Welcome to Gaia! ::

Flame. Blue flame washing everywhere. There was no time to dodge as a column of flame engulfed them, unbearable and searing, steadily burning away the FEAR shield that Ferros held protectively around himself and his Hunter. Jordan couldn't help sucking in a startled breath. Mistake - superheated air washed down his throat, painfully hot and dry. When the assault finally let up, flames curling away into nothing, Jordan swayed, coughing helplessly and unable to take in enough air.

Through the haze, he could hear Caelius calling for retreat. It sounded like a good idea, but he wasn't going yet. Not until he knew his team had gotten out. Around him, he saw several trainees grab for their pendants, obeying the order ... and not going anywhere. It wasn't working. Ferros was keening an uncertain, wavering note, distress and overload and pain; more worrisome yet was the fact that the weapon's weight was fluctuating, noticeably lighter or heavier from moment to moment. The towering thing that had once been Aria and her weapon was warping everything around it, so badly, horribly wrong that the world itself couldn't contain what was happening.

The thing charged, its footfalls shaking the ground, its jaws snapping indiscriminately as it went for Caelius. Jordan threw himself to the side - the wrong side, as it happened. One huge tooth scraped a grazing blow across his shoulder, knocking him to the ground as the creature passed.

He lay there for a long sore moment, watching the world go greyed and strange. He hadn't thought he'd been hit that hard.

Didn't, Ferros growled, forcing a moment's clarity through the battle-haze and the faded warp of insanity. Her. GET UP.

Right. It wasn't over yet. Jordan hauled himself to his feet, looking automatically for an opening he could use to attack.

((Two dice for two turns worth of boss damage rolls - ouch!))

"Ah, Vieve..." She was relieved to hear that the ghoul was still alive; she could only hope that the same could be said for Edel and Lattice... Taking a deep breath, she pushed against the rocky surface, effectively sliding off Mot, face planting into the group with a muffled 'Ow' before she pushed herself up, getting into a fetal position, her legs hugged to her chest, "Can you sit up now...?"

Amrita's voice caused her to turn around quickly to face the girl, but that just caused her to be dizzy again.

"Amrita!" She cheered, although she still sounded disorientated, "S-Sorry... Got knocked out..." Raising a hand to the back of her head, she winced as she gently touched her wound and the held out the bloodied hand, "See? And... Everything looks so... So... Grey..."

She really wasn't feeling alright.

Once Jude was ready and recollected himself he shifted his footing and soon went after one of the beast's legs. His hourglass in hand he raised it and stabbed the three main prongs of the hourglass forward into the nearest part of the leg hoping it felt every single hit made it against it - especially his - though he doubted it.

Yom was more active after this strike writhing and pleading for him to use the weapon once more but for the moment Jude needed to try and recover and be on guard for another counter from the rather monstrous being. Whatever had just caused this creature to come into being was rather startling and he was only left to wonder if something similar could happen again to anyone else.

...Not important now. Need to focus. Focus, Jude, focus.

Target: RED'S LEGS
HP: 26/40
Damage: 9
Fear/Charge Attack: 3/3 - Swift Strike - Venomous Sting: Essentially it causes dizziness/disorientation (lasts only a short duration)

The yells from everyone around her finally registered in Mandys terrified mind. T-That thing was Red? What.

Ohcrapshe'dattackedateacher

She didn't have time to further register the implications of that news when Dragon!Red surged forward towards the hooded figure again and trampled Mandy in the process.

Groaning in pain Mandy decided she rather didn't care if attacking a teacher was a bad idea, she needed to be stopped before she killed them all.

Picking herself she stumbled for a moment, holding her head and wondering rather alarmed how much damage that last attack had done because her color vision was gone.

No, wait... Dragon!Red's eyes and runes where still glowing blue.... She hadn't lost her color vision, the world had lost it's color.

Silently Mandy gulped, this was going to be hard.

((HP: 27-5=22/30))

There was an opening, a brief one, in the chaotic melee surrounding one of the thing's huge legs. Jordan slid into the open space, pivoting on one foot to bring Ferros up in a broad arc. Though the weapon's roar was only audible to Jordan, the low, ominous whump of flame erupting suddenly from the hammer's head was loud and clear even among the noise of battle.

It was strange to see the brilliant blaze of Ferros's fire without color, Jordan reflected distantly, then forgot the thought completely as muscles in the huge leg contracted and it moved, resettling into a firmer stance. The hammer's momentum carried his swing through, missing entirely, flames flickering out at the end of the arc.

