The regrets of darkness [Crystal Swords Battle]

[Hysteria]

There amidst the glowing stones of magnificent glory above and the darkness of the void below, a pungent odour filled the air. It was one of darkness and rot, sampled by the spilling blood of long dead dwarves. Many of the horrors facing the crystal warriors had been felled one way or another. Some sliced by the animal blades, others crushed by magics of differing types. One particular magic, that of ice cast by Shinsou struck the chests of the lumbering horrors. The gelatinous forms of the creatures within the hulking bodies froze solid, causing the beasts to fall forwards and shatter their insides across the caverns stone floor. The remaining ice shards travelled past the abominations and struck the surface of the lake.

The ice spread out from the points of contact as more of the lumbering horrors emerged from the water’s dark depths. The beasts struggled against the ice to no avail, instead they were encased, partially or fully by the magic. With part of the lake frozen and the numbers of both small and large horrors dwindling it seemed that those that held the crystal blades were at an advantage. This was not so.

The ice heaved upwards as some ungodly power pushed against it. There was a pause, although the stoppage was not heeded by the horrors already out of the lake that continued to lumber after their prey. Crrrrrraaaaaaaakkk the ice sheet burst into the air as a giant tentacle, more than several humans in length, pushed it high into the air. The ice balanced upon the coiled tip of the dark appendage, the glow of the crystals above clearly illuminating the five giant horrors caught within. The tentacle flicked the sheet of ice like it was little more than a pebble towards the crystal warriors. The projectile promised to release the five horrors tombed within once it struck the cavern floor, or indeed those carrying the crystal swords.

Sir Soleil planted his feet and lifted his sword towards the ice projectile. His frame and form radiated confidence.

“Sun’s Brilliance!” he shouted as he had done only minutes before. The blade failed to answer its wielder's call, instead a row of teeth-like spikes burst out from across the length of the blade. The magic the knight had tried to summon had failed, usurped by another that was not his own.

With the ice hurtling towards the warriors the giant tentacle slipped back into the dark waters. With the ice removed a dozen lumbering horrors burst from the water and dragged their twisted forms of tentacles, flesh and bone forward. Long dead, their ghastly forms driven forward by the large peering eyes appearing from within the wounds that had allowed them original access to the dwarves’ bodies. The numbers of dwarves that had disappeared from the halls of the Deep Kingdom numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands.

[Storm Veritas]

Just as Storm had strafed his way closer to the others, the eruption of a great, demonic looking tentacle froze the two dwarven looking terribles that were marching at the wizard, ice spreading through the room in a wave as a heavy stream of condensation marked a deep, labored breath from the adventurer. Despite the crushing cold, the nearly nude Veritas continued to sweat, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

”Sun’s Brilliance!” The words of a nearby soldier were coupled with him raising a sword to the heavens, as if hoping for it to grow larger or turn him into a homoerotic, loin-clothed brute. Predictably, almost nothing happened; a few spikes popped out of the trail edge of the blade.

F*cking idiot. Thinks he’s summoning the strength of the stars, and turns his sword into a steak knife. Fan-f*cking-tastic. Still, that silly horse’s ass must know something about this sword that dragged me here, if he received the song lyrics and all. Have to keep this dumb shit alive.

The giant noodly appendage came slamming down at the absurd knight, as he raised a sword in defiant stupidity. With near blinding speed, Storm sprinted at the knight, slamming his shoulder just above the hip from the side and sending him careening away upon the floor, likely falsely angered. The electromancer deftly rolled across his shoulderblades as he turned, popping lightly to his feet in a low crouch and raising the sword before him again.

Aren’t you supposed to say something? Maybe Shin can yell some Eastern language at the sword and unlock mine while he’s at it.

“Shin, I know you have to have the cheat codes for these goddamned things. What do we do? Emperor Hitsohoogi, something like that?”

A satisfied sneer danced across the face of the wizard as he continued to move away from the hole where the great tentacle had retreated to. He found himself peeking up at undead-filled stalactites that hung menacingly from the ceiling. They were an ideal option, a weapon the monster could drop upon them. They were also metal-armored soldiers, making them ideal.

