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 Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 6:51 pm
Quote: The Gargoyles (3) : Even when you thought you’d seen the last of them, it seems like you’re never really in the clear. A while back, there was an infestation of awful gargoyle creatures–and while every Star Festival had its fair share of oddities, this one seems to have introduced a permanent infestation upon the city. Maybe you see them perched on the roof, or hiding in the shadows, but not all of these grotesque creatures are satisfied with just escaping their interdimensional prison–some of them still have a bone to pick. They seem stony; some of them will watch with a penetrative gaze and never strike to attack, but some of them will dive down to target anyone who gets too close. The monsters come in an array of sizes and shapes, but they are no more than half the size of their target. Their goal is uncertain, but they will crumble into a pile of rocks and dust if struck hard enough.
As if they were watching him.
And then, one took flight with an awful, grating screech--like ti realized he was watching and was keen to be done with him. Instinctively, Helene reached for his magic.
"Inhibit Vice!"
The spell went off, as expected, which was a benefit, but the creature showed no signs of stopping, as if his magic had no effect on it.
"Ah," he said, half to himself, and he brought his arms up in front of his face to protect it. Better cuts there than the risk of losing an eye. Perhaps it wasn't surprising his amgic did nothing; this was a stone beast, it was rather unlikely that it had inhibitions. Or even the brain to consider them.
Its claws dug into his arms, and he hissed in pain, determinedly anchoring his stance so it couldn't knock him over.
If he could get a moment to grab his phone, he could alert Kaifeng and have backup....
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 7:21 pm
"Rocky Sweep!" A stream of baseball size ethereal rocks pelted the creature, the ground beneath it seeming to move as if it were eroding.
Aruna had been minding her own business, thank you very much, and definitely not paying attention to the creepy statues that were watching her. No, if she paid them any attention, that would mean acknowledging that they were real. And real meant dangerous, most likely. But when she heard a god awful sound and heard a familiar voice, she knew she couldn't ignore them any longer.
Which is how she found herself jogging up towards Helene, and throwing magical rocks at the creature. She gave a small smile before looking back at the monster. This thing was not going to be enjoyable to fight.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 7:50 pm
Well. That definitely wasn't Kaifeng, but it was backup nonetheless. Familiar backup, at that--the Senshi they'd taken to see Kaifeng's Wonder a few weeks before.
"Aruna," he greeted, taking advantage of the monster's distraction by her magic to get some distance away from it. "Immune to emotion effecting magic--probably does not have emotions to affect. Glad for your help," he said, quickly, as he evaluated the situation. He hated to rely entirely on someone else fir this, but it seemed her magic was far and away more useful than his. The creature seemed confused, and he swore he could see cracks spindling over its rocky flesh. Magic, it seemed, was perfectly useful--as long as it hit them with something. And Aruna's magic would do that splendidly.
"I will try to hold its attention. Attack it again; suspect it will not survive."
To that end, he whistled, and the gargoyle snapped its attention back to him--back to its initial prey--and let out a crunchy, gravelly snarl, taking wing to go for the more helpless-seeming victim.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:07 pm
Aruna was secretly thrilled that Helene remembered her and she smiled brightly, nodding at his words. She, too, noticed the cracks in the creature and took a few steps back, not wanting to get in the creature's range of attack.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Aruna adjusted her position and stamped her foot on the ground. "Rocky Sweep!" Yet again, baseball size rocks pelted the creature, but it didn't fully break. The cracks deepened, however, and a few pieces seemed to chip off. Aruna glanced anxiously at Helene, knowing she only had one more attack worth of magic within her.
"Ideas?" Her brow furrowed in worry, eyes darting around to make sure there werent more of those creatures. It truly would suck to use all of her magic, only to be ambushed by more.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:13 pm
Helene frowned. He'd hoped the second barrage from Aruna would be enough--but if he remembered a fi5rst stage's usual limits, she would be close to if not at them. No reason to force her to push herself more. Not when he was here, and he might not have damaging magic, but he did have a Super Senshi's magically enhanced strength and his own body, which was in far more fighting-fit shape than it had been when he first arrived on Earth. (A change Lianli regularly seemed to appreciate.)
