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Entry tags:
- !event,
- #npc,
- abel nightroad: martyr,
- akua sahelian: sovereign,
- amos burton: lover,
- caitlyn kiramman: champion,
- ciel: martyr,
- emet-selch: champion,
- himeka sui: wanderer,
- howl: celebrant,
- jayce talis: visionary,
- johnny joestar: firebrand,
- koriel xii (dextera): lover,
- misa amane: lover,
- rand al'thor: martyr,
- syrlya: champion,
- tartaglia (childe): firebrand,
- yuuta okkotsu: lover
EVENT #5: SOVEREIGN CITIZENS (GODSBLOOD)
Sovereign Citizens
GODSBLOOD
At the height of the Sovereign's moon, Vaeka Lovenskol's execution is announced. Outside of the City Hall, a dignitary of Achamoth is flanked by an entourage of Kenoma, reading the words of Regent from an unfurled letter: Vaeka stands accused to conspiring against the Regent and abetting the fugitive menace known as the Pleroma. Though the details are not made public, rumors spread quickly, some far more wild than the actual truth. The full truth, after all, is something only the Regent's agents and the Pleroma themselves know, and even to them the manner of her exposure is unclear.
Though losing a proud daughter of an influential family, there seems to be little that the people of Godsblood can do besides accept it. After all, they are still a city of the Regent's empire, and for all the freedom they've enjoyed, there are limits. If she was truly aiding the Pleroma, the sworn enemies of the Regent - and in an organized manner, if the rumors are to be believed - can they truly object? Or would challenging the Regent's claim simply invite more death?
As with many things, the families of Godsblood are torn. Tensions are thick for the five days leading up to Vaeka's appointed execution by hanging, with everyone having an opinion and few wanting to go on record talking about it too loudly. As such, the people's frustrations come out in other ways. Bloodites are uncharacteristically unfriendly to strangers in this time, keeping to their own and treating everyone else with overt skepticism.
Those that have arrived as part of the Regent's official envoy, or seen guarding Vaeka, will receive a particularly icy reception. No longer are the Kenoma curious wanderers on personal business. Now, they are here as the hands of the Regent; few of the Godsblood citizens are foolish enough to challenge them outright, but they are ever an honest people.
Early on, the Kenoma and the rest of the Achamite contingent sent with them will be able to take over a jail in downtown Godsblood to hold Vaeka until her execution, clearing out all other Bloodite prisoners and employees in the meantime. This means they have a relatively secure position to guard their prisoner from, which is a good thing; after all, the Regent did outright invite the Pleroma to stop them, and Pleroma are nothing if not stubborn.
EXECUTION DAY
After five agonizing days of waiting and several high visible conflicts between the Pleroma and Kenoma, finally the hour of Vaeka's execution arrives. A gallows is set outside of City Hall, ready to welcome its newest victim, and a massive crowd has gathered in an spirit of anxious anticipation. Some worry that violence may break out in the streets, even without the Pleroma's agitation, but gradually the minutes tick by and the gallows remain empty.
First one minutes passes. Then five. Then fifteen. Slowly, it becomes clear to the people of Godsblood that Vaeka will not be arriving. Are the rumors true? Has she been saved? Have the Pleroma been successful, despite all odds?
As the hours pass and the crowds disperse, Vaeka Lovenskol is not officially reported as either living or dead. Fortunately, Godsblood is a place where information has a way of getting around, whether those in charge like it or not. Some are saying that she was seen being whisked away as if by powerful magic, following a bloody fight at the jail in which she was being held. Where did she go? Maybe her supposed connections to the forest people did her good, some surmise.
The days following Vaeka's failed execution carry a strange and uncertain energy. Where before there was tension and distrust, Godsblood now finds itself in a surreal reality where the Regent's word is apparently not absolute. Then again, do they really want a repeat performance?
First one minutes passes. Then five. Then fifteen. Slowly, it becomes clear to the people of Godsblood that Vaeka will not be arriving. Are the rumors true? Has she been saved? Have the Pleroma been successful, despite all odds?
As the hours pass and the crowds disperse, Vaeka Lovenskol is not officially reported as either living or dead. Fortunately, Godsblood is a place where information has a way of getting around, whether those in charge like it or not. Some are saying that she was seen being whisked away as if by powerful magic, following a bloody fight at the jail in which she was being held. Where did she go? Maybe her supposed connections to the forest people did her good, some surmise.
The days following Vaeka's failed execution carry a strange and uncertain energy. Where before there was tension and distrust, Godsblood now finds itself in a surreal reality where the Regent's word is apparently not absolute. Then again, do they really want a repeat performance?
QUESTIONS
What is the best way for Aions to travel to Godsblood?
For Pleroma, this is very easy, as they are likely to either already live there or be able to easy take Greentruth's portal. For Kenoma, they may come directly from Achamoth by boat as part of the Regent's envoy or arrive via Eustace's portal which is set up in a shed a fairly long jaunt outside of town. Once there has been some time to get established, Misa will be setting up another portal leading straight to the prison where Vaeka is being stored.
