tatari.

     –Not a plan really worthy of any tactical commendation, but he wasn’t one for that fancy business.

     Red Queen drawn and revved, the two fought as a fiery hurricane–spinning slashing, bashing. There was no pause in his offensive push as he tore a path through the enemy’s ranks. Eventually, he found himself face-to-face with the big bad boss itself, and began to tear into it alongside the others that’d shown up. 

     As he fought, however, he–

                                                  “What’re freaks like you even doing here? 

                        “Monsters, all of you!!”

                                        “Just die and get out of our home already!!”

“Agh–”

     That moment of flinching hesitation brought by the unexpected voices had nearly cost him, had he not been yanked from under the giant foot crashing down. Shaking his head, he’d refocus before getting to his feet and revving Red Queen once more. No time to get distracted by pissy ghosts throwing temper tantrums.

“Yeah yeah, got that already!” He cuts himself short, grabbing a charging drone and using it to knock a surrounding group of the beasts away from the newly positioned trio. “Would sure be a helluva lot easier without the backup dancers crashing the party–!”

either way, it wasn’t much of a problem for him in witch hunter form, just make sure to avoid the monster’s claws and he could cut down as many of those things as he could see.  such were the advantages of having all of his powers restored.  if he needed to, he’d use god hunter, though it didn’t seem like he’d need it.  the risks far outweighed the benefits.

well, as it stood, he’d cleared out enough of these smaller creatures, and now it was time for the bigger one.

dashing in, he readied his sword for a jumping strike at the beast’s belly(?) when he noticed someone else underneath it as well

“need some help?” he asked, coming to a stop, unfortunately underneath its feet.

it didn’t take more than a second before he felt himself being yanked out of the way, only for the giant foot to come crashing down where he and the now complaining boy had been.

“shut up kyouya” he muttered, mistaking the boy’s complaints for that of someone he knew from his own universe, “let’s just figure out how to bring this thing down.  purple hair? can you fight?”

Just as the white-haired man voiced his complaints, a wolf charged forward at the group. Without any hesitation, Sion once again pulled out her pistol and shot the beast between the eyes. As if to add insult to injury, she slammed her foot onto its neck, the connection making a disgusting crack. 

『As I have been the one  felling many of the drones and beasts that wish to rip you to shreds while you’ve all been single-mindedly chipping away at the larger target, I believe I can fend for myself.』 Sion stared intently at the armored man.  『Once again, had you been more aware of your surroundings, perhaps you would have realized that.』

@cuttingsync

“Ow..!” Kana screamed as the beast managed to land a hit on him. Repeatedly, the beast attacks and Kana could not land a single blow towards it. Maybe if he had a stronger weapon to use, he shook his head as his mindless thoughts came to him. Was he to give up now? His mind filled with thoughts of the NPCs hatred for him, Kana grabbed his head in pain as the beast lands yet another blow on him. How many wounds was there on his body? He grabbed his dragonstone tightly but he was too filled with thoughts to transform yet.

Sion chastised herself for thinking of everyone as separate from her. She moved alone, but they all fought towards a common goal. Sion had her own reasons: her death would mean the death of someone very important to her, and she wouldn’t allow that to happen. And if that meant relying on total strangers, then so be it.

At the moment, however, it was a stranger relying on her. A boy crumpled on the ground, beaten and broken, caught her eye. He reached out, his expression pleading for help, towards a drone. The robotic enemy immediately noticed him and moved closer. Sion didn’t need any calculations to figure out how this would end if she left it alone. Sion quickly threw her whip at their direction.

Moving him would possibly hurt him further, so she grabbed the drone’s leg and tripped it. She was there in an instant, placing a fatal bullet into its head. The beast roared out, immediately aware of Sion’s presence. She’d moved too close to it, and she could feel the crazed words of the NPCs filling her mind. She quickly pushed it to an unoccupied partition of her mind before crouching near the boy.

She didn’t need to perform a full scan of the area after all. Another lump of lead struck her in the left shoulder and another whizzed past her left ear. The smile left her face as she gazed at the shooter. A thin line formed under her nose.

“That’s a funny thing to say after shooting someone. Someone could have died.”

She eyed the gun, then turned her eyes to the rest of the purple-toned girl. Was she new? Or maybe she was just someone who worked for one of those groups that always seemed to spring up like weeds. Either way, Ryoko had the same words to say to her.

“You do understand the gravity of the situation, right? Do you even know who you’re standing in front of? That man and his partners attacked me without any aggravation on my part. What I did,” she said, swishing her knife back and forth to shake some blood off, “was simply self-defense. You can’t be that thick-headed to not see who the real victim here is.”

She finally dropped her hand from her face and crossed her arms. The blood coating half of her face had splashed onto her bangs, almost turning it a shade of dark purple. Her face remained as stony as ever, even as the white of her uniform continued to be stained with red.

