thenearshore | ⌊ open⌉ Ayakashi

Entry tags:

⌊ open⌉ Ayakashi

Who: Zero and Open
What: A week after THIS, Zero falls to an ayakashi and is killed.
When: May 11th
Where: Everywhere.
Warnings: Blood, violence, death

The blood had calmed the vampire enough for the Hunter to take back control, but after he did so Zero was left with the horror of what he'd done. Those who had fought him off had left their mark but his healing factor had taken care of any physical scars leaving only the mental ones. The ordeal had left him fearful of what he was, what he could do. He was a godless shinki without a leash. He couldn't control himself, not without the blood tablets and those were gone which left him grasping at straws. He was missing something, he knew it. He couldn't have been like this while he was alive. There must have been something that had kept the bloodlust under control, something in his memories to help him from becoming that again.

But what?! Without a god to guide him he had only himself and without his memories.... His memories! They held the answers. They had too! Something to stop the bloodlust, a key, a spell. Something. Anything.

And so it began. His fall. It started with a single question - how to control the vampire inside? - and ended with the beast that suddenly appeared before its prey. A loud crack echoed through the area as the wolf, ten feet tall, stepped forward. Its body was a composition of razor sharp silver rose vines that enveloped a darkness beneath. This time, the shinki didn't taunt, didn't track like the vampire. It fell across his victims and sought destruction as it sprang forward and snapped its teeth at its prey.

[ OOC: Plotting Post is Here, though post is open to all! Also, sorry this is late! ]

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The silver vines morphed sliding over the massive form of the wolf reaching out here and there as if seeking, wanting. The wolf caught the glint of the spear and a silver vines shot out to wrap around the edge of the steel end and wrench it to the side even as the wolf bore down on the god.

It was a good thing the other had stamina. Watanuki let out a yell as he swung the spear back and forth like a baseball bat, hacking the silver vines when enough effort was put into it. The problem was he didn't know how long he could do it. Though, the fact that his life was on the line was enough reason to spur him on.

"Jade!"

As Watanuki ran around and flailed him about, Jade was watching the ayakashi's movements. There was a lot to this monster. There were teeth and vines and wild aggression.

"You're agile, thin, and flexible. We're going to use those traits to get in closer. You're not yet skilled enough for long ranged combat, so the closer we can get, the easier your target.

We want to get into those vines without getting tangled up in them. Don't let the vines grab ahold of me. You won't be able to wrench me free and if you hold on, the ayakashi will have the advantage, so you would be forced to let me go.

And if it comes down to it, I want you to let me go.

Now then! Move quickly forward! I'll watch your back for any vines that may be able to trap you in from behind."

The rose vines continued to spring from the wolf and those that weren't hacked away were sought blood as the razor sharp thorns aimed for the god seeking soft flesh to drink from. The vines continued their assault even as the main form conceptualized in the wolf continued to advance on the god it's paws kicking up soil as it ran straight for him.

"W-we're going in?!" Seriously?! But...

"Okay! I trust you!" But damn if he wouldn't admit that his yukata made it hard to move around in. He found himself quickly slashing at his clothes in order to cut off the bottom as if he were in a tunic, freeing his legs. He stepped out of it, taking off at a run towards Zero.

"Stupid thing! Don't you dare come near me!" Even though he was the one running towards it, but, whatever. Watanuki gave another hard swing, slashing Jade towards the vines and trusting him to cut. As Zero lumbered to him, he began closing the distance between the two. He gave another heavy swing, ripping apart more vines. He was lucky Jade's swing was so powerful. His spear knew how to cut, that was for sure.

They were finally closer. His spear practice was about to come in handy. He reared back the spear, aiming quick jab into the ayakashi's side.

"Please cut him, Jade!"

"Gladly, my lord!" Jade focused more energy into his blade, making the metal edge as sharp as his wit. He was able to cut through the thick vines and into the main body. It wasn't as deep as it could have been, but this was a difficult enemy for Watanuki to handle.

"Move! It will now try to protect this side that we're on, so we'll need to find a new angle. Quickly now!"

Jade felt really good and alive when his blade sank into the ayakashi. It was a familiar rush, though he didn't know why.

The spear sank in a quarter of the way and was immediately repelled back as a horde of vines burst through the opening rushing them as the wolf threw its head back and howled.

"JESUS!!!!" Was the terrified response, and he swung at the exploding vines that came out, but the force knocked him right off of his feet. There was a moment of wide-eyed panic that felt like he was in slow motion, spinning in the air before landing hard on his back, knocking the wind out of him.

