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RPC Name: Veric Brener

Bloodline being applied for: Anima Machinae

Give me some strengths and weaknesses from the bloodline:

The immediate advantages of the Anima Machinae were quickly witnessed. Being machines, they had no need for food or water, could not feel pain but were capable of discerning damage, were immune to poisons and didn't even require air to breath. Furthermore, they were made of metal, making them far more durable than organics, allowing them to take more punishment if needed.

That said, Anima Machinae are machines, sentient but machines nevertheless. If they run out of energy, the Anima engages an emergency shut-down to prevent total destruction and remain inert until repair. Sadly as all machines, broken or damaged areas must be repaired or replaced. They cannot be "healed" such as with magic. Water is more effective against the Anima, as the energy inherent in their system is susceptible to it. Furthermore, removal of their core initiates a slow shutdown. It is slow to grant the Anima a chance to reacquire the core if it is removed during combat.

RP Sample:

Veric shifted his cloak to better protect him from the rain. Even after over 400 years, he still felt on edge due to the rain. Perhaps a result of many factors, but first and foremost, because water was inherently a threat to the Anima. He had been traveling through the forest for months now, and its desolation, the lack of food and water would have killed any other. But he was Anima, built to last, built to simply live on.

His footfalls crushed the undergrowth as metal whirred and hissed with every step he took. He had stumbled across a bandit camp not too long ago, how they had survived he could not guess. No matter, they were dead now. Their weapons had failed to even dent his plating, their look of surprise had been... pleasing. So had been the satisfying crunch as his metal fist met with their fleshy body. Idiotic meatbags, they hadn't even tried targeting his core, as they should have. not that it would have made much of a difference. A sigh rumbled through the steel plating, he missed combat. After all, he had been built for it. Sadly, that bout had been too short to satisfy the Anima. To be unable to fulfill his primary focus in life always gnawed at him. But he would simply find new work, the merc was nothing if not patient.

RPC Name: Fia Nakamura (Lab post)

Bloodline being applied for: Kakurenbo

Give me some strengths and weaknesses from the bloodline: A big strength would be the illusions that they learn. The ability to play mind tricks is something that often turns the tide of a battle to the advantage of a Kakurenbo. After all it's easy to stab someone in the back when they're busy running through nonexistent flames or fighting invisible monsters. A weakness, however, is they are not psychically strong compared to other bloodlines. They also suffer from heightened senses and the obsession over their masks.

RP Sample (Be sure to include said strengths and weaknesses in your sample):
(For sample purposes she has all her tails. I also apologize for the length. I got carried away o -o')
(I'm also working on the custom weapons.)

Fia stared at the hand that was extended to her. She was looking sideways at a human male with short brown hair and medium iron armor. He seemed to be what was a typical 'warrior' or 'knight' type of guy. She stopped a wild boar (which was now dead in her clutches) from charging the oblivious man and slaughtering him instead. Truth be told she had been hunting it for awhile and didn't realize that was someone else roaming the forest and had caught the boar for dinner. After she had, unintentionally, saved the man he had thanked her enthusiastically and was currently waiting on a handshake from the silent fox.

The man just stood there with an awkward smile on his face. Nothing moved and the only noises came from the birds and bugs in the trees. A small gust of wind blew through the forest. As the wind died down before Fia actually moved. Her ears and all nine of her tails twitched slightly as she caught the man's scent on the wind. He smelled like he hadn't had a bath in a long while, not that it wasn't uncommon even Fia felt grimy after a few days of travel. However, there was a smell that concerned her a little bit, but she simply blew it off as the dead boar in her hands. Finally Fia took her left hand and slightly shook the man's right hand. Fia never did understand a handshake, but if it's what he wanted then so be it.

As soon as she grabbed the guys' hand she pulled into an uncomfortable one armed hug. "Well, well my foxy friend! I thank you for saving me from that wild beast you have a hold there, so allow me to treat you to dinner!" without waiting for an answer from her, he dragged her to a trail that wasn't far off from their location.


