It was a moonless night, not that it much mattered in the heart of a city. The lights permeating the darkness of the city were more than enough to light anyone’s way. The lack of that high, overhead glow, even faint it could be in comparison to other illuminations, meant shadows were longer, darker, and much better and hiding those who wished not to be found.
Hy-Brasil hated these nights. Not for the beings that called the darkness home, but for the horrors of her own mind that enjoyed playing tricks upon her. While her efforts to cleanse herself of the corrupt touch of the Sidhe had born fruit, her reprieve had been short. Scant months, to be precise. The only thing that gave her hope was her ability to stave off the voices and horrid needs.
Those dark thoughts and voices were the reason the Knight was out on patrol. Letting herself fester, tossing around in bed while her mind wandered, was a recipe for disaster. Putting herself to work was the better way to deal with the darkness. A way to turn that energy into something more useful. Plus, she;d be able to wear herself out for a good sleep. Even her time spent at the gym wasn’t always enough to bring that sweet, blissful heavy slumber.
The evening wasn’t terribly young, but hadn’t quite slipped past the midnight hour when Hy-Brasil found herself in a less than desireable section of the city. Blight had overtaken many buildings. Graffitti decorated the walls of some of the buildings that hadn’t been completely overtaken by nature yet. Of course there were still people who lived in the area. Some of the homes and buildings still shone with lights within denoting life. It was why Hy had chosen this area to patrol. The people here were easy targets for the negaverse. Especially those who, like her not too many months ago, squatted within the buildings that hadn’t completely fallen a part yet. As long as there was a roof that could withstand a good rain, someone was likely to utilize it.
She’d already dusted two youma that had opted on terrorizing a small group of teens out to cause some mischief with several cans of spray paint. They’d chosen an old abandoned factory that had been a textiles buildings according to the faded paint outside on the brick facade. It wasn’t terribly large either as it was nestled amongst other run down homes. A whole four stories with blow out windows, but rather intact cement floors. After saving the kids, she’d shoe’d them out and on their way, making sure they didn’t hang around the area.
She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she perched herself on the roof of the factory. “I really hope I don’t end up out here all night trying to wear myself down.” She mused to herself.
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I'll bring Har in a bit later if that works for you. <3
Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2023 4:10 pm
He'd felt the aura on the air, brimming with the power of a Knight. They hadn't moved in acknowledgement of him, toward or away, which he found curious. Only after trying to close the distance did he then feel a pair of youma auras within that Knight's broad auric territory — and when one, then both of them were snuffed out, he assumed that they must have been too distracted with destroying youma to notice him.
It was one of the few shitty areas of town, where some of the buildings looked ready to collapse in on themselves, but they were probably tied up in some sort of political debate that potentiated a decision on the area. Or there was regulation preventing them from going down immediately, as there were a handful of structures he'd passed that sported signs stating the buildings were condemned. And when did the city have time to demolish them, exactly? Between all the random fires and the disappearances and the work being done to keep the city's image up despite all the 'organized crime', it seemed like places like these would only grow.
Not that Faustite cared terribly. If nothing else, they were rather better places for him to hide; people didn't second-guess a gallon drum with a fire inside out here, and what was he but that in someone's peripheral vision? Even as he walked the narrow path between two looming structures, his firelight catching the warn tags and the new ones on his walk, he felt more assured that his presence wouldn't draw the alarm that it did in the more well-to-do areas.
That guarantee of greater anonymity only made attacking that Knight more enticing. It took more wandering, more wondering about the epicenter of that aura and where it might be, but the two youma had narrowed it down somewhat. He leapt from street level to the top of an awning, then up and up again on gabled tin roofs until he had a better vantage. Still that wasn't enough, and he came up against an ancient, fallen factory that he was considering scaling when he heard a handful of voices below. Peering over the side, he noted a couple teenagers leaving the area. Seemed indicative enough that the Knight must be lurking nearby.