"OOPH!" His head spun for a moment. He realized he wasn't holding Jade anymore. His eyes went wide as he spotted his weapon about ten feet away. Shit shit shit shit--

He started scrambling to his feet. If those vines got ahold of Jade he was a dead man! God! Whatever!

"JADE! I'M COMING!"

Jade clattered to the ground and could only lay there helplessly as his god was knocked back some odd feet. He couldn't tell from this perspective. Regardless, this wasn't good. Those vines were fast and he was way too close for comfort.

In fact, he could feel the vines wrapping around him to take hold on anything they could grasp.

"My lord. Stay away! You'll only get tangled up from here!"

Vines slithered across the spear wrapping endlessly around it until they covered it en-masse making it impossible for the god to reach his weapon. Zero might have been long gone but the Ayakashi understood the mechanics of a god and his weapon.

Once the rose vines covered the spear, they turned their attention on the defenseless god and quickly snapped forward and caught him by the leg using the hold to drag him back toward the wolf.

"JADE!!!" Was the screech, even was he own leg was suddenly caught by the vines. He fell again, but this hand managed to grab hold of the tiny bit of the handle that was left unwrapped. He could feel the vines slinking around his arm even as he held him and it--

It hurt!

"Nnnhh--!" But even so, he kept his grip on Jade, trying to kick and wriggle his leg free. "Jade, it's fine! I'm not gonna let go!" He'd figure a way to get them out of this mess!

Somehow.

"My lord,don't be foolish. There are too many vines around me to pull me free. You need to let go. There's still a chance for you to break out of them. You're flexible, you can make yourself smaller and flee. This is no time for sentiment" Jade said quickly. It was frustrating to see Watanuki sacrificing himself just for his weapon.

What else could he expect from a god of Mercy and compassion? But this was too much. He couldn't understand it.

The vines quickly ran up the gods leg touching skin and blighting him in the process as it dragged him through the dirt toward the waiting teeth of the ayakashi whose mouth was more than big enough to swallow the little god whole.

"I'm not letting you go, Jade! You're my shinki! I won't abandon--" And then the words suddenly died from his lips. He'd never experienced being blighted before. So when the pain began to rush up his leg--

"AAAAGGHHHH!!!" A loud, desperate scream ripped from his mouth, more frightened and loud than his usual yelling. "AAAAHHHH!!!!" And he was kicking, desperately, grasping onto Jade, clinging to him tightly as if his life depended on it. It did. Despite the pain, he attempting to wrench the spear out of the vine's grasp. He used his hands to tear some of them off, only to be blighted there as well, along his fingertips. "Ahhh, ahhh--AHHH--"

And then it stopped. He didn't know if it was his powers, or something that was coming from the wolf, but--that touch of the vines caused him to flash through visions of silver hair, pain and sadness, and an image of him falling to the floor and looking up horrified and--

This was...

For a moment, the pain fell away. He looked to the wolf with a terrified expression, mismatched eyes wide as tears ran down them from the pain.

"...Zero-san...?"

Jade himself was being overcome with blight as his god became covered in it. The connection between he and his god caused him to be tainted as well. It hurt...it was a pain he hadn't felt before. At least in this life.

Jade knew that Watanuki wasn't going to let go.

"Kimihiro!" he shouted, to bring Watanuki back from whatever he was thinking about.

He wanted to argue, but he was smart enough to know that it was too late for the both of them. There was no way that Watanuki was getting out of this hold now and....

Dammit.

[[ooc: RON COME ON DOOOOOWN]]

Edited 2016-11-07 01:36 (UTC)

Maybe it was a good thing Ronald took to wandering about town. It kept him from staying in the company of shadows after all. As much as they seemed to like him, they made for rather dreary company. But there was an uneasy feeling in the air today... and it kept him on edge. It didn't take him long to figure out what it was.

After all, death was never far from a fight.

So he ran.

That... wolf.

The reaper's eyes widened when he finally figured out who exactly was involved. Watanuki was hurt. That was the only thought coursing through his head. It was up to him. He was a reaper, a creature who knew the weight of a life. Especially this life. He needed to get him out before that life was snuffed out. He needed... A blade. He wished he had a blade. A knife. Something sharp. Something he was used to fighting with.

"JYOKI!" he finally called out, a cry of desperation bordering on instinct. As long as they were on the same shore, his call would be heard. The minute that pistol materialized in his hand, he began to fire point blank. Most his aim was focused on those vines on the hope that those shots would break through them. With every round, he dug his heels in to brace for recoil.

