isleofavalon | [Closed] The Dream Team Part 2

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[Closed] The Dream Team Part 2

🧙 WHO: Monika, Kotarou, Beowulf
⚔️️ WHAT: Beating a soul-stealing mud monster
🕒 WHEN: Before the Moon Event-thing its a continuation of this
🗺️ WHERE: Creepy Woods or something
⚠️ WARNINGS: VIOLENCE and MORE METAL

"It's close."

His sword was glowing a bright, hot red like one of those annoying early warning systems in video games. The ones that go off whenever you find a secret but don't know where that secret is and feel like a dummy for it. Anyway! Yeah, there's more bodies around them as well, signifying that the thing is, in fact, here. Really all they probably had to do was to follow the trail of bodies and tracks of mud. But this was more fun, and he wanted his sword to have some use.

He goes ahead to give his two partners in crime a look over. Just to make certain they were well and truly ready. If they wanted to come along and fight the thing, he wasn't going to stop them. In fact, he was rather enthusiastic about them being all gungho about it.

[ooc: tagging order - Monika, Kotarou, Beowulf]

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Monika was following quietly, giving a look at the sword. She had to wonder if that was one of those he'd used in the poem. While on the one hand it would be amazing to see a battle like in the writings with the weapons he'd once wielded... Hopefully not. If memory served her well, his swords had a tendency to break or fail at the worst possible moments, just to make the hero's task harder. Plot devices before the term had even been coined.

And then there was Kotarou. She'd been worried like heck if she'd not seen him turn into a cold-blooded killing machine a couple months back and punching wolves with his bare hands. He'd probably be fine... Given the monster couldn't mimic a catgirl's appearance to trick him or something ludicrous like that. Ironically, the sentient AI who had escaped from a romance VN was probably the most "normal" person here.

Still, she was ready. Holding her pen-staff firmly with both hands, she nodded when Beowulf looked back. She'd mostly play the support, keeping the monster from moving too much with her kinetic magic and casting the variety of spells she had stored in the staff.

"Can't believe we're about to take on the area boss! I think we're all set here, Bey-- Beowulf-san."

Ah. He remembered that Beowulf seemed to had been pretty put off with that cute little nickname that Kotarou had given him. Really, he had to remember to not slip up whenever it came to those. Nicknames always helped with keeping the atmosphere more friendly and relaxed! Then again, not everyone was as frivolous as Kotarou... Though how much he was putting on a façade and how much of this was real could be quite blurred at times. Especially right now whenever they were about to jump into the belly of the beast.

Deep down, he's actually quite nervous. The "other one" turned out to be Monika and given his experiences with her, he really hoped that nothing would go wrong this time. Beowulf was definitely the most experienced fighter here, so he didn't want to hold him back. On Kotarou's end, he had materialized a sword of pure light that shone like the aurora borealis. He holds up a hand with a little awkward smirk at Beowulf.

"Okay, everyone! If it drops any items, then we should remember to do a fair split of 'em. Though whoever lands the final blow should be one who gets the strongest item. Other than that, I think we're ready to go!"

Someone had a habit of playing too many RPG games. But he was hoping that it would drop something cool, perhaps...

"Right then."

He took his shield off from his back, the thing had proven itself to be far too useful to simply leave behind. Granted Beowulf wasn't certain how much help it would be against a being of mud that could knock your soul out of your body. He wasn't expecting too much of a challenge beyond finding a way to make the thing stay down. At the very least the other two were more than ret-2-go!

"I don't think it will drop anything of value. But I like that energy you've got." Though maybe it got a couple coins, or something stuck inside its body? "Just remember to steal yourselves and don't betray your emotions. Even with three of us it might prove difficult to pin the creature down."

Granted that he very much had full confidence in the other two! Something that showed in his voice and the cocksure way he carried himself. He really believes they got this in the bag! With that he turns to face the movement in a nearby patch of bushes where a dark figure steps out...! Covered by its ragged cloak, right, time to get to work.

Of course they're facing a monster that uses your weaknesses against yourself, and Kotarou has to make everything sound like they're in a J-RPG. ... Well truth to be told, that's close enough. If she's the White Mage, Beowulf is the Warrior-slash-Tank and Kotarou is the main DPS. Still, not exactly something she wants to think about or be reminded of.

"It's not a video game, Kotarou...!"

Of course he'll deal the final blow if he's the main DPS and thus get the most of the loot by those rules. How selfish! Bah, this was the last time she could show emotions with the creature appearing. Her face was impassive and she pointed her staff at it. Kinetic magic would keep it from moving and slow it down.

"Your turn."

