[Cherry Heart] Cave of Lost Treasures

[Alaina]

After Neru's barriers had managed to stop the attacks of the mushroom creature, the other members of his party had managed to deliver their own finishing blows. Looking at the fallen foe, it didn't actually seem any bit threatening, and the only thing that would lead it to be so was the spore carriers that were lining the ground. Nevertheless, Neru was ready to leave this cave behind and not have to think about what he had seen while here. Of course, before they left, their less than savory companion had decided to pick up the mushrooms to see if they could be used for some kind of future use. Neru, personally, didn't think there was much good to be had in bringing the disgusting little spore carriers around with them, but it wasn't as if what he was going to say was going to shift Gabriel's attitude anyway. And so, he just simply shrugged and started walking alongside the other two as they had gone down further into the cavern. 

 

As the group continued through the cavern, at a rather quick pace at that, they eventually reached a dead end of sorts. Thinking that perhaps they might've chosen poorly in their choice of paths, Neru then started hearing voices. Ones that sounded like they were in some sort of distress, as if the disembodied voices were haunting the area like it were some sort of vampire ridden mansion. Going towards the dead end even more only revealed to them a faceless figure, that seemed to be chanting something about a reflection, that soon seemed to notice them and point all of its attention towards them. Turning to the rest of the group members, he flatly joked, "either of you have a mirror?" After that, he faced the creature, returning its faceless stare with one of his own, albeit one mixed with curiosity and wary. "What are you?" Neru bluntly asked the creature, wondering if it was even capable of responding to him in the first place. 

[Mr. Hyde]

 

The mirror seemed...liquid to the touch.  That was odd...there was probably more going on here than he could comprehend.  So much magic he had not bore witness to.  It was all so fascinating.  A blur passed by him, and he realized it was Solomon, who was now attacking the wall.  

 

"Wait!  We don't know what this thing is!"  Without hesitation, a claw sprang fourth from the mirror-like wall and held Solomon's shield within it's grasp.  It flung him like a rag doll across the hall.  "Who just attacks a mirror...that's seven years bad luck if you break it you know?!"  It took some time to notice, but a creature had appeared from the liquid mirror.  It looked reptilian in nature, and seemed connected to the mirror.  Leo was scared stiff...he couldn't even move himself out of the jet of scalding hot water that was headed his way.

 

"GET DOWN!!"

 

Thankfully, he was shoved out of the way...but by who?  A hand extended towards him through the darkness, and he grabbed a hold of it.

 

"Are you alright?" 

 

"Oh...Basia!  Thanks for the assist...but when did you get back here?  What'd you find in your part of the cave?"  He shook his head as soon as he saw Solomon charge the mirror monster.  "Of course...this isn't the time to talk is it?  Sadly we'll have to defend ourselves...the conversation can wait until later."  Leo licked his lips.  It was all in preparation for an attack.  He also had to abruptly gargle, infusing magic saliva with a reserve of magic pollen.  "Excuse me..." he said with a mouthful.

 

"Honey Dew Bomb!"  Leo spat a rather large orb of super sticky honey at the monster's feet.  Hopefully it would impede it's already impaired movement.  "Now uh...do what you guys do!"  Leo didn't want to unleash a pollen bombardment with everyone so close together.  That would just be asking for disaster.  

[Yui]

---

The mushroom was dealt with. Good thing too. Any more of that gunk on her legs and Reshifu might not have been able to stand it any longer. Gabriel had said something about keeping the little ones for research or something. How ridiculous. Of course, she wasn't quite paying attention. Reshifu had a different goal, namely finding the nearest puddle and washing the mushroom's irritating goop off her legs and sandals. That was one step of this quest out of the way. At least, that's how it seemed, since the boys seemed pretty sure that their job in this cave wasn't over yet. Reshifu took a moment to gether herself again as she got the gunk off her legs. She was way too rash in that last fight...probably the mushroom's fault.

 

Once her legs were cleansed of burning, itching goop, Reshifu picked up her pace and caught up with the boys. Just in time to hear Neru ask about a mirror. Before the group was a silent figure, staring blankly at them. A mirror, eh? Well, it wasn't quite a mirror...Reshifu was just glad she hadn't used her sword against that fungus from before. For the first time since meeting these people, Reshifu placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. She nearly drew it too, before remembering that she'd only minutes ago acted too rashly for a person given the title of Soul of the North. Patience, Reshifu. Outlast the problem.

 

Neru had asked what the thing was. Good question; she was wondering the same. Not like they'd get very far without answers. Reshifu looked at the...whatever it was, waiting for an answer.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The Man in the Mirror didn't say anything as the three approached it, all of them seemingly curious about what was going on. There was no reaction whatsoever even when Neru asked him a question. Then he stiffened up and looked around. "Reflection. Changing. Moving. Need help. Can't help. Can't be helped."

There were noises suddenly, the sound of battle, somewhere on the other side of the wall. The phantom seemed to react to this. It turned towards the three and held out his hand. "Reflection. The time is now. Reflection or you cannot see."

 

Gabriel tilted his head and looked around. "Okay this is getting boring as hell, someone's gotta have something reflective, right?"