Are the Kenoma permitted by the Regent to kill other Godsblood citizens?
Though the Kenoma are authorized to kill any Bloodites that try to physically fight them, they are expected to keep things clean. The Regent prefers to only punish the guilty, and having the lines be clear will create less of a hassle in the future. Generally, Godsblood is not in a state where physical resistance is likely to happen unprovoked.
For Pleroma, this is very easy, as they are likely to either already live there or be able to easy take Greentruth's portal. For Kenoma, they may come directly from Achamoth by boat as part of the Regent's envoy or arrive via Eustace's portal which is set up in a shed a fairly long jaunt outside of town. Once there has been some time to get established, Misa will be setting up another portal leading straight to the prison where Vaeka is being stored.
Are the Kenoma permitted by the Regent to kill other Godsblood citizens?
Though the Kenoma are authorized to kill any Bloodites that try to physically fight them, they are expected to keep things clean. The Regent prefers to only punish the guilty, and having the lines be clear will create less of a hassle in the future. Generally, Godsblood is not in a state where physical resistance is likely to happen unprovoked.
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So he already has both sword and shield at the ready.]
We won't. [He keeps his voice low as well.] We'll go in at the same time, and I'll draw their attention away so you can unlock the cell door with--Rika, was it? Yuuta will be joined by Rand coming in through the front so we can clear the way to get you both out.
[He glances up. Caitlyn should be in place by now as well with Akua, ready to handle the guards outside to give Rand and Yuuta a clearer path.
They're only going to have one shot at this.] Is everyone ready?
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the three of them wait under a cover of invisibility, close enough to the building that vaeka was kept captive in that the minutes were now winnowing down to the seconds. they couldn't waste time — not this close. syrlya's spell might have allowed them to approach, but it wouldn't allow them much closer than this; not without the risk of being seen through. they would split up here, and yuuta just had to hold in his heart that his companions would be alright without him. sending rika along with them gave him some peace of mind, but he would still try to bust through the front to back them up as quickly as possible. )
Yes. We're ready. ...Rika? ( a brief pause. ) I need you to look after and help Johnny and Syrlya, okay? Just for a little while.
( there's a lengthier pause, and then a voice ripples through the empty air, young and feminine beneath multiple layers of heavy distortion. ) If that's what you want me to do, Yuuta. ( she sounds plainly grudging, and yuuta knows it's not a perfect solution — he can give her orders up until her defensive programming takes effect, so... he'll just need to fend for himself for a while and not give her a reason to abandon her orders. he takes a deep breath to steady himself, and then he carefully shifts johnny off of his back, setting him down and for just a moment placing a firm, steadying hand on his shoulder. )
Stay aware of your surroundings, the people around you, and the situation. Communicate if you need help. ( he retrieves his hand and moves it to the hilt of his sword, shifting his posture so he's ready to move at a moment's notice. ) ...Let's go.
AIGHT... feel free to split off here!!
Yeah... same to you. Don't die. [ a beat; he glances over at Syrlya, too, who he doesn't know so well, but whose life is depending on him just the same - and vice versa. ] You too.
[ Rika's creepy voice isn't exactly comforting, especially knowing he accidentally stuck his whole foot in his mouth when they met. He tries to keep thinking of her as a Stand and not a scary ghost (which seems closer to the truth.) Once Yuuta cues that he's ready to go, Johnny shifts where he's sat, pulling himself into a precise position at the corner of the building. From there, events take place one after another, and very quickly: his hands and fingernails, light up with blue stars, a robotic-looking waist-high spirit appears out of the air beside him, and as Johnny holds his two fingers in a gun-like posture and jabs them into the side of his cheek, the Stand mimics the motion. Then, there's a loud buzzing noise, like a tiny fan spinning, and for an instant, Johnny's entire body distorts like he's being sucked into a black hole before he and Tusk are simply gone -- vanished into a tiny bullet-sized hole now marking the outside wall beside them. ]
>ciel, johnny, vaeka (and rika)
The rest is off the books. Johnny prays that speed and the holy spirit are on his side, because he knows for a fact that luck never is.
When he enters the room, he has three immediate objectives: pinpoint Vaeka, figure out how many enemies there are, and find the door. Fortunately, the room isn't that big, so in the second or two it takes for him to pull his torso out of the wormhole, he's got all three mapped out. He sees Ciel - remembers her, the shady woman from Venera. Unfortunate. The other woman must be Vaeka. They were smart to keep someone in the cell with her.
Maybe it's because he recognizes Ciel that he doesn't aim for her first; instead, in that split-second to react, he levels his index finger at the door at the front of the room, firing his second nail, whirring like a chainsaw, right at the lock. At the same time, his body slips out of the bullethole in the wall and onto the floor with a thud. ]
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Thus once Rand was successfully freed, they could no longer afford any shred of complacency, any gap in their defenses. Ciel didn't stop Emet-Selch during his 'interrogations', she simply began taking his place whenever the Ascian was no longer keeping the prisoner company. She also opts to erecting a barrier within the cell where the rebel captive is held, though there was no telling if it would be any effective at keeping things out and in.
