awashlogs | [ closed ] The boys are back in town

[Guren comes to a stop with a leap onto a new roof, his steps taking him to the tallest part of it. (Why is he anime jumping and trying to be tall? I hate him.) He doesn't have binoculars or anything close, so all he can do is squint across the space they've formed between themselves and Dave's group.

This was going to go fast and messy. They were going to get hurt, and if they're not careful...

Guren curls his fingers around his drawn sword, but his tension stays out of the rest of his body. He's ready, he's waiting, and it'll be coming back any minute now.]

Good. Get ready, it's fast. [For himself, he holds his sword up defensively, waiting.] It'll slam back into us.

[ let the anime man do his anime jumps.

dextera nods. they'll have to do as much damage to it now as they can, before sending it back over to dave's group—the faster they can get rid of it, without causing too much trouble for the civilians that have thankfully cleared out, the better. he's got his bones ready in his pocket, whether or not they can actually deal any pain, and guren's heart potions should help him keep up his vitality long enough to let his purification do some heavy lifting.

he's not made to fight one enemy for a long time, so even if that drug trial felt like a disaster, these actually have come in handy.

dextera can hear it before he sees it—being made of darkness and shadow doesn't stop it from having an apparently physical body, which is as good for them as it is a little dangerous. if it's real, it can hit them, and dextera is sure it can hit hard. it doesn't like being chased, that much is obvious, but it doesn't seem scared. that's the bogeyman's forte, after all. ]

[ As soon as Ryo hears the sound of something large approaching them, he poises his rifle again, ready to take aim and fire. A part of him wishes he had wings like Akira's Devilman form so he could spray the creature with bullets from above; alas, he's but a simple human with a rifle, a handful of bullets, and a strength-enhancing potion tucked away in his pocket. He hopes he doesn't have to use that one.

The sound comes closer and closer until the shadowy darkness breaks into view, sprinting towards them with unnatural movements befitting of such a creature. Its body is shifting like dark smoke, like bones deforming, like wax melting—Ryo doesn't wait to find out what it's trying to turn into before aiming his weapon and pulling the trigger.

The bullet hits it in the face, making it stagger for a few seconds before recovering. ]

[When it recovers, instead of fleeing from Ryo, it seems to target him. Its body is morphing, shadows moving, and Guren grits his teeth and grips his sword, running to catch up to it. He doesn't know what it's going to turn into in a second here, but it's likely one of Ryo's fears. And having their least battle ready member targeted is never a good thing.]

Tear it to shreds, Mahiru-no-yo!

[Jumping at it from behind, he swings his blade across its back, leaving the demon's curse inside, swallowing parts of the transforming shadows whole.

[ dextera can’t lie—the gun is impressive, even on a shadow creature, but it’s still true that dextera’s purification and guren’s blade are going to do more damage. still, between guren’s strike and ryo’s perfect aim, dextera is able to take a moment to charge his own swing. he’s slower, like this, but he’s more powerful if he can take the time to get the sword a blazing, blinding white.

as soon as he hits the creature this time, he’s immediately backing off. it’s not that it’s actually absorbing his light, he thinks, but rather… it’s shifting. it’s taking on a different form for sure now, and since ryo was the first person to hit and easily the weakest person on their team (sorry), guren’s guess is right.

it reforms around the wound inflicted upon it, and it’s easy to take a smaller form, anyway. ]

—?

[ dextera frowns, holding his sword up defensively to cover ryo. ]

[ Ryo expects Akira. But when the creature finishes morphing, the shape it has taken something completely different—a glowing ball of light that sends an electric chill of fear cutting straight through his heart. He has no idea what the hell it is, not on a conscious level, but merely looking at it is enough for cracks to form is in his normally composed self. His eyes widen in shock, mouth stretching into a hard straight line.

His heart is pounding at the base of his throat, his mouth feels dry like desert sand and there's something crawling beneath his skin. Something (something like wings) wants to rip out of this mortal form, to be set free and shield its vessel and amnesiac self from God-but-not-quite's divine fury.

He freezes in place, legs visibly trembling, only for a moment but it's more than enough for the bogeyman to close the distance between them, a clawed appendage emerging from the sphere to slash at him. He reflexively lifts his non-firing arm to protect his face from being shredded by those claws, wincing when they go through the sleeve of his coat and sink deep into his arm. The pain and the splash of red liquid is what gets him to move again, violently yanking his arm away (and tearing up more of his flesh in the process but he doesn't care) and quickly pulling the trigger, then again before the ball can recover.

