Standard Mission: The Extortionists' Fee

Zephyr Arc

Zephyr had chosen to remain hidden in case of any... unexpected visitors. Just as Bastion began the interrogation, the oni captives began acting strange, and then they were descendsd upon by a group of them.

Gad immediately unleashed his spell, and Samael, still keeping up his charade, launched his assault as well. Zephyr himself quickly cast his own spells, both Boost and Overdrive. Having been acting more stable that usual for all this time, this finally seemed to click in his head. He'd been letting out his actual self for much too long. While the madness didn't take him, he cast Shift on his spear as he descended on the group from behind, swinging like a madman. The madman everyone took him to be. The madman they should take him to be.

- Bastion -

The lesser oni all cried out when Gad’s force bullets came whizzing at them and scattered for cover. They weren’t synergistic, which would be to their advantage, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t still swarm them if given the opening.

Bastion didn’t intend to give them that opening.

With the danger passed, the lesser oni rushed once more at the group.When Samael bellowed at the oni, still keeping in character, they faltered and looked at each in puzzlement.

“It’s a trick!” the one oni captive screeched. “He’s working for them!”

The bewildered oni took a few tentative steps, still undecided, when Zephyr swept out from cover with his spear whirling. Most of the oni scattered, but one gave a shrill cry, it’s eyes flashing red as it buffed itself. Leaping through the air like a malformed frog, it brought its club striking down at Zephyr.

While everyone was distracted with the combat, the captive oni who’d tried to warn the others leaned forward and bit into the back of Samael’s leg. The sudden shock dispelled the illusion, revealing Samael for the human he was.

Bastion averted his gaze from the fight and over to the captives. Well, really, two captives was redundant.

“Precision,” he said, slashing his fingers through the air.

The oni biting Samael let go with a gurgling cry. It’s head toppled off, turning into smoke, and its body followed a moment later.

The tide was turning against Zephyr. After the one had attacked him head on, several had circled around from the back to strike at his unprotected flank. Bastion darted forward, stabbing his spear in to hook one of the oni like a fish, before sliding back and hurling the oni loose. It smacked into the try with a cry, smoke pouring from the hole in its belly before it vanished.

Gad

"Tsuk" Gad clicked his tongue, the situation became dire than he expected. "Sam, you alright?" Gad asked, then he turned, "You got to deal with this prisoner for me. I am going to do something different." said Gad, trusting Samael's capability.

Gad then rush forward, then jumped in the middle of the lesser onis' circle. "Thanks for gathering up in one place!" Said Gad then he cast his spell, affecting all lesser Onis in the area. "Burden of Guilt!"

Then Gad tossed his scythe, Eins, and with the great velocity it made its round, slashing the necks of unfortunate lesser onis that did not able to duck in time. Even it did not finish them off, Eins freezing effect would have started to freeze those Onis. Gad was not so sure how many he could take care of it in such a way, but it was clear that they had to do everything in their power to finish them off. He had to leave remaining ones to other comrades.

Zephyr Arc

Seeing the one lesser oni jump at him, Zephyr didn't miss a beat as he pointed his crossbow at it and fired at the thing while it was still in mid-air. Shift made sure each of the three bolts grew to the size of ballista rounds as they left the barrel, striking it hard in the club, chest and face, and sending it flying right back the way it came. Next, he tore through many of the lesser oni, likely still stunned, like a hot knife through butter. He lightly adjusted the size and length of his spear, its shaft and blade to make his attacks that much harder to predict or avoid.

In spite of his greater speed, strength and skill, being as outnumbered as he was lead to him quickly be forced into a defensive fight as they swarmed him. It seemed his efforts had managed to make the originally scattered group bunch up, however. Up until that point, he'd managed to doge and block enough that he was only sporting a few scrapes and one light bruise. However, knowing full well this was only the start, he decided he'd done enough here and, once he saw Gad rushing over, he struck the ground with his spear and cast shift on the shaft, causing it to shoot several feet up into the air raising him up as it grew, right out of the onis reach.

