Nexus Campus Town

[Panda]

Costin

Nanako already cracked the earth before the rubble got to rise or fall, with movements that were more like a lightning strike than the impact of flesh. But the vampire just reacted to her cooly, shifting his body to the side ever so slightly. If her speed and power were unbelievable, then the fact he'd see through and dodge it so casually...

No. Even the vampire had to give in at some point. She was faster. She had shown it before, the dead abomination could be outplayed. It could be beaten.

But would? No, not this easily.

After dodging the kick, his body was full of openings - his grin boldly invited Nanako to bite.

Nanako

Gritting her teeth in building frustration as he slipped past the kick so easily, Nanako took his invitation without hesitation. She wasn't sure if she could have resisted even if she wanted to, the squirrel girl wanting, no, needing to hear the impact of a blow landing, that strangely pleasant sound of his body giving in against hers. She needed to know for certain, one way or the other.

A quick flick of her tail kept her momentum going, redirecting it as her first kick plowed into the dirt, sending tremors through the ground. She planted that foot down and anchored herself on it, her other leg coming around around for his head, only to shoot into his torso instead, the squirrel girl aching for something solid, anything at this point.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Costin

Her deadly kick flowed and shot out even faster than the last, darting like a snake before snapping unpredictably - an explosion moving forward only to crack unpredictably in another direction. To break something, anything. The wind pressure alone ripped everything apart, damaging the concrete around them and ripping the vampire's shirt apart.

There was the crackling sound. A feeling. Her hit connected.

And yet it felt wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong wrong, wrong wrong, wrong. As if holding someone's hand, only to realize your wrist exposed naught but a broken bone. It was a crushing pain that shot through her entire leg nauseatingly.

The leg Costin caught with his clawed hand, holding it just before his bruised body.

"You fight like old people fuck."

Suddenly came the monstruous wind pressure, the vertigo before the impact. The moment didn't last long enough. The apostle slammed her against a building with the violence you'd expect a killer.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Headmaster

She shook her head with a shallow sigh, and pushed the now-empty cup away from her end of the table. "A heart like the heavens is yet a heart. Are you sure you're not the one who's grown forgetful, Fǔ Wúyí?"

The Headmaster slid her eyes away from the shade as if she had nothing to add, shaking her head as she finished the words. With a flick of her wrist, envelope paper and an inkpen floated from somewhere indistinct into her hands, and she set them down to write what she had suggested.

An injured Student

There were a few tremors, shaking the tea ever so slightly.

Ever so subtly.

Then  gates to the private study were soon opened shut, revealing something unexpected. A panicked upperclassman hurried, bandages on his head and slight wounds to show. "Headmaster...!" He gasped and panted, catching his breath as quickly as he could.

His injuries weren't severe... the physical ones at least. But his fear was very real, and palpable. "Monsters... something terrible's rampaging around? I couldn't get a good look, but there's blasts all over the far eastern dorms! I got here as fast as I could, evacuated the others with a teleport spell. Some got injured though..."

His breath was heavy, ragged. That's when he noticed the strangers in the study. "Y-you should get somewhere else. It isn't safe right now!"


Lawrence

His eyes turned like a viper, looking at the student with undivided attention - without so much as spilling a drip of tea. But there was another tremor, a less noticeable one. And that's when his reptilian gaze was deciphered for once. Something outside its usual hollow self.

Anger.

True, genuine anger.

"Is someone so bold as to attack here and now? I can't allow this. I won't allow my students to come to harm." His eyes turned quickly to the headmaster. "If this is true, we have no time to spare. What are your instructions master?"

[YOLF]

Headmaster

No time at all passed from the arrival of the haggard student, to her expression twinging with bitterness under the hood. Rather than answer Lawrence immediately, she had crossed the distance to the messenger and steadied him by the shoulder. "I understand, and I'll go right away," she said, squeezing lightly. "You've done well, so go take care of your injuries and keep safe."

With a sweep of her cloak, she nodded apologetically to her guests, and flew the promised recommendation in Kore's hands. She paused severely only at the sight of Lawrence. "I'm afraid we must cut this close. Please take your leave, and I will see you later. You follow me, professor."

She did not walk, but strode to the door of the study of the study, and as she slammed half of it open, what gazed from the other side was not the interior of the building, but a scene of battle.

