Hell in the North [NDE, Medium, R]

[Vesta Zweig]

Death smiled, watching all of the chaos going on below. It looked like the battle was just about over. She felt her hold on this body start to slip, cursing under her breath that she was going to be back inside and not outside like she wanted. But, it was then that she felt something that was slightly familiar. The wind slightly picked up and she looked behind her and saw gates open.

She knew those somehow. They felt familiar. The demon side of her felt a pull towards that gate and that's when she realized it must be The Gate to Hell. To her, it was the only thing that actually made sense. While watching the gate appear, Death smiled and watched the man get sucked into hell. By the time the gate was disappearing, Death was gone and Vesta had returned. She just stared at the disappearing gate with mixed feelings.

My mother came from there....... She's the reason that Death exists inside me..... I wonder what she looks like and what she can really do....... Even after the gate was gone, she stared in that direction for a few seconds before she turned around to look across the battlefield. It seems like the battle has been won, with all the bodies on the floor. She glanced over and that's when she noticed the old man that was standing in the middle of the battlefield with a wooden cane.

He looked older, probably one of the oldest men that she had ever seen. Zorn was down there, gore splattered and glaring at the old man. He knew that the man was a Bount, which he let Vesta know. A Bount that was unaffected by all the attacks that killed everyone else on the field. Zorn felt something coming from the Bount and jumped back when he saw all the limbs and bodies start to move and form into something different.

The bodies were completely unscathed and now covered with green tattoos and glowing green eyes. The Bount spoke and told them to continue the assault, which they started to do. Vesta wanted Zorn to hold him ground and keep track of this Bount, since it seemed like he was the one controlling these dead people, which she considered them all his dolls.

With Zorn watching the man and the zombies coming towards them, Vesta warned Takara. "The old man is a powerful Bount. I'm assuming that he made them his Dolls so we need to take out that man. Assuming that I'm correct, if we take him out, the Dolls will more than likely fall with him. I think that should be the plan now. Zorn is following his movements on the ground to be helpful. He can strike when we're ready."

[Jak Halcom]

Jak sat down watching the destruction of the bount army below him. Most of the army was destroyed under the hail of spirit bolts, while those that survived the onslaught fled in terror. Jak smiled and flipped off the fleeing cowards, though in the back of his mind, he couldn't blame them. He looked across the street at all the bodies in varying states of wholeness. The sight was sickening. These were not just mindless hollows that needed to be put down. These were people turned into bounts against their will from what he understood. He sighed and crossed his arms. Well...there was nothing he could do about it now. Jak stood turning to head down to ground level when a flare of power stopped him in his tracks. 

He looked down and saw an old man doing something to the poor souls that Jak had just killed. Jak ran to the edge of the roof leaning against he railing watching in horror. The men and women that were freshly slayed, whose bodies were not even cold yet, were rising once again covered in green tattoos. The old man was to blame. Jak gripped the railing until the metal was starting to buckle under the pressure of his hands. When the metal couldn't be crushed any more, his hands just started shaking. His eyes were widening. He had seen zombies before. It wasn't anything new, but it was the first time that he saw them rise before him just after he killed them. The attack was continuing.

Something inside of Jak was breaking apart. The way the old man just used the bodies of those poor bounts was...infuriating. His spiritual pressure was beginning to bear down on the area out of shear anger. He will not let this stand. No one deserves to have their deaths mean so little. No one should be degraded to nothing but a tool. A loud shout escaped him as he transformed. Jak grew another foot taller, and his body started to heat up rapidly. A second pair of arms grew from underneath his original pair, and a pair of black, bladed guantlets covered his upper set of arms. Once his transformation was complete, Jak would leap off the building into the throng of the walking dead. 

Once he hit the ground, he could slam his fists into the ground causing a shock wave to blast away any nearby into walls, sighns, lamp posts, any solid object in the immediate area. Another mighty roar could be heard as he pointed to the throng signaling for his small band to continue fighting. He could charge in ahead of them slashing at any zombie bount unfortunate enough to cross his path. The blades would drag against the ground leaving long gashes when they weren't used to rend a zombie in two. His course was clear. He was heading straight for the old man. A group of zombies blocked his path just meters from the old man. Jak bent down avoiding any attacks aimed at his head or chest and used his coiled legs to launch himself high into the air. Jak would form a circle with his lower hands with the old man in the center. The ground would start to heat up under his feet. With a flick of his upper left hand, a geyser of fire would erupt in a 15ft radius circle with him in the middle. It would immediately incinerate any unfortunate soul that could not escape the blast, causing major soul burns to anything that made contact with the flames and survived. 