“Drop those frozen f*cks into the water to hit that thing! It was too big to go far…” the suggestion Storm offered was less than brilliant, but would likely prove effective.

He eyed one of the ice-encased monsters, harnessing an electromagnetic field which hinged tight to the heavy steel that wrapped about the diminutive little deathbringer. The ice cracked almost immediately, sending the partially-frozen warrior towards the center of the room, splashing violently into the center of the hole.

About him, the magician peeked at other dwarves crashing down and arising from the slick, dark floor, white and lifeless eyes gazing towards infinity as they waged war on a mish-mosh of powerful, miscellaneous adventurers.

[Mari]

Amari glanced back to Shinsou, concerned with where he was. She caught his gaze, broken and hurt as his eyes travelled down her cracked form. Amari mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to him, but doubted he caught her gesture. There was too much shit going on. Although her relationship with Philomel was strained at best Amari was thankful to have such a seasoned and competent warrior at Shinsou's call, envious feelings aside. The man was doing well for himself. It was bittersweet in a way, Amari wondered if it was best if she left well enough alone.

The woman didn't have much time to play upon nostalgia's harpsichord; a flurry of ice erupted from the direction of the Telgradian. It drove into the squishy mandibles of the beasts and covered the lake in a crystalline sapphire sheen. It gave the fighters a brief respite. Amari took this time to turn to Jake who was fighting valiantly a few feet away from her, he had been backed into a corner but before Amari could take a step to come to his aid he had rolled across the grimy floor and away from the onslaught of rotting carcasses. Amari offered Jake a wry grin. "Take my back, and I'll take yours?" She asked. He glanced at her, opened his mouth as if to say something, shook his head and offered her a smile. "Sure thing." He beamed.

Amari turned away from Jake, just in time to have two of the smaller beasts fly at her; both torn in two, falling to the ground in burning bulbous clumps as her energy tentacles cleaved clean through them. "Gross...." She muttered as they bubbled on the ground. Amari gripped her sword, the Sword given to her by 'She' the snake and bought it high over her head, driving it into the skull of another squelching monster. The sword hissed and shone brighter, as Amari pulled it from the creature she noticed the sword dripping a thick red substance. It hissed as it hit the ice strewn floor, burning through to create a small hole in the ground. "What the...acid?"

She glanced up as she heard a violent scream from an older man, who appeared to have arrived in much the same fashion of herself. Under dressed and under prepared. He had pushed the man with a brilliantly flashing sword out the way of a large oncoming ....

"SHIT MY ALMIGHTY FUCK!" Amari cried out, as a flurry of shocked words all rolled out at once, and came out of her mouth a jumbled mess of insults. Amari stepped forward, mainly to do something about the damn ice that was hurtling toward her.

Funny thing about melted ice and socks.

They don't mix.

As Amari took her step forward she slipped, her bare bottom fell against the ice and she went hurtling forward, she slid several metres before catching hold of the first physical thing her hand caught onto. The hem of a pair of pants, which just so happened to fall right down, since, yanno, gravity.

Amari may have been holding the crystal sword of a snake but as she looked up and she came face to face with a snake of another variety. A trouser snake. Amari sighed, and the man was sure to feel her breath against his skin she were that close.

"Ugh." She exclaimed as she pushed herself up off the ice and turned away from him, apologies would come later. Her face was flushed with embarrassment and adrenaline. Her sword still dripped venomous acid and it was just that, which had managed to cut through the armour of a stumbling decomposing dwarf. Amari had driven it upward in a diagonal arch, it cleaved his torso in two. The corpse fell to the floor, dead....again.

From the corpse there was a twitch, and a shrill chattering scream as another of the gelatinous beasts emerged, spiked tentacles aimed for Storms torso.

Again, the angry red tentacles from Amari's back had struck, causing the beast to fall to the floor in a burning steaming pile of slop. She glanced over at the stranger with peppered grey hair and steel blue eyes. "Don't suppose you can pull fire magic out your ass too eh?" She asked as the icicle was about to crush them.

[Jake Narmolanya]

"Amari!" Jake called in alarm as the woman slid away, pantsing the lightning mage as she passed. As usual, the half elf had forgotten to use the Salvic girl's new name... she'd begun calling herself Red. It had something to do with the horrific torture she'd endured at the hands of the man she now knew as master. Jake didn't know much about the situation, but he did know he wanted to get his friend away from the pale man.

