Clash of Dogma [KYO][DEATH ENABLED]

[Empty]

~ 1932 : Clash of Dogma ~
Death Enabled Fight: Loki of the Verlassen [ML-W] Vs Gilgamesh and Enkidu [AL-A]
Location: Chicago, Illinois – grassy clearing by the riverside, surrounded by trees and walking paths; mid afternoon in summer

Loki stepped through the black torrent of energy from Huecco Mundo into the human realm, he had emerged in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. As was his standard reason in coming to the human realm, Loki had come to continue to develop his understanding of the medical progress of modern day society; for that reason he had today chosen to visit the University of Chicago, where less than ten years ago they had first begun offering medical degrees – though the school was new, Loki had been intrigued by his earlier readings and had decided to investigate, he was so preoccupied by what he hoped to achieve that he had not noticed that his energy was being released, unconstrained by the Concealment technique that he had laboured to learn.

~

In their bakery in the West Side, an exceptionally handsome man Gilgamesh gave a start while he handed a bag of wholemeal rolls to an elderly woman, for a moment she looked at him as if to enquire what was amiss, yet the comely young man merely smiled charmingly at her and accepted the payment before guiding her towards the door. “Thankyou very much! Have a good day!” As she walked away Gilgamesh looked over his shoulder as a much more heavily built man named Enkidu, walked through the doorway that led to the kitchen, the two nodded at each-other and Gilgamesh flipped the store sign to change from 'Open,' to 'Closed'; they had work to do.

Walking into the back room, Gilgamesh quickly donned the armour that Enkidu had already laid out for him. Enkidu himself had already managed to get dressed into his kit and was even now walking towards Gilgamesh. “Here,” he stated proffering a long halberd which the more slender man took with an approving nod. The two men hastily wrapped themselves in long brown cloaks to cover their weaponry, moving covertly they still made good time as they headed South.

~

Loki had just entered the campus when he felt the two rapidly approaching energy sources; whoever they were, the newcomers had obviously detected him and it was unlikely that he would be able to get away without a confrontation with the pair. Tsking in irritation, he noted that the two were stronger than the vast majority of foes they had ever faced, to meet two such enemies at the same time was nothing short of a crisis. 'Lets get away,' Jun the Shinto priest suggested quickly.

'Is running your answer to everything?' Samantha growled disparagingly, 'We are stronger than them!' She at least had no problem fighting the pair and had little doubt of the outcome.

'We should at least move away from the University,' Loki corrected Samantha, much to her anger, 'Though if they attack us....' Loki paused before pointedly directing his words towards the soul of the priest, 'then they are our enemies. And we Kill our enemies.' With that, Loki began to gather more gel around himself, transforming the Gorilla form that they had worn into that of Nue, the tiger legged, tanuki bodied, snake tailed, gorilla headed chimera – should those who approached them at such speed prove hostile, Loki had no intention of allowing Verlassen to come to any harm.

~

As Gilgamesh and Enkidu neared, they felt the powerful presence veer off to one side and they followed it rapidly. Finally the target stopped and the pair overtook the energy source, emerging from a thicket of trees onto a large grassy plain by the Chicago river. The two heavily cloaked and armoured figures looked across towards the immense figure of a snake that seemed held aloft by a crystal body, reminiscent of a tiger yet with the proportions all wrong. “Ho,” said Enkidu with a wide grin, “now look at that, I thought we would have to chase it for hours.” The muscular man smiled at their good fortune.

“Are you Our enemy then?” Loki spoke quietly, pitching his voice to carry across the distance to their pursuers.

The two seemed surprised more by the tone of Loki's voice and the lack of either aggression or fear rather than the fact that he had spoken, Enkidu seemed lost for what to say, scratching his head slightly. “Enemy? I uhh-” He looked towards Gilgamesh for some sign of what to do, they had come ready to cast down the hollow who sowed discord in the human realm yet this was not what they had expected.

“Perhaps we are not your enemy,” Gilgamesh stated calmly in response, closing his head and inclining his head slightly as if to consider his words before he opened them once more and spoke with an icy certainty, “but you disrupt this world with your very presence. We are not your enemy - but you are ours.” Gripping his cloak he pulled it free, pulling the halberd from within and spinning it in a circle, ready to unleash an attack or to defend himself.

