Outside the house the girl began laughing. "HAHAHAHAA it's TOO LATE! I'm already here your realm is WIIIIIDE open!!" Apparently she could tell that Charlotte was attempting to close off the realm. There was a brief silence before a metal *clink* could be heard. Several moments later two black grenades with the pins already pulled rolled into the room. Their explosion would barely scratch Atticus but would severely damage Charlotte if she were caught in it.
Charlotte shook her head "I won't. If I go to your place I will put Vincent and Shira and the others in danger. If she was able to find me that quickly then whoever else is attacking us will find me again. If that back up somehow manages to come here and I get one of those apples, I can fight that person and you can fight her." she told him with a dead serious expression. "Get the apples." she said, obviously not backing down. She saw two items roll into the house and looked over to see the grenades they exploded then and Charlotte slammed into the wall, grimacing as new injuries covered her body. She looked up then and saw that Atticus was barely injured "Hurry up!" she managed to say.
While waiting for Charlotte to make a decision, Atticus could hear the woman outside and what she said was true, her partner would be there pretty soon and he could not afford to have Charlotte there when he or she does. Suddenly, it got quiet and before he knew, two black grenades could be seen rolling into the room where he and Charlotte were. Atticus knew that the grenades would do nothing to him, or rather he assumed so, but Charlotte was the one that was in danger. Before he could do anything, they would explode, causing Charlotte to be injured even more, but he was left unharmed. Looking at the state Charlotte was in, Atticus frowned, "Charlotte, you are assuming that the two will just fight against the other's target. That's just nonsense." he told her. "I will get an apple, but in return, you are to leave and head towards a safe place, where no one, not even me, can find you." he commanded as he jumped out of the window, landing a few feet away from the girl. Looking at her, Atticus ran towards her, seemingly preparing to fight her, but this was just a distraction as he ran past her and headed towards the tree.
"AHHH!" Screamed the girl as Atticus came towards her. She threw herself to the side, landing on the ground and out of his way. She didn't shoot at him, instead sitting on her butt watching him go for the tree as if waiting for something. Just before Atticus reached the tree there was a blur of motion in front of him and he would just barely be able to see a sword slicing towards his torso in an attempt to slice him straight across the stomach. It left a red afterglow as it came. "Don't think so," a voice said as the slash came. The voice belonged to a kitsune who had seemed to appear out of no where. Unlike the other girl, if this girl's attacks landed against Atticus they would cause serious damage even if they were relatively light hits.
Charlotte frowned as another presence appeared. "Where the hell is Charl?" she muttered. Just then, the doll appeared "Aaaah~ I missed a lot." she sulked. Charlotte glared at the doll "Save it..." she muttered as Charl gave her a medical potion. She drank it and her injuries suddenly began to heal. She got up then and ran deeper into the house.
As the tree was now in his sight, Atticus rushed towards it with all the strength he had, however, seconds before reaching the tree, his keen sense of smell, alerted him to the presence of something. Just then, something that looked similar to a sword, would appear and attempted to slice him. Reacting quickly, Atticus halted and jumped back, just a few feet, just narrowly avoiding the blade's edge. Landing on the ground with his knees bent, Atticus looked over to see another woman there, this one carried a sword and appeared to have been a kitsune. Standing up, Atticus sighed and then smiled, "Dammit, I was too late." he muttered as he knew who this person was and also knew that because of her sudden arrival, his death had been sealed. With a brave face, Atticus looked at her blade, he knew that she would be too strong to handle, especially in the weakened state he was in. "You don't look like the type to uphold honor and pride, but I figure I might as well ask. Will you hand me one of those apples to give to my mother? So that she could at least fight with all she has and die honorably." Atticus stated, already figuring that she would not approve, but he thought that it was worth a try.
The girl with the gun got up quickly as the kitsune appeared. "Hi there!!" She called to her before turning towards the house. "OH boy!" She yelled as she sensed Charlotte attempting to run away. She quickly charged into the house after her. The kitsune gave a small smirk as she heard Atticus. "Okay then. I'll tell you what. I'll let you have the apple, but if you want to give it to her you have to get past me first," she told him calmly as she held her blade in an attack position. She circled around Atticus until she was on the opposite side of him, now standing between him and the house instead of him and the tree.
Meanwhile, the girl crashed through the front door and began sprinting in the general direction she sensed Charlotte was running. "Heheheheheee COME BACK Come back!!" She yelled as she sliced through doors and slammed straight through walls, not even slowing down. She raised her gun as she ran and began blasting away again. She couldn't see Charlotte yet so she was shooting randomly and shredding the house to pieces, though Charlotte would still be in danger from random stray bullets that happened to come in the right direction. "DON'T run AWAY! STAY and PLAY!!!" She called as she sped up, a large grin on her face as she began tossing grenades into side rooms as well seemingly just to cause more havoc and destruction as they exploded.