*~ about an hour later ~*


Fia sat quietly on her knees while she struggled with the rope that was tied around her wrists. Apparently the man she had rescued was not only a thief and a murderer, but also a vampire with a bunch of lackies at his beck and call. He had dragged her to a run down looking castle that looked like it had seen better days in the past and the inside was not much better. Fia was currently in what would have been a dungeon cell from the looks of it. However the bricks were crumbling apart in some places on the back wall and the iron door was a rusty red color. It wasn't exactly maxim security that much was certain.

The Vampire Lord, or whatever he had called himself, was seriously underestimating her. It was almost insulting. 'It stinks like a pig pen in here...' Rolling onto her back she maneuvered her arms under her feet so that they were now in front of her. While the vampire had taken her bag, sword, and guns Fia was not completely without a weapon. Putting a small amount of her energy into, what looked like a wrist guard, a small ripping sound broke the silence of the dungeon. A needle like blade ripped through the thin rope that had previously been tying her wrists together. Standing up and rubbing her wrists to get the circulation back in her arms, Fia glanced around the room to get a better look. The horrible sour stench she was smelling wasn't in the same room as herself. It seemed to be coming from a room a few jail doors down. Ignoring the burning that was in her nose Fia gently poked the rusty iron door.

The door squeaked a little and rattled on it's hinges at the touch. Red dust fell from the hinges as it shook. Fia grasped the bars and attempted to look down the hall way towards where she could hear voices and movement. There was a staircase not to far away, so she figured there was a door as well. 'Time to get out of here.' Fia stuck her right hand through the bars and took a slight breath. Snapping her fingers Fia created the illusion of a sound akin to a bomb going off in the dungeons. Immediately Fia hopped backwards into the cell and kicked the ropes that were on the floor into the corner of the small room. Upstairs she could hear a new commotion of loud thuds from people toppling out of chairs or beds, followed by muffled curses, and finally footsteps coming down the stairs.

Fia backed into the corner just right of the door and held her breath as she simply vanished into thin air. Seconds later the door was shoved open so violently it came off the hinges and clattered into the cell with a loud bang. Two men with swords drawn were standing in the center of cell completely dumbfounded. They were sure a bomb had just gone off. Although, there was no dust, hole, or any evidence of such a thing happening. Not only that their prisoner was no where to be seen. Fia was, in fact, still in the corner only she was completely camouflaged at the moment. Walking outside of the cell Fia waved her right hand up and down in the door way. To the men still searching the empty room the stone wall had just filled in the hole where the door should have been. Fia didn't stick around to see the two excellent mimes bang on a nonexistent door.

She ran down the down the hallway and hopped up the stairs two at a time. Still using her camouflage illusion, Fia was nothing more than a blur passing by people on the steps. She went mostly unnoticed on the steps. The first guy to have come down, she did bump into, but he blamed it on the fella just behind him as she got to the top of the stairs and came to a halt. At the top of the stairs Fia hut the heavy wooden door the dungeons and put the wooden bar that locked the door down, so that the four men in the dungeons wouldn't be a problem for her. They would be found sooner or later. Besides, they had a bathroom by the smell of it down here.

Fia looked around the area. There was one other long hallway, but what caught her eyes was a room that was just across the hall. The wall facing her was nothing more than rusty iron bars like what was below her feet in the dungeons, but it looked like a storage room. 'My bag must be in there.' Fia thought as she walked quickly into the room and rummaged through the stolen belongings that had been gathered over the years. Jewels, clothes, weapons, and even pots and pans were just a few things that the fox woman ignored. Her mind was set only on the white leather bag and weapons she had come into the castle with. Fia was fickle with very few things. She didn't like a particular sword to be taken away from her. In fact she loved the sword so much that she called it Precious. While she was looking for the bag her camouflage wore off to reveal Fia. Not finding Precious or anything else that belonged to her was really starting to frustrate her.