“Hell Yeah!” Enkidu grinned like a demon, relieved to leave the more complicated things to Gilgamesh and just go wild, like Gilgamesh he too shrugged out of his cloak unsheathing the four foot long katana he held.

[kyouzou]

((OoC: Hope this meets your expectations. @.@, might be some spelling and grammar mistakes; I wanted to get it done before going back to class :X.))

Gilgamesh analyzed the situation he found himself in. Next to him he still saw his battle-minded ally; the enthusiastic look on Enkidu’s face wasn’t new to him. ‘It looks like he’s as ready for battle as ever,’ he thought as he turned his view to the creature in front of him. In all the years he has lived, Gilgamesh had never encountered a creature as terrifying as the one that stood before them. His eyes took in the snake-like parts of the hollow, and then the substance below it. Though unsure of what that substance was, the Bount knew that it was definitely something to watch for. That would be the best approach in this battle – the best for fighting such an unusual thing.

“Don’t engage yet, Enkidu, we should find out what this thing is capable of first. And whatever you do.. do not touch that substance below it!” He told his partner as he further analyzed the area around. Although he was upset that he would not be able to cleanse his craving for battle, Enkidu nodded to Gilgamesh before lowering his katana into a defensive stance.

Gilgamesh took one last, quick look around the area. He was surprised to find that there weren't any people around. ‘Did he run just to get away from the civilians?’ The Bount thought, recalling the chase prior to catching up to the hollow. He did not let that thought go through his mind for long, though, for he knew that this was his job. “It seems you did us a favor luring us out this far. None the less, I cannot allow your kind to live.” He told the beast, making sure to make eye contact with what he thought were the creature’s eyes.

“Are you ready, Enkidu!? Head to the right and don’t rush in until we see what he is capable of! But.. if he tries to run.. well, you know what to do.” With that said, Gilgamesh proceeded to run to the left with the intent of surrounding the beast before him. As he ran, he made sure to watch the hollow’s movements so that he could react to any attacks accordingly.

With Gilgamesh’s order, Enkidu became far more pumped then he had been since encountering the hollow before him. At first he was worried that he might not to have as much fun as he would have liked, but now he was ready to go all out. “He won’t be running away when I’m through with him!” With all the force his large body could muster, the doll ran in the direction as was directed by Gilgamesh. Unlike his master, he was no more worried about watching the opponent as much as getting to strike at it with the blade he was holding.

[Empty]

Loki did not deign to reply to the thinner of the two men as he spoke; the Adjuchas had nothing to say to one who would attack them - for Verlassen's sake and for the sake of all who had been consumed by them to stand here today, Loki would destroy any potential threat.

As the two men split up, the larger bulkier man headed right, towards Loki's left while the thinner man who had been giving orders headed in the other direction, circling left towards Loki's right. Loki had observed the exchange between the two and it seemed the thinner man gave the orders and the other seemed to execute them. Despite that, both man moved with deadly grace and without seeing either in action, Loki was reluctant to assume that one would be more deadly than the other. Despite that, were he to simply sit back and do nothing, Loki might find himself out maneuvered by the two men - he had to take the attack to them.

'Since there are two of them it would be difficult to keep my eyes on both,' Loki reasoned, 'and though either may be dangerous - it might be best to strike at the thinner man first since he is giving the other directions.' The heavily muscled man seemed eager to engage and Loki doubted that he could simply ignore the man while he attacked his partner.

Technique use: Costume Preparation

Loki began to prepare the Gel to take on another shape, that of the eight headed, eight tailed Yamata no Orochi. Carefully he shifted his position, attempting to keep both men in his sights as he lifted his right paw, making a inwards slashing motion of the tiger like leg from the right to the left at the thinner man. As he did so he slightly contracted the limb before extending it to nearly thirty feet - quite a bit shorter than the fourty feet it could reach.

Technique use: Contraiga and Ensanchar

(OOC: When Contraiga and Ensanchar (contract and extend) are used in conjunction, the extension of the limb is at bala speeds.

Edited to include technique information.)

[kyouzou]

((OoC: I wasn’t sure if he needs to say the command for doll summoning in this case.))