Of course, that could only happen if a flying iceberg didn't crush them both.

Jake leaped forward and slid on the ice, posed like a statue to keep his balance as he zipped up in front of the wizard and the woman who almost had a full set of clothing between them. He drew on his connection to the Eternal Tap, summoning the largest portal he'd ever created. His sword slashed the air, and the portal appeared, wide enough to devour the careening chunk of ice. Jake stepped in front of the portal and pressed his palm to the glowing surface to activate it, and then dove out of the way as the iceberg careened through. A rough crystalline edge struck the half elf's leg as he escaped, and he spun to the stony floor with a cry.

The icy meteor continued through the portal and out of its twin, smashing down among the three reanimated dwarfs Jake had left in the corner of the cavern. The half elf sagged from the amount of energy the large portal had required, but even so fought his way to his feet, only to cry out again and fall back down. His left foot was twisted around badly. He fought the urge to vomit as he saw the angle of it.

As the wave of adrenaline Jake had been surfing finally crashed ashore, he felt a cold sweat soak his fine sifan clothing. While he made his living hunting demons and venturing into such dismal places as the great cavern, ordinarily he at least knew where he was. The lack of knowledge of his geographical position would make it more difficult to portal out, if he could portal out. The chamber still resonated with the power that had pulled the crystal swords.

"Now would be a grand time to get my back," Jake gasped at Amari as he dragged himself toward her, still clutching the dragon blade in one hand. The sea of tentacled enemies swarmed in his wake, their razor-sharp appendages thirsting for his blood.

[Philomel]

As the battle raged around them, and got effortlessly worse, Philomel knew it was time.

Left and right, to and fro, below and above she slashed, weaving a web of bright white lines as she cut down tentacle from aged dwarf corpse. Two blades had she in hands, the one from the might Rabbit, and the other, her own Nameless. Beside her, the size of a stag and more powerful, fought Veridian, his brilliant red fur wrapped in flames as he tore out the throats and burnt the bodies of their enemies. Behind them, at the edge of the lake, Shinsou still remained, somewhat brave in his summoning of such a great icy theatricality, but otherwise doomed as he became the closest one to the behemoth tentacle rising from the deep.

Luckily the young man, known to Philomel just now as 'half-elf kid' had summoned a portal to whisk what remained of Shinsou's ice lake away to another realm. What other one, she did not care, but it occurred to her what hilarities might enshew were it to end up in the desert kingdom Fallien. Magical ice surely wouldn't melt that easy.

Fortunate was it that magical fire, born from one-tenths of the soul of a fire-whisp that happened to reside in Veridian her beloved, could. With fire and enkindled breath he made for a great encased creature that landed beside them, and went directly for the face. As a second one slammed into rock, however, Philomel took it upon herself to overthrow him. She snarled, heavily, and leant down into a crouch as the great ugly mass of black flesh and terrible tentatcles turned its ugly face towards Shinsou van Osiris ...

Oh no you don't, you bitch.

Summoning up all her willpower, Philomel made the fastest transformation she had done in a long time. As her duet swords raised high into the air, her body began to shiver - and then grow. Muscles blossomed across her chest, legs, arms - really everywhere - and her head began to disturbingly fatten. Her battle corset expanded at the engeniously sewn sections, which deliberately shifted and let her form become something other, coming to rest at the same size but in convenient positions. Horns spiralled further, their bases which attached themselves to her skull windening as her skull itself, and her whole face enlong, growing a muzzle, eyes with slanted pupils, a mouth with a deadly bite ...

Horns slammed headlong into the back of the new assailant, the horns of a mighty goat-headed half-beast. Somewhat like a minotaur in stamina and size, but born of caprine rather than bovine, Philomel van der Goat attacked with vigour and fury and vehemence. Aside to her the dire fox on fire stabbed claws of embers into his own enemies hand, while the faun become Enraging stabbed. Now much larger. Now much mightier. Now more deadly, wielding two swords that were thorns made to kill.