Luckily an outlet for that just came barreling around the corner to the dungeon door (where the four trapped guards were finally calling for help and banging on the locked door.) Fia stood up straight and glanced over her shoulder too see who it was that interrupted her search. It was another small group of three guys varying in sizes and age. Each held a different weapon. The one on the right held a great sword, the one on the left had a lance and the middle had a very large ax in hand. "Stop right there!" The one with the sword said. His two friends raised their weapons slightly just in case. Fia turned to the three men with her usually frown stuck on her face. "Where is my bag?" she asked showing no fear of the weapons or the goons holding them. "Like we're tellin' ya!" the ax man spoke up and started towards Fia with a hand outstretched. These men made several mistakes all in one little moment. The first was corning Fia in a room with only one exit. The other was placing a hand on her shoulder.

In a flash Fia grabbed the ax man's hand with her left and used her right hand to grab the back of the man's head by his hair. Before his two friends could help him out, the fox woman flipped the poor human over her head and sent him crashing back first into several barrels of gold and precious jewels. While Fia wasn't physically strong, she did know a thing or two about using her opponents strengths against themselves. Heavy people tended to be easy to flip like that so long as she braced herself first. Turing around Fia was able to see the lance coming straight at her. Ducking to her right Fia stretched out her left arm to grab the lance man by the neck. As soon as her fingers closed around his neck Mr. Stabby (her hidden blade) pierced several inches into his neck. The unfortunate soul hit the ground dead while his friend with the sword stood in shock at what just happened. In the length of several seconds one or both of his comrades were dead.

"Where is my..." Standing up straight, Fia was about to question the last man standing, but as soon as she had straightened up the great sword had clattered to the ground. The man was nothing more than a dust cloud going off in the distance down the hallway and taking a turn to the center of the castle by the looks of it. All nine of her tails puffed up in slight annoyance. Now she would have to track someone down. She glanced at the door to the dungeon which had stopped rattling, but the trapped men were still shouting or mumbling. She thought for several seconds about opening that door and finding out where her bag was, but there was four against one and that was to much for her to handle without the rest of her weapons. Besides that, that sour smell from below was starting to seep through the door. Fia's nose was starting to burn once more just from standing that close to the door, so she followed the dust trail from the man to the center of the castle.


*~ A few minutes and several wrong turns and dead ends later ~*


Fia's tails were now fully puffed up and her temper was dangerously short. If there was one thing she hated it was her lack of common sense when it came to directions in buildings. She had no idea why humans built such stone monstrosities with so many twists and turns and dead ends. To live in such cramped and confusing places made no sense to her at all. She had shocked and locked in several other people found in what she could only guess were the sleeping quarters for the mortals. One particular man was currently backing away from Fia as he could sense that something bad was about to happen. A low growl came from Fia as the man finally backed into the wall. The man let out a somewhat girlish scream as her left hand shot out from under her gray cloak and wrapped around his throat. Her nails grew into long and sharp claws on both hands. "Where is that Vampire!?" she demanded. Behind her mask, the man could see her blue and yellow eyes dangerously narrowing into a glare. She hadn't been able to find her bag in the many rooms she had found, so the only logical place for it to be was with that vampire.

The man she currently strangling pointed to a nearby window. Dragging her prisoner over to the window she looked out to see that she had somehow made to the third floor of the castle. But what grabbed her attention was the vampire standing out in the middle of the courtyard all by himself. In the light of the crescent it was easy to tell that he was indeed a vampire. The tall-tale red glowing eyes were a dead give away now. Fia had thought it was a trick of the fading sunlight before in the forest. Growling again Fia could see that the Vampire was holding her bag in a very taunting manner. Swinging it by the strap was annoying her to no ends. The stitching was durable, but swinging it like that would damage it anyways. Opening the window Fia shoved the man she was dragging around by the throat out the window. The man screamed, of course, but didn't hit the ground. He got caught by his shirt on a flag pole that was just a few below.