"Only one," he said, in answer to Aruna's question, and he darted in, slamming his fist into the thing''s center mass.
With all of his force behind it, he felt the creature shatter under his fist, and he stepped back, shaking his hand off.
"Thank you for your assistance," he told Aruna. "Are you well? No injuries?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:26 pm
Pale brown eyes went wide in surprise as she watched the creature crumble. That was a thing they could do? Could she do that too? Questions buzzed in her head as she stared at Helene in awe.
His words brought her back to reality and she quickly did a mental inventory of her body, shaking her head. "I'm fine, what about you?" She looked over the man before her, hoping she had gotten there in time before he sustained any bad injuries.
"I'm glad I was able to help. What even was that thing?" She walked over to the crumbled pile of stone and debris, crouching down to take a look at it. It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a pile of regular rock at her feet. Nothing sinister or malicious about it in her eyes.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:34 pm
Helene shook out his hand, frowning down at what were likely to be bruised knuckles and some slowly bleeding cuts on his arm, mirrored on the other.
"Nothing serious. Know several people with healing magic; no trouble to have it fixed." At minimum, he was not above meeting Lanting in the middle of the night and dealing with Corvina's yapping to get it fixed, but most likely he'd just ask Lianli to bandage it and it would heal fine without magical intervention. "Your arrival was timely. Spared any more serious wounds."
A fortunate thing, all up.
"Not certain what these are; they are not youma, and do not bear the taint of Chaos--they seem to simply be some sort of aggressive...creature." Helene sighed, unhappily. "Good to be aware of them, and to know that they may be hostile and dangerous."
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:40 pm
She quietly fished a pack of bandaids out of her subspace and held them out to him with a tiny smile. It was one of the few things she had thought would be prudent to carry at all times.
"Not youma, not chaos.....that's unnerving." She poked at the rocks, frowning at them. "Maybe it's just a Samhain thing. Supposedly the veil between us and otherworldly things is thin, and it lets supernatural things happen. At least....that's what I read. No idea if it's actually real or true." Then again, she had been fairly confident that super heroes and magical girls weren't real a few months ago, and life had decidedly proved her wrong on that.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:43 pm
"Mm, perhaps," Helene said. tHat wasn't necessarily similar to any set of beliefs he was familiar with, but he wasn't going to dismiss anything out of hand. Plenty of different worlds had different spiritual traditions, and plenty had looked askance at how his world tied their spirituality up in the cycle of reincarnation.
"In any case, best to be careful, and keep your eyes upwards. Winged enemies can be especially difficult. But you are well equipped to handle yourself, and quite adept at wielding your magic. I am impressed," he offered. She deserved the compliment, too.
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:48 pm
"Like I said, it's just what I read. I don't even know if it's real or not." She shrugged and stood up, brushing her skirt off. At the compliment, her eyes lit up brightly. It was clear that this girl was unused to praise, and she was quite easily thrilled by it.
"Thank you! I've been working on it so I can be useful." She smiled vibrantly at Helene, feeling quite confident for once. "Do you think there are any more of those creatures out here? Or do you think this was the only one?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2024 8:52 pm
Helene cast his eyes up to the roof line, searching for any more of the creatures. There were statues, there, but they didn't seem particularly....well, animated, or likely to come alive and leap at him, so he let his eyes return to Aruna.
"Impossible to be certain, but I suspect it was alone, or any others likely would have joined the battle." He frowned. "If you would prefer, we can walk together for a time--that way, neither of us can be caught alone and unawares."
An obvious, and hopefully easy, solution, as far as Helene was concerned.
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 9:53 am
Aruna followed his gaze, a bit anxious but less so with Helene there. "I would appreciate that, thank you." She gave him a small smile and fell into step beside him, hoping that the night wouldn't have any more unpleasant surprises.
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