Job; Nightmare Incarnate: The Beginning [Eli, Emilia - Team]

He hoped that they could find their way back there. Eli had ran in the opposite direction of her, and he while he believe it was a straight line, with all of the fog around them he could barely keep track. Worse, there was no markings on the trees since Emilia hadn't run the path with him, so that meant it'd be a blind guess. Eli wasn't exactly fond of those. Turning to face Emilia, he was about to speak before he noticed something. The whispering had stopped. Why the hell did it just keep randomly starting and stopping again. Looking where Emilia pointed, he was about to comment on how bad of an idea it was to take a blind guess when he saw it.

It was closer now, as the fog had gotten thicker, but it was once again hiding just beyond their view in the mist. He moved to a tree, pressing himself against it in an attempt to hide himself. He hoped it hadn't noticed him. Turning to Emilia, he whispered softly, assuming she saw it as well. "Walk away from it and see if it follows you. It probably will. Lead it towards me so I can ambush it."

Magic Power: 85%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 14
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 10
  
• Motus - 10
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 2 Terra, 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis
  

The member 'Eli Validus' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Emilia nodded and continued along the path back to what hopefully would be their trail. She was walking when she suddenly felt a strong push from behind. She grunted and staggered foreward a bit, but managed to not be thrown like Eli was, since she was used to dealing with powerful forces on a regular basis. She made no comment on it, focusing too much on getting back to the trail and leading the creature past Eli so he could attack. She looked back, able to see the beast's eyes. She had lost sight of Eli now. It was risky of them to separate, but hopefully had a large reward for doing so. If it knew Eli's plan, however, they were screwed. She just hoped it hadn't heard him. She smacked a tree in order to give Eli an idea of where she was. Damn she hoped this worked. She hoped that she could maybe make out Eli's tracks later on as well to give an indication of where the trail was.

Magic Power: 100%
Cooldowns: Force Pulse 1 post

The member 'leirynot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Eli's breath was ragged at this point, trying his best to prevent it from alerting the beast. Pressed tight against the tree, he had no chance to try and peak to see where it was, else he ruin the plan. This had to work; they didn't have many other ways of dealing with the creature. As Emilia faded into the mist, he knew that any second it would walk past him and reveal itself, giving him the chance to strike. Holding an Ignis card ready in hand, he was going to burn it to a crisp.

Pressed up against the tree, it didn't take more than a second for Eli to realize what was happening. Feeling the crack, he knew the tree was about to fall on him. With no other choice, he switched to a motus card, throwing it in front of him and suddenly appearing. He felt no disorientation from teleporting; he was so used to is by now it was second nature adjusting himself. As soon as it was successful he followed it up with an immediate ventus card in front of him. The air around the card exploded out, forcing the mist where the creature should be away and revealing it. However, when the mist cleared, nothing was there. Seeing the creature just beyond ventus, Eli realized it hadn't moved at all. Feeling the frustration reach a point at this thing, Eli was unable to hold himself back, walking as fast as he could with his injury towards the creature.

Magic Power: 70%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 14
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 9
  
• Motus - 8
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 2 Terra, 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis
  

The member 'Eli Validus' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Emilia turned quickly as she heard the wind from Eli's ventus card. He had sprung the trap, then. She turned around and sprinted back to where she had last seen the monster, ignoring the whispers as they started up again. She let out a battle cry again. Luckily she was able to find the place where the creature was in the mist. The approached it rabidly, and it wasn't running this time. She leaped at the eyes in the mist and swung downward to hit... the ground. The thing had disappeared yet again. Into nothing. Just nothing. She had seen it right there. She screamed in rage and smashed a nearby sapling. "Fuck you!!!!" She looked around for Eli now. This thing clearly wasn't real. It had disappeared in front of them twice. They shouldn't trouble themselves with it. Something that just disappeared like that clearly wasn't what had killed the Rune Knights. "Eli, I don't think this thing is worth our time. All it does is run away and disappear." She said in frustration. "I say we get the hell out now before a tree kills us. I don't want to be killed by a fucking tree."

The member 'leirynot' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Eli almost couldn't believe the words out of Emilia's mouth; she wanted to leave? This thing, had taunted them out here, clearly knowing much about them, led them in a while chase around the forest, attacked them, and she just wanted to leave it be? Let alone his pride, allowing this thing to prepare another strike against them sounded like a horrible idea. They were barely hurt at all; only he had an injury, and minor at that. Giving up now just seemed like screaming to whatever or whoever it was behind this 'We can't beat you, come get us again!'

Before Eli could voice his response however, another try lunged himself at him, forcing him to jump onto Emilia to dodge, wrapping his arms around her neck to support himself as he did. He was being irrational; this wasn't worth the effort, he was letting his fear and pride cloud his judgement, and he knew it. With a sigh, he looked up at Emilia, still hanging off her. "I guess you're right. Death by plant isn't exactly a glorious one. Let's get out of here."