He didn't have the height to be able to leap to the roof in one go, but the destroyed windows offered enough ledges that he could get there. Even if it was a touch precarious to leap from a roof to a sill to another roof, He managed it, though his hand detested him for gripping the building's retaining wall as he hauled himself up to the roof.
There was his Knight, easily recognized by that red hair and the flashy Earth symbols. Once he pulled himself up, he started to approach her. "Think that Squire could use your company," he intoned, becoming flame as he sailed toward her.
kolina
Hellborn ;; (Enhancement) Range: Self Duration: Up to 1 minute Use Count: Up to 3x Miss Chance: Escaping his reach Effect: Faustite's fire expands and engulfs him, transforming him into a living embodiment of flame. For the duration of this magical ability, he appears fully youmafied. When he moves, he moves amorphously as a gout of fire. Faustite can pass through or over nonsolid surfaces, and cannot be hit by physical attacks. He becomes highly susceptible to magical attacks and enchantments, however. Any attacks he makes toward others will be fire property, and will provide the illusion of being burned.
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2023 7:53 pm
She'd been distracted by more than just the youma and kids. Her own inner demons and shadows had made the Knight drop her usual vigilant nature, instead turned inward waring with herself. The aura that carefully circled her, trying to pin-point her location, went unnoticed for far too long. In fact, it was that familiar voice. The one that grated all of her nerves and built a flame within her veins that had her jumping to her feet and spinning on a heel, precariously close to the precipice.
She barely had time to moved, practically tripping away from the building's edge as she tried to avoid the oncoming General. The hem of her dress wasn't so luck as the smell of the fabric smoldered in her wake. "b*****d!" She hollared, summoning her weapon to her side. "I'll make you pay for what you did!"
The squire. The poor boy who she hadn't even known. Not his real name. Who he was. Nothing. A kid who had hopped into a fight he was ill-prepared for. Hy had been in such piss-poor shape, she could do nothing to save him when his starseed had been ripped from him and devoured by, not the General, but a lasted YOUMA of all things! It still haunted her in her sleep. The look on the teens face. The pure triumph on the fire General's.
She seethed in anger and self-hate at the memory as it resurfaced like a picture perfect movie within her mind.
Hy swung her staff at the blazing form, and it passed right through. It did nothing, but it felt good to have a momentary outlet. Useless though it was.
Turning, the Knight hopped backwards a few times, putting space between here and Faustite. She scrambled to pat down her still smoldering skirt, the bottom back hem nothing more than charred remains now shorter than the front. In honesty, she was lucky it had just been her skirt. By the brief glimpse she had of them, the back of her boots also looked darker. Perhaps charred? Hard to say. She didn't dare take her eyes from the General for long to really inspect them. There was no pain so even if her boots had taken a hit, they'd done their job of protecting her.
strickenized
Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2023 5:37 pm
She swatted at him, and he felt nothing more than a delightful gust of air across his torso. While t was terribly exciting that she could do nothing to him in this form, it was dismaying that he couldn't stir up more than transient little pains like senshi magic while he was imitating a completely youmafied form. He smiled at her, a terrible and murderous cut across his remaining half of a face.
But he kept approaching. She wanted to make him pay, after all. They were so much more lively when they had something to hold against him.
His true form flickered out of the fire, solid and sure as she, though his right arm remained bright with magma orange veins spidering up his fist and forearm. He kept his hand clutched tight, as if holding onto flame himself. His approached was steady as he slowly encroached toward the range of her staff. It was a risk, he knew, but he needed to tempt her with the opportunity to hit him.
In a breath thereafter, he teleported, reappearing to her right as he launched his fist at her temple.
kolina
Conflagration ;;(Forgotten Spell) Range: Point blank Duration: Instantaneous Use Count: Up to 3x Effect: Lava veins glow from Faustite's affected fist and climb up his arm, growing fainter the farther up they go. Faustite's fist looks superheated to a bright orange. Once he punches something, the punch gains extra force and sears the target at the affected location (any lingering burns are up to the player). When the punch connects with something, a small fiery burst can be seen, indicating that the magic went off. Afterward, Faustite's hand and arm look their normal coal black color.