That was the cue for Kotarou to run over with his sword to give the mud monster a hard slice. He grits his teeth and charges, but it's whatever the creature speaks that he stops dead in his tracks. The mask on its face quivers around in a rather unsettling fashion before it slowly tilts its head over to the three. It couldn't move properly due to being suspended by kinetic magic, but that wasn't the monster's specialty.

It starts with Monika.

"O Pitiful Creature who pretends to be human... Even if you found what you're looking for... You can't run from despair. The one who has accepted you can disappear as soon as tomorrow. The "love" you seek is simply a drug putting off the inevitable. You will always be a poor, pathetic, incomplete thing who will never truly live."

Then Beowulf.

"O Pitiful Warrior... Your fists cannot protect everything. You can slay beasts, but you cannot slay mortality. You can slay beasts, but you cannot slay conflict. You can slay beasts, but you cannot quench the burning fire within yourself until you burn from it. The world doesn't need you anymore... Vanish from history."

Then finally Kotarou.

"O Pitiful Boy... How long can you keep that façade of yours up? You'll never become someone because no one will accept the real you. Everyone's a tool for your own self-satisfaction... Friendship? Love? You don't need those useless things because you put yourself above everyone else."

"---!!"

A psychological attack. He can't see its mouth moving, but he could hear the voice in his head. Could Monika and Beowulf hear it speaking to them too?

Edited 2022-01-25 00:24 (UTC)

He could hear it but didn't pay it any mind. The most it did was to annoy him that the stupid thing was rooting around in his head at the moment. Grendel could do something similar, if not far worse and far nastier. He was worried for his two charges though. On instinct he moved his large body and shield in front of mud monster to block its view of the two as best he could.

Sure the thing managed to hit on his desire for ever more challenging prospects, to earn more glory and fame. Only to ever find himself searching for more, or being disappointed in the end. The others, well he'd long since accepted his mortality, it was what helped to give him the strength and courage to face the impossible, and invariably beat it to death. While he certainly can't protect everything, he would do his best to... as for the third.

Well, his predates well before the Arthurian legends. Even inspiring them and countless others. "Mine... is a different sort of immortality. As for the rest, I've already given my word that no harm will come to these two."

His face remained a blank slate, inwardly though, he grinned like a wolf that caught its prey. Promising only one thing, that he would rip and tear. "No, the only thing that brings me regret, is that I won't be able to rip your limbs off and beat you to death with them."

"..."

If there was a thing Monika was good at, it was putting on a facade when needed. Said mask could slip up pretty easily... If she wasn't prepared. And she'd made ample preparations to face that beast. Her features were impassive and she didn't show any hint of emotions as the creature spoke. It was perhaps unsettling, to see her so lacking in emotions. But that was just another mask, one of many.

The thought that Minako could disappear any moment was terrifying... And it nearly got to her. But not now. She'd cry after if needed, but now she was going to be strong. Besides, that really was a weak attack compared to what she had gone through in her simulated reality. Did this monster need a lesson in emotional manipulation and psychological horror? Because clearly if that was its best, it wasn't even worthy of being a side note in Doki Doki Literature Club.

"Stay still."

Monika kept pointing her staff at the creature, using all of her training in kinetic magic to keep him from evading Beowulf's and Kotarou's attack. She glanced at the two of them briefly. As expected, Beowulf seemed to be alright. But Kotarou was the one who worried her most... Did he have any experience with this?

It definitely strikes a nerve inside of him. But where one would think that Kotarou would throw one of his fits and act all over-the-top, he's surprisingly calm. Disturbingly calm. Eerily calm. He should get angry... But why doesn't he? Because everything that monster said was correct to an extent. Yoshino would always say how he looks down on other people. It was never intentional on his part, but his arrogance was definitely a bad habit of his.

Yes... Maybe he did use people to make himself feel good. But who didn't? Everyone wanted to be accepted by the herd. That was human nature, wasn't it? If you couldn't fit in, then you'd die. That was why he considered himself the fakest of the fake for a reason. He really really wanted to be accepted by people. Kotarou couldn't deny that he was a selfish and greedy guy. If anything, this monster was repeating words that he already knew deep down. It hurt to hear out loud and it was embarrassing to have other people listen, but...

"There's nothing wrong with a little bit of ego. That's how humans have survived until now... If we weren't driven by selfishness, then we would've gotten extinct a long time ago. Even if I'm a small, selfish and pathetic guy... I want to live."

He was only human and it was all he could do. He tightens his grip on his sword and steps forward next to Beowulf. Monika was doing all that she could to hold back this creature, so he knew that they couldn't be playing around for too long. While Beowulf and Monika's masks were on, Kotarou's mask was off. His next set of words are cold as steel.

"You can say whenever you want about me, but don't make fun of my comrades."

