Who are you gonna call?

It was midmorning in the town of Ace of Spades and the local slayer could once again be found on board his ship, Tailspin. He was a loyal member of Sabertooth and all but with the ship being fully fixed up, he truly felt at home and that wasn’t really a secret for anyone. Kite had made it a habit that every morning he would dedicate time in order to get some sort of training done in the day whether it would be some sort of magic related training or physical he would be diligent in this. This was often determined by where he was when he decided to train. Since Tailspin was parked in Ace of Spades he stayed inside and worked out in the Cargo bay where there was plenty of room to do so.

Turq was sleeping on the top of the ship so he didn’t see or hear the visitor approach the ship. Kite was in the middle of doing pull ups on the bar he had rigged to hang down from the catwalk when he heard the loud and repeated metallic “bang bang bang” on the metal ramp that was still pulled up from the night before. “You have a visitor at the door Kite” EDI would announce from intercoms on the ship. Looking at the viewfinder he would ask, “Why didn’t any proximity alarm go off?” Genuinely confused as to why it didn’t go off. “Turq is presently resting on the top of the ship so I didn't have it activated.” Kite would shake his head, “He is sleeping, not on guard duty. I finally got that web stuff off of the ship from the whole Pergrande rebellion thing.” EDI would give a slight chuckle, “It was funny to watch you clean it all up.” A glare would be given as a response before another set of knocks came from the other side of the ramp. “We will talk after I see what this is about.” Grabbing a shirt he would put it on before pushing the button to lower the ramp and open the airlock doors. It would hiss as it began to lower down with the airlock doors sliding open . The gentleman who had been knocking had backed up to give the ramp enough space to fully descend to the ground. “Would you be Kite Wihelm by chance?” Kite would keep his cross his arms looking at the man before him, “By chance. Who is asking?” He would gingerly walk up the ramp with a hand extended, “hello Mr.Wilhelm my name is Mathias and I have a job offer for you.” With a gesture with his arms he would invite him into Tailspin to sit and chat about it.

Kite would lead his uninvited guest up to gally where he would offer him a glass of water before sitting down at the head of the table to listen. “So what’s the job.” Kite would ask. After taking a sip of water he would answer, “There is this house that recently came into my possession. I would like to renovate it into a nice hotel and make a profit off of my acquisition. However none of the construction crews will go near it due to the house’s reputation of being haunted. The job is to go there to disprove these stories or even eliminate what’s haunting it.” Kite would let out a loud sigh, “I’m not a demon slayer anymore. The supernatural isn’t really something I dive into like I used to.” His magic could handle things but this wasn’t really interesting to him. The man would put 200,000 jewels on the table, “this would be the reward for your efforts.” Kite would see the money and think to himself. It was a decent offer and how hard could this really be? At thought would cross his mind. “Tell you what, let me see if I can get one person to join me on this. Give them the same offer as me and if you do I’ll accept regardless if they agree to it or not.” Kite would offer his hand to shake on it. Without hesitation Mathias would shake his hand in agreement right before giving Kite the address where he and the person he had in mind could go to claim the reward.

After letting the man leave his ship followed by a well deserved shower Kite would depart the ship to head into town, “EDI spin up the engines. When I get back we will take off.” Kite would make it down the ramp as EDI would respond, “Who are you getting.” Kite would smirk, “you’ll see, just be ready. Are you coming along Turq?” He would ask his dragon who was now awake. “I don’t think there is much I could do. I likely wouldn’t fit in the house. I’ll follow along just in case though.” Nodding the Dragon Emperor headed into town towards a familiar place where he was betting he would find the specific person he was lookingn for. Walking through the Red Dragon Inn’s main room he would approach the bar where the familiar brunette that had ventured with him to Pergrande City during the Symposium was going on. “Hey Vic,Is this seat taken?” He would ask Vic. After being given an answer he would take a seat next to her. Looking at the bartender he would raise a hand to get his attention and say,”My usual and whatever she is having on me please.” It was funny how this was familiar to how he recruited her for the patrol. Hopefully things would be less explosive this time around. “I got a pretty good gig lined up with a decent payout. You game for a job?”

Wc: 962/11,000

-Inside Red Dragon Inn-

Wearing her white Steel Matron t-shirt and black skirt with white tennis shoes, Victoria sat in a seat at the bar drinking a Cherry Charge soda like she had started doing lately. She had not had any alcohol in awhile, not even a single Screwdriver or a single shot of tequila. She needed to save alcohol for festive occasions instead of taking a drink every time she felt like it. Victoria laughed to herself once she realized what she was thinking.

She could not believe that she was thinking such a thought.

Alcohol used to be her favorite drink, especially vodka. Albino Gander, Slatheron, even the very rare bottle of CEIL when nothing else was available... she used to drink vodka whenever she could get away with it, but lately she had not been drinking nearly as much of it. The last time in recent memory she had had an alcoholic drink was when she took some swigs from a bottle of vodka the day Kite met up with Kenna. That meeting was at least a few weeks ago, if not longer.

Lately Victoria had started drinking a lot of soda. In her case "a lot" meant at least three cans a day. Drinking soda at random times was more socially acceptable than a swig of vodka at random times and was somewhat healthier for her, so the brunette would drink soda for as long as she could get away with it. No one had complained about her new beverage of choice so far, so she was going to run with it until someone told her to stop.

After reviewing her new drink policy and confirming it Victoria silently went back to drinking her half-empty can of Cherry Charge while looking at the wall behind the bar. She was wondering what kind of job she should go looking for in a little while when someone walked into the inn and asked if the seat beside her had been claimed. Victoria looked at the newcomer and saw that it was Kite. She made eye contact with the taller male and spoke to him.

"Nah, Kite. The seat hasn't been claimed by anyone. At least as far as I know." Victoria said to him. After a short time he told her something that was of considerable interest to the ponytailed brunette. It sounded like he had something interesting in the works, a gig that he was asking if she had any interest in. He was in luck because Victoria was tired of doing menial jobs like book deliveries and ferrying her favorite client's relative between Capital Crocus and Sakuramori. Today she was up for something with higher stakes and a better payday.

"I might be interested, Kite. What kinda job are we talking about?" Victoria asked Kite. The question was asked mostly because she needed to know what gear she needed to grab before she set off on another adventure. At the bare minimum she would need to wear her Azure Armor and carry her backpack of supplies.

[Post Word Count: 510]
[Victoria's Word Count: 510/11,000]

Kite would give Victoria a smile after eye contact was made between the two. She would answer his question if anyone was sitting in the seat next to her. Upon hearing her answer that the seat had not been claimed by anyone he would nod and take the seat as his own. He would listen to her answer regarding the little job that he had lined up and that she in fact may be interested in joining in. A smirk would come across his face when she asked what sort of job it was that he was referring to. “Alright. Good.” Before he could start on the details two cans of soda were placed in front of them by the barkeep. One being an identical can of Cherry Charge which Victoria had already been drinking and in front of Kite was a can of root beer. He didn’t prefer to drink drink when there was a job on the line and the way he saw it at least rootbeer had beer in the name. After nodding at the Barkeep he would return his eye contact back to Victoria as he started to explain the job. “I had a visitor at my ship this morning and he is the one that gave me the job.” He would crack open his root beer and take a sip before continuing with the details, “He seems to be a man of some wealth and purchased a house with the intent of remaking it into a hotel. However a detail that he was unaware of or overlooked was the house has a history of being haunted. It has made it impossible for him to get a crew in there to start the renovations.” A smirk would come across his face, “So he came to me due to my history as  Demon Slayer looking for help. The job is to go to the house and prove that the stories of it being haunted are just that. Stories. If there is anything in the house of course to take care of it but all in all seems like an easy job but the cherry on top is he is willing to pay 200,000K worth of jewels for it to get done. I mentioned I might have someone to help, that being you of course and he is willing to match that wage for you as well. This house never came across my radar back when I was a demon slayer so I don't know much about it and it's not as exciting as the Rebellion in Felidae City but could be interesting depending on what we find.” He would take another sip. “What do you say?”Kite would wait and answer any sort of questions that Victoria would have before she would accept. Kite would get up to head back to Tailspin to prepare for departure, “Alright awesome. The ship is parked where it was last time. I will leave it open so you can come right aboard. I will set up things on my end. See you shortly.”

After walking up the ramp for Tailspin he noticed that Turq had taken off and was flying around the perimeter of the town. He still wasn’t sure if his dragon friend was going to join them. After climbing the ramp to enter the cargo bay he was immediately greeted by EDI. “So how did it go?” Looking up at the viewfinder he would nod, “Victoria is going to come along for the job.” EDI would start the engines causing the ship to start vibrating, “Where are we heading?” she would ask so she could calculate where the ship would be going after takeoff. Kite held up a piece of paper. “The client gave me the coordinates on this. I will input them manually up in the cockpit and then prepare for the mission. As soon as Victoria gets here you can take off.” he would say as he proceeded to climb the stairs and take the catwalk to the correct bulkhead that would lead up to the foredeck hall that lead to the cockpit. After plugging in the coordinates he would go back into the hallway and climb down the ladder that lead to his sleeping quarters where he would change out of the casual clothing he had been wearing during his workout from earlier into his usual clothing when he went on jobs. Black slacks, sleeveless high neck shirt and the gloves that came up to his forearm. Belts were put in their specific places with a piece of fur lined fabric hanging from the belt around his waist. Once he was ready he would climb up the ladder and go back to the Cockpit to wait for Victoria’s arrival if she wasn’t already there before he finished getting ready. Whether she arrived before or after Kite finished getting ready she would be greeted by EDI voicing she was happy to see the brunette upon her arrival, “Welcome back to Tailspin Victoria I am glad to see Kite is making friends since he is return. Kite is up by the cockpit if you would like to head on up. We will be taking off very shortly.”

wc:868
total wc: 1829

Victoria listened to Kite lay out the job details for her and slowly drank from her can of Cherry Charge while occasionally making eye contact as he talked. As she listened the job got more and more interesting, but the most interesting part was the pay. 200,000 Jewels was quite an incentive to go see if the so-called "haunted house" the client wanted them to check out was really haunted or not. The work sounded interesting and the pay was really good; excitement and pay were two factors that influenced which jobs the brunette took.

