Spooky Pumpkins Are Best Pumpkins (Private)

"Aw, man. Why do I have to be the one out here in this village of superstitious freaks?" A certain blonde asked herself after speaking with a few villagers and then getting as far away from them as quickly as her walking speed could get her. All she had asked was where the damn pumpkin patch was and if she could get a few of them. Not that she would have obeyed if they told her no. Asking was just for consideration and to make things easier. Stealing them instead was always on the table as a backup. After talking to them she realized the backup should have been the goto plan from the getgo. They tried creeping her out with warnings and tales of their village's history, which also included some about the pumpkin patch on the outskirts of the area. A haunted pumpkun patch. Go figure. A place named Haunted Village had a creepy pumpkin patch that they claimed was haunted as well.

Tales of the great and terrible Pumpkin King were abundant, as were the stories of the scarecrow that watched over the pumpkins. Alia scoffed at all of them. Please. They were probably one hundred percent accurate and true, but eh. Details. That was all something she could deal with later like she did most dangerous situations. Usually by running away because like hell was she risking her life in some battle that looked unwinnable. Unless there was a good payout for that kind of danger. This didn't really classify as one of those good payout missions really, but if she didn't take the time to do it she would be bothered endlessly until she did. An associate of hers had gotten a hold of one of those flyers that were scattered all over fiore, and of course he wanted to help for some odd reason unknown to her. Although really she was suspicious that his real agenda was to just annoy her by making her do this gathering by using the excuse he had no time. He was also quick to give the spooky location. Could it be any of the other pumpkin patches in Fiore? Nope. It had to be the Haunted Village pumpkins. Only the spookiest of pumpkins were of acceptable quality for a grand Halloween party. Or so he said to make his point more convincing. When that didn't work he threatened to toss all of the projects that were planned to upgrade her gear away. That convinced her to get going and gather some spooky pumpkins quicker than asap.

Since she was practically in the middle of nowhere, the requip mage didn't see the need to have a disguise or wear a silly mask or anything. Her normal self and wardrobewere fine. If those looking for her were all the way out there then she'd just cross that brigde and deal with that problem later. Just shove all problems away until they stack up on top of each other and become worse. That was amazing logic for was something future Alia could handle. Maybe. The Alia of the present didn't care about the version that would exist five minutes later.

The pumpkin patch had been located, and just looking at it gave her the chills. Yep. It was creepy and very similar looking to something that would exist in a horror lacrima film or story. "This is already starting to be a bad idea..." Bravery wasn't exactly a strong point of hers. It took all of her will power and inner encouragement to get herself to slide through the broken wooden fence that surrounded the pumpkins. A crow cawed, and she jumped in place from the sudden noise. In that same instant a pair of pistols magically appeared in her hands, having been called from her weapon storage space. They were aimed in the direction of the sound, but all that was there was the crow itself and a scarecrow. The crow cawed again and then flew off.

Alia took a breath and cursed. It was relief and agitating at the same time. "Stupid crows. I swear." Looking around, it dawned on her that even though she was surrounded by pumpkins she had absolutely no way to load several of them off. Like hell was she going to store them all in the space meant for her armor and weapons. Thankfully, an old wooden wagon was nearby. "Aha! That'll work. I guess. If it's broken the scarecrow is carrying them." It was meant as a sarcastic joke to herself, but in a way the words had a ring of truth to them. The scarecrow was much more than a typical scarecrow. But it would be a while yet before its part came into play. Certain things did have an order to them, after all, and the way the pumpkin patch tales went were no different. First would be the crows. A great number of them. With Alia distracted as she tried to free the wagon from its position to make use of it the avian creatures began to show up one after another. They lined the wooden fences and the trees, cawing and fluttering their wings. It was a warning that they were about to attack, and the blonde was not paying any attention whatsoever. Hopefully anyone else in the area did for their own safety. It was at that moment the birds took off into the air and swarmed the entire field of pumpkins. Aw, hell.