Effective enough, as it turned out. Johnny makes it in, but Ciel is alerted to an intruding presence the moment the bullet pierces through and distorts a magical layer he could not know was there. The breach's awareness affords her a split-second to observe him, and it's both the lack of hostile intent and the way he focuses that makes his goal immediately obvious. Two Black Keys cut through the air in response: one to intercept the bullet (??) aimed towards the lock, the other towards the crippled but not-so-helpless Pleroma Firebrand's leveled index. As the nail-like swords are magical in nature, canceling out whatever the man had fired would be ideal, but if not, she's prepared to contain the prisoner first and dispatch the newcomer second through any means at her disposal.
That she recognizes the man and that he can't walk... Ah, nothing personal. He gets it too, doesn't he?]
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Christ alive. He'd better be careful, or she'll disarm him (quite literally.) Looks like this will be a little harder than he thought. Eight bullets left... If her ability is - apparently - to summon blades out of nowhere, there's no telling where she might strike next. Which means he'd better get this over with before she gets a good grasp of what he's capable of. ]
Tch...!
[ he uses the split-second momentum of yanking his hand back to push another finger up to his jaw; meanwhile, his off-hand's the one pointing downwards, and he takes the moment to fire from both, Tusk appearing briefly at his side before both Stand and user are sucked into another bullet. The one that went to the floor is now a bullet-hole crater, moving steadily towards Ciel's leg and leaving a path of destruction in its wake; the other takes Johnny with it and flies to the ceiling with similar intent, though this time, it's burrowing towards the door again. If he can just destroy enough of it... ]
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There's no room for interpretation. His crouched stance was that of a sniper, he held nothing in his hands before he fired. One moment, he was perched from distorted space, the next, he's gone with his shot.
Her priority is clear.
The crater on the ground is barely given a passing glance. Sharp and steely blue remain firmly fixed on the nail that the intruder disappeared with, and within the next instant, three additional Keys have appeared in her hand. Clenched between her knuckles to create a fan-like formation, they are then thrown in turn at different intervals. The first is based on her instinct in trying to catch the nail bullet early, the second is based on initial impression and assumption, and the third is based on observation and calculation. All three are imbued with a spell that will cause its target to burst into flames upon impact; if the first two miss, the last one may graze its target a mere few centimeters away from the cell door.
At the expense of her own mobility, perhaps; focused on the bullet that she can spiritually perceive and interfere with thanks to her superhuman capabilities, she only manages to shift her stance enough to get one leg out of the bulldozing crater's way. Damaged flesh and bone in one leg is acceptable anyway, as long as she doesn't risk losing the limb whole. Her powers do have limits here, she can't be too complacent with the nigh perfect immortality she possessed before.]
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He's been hit by all manner of attacks in the past few months, but somehow, fire's never been one of them. As it turns out, it fucking sucks. In the strange liminal space between nothing and something that Tusk provides him, there is no distraction from the flames licking at his skin and clothes. It burns. The first blast comes, and every screaming nerve he has left is telling him to get out now, you need to put this out, and that's before the second one hits. But he can't leave. He's got limited ammo and the clock is ticking - Yuuta and the others are counting on him. This can't be worse than when he got shot. This can't be worse than when Gyro nearly got pulled into Sugar Mountain. He can survive this - he has to. He just has to make it to the lock.
It's all only one or two seconds, in total - a bullet travels fast, even through a wall - but by the time the hole reaches the lock on the door and bursts open with an unpleasant click, it feels like it's been half an hour. Johnny bursts out, too, fully-formed again; unlike last time, he's dumped unceremoniously onto the ground in a hurry, on fire and screaming in pain as he desperately tries to roll while being unable to use his legs. There's no time to check on what Ciel might be doing next.
Fortunately, he'd tried to plan for being attacked. The second nail bullet, having gone unimpeded, makes a beeline for her kneecap; the effect is somewhat similar to Tusk clicking and dragging a bullet wound from her right foot all the way up to the target point in a gruesome trail of blood and shredded flesh and bone. ]
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It's what she registers first, and in the very same instant, her balance is broken by the impact that runs through her left leg. Rending through flesh and bone like a hot knife through butter, it draws out a wince of pain from her through gritted teeth. The nail bullets are in fact even more potent than ordinary ones, and the only reason why she's not sent crashing to the ground is thanks to conjuring another Key and using it as crutch in time to keep herself upward. These spinning bullets that tear and shred through spatial and physical space alike... Tch. They're too dangerous, and she's been too complacent; she should have went for his hand first the moment he made it clear what he's firing from.
Better late than never, then.
Her mobility has been woefully crippled and it will take some time for her broken bones to reform, but she still has a free hand, and the Cremation Rite proved far more effective than expected. The previous Black Keys are dispelled in a flash back into fluttering pages of a book to give way to three new ones in her hand, and when she throws them again, they are aimed with impunity towards Johnny's right hand and arm. Wrist, palm, and elbow to be exact; bone for bone, limb for limb. His left side will be next, if she can afford to go for a follow-up throw.]
