[fieldbox= Caelan Lughr / ?????, royalblue, solid] Exhaling sharply, he shook his head as Alison joined them inside the slanted building. “Sorry, still didn’t catch your name,” he apologized quickly at her displeasure with his comment. Before he could continue though, the rumbling forced him to focus on steadying himself as the building began to break apart.

Out! Now,” he roared, gesturing with his weapon to the open window by Alison. Whatever was happening didn’t seem to be affecting the entire building just yet, but getting stuck trying to find their way down and out seemed… less than ideal. Outside, they could take a look around and if things got worse, possibly leap off the building’s edge to escape. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he scanned the room once more for anything of interest to give the others a head start, so they didn't all bottleneck at the opening. [/fieldbox]
 
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Heidemarie Krupp
~~~~~~~~~

“Great,” was Heidemarie’s simple response. “So we’re all clueless. And if we’re clueless, I’d say no, as much as I’d like give that person some divine punishment.” Looking at Caelan, she raised her eyebrows, acknowledging the unusual word of advice. At the actual girl, she gave a small nod at both Alison and Alina.

“Right, then. New people. Heidemarie,” she offered her name once again.

She would have actively engaged them in a proper conversation at this point, but a sudden crumbling of the building around them quickly put a stop to that.

“No shit, Sherlock.” She scrambled out the window.
 
Wen Xifeng

Xifeng gave Heidemarie a nod in response and gave Allison another as she joined them before glancing up at the suddenly crumbling ceiling. She would have made a comment about Heidemarie's idea of 'divine punishment', but decided to shelve it. From the looks of things, they needed to get out of this building before it came crumbling down on them, and a comment at any later time would just be inopportune.

"Agreed. Escape seems to be a good option." She murmured as she followed Heidemarie out the window and back onto the rooftop next to the building they were in.
 
@Jageroux @gamer5 @Random @Bob Cut
For all their niceties and chatter, the destructed world did not give pause or reprieve. As Onyx got himself acquainted with the trio of ladies, more streams descended around them, a torrent that only multipled as time passed. Water was rising at a much faster pace now, the central area creeping up to their thighs. It would only be a matter of time before they were forced to swim, and the torrential force that the pillars of blue were generating wasn’t going to be too helpful.

The world was drowning in blue, as the sky gained a sickly white pallour.

@Asuras @Jakers
Stumbling, pushing, splashing through the increasing depths, the couple made their way away from the collapsing building, every part of their body dampened by their efforts to reach dry land. Unable to clearly see what’s going on behind them, neither noticed that they had already reached outside the range of the tumbling rubble.

Neither noticed that they had left, and neither noticed they had entered the range of a new hazard.

In one step, they were still vigorously pushing away from the site of the falling building, and in the next, Madelon felt one of her legs give away underneath her. No, not give away. Fall through.

A deathly chill passed up her spine as she suddenly lost all sensation of her right leg underwater. Looking down, the French academic saw that part of the white ground they were stepping on had disappeared completely, replaced by an utterly black void. It did not appear to drain the sky-water at all.

Only devour her flesh.

@Psyker Landshark @Zombehs @Click This
As three of them exited, the room immediately collapsed, tons of stone descending in an avalanche of force. Unable to keep up on such difficult terrain, the prosthetic girl fell backwards, before an onslaught of stone bludgeoned her to death. She managed one sickly cry before it was cut short by a boulder that took off her head.

There was little time for the three that remained to feel anything though. The building was finally falling down after staying in that impossibly slanted position for so long, and they all had to pick up speed down the dangerous slope. Windows that could once have been easily evaded were now deathtraps, each rumble causing a slight imbalance in their steps. But as they continued down, hope began to rise. THey could make it. From this distance, even if they jumped off the side, they would be fine. They could get o-

There was no more rumbling, no more half-hearted shakes.

The massive gravity pillar finally tore the top half of the building off into the blue abyss, and the building fell on its side in one sudden crash. Unprepared, the trio found their feet suddenly stepping on air, before gravity bore its fangs upon them.

Caelan's right ankle twisted as he landed on the edge of one of the windows, years of experience only barely keeping him up as he pushed away. Stumbling back, he overstepped and fell off the edge of the building, a terrific splash in a watery area now riddled with broken debris.

Xi Feng landed as gracefully as she could in such circumstances, falling through a window and landing on her feet. Cushioning her fall with her knees, she ignored the pain and focused as much as she could. The destruction of the building left only a few more seconds to escape before the ceiling above her collapsed, and there was no more time for her to worry about picking her steps. With heroic effort, she dove out from a broken wall to the side, moments before the room collapsed. It was only a short fall into the waters below, and thankfully, that was enough to make the impact with the rocks below a bit more bearable.

Heidemarie, though, could no longer dodge all the bullets that continued to come her way. Without the balance of Caelan or the reaction speed of Xi Feng, the Krupp girl simply stumbled and fell into another room, landing prone as the building made another horrifying crackle. There was no way for her to make it out of this unscathed, not when her previous injuries had already prevented her from replicating the physical feats of her newfound allies.

