The Netherlands Mission [Completed] [Archive]

Tyekanik

11-28-2007, 02:58 AM

Laughing, Hei motions above him "I do hope we don't come across a tunnel while playing with the uglies. Best move up there quick though, til we're in the open I'm no good in a fight, I need at least room to swing a long stick." Playing it off with a dismissive gesture, Hei is a touch self conscious of his inability, in truth, the Akuma earlier dispatched would have reverted to its original form before Hei would have been able to finish it off. Open spaces were a different story though.

Jean looks a little dismayed, or maybe just annoyed that Hei can't fight in such close quarters.
Oh well, not much of an issue, if they want to harm us they'll knock the roof off transforming from their human countenance.

Climbing through the hatch onto the roof of the train without further interference, several Akuma begin to make their way slowly up through similar routes. Once in the open they burst forth from their disguises and pivot towards the two exorcists standing nearby.

"Eh, seems like there's 7 of them, the stupid ones too. Rock paper scissors for sides?"

Even saying this, Hei was tensed for the beginning of the fight, he'd gone awhile without a decent workout, and seeing these Akuma was making his blood boil. Releasing the bare minimum of power to feel the flow,

((4 in front, 3 in rear, since you killed one of those already, the poor guy.))

kensei

11-28-2007, 03:28 AM

"Well I suggest we get away from each other...you're not the only one who needs space to fight," Jean frowned, as he tried to lead four of the seven akumas away from Hei.

"I would do the Rock-Paper-Scissors thing, but I tend to get a lot of draws," he smiled, as he ran to one side of the train.

I shouldn't get carried away. The electricity my innocence can generate could hit and jeopardise other passengers in the train if I'm not careful. I should just use my dagger as much as possible.

The three akuma loomed over to Jean, as he revealed his dagger for the second time.

Wait! Where's the fourth one!?

Jean looked instantly to where he left Hei.

Midare

11-28-2007, 03:34 AM

Leiko watched from the shadows of the next wagon of the train as these got ready to fight, smiling.

"Good thing I took those stupid Level 1 Akuma with me to test these Exorcists"

Her smile grew wider when she saw them starting to fight the akuma. They weren't having a hard time at all, in fact they were getting rid of them easyly

"Tch!.... this will be too easy... I'll keep looking and then see what happens next. It would be too boring to kill only two exorcists but, if it turn out to be like that... that will do for my current boredom... more or less"

She stayed there, silent, seing how these exorcist were dispatching the Akuma,and smiling.

kensei

11-28-2007, 07:07 AM

"Think you can handle the last two ones Hei?" Jean shouted, as he finally had the time to stop and take a breath. "They're a bit too far from me, and I think I drank one glass too much of that mango milkshake.."

"You're not much at keeping those akuma at your side are you?" Hei yelled back.

"Daggers have a bit of a short range. Besides, i don't want to electrocute innocent people in the carriages."

That and I have to save us much of my energy as possible till we get there.

The first rays of the morning sun peeked out from the mountains as the train started to slow down.

"You better finish that up, we're almost here," Jean smiled, as he dusted off his coat.

Tyekanik

11-28-2007, 02:06 PM

Ah, his fighting style utilizes electricity does it? Hehe, well, good thing then, we both don't need to be too close to each other so there won't be many mishaps in battle if we both naturally keep our distance.

Hei continued smiling as the Akuma took their aim.

Best to wait for the initial go, there isn't much room to dodge left or right on a train roof, and I don't want to set myself on a definite trajectory for them. Still, its sort of disappointing, there's only two of them. I wanted to see Jean's fighting style, and its rather efficient. Quite good for one so young. Though exorcists are always recruited young, and many leave that way as well.

Taking a last look at the approaching dawn before engaging the remaining Akuma, Hei sets himself in a crouch, hands positioned as if holding an object, which after activating his innocence, Hei says "Come, Ryuujin Senka!"

At this point an bluish glow from his hands is seen, as a shaft quickly forms, approximately his height, an indigo tassel, topped with a blade. A lance, which matches the traditional position Hei had assumed, point of the spear low, the blade ready to fly in any direction necessary.

One almost in front of me, one out of reach to the side. Not that it matters much, I'll just have to use a tiny more energy than necessary to reach it.

As the Akuma fired, Hei launched himself forwards and to the side with a kick, avoiding the Akuma-blood shells as they splintered wood and twisted metal behind him. Leaping straight towards the nearest Akuma, which was again pivoting towards Hei to fire a volley, it was denied the chance by an upwards vertical slash from Hei's lance, bisecting the Akuma.

The Akuma turns to ash, as Hei passes between the two halves. Already having ascertained the second Akuma's position before launching his attack, he stretches his arm as if to grab the far Akuma, and says "Enrei." A glow of gathering Innocence in his palm, then from this is born something about the size of his wrist, made of the same blue color as when the lance formed.

From the Akuma's perspective, what it saw was a long, thin indigo serpent streak forth from the hazy ashes. Being small, fast and moving side to side as it was, the Akuma never had a chance to fire at it, as it veered aside at the last moment.

However it was only wrapping itself around the Akuma, as if a clumsily tied rope. Hei looks to the Akuma through the rapidly dispersing ash, and feels a moment of pity for the trapped soul inside.

"Time to get you out of there, whoever you are."

As Hei slashes his free hand to the side, the serpent erupts into flames, consuming the remaining level one Akuma.

A bit overkill for a mere 2 level ones, but, all in the name of expediency. Probably should have just thrown the lance and saved my energy, though I'd hate to toss this and need it a second later...Regardless, the young fellow back there is probably thinking I'm lazy anyhow for watching the first part of the fight, hahaha.

Holding the lance by his side, Hei turns back towards Jean.

kensei

11-29-2007, 04:08 AM

The smell of steam reached outside the bustling station. Jean fixed his hat to hide his face even more as he and Hei proceeded to finally find the innocence they were looking for- wherever that may be.

"A bit flashy back there," chuckled Jean, "But we shouldn't get too carried away right? We wouldn't want too draw too much attention."

"Says the guy who carries a dagger at all times," Hei smirked.

"At least it's not gigantic!"

To a normal person passing by the conversation sounded like something was about to start, but in fact the two were exchanging jokes out of respect for each other's talents and skills shown in the train. Not that many would care, as people would just hurriedly move along, caught up with their own busy lives.

"You'd think Netherlands would be a quiet, country place," Jean whispered.

"We should really be on our way now," Hei whispered back, "I don't like crowds."

"Me neither.."

Novoxis

11-29-2007, 08:48 PM

The train had begun to slow down, Leiko carefully observing the Exorcists as they dispatch the Akuma with a minut amount of effort. She brushes her back over her shoulder, when suddenly she feels a grip on her shoulder. Leiko turns around, her eyes narrowing at the sight of a, now, familiar smile.

"I love that, it simply screams 'What the hell are you doin' here' heh heh."

Edrial moves his hand from her shoulder and slowly moves his index finger under her neck and slowly moves it towards her breast when she bats his hand away. He receives a glare from her. Edrial simply laughs a little, stepping slightly ahead of her, looking back with a smile.

"This assignment, if you can call it that, was given to me first. It should be no surprise for you to see me here."

He looks out towards the exorcists as they prepare to leave the train.

"Did you think such useless Akuma's would be a match for them? Now that is amusing."

