Roy nodded as Mash deigned to knock out the gun wielding criminal with his hands, deeming him unworthy of using his magic against him. This guy talked a pretty big game, Roy was eager to see if he could back it up. One of Roy's smoke hands picked up his blade and threw it to him, he missed on purpose otherwise with the heavy damage they had already done to this thug he imagined that he might have died. Roy caught the knife in mid air and placed it back into it's sheath. He casually walked towards Mash as he noticed his nostril's flaring up. As he did this Roy was reminded of his magic. It was Slayer's magic, god, and dragon. He was one of the few slayers that Roy had actually met, and definitely the only man he'd ever met to posses two kinds of that ancient and lost magic. Through his enhanced olfactory senses Mash seemed to deduce that the bomb would be downstairs. Fortunately for Roy the stairs were pretty close to him. Unfortunately for him there seemed to be a rather large number of criminals in his way. He heard Mash tell him to get the bomb and saw him race after his opponent. Damn, Roy thought to himself. He really wanted to see him fight. Smiling wryly Roy shrugged his shoulders as he approached the group of men waiting for him, they all had shotguns again, and there appeared to be maybe ten of them in total. This should be easy enough. "Smoke Screen..."
Roy gave out a harsh whisper as he cast his spell filling the whole room with smoke. Effectively blinding his opponents. For added measure Roy cast his haze spell on himself as well, rendering him completely unseen in the thick smoke. Gun shots sounded all throughout the smoke cloud flying in every direction. Luckily for Roy he was able to see through his own magic or all of this random firing might be just as dangerous as if they could see him.Roy bolted to the left rolling and leaping and flipping through the air to avoid the spray of bullets, circling around until he made it behind his opponents. Roy noticed that most of the men were reloading, it seemed that they were all carrying the same kind of gun. Not that it mattered what kind of weapon they carried, their lack of actual skill made it so that there was almost no way to close the gap between themselves and Roy. For a moment the men were silent wondering perhaps whether they had put Roy down or not. Within a moment they knew that they hadn't. Roy pulled out his blade and swooping low he took out the man's Achilles's Heel, slicing through the tendon and grabbing his hand as he fell Roy put him in to a wrist lock, he tossed his blade in the air and came down hard on the man's elbow with his palm shattering the joint. He caught his blade as it came back down and dove to left again as a hail of gunfire rained down in the area where Roy had taken out one his opponents.
He continued his series of acrobatics to avoid the gunfire. Left, right, forward backward, until he managed to get next to another one of the assailants.Roy struck down across the side of his knee and with a sickening cracking sound he shattered the mans knee, completely immobilizing him. He came down with a hard chop on to the man's temple before he hit the ground and moved on to his next target only a little ways from the unconscious broken man. This one he merely flipped over his shoulder by grabbing his arm and throwing his hip into him. When the man hit the ground Roy proceeded to put him into a wrist lock and coming down with his palm he snapped the man's arm. Pulling up once more he came down on the man's nose smashing his skull into the ground and breaking several bones. Holding on to that arm and grabbing a leg he spun around with his opponents body and and using that momentum he threw it into the next nearest opponent knocking him down as well. Unfortunately he had made quite a bit of noise and the last man he took out managed to get out a couple of screams.
He sailed up towards the ceiling on his cloud and left the remaining men to fire at will towards the direction he used to be in, it was a classic tactic of his, fight on the ground for a while and while everyone was still blinded take to the air, it should more than confuse them and even cause them to endanger themselves. His smoke hands remained on the field and took to pummeling the living hell out of these man, as they weren't even using magic it was mere child's play for them to be finished off. After all the smoke could only be destroyed by magic, admittedly not that much magic, but still, mundane methods of damaging would do nothing against them. They struck one after another again and again until his enemy was beaten down, he let them take out another three opponents before he got back down to the ground and waited by the door. He was sure that these men would try to run away now that half of their number had been taken out. They couldn't see but he expected that they could at least count shots. Just a he had suspected they dropped their weapons and made for where they thought the door was. One of them shouting out as he ran.