As it turned out, Reshifu did. A nice and shiny sword. She pulled it out and held it towards the strange being before them.

The mirror man touched it and it began to shine slightly.

 

Gabriel leaned towards it and saw....the others of their group. They looked like they were in some kind of fight. "The hell?" Gabriel said, reaching out to brush his hand against the image.

As he did he felt himself sucked inside. There was a moment of disorientation as he looked around to find himself in what seemed a world of shadows. Human shaped but featureless, and oddly blurry.

 

This experience didn't last long however as he was suddenly flung forward and out into a strange hallway.

Hearing noises behind him he turned to see Basia, Solomon, and Leo fighting against some otherworldly creature. "Well funk. That was rude." He muttered before flaring his sword into existence. "You guys miss me? Guess I'm here to save the day."

---

The demon swayed back and forth, hissing as a third opponent appeared on the scene. Though the more important thing was the one attacking him. As the spear thrust forward, the demon raised its hand and let the spear pierce its flesh. Hissing again it gripped the shaft of the spear, holding it in place, and lunging forward to bite into its prey's neck. It hadn't even noticed the newcomer that appeared a moment later. It did however notice the strange substance on the ground, and it halted its movements forward, the creature's lower half still being in the mirror, and slightly above the floor.

[spoiler=OOC]More a post to get everyone together, if they so choose. Of course Reshifu and Neru might want to avoid the mirror-sword-portal if they want. And it will close a minute after being formed.
The demon didn't do much with its move, lucky for y'all...except Solomon. ;)

Next round it may be more active~

 

[Alaina]

As Neru had thought, the faceless being didn't seem all that conscious of the people around him. Instead, it just started to babble on in quite a similar fashion to how it had when they first saw it. It, of course, didn't take long for the lighter dark haired man to lose his patience with the situation and try to immediately look for a mirror of some sort. While it was quite obvious that all of the were wielding some kind of metal bladed weapon, and thus something reflective, Reshifu was the one to produce the elegant blade for them to use. Neru took a moment to size the thing up, and realized that it was actually a pretty unfamiliar looking kind of sword, which then caused him to briefly wonder just where the white haired girl was from. However, these thoughts quickly subsided as the image of the other members of their group fighting...something. Honestly, with a giant mushroom tentacle monster living in this cave, a demon beast didn't see like that much of a far cry from it...no no, that was definitely weird. Nevertheless, the more excitable member of their group quickly managed to get himself sucked into the mirror...somehow, and Neru was just left there standing with Reshifu wondering just what had happened. 

 

"Well, just us now." Neru looked at Reshifu, trying to just figure out what to make of the situation. There worse fates than being stranded in a cave (that they knew how to get to the exit of anyway,) with a looker such as her. ;">"So, you wanna," at the end of the monotone statement of his, he raised his eyebrows towards her for a bit. After about a second passed her then said, "yeah, let's just follow after him. Nothing ventured." With that, Neru went through the same portal that Gabriel had, feeling the same odd sensation and visuals in the mirror dimension, or wherever he was. This sensation only lasted for a short while as he was soon spit out of the mirror and into the same room as Gabriel had. Looking around, he saw the rest of the his teammates giving a nonchalant wave.[glow=black] "Hey."[/glow] Getting up and turning around, he noticed that the others from the group were here and that the demon beast, much uglier in person, was there as well. Well, it certainly seemed to be the threat to them, as it attempted to chomp down on the throat of the one who had charged it, so Neru used the opportunity to strike at it as well. Drawing the short sword from his waist, the man quickly closed the distance between him and the creature, stabbing at its neck with his blade. 

[cardgameking]

---

Solomon was at first rather satisfied when his spear ran through the demon's hand. While he would have been much more satisfied with the head, taking one hand out of combat was a good start and should certainly hinder-

The creature grabbed the spear's shaft before pulling out of the mirror more. Surprised by how the demon's pain tolerance and agility, Solomon was unable to defend himself when the demon bit into his neck.

"All the f*cking hells!" he cursed out of pain. He had taken neck wounds before, arrows and daggers and maces, but never a bite. For a moment, the lack of blood and less than expected pain made him hopeful, but it seemed this just got worse as things. The pain multiplied, and Solomon's leg nearly went slack. Only his experience from war and training kept him on his feet. 

Trying to think logically, he examined his options. Leo and Basia would probably be on the creature in a minute, but with him in the way they'd have trouble getting a clear shot. In terms of thinking of ways he could to give them a clear shot, he could try punching or kicking the demon, perhaps even hammering it with his shield. The creature's prior demonstration of strength, however, didn't make Solomon very confident that hitting the monster bluntly would work. In terms of magic he could do, he really didn't want to consider what would happen to his neck if he tried to push back the demon with a Repulse, and he saw no wounds to infect. The fear spells he had learnt he possessed on his travels required either eye contact or more concentration than a demon biting in his neck would allow.

Solomon suddenly felt motion, as if the demon was examining something with Solomon still in his mouth, like a dog with a familiar toy he pays little heed to. This act of dismissal sent surprising bolts of anger through Solomon.

It thinks it can ignore me?! That I'm beneath it? Does it think I'm not worth any attention!? No! I'll show this demon! 