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the cursed spirit, once given shape by yuuta's cursed technique and life by orimoto rika's soul, is now little more than an automaton animated by a fragment of left-behind will. like a body missing a phantom limb, it can remember impressions of the emotions that once filled it. at its core is one thing: love — both fervently protective and destructively possessive. the current "rika" does not want to be here. she wants to be by yuuta's side, protecting him. even now, she can sense that he's fighting someone else, but he's also continuously feeding her the same commands he'd given outside this building.
as a factor within those calculations, rika is aware that any action she makes could have a negative impact on yuuta. in order to manifest, she must use his energy; in order to absorb damage, she must use his energy. if he runs out, he will be defenseless — she won't even exist to save him.
on certain levels the mechanics of this fight are beyond her. she doesn't have the ability to comprehend the rules and limitations of johnny's or ciel's abilities, not without yuuta there to feed her that information. but she does become aware of johnny bursting through the lock on the cell door across the room; she reorients near him, attention fixated on his blue-haired attacker. they are both injured. there is nothing she can do about that. she sees more of the woman's weapons appear in her hand, watches them wind up and then fly at johnny's prone form.
there is somethings he can do about this. )
RrrrRRAAAAH!
( the furious voice, a young girl's screech beneath multiple layers of heavy distortion, is an echo of orimoto rika's, desperate and furious in the coils of her curse. between ciel and johnny, a dark tear opens up in the air, and a hand nearly huge enough to wrap around a small person's torso reaches through. heedless of the damage, it intercepts the Keys simply by taking them to an open palm and closing around them, and it's obvious enough that the manifestation is physical enough to take damage; the pale skin rends like torn paper, and the wounds seethe with a sort of spiritual miasma. taking this hit isn't without consequence; elsewhere in the jail, yuuta will sense the drain from his cursed energy, and rika can only take so much damage before she dissipates entirely for a few days.
the spirit's hand disappears as suddenly as it had appeared in the first place, and it leaves behind it the sense of disturbed water; that whatever it had come from was still lingering in the room, ready to strike. )
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Shit. He needs to do something. The thing about burns is that the pain persists even once the flames are out - Johnny is, of course, still smoldering at best, but not being actively immolated has only marginally improved how he's feeling. In an ideal world, he'd be able to focus on Ciel and try to take her out before she does any more damage to him. Reality isn't so kind. He has no idea what the limits of her powers are; all he knows is that she's strong and fast, and, apparently, built like a tank. His best bet is to shift focus. He struggles to orient himself in Vaeka's direction, throwing an arm out towards her, and through the blurry veil of tears in his eyes, he sees Ciel taking aim at his arm in the same instant, but shit, he needs to do something. Do what he came here to do, and maybe the others will show up in time...
Right. Others. He'd forgotten that, technically, he wasn't alone. The tear in space didn't come from him this time; instead, it's Yuuta's big scary girlfriend-Stand, and she's saving his ass. ]
Rika!
[ it's a breathless gasp of surprise - but he can't waste the tiny window of time she just bought him, apparently at her own expense. The effort of stretching his arm makes his singed flesh sting, but he grunts through it, loosing the last 3 nails on his right hand and willing them to destroy Vaeka's bindings. ]
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> Gray, Syrlya, Rand (later Vaeka)
And then their off. Syrlya moves out of the alley and focuses his attention on the barred window, narrowing his eyes as he focuses on the space just beyond it.
And then, in an instant and a crack of magic, he's on the other side. The invisibility spell rapidly wears off in that moment, as Syrlya no longer maintains it in the face of, well, that he's about to get into a fight.
He moves the Achamite shield in his off hand in a defensive position to his front as he moves forward. Looks like it was the right hall, and he sees Gray nearby what must be the cell with Vaeka. Gray looks... young, but not so much for him to assume she isn't a threat. He's not good at estimating the other race's ages but that's Old Enough.]
You can surrender now and make this easy. [And now no one can say he didn't try mercy?]
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But now isn't the time for those kinds of worries. This odd-looking intruder is clearly here to fight. ]
Add.
[ It might sound like an untimely command to do arithmetic, but she's actually talking to something else: a tiny box she draws from her cloak, its eerie, intricately carved face not unlike that of the intruder in front of her. The box is only out for a split second before it's expanding and reforming magically, twisting like a Rubik's cube until it snaps into the form of an oversized scythe in the blink of an eye.
She isn't the sort for battle banter. The intruder has made his intentions clear, so there's no reason to hesitate; she launches herself at him like a human bullet, her cumbersome-looking weapon having no apparent effect on her speed. Her scythe carves an elegant ring around her as she whips it around with enough force to turn it into a battering ram, aiming directly at his shield. ]
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doubtful that any among the pleroma in godsblood would've forced him to come if he'd refused, of course. but he'd chosen to stay in the city to try saving vaeka lovenskol, and whatever happened in between then and now he's still committed to that. more committed to that than before, maybe. so whatever he might feel about being back here gets buried as deep down as he can. there'll be time for that later. himeka's healing means he's in good enough shape to fight, whatever time he might need to come back to normal — that can wait for later, too.
right now, he follows yuuta in the building, but with more discretion — no obvious channeling outside, avoidance of too clearly being part of the rescue team. no one knows him for an aion in godsblood, let alone pleroma, and he. lives here, for better or worse. (feels like worse for the locals of the city, but that's another thing that can wait until later.)
so: his arrival to this fight is a little delayed. so: once he's inside, all bets are off about obvious channeling. but there's still a beat of hesitation as he comes upon the scene. with some surprise: ]
— Gray?
