The Red Capes Are Coming! [PG13, NDE, Hard]

[Kazura Uzaki]

Kazura stood up and straightened his tie after Anarchy had made the whole room weak at the knees with his impressive pressure. Kazura was unfortunately used to the feeling out being outclassed, and he knew full well the kind of man that Anarchy was. Anarchy had power, of many forms. But he was also a friend and ally. "Good to see you on my side, Anarchy. Now... Other Masked Man who has yet to tell me his name, my offer to you still stands. Ten thousand now, and another thirty upon completion of the job. Is that sufficient, or should I rely only on Anarchy and my other partner here?"

[Kento Waffles]

Considering all things, Douma might as well have been smirking from behind that mask, what with all the mirth in his voice. He didn't seem very pleasant to work with. "Forty thousand total? Your life and the wellbeing of your allies aren't worth much, are they?" He sneered. But! He was quite powerful. As unpleasant as he was right now, he was also someone who could help tremendously. His reputation did precede him, especially if he did business with Anarchy. That would make it best to accept him as an ally, especially for forty thousand Ryo only, and even if he was quite the asshole. Would he cooperate, though? Yes, yes he would. "I accept," Douma said, bowing his head. The first sign of respect he'd given since arriving.

That settled it. They would all be allies. "What do you want to do, Kazura?" Anarchy asked. "From what I gathered, Baal is stronger than all of us together. If he comes with an army, we will be outnumbered and vastly outgunned. In my opinion, it might even be best to find him and ambush him long before he even invades." This gave a decision to Kazura. However, it was also opportunity for Asmokon to provide some input. He knew a bit about Baal, after all, even if the Vandenreich Quincy had refused to acknowledge remembering him. There was something ominous in the air about all this, though. When they faced the man who called himself Wilhelm Kohler, they were in for the fight of their lives.

[✠Asmoskon Masurao✠]

Over the last few minutes Asmoskon hadn't spoken to any of the individuals. To put it quite plainly today just wasn't one that he was favoring. As soon as Anarchy had stepped into view Asmoskon got the urge to simply shoot the Bount scum through his mask. However, keeping his raw emotion under control for a few moments he learned that Kazura hadn't only been dealing with the Vandenreich, but also Anarchy. He had been quiet to step back and turn walking to the other side of the room and stopping just in front of the large window overlooking Karakura Town.

That was where he had been over the last few moments contemplating what was actually going on and whether or not working together with these two was actually something he should do or whether he should just cross Anarchy off his list now and save Baal for some time in the future. He knew Anarchy held a massive amount of power and the majority of it was defensive in nature from what he had experienced. He held new power now much more than their first confrontation and knew that what he had seen Anarchy do in the past wouldn't save him in the present. Yet at the same time he realized this wasn't his choice to make.

While it was true that there wasn't another individual in existence that held deeper hatred towards Baal, Asmoskon still had an obligation as an ally to Kazura. His best friend whether Baal had admitted or not had been targeted not just to make him an ally, but simply because he was the ally of his. All of his allies were targets and Asmoskon had just hoped that Kazura would be pardoned due to his lack of experience and knowledge of the spiritual worlds. Sadly that hope was now crushed and Kazura was now plopped right in the middle of a war. Even if he teamed up with Kazura taking down Baal would require more strength.

There were a few options Asmoskon had at his disposal. He could just shallow his pride and hate for the time being and work alongside these two with Kazura. He didn't know much about Douma and even what he knew about Anarchy didn't make him any more evil than himself. As he realized that he felt something cold and placed his right hand over his eye patch. Sneering in hate he realized that out of them all he was the one truly evil whether he wanted to be or not. The only other thing he could think of was to teleport into Soul Society and inform Sozen about the situation and hope that he would be ready to confront Baal once again.

Anarchy and Douma were still speaking with Kazura only to take his money and suggest something idiotic. "An ambush is impossible against a Vandenreich General. More than likely there are spies either inside of this room at the moment listening to everything you're going on about. At the same time sentries at the moment if the army is being deployed are being placed on every rooftop across Karakura. If he plans to exterminate us all then we're already as good as cornered and can only do our best to survive the onslaught."