He reaches into the inside of his overcoat pulling out a pack of smokes. He flicks the bottom of the box pushing one up so that he can grab it. He places the cigarette into his mouth and lights it. He then offers one to his comrade.

"I've sent one of my personal Akuma's on ahead to ensure some entertainment. I'm sure you'd love to see such a spectacle, since you seem to love watching oh so much."

Tyekanik

11-30-2007, 02:28 AM

At the outskirts of the town, walking through the morning mist, Jean and Hei angled out towards the woodland that lay across a number of tracts of farmland.

"So, walking trees. Ever seen those before?" Inquired Hei as they neared the first tract of land.

"Not yet, least they'll be easy to spot." Replies Jean

"Hmm...suppose trees that walk also sleep? Might have sleep cycles of weeks...they are trees after all."

"Even then, we'd feel the innocence." Jean and his logic again. "I'm more curious about the Akuma that boarded the train to follow us."

"True, Akuma rarely act very organized without a lead around, but the trees are more of a novelty right now, seriously, we're assuming by standard occurrences we can detect the innocence but its already operating under a non-standard occurrence of living trees. It's probably just a wood nymph or something."

"Eh...nymph, yes. could be." Jean grins sarcastically. Though in reality the point he brings up is one I don't really enjoy thinking about. There were Akuma trailing us, so who's the lead?

Level 2's or at worst a Noah. Level 2's aren't seen terribly often outside of already problematic area's, and Noah's are almost unheard of. However that would be on account of the survival/encounter rate.

"Either way, whatever is directing the Akuma will make a move when they feel like it, not a whole lot to do but speculate til then. My money is still on the nymph by the way." I laugh as I picture our trip ending with on a rare non-combative note.

"They should make a move when its closer to dark, til then we can cover the distance to the woodland. It shouldn't be too far past the last farm. I believe they mentioned eight or nine farms." Gah, he reminded me. I can only see the land that's supposed to belong to the second farm from here, I really need something to keep me occupied.

"Wanna take bets on which number farms we get ambushed at?" Wonder if he's a gambler...

"Hmm...I rather think it would be more of a larger confrontation, or comparatively larger than if they were to split their forces, however many they have that is. Also closer to night like I said, we'll be almost there by then if we make a good pace. Which would you mind picking up some more?" Looking over his shoulder to emphasize I was falling behind, I only chuckle and catch up. What can I say, I get distracted easy...

"I can't decide on this, if they were going to use a group tactic like that why the mess on the train? Eight Akuma are too many for that form of working together at level one, and mainly every single one holding back on the civilians." Sending eight level one's can be dangerous depending on the situation, but with two exorcists its a safe bet no money was placed on the Akuma.

"Not sure, likely reasons might be to gauge strength and fighting styles, or just to catch us off guard later with a real attack." Jean says in a dismissive tone "Also, who was the showy one on the train?"

"Eh...heh...well, can't help it so much, everything I do tends to have sort of a glow to it..." He got me on that one, arrrrgh thats why I was never a covert exorcist anyway. Least I can happily burn trees soon. Actually, thats something I probably shouldn't look forward too.

"No worries, they won't have gotten much from that. It'll be clearer with the next attack, which we don't truly know there'll be one."

"We'll find out soon either way, if this is innocence up ahead, there will be some, if its a nymph, then it probably is one."

"Ruin your fantasy much if it were?" Jean looks over in mock curiosity.

Conversing as such we pass the first, second and third farm with no ordeal, the only thing of note were livestock and a hefty housewife asking us if we were going to banish the evil in the forest. Unfortunately all she'd heard was just that...there was evil... in the forest.

Really, what kind of superstitious community is this? A few walking trees and its pure unadulterated evil. Never mind its probably driven by the holy light of the Innocence, its scary so go kill it.

Perhaps farm number four will offer a release from the tedium, not to mention my conversational material is running dry. Not even much to talk about out here, living as an exorcist exposes you to so much a quiet travel such as this is maddeningly uneventful.

((hope you don't mind, felt like some light, extra dialogue :p))

kensei

11-30-2007, 02:55 AM

((i gotta say roflmao to that!! :p))

The wind turned into a chilly gust, as night began to sneak in.

One whole day spent already?! I really hate these innocence recovery missions..

"Wherever the innocence is, it better be worth it" Jean frowned.

"Serious much?" Hei whispered back.

Suddenly, a small rustle could be heard among the trees. Birds were chirping, as the sounds of scattered flight of panic filled the endless forests.

Hei readied his stance. "It's all good that we picked up the pace today, but did we have to spend the night in a creepy, dark forest?"

"It's better than a murky, stinky swamp."

A large number of bats flew from behind the two exorcists, taking them completely by surprise. Small and constantly squeaking, they took their flight towards the moon, blocking the already faint moonlight, as they circled around countless trees.

"Ugh...all those bats better not be vampires!" Hei cried, as his hands were shaking.

"What's that?" said Jean as he pointed to something in the middle of the sky.

A small object dropped out of the sky. At first glance it looked like a bat, its wings certainly resembled one. But on closer inspection, it was actually...

"My golem!" Jean cried as he ran towards it.

"Where did it come from?"

"I sent it away to look from the skies for any signs of the innocence before when we were stuck in that crowded station. I figured it would have moved faster."

Jean stopped and checked his golem for any clues to what may have happened. Tiny scratches covered its back and broke its wing.

"Looks like it was ambushed faster than us too."

The bats' screeches stopped. Everything was eerily quiet, as the bats just hovered up in the air with no sound.

Akuma? Or worse...a Noah?

Jean grasped his necklace tightly.

Tyekanik

12-01-2007, 04:28 AM

"Well, this one's had it. Bring out your golem and contact some finders in the area, they should have been gathering bits of information regardless. Let them know we're about to be a little tied up and to keep clear, they don't need to go investigate any sounds or flashes for awhile." Ehhhhh Jean's pretty good at this.

Rummaging through his pack, Hei pulls forth his golem proudly exclaiming "Ta-da!"

"Hei...that thing's singed all to hell and back. It can't work."

"Very perceptive, in fact it doesn't work!" Yeah, situation is probably going to suck in a few moments but smile while you can. Though, he's either really angry or trying not to laugh himself.

"Are you having fun?" I really hope its the trying not to laugh thing.

"Of course, imminent danger, no communication, creepy ass forest, vampire bats, Ent's should be around somewhere too. Do you have any idea how good of a story this will make when we get back?" I deal with stress through humor. Sue me.

"I'm...almost shocked, yet not quite. Can I venture a guess and at least hope you don't have a working golem because Komuii wouldn't give you one when he should have, and not that you just left without getting a replacement?"

My status is seriously plummeting to this guy. First mission, disaster.

"Well if we put them together we can probably make one that works."

"That...is so not reassuring." Jean shakes his head side to side.

I would have explained further, but the approach of something became more important at the moment. Due to the nature of a forest's nightlife, it was difficult discerning just what or how many it might be. However,we didn't have to wait long for an answer to this question.

kensei

12-01-2007, 07:18 AM

"Over there!"

"This should be a good enough place right?"

The two exorcists stopped once they found a large area clear of any trees. Back to back, they readied themselves to clash into combat whatever was after them. Just running to the place proved a challenge as they plowed through countless swarms of moving bats.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Hei trembled, as a sound of something gigantic approaching grew louder and louder.