450 Segunda Saise Oni 0 Pheonix wings 0 Pyro Geyser  -400 Chaos Bomb 840/1690

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Vesta and Takara opted for caution and preparation, holding back and waiting as the horde of raised Bounts marched on the police station. By now most of the police officers (including the teams of gunmen led by the UE employees) were huddled in the corner shocked by the spiritual events unfolding before them. Zorn was being used to track the old Bount and target him directly instead of focusing on the army of glowing tattooed undead. This could be problematic if the old man wasn't sustaining the undead and if killing him did nothing to prevent the attack of the army. However, someone else was stepping up to destroy the army once again.

Now transformed into a Hellish figure, Jak descended on the army, cleaving bodies with his swords and crushing the terrain with his strength and weight. When they moved to stop him, he leapt into the air powerfully and aimed a flaming geyser at the man who had summoned all of these zombie Bount. The man, spry for his old age, disappeared leaving behind nothing but smoke. The flames erupted and set fire to the earth and torched quite a few of the undead. The man reappeared behind the flaming geyser, out of view until the flames subsided. "Zeige Dich, Tod"

Behind the Bount grew a skeleton seven feet tall. Wielding a nine foot long pole with a scythe blade on the end, Tod was a physically impressive doll with a massive reach. Getting close to the General would be difficult, especially since the Doll's abilities were as of yet unknown. The scythe did glow with an ethereal purple light, though. It would be visible to Jak and Takara, but Vesta would be unable to see the energy coming off of the doll's weapon due to her complete lack of Energy Sensory abilities. There were four of them, including Zorn, and only two of the General and his doll. Not including the hundreds of fodder in between them that were all chomping at the bit to tear them all limb from limb...

[Jak Halcom]

Jak smiled seeing the area completely engulfed in flames. The smell of burning flesh reached his nostrils. Normally, he would find the smell abhorrent, but to his demon mind, it was as pleasurable as one smelling a fresh roast. Jak could feel that the old man was still alive, which killed any sign of a good mood. He scowled into the pillar of smoke left behind by his attack. As the smoke faded, Jak could see the old man on the other side, but he was not alone. Behind the old man was a towering skeleton with a long scythe. The blade of the scythe emitted an ominous purple light, but Jak payed no head of it. He came looking for a good fight. Perhaps he will find one here?

Jak flew down dive bombing the skeleton doll a trail of flames was left behind him. Fire would rain down on the bount and his doll. If they were not stronger than his spiritual powers, they would surley be affected by moderate soul burns. The blades of Jak's gauntlets would start to glow bright red. The air around them would be so hot, that it would shimmer and cause the blades to look like peices of molten metal held together by his will alone. As Jak descended, he would slash at the skeletal doll aiming to cleave it's skull in half. He would swing with enough force to cause a large shockwave even if the doll managed to block his attack. If his initial attack was blocked, Jak would use his wings to pivot and try to kick the doll away with his amazing strength. If the doll was moved out of the way, Jak would then charge the old man punching at him with his super heated blade to plunge his left set into the man's gut. 

phoenix wings, Inferno blades -0 840 remaining

[Takara Takeda]

Standing where she had been for the last few moments with her arms crossed over her chest Takara looked out over the battlefield thinking over what she could do against those that had just been brought back that would actually bring them down permanently. The only thing that she could think of that had any back proof was the idea of eliminating this old Bount that had been the cause for all of these undead Bounts that still were trying to claim victory. Perhaps a well placed sniper shot would be enough to breach through his skull in order to put an end to this battle in the cold country.

However, it seemed that Jak was thinking of something far more direct as he rushed the battlefield transforming into his Saisei Oni state and utilizing everything he could to cause as much destruction as quickly as possible. Takara could sense though that Jak was just placing himself in further danger. Her gaze narrowing in anger Takara focused around Jak as she felt his reiatsu diminish more and more until virtually all of it was gone from him. "He's got nothing left." This meant that now he was just a liability and she'd have to protect him and to make matters worse he was in the worse place to protect him from all of their enemies.