(Aliarey Word Count: 917)

It had been a while since the whole issue with River Village and he wanted to remain as far away from that place as possible, possibly in another country or even another realm completely. The reason for this was when he returned to the Rune Knight headquarters he made a report as to what happened from when he reached the gate to the point he left the place, he made sure that it was as detailed as possible and put down his dissatisdaction that the superior who had given him the task was looking for his twin brother to do this task and not him. That he had only been given the task because he happened to be come across at the time, in his honest opinion if the task was meant for another member of the guild they they should have been the one that dealt with it, it shouldn't have been thrust on him because 'oh, you'll do' as the major had stated, it had more than ticked him off a little for sure, but orders were orders and so he had followed them to the best of his ability regardless of the situation but made sure it was noted in his report about how it had been handled. When he had handed it in he went through the archives to find out some information on the village and found misfortune more often than not the places was in some sort of trouble. He was starting to wonder if the place was unoffical part of the cursed lands with the trouble they seemed to always find themselves with.

He was about to go for training when he gained a message through a link he held with his twin brother telling him that he was going on a job and would be back in a bit, he couldn't help but groan as it had been such a long time since he had spend any time with his brother. He was missing him dearly and for now he had no tasks to do, moving to the job board he looked around to find something to do while his brother was away. "Guard duty to a diploma... to many chiefs in that village it would be a pain in the end." he said looking at one "Deliver a package? Do I look like the West Fiore Trading Company?" he said looking at another, there was one to follow clues to find a coming storm "This one seems promising." He said looking at the information his eyes catching something else that had been behind it "Pumpkin picking?" he seemed somewhat confused, he knew that halloween was just around the corner, he hadn't ever really taken part in such things "It could be fun I guess, it depends if it is anywhere near this one though." he looked over the festival flyer looking at the list of places these mini festivals would be taking place "The haunted village...." he couldn't help but groan given the name but it was the closest place to the sighting of Baird had been, he knew Baird would have left the area by then but he could get some information and get moving to hunt him down and finally put one of the darkest mages in the making behind bars and hopefully he could be rehabilliated, he wouldn't hold his breath however.

He put in information in the job that he had taken and how to get ahold of him if their had been any updates on the whereabouts of the Coming Storm, that he was now stalking like a derranged fanboy wanting the attention of their famous sempai. He personally knew little from Baird so had to do some research along the way, luckily the map lacrima was actually more like an archive lacrima that gave him additional information areas or people of note; be it good or bad. He then realised that given the time of year he could use his wings a bit more freely without people giving him issue because he could just say they were part of a costume, still he wanted to be safer than sorry so waited until he was outside of Era and quite a bit away before releasing his black leathery wings and streched them. He had to admit that it felt good to have them out once again and with a single jump he had taken to the sky once more towards the haunted village as quickly as he could to get there. After a few hours he started hearing what he could only describe as a murder of crows which caught him off guard "Guess I'm here?" he said his eyes going to the lacrima seeing it was the case, he could only imagine that farm grounds attracted birds he couldn't understand why especially crows since they went after the dead but this was a nature thing and they just brought bad omens from what he understood, he flew down landing outside the village and headed in, whenever he headed towards someone they seemed to rush away from him making him sigh 'Great, this place is superstious' he thought to himself and headed towards where he had seen the crows believing that was where he had to go to pick the pumpkins.

Hania was wearing black smart casual trousers, black shoes, white shirt black open blazer, his head tilted his head a little seeing a blonde haired woman nearby "You here to pick pumpkins too?" he called out to her "Is it just me or are the villiagers acting really strange?" he asked her walking forward towards her, he guessed it could be because they didn't like strangers but then he had to wonder why they would advertise such an event here. "It's just really strange that they do this event yet they cower and hide away." he said wondering if she herself had thought such a thing about the situation, there had to be more to this event and was now having the internal conversation with himself as to why he was so misfortunate to end up in places. They seemed to alway be either weird or not acting like they possibly they should but that was neither here nor there at the end of the day, at least until it was investigated he couldn't really pass anything but personal opinion. "Oh yeah manners..." he rubbed the back of his head realising he hadn't done the basics "I'm Hania." he said to her wondering if she would give him her name his eyes looking around the pumpkins around his feet as if he was expecting one of them to bite his ankle "I'm doing this on my way to find out information on the coming storm Baird. Do you have any information on the person in question?" he asked, he wasn't expecting much but at the same time he wasn't about to get his hopes up, he also kept his guard up because right now he didn't know if she was friend or foe.