"Let's get the hell out of here! I'm just gonna blow the place when we leave!"
Roy hoisted his knife and took a breath, if they really had the ability to set off a bomb big enough to blow this place then he would have to take them all out before they ever got that chance. He couldn't risk going easy on them, though he would refrain from trying to kill them. The first man to make it out of the smoke screen was greeted with a swift jab to the throat, Roy held the knife in a reverse grip and struck with the handle but nonetheless that attack alone could put a man down. To ensure his defeat he stepped back and swung his elbow into his jaw, using his momentum and the weight of his body to deliver a devastating blow knocking him out.
The other four all exited from different areas and Roy was forced to kick it up a notch. One threw a punch which Roy easily dodged slapping it to the inside and reversing the grip on his knife he sliced the inside of his arm taking out the muscle. He stepped forward and plunged his blade into the man's stomach. Three more. The next one made a wild dash for the door, Roy was way faster than him however and cut him off. He kicked the man in the head as he ran towards the door stopping all of his momentum and and sending him flying backwards. Two more.
The second to last opponent had actually brought his gun with him, and while Roy was fighting his other opponents he lined up a good shot, Roy didn't have time to react to it and took a blow to the shoulder, it might have killed a normal human but Roy took it pretty well, though it did break the skin and he bled from the wound profusely. He knew that the second shot was coming and had no time to tend to his wound as he dove to the left and rolled away from the next shot, he threw his knife at the man and struck him in the shoulder, it stopped him from reloading his weapon and Roy managed to get up close to him and using both of his hands he clapped down on the man's ears completely disorienting him and wrapping his fingers around his head he brought his skull down into his knee and knocked him out.
very little
Roy looked around for the last man and found that he could not find him, he knew he couldn't have gotten out of the door as it didn't open yet, and wondered where else he might have gone. His smoke had cleared by now so he could have made his way anywhere. Then Roy remembered one of them said he was going to blow the place and go, he assumed that meant he had a remote of some kind but if he had to do it manually that means he should be near the bomb itself. Roy cursed and went full speed towards the door where the bomb was summoning his cloud beneath his feet and riding it for maximum speed. He made it in no time and saw his enemy attempting to get the bomb working. He launched himself forward tackling the man to the ground and rolling after he hit the ground to get up faster, while the man was busy recovering from Roy's attack he landed one more solid blow to him by kicking the side of his head and knocking him out.
He breathed a sigh of relief for a moment and looked over his injury, it wasn't that great but he was soaked in blood. It disgusted him, in fact it made him a little bit nauseous even. He didn't have long to relax however when he noticed that the bomb began a count down. He wasn't sure what he could do about this but, when in doubt breaking things usually worked right. After only studying the bomb for a moment he realized it would take most of his power to destroy it. Luckily for the hospital he had a few tricks up his sleeve that he hadn't shown anyone yet. In fact other than in private training matters he hadn't even used this technique at all. It was about time he brought it out.
Roy breathed in, and breathed out. With a loud shout he held out his hands an summoned four of his smoke clones all around the bomb, then they all in turn summoned their own smoke hands, combined with Roy their were now a total of fifty of these powerful instruments of destructive magic, and he could sustain them indefinitely. With and even louder shout and a great expense of his mental and magical power he threw down his wave of hands on the bomb delivering incredible damage to it in just one wave, and again and again they struck down on it raining downward upon the construction like a sea of destruction constantly crashing against the large explosive. He never gave it a moments rest for even though his power was proving fatal to the bomb, the count down continued nonetheless and the bomb began to release steam and glow red with stored energy, this thing seemed magical, rather than mundane. Roy guessed it must have been created by their leader, who mash was currently still fighting. From the powers that he displayed it seemed that he specialized in explosive magic. Roy was sure that that kind of magic was powerful in it's own right but such a thing was all too basic for him. As far as destruction goes he was sure it could do the job. But there was just nothing much too it, very little subtlety, no ability to create, merely destroy. Besides that if your smart enough you can turn anything into a deadly weapon. In fact if your smarter than your opponent you don't even need the best weapon.