Back against the uneven, ruptured ground, Heidemarie was able to catch one last glimpse of the strange blue sky before stone fell, like curtains on a final act.
 
Drenched.

The dream land had begun its crescendo of madness. No, it had been there from the beginning. It was only apparent now that everything was truly crumbling. The world was flooding, the ticking became more and more ingrained, and a high-pitched hum began to sound in Yohan's ears. The hum of his brain beginning to lose its grip of everything. It was becoming confused of what was real and what wasn't real. The changing colour of the sky could either be actually happening, or his brain just playing tricks on him.

As his body and droopy clothing dripped water and locks of blonde hair stuck to his forehead, Yohan realized something as he waded on. Whilst he still 'felt' normal, and whilst his face was still bold and determined, he was very slowly going insane. A lack of direction, a lack of... anything, in this world. It was going to make him lose his mind.

The ticking.

Enough was enough. He had to follow the ticking.

He had to decipher the puzzle that'd lead him to escape, or at least try.



Yohan Rye was snapped out of his frame of self-observation as Madelon tumbled into the water, falling downwards as if something had pulled on her leg. She hadn't just tripped. Something was wrong. It was as if she'd fallen into some sort of hole, but the ground was completely flat. But then he noticed it. Her leg was in... nothing. A black void. Another death trap they'd undoubtedly have to avoid in this flooding world. Drowning was beginning to seem like a peaceful death compared to the alternatives.

"Oh, fuck no, Jesus Christ... Madelon. Oi!" Yohan yelled as he hurried over, but he kept his distance, being careful not to step on the nothingness himself, especially if it was spreading. It didn't look like she was in any pain, so the concern on his face wasn't huge, but still evident. Even if the only thing he knew about her was her name, there was no way in hell he was going to let her die. "Your leg isn't stuck, is it? A-Are you still in one piece? I'm here if you need me to pull!"
 
urgency increased―

"We're moving! Come on!" Alina yelled, grabbing Marionette's hand and pulling her through the rising water.
Her goal was a simple one, decided upon not as a suggestion, nor as a wish, but an objective fact.

They were going to the obelisk, and that was that.
It wasn't far now.
She wasn't about to drown without knowing what killed her.
 
[fieldbox="Apparently the GM decided that talking is not a free action, blue, solid, 10, Book Antiqua"]

A world gone mad, (And falling apart!)
Time uncertain (And totally running out!)


Alina (@Random), Marionette (@Bob Cut) & Onyx (@Jageroux)



No more time to talk. Introductions and explanations will have to wait. That is what Ann understood since it was now obvious that they were running out of time quickly. With that done she rushed forward, using the well-drilled water fording movement from her military education to shiftily progress towards the eerie obelisk.

As she walked on she returned the bayonet onto her rifle, as at this point there was no time to talk and figure out who of the other three would be best-suited to wield it. So she silently waded the water, soon catching up to Alina and Marionette that rushed forward. She sent a quick: "Copy my movements to gain more speed. If you can that is."Then she marched on forward, moving towards the obelisk.

And yet while she moved she made sure to pay attention to her surroundings, sometimes even adjusting her movements so she could take a look behind herself from time to tie. Ann was not someone that was easy to catch off guard.
[/fieldbox]
 
VhkoLdS.png

=============
Madelon Vallois

With grunts and grimaces, Madelon had trudged onward like a soldier mucking about in the jungles of a warzone. She paid little attention to what was beneath her, eyes forward seeking out a place to finally rest. She was in no way an energetic person, and by then she had already begun to approach her limit. Her legs were aching fiercely... no... Suddenly, only one leg ached. At first it was relaxing, but soon became frightening; there was no peace in feeling nothing whatsoever. Fearing the worst, she looked down as her heart stopped from the sudden feeling of falling lower. She struggled to keep her head above the water with one leg, and could see clearly that her other had descended into a pit of blackness, taking with it her very sensations.

Shrieking, she quickly attempted to catch herself, reaching upwards with one hand and paddling downwards with the other.

"Yes! 'Elp me please!" she cried out, swinging her risen arm towards Yohan in desperation. Before Yohan could even get the chance to help her, however, she had managed to push herself upwards out of the hole, regaining sensation of the limb inch by inch as it returned to reality. Still, she gladly took his hand to aid in her escape. Fully freed from the supernatural thing, she took a moment to gather her composure. She wanted very much to bend over, rest on her knees, and taking a breather, but the still rising water prevented her from doing so. Heart still racing, she found in herself a renewed sense of energy.

"Let us continue. We can't stay 'ere," she said with a huff. As they proceeded this time, Madelon paid careful mind of where she stepped.
 
「Copy 《My》 【Movements】 to gain more 【Speed】。 If 《You》 can, that is。」

Alina had to give the girl some credit. She was trying to help.
However--

――inefficient―


It was never going to work with multiple people.
Alina had already calculated her own movements to maximise efficiency for herself and ease for Marionette.

They had minutes and minutes alone.

death approaches―average of 197 seconds remaining―――――for god's sake―run―
 