Now as the old Bount would reappear Takara would concentrate utilizing all of the weapons that she had manifested from the Omega Arsenal so far. The machine gun that she had been using to lay down suppression fire throughout this fire turned and began to fire bullet after bullet at the General along with the hand gun that Takara had manifested what seemed like hours ago. Finally though the javelin that Takara had used to aid in the death of what they believed to be the leader of the Bounts rushed from Takara at a speed of 300 towards Jak ripping through anything in the way with a force of 300 until it would strike the ground in front of him. Hopefully Jak would know that this was his chance to get away by grabbing a hold of the javelin.

Remaining Reiatsu: 1675/2640

[Vesta Zweig]

Vesta took a deep breath to try to get her bearings. Calling on Zorn and Death, something she hadn't done so close together before, was taxing on her body. She knew that she didn't have too many reserves left. Even though there was a limit to what she could do, she knew that Zorn could handle himself a bit better. Since he was the one out on the field now, he was the best bet for them to try to get in close to the older Bount. With all the bodies coming back from the dead, she had no idea how she would fare against them.

They had to be stronger now, since she assumed the Bount's power was now wrapped around them. If the Bount can literally raise the dead, what else has his power added to these corpses? Were they like the zombie movie zombies? The people that were left behind were too afraid to attack and she didn't blame them. If she wasn't a Bount and a demon, she would probably be doing the same thing. Zorn was tracking the old man when she saw a flaming thing go towards the Bount, while the army was getting fired on from someone.

Was that Jak? He did have the demon chain that she had, which declared him a Nakabakki, so she assumed that this was one of his releases. The fire immediately made her think that it was his demon power. It looked like a force to be reckoned with. She was surprised when the man was still there, but then again, he was probably extremely old and she assumed extremely powerful. When he released his doll, she actually was freaked out slightly. Zorn was trying to keep her calm, but when a seven foot tall skeleton with a scythe shows up, it's kinda hard to stay calm.

The scythe would make it difficult for Zorn to get close. Well, maybe hard for him to get close. Zorn's Lightning Net would still be active so there was that. Maybe, if Zorn could get a good hit in, that would work. But, the blade drew her attention to a tech that hasn't been used very often. She let Zorn know about the metal and he immediately started to charge up and magnetize the nearest metal (I'm assuming from the vehicles in there or a door). Once his charge hit the metal, the pull would start.

Hoping that the scythe blade was starting to get pulled towards the charge, Zorn would run in quickly gather some of the Black Static that has been sitting inside his net and shooting out a lightning strike towards the old man. She hoped that with the doll preoccupied with its weapon, the lightning would hit him and actually damage him. Taking a deep breath, Vesta would continue to survey the battlefield, in the hopes that she could help Zorn out in a pinch.

OCC: There was 11000 Black Static left in his net from earlier in the thread, so I used 1000 of that for the Lighting Strike. If the scythe blade is spiritual steel, the pull is twice as strong as an FYI.
Remaining reiatsu: 650/1950; -500 for Lightning Strike and -300 for Spiritual Magnetisierung (pull 1/8)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spiritual Magnetisierung}This technique allows her tiger to hit anything metal with its lightning, be it a bench, light pole, etc... charging the item with enough electrons to actually magnetize it. Once the item is magnetized, all of the metal in the surrounding area will be drawn towards the item. The strength of the pull will feel like a rocket pulling you towards the magnetized item. Spiritual steel is effected by it twice as strong. Meaning, Shinigami zanpaktous, Quincy crosses and all other metals that affects spiritual beings period. So, if a person's release is a suit of armor, the armor will get dragged to the item as well. The strength of this attractive force is equal to Zorn's offensive stat (double his offensive stat if the item is spiritual steel). The pull lasts eight posts.

Drawbacks: Cost is 300 reiatsu to start and 50 reiatsu for each eight posts to keep it active.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Jak came storming towards the General and Tod, a trail of flames torching more of the undead fodder in between the police station and the old Bount. The old man didn't seem fazed by any of that, as the fire seemed to go out if it got within two feet of the doll and his glowing scythe. The General disappeared into smoke again using the Bount technique Rauch. He appeared quickly, though, on the back of his doll, slipping his feet in holes worn into the hip joint and clinging to the skeleton's shoulders. From there, he was potentially more guarded from attack. He also could be more vulnerable to an assault from behind, but the Doll's powers were still just being demonstrated.

