[N o v a k i d]

[attr="class","susurrus"]

[attr="class","jikan"] [attr="class","hiraeth"]曲がった男は誰ですか?

[attr="class","achee"] [attr="class","castleonthehill"] ❝ Snow makes a good insulator for sound, as fresh snowfall is always followed by silence. Such is the case as an unnatural amount of snow began to blow into the Wind District, blanketing it in a good amount of snow. As the sun had already sunk beyond the mountains that surround the city of Mistral, the only source of light was the faint moonlight and the lanterns that illuminated the streets partially covered in snow. With such restricted light, the four students found themselves facing off against three masked, cloaked individuals with the intent to harm. It wouldn't be long until the silence of the heavy snowfall was met with the clash of metal. As Niraya attempted the feint, the dagger-wielding individual made no attempt to react as it grasped the dagger with both hands. She opted for a swift strike, which the figure stopped and parried her attack by swiping upwards and swung out, catching her blade a bit as she dodged to the left. It was the curved portion of the dagger that caused her katana to glide along it, allowing the daggered figure to parry her. The impact between the two weapons was pretty light, but enough to send a resounding 'clang' across the snow ridden battlefield. Upon closer inspection, Niraya would notice this individual was practically skin and bone under their cloak, wrapped mostly in bandages and ragged clothes. The curved dagger itself was in a decent condition, strangely enough, which seemed very odd given how they were dressed. However, their combat ability was nothing to scoff at. Since Niraya dodged to the side while the figure had parried her weapon upwards, it took the opportunity to lunge forward with a knee directly to her face. The figure let out a low snicker as began dancing around Niraya, almost taunting her. It began doing flips with the dagger, tossing it into the air while catching it with the other while the dagger was spinning in midair. It seemed capable of manipulating the rotation of the dagger in such a way to allow it to catch the dagger by the handle. While it seemed like the dagger-wielding cloaked one specialized in parries and sleigh-of-hand tricks, it's defensive capabilities were rather lacking, or non-existent at all. One well-placed strike should finish him easily, though it seemed a lot easier said than done. As soon as Niraya got up, it would slide the dagger into a pouch, unfurl a long tongue and lick the curved blade, before charging again at her, this time with an upward diagonal cut from below. -- Upon transforming into the metal that made up the composition of Flower's weapon Bloom, the snow under her feet seemed to have flattened a bit more as her weight increased. The sounds of chains clinking against it self echoed against the fresh snowfall as it bunched up on the snow. While the dagger wielding individual was preoccupied with engaging Niraya, the chain-wielding cloaked one began making a mad dash for Flower. Unlike the first one, this one looked somewhat different from the other two. Firstly, the figure's entire head was wrapped in a black cloth, save for two holes that served for viewing, or so it seemed. Almost like an executioner seen in old fairytales. Secondly, the figure was large: Not just taller, but fatter, almost like a pig shaped human. As the figure drew closer to Flower, the more audible the chained-one's panting grew, like a wild animal. As soon as it spotted Flower's chain in her left arm, it let out a disgusting squealing noise as it started twirling its arm, wrapping the metal chains around until it caught the cuffs and the chains covering up to the middle of its biceps. For Flower to create a wide arc intended to trip him, it would require for her to stop and swing it outward after charging forward. Surprisingly, the pig-like chained one was very nimble, performing a dive roll over Flower's chain and used the chained arms to protect himself as he rolled into a frontal somersault. Upon looking up and seeing Flower in a guarded position, the pig-man began huffing as it jumped straight up and... dove into the ground, with a bit of chain and cuff trailing behind before disappearing under the shallow snow and ground. Was that it's Semblance? Where would it attack? From the sides? From behind? The front? If Flower didn't react fast enough, the pig-one's arms would break the fresh snow from below Flower and shackle her ankles before disappearing into the ground once more to drag her down. -- The shield came hurling at the book wielding one in a blur. It came hurling like a cement block and as fast as a pitched fast-ball! The book-wielder couldn't even turn before the shield made contact with it at full force, knocking the figure to the side a good amount like a ragdoll. Before it had a chance to react, Colton was upon the figure with the full fury of his boot. As he gripped where the elbows should be, a sharp pain came from his hands. Underneath the bandaged arms were... large, barbed, floral thorns of varying sizes peeking out from between the bandages and were cutting into his fingers upon grabbing them with enough force to nearly break its arms. A low chuckle filled the air as the body dissipated in front of Colton. A clone, most likely. But an annoying one. "My, my. We've got a hot headed little crooked mouse. A perfect specimen for him, I must bring to the house. To wield your weapon is difficult yes, but how will you fare when my razors turn your fingers into a mess?" Suddenly the ground around Colton erupted as four sets of hands broke out of the ground and grabbed at his legs. The hands were shrouded in rags just like the last one. Grappling them would be out of the question, as they would simply tear up his fingers eventually. Perhaps if he wore gloves, but the clones were annoying nonetheless. He could easily just cut at them with his saber and protect himself with his shield to prevent the spiked vines from hurting him, but should he attempt to do so, another pair of hands would sprout in another spot to grab his legs again and anchor him down. In addition, some tried to dodge his swipes, wasting time and energy more in the process. They were capable of movement and can take more than one hit based on what Colton has seen. Perhaps he was right below him, perhaps he was just using the first clone as a decoy to intercept anyone who dared try and go for a direct surprise attack while the real one was hiding in the snow! Should he try to stab straight downwards, however, the thorn-covered hands would simply take advantage of his distraction and reach for his arms, pulling him down further. If only they were spikes or razor-sharp barbed wire, he could possibly manipulate them to pull them back! Though this didn't seem to be the case. -- From above, Qiu'li could see the entire battle unfold. He got a good look at the individual fighters that were clashing. The dagger wielding one was quick and agile, like a snake. Against Niraya, she'd be at a disadvantage if she fought exposed like that. However, one clean hit will most certainly take him out of the battle. Over on Flower's side, the large man was deceptively quick for his size. He had chains and shackles, most likely to immobilize the opponent by binding their ankles with them. Since it can traverse through the ground easily, it's safe to assume they had some way to manipulate the earth to let them traverse through it easily. Flower would need to either take to a higher ground, or manage to usurp him onto a terrain that he couldn't manipulate. Finally, over on Colton's side. His initial impact had seemingly defeated the book-keeper, but alas it was only a trick as he was caught by his trap. He couldn't tell what it was from a distance, but something prevented him from directly grabbing the arms of the clones. He would need to figure out how pull himself out from the trap, and defeat the one responsible for those clones. Despite gaining a height advantage, the increasing snowing conditions and limited light prevented Qiu'li from seeing beyond the battlefield, thus preventing him from being able to see much farther and confirm if there were more en route. He would have to decide whom to assist in battle, and quickly. Hesitation could spell the defeat of his teammates! ✎ 1452 words ※ SPOILER: Click to show Current turn order: Niraya, Colton, Flower, Qiu'li. Serpent: E RANK SEMBLANCE: PARALYSIS MANIPULATION, F RANK AGILITY, F RANK ACROBATICS, F RANK SPEED Shackles: E RANK SEMBLANCE: EARTH MANIPULATION, F RANK SPEED, F RANK STRENGTH, F RANK DURABILITY Narrator: E RANK SEMBLANCE: CLONE, E RANK STRENGTH, E RANK AGILITY, F RANK DURABILITY

[attr="class","ache"]

MADE BY MIZO

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[Niraya Platinum]

Niraya Platinum
When snow falls, Nature listens.

[attr="class","rainbow"]

Niraya executed her attack flawlessly, but this person stopped her attack without even breaking a sweat. This figure swiftly took advantage of the opening it created and tries to knee Niraya. She managed to avoid taking it to her face. but she still gets knocked off balance for a bit. as she recovered the figure tauntingly juggles his knife. Niraya recovers and takes a ready stance. She needed to land a solid blow to end this fight but the way this creature fought it would be difficult. she grabs her sheath and wields it in the other hand.