Gilgamesh kept with his pace while keeping an eye on the strange creature he was facing. He thought that he would be prepared for anything that the hollow threw at him, but he then made a major mistake. The armored Bount took his eyes off the beast for just a second to check on his partner. ‘Enkidu seems to be under control,’ he thought as he noticed his partner had kept a similar pace in move around the hollow. The sight upon the return of his gaze to the creature forced him to stop in his tracks.

He noticed a sudden change in the substance found below the snake. Without a clue as to what was about to happen, Gilgamesh prepared himself for anything. The attack came; in one quick motion the hollow had struck at the Bount forcing him to make a rather quick decision. He was forced to blink for within just a moment his partner had appeared before him.

With no other options to truly defend him, and knowing that Enkidu was the more durable of the allies, Gilgamesh summoned his doll to his location. Never before had Gilgamesh had recognized how helpful having such a unique doll was. Both Doll and Bount were pushed back a little before regaining their ground. “Are you okay, Enkidu?” He asked, concerned for his doll. “Never better!” Enkidu replied with a menacing grin on his face, slightly hunched due to taking the blow from the attack. Both men knew that they would be better prepared for a similar attack; this first time just threw them off guard. “I’m going,” Enkidu stated before Gilgamesh could say anything.

Rather than try to put his friend down, Gilgamesh followed Enkidu’s lead. He was still careful in his action, but he was ready to go onto the offensive. Enkidu did as he said and made a dash towards the creature with katana raised, ready to strike once he was in range. Gilgamesh, knowing his partner’s durability all too well, gave Enkidu a head start before following. They chose the same strategy as before where Enkidu would attack from the right and he would from the left. As he made his own dash towards the creature, he brought his halberd up and once again prepared for any attack coming his way.

[Empty]

Loki quickly retracted his paw, blinking warily as his attack was blocked by the sudden movement of the large muscular man to stand before the thinner; had it simply been so fast that Loki had missed the movement or was it some sort of transportation skill that the two men were capable of? While each used a different weapon there seemed a common feel to the two, their reiatsu was oddly similar in a way that Loki had never before encountered; yet at the same time the two used different weapons, perhaps while they used the same techniques they expressed them in a different way? 'What ARE these men?' In all his years Loki had met very few humans with such strong spiritual force and none of them had exhibited an ability like that kind of movement, what other abiltiies might they have in store?

As the two fighters began to move forwards once more they split up, the sword wielding muscular man taking the foremost position as the other seemed to wait, perhaps to support his friend with the longer reach of his weapon or perhaps for some other reason. Whatever it was, Loki had no intention of allowing them the opportunity to attack him from a blind spot, nor allow them time to make use of their strange abilities.

Biting their lip slightly, Loki allowed a small amount of blood to drip out the corner of his mouth, allowing it to seep into the gel encasing his mask and mixing it with gel and reiatsu alike to form seven small reddish brown seeds which rapidly pushed their way through the gel to distribute themselves throughout the costume. 'Are you ready?' Loki asked of the minds in Verlassen, among them Loki could feel the acknowledging nods of the souls he had been addressing.

Technique use: Gel Kostüm (Gel Costume) (Updated version) - > Prepared Yamata no Orochi

Slightly more than half a minute had passed since they had begun preparing their transformation and now the stage was set. With incredible speed, Loki's form distorted, the tiger like legs disengaging themselves from the body and lengthening dramatically from four to fifteen feet, hollowing themselves out as the tanuki body portion of Nue wrapped itself around Loki in a four inch thick layer, this layer comprised of one inch of Loki's own defenses and an additional three snakes each encasing the one before it, though as they were wrapped around Loki's bulk it would be extraordinarily difficult to tell.

Of the seven clear gel snakes, one was controlled by Samantha, one by Jun, another by Gertrude, Tony controlled the fourth, and the other three which were clustered around Loki were each controlled by one of the Nameless souls of Verlassen. Hissing, the fiery natured Samantha and the ever mellow Gertrude turned to face Endiku, while the judicious Jun and the opportunistic Tony turned with Loki to face Gilgamesh.

Each snake was shaped to resemble Loki himself, each nearly a foot thick and fifteen feet long, though they were but shells, one inch thick walls of nearly clear Gel with reddish brown pathways of reiatsu running through them, compared to Loki's own more considerable defences they might seem flimsy, though that could be misleading given their ability to move around spare gel to fortify their own defences. All the while, Loki continued to excrete more Gel, though it would take time to produce enough to make each of the snake's solid, he hoped to add a little at a time to each.