Two bullets at point-blank range is enough to get it to back off a bit, thin streams of inky black blood joining the red on the ground. ]

Asuka!

[Damn it, this thing doesn't mess around. Ryo's already hurt, and this thing can turn into solid images of their fears. Whatever that...thing is, Guren isn't sure, but Ryo looks terrified of it. The thing is so focused on Ryo that Guren is able to get another attack in. His sword glows red with strength, and when he slashes at it again, parts of it fade out and back in to existence.

Being made of shadows makes Mahiru's ability to swallow attacks a little trickier. He's sure it means he can swallow it, but there's too much. Maybe this physical form being a ball of light isn't helping, but Guren hopes his demonic energy can get it to back off.

If not, it's all on Dex. He rushes past the monster to get to Ryo's side, placing a hand on his shoulder to check and see if he's alright. If he can keep standing, then Guren will back off and leave him alone, but there's no way he can't check on him.]

[ dextera has never seen ryo look like that before. ever composed, ever calm—this is the first time he’s truly seen ryo’s careful exterior break like that, and even if he doesn’t understand why this form, why ryo is so scared of it, dextera knows it’s something to be rid of as soon as possible.

guren goes to ryo’s side before dextera can, which is a relief, as much as dextera wishes that he knew how to comfort someone. later, he thinks. once the battle is over, he’ll check on ryo, and hopefully that amulet he handed over never has to be put to use in the first place. ]

…

[ it’s only a mimic, but the light, in a way, resembles dextera’s purification—he’s strangely aware of that, when he tries to blast the bogeyman’s form with another quick few blows. with guren trying to make sure that ryo is all right, dextera wants to step up to the plate. maybe he pushes himself a little harder than he should, this early in the fight, but he’s never really learned how to pace himself. so when its form finally gives out and it makes a move to retreat, the creature realizing it’s done the damage it can do, dextera is breathing hard, his heart pounding in his ears.

even so, he wants to protect ryo. ]

[ Ryo barely seems to be aware of the hand on his shoulder.

His body is still trembling, his hand coming up to tug at the front of his hair as he watches the bogeyman disappear from view, the gesture agitated. That crawling feeling lingers, insidious and dark in his heart and it wants to claw its way out of the ocean of his subconscious—Ryo feels like it might pull him under, drown him, and he wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop it.

He inhales a long breath of air into his lungs when the crawling seems to settle, returning to the depths from where it came from. The throbbing pain in his arm is what finally pulls awareness back into his eyes. ]

I'm okay. [ There's a tightness in his voice that wasn't there before and he pushes up his sleeve to assess the damage. It's nasty, blood bubbling up and dripping down his arm. ]

We can treat it when we're done.

[But not now, unfortunately. Still, he had given Ryo one potion before they started all of this. Dextera had his own way of healing, but Guren could only give him that experimental drug they've been working on. Currently, it accelerates healing, but at the cost of horrible nausea.]

If it's bad enough that you can't work with it, you can take that drug.

[He looks over to Dextera, checking on him, and that unsteadiness is something to note. But he's still standing, even while breathing hard, and so Guren gives him a nod, appreciating the help.]

We won't have long before it comes back, so we need to move further down. Let's go.

[ dextera really is no stranger to gore. he eats hearts as a matter of course, but something about seeing ryo all torn up like that makes his stomach churn. he covers his mouth with the back of his hand, holding down the nausea, but—he’ll be fine. guren is right. they should go. ]

…

[ they should, but dextera waits for guren to take the lead on this one. he’s more interested in trying to check on their totally human teammate, whose red blood is seeping into that white coat. dextera can clean it for him, later, as they’ve discussed before—but the wound itself? it’s gnarly. ]

Safe. [ it’s all he knows to say, in response to that fear he saw. ]

You did well, Dextera.

[ They start moving toward their next position, and Ryo extends his arm to see if the injury has affected his range of motion any, then bends his wrist forward and backward and makes a fist. Looks like he got away with no nerve damage; that's good, at least. ]

It hurts like hell, but it shouldn't affect my ability to shoot accurately.

[At least this time, Guren doesn't have time for his petty worries about Dextera and Ryo's closeness. It's conflicting for him, but it's not enough to interrupt this fight, and so he stays ahead, getting to the spot where they need to be, waiting for the return.