Ruled by anger, Solomon acted rashly. He was tall enough for his boots to reach the ground, and he planted them there firmly. With this new grip, Solomon pulled his head away from the demon. For a second nothing happened, and Solomon worried the beast would notice and take further action. Luckily, Solomon heard the sound of someone running in their direction, and he hoped that would hold the demon's attention. Suddenly, Solomon heard a tearing noise and he fell painfully onto his back, leaving a large part of his neck in the demon's fangs. Grunting from the combined pain of the fall and the fact he had lost a good chunk of flesh, Solomon channeled his anger into his eyes, activating his Tomb' Gaze ability. From his place on the ground, he looked up, trying to make eye contact with his foe. If he could, his allies should defeat before it would be able to respond. Solomon could only hope he would be successful.

---

[spoiler=OOC]

Hopefully nothing in here breaks the rules of the RP. I'm not sure, just felt I may have overstepped slightly.

 

 

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"I'll take it head on. Make sure Leo is alright, then back me up. This thing is stronger than it looks, so stay out of its grasp and avoid anything that comes out of its mouth, so some long range support would be nice."

Sure enough, Solomon was the first to engage the trio's new foe. It was safe to stay said engagement hadn't gone all that well, with what the demon managing to get a good chomp on his neck and threw him away to one side, although keeping some of the flesh it managed to rip off for itself. Yet Solomon still pressed the attack... well, if one could call glaring an attack. His eyes had taken a bright red hue though, and if Basia's sensei taught her anything, it was never to stare into glowing eyes. Basia had begun picturing what Solomon was actually trying to accomplish when all of a sudden...

"You guys miss me? Guess I'm here to save the day."

...this was a load of bull. If it had even the slightest element of truth, the guy who said it would've ran in and attacked the demon already.

"Less time gloating and some amount of time on the offensive, would be nice!" Basia spat at the arrogant fool, but then she'd noticed the familiar face from yet before take the initiative and aim a stab at the demon's neck, "Ya see? This guy gets it. And now it's my turn. Spider Slash!"

Basia lunged straight at the demon's front, scratching its chest a total of eight times with just the very tip of her katana whilst keeping outside its grasp as Solomon advised. But she wasn't done yet; that was just the beginning. This time Basia lurched even further forward and put a lot more power behind her next slash, which was bound upwards and looked to cleave the demon's gut and spill its contents in one fell swoop.

"Royal Dragon Arising!" just as she made said uppercut, Basia propelled her legs upward with Starshatterer and retracted them as she began to flip, only to kick the demon in the face and use the momentum to push herself out of range, landing on her feet and pointing at the weakened chest with her katana, "Let 'em have it, Leo!"

[Mr. Hyde]

 

"Solomon!"  Leo froze as he saw the mirror beast with Solomon tight in it's jaws.  However, he managed to slip away soon enough.  He even counter attacked with a gaze that gave Leo chills just by the sight of it.  Leo was still frozen in fear...the beast had yet to step in the trap Leo had made for it.  However, a voice from behind made him turn and forget about the beast.

 

"You guys miss me? Guess I'm here to save the day."

 

It was Gabriel, the cocky wizard from the beginning of their journey.  With his sword in his hand, Leo would be lying if he said he wasn't happy to see him.  Reinforcements were always a good thing.  Even though he hadn't entered the fray, it was still nice to have backup.  

 

Neru was next to join the group...it was like a little reunion.  His attempted to stab the beast in the neck with the swords he drew as well.  

 

"Less time gloating and some amount of time on the offensive, would be nice!" Basia then jumped into the fray, assaulting the demon with strikes from her Katana.  Somehow she managed to knock the beast off balance and leave an opening for him.   "Let 'em have it, Leo!"

 

Let him have what...the only skills Leo possessed would just blow up his comrades if they got too close...and his other tools were defensive.  A thought popped in his head...maybe the best offense was a good defense!  Leo shook his head.  Shooting his fist forward, he buzzed.

 

"Ironbark Spear!"  Using the roots of the ironbark tree the he usually used for a shield, Leo sprouted a large root from the cave floor that was sharpened at the tip.  He made sure to point the root straight at the demon's exposed chest.  

[Yui]

---

Well, that happened. Reshifu exposed her sword to the...figure, and he touched it. There was a bright light and the image of the other group fighting something. Was it something worth fighting? Did it perhaps not rely on dirty tricks like the mushroom from not long ago?

 

"Well, just us now."

 

You don't say.

 

"So, you wanna...yeah, let's just follow after him. Nothing ventured."

 

And then the boy went through the portal as well. There wasn't anything to gain from staying here any longer anyway, was there? Sure didn't seem it. Just the corpses of a mushroom that should have died long ago, and everyone weak enough to fall for its tricks over time. On the other side of this portal, though, there was a fight. For all Reshifu knew, it was one that would need her. There was really no reason not to go through the portal. And so, Reshifu followed last, going through the portal and met the same odd sensations and visuals as those before her.