[ but no, there isn't time for that. he lets saidin pour through him, channels it into a weave of air that he throws her way. if it strikes, it'd feel kind of like running into a wall, if a wall were thrown at you, all blunt battering force. ]
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He lets her run towards him, waiting to follow the curve of her movement before he lunges forward with a twist of his body to deflect the blow with his shield at an angle so that his shoulder doesn't absorb as much of the shock.
Her weapon gives her better range than his, so rather than approach from the front he steps back and gestures with his sword hand. Vibrantly colored purple magic starts to swirl from the fingertips and under Grays' feet, and once formed a large circle with clock hands ticking down aims to send shocking pain through her at every second she remains standing in that spot.
He's focused enough on Gray he almost misses Rand's entrance, until there's channeled wind blowing past him. He looks back at him with a quick look of acknowledgement, but right now they're in the fight.] Let's clear the way!
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No time to dwell; here's Rand, apparently back for a return visit, and she has no time to dwell on that either. One of her talents is her ability to sense magical energy, and so she has a second of warning as magic beguns to focus under Rand's command. She doesn't know what his attack will do if it hits her — but she can sense its shape, and that's enough.
Pure instinct guides her. She steps forward. As easily as a skip, she leaps into a corkscrew along the low prison ceiling. Rand's hammer of air passes under her. And she descends upon Syrlya, her scythe a spiral as she redoubles her attack on him. ]
I won't let you pass!
[ However Syrlya responds, she intends to take him down as quickly as possible, her scythe looping and striking at his defenses with uncanny speed. Aggression is keen in its song as it reaps the air.
Rand, meanwhile, seems to be a secondary concern until he happens to force her hand. Better for her if he stays in the back, encumbered by Syrlya's position between them. ]
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but it also means that he doesn't have to shout a warning before he spins another weave: threads of light coalescing between his hands into a bright flash with all the intensity of the midday sun. syrlya is sure to feel a warmth at his back, but gray? might just find her field of vision turn into a whiteout. ]
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The range puts him at a slight disadvantage--having her closer is better, but Gray has a longer reach on her weapon and that's something that's forefront to Syrlya's mind. Rather than risk gauging her strike wrong, he ducks under his shield and casts a sheer magical barrier in a dome over himself to absorb the blow.
He can see bright light out the corner of his eye--and hopes that will provide cover for his spell.
He traces his fingers a couple inches over the ground, generating another, larger, circle of magic under their feet. If it manages to catch Gray, the force of the magic will pull her into a middle, as if by an invisible tether. The binding isn't visible, and if she's unable to escape the circle it will then float her up into the air and then yank her down violently to the floor.]
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there will be one more tag from rand, then it's back to vaeka!
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> yuuta & amos
but he can't waste any further time. for just a few paces he runs alongside syrlya until they as well vanish, teleporting through an open window and into the building; he continues to blaze a path along the side of the building and towards its entrance, all the while sketching out a mental map of distances so he could make judgments once inside on where to go in order to join them. if the scene around him descends into chaos, yuuta doesn't pay it any heed — any guards posted around the building can be readily dealt with by caitlyn and akua as they provide ranged support. if rand is also closing in on the entrance, he doesn't immediately see him. all he sees is a closed, barred door — but not for long.
it wouldn't be strange if one raised an eyebrow when they saw yuuta, a thin and wiry scrap of a kid, barreling at the prison's door as if he could bust his way through them. one might even laugh or begin to raise their voice in concern when he raises one leg to kick at it. but when that kick connects, it's not necessarily the force from his heel so much as a wave of cursed energy he puts into it that rocks the door and blows it open, going so far as to splinter the wood and damage the masonry that it was connected to. from the inside of the building it would've looked like an artillery shell blew the thing open, but the first thing that runs through the door is...
a teenager.
yuuta begins to race through the building in the rough direction he knew vaeka's cell to be in, eyes scanning with surgical precision as he does so to try to locate any Kenoma threat that he can keep locked down here and not bursting into the cell to further complicate matters over there. the one that he finds is amos, and then he makes a beeline for him. if the dead severity in his eyes isn't a giveaway for his intention, it's hard to mistake once he draws the falchion from the sheath at his side, leveling it as he runs. )
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Oh, he'll still do it; that's why he's up and running towards all that noise, the sound of a door getting borderline demolished catching his attention first and foremost. Ciel is with Vaeka; she'll be fine handling things on her own there. He needs to tackle other threats as best he can.
