Cross Effects 3.0 - June 23, 2016—April 02, 2018

[SINIB]

IRON=SAKURA

Sakura laughed at Mord and leaned in close to her. "It's fine if you cheat, you don't have to hide it from me. I'll win anyway, ya know?" Sakura said to her cheerily before she backed off. She then laid into her meat, swallowing huge bites of the delectable steak.

[Kat]

Rikuyo

Hah, training stamina for half a year really paid off. She didn't gain more skill than what usually martial artist would gain from fighting spirits every day and any gain of strength would be marginal at best in such period for someone as strong as her. However, she didn't leak absurd amounts of chi anymore unless pushed to the brink. If she fought against Medaka half years ago and then ran into this city girl, she would be really struggling.

"I've spent most of my life running in mountains with monkeys and wolves, of course we're not gonna get each other." Silly city people, caring about manners so much.

But this fancy dressed girl could still prove to be hard to deal with. She had the benefit of range unless Rikuyo just started blasting at her. Curiously, she manifested a second blade. So it wasn't physical after all? With some training and effort she could roughly emulate by shaping her chi, but she was never a fun of swords. Guns and explosions were much cooler.

One of corpses happened to lay under Rikuyo's feet, so she decided to use the environment around in what now escalated into a fight, swiftly kicking the corpse upwards to grab it and test how sharp this sword be against the corpse. She didn't expect the makeshift shield to last, so it was an act out of simple curiosity. With her edge in speed, she still managed to move enough to make sure that this girl's blades would slice up the corpse, not Rikuyo.

[Thedoctor]

Kuro

Julius was apparently more injured than she had thought and needed some intense care. " So there were no children here" She looked around at the room that was empty besides them and the rubble. The girl grabbed hold of the man, visibly struggling to lift the man's much larger frame. "Hah, he must have gotten better than I thought." She managed to get to her feet while carrying him. Taking a step forward, pain. More and more pain. Every step was more painful than the last as she slowly stumbled out of the building while gritting her teeth. This was going to be a long day.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard quickly regained composure. Whatever had overwhelmed his body was now tightly held in place by his mighty will’s iron grip.

“Hmph.”

But it was strange. He was used to pain and discomfort, such sensations shouldn’t mean anything to him. If it made his body act so, this meant that it was a natural reaction. But he had made sure that the food was perfectly edible, and had chosen only the freshest and best ingredients.

The sensation coursed through his whole body and burned him alive, but it wasn’t a painful burning. It seemed to focus around his chest down. Could it be that he ate too fast, causing a mere stomach ache? No. The sensation was far deeper, and it seemed to be moving more and more downwards, as if he was being split in half.

But even this couldn’t cause him to gasp any longer. How foolish, how vile! Even now, this abhorrent sensation had not vanished, on the contrary. But it was nothing, even if he could not recognize or understand it; this was nothing but a child’s drivel to him.

More importantly, his soul should have resisted such a surprise attack. Unless...

Unless it wasn’t his soul that was being assaulted. Such a foolish notion, Vanguard couldn’t help but scoff. Even patheticism had to be stopped somewhere, did that damn woman have no shame!? This was a ploy, a dastardly plot meant to humiliate him. Did they think this would work!?

For the first time, he glanced at the puppet, still focused in her eating. She didn’t seem to mind anything at all, simply focusing in her task diligently and delicately. That smooth porcelain skin, the glistening blue hair. How strange, she did not seem so attractive before. However, the warrior quickly shook his head and instead concentrated on the food.

Yes, just eat Vanguard, this was far simpler and less troublesome to deal with. Spoonful after spoonful was jammed into his mouth with a racer’s pace, like he was solely focusing on the meal. It was not this foolish attack that scared him, but the terrifying notion that looking at her eyes once more would make him realize that he wasn't in control.

Luckily the skin was still flayed off his face, so no one could see him blush.