Even with her eye blown out, the girl still stood. In fact, it seemed to do nothing but inconvenience her for a few minutes. Sion sniffed the air: the scent of human blood was muddled by something more... artificial? It wasn’t the same as what was coming out of the man. 

Not that Sion needed more evidence that the one standing before her wasn’t a normal student.

『I assessed the situation with the minuscule amount of time I had. I needn’t rely on my future sight to see where this would end. In my eyes, the victim is the man standing behind me, and I will not apologize for saving a life. Besides...』Sion took another sniff, recoiling a bit.

❝ its all fun and games until its not that anymore ❞

❝ i grow more powerful every day and by powerful i mean sad ❞

❝ only the good die young? phew good thing that i am so incredibly awful ❞

❝ if theres one thing i dont know about its everything ❞

❝ heres some general life advice, when the sun hits the ground find somewhere to hide ❞

❝ surfs up. hail satan ❞

❝ after 13 long years congress approved a bill that will finally let the bodies hit the floor ❞

❝ hey kids, i know youre struggling right now but im here to tell you, everything gets worse forever ❞

❝ in a way aren’t we all responsible for my actions ❞

❝ some say love is a river, me i say things that make sense ❞

❝ if your newborn baby has a full head of hair that means it is a business baby and is ready to enter the world of finance ❞

❝ i may be dumb as hell but i am also insanely stupid ❞

❝ take every thing you own and throw it into the ocean who cares ❞

❝ you know the old saying, boys will be trash ❞

❝ one of these days i will float up off into damn space and no one can stop me, not even gravity or nasa ❞

❝ if i could shoot anything with a gun i would probably shoot another gun, the hunter become the hunted ❞

❝ lets forget about the bodies for a second. what do you really want to let hit the floor? your feelings perhaps? ❞

❝ i’ve seen a lot of things in my time, which i blame on me leaving my eyes open. things got a lot better once i decided to just close them ❞

❝ learning from mistakes is for people who recognise that they make mistakes. i dont give a shit ❞

❝ there are few things in life that can’t be achieved with occult dark magic ❞

❝ how to predict the future: think of the worst possible thing that could happen ❞

❝ halloween is forever bitch ❞

❝ who are the real criminals, me who does the crimes or the people who hurt my feelings all the time ❞

❝ looks like things are always happening once again ❞

❝ i am going to lay completely still on the forest floor until either things start going my way or i disintegrate into nothing ❞

❝ im sure im going to ruffle some feathers with this but given the choice between good times and bad times i would like to have the good times ❞

❝ the best way to solve problems is to create more problems until you are dead ❞

❝ tired of people always telling me go to hospital and that i’ve lost a lot of blood, its my severe head injury not yours stay out of it ❞

❝ i hit the hay all day mother fucker. 24 hour sleep cycle. if you awake you a fake. its bed time bitch ❞

❝ i hope one day i will find love, or a cool looking leaf. either one ❞

❝ piles of uneaten candy will signal im dead ❞

❝ the hairless rat is not a new species, merely a result of my failed scam of shaving rats and selling the hair back to them at a high price ❞

❝ we let the bodies hit the floor then what? next we’ll have bodies hitting walls, roofs, you name it, bodies will be hitting it ❞

❝ sometimes the people that hurt us the most are the ones swinging big knives around while screaming and trying to cut us ❞

❝ yeah yeah blame the guy whos dna matches with the dna found at the crime scene. surprise surprise ❞

❝ for as long as i can remember i have been able to remember things, maybe even before that ❞

❝ yeah i looked both ways before crossing the street, i looked both ‘handsome’ and ‘radiant’, too bad i got hit by that car ❞

❝ stop living in a dream world and start living in the regular nightmare world all of the rest of us live in ❞

❝ blood moon, very cool to see. and whats the sun doing again? the same regular thing for the millionth time? what a load of worthless trash ❞

❝ if existing for an amount of time has taught me anything its that i have no idea whats going on ❞

❝ hurled my bible at the paper boy and knocked him off his bike with the real news ❞

❝ i’ll go in whatever direction the wind takes me, and if i am too heavy for wind to move me around i will probably just lay down and die here ❞

❝ i’ve said it before and i will say it again, i think people should give me hundreds of dollars and feel good about doing it ❞

❝ wow, i’ve never thought about it like that before. and i never will. i’ve already forgotten what you said, good bye forever ❞

❝ stop being so defensive i am just trying to hit you with weapons ❞

❝ dont betray me and act surprised when i get revenge on you, thats the number one consequence of betraying me. everyone knows it. even babies ❞

❝ blood is just nature’s red water that flys out when you make a mistake. relax and enjoy the experience for once ❞

❝ reached the limit of what you can do with imagination? why not try occult dark magic ❞

❝ if anyone needs me i will be laying face down on the ocean floor ❞

Actually, he could recall clearly those people and he could remember who he had witnessed before that were attacking other people. They certainly are cowering now that there was a bigger threat.