This job checked both boxes.

"I'm interested in this job, Kite. Lemme go grab my gear and I'll be ready to go." Victoria expressed her interest in the job in no uncertain terms. Just like last time she would have to gear up before they traveled to the job site. Kite let her know where the ship would be and informed her that he would leave it open so that she did not have to give a password or do anything special to get on board. Victoria quietly set the can down and made eye contact with him again.

"OK, Kite. I'll be there as quickly as I can." Victoria told him. She did not want to keep him waiting too long because the duo needed to get moving as quickly as possible. She finished her can of Cherry Charge and stood up, took it to the appropriate waste receptacle, and threw it in, then left the inn to get everything she needed for the trip. She already had everything she needed in mind... it was only a matter of getting her hands on it.

-Aboard the Tailspin-

Wearing her Azure Armor over her white Steel Matron t-shirt and carrying the large-caliber handgun Hellsinger in its holster on her right hip plus Silver Dagger in its sheath on her left hip, Victoria had everything she needed to deal with the supernatural... if anything supernatural showed up. If it did, then she had two weapons that could hurt them. If not, her weapons could still reliably hurt whatever opposition they encountered.

Victoria had been to Haunted Castle, Haunted Guild, Silent Cemetery, Sombras Manor, and Lycan Woods on several different jobs. She had fought zombies, ghosts, werewolves, zombie dogs, and other supernatural threats on their home turf. She had even fought against demons summoned by a cult on at least two occasions. Every time she fought against them she had won, but she had better not get complacent. Victoria would need to take this job seriously because she was not the only one who would be going into a potentially dangerous situation... Kite would be risking his life too.

When Victoria boarded the Tailspin she received the greetings of EDI and learned from the helpful AI assistant where Kite was waiting. The brunette thanked EDI for the information and stated that she would go there right away. She had kept him waiting long enough and she did not want Kite to think she had lost interest in the job.

When she got to where Captain Kite was waiting she greeted the waiting mage.

"Hey Kite. Now that I'm geared up with everything I know I'll need and everything I think I need I'm ready to go when you are." Victoria greeted him. She had brought her Azure Armor and two weapons she knew could hurt both mundane and supernatural threats. As soon as Kite was ready to go the two would be flying off on another adventure.

[Post Word Count: 590]
[Victoria's Word Count: 1,100/11,000]

Kite watched Victoria sip more of her soda from the open can that she had when he had arrived as he explained what the job was and what was in it for her. He wasn’t entirely sure what made her interested in the job whether it be the nature of the job or the decent payday that was going to come from it. For the sake of not being wrong he happily assumed both. With her verbally confirming that she was interested in the job she would state that she needs to grab her gear for the mission. He would before stating that he would have the ship opened for her. After hearing her state that she would be there as quickly as she could he would nod, “That sounds good but you don’t gotta rush. We have plenty of time and the job isn’t going anywhere.” He would say as he followed out of the Inn holding the door open as she walked out. Before she would run off he would continue, “And I won’t be leaving without you so it’s all good. See you in a bit.”

On the ship while Victoria was getting her things Kite had already gotten himself prepared for the mission that was to come. He could hear EDI as she greeted Victoria back onto the ship and specified where she could find Kite, which was the cockpit. He was sitting in his seat on the right of the cockpit relaxing while waiting for her but would stand up seeing his new friend standing in his ship. He saw she was wearing her azure armor like the last time but this time she was already equipped with at least two weapons. He saw the dagger resting in its sheath on her left hip while there was a rather imposing looking hand cannon style weapon holstered on her right. Seeing the piece strapped to her hip reminded him of his trusty Rose. It had stopped working when he went into the Void, maybe after this mission he will work on a replacement for it. She greeted him first stating that she was ready to go now that she had gotten all of her needed equipment. “Awesome! Sounds like it’s time to go.” He would look at the viewfinder that was on the ceiling in the cockpit, “EDI take her up. Less than a second later the ship’s turbines would roar to life propelling the ship into the air before they turned so the turbines were facing towards the stern  causing the ship to begin flying following the flight path to the coordinates he input earlier.  

With the ship on route to where this haunted house is they would have some free time until they got there. “So since we got some time to kill, what would you say to getting an official tour of Tailspin?” He wasn’t sure how much of the ship she had explored when she was on board the last time but seeing as this was the second occasion that he had her on board for a mission it may not be a bad idea to show her around the ship and would answer any questions she would ask along the way. Especially if they continue to team up for jobs it wouldn’t be a bad idea. As he led Victoria out of the cockpit he would point out the cut out in the wall along the foredeck,  “these are the crew quarters, or at the least it was at one point.'' When he had gotten the ship he was part of a team. People and friends that he hadn’t seen in years, even before the two years of his removal from the world. Passing through the bulkhead he would lead her into the galley where there was a fully functional cooking area as well as a table in the middle. On the other side of the room across from the kitchen were two doors with the one on the right being a pantry and the left being the showers for the crew. “While you’re on board you can help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Even a few cans of cherry charge in the fridge if you care for some.” She has been in the cargo bay and seen the catwalk steps that lead to the foredeck and the galley so he was going to take her down the steps at the other end by the engine. Pointing down at the end of the hall they both could hear the humming of the main engine, “Down there is the engine room where the engine room is.” EDI would chime in, ”That’s where my core is located too. Making it the best part of the ship.” Kite would chuckle, “this is true. EDI keeps it all working.” With a hand gesture he would lead his guest down the stairs that lead to a part of the ship that Victoria likely never seen yet.

Once they hit the bottom of the stairs they would find themselves in a room roughly the size of the galley but configured differently. Just ahead of them was a small couch with a coffee table in front of it. To the right was another small table with chairs placed around it. “This is the lounge area and over there.” He would point to the left where there were two small hallways with a slide door each of walls, “that is the guest/ passenger area. You’re welcome to put your belongings there and make yourself at home.” He would begin to walk toward the second table with the chairs and point into the large room that took up most of the space. Inside the room dead center was a medical style chair. “This here is the med bay. Can treat most injuries here and have some medicines on hand if needed.” Once he was done he would lead her up the metal stair case until they reached the doorway that put them right back in the Cargo bay. “And that is the entire ship.  Hope the tour was somewhat enjoyable.”

Kite would spend the trip to the haunted house in the galley with a mug of tea and if Vic would join would converse if she wanted to talk otherwise he would relax in peace before the ship eventually landed. Once the ship had set down completely EDI would lower the cargo ramp for them to walk down. They would see that EDI landed the ship roughly 50 meters away from the house itself. “At least we have really good parking.” He would say jokingly to Vic. As they would get closer to the house he would try to really look it over. The house looked pretty ordinary from the outside but he could see why the client wanted to convert it into a hotel. It wasn’t as big as a mansion but it wasn’t too far off based on the number of windows he could see. “Let’s see what’s so bad about this house” he’d state as he put his hand on the door knob and gave it a jiggle. It was unlocked. “Guess they aren’t worried about anyone breaking into this haunted house.” Followed by a chuckle he’d turn the knob and push the door open. As he would walk in with her he’d make eye contact with her, “where do you think we should check first?” Once she would give him her answer the door would slam shut behind them echoing throughout the house. Kite would slowly turn towards the door with eyes slightly more widened. “So. Something is here. Great.” Had he still been the purgatory slayer he might have sensed it before they had entered the house. He was going to have to adjust to this being caught off guard by the supernatural.

WC:3,140/ 11,000

Once Victoria accepted the offer of the tour she went on a whirlwind tour of the Tailspin with Captain Kite as her guide. He showed her the crew quarters on something called the foredeck... whatever that was. She gathered that Kite was using nautical terminology to name locations, but she had no idea what he was saying, so she just paid attention to what she was being told.

Over time Victoria learned that Tailspin had a fully equipped galley and a table where crew members could eat without having to take their food to their quarters to eat it. That was a pretty sweet addition to the ship. Victoria knew what a galley was from her time on board Captain Mercator's ship The Traveling Merchant, so she did not need a translation.

After the pair went down some stairs at the end of the hall Kite pointed the way to the loud engine room and told her that EDI monitored it around the clock to make sure nothing went wrong with it. After that he guided her to another room that had more than a passing resemblance to the galley, but there were a few key differences from the galley. Chief among them was an absence of kitchen equipment, but another key difference was the presence of a couch. In front of said couch was a coffee table where one could place books, magazines, iLac, or whatever on top. This room was the lounge.

On the left where two small sliding doors stood were a guest and passenger area that Victoria was given free reign to use as she wished. After pointing out where that was Kite pointed out a medical bay that was equipped to treat most common injuries and had a supply of various medicines on hand in case the injury was not serious enough to merit a full medical exam and treatment plan.

Once the tour had wrapped up Kite went on his way while Victoria went to the guest and passenger area to drop off her backpack. She doubted that she would need it or anything in it and it was cumbersome to wear on top of her Azure Armor. She then hung around the area and waited for the Tailspin to arrive at its destination.

When it finally arrived she felt the ship land. That was her cue to join up with Kite and begin their exploration of the so-called haunted house. She met him in the cargo bay and together the two Sabertooth mages disembarked from Tailspin and headed towards the house, which was roughly fifty meters away from them.

As the pair approached Victoria got a good look at the size of the house in question. It was a decent-sized structure that was fairly large, but it was not quite big enough to qualify as a mansion. No matter what its size was they were tasked with investigating it on behalf of the client and that was what they would do. Kite opened the door for them and he went in followed by the brunette.

-Inside the house-

Victoria had barely walked through the doorway when Kite asked her where they should begin their search. Victoria was about to respond when she suddenly seized up and fell to the floor, landing on her back where the armor cushioned her. The brunette lay on the floor for a few moments and began to think, something that she did from time to time.

Why was she here?

Then Victoria felt a dark impulse, one that made her clench her teeth in anger.