Word Count: 1,178
@Aliarey Casady @Diana Winchester

Wearing a navy blue long-sleeved shirt with navy blue cargo pants and black boots, Diana strode onto the outskirts of Haunted Village, a place she had been to on at least two separate occasions before. Tonight Diana was here to pick a pumpkin for a festival. She had never participated in a festival like this, but it was a welcome break from what she would otherwise be doing if it were not for the festival. Diana wondered how Sakura was doing right now, but the blonde would soon have other concerns... a gray-bearded villager in overalls, brown work boots, and a red flannel shirt leaning on a wooden fence marking a field just inside the village proper flagged her down and spoke to her.

"Hey lady, you here to pick pumpkins for that festival?" He asked her. Her green eyes met his brown eyes before she gave her answer.

"Yes." Diana answered laconically.

"I won't stop you 'cause it's none of my business, but I'd be real careful if I was you. I heard that the patch is haunted by some mighty strange stuff!" He passed along rumors of danger that waited for anyone looking to pick pumpkins in the village. Diana was not entirely surprised by the warning because this place seemed to be a magnet for paranormal activity. Her first experience here was with zombies occupying the surrounding woods and the second was with the necromancer controlling the zombies. She would have to be alert while searching for the perfect pumpkin.

"Speaking of the patch, where is it?" Diana asked him.

"If you're serious about going, just follow the path you're on until you go out of the village. Once you're out of here, look for a field to the right. It's the really big one with a rickety fence. You can't miss it." He told her.

"Thanks." Diana thanked the man. He gave a leisurely wave and Diana was on her way to the pumpkin patch. She wondered what kinds of things haunted the pumpkin patch.

Was it zombies or another necromancer? Was it vampires looking for a late-night snack? Or were the rumors nothing more than loose talk? She would find out once she got there.

-At the pumpkin patch, fifteen minutes later-

After a walk down the main village thoroughfare that was aglow with the orange light of old-fashioned globe lanterns with candles inside of them, Diana found herself standing outside a large field that was to the right of the path and was just outside the village. Boxing it in was a rickety waist-high wooden fence that let her know that she was in the right place. Diana activated her natural night vision and entered the field through an opening in the fence.

Diana walked until she reached the middle of the field, where a blonde dressed in black armor with gold trim and armored greaves over her boots and a dark-haired youth wearing black smart casual trousers, black shoes, and white shirt with a black open blazer stood. Diana heard cawing and looked just above the pair to find a murder of crows massing for an attack on the two mages, soon to be three. Wary of how walking up to them with a weapon out would look, Diana walked over to them without a weapon and introduced herself.

"I am Diana." Diana laconically introduced herself to her fellow blonde and the dark-haired youth. She then pointed towards the sky and the flock of angry birds circling overhead.

"Before we talk further, I suggest we deal with the threat looming over our heads first." Diana calmly suggested to the two strangers.

[Post Word Count: 638]
[Diana's Word Count: 638/1,500]

"The hell?" The voice of another in the field brought the blonde out of her concentration of getting the large wooden wagon standing upright and in working order. Who else in their right mind would be at the pumpkin patch that belonged to the Haunted Village?! More importantly, did that mean there was now competition for all of the pumpkins? She couldn't have that. The mission needed to get done so she could get her upgrades! For being a supposedly S Rank mage her equipment was super old and had the power of her B Rank abilities. In short, they sucked. Extremely. They didn't have enough boom or pew pew. Still, if the guy was there to steal the pumpkins she had already claimed for herself, she'd just have to shoot him. Unless he could kick her butt after the fact. A different and less suicidal plan was needed for that. Alia had already gotten beaten up once in her life for stealing from the wrong person and that was not a very fun experience. So hooray for her. Some kind of lesson had been learned that day and was being used for the present.

