[EVENT] LUCERNE ATTACK

[soul_mods]

Characters: OPEN to Lucerne agents and the agents coming in from Liechtenstein
Location: Lucerne, Switzerland
Rating: PG
Time: December 20
Description: Shibusen Lucerne gets attacked and its agents attempt to defend it. Event Summary Here

Comments

Closed | Underground base

[mumyo_ken]

The call had come in just before dawn. There hadn't been time for much planning or preparation, the agents in Lichtenstein had simply been roughly broken up into two groups and sent through the mirror.

Okita and his partner had been one of the first pairs through, and the two had been fighting since. They were underground now, in the twisting halls of the Lucerne base, taking down the kishin eggs as they found them.

The madness was potent here, and Souji had given up trying to fight it off himself, allowing the resonance with Takasugi to keep him from sliding over the edge. He needed to put all of his concentration into fighting. If they failed here, they would give their enemy a foothold. He couldn't allow that. So he pushed past his fatigue and attacked the next enemy that came into view.

[alastinglight]

Takasugi, on the other hand, could feel his Weapon form practically thrumming with power. The energy was invigorating, and only increased with each new cut and every kill. It was hard not to get drunk on it or ride on the crest of the madness and the way it tempted him to let loose, but perhaps one reason why he was able to keep his head was worry for his Meister.

You can still manage, right?

The cold weather of the place and Okita's coughing had been worrisome over the past few days, and now they found themselves in a full-scale fight. The last thing Takasugi wanted was for one of them to get hurt.

[mumyo_ken]

I can keep going.

He knew that, if not in bad shape yet, he was getting there. If not for Takasugi's talent making the work of cutting through the kishin increasingly easier, he might have been faltering already. He was tired, and the cough that had been tearing at his lungs the last few days was trying to make itself known, despite his best efforts.

But he was going to keep fighting. Until they won, or in the worst case scenario, had to evacuate the base. But until that happened, he wasn't going to give up. There were too many people--too many lives that needed protecting--and he knew they needed each and every fighter they had if they were going to get out of this.

You don't need to worry about me.

[alastinglight]

But he did, didn't he? There was no denying it. He lived with Okita, worked closely with him: they hadn't really had a chance to slow down and rest for a while now. Their breaks were always too short. Never enough.

I still think we should try and go for higher ground.

They were the only ones holding this particular position. They were supposed to have back-up, but it looked like everyone else was too busy.

[mumyo_ken]

That's probably a good idea.

He'd wanted to give their back-up time to arrive, but it was impossible to say what might have happened to them. They might have been held up somewhere else in the base, or they might not be coming at all. And the last thing they could afford was to get trapped down there, when neither of them was really very familiar with the base.

His chest ached, and he ignored it. It would go away. It had to go away. He needed to keep fighting. He knew all about himself, now. He knew he still had more time.

Let's go.

The kishin, of course, had other ideas. Three of them were there, bent on preventing their prey's escape. Souji narrowed his eyes and charged on ahead anyway.

[alastinglight]

And the first one was reckless, charging right into the path of Okita's blade. The other two, however, attempted to flank them, hanging back, just out of reach.

Takasugi attempted to keep an eye on them, even as he let his Meister take care of the rest.

[mumyo_ken]

Foolish. It was foolish of these creatures to think they stood a chance against them. He wasn't going to back down or give in. He wasn't going to let them have their way.

The first was simple to take out. He simply lunged at it, taking advantage of the opening it gave him and tore through its guts like it was made of tissue. His partner was strong, strong enough to compensate for his own weakness. Weakness he wasn't going to let get the better of him. Not while he could keep fighting. The remaining two closed in, trying to box him in in the narrow corridor, but he wasn't afraid. He wasn't even worried. He simply struck out again, trusting in his skill and Takasugi's power.

[alastinglight]

The second went down with frightening ease, but the third was smarter, darting away before it could get swiped at.

It wasn't alone anymore either: another contingent of kishin eggs was coming towards them, ready to fill in the gaps as soon as they were close enough. They stood between the pair and their only way out of the place.

[mumyo_ken]

The third one was trying to elude him. It was irritating. And there were more of them, he was dimly aware, watching, waiting for their chance.

He was wearing down quickly, and he knew it, even as he pivoted quickly and backhanded the closest kishin with Takasugi's blade. Even his partner's power couldn't keep him going indefinitely, contained as it was within the weapon's form.

But maybe...