As Jak got close enough to fight hand to hand, he'd start to feel like he was being torn apart at a molecular level. It wouldn't happen instantly, like with the fire, but remaining within two feet of the glowing scythe caused him to slowly die from the outside in. His entire skin would feel like it was tingling and burning, but he could easily press through that with his anger and complete his attacks. Tod looked to be quite skilled at fighting after years of experience, deflecting the Nakabakki's attacks and fighting through the minor soul burn he would receive from touching the gauntlets with his scythe. He was powerful enough to resist the moderate burn, but the minor burn would still affect him.

Takara's bullets would meet the same fate as Jak's fire. They just evaporated into nothingness as they approached the doll and his master on his back. The javelin would be outside that range, but Jak seemed focused on fighting to his full capacity and wasn't showing any sign of slowing down. He had plenty of reiatsu left, after all and his Saisei Oni wasn't draining very much from him yet. However, giving Jak an attempt to retreat from that Death Scythe would be potentially useful to him. That is, if Vesta's actions didn't fix everything.

The Scythe was indeed metal, but Tod was very physically strong. Zorn's pull was considerable, but not overwhelming. It was enough, though, to distract the skeleton with a strain on his weapon towards the nearest car that Jak was able to get in a solid strike to the ribs with his flaming sword. Through the ribs into the General's left leg as well. Howling in pain, nearly simultaneously, the two recoiled and the scythe was dropped and sent hurtling towards the car that had been magnetized. Unfortunately, Jak's entire body (due to his sword and chains) would also start to get pulled towards the car and all of Takara's weapons were pulled into the magnetized zone as well.

As soon as the scythe left Tod's hand, the glow faded from it. The burning tingling feeling faded from Jak though his body appeared to be sun burned slightly. Following up in her attack, Vesta then sent Zorn to deliver a powerful lightning strike at the General and his Doll. The old Bount pushed off of the stirrups he was sitting in, disappearing in smoke again as Tod received the full brunt of the lightning strike and started to crumble into ash. "You'll pay for that... In due time..." With his voice echoing off the walls, but his location spread out over a wide area and unable to be pinpointed precisely, the three employees should focus on cleaning up the fodder before they overran the police station and killed everyone.

[Jak Halcom]

While in his demon form, Jak's usual battle eagerness was amped up to extreme levels going into full on recklessness. When he got close to the bount's doll, he engaged in full on head on combat. The rapid ringing of metal could be heard as the scythe's blade, and the gauntlet blades. The blades were not the only things that were engaged in the thrall. The unarmed set of arms were also pummeling the doll. The two would stand toe to toe trading blows neither really getting the upper hand. The entire time, Jak was aware of the pain he was enduring, but was so focused on the battle that he ignored even to his own determent. Then Vesta interfered. 

With her magnetism technique, the scythe was moved just enough for Jak's blade to slip by and stike home on the creature's ribs. The flaming blades would cut through the rips and down through the leg. Jak would have preferred doing it all under his own power, but he wasn't going to argue with the results. Then he felt himself start to be dragged backwards. Like the doll's scythe, he was being affected by the magnetic car thanks to his gauntlets, the blades, and the chains that surround his body. He tried to fight against it as pest he could, but was pulled into the car and stuck there struggling to free himself. Ok he took it back, he was so arguing the results now.

The bount leader vanished into thin air vowing to have his revenge. Unfortunately he was still trapped on the car. He roared savagely using his lower set of arms to fire spirit bolts wildly in the area in front of him. Though the bount general was gone, the zombie minions still made their way to the police station. Ten, twenty, thirty, no less than forty eight spirit bolts were released in only a manner of seconds. Once the last one flew, they all sped to a different target, and once again a symphony of explosions and death would sound, though not as grand as the one caused by the Chaos Bomb. The power of the bolts would be more than enough to take out one minion, maybe two or three if they were clustered close enough. 

spirit barrage 540 reiatsu remaining  

[Takara Takeda]

This battle although heated was one that didn't seem to have an end in sight. The Bount that had been attacking the police station weren't to be underestimated especially considering the mere fact that there was so many of them gathered together. Not to mention this old entity now who apparently possessed some sort of technique that enabled him to reanimate the corpses of the fallen enemy to continue fighting. As the battle raged on Takara could tell that her allies were growing wary from fatigue. If it continued much longer then they would be overrun from sheer numbers. The Bount in command of the opposition had to be eliminated and thankfully Jak took the initiative to engage him right away even if he did so in his usual reckless manner.