[kyouzou]

((OoC: I'm Going to start bolding the maroon color, otherwise I can't distinguish it between the brown.. ))

“What!?” Gilgamesh exclaimed as he noticed the sudden, rapid movement of the creature’s substance. The metamorphosis occurring in front of him was something that he had never before seen. He took a quick moment to think over the vast number of hollow abilities he had witnessed in the past. Throughout the centuries he had accounted numerous versions of this serpent’s kind, but he had never seen them use such a substance. Right now, however, the ability to use the substance was not of importance to the halberd-wielding Bount. He had to think quick before he and his partner were in danger, ‘What sort of ability is this?’

It was within that small time-frame that the changes became quickly identifiable. He watched as the legs of the tiger-looking structure, in which the hollow previously was held on, began to release themselves from the body of the creature. As the substance that continued to thrash about, the next transformation surprised Gilgamesh even more. Each of the parts that detached from the main body was now transforming. Upon this realization, Gilgamesh attempted to stop his quickly moving body. He stopped his legs from their quick stride by jumping up to rotating his body so he would land with both legs positioned to receive traction from the ground. Once it was apparent he wasn’t stopping quickly enough, he threw the tip of his halberd down into the ground.

Gilgamesh stopped just a couple yards in front of what were now a bunch of snake-like globs of the unknown substance. He looked up to his new opponents, noticing that three of them were now facing in his direction, including what he assumed to be the main one. ‘If these three are facing me..’ The Bount thought to himself as he addressed the new situation. “Enkidu..” He promptly turned his attention to his partner, but his reaction was too overdue.

Although noticing a change in the creature ahead of him, Enkidu proceeded with his attack without concern. “Hehe. The more the better, I’ll take you all on!” The large male yelled with an undeterred look, as he continued his dash towards his target. “Enkidu!” Gilgamesh yelled, worried because he knew it was too late to stop his doll’s attack. Enkidu looked up to the three snakes in front of him and quickly chose a target. With nothing than more than that one snake’s body in mind, Enkidu jumped up. His momentum sent him flying towards the triad of snakes and he took the chance to bring his katana, down hard, at the closest one.


Edit: Spelling/Grammar
Edit 2: Fixed the description of how many snakes were looking at who.

[Empty]

Technique use: Gertrude - Gel Repair ; Samantha - Espiga

As Endiku slashed his sword down at Gertrude the old woman attempted to relocate the spare gel within her towards the area of her length being attacked, yet the movement was slightly sluggish, less than half the spare gel moved in response to her summonds and the long katana carved a deep furrow in the gel, completely peircing the initial one inch layer and passing several inches into the empty space within; however the gel skin of the snake was stronger than it appeared and the sword would have felt incredible resistance - in initial part of the blow by far the most serious before the wound got shallower. The instant that the muscular man attacked and without any obvious communication between the snakes, Tony who had been facing Gilgamesh turned as Loki relayed what he saw through Gertrude's eyes to each of the other snakes; Tony had moved to provide backup to Gertrude and Samantha while the later fiery tempered woman slashed at Enkidu with the tip of her tail, adorning the final three feet with nearly two dozen crude spikes as she did so. Gertrude meanwhile did her best to repair the damage she had been dealt while she twisted away, rising up on the last four feet of her tail to tower above the ground as her cobra like hood flared open and she prepared to strike downwards like the snake she was fashioned after, shoudl any opening from the sword wielding man appear.

Technique use: Jun - Contraiga and Ensanchar ; Loki - Afilar used for multiple senses at once over a sustained time with a buffer against over stimulation

Loki was not willing to allow Gilgamesh time to sit back and pick the best occasion to attack however, even as Tony turned from the Halberd wielding foe, Jun coiled his tail beneath him, contracting his neck slightly then extending it as he sprung forwards, his mouth opening impossibly wide to reveal an array of canine like teeth and a pair of vicious viper fangs. Loki meanwhile moved to protect Tony's departure even as he directed reiatsu to his senses, and through the gel seeds to the other snakes as he sought to assist his 'family' as they looked for any sign of unusual techniques by the pair,

[kyouzou]

Gilgamesh looked over at his friend in great shock. He had watched Enkidu slash at one of the snakes and saw no sign an injury where the attack had taken place. He watched for some form of response to the attack and realized nothing was going to happen. It was clear to him why, ‘It’s because they are made of that substance.’ While that thought crossed his mind, something did happen that he did not expect. One of the snakes that were facing him now turned tail and made its way towards his partner.

