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The force of the battles around her had sent Mandy's form tumbling into a small roll, stopping just short of a wall of thorns. Through the fog in her mind she thought she heard a familiar voice, one she hadn't heard since the day before this whole mess of a field trip started.

Slowly she uncurled, one paw still clutching at her wounds. Big red eyes blinked dully at the strange sight before her.

"...B-Barth?"

"I...I can't," She insisted, trying to pull her hand free from Ren's grasp, "I-I'm not that badly off--not compared to some of the others. This should be saved for them, not me." He needed to take it back! Xiu wouldn't feel right if she took the pill instead of someone who needed it more.

Besides, she had learned rather quickly that the tides could turn in an instant in this battle. Her friends could be relatively unharmed now, but who was to say that Red's next attack wouldn't badly injure them?

Speaking of which...were the others here? Sitting up a little taller, Xiu began to examine her surroundings, stiffening up suddenly as she noticed a familiar figures. The scythe-wielding hunter was standing a distance away, but Xiu flinched upon seeing him, and then there was...

"Mitsu! Aniki!" Her cry was weak and rough, but her alarm was evident. She pushed herself up into a crouch, sucking in a pained gasp as she put pressure on her injured arm. Gritting her teeth, Xiu wobbled unevenly for a moment before straightening up slowly, making sure that she could maintain her balance before taking an experimental step forward.

Well, good. Her arm and shoulder were in bad shape, but her legs were generally fine beyond being a little bruised up. Turning to Demi, she offered him a small smile and suddenly reached out, sliding the pill into his hand without warning. "Return this to Ren." She knew that the gryphon wouldn't accept it even if she tried shoving it back. "I'm going to go check on aniki."

In essence, that meant that she was going to be leaving the safety of the group to wander closer to Caelius. The smartest idea? No, and it was clear by the flash of fear in her eyes that she didn't want anything to do with the scythe-wielding hunter. However, with Shun in such a state...

"...Vaith? Could you..." She turned to look at him with a hesitating expression. Would it be selfish of her to ask him to accompany her? Probably. She would never forgive herself if he was hurt, but..."N-no, I...never mind." She could go alone.

Vaith heard his name being called. He turned to look in the direction Xiu anxiously directed her gaze in, bending his knees little lower to address Xiu. "You dont have to go alone." Vaith said curtly, softly, taking her better hand in his better hand. There were streaks of red on his ninja uniform that Junko had made and a few scratches. But those didn't stop him from going.

N-no, I...never mind.

"You asked, didn't you? Ask the whole way--Don't 'nevermind' me. I wouldn't have let you go alone anyways. We've gotten this far, haven't we?" Vaith whispered, not so much as a private whisper as much as it was harder to talk with Caelius nearby. Their very recent experience left them both suffocating in a little bit of fear and hesitancy .. suffocating but not drowning. That was important. His fingers laced with Xiu's, red eyes hardening as he mentally prepared himself for what might be ahead of them. Injured and on the battlefield like so much others-- not the most ideal results.

But nevertheless, results would turn up. Xiu was his very best ghoul friend (with a space, not ghoulfriend ok) and he wouldn't have refused her anything in these precious and important moments. Every moment counted in keeping their lives and their friend's ones. Hunter weapons proved themselves to be more deadly than ever.

"Let's go!" He referred to Xiu's friends up ahead, gesturing for his familiar to ready itself for battle. Shouting back over his shoulder, he tipped his head.

"Thanks Ren!"

Simone had been just on the outer side of the range of the attack, but still shielding her eyes at the shockwave that caused her hair to whip around her. Caelius was most imposing and his ability to just knock someone back was most worrisome.

Adjusting her bag on her shoulder to get the strap off of one of her wings, the demon's head snapped up in attention at a response to her call. He was still awake, alive, or at least okay! She turned toward the source of the voice and gasped in surprise at the bloodied, bruised ghost. "Night!" She did see that he took his pumpkin pill, but she had missed his getting roughed up before her arrival. "Oh, kitten!" She said, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. She let him go and glanced down over her mostly naked frame. Simone chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm okay, if a bit grubby and shorter in terms of clothing coverage. What happened?" She asked as she followed along to join up with LW and Tybalt.

Lust dipped her head and waved the them both. "Hey." She said briefly before shifting her attention to the figure of Caelius before doing a quick glance between Tybalt and Night. "Whoa, whoa. That's Red? No way..." She breathed in shock. She shook her head slowly. She had no idea!

(HP: 17
items: Pumpkin pill
Damage: 0
Target: N/a)

"Mandy?" Barth asked, taken aback. He didn't know she had- well, being a monster, he supposed he could have surmised... He noticed the wounds, but they had long run through their own supply of pumpkin pills. The remains of his friends and team were teetering on the brink of collapse.

"Don't- don't worry. Stay here. I think the hoods are regrouping but I'll- I'll do my best..."

Jordan rolled back to his feet, not wobbly precisely, nor exhausted yet, but he was feeling the strain of the extended, chaotic fight. Caelius had - Circe was back in his hands, solid and real and dangerous, and the tight cold ball of dread in Jordan's stomach unraveled in a wash of relief. The elder Hunter had called them back.

However, before Jordan had taken more than a few steps back towards the assembling group, he heard a familiar voice. Jerry was calling him, and that particular wavery note of not-quite-panic meant that Jerry needed help. Jordan sighed, just a little, and changed course. As he got closer, he saw that Jerry's glasses had been broken at some point - that explained that. "I'm here," he said. "Need someone to steer?" He grinned ruefully at Ennea and took hold of Jerry's shoulder to lead him back towards the gathering mass of Hunters returning to Caelius's call.

The glasses weren't just broken but completely missing at that point, somewhere underfoot near the monster, alone and lost. At the sudden hug, the blinded hunter gave a tiny yelp of alarm, grip tightening on his weapon until he heard Ennea's tiny voice and immediately relaxed a hair, "Oh! Oh g-good! Miss Ennea! You're alright! And the other-" He cut off as Jordan caught up as well, his face flushing in embarrassment, "There was um. A flash or something... Roar says it was the er... horse... woman?" He cleared his throat. 'Horse-whore' was not really something he wanted to repeat out loud, especially not knowing who or what was in earshot. "Yes just... just keep me in the right direction? I heard a call, what's happening? Is... is everything ok? Are we winning?" His manic grin had returned, "Candace is alright, right? And Harrison? I can't find them..."

Status: A bit of an idiot

Ennéa hung off Jerry's other arm and grinned up at Jordan. "I did it." She said, as she helped Jordan guide Jerry along, "It was scary, but I did it!"

Of course, her attack was probably only an annoyance to such a huge monster abomination as that but Ennéa was still feeling pleased with herself. Baraz certainly was; the ahirman was preening smugly in her mind.

But then Ennéa stepped funny, causing the bite wound on her leg to twinge and she winced. Her good cheer slipped a little, "How much more can that monster take?" She wondered aloud. "We keep hitting it but it keeps attacking." She looked around at all the other smaller assembled monsters, most of them glaring and circling Caelius. "And what about these guys?"

Ennéa turned her attention back to Jerry. "One of those horse-people was attacking Caelius too." She said. She squeezed her friend's arm a little tighter, recalling how scary watching that fight had been. "I'm glad you're mostly okay. I'm sure your eyes will get better!" She said hopefully. "I haven't seen Candice or Harrison though, sorry."