 

Now on the other side, Reshifu looked around to return her sword to its rightful place - its sheath - and assess the situation. Teammates were here, and it seemed they were fighting a demon of some sort. Fascinating. That said, it probably wouldn't come to her; the demon seemed to much prefer targeting some other girl. So she'd have to go to the demon herself. What a pain. Reshifu cracked her knuckles and made her way toward the demon, her face shifting from one of casual disinterest to that of pure killing intent once she was in punching range.

 

And then her fist swung forward, aiming to hit the beast right in the...well, there weren't many places to aim besides the face if one wanted convenience.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

As the demon started to turn towards Solomon, just about to lock eyes with him, Basia came in and attacked. The other one, Neru, barely managed to get a stab in on the beast before the girl let out a flurry of attacks, each causing the demon to shriek out.
The demon was suddenly kicked and his attacker attempted to retreat. However just as soon as she landed and called out to her ally, the demon shot out a jet of boiling water that struck the girl with as much force as a punch.
It gurgled afterwards as blood leaked from its neck, and what seemed to be wood was shoved into its chest.
To add insult to injury, it wasn’t even able to bite down on Neru’s face as a last act of defiance because it had been punched right as it prepared to strike.

The demon collapsed to the ground then, twitching once before suddenly turning to ash....

But the reflection on the mirror of the demon remained standing. The image then turned to reveal the front of the demon as it pushed itself out of the mirror once more, fully formed and uninjured.
It let out a hissing kind of roar and lashed out, hitting Neru with the back of its hand and sending him into the cave wall. He gripped Solomon by the leg and flung him upwards into the ceiling, while biting into Reshifu’s shoulder and tossing her backwards.

 

“Well well well, looks like we’re having some trouble here.” Gabriel said snidely. He rolled his shoulders and raised a hand, as a pair of chains formed and shot out, wrapping around the demon’s arms. He tugged on them tightly and ran forward, leaping as the demon shot a blast of water at him and landing, somewhat unsteadily, on the demon’s shoulders. He dropped the chains and reversed his blade in his hand, stabbing down towards the demon’s skull.
Unfortunately it had shifted and Gabriel missed the mark, stabbing into its shoulder instead.

[spoiler=OOC]Guess who's back. Back again. So yeah demon doing demon-y things. Keep in mind its initial actions are more/less (in DnD terms) a "surprise round" so they all happened within moments of it emerging from the mirror.

 

[Alaina]

After he sunk his blade into the neck of the beast, it seemed that it didn't care all that much about it. Instead, after getting a wooden spike shoved through it and multiple slashes across its body, it still seemed like it was raring to go. While Neru managed to pull the blade out of the body, the creature was still in prime range for completely tearing off his face its teeth. Thankfully, there was a fist that went right into it, causing the creature to slump away from the man. As the body fell, it crumpled away into dust, which meant it was probably dead. Or at least just gone for a bit. Letting out a bit of an exhale in relief, he turned to Reshifu and said a simple, "thank-"

 

His thanks was cut off, as a roar resounded through the cavern, Neru turned around to see that the demon was forcing its way through the mirror making him only let out a "what" before the beast immediately lashed out him with its arm. The man was knocked far away from the creature, crashing his back into the cavern wall. The man fell down to the floor coughing, a bit of blood coming out during the fit, trying to catch his breath. It appeared the demon was renewed and ready to at them again, as it had already managed to send two of his other teammates sailing across the room as well. Picking himself up, he knew that this thing was only going to be that much more of a pain. 

 

As she hit the ground, Neru walked over to the white haired, katana wielding girl....Reshifu, more specifically. Extending out a hand to help her up he said, "I hit this thing once and I'm already sick of it." Once she got back up too he then spun his blade in his hand and said, "so, I suppose more of the same?" With that, he ran towards the beast, blade in hand. As the distance was closed between him and it, he summoned up a shield in front of it, blocking whatever the demon had planned for him, before twisting around to its side. Dispelling the barrier, as to not block his other teammates assault, he then struck with his blade. Though, not at the creature, and instead at its reflection in the mirror. 

[Mr. Hyde]

 

 

They had defeated the mirror demon, and it was all thanks to the giant root Leo had speared into the demon's sternum.  However, Leo couldn't be somewhat disturbed at the atrocious act he had just committed.  

 

"Even if it was after our lives...It just seems so wrong to extinguish another's."  Could it really be considered life if it were created by magic?  Those questions would be much rather suited for some sort of philosophy wizard.  Even so, it seemed the light that he thought to be smothered was still kicking and rearing for some more action.  The part of the mirror demon they had defeated was just a part of another monstrous beast.  As it emerged, it knocked away the other three wizards that were in range as if they were nothing more than flies.  "No way..." Leo said out loud.  

 

His guild mates had not given up hope though.  Those who were knocked away, merely got up again.  Leo started to buzz courageously.  It was all or nothing now...he was exhausted, and it had been a while before he had casted so many spells in a single day.  

 

"Everybody, make sure not to hit the little yellow dots!  I'm sorry if you get caught, b-b-but I gave you fair warning!"  Without hesitating, Leo shot his arms forward, and from his palms he released a mighty cloud of pollen that traveled towards the mirror beast.  Surely every spore would be able to land on the demon, and it's movement would also be hindered by the sap that he had planted on the floor earlier.  Maybe with such a large group, they could overcome this seemingly impossible task!  