He watched the effects of Gad's spell take effect from his elevated perch, watching for any that managed to escape. If he saw any, he was prepared to leap at them, shrinking his spear as he kicked off would allow him to dive at them like a hawk. He also still had Gad's Force Bolts, just in case. His crossbow would need to be reloaded before it could be used again, however.

Samael

His intimidation tactic seemed to be taking effect even with the oni saying he was fake, his traitor's domain would stop any of them from acting, until Samael felt a sharp pain jab into his leg as he felt his maga leaving him.

Samael muttered a grunt of pain, as he quickly gripped on his chest heavily with his right hand desperately trying to hold onto the maga protecting him. His figure began to twist and warp, so that he looked like a oni-human hybrid for a few seconds before turning back to his 'original' male form.

"Thank god... at least I was able to hold onto that illusion." Samael thought in dread to himself, sweat beginning to drip from his face, and it was that stupid oni's fault!

"You insufferable oni, do you have a death wish!" Samael yelled in irritation to smack the oni with the broad side of the weapon when he saw it's head get cleanly sliced off and land on the ground with Samael turning his gaze towards the other oni his eyes filled with an intense rage, as he waved his hand at Gad indicating he was okay.

"You're smarter than him, I know you're displeased with Ryoko. This is your chance to get more freedom that you've been denied." Samael stated with a nod, as his bicorn jumped out of his Gaunlet looking around of the scene in front of him, as Samael pointed at Zephyr.

"Buff him and fury charge any oni that try to attack him on his landing." Samael stated with a nod at the bicorn, as a wicked smile crossed the bicorn's lips it nodded in response to Samael in a brief and quick tone, "Finally! Some violence for me!"

The Bicorn proceeded to cast Fleet Foot on Zephyr, as his horn began to charge with maga him lowering himself closer to the ground like a ferocious predator about to pounce on his prey.

- Bastion -

Between Zephyr’s furious assault and Gad’s scythe attack, most of the oni were struck down. A few had managed to avoid fatal hits from the scythe, but the freezing effect bound them before they could run off. Bastion charged in, striking the one with his spear and slashing the other with Precision. Both cried out as they were struck down and vanished into smoke.

Whew. Bastion straightened his blazer and nodded before glancing up at Zephyr. “I think the three ballista-sized rounds to one oni might have been a touch excessive.”

Still, at least they’d neutralized the threat. At least...

Wait! One of the oni had slipped away and was pelting at full speed, buffed by some kind of magic.

“Samael!” he called, but the other Vanguard was on it, having already summoned his Bicorn. The demon charged down the oni, who screeched in surprise as the Bicorn rammed him down with his horns before trampling him into the dust.

Right. That should be all of them then. Bastion turned to the others and nodded.

“Everyone all right then?” he asked.

With no obvious issues, they regrouped by Samael, still keeping dutiful watch over the remaining lesser oni.

“Now, as I was saying-” Bastion began.

“I’ll lead you!” the oni cried. “You’ll get lost if you try to navigate the caves alone. But I know the way.”

Trusting an oni wasn’t ideal, but it was true the demon would know the area better than them, even with directions.

“All right,” Bastion replied, making the decision for everyone. “Lead the way.”

Zephyr Arc

The second buff Samael's Bicorn threw on him put his speed head and shoulders above the lesser oni, especially with it falling under the effects of Overdrive. However, it ended up not being needed as the straglers were finished off by Bastion and the Bicorn.

"This thing only fires in volleys of three. Still need to fix the single-fire mode. Artifacts, 'ya know?" He answered Bastion's objection when all was saif and done and the group met up.

With discussions of having the oni lead them coming up, he made a suggestion. "Samael, could you use your spell to make this guy unable to make any sounds so he can't raise any alarms? Any way to make sure he can still talk to us?"

Gad

"Are we really going to trust this guy?" Said Gad, raising his objection, then he sighed. "Then again, guess we got no better lead, huh?"

Gad followed his team, however, he kept his distance. After his experiences in the field itself, he knew well that only few demons could be trusted. Lesser Onis were not one of them from his experience.