As he helped Madelon get back to her feet, Yohan gave a sharp exhale of relief to see that the girl was okay. The young lady's shriek had curdled his blood, and for a moment, he thought she was actually going to die. Praise whatever was above that wasn't the case. Praise whatever was above again at the fact that she didn't look even mildly injured, just shaken up. As she recovered, Yohan spoke in a tone that was surprisingly supportive for the usually grumpy man.

"Deep breaths. You're okay. At least we know to look out for that one now," Yohan murmured. Brushing a wet hand through his hair to adjust his soggy hat, the student sighed, before remembering to letting go of Madelon's hand, clearing his throat as he did so. "...Christ on a crutch, we're going to need a raft at this rate. We can still do this, though. There's got to be some sort of method to escaping this madness." Yohan added under his breath. At this point, his long leather coat was too heavy and weighed down with water for it to be anything but a burden. The only reason he wasn't taking it off was because, quite frankly, he liked his coat.

"So, no injuries at all after falling into that, then?" Yohan glanced at the leg that had fallen into the trap as he waded on, before pondering with a frown. It seemed okay. No cuts, skin rashes, or anything at all of note. The black void just seemed to be an empty space. "Hmph. What an odd trap. Lucky I picked this up; don't want to be falling into any more of those. Time is ticking, figuratively and literally. Soon we'll be forced to swim like dogs." Taking a firm hold of the long wooden pole he'd ripped off the overgrown area earlier, Yohan felt the ground in front of him with his staff before taking each step, doing so in a quick manner so he was still walking at a hurried pace. Unless the voids just liked to suddenly appear, he could avoid those traps with this method.

How long would it be before yet another hazard made itself known, though? Perhaps he'd be the one hit by the next; he needed to prepare himself to sustain any injury and push on. Dying in a land designed by some sort of tasteless artist was simply not an option in his mind.
 
[fieldbox= Caelan Lughr / ?????, royalblue, solid] Buried beneath tons of falling rubble, the mangled corpse vanished almost instantly. Her abrupt end continued to echo in Caelan’s head, even as he hurried down towards the ground and away from makeshift grave of a girl’s whose name he never knew. The certainty that a misstep could mean death seemed to steady his steps as he sidestepped windows and continued to rush through the rumblings and shifting.

Grimacing as the ground fell away from beneath his feet, Caelan turned to watch as the building finally tore in half, and each half went their separate ways. His head whirled back to what he was about to land on, or rather the lack of any in lieu of an open window. “Fuck.” Snarled curse aside, he managed to catch the edge of a window with a foot and push away, despite the pain that twisted his expression. Another jarring shift, and he could do little as his body fell backwards and off the building to the waters below.

His arms shot up to cradle his head moments before he entered the chilly waters with a grunt. His body locked up from the cold, but Caelan remained calm as momentum carried him to the bottom of the waters. Rough edges poked against his back and he finally opened his eyes to peer through the clear waters as best he could. Chunks and pieces continued to crash into the surface above him, sinking all around him and with a frown he began to swim away from the area. Using his spear as a pole to push along the bottom, his lungs began to burn from the desire of oxygen, but the splashes above warned him against surfacing.[/fieldbox]
 
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Onyx Norwyn

Arms folded, Onyx listened intently as Ann explained the model of her gun. He was familiar with the base model, and he could believe that no amount of modifications could make the air gun have as much power as whatever shot the girl in the building.

While he would have loved to continue talking, it was evident they had to start moving based on the rapidly rising volume of water. It was painstaking evident that the world was fucking itself pretty hard and was quickly reaching its climax - something Ony wanted no part of. Besides, if the water rose high enough, he could swim, having been taught to do so by his father. He would have liked to avoid that, though, solely because he didn't even trust the water.

Because, well, it was obvious nothing in the world could be trusted.

As he followed them, he felt as though he was at an impasse. His instincts obviously demanded he follow them to the obelisk before the water decided to drag him down to have a chat with Cthulu, but at the same time he felt bad for 'abandoning' Yohan and Madelon.

'They'll be Okay, though...' He reasoned mentally as he began to wade through the water, following the trio of females. 'If not, if I make it through this, I'll name some bunnies after them.'
 
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Wen Xifeng

Abrupt as it was, Xifeng barely had time to process the prosthetic girl's sudden demise before she was occupied with trying to prevent her own. She bit back a curse as the ground literally disappeared beneath her feet, sending her tumbling through the air until she crashed shoulder-first through a window, instinctively bracing her fall with a three-point landing.

Her eyes widened as the ceiling above her began to crumble. Was this to be her end? Splattered by falling stones in this mockery of a city? Before she could even begin to walk her chosen path?

No. No it wasn't. Not if she had anything to say about it. With immense effort, she dove through a broken wall, just narrowly avoiding being crushed to death by the collapsing ceiling...and fell towards the water a short distance below, screaming in pain as the rocks beneath the water's surface gashed her skin.

Xifeng gasped for breath as she pulled herself up onto shore, collapsing onto her back as blood from her wounds seeped into the water.
 
Heidemarie Krupp
~~~~~~~~~

