Scene #6359: Memento Mori 1: A Blade Without

Owner	Pose
Kalia	The small village of Pelo is an insignificant dot on the map of a world fused to the grid of the Multiverse, in the empire of Tyron. Technology there is a mishmash of medieval-looking stuff and crunched together tech from surrounding worlds - there's power, radios, even TVs, but cars or ships are out of the questions. Houses are put together out of larger pieces of scrap - sturdy, not especially nice to look at. It doesn't help parts of it are on fire right now. In the center of the village, the golden statue of the current emperor has been cut into shreds and defiled by blood, enough of it that the sheen of the statue is hard to see. One might mistake it for being red from afar. Villagers flee, but the corpses of the elderly litter the streets. No younglings, few adults - the only healthy adults slain appear to have been guards who picked a fight with the intruder. And the perpetrator, entirely too obvious. Kalia, without a disguise of any sort - a long, broken blade in one hand, still dripping with blood. Their pale skin betrays no emotion, their clothes give no good looks at their body underneath the grey and black rags. Their scarf covers their lower face and neck, bloodstained. "Running is pointless," they say, voice overlapped by another one - male, driven, angry, unlike Kalia's usual monotone. "The past always catches up."
Staren	Staren beams down from his ship and does a double-take. Hey, it looks just like small villages from his own world! Taking in the fires, he calls for reinforcements. Next he sees the dead on the ground. Recent enough to save, possibly. But just as he steps towards one, he now sees... Kalia. Actively hurting people. It will take a lot of time and effort to save these people, IF he can do it -- stopping Kalia will save all the people she won't kill, so it takes priority. "For fuck's sake." He pulls the laser rifle off his back and shoots at her. She's still only at Samael levels of 'just shoot her' but if this keeps going she'll reach Anne Blakely levels for sure! Meanwhile, on his spaceship, a few simple humanoid robots emerge from storage and head to meet in the hub room, while his support AI, Dawn, runs around in her robot body gathering firefighting and medical supplies.
Haguro	Hearing the distress call was a mixed signal in itself for Haguro. On one hand, she felt compelled to show up and do something to help. The problem was being unsure of who else would show up. What if things went wrong this time like they had every other time she responded to a distress call? Would she be able to just fight her way out? Would it even make sense to go? It was tempting to just kick back and let the matter sort itself out, but by the time Haguro talked herself into just staying home... She's already here. It's duty rather than morality that spurred her to show up, though, and the sight of the fleeing villagers and the corpses laying around doesn't even make her flinch. Instead, it's the sight of Kalia with that bloodied weapon that gives her pause, and the Cruiser takes a moment to steady herself before approaching the... ... Did Kalia's voice change? "Kalia? Are you okay?" Her tail raises off her shoulder as it turns to face Kalia, but the Abyssal holds her fire and flinches slightly when Staren fires. It takes her another moment to settle down before questioning the figure. "You sound different today. What's going on?"
Foreigner	The gentleman's smiling. He's sitting outside, under a patio roof, sipping a glass of lemonade in a thatched-wood rocking chair. There's some chaos beyond, some madness, some loudness. Fire and corpses litter the street as the gentleman drinks. He was here on business. Or, well, he had been here on business. He had been here on business of a most appropriate nature - human resources, middle management, and land acquisitions, all business that the gentleman was quite extensively well-versed in. The little village was an optimal example of prime real estate, too far out of the way to be interesting but with plenty of budding potential. Why, depending on how things had gone, the place would've seen rapid growth over the next few decades. And indeed it still might. A laser beam lances past, from an armored man. The gentleman leans back in the rocking chair and raises his lemonade a bit more, swirling it like a New England aristocrat. Haguro arrives, asking questions, approaching the source of the madness without fear. Hesitation, surely, but no fear. Even familiarity. Well now that was interesting. The gentleman stands. He raps on the door of the house he's sitting outside. The door opens a crack. "Albert," the gentleman says, his accent matching his mannerisms, a taste of New England upper-class on the tip of his words, "Now you make sure not to let any strangers in, you understand?" Silence. "Good boy, Albert. I'll be back to have a talk with the mayor in a bit. In the meantime you go get to know the place. Make sure they're ready for our negotiations." Silence. The door closes with a click. The gentleman swirls a cane that seems to ooze and undulate into existence before he steps out onto the killing field. He flickers through incoming fire, whistling a hauntingly merry tune, lemonade in his right hand, cane tucked under his left shoulder. He's not going anywhere in particular. He's just on the lookout for opportunity.
Alexis	It was rare for Trainers to stay in one place longer than they needed to and Alexis is no different. If anything it's more true these days as she no longer has a war and pseudo-governments to bother with unless she feels like it. Or just happens upon it. As would be the case this time as she just happened to be passing through the obscure side of the Multiverse when she noticed the fires in the distance. With as much as she knows about fire even at a distance she can tell that's more than just an accidental blaze, and Alexis spurs her ride to turn in that direction and take off running. The echo of galloping hooves reaches the ramshackle villain, sparks lighting in the distance as if flint was being struck against the ground repeatedly. Which isn't far from the truth as the fiery unicorn charges up, only to skid to a halt after living up to the Rapidash name. Alexis stands up from his backside to look around and just grimaces. "Holy shit what a mess." There's Staren though. "Hey Staren! You got any weird science stuff to do something about these bodi--" Nope, he's already going off shooting at some lady with a bloody sword. "--Guess not." When did he get to be so trigger happy? "Guess it's up to us." Alexis hops to the ground, and for the sake of not making the fires any worse recalls the Rapidash. That pokeball is tucked away and, after a bit of muttering about not having a more suitable Water type with her, resorts to a different tactic and picks a different pokeball to toss out. "Take the field, Rascal!" Energy flashes free of the spheroid and consolidates into a stocky rotund form like a rabbit with two long thick ears, dirt smeared around his midsection like a cumberbun and more across his muzzle to resemble the stubble of a gritty labor worker. "Diggersbyyy!" "Yeah. A bit of a fire problem." Alexis nodded as she caught the ball on the rebound. "Can you do something about it?" The rabbit-mon saluted with a forepaw, then turned around to face one of the burning structures and hunched down some. "Dig dig dig!" Interestingly it isn't his paws that start digging, but his huge ears, the ends hooking like excavator shovels to dig into the ground as he spins them around, and then throw the clumps of dirt at the fires in an attempt to smother them. When water is available the next best bet is to cover the fire and remove the air from the equation.
Xianren	Xianren could care less about old people getting murdered. He doesn't go around stopping murders, saving random lives, making sure everyone is fine. He collects things. And so, when he hears about Kalia, knowing that she grants people power and is a powerful magical ghost, he comes here anyways. The massive eight-foot tall bald man has a perfect physique, a chiselled mountain of a man wearing very fine black and white robes, sipping at a cup of wine. He steps over the bodies callously, sipping at his wine, and starts approaching Kalia. As Staren moves to shoot at her, presumably from behind, he watches. If this is enough to take her out, she was worthless all along. Xianren sips from his wine, and listens to her - him? - them? as they continue to pick people off. "Interesting. You kill the old. Why do you do that? Do you gain power from them? Some sort of meaning? Tell me. I'm very much interested in you." For those with any amount of supernatural senses, Xianren is just /exuding/ energy. He's powerful. He finishes his wine, and throws the cup into the air, disappearing into a hole in space that suddenly opens up to store it elsewhere. Xianren speaks up to Kalia, clearly not interested in fighting them unless it brings benefit. "I think you'd be an excellent asset and ally. You clearly are remarkable, unique. Powerful, presumably. Tell me your name." If he knew it, he forgot. He'll surely remember from here on.