Gad stayed sharp so that he would not miss the details of the way they were walking into, besides, the information about having greater onis under the Ryoko was still in his head. It was always good to be cautious.

Samael

Samael saw the one oni starting to run, as he quickly pointed at him and began to shout, "Bicorn change of..."

Though his bicorn was already running straight towards the oni with all his might as he gleefully rammed the poor creature a big smile appeared on the bicorns face as he ecstatically trotted back towards Samael.

"Good job bicorn." Samael stated with a nod as the bicorn purposefully bumped him hard out of the way, "You summon me earlier next time, I don't want to miss the fun."

The bicorn jumped back into the Gauntlet, as he turned towards the rest of the group giving them a nod including the oni.

"I can create sound bubbles." Samael stated crossing his arms as he looked down at the oni for a few seconds thinking to himself before responding, "I was planning on doing it anyways to mask our footsteps and allow us to talk without fear of being overheard, though it'd help if we all put maga into it to divide the burden."

"I trust him, he didn't try anything during the attack and that means something in a pack." Samael stated with a nod, as he gestured the oni to lead the way.

- Bastion -

Bastion shook his head at Gad. Of course, he didn’t trust the oni, but that didn’t make much difference.

“We don’t have to trust it to use it,” he said, turning away from the oni to keep it from hearing. “Like it or not, it’s more useful to us alive than dead.”

He turned to the lesser oni, who trembled as he looked up at them.

“Go on. Lead the way,” Bastion told him.

The oni got up, quivering as he watched them. When he seemed satisfied that they weren’t going to kill him, he started to waddle back toward the bridge. When they reached the foot of the bridge, he clambered around a rock and pointed. Drawing close, they could see a path obscured from the road, which zigzagged down the side of the ravine to the bottom.

Bastion nodded, and they began to carefully descend into the ravine, one at a time. The oni took the lead, followed by Bastion, then Samael, then Gad, then Zephyr.

“Tell me,” Bastion said to the oni. “What weaknesses does a greater oni have?”

The oni squirmed at the mention of greater oni. “None. But... magic is more effective. Those oni have thick hides that protect them from physical attacks. And they’re strong. You don’t want to get close.”

“What about lesser oni? Are there more of you down there?”

“Yes, yes.” The oni wagged its head. “Not as many now. We used to be more. But Ryoko killed a number of us when she came a long.”

Bastion glanced at the others before continuing to shimmy down the path. “Yes, Ryoko. You still haven’t told us much about her.”

The oni whined a bit. It didn’t seem to want to talk about her. Bastion prodded it with his spear, and it squawked.

“Ryoko’s bad!” he said. “You humans should go back. If you fight Ryoko, she’ll kill you all.”

They reached the bottom of the ravine and looked around.

“And does Ryoko have any weaknesses either?”

The oni stared up at him with its beady eyes. “Big oni squish humans. Ryoko squish big oni.”

With that, he turned and headed past a rock outcropping where they found a tall, narrow cave mouth. The oni cast them a probing look over his shoulder, then shuffled into the darkness.

Gad

"Heh, is that so?" Gad commented, even though he did not like Lesser Oni, but he did not like how Bastion regarded Lesser Oni as if it was a mere tool.

Gad felt sadness for killing them, that's something Gad had been taught by Eins. No matter what, taking away lives are taking away lives, even if they were demons'.

In any case, Gad followed without much trouble and registered information that had been shared by the Lesser Oni. Then Gad asked, "So, you, what's your name?" Gad asked the Lesser Oni, "Why did you guys take over the bridge?"

Zephyr Arc

With Samael's sound bubble, Zephyr was convinced enough that they'd be safe for the moment, and took the chance to reload his crossbow as they walked. He was all for sharing the maga cost, as it would mean each of them would be ready for battle and they wouldn't end up with a man down.

This Ryoko, though, sounded like someone prone to extreme violence. Slaughtering lesser oni for no reason? That was like him going around killing humans en-masse. It wasn't like he couldn't or wouldn't, but he would only kill his own kind if he had good reason.