She thinks on her plan of attack while keeping the figure in her sights. She could see the others were busy with their respective foe. even Quil'li was climbing a building. Did he find something?. Not wanting to be ambushed she takes that time to attack. she uses her sheath as an alternate weapon going for sweeping attacks trying to push the creature towards the building. if her blade or sheath made contact with the figure's blade she would use the other to prevent him from countering.

↺ + HK

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[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

Fuck.

He had fallen for a clone or an misdirection semblance. The thorns causing pain and forcing his aura down said that illusion was unlikely, and an audible voice came out from somewhere to taunt him. Multiple sets of hands came up from the ground in grabbing motions, each of which was likely the same sort of thorn covered creation that would just damage his aura further. Instinctive slashes downward with his sword did a lot of work, but for the split second one of them managed to grab a hold of him the grip was strong and would quickly break his aura if multiple hands engaged at the same time and crushed all at once.

He needed to get out, and fast. There was only one way he knew how to do that. It wouldn’t be pretty, but Polarity was really the best chance he had at this point. The faint gray outline on his hands turned into a thicker and more obvious indicator as the shield moved to a trajectory just an inch or so above the ground and positioned so that the inside of the shield was facing up as it moved at full speed towards the mass of hands. Colton also let go of his sabre, letting his semblance do the work and undid his sword belt to use the metal object as a weapon to help his sword pave the way for the shield.

The plan was simple enough, just preventing as much aura damage as possible by smashing back the arms physically with the sheath while the sword zipped through and cleared the way specifically for the shield. The shield would be flying in at full force, so it would take a huge bite out of any of the hands still remaining in its way. Once the shield was close, it was a simple matter to make the graves on Colton’s feet attract to the metal on the shield to get a very secure footing in an instant in order to break his way out. He would attempt once to zip out the way that the shield came in to reset and get some air and thus perspective on what was going on.

If the hands came up again fast enough to block the shield from leaving, though, he would simply reverse the magnetism and manufacture a leap several meters high by making the metals repel each other as strongly as he could manage. The combination of a physical jump and the boost of the same from the polarity change would be more than enough to create some real distance between him and the ground where those clones seemed to originate from. Brown eyes would immediately scan the area either way in order to see if he could find the source of the clones. He considered them to be the biggest threat out of the three, so he was intent on finding that fucker and taking them out as quickly as possible. The jump was a last resort, though, because the crude way the leap would be manufactured would do damage to his own aura as his body protected his bones and skin from the injuries he would have otherwise sustained with both the fall and the initial force of the repulsion.

If the shield was operable and not covered in thorn covered hands, that and the sword would act independently of each other to attack while Colt would close in afterwards with the metal sheath just to ensure that it wasn’t a clone. Maintaining the use of his semblance to this level wasn’t possible for very long, so he needed to end this fight quickly. The only solace that he had was the fact that the guy abusing his clone semblance was tiring at the same rate or faster with the absolute spam of those ghost hands.

If he took out the main threat, the rest of the fight would be three against two. Flower could probably handle one, and Niraya and Qiu’li combined could probably handle the last – or at least stall until either Flower or Colton won their individual fights and could finish the job. The former champion still felt good about his chances despite the likely initial aura disadvantage, because he had so much of it to begin with. It was of course possible to break through it with brute force, but it was a lot harder to do it than with most others and certainly more than the civilians these guys were fighting up until this point.

The cutting edge of all of his weapons was quite a bit more dangerous than the industry average, too, which was another perk that these fucks probably weren’t used to dealing with. There was no need to rely on the force of Polarity when the actual quality of the teenager’s equipment was so good it didn’t need a bunch of force applied to do a heck of a lot of damage. Grabbing one would be a huge coup for local law enforcement and capturing all of them would be a headline grabber for sure. The greatest part about all of this is that all of the other Haven students here would run from the cameras so he would get all the spotlight to himself. Lucky to have such camera shy people as backup for when the news trucks rolled in to report on how a bunch of students foiled some kidnappings or whatever.

※ TWC: 3186 words ✎ 911 words ✉ E rank semblance, E ranked martial arts, E ranked durability, E ranked weapon

MADE BY MIZO

[Flower Fiorella]

[attr="class","flowerfio"]

"I try to be understanding because I think that most people are actually quite surprising."

[attr="class","flowerfiotext"]

It disappeared.

Flower blinked. She wasn’t expecting that. In the banks of snow, it was gone. The thing, she couldn't describe it in any other way. She had thought it was a cloaked figure but there was unnatural about its appearance and its movements. She noticed the others struggled with their own adversaries, Niraya and Colton each dealing with a cloaked thing of their own, but she needed to deal with her own if she had any hope of helping them. She didn't see where Qiu'li had went, but assumed that either he was fighting his own enemy or something like that.

"Tch."

It was troubling, dare the girl think it even annoying. The enemy had some kind of tunneling ability, there was no other way to describe it, it was an easy conclusion. There was no other way it could disappear  into the snow, not leave marks, no tracks either. Flower retracted her chain back, whipping it so much it nearly crashed back into the windows of the dark store front. It had disappeared with hardly a trace and that was what made the battle difficult. She didn't know where the enemy was coming from, she hardly had a hint of where he was headed. She didn't like not being in control, not knowing. Frankly she had little idea of what she could do besides sit and wait. If the enemy intended to come for her, why did she need to go looking?  

And so, she looked down to the cement below her. Below her. That's where it was, no question about it. Just where exactly she had no clue.

It wasn't a really creative idea, but Flower was never one to make natural improvisation look all that graceful. She held Bloom extra tight in her metal hand and braced her metallic feet hard on the ground. Whipping her large chain back around again, Flower reeled back a large swinging punch and hit the ground. With her increased strength, she was confident she could make a noticeable dent in the ground itself, and her chain went slamming down on the street in the same fashion, shaking snow and loose debris around her. Flower was waiting, but she wouldn't wait long. Just what were the creature's intentions? She could think of two options: jump out to grab her or jump out to hit her. It was anyone's guess but the lottery if she could have been lucky enough to hit the ground where it intended to jump out at her. She mostly hypothesized that wouldn't be the case, and so instead, she wanted to be the target that he could grab. Her chain or herself, even the inhuman creature would have a hard time attempting to move her in her transformed state. And so that was what she based most of her assumptions on, with a chain of his own she even had to wonder if he would attack with that.

Flower stood solid on the ground and waited to see what the thing would choose to do.

wc: 508 || twc: 2649
Colton Deraine Niraya Platinum Qiu'li

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[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 613 | twc: 2373 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] Qiu'li observed the battlefield from above and grimaced. Seems like the others have their work cut out for them, and looking around, there was a level of uncertainty that came about him. This incoming snowstorm seemed unnatural, to say the least. He also realized that upon looking around, there were no open shops or even any person present, despite being populated just a few minutes earlier. Suspicious... For now, his attention was directed back to his fellow classmates that were engaged in battle between the three ominous figures. Given the low-light conditions and the nature of their opponents weapons, it was clear to Qiu'li that their objective was not intended to kill, but rather to capture. The shackles, and the anchored arms. A terrifying combination, though one that would not work unless they could do so under the guise of night with relatively little disturbances, hence the sudden snowstorm most likely. Qiu'li would need to investigate the previous kidnappings and see if there was a similar pattern, but doing so would be difficult. How could he differentiate between missing peoples unrelated from this scenario? Bah. Qiu'li turned back to the skirmish. Hrm. While assisting them would make the battle end much quicker, there was still a level of uncertainty in this scenario. What if the snowstorm was hiding additional enemies or more were en route to capture resistant individuals? Although unlikely, Qiu'li did not want to risk the fact of being severely outnumbered and overwhelmed as a result. Perhaps they could handle one or two more hiding in the shadows, but what about three, four, or five more? They didn't know anything about their opponents or their numbers. For all he knew they could very well be a large criminal organization consisting of hundreds of members. There were too many factors and risks involved, therefore taking precautions was necessary and Qiu'li decided to act with that concern in mind. First, Qiu'li took out his Scroll and pressed the emergency beacon on the Scroll. Doing so would send an alert to Mistral police authorities indicating an emergency has occurred and requires investigation. Even if they were successful against their opponents, there was no guarantee that they would make it out unscathed or if they would have to fight another wave of opponents. While having police authorities may or may not provide additional assistance to the battle itself, it will definitely keep any lurking opponents at bay and prevent enemy reinforcements to show themselves less they risk identification and capture. As soon as the beacon was sent, it would only be a matter of time until they showed up. At this point they would simply need to stall until the Mistral police showed up and intervened. Qiu'li observed Niraya pushing one of the assailants attempting to pressure the enemy back towards the building. Since she was the closest, he would assist her first. Taking this opportunity, he took several steps back for a running leap off the building and straight down. If Niraya was successful in being able to knock him back close enough to the building, he would draw Panlong, and swing straight down onto his head to quickly eliminate him. If she was unsuccessful in being able to knock him within striking range of Panlong, Qiu'li would hurl Longtou straight at the man to distract him temporarily enough for Niraya to follow up and finish him with a strong blow or subdue him with her ice Semblance. As soon as he landed from either scenario, he would shout out to the other three. "Police called. Hold off and prevent escape." Qiu'li took a battle stance with his remaining weapon, wary of their movements.