Avenger	A figure in a black hate and overcoat materialzies beside Haguro. The face is a youthful one, though one could hardly call it a 'kind' one. Looking at the blood and the death, he takes a long breath of air. He almost feels right at home...turning to face his partner he makes a motion with his hand towards the source of the death. "Do you know her?" The spirit offers, before facing the woman directly. He heard the words, and he is curious. It is obvious on his face now, curious about her...not that she killed. People kill all of the time, for many reasons. He has seen much death himself...but the question comes to 'why'. That...and what will his master do? "It might be pointless, but it is human nature to defy the inevitable...and you are right about that last part. The past ALWAYS catches up.." he says, with a manic grin. Looking at her for a moment longer, he looks...trying to divine the reason for himself. "So, my dear, why the corpse part-Oops?" he says, as some people take exception to her. "Sorry, making sure to avoid stray shots...but why the corpse party? Indulgence..? Anger? Revenge?" he almost smiles too wide at that last one.
Maya	Maya tended to wander, falling into old habits of when she had been a Recon trooper for the Union over a decade ago, and she was now often doing the same for the Paladins it just happened this world had caught Maya's attention she'd come to get a meal and a room for the night, that went out the window when the attack came and it wouldn't be long before things got worse. Memories of her being child. her father telling her and her mother to run. THe sound of gunfire and her father's death rattle and her mother moments later using herself as a human shield for her and then the man is known as Uncle diving out into the war zone to drag Maya to cover rushes through her mind. She hears the voice as she exits the in her rifle is in hand and Runner her hulking magitech 'dog' is there mouth open and beam cannon deployed. There are fires there are civilians to protect Maya's going to have to make a call and she does she's looking very angry here. She could keep putting out the fires but that would leave Kalia she sees Staren already engaging them, she can help him later if she needs it. She's known him long enough to have faith in him keeping this thing tieed up but more horrors like carrion eaters to a battlefield are arriving yet there's the fire she also spots Alexis and without a word? Maya moves to aid her longtime friend and former Union comrade she starts chanting drawing on her magic and a blue fire starts to bleed into two tarot-like cards, one green and one red. They glow hovering above Maya now as she direct columbs of water onto the fires, to aid Alexis is bringing them under control for the moment she may not stay long but giving Alexis some back up is the best thing she can do just right now. Runner gets to work helping with the dirt, as well being dog like he sure can /dig/ and kick it about. To anyone who can sense Magic? Maya's like a supernova of Mana on legs and there's no way she can hide it.
Kalia	Getting shot by Staren is becoming a pretty awful hobby. But this time, the shot attenuates. Wtheire last time he scored clean hits on the chest and head through a lowered guard, this time Kalia is actively fighting. Darkness surges around them, the shots scorching cloth and pale skin underneath without blowing a chunk of them off. Their attention shifts, from the villagers, to Staren, then to Haguro. "Do not interfere. We are... answering an urge. Unrest. The cries of a theiro betrayed. The cries of a legend silenced." The broken blade twists in their hand. People put the fires out; no effort is made to stop them. The fire isn't magical, and is handled in a matter of seconds, between Pokemon and Maya's magic. People would be grateful, if they weren't obviously fearful right now. The village elder surfaces from his hiding spot - he runs for Staren, to hide behind him. He must be in this 70s, at least. This seems to upset Kalia, given their glare lights up like tiny white stars. "You...!" The elder hides behind Staren even more blatantly. Xianren and Avenger arrive next - and they both address Kalia with the same thread. "We are Kalia," they say, voice overlapped now not just with one voice, but anottheir name. It's hard to make out. Sir something, for sure. "We aren't interested in long-term partnerships. We only wish to silence this urge, right now. Revenge. Yes." Like a bonfire, even. "Move aside, or we will run you through to get to him," Kalia says to Staren, appearing less than a foot ahead of him in a sudden burst of speed.
Haguro	Betrayal? "Why would the people of this village betray a hero? Is this true?" Haguro's first inclination, for better or for worse, is to trust Kalia even with the distinctly different voice coming out of them. Their unfamiliar movements. The fact that stopping them from killing all these people would probably lead to more overall lives being saved than were already taken. But would letting them do this now save more lives in the future? That's the question of the day. Turning to Avenger as he appears, the Cruiser nods lightly. "S-sort of. I've met them before. We talked about... Happiness. And belonging." Indeed, she actually seems completely fine with their presence. It's Foreigner that has the Abyssal tensing up when he arrives, that too-cheery tune and overly casual gait having her pause in her questioning. Still, she needs to relax. She can't just jump at and shoot everything that freaks her out. Otherwise, she'd be no better than... Than /them/. Staring at the gentleman for a little while longer, she turns her gaze from him unsteadily towards Kalia once more. "Why do you... Erm. Th-this you that's in control now. Why do you seek revenge against this village? What have they done?" She watches Kalia primarily, but her gaze falls to the elder as well. "Mister Xianren is correct. You should explain yourselves, too. We need to know who's more useful to side with."
Alexis	A surge of water comes splashing down to help dispel the fires. Alexis glances over her shoulder to see the source and smiles. "Long time no see old friend. But your timing is impeccable." She pats her Diggersby on the head between the ears, and then reachs over to scritch one of Runner's 'ears' as well. "You too. Good boy." With that said and done she glances over at Staren and the confrontation going on there. Then looks over to Maya again. "Any idea what's up with that?"
Staren	Staren lowers the weapon slightly, as Kalia's stopped stabbing people. Something feels off. Maybe there's someone with a very legitimate grudge against this village's elders. This isn't the way to solve it, though. He keeps his focus on Kalia, although he's aware someone hiding behind him. "Tell us of this hero. And this betrayal. We will work out a solution. But if all you do is kill people without apparent reason, how do you expect anyone to distinguish you from a monster? Before you complained that all I do is shoot you. I'm giving you this chance to talk. Will you take it? Or must we settle this like beasts, no words, no purpose, only claws against teeth until only one remains?" He'll warn her against coming closer, and go right back to shooting if she makes anything that looks like an attack. In the meantime, robots beam down with high-tech fire extinguishers to help fight the fires.