Which might be something of a tall order considering how he's now down a couple of fingers; considering how he lost a lot of blood when his throat got cut just a day ago. But. What else can he do, right? This is his job. This is all he's really good for, so he's ready to face what smashes through that door head on. He has to be.
... He is not expecting a teenager.
He is not expecting a teenager with that kind of look in his eyes, and the second it takes Amos to register both Yuuta, the telltale Pleroma clinging to him like a disease, and the fact that he means business is enough for Yuuta to get the jump, coming at him probably a bit faster than he can handle. (And fuck, is he fucking tired of swords.) He's got no weapons on him — it's just him and some light armour, prepared at least that much for the occasion. And as much as he'd prefer to not fight someone so young, well... that choice has been made for him, hasn't it.
Amos' lips curve into a snarl as he rushes forward to meet Yuuta, slower than he should be, weaker than he should be, but ready to give everything he still has. He knows better than to underestimate anyone just because they're small.
He'll do his best to block the falchion with his armour, though there are gaps in it, so of course he's vulnerable; takes a swing right for Yuuta's head, though. Knock him out, capture a Pleroma, provide additional backup is basically the goal. ]
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the first time he had crossed that threshold had been over a year ago. one of the most powerful curse users alive, getou suguru, had specifically targeted him to get to rika's curse, so he could use her prodigious strength for himself, and the ones that had suffered for it had been the people closest to him. walking out onto the school grounds and seeing panda's broken form, maki twisted and bloody, and toge scarcely able to croak out a plea to run... an anger had possessed him, hot enough to boil his blood and call rika forth with the intent to kill the man that had hurt them, just so he could get to him.
he hadn't been the one to kill getou, but he had defeated him, and since then he has occasionally been called upon to bring down curse users — sorcerers that went rogue from the jujutsu society and used their abilities to harm people and for their own selfish gain. he had never liked those assignments, but he had taken them without complaint, because curse users are very dangerous... and he is only one of four sorcerers powerful enough to be considered "special grade."
yuuta doesn't know amos, but as he run towards him, he can't help but wonder about him, even as he tries his damnedest to keep his mind empty and clear. perhaps it's a line of empathy drawn between them as individuals of the same Legacy. perhaps it's because he's still working through his feelings about fighting against those in the same situation as him but twisted towards a different, darker purpose. why is it that he's here? what is his personal prerogative in this? would he have agreed to do so under different circumstances? does he even really want to hurt yuuta either? he's only a few feet away from amos when a vulnerability hidden deep within the mechanics of the young man snaps. he doesn't want to kill him. hell, he doesn't even really want to hurt him — he will if he has to, but he just wants to keep him busy. so in a gesture so quick it could be easily missed, he does something fantastically foolish: he flips the falchion over in his grasp. there were no katanas for sale on the streets of godsblood (obviously), but he had picked this weapon because it felt as close as he might get. a single-bladed weapon, one that would make the most sense with the way he'd learned to wield a sword. held this way in his hand, he would bring its blunt edge against amos, not the one keen enough to cut through flesh and bone.
probably for the best, because amos will realize very quickly that this is not your average, everyday, garden-variety teenager.
he will receive the physical evidence of this when the force of the sword, even if it is the blunt edge driving into the side of his armor, it strikes with the force of a jackhammer. put on a blunt edge, that force spreads out over the surface area of the armor, lessening the immediate damage, but it feels like the one swinging that sword is ten times stronger than the puny-looking scrap of a young man that amos faces now.
yuuta's typical method of fighting is deceptively simple. blessed with a prodigious amount of cursed energy, unsurpassed by any other sorcerer, so he uses that energy to reinforce his body, making him stronger, faster, and more durable than a normal human's capabilities. with so much of this resource at his disposal, he typically tries to overwhelm his opponents with incredible force, able to tank hits others might try to avoid because he could just use reverse cursed energy to heal through the damage. with this instinct in mind, still not shorn from his mental tactics, he doesn't even try to move out of the way of amos' blow. the man's fist connects solidly, and though it does rattle his brain and thoroughly bruise his jaw, shattering his vision into fragments and stars and bringing the copper taste of blood to his tongue, amos would also notice that this kid is a hell of a lot more durable-feeling than the average person. not quite like punching a cinderblock, but on the way there.
what he's forgotten in this moment is that... reverse cursed energy doesn't seem to be as potent here as it was back home. he starts using it on reflex, exhaling a huffed sigh of dull blue energy that begins to repair damage to bruised flesh and bone, but it's slow. too slow. he needs to be more careful. that, and if he's too brazen with his cursed energy (because manifesting rika a distance away also drew upon that same resource just as much as he did to reinforce himself and his weapon), he'll run out, and then he will just be one (1) garden-variety teenager against a man with what felt like supernaturally-enhanced strength.
ironically, they both arrive at the same conclusion: try to end this fast. temporarily on the back foot after the blow to his head, yuuta recovers with a fierce determination in his dark blue eyes and resumes his assault; he trades brute strength for speed, lashing out with the unsharpened edge of the sword in a flurry of swipes that don't have the power of the last one, but that he hopes might be enough to confuse amos' guard so he could get in a more decisive blow afterward. )
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Amos has been wrestling with Yuya's presence here since the beginning. Something about it has always sat wrong with him; wouldn't, if they were on the same side, but since Yuya hadn't obliged him in that request... And now the Pleroma have someone else; a little older, still, but—
He's getting conflicting messages here. From the way Yuuta hits him with blunt force rather than piercing. It's almost certainly going to leave a bruise, but it's not lethal. Maybe he can even downplay it to an annoyance at best. (He can't; when this is all over, he's certainly going to have at least one thing to remember Yuuta by.) From the emotions he's picking up from their shared legacy, the way Yuuta does not have that killer instinct.