Victoria slowly sat up on her own and stood up on shaky feet before they became steady. She looked at Kite and felt a sudden dislike for the guy. She looked at him and glared angrily.

He was here to use her just like everyone else in Sabertooth did.

Everyone in the guild thought she was a joke, an alcoholic, and an alcoholic joke until they needed some extra muscle to go with them on a job. Then they came running to her for help. They came running to the very person they made fun of.

Victoria hated being used by everyone in Sabertooth. This guy was no different. He just wanted a meatshield to protect him while he did all the important stuff, then took all the credit for the successful job. If she did not watch him he would take all the pay and leave her with nothing.

She was not going to stand for that.

"How should I know where to go? I've never been to this place before!" Victoria fumed at the guy. How in Ishgar was she supposed to know where to go first? Victoria continued to glare at the guy before closing her eyes and turning away from him in a huff.

"I guess someone's gotta get us going, so we'd better find the previous owner's room. That's where I say we start looking." Victoria suggested in a snide tone that suggested the guy she was with was dumb for not thinking of that. It was not rocket science. That was the place where any valuables would be stored, so they should go there.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll lead the way. Just point me to where we're going. The dumb meatshield will be between you and the big bad threats." Victoria snarked at Kite. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind them.

"It was just the wind, man. Don't tell me you're afraid of the wind. C'mon and pick a direction already!" Victoria urged Kite to hurry up and make up his mind as to where they should start going.

[Post Word Count: 946]
[Victoria's Word Count: 2,046/11,000]

Standing outside of the house all was pretty quiet and calm however that was definitely part of the deception that this house presented. Without his previous slayer powers he would be completely unaware of any sort of presence inside the house waiting for them. He led them into the house and would subsequently lead Victoria into something less than ideal.

Kite would ask Victoria where she thought would be a good place to start their search for this alleged haunted presence. Instead of a response to the question he would hear a rather loud thud instead. He had been scanning the foyer making sure nothing was going to jump out and say “boo” so he had not noticed her seizing up or falling back but the instant he heard her hit the ground he was turned around, “Woah hey!” He said to her as he took a big step towards her and was crouching down next to her. In the moments that she was laying on the ground he started to look her over looking to see if she was injured. From what he could tell her armor had taken no damage and there was no smell of blood so from what he could tell she wasn’t hurt. “Vic, are you okay? What happened?” He would ask as she started to sit up. He has his hands at the ready to help her as she shakily got to her feet but When he saw the look she was giving him he thought it better to let her get up on her own.

When she was up she would answer his question but there was a significant difference in her tone of voice from what he had grown used to. Almost as if she were yelling at him she asked him how she was supposed to know where to go and that she hasn’t been here before. He was thinking up a response but she turned away from him with a small huff. What did he do to bring about her anger? As far as he knew he didn’t let loose any sort of traps and she didn’t seem to be hit by anything. In a berating tone she gave her thoughts on the matter stating that since someone should get them started her “suggestion” was the owners room. Kite’s eyes narrowed now as he started to really observe what he was seeing and hearing from his friend here. “Could she be….maybe” he would think to himself. He had been around the block with demons and had seen when someone was either being possessed or influenced by an outside force. Unfortunately he lacked the means to sense it to verify nor did his magic give him the abilities to cause any exorcism so he would not jump the gun on stating it as fact but he would keep note.

His concentration was broken when Vic made mention that if it made him feel better that she would act as a meat shield for him in face of big threats. “Yeah no, I don’t want you in harms way on my account.” He looked back to the door and was going to suggest they take a step outside and had a nice excuse in mind to help convince her to do so but the doors slammed shut all but confirming that the house did have some sort of hauntedness to it. After making his unhappiness known she would nearly mock him for being afraid of the wind and demand him pick a direction. He was starting to get weary of this new attitude of hers but would hold his tongue on thar matter,  “I doubt the wind. Heavy doors like that would need a good gust and there was none. We will be getting our money’s worth on this one.”

Kite would start to walk the rest of the way through the foyer until he reached another door at the other end of it. If it came down to did Kite would try to blow their way out of the house but for now it was about the job so that was what they were going to do. Opening the door he lead the way into a large spacious room to the right of them was a large staircase that circled up into the upper floor, straight ahead of them was a door that led into another room of the house and on the opposite wall to the right of the staircase was another door. If that all this room had to offer there would be no issues but this main room here had a very peculiar set of decorations. There were old pictures on the wall and things such as brass candle holders with half lit candles secured in them. Oh and of course the bodies that were scattered about the room.

Seeing the closest body Kite walked over to it in order to crouch down and look it over. The smell of the other bodies in the room made it hard for him to use that scent to investigate the body he chose to investigate but luckily he had very sharp other senses. The skin was not yet starting to show visible signs of decay but most of the pigments in the skin had all but faded away. Last thing he would do was test to see how stiff the body was and unsurprisingly rigor mortis had long set in. The body wasn’t super old but far from a fresh death. “Can’t tell what did him in but he is a recent kill.” He would look at Victoria and then nod over to the stairs “The master’s room is probably at the top of these stairs.” He would stand up right and make his way over to them looking to lead the way looking to eliminate the idea of her being a meat shield from the equation. “We better be careful going up. Not sure what sort of traps are about lying in wait for us.”
Wc: 2,316/11,000

Victoria frowned when Kite made his observation about the wind. Her earlier remark was meant to be sarcastic, but the obvious sarcasm had obviously sailed over his head. She did not have a whole lot to work with and her work was going to be cut out for her. In addition to her being the designated meatshield she might have to be the brains of this operation too. Things had to reach a pretty bad point for the brunette to have to be the brains of an operation.

Without further prompting Kite took the lead and the brunette obligingly fell into step behind him. It was nice to see someone else take the initiative for once instead of her having to always take the lead. Victoria continued to frown as Kite led the way to wherever it was that they were going. It certainly took him long enough to get moving.

Victoria silently followed him as they walked through the foyer of the house and soon entered a large room with a staircase. That staircase was designed to give the impression of spiraling upwards, something that was an interesting design touch but not something that would help the Sabertooth duo confirm or debunk the belief that this place was haunted. The doors to this place being closed so suddenly after their arrival was obviously not the work of the wind, but that was not enough proof to confirm that the place was haunted beyond a reasonable doubt.

The frowning brunette followed The Great Detective Kite after he spotted a body that was lying on the floor. Victoria was not particularly upset by the body. She had been around death before... Hell, she had even caused death many times in the past. For example, a demon-worshiping cult calling itself Zupazu's Executioners had come after her with the intent of sacrificing her on an altar to their demonic patron and she had killed any of its members who tried to capture her, which was a good many of them. She had killed so many members of that demon cult that she had lost count of how many of them she had given lead poisoning.

Speaking of death, there were bodies in the room. A LOT of bodies. Victoria frowned when she saw them all.

"There's so many bodies in here. That must be the new decorating trend for deserted homes out in the middle of Backwoods, Nowhere." Victoria snarked as her nose was attacked by the unmistakable odor of decaying flesh. This place could really use some of those little air freshener trees. On second thought, this place could use a whole forest of them.

Pushing that thought aside, she calmly watched as Kite bent down to examine the body he had found and made some sage observations on its condition. One of them was that the dead person had not been there very long. Victoria rolled her eyes so hard that Kite could probably hear it.

"It's pretty obvious that he's a fairly recent addition to the room, Detective Kite. While he might not have been there for very long, he's not in any shape to get up and dance any time soon." Victoria snarked. She then drew Hellsinger and held it up with her right hand.

"And if he does get up to dance for us, I'll blast him until he's dead. Again. Spirits can't handle this hand cannon." Victoria remarked dryly, waving Hellsinger towards the dead guy for effect. After that Kite motioned towards the stairs and suggested that the room belonging to the guy who used to own this place might be at the top of the stairs. He then started walking towards the stairs and took the lead without any prompting from the brunette.

"Taking the lead again? What a gentleman!" Victoria remarked sarcastically to Kite taking the initiative a second time. She followed behind him with Hellsinger at the ready while watching to make sure that the bodies on the floor did not get up and try to attack them. If the corpses tried to attack the Sabertooth duo Victoria was ready to put them back on the ground with a headshot from Hellsinger. She was sure that Kite had some tricks of his own to send the dead back to the afterlife if they chose to get up and pursue the two mages.

[Post Word Count: 728]
[Victoria's Word Count: 2,774/11,000]

After finding their way into what would look like the main room of the house they were presented with several interesting things. The most interesting was the amount of dead bodies that were just lying about as if they belonged there. Just after scanning the room of bodies he’d break his concentration on the bodies and give it to Vic as she remarked about there being so many bodies. Making a statement about it being a new trendy way to decorate homes out in the middle of nowhere in abandoned houses. Kite smiled a bit when he heard the Vic he came to know. Means she was still herself. There was just the fact of her frowning and her earlier statements that were a bit odd. Not leaving much dead air between her words and his, “Definitely not how I’d decorate my summer home, if I had one that is.” He would look at the bodies once more and then look back at Vic, “makes you wonder if our client really looked into what he was purchasing before he spent the cash on it.” Between the door shutting and the makeshift morgue he was convinced that there were some spooks here.

After taking in the horrid scent of rotting bodies he noticed one and got down low as he approached to take a look at the body.  He communicated to Vic that it was the most recent addition to this particular choice in decorative design. He would look up at Vic as she pointed it was obvious to her he was a recent kill while calling hun detective Kite. He’d stand up from the body as she stated that he wasn’t in any shape to get up and dance while drawing her cannon from its holster. Made it a point to say if he did that she would put him back down with her hand cannon. “Nice piece of hardware you got.” He would say genuinely. He could tell it was of good craftsmanship back on the ship. “It will be useful for our friend here And the something that did him in.” He did his best to not be snippy in light of her new found attitude towards him. Hopefully the faster they get this over with the quicker she will come back to her senses.

