Critical Mission I: The Demonic Bodhisattva

At the shrine
- Vayu -

Vayu exhaled slowly when Samael finally joined them. They continued to make their way towards the source of the mist. Taking the time to avoid the demons slithering around in the mist, they finally made it.

Of course, there were still several demons between them and the shrine.

“Catequil can lock down the other two,” he replied to Cleo in a whisper. “And I can increase the effect of your spell by adding more confusion. That should give us enough time to eliminate them as quietly as possible.”

He smiled and spun his weapon in his hand. “I suppose cutting off their heads doesn’t count as the spell you had in mind?”

Putting the joking aside, Vayu shrugged. “But no, I don’t have anything can eliminate multiple higher tier targets at once.” He looked around to Samael and Bastion, to hear their input.

Scarlet

"We've got company, Scarlet!" called Neko as Scarlet pulled Amira up. Scarlet looked over to see her partner engaged with a couple of Ghouls.

"Let's get out of here," Scarlet said to Amira, motioning to the door which they entered through. "There's too many of them!" As she finished the sentence, she heard an eerie song. Turning back to the fight, she saw Neko stumbling, almost looking like she was drunk. Eyes widening, Scarlet quickly glanced around the room, eyes settling on a nearby Lamia singing.

Scarlet raised her bow even as she felt her eyes growing heavy. She loosed an arrow at the Lamia as she stumbled towards Neko, dragging her away from the fight, tripping over herself in the process. Letting go of Neko to avoid bringing her down with her, Scarlet fell to the floor in front of the door, scrambling back.

Samael (Shrine)

"Unfortunately that's an area we all lack in.... but it sounds like a good plan." Samael muttered with a hint of irritation, as he slight shifted his head to the left so his gaze was now focused on the closest naga.

"I can disguise you as him. Can you swap with him so we can eliminate him before the plan goes into action. It will also lower suspicion if you take the place of a naga already there." Samael stated to Cleo, his eyes still locked on the same naga like the demon was about to notice them at any moment.

Though, there was still a major issue.... What were they going to do if there were some nearby demon who might oversee the fight. He could handle any issues with sound by setting up a sound barrier like he did back on the last mission, however some might oversee it especially if they're nearing the source of this whole mist.

"I recommend anyone not disguised keep their heads low, I can control the situation better with my spells if they don't have a vanguard to blame." Samael stated as he reached out his hand and placed it on Cleo's arm, as he continued to say "When you're ready, once the attacks begin I'll silence any noise that might alert someone nearby."

- Bastion's Group -

Bastion frowned as Cleo stated his plans. Unfortunately, he didn't have an spells that could target multiple targets, and neither did any of the others by his estimate. Still, they might be able to-

"Excuse me," Sister Charlotte interjected. "But I may be able to help."

Everyone turned to her, and she fidgeted under their gazes. From her robes, she pulled out a charm, similar to the ones she had given them for protection.

"If you run maga through this, it will unleash an powerful exorcising spell that should kill lower level demons," she told them. "It will only work once though. Be careful."

She handed it off to Cleo, her hand lingering on his a moment, then pulled away. Bastion, brow furrowed, shook away the thoughts running through his mind.

"Right," he said, nodding to the others. "Let's try it. Cleo, if you can at least deal with the majority of them, then Vayu, Samael, and I can rush in to deal with the stragglers. Let's try to deal with this as quickly and cleanly as possible."

Sister Charlotte hid, watching them nervously, as Bastion gave Cleo the signal to begin.

Amira

As Amira was pulled out by Scarlet she felt her body feel heavy. Slumber.

"Silence, I will have none of your tricks child of Dagon."

Haita spoke as he waved his hand towards the Lamia singing, suddenly she found that her Lullaby had stopped.

With the numbers increasing Amira ran, following Scarlet, however, Scarlet tripped right in front of her. There was no time for this!
Amira was still feeling her body being sluggish... Even so...

There is no time for this!

"Accelerate."