“Of course, I’m only shooting the ones that I’ve seen before. You know, ganging up on someone weaker and using their newfound abilities to even kill others. Why should I care if they are harmless now? Of course, that’s only because they only hunt those weaker than themselves,” he was without mercy as long as one was deemed a target, or have assaulted someone before. Male, female, young, old, he did not discriminate at all.

Such a harsh reaction. Even Sion couldn’t have calculated such a reaction from a man who not only helped her, but would also go out of his way to continue with the womanizer attitude during a situation like this. Reiku was full of surprises, it seemed.

『Bad with blood...』 Definitely not. The exact opposite would be closer to the truth: she needed blood to survive, and since arriving, she hadn’t the chance to drink from a safer source. Just a little was enough, but in this situation, Sion could feel her vampiric side trying to take over.

“I’ve been attacked by complete strangers almost eight  times now. I wonder why everybody’s suddenly so hostile towards each other?”

The boy may be an enemy, and he may be much more than he seems. Best to be on guard.

When they were confronted by a group, he extended a hand out and summoned one of his spirits by invoking their name. “Miranda.”

The gun materialized in his hand and he wasted no time in charging it with his own mana and firing at the NPC’s with deadly accurately. He spared no quarters and the first volley caused the death of five NPC’s already while the others sought cover.

He started to pull Sion towards another way as the barrel of the gun recharged by spinning a reloading mechanism similar to a revolver’s although it only needs to be charged with mana.

Sion kept her eyes away from the carnage. Her mind reeled, inspecting the gun in his hand. The bullets were definitely not physical, not with how they were tearing apart those bodies, leaving their carcasses a bloody mess. The air filled with the smell of blood, keep your mind off of it, how does he summon that gun, keep your mind on something else, but you’re so hungry so very hungry—

This didn’t turn out to be such a good idea in the end.

Of course, Ryoko was thinking in the shoes of the trembling man before her, who was currently nursing a slash on his left side. Blood stained the grey fabric of his shirt a dull scarlet, but she hadn’t delivered a fatal blow. The cut was barely an inch deep and hadn’t punctured any major organs. He would make it with a disinfected bandaging and some rest.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t planning on allowing that to happen.

“What exactly did you think you would accomplish by harming me? That by killing me or scaring me, it would teach others to not abuse the common folk?” the blue-haired girl went, tapping her bloodied knife against an open palm. “If anything, you’re just adding to the fire that seems to burn eternally here. Because even if all of you super-humans somehow managed to get us all to kowtow to you, then what? What?”

When all she received was a whimper and a few strangled words in return, the tip of the knife went to her index finger instead.

“That’s right. The scientists would have eventually brought in a whole new group of normal mortal subjects, and you would have treated them like your slaves. They would hate you over time and we’d be right back here in this very moment. It’s all a vicious cycle- one that only I have had the insight to see. But… I can understand the circumstances. After all, you’re only human.”

Ryoko walked forward, stepping over bits of broken asphalt, burnt plant-life, and drops of dried magma.   

“Really, I shouldn’t expect much else from this city or its inhabitants. But I always yearn for more,” she went, stepping over half of a bisected corpse. “Maybe next time? Well, anyway, it was wonderful to learn about the city’s side of this new conflict and observe your new abilities! I can always appreciate a new addition to my archives. So…”

She waited five more seconds for him to crawl away before she suddenly rushed toward him, never changing tone or expression.

What was happening now could be considered a war, but perhaps it would be closer to truth to call it a massacre. There were sides, of course, but death was skewed more towards the NPCs. 

Should the battle be for a good cause, such as self-defense, there would be no problem. She, too, had blood on her hands, but those were usually of vampires whose existence was a blight on humanity. However, the scene she came upon had no reason for the cruelty. 

Sion quickly drew her pistol and shot at the assailant. Unlike the useless B.B. gun assigned to her when she first arrived, the gun she scavenged from the carnage could deal real damage. It wasn’t the Barrel Replica, but it would do.

Whether she hit the blue-haired girl or not was of no importance at the moment. She ran towards the man, continually shooting at the teenage. Finally, she stopped, keeping the barrel pointed at the girl as she looked upon the man. His terrified face was enough to explain the entire situation. She looked back at the girl.

Most of them were trying to aim for the weaker ability users or symphatizers. They avoided the magic wing since he erected a very effective and effiient barrier. So he decided to intercept these groups on the streets.

“Oi, you! I know you,” he remembered encountering this woman before. He was not sure if she was human but he was certain that she was not average. He quickly walked up to her to try and grab her hand and lead her out of that area.

That’s why she was caught off guard when he grabbed her hand and led her away, speaking seriously all the while. She had calculated such an outcome, but only with a small margin of success. Once she was about her wits, Sion still gave no resistance to the gesture. She knew very little of the situation at hand, but she could easily discern its severity.