He strikes out without another word, that angry red of his blade glowing and humming with delight as it slices off a mud arm that was reaching out for Kotarou in a flash. Sending the limb flying. The creature's body is made of mud though, something that would potentially cause them more of a headache than the demon's abilities. No pain, and the potential to reform its body. An interesting opponent, a potentially dangerous one for those caught unawares.

Also the perfect punching bag!

Granted the attack most likely made it start to struggle harder against Monika's binding.

Mud... That meant she wouldn't be able to use wire writhe as a last ditch effort, should her telekinesis fail. But before such a time would come, she still had a few tricks up her sleeve.

"No you don't...!"

Monika extended a hand towards the sliced arm. It was dissolving and going back towards the body to reattach itself— But before it could do so, she stopped it right in its tracks with her kinetic magic. If she could keep the creature from reassembling whenever the others dealt a blow, it would be reduced to nothing ere long.

Unfortunately, doing so while the creature was struggling against her binding meant she was overexerting herself. A master in kinetic magic would probably have no difficulties whatsoever holding it all together, but she barely had five months of training. Still, she would be able to hold for a little while longer.

"I can keep it from reassembling itself... But I won't be able to hold for much longer...!"

"Don't worry! We'll back you up if that happens!"

As Kotarou cuts through another mud arm that was reaching out for him, he was in the middle of thinking... Think, think, think! They could keep cutting it down, but what would stop it from reassembling itself? This creature was made of mud which made it both a liquid and a solid. That would make combat rather tricky here since it could regenerate itself. It would come down to a match of endurance! Him and Beowulf could only keep fighting for so long and he could tell that Monika was starting to approach her limits... But who knows how long this thing could keep it up!?

This creature had a body... It was an organism that moved exactly like themselves. He's not sure if it had a heart or organs, but it was giving Kotarou more ideas. He's read up about how Blood mages could manipulate their magic, but Kotarou wasn't confident on controlling it... But what if he approached this from a different angle? What if... He could hurt it from the inside?

As the mud limb wiggles around near his foot, Kotarou bites down into his wrist to let a few drops of his blood land onto the appendage. The blood mixes in with the mud and the limb starts to wiggle around more sluggishly. Almost like it was poisoned... It starts to crawl over to the main body.

Okay, good. With that said, Kotarou quickly moves over to Monika's side as he slashes down a set of muddy spears that were coming her way.

"Monika-san! Let it go and take a breath!" Then he yells over to Beowulf. "You take a breath too, Bey!"

He continued to move to block the creature's view of the other two, large shield up and deflecting attacks, sword pressing forward to slash at mud. One part that wasn't mud... his eyes go to the thing's mask.

Hm...

From out of the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of Monika and Kotarou as they worked their magics. Blood... ah, that would help. He doesn't fall back though, and keeps up the pressure of keeping the creature distracted and focused on himself. No chance to get away if Monika released her hold on it and no way for it to get a read on Kotarou's thoughts. Another step to move out of the way of a mud tendril. Followed by the flick of his wrist to send it flying away.

He could feel its growing desperation and had to fight off a physical grin. Beowulf moved without thinking and acted without thinking as he kept out and off to the side. Away from the appendage as it made its way back to the main body.

All they needed was that additional opening and it would all be over quickly.

Let it go...? But what would happen then? She could only assume Kotarou had a plan, but what if it failed? If she took a break, she would need a couple seconds to reestablish her hold on the creature whenever it'd be needed. A couple seconds that may be the difference between life and death. But that also meant she'd recover some energy and keep it in place exactly as needed.

"... Alright."

She lowered her staff and took quite literally a deep breath. And as such, the creature was free to move once more. Should trouble arise, she'd immediately go back to holding it, but...

She had to believe Kotarou knew what he was doing. If not...

Kotarou's UMA hunting skills wouldn't go to waste here. Fighting against a monster who was ten times more powerful and dangerous than you... And all you had was your teammates, wits and a little bit of courage. Right now, Kotarou felt like he was in his happy place out here. While he shouldn't be showing his emotions, Kotarou flashes a very fearless smile. Right now, he had a very good reason to do so.

The mud creature notices Kotarou's expression and locks onto him as it was ready to feast upon another victim, but... Something unexpected happens. The monster starts to wiggle around in pain as red needles start to protrude out its body in rapid fire successions. The needles bloom around its body like sets of flowers. It was becoming a living pin cushion... Or a red firework as it starts to make distressed noises. The poisoned limb that Kotarou dripped his blood onto had reattached onto its body and the effects were showing itself. It's too distracted to even think about absorbing souls now.