It takes some time, but when the bogeyman comes back, he comes back in a rush. It seems that each time he bounces between them, he gets more bothered, more purposeful and fussed with taking each of them out.

It's no longer that ball of light from before, back to its normal form, but when Guren swings his sword at it, another limb stretches out and bats him to the side like he's nothing, leaving a good gash in his side even as he uses Mahiru to lessen the impact he takes to the ground.]

Edited (smile default is wrong) 2018-06-12 01:49 (UTC)

G—!

[ dextera’s head whips around to follow the way guren basically gets flicked by the bogeyman, and so he misses the way it shifts behind him. he knows he shouldn’t turn his back on something in a fight, but he’s led by his emotions, and of course he’s trying to go to guren’s side.

he cuts that shit right out when he hears a voice from behind him, and his blood runs ice cold. a part of him thought that maybe the archangel would appear as his fear, and he could smack it away like he did the apparition in the forest, but it seems things are not that easy for him.

the bogeyman has taken on the form of a young boy who really resembles dextera himself. his voice is distorted, not at all a perfect imitation of the brother dextera knows, but that wrongness honestly makes it worse.

“give me back my heart,” it says. “give me back my heart.”

blood, or something like it, pools at its feet—the source a deep red gash under its clothes, on the left side of its body. dextera stays stooped by guren, his body practically frozen in place. each step it takes closer to him, the more dead it looks, the greater the false wound at its side. ]

[ ...Okay, that sure is a thing and maybe if Ryo didn't have the emotional range of the average kitchen sink he'd feel something resembling concern when the sees that Dextera's fears given form is a young boy. Of course, there's no time for concern or other emotions right now—this is a battlefield, all that matters is to keep dealing damage to it until it flees.

Ryo moves quickly, readying his rifle and fires before the bogeyman can get close enough to injure the frozen Dextera. The bullet goes right through the boy's skull, blowing a large part of his frontal lobe out. ]

[Crashing to the ground had been rougher than usual. He's struggling using his power, using Mahiru, and so he takes more impact than he should have. On top of that, the grazing touch of the bogeyman had been enough to make fear flare up, and now his wounds aren't healing. He notices that immediately, too.

But soon enough, Dextera is closer, the bogeyman is someone that Guren can guess immediately, and Ryo is blowing its brains out. Unfortunately, it seems like he's caught on that that's just as horrifying as an image.

Guren pushes himself up with a wince, grabbing at his sword again. It's rough, he can feel that his strength is on the fritz, but he places his left hand on Dextera's shoulder, comforting and pulling him back, out of harm's way. It's a brief thing, since immediately afterwards, he's pushing forward and running his sword through the image of the boy.]

Go to hell, monster! It's an illusion!

[He does damage, but he's close enough that he's about to be smacked right back towards Dextera.]

[ dextera hasn’t been touched or hurt at all by the bogeyman, incredibly, and it’s probably due to the fact that his purification is the best at keeping the monster at bay. freezing him is thus the best tactic for it, and even when ryo lodges a bullet right into his brother’s brain, dextera can’t make himself move. ]

Ah—!

[ he’s being useless, he knows, but that’s his—that his brother’s face—and it’s an illusion and guren is hurt and dextera wants to stop him from hurting the phantom.

the bogeyman staggers, the shape of dextera’s brother warping around its injuries, but it’s got more than enough stamina left to give guren that hard smack for daring to run it through. the phantom’s human hand turns dark and clawed, but as long as it’s wearing that face, dextera doesn’t want to hurt it.

so all he can do is try to catch guren or at least stop him, the impact leaving him breathless. ]

Ryo.

[ dextera catches his attention. another bullet—he doesn’t want to see it, but another one might buy them some time. ]

Stop being so—

[ Ryo cuts himself off before he can finish the sentence because calling Dextera useless isn't going to help any. Besides, does he really have any right to call someone useless for being paralyzed with fear when he was in the same situation mere minutes ago.

He aims his rifle again, pulling the trigger. Another headshot, the bullet going right through the fake brother's skull and into a nearby wall. It's not a pretty sight, inky blood and brain matter spilling from what's left of his head. ]

[Dextera can catch him... with his body. It's a rough throw, and Guren felt more of those claws. More than that, just the touch of the bogeyman is enough to make you relive your worst memories or experience your worst fears, so as he coughs from the pain and struggles to recover, he's lost for a moment in that, gripping at his head.