Quick, fast, Amira run fast grabbing onto Scarlet before she fell completely.

"Accelerate!"

And jumped just as she got outside. Her legs cracking from the pressure as she jumped high and landed on the roof with Scarlet.

- Cleo -

Cleo nodded at Samael's suggestion. Pulling one of the group would reduce their numbers even more, not to mention, it would give him a better cover. Unfortunately, it also meant he would need to get closer before executing his plan. It also seemed that none of them had the capability to wipe out multiple demons in a swift strike.

Perhaps their charge had a solution to that though? He turned to Charlotte when she spoke up and accepted her charm with a smile. "Thank you. I'll see that it's put to good use." Pocketing the charm, Cleo turned his attention back to the others. He nodded to Samael, who shifted his appearance to match the closest Naga.

"I have to be fairly close to switch places with him. So, make sure you stay with me until I break cover." Cleo motioned for the others to follow as he darted from one piece of cover to the next. A low wall, a statue, a tree, each object brought him closer to his target. Until he reached out a hand, and the world shifted, putting Cleo in the midst of the pack. Hopefully, the others could deal with the lone Naga silently.

He practically held his breath for a moment before "slithering" amidst the others. Without knowing what kind of range the charm had, he needed to be in the most central point possible. With a practiced motion, he drew his wakizashi, feeling the chill of uninhibited maga running up his fingertips and into his forearm.

When he'd arrived as close to the middle of the group as he dared venture, Cleo focused on the maga enshrouding his arm, weaving it into the air around him. "Subjugate."

An oppressive force pushed down on the seven Nagas furthest from him. Hopefully, the others would be caught within the confines of the charm, which he now pulled from his pocket and crumpled between his fingers, pouring maga into the paper.

It almost sounded like a match striking, and then, there was only light. Light that engulfed the startled Nagas. Light that burned the nearest eight of them from existence. Light that drove itself into Cleo's skull, washing all the way out to his fingertips.

And then, as he slouched to the ground, a silent scream on his parted lips, Cleo saw only darkness.

Zephyr Arc

With Amira having grabbed Scarlet and hopped up the roof, Zephyr had no more reason to hold back the unending waves. "Nihility, to the roof!" He called to the other Vanguard as he slammed the butt of his spear into the ground and vaulted up, casting Shift on it for maximum thrust.

Landing next to Amira, he grabbed several larger pieces of debris and waited for Nihility to join them, before casting Shift on them and chucking the rapidly growing chunks in the hole to plug it up. "Alright, we need to get to a safe spot. I've got some idea where the people might be, but we'll need to sit down to discuss that..." he spoke up once they were temporarily out of danger. "Anyone know a place we can lay low?"

At the shrine
- Vayu -

When Cleo took off towards the group of Nagas, the rest of them quickly followed. Meanwhile Vayu whispered some instructions of his own.

“Ferox, use Lightning Cloak on me,” he whispered and after the spell was cast, he de-summoned the Zhen demon.

Next, he summoned Catequil in anticipation of a lone Naga appearing in their midst. It appeared, accompanied by a low rumble of thunder.

“Catequil, help deal with the Naga,” he said quietly. The demon grinned and raised his spear. “Then come help me with the rest. Quietly.”

“Confusion Wave,” he cast towards the remaining Naga that were not afflicted by the blinding light that suddenly appeared from Cleo when he used the charm.

Hopefully that would make the sitting ducks.

Before he could head over there, he watched Cleo sink to his knees. What was happening?

“Check on Cleo,” he said to no one in particular and then slipped through the mist towards the pinned down Naga.

Samael (Shrine)

"Noise Manipulation."  Samael quietly called out, raising his hands in the air towards the various Naga as the sound from the light and Vayu's spell when absolutely silent, causing a eerie silence to permeate the air as the various naga were consumed by the spells.

Samael quickly dispelled the sound barrier to avoid using anymore of his maga and Goki came out at the same time looking up at Samael with a expression hidden from the mask, waiting for his orders.