Avenger	Avenger is smiling... "Ah...a ghost of litteral revenge! Interesting, interesting!" he saysa, watching this all unfold, including the old man taking shelter behind Staren. "My dear...one thing you should first understand, is no matter your path, there are those that will stand before you because they do not /understand/. They need to be made to understand...they must LEARN what it means to seek revenge. Infact...with that, Avenge moves with litteral impossible speed, appearing behind the manand grabbing him by the back of the neck. He does not hinder Kalia. Infact...he wants to /help/ her, but he knows people like Staren. Good men who think that their way is the only way... "We, our path's are beyond Love and Hate, must understand that there are those that cling to either. We have to show them..." he says, staring into the man's eyes. "Go on, tell them, WHO this hero is, and why you betrayed them..." he says, drawing upon the act of murder, aiming to force the man to reveal what had happened, and why. Forcing his pure hate into him, to get him to reveal everyting to the group. "Tell them, old man?! TELL THEM WHY YOU HAVE BROUGHT HORROR ON YOUR OWN VILLAGE!? Prostate yourself before god, and perhaps there will be a place for you there.." he grins, holding the man still.
Xianren	Xianren continues to watch. Even as Kalia says they aren't interested in long-term partnerships, Xianren doesn't flinch. That doesn't matter. "We could benefit each other greatly. Your vengeance, your chaos, the danger you wish to cause, it has a place in this world. But it needs to be tempered. It needs to be done /right/. I can assist you. Give you the resources you need. Point you in the direction of leads. Give you worthy targets for your rage. My wealth is vast. And these will be targets whose end is beneficient to myself and my allies. In fact..." Xianren steps over towards the man that Avenger is holding still, and places his hand on top of the man's head. "I will crush this man's head if what he says is unsatisfactory. I presume you don't need to be the one to kill him." "He just needs to die, correct?"
Foreigner	The Foreigner's cheerful, eerie whistling is completely at odds with everything else going on. He does, however, pause, stop, and look at Haguro. That smile is friendly, welcoming, charming. Those eyes are...bright and mad. His smile widens. Then he flickers out of existence. He flickers back into existence in front of Haguro and Avenger and Xianren. It's an unsettling thing to watch, like space and time just took a hiccup; he didn't move, he didn't act, he didn't do anything, he just...was moved. Like the space around him shifted. He doesn't say a word. He just looks at them, those mad, bright eyes shining. And then out of absolutely fucking nowhere a tentacle appears to punch right through the elder's mouth and out the other side. No warning, no motion, no rhyme nor reason; it just sort of...happens. Foreigner takes a sip of his lemonade. "It's just not nearly as interesting if you're all so reasonable about it."
Maya	Maya is able to get the fires out by aiding Alexis. "It has been far too long, I had taken a room for the night in the local inn and this happens." Runner lett out a mechanized whine and seems to like the scratches it seems Grubb has upgraded him with better tactile sensors at some point. "I do not know but we need to put a stop to this slaughter at this point." Given the elders of this town who have been slaughtered so far she wnt to bring an end to this as quickly as possible. "Come on Aleix lets see what's going on here." Staren may very well need some backup here at this point and with the fires handled it's now time to deal with whatever is behind this. She also sees other troublemakers now arriving. She ain't looking very happy.
Xianren	As the tentacle appears to attack the old man, Xianren does not interfere. He looks over to Foreigner, and he...laughs. He laughs darkly, deeply, amusedly. "What /will/ you have. While upset that you took my opportunity to slay him myself, I respect your technique." Xianren wonders if Foreigner may be one of his fellow Chosen. "Do you belong to the Great Tentacled One? Your method of attack is fitting." Xianren approaches Foreigner, stepping away. He's not hostile. Yet. He's far more curious if the Foreigner may in fact be a more easily recruited ally. "What do you seek here? Amusement? Business? Perhaps just satisfaction from blood on your metaphorical hands?"
Alexis	Alexis lets out a long lamenting sigh. "I swear, no matter how much I try to stay out of this sort of nonsense..." Despite the grumbling she's following Maya over, being too good of a person at heart to just walk away even if she really has no reason to get involved in matters either. As she does so she motions to her pokemon, and after she's walked off with the Junker he starts digging again. It looks like he's just tossing more dirt to make sure the fires stay out, but by the time it stops flinging he's gone completely underground.
Staren	Oh hell, more people getting involved. Staren watches Avenger with interest, Xianren with horror, and then suddenly, tentacle! But the head wasn't crushed. "Dude, can't you just watch TV if you want drama like everyone else?!" He chastises Foreigner. Trying not to look TOO relieved that maybe he can still save the guy because then they'll catch on.
Kalia	"Yes. Why DON'T you tell them what you did to us?" Kalia rumbles at the elder, still dual-voiced. "Why don't you tell them about the fight you abandoned?" It's not that Kalia is ignoring Avenger. It's that everything he says, they're intimately familiar with already. But Kalia doesn't heed Haguro's request, or even Staren's. Explaining it would rob them of the opportunity to see the elder crawl in his own misery. But the elder seems genuinely taken aback. "I don't know who you even are! I've never seen you before!" It's not a lie. Kalia's form is unknown to him. The specter makes a noise like a clicking tongue from underneath that scarf. They raise their broken sword, rusty and blackened, almost featureless, but there's a gleaming blue gem in the hilt, and the elder's eyes widen. Recognition flashes on his face. Then a tentacle goes through his face. That escalated fast for his face. This... does not amuse Kalia one bit, apparently. "We told you not to interfere! There were two people who really deserved our wrath, and now one is gone!" The male voice is getting louder, of the two. It might answer Xianren's question too. "Fine. Then we'll take it out on all the rats who supported him still left here. Then we'll set things right at the palace." There can't be more than a handful left. It's not a big village. Wasn't a lot of elderly to begin with. Kalia turns back towards the village, gathering up a ball of curses to lob at it and call the job done. The fires are long since put out, at least! Silver linings.
Foreigner	Staren's question is amusing enough in its own right. "Sir," Foreigner says, his head tilting to the side, showing the splatter of the man's blood across his handsome face, "I don't want this to resolve peacefully. I want this to be a bloodbath." He holds out his arms. "Give me a battle that'll burn this place to the ground! Go on, then!" He presses his hand against his chest and bows, flickering. He reappears up on the roof, sitting and swinging his legs like he's having a cheerful Sunday afternoon. Xianren compliments him, and he tips his head politely. "No, sir, I'm afraid I don't belong to anyone but my lovely children, and the wonderful bottom line, the almighty Dollar." He spins a silver coin into his hand, whirling it on the back of his hand as if he hadn't just killed a man for no reason whatsoever. "Business, though, business indeed. I like the land. I decided I wanted it for my many lovely children. Build some houses. Some barns. Raise some crops. Some cattle. Wonderful place to make a family, land like this. It's much easier to buy it when everyone's dead. And if this had resolved peacefully, why..." Foreigner gestures. Impossibly, the coin continues spinning on his hand. It's unsettling to watch, the laws of physics just sort of cracking under the influence. "That might not have happened!" "But now it probably will." "So!" Foreigner spreads his arms. "Get on with it, then!"