Making her way down into the courtyard Fia marched over to the arrogant vampire. She stopped in her tracks when the Vampire dropped her bag she huffed loudly. "It's impressive that you escape the castle in one piece, but you look rather worn out." Fia said nothing as the vampire took out a long and thin sword. "I suppose your 'knightly manner' only exceeds as far as dinner then? Fighting an unarmed opponent isn't exactly sporting of you is it?" Fia said crouching down slightly with her ears perked up towards the vampire and pointed to the vampire. The demonic man simply shrugged and gave her a creepy grin. "I don't really care for what the food thinks." He said and charged towards Fia at a full run. She started to run at the man as well. Just before the two got within striking distance of the vampires sword, Fia's footing found a large rock that was jutting out the ground. Jumping off the rock Fia took the vampire by surprise. The woman's human appearance suddenly changed shape to that of a giant, dark blue, nine-tailed fox. That's not that happened. In the next second after the sudden change Fia just upped and disappeared from sight altogether. The vampire swung in an attempt to hit the strange fox just before the disappearing act, but did nothing more than slash at thin air.

The vampire was suddenly all alone in the middle of courtyard. Whipping around he noticed that the leather bag was right where he left it. The only thing that was missing was the five foot tall, dark blue with blonde tipped fur, fox that had been about to bite him in the heck. 'Where did she...' as he tried to find his missing prey he slipped out a small dagger from his belt.
FIa was quiet happy that her teleportation had worked along with her camouflage. It was always rather fun to watch whatever she was attacking go into a bit of a panic after. Knowing that there must be an unnaturally large fox stalking them was unsettling to say the least.

Fia let out a long and low growl from the vampires right hand side. It lasted just long enough for the vampire to turn around and throw the small dagger in Fia's general area. Fia ducked down to the ground to avoid the dagger and immediately reappeared on the spot while lunging for the vampires legs and snapping at his feet. The vampire stumbled backwards to avoid the sharp teeth and claws. He swung down, but missed from lack of balance. Fia backed away quickly before running up to his left and again snapping at his feet and even taken a go at getting his arms and hands. The two kept up the strange dance of backing, snapping, swiping and stumbling until the vampire lost all his balance on the rock that Fia had bounced off moment ago. The vampire looked back at Fia too see that she was back into her human form and that her left hand was aimed straight for his head.


*~ One high pitched and very girly shriek later ~*


Fia stopped walking through the woods with her ears perked up and looked backed towards the castle she had just escaped from minutes ago. A rare smile went across her face as she could only imagine what the arrogant vampire was going through right now. Illusions were a tricky business, but they made for rather funny escapes. She had wanted to stick around to see the vampire flail wildly at the illusion form of herself before hitting his head on the ground and coming out of the nightmarish battle. "Heh~ Oh well." Fia chuckled slightly and patted her white bag and all her weapons lovingly. The bag was a little heavier than had been before she had gotten caught by the (now very embarrassed) vampire. When she had been tramping around the castle trying to find her way out, Fia had come across the extraordinary smells of the kitchen where the cooks were preparing to store the boar she had killed earlier. The cooks were all to happy to give her the salted pork back in nice little wrappings to keep from getting bad to quickly. 'At least I won't have to go hunting for a bit now~' Fia thought happily and continued on her journey.

RPC Name: Michiyo Nakamura (Sister of Maxim Nakamura and Fia Nakamura)

Bloodline being applied for: Kakurenbo

Give me some strengths and weaknesses from the bloodline: Speed and illusion. Kakurenbo fit the bill for illusions and trickery, naturally inclined to be thieves and tricksters in a way. With an array of different talents, they gain a multitude of abilities from eating the hearts as apart of their custom to a defeated foe. With a general 50 to 75 (dice rolling depending on lucky tail bonus) percent chance of inflicting an illusion, their skills aren't entirely reliable as they should fall back on other means for combat for they're not one for close quarters combat unless speed is in the equation.

RP Sample (Be sure to include said strengths and weaknesses in your sample):

Warping out of the air, a fox tail girl stepped out of an unseen rip in time and space in the middle of the night. Blue specs of magic hovered around as she donned a mask to hide her true face. In a sleek red kimono, she was not dressed like an assassin or a scheming rouge. It wasn't needed for her illusions served purpose enough. The rift vanished as her seven tails moved back and forth as she quietly walked in the dark camp.