"No way!" Jean shouted, as he couldn't take the eyes of the gigantic monsters looming over them.

So this is the power of that Innocence..

Ten-foot tall evergreen tree creatures towered over the puny exorcists. Armed with two pairs of wooden arms and a pair of strong, sturdy legs, Jean and Hei found themselves surrounded by five of these insanely huge creatures. Glowing lights hovered around the beings, illuminating their huge faces in a green, enigmatic glow.

"It looks like...their faces are.." Hei stuttered in shock.

"They look like they're suffering.." Jean completed what Hei was trying to say.

What kind of innocence is this!?

Sounds of juvenile laughter echoed around them. The voices seemed to resemble little girl, yet it surrounded the two, making it impossible to try and discern her location.

They heard little footsteps from behind them. As they turned around, they found the most ethereal thing they ever saw. A little girl, looking to be around the age of eight, with long chestnut brown hair and wearing old, ragged clothes approached them, and seemed to be smiling at the same time having an empty look in her eyes. Even stranger was the fact her hazel brown eyes glowed an ominous shade of green, and those strange lights that circled the tree creatures gathered around her.

Is she a real girl? Or perhaps a deity created from the innocence?

"H-hey Jean, maybe she's the one compatible with the innocence?" Hei whispered.

"Assuming she's a real girl. Wither way we have to-"

Their conversation was cut short by a slicing wave of green light, passing in between and narrowly missing their faces. The gust of wind created by the energy felt like they were being frozen, but there were certainly no traces of ice or the like.

Jean looked back to the girl, and his eyes widened at the sight of the emerald wisps of light circling around the child and creating a huge spiral of green energy.

"Watch out!" Hei screamed as he pushed Jean far enough to prevent the both of them being squashed to a pulp by those tree creatures punching the earth.

"We have to somehow stop those green things from completing whatever they're doing. Can I count on you to handle those tree giants?" Jean asked Hei, expecting his full trust and support.

He glanced back at the little girl, whose feet were now suspended above the ground a strong screen of light enveloped her.

"Because whatever's going to happen, I don't think we'd be standing to actually find out what it is."

Tyekanik

12-01-2007, 04:11 PM

"Ah, a good set up, I am most definitively not suited to that little girl for two reasons, however the tree's might not be an issue. When I pull them off just...don't back up too far. You don't seem like the retreating kind anyhow, I'll step through and see how you're doing once I clean up this side."

Jean looked quizzically at Hei, then nodded and faced the presence.

If I my job is to prevent them from harming Jean while he handles that pseudo-nymph, it will be very easy, defeating them comes after that though, and my strongest move will be used for separation only. Well, maybe I can catch something in it, though I don't really have time to gauge just how fast these trees are, and I refuse to let a single one past.

Breaking past the Tree's guard, Jean nimbly evades their attacks and the two trees he slipped by are turning to him as if to follow. The other three are still intent at the prey who is still in the proper position.

Leaping back Hei exits the ring in a similar manner to Jean, only on the other side, and falls back to around 10 meters past the nearest tree, leaving at least 25 between himself and Jean.

Smiling softly, Hei says "Innocence, activate!" Hei then accumulates as much of his power throughout his arms as he can in the short period of time before the far trees became too close to Jean, as they weren't really as slow as one would picture a tree-beast thing.His hands begin to glow with an incandescent light, quickly becoming indigo flames.

Cutting him shorter on time, the three that followed Hei were moving a good deal faster than those after Jean, as the ones following Jean seemed content to close in between the prey and master, whereas from their perspective Hei had nothing behind him impeding his movement.

Raising his arms to shoulder height, held to either side he utters his simple incantation. While is actually not a necessary element, it greatly aids his mind on focusing upon one single technique at a time.

"Blaze Wall." Twin pillars of fire erupt from the earth on either side of Hei, almost directly to the side of the far Ent's (for lack of better term on unknown beasties), slightly closer to Jean's side than Hei's.

At this Hei brings his hands together with a clap, looking almost as if ready to offer a benedition. The effect is immediate, the twin pillars rush together with a slight rumbling sound, lighting the night with Hei's Innocence.

One of the trees had begun to backpedal cautiously at the sight of a technique it didn't recognize, while one did not. This late Ent was caught as the pillars slam together, finishing the impassable wall of flames. The distance to either side is great enough that even though the Ent's are quicker than they appear, they would not have time to circle the wall. without exposing as easy targets to Hei.

The creature stumbled further a little ways, blinded by flames and reducing to a charred lump in a rather short amount of time.

The only problem was, the technique was costly in time and energy, as the three that had followed Hei now towered before him, and Hei had not formed his lance yet.

Leaping back Hei extends his hand and exlaims "Come, Ryuuji Se-GAH!" Not fast enough, an Ent had swept one of their long powerful arms through the forming spear, causing it to disolve in small unrefined flames and smashing into Hei's chest.

Landing several meters back Hei rolls to a stop against a non-violent tree, and climbs to his knees, then feet.

Damn, these things are deceptively quick, and about as strong as I figured which is plenty to hurt.

Almost upon him again, the three Ent's rush forward as Hei leaps upwards, latching on to a tree branch and swinging himself up, he leaps across the Ent's stepping off one of their 'heads'. Hitting the ground running Hei charges the lone Ent with the intent of quickly dropping the easy one out. Forming his lance, this time successfully, Hei leaps forth and plunges Ryuujin Senka into the Ent with all of his might.

Thunk. The Lance penetrated the 14 inch blade into the tree, but was stopped by the shaft. Perhaps a bad time, Hei realizes the problem.

"Now, why did I think it would work to stab a friggin tree." With a blade of 14 inches, even being able to penetrate through the beast, it would take too much work to slice even an arm of, much less a leg. Hei was pretty sure a slash would not cut cleanly through such a monster, and only get his lance stuck, much like it was now.

The Ent takes swing at Hei, who ducks under his spear and tries to pull it free. Unsuccessful, he is then met face to foot with the Ent's latest attack, and is set flying yet again, this time with blood coming from his mouth and nose.

"Alright, I get it. Serious or this won't get done right?" Mutters Hei as he clambers to his feet. His smile slowly fading, he glares calmly at the remaining Ents, and dismisses his lance which was still protruding from the single Ent.

Lighted by the blaze wall, which had only been burning for about a minute and a half, Hei once again gathers energy into his arms, hands burning with blue flames as before.

((I'll kill the other guys after a while, gotta go see a man about a dog and would like to act this out a bit))

Midare

12-01-2007, 10:19 PM

Leiko kept watching, frowning, analizing each movement of the exorcists as one of them fought those huge walking trees and the other one was thinking about how to deal with the ghostly-like girl

She sighed

"Now, weren't you supposed to send some akuma to fight with these exorcists, Edrial?... this is getting boring you know?"

She turn back, to look at Edrial, to see how he was grinning at her... that grin of his she always hated so much.

"Be patience, my dear Leiko... "

"Who are you calling 'dear'??" - she thought.

he kept talking "...they will show up when I'll tell them to show up... and this is not the time yet"

She frowned even more. "Then, when it will be the time? I'm getting impatient here"

The smile in Edrial's face grew wider.