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Just as she gave the command for Leo to strike, Basia had taken a blow to the arm that she'd wielded her katana in, this resulting in the Starshatterer being disarmed. It was a good thing that the part of the arm that was struck was armored, or Basia would've been scalded like anything by that stream of boiling water. But it would still take a while to get some feeling back into that arm again. She moved to grab the katana with the other arm, and took some time to recover, and strategize a bit more. That's when she watched the demon crumple to dust, reform again and knock three of the others around.
 
"SOLOMON!!" after calling his name, Basia rushed into position to catch the armor-clad zombie as he was thrown up into the air and had been smacked into the ceiling... only for him to collapse right on top of the Gyhanid, much to her dismay, "Ow... note to self; consider one's armor as part of their weight..."
 
...
 
It would take a while for Basia to get back up on her feet. In fact, by the time she did, Solomon would've easily recovered from his own blow and conducted his own attack. However, the moment she fully ascended, Basia began frothing from the mouth, and opened her eyes with a start. She emitted an ominous, animalistic growl through her panting, her rage beginning to sink in and preparing itself to consume her. She only had one instinct at this moment of time; she pulled her katana over her shoulder and fixated her eyes on the mirror that the demon originally formed from, as if she intended to throw the katana straight at it. True, there was the advent of being cursed for seven years should one break any mirror, or so the saying went. But she never cared about that... and she certainly didn't right now.
 
"I don't have time for myths!" with that, Basia hurled Starshatterer with all her might. It spun twice as it soared the air, before slamming itself point first into the top of the mirror that the demon had come forth from, shattering it instantly. Basia didn't know why she threw her sword, and if anyone asked, she'd be too enraged to answer.

[Yui]

---

Supposedly, the demon had been dealt with. Reshifu was ready to call it a job well done and leave the cave, too. However, it seemed that wasn't the case at all. The beast's reflection turned around and forced its way out of the mirror, tossing around the people who'd been around it. Reshifu in particular had been bitten in the shoulder, hard. The pain forced an acute wincing out of her as she was hurled across the room. Now her arm hurt and was bleeding, her back and legs ached, and just as her guard was let down too. Props to the demon for a good surprise attack.

 

However, Reshifu wouldn't be thrown aside again so easily. She couldn't very well just punch the thing again with an injured shoulder. So she'd have to improvise something else. Like, say, turning into a giant boar and goring the thing. Reshifu took a deep breath and slammed her hands on the floor beneath her. She could feel the power of the White Boar coursing through her body more vividly than it often did as her already-pale skin turned to a hue no darker than her hair and grew a small layer of fur, while her actual hair darkened to a deep black and began running down the course of her body. Her size began increasing, and the other changes of her transformation began taking place.

 

In a few short moments, the transformation was complete. And then, she charged. Now in boar form, Reshifu charged the demon, tusks pointed forward, with the aim to simply gore the thing and make it hard for the demon to deal with her teammates with the threat of a giant powerful boar in their face.

[cardgameking]

---

Solomon had just been about to make eye contact with the demon when a series of sword slashes from Basia forced it back. Solomon watched, impressed, as Basia and Neru drove back the beast. Solomon's fists tightened as he watched Baisa be knocked down and struck by same water jet attack the demon had used earlier. Solomon was about to try and get up and help when wood appeared, seemingly from nowhere, piercing the demon through the chest. Injured, the beast was finally put down by a knockout blow from the Jade Islander. Closing his eyes in appreciation of the monster's death, he missed the return of the creature until he was swung into the ceiling.

"SOLOMON!!" he heard someone cry out, before landing on something softer then expected

Groaning, Solomon looked round where he had landed. His head hurt, even more than his neck. As if to mock him, a flare of pain ran through it, making him hiss. He looked around, taking in the scene. The braggart from earlier was standing on top of the demon, Leo was calling up the Pollen Bombs from earlier and Neru was... stabbing the mirror? The demon was identical to the last one, Solomon realised. had it born from the reflection? If so, Neru's actions could prove critical long term. Struggling to his feet, Solomon began to walk over, quickly as he could manage, holding his head awkwardly to compensate for the missing part of his neck, and grabbed his spear from where it had gone earlier. Behind him, Solomon heard the sound of something big moving fast. Turning, spear ready, he watched as a giant boar charged at the demon. It would seem that with that much going on, he could offer very little in terms of close combat. Thinking quickly, he ran to the nearest part of the mirror to him, and drew his arms back, before swinging them forward. His shield crashed into the mirror, shattering it into large pieces, while his spear shattered a smaller area into smaller pieces. 

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The demon was going to try and fling the man atop of him off his shoulder, but something more pressing presented itself. One of its prey was making a direct line for the mirror, and he couldn't have that. In a clear, despite its inhuman appearance and expressions, panic the demon lurched towards Neru, intercepting the blade with his own body, taking the man's sword into his arm and stopping it from hitting the mirror. It hissed in pain and spit out a scalding water projectile at the small man. Gabriel, who had been hanging onto his sword as the demon moved, dove off and knocked Neru to the side before turning unsteadily back towards the demon. "Wouldn't want to burn that handsome face of yours off, eh?" Gabriel said with a grin.