With that being the case he would suggest they go up the staircase to search for more clues as to what was actually going on in this house. He would take the lead which prompted Vic to comment on what a gentleman he was. This time he really picked up on the sarcasm in her words. While facing away his eyes narrowed but returned to normal as he looked over his shoulder at her. “Well I’d say ladies first but can’t have you feeling like a meat shield can we?” He would continue up the winding steps as they led them up  to the second floor. There was nothing really special about this landing except the lack of dead bodies. “Looks like they skipped the bodies on this floor. Lucky us.” He would look at Vic, “wanna get off on this floor and look around or take the next flight of stairs to the third floor?” He’d pause and look back at her, “or would you prefer to split up?”

wc:2873

Victoria heard Kite's musing about their client and was moved to comment on it. While ordinarily she was not one to bite the hand that fed her, on this occasion Victoria felt compelled to question her client's wisdom... or lack of it, whatever the case might be here.

"I doubt it, Kite. I don't think the guy did any kind of real research on this place before buying it. It must be nice to have the kind of money you can throw around without a care in the world." Victoria replied to Kite's remark on whether the client really knew what he was buying before he bought it. Even though she had saved up quite a bit of money over the years Victoria still thought like a street kid and did her best to save every Jewel. When she had to spend money she tried to get the most value for her money. Victoria envied those who had money to toss around at whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. She wished she had the financial reserves to do as she pleased without having to worry about whether she had enough money to cover all of her expenses.

She heard him remark on the quality of Hellsinger and laughed a little.

"Thanks. I'm glad I brought it because it's good against the dead no matter what form they take. Ghosts, zombies, it doesn't matter... Hellsinger will put them down a second time. I also spent quite a bit of money on it, so I might as well use it." Victoria replied to Detective Kite. What she did not tell him was that this would be her first real test of Hellsinger. He did not need to know that because she was pretty sure that he would think even less of her than he already did. It felt like he was only tolerating her because of her power instead of because he valued her as a guildmate, but that was fine with her.

Victoria was used to working alone anyway.

After the brief conversation had concluded the pair began walking towards the stairs with Kite in the lead. He had taken the lead on this one, but not without a snide remark of his own concerning Victoria's earlier "meatshield" remark. The brunette said nothing in response and rolled her eyes so hard that if he listened closely he could hear them. That depended on whether or not he could can it long enough to listen to someone else besides himself.

The pair proceeded up the stairs and Kite noted that there were no dead bodies waiting for them at their current location, which was somewhere around the second floor. That was fine with Victoria.

"Yeah. It looks like the Corpse Fairy forgot to sprinkle some bodies here to add that delightful decorative touch to the decor, but I'm sure that they've more than made up for that oversight somewhere else." Victoria remarked to her partner with obvious sarcasm. She was glad for that because she got a momentary reprieve from the unmistakable and unbearable smell of rotting corpses. When she heard Kite ask whether they should stick together and search this floor or keep going to the third floor and split up Victoria did not have to think too hard about her answer.

"I think my answer's gonna be obvious, Kite. We're staying together. If you've ever watched a horror movie you'd know that the moment the group splits up bad things happen to them! C'mon, man!" Victoria remarked with an equal mix of sarcasm and indignation at his question about splitting up. She was not sure if Kite had a death wish or if he had just not seen a horror movie before. Maybe he was hoping that Victoria would take him up on the offer to split up so that she would get lost and possibly die, which would allow him to get all the reward money for himself.

Victoria was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but she was not that dumb. If Kite wanted to get all of the reward money for himself he would have to try a little harder than that.

[Post Word Count: 696]
[Victoria's Word Count: 3,470/11,000]

Kite heard Victoria’s opinion regarding the client’s lack of foresight for his investment. Kite couldn’t agree more on her perspective, “I’m sure having that sort of wealth has its advantages but as we see with our client it can lead to rather careless decisions. So all in all I can honestly do without some sort of fortune like that and with any luck, once we get the heck out of here and get our payday it will be that much harder for him to do this in the future.” That of course still needed to happen and with literal piles of corpses about it certainly wasn’t going to be simple just as anything supernatural tended to be.

It was nice to hear her laugh in response to his compliment on her firearm. Since the moment they entered this house she has acted adversarial towards him in both tone of voice and body language. He listened to her explain that it was called Hellsinger and that it would deal with the dead or in the context of their situation the undead. Seeing the gun at her hip made him miss his piece, Rose. “Well then the dead here better stay down or be kept down.” A musing idea ran through his head, “maybe I’ll pick your brain up when the time comes to replace my lost firearm.”  There were few people that came to mind that he could ask about guns and he doubted anyone else would have superior knowledge than Victoria.

On the way upstairs Kite retaliated a bit with his own sarcastic remark in response to Vic’s newly adopted attitude. Kite had expected a response from her but surprisingly he had not gotten any.  Once they reached the second floor the noticeably lack of dead bodies was discussed almost immediately. He heard her statement that whoever made the corpses had likely made up for it elsewhere. “That’s a bit unsettling if you take in account the bodies downstairs.” Looking around at the unexciting room he had asked if she wanted to go further up through the house or if they should split up. He didn’t expect her answer, she had definitively stated they would stay together and followed up by a reference to a cliche horror movie trope. It was a trope for a reason and Kite knew that due to his close association to the supernatural world. However he wasn’t going to die on that hill. “I doubt there isn’t anything in this house that would really stand a chance against either of us but fair enough let’s check up…” he would stop talking now that he was actually not hyper focused on Victoria's answer. Looking in the direction and not removing his focus from the door now “hey do you hear that?” He’d ask her with his eyes not breaking contact from the door.

Either he had accidentally ignored it or it hadn’t started to play until just that moment but the sound of ballroom style music could be heard just beyond the door to the left of the staircase. He would start to approach the door cautiously, he didn’t want to give whatever was on the other side reason to consider him or Vic hostile. He would put his hand on the door first and once there was no sign of anything attempting to open the door he’d put his ear to the door to listen. “It sounds like they are having a party.” He would look at Victoria and observe whatever she was doing. Looking down at the doorknob he would reach down to it and slowly and quietly until it was fully turned. “I’m going to take a peek inside. Cover me?” He would ask her, eyeing her hellsinger. Cracking it open and peering inside leaving enough room for her to look in if she wanted. What they would see inside was a ballroom style dance party but the participants were like the dead bodies downstairs, except they were dancing and there were ten of them in total. “Well. Looks like you’ll get good use of that handcannon after all.” Further observations would show they didn’t respond to the door opening but a stray rat came across the dancing party in middle of the dance. Before long it was attacked and the dancers would go back to finishing the dancing until it reached the end. A short break would occur where some would sit out and the dance would begin. “Looks like we can get close to them when the dancing ends. That or go in guns blazing. Thoughts?”

wc: 3639

Victoria listened to Kite muse about the client's lack of foresight with a slight grin. She thought that he was going to come down on her like the fist of an angry deity, but instead he had agreed with her. That was a pleasant turn of events... about the only pleasant turn of events she had experienced since getting stuck in this unpleasant place.

She listened to Kite suggest that when the time came to replace his weapon he would try and get her brain for some ideas. Victoria frowned.

"That kind of flattery won't get you anywhere with me, Mr. Kite." Victoria bluntly jabbed at Kite. If he thought he was some kind of smooth-talking charmer who could wow the brunette with honeyed words, then he should know that he was about as smooth as sandpaper. Jumping back to the subject he had brought up for a few moments, the brunette decided to throw him a bone.

"Besides, picking a firearm is a complex thing. You've gotta take into account a whole lot of different things. Like what kind of weapon you want, what kind of enemy you're planning on going up against with your weapon, and your budget. Don't forget your budget. It goes without saying that the bigger the budget you have the better." Victoria said to Kite without any sarcasm. She had learned a lot about weapons during her time as a mage and she did her best to pass on a tiny chunk of it to Kite. Of course it was all fairly obvious stuff, so it was not like she was dispensing arcane wisdom known only to a few particularly devoted mages. Still, Kite might get an inkling of what waited for him when selecting a new firearm.

Victoria listened to Kite talk for a bit and did not pay all that much attention to it because he gave empty platitudes, not actual assurances. Mr. Kite asserted that nothing in this place was a match for them, but Victoria did not want to take a chance and run into anything that was a match for them without Kite nearby. They stood a better chance of getting through this place if they worked together.

Victoria spotted Kite eyeing a particular door. She wondered what he was doing when she spotted him place his ear on the door and listen to whatever was going on inside, something that she could not hear from her present position.

"I'm not hearing anything." Victoria told Kite, giving her answer without any sarcasm whatsoever. She stood in place and looked around them for anything that could pose a threat to them, but so far there was nothing. Eventually he asked if she could cover him for some reason. The brunette was happy to oblige.

"I've got you covered, Kite." Victoria told him and took Hellsinger into a two-handed shooting stance while he slowly turned the doorknob, then slowly and gently opened the door. After a few moments of covering Kite she dared to peek inside the room and saw a curious sight. There were dead people dancing in time to really old ballroom music and the music was spilling out of the room now that the door was open.

"Great. A bunch of dancing dead people. I think I liked the ones downstairs better." Victoria quietly snarked to Kite about what they were seeing. She listened to Kite speak further and paid attention when he asked what they should do. It did not take Victoria long to come up with her answer.

"I think we should wait until they stop dancing before we make our move." Victoria quietly gave Kite her verdict on what they should do. It probably sounded like a cowardly course of action considering that she was packing a special pistol that could hurt supernatural targets that was roughly the length of her forearm, but she did not want to get in the middle of the dance floor with all those dead people dancing about. They could probably move faster than she could aim and fire Hellsinger, which was not designed for crowd control. She did not want to get swamped by undead and possibly become a permanent resident here.

"Unless you've got a better idea, that's my suggestion and I'm sticking to it." Victoria told Kite that she was sticking by her choice unless he came up with a better idea for them.