Gilgamesh was beginning to worry about how the battle would resolve. He could tell with what little he knew of the hollow, that there was no way he and his partner were going to defeat it as they were. With two snakes facing him, he knew that there was no way that he could aid Enkidu. Obvious, with that logic, Enkidu’s additional opponent would make it even harder for himself. The worse part, the man thought, was that he knew the hollow had more secrets to be unleashed.

The Bount was aroused from his thoughts as he noticed an attack on both sides. He noticed a snake slashing at Enkidu with its tail; of course on Gilgamesh’s side, he had a snake seemingly crouching back onto its tail. ‘Separated, we stand no chance against them,’ he considered as he brought to mind the only option he could see worth using. He turned to place his halberd and armor between him and an incoming attack. He quickly proceeded to summon Enkidu to his location once again.

In the middle of his summoning, Gilgamesh was hit by the full force of the attack. The halberd absorbed most of that force, but the fangs bypassed it and forced their way through his plated shoulders. Had his doll not given such tough skin, he maybe has seriously been wounded, but instead he came out with a broken shoulder plate and he was pushed back a couple yards.

The summoning process was not as quick as the two partners would have liked. By the time it took effect, Enkidu already received the brunt of the snakes attack. Like his master, Enkidu was lucky to have such tough skin because, although he defended with his katana, the force brought its spikes far too close for comfort. Enkidu was also forced back a couple yards, but he lost his ground because he wasn’t expecting the sudden change in position.

Gilgamesh stood with a worried look on his face, while Enkidu remained kneeling. Neither of them knew how the fight was going to go from then on, but they also knew that they had no choice to fight. They both nodded at each-other and then looked up to the two snakes that now stood in front of them, separate from their allies. Enkidu pushed off the ground into a dash towards the snake in front of him. Gilgamesh brought his halberd up and started his own run towards their target.

[Empty]

As the two men ran towards Jun and Loki behind him; the three other snakes turned towards them, moving towards the two who were now alone. 'Jun you are too far in front, try to pull back a little then dig in.' Loki thought frantically to his 'brother'.

Technique use: Jun - Espiga with stronger duller spikes

'Sure. I cannot handle both alone' The priest didn't bother to add his surprise at the thinner man's defensive skill, that was apparent to each and every one of the snakes after their third attack had landed - nor did he show the slight panic he felt at the muscular man's strange movement.

During this second time the man had moved so suddenly, Loki had been enhancing the senses of the snakes and not one had managed to see any trace of movement. For that matter were the man able to move so quickly that Verlassen were not able to follow the steps, the man would almost certainly have cut them down already. 'Some sort of displacement then.' Jun observed, that was the only possibility, they could think of that might apply.

Jun began wriggling backwards as he produced more gel still; short spikes less sharp than those Samantha had attempted to use, sprouted all over the crystal like gel body of the priest as the snake coiled up with it's head in the center in an attempt to protect it's head while awaiting the others.

Technique use: Loki - Cero with increased charging speed

Loki pushed to the side, opening an angle between himself and the two men as he attempted to offer Jun support, light reddish brown energy beading at his forehead as he gathered the reiatsu leaking from his body as well as converting a potion of his reiryoku to quickly amass the needed energy. 'Don't think it'll be that easy.'

As the small concentrated ball of energy formed, Loki fired it off towards Enkidu, seeking to either slow the man down or else have the blast miss the muscled man and instead blow up behind the sword wielding doll and in front of the halberd wielding bount - were he lucky, the blast might serve to separate the two momentarily, enough for Samantha, Gertrude and Tony to catch up. If not - Loki would deal with the attackers himself when the time came. 'Aww leave some for us!' Samantha begged, battle lust touching her voice ever so slightly.