 

A host of spores made their way towards the demon, and those near it. It saw them coming and sensed the magic, attempting to pull itself back into the mirror part way to avoid the things. However it felt itself sticking to the ground and unable to pull free before the spores hit it, exploding and damaging the demon's scaly body. Unfortunately for Gabriel he had been near the creature when this happened and got knocked over from the blast, bringing Neru, who was behind Gabriel, down with him.

 

The demon, distracted by both Neru and Leo, didn't even notice Basia's sword hitting the mirror. However he did notice as it began to crack. With a roar the demon swung to face the other attackers.

Just in time to see the massive boar that was heading toward it. The demon reached forward and grabbed onto the beast, being pushed back despite whatever had been holding it to the ground, but its strength was able to at least prevent the boar from goring it.

 

There was a loud crashing sound as Solomon hit the weakened mirror, and finally succeeded in shattering it. The demon, in a wild and crazed panic, pulled the rest of its long tail out of the wall before the rest of the mirror collapsed, showering everyone in shards of glass.

The demon seemed to weaken, as evident by the boar managing to push it back more, but still raring to go.

It's tail lashed out towards Solomon, wrapping around his waist and squeezing tight, as it tired to bite down on the boar it was grappling with.

[Alaina]

Neru wasn't all that knowledgeable on demons, nor supernatural mirrors. But he was almost definitely that attacking this demon's mirror was just what needed to be done. Every creature had a base instinct, the most primal of all that showed itself in the most extreme of circumstances. That was fear. And that fear and panic was written across the demon's face as it went to intercept the blade of Neru's. Seeing the blade was lodged firmly in its hand, Neru attempted to retrieve it out of the demon, only to realize that its face was quite close to his. Knowing just what was going to happen, Neru silently cursed as he didn't have proper time to react to the incoming blast of water. As he was about to make a, albeit half assed, barrier in front of him to intercept it, he was then knocked out of the way by the weight of the rather showy man. After being spared a blast of scalding water to the face, with a smirk he replied to Gabriel's comment, "just as much as we wouldn't to burn that spiky hair of yours."

 

Before Neru could go back to retrieve his sword from the demon's arm, though, an explosion of pollen occurred, sending Gabriel toppling over him and knocking the both of them to the ground. Picking himself back up, his eyes were then directed towards the mirror, or rather, the now distinct lack of mirror. The rest of his teammates had managed to shatter the glass, and the demon had seemed to withdraw itself away from the broken glass, showering everyone with shards of said glass in the process. Picking himself up off the ground, Neru saw that his sword was still lodged in the arm of the beast and saw that said beast was having a bit of a power contest with the boar...wait, boar? 

 

Figuring that the creature was defnitely an ally in this situation, though not really caring to piece anything else together, he figured he'd help it out in its attempt to gore the demon to death. Rushing over to the hilt, Neru quickly cast a barrier to form a wall between the face of the demon and the boar, in order to guard it from its bite. Grabbing onto the hilt of his blade next, Neru drew the sword from the arm of the demon, before quickly following up on it. Quickly slashing at the demons arm with his short sword, he then did a quick hop backward in order to avoid the charge of the boar. 

[cardgameking]

---

Seeing the demon panic as it drew it itself from the mirror brought a grim smile to Solomon's lips. 

"That'll teach you to disrespect your betters." he muttered to himself, as he watched the demon be pushed further back by the boar. Solomon was about to help out with finishing the creature off, when the tail flashed toward him and wrapped around his waist, before applying massive pressure. Solomon's armour was mostly composed of leather near the waist, and while it wouldn't be torn or damaged by the constriction, it would not lessen the pain. Solomon snarled as in the demon's grip. 

"I'm beginning to feel this scum doesn't like me!"

So saying he considered his options. His arms were free, and he still had his weapons. Despite the pain the demon was exerting, it wasn't as bad as the agony his neck had been. Speaking of his neck, Solomon realised his head was tilting alarmingly to one side, and he hastened to straighten it. Deciding that, in this situation, dealing with this himself while his allies confronted the demon themselves was probably wise. So saying, he took a deep look at the tail. It was thick, scaly and spiky. The demon's previous displays of physical power meant he was unlikely to simply grapple it off. Clubbing it with his shield would be inefficient as well, and he gave though to using magic, but dismissed it. It seemed his spear was his best bet. He would just have to be careful to stab himself in the process, as it would just add to his list of irritating injuries he had.

Raising his spear at a careful angle, Solomon winced as he he held it an angle that for any other situation would be completely impractical. Unluckily, such an angle was the only way he was going to hit the tail. His face hardening, he began to bring the spear down as fast and as hard as he could, hoping to pierce right through the tail, while not doing the same to any part of himself.

---

[Mr. Hyde]

 

With the mirror shattered, one would think they had already won this battle.  As the glass flew past him, he shielded his arms.  Too bad Leo had been in this cave long enough to realize that that was not the case.  The beast pulled itself all the way out of it's fractured home and showed its whole self.  It grabbed Solomon with it's tail and held tightly.  Solomon fought back, and Leo could tell that the demon was way weaker than before hand.  Leo winced as he noticed a piece of glass sticking from his exoskeleton.  