Oh yes, she saw Amari dancing with the 'half-elf kid'. Yes, she spied Storm, her championship enemy and her ally through Shinsou. But for now they did not matter. Now they were not the necessity to worry over. Now was the time for killing, for survival, for bleating a deathly anger. And bleat the goat-human did, fur entirely covering her body, slamming a headbutt into the revived corpse before her.

[Josette]

The young woman studied her reflection in the small mirror that perched atop the table. Crowsfeet adorned the corner of each eye, earned by the scowl that never seemed to leave her. Below her eyes hung heavy black bags, easily mistaken for smudged makeup, were Josette one to paint her face. The markings, she admitted begrudgingly, were an unfortunate side-effect of sleep deprivation, as was the faint redness that circled each navy-blue iris. Exhaustion made it impossible to even pass as presentable, which was perhaps more reason to remain locked inside her room for another day.

Even as it flickered through her mind, Josette gave a snort at the thought. She was sulking, that much she would also have to admit to herself. But knights did not sulk - she did not sulk. Her gaze sharpened, as if she were eyeing an enemy rather than her own reflection; in that moment, they might have been one in the same. "Buck up," she commanded, self loathing mingling with the self-pity that already took up residence in the pit of her stomach. When she did not immediately do so, did not immediately find the strength, she whirled from the mirror with a sound of disgust. She had seen so much, killed so many, and never been reduced to such a pathetic state.

Josette had assumed that time would heal this wound, just as it had the others. Weeks had passed since the slaughter of Torrine, a tragedy in which she had played a lead role. It had not been her choice, she had reassured herself in the dead of night, when the guilt had gripped tightest at her heart. She had not, could not, have known. Yet her sword had dripped with their blood, turned to rubies in the firelight that blazed around her. Her sword had drawn their last breath, their last scream. Her sword had killed, just as surely as their magic had. True, she had stopped when her conscious had finally matched pace, but by then, she had ended a dozen lives. Did her remorse vindicate her? Did it bring back the people I killed?

Her jaw worked as she paced the small room. In addition to the table, which held the mirror and a copper wash bin, the room also featured a twin bed. It's worn springs creaked with each inhale of breath, and the mattress sported a peculiar brown stain that was shaped a bit like the island of Corone, but finer accommodations did not seem to fit the mood anyhow.

Without quite knowing what she was doing, Josette drew her sword from its place on the bed, and clutched it to her chest. Her eyes closed, and she filled her lungs with the musty air of the old inn. She wished it was the cool, crisp air of the Salvarian countryside. She missed Nicolette, though damned if she would ever tell the girl as much. But she mostly missed the freedom of their three days together. Things had been simpler then. It had been easier to forget.

When she opened her eyes once more, the room simply... was not. There had been no burst of magic, no flash of light (though perhaps she might have missed it, her eyes closed as they were). What... was... was a cavern. She could sense panic, in the split second before silence was shattered and the sound of battle accompanied the scene. Men and women alike, in various forms of undress, slashed at a smaller enemy of undeterminable origin. Before she could wonder what had happened, she found herself thinking, at least I wore my mercenary leathers. And perhaps that spoke to her mental state.

It was a sudden warming sensation that brought her foggy mind into focus. Her gaze dropped to the horse sword, which she still cradled against herself. It shimmered gold and black, the colors of Arianne, her protector, and the keeper of the weapon. Previous keeper, she thought, drawing it with a hiss that was lost to the din thundering within the stone walls. It was hers now, and regardless of how she had arrived, the situation called for a blade. Answers would wait, and until then, Josette fell back on the one thing she had always known - the fight.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Shinsou’s expression morphed from stoic nonchalance to a burning frown as a giant tentacle effortlessly hurled the ice chunk at the gathered adventurers. As the slab of frozen lake sailed away into a portal of the half-elf's creation, distracting him, Osiris failed to notice one of the numerous threats turn their attentions to him. It was fortunate that the usually fiercely independant Philomel beside him had heeded his earlier suggestion and stayed true to his flank. The ground immediate to the vicinity quaked briefly but violently as the beautiful servant of Drys began her metamorphasis into a fearful, monstrous form that Shinsou recognised all too well. With a ghastly bleat, the faun slammed into the offender with such force that the cavernous maw they fought in almost shook with the raw force.