Heidemarie didn’t even have time to acknowledge the death of the prosthetic limbed girl. With one final leap, she left the coffin of the room, following just behind Caelan and Xi Feng. For a moment, it seemed almost as if the three were in safe territory; If she could right herself, she could land somewhere reasonable…

But that didn’t happen. The crumbling building split in two, and her feet suddenly found themselves without something solid to stand on. She spun in midair, desperately looking for some foothold or safe-haven, but found nothing… Except for the stone coffin that bore down on her once again. Unable to avoid the massive blocks of rubble, she made a thud as she tripped into the confines of the crumbling, sickly structure.

“Ah… Oh, shit...!”

The room collapsed around her as the rubble fell, entombing her within the room as she blacked out.

And then she blinked back into existence. Shooting up, her head hit rock, immediately blinding her with pain. Grasping in the air, she found a stone slab mere inches from her face. The pain of her forehead hitting the surface gradually subsided to reveal a sharp pain on the side of her head. As she shrunk back into the pocket of safety that somehow had been afforded to her, she found her temple bloodied, and her left arm limp, but she was still alive. But she was still in a precarious state. With only a slight crack in the crumbled stone revealing a blue sky, she pushed at the rocks, hoping for freedom. But she was neither fit nor uninjured enough to properly remove them. Pushing, shoving as she might, the unmoving stone would not budge.
So she yelled.

“Hey! Is anybody out there!?”
 
@Jakers @Asuras
The water was rising.

The ground was darkening.

The black void that Madelon had almost fallen into was not the only one of its kind. More and more unsightly splotches emerged, until soon, Yohan’s stick was useless. It was like the splattering of ink, each splotch slowly expanding, dying the white ground black. The stick was abandoned, and from that point on, the duo could only proceed to swim.

Gravity was against them now. Carelessness, no, even a moment of weakness would cause them to sink into the abyss, unable to escape.

All around, buildings were shredded, pillars of gravity now massive as they turned those stone monuments into rubble. The blue sky was practically gray now, rocks falling upwards into foreign nothingness. But, despite all that destruction, there was a singular boon.

Ahead of them was the obselisk, the singular structure that remained untouched by the madness around them. The obstacles were removed, and now, the way was clear. It would be a long swim, and the clothing that they wore now dragged down their already exhausted limbs.

But perhaps they could still reach there. Perhaps they could still reach that anchor and find some answers.

Did they have the will to advance?

Or the desperation to descend?

@Zombehs @Click This @Psyker Landshark
As she screamed for help, as she ignored the lances of pain that pierced into her, Heidemarie felt a shift. The rocks that pinned her down, that entombed her and taunted her with a peephole of the blue sky, was slowly being lifted up.

There was a glimmer of hope.

Hope that lasted until she realized what exactly had happened.

That anti-gravity pillar that disintegrated stone had grown, now large enough, massive enough, to encapsulate the entire area around the building. One by one, the rubble lifted, and, with that, Heidemarie also felt a sudden shift as her own body rose, falling upwards. Underwater and on the side, the same effect pulled Caelan and Xi Feng as well, all of them suddenly in free fall, their ascent stopped only by the rubble that floated upwards at a slower rate.

The three could now see each other, drenched, bloodied, broken.

And, in the distance, they could see a fourth individual.

@Random @gamer5 @Bob Cut @Jageroux
It was Ann who spotted it first, blue eyes catching something strange in the sky. A blackbird? No, it was moving too erratically for it to be anything akin to flight. It rose as it fell into the pillars, before falling as it launched itself out of them. Ascent, descent, ascent, descent. Zig-zagging erratically, that dark figure continued its unorthodox path through the sky, its fearlessness at the face of such heights serving to almost be a mockery of what those below were subjected to.

A fearlessness that inspired fear.

The waterbound group continued on, no longer wading. They were still in the lead. They were just a minute or two away now. Ann’s gas tank served as a floatation device of sorts, allowing her to take the lead as others followed suit. The blackbird was approaching the obelisk, but why? Because they were? Because there was something else there? Or bec-

Just twenty meters before reaching the obelisk, the four swimmers suddenly fell. The water below them disappeared, and they crashed onto white stone. Another abnormality. In a twenty meter radius around the obelisk, water was blocked by an invisible barrier, creating what was now a three foot tall circular curtain around them. Almost as if there was some sort of display case around the gargantuan obelisk.