[Panda]

Costin

Her deadly kick flowed and shot out even faster than the last, darting like a snake before snapping unpredictably - an explosion moving forward only to crack unpredictably in another direction. To break something, anything. The wind pressure alone ripped everything apart, damaging the concrete around them and ripping the vampire's shirt apart.

There was the crackling sound. A feeling. Her hit connected.

And yet it felt wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong wrong, wrong wrong, wrong. As if holding someone's hand, only to realize your wrist exposed naught but a broken bone. It was a crushing pain that shot through her entire leg nauseatingly.

The leg Costin caught with his clawed hand, holding it just before his bruised body.

"You fight like old people fuck."

Suddenly came the monstruous wind pressure, the vertigo before the impact. The moment didn't last long enough. The apostle slammed her against a building with the violence you'd expect a killer.

Nanako

The squirrel girl shuddered with the thrill of impact, but quickly realized something was off. This was a much more familiar feeling, that of her own pain, and confusion showed on the squirrel girl's face for a moment before the dust cleared enough for her to see her leg caught in his clawed hand. Nanako quivered, her core clenching at nothing as that crushing pain raced through her, making a vain attempt at pulling her leg free.

She needn't have bothered, as Costin swiftly yanked her off the ground and slammed her against a nearby building, smashing a wall with the squirrel girl's body and adding a new throbbing pain to the fading remains of what he'd already given her. The impact knocked some air from her with a heated groan, but she stayed aware, the pain giving her focus where it might have distracted others.

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience, old man," Nanako shot back, lashing out with her free leg for his hand, trying to crush those fingers and free her leg.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Costin

"Pft! Good one."

A smile grew brilliant as the moon, yet the throbbing in his fangs wouldn't cease. The music blasting in his ears was the only thing that could drown it all out. It was his nature. He sensed the tension in her muscles, the vibration in the air, the power swelling in her body before Nanako even released it. The kick hurried for him. Close... But with a single flick he let go and grabbed the other foot at the last possible second, only to slam her violently in the opposite direction. "But no cigar." He treated her like a whip. The impact sent the whole street trembling, while the shattered concrete and dust erupted in the air along with a shower of debris.

"Ah, what a beautiful night. How it brings me back, to that night."

Shirtless, Costin's expression was indecipherable, while the rubble kept raining down. The apostle's muscles were clingy, hardened, coiling over one another like an armor of flesh. But it wasn't the most striking aspect. It wasn't his ivory complexion, nor his demonic bloodlust. Covered by serpentine tattoos, hundreds of scars could barely be noticed. Yet their placement, their shape was nothing like the scars you'd expect a warrior to bear. The cruel way they shaped his body was enough to give someone pause.

Cooly, he let go of Nanako and reached for his pocket, exposing some sort of glassy substance that flowed through his fingers magically. Soon, his mana reshaped it to take the shape of a cup, which soon filled itself with wine.

"Can I help you? You must be the leader here." He took a sip of the nice alcohol, playing around with the cup's contents.



Lawrence

Lawrence followed her lead, but stood back and glared silently at the pale man. His fists were clenched to the point his knuckles might erupt from his hand, but he stood silent. The grail king, Phenex, Mab... all of his nightmares trembled like the notch of an arrow - ready for release.

His eyes turned to the headmaster.

[YOLF]

The Headmaster

In the face of it, the hooded woman appeared as unflappable as ever as she took a mere two steps closer to the bestial man. But he couldn't miss the way her fingers twitched between the folds of her cloak, and how her brows were creased with an old severity when she tilted her head his way as if half-hearted greeting.

"Yes, you may," she said, clicking her teeth. More tired than wrathful, almost indulgently so, her voice did not instantly snap the thread of tension between them. "You are providing a terrible example for my students, and if that was all, I would simply invite you to leave. But either you are not cognizant of the harm you're causing, or you do not care, and that is not tolerable. Perhaps you are ignorant that there are better places to break yourself and others."

She chanced a look at the other person, engaged in battle with the fiend, withering with disappointment. The stones and bricks all around them vibrated in warning when she returned her eyes to the first perpetrator.

A mental call rang in Lawrence's head, a telepathic message through magecraft. 'Hold until it seems I cannot easily deal with this. If otherwise, go secure the area, professor.'

