June 2022 Event Plotting PART 2

[jigokumods]

Who ⬤ The selected teams
What ⬤ Finding the source of the cursed energy and putting an end to this.
When ⬤ /waves hands vaguely
Where ⬤ Kaigo no Bou
Content Warnings ⬤ Horror imagery, possible gore.

The tower that is Kaigo no Bou is an intimidating sight on normal days, but the way its black figure cut into the deep crimson of the cursed sky made it that much more imposing as the teams approached. Evidence of just how devastating the initial waves of the cursed energy had been to the nearby buildings was on clear display, everything looking warped and disfigured into shapes no longer identifiable as anything built for humanoid needs. Even the streets themselves seemed twisted and knotted, turning into something more like jagged slopes than thoroughfares. Even the entrance of the tower has been shifted from its original glass displays to a giant steel gate that Toraguma struggles to open for the rest of the group.

Within the tower itself, it's much the same. The Enma officers that had been brought along to help navigate each team would find themselves struggling just slightly, almost immediately, as the interior of the building was a menagerie of rust and decay. It was if the building was rotting, but not as a structure, but as a once living thing now reduced to a cadaver for them to navigate.

Well... it could be worse. Time to split into their teams.

Comments

[identitycrisiscore]

[ Don't mind Cloud, he's moving up right behind Anna to put some light on the black-clad figures (and get the reveal on recording, because of course he is.) He might not have been here for the Night Parade, but he'd been filled in on the details from other sources. ]

Then whoever brought the Haniwa into the city was the same person behind the Daitengu's assassination attempt. [ He's saying it mostly for the recording at this point, since he's certain they've all come to the same conclusion. ]

[killtime]

[ She lingers another moment with that rot-coated victim before finally turning away to join the others, putting her glove back on as she goes. They’ll have to come back, she thinks. There’s not much they can do for any survivors now. If anything, it’ll only slow them down.

Using her boot, she kicks second one of those prone figure’s helmets off - another puppet. ]

Enlightening. But we should probably keep moving. [ Crouching down, she picks up one of the discarded guns, hands moving with habitual ease as she checks the weapon for function and ammo. No point in letting them go to waste. ] Anybody else have decent aim?

[littleshield]

Tch.

[ Yeah, even with Toraguma mentioning something about the black clad bastards from that night, and the subsequent reveal, he's grimacing at how many people are imprisoned here.

But he doesn't think there's nothing they can do at the moment. He does throw some scowls at the puppets, though. Some sick joke this is. It pisses him off that all this time puppets were used even back then. ]

I only need my blade in battle.

[ He's already prepared for his next course of action, as far as he's concerned (or any other ones, for that matter.) ]

[jigokumods]

Oi, spike-head, cool it on the conjecture. [ Toraguma snorted. ]

We got know idea why these things are down here or who they were working for... Let's focus on what we're here to do.

[ Not that he didn't have his own speculations. He didn't trust the Enma and never would, not after his clan were basically cast aside despite helping build the goddamn city. They had to find the source of this, still, and he figured those red roots were what they needed to follow to find it.

At least that seemed to be the case, but not even a few steps forward, he hears the rattle of a rifle being handled, and it wasn't from the side of him Andy was standing on.

He's quick to react, explosive in speed for a man his side, pushing past the others to grab the hands of the clay soldier that had pulled itself up, the bullets spraying into the ceiling above. Of course that wasn't the only soldier springing to life. It could never be that convenient. ]

Look alive, they're still active!

[ And quickly surrounding them. Well... he found himself feeling rather gratified he'd chosen strong fighters to accompany him. A shame about the peril. ]

[notched]

[ The soldier whose helmet she had taken off didn't stand a chance, she's quickly smashed open its blank face and down into its body with a few solid, heavy attacks with her cane. The others will take a little more work.

The metal handle of her cane is the best tool for that job. She rolls and quicksteps into range without any need to stop and strategize. She brings the handle around into the side of a helmet, twice in rapid succession. When the thing sinks to its knees, spilling clay dust from within its helm, she plunges the cane downwards through the seams of its protective gear and tears her way back out. It's dusty, crumbling. The lack of blood is disappointing. Her head aches for the euphoria and the warmth.