"Quick, Knock out any Naga who survived the blast, you're low to the ground so it'll be harder to notice you."  Samael stated, as Goki began darting towards the light and confused Naga with his club raised slightly into the air.

"Fleet Foot."  Samael whispered while pointing at Goki. Goki began to bolt forward at a crazed speed at the nearest Naga and quickly slammed his club on one of their heads that at the very least appeared to knock the creature out.

Samael on the other hand began to slowly work his way to Cleo while staying low to the ground, as he checked his condition to make sure that he was still breathing and there were no external wounds.

"Someone keep an eye out, that light could of very easily drew enemy demons." Samael stated to Bastion in particular, as he continued to carefully check Cleo.

Scarlet - Zephyr's group

Scarlet let out a shaky breath - that was too close for comfort. She got to her feet as Neko clambered up to the roof, having followed the Vanguards' path to escape.

"I suppose we could hide in one of these buildings... hopefully one without any demons inside," she replied to Zephyr, giving a nervous laugh. "Neko, could you help us look for somewhere?"

The demon smiled at Scarlet before jumping across the rooftops, pausing at each building, trusting her senses to detect any demons in the buildings below her. She made sure to stay within line of sight of the group of Vanguards.

- Bastion's Group -

The plan seemed to go off without a hitch. Cleo was able to swap into the midst of the Naga and let off the charm that Sister Charlotte had given him. However, a moment later, he collapsed to the ground amidst the remaining Naga.

Vayu acted quickly, letting off a Confusion Wave before charging out to strike down the remaining demons. Goki was summoned to help him, and the two set about trying to kill the remaining demons while Samael went to check on Cleo.

Bastion remained by Sister Charlotte, keeping watch to ensure they wouldn't be flanked. All the while, his mind was working on why Cleo would have been knocked out by the charm.

"Sister-" he began.

"I don't know," she interrupted, shaking her head. After a moment's hesitation, she rushed out toward Cleo before Bastion could stop her.

Reaching him and Samael, she kneeled beside him and took Cleo's face in her hands. She studied him searchingly, brow furrowed in concentration, then tightened her grip on his face.

Cleo suddenly awoke with a gasp, his grip immediately going to his hand. But no, there was no shard there, no mark or scar. It wasn't that dream.

Bastion hurried to join them as Vayu killed the last of the Nagas. Sister Charlotte rose to her feet as Samael hoisted up Cleo.

"Are you all right? What happened?" he asked Cleo before turning to Sister Charlotte. "Does your talisman normally affect humans?"

She shook her head. "It shouldn't. I don't understand." She looked at Cleo again, her gaze scrutinizing.

Bastion frowned. He wanted to delve into this further, but the shrine was right ahead, and they couldn't afford to linger.

"Right," he said, nodding to the steps before them. "Let's keep moving."

They hurried up the stone steps, the mist becoming thick enough to obscure everything but the space directly before them, until they reached the top. Before them stretched an open shrine, carved from elaborate wood. Mist billowed from a shining golden pyramid toward the back and seeped through the wooden pillars into the village below. Bastion and the others crossed the wooden floor toward the pyramid, then stopped short.

"That's..." Bastion began.

Laying before the pyramid was a corpse, garbed in ornamental robes. Lying on his front, they could see a bloody hole piercing through his back straight through his body. Blood streaked the front of the pillar, pooling down to where his hand laid stretched out toward it.

"The village elder," Sister Charlotte gasped. "He must have died trying to stop the mist from being released."

Bastion studied the body, eyes narrowed as he swept over the details. If he had to deduce, he'd say...

The pyramid suddenly illuminated with a golden light. They all stepped back, tensed, as a cloud of mist issued forth. No, not mist. A figure. His lower body seemed to undulate and merge with the mist, but his upper body shone with a golden light.

Spoiler:

"You dare to enter this place," he said, his voice clear and ringing. "Unclean and degenerate. I contented myself to trap your rot within this place, but now that you appear before me, I will strike you down with my full power."