Alexis	There's another half-step but then Alexis stops in midst of it. The leather of her gloves can be heard crinkling against itself as she clenches hands into fists. "That's it!" Though first she looks at Kalia as she frowns. "Revenge is one thing.. But it's no right to make everyone -else- suffer for something stupid one person did. Punish who deserves it, okay. But if they're dead already? Too bad. Take what you get and get the hell out of here." But then she turns and points at Foreigner. "But you! You only show up to take advantage of an already horrible situation for these people JUST FOR THE FUCKING LAND? WHAT KIND OF SICK BASTARD ARE YOU?!" The last of that is practically screamed at him out of anger. The ground in front of her crumbles open for Diggersby to come back to surface, flexing his massive ears like they were arms. "You want it? At least have the balls to come take it yourself instead of being some disgusting oppritunist jackass!"
Staren	Wow. Someone ELSE has actually managed to make /Kalia/ worse. And now there's Foreigner. Staren considers the possibilities. He tells off Xianren over the radio, then turns to Father Dagon. "You want this land." There's a growl in his voice. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to remove these bodies and save who I can. If you want some of this land, you'll work out a /deal/ with these people and buy it fair and square. And if you make this into a battle -- a battle that results in collateral damage clearing the way for your children... I will salt the earth and make sure you and yours will NEVER have a home here. So what's it going to be?" The fires dealt with, Staren's robots start running from body to body applying nanobandages.
Xianren	Xianren, who stands at eight feet tall and therefore towers above Foreigner (up until he teleports onto the roof, being above him), nods. 'The almighty dollar' still sounds like the Great Tentacled One, but he didn't show recognition, so Foreigner's probably not one of Taakozoka's. "You would like a blood bath. You would like the people here cleared. Am I correct?" Xianren inhales and exhales through his nose, audibly considering his next position. "I am Xianren, Sovereign of the Pinnacle, stellar lord. If you indeed simply seek business, I would be willing to make arrangements with you. You seek a bloodbath. I can grant you one. In return, open channels with me for negotiation." Alexis comes up and interrupts the deal. Xianren steps over to her, towering over her and facing the Diggersby. "Do you have no manners at all? Cursing and acting like a petulant child. We are in the middle of a conversation. I do /not/ like being interrupted by those with no grace or poise." There's suddenly a feeling, sort of, that Xianren is taller than he really is. He's just got this aura to him. An aura of a mountain. Though he doesn't move to strike the two, yet. He's waiting to see if this is what the Foreigner wants, if he's amenable. And if so...he'll give it to the gentleman.
Avenger	Avenger watches the man die. Dropping him to the ground, he sighs... "You know, you could have let the old man live for a few more moments...at least he could have gotten his concious clean, and we'd be at least a little more wiser for it. Alas..." he looks towards Foreigner, laughing... "Oh /greed/. How wonderful...this world never changes, even when it's inhabitants are...changed." he grins, that maniacle grin, until it suddenly stops. Slowly, he turns towards Staren. He's not happy. Infact, he looks dreadfully /unhappy/. "Spare us your false innocence. The people this, the people that...you did not know these people, unlike she..." he points towards the ghost revenger, before black flames slowly start building on his body...radiating off of him. "And what right do you have to deny them a home? Do you so easily ignore that war kills, and is used for things like territory gain? Other suffer, so that others may prosper. You say the Multiverse is infinite...but is it really? All places are not equal..." "AND HERE YOU ARE. STAREN, SO INNOCENT IN HIS DESIRES. SAVING PEOPLE. AS IF THAT IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS..." he laughs...bitterly. "No, today you do not save them...allow me to reveal what is beneath the facade you have built...the TRUE UGLYNESS YOU HIDE..." he says... And the black flame spreads. Running person to person, each time that it does it starts turning the corpses to ash...slowly erroding them. "I send them to god, to their final judgement."
Foreigner	Xianren gets a broad smile. Foreigner waves his hand. "No, no. Stellar lord's a bit much. Just a father trying to do right by his children. Make sure they are where they belong. More importantly, a businessman. Always happy to make a nice connection. Let's chat sometime." "They call me The Foreigner." He also tips his head to Avenger. "Righteousness, sir, and serving the greatest people that ever have been. A pleasure to meet you, too." Alexis shouts at him. Foreigner turns to look at her. Those are not the eyes of a rational creature. In those bright eyes is a swirling insanity, a whirlpool of maddened light that shines forth. If the eyes are the window to the soul, this creature's soul is beyond rationality, in some other world governed by some alien logic. His smile widens a bit. "Of course." "I'm a businessman." He tilts his head slightly. "People have been killing each other for land since the beginning of time. Blood is the oldest currency in the world. Gods want it. Men spend it. 'It's wrong', is it?" His legs swing back and forth slightly as he swirls the lemonade in front of him. "The situation was already deteriorating. Were you going to let her kill him? Of course not. I just accelerated past all the useless talking. Besides, it's always much more economical to have other people do your work for you." Foreigner swings his legs back and forth, leaning forward to look at Staren. "That isn't how a negotiation works, young man. I'd be careful threatening me. I might gEt AnGrY." The Foreigner covers his mouth, as if embarassed. "Pardon me. Slipped right out." "But you have far more important problems to deal with." Foreigner gestures at Kalia. "Because you supported him, and I have no doubt she's going to do exactly what she said." Then the Foreigner just drops the glass of lemonade. The glass falls. The lemonade doesn't. The lemonade goes shooting forward for the Diggersby like flechettes. What was a harmless drink a moment ago is horrifying, lethal daggers as the Foreigner stands up and untucks his cane from his arm, pressing it down on the ground. "Ah, well. Fortunately I am an expert in disciplining UnRuLy ChIlDrEn." His grin widens past the confines of his face. "FaThEr WiLl TeAcH yOu MaNnErS."
Staren	Staren just turns and shoots Avenger the moment he says 'Today you do not save them' because seriously, he's not an idiot. It was a possibility, he knew. That the whole village might die. His 'allies' speak of how the people were guilty. About how this sort of thing happens all the time. And Staren points out how, in a different situation, he might be behind evicting people from this place and taking their land. But it's not a different situation. He doesn't have time to respond to foreigner. He takes to the air, putting range between them, focusing his attacks on Avenger but wary of attack from Xianren. Foreigner is keeping Alexis busy... where are more heroes when you need them?!
Maya	She's too late to save the old man, there's nothing she can do here she does see that it's going to be time for a fight in all likelihood at this point the Junker is not looking very happy she has a rifle out given. There is a very unhappy look very unhappy here she looks like she's about to pop here Alexis just loses it Maya feels a burst of rage as two parts of the conflict Alexis can handle herself and at worse Maya can drag her off later. There are people caught up in the bullshit of things that should not be permitted to exist and Maya's also a Paladin. She moves to act, Runner moves with he she can heal she's going to try and help people /flee this/ insanity for the moment, she's not sure what she can do there but she's got enough faith in Alexis and Staren to hold these things that walk as men off at least long enough for some good to be done. She knows she can't save everyone but she might be able to save some. At least for the moment, she may join the fight, and she's clearly powerful but she's acting like she's worked a hell of a lot with both Alexis and Staren before.