[Panda]

Nanako

Even though she could see it coming, there wasn't all that much she could do about it. The feeling of being ragdolled around like that almost left her as breathless as the actual impact, the squirrel letting out a heated gasp as she was whipped through another wall. Hanging there in Costin's grip, she found herself face to face not only with the sculpted perfection of the man's body, but also strange, almost ritualized scarring covering most of his body.

Before she could ask about it, however, they were interrupted by someone new. Nanako yelped as she was unceremoniously dumped onto the rubble, pouting a little up at Costin as she lay there, her breathing a slightly labored and her body aching in all sorts of ways from the fight, even as her injuries healed. The rubble around her vibrated as the newcomer spoke, and despite the relative youth of the woman the withering gaze she fixed Nanako with spoke of someone older. Even as heated and wanting as the fight had left her, she winced a little under the stern gaze, looking away as she felt the rubble around her tremble.

She stayed where she was for the moment, biting the corner of her lip as she looked between Costin, the robed woman, and another newcomer with an array of cute and apparently angry pets. The trick with the wine drew a strange look from the squirrel girl, though knowing him there was a good chance of it being blood.

"R-right," she cleared her throat, "Guess we should, ah, get going then?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Costin

"Hahaha, give me a little credit. I knew that much, just didn't care. No point living life with worries like that, don't you know?" There was a purr in his voice when stretched his one arm, the tension rising dramatically with each shift of movement. It really felt like he'd attack any second, yet the blow never came.

"Noroc!"

Costin held the glass extended, and raised a proud toast to the lot of them. Proportionally to as much as Lawrence was glowering, Costin grinned cheekily. Especially when he turned to the 'headmaster'. That's when an arm came crawling back to him, floating in the air until it reattached itself creepily. Its as if time was flowing backwards all of a sudden, and it was pleasant enough it made him wanna stretch a little.

"I don't... pwahh... get to talk with cuts of meat close to my age often, so I'll play nice. Want to screw around or something? You sound like you want to get bent, might as well offer. Fight well enough and I might even leave some scraps for your students! So come, don't be shy. I want all three of you to attack me at the same time."

He stretched his arms out in invitation, grinning from ear to ear in a terrifying T Pose.

[YOLF]

Headmaster

"I'm a strict educator, being stringent with credit is second nature." She chuckled drily. As long as he stood without a care of being a threat to the campus' occupants, nothing he would do could draw genuine mirth from that dubious, icy face. "And so far you've not persuaded me to give you an alternative. You can enjoy whatever you wish, but I have no reason to be complicit in your lack of consideration for your surroundings, or to overlook my duties on your account. We will fight if you do not retreat, but it will not be for enjoyment, and I will not weep if my means upset you."

She snapped her fingers, and with a series of booms around them, revealed that these means included massive featureless warriors reshaped from the rent cement, bent steel and cracked brick left in his wake, and yet more drawn from beneath them.

[Panda]

Nanako

Nanako frowned as she watched Costin's arm come crawling back to him, floating in, then reattaching itself. Her own bruises and cuts, numerous as they were, were healing in short order as well, but all the same she couldn't help feeling a little annoyed. Least of all because of the fading aches, leaving her with little more than a flush and a sweeter ache than the rest.

"Well, aren't you insatiable," Nanako remarked, frustration making those whispers press all that much harder against the back of her mind, "We haven't even finished yet and you're already looking for someone else?"

"Or have you gotten bored already?" the squirrel girl cocked an eyebrow as the robed woman snapped her fingers, golems rearranging themselves from broken bricks, asphalt, and steel. She stretched her arms up for a moment and arched her back with a quiet groan, chest pushing out with the motion and straining against her meager top, already worn and torn from their scuffle. With that, she launched back into the fray, rapidly closing the distance and letting fly with a thunderous push kick, trying to launch him into one of the golems and curious to see how tough they were.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Costin

This time, he didn't dodge or block - he hardly had the time to even blink. The beastgirl's impact was something else entirely, caving his ribcage in with one swift strike. He was launched back wildly like a comet.

So why the hell did he look so happy?