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Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank E
Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F
Falling Ashes (Leap) | Rank F
Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank F
Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E

[N o v a k i d]

[attr="class","susurrus"]

[attr="class","jikan"] [attr="class","hiraeth"]曲がった男は誰ですか?

[attr="class","achee"] [attr="class","castleonthehill"] ❝ It was never a dull night at the Mistral police Headquarters. Piles and piles of post-event reports, statistics, and paperwork stacked the desks of the police members that spent sleepless nights trying to make a dent. Since the Fall, it only seemed like more and more problems rose as a result, and it only continued to grow by the day. Despite the every-increasing workload placed on the police members, none dared try to complain after seeing the ceiling high mountain of paperwork stacked on the desk of police chief, Mr. John Briggs. A former graduate of Haven and a retired Huntsman, Mr. Briggs was renowned for his strong sense of justice and his unique ability to tackle problems. He was one of the advocates for the Notice Board, and pushed for student involvement as part of practical experience and establishing a strong relationship with Haven Academy. More than a fighter, he was a charismatic man capable of leading others and putting himself into danger during his prime, which landed him a position as Mistral Police Chief as soon as he stepped down from his position as a Huntsman. While the job did not provide nearly as much renown as a Huntsman, he was content with being able to take on the responsibilities of managing the safety of the people living in Mistral. There was never mistaking Mr. Briggs, as he stood over two and a half meters tall and had heavily scarred arms as thick as trunks. He had a crew cut that was starting to show hints of grey and one long scar along the side of his head and an eyepatch over his right eye as a result of an encounter with a nasty Grimm in the past. Another stressful night, Mr. Briggs leaned back from his mountain of paperwork briefly for a smoke and glanced at his tablet scroll, grimacing at the headlines detailing the increase of serial kidnappings and the lack of police intervention. No shit they couldn't intervene. How the hell were they supposed to catch someone that left no trails and with victims that couldn't talk? It was one cold case after another. As the cigarette smoke billowed out into the office, the sound of the emergency beacon echoed from within the HQ. Hrm. Now who could it be this time... Although he was an advocate for implementing the emergency beacon to Haven Academy Scrolls, Mr. Briggs was met with backlash and scrutiny for pushing for such a feature at the time. What would they do in the event of a false alarm? When would an emergency constitute being used? So many what-if's, the press conference gave him a major headache just remembering it. "Where's the beacon coming from?" Briggs said as he stepped out of his office and took a look at the large glass projection that detailed a top-down view of Mistral along with a white blip indicating all of the current patrol police units. He squinted closely at the beacon, which appeared as a red blip followed by a loud echoing 'ping' noise. The Wind District? At this time of night? Urgh.. Briggs frowned. The Wind District was notorious for it's questionable actions after-hours. It draws some of the worst kind of people, which many police members tended to avoid as a result. Usually if a student were to run into suspicious individuals, they were expected to handle such problems themselves. Combat schools had no place for people unable to defend themselves. Therefore, to use such a feature at a place like this implied that either the student had severely underestimated themselves, or the problem was beyond student's scope of authority and required police attention. "Dispatch units 5, 2, and 4. Investigate the beacon and keep the live feed on." He instructed as he folded his arms. Upon confirmation, three additional screens appeared, showing a camera feed from a first person perspective as three white blips appeared on the large map heading towards the Wind District. Briggs furrowed his brow as his tired, grey eyes gazed at the blinking red blip. -- Niraya's method of pushing him back worked. Sort of. While he defended each attack easily with vigor, he couldn't quite counter thanks to her decision to alternate attacks with her blade and her sheath. All he could do was simply defend and dodge her sweeping attacks. However, a wide grin stretched across his face as he made contact with her katana. While dual wielding weapons can increase one's attack speed and prevent retaliation, this lessened the weight and general accuracy of attacks. As a result she would be forced to focus her attention on him in order to ensure the attacks landed. He would take advantage of this fact and reached behind him...! Drawing out a second dagger, he feinted an upward slash from below after dodging her katana slash. Upon doing so, he would expect her to falter at the sudden appearance of a second weapon. Instead of slashing at Niraya, he instead quickly brought up his second blade to his tongue and ran it along until he went for a... downward slash at his waist pouch, causing powder to pour from the bottom and all over the snowy ground. As soon as he did, the man would dig his foot in and kick up the clumps of snow and powder, which conveniently dissolved into the snowy mix once they made contact. Serpent's Semblance allowed him to manipulate toxins, which he kept in a dissolvable, non-reactive powder in his pouch and only activates once it comes into contact with his saliva. The benefit was that he was immune to his own toxin and only a small amount needed to come into contact before activating. However, the drawback was that it needed to enter the body in order for the paralysis to take effect. Skin contact did nothing, even when activated, therefore the only options was to force someone to drink it, suffer a wound, inject them, or... Enter the eyes or mouth. As he kicked the paralysis toxin-covered snow into Niraya's face, there really was only one practical way to avoid inhaling or allowing the toxin from getting into her face due to her distance to him. She had to shield herself by closing her eyes and covering her nose before the snow hit her face, or risk suffering the effects of the powder which she didn't exactly know the effects of. Either way, the man had cornered her and could get a clean hit in with the paralysis-coated dagger, which would essentially be it for her. Just one good slash of his paralysis poison and her entire body is surrendered to him! At least... until the sound of metal clanging came from above. Like a screeching eagle, the ringed broadsword smashed into the ground right between Niraya and the Serpent, surprising him immensely as he faltered briefly. If Niraya had protected her face from the snow, she could take the opportunity to retreat or risk a follow-up attack. If he had breathed in any amount of the paralysis toxin prior to the intervention, she could attempt to strike him, but her attacks would be insufficient to defeat him. Either way, Qiu'li was backing her up for this battle. -- The ground shook briefly from the force of Flower's fist as the punch threw up cement, dirt, and snow debris in all directions. A large crater had formed where her reinforced punch had been, and the snow began to settle once more as she stood back up and awaited to see what the pig would dare try. Sure enough, from the spot that Flower had punched, she saw a glint of light before a pair of hands shot straight up to grab her ankles. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like his intention was to simply anchor her down. It seemed like Flower had jumped the gun just a bit and punched the ground a bit earlier than anticipated, which only provided a small hole for Shackles to pop his head out and made a squealing noise before burrowing back down, however not before noticing a significant amount of damage to his right shoulder. The pairs of chains on his arms clanging as he burrowed further and further below. If it were any normal person, it would be pretty difficult to be able to drag Flower anywhere at all, especially when she's activated her Semblance and become the consistency of metal. It would be pointless to try and pull her underground, as she could simply yank on the chains and throw him back out of the ground. However, Shackles was aware of this distinction too. He did watch her body turn to metal and transform into a chain to mimic his own. Therefore, he initiated his second phase of his plan: suffocation. From behind Flower, his arms shot out of the dirt and shackled both of her wrists since she simply stood and waited to see how he would respond, followed by a set of chains affixed to the shackles as he tunneled below once more. Again, it would be foolish to try and drag around a heavy weight, especially through concrete and dirt. However, by creating that small crater around her and resettling the snow, it obscured Flower's vision and prevented her from noticing how her surroundings seemed a little... sunken. That is because of Shackle's Semblance: Earth manipulation. His ability to easily push through earth meant being able to tunnel and burrow through dirt and hardened earth as if they were like water. As a result, holes and tunnels were a specialty of his when it came to escapes, or traps. This was just one of those scenarios. As soon as the shackles were clasped onto her wrists and he disappeared once more, the ground gave way before Flower as she began to sink very quickly. The bastard had dug out the ground below Flower and was planning to trap her in a grave, and she was already just below her knees. Above ground, Shackles was at a disadvantage since there was virtually no way to move her. Therefore, if she wouldn't move, he would move her surroundings, and right into his home-field. If Flower did not act quickly, she would sink above waist level. Her arms were somewhat restricted by the chains, therefore she had to act quickly before sinking completely into the ground and subject to Shackles trap. -- The plan worked. Sort of. As Colton used his Semblance to allow his sword and shield to strike the thorny ghost arms, most were sliced and dissipated into grey ash, though they simply came back just as quickly. The worst outcome came to pass as the newly sprouted arms caught his shield and held it firmly. There was an increased volume of hands that came and gripped onto the saber as well. Colton could see a couple of their fingers getting cut by grabbing the blade, but there were just as many grabbing the handle. It was considered inoperable at this point for Colton, as reaching in to grab it would certainly render his actions useless. Thankfully, his secondary plan of reversing the magnetism of his greaves and his greaves when the attack gave him a small window to leap upward worked perfectly. Almost too perfectly. His last ditch plan launched him into the air and onto the ground with a resounding thud. Although some snow broke his fall, it didn't help all that much in mitigating the damage to his aura from the impact. A flurry of snow showered the area, as Colton landed ungracefully on his back. Although he didn't catch a glimpse of anything significant besides the situation that Niraya, and Flower were engaged in as well as a falling Qiu'li, he did see something peculiar: A faint shimmer just several meters away from the hands. If it were any darker or the weather was getting any worse, he would have probably missed it, but there was a possibility that the figure may be camouflaged. However, should Colton recover and stand back up, he would be met with an ominous figure. The set of hands had erupted out of the ground and into several, 3 meter tall giants. Their arms were unnaturally long compared to the rest of their bodies, almost resembling a nightmarish Grimm. Two had appeared out of the ground while the other two remained to subdue the sword and shield. Armed with only the sheath of his saber and his armor, Colton would either have to figure out a way to face them head on or get past them and bank on the slight shimmer, which seemed easier said than done. If he tried to strike either one of the clones, they would simply dodge him and pin him down with their agile movements and impressive strength. Suddenly, a familiar noise rang through the air and the clones stopped briefly upon hearing it. A loud screech of several pieces of metal slamming against a large slab of iron. It was Qiu'li's sword and its signature clanging of metal. That bastard. The shadows began to waver slightly, almost in reaction to the sound of echoing metal. Strange. Were they weak to the sound of banging metal or something? If that was the case, why didn't they show up in the store until he and Qiu'li were inside...? Either way, once the sword made contact with the ground, the two began moving towards him again. If he stood still, one would perform a downward strike with both of its arms and the second would perform a low sweeping movement to knock him to the ground again. ✎ 2281 words ※ SPOILER: Click to show Current participants: Niraya, Colton, Flower, and Qiu'li SERPENT: E RANK SEMBLANCE: PARALYSIS MANIPULATION, F RANK AGILITY, F RANK ACROBATICS, F RANK SPEED SHACKLES: E RANK SEMBLANCE: EARTH MANIPULATION, F RANK SPEED, F RANK STRENGTH, F RANK DURABILITY NARRATOR: E RANK SEMBLANCE: CLONE, E RANK STRENGTH, E RANK AGILITY, F RANK DURABILITY