Onyx marvelled for a moment, the horologist impressed at the sheer scale of what stood before him, until a heavy droplet splattered onto his cheek.

A silver drop.

From the skies, the blackbird plummeted, slamming fifteen meters away from them. Two cracks simultaneously sounded, the heavy crack of stone and the much more brittle crackle of bones. Dust temporarily shrouded that individual, before it swept out its cloak, dispersing the cloud.

One hand dripped with silver blood.

Its legs, disjointed and twisted as they were from the impact, sustained its weight.

Golden eyes and ink-black hair framed a porcelain face, a sculpted, expressionless beauty.

And, in one smooth motion, it whipped out the Contender.

Ann could react. Onyx could react. Alina could react.

But Marionette could not.

A single shot was all it took to change the ‘display case’ to an ‘arena’.
 
Heavy.

It felt like he was trying to stay afloat with a ball and chain tied to his leg. Yohan knew as soon as his foot touched that abyss, that would mark his end. He'd sink into the nothingness; he'd be right where he started again. As he swam, he had no choice but to shrug off his beloved leather coat and abandon all the things within its pockets, along with his cap as well. As if he'd been unchained, Yohan's body felt twice as light already, but he certainly wasn't out of it yet. One moment of weakness would be the final moment he ever had.

His previous experiences of working with water had made Yohan quite a strong swimmer. His invention often required him to swim out into the water for testing purposes, so that if he fell off - which he did, often - he'd just land with a splash rather than a crunch. Granted, he was no master, but he knew his way around water and how to properly do a front crawl. Even still, his breath was on a timer. If he couldn't stay afloat anymore, that was it. A life within nothingness awaited him.

Tilting his body as he swam to look at Madelon, Yohan pondered if they could both make it to the obelisk. Getting to the obelisk didn't guarantee anything for them, but they could probably latch on to a corner like limpets to regain their breath without touching the ground, at least. Amidst all the madness, the panic, and the high stakes, Yohan kept to himself and tried his best to give some encouraging words to her inbetween his breaths.
"Give... haah... give it everything you've got. As soon as-" Yohan paused to regain his breathing pattern, taking a few more strides through the water. "-As soon as we get to that obelisk, we can catch our breath. So let's... fucking... do it."

They were going to get to that obelisk. Crawl after crawl, breath after breath, Yohan grit his teeth and pushed his body to its limit, getting closer and closer, closer and closer, ignoring the gaping maw below him as a high pitched hum began to ring in his ears, as if he was in his own little world.

Even if it ended up being nothing, Yohan could at least descend knowing he accomplished something in these ridiculous lands.

What an absurd feeling.
 
[fieldbox= Caelan Lughr / ?????, royalblue, solid] It was just a bit further, but Caelan could see where the building shadow’s ended through the clear waters. Ignoring the burning sensation as his lungs demanded air, he continued to swim forward. Then the splashes above him stopped, and so did he as he considered surfacing. Interupting his thought was the sudden shift in motion, and his eyes widened as he felt himself dragged up through the water towards the sky.

What the fuck? His first instinct was to swim downwards, against the reversed gravity, but a look at what lay beneath him was enough to make Caelan reconsider. The surface had disappeared and an endless pitch black abyss seemed to have taken its place. Precious seconds of air wasted away as he considered his options… no choice, but to surface unless he wanted to drown. Hopefully he could at least escape the area of warped gravity, so he didn’t get pulled airborne.

The rising pieces of debris proved to be rather helpful. The water slowed their motion enough that he didn’t have to worry about dodging out of the way, and some peices were large enough that he could push off them to maneuver. In rather short order, he felt the pull of gravity normalize once more and he broke the surface with a deep gasp. Treading water, he looked into the area of distorted gravity for the two girls he’d been separated from.[/fieldbox]
 
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Wen Xifeng

Xifeng gasped for air as she braced herself on the sheath of her sword to prop herself up, only for her to falter and choke in surprise as she found herself being lifted up into the air by some unseen force. Xifeng's eyes widened as the girl frantically turned her head, glancing around as she drew her sword in midair.

What was going on?! What under heaven could possibly lift her into the air like this? As she frantically looked for whatever was doing this to her, Xifeng spied both Caelan and Heidemarie being lifted just as she was, followed by another figuring appearing before them. Xifeng grit her teeth, keeping her sword at the ready despite the fact that she had no idea how she was supposed to maintain her balance dangling in the air like this.
 