[OOC:After two turns Loki has been creating gel, 80 liters was being given to the seven snakes (and Loki) equally, so each has an additional 10 liters, 30 rather than 20. In the third (THIS) turn since starting production of more gel, Jun is producing all the gel, so he has an additional 40 on top of this. This extra gel makes it easier for them to increase their defence or attack in a given area (it takes time though).

The more gel they have, the more solid they will look - still clear(ish) but more solid like a slightly reddish brown coloured crystal]

[kyouzou]

Both Bount and doll were certain that the hollow was surprise at their recent tactic. How could they not? Bount are very rare and as such, it is unlikely for most hollow to encounter them. Not only has that, but the Bount this hollow has encountered had such a unique ability over most others. There was no way the hollow would expect their summoning ability to be a constant ability.

The two intended to take advantage of the disarray they caused between the groups of snake. The ones that were previously facing Enkidu now seemed to hurry over to this side of the battlefield. Something occurred to Gilgamesh at this moment, something major. “That ones.. Obviously controlling them all..” He said with what breaths he could manage while running at the creature. “Maybe if we attack…!” He was interrupted by a bright red light that appeared in front of them.

This light was way too familiar to the two partners; it was the hollow’s prided attack, the Cero. Gilgamesh quickly knew the intent of the serpent in front of him. ‘It’s going to give those other snakes time to get over here… by stopping us in our path!’ He thought before seeing the red orb, characteristic of the Cero, begin to discharge.

Even with the impending Cero about to hit, Enkidu did not slow down. He continued forward without fear of being hit. The Cero quickly flew down at him and he tried to keep going, but there was no way for him to do so. Even with his durable skin and his armor, Enkidu did not have the defense to completely nullify the Cero attack. The blast forced him back, scrapping the ground with his feet as he was pushed back towards Gilgamesh.

“Enkidu! Are you okay?” Gilgamesh asked Enkidu, who was still crouched after the powerful attack. “Never better.. Don’t worry about it; we have to kill the snake!” He said as he pushed himself back to his feet. Gilgamesh looked up to the snakes, noticing that the others still were a distance away from the two they were currently facing. “We're going to hit the one in front and keep on going; we're attacking the boss,” he whispered to Enkidu as he went back into a dash.

The two continued their dash towards the snake. Side by side, they quickly found their selves in striking distance, and both prepared to perform an attack on the snake blocking their path (Jun). Gilgamesh spun his halberd over his head before using the force he created to slash at the snake from below. Enkidu jumped up with his katana and struck at it from above.

[Empty]

Loki Loki was taken aback by the effectiveness of his Cero, he had not anticipated that the bulky man would be hit by the blast, yet the two men were together now – he couldn't tell whether he should be pleased whether the attack had hit or whether he should be annoyed that it had forced the man back to his companion. He had thought the man might slow down or perhaps use his strange movement to attempt to dodge the blast -attacking one of the Verlassen controlled snakes from a different quarter; instead things had turned out like this. The two men looked the worse for wear, particularly the muscular man, though neither seemed to have any severe injuries.

Jun meanwhile had remained where he had been told, quietly accumulating more gel as he waited for backup. As the two men ran towards him he prepared his defences for the imminent attack – all alone in front he had been expecting to be targeted and it was for that reason that he had been accumulating more and more Gel. Yet the attack he had expected had been one that would be a slashing attack delivered from above or perhaps a thrust so he had distributed all of the additional gel to the upper surfaces of the body.

So when instead the halberd slashed upwards, it took the Shinto Priest by surprise and the axe blade sliced into the poorly protected underbelly, into the gel 'scales,' they caved under the pressure and an eight inch long and two inch wide gash was ripped through the length of tail across the snake's tail. The force of the blow lifted Jun from the ground, with just one hundred and seventy litres of gel, their mass was no different from water of the same size; well within the man's ability to lift given the strength of his attack.

As Jun's body was lifted off the ground he began to uncoil slightly from surprise, yet the movement was interrupted as the muscular man followed the movement – jumping upwards as Jun was lifted and striking downwards with a fierce strike from his katana against the more heavily defended upper surfaces, yet in almost the exact same location as the previous attack. With four feet of his tail two-thirds severed by Gilgamesh's halberd, even the more heavily defended upper side of the snake's gel scales proved no match for the Katana and the end of Jun's tail was rudely slashed through – falling limb to the ground even as Jun himself landed.