[attr="class","ache"]

MADE BY MIZO

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[Niraya Platinum]

Niraya Platinum
When snow falls, Nature listens.

[attr="class","rainbow"]

Niraya's training was paying off it was keeping the creature a bay slowly back him towards the building. This her breathing was getting heavier as swinging a two-handed sword one handed back and forth relentlessly with the sheath right behind it was slowly taking a toll on her. She let up for just a split second and it was more than enough for the creature to retaliate. before she knew it the creature kicks up snow into her face she quickly wipes it away but she could feel a slight numbing around her lips as some of the toxins made contact with her mouth.

"s*** toxins. should have expected that." Luckily like an eagle swooping down from the rooftops Qiu'li lands between them just barely missing his mark. Niraya knew the toxins would slowly eat at her if she didn't end this fight quickly she would be the one in trouble. Quickly activating her semblance the icy cold winds makes her armor appear in a split second. She was wanting to end this fight fast before the toxins could render her useless. She fires several ice spikes at the creature in an attempt to end the fight quickly. somehow Qiu'li had called the police but she didn't have time to then on that now. backup was arriving they just needed to hold out until then. the numbness in her mouth quickly spreads wouldn't be much longer till the toxins affect her physically.

↺ + HK

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[Colton Deraine]

[googlefont=Open+Sans]

[attr="class","firstfriend"]

Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

Huh.

Sword and shield were tied up by the clones completely. Even someone on the level of a senior trainee would have trouble doing that so easily, and two enormous giants rose up from the ground as he was unable to reclaim his weapons because neither the cutting power of his stellar equipment nor the strength of Polarity was enough to get him out of this. Whoever was running these seemingly endless clones was Huntsman level at the lowest, which meant that there was only one course of action remaining.

”Retreat.” he barked, ”Their leader is Huntsman level or above. Clones will kill you. Your weapons can’t hurt them and their semblance is way stronger than ours.”

As the giants were coming up from the ground, Colton turned around and started running and used Polarity to make him go faster than he normally would. Brown eyes looked around at the other fights to see where he could intervene and help people make their escape. Flower was in a hole that seemed to be deepening by the second, so the Argus native used Polarity to rip off the metal bracer on his right arm and sent that to help brute force Flower out of there. ”Let the bracer hit your wrist. I’ll pull you out.”

The guy Niraya and Qiu’li were fighting had his back turned to him, which was just as well. He sent the scabbard flying at full force to the guy’s back as he ran towards that direction, and if he still wasn’t down a Polarity infused head kick courtesy of the metal greaves on Colton’s shins would hopefully finish the job. The bracer, if allowed to hit Flower’s wrist would simply yank at full force to the direction of the others. It would do damage to her, but way less than the clones if they managed to get to her. The one weakness of that guy so far seemed to be his clones weren’t very fast and had a lack of mobility, so that was something that could be exploited by just avoiding the fight.

The scabbard, once it hopefully hit the target, would then start flying backwards towards whoever Flower’s opponent was and the clones that would no doubt be following them. A quick look back would send them towards the ground at full force in front of some enemy in an effort to obscure vision by kicking up as much snow as possible. Colton couldn’t do enough damage to actually hurt them, so he wouldn’t even try.

If the hands from the ground came up again or the other clones were close to catching up, Colton would do his best to grab Niraya and Qiu’li and just use the rest of his aura to boost out of there using his greaves as conduits for Polarity in order to get a bastardized flight going for as long as he could manage. He didn’t know how long the guy’s range was, but if the shimmer was him then Colton was very confident he could get fifty meters away before his aura burned out, maybe more. If his range extended that far, though, well… they were fucked.

Best not to think about such things, because someone with a semblance strong enough to extend that far would be next to unheard of and would be the worst luck to end all worst lucks. That would be like elite huntsman that worked with the Council level, and to encounter that on a random notice board tip would be… Even more unlucky than finding a licensed huntsman level opponent on the same notice board. This was a specific trap for students that they knew would be too weak to put up much of a fight against someone that strong, and it was very clever.