She flicks loose her whip as she falls back, able to stun and distract a small cluster of soldiers, but only for so long. Many of the hallways are too narrow for the arc of her swing, enjoy the diversion while the way is wide enough. ]

[killtime]

[ It's a good thing Andy's already locked and loaded. She likes a sharp blade just as well — bitch is old school like that — but she's not complaining about having a rifle in her hands when the those cursed puppets suddenly decide to wake.

She moves quickly, guided by well-honed instinct as she levels her borrowed firearm at that clay soldier being wrangled by Toraguma. Her hands are stone cold steady when she takes aim for that narrow space where the helmet leaves its neck exposed and pulls the trigger. ]

I'll cover you! Watch your fucking backs.

[identitycrisiscore]

[ That puts Point Man Cloud Strife up to bat. Which - he'll take Toraguma's comment to heart. No more speculation for now. ]

[ The Haniwa Soldiers open fire only to have their bullets resoundingly ping off of the sword that Cloud is now holding in front of him, before he brings it down on one of them with a large overhead, backing away through the gap Anna has made, as soon as he does. ]

We've got to keep moving! If we just stand our ground, we'll end up overwhelmed!

[littleshield]

...Damned nuisances.

[ To say that things had gone to shit is an understatement.

But Felix's reaction times are pretty good despite the disparity in numbers being taken into consideration, as well as the advanced weaponry in question. It does help that the creatures seemed to have desired to come closer in order to surround them, making it a simple matter for Felix to swing his foot into one, forcing it into the trajectory of another shooting at them.

Another one close-by gets sliced through.

However, the swordsman will just as easily begin to pull back swiftly, especially since cover fire is being provided. Lingering here indeed would be foolish when they've still clearly more ground to cover. ]

[jigokumods]

Spikey's got it right, let's fuckin' go!

[ Toraguma grabbed a wide piece of rubble, taking his position in front of the group once more and holding the thing up like a massive shield. ]

Get behind me!

[ Because the oni was about to blitz his way through the oncoming soldiers while the others handled anything behind them, shouting out a war cry before he began to charge. Like a massive dynamo, Toraguma proved a hell of an unstoppable force and the haniwa soldiers decidedly moveable in comparison. The bullets knocked chunks off the debris, but didn't pierce it, not before he literally crushed them underneath it, like a runaway earth mover.

Just follow the red roots, just follow those, and they'll get to the containment center. Toraguma held that thought in mind the entire time he charged, crashing through a fair number of soldiers before... finally...

This had to be it. A massive cylinder-like structure in the middle of a massive room. Emblazoned at eight sides of the outer wall of the structure were massive hexagrams, the meaning of which largely being pointless to determine when it was obvious it had something to do with the sealing process. One of the marks had been destroyed, and the pulsing red roots traced a web over the room but condensed into the center, inside the chamber itself.

There it was, what they'd been looking for; the literal beating heart of the curse. A massive, throbbing mound of darkness pulled energy from all around them, and exuded it back as thick, black mess. Looking at it was like trying to look directly into a bright, blinding light; it made the eyes ache, and the lungs burn.

They had no time to analyze it. Crashing sounds, pounding foot falls, all manor of calamity was zoning in on them. ]

How the hell can we get close enough to that thing to stab it?!

[notched]

[ The thing bleeds frenzy whenever she glances at it. It reminds her, far too much, of what had sent her fleeing from the Nightmare of Mensis. But she had been alone then, a single human in a wasteland of broken morals; struggling not to sink. She looks at the others, not immediately offering anything as they begin to confer. She doesn't need to offer them anything, she might need what she has to get back out of this place without them.

She speaks up unexpectedly, ]

I can kit you.

[ They determine among themselves who will take the fire talisman and who will take electric. She keeps the Blacksky with herself. It's a start. It is only as Cloud determinedly asserts that he will make the charge that she finally spills out of her coat and offers it to him. It's a foul thing, honestly. Smelling of blood and char and death. The Tamamo foxes had told her to be rid of it when she arrived, she hid it away instead. She knows its worth.

It's a quiet thing that she says, only for Cloud to hear as she brings it to him: ]

Tadeo died in this. He has been protecting me, ever since. You may wear it.

[ She's small and vulnerable without the heavy leather coat. She is overtly going to use Toraguma for cover without it and she slips some of Emily's sedative powder subtly into her mouth to keep her calm while they finish this.