With the immediate threat neutralised, the Telgradian nodded his gratitude before a realization hit Osiris. Storm Veritas had been yelling at him.

When the fuck did HE get here?

His half naked ally, with which he commanded the Brotherhood, asked him a question about how to 'activate' the swords. Stood there, confronted by this conundrum, Shinsou wondered why he of all people would know.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Shinsou queried as he stepped back from the chaos and circled to his left, getting closer to Veritas whilst avoiding the unsavoury attentions of the next wave of the oncoming hoard, "These aren't Telgradian weapons!"

It was then, out of the corner of his eye, one of the undead approached with a battle hammer in hand. Normally such a heavy weapon would have taken time to lift and swing, let alone throw, but somehow the beast summoned a strength that made a mockery of this and sent it thundering through the air at the Telgradian. It flew with such a blistering pace that Osiris was almost caught off guard, stumbling as its metal head grazed his face and just sailed past a chestnut strand of his hair.

This is getting really old. No way do you live. No way.

Darkness coalesced around Shinsou as the void left by Enpera Kurohitsugi suddenly melted away and oozed back into existence again as fifteen hard scales of dark matter; the Phalanx form of his dark magic. Controlled by Shinsou’s will alone, the fifteen plate-sized scales interlocked to form an unbroken chain which wrapped itself around the Telgradian’s body as it awaited commands.

Osiris’s golden eyes flickered to the offending creature, a girthy geletineous mass with club like arms and a melted face, for a heartbeat.

Shinsou knew what to do with this one. Springing into motion before fat mass of decaying green flesh could get to him and the threat of close-quarter combat was made irreversible, he let his Phalanx chain slip off and commanded it to wrap around the legs of the giant homunculous. With a wave of his hand, the Telgradian used the strong, Dehlar-resistant chain to effortlessly snap the legs of the beast, causing a gush of sickly mud coloured ooze to seep from the rotting stumps. With a pained groan, the undead fell face first to the floor and stopped responding as maggots loosed from the morbid wound.

"Right," The Telgradian said to Storm as the electromancer finished raining icicle hell down upon the creature hiding in the lake, motioning towards the vast body of water, "Let's get our shit together. Water conducts electricity; try frying the fucker-"

His voice trailed off as Osiris spied Amari from across the room. Her blade was seeping acid onto the floor and glowing, clearly activated in some way.

Amari...

Dangerously still amongst the chaos and once again distracted, he pondered the half dressed redhead for a moment as she engaged in a comedy of errors that saw her slip and expose Veritas's not inconsiderable merchandise, before righting herself and tending to the half-elf. Then, a momentary flashback occured. Earlier, did she mouth something to him? Shinsou wasn't sure what it was, if it was anything at all, but her acknowledgment of him all of a sudden brought memories flooding back to him. They were memories of their first meeting together, back when the poor girl was the captive of some brutal slavers in Salvar; slavers that Osiris had been hunting for Am'aleh. She was so weak and helpless then; a lost soul, without purpose, without strength. She had bled in his arms, this fragile thing, with a vulnerability that begged respite.

There was nothing vulnerable about her now. Months of mistreatment by Ulroch and the Crimson Hand had seen to that; breaking her spirit and body so many times that the resultant conditioning had corrupted her soul. Yet, even through all of that, the Telgradian knew that the hurt and neglect by his own Brotherhood had done far more damage to her. Despite this, she still cared about him. Somehow, someway, Amari had not forgotten him or his ideals.

He had not forgotten, either. Her dim view of his alleged "playboy" behaviour had been wholly unfounded and perpetuated by a liar. Shinsou knew that; he understood it.

It was then a large, lumbering beast of the horde stepped forth from the lake and stared towards Amari and the half elf. Covered in a thick layer of silt and slime, the creature snorted a cloud of vapour and roared menacingly, stomping a foot on the ground thrice. Thick globules of viscous green filth dripped from the rubbery fat of its being as it sprang into a surprisingly quick charge; a trident held point first towards the pair.

Shit, she hasn't seen it!