If for some reason one or both of them wanted to struggle out of his grip, they would have to forcibly get out of it to commit suicide against the giants. He continued to yank at the bracer to help Flower get out for as long as his aura held because he knew that she wasn’t very fast either. The giants were very obviously stronger than the individual hands, and if the hands were strong enough to completely and utterly overpower Polarity… a hit from one of those giants would smash through anyone else’s there except for Flower when she had her transformation in one hit – and there were two giants. Two hits would straight up kill Niraya or Qiu’li, with the first breaking their aura and the second turning them into paste on the ground. If one or both of them did force their way out, Colton wouldn’t attempt at all to turn back and help them at all. If they wanted to die that badly, that was their own choice and he would respect their decision to commit suicide.

Being brave and never backing down was cool and all, but breathing was something that Colt liked a lot more than that and was willing to cut his losses and run when completely and utterly outclassed like this. He didn’t stand a chance against that guy even when he had his weapons, and without them and his semblance being revealed to be worse than useless against those clones in addition to the knowledge that the number of clones available seemed to be in the dozens… well, Colton may have been bad at math but he was fine with basic statistics enough to know that a 0-1% of getting lucky was bad betting odds to take in a life or death situation like this. The best reasonable outcome was to be captured alive, and that opened up a whole ‘nother can of worms that he didn’t ever want to explore and didn’t want to let any of his classmates explore either if he could help it.

That wouldn’t be the outcome if he could help it. Thinking on his feet has saved his ass more times than he could count, and he hoped that this would be another one of those times. There was a slight delay before those giants came in and killed, maimed, or captured everyone and he managed to get ahead of them for at least a short period of time. There was no point in holding any aura in reserve at this point, so he spent it freely, knowing that he’d be dead in one solid hit from one of the giants anyway if they caught up. Might as well use it now to keep that distance and outrange shimmer guy’s semblance entirely, because it didn’t seem like he could move while using it. That would force him to go around and look for them, and Colt was more than capable of continuing to run without aura so that wasn’t successful.

※ TWC: 4324 words ✎ 1138 words ✉ E rank semblance, E ranked martial arts, E ranked durability, E ranked weapon

MADE BY MIZO

[Flower Fiorella]

[attr="class","flowerfio"]

"I try to be understanding because I think that most people are actually quite surprising."

[attr="class","flowerfiotext"]

Flower hit something. She heard the scream. Unnatural. Inhuman. Like the movements of the creatures there was nothing about the situation that was explainable. She had to think of them as Grim, monsters, rather than human beings. The only difference was that these things talked.

A sizable crater in the cement, she had done that much to her surroundings, perhaps she was surprised herself of her strength. She was right. The thing had tunneling powers, earth manipulation of some sort. And it just tried wrapping her around in its own chain and drag her down.

“Hm.”

She was sinking. That was probably bad. Flower blinked again, seeing that the ground below her had already gone up to her knees somehow.

Colton wanted to run.

Qiu’li had called for the police.

Niraya cursed about toxins.

It seemed like the situation was going very badly. She wasn’t sure about the others, but she had caused her own adversary damage. That meant they could be hurt. That was enough for Flower. They had come here because of the mission. That mission was to find the cause of the kidnappings. They knew the risks. If they hadn’t, then for what reason would they have continued on the mission this far?

Colton’s conclusion was logical. They were just students. Kids. Huntsmen and Huntresses in training. They weren’t expected to handle situations like this. But if one day, their lives would be like this every day, if one day this would be their careers to risk their lives and protect people, then why should they have turned away now?

They just weren’t good enough. Flower wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

Two very logical decisions conflicted in Flower’s mind. But she didn’t have the time to think about doing and not, she had to act now. Colton wanted to retreat because he believed their enemy was unbeatable. Qiu’li called for backup because he thought they were being overwhelmed. She had to show them she could still fight, or at least, hold off them until the authorities did come. Flower didn’t want to run.

Colton threw his bracer at her, his intention was to pull her out with his Polarity. Flower welcomed the help. Her chain was lying free on the ground, miraculously left unattended by the tunneling enemy. Together with Colton’s bracer as a hold, Flower flexed her limbs, trying with all her might to wrestle free of the chains that wrapped around her body. She pulled her chain back, attempting to entangle her chain and the creatures in a mess of links and metal. With all her might, she struggled out of the earth, yanked out by the metal bracer. She felt like her arm was being yanked out of her socket, but it was better than being swallowed up by literal quicksand. Flower swung Bloom outwards, sticking the sword into what she hoped was solid ground and braced herself once again. She threw Colton’s bracer back at him.

“Help is on the way. Do what you wish. For now, I am going to be reckless.”

She said her words directly. Utterly calm and in control of her emotions, that was simply the kind of person Flower was. Despite uttering words that anyone else would have thought to be said with desperation, Flower remained with an expression literally as rigid as steel. Maybe Colton was right, maybe Flower was acting out of an emotion even she couldn't explain. Was... this what being a huntress meant? 

"Watch out." 

She grunted, hoping that her plan could work. She pulled on her chain, hard, in the mass of links she hoped that it was enough to pull the creature out from the earth. She couldn’t be really delicate with it, it was all she could do to steel herself together, now feeling like both her arms were being pulled out of her sockets. If she could very well pull the enemy out of the ground, she had only one intention of what she would do next. She intended to hit any other enemy she could with it. The serpent thing that Qiu’li and Niraya were dealing with… the multiple figures, clones, that the bookkeeper seemed to endlessly spawn. It was a large swinging arc, like a pendulum on a swing. Her chain was around fifteen meters in length, and that was the radius she had started off with. Tangling her chain around the creature would likely have made the chain slightly shorter, and thus her reach would also be shortened. She just had to hope she was that it was enough.

If successful, Flower would swing the mass of metal, creature, and chain around like a the wrecking ball it was across the concrete ground, creating an unbearable cacophonous noise, and she would surely expect the creature to scream the entire time as well. She would have little control, it any at all, but the chain was made of her, and somehow she knew that the links would squeeze tighter and tighter. Reckless. Illogical. And yet somehow in Flower’s mind this was everything she logically concluded that she could do. If they wanted to change the battle, they needed to do something entirely drastic. This was surely something drastic.

wc: 870 || twc: 3519
Colton Deraine Qiu'li Niraya Platinum

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[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 862 | twc: 3235 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] Pure madness. That was all that Qiu'li could comprehend in those few moments. Upon glancing back, his eyes widened in surprise as Qiu'li saw a large shadowy figure towering over Colton and slowly approaching him. Was this the capability of the opponents that he was facing? What a terrifying existence, seeing such monstrosities appear before them. Was it a nightmare? Was this the chilling reality of what it meant to be a Huntsman? For a moment, Qiu'li faltered, taking a step back. Though he stopped himself as his mind raced a bit upon hearing Colton shouting at them to retreat. If they let them get away now, though, who knows what they will be like during their next encounter? They were aware of their Semblances, and surely would provide countermeasures in the coming future if they were allowed to escape. If it was time to nip the threat at the bud before it grew into a larger threat, it was now. They needed to hold off for just a bit longer. As long as they could avoid the two giants, they should hopefully be fine. He watched Niraya activate her Semblance to coat her body in armor. Smart. It would prevent more of the substance from getting into her body as well as slow down her body circulation due to the cold. As a result, it should theoretically prevent further movement of the paralysis toxin. Suddenly a flash appeared behind the lanky man. It was Colton. It looked like he had swung his weapon forward and struck the figure from behind. If this was a sufficient sneak attack, Niraya's ice attacks would strike the man, dealing significant damage and stop him temporarily before Qiu'li would intervene with the finishing blow, or rather, it seemed he would share a finishing blow with Colton as he charged forward with a thrust strike at his diaphragm to knock the wind out of him. Doing so in concurrence with Colton's follow-up head kick was a sure finisher. If he was defeated, Qiu'li would sheathe Longtou and release his staff into the three sections and lock it behind his arms and around his back to prevent escape or retaliation. If he was successful, Qiu'li would use the midsection of the staff that's trapped against his upper back to drag him along. He watched the scabbard continue to fly as it kicked up a cloud of snow, obscuring their vision long enough to feel his collar get yanked by Colton. As he was about to protest to him and pull himself off, his eye caught Flower attempting to.. pull out a set of chains? Ah- it was most likely the pig-like creature that she was engaged with earlier. She must have been yanked up somehow and is mustering the strength to uproot the bastard. Though the question was, where would she take him..? Qiu'li turned and gazed as the monstrous creatures that were slowly approaching them now. With wide eyes, Qiu'li grit his teeth as he was being pulled by Colton. Dragging not only Niraya and himself, but also one of the masked men is more than exhausting, and seeing that he had used most of it on his Semblance was upsetting to Qiu'li. As much as he didn't want to owe him, he figured that they would catch up to them at this rate. Drawing Longtou and slamming it into the ground to stop them, Qiu'li wrenched himself from Colton's grip by hitting his wrist with the pommel end of his blade. "Colton take this man. I help Flower. Make sure man reaches police." He nodded in confidence with Colton as he quickly shoved the scrawny one to him. If anyone were to be the one to ensure that justice be delivered, it would be Colton, despite Qiu'li's uneasiness about his standing with him. Picking up Longtou, Qiu'li began running towards Flower to cover her if the two large creatures were approaching while she tried to yank the pig-one out. While it was apparent that the two large figures could easily outreach them, Qiu'li figured that taking the ranged approach to buy time would work until Flower could get away. Pulling his sleeve back, Qiu'li made two slashes on his arm, signalling the pre-requisites to activate Fennu. His body began to exert steam and turn beet red once more as his faced filled with rage. With a powerful thrust, Qiu'li hurled Longtou at the two in hopes of hitting at least one of them. Though their agility far surpassed his aiming skill, and the sword would merely miss them and land where Colton's sword and shield were with a resounding thud. Turning back, Qiu'li would grab onto the chain with Flower and pull with all his might to assist her if she was still having issues. Should they uproot the chained one, he would help stabilize the chain for Flower to spin at full force and at the enemy. Though if he felt like he was simply in the way of her onslaught, Qiu'li would attempt to dodge the incoming flurry that was Flower's chain-flail and stay low near her to avoid getting struck by the chains.