 

"Geez...can you bee-lieve this thing?  I think it's time we finished it off."  Leo had devised a strategy, so that no one would be hurt by his explosive pollen.  Retracting the wooden spear he had created earlier back towards him, he coated the tip of it with the powdery explosive.  This way, it would be a precise and deadly weapon.  It was almost ingenious, and Leo would be lying if he said he wasn't proud.  

 

He took aim, making sure that his zombie comrade would not be in harms way, and shot off his ironbark spear once again.  

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

So much was going on in the battle. Many attacks were made, and one of her supposed allies had even transformed into a boar. But it was good to know that Basia having thrown the Sharshatterer at the mirror with such reckless abandon had paid off. The demon was sent into a wild panic, and had clearly been weakened by everyone else's combined efforts. Though it wasn't enough. It was still more than capable of fighting despite so much being thrown at it. On top of that, glass rained down on the entire battlefield, but Basia had been hit by more of the shards of glass than anyone else. Many of them bounced off the hidden plates of armor uselessly, but others had slashed into her exposed skin, lacerating her hands, feet, face... there were even several that managed to penetrate the side of her neck, though thankfully not for lethal damage.
 
Why she did nothing to properly defend herself from the glass was about as comprehensible from a strategic standpoint as her throwing her weapon away. But it would soon fall itself into place as Basia's body twitched and contorted. Her muscles bulged. Her bones thickened. Her whole body grew, now towering over the others at 203cm (6' 8") in height and 101kg (222lbs) in weight. Her face mutated and molded itself into one that would be more akin to a wolf; snout, fangs and all. Claws protruded from the very tips of her fingers and toes, and thick fur grew from all over her body. And then, from the moment her transformation was complete, Basia charged forth...
 
...but not in a straight line like one would expect. As she jumped from side to side, the demon would find this behemoth that was Basia's second form with more alacrity than it could've even imagined, never mind anticipated. At the last jump, Basia lunged herself at the demon with her shoulder forward, though this was more to intimidate it into dodging rather than to actually make a physical strike. No, the true attack would come behind, whilst the demon would be preoccupied by Basia's allies. She swiftly turned 180^o and landed on her feet, digging her right-hand claw into the ground to slow herself down, but then propelled her massive body into the demon once again. This time however, she had full intention of meeting her mark, with her claws in position to dig into the demon's shoulder blades if need be, and her maw opened wide and twisted as much to one side as she could twist it, as though to reach over the back of its neck and penetrate the throat with her fangs.

[Yui]

---

This demon wasn't the weakest of sorts, at the very least. Strong enough to avoid getting just flat-out trampled and/or gored by Reshifu's boar form, which said something. However, she was stronger. Then the demon bit down on Reshifu, eliciting an appropriately deep and powerful boar noise from the Soul of the North. The demon would find that the meat of Reshifu's boar form was tough indeed, but not invincible. She was even bleeding at what would have been her shoulder were she in human form. And it seemed she wouldn't be the only oversized animal on the demon's plate anymore, either. Now there was also a wolf, even larger than Reshifu's boar form. For some reason, she got the feeling that whoever was behind that wolf was trying to one-up her.

 

That was beside the point, however. There was still a demon that had to be killed, and so Reshifu reared her head back and shoved herself forward again, this time turning her head upward as well so as to stab the demon with the smaller pair of tusks. Right now she was just hoping that injury wouldn't be too bad once she reverted back to her human form, and wanted to end this fight quickly in case her concern was a reality.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The demon's bite was interrupted by a magical barrier, which cut its hiss off short. It's mouth slammed against the barrier and distracted it momentarily. More than enough for the man who created it to retrieve his blade and strike the demon once more.

The sword didn't cause too much damage, compared to some of the other blows, and so the demon focused on the undead creature in its clutches. Which turned out to be a good thing as he drove his spear into the demon's tail. The undead's unnatural strength forced the weapon deep into the demon's muscular tail. It hissed in pain and whipped its tail, releasing the man and throwing him once again.

This freed up its tail and allowed the demon to intercept the bark that was heading for it, though it hadn't anticipated the unpleasant surprise on the end of the bark. His tail, already wounded, suddenly had a portion of it ripped open by the sudden explosion.

Enraged, the demon thrashed around, allowing the wolf to flank it unhindered. It lunged forward at the boar, the closest thing to it, and the demon felt the wolf crunch into his shoulder, just next to his neck.

And then it's abdomen was pierced by the boar. Still thrashing, the demon managed to push the two large beasts back, however it caused two tears, from the wolf's teeth, and the boar's tusks, to form on its body.

Black blood oozed from the wounds and the demon was in a frenzy, thrashing its claws, and spitting scalding water in all directions.

Gabriel smiled wide, these people were savage! And unexpectedly so in some cases. "Hey bee boy" He said to Leo, as he made it back to his feet and dusted his shoulder off. "That was crazy vicious, nice going." He flashed the boy a thumbs up before turning back to the demon. "This jabroni is done for." He extended his arms and shot out a pair of chains which wrapped itself around the demon's shoulders. With a grunt, Gabriel yanked them down and pulled the demon's face hard into the ground. "Someone finish this bastard off."