'Necklace. Should be here.' Michiyo lifted her mask and blinked deep amber eyes to peer around. Greed was the motive here, that impulse to get what she wanted. But, there was something else. Ah yes, the one she needed to hunt down for sister. Such an odd occupation of her's to mindlessly take lives.

The wind speaks... Michiyo listened to the wind as it gently blew through the camp as her physical form seemed to wipe away from reality, camouflage to the extreme. The elements refused to let secrets by, so loose with what she could be told. But they told her the little bits that she could go by. Nearby voices caught her attention as she walked slowly as to not disrupt the illusion.

More guards wandered on as she pressed deeper, still maintaining her form and avoiding those who may touch her physically. She looked about, looking for a certain man whom been a thorn in her side as well as her sister's. For Kenshin-sama as well. But she didn't care for what reason, the girl only wanted the necklace to add to her collection. Yet it would serve as a nice memory as her little trinkets always did.

Where? Michiyo then heard it, the familiar tone of the-hated-one. Her ears twitched at the noises as some soldiers surrounded a camp fire with the drunken singing, abusing the lyrics of some poor song. She felt the need to silence them, but no. She would spare them for the sake of only Kenshin and Fia. I must be good. For Kenshin-sama...

She smirked then and drew down her mask before the space around her body warped through space and time once again. Going based off sound alone, the time to reveal her form was now. As the man spoke, chaos started then as an uneasy air settled upon him and his lieutenant along with those all around. In the air above the space and time ripped open as a woman appeared suspended in the air. A few alarmed shouts came in reply to the woman's appearance.

Tails flaring and mask donned, she slowly levitated down using the elemental effects of air itself to slowly ease herself down. The-hated-one barked an order in his native tongue while pointing towards her. Words such as 'witch' and 'demon' escaped their mouths and this angered the woman. It would not slide. No not at all.

"Urusai..." She said, commenting on the growing noise as her hands splayed apart as mass amounts of magic churned. Bulging from the ground were flowers created from magic popping open and releasing a spore into the air. Mass confusion came even more as the woman's tails waved, casting an illusion to replace the dreadful sausage fest of a camp to a wide open meadow. To hide the fact the flowers are not apart of the illusion.

Already one by one the men dropped into a slumber as the woman touched ground and walked slowly, calmly. Fear rose as she spoke in her native tongue, again specs of blue magic swirled around her as she walked slowly as the world shattered to her victims. Changing the scenary constantly and warping reality to her opponents, she was having a little too fun with this as the-hated-one ran.

"Kill this demon! Don't let her get the captain!" The second in command whom been speaking with the-hated-one and he was starting too annoy the fox woman. Her attention was only for the sleazy man, but he would entice courage in these men and she couldn't have that. Three men with spears braved the illusion and charged straight at the girl to run her through, yet it was futile as with a flick of either wrist she churned the elements. Tendrils of flame lashed out then like whips, smacking across either man with scorching blows to discourage them from trying to interfere with her objective.

The next was the noisy man with the sword, spouting nonsense in words she didn't know of in their language. "Shh...Silence is good." Michiyo said in the mass confusion of burned troops and the span of sleeping bodies from her spell. Other illusions played about to what seemed real to the others, foxes that weren't real swarmed and monsters of unknown origin rampaged. While in reality, they were screaming only at bits of magic and thin air. The man backed away as he saw what she had done.

"Get away!" he yelled as he rose his arms up to bring down a sword. Michiyo smiled behind her mask as she said something in her tongue. With a swipe, the noisy-one was wrapped in a torrent of water as it caught him unaware. "Shh... Only one needs death." She said quietly as the man fought against the spiraling water before the girl shot a gust of wind that struck him dead on the chest and pushed him back.

"He gets away..." Michiyo frowned as she picked up the pace of her walking before strands of mana surrounded her. There her physical form once again faded out and went through space and time. Chaos. All of this was just fun for the girl as she reformed nearby the-hated-one and guided her body slowly from the sky. There the prey ran, shoving aside the insane men in the illusions at the hell raging all around. There vines grew and latched on to his foot, tripping the male as the woman touched the ground.