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Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 6:45 pm
Being close to the half-youma brought a sheen of sweat to the Knight's brow. Between her attire and the heat literally radiating off of Faustite, she was quite toasty, and thankful for the range her staff gave her. He was a violent, moving bonfire that clearly would be happy to make her nothing more than charred bones and ash up on the rooftop.
Finally, he changed forms back to what she was most used to. Something she could actually touch and her staff would breeze through like a passing wind. The wood already showed charring from such a quick pass. She had to dampen some flames on the rooftop with a few quick, hard taps.
As he approached again, Hy stood, ready. Staff held in both hands, crossed in front of her. When he was close she took the initiative and swung. She passed through nothing but empty air.
Twisting, she tried to avoid the attack as it came out of no where. She ducked, instinctually raising an arm.
Pain seared her arm from forearm to her elbow as she staggered back flinging a hit towards Faustites feet to force him back with a curse on her lips. The explosion from the attack seared at her face while intensifying the burn of her arm, causing her face to reden like a sun-burn and feel all that much worse. It was a well timed attack and she ******** walked right into it. That could have damn well done her in, and with the radiating pain it may still. "b*****d!" She hissed, her injured arm, fabric seared and missing in places, hung at her side.
If she had time she could heal it some, but the chances of the a*****e giving her a chance to channel her magic long enough were slim. Swinging her staff around one handed was going to be very ineffectual as well. ---------
Harmonia had felt the aura's and knew the had converged somewhere. It took time to fully pinpoint the location. Her arrival at the rooftop was late. The Knight was standing facing Faustite. Wait...faustite? Hadn't he turned youma? At least, she had thought he did, but there he stood. Facing down the green clad Knight with strong force.
She wasn't one to attack outright. Always the pacifist when she could be, she hurried to join the Knight, hoping that perhaps Faustite would be less inclined to attack if there were two of them.
It wasn't until she was closer though that she saw the raw, burned arm of Faustite's combatant. "Hello, Faustite." She said calmly as she looked at him, green eyes focused on him.
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Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2023 6:30 pm
"Should've taken it to the face," Faustite told her. "Saved us both the trouble."
It hit harder to teleport as a General, in a manner to which he had grown unaccustomed. There was a luxury to teleporting as easily as he could walk, but he didn't need such decadent benefits to best her. He didn't even need youma, for this time, there was no bloodless, inexperienced Squire to tag along with her. Whatever magic she had, it wasn't useful enough to deploy in battle; she was hardly a threat.
Though, this time, she seemed more coordinated. He circled slowly as he considered where to teleport next in juxtaposition to her —
Oh, they had company. Oh, look at her, with her bright white aura and her Eternal's wings on display. Plans changed as his attention shifted to Harmonia. "Hello, Hopeite's Project," he returned with a scathing smile. Seems she'd gotten over wasting time talking. Or maybe he was truly only worth talking to when on the verge of death, when they thought they could use him for a ******** pawn and rebalance the distribution of powers to be more in their favor.
Faustite stopped in his prowl, standing straight, and held his right hand outward as if gesturing to a new arrival. The briefest of flashes belied a portal that delivered another version of him, bedecked in asymmetrical damask coat with dramatically cut boots and a fine gold pauldron. In another breath, Faustite matched this version of himself.
The other Faustite spoke first, with an almost indistinct hum at the base of his voice. "Bold of you two stand as two guiding stars while the sky darkens and darkens. But men see by firelight, and your bodies will be the blaze that leads them to ruin."
While he spoke, the first Faustite vanished, and reappeared in an instant with wicked blade in hand. With his forward momentum, he lashed out at the midpoint of the Knight's wooden staff.