Alexis	"Maybe when people stop acting like arrogant pricks just because they've got some iota of power," Alexis snaps back at Xianren. His aura is an impressive but she doesn't flinch from it. This is someone that's stared down creatures many times her size before. A formidable presence alone won't shake her easily, especially when she's already worked up. "Gee I'm soooo sorry yelling is the only thing anyone seems to listen to because they're so full of themselves. You're no better, offering to do his pointless violence for him!" To be far she is being rude. Alexis won't deny that. But she's sick of people with these attitudes, thinking they can just stomp over whoever they want because they can. Technically that's actually pretty pointed violence. Like dozens of needles wizzing through the air they strike the pokemon with enough force to make him skid backwards. The rabbit-mon heaves for a moment, then growls as he shakes to dislodge the splinters. They dug deep enough to leave visible wounds, but the Diggersby's flexing pose had been using one of his buffing moves to give him some extra defense against the inevitable retaliation to Alexis losing her temper. "That's how you want it? Fine! Rascal?" "Digger." He's fairly roughed up by that attack despite the defensive, but he'll manage. "Okay then. If he wants to land so badly, give it to him!" That almost sounds like she changed her mind on fighting... until its realized it's just clever wording. As give it to him is what Diggersby does, slamming both his muscular ears into the ground like piledrivers, the resulting shockwave causing the ground to heave violently under Foreigner's feet from the quaking force.
Foreigner	The building Foreigner's been sitting on just falls away. He doesn't even bother to move; he falls with it, into the rubble, into the collapse. All that, and he's just a lazy weirdo, maybe? Or some kind of weird wizard? Hah, no. With all the chaos, and with Alexis's focus on Foreigner, and her temper fully lost, she and Rascal probably aren't paying attention to the shards of lemonade the Pokemon shook off, glinting on the ground. They probably aren't particularly worth noticing, considering the collapsed house. So when the lemonade shards turn to lemonade tentacles and lash out for Alexis's arms and throat, it's probably a pretty huge surprise. When Foreigner comes walking out of the rubble, a trail of black...blood?...rolling down the side of his face, it's probably less of a surprise. The guns he's flanked by probably are much more surprising. They're old-timey guns, Civil War-era at the oldest. Some of them are rifles. Some of them are floating ship cannons, long, huge cannons hanging above him or to the side. They have an ominous, unpleasant aura, even without the numerous tentacles flowing out of thin air around them like squamous soldiers manning their stations. The gentleman walks forward, but there's the sense that he's not really walking - he's just permitting himself to look like he's walking. Haguro's video, and Staren's, picks up the subtle error that their eyes may not - Foreigner isn't walking. He's stuttering from place to place in a most unpleasant-looking spatial skip. "There, you see? That wasn't so hard. Now if you do that a few more times, the rest of these buildings should be cleared out. That'll save me quite a lot of work."
Lilian Rook	-----[stop]----- "That's . . . one, two, three actual. One plausible, one more in the house. Strong, too. Two Demon class at least; silver or higher. The elder is already dead. No wonder I felt it miles away. This concentration of aberrant power is . . . maybe this isn't a great idea. Nobody would know if I didn't get involved after all. I could scout it out and report back with the details. The animal trainer is probably already done for, and the boy is in a bad position already." Lilian sits leg over leg on the edge of a burning rooftop, finger tapping thoughtfully against her cheek, eyes flicking back and forth across the scene below her, soaking in the details. The absolute silence helps her think, and the photo still flames surrounding her provide good lighting. Her tapping grows gradually more impatient --more restless at the sight. "But it's not as if I have designated target. I can afford to throw her under the bus and come back for the Dominion-type later. They're all ignoring the instigator here. This might be a great chance . . ." Her hand leaves her face, sweeping back through her hair and pulling it up to tie at the back of her head, keeping it out of the way. "Haaa . . . there's no use fighting it. My fingers are itching. It's been so long since I've seen one of these~" She reaches for the mask laid on a crumbling piece of tile beside her, floating in mid-fall, and picks it up, pulling it over her face with a click, the optics flashing on. Getting to her feet, she stretches out, lacing her fingers over her head and pushing her arms out, then unholsters her sidearm, flips the safety, slides off the edge of the roof, and walks into the middle of the confrontation, pacing until she finds a good spot, and raises the weapon. -----[start]----- There's more than a little teleporting and flash stepping going on in the burning, body-strewn wreckage of Pelo, but the figure that suddenly appears in the middle of it is unannounced by even the faintest flicker of magic or ripple of space. It can't even be said that one moment they weren't and the next moment they're there; a moment describes the passage of a sliver of time. They're wearing a lot of black, in the form of a solid, shaped ceramic breastplate over a long coat, open down to the knees, stenciled grey with intricate patterns of knots and blossoms and flowing glyphs that are somewhat at odds with the etched tactical carry cases and shooting gloves. A black, mechanical mask set with glowing red optics covers their face, injecting their voice with a heavy electronic tinge. They have a heavy, sci-fi looking handgun dramatically trained on the vengeful ghost in particular, yet appear to have a long war sword strapped over their back in a nondescript black scabbard, one hand on the hilt over their shoulder. "Acting personnel, fall back from combat zone. Locate any and all senior citizens still alive that you can, and exfiltrate at speed. This is a possession scenario; that thing has a hold of someone with a blood vendetta in mind, and is feeding off his rage. Don't provoke it, don't encourage it, don't display vulnerability, and don't give it any more power." they say through the mask, keeping the optics trained on Kalia. "If you'd be so kind as to tell me what it is these people have done to wrong you, I'll consider . . . something." they then say. "I'm not talking to the evil spirit, I'm talking to you, Sir."
Haguro	Foreigner's sudden appearance in front of Haguro has her jerking back, and for a moment, it looks as though her tail's going to try biting his face. She doesn't react quickly enough, however, and that moment's hesitation is long enough for things to escalate. Namely, Avenger, Xianren, AND Foreigner all triple teaming the poor elder. That look of recognition is noticed by the Cruiser, however, even as the look goes from sudden recognition to sudden tentacle. Haguro's completely unfazed by that. Huh. Maybe something /is/ broken, but it must not be something important if she feels okay with it. Alexis screaming at Foreigner does have her thinking, though, as Haguro looks between the Pokemon Trainer and the man on the... Roof. He wasn't there before, was he? Shaking off that discomfort, she frowns as she crosses her arms and considers... All of this. The death. The fires. The value of lives. The land. The amusement. The ideals. No, something's definitely wrong here. She doesn't feel particularly attached to any of it. The ideals of saving people, of getting revenge? None of it is swaying her, but her allies? Her Servant? Her former enemy? Someone she sort of trusts? Someone she barely recognizes? Aside from the last one, she's found something to spur her on. As Staren and Avenger go at it, the Abyssal slams her tailheads into the ground in conjunction with leaping to get right into the middle of things. Haguro's goal: getting right in between the two (moreso Avenger since he's not flying) to take the flying laser scientist's shots in her Servant's stead with her fists! Well, arms. Also, howling because getting shots right in the hands hurts a lot. "Ggh... Avenger! Mister Staren! St.. Stop this right now!" She yells at the duo, inhaling sharply and hunching over while trying to find a way to hold them that isn't burning horribly. "I don't know if these humans did... Whatever it was that's got Kalia so angry. I don't think they're lying, and if they really did do something wrong, then they should die. But whether or not they did, I don't... Care. Um. About them at all. But we're allies, so please... At least be civil to each other, even if you're not to..." Haguro gestures at Foreigner and Alexis. "To them. Let's just think about this rationally, okay? And..." And then another stranger appears. She doesn't recognize the person clad in all black, and the Abyssal squints slightly to try and get a better look at the source of that confusing flicker. "Er... Hello?" She tries to look nonthreatening, although the teeth-filled heads making up that tail coming out of her gut might make that tricky. "Are you here to fight or resolve things or...? You sound reasonable enough!"