[Post Word Count: 738]
[Victoria's Word Count: 4,208/11,000]

Kite couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at her initial response to the idea of picking her brain later when he would get a new firearm. Instead of taking the question as what it was at face value she somehow got the idea that Kite was l attempting to flatter her. Back in the day before he had taken his soul searching journey this might have been his play but that wasn't the case here. Samira didn’t tell Vic about his previous flirtations did she? “I’m not trying to get anywhere. Just stating a fact but you’re welcome for the compliment.” He’d say before she would speak to the complexities of purchasing a gun, between what sort of weapon he wanted, what was the target and lastly the budget. This made sense, just as any weapon purchase would in the specific case of firearms his prize, Rose was just that. A prize, a gift. It didn’t take much for the topic to change, especially with the bodies as well as her new attitude towards just about anything that he had to say.

While they made it to the next floor Kite stopped his ascent up the next flight of stairs the instant he heard music by the door. Only after getting confirmation from Vic that she was going to cover him did he feel more comfortable opening the door to see what lies on the other side. Given her new attitude he was half expecting her to shoot him in the ass, but he would keep that idea to himself.  

As quietly as he could he would turn the doorknob to open the door which would reveal an ironically lively undead dance party. Vic would state that she likes the dead that they ran into downstairs better. “Yeah I’d have to agree. With certain circumstances aside I prefer the dead to stay dead.” Upon seeing the pattern of the dancers with the only time they wouldn’t show aggression towards those getting involved with the dance Kite and Vic began to discuss how they wanted to deal with it. Vic took the stance of waiting until a break in the dancing for them to make their move. He had to agree, it was the only time that they could make a move and not provoke aggression. “You got the range on your side with your piece. On the next break of the dance I’ll try to get into the dance line.” He would look at her. “I can alter the flow of heat from specific areas and have it flow to me instead. This can cause creatures in that space to grow cold and slow.” Looking back at the dance party he would grin, “between me putting pressure on them in close quarters and your laying into them with your own fire power it shouldn’t take long.” Regardless of whether she agreed to his suggestion or not he would wait for the moment that the dance party took its break  so he could make his move into place of one of the lines.

The moment would come as the music got more and more quiet until it stopped altogether. Almost like a machine that had the power turned off the zombie’s stood still in line waiting for the music to start. “Wish me luck.” He would say just before he hurried into place in the line. After Kite watched the style of the dance, he would begin to move, matching the music and the other dancers as best as he could. He missed some cues which caught some attention but no aggression was given as a result. He took this as his dancing was enough to fool them. Good, the less aggressive they were the easier it was for him to use the spell he was explaining to Vic.

Just like before the music’s volume would start to fade as the dance came to an end. With that like before the dancers would reform their lines with Kite taking his place. No was the time for him to use his spell and give Vic plenty of time to take her shots. His aura spiked causing a moment of high heat but then suddenly the heat from the room would lower. In reality if one would look close enough then they could see the ripple in the air associated with Kite flow into him until the heat was completely taken from the room and those in it. “Dragon Emperor Reverse Heat.” The undead dancers would take note of all of this but the cold caused their already dead bodies to stiffen and move very slow.

Not one to waste an opportunity he would immediately engage in combat with the zombies. He would throw a left back elbow striking the zombie on his left on the bridge of the nose. The one on his right lunged at him with hands out and maw wide open. With his right gloved hand he reached out and grabbed the zombie inside his mouth with the grip clamped on the bottom jaw. With a sharp downward yank he would look to throw the zombie face first onto the ground but instead the decaying jaw tore away instead. Seemingly unaffected by any sort of pain it would continue towards him. Kite would react with a stiff push kick staggering it back. After creating distance with that one the zombie he had elbowed reached around him from behind with one arm around his neck. On instinct that was the arm that Kite would grab and with a martial arts like technique would throw that zombie into the one he kicked knocking them both to the ground.

Kite looked at Vic to see if she started to let loose on the dance party. Once he observed her firing bullets into her targets and he’d smirk, “Now it’s a party!” He would pivot so he was facing down the line with a wide grin as he spotted his next target. “Dragon Emperor’s Roar!” He would shout as a stream of intense fire and heat slammed into the target zombie. He couldn’t speak for Vic but now it was getting fun.

Wc 4670

Victoria listened to Kite explain what he had meant by his earlier remark. He had tried to pass it off as a compliment, but the brunette was not buying it. Mr. Kite had a lot of nerve to try and hit on her in a place like this and no amount of sweet talking could mollify Victoria. She was going to let him know exactly how she felt about the attempt.

"If you're hoping for a spirited romance to begin in a place like this, keep dreaming, pal." Victoria snarked at the blue-haired wannabe Casanova. He thought that he could sweet talk his way out of trouble with her with some honeyed words, but if he thought that was the case, he had another thing coming. Just what kind of woman did he take her for?

Victoria rolled her eyes again and put that subject aside to listen to him talk again. On the subject of the dead staying dead it was clear that they saw eye-to-eye for a change... except for special circumstances that Kite did not specify to the brunette. She did not care enough to ask because they had other things to do, namely the job they had been hired to do. She wanted the paycheck that came with completing this job.

Once they had both agreed to wait for a break in the routine of the undead dancers Victoria lent her ears to Mr. Blue yet again and listened to him break down how they were going to do things. The short version was that Kite would manipulate the heat on the dance floor with his special heat magic and once that was done Victoria would blast the ghosts back to wherever ghosts went with Hellsinger. That was a plan so simple that even she could understand it.

"OK, Kite." Victoria replied laconically. She did not have time to engage in a lengthy discussion of what to do because Mr. Blue had laid it all out for her in no uncertain terms. Time they spent talking was time better spent getting ready for the ballroom blitz they were about to launch on the undead dancers. Kite must have realized that because he went silent just before the music and requested that the brunette wish him well.

"Good luck." Victoria wished Kite before the latter went on his way. She involuntarily held her breath and watched him quickly maneuver into position without any of the other dancers getting wise to the fact that there was a live mage now among them. The brunette quietly released her breath and gave what looked to be a reassuring smile. However, it was a wide smile that could give the Cheshire Cat from Alice In Wonderland a run for his money. It was a wide smile that was full of sinister intent.

Internally she was thinking "the moment I get a chance I'm gonna shoot him right in the ass." She would deliver a stinging rebuke for him hitting on her earlier and then trying to talk his way out of the consequences. What better place to shoot the smooth talker than right in the backside?

Seized by an uncontrollable compulsion that was far stronger than her will to resist it, Victoria slowly raised Hellsinger to avoid arousing his suspicion. She had raised it to a firing position and was just waiting for the chance to take the shot when the compulsion faded and Victoria took control again. She carefully changed the target from Kite to one of the random undead dancers. Hopefully he did not notice what had happened, but if he did, what was he gonna do about it? Glare at her in disapproval and withhold her allowance?

Once disaster had been averted for the time being Victoria watched Kite make his move... or moves, in this case. He was a fairly good dancer to be able to dance to unfamiliar music without making too many missteps. He was doing a lot better than Victoria could have done were she in his place. After watching Kite dance his way through the music until the volume began to drop she watched as he made his move. The air got unbearably hot for a moment then cooled down rapidly and stayed cold... it seemed that beneath all the big talk and skirt-chasing ways Kite really was a cool guy.

The undead dancers finally took notice that Kite was in their midst, but by then it was way too late to do anything about it. Kite was already tearing them a new one with fist and with magic. Victoria felt the uncontrollable compulsion again and Hellsinger began to slowly move towards Kite, who was likely having too much fun beating up the enemy to realize what was about to happen to him. A moment or two later Victoria had him right where she wanted him.

One squeeze of the trigger and there was a good chance that he would join the dancers for real.

One squeeze of the trigger and she could rid herself of the obnoxious blue-haired skirt-chaser for good.

Victoria took a quiet breath and prepared to fire. Then she felt a jolt when she saw Kite's excitement over the fight and took control again just in time to jerk the muzzle of Hellsinger towards an enemy and squeeze the trigger. She fired a shot that blasted the enemy a short distance to Kite's left back to the afterlife. Victoria sighed with relief and joined Kite in the vital task of clearing out the area of the undead. They had their work cut out for them, but together the two of them could win.

[Post Word Count: 944]
[Victoria's Word Count: 5,152/11,000]

Despite his best attempts to show that he had nothing but the best of intentions when he complimented Victoria she wasn’t believing anything he had to say regarding it. This would likely annoy or cause another person to get a bit angry but this wasn’t something that was getting under his skin. His suspicion of her not being herself helped him keep his cool but her latest response to the situation did elicit a response. She had mentioned that if he was expecting some sort of spirited romance to happen that it wasn’t. He couldn’t be sure if EDI had perhaps spoken up about his flirtatious nature back in the day but all he could do was laugh. “The last time I was a part of a “spirited romance” it cost me half of my soul and then they left. So You are welcome to keep on believing whatever you want to believe.” He would shake his head before proceeding on with the mission.  

After Kite used his magic to sap the heat out of the room the coordinated dance turned into a ballroom blitz with Kite doing the blitzing. As combat broke out he was paying attention specifically to the zombie dance party and not on Vic. Had he been more skilled in multitasking he’d have noticed that Vic had her sights trained on him but he was not aware of what was going on there but he did notice that there was absence of gunshots. He didn’t have the luxury of time to  see what the holdup was as the dance party was looking at him specifically.

After barbecuing a zombie with his breath attack his attention would be given to the two zombies that he forced a collision with slowly moving to their feet as the cold was forcing their movements to be more rigid. “You look cold. Let me warm you up a bit!” . With his fingers positioned in a way that made his hand the mouth of a puppet  , his fiery aura flared to life and began to form into the vestige of a dragon’s head as he pulled his arm back like one would do when beginning a strike like a punch. The maw of the dragon formed around his hand until this hand was completely cloaked by the jaws of a dragon.  “Draco crusher.” He’d say as he pushed his arm forward launching the vestige of the dragon at the zombie. As the spell got closer the head grew in size until it was large enough to seemingly devour the zombie in one chomp. Once in the correct position he would close his hand causing the fiery looking dragon to bite down on the zombie before igniting an explosion of fire and heat as a result leaving the zombie charred and on the ground smoking.