[Kazura Uzaki]

Kazura weighed both of the inputs, from Anarchy's desire to ambush Baal and Asmoskon's council that such a thing is impossible. "It may be impossible to sneak up on him and ambush him, true, Asmoskon. But, we cannot afford to have the battle take place here. There are too many innocents, even in this very building. We must find a place where we can have fair combat, if it comes down to that. I hope that such violence is not necessary... at least, I wish it were not so. But the man does not value life, and in fact insults it. That goes against everything this company and I stand for. Anarchy, Asmoskon, Masked Man who has not told me his name yet, where would you all prefer to take the fight, or do you have more council regarding the matter?

[Kento Waffles]

"I'm in agreement," the masked man named Douma said, still not giving his name. "From what I gathered, his forces outnumber us too much, and we aren't strong enough to fight him alone, let alone him and many soldiers. I can help us get out of the city, however in doing so, we will forfeit these headquarters, and you will need to set up another one to operate out of." That was Douma's assessment. Leave the town, and then Kazura would need a new building in another city. UE main HQ would essentially have to move. While it wouldn't stop Baal for too long, it would probably give them enough time to prepare. And, depending on the city they went to, they could probably find more allies.

"Any of your employees in this place, and in the rest of the town will need to be evacuated," Anarchy also added. "If that's the case, we need to discover a way to do that." That was true, for forfeiting employees was not something doable by any moral standard. That would be the same as leaving them to die or become enslaved, which was surely unacceptable. Still, in this situation, what could they do? There had to be another way to do things. "Are you above assistance from Xcution?" Douma asked. "If anyone can handle Baal, it is Satsujun. Their main headquarters aren't here, but we can probably contact them and request some sort of assistance."

"We could also ask Wayne Inc for help," Anarchy suggested. Though everyone in the room knew far less about the combat potential of Wayne Inc, they would probably, if familiar with the human world, at least know of some of its agents. "I don't know much about Kayneth Wayne, but I have heard rumors that Axel Johnson is working for him. If we can receive assistance from Axel Johnson, then we will be in a more advantageous position." It was true that Axel Johnson was considered the human world's strongest mercenary. Many would attest that he was about as strong as Sozen Kuchiki, who had faced Baal before. This meant that with him on their side, they might actually be able to defeat Baal.

But, there must certainly be reservations. Xcution, after all, was an assassin's organization, and so much more. It came from Satsujun, who was not exactly an ally of Uzaki. It also possessed Lord Callus, a criminal overseer whose rank there was equivalent to Satsujun's. If they ended up asking him for help, it would be very morally compromising. He was a far more twisted, evil individual than Satsujun, and was responsible for much of the crime, poverty, and strife in the spiritual world as well as the regular human world. His crime empire was dubious enough as it was. Asking for help from it was something else entirely. And, alternatively, did they really know enough about Kayneth Wayne to ask for help from Wayne Inc?

"What do you want to do, Kazura?" Douma asked. "I am certain we can open communications from here easily."

[✠Asmoskon Masurao✠]

They didn't have time for this. The four of them together were some of the strongest individual in the human world and yet their power even together wouldn't be enough to challenge the Vandenreich. Asmoskon had a feeling that the four of them if they actually worked together might have a chance of bringing down Baal. However, if A was also present then there was no chance of any survivors. A was far more powerful than even Baal and Asmoskon knew that he was the final piece that would need to be brought down in order to truly get rid of the Vandenreich. None of them were powerful enough though.

They had to get away in order to survive and continue to get stronger or else everything that they had all worked for would suddenly end now. If the four of them stayed together it was a double edged sword. Asmoskon continued to stand with his arms crossed over his chest while he thought over everything. The others were speaking to one another about the situation as the Tainted Quincy reached his conclusion. "Kazura set up a looping broadcast from this building over Karakura. Alter the town and everyone in this building that there is an incoming bomb from an unidentified aircraft."