Kalia	Staren, and for that matter Avenger, find the corpses to not even be more than husks. There's nothing for Avenger to send to God, no soul for Staren to bring back. Kalia seems to have already seen to that, with little more than stab wounds to show for it. Burning the corpses is still a fancy visual effect! It just... doesn't do anything that wasn't already done. "We're not leaving until every last guilty party is dead," Kalia answers Alexis, though pointedly doesn't get in her way either. She can have her fun with Foreigner, Staren or Avenger if she wants! The spirit of a hero burns for something larger than a petty scuffle. The literal ball of curses above Kalia's head, gathered with their raised hand, grows with each second they're ignored. Not because they're ignored, just because they have free reign to charge it up. But then there's someone in their path, and their gaze lowers to look at the mask. "We were going to stop the emperor. These lowlives sold us out because they thought we'd fail, and the emperor would raze their village for being our birthplace. Instead they were showered in fancy tech to make their lives better, and we died like some nobody in a swamp!" The ball of curses gets a bit bigger, fueled by the rage. Kalia makes a point to show the blade to Lilian, what might have once been a shining weapon, now a rusty mess missing most of its blade. "Look what became of the Lakeblade! They don't deserve to live." There's surely more to that story. But Kalia's hand clenches around the blade and then swings down, bringing the awful black ball down towards the village. If it impacts the ground, it'll release some pretty nasty curses! Oh, for exceptional people, nothing they can't take. Even the healthy, mundane adults here might be fine. The old and the crippled, though? Unlikely.
Alexis	Indeed in her anger Alexis has completely ignored the discared shards, not really caring about it. Especially when the man walks out of the collapsed building with a bunch of guns. She growls, realizing this might be a bit more than one Pokemon can handle and goes for another pokeball.... Only for her arm to be grabbed by a tendril before she can snatch one. "What th--GWK!" the rest of what was probably more cussing is cut off with a cough as another tendril grabs her around the neck as well. Alas whatever response she might have to Kalia's comment of guilty parties will never be heard. Also goddamn it, why is it always tentacles involved in things?! Just because she's got pink hair doesn't mean she's into that weird stuff you see in anime shows! Though now is a really good time to be glad she's not the kind to wear a skirt. Her trying to struggle free does rip her hoodie though as the tendrils try to crush the life out of her. The sound of his trainer abruptly being choked is enough to get Rascal's attention away from Foreigner and his guns though. He spins around, whipping his ears to grab the tendrils and try to pull them free enough that he can grab Alexis with his normal arms and wedge her out of the mess before they actually collapse her lungs or something similarly nasty.
Avenger	Avenger grins as the lasers start to fall. Then Haguro's arms cover him from the laser fire, causing the Avenger to slowly turn towards the Abyssal. He considered her actions for a moment, his grin turning into a frown. "Hmph. Not that it matters anway, the dead are already gone. Nothing is left there," he says, still staring at her. Is he mad? Is he upset? Curious? He does not say, instead he turns, assuming no more shots come for him, and leaves. "There is nothing for us here anymore, Conspiritor. Let the Pridful, the Interloper, and the Honestly Prideful one take it from here."
Foreigner	At the very least, the Foreigner appears to be the pragmatic kind of horror and not the kind of horror that does bad things in Japanese TV shows. In fact he's firmly and distinctly American. Those tentacles are only for restraint. Rascal looks away, at Alexis. The Foreigner disappears. He reappears behind the rabbit to grab it by the ears. Then, with the strength of a Heroic Spirit, the Foreigner moves to throw it backwards over his shoulder, to cast it into one of the still-standing houses. The arrival of a new person engaging Kalia has his interest, but at the moment, Alexis has his attention. Foreigner leans forward to smile at her. "As I told you," he says, "Letting other people do your work for you is simply smart business." He flickers out again. He's just...leaving her there. He's not even going to bother killing her. Like she's not even worth the effort. At this point, she's not - he's much more interested in what's going on with Kalia and the new girl. He stands on air, his cane pointed down, the tentacles and cannons sinking back into the distorted, rippling space like water. There's the sense of something much larger behind him for an instant, something peering through the space, before it's gone, and there's just the odd Foreigner, standing on air like it's solid ground.
Xianren	Xianren considers. He moves from his position to let the Foreigner fight. Many things happen while he watches, from the side. Staren and Avenger move to start battling, Haguro moves to stop them, and a mysterious masked individual has arrived and is moving to engage with Kalia, first socially, possibly through combat. This is disgraceful, in Xianren's mind. He moves over towards Haguro...and he's about to step in the way if Avenger looks like he's going to fire back. But he doesn't. So instead, Xianren turns towards Staren, to make sure more shots don't come at Avenger. "You are angry because you did not get what you wanted. I understand that. We will disagree eternally, based on our points of view. But we cannot slay each other. We are the excellent. We are the Concord. To slay your own is tantamount to madness." And then, Xianren starts moving towards Kalia...when the black ball is swung down. The curses flow through Xianren, burning into his skin, but he keeps moving, ignoring the pain to the best of his ability, allowing his will to push him forward, even when his skin turns black and blisters. "This emperor. Who is he? Your vengeance is acceptable. Your cause is clear. If you wish to slay him, it can be done." Xianren closes his eyes, and turns to the masked figure. His aura is clearly visible to her, a very powerful one. "You appeared suddenly. Spatial tampering? No matter. If your goal is to destroy this spirit, I refuse." He's still considering grabbing Kalia, it seems, after that massive black ball.
Maya	Suddenly, unexpected backup in the form of Lilian Rook, Maya gets the order to get seniors clear of this village. She will set people on Runner and once Runner is full he will tell them to hang on and orders Runner to go as fast as he can to get the people clear of this. The mecha mutt barks then whine it clear it wants to go fight but it's not going to ignore Maya when she's got the look she has on her face. No Runner has not seen that look often and the few times it has the machine can't forget it. Maya will help whom she can but she's only one person she will carry or aid people in fleeing with the use of a few speed spells but it's clear she won't get to everyone, the death ball is coming and she knows they are running out of time now. She keeps moving she prays Alexis and Staren will pull through this cluster frag of a situation.