Despite that, once the bullet goes through again, Guren seems to be back at it, even if he's bleeding quite a bit. Normally that goes away?]

Can you chase it back? [Those words are for Dextera as he struggles to stand, his sword dug into the ground for support. He knows Dextera wont hurt it, but if he can just swing near it in the right way, that might be enough to push it back, now that they've injured it this much.]

[ it’s clever, of course—the more it gets injured, the harder it is for dextera to look at, but at least (however gruesome, however guilty this thought is) he can’t see its eyes anymore. between that morbid reprieve and ryo’s incomplete insult, dextera nods in response to guren’s request.

he has to. this is his job, in this fight—bouncing it back toward dave and john and okuyasu will hopefully give them all a second to catch their breath, but there’s no telling how long that will last. maybe dave’s team has it together. maybe they’ve already lost. it’s impossible to know, but dextera squeezes his eyes against the threat of tears and tries to push past the fear curling in his stomach. his purification isn’t as strong, this time, but it’s enough to get the bogeyman to at least take on a different, less specific form. leaving his brother behind. ]

…

[ another blast, and it escapes. dextera collapses to his knees, not from exhaustion (not only, at least). ]

[ Ryo lowers his weapon and looks to Dextera as he collapses. His arm is throbbing with pain underneath his tattered sleeve, each movement a new introduction to hurt, but he's doing his best to ignore it. ]

We don't have time to rest; we have to keep moving. [ He wants to catch his breath too, to let his racing pulse slow down, but they don't know how much or how little time they have before the other group sends the bogeyman back at them for another round.

...Briefly, he wonders if it's going to turn into Guren's fears next time. ]

[They don't have time, that's right, but he still wants to make sure Dextera can keep moving. He's bleeding, Ryo is injured, and Dextera is fine physically so far, but Guren knows that's a mental press on him that he doesn't need.]

He's right. Let's keep going.

[To Dextera. But as they do, and as he places his left hand over one of the gashes on himself to try and slow it, he glares down at it.]

It's messing with my demon. I'm not healing. I could try a drug, but I need twenty seconds for it to be useful, and then I've only got fifteen minutes before I crash. [He doesn't know if it will help. It might not be worth the risk, or the pressure on his body.]

I'll see how it is when he comes back.

[ dextera doesn’t want guren to strain himself, even if he might be better off with one of his drugs after all—

this is bad. they’re definitely making progress, that much is true, but there’s no way to ask the other group to balance the bogeyman a little longer just to give them all a chance to heal.

the heart drugs—it’s not fair. he doesn’t even need them, like this, while guren and ryo are injured and dextera has nothing useful to repair their wounds or at least to fix guren’s demon. he wants to do more than this, but his own trembling hands feel quite useless as they proceed. ]

I’ll fight.

[ he already was, but he means to ask them to let him take the lead—he’s unharmed. ]

[ Ryo considers this for a couple of seconds, weighing the risks and benefits of those drugs as he runs disaster scenarios through his head, before nodding his head. His arm is injured, Guren is hurt and on top of it he can't heal properly like he normally does; letting their unharmed party member take the lead and see how that goes seems like a good course of action, at least for now. ]

All right.

[ Guren is quiet at that, but he watches Dextera, thinking it out. He doesn’t deny him, either, but there’s dread in the pit of his stomach that he’s not sure is just leftover from the bogeyman’s touch.

The fight is taking longer on Dave’s side, and that’s worrying too, but at least it means they get to their destination right before the well. Guren is near Dextera, even if he had planned on fighting first, because he’s trying to see when it’ll come. It’s bound to target him next, anyway, and when he sees shadows approaching, he braces himself.

Dextera can lead the fight for a swipe or two, but his light is really getting to the bogeyman at this point. It moves, suddenly, morphing from its shadows, and when Guren’s sword stabs past it in the form change, something sharp runs through his chest. It’s blinding, with so little help from his demon, and he barely has the time to react before he’s crumpling to the ground, stabbed through the heart.

The bogeyman’s form is Guren himself, but he’s off. Black sclera, fangs on a wicked grin, and a single horn protruding from his head. He’s not done with the Guren on the ground yet, raising his sword like he intends to kill him off for good and take his place. ]

[ closed ] The boys are back in town

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