Magic Power: 80%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 14
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 9
  
• Motus - 8
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 2 Terra, 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis
  

The member 'Eli Validus' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Emilia smiled and pat Eli on the shoulder. "Good. Now let's get out of he-" She stared at something behind Eli for a moment, mouth agape. She pushed Eli off and behind her and readied Trauma as she saw the beast again. Only this time it wasn't just watching and avoiding them. It was coming TOWARDS them and FAST. Adrenalin pumped into her system, putting her senses and muscles into overdrive. This is what they had come here for. This is what had been taunting them for so long. It was time now to kill this thing and be done with it, or be killed. "You finally show yourself ya fuckin' bastard!" She banged Trauma against her shield. "I think it's high time you fall down and BLEED!"

She ran at the monster with her shield in front of her and her mace raised up, ready to swing. The beast lashed out with its tentacles, but she ducked under them and charged with Bullheaded, slamming into the creature with her full weight, hurting her shoulder mildly in the process. Her full weight slamming into the creature, while likely unable to knock it down, would certainly hurt it. She stepped back a bit after making contact in order to swing at it with Trauma.

Magic Power: 90%
Cooldowns: Bullheaded, 6 Posts

Eli barely managed to keep himself upright then Emilia threw him off, struggling to keep upright. After a moment, he turned to face where they were, feeling his breathing stop. There it was, whatever it was. It definitely was NOT human, nor anything he had seen before. Frozen in fear, every part of his body screamed to run away, but he couldn't do that. This was something they had come here to take care of, and take care of it he would dammit. He watched the creature, waiting carefully for a moment. He was injured and his mobility was crippled. He needed to make sure Emilia could keep it off him. If it managed to get to him he was likely finished.

When Emilia charged at it, the beast shock under the pressure of the swing, forced to bring it's tentacles up and above itself to keep balanced. However, it intended to user this chance to swing downward at Emilia, smashing her from above. Eli had to interrupt this. Grabbing two cards from his box, he threw them both, flying directly at the creature. "Emi! Brace yourself!" Flying by the creature, the first spell activated, creating a massive burst of wind toward the creature's upper half. The pressure was enough to keep the beast from swinging down, about to lose balance and forcing the second card onto it, which he then promptly activated; Ignis. The ball of fire appeared on the creatures chest, if it even was a chest, before exploding into flames all across it. He had to hope that would keep it down for a second, and that Emilia could keep it from getting to him as he prepared for another attack.

Magic Power: 65%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 13
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 8
  
• Motus - 8
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 2 Terra, 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis
  

Emilia felt the satisfying thud of her mace against the thing's leg. She looked up to see it getting ready to attack with its tentacles and raised her shield to block it, only to have Eli stun it with its magic, which he had aimed well enough to have little effect on her, thanks in part to her training. The creature let out a horrible scream as its chest caught fire. Emilia could feel the heat of the fires hot on her face. This thing could burn, good. All they had to do was keep pressing the attack. Don't give it a chance to strike back. If it did, Emi would have to make sure it was against her, since she could definitely take one better than Eli, and there was no way in hell he was dodging with that foot of his.

Taking advantage of Eli's attack to strike the beast again. Swinging Trauma hard, she hit the button to unlock the ball from the handle, extending the cable, allowing the ball to swing upwards. She detonated a Force Pulse during her swing, the pulse itself doing little to the beast, as she detonated it fairly far away. What the pulse did do, however, was rapidly accelerate the ball so she could hit the thing with a heavy blow to where its face should be. As she swung it she screamed "RULE FUCKING ONE!" If it's scary, hit it in the face. Let's see how this bastard liked getting hit in the face.

Magic power: 80%
Cooldowns: Bullheaded, 5 posts; Force Pulse, 3 posts

As Trauma flew into the air, Eli knew that the creature was in for a treat. With an almost sickening crunch, the flail slammed into the creature's head, if there even was one there. Tentacle's flailing about, it was clearly in pain. It attempted to smash Emilia from all angles, wildly throwing it's tentacles around her. Ready for another stun, Eli threw a ventus card, once more keeping the creature back. Eli wasn't incredibly effect on things he couldn't hit with precision, so focusing on supporting Emilia was the best idea right now. "It's gonna be tough on you this time Emi!" With how fast the creature was to Emilia, he couldn't get the card above her, exploding above her head and forcing the surrounding tentacles back. Emilia would have to do her best to avoid losing her balance to the wind however.

Following up the sudden explosion of wind, Eli threw two rocks to either side of the creature. Reaching the ground, they exploded into large spikes, attempting to dig themselves into it's sides. He needed to keep it limited in what it could do. The easier target he could make for Emilia, the best. As well, he wanted to make sure it didn't try and surround attack her again, using the spikes now surround it to force it into nothing more than downward swings which he could reflect, or else it'd impale itself on the spikes.

Magic Power: 35%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 13
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 7
  
• Motus - 8
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis
  

Emilia cackled as she heard the crack of Trauma against the thing's head. It definitely felt that. Not no scary now! Then suddenly its tentacles started to surround her. Shit. Thankfully, Eli was there with another ventus card. The explosion of wind was a bit too close for her to ignore, and she had to brace herself against it in order to stay upright, but it did its job and stopped her from getting maimed by this thing. Now Eli had spiked its sides, excellent. With the thing less mobile, the beatdown could really begin.