Heidemarie Krupp
~~~~~~~~~

For a moment, it felt like she had been saved. The stone around her slowly crumbled away, revealing the eerie, azure blue sky. She was free again. But something was off. The rubble was rising, and through the pain and grit of her injuries, Heidemarie realized that she too was being pulled upwards by the odd gravity of this realm. As she lurched upwards, she felt another sinking feeling in her stomach.

Flailing in midair, she had little questions for why things were happening, but simply and pragmatically focused on saving herself. From the corners of her eye, she saw two familiar figures, alive, it seemed, and oddly enough, a third, but she paid little attention to it. In the end, she could only react by clambering onto larger pieces of rubble, falling upwards at a slower rate than her and hoping that she would not be lost into the void of the blue far above her.
 


Onyx had been on edge as they swam, growing more and more nervous as he pushed himself through the water. It had been far too long since the world fucked itself, majorly, and the rising water wasn't feeling like a complete threat. Until a black dot in his peripheral vision alerted him to the fact things were about to go to Hell. The sight formed a pit in his stomach and it wasn't long before the water vanished, like Onyx wished he could, and they hit the ground. Looking around, he saw that the water was being held back by something and he was quite impressed. He wanted to touch the water and see if it was an actual barrier of some sort or if the water had actually parted. But, before he could, he felt something hit his cheek and he brought a finger up to his cheek, gently probing the silver blood as his eyes followed the blackbird that quickly dive-bombed the ground. Taking a step back, Onyx's eyes narrowed when he saw the Contender and he let out a laugh. Was this what had shot that girl earlier?
"You have to be fucking me, right now." He breathed out before jumping to the side a moment before it fired. He had no intention of dying, and he figured if he had enough time to react, the others would too.
~~~
Alina took the simplest yet most effective course of action that came to mind.
She dived.
Leaping into the freezing cloak of relative safety and retreating underwater, moving as close to the nearest source as she could.
The water would slow the bullet. The rarefaction would decrease the accuracy of their predator.
In other words, she had time.
Time was enough to plan.
Aim well, Ann, she mentally instructed, more a prayer for luck than anything else. Boy… Well, don’t just get in my way.

~~~
Ann on the other hand was not planning to run at all. That thing just killed someone in front of her. Also the others needed time to escape. So it was time to fight. Unfortunately it would appear that space had nothing to hide behind, meaning it would be a straight on fight between skills and weapon characteristics.
Ann aimed at the thing’s weapon, the gun which was practically a hand cannon, seeking to further increase her advantage if possible. The accuracy of her gun would make hitting it an easy task and the power, designed to penetrate even hard steel plate of helmets at several hundred meters, would probably send the gun flying and was pretty guaranteed to damage it to a smaller or greater extent. So Ann shot a round at the gun and not waiting to see the result and started to aim at any joint looking part on the thing’s legs.
~~~
An reciprocating explosion of steam sent a subsonic lead ball cracking against the barrel of the Contender. Though she hadn’t had any time at all to aim properly, the relative distance between the two and the blackbird’s unmoving nature made the shot easier than it would have been. The hand cannon twisted, bent, and then, strangely enough, the barrel split in half from the impact.
Ann didn’t even notice that, however, her aim redirecting towards the legs that could no longer be seen, shrouded by the blackbird’s long cloak.
A poor choice after a good shot. Her second shot made a hole in the cloak, and worked as the signal shot for a proper attack.
With one ground-cracking step, it darted off to the side, flipping the Contender and holding it by its busted barrel. The priorities were made. The target was selected. And, as it rushed at Ann, one foot collided with the still-warm corpse of Marionette, sending her slim frame right towards Ann.
As that corpse twisted around, it almost looked like the white-haired girl was going to embrace the blue-eyed gun knight.
~~~​
Ann was only surprised for a moment, more concerned with cursing the fact that she rushed and wasted a shot. For now she threw away her trunk and dropped herself to the ground to dodge the incoming corpse, thanking her dad’s spartan training, and waited no time to lay aim at the thing’s eyes, taking care to account for its movement. Once again her gun roared and sent out a bullet. She quickly made a roll to her right using the gun and her knees to get into a kneeling position. She then took aim at the other eye, wasting only a few seconds to check if the first shot actually hit and did damage.
~~~​
Standing off to the side, Onyx was pretty shook when he saw Marionette’s body. He had been entertaining the thought of death, but actually seeing it had caught him off guard. He could feel his heart pound against his chest, as if beating for freedom, when the realization of how much shit he was in actually sunk in. Attempting to focus, as hard as it was, let him notice that the blackbird had a second Contender, and the adrenaline demanded he act on instinct. He was taller, and while probably not stronger, there was a chance he could go for the gun while it was distracted.
Making up his mind, having decided he wouldn’t die without a fight, he quickly broke out into a sprint as he quickly approached the blackbird from behind.
~~~​
Rubble made things very, very unreasonable for Alina.
Trying to make complex underwater maneuvers was a horrendous enough task on its own, let alone with clothes on, and the rubble around the footing of the cloaked attacker was, for lack of a better term, being a total bitch.
That said, she had managed to settle into a crevasse dangerously near the figure in question.
Her lungs burned and heaved in protest, but a jolt of their reins laid them back under control.
She was unarmed, she reminded herself.
She had to time this perfectly.
Preparations in place. Take the damn shot and let’s get this over with, she hissed mentally.