Hearing the kitsune, Atticus smirked, "Fine." he told her, before the two circled around and he was in front of the tree. Without taking his eyes off of the woman, Atticus reached up and removed two apples from the tree. Placing both in his pockets, he became serious as he could hear the explosions and gunshots coming from the house. Right now, his main concern wasn't his own life but that of Charlotte's. Sighing, Atticus transformed his right hand into sword form and positioned himself, "I'm ready when you are."
Charlotte seemed to be nowhere in the house. As the girl went through attacking at random, the house began to stir, almost like it was alive. Suddenly, tendrils lashed out from the walls to try and impale the girl.
The girl looked up as she saw the house begin to extend tendrils at her. Her firing paused for only a moment before she redirected it, shredding through tendril after tendril as she continued to run. Once too many got close to her she jumped in the air and held her blade parallel to her body, spinning around in rapid circles like a sideways tornado. She diced apart the tendrils coming towards her before landing without slowing. "COME ON!" She yelled with a laugh as she began firing again. "No octopuses! Come out and fight!! I promise I'll make it quick!!" She began throwing grenades again but this time more rapidly and in every direction. The explosions began to increase in number and lethality. Meanwhile, the kitsune stared down Atticus for a moment before she attacked. She seemed to transform into a bolt of fiery lightening as she raced towards Atticus before flashing back into her normal form just in time to aim another horizontal cut at his torso. Whether or not it landed it would quickly be followed by a vertical cut towards his shoulder while she knelt down to avoid a counter-attack.
Watching as the kitsune seemingly transformed into a bolt of lightning and used it to appear in front of him, Atticus, did not have enough time to react, so as she swung her blade towards his torso, he had no choice but to let it hit. The slash caused much pain to him, as well as damaging him far worse than a normal slash would, but he did not have time to deal with that. The kitsune had already initiated a second strike towards him, this time, however, Atticus managed to avoid it, just barely, by dodging to left. As it seemed like he would try and attack her, Atticus instead, ran pass her, towards the house, despite being injured already, he had a job to do. "Charlotte!" he called.
The house continued to fight, not seeming to care about the bombs and attacks. Tendrils continued to lash out and even fangs appeared to try and bite down on her. The house almost seemed to be alive. Charlotte appeared outside the house while it distracted the girl, she huffed as Luen clung onto her and Charl stayed on her back. She glared at the kitsune girl. The one girls attacks work on my but not Atticus... so if what I am thinking is right then this girls attacks shouldn't be able to work on me but work on Atticus. she thought. She saw Atticus then and managed to run over to him "Switch opponents." she told him quietly.
As he continued to run away from the kitsune, Atticus looked towards the house and seemed relieved as he saw Charlotte running towards him. Once the two met, Atticus frowned, he did not want her to fight, nor did he want to simple switch opponents. This was his warrior pride in him, he was not the type to flee unless there was a good enough reason, such as Charlotte being in danger. Reaching into his pockets, Atticus pulled out one apple and glanced towards Charlotte, "I thought I told you to leave. Why are you still here, trying to fight. That's just being stupid and reckless." he told her, obviously angry that she decided to stay and fight, instead doing what he had told her to do. Atticus would then toss the apple towards Charlotte.
"You would think Divine would have warned you about my inability to sometimes follow orders." Charlotte said as she began eating the apple rather quickly "I am staying here. You can't change my mind. This is my territory and I won't abandon it or you to those two." she told him as she finished the apple, her energy level quickly spiked. "Switch. That one girl's attacks work on me but barely faze you while the opposite I am assuming happens if that kitsune girl attacks." she explained.
Standing with his back facing Charlotte's back, Atticus was quiet for a few seconds, before sighing. "Just once, why can't you let me protect you and the family. I know that you would not want me to die, but throwing yourself into the fray because of something like that, is incredibly stupid. My time is nearly up anyway, don't toss your life away for something that is already gone." he stated, before frowning, "Besides, the chances that Vin is already under attack is high. He may need you to be there for him, he is still a kid and part human. He needs you more than Mirai or me." he added before looking towards the house. "I'm not the type to take on opponents who are weaker than me. Fighting that girl would be no challenge." he admitted, as he held his hand up to his torso, which had been sliced and hurting really badly. That one slash, caused him so much pain, that he could hardly focus.
