't expect you to take my order to not die so seriously.  Congratulations."

Holly cast Media once more.  Unfortunately thanks to that stupid spirit draining shadow she didn't have the energy to continue casting.  It looked like he would be hurting a bit for awhile, but hopefully that would at least be enough to let him walk.  Still grinning, she offered a hand to help him up.

"I hope you're not going to make me carry you out."

[Vice Ysal]

His apparent mix of emotions had finally began to diminish as the roller coaster doing flips in his bleeding stomach had finally began to calm down. His breathing had began to even out and the sword that had been stuck in his stomach not long ago had more or less vanished away ever since the imaginary friend, His Persona he amended, had been summoned to take care of the shadow. Still, with the wounds finally beginning to close up and the pain steadily subsiding away, the young man only had to deal with the tenderness of his scarred abdomen. Moving was still a bit difficult and his arms felt like lead after the devilish whirling exchanges of attacks against a shadow like that. It wasn't quite on the level of a Stratum Boss but it wasn't something anyone could scoff at either. His legs felt a bit hollow as well, the bones in them feeling like jelly as the numbing sensation refused to completely leave him just yet. All in all, it was a down right land slide victory for the two humans.

Turning his neck to face Holly better, a small grin on his face evident, the young man just gave a pleasant nod as he grabbed unto the offered hand. Pulling himself up slowly to not aggravate the injury he had on him, Vice then pulled out the sheathe of his sword and used it as some makeshift cane. It was tall and sturdy enough not to fail him and at least this way he wouldn't have to hassle his companion much more. Seriously, it wouldn't be easy to lug around a person with the same frame and build as him.

"Can't exactly say no to your orders, Bosslady."

The young man retorted, and the answer to the last question more or less given already since the two had finally began to make their way back towards the dropping area for these goddamn CDs. Thump, drag, raise, thump. Rinse and repeat, the rhythmic walking had a calming effect on the young man as the duo continued on their way.

"Thanks for the support. Pretty sure that I would've died if it wasn't for you. You alright though? You did use a lot of your spells and all."

[Holly Mason]

"Well of course.  My persona specializes in empowering my friends and destroying my enemies.  You will not find better support.  And don't worry, I'm fine," she stretched.  "I'd heal you more, but I'm out of power," she paused for a moment, "It feels like--Well, I suppose I don't actually need to explain it anymore.  You should have some idea of what I'm talking about now."

The fact that he might understand now made it pointless to lie, but it wasn't going to stop her from doing so anyway.  He just summoned it for the first time and probably didn't use that much energy during the little bit of fight he was able to summon.  She'd have to bank on that for now.  The truth was that she was completely exhausted.  Her body was fine, she'd be able to walk back with no trouble and there would be no external signs of just how terrible she was feeling.  Her problem was pure mental exhaustion; the kind people get after a long test or a six hour game of chess or something.  Right now, she felt like she could go to bed and sleep for the next week, but she still insisted on hiding it.  There were two reasons she wanted to avoid showing it.  First, it was kind of embarrassing.  The shadows weren't pushovers sure, but this was a situation she should be able to handle fine.  It was just because some shadow was sucking her power like a vampire that she lost so much energy.  Second, she was the leader here, he even openly admitted it, and the leader showing any signs of weakness could cause problems for the whole group.  Holly would never allow herself to falter in front of someone.  Ever.

As they walked towards the gap, Holly couldn't help but stare with an eyebrow raised at Vice's attempts to move around.  She felt a combination of pity for him, irritation towards herself for not being able to fix this like she should, and pure anger towards the shadow that ate so much of her energy.  It wasn't surprising that he was having difficulty walking given what just happened, but it was really hard to watch.  She already had to slow her movement to a crawl just so she wouldn't accidentally leave him behind.  They weren't to safety yet, she still had to treat this like any critical situation.

"Do you want to borrow my shoulder?  I'm stronger than I look, I can handle a bit of extra weight."