Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Smoke Mirrors]

"Fine fine, I'll try to tune down the terror and violence stuff," Mori groaned, "Jeez, there's just no pleasing you, princess."

He didn't react to the new information externally, thankfully years of acting experience taught you how to pretend everything was part of the show, despite the fact that the gears in his head were whirring in overdrive. The toad was here, what did that mean for the situation? Yagami had said she hadn't experienced the normal Akuma seed symptoms yet, did that mean that he was here to do it now? Was he here due to a deal with Kitakawa, wherein the toad would deliver Yagami in exchange for something? He was certainly better equipped for a covert operation than most. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough information on either the situation or the goals of the toad to draw a complete enough conclusion as to the reasoning.

That just lead to the consideration of what he could do. He was very aware even as Reynart, he was no match for the toad. He didn't expect Mishima was either, as, even assuming he's right as to her being Scathach, it had taken both her and Kazami to hold him off... then again, that had been when he was under an illusion. Akitsuki's ability to cut through illusions was able to counter him, at which point Kasuga had been able to at least land a hit... so he needed Akitsuki.

The masked Kaijin is here, I need you and your anti-illusion powers.
Now.


"Anything you want to talk about? First time you get to be yourself in a while." Mori asked Yagami, "Must be nice."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Street Group (Mildred, Akihiko, Shiro, Jin)
"The time for our little game is over. It's time to find Fuu-chan, Shi-no-mi-ya."

Some struggling can be seen from his cloak. It seems Nene is trying to get out.

"Cute. Fuu-chan and I....."
"Oh shut the hell up already!"

A gout of fire smashes into his side as Akihiko's fireball lands true, sending the Ripper tumbling. The Ripper attempts to right himself, but a burst of light courtesy of Shiro, followed by a lamppost hurled like a spear (courtesy of Aegaeon) collide into him next, throwing him onto a rooftop not a block away from Hermelin.

"Nice shot, Kasuga, Shiro!"
"You're going to need somewhat more than that. That barely tickled him."

The Ripper's body contorts as he pulls himself off the ground, Mildred and Shiro's bikes fast closing the distance.
"...where are you....never mind. I'll handle this."

He twists his head around, visibly wincing as he holds the spot where Akihiko's blast struck him.

"....to think he could hit so strongly....he was right. These demons are becoming more powerful by the day."
Popular Group (Aika, Mori)
Mori's vision flickers.

As he hits 'Send', the message remains on the screen. No matter how much he taps, it doesn't send. He needed Akitsuki here now, what was going on? Why isn't it sending, why isn't it sending-!

The rippling seems to be gone. Yagami tilts her head.

"Myself? Uh....I mean, this is who I've always been. I've always liked computers more than singing, after all."

From the corner of his vision, the hood of the masked Kaijin appears-!

Yet as he whirls to face it, nothing. Absence.

His vision flickers again.

The message he tried to send Akitsuki has ceased to be. Like he never typed it at all. For a moment, the visage of the masked Kaijin appears on his phone screen, taunting him with a smile beneath the veil hiding his mouth, before his screen returns to normal.

His head feels heavy. Fuuka - or Tomoe or whatever she was really called - stares at him and Mori swears her neck is bending a little too much-

"Sawatari!"

A burst of lilac light shoots across Mori's vision. The weight within his head vanishes instantly, as if cut away with a keen blade. The oddness, the weirdness was gone. His vision feels clear, clearer than ever. The feeling is as if the weight of the last few weeks had been taken off him, however briefly. Something hits him as he experiences this.

That lilac light....it was the same color as Scathach's visor.

Silence for a split second.

[Now Playing: Theme of Andras ~~Penumbra (Variant A)~~]

And then Kanade Mishima tackles him away as a knife sinks into her side, the hooded Kaijin stabbing her as he emerges from the floor in a burst of shadows and ice.

Mori realises from the angle that the knife was mere centimeters from hitting HIM instead, had Mishima not pushed him out of the way. From the height, it was going for his throat.

"Pathetic."

He yanks the knife out from Mishima's body and goes for another stab, before yanking her by the arm and throwing her to the side of the room where she tumbles into a set of drawers, motionless.

Yagami almost jumps away from Mori, picking up a chair to defend herself as Andras fully materialises in the room.
"M-Mishima-senpai! You monster! G-get away from me!"