After the flashy display of his magic he finally heard the long awaited sound of gunfire. He didn’t see the bullet but he could feel the heat as it whizzed past him on his left side striking a zombie for a killing blow. Kite looked over his left shoulder to see the damage done As the zombie crumbled to the floor but he’d take note of just how close the bullet felt to his back. Either she was showing off or she was keeping Kite on his toes. In either case  his grin would show itself as he had a fun idea. “Hey Vic, how about some target practice?” He’d say grabbing a zombie nearest to him and proceeding to launch it into the air like a skeet, the disk like objects people use to shoot at recreational clubs.

WC: 5283

Kite was such a showoff.

At least that was what Victoria was thinking as she watched him continue to mow down the enemy dancers. She did not need to put on a fancy light show to eliminate her enemies. However, in this situation her magic was virtually useless unless she wanted to play with fancy noisemakers because Merces Letifer Magic's greatest weakness was that none of the spells could not hurt supernatural enemies. She could throw all the grenades, shoot all of the bullets, and fire all of the rockets she wanted, but she just could not hurt ghosts with any of it.

That was why Victoria had brought Hellsinger. It was a large-caliber handgun geared towards killing the supernatural and while it was not the fastest-firing weapon she had it more than made up for that shortcoming in raw power. One shot was usually all it took to take out a ghost and she did not even have to aim for a place like the head or where the heart would be on a living person.

As she watched Kite in action the brunette felt the large-caliber handgun move upwards and she was powerless to stop it. Victoria began to giggle as she watched the unsuspecting guildmate fight. She wondered what would come out of Kite's head if she shot at that area and managed to hit it. She suspected the usual shower of blood and brain matter, but her second guess was hot air.

Victoria was struggling to lower the weapon before Kite caught on to what was about to happen. Her pulse quickened when he spun to face her... she was sure that he had finally realized what was going on and was about to turn his magic on her. Instead he proposed a game, a game that was a bit macabre but was right up the brunette's alley. Besides, it made the perfect cover story to explain why it looked like she was ready to take a shot at him.

"Oh Kite, you shouldn't have!" Victoria accepted the game with a playful voice that was not entirely her own and stepped off to the right a bit so that the flying corpse did not land on her after she had fired. As soon as the zombie that was to be the target went airborne she raised Hellsinger and aimed carefully, allowing a little time to lead the target. When she was sure that she had given enough lead she fired Hellsinger and the large-caliber handgun roared and leaped backwards in her hands, making her stagger backwards for two steps. The bullet hit the target's head in midair and destroyed its head. The headless corpse followed a grimly impressive arc through the air before landing on the floor with a THUMP and bouncing once before stopping.

Besides demonstrating Victoria's marksmanship, the game had an unexpected benefit and that was the recoil of Hellsinger giving the brunette enough of a jolt for the real Victoria to retake control for the time being.

"That was fun." Victoria cheerfully remarked about what had just happened. Shooting flying zombies was not something most people considered fun, but the brunette had found it amusing enough to make a joke. She was not sure if she would creep Kite out with how blase she had sounded, but she was sure that he could handle it.

[Post Word Count: 562]
[Victoria's Word Count: 5,714/11,000]

The dance party was a full on ballroom blitz now. They had everything that they needed with music, dance partners and fireworks from both Kite and his partner. After pummeling their foes with fist and flame Kite had came up with an idea in the moments after Vic had shot one of them narrowly missing Kite. “If they are getting that close to me, I better pay better attention.” He said to himself assuming initially that it was his lack of awareness that almost allowed an attack to slip through. So when it came time to switch strategies he would turn to Vic with the enemy in hand and to offer her a game of sorts. That’s when he finally saw it.  

When it came to intense situations Kite’s mind was typically hyper focused on who or what it was that he was trying to deal with. If this were how he was before he disappeared from the world then that would have been the case now but there was a world of difference between Kite back then and the Kite of the present. He learned to pay attention to how things were around him and not just on the things he had to deal with. He hadn’t been able to assemble all the pieces to the puzzle right away and he didn’t have his old magic that allowed him to thrive when spirits and demons alike were at play so he had to rely strictly on his observational ability, which wasn’t always something he could do in the heat of the moment. Maybe it was the time he had spent dealing with spirits and demons, maybe it had something to do with the healing and reflecting that he did while he was away or that he just paid more attention this time around but he had noticed and came to the conclusion.  It happened pretty quickly but in the moment he’d turned around and locked eyes with Vic he noticed the look on her face and in her eyes changed from one expression into almost surprise. Like when a kid gets caught trying to take a cookie out of the cookie jar.  “Someone or something is messing with Vic.” He thought to himself.

He didn’t know her very well but he had been around her enough and in different situations to have learned some of her mannerisms whether it be a casual encounter in the guilds pub, traveling to and from a job and most relevant here is how she is on a mission in and out of combat.  Her fight with the bombers as well as the leader of that little group there had not been so much as a hint of malice from her. Except now and ever since they had entered this house that’s pretty much what he’d been on the receiving end of and then whenUp until that point he had assumed that maybe he had done something or said something to provoke her ire but now it was a bit more clear that wasn’t the case.

After offering her a game of target practice and launching a zombie into the air he saw that even though she wasn’t acting like herself that at the very least she was in some control or had enough sense of self that her nature wasn’t completely overwritten by whatever had a hold on her. “I can't be sure of what’s exactly going on but I can guess that if she wasn’t as strong willed as I believe her to be, I’d have been shot by now.”

He’d watch the enemy that he threw travel into the air only to be hole punched by Vic and her firearm. “But there is enough of her left that is fighting against it. I have to be careful from here on out.” Not wanting to give her a chance to adjust that muzzle to be pointing at him now he’d grab two more of the undead with each hand and then proceeded to lob them into the air like sacks of potatoes, “Round two!” He’d say enthusiastically, both to keep a positive facade as well as keep the barrel of that gun pointing at something more appetizing than himself. He also knew that this strategy would only work for so long as there were enemies to toss her way, but he needed a solution. “Hey Vic got any ideas on how to take the rest out in one blow?” He’d ask. He wasn’t sure of what she had that could do just that but if he appealed to her for a solution maybe it would keep her from focusing on riddling Kite full of holes. If she didn’t have an idea Kite did have a plan b to try to collapse the floor under the dance party.

Wc:6088

Victoria was still amused by the impromptu game of "shoot the flying zombie" and she was ready for more. Her hands were firmly on the grip of Hellsinger and she was waiting for the next chance to shoot one of the walking corpses when she felt an urge to fire at Kite instead. Her hands trembled and the muzzle of the handgun began to slowly but perceptibly rise towards the blue-haired Sabertooth mage. Her weapon was at a thirty-five degree angle Instead of aiming at him she instead aimed at two more of the rotting corpses that had been flung her way.

Kite had saved himself for the time being because the brunette was now focused on killing the zombies before they hit the ground. She repeated her tactic of stepping to the side so that she did not get hit by falling bodies and aimed for the head of the first of them, allowing a bit of lead before she fired. The shot was fired and she absorbed the punishing recoil the best she could, staggering back for two steps before regaining her footing.

After firing at the first zombie she quickly aimed at the second and led it for a second or two before firing another shot with the same atrocious recoil as the first. Had "Normal Victoria" fired the shots she would have landed on her backside because her shorter form could not handle the large-caliber handgun. Even as "Tall Victoria" handling it was a challenge, but it was manageable.

The two shots hit their targets in the head and the two headless corpses slammed into the floor never to rise again. The brunette was visibly entertained by the game and listened to Kite ask a question concerning how to take out all of the remaining enemies at once instead of taking them on one at a time. That was a good question.

"That's a good question, Kite." Victoria said in a transparent attempt to stall for time to think of a slightly better answer. She needed to think and think fast because they would not have long to act. She held Hellsinger in her right hand and tapped its muzzle against the side of her right leg.

"I can't really do anything against the ghosts since my magic can't hurt them. If you have any crowd control magic that can hurt them I'd use that, but I'm not sure if you have to worry about property damage like I do." Victoria finally gave him a slightly better idea. It was an obvious answer, but it was the best she could give. Her magic would not help against ghosts since none of her spells or Requip weapons could hurt them and her magic was one that demanded caution when used in areas that needed to remain intact. The house they were investigating needed to remain intact.

After saying that Victoria gave a laugh that was lower in pitch than her normal laugh. Next she stopped tapping Hellsinger against the side of her right leg and twirled it in her right hand. A gin was on her face as she twirled the weapon a second time.

[Post Word Count: 528]
[Victoria's Word Count: 6,242/11,000]

With the sound of two loud gun shots ringing and echoing throughout the ballroom, Kite watched as the two additional enemies he tossed her way went crashing to the ground as they died... again? Kite couldn't be sure if they would indeed stay down permanently. He had no doubt that between the two of them that they could take them down and potentially out of the fight but with the house being theirs it could be them staying down and out wasn't a certainty. Although it wasn't discussed before Kite ran in and began his assault but he noticed Vic, despite semi targeting Kite with her weapon had yet to use any magic during this encounter. Kite had some ideas as to why that might have been but he figured he'd ask for her input on how to deal with the rest of the party. She didn't give an answer right away delivering the typical stalling answer being " That's a good question." She did suggest that Kite utilize some sort of crowd control magic. "Crowd control. If I had anything more like that I would do it." He had used his magic that could be classified as crowd control magic earlier and all that could really do was slow them down as intended. "I need to act fast and effectively. What should I do." His eyes shifted between the remaining party members left to deal with. Vic finished speaking and inadvertently given Kite an idea which left a smirk to come across his face as he looked at Vic.

Moments before.....

Down in the lower levels of the large building the various bodies of the dead or undead were spread out among the bottom floor. Despite their intrusion and conversations upon entering the haunted house they had managed to leave them undisturbed. However between the sudden change in temperature from Kite's Dragon emperor's reverse heat, the explosion and force from Kite's other spells such as his roar and his Draco crusher and of course the loud bangs of gun fire from Hellsinger that Vic laid into the enemy.... they woke up, making their way up the stairs towards where Vic and Kite had entered the large ballroom's doors.