It was too late to warn her, so Shinsou did the only thing he could think to do. The chain of dark matter unwound from his body and snapped through the air. Sparks of dazzling and disorienting electricity violently manifested, disappearing almost as soon as the chain left his body. The wave of hazy dark matter wrapped about the trunk sized neck of the vicious beast, forcing it immediately to its knees as its visage demeaned a surprised and horrified expression. The chain pulled taut and lashed at both the body of the creature and the cavern floor, casting a purple flash on collision that lit up the recessed alcoves of the cave and illuminated the blood that spurted in fountains from its nicked carotid artery and gaping gashes across its torso.

As the corpse of the beast shambled to the floor only feet away from the pair, Osiris stood defiant, hand outstretched.

"Come with me. You too half-elf. Our best chance of staying alive is by staying together and forming up with the others. If you trust me, we'll live. We'll work the rest out when we get home."

If we get home...

[Storm Veritas]

No matter how proud a man may be of his own circumstances, there is only one reaction every man upon Althanas could possibly have to his waistband finding it’s way about his ankles. Having traveled to the far ends of the plane, the wizened warrior rapidly reached for an introspective and thoughtful consideration.

Oh, shit! My f*cking dick is out!!

In spite of the imminent danger and omnipresent risk of death, the oncoming hoard took a back seat to pulling his trousers back up. He hopped quickly, sliding away from the felled redhead and yanked violently at his pants, hoisting them and re-tying the string of the pants as he scratched his leg in the process with the lead edge of the Rat blade which had finally issued some form of injury to someone.

Useless piece of shit sword. Nearly cost me everything to get my hands on you, and now it’s causing me nothing but trouble. This blasted piece of hot metal garbage is getting melted down for scrap when I get home…

He glanced over at Amari, whom had quickly recovered her position and appeared to be ready to attack. He spoke with the eloquence befitting the address of such a magnificent heroine.

“Get back, sweetheart, you can hop back on after we’re through.”

Shinsou spoke to him quickly, his suggestion of blasting the water with electricity not lost on the lightning mage. The experienced adventurer worried that the near saturation of the room would put at risk people who were trying to help him… not die, however it appeared the approaching monstrosities which crawled up from the water stood to lose far more.

“Showtime, baby! Everyone get dry!” He spoke with a defiance as one of the giant lumbering brutes marched forward at him. With the rodent sword tucked taut against his right arm, Storm Veritas produced a tremendous blast of crackling blue light that exploded outwards. The first of the brutes, wrapped neatly in his metal cage, was all but obliterated by the blast, turning and twisting in a fast-charred heap as he crashed to the ground with disregard for his once-well being.

In a trail of near directionless horror, hefty rivulets of white-sizzling energy rocketed outward at nearby enemies, taking special root in the water nearby.

[Hysteria]

The ice sheet smashed against the stone floor of the cavern some distance from the warriors. Ice chunks skidded across the ground as it crumbled and the encased creatures were freed. The cycle continued. Horrors, both large and small emerged from the underground lake and lumbered or ran at the warriors. The warriors in turn struck back and cut both limb and life. There would be no stalemate; eventually the power of the warriors would fail, or the driving force that spurned on the horrors would falter. The answer came as a shock.

Lightning arched through the animated bodies and into the lake. A sound came from the depts. A slow grumbling at first, lifted quickly to a maddening thunder. Horrors started to pour out of the lake. Large and small, they appeared by the dozens but they did not move towards the warriors. Instead they moved away from the lake. The large cavern boasted the crystals above, the lake below, and the tunnels that lined the edges. The horrors made for the tunnels.

The sound stopped. All that was left was the slapping of wet feet on stone as the tentacle creatures fled. Then it appeared. It walked from the lake with purpose and poise. No poor representation of a dead creature, nor that of a stunted horror. The creature was four times the size of a man with long dark limbs and a muscular frame. It looked like a human and elf in that respect, but in another far different. Starting from the top of the creature’s head and flowing down it’s back were dozens of tentacles. They resembled a mane of hair, if thicker and move alien. The other difference was the large, singular eye that sat in the middle of his forehead. In his hand he held a dark crystal blade, a cousin of those held by the warriors, it was larger and black as night.

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then cast a shadow from the darkness.

The creature whispered the words and slashed the night blade in front of it. Darkness cut out from the blade in a large crescent, slicing through the horrors that fled from the creature. Armour, bone and tentacle fell away as nothing. The slice continued and threatened to tear the warriors apart.