Don't look too closely at the strange totem she has kept for herself: a phantasm infested eyeball that she cradles in a piece of cloth in her palm. When her time comes, she raises it carefully to point its gaze towards the beating heart of madness and blows on it. There is a rumbling sound like a storm coming and a meteor of arcane energy pierces into the dark. She can do this a few times before it tires her, there is not enough quicksilver in her blood to sustain it for long. ]

[killtime]

[ These aren't odds she'd want to face alone. Truthfully, she's not feeling that optimistic even with the others there — hard to, really, when even the air feels so oppressive as to be palpable, searing in the lungs. But what she thinks at this point hardly matters. There's only the fight. Whatever happens then — well. ]

I can help clear the way.

[ Andy reaches to take the fire talisman from Anna and knots it onto her rifle. ]

Thanks. [ Wryly: ] Should make things fun, anyway.

[ She'll wait long enough to be joined by her teammates in formation before pressing the charge towards the pulsing, cursed heart. Pulling the trigger at steady intervals, muscle reflex ingrained over centuries making her aim almost impossibly true with each bullet, shattering haniwa soldiers left and right into flame and shards of clay as they advance. She'll go until there's no ammo left — then she tears the talisman off with her teeth, affixing it to her katana. ]

[littleshield]

[ Well, Felix isn't surprised that the even the last point of the path to the source of all this is basically bullshit. It's about par for the course by now.

When Cloud mentions his willingness to charge ahead and do his thing, Felix scoffs. Then considers whether or not he agrees. He recalls his battle prowess shown in the fight earlier, and even the one beforehand when he had first met the blond, so he will give a terse nod. ]

If you want to risk your life, feel free.

[ Felix sounds dismissive but he heads on over to snatch the electrical talisman from Anna—it is an element he is much more in tune with so it suits him just fine. He doesn't give thanks nor does he give an indication of what he'll do next, believing that his actions will speak for him just fine. He will essentially step in beside Andy, but then rush on over to slash through with any haniwa soldiers and such that are in the way.

In the midst of this, Felix places the talisman on his blade.

No matter their movements, Felix seems to strike quickly and faster. He is not above using the other riffraff soldiers as shields. The lightning cracks and spills as Felix continues to swing, the electrical sword help cutting a swath through the darkness, the flash of sparks evident no matter where anyone happens to be standing.

In the end, it's not surprising that by their combined efforts, Cloud will have a path open. ]

Go already!

[identitycrisiscore]

[ Cloud says it reflexively. I'll go. And like that, everyone divvies up the supplies. As Anna fits him in her coat- it fits him decently, surprisingly. But it's big on her, so that makes sense. He gives a nod as she tells him the coat's story - he'll bring it back. The talismans get divvied up between Andy and Felix, as they clear the room to the best of their ability - fire and lightning and Anna's own arcane talisman streaking mayhem across the room. He pulls out the charm he got from Matoba, sticking it square on his chest, as he picks up the Hi'hirokane knife. He puts a hand to his left bicep. It'll have to do. ]

[ He nods to the others, and breaks out into a sprint, breaking the perimeter of the chalice's protection in a dead heat toward the wall of darkness. ]

[ He hits the darkness full bore, the charm casting a light around him briefly, before it's consumed. The curse burns away at his insides - his lugs hurt, his chest seizes, but he keeps moving, his eyes focused on what they came here to do, his sword thrown to the side so he can keep both hands on the knife. ]

[ For all of the protective ability of Anna's coat, and Matoba's charm. It's not enough. He's driven himself straight into the heart of things. His vision swims. And he's not really... 'here' anymore. Not really. It's a good thing he has one of the cameras on him so people can review the footage later: Cloud Strife has checked out. ]

[ The sleek, manufactured walls of the Mako Reactor. The pounding in his eardrums - frighteningly plausible, even as it's his body telling him he's in dire jeopardy. He's stumbling forward for a few steps. A corpse close by - an unconscious girl - he knows those well. He also sees what ahead of him clearly. ]

[ Sephiroth. Turning to face him. Small, knowing smile behind those cat-slitted eyes. Hands outstretched, half-welcoming the attempt to challenge him. Darkness seeping off of him, unnaturally. Cloud's gut shrivels and twists. ]

[ Cloud's body moves forward on instinct, running towards the man. Hatred wells in his body, nearly freezing him in place, knuckles gripping tightly the blade in his hands as he thrusts forward with all of his might- ]

[ Cloud Strife plunges the scarlet metal knife into the pulsing heart of darkness. He does not retreat, holding onto the blade as one might a lifeline as he tries to sink it as deep as it will go. ]

[jigokumods]

[ The knife, against all odds, finds its purchase within the "heart", the pulsating form of an aeon's old grudge given profane life. It beats all the faster, feeling the sacred metal of that blade pierce what made up some facsimile of its flesh. There is a screech, a horrific cry of pain and agony, from this thing that had not persisted by its own choice, but only did what any living creature was programmed to do; survive.