"Wait!" Bastion called out, stepping forward. "Why are you doing this?"

The demon rose higher above them, the light from its body surging. "This is my duty, and I shall not fail it.. I am Mahat of the Sacred Mist. Prepare yourselves!"

Swelling up, Mahat let out a powerful gust of wind with his breath, blasting them all back. Bastion threw out a hand toward Sister Charlotte, shooting her a stern look.

"Keep back," he told her. "This is going to be dangerous, and we can't afford to be distracted watching over you."

"I... understand," she said, shrinking back toward the pillars.

Mahat glowered and rose up, steepling his fingers together. "None of you shall escape. This I swear!"

From between his hands burst a concentrated beam of light directly at Sister Charlotte's defenseless back.

At the shrine
- Vayu -

As soon as the Naga appeared from Cleo’s swap, it was impaled by Catequil’s spear. Quickly and silently the life faded from its eyes.

Then Catequil turned his attention to the rest of the Naga, following in Goki’s wake to dispatch of anything that moved.

He joined Vayu who was just withdrawing his ninjato from a demon. Vayu scrutinized his blade and pouted. It was soiled with demon blood to the hilt. With a sigh he wiped it off on the dead Naga by his feet.

“You’re kidding, right?” Catequil asked in a low rumble.

“No,” Vayu replied dryly. “I’m not about to carry soiled blade with me.”

After taking one last look around, he joined Bastion, Samael and Sister Charlotte where Cleo had collapsed.

Before he could ask any questions, Bastion pressed for them to keep moving. With a shrug, he followed them up the steps, Catequil staying close by his side.

At the top they found a shiny golden pyramid as well as another dead villager, identified as the village elder by Sister Charlotte. Vayu’s eyes narrowed at the thickening mist until Mahat appeared. The demon proclaimed himself to be of Sacred Mist.

Vayu scoffed. Sacred Mist, what a joke. However, he could see how fighting something with a non-physical body could be problematic.

When Mahat cast his beam of light towards Sister Charlotte, Vayu raised his hand.

“Arcane Barrier,” he shouted, using his protecting spell to cover the five humans on the shrine. This demon was strong, and his spell would by no means be enough to save her from all the damage, but maybe it would lessen the impact enough to prevent her from being killed.

Meanwhile, Catequil had moved to the other side of Mahat, using the distraction to spread out.

“Tsk. Who says we’re trying to escape?” Vayu asked Mahat with a mocking tone. “Use Dark Vortex,” he added calmly.

Out of nowhere, a lightning bolt struck the misty figure as Catequil pointed his finger at Mahat.

"If that brain of yours is cooking up a plan, now would be a good time to share it," he whispered towards Bastion.

Shrine

Samael's eyes deeply studied Cleo when Charlotte mentioned how it shouldn't usually effect humans.  Cleo seemed fine though... maybe she was used to only using it when a person of her faith held it in their hands?  It would make sense considering its power.

"Can I take some parts of them as a prize."  Goki gleeful called out holding a naga's head and draging its lifeless body over to Samael, as he held up like it was the biggest accomplishment in the world.  He glanced around at everyone else with unconstrained anticipation.

"I suppose..."  Samael stated covering one of his eyes slightly, as he face slightly turned red in embarrassment, as he quickly stated in response raising his finger like he was talking to a child "But!  Only if it's quick.  We need to get moving now."

Goki seemed to deflate a at bit at that comment but nodded and pulled the body away from the group and out of sight, as a loud ripping sound could be heard as Goki quickly ran up to the group partially covered in a slight mark of naga blood.

The two kept moving as they approached the shrine, as Mahat appeared and Goki and Samael quickly drew their weapons glaring at the demon.

"Let's go with the plan 'Monster Goki'"  Goki called out as he raised his claws and the air and let out a low growling sound, as Samael turned to the rest of the group.