"I told you to be patient. I thought you were more intelligent than this. Isn't the best to wait until they deal with those tree-like beasts and that little girl and then get rid of them take the innocence? I think that's the best way... after all, you were the one that was only watching from the very beginning and no taking action..."

Leiko put a really serious look in her face, while looking at Edrial's smiling face.

"...aren't you a little contradictory, my dear Leiko?"

She was gritting her teeth, looking at him with an expression of complete despise. And then the sighed again, trying to stop hersefl from punch him and looking back at the exorcists.

"Whatever... let's do it your way then"

"That's great" Edrial said from behind her, with a cheerfull voice.

"Someday I'll kill this guy... for sure"

((Leiko got aggressive here... I know XD))

Tyekanik

12-02-2007, 12:36 AM

As the Ent's drew nearer, 3 of them diagonally forward and left, one of them diagonally forward and right, Hei once again grins at them as he uses his next incantation.

"First Ethereal Phantasm, Wil o' Wisp!" small motes of light began spinning around Hei's body at a high rate of speed. These motes joined together to soon form three small orbs circling Hei wildly.

After a moment, the orbs slowed, and with a motion of Hei's arm, shot forward towards the group of three Ents. Midway to the Ents, the orbs erupted into flames, each orb's flame approximately three times the diameter of the orb itself.

Darting in and out of the three paused confused Ents, they had yet to make contact. One of the Ents attempted to swat down an orb, however when its arm neared the orb small tendrils of flame stretched from the Wil o' Wisp, latching onto the arm of the Ent, and pulling the orb against it.

The Ent's arm aflame, it stumbles backwards trying to swing the Wil o' Wisp off of its arm, to no avail.

One of the other Ent's was having similar problem in that an orb had attached itself to the Ent's left leg above where the knee would be if it were human.

In a few moments an Ent's flaming arm, and leg respectively fell to the ground, burned off of the main body. The two Wil o' Wisp detached from the now useless appendages and spiraled upwards with the third, directly above the unharmed Ent in the trio.

After rising a ways, they reversed their direction, plummeting towards the surprised creature, and simultaneously impacting with the Ent from above, knocking it to the ground and covering it in flames. This Ent did not rise again.

The lone Ent was quickly making its way towards Hei, in order to stop the new threat they did not know how to deal with. The Wil o' Wisps once again rose from the target and spiraled towards the unharmed Ent. This left the one armed and one legged Ent making their way towards Hei, the one legged one of course slower.

Without the presence of the Wil o' Wisp, the flames are not spreading on the Ent's after they leave. They must certainly be connected to Innocence or Akuma to be that averse to burning without my innocence's physical contact.

Well, not that I figured Ent's were naturally occurring anyway.

The lone Ent was retreating from the orbs which were directed by Hei, though soon became too close to the Blaze wall, and while not catching fire directly, it was nevertheless charring and dying due to the intense heat.

Thats for kicking me in the face you bastard. Thank God nobody saw that anyhow.

Hei Recalled the Wil o' Wisps and they began orbiting him rapidly yet again. At this the Ents paused in their advance, unwilling to bring themselves within reach of the orbs.

Without warning the Wil o' Wisps shot forth impacting into the main body of the one armed Ent. One of the orbs cracked, and released its supply of energy in a fiery fashion, however in the raw form these particular flames did little to the creature. The other two orbs pulled themselves from the creature as it toppled, unmoving.

Oops, lost one. Gah, one more and I can release this, then check up on Jean's side of things. I'm ill suited for combat against her from what I can tell, but that doesn't really matter a bit, going is going. Though he could feasibly be waiting for me over there, not like he can cross the wall like me. Eh, not likely I figure these would stop moving on their own without the pseudo-nymph.

The remaining orbs flew 10 meters away from the Ent on either side, it tried to pivot and move though with one leg it could only meekly shuffle along. The Wil o' Wisps collided into the creature, and soon had burned into the main body, incinerating the beast from the inside.

As the charred hulk fell to the ground, Hei dismisses the remaining Wil o' Wisps, takes a moment to wipe the blood from his face, walks over to the wall of flames and steps through them to see what Jean's side looks like.

((The crossing over can of course be after your done over there Kensei, not trying to interrupt you :p))

kensei

12-02-2007, 09:17 AM

((haha, it's alright, I can go with the flow xD))

With one knee down to the ground, Jean was annoyed at the fact he had to pause and gather up stamina again for the third time since he left Hei.

Gah, those green blasts of energy are really evil. Draining one's stamina along with that freezing sensation, what kind of Innocence is this?

The mysterious girl flexed her nimble little fingers and let another gigantic wave of energy loose. Instead of heading towards Jean's direction, it headed the other way and collided with a tall stone pillar.

It's safe to assume that girl has no control of her powers. It just shoots randomly.

Jean proceeded to put his hand over his silver necklace for the fourth time.

"Innocence, ACTIVATE!!!"

A beam of blue lightning broke through the clouds and surrounded Jean with an enormous supply of electricity. A dark blue gauntlet formed over his right hand, and absorbed all the flow of electricity that surrounded him.

Luckily enough, I can keep recharging myself with the lightning for a few more times...

Without even a flinch, the girl let out another wave of energy and this time succeeded in making contact with Jean's left arm. Before he could fall back down to the ground in pain, he shouted "Blue Bolt!" and released a full charged bolt of lightning before another chunk of his energy would be siphoned out of his body.

Yes a hit!

The charged blast hit the girl's right shoulder, but she showed no signs of even noticing the damage.

"This thing's quite tough to beat. ," he thought aloud, panting, "Although I think I'm getting some things about this Innocence now.."

He couldn't even feel his left arm anymore, as he struggled to get himself back up. He turned to face the girl and his face turned pale as he witnessed the approaching danger in front of him.

Those wisps....they weren't that big before...

Out from each of the numerous wisps appeared wooden limbs- the exact same limbs those giant tree creatures from before had.

((Don't worry about explanations of her powers, I'll cover it next post, which would be after we meet up))

Tyekanik

12-02-2007, 03:38 PM

((Okies, I'll just do some basic stuff so that you can finish her off when you're around again, nothing like a little ethereal child abuse to start a morning off, and I don't want to screw up with her abilities :)))

Exiting Jean's side of the blaze wall, Hei instantly notices that things are amiss. Jean is breathing heavily, the child of evil sending off green waves of energy, and wisps sprouting tree limb...limbs.

Eh...I just agreed with that ignorant villager, there is indeed evil in this here forest. Little girl ghosts can be nothing but evil, they are far to creepy for anything else. God I hope it stays away from me. Hmm, doesn't seem to have taken notice of me yet.

Hei steps back to where he is almost touching the blaze wall, hiding in the shimmering heat, but just far enough away that he can see without too much of a visual obscurement.

Jean's clutching his arm like its wounded but I can't tell anything from here, doesn't look wounded. I hope it isn't possessed, I've read evil spirits can do things like that, possess a limb on a persons body and cause it to be necessary to remove it-Ack, shut up, just kill things. His arm isn't moving so it isn't possessed.

Those wisps, they seemed to look vaguely similar to Hei's but he sensed much less heat from them. Perhaps I will be able to burn those with my own. Dreading the thought of using and Ethereal Phantasm twice in a row, he nevertheless prepares himself with the necessary energy.