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Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank E
Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F
Falling Ashes (Leap) | Rank F
Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank F
Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E

[N o v a k i d]

[attr="class","susurrus"]

[attr="class","jikan"] [attr="class","hiraeth"]曲がった男は誰ですか?

[attr="class","achee"] [attr="class","castleonthehill"] ❝ It was over for the Serpent. Another unexpected swift strike from the back, a volley of icicle shots from the front, followed by a 1-2 finished from the stomach and the head was a devastating blow to his poor physique as the man blacked out from the overwhelming combo. A terrifying one indeed, powered by the power of Colton's Semblance. Although Qiu'li missed his mark by a bit, the intended effect was pretty much the same as he doubled over before passing out. Upon successfully securing the Serpent, Colton wasted no time in pulling Niraya and the two away from the immediate threat after successfully pulling Flower out with the help of his bracer. Flower was free from the earthen ground that had trapped her prior, though she felt some resistance in the ground. Right. If he was capable of manipulating earth so that it was soft enough to sink her and separate from him, then it was entirely plausible to pack it together to increase its density to near stone levels. Pulling him out from his home-field advantage wouldn't be that easy, and having her arm nearly torn out of her socket due to Colton's Semblance either didn't help. Though the problem was that the increased weight slowed him down significantly. Not only that, but Flower refused to comply with his retreat orders and decided to double down on pulling the pig-man out like a weed and using him as a human-sized flail to defeat the threat before them. Idiots, the lot of them for trying to go up against a threat capable of stopping his Polarity. With the Serpent thrusted into his hands and Niraya in the other, the obvious answer was the flee and rendezvous with the police that Qiu'li had claimed to have called for earlier. Contacting them and delivering the suspect would be a win-win situation, despite narrowly avoiding death himself. There was no cowardice in running, though what did it say for Qiu'li and Flower who dared stayed behind to fight based on emotion? In the distance, Colton and Niraya, who had recovered upon defeating Serpent, would notice a set of lights up ahead. Lanterns and a set of protective gear he could make out in snow. -- Flower struggled to pull the man out, despite utilizing her strength. She was starting to feel exhausted from being chained, sunk down, and yanked upwards. Now she was trying to uproot Shackles who was pretty resistant against being pulled out. Either he had buried himself down a good distance or hardened his surroundings to make it feel like she was dragging a boulder through a small cave. Suddenly the sounds of flesh tearing came from behind Flower. If she turned to investigate, she would see Qiu'li standing nearby with a wound on his arm followed by billowing steam and beet red skin. With his dominant arm, Qiu'li would hurl the sword at the two large figures intended to distract them long enough for him to help Flower. With their combined strength, the chain gave way, and the chain began resist less as loud screeching came from below. With another pull and twisting yank, they would force the pig out of his hole and into the air before landing in the snow with a resounding thud. Covered in dirt and chain, he would let out a frightened squeal and try to make haste and escape again by using his strength and speed to tunnel back down, but he had used a significant amount to trap himself below which turned to be for naught. Before he could even get a hand in the dirt, the ground disappeared before him. In a fit of confusion, let out a confused squeal. It seemed like his semblance had no effect here, and it was quickly crumbling. He found himself in the concrete ground once more with a painful thud, but it wasn't over yet. He was a durable one, but for how much longer? He found himself getting dragged across the ground and up into the air once more. He let out a frightened scream as he looked over to see where they were taking him. They were going to use him as a flail and directed his movement.. Right at the shadow creatures!! Normally, they would have dodged an attack like that. Although slightly surprising, they could either side step, if it was a downward swing or jump over/slide under a horizontal swing. However Upon throwing Qiu'li's Longtou at them, they had easily dodged the blade, despite the immense strength thrown into it. What they didn't account for was the nine ring affixed on the back end of the sword loudly clanging against each other upon striking the ground. The jangling noise pierced the night sky and right into the figures, causing them to double over and clutch them ears in pain briefly by the clang. At the same time, the chained pig-man was hurling right at them. With a sickening crunch, the chain and body collided with the two phantoms, causing them to disappear entirely. This only left the various hands that were clutching Colton's weapons, and now starting to reach for Qiu'li's. Fortunately, Flower's attack was a wide-ranged attack, which also collided with the area surrounding the hands, including the hands itself, but collided with something in mid-air. Suddenly, a shimmer appeared next to the pig-man's body which was being clutched by what looked like the book-reader himself along with a set of long spindly hands protruding from his back. His book was on the floor, with both of his arms clutching the pig-man. "Oh dear." the figure said at it gazed down at the pig-man in disdain. "H-Help me, James." He said as he reached out with his disfigured hand, probably caused by Flower's onslaught. "Tch. No use you are for the crooked man, couldn't even defeat a small little student. Pathetic." He turned and gazed at the two of them, clearing his throat as his single eye peeked from under the bandaged face. His gaze also met Colton and Niraya too if he had remained instead of running to the lantern lights indicating possible backup that Qiu'li had mentioned. "It seems I have found a formidable pair of specimens. The crooked man will definitely love to take a closer look with one of his lens. Farewell, for tonight. Next time, perhaps things may go right." If Flower decided to try and attack once more using the man-flail, she would find the snowstorm letting a gust of wind and snow pick up right at the moment, causing the man to disappear under the guise of the weather. All Flower would have done was bring the now defeated Shackles one step closer to death. Though perhaps nobody would care if one died, right? They did have the other after all. Would Flower give into her emotions and enact her own form of justice? From a distance, they would hear the voices of Mistral police forces approaching, first spotting Colton and Niraya. They would demand an explanation of the events, watching Colton mostly as he was holding the Serpent. After securing the Serpent and approaching Flower to demand handing over the pig-man, they would question Colton for a recount of the prior events, the cause for the emergency beacon, the capture's identities, and various other information. Niraya would also be the first to notice the shift in weather and that the snowstorm had stopped as soon as the figure had disappeared... Odd. ✎ 1235 words ※ SPOILER: Click to show Current participants: Niraya, Colton, Flower, and Qiu'li SERPENT: E RANK SEMBLANCE: PARALYSIS MANIPULATION, F RANK AGILITY, F RANK ACROBATICS, F RANK SPEED SHACKLES: E RANK SEMBLANCE: EARTH MANIPULATION, F RANK SPEED, F RANK STRENGTH, F RANK DURABILITY NARRATOR: E RANK SEMBLANCE: CLONE, E RANK STRENGTH, E RANK AGILITY, F RANK DURABILITY

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MADE BY MIZO

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[Niraya Platinum]

Niraya Platinum
When snow falls, Nature listens.