He screamed as the growing thorny vines wrapped around his body. Fear grew and she watched intently at this, smiling behind her mask as she knew this would please Fia-chan and Kenshin-sama. Maybe even Maxy-kun. He yelled at her, again words were spoken that she didn't know. How annoying as she rose her hands to channel magic more into hands.

"Necklace..." She said first and walked over the man as her tails waved. The feeling of being incapciated then washed over his body, as if being robbed of his stamina. Vines coiled around the body and began to constrict as the struggle lessened more. Michiyo reached down at his neck and grasped a intricately designed piece of jewelry and pulled it off. Her objective, complete.

The screaming fit of giobberish and odd words came still and her ears flattened from annoyance. "Shh...Silent." Michiyo said quietly as she slid the necklace into her kimono and then covered his mouth with one hand. It muffled him and he still thrashed about. Cupping her fingers on her left hand together, she drove them down and pierced her claws directly into the neck and severed an artery.

He twitched at first and convulsed against the sudden lethal strike and then... silence. Michiyo tilted her head to the side and smiled, knowing that he released another from cruel life. Covered in the blood of the only one she had killed, she prompted the end of each illusion with single waves of her tails. The sanity of these men would soon return, but she enjoyed the show they put on. Fia-chan's objective was complete as the girl sliced into the chest cavity of the fallen man, using her claws to reach his heart and tear it out of place. A suitable gift for her beloved siblings, although Kenshin-sama disliked hearts. Why? She didn't understand.

The illusions died away and the girl's form faded away from existence, activating her form that hid from man's eyes. Shortly after that, she teleported once more, clearing way out of the camp. Now back out in the wild where she could bound off in her fox form, Michiyo lifted her mask and stuffed the heart into a cloth sack.

-The End-

RPC Name: Zilvyrr Do'ervs

Bloodline being applied for: Kakurenbo

Give me some strengths and weaknesses from the bloodline: Limited classes and such, the metamorfa are generally spell casters and heavy magic users with a few exceptions of monks and warriors. They're long-living creatures that can shape shift into whatever they so desire and are not subject to death from age or disease.

RP Sample:

Boom. 'Nother contract formed. In the field of combat, probably not the best place with arrows and the bullets a'flying. The pointy eared shapeshifter was already in action, for this one was simple to silence the turret on the far side of the field. Man's weaponry and magic never ceased to stop growing, did it. This one was a simple chain gun wreaking havoc on the mercenaries, a simple skirmish to overrun some overzealous bandits. Agreeing to the terms, she would take care of it easily.

Climbing up a tree to get a vantage point, the shape shifter positioned herself on a branch. Envisioning a bird, she jumped and morphed in a white veil of magic. For a split second, she changed her physical form and flew in the form of a duck and glided over the area as the battle raged on. Up here she was relatively safe lest a stray bullet or bolt of mana shot upwards. The rapid 'thu-thu-thu' of the heavy caliber chain gun echoed over everything, each round it fired tore men asunder and struck fear in her contractee's heart. That would not be the case any longer.

Nearing this turret, the shape shifter dive bombed then and shot up just in time to rapidly decelerate and get into position. They didn't bare any notice to a random duck flying about until the creature was wrapped in a celestial white light and came straight at a man. There an elven-like woman in a monk's garb spear-kicked square on the chest before he even lifted his gun. He crumpled to the ground with fractured ribs and she rolled off before darting up toward the turret as the commotion had just began. Two soldiers brought up arms and open fired with crossbows along with one mage unleashing a ball of fire.

Zilvyrr channeled the energy in her body as a translucent green barrier emitted then all around her body to ward off all three attacks on her person. That was when she gotten to the turret in which she formed another green ball of natural energy and flung it at the door. There it broke the door apart like splinters and the real action begun. There the faint signals of life of two people could be seen from within as the heavy echo of the chain gun ceased.