"I can't do that, Miss Yagami. You and I have an appointment together."
If Mori checks his phone, he sees that the message did go through. Whatever trickery Andras was playing on him, Scathach - if it wasn't Mishima - made it go away.

[Smoke Mirrors]

"Mother fucker, you did not just make me owe Mishima my life!" Mori shouted, rising from the shadows as his form shifted in a blast of blue flames.

Ok, so it was the kidnapping thing. What did that mean he should do? He had a responsibility to protect Yagami, he'd sworn it to her. Even if that masked toad could kill him, he had to try. There was no other choice!

But...

Mishima's motionless body being thrown into the draws replayed in his mind like an echo. She was his enemy, he hated her with a burning passion, but... could he just leave her there?

"Abandon the interloper." the voice of Reynart spoke in his mind, "Your duty lies with Yagami, not the one who's family invaded your home."

"What's a dead body compared to all the people you've already good as killed?" the other voice added, "Leave her behind, then go rip that toad to shred as he croaks for mercy!"

Reynart was right, he had a responsibility to Yagami he couldn't ignore, and no such responsibility to Mishima. So sorry princess, but you chose to save the devil over yourself, you'd have to be an idiot to think he'd return the-


"Kiara!" he shouted. He blinked, and found himself picking up Mishima, his hands glowing gold as he shifted her into a more comfortable position, before he turned towards the masked toad.


"Fine then. Vile Roots!"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Dumb bastard, he's getting herded right where we need him! Once he's at Hermelin it's over with, ALL of us can drop on him like the fuckin' hammer of God!"

Mildred leaned over her handlebars and cranked the engine again; it was already being pushed past what a motorcycle should conceivably be able to do, and the metal groaned in protest. She didn't care. It had to hold together only a little longer and then she could use it as a weapon. Regardless, the bike roared forward, closing the distance slowly but surely.

"You got him good, Kasuga! He definitely doesn't like the heat!"

[Chevaleresse]

".Shut! The! Hell! Up! Already!" Each word was punctuated with another angry lance of golden light from Shiro's outstretched palm. Rather than trying to close immediately, she was trying to keep their foe locked down. . . Or she was too impatient to not exclusively focus on hitting him. One of those two.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Street Group (Mildred, Akihiko, Shiro, Jin)
"I think I only grazed him. I had to fight that guy alone for a bit, he's something else."

Kitakawa laughs at Mildred.
"You think this isn't where I want to go? How cute-"

Then, Shiro cuts him off. The Ripper whips up his cloak like a shield as Shiro's lances of light slam into him. The last one, however, clocks him in the head, causing an unearthly scream.

"You....that hurt! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!"

With wiry strength, Kitakawa rips out a nearby air-conditioning unit, hurling it at Shiro.
Popular Group (Aika, Mori)
Kanade does not visibly stir as Mori picks her up. His healing doesn't seem to have failed, though.

Mori's vision flickers again, but this time, the lilac light flashes across instantly. The thorns erupt from the ground beneath Reynart's feet, surging towards the masked Kaijin, who narrowly evades it by kicking a desk towards Mori's thorns, the desk splitting in half as a result.

He hisses, eyes on Mishima in Mori's arms. Then, a glimpse of realisation.

A smirk grows behind his mask.

"....so that's how it is. Even like that, she's still protecting you from my illusions. No wonder I can't get a foothold on your mind. How can you live with yourself, loathing someone so willing to protect you, even with her life?"

A chair goes sailing through the air. Andras doesn't even turn as he whips his knife upwards, slashing it in half. Yagami screams as she tries to crawl back from Andras, the chair's halves freezing solid instantly and shattering as they clatter to the floor.

"So self-righteous. So determined to hate one and protect the other. You're just as bad as Kasuga, you know. The difference is that he has no illusions about being some kinda hero. He does as he pleases, exactly as a demon should. Here you are protecting the girl you hate so much and pretending you don't care one bit."

[SeriousConcentrate]

Mildred immediately countered with a whirl and flick of her right hand, conjuring a powerful wind that picked up the aircon and flung it aside before it could hit Shiro.

"You dumb bastard, I already told you! No use throwing shit when I'm around, because that's MY thing!"

Hoping he was sufficiently distracted, she immediately conjured another wind to shoot the aircon right back at him.