"First Ethereal Phantasm, Wil o' Wisp!" Now orbited the three orbs, with before Hei standing Jean, on the far side of Jean the little girl. Her shoulder looked terribly wounded, but she was taking no notice.

Waiting until a few of the other tree-studded wisps moved closer to Jean, Hei ordered his own out with a motion from his arm. The orbs, yet unlit, zipped past Jean's head on the left, under his right arm, and from between his feet.

Perfect, if they can dodge this surprise attack I'll...miss. Whatever errr...too bad I didn't have a way to warn Jean.

On which, Jean leaps back away from the new orbs, and as they reach approximately six feet away from Jean they ignite, now incandescent twirling balls of fire. Looking back bewildered, Jean makes out Hei's apologetic figure (hands clasped slightly bowed) in the hazy space before the flames. At least the color of the Wil o' Wisp's was precisely like all of Hei's other two flame attacks Jean has seen.

The battle of the wisps ensues, with Hei's being superior. Not having to rely on an attack with wooden limbs and being made of fire, he had the natural advantage, thus far.

((Now you have three wisps to use :) treat them well, they're fun.))

kensei

12-02-2007, 11:27 PM

"Oh good, you're here!" shouted Jean, in extreme delight.

Hei (after hesitating for a good five minutes) ran to Jean to help him up. "Still alive?"

"Who knows.." Jean answered sarcastically.

"Listen, I think I found out how we're going to beat this thing. Remember the green waves she shot out before? If it gets in contact with any living thing, it drains energy from it and transfer it to that girl- which i assume doesn't feel pain because of the massive amount of energy she stole."

"Whoa, lucky I got stuck with those Ents," Hei smiled.

"Ents?"

"Those tree things."

"Okay, moving on. Obviously this innocence is related to nature, and its ability is fearsome, as even if you don't touch those waves of green light, you can still feel a freezing chill in your body. But, the more powerful something is, the greater it's weakness is- in this case, it takes approximately three minutes minimum before she can let loose another wave."

Jean looked back to the ethereal girl and to the sight of Hei's wisps incinerating her own.

"Also, I presume any drained energy also gives her the ability to create said 'Ents'- which you can handle easily."

"I try," Hei grinned mischievously.

"Your fire has a way more obvious advantage than my lightning. Distract her until I give you the signal then you finish it off." Jean whispered, as he started charging up his power.

The two exorcists stood up and ran in opposite directions. The ethereal girl was still being bombarded by Hei's wisps and couldn't launch another of her energy draining attacks.

Hei signalled the wisps to fall back, causing them to float away from the girl. Meanwhile, Jean was finally done charging enough juice and began shooting bolts of lightning at the girl.

Although the girl couldn't feel pain, she noticed the exhausted exorcist running around and preceeded to launch another attack. Almost instantly Jean shouted "Shadow Lightning!" as a blinding ray of light struck down and momentarily blinded the girl.

As soon as the smoke cleared and the girl could notice Jean's figure, she shot out a gigantic wave of green energy towards him and landed successfully. Yet her target detonated into a mass of electricity as two other Jeans appeared out of the smoke and ran towards her.

One of the Jeans leaped to the girl and held her tight, then exploded into an electric matter which momentarily paralysed the girl. The other Jean (the real Jean) ran around the girl and while shouting "Stormwalker!", his speed gained an accelerated boost as he continued circling her, at the same time, letting out a constant discharge of energy from his right hand.

'Now Hei!" he shouted.

While the girl was trapped in the lightning vortex, Hei summoned two of his wisps back towards the girl as they encircled within the electric cyclone, the constant speed increasing the damage done to the girl in the centre of all this.

Hei left the third wisp in front of him, and began charging up energy, slowly building up the wisp's flame even brighter.

"Finish it now Hei!"

((I'll let you do the grand finale :)))

Tyekanik

12-02-2007, 11:58 PM

((Much obliged :)))

In the center of the cyclone of electricity and heat, the specter writhed against the energies assailing her, trying desperately to ready another burst of her own.

Charging the third wisp with energy, Hei directs it towards the top of the vortex.

"Like I've always been told, simple methods are the best. Jean! Back off now please!" At the end of this Hei directs the Wil o'Wisp to plunge straight towards the top of the spectral girls head. At the same time, the other two wisps left their spots in the cyclone, and rampaged into either side of her neck, tendrils reaching for each other, entwining and devouring.

The vertical wisp then impacts the skull of the child spirit, weakened through the intense pressure and heat from the neck plus the continual electrical pummeling, the wisp succeeds in drilling past her skull, and down into the body as the coupling wisps then shear the rest of the neck.

In the dimming light as the blaze wall and various other Hei spawned forest fires begin to die down, there were spots where traditional fire had began from the heat and proximity. Jean and Hei approach where the girl was, and spot an innocence fragment poking from a small pile of ash.

"So, I'm guessing this is what you meant by never doing anything secretive." Jean motions around at the blackened surroundings which had been scorched by Hei's flames.

"Well, no this isn't so bad. Better yet we can leave this annoying forest now."

"There was no nymph." A tired Jean exclaims. Laughing a little as battle tension disperses.

"There's always the next forest, probably be in less than a month." I lean down to pick up the innocence when a sound causes me to pause in my movement.

Midare

12-03-2007, 01:39 AM

((Thanks for that last line Tye, that's was helpful indeed :)))

Leiko was leaning on a tree with here arms crossed over her chest, looking at the exorcist, and how they finally were done with those walking trees and the ghostly girl.

"Are you planning on doing nothing, Edrial?"

The other Noah Clan member step forward, stopping at Leiko's side, grinning.

"Do you think we need the two of us to handle them?, maybe with only one of us is enough".

Leiko frowned at him. "I knew it, you only came here to watch and do nothing, you lazy bas...".

Edrial cut her sentence off. "There, there my dear Leiko, after all, you were the one who asked for this mission" he said still smiling.

She looked at him with a promise of death in her eyes. "This idiot, he's trying to control me.... but he's right, I've asked for this mission because I was bored. I guess I'll follow his game... only this time" she told to herself.

Leiko sighed again, trying to regain her calmness. "Ok, do as you like, I'll take them"
She started to walk at the exorcists' direction and then stopped, looking back one more time "and you better don't get in my way... you really won't like to see my bad side", then she walked forward again.

"Bad side?... hehehe... I wonder how is her good side then", Edrial murmured with a smile, while leaning on the tree where Leiko was leaning before.

One of the exorcist was about to pick the fragment of innocence from the pile of ash that used to be the ghostly girl while talking to his companion, when Leiko said softly: "Virgil, follow me"

The exorcist who was about to pick the innocence stopped himself and looked up, to see a woman with long blue hair, wearing a black costume with a black shirt of silk and a red tie. She was walking toward them, with a faint smile on her lips and hundreds of tiny black spiders surrounding her, following her.

The one leaning on the ground said "Jean... is she...?". And the one standing answered "Yes... she's a Noah".

Leiko stopped. "Good evening exorcists, is good to see you know about who I am ... even when you don't know my name, but that doesn't matters right now".

The exorcist in the ground stood, looking straight at this Noah woman, while the other one took out a small dagger. "So..." said the one who just stood "... how are we going to handle her"
"I don't really like going two against one" - said the other that Leiko heard was called Jean - " but now..."