Well, ******** class="quote">

Quote:

Target: Legs
Damage: MISS. (Not cool, dice. Not cool.)
HP: 15/40
Charge Attack: Battle Cry - The hammer's head bursts into flame, increasing damage done and potentially setting the target alight. 3/3 charged

"Hm? O-oh! I'm fine!" She raised her good arm and tried to wave off Levi's concern, offering the taller ghoul a little grin. "Just...got caught in that first fire attack, is all. N-nothing too serious!" It hurt, yes, but Xiu reminded herself that it was nothing compared to some of the injuries that her friends and classmates were sustaining. She would just have to deal, even if her first instinct was to curl up and whimper like a baby.

This was definitely not the time for that.

"D-do you know if that creature is really...?" Xiu had lowered her voice, shuffling close to the Tatzel as she cast a wary glance towards the creature. How could their professor turn into such a thing? Was it because of the weapon?

Everything was burning. As the flames charred his back, Johan was aware of Amrita huddling in the lee of his body. It was surreal seeing flames folding around him like wings, and in Jack's name, she was touching him again! At least she was alright.

After the onslaught ended, Johan was only aware of the pain for several moments, and when he finally refocused, Amrita was gone. Looking about dazedly for the ghoul, he failed to take notice of the heavy vibrations in the floor until something slammed him to the ground. He couldn't breathe! For a split-second, Johan thought his body would shatter, bones and crystal, but the pressure let up, and the Reaper was able to drag in a dust filled lung-full of air.

Ow.

Why was everything gray? Was it the pain doing that? Was he close to dying? Johan pushed himself up raggedly, fished the last pumpkin pill out of his pocket, and ate it. As soon as the pill hit his tongue, he could feel FEAR flowing back into his damaged body, repairing the damage until he felt good as new.

Climbing to his feet, Johan squinted, realizing the grayscale hadn't gone. Something was terribly wrong here. How come only the runes on RedBeast's head were still in color? Were they runes? The Sorcerer rubbed his chin thoughtfully, still not having realized it was RedBeast that had run him over.

[Johan's HP: 30/30]
[Used Last Pumpkin Pill]

Junko watched as students attempted to rally together to bring down the beast that had risen from the abyss over the cliff. It needed to die, it was attacking them. There was no way they could just stand aside and let this happen. No. They had to take it down..this nameless creature. This thing. It hurt seeing a monster that could have been glorious under different circumstances being attacked and wailed on and just attacking everything without remorse. It clearly had one target, but it was far too large to focus on just that one target. Narrowed glowing green eyes were turned toward Caelius. "This is YOUR FAULT!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs, not caring if he heard her or not. This was his fault. His and those not-reapers. They weren't hurting anyone! They were just here for training! It was so they wouldn't die! They didn't want to hurt anyone they were perfectly content just being inside a magical haunted house far from all human civilization! This wasn't fair. They weren't doing anything! Ugh! Even as adults they weren't going to be hurting anyone this was just...why were they doing this?! This wasn't right!

Junko pulled at her partially singed hair in frustration, backing as far from the beast as she could. Stupid humans. Stupid..everything! Stupid! Stupid! Stu...pid? "...Shehk?" Junko blinked. What was--ah! Why was Amrita slapping her?! Junko hurried over to Shehk's side as the ghoul flew through the air after being smacked with the beast's tail, falling to her knees beside the ghoul and rolling her over to sit her up, one arm around her shoulders and a hand pressing against the nice gash in her head until Amrita covered it with bandages. Good, good..but oh, s**t. She was just covered in blood now. "Shehk?! Shehk! Wake up! Shehk!"

She turned wide, now frightened eyes up to the beast before them. "E-EVERYONE!" She called out as loudly as she could, clearing her throat and swallowing hard. She was trembling as she held Shehk as tightly against her as she could, trying to look as fiercely determined as she could. "THIS ISN'T RED. THERE'S NO WAY SHE WOULD ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO HERSELF. SHE IS...WAS A STRONG PERSON!" That was it. They needed to stop associating this thing with Red. "RED IS DEAD! SHE'D WANT US TO KEEP GOING. KILL THAT THING. DON'T LET IT BESMIRCH HER MEMORY!" Every time she admitted to herself their dear Professor Red was dead it hurt. It tore at her heart and made more tears escape her, sniffling and trying to wipe away as much blood from Shehk as she could. They needed to be okay. They had to make it out of this. They had to. It didn't matter how at this point, only that it happen.