However, she did sound at least a bit similar to him as far as random violence went. It made him wonder whether she had similar experiences... "guess we'll find out when we get there..." he mumbled under his breath, before turning his attention to Gad and their lesser oni 'friend'.

Samael

"Right, Nose manipulation."  Samael stated, as he created a sound bubble around the group that was linked to everyone.  It would be difficult to maintain it himself, but since the shared they would all be fine.  Still, he's used a lot of spells up to this point, he wouldn't be able to cast much more.

"She can squish greater oni?  That doesn't sound pleasant..." Samael stated getting a little uneasy as they got deeper into the cave.  When he was with that group of oni that would have minor demons cover dangerous areas, but would usually be supervised by a greater demon or there would be check ins...

"Do the greater oni check in on you at the bridge at set times?  We should be quick if it's coming up soon, we certainly don't want to be caught off-guard" Samael asked, as he thought for a few seconds before grabbing the back of the oni's shoulder for a few moment, "Be careful, if they already saw the bridge they could attack first and ask questions later."

- Bastion -

“The name’s Goki,” the oni said, glancing at Gad before shuffling onward. “And we took the bridge because we could. Oni don’t make. We take. And take we did - all the money and goods and food we could. Goki likes human food...”

Samael mentioned a possible watch coming to check on them, and Bastion grimaced. He’d also been thinking of that.

“Yes, they come,” Goki said. “We thought that’s who you were. If we don’t hurry, they’ll come this way and find us.”

The group ventured further into the tunnel, winding their way through dimly lit passages. Bastion’s body was tensed to the point of discomfort, always waiting for some sign of oni... or a trap. Their guide didn’t help matters, glancing back at them with furtive looks as they progressed.

“How much further?” Bastion dared to whisper.

The oni didn’t respond - just pointed down the passage up ahead. There seemed to be light there, and voices eventually began to drift up toward them. Bastion gestured to the others, and they took shelter by an outcropping of rock where they could peer into the cavernous chamber.

The room was filled with oni. Lesser oni pressed together against the one wall, watching the proceedings with nervous looks and gestures. In the center of the room stood the greater oni, three of them with their backs to the group, and four of them facing off against them. The three appeared to be petitioning about something, gesticulating and growling.

At the far end of the room, seated on a pile of bones resembling a throne, was an oni unlike the others. Its whole visage was black, its face a terrifying leer. On either side of its feet, two hatchets were sunk into the piles of bones around her.

This... must be Ryoko.

Spoiler:

“We have a good thing going on here!” one of the large oni said. “We take what we want. We do what we want. Why should we give this up to serve the Ring? We’ll just be pawns for them.”

“You’re already pawns for me. What’s the difference?” Ryoko replied. Her voice was a stark contrast to her appearance, a faint and breathy sort of whisper.

“At least, you’re oni. You’re one of us,” the oni replied.

One of the greater oni by his side muttered something. Everyone in the room paused to look at him.

“Did you have something to add?” Ryoko asked.

The oni looked straight up at her, squared its shoulders, and roared. “You’re NOT one of us. You’re just a half-breed!”

He’d barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Ryoko leaped from her throne. The oni grunted in surprised and thrust out his club as she flew toward him. Ryoko twisted in midair as the club nicking the edge of her face - no, not her face, but a mask - before swinging her hatchet.

They all landed at the same time - her mask, which clattered to the ground by her feet; Ryoko herself, who dropped into a crouch as her long black hair fluttered around her, her pale face calm and impassive; and the oni... who collapsed onto his back, twitching from the hatchet lodged in his neck.

Spoiler:

Ryoko stood up, turning her red gaze on the oni beside her as it stared up with hatred in its eyes. She brought her foot up, then stomped it down on the hatched, separating the oni’s head from its body. The oni’s corpse began to disperse into smoke, the reddish traces of magatsuhi visible within it, but Ryoko held out her hand and siphoned the maga into her body.