Asmoskon starred at both Douma and Anarchy for a few moments after he had spoken. His eyes looking through the eye holes of Anarchy's mask with hate. "For the time being the four of us need to split up. As much as I'd like to be rid of you I can't risk it right now. Satsujun won't aid us. Not against Baal. There is no one in the area powerful enough either. Kayne should never be approached." Asmoskon paused looking at Anarchy no longer with hate, but warning. "Never try to reach out to him. Don't trust him or anyone that is under him. De-Mona is not forgiving nor is he merciful." Asmoskon then turned to Kazura.

"We need to split up. Douma and Anarchy can get away while taking some attention since they know they're here. We're the main targets though Kazura. Baal and the others will seek us out and continue until they get us. That's why we have to get out of the country. I have a plan that can work with both of us surviving. All you've got to do is trust me and follow my lead. If there is some way that we can get underground from this building that'd be best otherwise we're going to need to try and get through the town while avoiding as many arrows as possible. What are your thoughts?"

[Kazura Uzaki]

Kazura considered the council of Anarchy, Douma, and Asmoskon and could only frown and shake his head slightly. "Asmoskon is right, Satsujun won't help us. Sorry, Douma. And I'm sorry, Anarchy, but I won't go to Wayne for assistance. He wouldn't help anyways. That being said... You're also wrong, Asmos. I won't freak out the town with a bomb threat. It would cause too much panic. Douma, Anarchy, please get my employees to safety. Guide them however you must, but get them out of this town for the time being. This fight is on the shoulders of Asmos and I. They won't target you yet. When the people in this building are safe, meet us outside of town. We'll probably be in the thick of combat, so we'll be easy to find.

Kazura would evacuate Uzazi Enterprises, but he wouldn't force the evacuation of the entirety of Karakura. It would do no good, would take too long, and would only cause destruction and panic which he had sworn to protect these people from. Especially after Hell itself opened up and attacked them... He couldn't let the Vandenreich become a second catastrophe in months to these people, not when he would be the cause of it all. No, he wouldn't allow it to happen. "I don't have an established access to the subway system beneath the building, but we can make one today. Follow me, Quincy. We'll get out of this one together."

Leading Asmos down to the bottom floor of the building, barely above the subway line, Kazura stopped to get fully equipped for what was about to go down between Baal's men and his own. As he stopped in his lab, Marcus approached him, speech written on paper to avoid having to speak. Marcus wanted to come, to protect Kazura, but the man had to decline and send him with Douma and Jin. It was for the boy's best, especially since he hadn't fully recovered from his accident that destroyed his body and his mind to the point where even his Fullbring had been changed.

The inventor left his lab alone and descended to the bottom-most basement with only Asmoskon in his company. With Soul Dominance, the evolved form of Soul Command, Kazura moved aside a large block of stone and revealed the subway below. He did it with minimal effort by moving just enough stone to allow for the two of them to slip through to get underground to get out of the city as fast and as silently as they could. Hopefully they'd get lucky and manage to get far enough away from people to avoid unnecessary casualties...

[Kento Waffles]

Play this

The darkness of the tunnel was stifling, but even moreso was the echoing sound of their footsteps. No matter how much they tried to be stealthy, there was just a little trace of sound that neither could suppress, and anyway at least one of them had senses honed to the point of being able to hear their own small noises anyway. The subway system was still modern, frequently used, but the system that Kazura had chosen to enter into went through a relatively abandoned part of town. There would be no one in the area, and of course the blackness of the tunnel that they wandered through was deserted. A train passing through here was possible, but less so than in other places.

But following them in this place was silence. Trailing just a sliver behind their echoing footsteps, like the shadow to their shadow, there was a quiet so absolute that one couldn't help but feel chills down their spines--a cool fusion between endless suspicion and nagging anxiety. Yet when and if either ever turned to try to discover any additional presence, there was none at all. Continuing through these tunnels, inevitably Kazura and Asmokon would reach an end, yet that seemed so far away... How long the journey was, they likely couldn't tell with this blackness hanging around them to distort how time was perceived. Hopefully enough time passed that Anarchy and Douma were successful in getting people to safety.