[attr="class","rainbow"]

Niraya's ice spike struck home at that moment the creatures aura breaks Qiu'li and Colton hit the weakened creature with two very powerful blows. at that moment she could feel the toxins stop there advance through her body. Culton had grabbed her and dashed off into the distance. it was a little unsettling how sudden and quickly they moved. When they landed Niraya collapsed a bit and pulls herself back up. "Carpool Qiu'la tha mighth has hiddan allees." Her tongue hadn't recovered just yet. She was warning him to be careful.

Niraya and Colton went towards the lights in the distance the feeling in her mouth was unpleasant as feeling returned. "Oy! You two! We demand an explanation on what's going on here!" Niraya motions to colton. "That snath guy had attathed us....sorry toxins mething with me." She shakes her head she was going to have a hard time explaining. She shakes her head unsure what to do. it feels like the toxins were wearing off but it was hard to tell just yet. she looks at Colton hoping he could explain things. as he was explaining things she notices the storm settling. She looks up into the sky to see a clearish night sky.

↺ + HK

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[Colton Deraine]

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Bravery is believing in yourself, and that's one thing nobody can teach you.

He wasn’t particularly invested one way or another in the fates of the other students who decided to go on this wild goose chase. If they decided to run back in to die, that was on them. The leader of the enemy group was strong enough to kill all four of them at once, and that was the long and short of it. If left isolated, they’d be dead in less than five minutes without a shadow of a doubt – and it would only take that long because Flower’s aura would take a while to burn through due to the transformation. That would just be the hands, and the giants would probably halve that time or more if they were more powerful than the hands. The only thing that could save them at that point would be the police showing up basically instantaneously, which they did.

”Ignore us, go for them except for a medic – the girl’s poisoned with something.” he would bark at them, pointing in the direction of the morons who stayed behind to dance with death. ”They’re dead if that fight continues. Clone semblance, Huntsman level in stealth in the snow. There’s another one but he ain’t shit, it’s just the leader that’s the threat.” He had no problem adjusting his volume to drown out Niraya completely, because he wasn’t going to waste time on miscommunications. Not now.

The captive that they did manage to get was still knocked out, but Colton would be belligerent if he needed to and scream and shove if absolutely required to get the police to actually deal with the active threat at hand. Colton’s aura would have shattered to forcefully end the flight a bit earlier for a bit of a rough landing, but his actual body wasn’t scuffed up too badly from the fall – especially because he could use the captive as a meat shield for the landing to ensure neither him nor Niraya was really hurt… at least physically.

Once the police fucked off to do their job, Colton would assume a similar position as the one he tried to do earlier on the leader with his right boot on the man’s back and the criminal’s left wrist being held firmly with both of the Argus native’s hands in a position where it could be snapped in an instant with a very small application of force. If he woke up before the police came back to arrest him properly, he would be in a hell of a lot of pain and any sudden movement would snap his own wrist more than likely. It was brutal, sure, but Colton wasn’t exactly concerned with the physical well being of someone who just tried to murder his classmate in the middle of the street.

Once they came back, though, there be full and complete cooperation. He was well spoken and had been mentally prepared to give statements for a while, so the words flowed easily with only a few minor changes to the original story. The front entrance to the bookstore was unlocked in his telling, for example, and he also left out the part where he took a swing at his classmate by accident. The front entrance was technically unlocked – if only because nothing was really locked when Polarity was involved. The door slamming weirdness would be fine to explain if it had re-locked somewhere along the way, and he had no problem specifying that he brute forced the door with his semblance to explain any damage on the wood itself. In the context of the situation, a bit of property damage in order to defend life was extremely minor especially given the fact that the shop owner was missing as well.

The fact that the small group’s leader was that strong was a bad sign, too. It meant that he likely wasn’t the only one, which meant that this whole kidnapping scheme would be a giant pain in the ass to deal with from all ends. Luckily for him, that wasn’t exactly his problem because the police absolutely did still exist, and students were not capable of dealing with a Huntsman level threat – not at this stage. There was a fine line between brave and suicidal, and the betting odds were so low on a win against someone of that level that Colt felt absolutely zero shame at high tailing it at the first opportunity. Pride and ego got people killed more often than not, and while he wasn’t immune to that he was certainly smart enough to realize that anyone who could completely overpower his semblance to that level was way out of his league and he needed to cut his losses and book it while he was still breathing.

The fact that there were no fatalities on their side had absolutely nothing to do with the students themselves, it was just that they were lucky enough to have several police patrols within very quick responding distance. The first group must have been literally down the street or some shit to be able to respond that quickly, and that was luck. That was pure, unadulterated luck and only an idiot would find any pride or accomplishment in that fact. Colt wasn’t the type to shy away from credit if it was assigned to him, but this was a wakeup call more than anything else.

This was a clear message that he wasn’t anywhere close to the level he needed to be at in order to actually fill Cressida’s shoes around here, and the world wouldn’t wait for him to train up and get stronger. He would have to continue to work his ass off in order to get better at a rate that would continue to let him survive situations above his skill level – even if it was just by running away. If he was dead, he couldn’t get better and couldn’t help anyone. It was as simple as that, and it was for that reason alone that he had to continue surviving. It was a rough fucking world out there, and Haven needed someone who could rub two brain cells together to herd all the idiots together into something resembling some sort of cohesive fighting force. Colton wasn’t the person required for that, but he could certainly cover up for a lot of stupidity and mistakes with his semblance as he had proved today.

Some of that, admittedly, was his own. If he had actually been alone like he had planned to be, he would have been killed without a shadow of a doubt. Being able to take one with him would be the absolute best he could have ever hoped to accomplish, and quite frankly that wouldn’t have been good enough. It would have been a pathetic end for someone who let their ego get the best of them. The fact of the matter was, he wasn’t good enough to go off solo like this for too much longer. He needed to start scouting for an actual team, and soon. One with fewer hot heads than this group, because that shit was dangerous, and he didn’t want to have to save people from their own stupidity more than once. Pulling someone off from a cliff’s edge once is whatever, but after the third or fifth time they slip and fall because they decide to continue fucking around on that edge it stops being helpful and starts just being a hindrance to natural selection. If someone was determined to off themselves, even if it is unintentional in the grand scheme of things, there was only so much any third party could do. You couldn’t fix a lack of self-preservation instinct in a goddamned adult.

※ TWC: 5610 words ✎ 1286 words ✉ E rank semblance, E ranked martial arts, E ranked durability, E ranked weapon

MADE BY MIZO

[Flower Fiorella]

❝What do your eyes see?❞

[attr="class","flowerb"]

Pain hurt.

If the girl had never truly realized it before, Flower was well aware of that fact now.

She pulled at the pig thing, the feeling of her chain arm straining under the pressure. She was now using her right arm to hold onto the chain, still struggling to tug at the earthbound monster. The idea was more sound in her head than actually playing out, but she was committed to it now.

She told Colton she was going to be reckless. She knew that help was on the way. What possessed her to take action like that, even Flower wouldn’t be able to say. Her emotions weren’t anything so easily explained. In a bizarre way, this was just a logical conclusion. The situation required desperate effort, so Flower was acting desperately.

The steel chain, impossibly, felt like it was stretching its links to the limit. The pain was creeping into the unbearable. She was confronted with a problem she only ever hypothesized before. She couldn’t do it alone. She was tired. Exhausted. Struggling. But she wasn’t alone.

She felt him. Qiu’li.

His skin the color of blood, crimson like his namesake of Forever Fall. Her own body was the color of dark metal, rigid steel, and cold from the winter and snow. He grabbed onto her chain with her and together with a strength that only could come from the eleventh hour. And then, they did. It was crazy. It was insane. Flower knew the moment as the pig creature came squealing and flying chaotically through the air. Even with Qiu’li’s help, her control of the chain flail was frenzied, but thankfully delicacy was long thrown out the window in this fight.