"Paws off! M'not letting you lay another hand on him!" Ronald cried, attempting to pull the creature's attention to him.

The bullets through the vines, until they loosened their hold on the blighted god enough to allow him to scramble free as the wolf turned its attention to the new arrival. The ayakashi threw back its head and for the second time, howled into the night and vines burst through its mouth a horde of them snapping toward the reaper in attempt to bring him down too.

Watanuki hit the ground with Jade in his hands. He was shaking, unable to do much to get away other than shimmy across the ground, the majority of his body covered in blight.

"Jihiki...!" And he felt something inside of him, he suddenly felt a swell of power, and he swung the point of the spear towards Zero.

"Please--stop him!"

Who on earth is...?

Never mind that for now.

Jade could feel himself desperately pulling in an immense amount of energy from around them. As Watanuki pointed him towards Zero, he knew exactly what to do with the energy that he could feel concentrating in his blade.

"O mighty explosion..." the words spilled from his lips in a familiar way, but he didn't know where they were coming from. "Energy blast!"

Jade unleashed an explosion with enough power to knock Zero away and buy them enough time to get out of there and back to the temple.

"My lord, we can make our escape now!"

"Yeah that's it! Over here!" he called, waiting for the last moment before leaping up to evade the vines to deliver a sharp sweeping kick aimed at the wolf's head. Distraction. All he needed to do was to cause a distraction. That explosion was enough of a cover... and caused enough light for him to briefly meld into the shadows to reappear closer to the fallen god and his shinki.

"Jade, right?" Ronald asked, gripping his pistol tighter. He'd never met the man but he'd heard about him. "Can't really do much at the mo but get Watanuki out and far away. I'll get you lot back to your temple. I swear on my title as Baron Samedi." One shadow. That was all he needed. Just a shadow dark enough to use.

The blast hit the ayakashi point blank and he was slammed back hitting a nest of trees that cracked beneath its weight and started falling across the forest as the monster got back up, a deep growl finally emanating from its throat as it locked on them and sprinted forward at full force the silver rose vines snapping forward to crash into anything and everything in its way as the wolf ran them down at full speed.

He had hastily called out Jade to return his normal form by the time Ron had made to over to them--and all too quickly was Zero hurrying over towards them. He couldn't move anymore. The blight on him was way too bad.

"Nhhh..." He couldn't even muster out any more words. All he could do was lay there helplessly and hope that Ron was able to get them out in time before Zero snapped them up. He couldn't believe it... had him having no god... turned him into that?

Jade picked Watanuki up, feeling weak from the pain. Thankfully, Watanuki was light enough to carry easily.

He looked over to their savior and nodded. He knew that Watanuki had to be far too weak to teleport the both of them back to the temple, but they had to get away from the immediate danger for now.

So he fled with his god in tow, taking off in the opposite direction of Zero's rampage.

The reaper shook his head to get his focus back on track. Those thorns were only too tentacle-like for comfort. It was that blasted school all over again. But he forced his eyes open and forced himself to run. These two were counting on him. He didn't have time to relive his fears.

He turned just to let out a few more shots. If he couldn't stop that wolf, he could he slow it down. The way it was rampaging, it was destroying everything he could potentially use as a shadow portal. His eyes glanced over at Jade again. "Keep your eyes out for a shadow. Something large enough for us to step through." he instructed, firing off a few more rounds in Zero's direction.

The rounds hit the creature's left side, then his right shoulder while it dodged the next one and the one after that but a third sank straight into its eye tearing a high pitched cry of pain from its throat as the animal crashed mere feet from them blind from one eye.

The wolf pawed at the wound, ignoring the guardians for a quarter of a minute before a loud growl full of teeth emanated from its throat and the beast launched its massive body at them to tear them apart.

He could feel himself being scooped up off the ground, the sound of gunshots, howling and whining-- it was taking everything in him to not just pass out where he was. If he did... he just wasn't sure if he'd wake up again.

"Jade.." He breathed out painfully. "You're okay... you're okay...." He sounded delirous now.

Jade was panting as he ran around trying to find a large enough shadow as well as making sure not to let the vine-ridden mutt catch up to them.

"Yes, I'm fine and working on an escape route. A friend of yours is to thank for this" he replied. He felt too tired to speak, but he knew that he needed to keep Watanuki awake and the best way to do that was hold a conversation with him for the time being.

Shadow...shadow....