"Property damage." he would say while donning his smirk with his orange colored aura flaring to life. "Now that's an idea. Vic I'm demolishing the entire room. At this rate us getting out of this damn house and finishing the job is more important." The Aura had grown more intense and was much more dense with a distinguishingly new detail was the two tendrils of flame that poured out from the sides of his mouth where the aura made contact with his skin. Dragon emperor's supreme reign had taken effect. "I'm taking out the room and the dancers all at once! Dragon emperor's Desolation!" he shouted but then his voice was overwritten by the roar of a dragon followed by the vestige of a large Chinese styled dragon made of flame and heat, appeared just above Kite before erupting into a large explosion.

Once the smoke would clear out Vic would be able to see that the dance party had been taken out but also the walls and ceiling of the ballroom were severely damaged with the floor had collapsed down to the level below. However the idol like mage would have her hands full for the small swarm of zombies that they had bypassed was now firmly giving Vic their attention.

Now on the bottom floor unaware of what was coming for his guildmate Kite would push himself out from under the debris of the now collapsed and destroyed ballroom floor. Once the pieces of destroyed floor boards and pieces of broken furniture were also pushed away as he he stood up. Patting down his pants he would knock off whatever sort of dust he could. "Well I wasn't expecting to do that much damage. Looks like I still have to gauge just how strong my new magic really is. This will have to come out of my cut of the money.” He’d take a deep breath and smile “That said looks like I got the job done right Vic?" he'd ask but looking up he didn't see her at all. He didn’t like that at all if she was in trouble he had to get to her but if she wasn’t he would still like to know her whereabouts to avoid being an easy target.  

wc: 6834

Victoria followed Kite back to the ballroom where the fun had started and was pleased to hear that her earlier suggestion was going to be used. She had been grasping at straws when she suggested that, but here they were about to make it happen. The brunette had always wanted to see what Kite could do when he pulled out all the stops and she was going to have a front-row seat to the show.

"Good idea, Kite." Victoria replied without sarcasm before giving a brief high-pitched giggle that was as sinister as it was unexpected. Her right hand twitched on Hellsinger and she briefly struggled to keep its muzzle pointed squarely at the ground instead of it raising and "accidentally" firing at the back of his leg. Moments later she had controlled it... for now.

Victoria stood back, put Hellsinger in its holster, and watched Kite put on an impressive show of force with his magic, which was as colorful as it was powerful. When the big finale was reached and a large blast was used Victoria actually clapped because the spectacle had been utterly captivating... to her at least. As a user of magic which could produce big bangs she could appreciate what Kite's magic did beyond its practical applications.

"Good work, Kite!" Victoria called out in genuine praise once the show was over. She peered into what used to be the room and saw that what used to be the dance floor was now sitting on the floor below. The walls of the room also looked like they were part of the set of a Michael Bay movie with all the damage they had taken. Kite was also standing down on what was the new floor, but she did not have time to call out to her guildmate because she heard a commotion coming from nearby and turned to face the source, which was a group of walking corpses.

"I see dead people." Victoria snarked to herself as she turned to face the zombies and put away Hellsinger, fighting off the possession in order to focus on staying alive. She needed rate of fire more than she did powerful single shots because zombies could be hurt by her normal Requip weapons: all she needed to do was aim for the head. Speaking of normal Requip weapons, she brought out her Submachine Gun because she would need something quick and light to use in close quarters.

She seized the weapon and aimed for the head of the closest zombie, then aimed and fired a Three-Round Burst that hit its head, dropping it to the floor. She repeated the process three more times until four zombies were definitely dead on the ground, buying herself a bit of breathing room to think. Her weapon was strong, but she would need help to get rid of them all.

"KITE!" Victoria called out to her blue-haired guildmate as she did her best to stand against the tide of the undead who were moving towards her with the intent to turn her into a late-night snack. One of them did a staggering lunge that put it uncomfortably close to her and she reacted with a Three-Round burst to the head that took care of it, dropping it to the floor and giving her a small break in which Kite could come to the rescue if he were fast enough.

[Post Word Count: 566]
[Victoria's Word Count: 6,808/11,000]

Kite heard as Victoria stated that his idea to effectively blow the room and everyone in it up, was in fact a good idea. He noted the hints of sincerity in her words which was nice to hear. However unknown to her, he wasn’t going to be dissuaded from this course of action in any case. Kite was quite impulsive in battle especially when stakes started to get high.

Examination of the damage left behind by his spell was satisfying considering that he managed to disperse the party and the guests of it but he couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. "Not going to lie. The damage to the room is satisfying but I definitely would have expected to do much more damage to the wall. Like it not be there anymore.“ Kite said to himself followed by a sigh. He knew he wasn’t weak by any means considering that he was an S class wizard, taking down the whole house should have been an easy task. "It's likely  that the force that prevented us from leaving the house is keeping the structure safe. “ His thoughts went back to when they first got locked in. He had considered blowing the door down but just like his spell now he doubt it would have worked. "I am curious, could Turq blow a hole through the house from the outside? “ unfortunately he had way of getting into contact with him.

It was about time Kite got himself out of the room that he had accidentally fallen into and got back to finishing the task at hand. The sooner they did the job the sooner they could get out of there and Vic back to her normal self. Before he could jump up through where the floor used to be up to what remained of the ballroom he heard the commotion going on Vic’s end. The sound of rapid gun fire echoed through the room above him and down where he was. Turning in the direction that he could hear the gun fire coming from he would squat down ready to jump vertically but from mid pose when he heard her shout his name. His name rang through his head in her voice which began to fade and blend into those from his past who he had failed to save. Some he never got the chance to while others he put his very soul on the line to do it and still failed. color=#993333]"I won’t let anyone else die… “[/color] he said to himself through gritted teeth, color=#993333]"I won’t let you die. “[/color] he was given a second chance in this world and he wasn’t going to let that chance go to waste, not without a true fight. "Dragon Emperor’s supreme flight!“

Surrounded in flame and heat following the loud roar of a dragon, Kite propelled himself up into the air in the direction he heard the gunshots from as well as Vic calling his name. Kite would bust his way through the wall and ceiling coming out the other side. Still surrounded in his fire he slammed into the next zombie in line trying to take a bite out of Vic and pushed it into the nearest wall. The force of a smaller explosion erupted from the contact point before he dropped to the ground with the charred zombie in hand tossing it to the ground. He’d look at Vic, "Sorry to keep you waiting. “ he smirked at her before pointing at the remaining undead that wanted to take a bite out of the pair of them, "That’s the closest any of you are getting to her.“ prepared for more combat he would he’d let his aura continue to glow bright, "Let’s show them what they’re in for“

Armed with her Submachine Gun, Victoria stood her ground the best she could. She did not have much room to work with and her weapon was running out of ammunition, but she was not going to just give up. She kept firing Three-Round Burst aimed at the head, prioritizing the closest enemies to keep herself alive a little bit longer. She had just aimed at the head of another zombie and had made enough allowance for lead when she fired and head a rapid CLICK-CLICK-CLICK followed by a groan when she realized what that meant.

The Submachine Gun was now out of ammunition!

"Damn it!" Victoria shouted as she dispelled the empty weapon and drew Hellsinger. She raised it with both hands and aimed at her enemy, then carefully held her aim despite the risk that hesitating brought. When she was ready she fired a single shot, blasting the target's head into a mushy mess. She staggered back two steps and took a two-handed shooting grip on the large-caliber handgun, aiming for the nearest enemy. There were a lot of those, so she would have to do what she could to hold out... or at least go out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Victoria fired a second shot aimed at the head of the closest zombie and its head practically exploded. She staggered back for two steps and aimed again, but there were just too many zombies closing in for her to stand a chance of picking them off before they got too close for comfort. She was not wanting to die like this, but the matter might not be in her hands.

Fortunately for her Kite made one of his sudden entrances, quickly disposing of the zombie who was closest to her and putting himself as a barrier between her and the walking corpses. The brunette was relieved to see the blue-haired mage because his help was sorely needed.

"Am I glad to see you!" Victoria said with genuine enthusiasm and relief. The brunette put away Hellsinger and remained empty-handed so that she could start casting spells like Claymore Burst, Hand Cannon, and Derringer, among others. Since he was now in the area she would have to hold off on the heavy weapons like the Grenade Launcher and Rocket Launcher, but she was able to make do with what she could safely use, which was a lot.

"I'm ready to go." Victoria replied to Kite's boisterous assertion that the zombies were going to be in for a rough time now that the Sabertooth mages were reunited. The brunette was always ready for a fight and it seemed Kite was the same way. With that kind of energy they might make a good team after all.

[Post Word Count: 458]
[Victoria's Word Count: 7,266/11,000]

After erupting through the floor and slamming into the zombie and smashing it into the wall with one of strongest spells he landed in between the remaining zombies and Vic, he tossed the newly incinerated and mangled corpse to the side like an unwanted rag doll. Following the sound of the heavy thud the corpse made when it hit the ground Kite made the proclamation that the undead attackers wouldn’t be getting any closer to the brunette mage that stood behind her. An unfortunate truth was he wasn’t rightly sure if he should even have his back turned to her at this point. A very detailed visualization of her pulling out her high caliber handgun and unloading a round into Kite’s back played in his head. Thankfully he was able to put that idea to bed for now as he heard her tell him that she was glad to see him.  He suspected the seriousness of the situation or perhaps the legitimate peril Vic had found herself in allowed her to keep control of her senses. In either case he was just glad he got there in time, " I’m glad that I made it in time and that you didn’t get hurt.“ He turned his head slightly and looked over his shoulder at her for a moment. The look of relief could be seen by how his facial expression was and the gentleness of his eyes. That gentleness however would not last long as the emotion shown by his eyes would sharpen as he asserted that they were about to thrash these undead adversaries to which Vic immediately voiced that she was on board which caused a kite to smile a bit before he would face the zombies that posed a threat to them. "They won’t get that close again. “ he’d say before taking a few steps towards the lot of them. Only when there was a bit of distance between him and Vic would he ignite his fiery aura as he tended to do when he’d begin using his magic. "Dragon Emperor’s Roar!“  The large stream of molten hot fire hit the first of the zombie to feel the onslaught of his wrsth.