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2023 7:18 pm
If looks could kill, Hy was pretty damn sure Faustite would have keeled over dead at the one she shot him for his comment. ******** him. ******** him and the rest of the negaverse for causing all of these problems to begin with. Them and their sadistic ways. The Earth Knight was beyond ready to shove Faustite off of the roof and see his body break on the ground. It was a sweet dream of course, not something she'd be able to see happen what with that convenient little ability to teleport.
Hy-Brasil glanced over at the newcomer. The girl...young woman, was bedecked in blue, gold and frills. Certainly not someone Hy would have thought was prepared to fight in any sort of battle. In fact, the bluenette looked ready to step foot in some sort of pageant, but whatever. Any help at this point was going to be beneficial.
Turned out, she was really going to need it as Faustite made another one of himself. She seethed. "One of you is more than ******** enough." She grumbled out as she watched the original Faustite changed to match.
"Oh s**t." She cursed. Eyes widened as she felt the increase in aura. "The ********?!" This was not good. Not good at all.
And he was getting ******** philosophical on their asses?!
It happened quickly. One minute he was across the roof the next she felt the impact upon her staff. Her injured arm instinctually reached out to help support against the blade. It wasn't much, and in fact did very little as the odd weapon bit into the wood with savagry. For a moment. One single moment, Hy thought the wood would hold, but being unable to manuver herself away, she shoved her weight into it instead and felt the moment the staff snapped.
She lost her balance, twisting herself in a wild attempt to make sure she avoided both blade and user, falling to the ground, with the hook and censer still clutched in her hand. She hissed, her burned arm taking the brunt of the fall but she couldn't just lay there. She rolled to the side, scrambling to her feet.
The only damn thing her weapon was good for now was channeling, and using it like a basic club. Unfortunately, the censer attached to it made it a bit difficult to use effectively. So, she wasted no time, but instead of channeling her Knight Magic, she summoned her summons instead. The white stag wasted no time in launching a physical attack upon the General King, antlers aimed for the half-youma.
Summons -- Summons: A white, blue eyed, elk stag with natural colored antlers and hooves.
Abilities: As opposed to having an actual magic ability, the stag summon is well-equipped on his own to fight. Using antlers, hooves, speed and strength, he is quite capable of inflicting any range of damage upon his summoner’s enemies (Damage can range from bruises, to broken bones, or to goring. This is up to RPer’s discretion). In addition to his physical fighting prowess he is able to carry a single person upon his back for the length of his summon if needed.
To her credit, Harmonia didn't flinch at Faustite's words. Instead, she felt a sadness for the reminder of the time that she'd failed horrifically in her attempt to connect and help someone entrenched in the darker side of the war. The memories of those days still haunted her. Nightmares still startled her awake at night, but Har was doing her best to overcome it. She had over come it, even if fragments still caused suffering.
She opened her mouth to say more. To try and calm the situation. She had hoped her arrival would have given pause. Maybe made the battle screech to a halt for the uneven numbers, but Faustite appeared to have a plan for that. Her eyes widened at the arrival of a duplicate of himself as confusion took hold. What was this? Quickly enough the two became a matching set and Harmonia became alarmed. "Stop! We can talk this out. Please!"
The fight wasn't going to stop. In fact, it was only ramping up.
Quickly, she turned her attention to the Knight as the staff took the brunt of the attack eventually snapping from the strength and sharpness of the blade. This wasn't good at all!
He was stronger. So much stronger! In what felt like a blink of an eye, Faustite was clearly a level above them and Harmonia was very aware that they both could...were in a lot of trouble. Especially with the Knight weapon broken, arm injured, and she herself only useful for the magic she had.
If this was going to happen, she had best not squander her magic. Anything she could give the Knight to help.
"Spirit Resonance." Her target, the Knight, she immediately thought projected to. "I can boost your power with my magic. Do what you can with it!"