Time continued to pass, the tunnel stretching on endlessly. And as they walked, soon they might notice with eyes barely adjusted to the awful dark a fog gathering. In what had already been pitch blackness, now a fog began to materialize, blocking any source of light that they had. The beams which previously had reached out to illuminate the darkness found themselves shrinking back, disappearing as they grew shorter and shorter, until at long last, like a candle snuffed out, the fog was so thick that no light could escape but for mere inches around either of them. They were secluded in an area of darkness, likely unable to even see far enough to see one another unless they were physically touching.

It was here that a silent whistling sound could be heard, some projectile perhaps singing as it sliced through the air, headed in Kazura's direction toward the back of his neck. Also muddling to the senses was a growling sound beneath the ground, a faint rumbling. It was so low that only Asmokon would be able to detect it, while Kazura would not. The darkness around them was getting stronger and stronger. Even with the light restricted so much already, the fog was starting to close in closer and closer to their physical forms. Soon, that thick miasma would be touching them, and it would be extinguishing all light.

Worst of all, however, was the taste of it--like hot coals entering their throats and lungs each and every time they breathed. Though there was no actual heat or fire, that was the experience of it, and this surely might draw a sort of gagging sensation. The terrifying darkness enclosing, their eyes stinging despite already being practically blind, and their noses and throats burning. This was what Kazura and Asmokon would be forced to deal with, stuck in this endless interior tunnel. How twisted, really, for them to be trapped here... No escape, no time even for remorse, and certainly no hope whatsoever between either of them.

[✠Asmoskon Masurao✠]

Asmoskon after he had spoken didn't have much else to include seeing that Kazura had to answer and make the decision he felt was best. Asmoskon realized though based on his choice that he and Kazura were in fact much different then they had been when they had first met. Kazura strangely enough was softer than himself something that he felt was unexpected. He had learned throughout his time as a mercenary and assassin that using people to raise the chance of anything being successful was always good. However, it seemed that Kazura felt differently on the matter.

Either way it didn't matter. Kazura made his decision so Asmoskon was going to go along with it. The two of them had to work together if they were going to survive so fighting over something at the starting line would only prevent them from survival. Kazura then lead the way down to the base of the building and using his abilities as a Fullbringer was able to move a slab of stone so that they could enter the subway tunnels. However, before that he had made sure to equip himself from his own armory. Asmoskon made sure to look over what was in immediate sight. Everything that he saw wasn't really a surprise. However, this was also possibility the last time that he would be able to absorb reiatsu that wouldn't be tampered with in some way so it took a moment to absorb the reiatsu all around the building into his cross.

He knew of Kazura's skill and the fact that he was the only person in the world to his knowledge that could craft something more complex then himself. It hadn't always been that way. Asmoskon at first couldn't create anything. That had to change though out of necessity. As a mercenary he had to get smart and learn to make equipment for himself as well as get some from Kazura. The slightly older Fullbringer was just gifted as a crafter and seemed to enjoy it. Asmoskon always saw a member of UE that had been in the conference room. A man that he had personally defeated prior in combat.

He didn't wish to bring up such a thing to Kazura. At least not at the moment since they would need complete trust in each other to survive. Luckily while he had fought Marcus he had been in disguise and the Fullbringer wouldn't know that he had been the Quincy that he had fought at the docks. The both of them pushed forwards from that point into the subway tunnels. It was dark and they had a ways to go before they were anywhere near safe. So taking the time Asmoskon decided it'd be best to inform Kazura about what the Vandenreich could do.

The two of them were walking side by side with Asmoskon on the right. The Quincy while he knew that it was time to speak with Kazura about the enemy was constantly keeping his senses at the peak that he could manage. He'd need to be able to hopefully hear the sound of any movement so that an ambush on them wasn't a possibility. He'd been ambushed far to many times in the past and right now wasn't going to be another of those times. "Kazura. It's best you know how to deal with a transformation by the name of Vollstandig."