The room fell into silence. Ryoko stooped to retrieve her mask and walked back to her throne. Once she’d resumed her seat, she glanced around at the assembly.

“Now, are there any further complaints to address? Perhaps about my heritage?”

No one spoke. Bastion couldn’t blame them. Ryoko’s power was fearsome - much stronger than they would probably be able to handle. He glanced back at the others, gauging their reactions before gesturing toward the oni room and to the tunnel they came from. The smart thing to do would be to leave and report their findings. Perhaps, once the Vanguards were aware of the extent of the situation, they’d send reinforcements.

Goki met his eyes, the intention clear. Told you so.

Big oni squish humans. Ryoko squish big oni. Indeed...

Gad

"Hmm, I see. Thanks, Goki." Said Gad as Goki told its name and the reason why they have taken the bridge.

Then there was the scene with Ryoko and others; he would have fought her if he was older him. He would have had Eins and others to fight her with no problems.

Gad sighed silently, then he looked at Goki. "What about her?" Gad asked, "Does Goki know why Ryoko wants the bridge?"

He could guess the way she looked that she was a rare kind; with how everyone was making her up to be, it became clear that she was a half demon. And with that attitude of hers, Gad could see that she was trying hard to belong - well, that was what Gad could see from her actions, a desperate attempt from a being that wants to find a place to call home...

Then again he may be thinking too much about it. Besides, what does himself know about that girl?

Gad looked at Goki, "Did she say anything about what she wants, Goki?" He asked once more.

Samael

Samael eyes widened at the scene before him, watching the greater oni fall to the ground dead.  He glanced at the lesser oni to see his reaction to the scene, but it looked like these scenes were all too familiar to the demon.  

It reminded him of the time he was trapped in a larger demon group, and this seemed to be all too similar.  He wanted to go in and stop this group, break it up, but... he didn't have the power to do that at the moment.  The best they could do is leave and get more vanguards to help them... if the demons saw them now they might not make it out.

"We should go, we got some valuable information and the watch should be coming soon and I don't have enough maga to disguise us all."  Samael quickly stated fear emanating from his voice, as he nudged Gad to get moving.

Samael turned his gaze towards Zephyr, as he looked up at Cherry for a few moments and then pointed at her.

"We should probably scout back the way we came, think you can do that?" Samael muttered, growing increasingly uneasy by the second.

Zephyr Arc

Zephyr watched the scene unfold quietly. It looked like the leader was a half-blood, and pretty damn touchy about the subject at that. While he'd have liked to have a match with her, he was much too weak to last even a second as he was now. He turned away, hoping to meet again when he was stronger.

"You're right, we'd better go report in. I can shrink us all one last time if that'll do." He replied, shrinking himself and having Cherry carry him to go scout ahead. "We'll keep in touch with the gauntlets."

- Bastion -

Bastion shook his head at Gad's question. "Ryoko doesn't care about the bridge. Weren't you listening? There appears to be an internal struggle right now, with some oni in favor of keeping hold of the bridge, while Ryoko and her loyalists would rather abandon it. Am I right?"

He turned to Goki, who dragged his eyes away from the spectacle in the cavern and wagged his head affirmatively.

The question was, why? What was the Ring that Ryoko seemed keen to join? That was worth researching as well.

"Ryoko came after we'd taken the bridge," Goki whispered. "She killed chief oni. That made her chief oni. She was content to rule here for a little while, but not anymore..."

Bastion turned away. The internal politics of the oni didn't really matter. They had as much information as they needed, and it was best to make their escape. It was a shame they wouldn't be able to complete their first mission properly, but it couldn't be helped.

"Let's get going then," Bastion said, nodding.

Zephyr and Cherry started on ahead, with Bastion and Samael following behind.

Gad

"Hmm... Really?" Said Gad, "Then I guess we need to ask the source itself why she's taking her time to abandon it. Besides, we need someone to be bait for everyone to escape safely."

Then Gad grinned, "Do tell the backups to pick up my dead body if you guys make a contact with them." Said Gad then he jumped out from where they were.