Staren	Staren's weapons won't fire at Haguro. He has no quarrel with her. But it's clear that attempting to kill Avenger is futile while she's in the way, and it's not worth killing her over. Her words about all crimes being worth death are concerning, but that's something to deal with later. His mind is too full of other issues to help Haguro with her abyssalness right now. He just gives her a brief angry look, and then thinks. Can anyone from the village be saved? Also he's remotely directing his ship to start making nanomachines programmed to self-reproduce (to a point) and salt the earth and destroy its nutrients. If Foreigner is going to destroy villages than he shall get barren wastelands. Maybe he'll be encouraged to just take unoccupied lands. Or come after Staren, but is that good business? Who knows. Avenger and Xianren have both just gotten to the top of the 'shoot immediately' list, above even Kalia, but he can't act on that with Haguro here. Is this it for his relationship with the Concord? Priscilla really might have some way to smooth it all over -- just because HE can't see how doesn't mean it's impossible. He's not her. What's he going to do alone, if it comes to it? No, don't think about that now. He has his principles. What will happen happens, and he'll work from whatever position he ends up in. Avenger says the dead are already gone. Intriguing if true, but he can't be trusted right now. Xianren calls him mad. Staren glares back at the man. "No. It is cutting out a cancer." He COULD help fight Foreigner... but everything's gone to shit. The chances of winning are too low -- He's already preparing to salt the earth, after all. Instead, Staren flies off to join Maya in evacuating the remaining living. He can only hope Foreigner won't attack them TOO, but it's likely at this point. Staren has to do SOMETHING. And keep moving forward.
Lilian Rook	"Darling, please don't assume that fighting isn't a matter of resolving things. Nobody would fight if it didn't get things done." says the figure in mixed black, a little strange for hearing a patient 'dear' in the techno-tinted corpsec voice. "I'm sorry to hear that, Sir. In another time, in another life, I might have been able to help you. Even under the control of a spirit of grudges, you've retained enough of your sense of justice to punish only those old enough to be guilty, so if nothing else, I'll praise you for that much. However, the past is the past. The dead no longer have the right to decide who lives." When Xianren walks into the way, just pushing through the curse wall like an absolute Alpha male, the masked person slowly shakes their head. "The thirteenth rule: Thou shalt never heed the words of that which cannot bleed. Thou shalt never heed the words of that which cannot die. My apologies." The gun clicks-- -----[stop]----- Lilian squeezes the trigger. The air ahead of the muzzle flashes, then freezes, leaving behind a blot of hovering fire behind alongside a slug nested in waves of compressed air. She plucks the spent brass out of the air and paces a step to the side. She fires again, adding a second blaze and its ready bite of tungsten. Step. Fire. Step. Fire. Step fire. Fourteen plus one in the chamber. She ejects the magazine, slipping it into her belt, then withdraws a fresh one, tapping it in and pulling the charger. The other way now. Step. Fire. Step. Fire. Step. Fire. Another reload. She aims up. Fire. Depress five degrees. Fire. Lower. Fire. Lower. Repeat. Gathering up the brass as it goes, she reloads one final time and holsters the weapon. Pulling the pin on one of three slim, compact canister grenades, she walks up to Kalia, crouches, and carefully places it under her feet, fussing with its position in the dirt, and then tapping it to cook it until an instant before detonation. Walking back, she takes in a deep breath and looks up at the falling ball of curses. "That will be a problem." she says, lost in the vacuum of time. -----[start]----- --and a tearing roar of fire and thunder erupts into the village as the air in front of the figure explodes into a wall of fire and screaming tungsten. Just a split second after, between the gunshots are noticed and before they arrive, the ground beneath Kalia is split with a second, thunderous detonation, shaking the earth with a subsonic thump and towering fireball, likely catching Xianren in it too. The figure in black gathers up as much energy as they can, bizarrely calm despite the tiny holocaust that'd just happened feet away from them, extends their empty hand at the full length of their arm, and multiple layers of marked and segmented circles flash to life around their wrist, rapidly spinning at varying counterclockwise rates full of soft, glassy ticking. A searing beam of unstable magical charge erupts from their hand, slamming head on into the supercharged curse bomb and scouring away at its substance, fighting magic with magic. The mask is fortunate. It measures and shows how well the improvised clash of magic is going, and hides the face of the one glancing unhappily at the numbers, mouthing the words 'come on'. The one wearing it had a sense of the two's power coming in here. That stunt will injure and disorient them, but probably not come close to taking them out of a fight.
Alexis	There's a yowl as the rabbit-mon is grabbed and brutally thrown aside, smashing a hole through another wall due to the force. He's really getting knocked about tonight. There's not really anything Alexis can do in response to the words but hiss and snarl a bit. If she had her mouth free and the breath to spare she'd probably spit at him. Rude child indeed. Even if she's not actually that young anymore! It takes a few moments after that last blow before Rascal gets his wits back in order, shoving his way through the rubble left by the collision. Seeing Alexis still struggling in the tendrils he ignores his own injuries to quickly bound up to her and resume grabbing and trying to pull. With a little squirming around Alexis does finally manage to dislodge another pokeball, getting it to pop between the tendrils and hit the ground on the button to activate it. This one letting out some manner of mouse-porcupine hybrid. The Nidorina at least has sharper claws and teeth, which she uses to help get more of the tendrils apart so they can pull Alexis free (thanks in part to Foreigner not paying attention to them as much now). Alexis wheezes and gasps to get air back in her lunges as she thumps free. She's still a bit out of it, so the two pokemon grab her and in concert dart back down the tunnel the rabbit had dug before with her.
Kalia	It's a testament to Kalia's speed that they're able to riposte before the explosives even go off - but it's a choice they make, too, which might speak volumes about the hero currently pulling the strings. Or at least, having their say to such an extent that Kalia entertains it. They move, like a blur, faster than the flames and the shrapnel, to try and lodge the broken blade into Lilian's chest. To make a statement that this particular dead won't be denied their agency. The cost of that action is obvious: the explosion catches up. And seemingly, Kalia is blown away, and there's nothing left, whether they were killed or merely withdrew, finding the risk unacceptable for the sake of pleasing one measly little spirit, loud as he might have been. Well... not nothing left, exactly. The broken Lakeblade is left behind, whether it's still in Lilian's chest, or never found its way in at all, now on the ground instead, or perhaps in a hand, having been dramatically caught. As for the villagers, the ones evacuated by Maya will be fine, but anyone still left within the village's boundaries just ate a big nasty dose of curses of various natures. Most immediatly harmful but not deadly - weakness, decay, sickness. The only ones who die are those too old to shoulder that burden. It's probably lucky there's a few old men and women left with Maya, at least.
Haguro	That explains that, then. The truth of the matter is still up for debate, but that's enough for Haguro to decide not to intercept Kalia. She does seem confused when Avenger abruptly turns back on trying to burn up everything, although with him and Staren both backing off... Mission accomplished! She breathes a relieved sigh, and even offers Xianren a grateful smile and nod at helping her out there. She does give him a more worried look when he goes after that strange dark probably-a-bomb that Kalia's dropping on the village, though, and she backs away slowly in case it is, in fact, a bomb. % Which Xianren just goes for. Drawing in another sharp breath (more out of concern than pain), Haguro weighs her options. There's nobody in particular she wants to shoot, and she doesn't really care about who these villagers are. What she does want to know, however, is if Kalia's telling the truth or not. And so, Haguro's next stop is trying to find something in the wreckages of these buildings that might actually shed some light on the truth of this place. Spotting that Lakeblade left behind by the stranger's sudden burst of flames, the Abyssal stops as that innate fear of burning to death gives her pause. On one hand, Kalia's no longer around to ask questions of, and the broken sword might be the only clue left. On the other hand, it's next to the person that just blew Kalia up. Haguro's never been one to only make smart decisions. If the busted weapon is on the ground, she'll just try to take the thing nonchalantly and starts walking away. If it's in someone else's possession or body, though, she'll stop by said person and just straight up ask them if she can take it for research despite not knowing what she's going to be doing specifically. She's honest, at least.