"It's when I use the transform spell to make him appear bigger, should draw his attention for a bit to give us an opening."  Samael stated as he held out his hand up to the demon, as he stated "For now, I'll buy you some time... Noise manipulation and.... Transform!."

Suddenly a loud high decibel ring screeched around the demon, but he wasn't fast enough a concentrated beam of light shot towards Charlotte, as both Goki and Samael's faces filled with surprise.

"Cleo, cover her!"  Samael called out, pointing to the defenseless Charlotte.

Amira

Amira takes a heavy breath her she swallows the pain of her bones regenerating. For some reason, it was more painful than normal.

They wanted to hide somewhere to rethink the position and where the people were.

"If you have some idea where they might be, then we can go there and check. Things are getting chaotic which two demon sides attacking each other."

Things weren't right, why were they infighting? Was the village between two factions?

Zephyr Arc

With Scarlet's Neko having found a quiet enough spot, Zephyr lead the group over by hopping over the rooftops, anyone not able to leap around by themselves aided by those that could. They entered the building through a surprisingly unmolested door, sealing it behind them and making sure to cover the windows once inside as well.

"Alright, so. We went around and found no one but a swarm of ghouls. The strange thing is that we didn't find any blood or other human remains either, the whole town appears to have simply gone up in... mist. Seeings as how all your two seem to have found is more ghouls and Lamia..." Zephyr trailed off, pausing before continuing.

"I have a rather disturbing hypothesis. You see, not only did we not find any remains, I found a ghoul in a closet... as if it were hiding from something. Ghouls lack the awareness to do something like that, even when faced with things far and away beyond them... What I'm trying to say is, Ghouls are actually a type of undead, so... I fear the ghouls we've been finding are the townspeople. Or at least they were..." He seemed to be having a bit of a hard time getting this out, but made sure to speak the last part into his gauntlet, transmitting it to Bastion's group as well.

- Cleo -

To say that the last several moments were still unclear to him would be an understatement. The last thing Cleo could recall was sliding back into his bunk in the early hours of the morning, after the creepy dream that had left him with a fragment of something "else" in his body. Samael helped him to his feet, and Bastion said they needed to move on. So, for now, Cleo didn't argue.

The fog in his mind settled a little more with each passing moment, unlike the mist still swirling around them. Charlotte. That was the woman's name, and she had given him something... A gift? He reached into his pocket and encountered the charm. Yes, she'd given him a charm. But he'd used it for something, hadn't he?

No. That had been a different charm, one that was meant to purge demons from existence. His fingers curled around the charm in his pocket. Had the "else" he'd acquired from the dream caused the charm to harm him? That seemed like the most likely cause, but even so... The bits and pieces of the experience now swimming back into his memories weren't in the least bit pleasant. Maybe he would have more time to reflect on this later. With their destination now in sight, he needed to focus on the task at hand.

And now, Cleo was thankful that he had been focusing. With one hand raised towards Charlotte, he used his Bait and Switch to swap their places and immediately dropped to the ground, rolling away from the searing light. Even though it didn't make contact, he could still feel the heat of it wash over his back, almost like he'd just put on a shirt that had been left out in the sun on a summer day.

"Hot. Hot. Hot." Rising back to his feet, Cleo turned towards the demon that had attacked them, contemplating his next move. This wasn't a simple foe like the others had been. If he got into close combat with a demon such as this, it would be incredibly risky, but Cleo doubted any of his spells would have an affect on it.

Nekomata stepped into view with a swirling pop as he summoned her. "Care to show our new friend some fireworks, kitten?"

"Oh, you know how I love fireworks." She purred, raising her claws towards Mahat to conjure up a Flameflick. Ribbons of fire danced through the air, arching towards the demon. Cleo drew his katana and dashed behind them, using the flickering lights as cover to close the gap. Once Mahat was in range, he would swipe upwards with his blade, seeking to slash the demon from hip to shoulder.