Soon enough the device began to crumble, falling to pieces and being crushed under the weight of Roy's vicious unending barrage of attacks. Metal plates dented pieces flew off in every direction it's redish glow intensified and the steam escaped at all new speeds, it was a race against time, Roy' magic, versus this madman's. He gave one last holler as he summoned yet more spells to put this thing down. Roy conjured his chain when he thought that his magic would not be enough and began striking the bomb with it, each time delivering another spell as it struck against the bomb, his smoke ring spell, his smoke coffin, his flame spell, every last spell, every last drop of magic. As Roy fell to his knees so to did the final remains of the explosive crumple to the ground. With his extra spells it actually appeared as if Roy had time to spare.
He breathed heavily panting for a few moments, he was exhausted. But he had done his job, it was time to go see if mash had done his. He stood up to quickly and almost lost his footing, he was a bit unsteady still and he put a hand to his head as he stumbled backwards. He breathed for a few more moments as he regained his composure, his sight was a bit blurred at first but it was getting back to normal again. He looked at his clones and army of smokey hands and dismissed them. That helped out quite a bit, even though they didn't drain that much magic just to sustain them he was so low on magic that even just getting rid of those small things that drained him helped quite a bit.
He walked back up the stairs slowly until that became too much for him, and eventually he fell backwards onto his cloud. Slowly drifting up the stairs, this magic drained him nothing at all and didn't even require constant concentration. Which was good for at the moment he didn't believe that he could even muster up a small amount of mental energy. As he got back up the stairs he noticed just how badly he had beaten these men, yes it was to save a hospital and yes it had gotten a little desperate there for a moment but he rarely used his knife against human opponents, and rarely used such brutal martial arts against them. They were almost all broken, and many of them bleeding, each of them worst than the last. At this moment he heard Mash coming back, it as true he was a dragon slayer and a god slayer as well even. So his nose was strong, he would certainly smell all of this blood from a mile away, but unless he stayed here for a long time he might not know exactly how much there really is. Roy was just guessing at this point but he doubted that Mash had been around him long enough to learn the smell of his blood from another person's.
When Mash returned he commented that he had done well, and that he in fact might be a hero yet. He merely responded "Thanks." Then as Mash grabbed him a soothing presence washed over him and revitalized him. He possessed a power over light it seemed, and his other magic must be over the earth. Earth and light, that might be quite a powerful combination. Especially since the light seemed quite adept at healing. While the earth magic was obviously quite useful for attacking and defending, as well as many other things he was sure. He uttered a sigh of relief to show his gratitude for the spell, and as Mash's companion reached down towards his belt she grabbed a poultice, and handed it to Roy. Something to replenish his magic it seemed, Mash didn't seem to mind so Roy took it in eagerly, muttering a quite thank you once more to show his gratitude once again.
After all of that Mash seemed to be in quite the hurry and bid Roy farewell pretty quickly, oh well. It was probably for the better anyway. He only mentioned to him before he left. "Yeah, I'll see you around the guild Mash. I'll stay back here and help them clean up, make sure the authorities get everyone locked away just fine." With that Mash was off, and his companion too. It wasn't before they were well far away that Roy dropped the glamour over the hospital. He had used his magic to make the blood and the gore disappear at least the really really bad spots, everywhere expect for on himself. Mash might have wondered where the smell was coming from if he hadn't been so covered in blood. He seemed to just think that he was more injured than he actually was Roy assumed, and that was fine with him. Better he think that than the alternative, well really the truth.