"Dragon emperor’s migration “ In small burst of flame and heat Kite would disappear from where he was standing just and in a similar fiery display that occurred right above the lot of them. As he descended upon the group his a fury of flames would engulf his right arm and as he got close he’d unleash his spell, "Dragon Emperor’s Fatal claw!“ the fire would form into the shape of massive claw of a dragon with three distinct long nails pressed together almost like a spear. He would slam the claw into the top of the head of one of the zombies while his left hand gripped the back of the head of a different zombie, and with his weight would drive them both to the ground. The zombie with the claw in his head was pinned and the other squirmed under his weight. He would remain in a crouched position to give Vic an opening to mount her attack. While he did so the zombie that was squirming under his left hand’s grip got a loud reception to it. "Dragon Emperor’s Draco Crusher“ morphing from around his fingers the fire danced and formed into a small mouth of a dragon and essentially crunched down on the zombies head making a small explosion as a result. Kite could hear the ringing of Vic’s magic coming to life. He had not had a chance really witness it during the Symposium but very much to her theme she was running and gunning.

As the next zombie stepped closer to him while still in the crouched position, Kite took hold of it’s ankle and in on motion while standing up would pull it off of the ground and would be swung like a makeshift bat. "Batter up!“ he’d shout as he used the zombie in hand to slam into a nearby one like a baseball bat sending it in the air towards Vic. Without missing a beat Kite kept the momentum with the zombie baseball bat and spun with it, letting go at the right time to hurl it into one of the walls. He wasn’t sure if Zombie could experience being shocked but in either case after it was smashed against the wall Kite would close the distance on it pressing his hand against the side of its face and pinning it against the wall with all of Kite’s weight behind it as so it wouldn’t be able to bite him. "Dragon Emperor’s Roar!“ he’d shout as he unleashed his breath attack point black into the face of the Zombie, incinerating its head clean off its shoulders.  A zombie came in with a swiping motion like it was gonna claw off a piece of the fire mage. With his left hand, Kite caught the attacking Zombie’s wrist while his right hand took hold of the side of the zombie’s head and slammed it into the wall.  Its head would bounce off the wall only to meet Kite’s hand again which slammed it into the wall again. Kite did this until the zombie went limp and let go of it, having it crumple onto the floor While occupied with dispatching the one that had tried to claw at him like a damn cat he didn’t catch that one of the undead attackers had gotten close enough to jump onto his back. It had a death grip around his neck as it latched onto him like a decaying koala bear. Kite’s hands found purchase when he attempted to hold back the zombies mouth from his neck but that also prevented him from getting a firm enough grip to toss him off. "You're awfully strong for something with atrophied muscles.“ Kite said, as he spun and thrashed around like a bull trying to buck off a rider but the thing held on. He slammed it into the wall a few times but the grip didn’t break. Thinking of the options at hand he could use a spell to make a large explosion but he didn’t want to catch Vic in it. "When I get you off I’m going to roast you!“ he’d say threateningly but the truth was he needed to find himself an opening.
Wc: 1067

Now that Kite had come to the rescue in dramatic fashion the brunette had been spared the horror of being eaten alive by walking corpses. She now had enough breathing room to start getting ready to fight back against her enemies. But first she needed to clear a little more breathing room in order to comfortably bring out her Light Machine Gun for use.

Victoria channeled gray magic into her hands, then pushed them outwards, sending a spray of steel ball bearings out towards the approaching zombies Kite was not in reach of. Three of them went down with fatal puncture wounds to the head, but the rest sustained nonlethal injuries to the torso, arms, and so on. That did not matter because the brunette was able to bring out her Light Machine Gun, a weapon with a fast firing rate and high ammo capacity. It would help her take care of enemies in a loud but effective way for as long as the ammunition held out.

Victoria raised her arms above her head and brought in the weapon. It dropped into her waiting hands and she lowered it with the ammo belt inside the box giving a satisfying rattle as she brought the stock up to her right shoulder and aimed the weapon at the closest walking corpse. With the weapon in hand she felt like she could take on anything.

"GET READY!" Victoria called out to her opposition as well as issuing a warning to Kite that the lead was about to fly.  She led off with a Five-Round Burst that ripped through the head of her first target and once it dropped to the floor she picked a new target and aimed carefully before firing on the head of the next one. It suffered another Five-Round Burst to the head and it collapsed to the floor, revealing a group of zombies shambling it behind it.

Carefully controlled shooting was not doing the job, so it was time to spray and pray.

Victoria aimed at the first of the mob and began firing at its head, killing it with eight rounds before moving onto the next while still firing. She was going to burn through the belt in a matter of seconds, but if she was lucky the brunette would clear some of the enemies out before she had to dispel the Light Machine Gun and bring in another weapon. She continued to fire for as long as the belt held out, the weapon's chattering giving voice to her defiance of the walking dead.

At the end of the prolonged burst she had killed a few of the zombies with lucky headshots, but the rest had sustained nonlethal wounds and were still moving towards her. The wall behind them had so many holes in it looked like they were part of the set of an action movie, but that did not matter as much as her survival. She still had plenty of firepower to use and dispelled the empty weapon in her hands to bring out another one, this time bringing out her Submachine Gun for another round of rapid-fire shooting.

The weapon landed in her hands and Victoria quickly aimed at the head of an approaching zombie that was roughly a meter away and closing. She fired a Three-Round Burst at its head and it crumpled to the floor. It had barely hit the ground when Victoria repeated the process on another one, killing it too. She fired eight more of the bursts and had downed eight more zombies before the Submachine Gun ran dry, but that was not a problem because fewer zombies meant more breathing room.

The brunette dispelled the Submachine Gun, then drew Hellsinger again and took a two-handed grip and an aiming stance. She aimed carefully before firing a shot at the head of the nearest zombie and staggering backwards for two steps due to the handgun's recoil. Its head exploded from the large-caliber shot and its body pitched forward to the floor. Victoria took advantage of the breathing room to call out to Kite, who was busy dealing with his attackers in a flashy but effective fashion.

"Hey Kite, I'm starting to do OK over here. How about you?" Victoria called out to her guildmate before aiming and firing another shot from Hellsinger. The pistol roared and the bullet sped towards the unfortunate zombie staring down the wrong end of the barrel. The target's head was turned to red mist and the headless body fell to the floor never to move again. There were still plenty of zombies to deal with, but in between Kite's timely help and the use of her own weapons Victoria was out of immediate danger.

She just might survive this job after all.

[Post Word Count: 796]
[Victoria's Word Count: 8,062/11,000]

Kite lol had started his assault on the undead with flames and fists while he gave Vic time to get herself ready for her part of combat. He didn’t see what she was doing but he could feel the power of her magic when she used her requip magic to select a new weapon to use against the zombie. Sensing that she was about to unload on these guys Kite dropped down while attacking to be out of the firing line. “Dang I can feel that.” Kite would say, in regards just how much force was behind her bullets.  He could feel the air heat up as the bullets whizzed by over him. Not hard to see that her fire power wasn’t to be trifled with.

After he had felt like it was safe to stand up he would continue the assault on the undead while Vic picked them off with her light machine gun spraying into them without pause. Kite made sure to keep some line of sight on Vic while she was firing her weapon into the undead army before them, making sure that his attacks and movements would keep him out of line of fire or maneuver out of an incoming volley of projectiles. Beating back the zombies wasn’t an issue when it came to the one on one. It was their numbers that were the problem. During the assault one managed to get into Kite’s back looking to take a chunk out of his neck. Kite hands were firmly gripped around the neck and jaw of the zombie to prevent that from happening.  After failing  a few attempts to buck him off like a bull, Kite had enough. His hands began to glow the same red and orange color as his flames and with it the heat that was  concentrated into his palms started to cook the decayed flesh causing a rather pungent odor to waft from the zombie. “Sorry pal, this meal is too hot to chew!” he’d quip before flames roared from his hands pouring over the face and head of the zombie but soon they condensed to look more like the flames you’d see on a rocket booster. “Dragon emperor after burn!” he’d shout as the condensed flames continued to envelop the zombies head. Only once they subsided would it be revealed that its head had been reduced to ash. With its return to death the arms that had grappled Kite so tightly would go limp but still remained on his back.

With a moment to breathe he looked over at Vic to assess how she was fairing during combat and like he’d expected she was putting them down. He watched as she switched from her heavy duty machine gun to the smaller rapid fire gun and went right back at it. Seeing her magic in action was something else for sure. “She’s like a walking arsenal.” he commented to himself before getting back to the fight. Balling his hands into fists, Kite's flames ignited around the both of them and slowly condensed around them cloaking tightly in an outline of fire, “it’s round two! Let’s go!” His declaration was followed by him dashing into the center of a small group of them and immediately slamming his right fist into the face of one of the zombies caving its face causing it to fling backwards from the force of the attack. A small burst of flames pushed outward from his fist shooting his arm backwards and nailing another one with a stiff elbow shot that knocked it back a bit creating a bit of distance between them so Kite could fire off another Dragon emperors roar spell slamming into the zombie and the wall leaving an outline of the zombie on the wall surrounded by ash and soot.

One zombie jumped into the air with its arms out looking to grapple Kite in order to take a chunk out of his neck. Luckily he heard it coming closer over the sound of gun fire and reacted in time. He spun around and with a perfectly closed fist slammed into it and pushed it right into the ground keeping contact the entire time, smushing the skull of the zombie between the floor and his fist. Kite looked over at Vic as she called out to him saying that she is doing okay now. “What a relief” he’d think. After asking how he was doing he would answer back to her “Not doing bad but I’m over these assholes. Do you got anything big that can wipe out the rest of them?” he would ask her. The faster they end this the better it would be for the both of them.

WC: 786