Gad landed with ease, walking up to the place where he surrounded himself with onis. "Yo, if you don't mind me asking, could you leave the bridge? I am just here to ask that nicely. Or is there something I could help you with so that you could leave the bridge peacefully?" Said Gad, no hint of fear, but his tone had no such thing as sarcasm as well. He meant it when he wanted to find a peaceful solution to solve this.

Samael

"What the hell are you... what are doing?!" Samael exclaimed, as he ran towards Gad trying to stopping before he could be seen by the onis. He glanced back at the others a look utter terror washing over his face.

What was he supposed to do now? The man just walked up to a group of onis that were way beyond their league and the rest of them were low on maga... they didn't have much of an option, but they needed to secure his escape.

"Zeyphr get back here now. Transform." Samael stated pushing his hand on the two of them, as Zeyphr and cherry warped to now look like the color of the room giving him effective camouflage and made him slightly larger so that the illusion took up extra space, as Samael pointed towards Gad.

"Let him finish his conversation see what happens, whenever it's over you give me a signal and shrink him and hide him behind the illusion... I'll alter some noises and make them think he teleported." Samael quickly stated, as he turned watching the various oni intensely for any sudden movements.

- Bastion -

Bastion could hardly believe it. Before he had time to process the monumental stupidity of it all, Gad had rushed off to meet the oni and talk over peaceful terms. Had he not just seen that girl lop off a greater oni’s head? What made him think she had any inclination to talk peace?

He turned to Goki’s eyes bulging from his head as he stared off after Gad in open-mouthed shock. “That human is crazy...”

Crazy. Or something else. Bastion rubbed his forehead. What a pain. Now what? Samael fired off orders to Zephyr, but Bastion remained silent, focusing in on Ryoko as she turned at Gad’s interruption.

The oni in the room moved threateningly toward Gad, but Ryoko held up a hand.

“What’s this?” Ryoko murmured, slipping her oni mask back on. “A human? No... a Vanguard, isn’t it? It was only a matter of time before some of you showed up.”

She sat back down on her throne and stared down at him with fierce red eyes, mulling over his words.

“Truthfully... I don’t care about the bridge at all,” she said. “In fact, if you’d waited a day, we’d already be gone.”

Hearing that was just salt in the wound for Bastion.

“That said,” Ryoko went on. “Just giving the bridge over to Vanguards doesn’t sit right with me either.”

Her finger idly circled the hilt of her hatchet as she stared down at him. Then, a faint chuckle slipped from beneath her mask.

“You two,” she called to the greater oni who’d been challenging her idea before. “I’ve reconsidered my decision.”

The two oni turned to face her, puzzled looks on their red faces.

“You’ll be remaining here, as you desired, along with the rest of the rabble who want to join you.” She gestured to the lesser oni by the wall. “The bridge is yours to keep... if you can prove you’re capable of holding it. Slaughter the Vanguard... and his friends.”

Bastion pressed against the wall of the tunnel, certain she couldn’t have seen them.

“You Vanguard always move in packs,” Ryoko said, tilting her head in amusement. “I guess humans and oni have that in common. So come now and join your friend. Oni accept strength; nothing else. If you want this bridge, claim it.”

She nodded to her oni loyalists, who marched toward the back of the cavern and disappeared down another tunnel. Most of the lesser oni followed the greater, though a cluster still remained behind. Ryoko came last, but stopped to lean against the tunnel entrance, watching to see how things proceeded.

Meanwhile, the two greater oni she’d addressed marched toward Gad, huge clubs gripped tightly in their hands.

“We’ll teach you your place, human!” they roared.

Gad

Gad sighed, "And here I thought we could get along and find a better solution than crushing each other." said Gad looking at the two greater onis.

Gad had his weapon make its appearance that he had been hiding it. He looked at the roaring two greater onis, locking eyes with them, still no hint of fear. Gad was prepared it might turn out to be like this.