Super Sailor Scout Attack: Spirit Resonance Harmonia links up with another person and increases their strength/power by 30% and can 'speak' mind to mind. Duration -- 30 seconds 2x a battle Avoided -- Link can be broken by physically attacking Harmonia. Cons -- Cannot power herself up and whatever damage the person she links up with takes she also receives.
strickenized
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 7:55 am
The girl went down when her staff was cut in half. She had another trick, though — something like a youma of her own, made of magic, made of rage. Faustite grit his teeth; he could hit them both with his fire, but that might put Headache at risk. But, if his weapon was at fault for that storm of black fire the day that he fought Albite in the Rift, then that might mitigate such a risk.
He took a couple steps back from the great beast, blade still in hand, and rocked that blade behind himself just enough that the sharpened tip nicked his finger. There it was — that strange, vile burning sensation. It wasn't all that different from his normal state of being.
The fire in his gut turned black, and by extension, his eyes. That creature — a stag, he guessed — pressed him without care or courtesy to anything else, and Faustite lacked time to let his fire build for burning the damned thing down. He couldn't keep an eye on both the Knight and the summon, but with her weapon cut in half and her a** on the ground, he dismissed her as a threat. Antlers came straight for him and he twisted, gathered thought enough to teleport, but not before those ethereal antlers grazed his shoulder.
Fitting that it was the one that lacked a golden pauldron. But he could groan about that later.
Fire built in his core in the interim, and he stood between the fallen knight and her protector while he waited for that flame to peak. It wouldn't be long, now; no more than a handful of seconds.
—
Headache detested senshi more than it detested the orders that Faustite often gave. It approached the brightly-colored girl in Faustite's appearance, stepping slowly, building her anticipation of a strike. Surely she saw the blade; she knew that Faustite now had a weapon in his arsenal. There were now two Faustites. That weapon could come for her as surely as it came for the Knight's staff, but she had no way to block such a blow. Surely that cowed her.
But not enough to discourage her from using her magic. Headache froze in its step, but only for a moment. It realized, soon afterward, that such magic was not meant for it. Nor, it seemed, was it meant for Faustite. Headache did not envy him the position of dealing with two foes at once.
Headache was never meant for battle in the manner of other youma, it knew. All it could manage was facades, and the time for such tricks had passed. The shock value was over, and their enemies were no longer paralyzed from it. They started to move. So, then, should Headache.
The Faustite who spoke philosophical at them dissolved into a wave of orange fireflies, which swept over and attempted to land on the senshi in a thick, buzzing blanket. For as long as they could maintain contact, they could drain her of her energy and take it into themselves. And perhaps it wasn't much for a fight, but energy was precisely what senshi needed to cast their wicked magic, and Headache was delighted to take such energy for itself.
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Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2023 8:10 pm
Hy-Brasil was shocked to heat a voice inside her head. It was clear and crisp and most certainly from that senshi that had shown up. The voice was identical. A promise of a power boost was good! She could utilize it to heal her wound, but her summons was doing a decent job holding its ground. Unfortunately, he was on the opposite side of Faustite placing the half-youma in an easier range to her.
No. Something wasn't right. Especially with that normally bright fire in that half-youma's gut not a dark black. For a moment she had thought it had gone out, what with it being dark out already, but a flickering gave it away. He was up to something. And that something was probably not going to be good for herself or the younger senshi. And Hy would be damned if she let someone else get injured due to her own miscalculations. So, she had best use her magic to heal, because as she was now, she'd be useless. So, Hy stopped channeling her magic for the summons. The Stag disappearing as she turned her focus upon her Knight magic and the smoke from the censor began to envelope the area around her.
With the assist from the senshi, the magic seemed to work just a bit faster. The pain from her wounds began to ebb and the wounds got a jumpstart on healing.