Qiu’li’s weapon’s dangling metal rings had once only a nuisance, now seemed to be their trump card against the clones that were apparently weak to the crashing sound itself. The phantoms were gone and next came the book man. Flower could only watch the seen unfold before her, metallic violet eyes stared with a new kind of intensity. Dread. Anger. Fear. Frustration.

"Oh dear."

"H-Help me, James."

James? The Crooked Man? The kidnappings? What did it all mean? There were only hints. Clues and dots that couldn’t be connected no matter how much she tried. She couldn’t come to an answer, a logical explanation. Flower felt that piercing gaze strike her. If her body hadn’t been made of steel, she could’ve sworn she wouldn’t have been able to stand.

Then he was gone.

Flower was left with Qiu’li and the pig thing. Her chain was limp on the ground and the man was still entangled in Flower’s metal links. Flower looked down to the whimpering thing, cold metal eyes returned to a blank, unreadable expression.

She blinked.

Her aura was flickering, her transformation was nearly spent. Just like the dark figure, her adrenaline was gone. Suddenly, the exhaustion and the pain were beginning to set in. Colton and Niraya were already away. Colton had been right to run, that had been the smart idea. She saw the reflections of lights somewhere at the edges of her darkening vision. She remembered the color red.

Qiu’li.

Her chain was long limp and the metal loosed its grip on the pig man, but surely he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And really, neither was Flower. Her arm returned to a normal limb, but it hung limply from her body. As her body returned to its natural state, her knees buckled dangerously, barely able to hold her own weight. She was fine, she knew the limits of her own body well enough, but she was going to need a lot of rest and recovery. But it was her decision to risk her safety, she hadn’t expected someone else to go down the same path with her. An apology didn’t feel right to say and neither did words of thanks. He had done what he did because he wanted to. In the heat of the moment, that was his decision. She respected that.

But still… he didn’t have to. He could have run away. He could have gotten to safety himself. Was it Flower’s fault that he had stayed? She couldn’t think of things so clearly now.

“Are you okay?”

Flower breathed out the words, unable to say anything else. Her arms barely functioned, as they had literally been stretched beyond their capabilities. She just wanted to hear an answer from the raven haired teen, but as she pointed out heavy breathes, she wasn’t sure she would last that long enough to hear it.

She was falling, she was allowing herself to now. The dirty white snow suddenly seemed like a very fitting place to just pass out. In the back of her mind, she wondered if they had done enough to consider the mission ‘complete.’ Probably not. That wasn’t good for a huntsman to do, leave a job unfinished. She wasn’t sure if she had the strength left to care.

Darkness was the last thing she remembered.

WORDS 837

TOTAL WORDS 4356

Colton Deraine Qiu'li Niraya Platinum

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[Qiu'li]

[attr="class","popqiu"] ❝May the crimson leaves show me the path I must follow.❞ wc: 1049 | twc: 4284 Qiu'li

[attr="class","qiutext"] It was chaos. Wild within the Wind District. Right in the middle of it was both him and Flower. While she was cold and hardened, Qiu'li was hot and fiery. With their combined strength, they were able to uproot the man hiding in the ground and into the air. With an explosion of dirt, snow, and concrete, a massive body sailed across the sky and into the ground with a resounding thud. Success. As soon as the man erupted from the ground, Qiu'li whipped his head around to see Flower attack with reckless abandon, dragging and tossing the man with shackles across the street and hurled right at the tall shadowy figures. There wasn't much else he could do at this point, at least not without putting himself into danger. Turning his head back, he saw that he had missed his mark, but something unexpected happened: The shadow figures were reacting negatively to the sword. Rather, the sounds that it made. The clanging of the various rings on Longtou caused them to shake erratically and were unable to attain their form. In other words: an opportunity for Flower to take and eliminate the two. The plan worked, for the most part. At least until the body ran right into something midair. Qiu'li blinked in confusion as the pig-man seemed to have... struck something like an invisible wall? Suddenly, someone materialized right next to him. A man with multiple projected bandaged arms holding the chained up pig-man. After several words of disdain and a look of curiosity, Qiu'li merely gazed back at him with his signature glare with steam emitting from his beet-red skin. As quickly as the fight had started, the man disappeared into the snowy Wind District, leaving his two companions behind. It seems like they had managed to get through. Though he grit his teeth. Surely they had lucked out in this battle. Had he not tossed his weapon and caused the rings to disrupt the shadow figures, they would have never had the opportunity to retaliate with a devastating blow and disable two of the three visible enemies. In addition, the sounds of the approaching figures sounded like two Mistral police members. Seems like they were able to respond quickly and make it just at the nick of time. Perhaps that was why the man decided to back off, or perhaps it was something else that caused him to retreat. Maybe he had other objectives to tend to and involvement with the Mistral Police would become a larger detriment, or rather he was willing to cut his losses. Looking up, he saw two approaching police members that were demanding to know what had happened and checking on the both of them. Qiu'li pointed to the most likely weakened pig-man laying in the distance and nodded to them. He indicated that this was one of the potential individuals involved in the recent kidnappings that have lead to the Missing Persons. He'd let them go ahead and apprehend the figure and take over from here. This was the limits of a student, or so Qiu'li thought. While it felt like a victory in the short run, could they really consider it a true victory in the long run? One of them had gotten away, and surely their abilities had been revealed to the enemy. Regardless, this battle opened Qiu'li's eyes to the sinister underbelly of the world of the underground. People with specialized skills to capture and trap people. Had they not been fighters, it could have easily been another poor unexpected citizen who had no chance of being able to retaliate. In addition, going alone would have certainly lead to a different outcome, most likely one that would have resulted in serious injury if not capture; His Semblance was still active, since he hadn't transformed until just now. Though glancing over, Flower was just reaching her limit, huh? Her eyes returned to her usual gaze. As soon as she stumbled a bit, Qiu'li moved quickly to make sure she didn't collapse headfirst into the snow. Inspecting her, Qiu'li could tell that her body had undergone a significant amount of strain and that she was fighting consciousness and the desire to pass out. She was in no position to be moving on her own- they'll probably be wanting to question them too. Qiu'li would pick up Flower and carry her on his back as he picked up both his weapon and Colton's that was simply laying in the snow, gathering a thin layer of flakes. Heading back to meet up with the other two, he heard Flower mumble softly, her violet eyes drooping slightly. She seemed to be struggling to stay awake still, probably out of concern for Qiu'li that was near her when she was struggling to yank the pig-man out of the grond. Despite her outward cold appearance, Flower was quite caring, wasn't she? Qiu'li thought to himself. “Are you okay?” "Yes. Good job, fought well. Qiu'li responded after a slight pause. Though he didn't check to see if his words was heard by her or not, as she was behind him. At that point, she was probably out cold. Returning back to Colton and Niraya, he would hand Colton his weapons back and return to the background, letting him do the talking. He wasn't one for the spotlight, nor did he think of anything about claiming fame or notoriety. He acted of his own accord and was fine with it. However, Qiu'li acknowledged his own limits of being on his own. Adaption to one's environment was essential to live, and if it meant learning how to work with others, he would be willing to do so. There was some level of anxiety that came with entrusting his life in others, though this was simply another obstacle that he would need to overcome on his journey for strength. If there was nothing else for him to do here, he would say his goodbyes and start heading back to Haven, Flower in tow. Would he consider this job completed? Who knows. Though something told him that this wasn't over, and that this wouldn't be the last time that he would see of the cloaked figures. Hopefully, next time they would be stronger, and more prepared for it.

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Fènnù (+Strength +Agility +Projectile Sword Beam) | Rank E
Lóngtóu and Panlong | Rank F
Falling Ashes (Leap) | Rank F
Weapon Proficiency I (Martial Arts) | Rank F
Resilience of the Crimson Oaks I (Durability) | Rank F
Dance of the Wild Winds II (Acrobatics) | Rank E