~~~​
To Ann’s left was a wall of water. To her right was open space. If she was going to dodge sideways, there had been two options. Drop prone, or dodge right.
And the blackbird read both.
“Duplicate.”
In the breadth of a single word, reality was rent as its injured hand rose out, wielding another hand cannon, another loaded weapon. At that angle, at that proximity, it was nigh impossible for Ann to dodge or to shoot with reasonable accuracy if she aimed for the head. Taking a single backstep, the bullet shot at an upwards angle, grazing rather than piercing the blackbird’s face as it returned fire.
A deafening explosion sounded, but the bullet did not hit Ann.
His approach masked by the sounds of compressed steam bursting out, Onyx was able to grapple the cloaked figure from behind, arms wrapping around its own, holding it still just long enough for Ann to aim and fire.
Click.
Only a sharp, long hiss resounded.
The bullet did not hit Ann, but it did hit its mark.
When she had dropped onto the ground to evade Marionette’s corpse, Ann had exposed her back. Or, more importantly, she had exposed the gas tank that powered her steam gun.
Onyx’s grip lasted a singular moment, before he was flung aside with superhuman force, sent skidding across the ground. At such close proximity, in a position that could not provide effective evasion outside of easily predictable rolls, the blackbird swung both Contenders down onto Ann, intent on caving her skull in.
~~~​
―now――
It was the exact moment that the blackbird moved that the dove made her own.
The puppetmaster’s makeshift weapon became a wooden spear to allow the tiniest amount of distance.
The rubble had become stepping stones to redistribute weight.
In the singular instant, punctuated by a burst of water from beside the blackbird, the laws of physics converged simultaneously and became a weapon for Alina to strike with.

It would not kill, that much had been obvious from the start.
It did not need to.

~~~​
Hands digging into the ground, Onyx huffed in frustration, his aggravation growing at a steady pace. He had no intention of dying, and he didn’t intend for any else to die while he could do something about it. Pushing himself forward, he knew that the creature didn’t view him as a threat, obviously. It made sense - Ann was the one with the weapon, so naturally she’d be the priority target. But, Onyx had grown up on the streets, and he knew how to fight. While he didn’t have the ‘training’ of some people, he was dangerous in his own right.
Rushing at the blackbird again, Onyx looked like an absolute idiot doing the same thing he did previously. But as he neared the creature and his left foot slammed heavily on the ground, he quickly spun and kicked outwards with his right foot, directing the blow at the side of the creature’s knee.
~~~​
The enemy was going after her tank. A rather obvious move. Ann was hoping it would not do that, but hope was a fool’s rescue. If one could not aim or dodge one could still charge. So Ann did just that, using her bayonet-equipped gun as a spear while at the same time turning on a trump card that she had modified into her gun. It would be likely that one of the large guns that the enemy wielded would graze or hit one of her shoulders or legs, depending on how it reacted. But no matter what it did the bayonet would stick into its chest and what would follow would be a bullet, as Ann rigged a pressure system connected to the bayonet that so the gun would fire a bullet if the bayonet hit something. Furthermore Ann switched on the most significant of the gun’s modifications in work. This modification used any remaining pressure in a tank for a single shot, greatly increasing the power and penetration, but also wearing out the barrel significantly more and making her gun useless until its tank was repressurized.
~~~​
If it was a piece of rebar, perhaps Alina’s swing would have done damage, but it was merely wood. The water seemed to almost be dragged off her as she rose from the aquatic veil, and for all the force she put into the swing, all that happened was her wooden spear breaking against the body of the blackbird. All that came from it was a singular pause, but that pause gave Ann her opportunity.
Before those hammerblows came down upon her, the gunslinger charged forwards, jamming the blade deep into the center mass of the blackbird. Silver ichor seeped down the length of the bayonet as the blackbird was physically driven back by the charge.
But, for all the opportunities, all the clearly fatal blows...Ann was still too slow.
In close combat against a monster with the guise of a human, she turned her attention to her own gun instead of to her foe. And though Onyx rushed in from behind once more, his spinkick was magnitudes slower than the third blow that came from the blackbird.
The butt of the Contender smashed into the right side of Ann’s head, its wooden grip splintering against her skull. Blood trailed from her concaved temple as she flew a few yards back, the cord that connected her bayonet to her ruptured gas tank dragging the weapon alongside her.
Only then did Onyx’s kick land, striking something that felt as hard as wood.
The blackbird turned, silver staining its dark cloak.
And its eyes burned into his own.
~~~​
The eye contact lasted for a mere moment before Alina coldly interrupted the two and their freeze-frame romance.
The girl wrapped her arms around the blackbird’s neck, leaping to drag her into the water.
Upon striking the surface of the water herself, she let go, letting herself fall separately to the blackbird and grabbing for any wreckage or rubble in the water that would prevent her from sinking too deep.

