Harbinger [Open]

There was the satisfactory sound of blood splattering across the ground slick, painting it bright red. Her opponent was not slow, it was just that her bolts were fast, faster than sound. Even amongst supernatural beings, outrunning a bullet was no easy task, considering the amount of time it took to realize the weapon had been fired, to order one's body to dodge, and then carry out the act of dodging. Nobody didn't know his name, but she sure hoped he enjoyed the sensation of a hot nail being driven into his shoulder. The light would pierce him, but his momentum would alter the trajectory of the projectile so that it split off from the trajectory of the other. This was coincidentally fortunate, sincei t was her original intention to strike two different areas of the barriers at once. Now all that was left was to watch, and observe she did as she witnessed them disappear. The difference here was that this time the girl caught it in the act, seeing as Yukuri's energy whipped out to counter the projectiles before they hit the static barrier. They hit some sort of threshold where they seemed to pass through the shield, before vanishing completely. They didn't seem to actually hit it, however... it was like some sort of portal, opening and then closing quickly. Was that was happened to the Dark Pulse earlier? Had it been sent away?

This one clue was progress, small but better than nothing.

In more ways than one, Nobody was adept at taking in her surroundings; as a Quincy, her ability to detect the subtle changes in the flow of spiritual energies was superb. It was a natural talent acquired merely by her race, as all Quincy tended to share. So, when she tried to draw upon the reishi in the area and found her intake to be wanting, she knew of the interference by Yukuri. It was everywhere she dared step—to find a single bit unprotected by the Iramasha was troublesome. Nobody noticed that a lot of energy was being spent in order to achieve this, and she wondered how well thought out this plan of hers actually was, or if she just had ludicrous amounts of energy to spend on the task. The question had to be bothered, was this actually worth it? How long could it be kept up, and how far and how thin was she spreading herself? Would she be able to keep every crook and plane under her guard? Honestly, this task of hers would prove to be quite difficult to handle when Nobody began to chafe against Yukuri's safeguard, cutting and hacking and grinding away at it while it was stretched so thin. She may have been strong, but if she continued to hold the natural Reishi away from her, then she would simply use Yukuri's instead. All techniques utilized energy, including this one. If she thought she could hold Nobody back like this, she would be sorely mistaken.

It was like a battle of wills between the two, neither much making any direct moves against the other, but sending their spirits out to fight against each other, in a way. There was no way she'd just allow Yukuri to freely pierce her soul without giving a fight back. As tendrils of her energy tried to reach for her, she batted them back with her own energy—it was trying to fight the Quincy at what she was best at. To make matters worse, Nobody was being completely still, switching to the defensive state of Blut Vene. For as long as the girl remained frozen like a statue, her ability to defend herself became amplified manifold. She was going to prove to Yukuri that trying to so easily pervade her soul was a fool's errand, as she continually got batted back by a series of barriers and counter strikes. Every time she circumvented one layer of defense, another two sprouted up to combat her—'No' she said to this, she was not going to reach her with that trick. The one thing that would be noticed, however, is that while June was maintaining such a powerful denial of Yukuri's attempts, her own trial against Yukuri's energy was not so strong. She seemed to be... sacrificing offensive potential for defensive in this state.

Then, she brought herself into close combat, which would soon to prove at minimum as a risky maneuver, or a huge mistake entirely. The speed with which she reacted was far beyond what a mind should have been able to. There was generally a speed limit on how fast one's nerve impulses could travel at, and yet Nobody would surpass that which was presumed. The switch between Blut Vene and Blut Arterie was as easy as hitting a switch, and her body gained newfound speed. She pirouetted and swung her weapon around to bring it straight at Yukuri's face the moment she arrived, seeming to have determined her destination before she'd traveled. For the second time this fight, Nobody was proving that she handled surprises with equally surprising efficiency, and would not hesitate to blast her head off with a single squeeze of the trigger. The dance continued, her body spinning in circles while she moved away from Yukuri utilizing impressive footwork. A circle of darkness traced itself on the ground and centered itself around Nobody, growing upwards by the second. Where the Chaos Blast was fired, there was already a wide tendril of shadows to intercept it and redirect the destructive energies around her; this was not a fight for the long-winded and improvident.

The constant spinning was not for nothing. While Nobody may as well have appeared as a blur to them, it allowed her to view the entirety of her surroundings in a fine, clear view while she utilized the Aishadou's power. Not only was she kept aware of Yukuri, but of the nameless boy Iramasha in addition. While spinning, she could fight both away, swinging her arms out and blasting off searing white bolts at them with terrifying accuracy and overwhelming frequency. For Aish, he needed to utilize those wings to evade lest he wish to impale himself upon the spikes that would no doubt perforate his body if given a free hit. Yukuri also had to worry about it—she already was dealing with trying to protect the environment from her greedy claws, now also with a constant barrage of Quincy blasts she needed to protect herself from. This was not truly an offense on Nobody's part, but more a maneuver to put both her opponents on the defense while she re-positioned herself to a better vantage. And when all was done, she fell still again, no longer stuck between the two foes, able to keep them both in her line of sight. Not only that, but the demonic skeleton she had summoned earlier had reemerged from the circle of shadows. This was the girl's inner darkness in form—Susanowa—wrapped around her like a guardian.

Suddenly, the strange pennants attached to her arms would make sense. Previously, they seemed to be no more than simple details about Nobody's style, but they were actually somehow related to her abilities. After she'd stopped firing, they both began to glow of an intense alabaster white, releasing heat and steam from their tips that distorted the air it passed through. This whole time, Nobody didn't point a single barrel down towards an enemy, just holding them upright in the air as she let them cool off. She seemed vulnerable, and yet Susanowa stood there like a hulking bear ready to swipe at anyone who dared step to close with its monstrous claws. This... spirit, if it could be even called that... it turned toward Yukuri and gave her a strange long look. When the Iramasha whispered dark lines, it was this manifestation that received it, and yet it did not know how to receive them. It didn't know much besides that his master's enemies were his enemies, and that he would not let a single one of them harm her. When it spoke, it spoke not because of a desire to, but merely because his essence was so strongly imprinted upon Nobody's. Again that demonic intermingling of voices came out as both she and Susanowa spoke together: ''Your words fall upon deaf ears, Iramasha. It would be better for you to simply take upon the demeanor of your male companion, and revel in the combat. It is difficult to understand the enigma that doesn't adhere to logic. It is hard to intimidate the beast that knows no feeling. I told you already... I am Nobody!''

That's when Susanowa convulsed, his back arching in a way that would break a person's own spine, his face tilted up towards the sky to release a satanic roar to the heavens. From its adumbral bones was unleashed a rain of arrows, each pitch black and trailed by a thick smog. They seemed to float in the air for a moment as they reached the apex of their flight—they turned, roughly aiming for the two targets, before launching themselves. The skies were streaked with darkness, blotting out the sunlight below, and the arrows desired to pierce the flesh of those who opposed Susanowa's master. Each of them were imbued with the dark pulse, a carnivorous energy that would devour everything in their wake until there was simply nothing left to eat. If even one touched them, it would slowly turn their body into sludge as it consumed all useful materials within them; it would unmake them. Not only that, but the land would become desecrated even if they missed their original targets, as the Dark Pulse held no bias to its food. Yukuri had managed to counter this element before by sending it far far away... but just how much was she willing to continue stressing herself to protect herself, her ally, and her island? When would all the meaning in her actions become... hopeless?