[Smoke Mirrors]

"First of all, I'm only responsible for my bad decisions. No one else's." Mori replied, as a thick fog of purple pollen flowed toward the masked toad.


"Second, I'd barely qualify what I'm doing as 'living with myself'." another set of thorny roots took shape in the fog, lashing out, "I've just got a list of shit I need to get done before I'm comfortable putting a bullet in my head. Some real Robert Frost shit."


"Third, I've long since noted I'm not the type to 'do as I please'. That requires me to actually want something, and I'm not allowed to do that anymore. Selfishness and self-righteousness kind of requires a 'self' with desires to fulfill, and I haven't had one of those for a while." An extra set of roots shifted under the cover of fog, quietly gathering to grab Yagami and pull her away.

The whole time, Mori watched the body language of the enemy, analyzing any data he could get.

[Chevaleresse]

Shiro took this chance to charge, light gathering in her palm once again. This time, it formed into a sword, one she held straight out to the side until she was in striking range.

"You shouldn't talk about yourself so damn much! Now SIT!" She leapt the motorcycle into the air, aiming to crash down next to Kitakawa and deliver a slash from above.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Street Group (Mildred, Akihiko, Shiro, Jin)
At the sight of the aircon being launched back at him, with Shiro leaping to stab him, the Ripper simply....tilts his head?
"Sorry. Our game's over. My appointment with Fuu-chan is now."

That feeling surges through you again, the feeling of having entered a Domain without having actually entered one.

Shiro finds her blade hitting solid concrete, as a hole opens beneath him, concrete turning to rain-soaked brick as he dips into whatever hellish realm he went into, a chuckle echoing through his mask, before the aircon smashes into that spot, leaving nothing but a broken rooftop and a broken air conditioning unit.

The odd feeling in the air disappears. Akihiko detransforms, smacking the side of the motorbike.
"Dammit. As long as he can do that thing, we'll never catch him. Let me check if the others have-"
He checks his phone, with several messages from Saya, and one from Mori.

Nanjou got taken by the masked Kaijin from last time. Mori and Yagami in trouble. On our way to meet them. Third floor. Come quickly.

At that, Akihiko puts his phone away, and almost immediately reverts back into Ibaraki-Douji.
"Kasuga? What is it?"
"Shiro, Mildred, we need to get to the third floor, and fast. I think Kitakawa's gonna try and meet up with the masked Kaijin. I don't know what he's got planned for Yagami, but it can't be good."
Popular Group (Aika, Mori)
The masked Kaijin tilts his head. Slowly, he walks towards Mori, unflinching, at a casual pace.

"Oh, poor you. You're only doing what you feel you have to. Nothing more. Is that right? None of this is what you want to do? It's all just part of your duty?"

The purple pollen is met with a cloud of biting icy wind, both blowing away. The tone of his voice is conversational, like he were speaking about the weather, or a particularly interesting TV show on last night.

"Not your choice to hate some girl who's done nothing but protect you from me the moment I came in here? Not your choice to talk like some anime villain? Not your choice to insult everyone around you? You're pathetic."

The masked Kaijin continues his advance. The shadows beneath his cloak lash out at the thorns thrown at him, ripping them to shreds.

"Take some responsibility. Admit it. This is what you want. All this talk about not having a "self", it's an excuse. You want to hate Mishima. You want to save her, too. You want to be some kind of hero, while hated by everyone else so you can bear that burden alone out of some twisted desire to act the part of a villain. The Kaijin is a reflection of the self. Both the good and the bad. Don't you get it yet? Maybe if you live, Mishima might even explain it all to you."

He flicks a frozen blade out, but barely misses the root - and Yagami - taking her to Mori's side. The masked Kaijin sighs, as if he'd simply dropped a pen, or some other minor irritation.

"That's the beauty of being a demon. We can do whatever we please. The world is our playground. This face of ours is our true face, the one we are destined to show the world. Those chosen by the power of demons to show their true selves are obliged to use that power as they please."

[Smoke Mirrors]

"You want to see my face?" Mori questioned, like he was asking if he wanted to see a picture he'd taken.

He hooked two fingers into the eye-holes and pulled, and a sound like sizzling flesh whispered in his ears as the mask of Reynart came off. Even if he couldn't see it, he knew exactly what was looking out at the masked kaijin, the same endless sea of darkness that was burned into his mind from those weeks ago.