She interrupted him "I'd suggest you to attack toghether, maybe like that you'll have a chance... maybe"

They stayed there, thinking, but Leiko kept talking "Anyway, I'm bored of waiting so, if you don't beging with this... I'll do"

She spread her arms and even more spiders materialized for the palms of her hands, joining with the hundreds of spiders on the ground. Her smile grew a little wider and she said: "Go, Virgil". With this order, the spiders to head string at the exorcists at a fast pace.

kensei

12-03-2007, 01:54 AM

((Hei is the one leaning to pick up the innocence btw :), but anyway I'll work with it ^^))

Jean leaped back from the Noah, as he picked up Hei at the same time, despite his heavy weight.

Crap, Hei's exhausted more than me, and that's not saying much. If I hadn't let down my guard when I was getting the innocence after Hei suddenly dropped to the ground then maybe..

"Ah, who cares," a pissed off Jean grumbled, as he stopped in his tracks.

By this time, Hei began to head off to another direction. "This is like, so annoying, but we gotta do what we gotta do."

At the same time, both exorcists yelled "Innocence Activate!" and prepared themselves for the oncoming onslaught of spiders.

Jean gave the Noah an icy glare.

Lucky I hid the Innocence in my pocket before she attacked. She has to find where it is first.

"Shadow Lightning!"

The same flash of light that blinded the ghostly girl struck down as the Noah could feel multiple bodies whizzing around her.

"Annoying little whelp," she exclaimed.

At the same moment, three wisps of fire flew passed the Noah's face and began to circle around her.

"Oi, eyes on the hotness right here lady," Hei smiled.

Now!

Two of the Jean clones came out of the smoke and proceeded to strike the Noah with daggers extended by lightning.

Tyekanik

12-03-2007, 02:59 AM

Hei watched as the clones exploded in an electrical shower.

What? Ah, those spiders, but when did they get on the clones? Damned Noah.

The wisps rush forward in a tri-point attack, however Leiko moved for a moment too fast for Hei to understand how she evaded all three Wisps, and what was more is one of the wisps cracked, and spewed unrefined flames on the soil beneath.

As she moves in a steady trajectory after evading my wisps, Jean unleashes a bolt of lighting from his glove, which is also nimbly evaded as the Noah pivoted gracefully aside.

Tch. This isn't going to work for long. I'd like to see a little more of what she has to offer before I switch.

Hei ponders the next move as he notices the ground almost beneath his feet moving with life.

SPIDERS! So close, what demonic arachnids are these?

Kicking off to the side, Hei extends a hand to his left, and as he sweeps his hand in an arc to the right he recites "Enrei." Surging from energy collected in his palm whooshes the serpent, thrown down in a line in front of Hei, whereby he snaps his fingers causing the serpent to erupt in indigo flames.

"Lovely tactic, no spider can cross flames." A soft feminine voice whispers in my ear.

My ear. She's behind me.

My mind doesn't register how this is possible, I was only looking at the spiders a moment.

"Hei! Down!" Yells Jean, as I see an arc of electricity running through the night in our direction.

Hugging the earth I feel the bolt shoot over my head, however there was another problem. Rather than do what was anticipated and evade the bolt, Leiko had grabbed onto my back and simply ducked with me. Somewhere, my remaining wisps had been destroyed, and I had no clue as to how that happened. Perhaps my tired mind lost the image.

Jean runs full tilt towards the two of us, as I mentally try to calculate just how many spiders must be on my body at this point, however thats a fools thought, only one thing to do.

"Come, Ryuujin Senka!" The angle in which I was holding the spear did indeed cause my female intruder to move, as the lance formed almost against my back. Leika stood back a few yards from me, looking pleased with herself.

"You'll never do it that way, are you seriously going to face a Noah as you are?" At the end her voice drops to a level where I can only taste disgust. Of course, we are being utterly stupid. We are simply too fatigued to even engage a Noah as we are. I'm unsure of Jean, however I know I can at least become a little more lively, and that Jean isn't done himself.

"My apologies madam, I fear I am guilty of underestimating you a tad. However worry no longer. Hey Jean," I glance over to where Jean is coming up "told you there was a Nymph." I give her my most disarming smile, as if that or any other would make a difference. Jean has begun circling approximately 15 yards to the side from Leiko and I.

"Innocence, Level 2." Activating level 2 has the effect of removing a limiter, it enables my body for a brief time to deal with the increased stress of my Innocence. This also means I have gained access to much more of my Innocence's energy, the pool was no longer being filled by a trickle.

My body feels a rush of warmth, as the air shimmers nearby with the heat from my innocence. My hair begins to wave through the air, lifted and dropped on the waves of heat radiating from me.

I steady myself, and begin inserting power into my lance. It might take a little while, but I feel I can count on Jean to buy the time while I can only wield this lance.

((Thought I should add I'm using your name for reference, though Hei still hasn't heard it himself. ))

kensei

12-03-2007, 03:14 AM

Damn, I hate being ambushed when I'm tired..

While Hei was activating Level 2, Jean knew he had to do all he can to focus the Noah's attention away from Hei.

But first, I need to get rid of these spiders in the way..

"Shadow Lightning!"

More clones appeared, and as soon as they were materialised, they ran straight towards the Noah and held her down, with any clones left over attacking the where most of the spider numbers are most concentrated.

Jean reached into his coat and pulled out a pouch filled with liquid of some sort. Without hesitation he then threw it up into and air, and jumped after it. As soon as he was on top of the pouch, he slashed it with his dagger and the liquid inside rained down on the ground below.

Before landing, he yelled "Chain Lightning!" and let loose a jagged bolt of lightning
and aimed it at the Noah first, then bouncing off to random spiders near the target's vicinity- all drenched by the flammable liquid. At the same time, the Shadow Lightning clones detonated where they were positioned. The sparks created by both the electric bolt and the clones ignited raging flames throughout, and soon, the Noah, numerous spiders and surrounding trees were set alight in a scorching blaze.

"Ugh!"

Jean landed with a thump as he failed to land without injuring himself. Knowing how great a hindrance his injuries were, he wiped the blood of his face and proceeded to create more Shadow Lightning clones, to attack the Noah once she gets out of the flames as well as hide the real whereabouts of the Innocence.

Sucks that I can't keep this up for too long..

"You ready yet Hei!?"

Novoxis

12-03-2007, 01:48 PM

Edrial smirks, pushing himself forward from the tree he is lying against as it burts into flames from the exorcists attack. Edrial liked the technique but that his face was slightly singed on the left cheek, left him slightly ticked. His yellow eyes dilate and flash.

"Tch, annoying."

He could hear the grounded exorcist ask his comrade if he was ready, obviously refering to the attack he was building up. No longer content with waiting, but also wondering where his lovely akuma was, Edrial vanishes from the trees side to stand over the fallen exorcist.

"In times like this it's normal to worry about oneself."

Before Jean can respond, Edrial kicks him sending his prone form crashing into a nearby, unlit, tree. Edrial chuckles a bit, turning his attention to Hei and then Leiko.

"I thought you could handle this on your own my dear, but I don't fell like spectating any longer."

"This is my fight." Leiko responded with a snarl.

"Now now, the exorcists said so themselves. They don't like two on one so I'm just evening the field."

Edrial's right arm distorts a little as shadow vines burst from his shoulder, wrapping and coiling down his arm, forming a large crossbow. A bolt begins to form in it, made of black blood.