There was something. Something out there that he could feel, lurking somewhere past the Madness, if he was willing to go after it. He lunged at the kishin again, keeping an eye out for the others.

I need to try something. Do you trust me?

This was going to be dangerous, but if he could do it...

They might just have a chance.

[alastinglight]

If that wasn't a loaded question, Takasugi didn't know what else could qualify. Even then, he knew the answer, realized what his partner had been looking at even before he knew exactly what it was going to be.

On one hand, they could wear themselves both out. On another, they could gamble with their lives and see things through.

Gambling was something that Takasugi was only too used to doing.

Yes.

He didn't realize it, but a strange sort of glow had started to emanate from his Weapon form. 'Glow', although the more proper phenomenon was that it seemed to be sucking the light and color out of the air and cells around it, making the sword appear darker and creating some sort of eerie white film over the blade, like a transparent scabbard.

Their shadows had lengthened beneath them to an impossible degree. Upon closer observation, one may have noticed that they appeared to be swirling.

[mumyo_ken]

Things were already shifting, changing. He could feel it like a great pressure in the back of his head, and it was calling to him. He knew that they could do this, but first, he had to let go. He had to stop resisting that siren call, and give into it.

He had to embrace the Madness. And Takasugi's answer was all he needed. He let go of himself, and let it claim him.

It was not unlike diving into a cold river, shocking at first, but then numbing, soothing, and deceptive in its calm. He knew it would pull him down and kill him if he let it, but with luck, he would not have to do this for very long. Distantly, he could feel himself still fighting, feel that quick, tricky kishin egg coming apart piece by piece beneath the black blade's continued assault. He was making a mess of it, playing with it now, waiting for the others to get fed up and advance. There were too many variables. He wanted them as close as possible.

There.

One last swipe, and the kishin's head came off, almost like an afterthought.

Resonance. Now.He didn't have

[alastinglight]

And that was all it took, wasn't it? After holding back for so long, after fighting off the frustration and the fear and the sadness, after cutting loose just a fraction during training and missions yet still waking up at night feeling like the air could choke him with too many possibilities/too little knowledge of the future, now that they were surrounded by foes and without a friendly face in sight, it was simply too easy

[mumyo_ken]

It had been worth the risk. Takasugi had placed everything into his hands, and now it was up to him and take this power they had created together, and use it.

Okita Souji used it to kill.

Suddenly, he was not sick. He was not even tired. He did not have to think or worry or calculate at all. He simply moved, faster than he ever had across a dojo floor or on the field of battle. The blade in his hand weighed nothing, felt like nothing, slipped through their maimed foes like a shadow. A horrible, vengeful shadow that tore apart everything in its path, leaving a trail of violence and darkness in its wake.

A few of the kishin tried to back off. That was a mistake.

[alastinglight]

And perhaps someone else might have found it horrific, how the creatures seemed to melt away the moment the shadows touched them, filling the air with a terrible stench. If they did not die from the blade Okita wielded, they were killed by the spikes of energy that lanced out from the pool of shadows below their feet.

Few of the kishin had time to scream: as such, the only sounds in the corridor was the eerie hum of the power the pair suddenly had at their disposal, the strange whisper of the shadows, and the simultaneous collapse of too many decapitated limbs hitting the walls, the ground.

Another wave of enemies approached them, attacking without any sense of order or anger. The kishin were scared now, frightened by the human-looking foe with a wicked sword.

Takasugi knew this. It only made him smile.

[mumyo_ken]

How long could they keep this up? It was a question that should have been worrying him, but instead it flitted across his consciousness and was gone again and instant later.

There were more enemies, waiting to be taken apart.

The shadows were their vanguard, moving out ahead of the pair in a wave, maiming as they went, making easy targets for that blade. Souji moved between them with a deceptive grace, taking them apart like so much meat, refusing to be trapped. The tables had turned, and what had seemed like a simple victory for the aggressors had become slaughter.

[alastinglight]

Interestingly enough, in the hands of another Meister the attack should have been over a long time ago. As things were, however, Takasugi's Weapon form continued to gather up energy from the blood it spilled, powering the shadows.

Takasugi himself hardly noticed. He was riding on the crest of it, letting the energy wipe away all of the pesky feelings that had been holding him back ever since he had arrived in Death City. Still, neither he nor Okita were aware of the fact that both of them were tiring, that it wouldn't be too long before they had nothing left to give.

Fortunately, there were only a few more kishin to take care of. They had effectively wiped their little corner of the base clean. Now they only needed to eliminate the stragglers.