As the illusion dropped Roy turned back and got on to his knees, he needed to tend to the wounded. despite their crimes, he still felt sick for what he had done. This was a hospital, so he imagined that it wouldn't be hard to find the necessary materials to take care of these men. He pondered what Mash had said as he retrieved some bandages, and got ready to stop his enemies from bleeding out. Mash had told him that if he kept it up he could become a hero one day. Roy doubted it, he wasn't much of a hero, and honestly he didn't think he needed to be. He was too...bloodthirsty to really be heroic. But in all honesty, the forces of good needed men like him. Men who are just as familiar with the dark as their enemies, men who aren't afraid to walk down the same paths as evil. Of course he had separate intentions than them, and different reasons for doing what he does. But nonetheless he was not a hero. A hero walked in the light, maybe not the lime light but still, their path though just as difficult as his own was guided by the suns rays. His role wasn't to walk the bright path of the hero, but to take the low road of the shadow. No light ever fell without casting a shadow, and Roy was the shadow for the light.
Forever keeping out of sight, and yet always being there, to ensure that things proceed the way that they should. That was his role. It's a path fraught with difficulty and challenge, but rewards as well. Just like any other path that good men travel. He couldn't help but imagine as he treated these wounded men that he wasn't quite fighting at his maximum potential...he really didn't want to take up the sword again. He had come closer than ever before to making a few mistakes that he couldn't take back back when he carried his swords. But nonetheless if he was really intent to walk the path of the shadow and to serve Sabertooth to his fullest potential he shouldn't cripple his fighting ability like he had been this entire time. It was about time that he started getting serious about his service to the guild, after all Mash was rising through the ranks pretty fast at this point, they might even see him as an ace soon. Roy didn't want to be an ace, to much spotlight for him. But he had to distinguish himself in his own way as Sabertooth's personal shadow. If the guild-master would take enough notice of him then he was sure that he would be able to become one of his trusted vessels. He could only do so much good on standard jobs, at least for Sabertooth. What he needed was to make his leader aware of the nature of his abilities so that he will see fit to use him however the guild needs. The darkest missions, the ones most people can't imagine doing, but also the most necessary ones, these will become his bread and butter. He will be shadow, a fly on the wall, the unseen eyes are ears, a cloak in the night and a knife in the back. He must become these things to make absolutely certain that his guild will be a safe as it can possibly be.
He wasn't sure why he hid exactly what he had done from Mash today, maybe he wasn't ready to let everyone know just what he was, just what he had decided to become. That's why he preferred working alone, or with Zar. He too used darkness for the light. He had already seen him fight, fight without reservations and knew a bit more about him than most.
The authorities arrived on the scene soon after Roy was done bandaging them, he used his magic to disappear into the shadows and slipped away, they seemed a bit shocked at just how bad these men were damaged but didn't seem overly concerned for them, it made sense he supposed they were trying to blow up a hospital. If word did get out around town at just how badly these guys got hurt then that wouldn't be so bad, it would probably deter other criminals from committing a similar crime. Good, let them be afraid to do this again, let this be a warning to the next group of thugs that tries to harm the weak and defenseless.
He summoned his cloud again and raced back towards the guild, he needed some time off and he was eager for a drink, something strong. His flask was empty and he didn't want to show his face around town to much, besides, he was still filthy and soaked in blood. They would all know it was him, and as soon as a shadow is given a face then it no longer remains a shadow. If he was to truly walk this dark path than he should probably consider getting a mask, just something to hide his face. Let his enemies imagination go wild when they think about him, after all whatever it is that they imagine will surely be worse than the reality, that's how fear and the unknown work. Yes the shadow of Sabertooth, that is the name he will aspire to achieve.
He was going to start fighting stronger and stronger opponents he was sure, he would have to in order to achieve the title he wanted, he needed to compete with the best of the best. Both Sabertooth's enemies and even his allies, after all if he couldn't keep up with his friends than there would be no reason for them to rely on him for anything, much less the important tasks that he sought to be trusted with. Certainly he would have to take up the sword again, and more than that his entire strategy focused on diversity, he would have to learn new magic. Different kinds of magic, Perhaps he could find a way to combine both the sword and sorcery....
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