"You. Other exorcist." He said to Hei "I'm watching you too. I'd hate for you to destroy such a good looking woman so simply, be careful." He says with a smirk.

Midare

12-04-2007, 02:53 AM

Leiko was starting to find this annoying. Was she having problems dealing with these exorcists?.... no way!

She was about to drop in her knees due to the attack of that exorcist who was able to create clones of himself and who was now facing Edrial and.... seeing Edrial interfering with her fight... she couldn't stand this, so she forced herself to stand on her feet, since it was even worst to stand the idea of showing herself vulnarable in front of Edrial, or in front of anyone.

Leiko glared at Edrial "I'll focus on him later... for sure", then she looked at the exorcist who was closer to her, gathering energy from his innocence in his weapon,
then she strainghtened herself and breathed, trying to regain her composure

"It seems that you're not ready yet but actually, I'm not the type who plays fair".

The exorcist before her flinched slightly at her words, not from fear, but like showing in his face his desire for his innocence to finish with the activation of the level 2 at once.

She spread her arms again, showing the palms of her hands "I can't belive I should use Dante with this guy... is pathetic". Not showing her inner frustration and forcing a smile on her lips, she said: "Show yourself, Dante".

With this, black spiders similar to balck widows and bigger than the previous spiders, materialized one after another from her hands, falling on the ground and gathering around her.

They weren't as many as the previous spiders, but the image of this Noah woman in black costume smiling and surrounded with black widows made the exorcist frown and mumble, "Hurry up!".

Leiko then pointed her right hand toward the exorcist and simply said, "Go, Dante"
With this order, the spiders charged at the exorcist's direction.

((I know, the end of this is similar to the previous one.... gomen, I'm tired :p))

Tyekanik

12-04-2007, 03:30 AM

((Just gonna do a bit between Hei and Leiko, time won't span much, and tired too - not ignoring you other fella's))

Oh yeah, more spiders. This is what I needed. Least I'll be able to use more than just my lance in a moment. I'm sure these are poisonous, but I've no idea what they might do, coming from a Noah they aren't just spiders.

The spiders advanced at methodical pace, pushing Hei back further and further. Suddenly Hei rushes forward leaping over the impending wave of spiders in what he hopes to be a surprise.

Nobody in their right mind would leap onto spiders like these. Luckily my Innocence is well equipped for little guys like these. When I can use it.

Leiko glared at the leaping Exorcist, then ducked below the lances tip as Hei drove it towards her chest. In one graceful move, she was below the spear, then beside it, then clutching it in her hand as well.

"Exorcist, you didn't go through all that show just to charge at me like a meandering peasant did you?" Leiko's scorn laden voice did hold a disbelieving note, as she had a valid point. But Hei was gambling, there wasn't many options, so he picked the necessary factors and began winging his way through to each of them.

"Your strike is more powerful than before, but its not an appreciable scale." Spiders run down her hand onto my lance, and several begin running up my jacket sleep, utterly creeping me out. Few more seconds.

Hei tries to pull back yet is unable too, as his lance is being detained.

I can't let this lance go, dammit.

Finishing with the transmigration of power into the lance which stored it, Hei was able to use his abilities again, yet not soon enough that he was able to avoid a sharp sensation from his should. A spider had bitten.

*Hei suffers 2 Poison damage, arachnaphobia begins*

"I'll have you release me now, Noah." Hei exchanges glares once again with the Noah, she prepared for mostly for distancing herself in a moments notice, thankfully preventing an onslaught.

Hei released small amounts of his Innocence into the air around him, and for only this once thankful that the enemy were spiders. Something small and delicate when compared to the master. Igniting a momentary flash of indigo around Hei, he successfully removed the spiders from his body by burning the raw essence of the Innocence. Weak, but enough to kill a spider. The Noah had also released her grip on the lance, wary of a much more powerful attack.

"Exorcist, you will make no fool of me." Leiko was vastly displeased with such a weak attack at a moment such as this one.

"Not here to make a fool of you, only to kill you." Hei replies as he bows slightly. Spiders again closing in on Hei, he summons his power to assault the Noah. "Enrei." An indigo serpent launches itself from the palm of Hei's hand.

Taking her fair warning about playing dirty, Hei intended to do the same. Leiko didn't dodge Enrei, it wasn't aimed at her. Rather she watched as the serpent raced towards the other pair, Hei clearly trying to score an unaware blow to Jean's opponent in hopes one Noah will drop, and the other will retreat.

"You bastard," snarls Leiko "no human mocks me so, very well, allow me to demonstrate the folly of raising my ire."

Knew it was going to piss her off...

((Told you I wasn't ignoring you :p ))

kensei

12-04-2007, 09:32 AM

Jean was reaching his limit soon, and he cringed at the fact there was not only one, but two Noahs appearing before them.

Oh what perfect timing...

No matter what the scenario, there's no way he could beat both of them, they were too much at this time. Jean was hurrily tying to come up with options as he lay down on the ground, hoping the new Noah didn't notice him too much.

I don't have too much energy left, so activating the next stage of my innocence is out of the question.

Jean momentarily glanced at where he hid the new Innocence.

Of course, our first priority is not to kill them.....yet.

Jean then turned to where Hei was, duking it out with that Noah woman, who was now launching some new attack.

"Don't get yourself killed", he thought, hoping Hei would somehow read his mind.

Jean reached into his coat again, placing his hand on another one of his pouches.

Don't get too carried away Hei, I have a plan. All it takes is for one Noah to make a move..

Tyekanik

12-05-2007, 11:42 PM

Hei gets very carried away.

Jean and Edrial are a flurry of movement as Enrei approaches, though Edrial detects it before it lands, and spins to the side. Dodging most of the attack, Hei causes the serpent to combust, burning Edrial's leg. Cursing Edrial looks to Hei, however Jean is right back in the mix.

Leiko launches an assault desiring hand to hand combat, which being a Noah would be a one way battle, however Hei had an answer to this problem albeit temporary.

"Second Ethereal Phantasm..." With this Hei thrusts his spear into the soil beneath, extends his left arm as a vibrant green mist comes forth. It is Hei's innocence, not just the energy as before. This swirling green mist gets brighter, and brighter causing Leiko to shield her eyes.

When Leiko looks again, she sees something she didn't expect.

"What...is that?" She says looking at the beast before her.

"...Guardian hound, Cerberus." The beast was molded after the mythological Cerberus, standing almost 4 feet tall at the shoulders, and nearly 7 in length, and with 6 bright feral eyes.

"Hmph. A mere exorcists recreation of a mythological beast is supposed to scare me? That was what you were trying to do?" Again scorn in her eyes.

"Perhaps. Though, I will tell you one thing. I've not once underestimated you, I've tried to make use of your anger. Only one step left. Cerberus, rend her apart." With this command Cerberus jolts forward, baying, howling and snarling at the same time.

Leiko spins to the side, however the left head sunk its teeth into her leg, and jerking to the side brought Leiko to her knees. In a smooth motion, Leiko used something Hei could not make out to impale the offending head. Hei had stepped as far back as possible without it seeming like he was running away.

"Is this all?" She says looking up, though not having killed Cerberus yet, only one head, she is simply holding it at bay. Not something Hei really wanted to see, his most powerful phantasm held off like that. Though, the last step was next.