The re-quip mage stopped with the wagon and rapidly turned around to face the unknown man with a glare in her eyes. Being polite wasn't really her forte when someone could be competition or tried to give her a heart attack by being some weirdo hanging out in a haunted pumpkin patch. She rolled her sapphire eyes at the sight. Of course. Another pretty boy. Number three trillion and seven. A random number to emphasize that she couldn't remember the last time she saw an average dude. He was probably just as much of an annoyance as the others. With the sounds of the birds being hard to ignore now, she stopped what she was about to say to him and looked up. "Oh, you're kidding me!" Her survival mode went into action as some of the birds came down for an attack. She climbed and hopped over the wagon, flipped it back over, and hid behind it as if it were a shield. What? Her magic was mostly offense! Those magical barriers that everyone flung around everywhere she didn't have! So... if she had to improvise a little then so be it! Don't judge!

There were a few sounds of impact as the birds collided with the wagon or went back into the air, but that seemed to be it. Alia poked her head up to get a peak of the patch and it seemed safe enough. The mass smoke of birds was still in the air, cawing and threatening to gouge her eyes out, but it was safe enough to stand and make a counter attack. Firstly though, she stared at the man with an arched brow. "Do you always try and make conversation in dangerous places with certain death hanging around? You should fix that habit. It's just weird, and I ain't sticking around to answer any of those questions.... uhh...." Well, she already forgot his name, assuming she was really paying attention to begin with. "Pretty Boy Three Trillion Seven."

Another had approached the duo during all of that, or when she was hiding behind the wagon. Alia wasn't really paying that close attention to another person in a haunted pumpkin patch. Was that really where everyone hung out now? The gun mage was flabbergasted. Either way though, the newest blonde to the patch had a very good point. Alia pointed to her while staring at the young man. "See? She's smart. Talk later." Or not at all. That option was good too. It didn't even occur to her that she didn't introduce her own name like the other two did.

A small metal disc materialized in Alia's hand, having been called from her weapon storage. What could a simple disc do against a murder of crows? Well... probably not much actually. Good thing she wasn't that dumb to go charging in swinging with it. Instead she threw it. Yes, threw it. Not even bothering to aim at the flock since it landed right on the ground. The metal disc then turned into an automated gatling gun turret that began to fire at all of the birds that were in the way, along with everything else. Hopefully the other two had moved to deal with some crows themselves or taken cover before the fire assault began. The turret even duplicated for more fire power. One by one the birds fell to the ground, dead. Good riddance. But there was something off about them. They still twitched and moved unnaturally. "Oh, what now?" Alia groaned as she watched them and saw them go towards each other to combine and form some other larger mass of death and destruction. What was created horrified her. "No! Nononono!" The blonde chanted and yelled the word loudly in a panic while calling forth a different turret that turned into a particle cannon that fired several times at the horrible bird creature as it was forming. Then as that was firing she called another turret, this time one that floated in the air that fired a single powerful shot for more kaboomness. Add in the rocket launcher that she held and fired at it, and it was quite clear to others that this woman preferred overkill, and did not know the meaning of restraint.

The assault eventually came to a stop, with the creature destroyed in the process. "I said 'No'." Alia took a breath, taking in the momentary relief. That was actually a little exhausting, but things were clear now whether the two others in the patch with her helped clear it out or not. She scanned the area, noticing something different aside from the corpses on the ground. There was something different.... and then she realized what it was. "Hey, what happened to the scarecrow?" It was not where it originally was. It was missing entirely.