The young man noticed something sparkling near the ground. A large shard of the mirror, which seemed to be radiating some magic. About a foot in length. "Fascinating" he thought. "That might come in handy..."

[spoiler=OOC]Next post has permission to kill the thing. A solid blow to the head would be all that's needed. It'll let out a last hiss and turn to ash. And yes there's one bit of magical mirror on the floor if anyone has any reason to notice it.

 

[cardgameking]

---

Solomon grunted as, once more, released him into the air. This time, luckily, wasn't as bad as the others, but the sound of his armor hitting the ground made his ears ring. Struggling up once more, he saw that the demon seemed to be down for the count. The beast's abdomen had been gored, and there was a large bite in one shoulder. For a moment, he wondered who had inflicted the bite when he noticed what appeared to be a much larger and more feral version of Basia.

That explains that then he thought, before returning his attention the demon.

The demon's tail was as ruined as the mirror and he honestly had no idea how that had come about, until he heard Gabriel speak.

 "That was crazy vicious, nice going."

Solomon turned to see who Gabriel was complimenting, and was surprised to see it was Leo. He certainly hadn't seemed the type to be as ferocious in his attacks, but he had gotten much bigger surprises back when he was alive... 

In any case Solomon though, remembering the pollen bombs, he is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Even with the massive injuries it had sustained, the demon still trashed on the ground like a petulant child. This was soon stopped, however, by Gabriel conjuring chains up and pinning it to the ground.

 "Someone finish this bastard off."

"I'd be happy to see this filth die at my hands." After everything the demon had done to him, he reflected, he probably deserved that much.

Stepping forward, spear in hand, Solomon stopped when the the thing's head was at his feet. Raising his spear high, he wordlessly brought it down on the monster. The spear head went straight through the head, making a harsh metal noise when it impacted the floor, and black blood sprayed onto Solomon's boots. The demon let out a frantic hiss, that was cut off as the whole body of it turned to ash, blood included. It was like the demon never was.

Well, apart from the fact he was really struggling to keep his head at a reasonable angle. Turning to where the others where, he spoke.

"Have we explored every part of this cave yet?" His head gave a quick lurch to the side, but he caught it. "Also, does anyone know how to fix this?"

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

 

It turned out that, rather than hacking into the neck like she was going for, Basia instead managed a solid bite on the demon's shoulder. That might have been a slight miscalculation on her end. But at least she got the cursed thing good. This was followed by a piercing of the demon's abdomen, but it was surprisingly still able to throw both of its attackers off it despite all the damage it had taken. However, Basia remained as relentless as ever and, after dodging a few blasts of the scalding water, made one final bound with her claws ready to maul the demon into oblivion... only to end up slamming one claw into the ground and yelping as she did so. It turned out that Solomon beat Basia in delivering the killing blow despite the sheer speed in which she closed her distance, and that the demon had vanished from existence before her attack could successfully connect. She pulled the claw out from the cave floor and licked the claw to stop it from hurting.

 

As she licked her wounds though, Basia glared at Solomon with pure venom, clearly not amused by the fact that her kill was stolen her. She then sniffed around for any trace of the demon that may have still lingered around, but there was none to be found. But what she did find was a foot-long shard of mirror, which was suspiciously close too where the Starshatterer had ultimately been driven into. Armed only with the knowledge that the mirror was connected to the demon she previously battled, Basia instinctively lunged at the lone shard and brought one claw down on it after another, settling on breaking that into a million pieces instead.

[Alaina]

After having struck the demon with his blade, everything seemed to fall into place. Solomon managed to free himself from the demon's tail grip on him, only for the beast to be struck by some explosive wood spike...thing? Neru wasn't quite sure what that was, but only more surprised by the sudden lunge from the giant wolf person, as well as the giant boar boring into the demon and ultimately causing it to fall on the ground helpless. Without any sort of need for theatrics, the walking corpse man drove his spear into the head of the demon, causing it to finally give in to its wounds and finally die, turning into a pile of ash. As the man with the somewhat severed head, which was still slightly unnerving to look at, asked if they were almost done with the cave, Neru went over to give him a pat on the back, less out of reassurance and more so just one that meant they had to keep on going forward. Pointing at the tunnel that went further down, he said, "doesn't look like we're done quite yet." Looking at the slightly detached head, he then said, "you're probably going to need more than a bandage to patch that up."

 

As he started walking forward, he noticed the giant wolf girl, who he assumed to be Basia at this point, go absolutely feral on...a mirror shard. As the sound of glass breaking echoed throughout the cavern, Neru couldn't help but just look at the wolf girl, unsure of how to actually react. And so, once she finished clawing the glass to pieces, he simply said, "I think the mirror's dead now." Walking over to the wall, where the mirror had been, he then went over to pick up the wolf girl's strange curved sword, slight examining it as he did. It was certainly not a kind of weapon he had seen anywhere around these parts, but it was still interesting and well made nonetheless. Looking back to Basia, he said, "so are you going to need this back or are you just going to keep clawing things?" After that was over and done with, he got ready to keep going down the rest of the cave to see what other things lived in this entirely odd ecosystem.