Holding his lance to the in his right hand, left hand clutching the left side of his face, blade of the lance extending behind him and to the left he says "Would you like to see what I was trying to do with my lance?"

"Didn't you just?"

"No, I knew my power is not enough to defeat you, at least, not with just Cerberus." Blood begins to trickle down Hei's cheek from beneath his hand.

Sweeping a graceful arc to the right, the lance glows a bright shade of blue. "Ignis, Tempestas." Before Leiko, she watched as a small flame twirled behind the blade of the lance, however upon the release of all the energy, this small whirlwind was becoming something monstrous.

Soon dwarfing the girl and beast, the whirlwind of fire tore through the ground between them. Leiko then wrenched her leg free from Cerberus' jaws at the expense of a bit of flesh.

"This won't do it either, exorcist." Leiko exclaims as the whirlwind descends upon her.

Leiko is damaged four a total of 3 points.

Hei has suffered 2 points of damage.

kensei

12-06-2007, 12:28 AM

All the commotion created a smokescreen of flying dust, smoke and gravel, reducing visibility to a few metres.

"Annoying whelps," yelled the male Noah. It was clear that he was ticked on how long it took to get the Innocence, and the fact his vision was reduced certainly did not help.

It's now or never!"

Suddenly out of the smoke, Jean threw his body towards the male exorcist and pinned him to the ground, and held a pouch up.

"Oh no, that trick's not going to work on me," yelled the Noah, as he tried to grab the pouch off of Jean's hand. After a few struggles, he finally caught it, and to his surprise was empty.

"What's the meaning of this?"

The exorcist placed his right hand on the Noah's neck and smiled.

"Wait, his right hand's soaked!" the surprised Noah finally realised.

Without wasting any second the Jean that pinned Edrial to the ground exploded in a sudden surge of electricity, the weak current from the real Jean's fatigue amplified by the explosive liquid.

At the same time, another Jean was charging towards Leiko, but Leiko, determined not to fall for the same trick twice sent her spiders to attack the Jean she saw charging towards her from a distance- in case that was another clone.

That Jean didn't explode. "What, that's the real exorcist?" exclaimed Leiko, as from the other direction, the other clone charged at her, soaked in the same flammable liquid, detonated at contact with Leiko's skin.

"Jean!" cried Hei, he wanted to run towards him, but stopped when something strange was happening to the army of spiders. No second later, a burst of electricity fried all the spiders away and revealed a panting Jean, who ran with all his might towards Hei's direction and grabbed him along.

"C'mon, while there's still stunned" whispered Jean as he and Hei ran with all their might away from the Noahs.

When they reached the river, Jean stopped halfway on the body of water, and threw Hei the innocence from his pocket.

"You hold onto it," his fatigue was obvious from his constant panting. He then filled his pouches with the river's water and for one last time, using the last of his strength created the last Shadow Lightning clone, which kneeled down on the river, then caught up to Hei, as they started running again, although now, Jean's innocence had no power to fight.

Edrial took damage of 2 points.

Leiko took damage of 3 points.

Jean has suffered damage of 5 points.

Tyekanik

12-06-2007, 10:44 PM

With daylight approaching, the first of the suns rays are visible over the horizon, creating a stunning view. Our exorcists don't care however, both are exhausted, wounded, and likely pursued.

"Gah, this has to be an outer layer of hell." Hei complains as both he and Jean stop to try and catch their breath. The two are at the seventh furthest farm from the village.

"Just a moment, and we have to run again." Pants Jean, leaning upon a fencepost. Hei joins him a few feet down, leaning his back against it and slumping a ways.

"This isn't going to cut it, you know." Grimaces Hei, daubing at the blood intermittently coming from his cheek with his shirt tail.

"No, but not much we can do but run in about thirty more seconds." Jean's determination is clear, however they both know just running will only end one way.

"You know," Hei begins "we do have other options."

"What like ride that creature of yours? We don't really have the options."

Chuckling, Hei replies "No way, couldn't bring him out if I wanted to. What I mean is this farm has something the other ones didn't." Hei pointedly glances to the other side of the path, towards a barn.

"Eh? What are you getting at?" intones Jean.

"Look to at the side of the barn, tell me what you see."

Sighing, Jean answers. "A few bales of hay, a trough, and hoof prints. You mean to buy a horse from these people?"

"No no no, for two reasons. One, the Noah's are after us right? If they come by here and find these people sold two exorcists horses, they will likely kill them just because they are annoyed. Two, I don't have the money for a horse, do you?"

"Well no I don't, so you want to become horse thieves, is that right?" Jean at least has a hint of amusement in his eye, thank God he isn't the holier than thou type.

"Precisely. Even if you don't know how to ride, someone nimble like you would have no problem. No worries at all." Hei begins to walk towards the barn door. Catching up beside him Jean says

"So, do you do this often? Or is this a first in what could turn out to be an illustrious career as a horse thief." Jean doesn't seem like he's going to let this go. Hei doesn't mind, as long as they pick up the pace faster than they can go themselves.

"Well, I can't say its a first, but usually I tend to ah, break more things than I steal."

"Not a whole lot better, but since we reached the objective, and we need a higher rate of travel, I don't care either." Reaching the door the two open it to find several stalls, and three horses.

Saddling the horses fast as they can, they lead the horses out into the new morning. Mounting up, they begin bring the beasts to speed heading for the town, and hopefully salvation from the Noah's left behind.

Reaching the edge of town after only a couple of hours, return trip being much faster than the outgoing one, they lead the horses to a storefront, tie them, and walk towards the trains station again.

"Home sounds good. Food, bath, bed." Hei has his priorities lined up.

"Perhaps, looks like there's a finder at the station waiting for someone." Jean nods towards the man wearing the tan long-coat who has yet to notice them.

"Is it okay to hide from that man? I mean he can't be looking for us, we need to get this innocence back to the order." Hei tries to reason out a way to avoid the probable complication.

"Sure, you pay for the train tickets then." Jean is just logical enough to bring down Hei's mood.

"Mr. Jean Montreal and Mr. Hei Ashur? Sirs!?" the finder excitedly approaches the pair of very rough looking exorcists, a hint of concern on his face.

Glowering, Hei stares at the on comer with obvious displeasure. "Yo, mind if we get some train tickets home?" Quickly altering his demeanor and asking as innocently as possible, Hei hopes for the best.

"I do apologize to you gentlemen, but since you've been out of communication I was sent up here with a spare golem. Here, let me go ahead and give it to you." Bringing out the new golem, he hands it directly to Jean.

Miffed, Hei glares at the man, finding it rude to not even consider giving it to him.

"Oh, my apologies Mr Ashur. however Supervisor Komuii told me specifically to give it to Mr. Montreal, something about it being a waste of resources to keep you supplied with golems." After saying the last part, the finder realizes how it sounded and quickly apologizes.

Jean covers his mouth in a feeble attempt to stop his laughter.

"I really hate that man." States Hei. "So, about those tickets?"

"Oh thats right the other part!" Still excited, the finder goes on "you two are to go into Germany, Stuttgart to be exact, and meet up with several other exorcists there. You should be able to communicate when you reach the city via the golem, I do have your tickets ready for that destination."

"I really...really hate that man." States Hei, again.