(Word Count: 1001
Alia Total: 1918
1500 used for Event
New Alia Total: 418)

Enemy Checklist:

Crows
Lord of Crows
Mr. Scarecrow
Pumpkin Patch King

The black haired male couldn't really care less at the fact the blonde haired sapphire eyed woman was glaring at him, he had seen that look far to many times in his life to let it bother him any longer. He did however take a moment to look her up and down to try and figure out what kind of woman she was, and silently sighed 'Why do the attractive ones have to be crazy mercs?' he thought to himself completely unsure if his twin brother had heard his thoughts given their distance away from each other. Then again he didn't exactly know if she was a merc or not this was just speculation on his part based purely on apperance and the few mannerisms he had seen. He knew there where a murder of crows flying above them, he just didn't care in all honesty, well that was until he felt something drop on his shoulder and his eyes going wide as he seen that one of them decided to crap on him. The next thing that happened was that he started to freak the hell out. He started to quickly take off his blazer and fell back over a pumpkin onto the dirt squashing a few others under his weight. "Could anything else go wrong today?" he groaned once again in a panic as he took off his shirt revealing his guild symbol on his left shoulder. It showed him to be a Rune Knight, and was white with a red border. he would have to get some clothing in the village before he could leave this place because like hell he was going to do his primary task half dressed. Rumours had stated that Baird didn't have prefrence in partners but he had also heard that when he actually got married he only had eyes for his wife. He guessed even those on a misguided path could feel love, so to him there must have been some hope for those in the darkness. Then again he didn't know that the infamous musician of the Errings Rising guild had lost the love of his life during their month long honeymoon.

He was back on his feet when he heard another female voice behind him and waved a little "Hania. Sorry for my inappropriate attire Diana... I... um..." he scratched his head as he tried to think of a logical way to tell him why he was like this. "I'm sorry." he just went with, he didn't know her so it wasn't like he could say that he was a severely germaphobic so saying sorry was just the simplist way. "I rather not kill things if I can help it but on this occasion I'd make an exception." he said his tone showing he wasn't happy in the least bit at current. It was autumn and he was now half dressed and cold due to the 'bomb' one decided to drop on his blazer. Hania sighed his eyes closing and an aura seeming to burst from him "Fire." he said calmly, he knew that this spell would allow all spells cast now to gain a fire effect thus making offensive attacks be it physical or magical that more destructive. The next thing he done was made a cut in his thumb allowing a drop to form on it, a second later it evaporated and the cut vanishing, he knew that this would poison elements so they would become impure. Now any element natural or otherwise would be more dangerous if consumed. He honestly didn't see anything here wanting to eat elements but he would rather be safer than sorry due to the reputation this place seemed to have. He opened his eyes when he heard the first blonde haired woman talk, this did catch him a little off guard but seeing as they were being attacked by a murder that had murderous intent he guessed her sudden outburst was a natural on this occassion.

He looked at her moving with skill as she used the nearby wagon as a springboard and hid behind it, he could only guess that she didn't have many if any shield or defensive abilities. This made him feel kinda sad for her as it meant that she was essencially a glass cannon. They didn't live that long from what he remembered from his childhood, so was quite glad he came with one naturally. "Well, I'm in no real danger to be honest. I was born with a natural shield around me that has got stronger as I have." he said to her with a shrug "Besides, I grew in sin and there it's survival of the fittest because everything is prey to something. So no, I don't feel threatened by a murder of crows." he said confidently to the peeking blonde. "Hania." he rolled his eyes a little at the fact she had alreadly forgotten his name, it wasn't like it was a hard one to remember, especially compared to his twins. "I get it, I get it..." he grumbled, there was only one issue with their plan however. He had locked away his offensive magic so only had access to support spells. He now let out another near invisible pulse, unlike the last one this gave him access to access a fraction of his 'allies' own strengths and make them his own, at least for now. He watched the other mage intently but as soon as he seen what the disk could do he moved quickly to take cover behind a nearby tree making sure not to press his back to it, dragging Diana with him to keep her safe from the other mages attack that would damage to them both if they hadn't. Sure he had his shield but he wasn't risking it as he had no idea just how strong that spell was. "Are you crazy woman?!" he called to the gun mage because to him that was exactly what she was given what she done with little regard to others in the area. Sure, they weren't allies or friends and there was a murder of crows but still that was no reason for her to put everyone in danger to take the 'easy' solution.