"Aaaah... haaaahh... uwaaah... It hurts... IT HURTS... iT HuRtS...!! I'm going to throw up! What... what did you do me?!"

Kotarou was waiting for this. Since he had an audience... It's time to gloat a bit about his new technique!

"I used a bit of my Blood Magic to tear you up from the inside. Mud might be a solid and liquid, but blood is also liquid and iron. It can spread out and become a weapon apart from me! I think I'll call this... Tennouji Style - Hanahaki Parade!!"

"Cruel, cruel, soooooooo cruel!!! Cutting my limbs, restraining me against my will and infecting my body!! I left that cursed prison to escape such tortures!!"

"It's fitting for a freak like you who goes on sucking people's souls, tearing their hearts down and stealing their lives away like nothing. You can play the victim card somewhere else."

That being said, Kotarou points his sword directly at the mud creature's mask. It's was tempting to get the kill steal alone, but... He couldn't have pulled that trick off without Monika and Beowulf's help. That's why he wants to share this final blow with them.

"Okaaaay now! It's time for an All-Out Attack! Let's combine our powers and beat it to a pulp all at once!"

He frowned at that, that was dirty but effective. Whatever got the job done, he supposed. Granted that Beowulf hadn't stopped in actually keeping the thing from moving away from them.

The moment it made a lunge for Kotarou his leg kicked out with enough force to cut the thing in two. It was still made of mud, and he was still far, far above the creature's weight class. The torso falls face first to the ground with a splat, lower limbs falling behind it. Not minding the needles at all. And wherever he did get punctured? Well, it just closed up thanks to his healing magic, or even absorbed from him siphoning off the magical energy in them. His shield and sword drop to the ground. They wouldn't be needed at this point anyway.

Try is it might to reach them any efforts would most certainly prove futile.

"Monika, pin it now." He grunted, cracking his knuckles. Time for the three of them to do the coup de grâce.

"...."

That whole speech from Kotarou... It felt like they had been dropped in a JRPG where the writing team hadn't been paid in months. Well she was being a bit harsh, but for lack of a better word it was very... Kotarou-like. It was giving her those impulses to facepalm and shake her head, impulses she hadn't had in quite a while now.

Still, she pointed her pen-staff at the creature the moment her comrades-in-arm spoke.

"Right."

And lo, it couldn't move any more— Not that the creature had been a threat after Kotarou's trick. She would leave it to Beowulf and Kotarou to physically slice it, it wasn't like she had a weapon to deal a blow with anyway.

"WHAT'S WITH THIS LUKEWARM REACTION!!? Shouldn't there be a round of applause for me coming up with that trick in a few minutes?!! You guys are cheering in your hearts, aren't you!?"

There were bigger things that Kotarou was concerned about right now! He was feeling the team spirit! The power of friendship! Why weren't they joining in!? Was he the only one who was actually excited to be slaying a monster with people!? This was supposed to be a moment of camaraderie, but he wasn't feeling the vibes here! Beowulf was crazy strong by just hitting it with his leg alone! Wait, did he just do that?! And Monika was just acting like she was just watching a boring movie! If she thinks he's going to declare his love to the enemy to spice things up, then she's sorely mistaken! What's with this team dysfunction!?

With a rather exasperated sigh, he steps forward as he lifts the light blade up. "Fine, fine. If you two are gonna be like that, then I'll steal the kill myself and--"

That's whenever the mud creature strikes. While it might've not been able to pierce through Kotarou's chest... It had enough energy to fling some mud directly into Kotarou's face. That was the creature's payback for being turned into a pincushion!

It certainly caught Kotarou off guard. He lets out an annoyed cry as his sight was covered in a dark brown! Give him a minute as he's trying to wipe his face off.

"Aaaah! My eyeeees! That was a cheap shot, you muddy bastard!"

Kotarou has been affected by Blind! Finish this off, Beowulf!

Natural muscles son. They harden in response to trauma....

The big guy sighs, this feels dirty. And to be completely honest he'd rather not finish off something so... so... weak. There was no glory in it, no satisfaction. Well, he glanced at Monika, and then Kotarou after he got mud spat onto his face. He was actually mulling over if he wanted to finish this sad, sad creature off right now. Not that the thing really needed any pity or mercy.

Right... Beowulf lazily straddles the soul stealer's back; made easier thanks to Monika and Kotarou. A massive hand reaching down violently grasp its mask. With a grunt he began to pry at it, fingers digging into mud, their target struggling and spitting out profanities as it begged for them to stop.

"Don't listen to it." He said to the to, as with one more grunt from the servant, and shriek from the creature, he ripped the mask off!

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[Closed] The Dream Team Part 2

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sorry, sorry this got buried under a bunch of tags "orz