[Kat]

Petra

"I'm supposed to patrol this district now, but if we don't go beyond my area I don't think I'll get into trouble for that. And if the information is something my higher ups will be curious about, I might get away without being yelled at, heh." Chatting with civilians during the patrol wasn't after all something she was supposed to do now. But if such information helped her out, she was willing to humor Liam. "Do you want to talk about that in some more discrete place?"

[Aiden]

Auspicious Breeze

She was about halfway done. The Chosen's belly was starting to object a bit. It was fine, though; pain and discomfort were old friends to Breeze! So she ate through that pain, picking up her pace so her body couldn't register the feeling of getting fuller fast enough to try to stop her. Soon! Soon she would win the bet!

Except she wouldn't have any room for dessert leftover. How would she enjoy it?

No! No doubts! She would win! She could just call in the debt later, right?

[Umbra of Chaos]

Paladin

So with Sakura with him Paladin continued his patrol. It was actually relatively peaceful. "I must admit that I'm curious," he said as they moved into a distinctly shadier part of town, "not many people would voluntarily chose to take on such a task in this city. Perhaps at their home worlds where they know what to expect, but here anything from the smallest child to the shadiest of beings can be horrifically deadly. Why would you take such a risk?"


Oren

Alright, so everything was going pretty fine. Sword lady wasn't dead and the other one wasn't fighting much at all. Maybe she could go get lunch and get back to this? Yeah that sounded-

"Oi! What are you doing with that body! Put it down! Oh, huh, oops?" Whoops. Cover blown. She supposed that she had to help now. So the dark haired girl shifted right into her Lycan form and smashed a piece of the roof off before pitching it straight at the redhead.


Erica

Hmm. Was he eating even faster than her? That was disconcerting. Erica perfectly paced her eating to both maximize speed along with being able to adequately taste everything that went into her mouth. Vanguard's rapid pace meant that he was missing out, after all increased speed after her threshold displayed diminishing returns. It was not necessary for her to help, but at the same time was this not about appreciating food? If she was forced to do this for such reasons then hypocrisy would be corrected.

The Mantle shifted into Claws and one of them seize Vanguard's hand while the other remained stationary. "You eat too quickly. I will provide the proper pacing for you to emulate." She lifted a spoonful of soup to his mouth as the other Claw picked at the various plates to feed her.

[Panda]

Michael

To his minor curiosity, a half-gnawed acorn bounced off of Rikuyo's head right before the cute girl with the sword charged in. Glancing up along the acorn's path, the immortal glimpsed a squirrel right before it slipped out of sight amidst the roof. Shrugging, he turned his attention back down to the skirmish before, Rikuyo already sporting a superficial cut on her face. An eyebrow rose as he watched the other girl form a second sword from little more than nothing, her sheer hostility practically palpable by now, a curious twist on a familiar taste that the immortal couldn't say he'd experienced for a good while.

Hmm...Demonic, perhaps? Or maybe just cursed. There's something extra in here to be sure.

While the barrage she launched at Rikuyo was all but expected, the way the blades slid through the stone like water, eliminating that hindrance of the cramped alleyway might have otherwise provided as Rikuyo threw up a defense of her own.

Curious. Is she just not feeling up to fighting? No matter.

Resisting the urge to sigh, the immortal sat down, wondering just how things would play out here when his train of thought was interrupted by a familiar voice calling out. Michael's eyes widened a little as he looked in the direction of the voice to find Oren standing there, right before the antlered girl shifted into a werewolf and chucked a piece of the roof at them. The immortal put his face in palm for a moment, knowing all too well that Riku didn't appreciate interruptions and figuring the girl might feel the same.

Ah well, even if it's another mask, knowing another of the faces she wears isn't exactly a waste of time, and this should provide some more insight into the girl.

[Aiden]

Liam

"I think we both know we can take care of ourselves." He'd seen enough of that the other week when they'd taken on those robbers. "Talkin' while we're walkin' ought to keep you from getting in any trouble with the bosses." This time Liam didn't offer his arm, of course. She was on patrol.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Normally even with such distractions, his mind would've been clear and he would have had no trouble avoiding the puppet's brutal physical assault. No external control would ever cloud his mind and lead his path astray. The only one who had diverged was himself. He was unaware, completely out of his element, and the evil puppet took full advantage of it.