Rather than thrashing about in pain, Jun merely felt the damage he had incurred and Loki's overwhelming anger; the priest pulled himself into an even tighter ball than before, with only one hundred and twenty five litres of gel remaining.

At least it had served to give Loki the opportunity to have the three trailing snake's to catch up with him; the instant that they did so, Gertrude and Tony turned around, not moving from Loki's side but rather looking back the way they had come. 'With that strange movement we can't know what angle they will come from.' Gertrude said grimly.

[kyouzou]

Both Gilgamesh and Enkidu looked over to notice their handiwork. They both were certain that the snake (Jun) wouldn’t be bothering them again. Turning back, they noticed that the other snakes had finally arrived near the one they believed to be the boss. Not just that, but they also realized that the boss must have been furious at their attack. Even for an unusual snake creature, they knew that must have been the expression on its face.

“Hey Enkidu, that was easy enough. Let’s get this over with,” Gilgamesh suggested to his partner, with a smug look on his face. “Hells yeah!” the larger one replied. Both Bount and Doll were enthralled by the success of their previous attack. Even the intelligent Gilgamesh was beginning to doubt the strength of the hollow before. Still, he knew that the fight was far from over unless they increased the difference in power. “Ready?” The thinner male asked.


Just like that, the two stepped towards one another. For a moment, a light appeared and once it dispersed, the two were nowhere to be seen. They had been replaced by an unusual form; it had similar features and clothing to each of the original individuals, but it also had four arms and in each of its hands were three foot katana. The face revealed an expression akin to glee. Deep in the minds of both men, they felt – they knew that they were not going to lose to this foul creature like this. “You better be ready!” They said in unison as they dashed at the group of snakes.

((Blade Force))

In their dash, they brought up each of their katana and slashed at each of the snakes; one slash towards each of the remaining snakes. From each katana, he slashed with, came a golden bolt-like light that flew towards each of the snakes at high velocity. At the same time, they jumped up. In the air, they prepared to attack the snake further to the right ((You decide)).

[Empty]

Loki's eyes opened wide at the unusal transformation and his jaw dropped slightly; Samantha opened her mouth and emitted a slight screeching sound. Gertrude did not so much as turn her head as Loki relayed what each snake saw to the other, yet Tony turned his head, as if disbelieving what he was being shown. As the new figure emerged it spoke arrogantly and charged towards them, slashing towards each of the four clustered snakes with one of the swords they wielded.

The four golden slashes of energy streaked towards each the snakes; Gertrude, who was facing the other way attempted to dodge, yet because her attention was diverted she did so poorly and a massive chunk was ripped from her neck just below the hood, the 'wound' began repairing quickly however; Tony who had abandoned his position managed a little better, yet he had been so distracted by the transformation that he was slow to dodge, contorted as he was, the golden blast knicked the side of his head, cutting away gel and roots alike and making the gel shape shudder violently as he struggled to repair the damage – not so much to the outside gel as to the reddish brown roots that comprised the Gel portion of the brain.

Samantha managed to side step the blast smoothly, moving more into the center as the blade went past, she had already been facing the new being and had more time to react to the attack than the previous two snakes; Loki too began moving in time, yet the thicker layer of gel around their frame encumbered them slightly and meant that they needed to move further in order to dodge the same blast; unable to dodge completely in time, Loki instead attempted to swat the golden blast aside with the end of his gel covered tail.

As the energy touched the gel Loki felt an incredible surge of force, far unlike any opponent that they had previously faced. Given their past experiences with the two men's attack, Loki had expecting to be able to shrug the attack off, though with a little difficulty. Instead however, the blast penetrated each of the three snakes he wore like a suit, and even the gel beneath, scoring a deep cut near the tip of their tail despite the scales. 'It is incomparable,' Loki thought, amazed by the pair; nothing in the previous attacks had prepared him for this.

Even as Gertrude and Loki's gel wounds healed and Tony continued to struggle with the damage to the gel seed within his head; Loki began to reformulate their plan. It was obvious that their current form was poorly suited to such an opponent, their poor defences would be overcome sooner or later. Eventually it would get down to merely Loki versus their attacker and from what he had seen their attacker had markedly superior strength, so they would need an appropriate level of manoeuvrability.