Why find a shadow when he could create one? He could sacrifice his phone for their life, no big deal.

Jade shifts Watanuki so that he's more over his shoulder and pulls out his phone. He turns the flashlight setting on which creates an obnoxiously bright light that's perfect for creating a shadow.

He searches quickly for a large enough object to cast the shadow off of it, knowing that it will be much larger than the object itself.

He sets his phone down at just the right angle and waits for this Baron to do his thing.

"Course he's bloody fine! M'not letting either of you get hurt." Ronald called back, his brow furrowing as he glanced back at the pursuing wolf. While his shot seemed to look like it was going to be enough to incapacitate the creature, it only seemed to make him angrier.

Shit.

There was an appreciative little grin however when he realied just what Jade was doing with his phone. "...Remind me to get you a new phone if we live through this, alright?" he laughed, his innate optimism finally bubbling back to the surface once he saw the glimmer of hope they had for an escape. Or rather, the looming darkness of hope. That shadow was more than enough.

The reaper ran ahead, practically diving into the darkness. Half his body slid in, disappearing into it like it was more of a hole than a shadow but before he could disappear into it completely, he reached for Jade's wrist in an attempt to pull both god and shinki in after him.

What would follow would be a second of bitter cold before they slid out behind the torii of a local shrine. Ronald finally let go, lying on his back with his arm out to the side as he fought to catch his breath. "Blimey... I actually did it..." he murmured before looking up and glancing behind him. "Are you lot alright?"

[ Continued from here. ]

Sanae watches as the stars continue to spin and pulse, throwing out prominence and flares towards him. What doesn't hit him either demolishes onto the surface of the holy water that surrounds her temple or expels into the air, never to be seen again. Whatever collateral damage, the miko will deal with later.

But now that she has him on the defensive, she doesn't stop there. While the stars are powerful, they won't last forever, burning brightly through their cores. But she has a more time before they vanish, and in the meantime, the wolf is escaping before she gets a chance to relay her next attack. With how varied the domains of heaven are between each god's temple, navigating through each additional unknown territory proves more difficult that she'd expect. Thankfully she has her ability to scry. But that doesn't make finding a giant wolf that much easier, whether he's on the Near Shore or the Far Shore.

Fortunately she manages to find Zero by flight, just in time to see the reaper pull Watanuki and someone else through the shadows. She doesn't have any time to shout to them to help before they vanish from the area, but that's okay. In fact, it's good that they're gone. If Watanuki is hurt, she'd rather have him be safe and away from the monster in front of her now. The monster that has all of her attention.

"You..."

Using Lu Meng's ability to focus and calm herself, she breathes in deeply. If she is to help put an end to things here, to stop him from hurting others, then she has to be ready to account for everything that this ayakashi throws at her. The next attack is a simple one to re-engage the wolf in battle. She throws something small and rounded towards the beast, right into the thicket of vines. It glints through the air, and when it makes impact it will explode spectacularly in a surge of heat and light, ripping apart matter.

The wolf is as slippery as an eel, and Lu Meng had watched it flee with a scowl. But he's certain that the next time they meet, it will be the last. His lady's will is steel, and he tempers it with his own. Next time, it won't escape.

Already that damn wolf is seeking new prey? Lu Meng is relieved to see that Watanuki and his friends are safe from the ayakashi. He can only hope that they are unharmed. Sending waves of calm towards Sanae to keep them both focused on the wolf, he thinks hard on how they're to take this ayakashi down.

"My lady. We should trap the ayakashi or injure its legs. We can't afford to let it slip through our fingers again."

The vines coil in on each other, over and over as the beast roars in anger its eye gone, half-blinding the beast. Pain laces through its form slowing it down enough to allow his prey to escape but not for long. He can track them down. The Hunter could track anyone and in this form his skills had---

You...

The wolf's head snaps up in time to see the god it thought it left behind. She had followed him along with her shinki. The creature growls, no longer calm and collected but a distorted vision of the beast they first encountered. The ayakashi had been quiet before but now its central core filled with darkness lashed out. It meets her attack head on. The vines disintegrate on impact and the creature jumps into the tree using them as a stepping stone to reach the airborne god as it howls into the night, the sound sending a shockwave through its body and the vines morph and split into two wolves, a copy and the master, both of which have the god in their sights attacking as soon as they're in range.

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⌊ open⌉ Ayakashi

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I CAN BE YOUR HERO BABY~

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continuing the fight here! sanae/lu meng/ zero fight

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