"Kuh, why you-" But he didn't even get to finish, the spoonful shut him up. That damnable doll, how dare she humiliate him so while he was so vulnerable! No, the fault was only his own. But why? Why was this so different? Could it be that this was what his heart secretly yearned? Anything that opposed his will would be rejected by an endless stream, but if such a wish followed it instead...

How absurd, how laughable. As if he'd give in to such base, lowlife urges. It was simply ridiculous.

"I'm fine. I-" And another spoonful. "Sto-" And another. And another. And after the tenth he stopped resisting altogether. This was simply humiliating, hos cold glare was so hard it could burn through Erica's soul, but somehow he couldn't find the strength to struggle anymore. It would be over soon enough, he would surpass this challenge and overcome his fate. Did she think this would be enough? This was the optimistic mentality of a weakling!

His eyes were open wide and fiery with dark determination, but by the fiftieth spoonful he already looked like a droopy puppy. Even so, he didn't admit defeat. As long as he focused on the spoon and didn't look at her strange, captivating movements, he would be invincible.

It was under times of great stress like this, where he felt most vulnerable, that the warrior indulged in the counting of prime numbers. They were like him, indivisible. Counting them would surely calm his soul, as it did during the eons he spent sealed in that mountain.

7...11...13...

[Aiden]

Muramasa Katase

The Muramasa cleaved through the corpse like a wall of thin water. At the very least its opponent would suffer a strike to the hands or wrists as the body proved to be less of an obstacle than she was expecting. Unfortunately the demon was only able to make a few such cuts before someone was shouting and throwing things at them. Almost immediately its shell retreated back to avoid being struck, slicing through the flying debris.

it dares?

"Oho? What foolishness is this?" Katase's hunger was immediately redirected to the interloper above. "To interrupt a duel between two ladies..." However little the descriptor fit its opponent. The second sword shifted, twisting in a crimson miasma until it came out much much longer now. It was more of a spear that could be thrown now.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Erica

It took a while longer but eventually Erica stopped. She had spent an adequate enough time doing this. Any normal human should have easily figured out the rhythm by now. Although, this current set up seemed for more efficient than her current setup, and while less fitting in public it seemed perfectly fine in private.

So while she ate with her utensils she also fed herself with her Claws. Making sure to lick the digits clean before having them return to their duties of acquiring more food for her. And as this all occurred she asked, "Should we be speaking? Most meals are used to exchange information and occasionally reaffirm or advance the bonds between people, and both goals require conversation."

[Kat]

Julius

Julius woke up in a hospital room. Even he must have lost consciousness from the blood he lost. Kuro was no near around, but before he faded to black she was hauling his large body around. One of his arms was in a cast and his whole body was bandaged like an Egyptian mummy. It would take a lot of time for him to recover and the money he had on him were only sufficient to pay off part of medical expenses. The idea that he would be forced to work like a common mercenary was frankly revolting, but he was backed into a corner.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

The one thing stopping him from giving the damnable puppet a clout to the ear was his tired state. As he was now, he could barely lift the spoon in turn. At the very least she had stopped before he got to 151. The fiend's cloak's claws shifted once more and for a second, Vanguard was intrigued.

A fatal mistake, Vanguard quickly turned away as soon as his eyes made contact with that. To perform such vile motions with one's tongue, scandalous! Tch, it seems I was mistaken. She is neither a doll nor a woman, but an evil witch. He thought bitterly, trying to focus on his meal.

"Yes, let's do that." He snapped, turning away from his pent up frustration by directing it to anger. "What do you want to talk about?"

[Umbra of Chaos]

Erica

"You claim proficiency in the field of love or at least enough experience to feign such a thing." She was fed a slice of meat by her Claws. Erica savored the taste for a few moments before swallowing it. Eating was never satisfying, but the taste was gratifying in its own way.

The Spirit Vessel locked eyes with him. "Tell me of your love. Not who or how it came to me, but what it felt like when you experienced it."