- Bastion's Group -

Spoiler:

Sister Charlotte paused at the sound of yells to look over her shoulder, eyes widening at the sight of the light barreling down at her. The next moment, the world seemed to warp, and she found herself on the ground near Bastion and Vayu. She looked about, confused, to see Cleo dodging the attack meant for her.

"Sorry," Bastion sighed. "Looks like you're going to have to stick with us after all then."

The nun nodded, her expression pensive. But Bastion didn't have the luxury of devoting much thought to her.

"If that brain of yours is cooking up a plan, now would be a good time to share it," Vayu whispered towards Bastion.

Cooking without a recipe book, unfortunately. While the others were springing into action, Bastion had cast his Calibrate and Analysis spells, hoping to quickly get an idea of the demon's parameters and formulate a plan. What he found was anything but encouraging. It was strong, far stronger than what they were reasonably prepared to deal with. Its spells were bad enough, but as it turned to stare into his eyes, he had the terrible impression it was scanning him just the same way - not just him, but all of them.

"Purification!" the demon called, throwing out his arms. A wave of energy swept over them like ice, and Vayu's Arcane Barrier and Bastion's enhancements suddenly vanished.

"It's no good. Enhance and Ailment spells won't work!" he called.

But he needn't have bothered. Goki was giving a practical demonstration of that right in front of them. One moment the gigantic oni was leaping toward Mahat with club raised, and the next moment he'd reverted to his usual size before their eyes. In the moment of surprise, Mahat turned and swapped him aside with the back of his hand, sending the oni tumbling across the floor.

Samael's Noise Manipulation had done its work, however. The piercing ringing made Mahat shrink back a moment, clutching his head. Catequil's Dark Vortex and Nekomata's Flameflick struck at the same time, blasting the demon with ribbons of flame and a bolt of lightning.

"Insolence..." Mahat murmured. "Your depravity knows no bounds. Is the evil you've done not enough?"

He looked up as Cleo slid into range, swiping his katana upward in a diagonal slash across the demon's body. The blade struck true, but as it did, Mahat's body merely dispersed into mist.

"He can perceive our moves, disperse our enhancements and ailments, make himself untouchable to our attacks," Bastion said, his grip tightening on his spear. How could they...

His gaze drifted across the shrine to the pyramid shape from which Mahat had emerged, and from which mist continued to billow forth. If Mahat and the mist were tied to that artifact, bound by it... perhaps that might be the key to turning the battle in their favor.

"Sister Charlotte," he said, turning toward the startled nun. "If you have any charms left, I could really use some. I think I have an idea..."

At the shrine
- Vayu -

Vayu cursed under his breath when he saw how little they could do. They couldn’t even touch him with their weapons and in addition Mahat removed all ailments from himself and all enhancements from them. Taking a look around, he saw that for now everyone seemed to be okay.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Bastion talking rapidly to Sister Charlotte. Well whatever he was up to, it would probably be best if he didn’t call it to Mahat’s attention.

“Catequil!” he called “Use Dark Vortex on me.”

His demon looked at him confused, but Vayu nodded encouragingly. He was taking the chance that only active enhancements had been removed by Mahat.

Catequil sighed and then pointed his finger at Vayu. The young man braced himself, but instead of lightning damage, he felt a refreshing feeling going through himself.

“Confusion Wave,” he cast. Thanks to Ferox casting the Lightning Cloak and Catequil finally activating it with his Dark Vortex, Vayu’s spell was much stronger and would affect Mahat much more.

“Hit him with another Dark Vortex while he’s confused,” Vayu called over to Catequil.

Amira

Amira digested Zephyr's hypothesis, a terrifying idea, but one with merit. However, let's assume that the ghouls were indeed the population, how were they turned.

The Lamias were fighting with the ghouls, very doubtful that they would be responsible for this. No perhaps... Who made the mist? The Lamis or the person responsible for the Ghouls?
The answer should be the lamias as the mist benefits them the most.

Up until now, every village was whipped out without leaving a trail as if it had been eaten. Who was responsible for this...