But then the fact that Yuuta clearly knows what he's doing. Has been in this kind of confrontation before, even though his youth shows on him. In any other scenario, Amos would feel for him; here, he takes it as permission, because he does have a killer instinct. Has had it since he was younger than Yuuta presently is.
Amos had taken his first life at fifteen without much thought. It seemed like the right thing to do, so he did it; quick and easy, someone unsuspecting, a shotgun up close against the chest. The second and third lives he took mere days later had been much more brutal, and he'd taken his fair share of damage along the way. But he'd also learned what it was to be a wild animal, to chew off the foot caught in a trap not so he could escape but so that he could lunge at his attacker and end his life with nothing more than his hands. If he could do it at that age, then surely Yuuta can do something similar at this age, even if he doesn't seem to want to.
Which works to Amos' advantage. So. That's one decision made, then.
Amos brings his arms up to try to block Yuuta's blows, effectively pinned; speed is not in his repertoire. Not like this. He is nothing more than a talented amateur with no filter and blessed with exceptional strength. It's reminiscent of his time in space, which is probably why he'd developed it as an Aion — Belters grow up in lower gravity. Their bones, their muscles, their cardiovascular system, their bodies are all weaker. Unless he ran into someone else from Earth up there (and even then), any time he got into a fight he always had the upper hand, never had to develop anything more. Which is turning into something of a problem here, because it's clear Yuuta outskills him, but when you're born down in the mud you learn to use that to your advantage. Take your blows, because you can take anything; hit back harder than anything they've ever thrown at you.
He leaves an opening for Yuuta, clear as day, in trade for making a grab at the arm controlling the falchion; his other fist pulling back in preparation to nail Yuuta with a worse blow than his first one. Beat him into submission.
It's worked before; as long as he can find a way to sustain everything Yuuta is hitting him with now — and that's not exactly an easy task, but it's one that he thinks he's up for, has no choice but to be up for — then he figures there's no reason it shouldn't work again. Seventeen; a grown adult when he'd been fifteen — in this moment of battle, there's no difference to him. ]
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the jujutsu society does not shy from using children in their operations. realistically, they can't; there are so few jujutsu sorcerers now to stand against the rising tide of powerful cursed spirits that yuuta is in the field more often than he'd been in a classroom. he's seen the horrible violence and death that those monsters can mete out, and he's put down a non-insignificant number of human curse users himself. age doesn't factor into it. when you are only one of four special grade sorcerers in the world, you do what you're told, for the greater good.
it's not that he's without a killer instinct — he just needs a reason to access it. amos hasn't raised a hand against any of his closest friends. just a few months prior to yuuta he had hatched out of one of the same chrysalises in the same shrine as he had, and all the events that had led them down their separate paths since then had led them to blows here. no, in this instance, he doesn't have that killer instinct. he doesn't want to kill the man, even if he knows it wouldn't be permanent unless he shattered the stone that held his soul. he just — doesn't think it's necessary. not now. they're not even in the room with the prisoner; if they were, and amos was trying to hurt or kill her, he likely wouldn't have made the decision to flip his grip on his sword. if amos wished to paint with a broad brush and assume he lacked the capability to kill entirely, well, he was welcome to, but it would likely be a mistake in the long term.
amos' defense is solid. yuuta is a skilled fighter, but he lacks years of experience that many others had — which even his classmates had all had in spades over him. it has less to do with how quick and powerful he is and has more to do with how keen his eye is. he can't read as easily as toge or maki might have that amos' straightforwardness and tenacity belied the canniness of life experience. they might have been more wary of the obvious gap left open in his defenses, but yuuta falls for it, perhaps too eager to find a way to end this and rush to the side of his companions.
a foolish mistake. he won't make it again.
amos' hand closes like a vice around his swordarm, yanking him just off his center of balance enough that he takes another whalloping blow to the head. he sees stars, though they tear off to red and black; more blood fills his mouth, and he can feel it dripping from his nose. he instinctually gasps in a breath and exhales a cloud of reverse cursed energy, but it's still far too little, far too slow. he forces his eyes open — one already swelling near-shut from the blows — and he does something odd. he drops his sword, instead twisting his arm to grapple amos' arm just as the man had done to him. with his left, he does the same, locking them into a one-on-one wrestle. one that probably looks hilariously one-sided to an outside viewer, given amos' size against yuuta's skinny teenager frame, but he draws more and more cursed energy to augment himself to match him. against amos' super strength, he can hold his own — though it hadn't been his intention to try to wrestle the man to the ground.
no. instead, he rears back and attempts to headbutt him, not only with strength and force granted to him by the energy reinforcing his body, but by a surge of cursed energy that he forces through the impact. it would hit amos like a shockwave after the initial blow, forceful enough to knock over several pieces of furniture within several feet of them. )
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But here it's completely irrelevant, and he will kill him if he has to. It's not a great feeling, but it also isn't one he'll shy away from; when this is done and over with, when he's left to lick his wounds and reflect on everything that went wrong over the course of this operation, Amos will have to come to terms with the fact that he was willing to end the life (temporarily or not) of someone so young just because they were going against the Regent.