"Well, I know my place pretty well, you see. I mean, you two are not going to fight against one weakling human together, are you?" Said Gad, "Besides, which one of you are going to be the leader now? There could be only one of you to be the leader and secure the bridge, right? I mean, having two leaders, you might repeat the situation you were in."  

Gad was pretty sure this wouldn't work, but he wanted to buy time for his comrades. Besides, thanks to Goki, and the show from Ryoko, it had given him some idea.

Zephyr Arc

Zephyr heard Samael's call, but Ryoko had already made her move by the time he and Cherry returned. He stopped Samael from casting his spell, then shifted himself back to normal size. He thought he was supposed to be the loose cannon, but it seemed Gad was somehow one step ahead. "Could I get a Fleetfoot and some support fire?" He asked the two instead, before casting Boost and Overdrive and readying his weapon to go out.

"We likely won't be able to sneak out anymore, I'll be taking point. Let's hope that idiot can manage the other big one." He said before charging out.

Samael

Before Samael could cast his spell he saw Zephyr putting up his handing stopping it. Samael's face flushed a bit red with annoyance, as glanced down at his gauntlet for a few moments before returning his gaze to Zeyphr.

"Sure, but Bicorn is going to want to jump in as well. He's gotten rather stir crazy lately..." Samael responded a bit embarrassed, as he held out his gauntlet and the bicorn jumped out again. The Bicorn seemed oddly gleeful, as it glanced around with a bit of stride in its step.

"Cast fle..." Samael commanded, as the bicorn had already casted it on Zeyphr and himself, as the creature ran out following Zeyphr as he launched itself high in the air so that it would land shortly after Zeyphr made his attack in front of the oni closest to him.

"Stop!" Samael called out, as the bicorn landed on the ground casting Stampede on one of the greater onis as a shock wave of curse energy launched itself towards the greater oni.

"Damn it, noise manipulation." Samael called out holding out his hand, as Samael echoed the noise of the two advancing but in the opposite direction of the two greater oni and double the intensity to drown out their advance from being heard.

The original sound bubble faded once Zeyphr left it due to the loss of maga, as it vanished with Samael putting one finger over his lips to indicate to Bastion it had faded.

- Bastion -

The oni sneered at Gad's words as they closed in on him. Before they could reach him, however, a shockwave buckled their feet, causing them to recoil. They looked up and saw another Vanguard and a Bicorn charge out from the tunnel.

Reckless. Reckless reckless reckless.

Bastion grit his teeth as the entire situation devolved. First, Gad had to run off, now Zephyr and Samael's Bicorn had charged into the fray. No bothering to stop, to think, to strategize. No plan whatsoever. Just charge in with bullheaded bravado.

Well, it would be up to him, as usual. "Analysis."

Bastion's eyes took on an iridescent glow as he infused them with maga, allowing him to perceive the greater oni's abilities and weaknesses. Like Goki had said, their hides were tough. Physical attacks might hurt them, but it would take a lot more effort for a lot less payoff. Ah, but there was something else, a flow of maga into their throats and diaphragms. Even as he watched, he could see it rapidly begin to churn and flow there. He turned to Samael, but- no, it was too late. Samael had used his maga reserves. No chance of noise manipulation to cancel it. Reckless!!

The two oni opened their mouths wide, braced themselves, and bellowed at the top of their lungs. A blast of sound like a shockwave tore through Gad, Zephyr, and the Bicorn, rattling them down to their bones. Bastion could see the maga in the soundwaves knock the strength right out of them, while the oni's strength seemed to increase.

"Bakken," the one said, "you squish the pretty human. I'll take this runt."

Bakken glared at his companion. "You're not boss, Toguro."

Still, Bakken obeyed and thundered after Zephyr. He braced his club in his hands and grinned, a horrible expression like a gash.

"If you give up now, I'll only break all the bones in your limbs," Bakken said, "and keep you tied up to my throne like a pretty little trophy."

Toguro, meanwhile, glared down at Gad. "I'm going to pick your flesh from my teeth with your bones."

With a roar, he lunged at Gad, swinging his club down like a toppling tree.