A chill ran down Amira's back, so far not a single survivor. They only found ghouls... except... the nun...

"Maybe we should get back to the others..." Amira was starting to worry that perhaps that nun wasn't someone who belonged to this village.

- Cleo -

Cleo gritted his teeth as his blade passed through the demon without resistance. How was he supposed to fight an enemy that he couldn't make contact with? He knew without even trying that his spells wouldn't be effective. This foe was quite clearly more powerful than any of them individually. Still, there had to be a way to fight it.

Catequil and Nekomata's attacks seemed reasonably effective, but that wasn't enough firepower to really hurt it. Cleo reversed his motion and swung at the demon again before rolling away and adjusting his angle for another attack. Maybe he couldn't do any damage to it, but at least he could be a distraction while the others came up with a better idea, and if it was mist, it couldn't exactly hit him back (at least physically).

"If you guys have any input on this situation, I'd love to hear it." Cleo yelled over his shoulder, not taking his eyes away from the swirling form of their foe. Another Flameflick sailed through the air, aimed at Mahat's back, while it was facing Cleo. He waited for the moment it would connect, planning to strike just as the demon was distracted with the pain of the spell.

Scarlet

Scarlet gasped as Zephyr laid out his hypothesis.

"That's..." she muttered in disbelief. "But how could this have happened...?" Her eyes widened. "Wait, could the mist be causing this?"

She nodded at Amira's suggestion. "I agree. We need to find out what the others have discovered."