Light bursts from the dagger, consuming, clinching, desperately and ravenously cleaving its way through the formless beast. The darkness cries, but the light only devours. It fills the entire room, the entirety of the vision of every actual person there, blinding in its purity.

A chain reaction. Two forces collide. Chemistry. Fusion. Diffusion.

A soul is not destroyed when it changes form. It merely takes on a different shape.

The last thing any of them see, within that blistering light, in the last clump of the cursed darkness, is a form, not unlike that of a humanoid person.

It smiles brightly (too bright), and widely (too wide), and speaks. ]

"They cannot save you."

[ And then just like that, it's gone. All of it. Everything just sort of collapses and the five of them find themselves in a pile of clay dust, inside the cylinder of the containment center.

Nothing is rotting, nothing is rusty or decayed. It looks, ostensibly, as it should. The door is wide open, and the machines are all silent, and the darkness is just as thick as it had been without any power in the facility but...

... It was normal. The first normal thing any of them had likely seen since the beach party.

Toraguma doesn't speak. He digs. He knows Cloud is in there. He calls to the others. ]

Come on! We need to get him topside and to a doctor! No time to waste!

[littleshield]

[ . . .

Whatever Felix is thinking about regarding that thing doesn't matter since before he knows it, it's over and done with. His fingers do tighten on the hilt of his blade despite the silence that stretches across the area.

Everything appears to have been settled.

For now.

Felix doesn't say anything when Toraguma calls out, but he does after a moment's hesitation sheathe his blade. No more hostiles are around, after all.

Then, he'll hurry on over, and help him dig as well. Probably in between kicking mounds of clay dust around, but alternating back to using his hands. ]

[killtime]

[ Fuck — Andy sprints over with Felix, sheathing her own blade as she comes to help. What she wouldn't do for a fucking shovel, but at least her gloves make it easier to dig through the rubble. It hasn't even really sunken in yet, that they did what they came to do. That they survived. Won even, for their part. Maybe it'll feel more real when she makes it back outside to see that the blood rain has finally cleared. Or when she can lay eyes on her people again. Or sleep in her own goddamn bed.

But her head isn't there yet. The adrenaline hasn't died down, and her focus hasn't broken. The moment it does, her newly mortal flesh will give up. So she just digs. ]

[notched]

[ She has no Hunter tricks for this, no special tools. It's been a long time there was anyone left to save. She follows more slowly, not as frantic as the rest with the sedative in her system. She drops down on her knees to dig with her hands, pulling big scoops of debris away. She holds fast to the belief that Cloud was well-protected. That armor has seen her through fates worse than Hell. It won't fail them now. ]

[identitycrisiscore]

[ It might take a minute, but between the four of them, one of them finds Cloud's sword from the Sutoku's armory, discarded in the heat of the moment. ]

[ The man himself, as they will likely realize, is not far from it - buried under the debris. When they find him, it's - well. He's in a bad way. ]

[ Anna's coat, thankfully, is still in plenty wearable condition - perhaps slightly worse for the wear than it had been before it was force to bear the brunt of the curse, but not notably more tattered, if in sore need of some cleaning and treatment. Matoba's charm, with had been placed against Cloud's chest, is torn to little more than scrap paper, having done its best, but been overwhelmed when Cloud charged in. ]

[ The man himself seems to be clinging to consciousness like a drowning man, his breath ragged and his eyes unfocused. He can just barely make out the blurry shapes of the rest of the basement squad as they break him out, but understanding where he is, what he just did, is beyond him - a cursory examination is all it would take to realize the frenzy's symptoms have seeped down to his very bones, and it's a combination of two layers of protection, a stubborn will, and sheer luck that he's even alive. ]

[ He opens his mouth to speak, a rattling breath escaping him. The young man's entirely on autopilot now - he's clutching at his bicep in a death grip with one hand. His skin is pale and clammy, his entire body locked up as if already in rigor mortis. ]

Not... getting rid of me... that easily...

[ That's all you're getting out of him, basement squad. He's not even really here. ]