... He's not going to have a problem with it. He doesn't need a reason to kill, ever. Never has, never will; but at least here, for all the difference it doesn't really make, he has one. He would say it's good that Yuuta doesn't have a killer instinct for multiple reasons — it advantages him, it means Yuuta's still a good person.
Hell, he's probably still a good person if it turns out Yuuta does have one and it simply isn't always active. Except for the telltale aura of the Pleroma contradicting that, explicitly identifying Yuuta as a bad person, so. Here they are.
He'd been starting to pull his fist back to hit Yuuta again when he'd dropped the sword; that had been all the moment of pause that Yuuta would need, give him a clear opening to nail Amos, send him straight to the ground, winded and bleeding from his nose, his mouth, from the deep cuts on his palms reopening (and it's not as though from the past day he has a lot of blood left to spare). He has strength and not endurance, and any semblance of the latter he feels burning under his skin, longing to come out and take over, is so far away it might as well not actually be there.
Amos groans from his prone position, forcing himself to stand back up; coughs up blood, spitting it on the ground as he gets back to his feet, staring at this.
kid.
still just a kid, and he does not care.
There is almost certainly internal damage. Amos stares at Yuuta, expression unreadable, face completely blank, devoid of anything that could possibly be going on upstairs.
And then he bares his teeth and lunges straight for Yuuta's shard, aiming to rip it from his body if he can. ]
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in that way, he can almost respect amos. he might be coming at him with lethal intent, but at least he was trying to kill him as an adversary, not to simply get at something (or someone) else that was linked to him. there's a bizarre sort of respect inherent in something like that... or perhaps yuuta's just got a skewed understanding of people trying to kill him.
the blow is a relief, both in that it connects solidly with his opponent but also because it saves him another crushing blow to the face (he's certain if he got one or two more of those, he'd be out like a light regardless of what supernatural energy he might have swimming through his body). there's an uncharacteristic moment when amos is crumpled to the ground that yuuta... hesitates. what do I do? if he had been an enemy curse user, he certainly would have picked up his sword — he would have plunged it unswervingly into his heart, or perhaps attempted to lop off his head with one clean swing. or perhaps he would have forsworn his sword entirely and tried to wrap his arms around the man's neck as he tried to get back up, twisting until the vertebrae were all shorn apart. but he doesn't know how to do what he wants to do, which is just incapacitate him. he can just hit him again — he'll just hit him again, and it's when he makes this decision, cursed energy pooling around a raised and clenched fist in a ghastly pale aura, that amos takes advantage of his pause to get back up and lunge at him, less like a human combatant he's ever fought before and more like a pouncing tiger (the urge to write descending bear here was very strong, but I mostly resisted it).
when set opposite him, yuuta's reinforced strength can match amos', but throwing himself at him bodily like this — cursed energy can do a lot for him, but it can't make up for mass. he tries for a valiant moment to hold his ground and go back into a grapple with the man, but he ends up getting bowled over and sent crashing into the ground. the impact forces the air out of his lungs, stunning him for a moment — or, at least, a moment that lasts long enough for him to realize that the man is going for his shard, as brutal and straight-forward as an animal going for the throat of its prey. an instinctual, existential horror grips him; he's not sure he's felt afraid like this, not in months and months. it's enough to force his breath out of him again in a hoarse whine, desperate; he strikes at amos, pushes at him, trying to put enough force and cursed energy into the attacks to get him away from him, but he doesn't seem to be able to —
sensing his real distress and fear, the invisible, spiritual line connecting yuuta and rika goes taut. this whole time yuuta has been imploring her to stay where she is and do as he asked for her to, but now the programming left to her by the original rika overrides his commands; the cursed spirit leaves the room that the fight for vaeka is taking place in, flying at top speed to where amos wrestles yuuta to the ground, teeth and claws having torn through layers of clothing running red with blood to try to get at the shard that rested just above his heart, having just started to prise it free — )
YOU!!
( on either side of amos' head, two massive, pale hands appear; ghastly and large enough to perhaps wrap fully around his torso, they instead attempt to enclose crushingly around his neck and shoulders, to slowly force him back and lift him up. )
You hurt him... You—!! ( the voice is high and shrill, like a young girls, though heavily distorted.
yuuta barely has the time or the wherewithal to think about the situation, or what it might mean that rika had suddenly abandoned her mission to come save him. she had probably saved him from something terrible in the long run, regardless. )
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