He held Diana to him and popped his head from the side of the tree to see if it was safe yet to move, only tou hear the maniac saying 'no' constantly and the crows forming into a new creature. He still wasn't willing to move out of cover to help given the turret was still firing and he still didn't know its strength. His eyes went to the woman he held in his arms "Forgive my rashness, I didn't want you to get harmed due to the reckless actions of another." he could tell that both mages were of similar strength to himself and so would be able to take care of himself, still this was his nature and let the blonde go as soon as he heard the firing stop. "The scarecrow?" he asked peering out from behind the tree, he had seen a scarecrow in the middle of the field as he had flown over, but sure enough it was no longer there. "Scarecrows don't just move on their own do they?" it wasn't that he wasn't uneducated its just where he and Loucetios had grown up he wouldn't have been surprised if they did. He moved from behind the tree and emitted an invisible pulse, this would allow the three to float above the ground or even fly if they so desired, he knew it also meant they wouldn't need to breath so didn't have to worry about drowning under water, lack of thin air in higher altitudes or air born attacks. It would also allow them to feel warmer in this colder weather, sprouting a set of white feathery wings instead of his normal inky black leathery ones due to the spell he flew up and had a look around from the air before spotting it trying to creep up behind the gun mage. It was then his demonic nature took over and wanted to pay back what the other had just pulled with her turret. He had a spell that would make her the target of all the attacks while he dealt with the enemy, however, he took a deep breath and settled his mind. He wasn't like that and he would hate to have a potential ally turn into a potential enemy for wanting to get even with her.

Without another thought he dive bombed, his eyes closing for a mere moment, as they opened they were now a deep purple colour filled with souls seemingly, a smirk plastered on his face as he knocked the scarecrow down. He had made sure not to get close to the gun mage in his descent but now there were three additional of each mage running around, each with the aura of the original so the enemy had no idea which was the real one. Now his aura darkened engulfing the area his allies would be able to see things with a darker tint, his enemies however had just lost their sense of smell, their hearing and their sight. This would have been a bit of an issue given the scarecrow now started to trash out that was until Hania jamp back his left hand to the sky a ocean blue seal forming, the moment it did he brought his hand down and a burst of energy flew out from it immobilizing the enemy in their tracks. Moving forward he quickly he started a swift flurry of blows to every non vital part of the enemies body, not that it really mattered given that he was made out of straw, but this was just how he fought not wanting to kill. Still, the enemy was quickly defeated as it couldn't move and couldn't see from which direction the attacks were coming from. "Scarecrow down." he said to the others "Still, something doesn't feel right be on guard." he let the others know unaware that the true threat was still to show itself.

Word count: 1,700
Total word count: 2,878
~~1.5k words to be used towards the event continuing as a job~~
New WC: 1,378
@Diana Winchester @Aliarey Casady
Notes:
3 more dopplegangers will appear at the beginning of next round
It's up to you Diana if you want the boss effected by Lost Paradise, but will be affected by Ending Senses.

Spells used:

Enemy List:

Crows
Lord of Crows
Mr. Scarecrow
Pumpkin Patch King

Before Diana could even act the other blonde had swung into action to take care of the threat from the sky by... throwing metal discs to the ground? What was the other blonde thinking? Diana soon saw that the discs were not just metal discs, but automated gun turrets that could be placed to deal with threats while their owner was free to do other things or add their own firepower to the mix. The blonde was impressed... until the automated turrets began to fire a little off course and the shots began to fly close to Hania and herself. The other blonde clearly did not intend for the turrets to begin firing wildly, but whether or not she wanted it to happen would be academic if Diana got hit by the particle cannon or rocket launcher. The other mages would have to scrape bits of Diana off of the pumpkin patch... or they could just bury what was left of her so that her remains could be used as fertilizer for pumpkins.

Before she began planning her own funeral, Diana took a moment to observe the turrets in action as they shot at the murder of crows. Most of their shots were hitting the crows, but since they flew together in a densely packed formation it was not terribly hard to hit at least one of them per burst. Once the crows had all been shot down they formed into a shadowy beast that the turrets did not have too much difficult getting rid of because it was a rather big target. However, there were still a few shots going wild and those wild shots were still dangerous to Hania and Diana.