~~
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Nihility|Shoggoth|Tyrian|Minke
~~~~~~~
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~~

It was a little chaotic, but the fun had to end before things turned for the worse. Shoggoth grabbed Nihility and flung her over the ceiling. The Vanguard planted her feet onto the roof and her slimy partner was the last to leave the Ghouls and Lamias in the pit below.

After Zephyr sealed the hole in the roof, Nihility, safely tucked within Shoggoth, followed the group to the new safe house for debriefing.

What Zephyr confided in them, seemed plausible. Nihility starting biting her lip while in thought. The Townsfolk were the Ghouls. She had taken part in murdering, maiming and harming innocent villagers. Thought it didn't take her long in resigning to shrugging her shoulders and concluding that it was all in self-defence.

"Even if the Ghouls were the Villagers, they threatened our lives, and we were forced to fend them off in an act of self-defence." Nihility pensively looked around at the others, hoping for them to agree in her guilt. "I mean, sure, if there is a way to revert the process of Ghoulism, I am all for it."

Nihility cheerfully raised her fist into the air, "Yaay!! To finding the townsfolk." she chirped with nervous laughter.


Majority of the group wished to regroup with the other team, which was logical as they sort of solved the mystery of the missing villagers.

"Well, if it is true that all the ghouls are villagers and up to now, we haven't seen any live humans, it ought to be safe to say that all the villagers are accounted for, and so we should close this case and reconvene with our human group, before either of us fall to this Ghoulish plague."


Nihility started to look about her arms and body for any signs of scratches or bite marks, even though she was mostly sure that she hadn't come into any physical contact from any Ghouls. She just felt like that she did not want to have any of their grime and muck stuck on her... even though Shoggoth was silently wiping away her leftover ooze from Nihility's legs back into itself, and in the process, discreetly sapping away the vanguard's energy.

Shoggoth seductively smacked and licked her lips while a few of her yellow eyes rolled up into her skin. "Mmmmh."

Samael

"Goki!"  Samael called out, as he quickly lunged in the direction the demon was swatted.  The little oni collided into Samael's chest, as exhaled a pained grunt as the two skid back slightly.  The oni peaked up at Samael with a pained and scared look on his face.

This wasn't good, the majority of his spells were aliment or enchantment.  He would quickly run out of energy if he went with another one of his plans.  Not to mention Goki's morale seemed to be lowering, the poor oni's legs were shaking.

"Hu, reminds me back at the bridge when the one oni tried to hit you."  Samael stated with a slight chuckle at the oni, as Goki's eyes widened in surprise.  Goki pulled himself back onto his feet, as he stood now in front of Samael with his club drawn, still shaking slightly.

"Now Tyrant, he's disoriented, reveal yourself!"  Samael yelled out, as he actually triggered his noise manipulation spell to cause a loud slam like a creature had just landed behind Mahat followed by a loud roar behind him. Samael then pointed his finger forward as Goki darted towards the side of the temple getting out of sight in midst of the opening.

Zephyr Arc

"Honestly, even if I am right, I don't want any of you thinking of these things as 'innocent townsfolk'. Ghouls are undead, meaning they're just reanimated corpses at the end of the day. The people are most likely already dead." He sighed. He didn't need anyone getting demoralised thinking they'd been butchering civilians.

He then fiddled with his gauntlet a bit before sighing again. "I've been trying to get through to the others since we got here, but I've had no luck... they might have found trouble of their own. I'm with Nihility, let's head north."

As there seemed to be concensus on finding the rest pf their troupe, Zephyr lead the three girls out through the roof to be as discreet as possible. Thanking whatever diety was watching over them for the lack of flying monsters here, he proposed shrinking and flying north by having Cherry carry them. It would be the fastest way.

- Bastion's Group -

"If you guys have any input on this situation, I'd love to hear it." Cleo yelled over his shoulder.

Bastion ignored him, preparing for his plan. He'd need cover, though, and Vayu seemed ready to provide some.

“Confusion Wave,” Vayu cast at Mahat, who doubled over from the spell.

Now. Bastion sprinted around the edges of the shrine, heading for the pyramid at the back as Samael used his noise manipulation spell to distract Mahat, who whirled around at the sound. Dark Vortex and Flameflick struck him again, but he vanished into mist once more and reappeared in front Vayu, Samael, and Catequil, unleashing a torrent of wind that blasted them backward.

"You know not what you do," Mahat bellowed, cleansing himself of the ailment. "You bring the footsteps of doom to this world."

Bastion drew nearer to the pyramid and made the last sprint for the distance when Mahat appeared before him, hands raising to fire off a blast of light at him. Bastion was too close to dodge on his own, but...

Stabbing his spear into the ground, he kicked off of it and launched himself beneath the beam of light, skidding to a halt by the pyramid as his spear was blown to splinters. No time to mourn over it. Bastion leaped for the pillar and pulled out the charm Sister Charlotte had given him, just as Cleo took his opening and launched for Mahat. Scoffing, the demon began to turn into mist once more as Bastion slapped the charm down on the pyramid's shining surface.

Mahat spasmed, his body suddenly becoming solid once more, just in time for Cleo's blade to score across its torso. Mahat recoiled, floating backward as he clutched his chest.

"Fools..." he murmured. "I cannot... will not fail."

He reared up, letting out a torrent of breath strong enough to splinter and shatter apart the wood of the shrine, sending it crashing to the courtyard below. Bastion clutched onto the pedestal of the pyramid to avoid being blown away, hoping the others had managed to hold onto something. Just then, he felt a hand seize his arm and lift him from the ground before hurling him through the air. He landed with a jolt, rolling to land near the others.

"Let this be the light that opens your eyes," Mahat said, bringing his hands together once more and aiming them toward the clustered group of Vanguards. "Path of Light!"

He sent the blast surging toward them, like a ray from the sun itself.

--------------------------------------------------

- Zephyr's Group -

Moving through the air, the other Vanguards flew toward the shrine, making far better progress than the others. As they sailed over the river, however, they came past the roofs of some nearby buildings and heard a squelching noise, turning just in time to see a Black Ooze fire an acid clump at them. Being shrunken as they were, it might as well have been a boulder.

Enveloped in the foul ooze, they all plummeted to the ground and crashed in a messy pile of the goop, wish burned and slowly began to poison them. More Black Ooze began to slide into view, their mouths open wide as they converged on their shrunken meals.