"Woah!" Just as it looked like his body would slam into the golem, Costin arched back and flipped his body, using his momentum to arch over the first familiar and land a dropkick on its shoulder. An explosion of force. "Hey, aren'tcha pretty tough." And like a demon, his strike sent it straight into the concrete like a whack-a-mole, visibly cracking it somewhat. For the devil destroys, and all it destroys is sent back to hell.

More were coming, dozens upon dozens. Rather than wait, he took the initiative this time - running forward like a black lightning bolt, hands in his pocket and the same shit eating grin as ever.

"You've got a name meatbag?" He addressed the hooded girl casually despite shooting towards her with with the pure intent to kill.

[YOLF]

Headmaster

The beastly fighter was fast, almost too fast to see properly. She couldn't keep track of the squirrelgirl at the same, and upon seeing her willingness to fight him away from here, the Headmaster almost instantly took her attention away and focused solely on his rabid advance. Either directly manipulated or given autonomy by her will, these soldiers of shattered architecture were rough, but by no means fell completely behind in speed. She could make smaller things fly as fast as bullets, pierce the air like artillery, but she did not need that here yet.

A handful of her familiars stood in his way as a phalanx, and in the same instant, another row jumped over them, closing the route to their master through the air, lunging with their strengthened fists at the sorcerer.

"If I did, I would not share with such a rude visitor," she retorted, hand outstretched like a conductor.

[Panda]

Nanako

At last, there it was again. The feeling of his ribs caving in under her foot echoed like they were surrounded by polished marble instead of dirt and powered brick. There was no mistaking it now, it was a sound she was growing to like. Something she wanted more of. In the midst of this fight, there was no room to think about it past that, so Nanako simply followed through. Though he clearly acknowledged her, that Costin was still going for the headmaster was a frustrating thing, especially with how much fun they'd been having. The squirrel girl frowned as warriors of brick and metal formed up in the vampire's path between him and the robed woman.

"Thought I told you so already," Nanako shot back, her tail flicking back and forth as a counterweight, letting redirect her momentum that much faster. She darted over the ruined field towards him, trying to intercept him with a swift axe kick across his back, trying to knock him to the ground again.

"Or did you not believe me the first time?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

Costin

The elder vampire's charge was met with such an icy response, even his reply was uncharacteristically dry - naught but a chuckle that almost sounded too amiable. "Fair enough." He darted across the rubble unperturbed - when the first wave of stone giants intercepted him.

A whistle.

The wild apostle's headset blared its music, and like a dancer he followed its tune, savagely outmaneuvering the first wall by stepping over the row of golem's limbs as if they were a scalable structure. His steps were mighty, they didn't carry the grace of a martial artist - only the talent for violence. But there was something else, a sharpness that let him observe the entire battlefield clearly. Its as if the golems were flailing children.

But his foe wasn't a stone, nothing as mindless or orderly. And this time, when it came rushing for him, the blow landed fully, blowing his pale body straight into the ground with a bloody splash... and the gruesome sound of bone snapping.

"Enough chitchat."

Nice... her moves are getting messy in a good way.  Yet he impossibly grabbed the leg the moment it slammed against his back, all by snapping his own arm behind, dislocating it in the process. In a moment, he swung Nanako right into the ground just as he was being kicked into it, forming a gaping crater of crushed stone away from the mage. Thanks to the damage she dealt on him, the blow didn't carry the full extent of his power. How curious.

Only for the snapping of fingers to deafen the sounds of war.


Lawrence

Dozens of magic circles appeared on the site of impact, glowing a bright red orange. Far and above, Lawrence conducted his own array of spells, and with Phenex's burning cry, the crater was littered by a sea of fiery explosions, washing the bloodied and wounded vampire with a sea of flames - even if it meant hitting Nanako in the crossfire.

His expression was hollowed, but there was a hint of fury... and confusion. And perhaps, however small, fear. Questions, so many of them, with so little time to answer them. Only one laid on his mind incessantly right now.

"Why are you here...?" He bit his thumb in frustration.


There was something else, something strange. The blows he dealt on the golems, perhaps you could notice a pattern on them, unnatural cracks that were surely dealt by some kind of magic. They almost looked too decorative, too deliberate even for someone just playing around. And some uncannily seemed like letters.

But that couldn't mean anything. His grin back there... it shouldn't mean anything.

s e i l l a e r a e w

He was just a wild dog seeking attention and violence. Surely, his actions mirrored his words.