Technique use: Costume Preparation - Nue

In the meantime they needed to buy time and use their superior numbers to unbalance their attacker, sending a thought quickly to Jun; Loki instructed the snake to attack from behind since it appeared the pair had discounted the fallen snake after they had wounded it. Even as Jun uncoiled himself, contracting his tail below the hood, he reshaped the end, fashioning it into a single sharp spike as he extended it seeking to pierce the lower back of the airborne pair.

Technique use: Jun - Contraiga and Ensanchar; Nameless 3; Espiga

As the two sailed towards Loki he snarled, striking forwards as he opened his mouth, revealing the same impressive array of teeth, a cross between those of a dog and a viper; as he did so, two other snake's burst out of Loki's neck – two of the three hidden members of Yamata no Orochi seeking to sink their teeth into the prey while the third began to wrap itself more securely around Loki's upper body,

[kyouzou]

As the merged being descended upon their target, all they could do was laugh. They were aware that the snakes had been shocked, not only by their sudden change, but also by their increase in strength and change in attack styles. They prepared to strike hard upon the snake in front of them, but as they readied their attack, they notice something occurring ahead of them.

The snake the snake was beginning to strike at them, but that wasn’t what bothered the Bount. From the snake’s neck, they noticed two other appendages force their way out and towards them. Aware of only what was ahead of them (Thus not concerning with a back attack), they prepared to take out these defensive maws. Quickly, they counted their attackers to a total of three. With that in mind, the fused warriors decided to use a more interesting approach to defend themselves.

((Blade Force and Good Vibration))

With their arms already raised from their jump, they slashed at the two mouths coming out of the snake’s neck. Using only two katana, two golden lights flew forth at the mouths. Then to defend from the final mouth, their body suddenly began to vibrate. Of course, the Bount duo was unfazed by it, but they were interested in its results. To further defend themselves, they used the two remaining katana, which were already up as a result of their jump, to defend themselves from the attack.

[Empty]

As the golden light surged at both of the Nameless who had attacked the strange four armed figure, the one on Loki's right had turned its head as it struck, so the vertical golden line ripped off the lower jaw and knocked the snake's body further to the right, aborting the attack before it had really began, despite the Nameless having already sent the extra gel to its jaw for reinforcement. The Nameless to Loki's left faired far less well and the light cleaved the middle of the snake's head, through the gel seed and sent a surge of pain through Loki, even as he slammed his own head forwards against the crossed Katana blades. At the same time Jun's spike ended tail stabbed against the being's back, the fine tip on the spike dulled slightly by the vibrating effect that the strange 'man' was exhibiting; yet the force continued, despite the blunted attack.

Even as the Nameless on Loki's right was shaping a new jaw and recovering it's balance the one to his left had begun to collapse. Loki meanwhile, was grateful for the remaining nameless who had chosen to wrap it's gel around his upper half, for even as he struck their attacker, the gel protecting their face was flaking away under the harsh oscillations, the remaining nameless was quickly replenishing the layer of gel, to prevent Verlassen's head from being too exposed.

Samantha, who had been moving inwards, towards Loki, since being targeted earlier with one of the golden blades of energy snarled in rage, she quickly slithered forwards to cover for the fallen Nameless to the near side of Loki. Gertrude, on the other hand, turned straight at Loki's back, contracting her body slightly she gathered her tail beneath her and extended herself just as she leapt off the ground, the movement saw her speeding just below Loki's hood.

Technique use: Gertrude – Contraiga and Ensanchar

As the gel Gertrude's snake form was made of, touched Verlassen it began to diverge, opening up and flowing around Loki's bulk as her momentum brought her through the same space when it reached the other side it began to reform quickly, though not at the same speed (bala) as she had been moving earlier; she would attempt to snap at the four armed man's legs.

Technique use: Loki and Nameless (central) – Espiga

As she did so, Loki and the Nameless controlling the snake that was encasing him both covered themselves in shorter, more durable spikes as he sought to slam not just his head but his entire prickly hood into airborne men. Their earlier attempts at longer sharper spikes were discarded, such sharp, yet fragile weapons would be rendered useless before they could be exploited. Tony had finally managed to pull himself back together, literally; and was moving up to support Loki, still slightly groggy from his earlier mishap but eager to return the favour in droves.