Looking back in confusion, one man shouted in a foreign language language before the shape shifter unleashed an energy bolt from her monk training straight at the chest. The other reached for his sword before the girl was upon him, delivering a stomach punch that caused him to double over and react. Both opposing troops were disabled and she enhanced her fist then and punched the chain gun's mechanism, destroying its ability to work beyond repair before she morphed into the shape of a rat. Just as others began to pull in, the little rat was scurrying away for them to only find two disabled troops and a sabotaged gun.

The contract was complete. And the bandits would soon be overrun without their heavy turret unleashing hell from above.

The only major issue that I see is in bold. You've done a good metamorfa application (which I assume that you've done the application for but would like confirmation first please) yet I would like to point out a few minor things. The transformation of the race during combat is limited to one per post as noted within the skill (just a reminder). Additionally, Divine Protection blocks "an" attack as opposed to the three which you have blocked at the same time, and as the skill has a CD both the second and third attacks would go through without additional dodging or blocking. Finally, I'm not entirely sure that the ability "Nature's Knot" would be able to beat down any door as we have various levels of strength, a question best left for the creator of the Metamorfa's, Manpish or for SorceressJacklyn.

RPC Name: Marco Vialnaldi

Bloodline: Idol


Battle Strength

- can manipulate sound waves for damaging attacks.
- music can harm the sensitive hearing

Battle Weakness

- physically weak and not too fast.
- muted or loses instrument? useless


RP Sample:

He smelled the smoke before he saw it; he followed the ashy scent down the hall, as the smell grew stronger, so did his fear. Not fear of what was causing the smoke, but fear for Lana, for her room was in the direction that scent was coming from.

And his fear was confirmed when he saw black mist seeping from the crack between the floor and the door. His feet, which moved with caution before, now moved with panic. He grabbed the handle of the door; the metal sizzled his skil, and he hissed in pain, pulling his hand back.

"Lana! Lana!" he screamed.

For a moment nothing, and then, the softest of whimpers. She was alive.

"Hold on!"

He tore the case of his guitar from has back, and slammed the base of it into the door. The door rattled.

"s**t, s**t s**t!"

[seismic blast] With a hiss of frustration, he focused his chi into his door and smashed his foot into it. The door creaked, and rattled, and with a burst of strength, he slammed the guitar case into it once again. The door fell into the room with a mighty crash.

Hell greeted him.

Flames devoured all the room - the bed, the curtains, the dresser, the clothing rack - and they feasted most hungrily upon Lana. She was surrounded in the shimmering gold of a sheild, but the flames had broken through, and here dining on her legs.

A few feet from her, a shadow lay recovering; its dark head turned on him as he entered. It stood, and rasied, knife-like arms with movements that were jerky. Before he could react, the shadow sprung.

Pain exploded in his stomach, wetness kissed his skin. A gasp tore from his lips. White curled across the shadowed face hovering inches from his, a mouth pulled into a leer.

It widened, when a soft voice cried out. Lana was burning.

marco slammed hiis guitar case into the shadow. It did not budge.

"What was that pretty boy? All looks, no strength...." a cackle. Maro grinned and slammed the case into him again [Spiral Sound], snapping his fingers as he did.

He let out a scream of pain as metal slipped from his flesh. The world swirled befor e him, but he kept his wits enough to haphazardly open the case and pull out his guitar.

The shadow sprung again, but missed, blade striking to the right, man stumbling. Marcos slammed his foot into the man's back. he stumbled and crashed to the ground where he lay for a moment, cluthing his head.

Now was the chance. If he did not kill the man npw, but he and Lana were dead.

[Slicing Sound ] Focusing his chi into the sides of both hands, he drove them into the shadow's legs. A scream of pain as the sound flayed flesh and bone, the clatter of metal as the shadow, dropped his weapons and cluched his legs.

[Death Strike] Marco sprang. Focusing all his chi, his anger his palms. If this attack failed....he slammed his hands over the man's ears.

The cry was short. It cut into a gurgle, and the the man swayed for a moment, before falling on his face. Darkness claimed Marco in that same moment.