It was worrying to have Jak in such a position especially facing off against such a threat. Choosing to aid Jak in the direct confrontation against the enemy Takara watched as the bullets that had been fired from her weapons simply disintegrated. This made things all the more difficult while interestingly frustrating. The javelin that she had manifested didn't disintegrate yet Witt the position of Jak it couldn't be used at the moment. Just as she was re-adjusting the javelin in order to utilize it to strike at the Bount on the back of his large Doll suddenly the javelin along with the rifle were pulled from her mental grasp and basically glued to the side of a car along with Jak.

"Magnetization huh." The idea of utilizing such a technique right now was one that Takara didn't consider all that helpful. It was causing just as much of a limitation to them all as it was to the Doll. One thing was for certain though this battle couldn't keep going on. Pushing her connection with the Omega Arsenal even further Takara would manifest her most destructive weapon possible at the moment. Behind her yet above as well even above the police station suddenly there was a massive metal looking launcher. It was far enough away to not be pulled towards the car yet aimed at the legion of undead. "Begone." In the next moment what looked like electricity began to build between the two thick sections of metal only to form into a mass similar to a ball. It only took a moment and then it was fired. In the following moment the single shot would impact the middle of the enemy forces causing a massive explosion with an offensive strength of 1400.

[Vesta Zweig]

Vesta stood and watched while she saw how Zorn was handling himself. The magnetization technique seemed to work, watching as the car that was the target glow slightly with Zorn's lightning and the scythe starting to move towards the car. Well, slightly moving, since the Doll seemed stronger than she thought it was. Her move was enough to let Jak come in and strike the Doll and the Bount in the ribs/lower leg respectively. With that injury, the scythe left his hands.

Zorn, still running towards the Doll, sent a huge lightning blast towards the Doll, which seemed to hit it head on, causing it enough damage for it to start to crumble. Once it started to crumble, she dismissed the magnetization technique, since it was no longer needed. It seemed that the Bount had gotten away, but the Doll was defeated. She had hoped that with the Doll crumbling into pieces, it would take him much longer to actually reform it and strike again. Glancing over to Jak and the weapons that were now laying on the floor, she felt kinda bad.

The fleeing Bount's words still rang in her head. He was planning on coming back, and with more power to throw at them she assumed. Once that was over, she glanced towards the horde of undead that was still making their way towards the police station. Before sending Zorn out, she saw something in the sky and it launched something at the enemy. She recalled Zorn back to her side, putting him on alert for enemies. Since this attack was huge, she wanted to wait before sending him out in the middle of that.

Once the attack had finished/dust had cleared, she pet the tired doll's neck and sent him back out. These are the last ones, my friend. After this, you'll get a good long rest. I better, this fight has been exhausting. His plan was to collect any of the stragglers that were still standing from the huge explosion and Jak's attack. Glancing over at him, since he was now free to move around, she was surprised that what she assumed was his demon form looking so different from hers. He grew arms and shot out fire while she floated around and rotted things. She would definitely need to talk about it with him later.

She ran over to Takara's position, since she was the more experienced one on this mission, overlooking what had happened. "Whelp, I guess since we defeated both of the big Bount enemies, this would be considered a success?" Thinking over how the fights went, she smiled to herself. She was the one that dealt the killing blow to the first Bount and to the leader Bount's Doll, which made him flee the battle. Pride welled up inside her, knowing that she was useful in helping out in her first mission.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

The enemy was routed. The artificial bount threat was no more. The General was in retreat, his undead army in shambles. The entire city block was also decimated, though... There was going to be considerable clean up required from the force of Jak's Saisei Oni and Takara's Rail gun. A -lot- of clean up. No matter, though, because the police station was very grateful to be alive. After seeing a gate to Hell and more, they were not about to aggravate their saviors. Especially when they were so terrifyingly strong. Being able to summon weapons from the future, and grow more arms, and summon flames and lightning... sure, the town would probably be bankrupt from all the repairs if UE didn't step in and help, but they were thankful none the less.

Meanwhile... The Blades slipped into the shadows of the town once again...

---

Thread complete! Thanks, everyone for a good Part 2.

Rewards:

Successful mission for the good of UE for a resume.

+600 TP +3000 Ryo

Extra Ryo given for Reports made on the UE board.

[Johnwaluigi]

3 pages of a Medium Difficulty Adventure => +1500 TP and +15,000 Ryo to a character of Kyo's choice.