Asmoskon spoke in somewhat of a whisper due to his experience as a mercenary and military leader he knew what the Vandenreich were more than likely thinking. This strategy wouldn't have slipped their minds and they would have something at the ready eventually. So it was best to keep his voice down. "The Quincy we're up against can transform themselves using their reiatsu. When they do it their physical appearance normally changes. The true give away that it's in use though is they have no reiatsu. When Vollstandig is in use DON'T use any reiatsu. Normally aside from your step technique. They'll be able to absorb it immediately and use it for their own techniques. Instead use only your equipment to finish them off. Be careful though in Vollstandig they can alter properties about themselves. Either enhancing their physical or spiritual capabilities or even gaining the ability to heal rapidly."

Asmoskon had of course had more than his fair share of fighting against the technique that the Vandenreich chose to use so frequently. He'd look to Kazura though know with a slight smile. Raising his left hand he pointed with his thumb to his back where his quiver was located. "Good thing I came prepared too." However, that was when all of the planning and brief moment of pause seemed to end. There was now black fog that they were entering and Asmoskon started to have thoughts that the Vandenreich had found them. They would need to get out of here immediately.

That was when Asmoskon heard the sound of something whistling and something else growling. He knew a few possibilities and none of them were good so it was time to get out of the black fog. Asmoskon opened his mouth to speak and when he did he felt a string at the back of his throat. This fog wasn't normal it was not only meant to prevent vision, but also to keep them from communicating. He had to deal with the projectile that was coming towards them instead of just warning Kazura about it.

Raising his right hand upwards while moving his left hand back down towards the tunnel Asmoskon extended his reiatsu outwards. In the moment that followed fire ignited around Asmoskon's hands and a large arrows of fire was fired off from both. The fire illuminated the tunnel slightly giving some light for sight. However, that was only a side effect to the form of each arrow. The true purposed lied in what each arrow could do. Asmoskon always had something specific about his abilities as a Quincy and that translated even into these arrows.

The one that was fired back down towards the sound of the projectile would get close enough to the projectile that it would more than likely absorb it if it was made of reiatsu. That was the special property of Asmoskon's Geist Pfeil. The fire had the ability to draw in all reiatsu around it making itself stronger in the process. Asmoskon had mastered the technique which meant that 25% of the offensive strength of not only the projectile, but the black fog that the arrow was absorbing as it moved would be absorbed.

So not only would the projectile be absorbed, but the arrow that Asmoskon fired off down the tunnel would get larger eventually it would make whoever fired the arrow have to counter of evade. It could draw in any reiatsu twenty feet in any direction so physically moving was all that whoever fired the arrow would be able to manage once the arrow got close to them. As for the arrow that Asmoskon had fired from his right hand upwards it clashed against the ceiling of the tunnel. It'd be hot for Kazura and Asmoskon both, but after a few moments the stone would be melted and nothing would be left to fall on them.

The ceiling above them would be gone giving way to light that was a double edged situation. Now they were in a position where they could be seen in both directions plus from above. However, the black fog would be far less of a problem. If it had been made from reiatsu then what had been around them would have been absorbed by the arrow. If it hadn't been then it would now be escaping upwards out of the tunnel until it was eventually all gone. This was bad though they were more than likely surrounded and all Asmoskon could hope for is Kazura's abilities not being rusty.

Remaining Reiatsu: 4550/500
Geist Pfeil: {-600}
Quincy Cross: {+1600}

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength ❖ 300
Speed ❖ 400
Spiritual Pressure ❖ 100-50%=50
Reiatsu Strength ❖ 400x2=800
Light Aura ❖ 80
Dark Aura ❖ 20
Instinct ❖ 300
Senses ❖ 285
Energy sensory ❖ 50
Healing Expertise ❖ 0

•[Weapons: Archery] [4]
•[Acrobatics] [3]
•[Strength of Will] [3]
•[Battle Analysis] [3]
•[Battle Focus] [2]
•[Crafting] [3]

[Kento Waffles]

OOC: Wait a minute. You ignored the sudden loss of vision AND the fact that by speaking, you're intaking that hot air into your throat, which should cause you to gag because it's very hot. It burns. This isn't something you can speak in. You can't even see. Not only are you totally blind, your eyes are probably watering too. So you're blind AND forced to shut your eyes. And you also can't speak. Add in some more reaction to the sudden change of setting.

No but seriously. Also don't forget there is a whistling toward Kazura. That's a projectile attack on him.