Sir Soleil lifted his sword to his face and looked at the teeth protruding from the blade. It was hard to guess his expression from beneath his visored helmet, but he could have been perplexed. He lifted it towards the coming swarm of horrors and the teeth started to vibrate. As the first fleeing horror passed he thrust the blade into the creature. The sword erupted with movement as the teeth span down the edge of the blade and cut through the creature. The knight howled with glee as he moved onto the next creature. Caught in his blood thirsty rage he didn’t notice the dark creature’s whisper, nor the black arc approaching.

[Mari]

Storm was quick to alleviate his problem, not that Amari felt it was a problem to fight completely naked. Especially with a form such as his. Still, a pair of slacks was better than no protection at all. "Ha!" Amari called out toward Storm, genuinely amused at his comment. It was funnily enough, akin to a breath of fresh air amidst the heat of battle. "Don't tempt me, electric man."

Amari turned her attention back to Jake, his ankle was contorted, and it was swollen. "This'll hurt. but I don't want any complaints." Amari quickly said as she dropped to her knees and pressed her hands, which ignited in a brilliant golden glow to his injured ankle and without further warning she twisted his ankle back the right way. She flinched feeling the same pain as he, but unlike Jake, Amari had a high tolerance for pain. Her trembling hands danced over his leg, alleviating him of most the bruising and swelling. It'd still hurt, and at the end of the day he'd need a splint but it'd do for now. They were in the heat of battle, there was no time for healing minor injury now.

Before Amari knew what was going on it appeared that Shinsou had saved both her and Jake from an oncoming attack. He reached out to her, offering her aid.

Those words tugged at Amari, she wanted nothing more than to grasp his outstretched hand. To feel the warmth of his skin against hers but she was afraid. Afraid of the feelings she was trying to push down bubbling back up to the surface, of the ramifications of her actions, of her safety, and his.

And what of his words? 'We'll sort the rest out when we get home' Was he serious? What did he think he was doing saying such frivolous words. He may have a home, but Amari sure as hell didn't, and it certainly wasn't with him. Ulroke wanted Shinsou dead. Amari was certain the assassin wanted Amari to be the one to take his life, but she hadn't the strength to do that. Besides, this was in the heat of battle. Surely Lye would understand it'd be insane to attempt any sort of attack here?

Amari furrowed her brows and took a deep breath, finally reaching out to clasp his hand. The warmth that radiated from his grip was overwhelming, as it always was with the man, any sort of touch or action from him always managed to knock her off her feet. Shinsou pulled Amari into his grasp and for a brief moment she swore he tightened his hold around her before shifting away. Amari turned her attention away from the man and toward the battle. She had to steel herself from him. It was for the best.

Storm most certainly did a number on the creatures, they writhed and twitched, "Damn..." Amari breathed, "Remind me to learn some sort of elemental shit."

The woman was vagually aware of another entrant, a woman, and of a rampaging Philomel. Something she noted to stay the fuck away from. Amari had been headbutted by the faun before, and that was sans transformation.

It seemed as though their battle was nearing an end, the creatures scrambled from the lake, away from the fight but something didn't feel right.

Then, as if right on cuea giant emerged from the lake, its humanoid form dripping with pungent water and slime. One would almost mistake it as such, if it weren't for the dozens of tentacles that protruded from its head and torso. Amari stepped away from Shinsou and Jake, as her own tentacles burst forth from her back, crackling with an angry red energy. She still ha a few shots left before she'd feel fatigued. She gripped the sword which still dripped in her hand. "Hey, Shinsou, any chance of propelling me toward that thing's eye?" Amari asked.

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then cast a shadow from the darkness.

A slice of black energy erupted from its blade, destroying any chance Amari had at trying to gain leverage. "Shit." She swore. The crescent was coming at her just above waist height and she assumed she'd either be able to duck or jump over it. Soleil was ahead of them, laughing maniacally as he slashed his sword about. She was too far off to do anything about it. "Fuck him, he can go ahead and die." Amari turned toward Jake and shoved him to the floor, followed by Shinsou. Before ducking under the attack herself.