Lilian Rook	Fast. Really fast. Aberrations like this don't move like that. Kalia had been so sedate and methodical about executing the village before; Lilian was sure she'd scoped it out. Is it the talent of the warrior inside, or is the vengeful spirit just like that? The sword comes flying at her faster than the bullets. It was a mistake to open with a handgun of all things. Underestimated. The blade comes in at lightning speed and-- -----[stop]----- Lilian feels the breastplate crack and hears the slide of steel through ceramic for the instant just before she reacts. When everything comes to a halt, she is perfectly still for a full second, holding her breath without realizing it, before stepping back from the outstretched lakeblade in relief. Her hand goes to the rent in her breastplate, wiggling a finger inside the substantial hole through it, her jacket, and the clothes underneath, but thankfully not coming away smeared in blood. "Christ!" she whispers, garbled through the mask. "I'm amazed that rusty piece of trash is still even sharp." She looks up to Kalia. "Don't surprise me like that again. I don't like being surprised." She quickly looks back to the explosion, does the math in her head, and arrives at the conclusion that the blast will be just in time, and so takes one, two, three, four, five steps back, and sighs in exasperation, bracing for curse bomb impact. The filigree in her coat gleams silver. -----[start]----- --sparks on empty air, screeching with the sound of metal cutting metal, but finding that the masked figure is suddenly just out of reach. No flash of magic. No blast of air. No flicker of motion. No trick of folding space. The rest all happens at once. Standing up and waving away the smoke, the one in black gets up just in time to snap her hand out and press it to Haguro's face, holding her at arm's length from the sword sunk into the ground. "Sorry again darling, but that's not yours. Ask me later and I might decide to be nice~" Getting a tilde through an intimidating tactical vocalizer isn't easy. It takes practice.
Xianren	Xianren gets refused. The gun clicks, and he's about to teleport to the side and out of the way, space rippling around him, so that he can avoid a bullet. But that's not what happens. Fire and thunder explodes, and underneath their feet, a grenade explodes into a fireball, blasting into Xianren and disorienting him, setting him ablaze. When the smoke and fire clears... Kalia is gone, and Xianren's clothes are mostly gone, leaving behind a tower of muscle in the shape of a man, with a rippled, blackened chest, fire burning through and slowing him down. It's hurt him, damaging his muscles, but he's still moving through it. Xianren breathes through the pain, meditating through how much his body just hurts right now, and then disappears in another ripple of the space around him. He reappears right up in front of the masked individual, and moves to grab them by a shoulder in one trained, superhuman motion. "You will regret that." And then Lilian disappears back again, as the sword comes forward. Several steps. Spatial trickery? That's what he knows best...but he can't feel it. What the hell is going on? The martial artist flickers forward again, clearly frustrated, this time moving to actually grab her by the arm and try and, with a superhuman grip, crush into it and throw her back into a building, white fire following up into it to try and burn through her outfit and skin in the process. But Xianren doesn't know she's messing with time. She has the advantage over him, in that regard, and can avoid several aspects of the attack, probably, even if he's superhumanly fast.
Haguro	The coast is clear. Just lean over and-Haguro has something pressing into her face. She muffles out a confused noise before taking a moment to stop and look up at what's stopping her. It's the stranger! There's one more attempt to grasp it, but she doesn't push the issue for long, mostly due to not liking the feeling of having her face pushed in like that. It's kind of embarassing. "D.. Do you plan on taking it? Since it's not-" And then Xianren's going for Lillian personally. Not quite the solution she had in mind, but if the coast looks clear? Haguro's going to try going for that broken sword again!
Maya	A few were saved not as many as Maya would like but it's better than nothing, this vengeance spirt whatever it is? It has to be handled sooner rather than later, as many old battle sites and other horrors that thing might be able to rouse from the grave. For now, though she's going to keep moving for the moment, with the people she got out. She'll make sure they are secured on Runner for the moment. She also will need to double back later for Alexis, her mon and anyone else in town, given the sorts of beings who are there. For now, she wants a bit more distance. "We are going to need to talk later about what happened with that spirit...but later." It's been a hell of a bad night.
Alexis	Eventually at the edge of the villiage a hole is dug out. The dirt is tossed aside the the Diggersby with his ears as he climbs out, then turns and reachs in to assist the Nidorina in helping Alexis out. Once on the surface Alexis sort of slumps in that spot, still huffing and puffing to get proper air flow in her body now that they're out of the dusty tunnel. She puts an arm around each Pokemon and holds them close, ignoring for the moment Sarin's potentially poisonous spines. That's nothing compared to nearly being choked to death a few minutes ago. "Thanks you two.
Lilian Rook	"Yes, I plan on examining it for what kind of significance it has to this event. If you think this is over, you're sorely mistaken about the way the minds of spirits like these work." the masked figure chides, holding Haguro at bay. They're focused enough on the weird-looking ship spirit, trying to make heads or tails of what to do with the certainly foul-looking but ostensibly harmless girl, when Xianren comes in as a wall of shirtless muscles, turning their head to him at the last second. "Wow." He snags hold of their arm, his grip igniting into white fire. The enchantments in the sleeve flare briefly, then are overwhelmed and break, the whole thing, ballistic glove included, burning away in an instant, leaving him clutching an unexpected petite and feminine arm, weighing surprisingly little. He whips his catch behind his head, winding up the throw and-- -----[stop]----- "God dammit you absolute bastard! I swear I'll- nngh!" Lilian swears, planting both feet on Xianren's shoulder and trying to wrench her arm free. "What is this guy made of?! This is why I learned-" Ceasing her struggling, her body suddenly becomes translucent, and she drifts free of his grasp like a ghost. "-that right away." The second grenade is then inserted into his hand, and the last one tossed at his feet again. "Let him keep thinking that." she mutters to herself. -----[start]----- --abruptly finds himself holding an explosive device, primed to blow, with the added layer of misdirection of another in his shadow. He has a split second before both detonate, and then after the concussive roar is gone, no more masked figure to be seen.
Xianren	Xianren burns through and notices how unexpected that arm is. A woman, possibly? Irrelevant. He's going to make them feel his wrath. He moves to throw them, and then- Xianren's holding a grenade. His eyes widen, and he quickly throws it up at the last second, letting it explode harmlessly far above him. That's good. Except the one in his shadow blasts him forward, burning his back and his legs, and making sure he's going to be stiff and injured for a bit. It doesn't help that he's dizzy, tired, and now there's ringing in his ears. He's also angry. Xianren moves to leave. He needs to heal this off, think over this new interloper. Even the earlier fight doesn't upset him as much as this did.