~~~​
Ann was hit hard, but was not out of the fight yet. Despite landing roughly she forced herself to ignore the pain from her wound and make it to her trunk while Alina did her crazy maneuver. Although she was hardly in the best of the shapes, she was also probably the one most used to physical trauma, so despite all that she felt and the problems she pushed herself forward. As Alina went under the water with unsteady but certain steps made it to the trunk.
~~~​
“Gosh darn piece of crud.” Onyx cursed as he staggered back, hopping on one leg as his foot throbbed in response to his attempt at injuring the blackbird. “Aw, shucky darn. I can’t deal with this poop.” He muttered to himself as he watched Alina attempt to drag the creature into the water. This was actually ridiculous, and he didn’t know who was behind any of this but he had a pure and unadulterated hatred for them.
He felt somewhat awkward as he grit his teeth and forced his weight onto the pained foot, a dull throb in his head reminding him of his injury from when he fell back down onto the roof earlier.
~~~​
Eyes still locked on the paralyzed Onyx, even as Alina’s slim arms wrapped around its neck, the blackbird dropped its two Contenders, the broken guns clattering against the ground.
Its throat did not move at all as that same reality-rending word left its unmoving lips.
“Duplicate.”
Two Contenders appeared in its hands, as it brought it up to its side. One for the being that clung so tenaciously at it, trying to drag it away. Another pointed at the being on death’s door, slowly stumbling towards the case that stood right beside the blackbird.
It kept its gaze on Onyx, almost as if mocking his inactivity.
And it pulled the trigger.
~~~​
Alina adjusted herself.
It wasn’t a particularly graceful maneuver, more an emergency measure for an unanticipated outcome.
She bailed, and bailed hard, letting go as soon as she saw the gun, dropping into the cold depths to avoid the merciless finger of the reaper.

――she can duplicate anything―
That was her conclusion.
Her course of action was recalculated from its foundations as the battle continued above the surface.

~~~​
Ann was to close. The other girl’s maneuver failed in dragging the thing down leaving her exposed when that word resounded through the air. As soon as she heard it she allowed gravity to take her down, but she was not fast enough, her wound slowing down her reaction and allowing dreadful pain to assault her left elbow. She was shot. The situation looked grimmer with each passing second. As the haze of pain grew once again Ann could only think about how unfair was this. Her mind growing less logical with every moment she wondered if they could do the same and while laying on the ground whispered, thinking strongly about the raptured air tank on her back: “Duplicate.” She waited to see if anything would happen while regathering her mental power for a crawl to the trunk…
~~~​
Still standing still, he felt frozen in place as he maintained eye contact with the blackbird. It was mocking him - it was so obvious. With the way he wasn’t moving, it could have easily shot him, but it chose not to. With a slight chuckle, Onyx’s hand went into his jacket pocket as he rummaged around until he felt a familiar handle, a smile making its way onto his face.
Bracing himself, he dashed forward as he subtly slid the pointed screwdriver out of his pocket. “If I die, name a bunny after me!” He shouted as he zeroed in on the blackbird before lunging forward, thrusting the screwdriver at the blackbird’s eye.
~~~​
As Ann crawled, speaking a single prayer out to the destructed world, God did not respond.
Her vision darkened, blood pouring from her open wounds, the last bit of gas exiting her tank with a deathrattle. Her consciousness faded, her essence sinking into darkness.
Alina’s retreat was effective, rational, but similarly expected. The moment the bullet fired, smashing into the watery veil, the blackbird dropped the Contender once more, the free hand snaking out. A vice-like grip bit into Alina’s face as she was torn out of her sanctuary.
There was no longer going to be time for her to think rationally.
A blur of movement, a sudden shift in momentum, and Alina found herself viewing the world upside down. Upside down from a higher place.
And then, like a tomato against a wall, she slid down, falling a foot away from the obelisk that she had been splattered against.
In the chaos, in that sudden chain of events, Onyx’s assault was not overlooked. The screwdriver struck air as the blackbird tilted its head out of the way, before wrapping its now-free hand over Onyx’s wrist.
Wrapped and crushed.
~~~
He laughed. When he felt the sensation of his wrist being crushed, he laughed, the pain causing his entire body to jerk. The chilling grasp of the blackbird almost numbing the pain. Almost. “This is so fucked.” He spoke under his breath as his eyes followed the falling screwdriver. Quickly reaching forward, he caught the screwdriver with his free hand and thrust upwards, the weapon aimed at the bottom of the blackbird’s throat.
“Fuck you.”

~~~
Silver splattered against Onyx’s face, cold droplets seeping into his flesh as he thrust his screwdriver in, twisting it savagely as it popped out the other end of the blackbird.
There was silence.
And then, that cursed word resounded once more.
The Contender set itself between his eyes.
The ticking in the back of his head stopped.
The blackbird’s lips curved.
And a single shot was heard across the ruined world.