"The Kaijin is a reflection of the true self? No fucking shit, but it did take me a bit to realize who Fantomas was. Mori replied, as more pollen flowed out, but this time it was as black as midnight, "He's not the devil who always wins in the end. He's the one who took so many names and faces he lost his own. A wretched creature who stopped being human in the pursuit of his arrogant dreams."

A wave of shadow passed over him, and when it disappeared, he was once more dressed in the purple overcoat of his original form.

"This is my true face, nothingness, empty and used up. My chest's a hollow void where nine years ago there was a beating human heart." black, thorn-covered roots emerged from the floor and walls, blooming with red and white flowers, "The 'self' known as Sawatari Mori died when he was eight, after making the decision that he and he alone would avenge his family's honor. The ghost of a grudge doesn't get to change its ways when it realizes that an 8-year-old is fucking stupid.

"This face? This name? It doesn't get to have its own desires. And frankly, it doesn't give a fuck what a talking toad thinks of that."

[Chevaleresse]

Shiro elected to not waste time on words and choose violence instead. She raised her palm and blasted a hole through the weakened roof before hopping down and looking for a stairwell.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Popular Group (Aika, Mori)
The masked Kaijin stares for a moment.

Then he lets out a laugh at Mori.

"Oh, you really ARE pathetic! Most kids dream of something idealistic, like becoming an astronaut, or becoming an idol! Your dream was taking down the Mishimas? You're just sad. Pathetic, even. Can't even let go of some stupid promise you made and do and present yourself with some edgy bullshit thinking it'll make you a monster. I don't see what the power of demons saw in you. You're clearly unworthy of having it. You can't even see the forest for the trees."

"Have you even thought of what you'll do if you succeed? Hell, you could succeed right now. She's helpless in your hands. Crush her, if you're that determined to avenge your family. You're a demon now, aren't you? We do as we please. Go on, do it. Save me the time. Who's gonna stop you? Kasuga? Akari? Her partner's nowhere near here, you know. Just you and me."

Mishima's unconscious body doesn't stir.

Yagami stays behind Mori, visibly terrified.
"S-Sawatari, what is he talking about?"

[Smoke Mirrors]

"You see, this is where we get back to responsibility." Mori replied, as he placed the mask back on his face. With a ripple of shadow, he was back to Reynart.


"I have a responsibility to protect and avenge that which is mine, which supersedes all other things." he added, "And you targeted Sakurajima and Miyazono. Even that pathetic Kaneko was under my protection, and for the time being, I am under contract to protect Yagami. For these reasons, I have a responsibility to make you pay."


"You said that Mishima was protecting me from you getting inside my mind? Then where does that leave me if she's dead? The way I see it, I need her to keep breathing until you aren't." he concluded, "You're right, I'm not qualified to be a kaijin. To this day, I don't know why I didn't become an akuma, but I know that I will never have the power to do as I wish, but as long as I have power, I will always have a duty to use it to protect people from pathetic fools like you."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Popular Group (Aika, Mori)
"That's funny. You think I can't do anything to you just because she's blocking my illusions."

The masked Kaijin beginds to dissolve into the floor, shadow fading away into nothingness.

"Mishima's unconscious. If your entire team could barely dent me....what hope do you have?"

Before Mori can move, he feels a sudden, intense aura behind him, as the masked Kaijin erupts from the floor in a burst of shadows, icy blade aimed straight at the back of Mori's head.

Before anything happens however, he hears the faintest of whispers from Kanade.

Mori feels himself getting pushed to the floor, Andras' knife flashing at the corner of his vision and slamming into the floor. He sees the ghostly form of Scathach, fading away, arm outstretched. At that, the masked Kaijin is visibly thrown off guard, taking several steps back from him.

"That's not....that's impossible!"

"It seems...despite talking about how a demon can do anything they like....you still don't know a thing about what we can truly do."

Kanade finally stirs, one hand hanging off to the side, partially shifted into one of Scathach's signature arm blades.

"I told you, Sawatari. I'm not your enemy. And never will be. No matter what you say or do."
"I knew a sufficiently powerful demon could shift part of themselves while not fully transforming....but for you to project your demon like that...."
"The Kaijin of Hermelin are under my protection, including Sawatari. Yagami-san, too, is under my care. A toad like you.....has no right to hurt those under my protection."