Knight: A wooden staff/shepherds hook with a chained, ornate, silver incense holder hanging from it's top (Permanent fixture). Channeling energy from the Earth and nature around her, a thin fog, swirling from her burner, and smelling faintly of sandalwood, envelopes up to 3 targets within eyesight of Hy-Brasil. It can heal moderate wounds of allies and try to stabilize and/or numb the pain of anything more critical. This can occur both in and out of battle and can be channeled for a full 60 seconds (20 seconds per person for full, moderate heals).
-------------------
Harmonia's focus shifted to the secondary Faustite. Blade in hand, her eyes flicked to the weapon and back to his face, unease apparent in her stance and face. Bladed weapons were always difficult to deal with. In fact, Harmonia was not great as a whole against them. She wasn't the strongest of fighters, but had learned enough to hold her own against a mediocre combatant in hand-to-hand. This...this was likely going to be out of her realm of ability and that was a scary realization.
She caught sight of things happening with the Knight and the real Faustite. There was a stag and then somme smoke? She wasn't sure what exactly was happening but Faustite didn't seem to be attacking. Harmonia could only hope that was a good sign! Maybe they were willing to talk things through?
That naive notion was quickly put to rest as the secondary Faustite broke down into a flurry of insects that overwhelmed her. Her magic on the Knight came to an end to the direct attack on her as a shrill shriek of surprise escaped the senshi. With each touch of the fireflies she could feel her energy being pulled. Just small snippets each time, but with so many of them it wasn't negligible.
In her flailing she could feel her hands making contact with some of the tiny insects. Pretty or not with their glowing rear-ends, she was not a fan. And the senshi made it a point to try and dust any pieces of theyouma she could. She honestly wasn't sure if she was actually successful in her attempts. Finally though, she opted to race towards the Knight, hands still flailing around her to try and beat off her insect attackers.
If she couldn't rid herself of the insects she'd just have to use her magic and it would be better if she did it while closest to the Knight. While she wasn't a fan of youma, she didn't really want to hurt Faustite if she could help it. Especially considering the last time she had encountered him on her own and how he'd been willing to talk. "Faustite. Please. Tell them to stop." She called out as she reached the Knight's side.
Strickenized
Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2024 5:21 pm
When flame burst out of Faustite, it was such a violent, dark dervish that it smothered all light in the area. He couldn't much see past it himself, for his flames emitted no light, and acted as a fog that roiled about him. Still, the purpose of it was made clear despite its handicap — Headache remained unaffected by the flames that passed around it. Hopefully the same could not be said of the pair, if he managed to catch them in the firestorm.
The larger glow, the stag, had vanished. Faustite couldn't see if it was due to his own power or something else at hand, but it wasn't long after its departure that he smelled sandalwood on the air again. His mouth contorted into a derisive grimace.
Faustite knew where he last saw her. He stalked forward, wary that an edge waited for him somewhere in that direction. He couldn't go too far, nor too fast, lest he feel only air beneath his feet. Then he would face a terrible fall, and there was no one he could ask to summon him before he hit the ground. There was no Kiuchi to use magic that circumvented the impact damage.
Well enough. He could be careful, even if it meant that he didn't barbecue both a Knight and an Eternal in the same fight.
—
Headache was losing bodies to the girl's thrashing, which drained its resources; Faustite knew well that it was not a combative youma by any means, so summoning it to this type of fight could only be as a short-lived distraction. The energy it took from the senshi helped in the wake of the parts it lost to dusting, but the drain of being in Destiny City and being actively attacked outpaced what Headache regained. Whenever Harmonia would slap her own skin, she would pull back a handful of dust. Eventually, Headache would have to desist.
From somewhere at the epicenter of the black blaze, Headache heard Faustite respond to the beleaguered senshi. "Feed it your ******** starseed and it'll stop," he snapped back.
With that said, Headache was resigned to get dusted in this ridiculous, grandstanding foray. The boy could not accept a loss, but he could accept losing his youma (albeit temporarily). He was no longer making choices with his head, but with his instincts and his pride and his need to prove to himself that he was the most powerful thing in Destiny City.