Diana did not have to worry about premature death because the dark-haired youth grabbed her tightly and began to carry her out of harm's way. After quite a few sudden moves the pair eventually came to a stop behind a tree, where they were reasonably safe from the automated gun platforms... at least until a rocket came whizzing by. Diana waited behind cover with Hania until the gun show was over before speaking to him.

"It is no problem, Hania. I am simply glad to be alive. Diana said to her rescuer. An extended conversation would have to wait because the other blonde called out to Hania that the scarecrow that sat in the field was now missing. Missing? How could a scarecrow possibly go miss- oh, right. The trio was in the area of Haunted Village, where weird stuff like that happened a lot. At least now she knew that the rumors the overall-wearing villager had shared with her were true beyond all doubt.

Diana looked around for the missing strawman and found it standing behind the blonde gunslinger. Hania did not wait for the other mage to react... he took the offensive and somehow sprouted white feathery wings and took to the sky to deal with the scarecrow, who had somehow come across a scythe and equipped it for the anticipated slaughter of humans who came to the pumpkin patch for the festival. Diana thought of bringing out a weapon to help him, but she would only risk hitting him with stray shots. Instead of ineffectually plinking away at the strawman and running the risk of a friendly fire incident the navy blue-clad blonde opted to stand back and watch the show.

Diana watched as the airborne Hania divebombed the target and then hit it with a spell that manifested as a dark aura that radiated from Hania's position. He then used an ocean blue seal to immobilize the scarecrow before moving in for the kill with a flurry of punches that did not stop until the enemy was defeated. The winged mage had moved so quickly and hit so hard that the scarecrow did not even get a chance to use its scythe once. Diana breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief was short-lived because a fog began to roll in over the fence and creep across the pumpkin patch. Hania was right... something else was out there.

Diana saw an orange light glowing in the distance and brought out her Suppressed Assault Rifle. She peered through the scope and saw a pumpkin-headed something wearing black robes and holding a lantern that was the source of the orange light. It had floated effortlessly through the fence and paused a good distance away from Diana. It focused squarely on her and began to rush at her.

Diana raised her Suppressed Assault Rifle and began to fire, aiming for its head before flipping the fire selector switch to full auto and squeezing the trigger. Round after round began to tear through its pumpkin head and spew tiny pumpkin chips on the ground, but that was not enough firepower to stop it outright. It closed with her and brought its sharp claws down in a downward power chop. Diana stumbled back and dropped her weapon; the barrel had been cut by the sharpness of the claws.

The enemy laughed as Diana dispelled the worthless weapon and raised two of her fingers for a Spirit Drain Beam, a reliable counter against enemies which mortal arms could not easily handle. It swung the lantern at her and hit the back of her hand, knocking it down and causing Diana a lot of pain. Undeterred, she brought up her fingers again and focused pale blue magic into them until the spell was ready, then fired the Spirit Drain Beam and hit it in the face. It darted back, allowing Diana time to prepare a Spirit Drain Punch.

Once it was ready Diana used a Reaper's Sprint to close the distance and hit the enemy in the chest with the spell a few moments after emerging from the "flash step." The pumpkin creature again darted back to get out of her reach and drew back its free hand, flinging a ball of shadow energy at her. Diana ducked under it and prepared another Spirit Drain Beam, then fired once it charged her with claws out. The beam hit it in the chest and caused it to drop its lantern, which thankfully did not break.

Unwilling to let her adversary recover and attack again, Diana activated her special lineage ability and rushed towards it with her right hand held open. Once she was within range she pressed her hand against its head, clenched her fingers to get a grip as best she could, and watched as it body ignited in pale blue flames. It wrenched free of her and flailed about wildly, then regrouped and rushed at her with its clawed hand outstretched in a last-ditch effort to take her with it. Diana stood her ground and prepared to fire a third Spirit Drain Beam, but it disintegrated just before it could reach her. It disappeared in a puff of blue flame and the lantern lying on the ground had joined its owner on the other side.

"Problem solved." Diana reported laconically.

[Post Word Count: 1,188]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,826/1,500]