With part of the momentum of her strike against the beast's head carrying the flail downwards, she pulled her hand back, making the ball start to swing around. She took in some of the cable, causing the ball to speed up as the mass approached the center of the circle it was swinging in. She swung it across her body and upwards on her left side. She brought it up over her head and swung horizontally to slam it into the side of the thing's chest. She had gone almost all out on the offensive at this point, that between her strikes and Eli's spells, they could keep it unable to act, though she wasn't sure how long Eli could keep up his attacks, even with Gloria helping to replenish his energy.

Magic Power: 90%
Cooldowns: Bullheaded, 4 posts; Force Pulse, 2 posts

Eli was already starting to feel the drain on him as he continued to sling spells at the creature. It was working fairly well and kept the beast in check, but he was starting to run on low. He usually preferred controlled bursts or spells, casting 3 or 4 at once before stopping for a bit. Constant;y spamming them out like this was taking it's toll. He had plenty of circles left, but he could probably only cast one or two more spells before having to stop for a bit. This thing had already taken a good amount of punishment, so he wasn't sure how much more it would be taking, but he hoped that it would drop dead soon.

The creature was unable to properly respond to Emilia's swing. It's movements limited, it's only option was downward smash with the tentacles, which it attempted before it was pushed aside by Trauma, it's tentacles unable to stop the full force of the hit as it smashed through them into the creature's chest. With another crunch, Trauma seemed to force it's way into the creatures body. It wasn't able to properly deal with such a heavy blow, and whatever kind of skeletal system the creature had was broken with the hit. Eli decided to try and go for a quick finish; he wasn't going to win a battle of attrition. Readying three Ignis cards, he launched them at the creature, two aimed for it's currently stunned tentacles at it's side, and one aimed for the "face" Emilia had hit before. The cards all exploded into a brilliant orb of flame, the fires spreading out across the creatures body as they activated. Eli slumped against a nearby try afterwards. He was barely able to stand now, almost all of the energy was stolen from him. It'd be up to Emilia to take it from here.

Magic Power: 10%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 10
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 7
  
• Motus - 8
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis
  

Emilia cackled as she heard Trauma crack whatever bones the creature had in its chest. She was going to strike again when Eli cast his three ignis cards on the thing, lighting it ablaze brilliantly. She stepped back a second from the heat as the beast shrieked in pain. This did more to inhibit its movement than any of the ventus cards did, leaving it open to attack. Emilia grinned at the thought. It was time to finish this thing off!

Dropping her shield, Emilia gripped Trauma with both hands and lunched at the creature. With a loud cry, she swung it upwards and smacked the thing hard in the chin. She retracted the cable completely as it came around near her and thrust toward the creature's chest. With a loud shink of metal on metal, Trauma's pointed handle shot out as Emilia thrust it forward, stabbing the beast in the chest. Letting go of the handle, Emilia held out her right hand, which glowed with chaos energy for a moment before she unleashed the power of her ancestor: the White Witch, aiming it right at the beast's center of mass.

Magic Power: 55%
Cooldowns: Bullheaded, 3 posts; Force Pulse, 1 post; Lineage down for thread

Resting against a tree, Eli could do nothing more than watch as Emilia finished off the creature. Breathing raggedly, his exhaustion was clear. While he hadn't been fighting as much with physical effort as Emilia, he had almost exhausted his magical power, leaving him drained. At least his last attack seemed fairly effective. With Emilia's final swing, the creature seemed enraged, forcibly swiping her back and shattering the spikes. Almost immediately afterwards, the fog thickened to almost impossible levels, rendering Eli unable to see anything at all. Wondering what happened to Emilia, Eli tried to force himself off the tree, barely able to stand through the lack of energy and injury to his foot. "Emilia! Are you alright?!"

Just as fast as it came, the fog began to clear. It lifted almost entirely, revealing the area around them for once. Eli looked desperately around for signs of the creature, but was unable to find it. It had almost vanished entirely. However, there was something there now that was definitely not there before. In the middle of the now shattered spikes, several torn pages laid where the creature once stood. Eli had no idea what brought them there, but he didn't like this at all. Whatever that was and whatever had happened could go to hell for all he cared; hell it probably belonged there. He just wanted to go home, now.

Magic Power: 10%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 10
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 7
  
• Motus - 8
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis
  

Along with the torn pages, Eli would see a confused-looking Emilia. Trauma lay on the ground in front of her, its handle extended still. She looked at Eli. "Well that was rather anticlimactic. It just kind of disappeared." She reached down and picked up Trauma, retracting the handle and slipping it onto her belt again. "At least it pulled this out. Still, all this fucking trouble and we didn't even get to kill it." She kicked the ground where the monster was, looking disappointed and winded from the fight, but she was mostly unscathed, having been able to knock back the creature again with her last swing. She looked at the pages a bit, then picked them up. This clearly wasn't over. The thing had gotten away, but even if Eli didn't want to face it again, Emi would be back. She hated leaving a job unfinished. Besides, it might come back to haunt them later, and if it did, these pages might be important to actually killing the thing. She then picked up her shield and slung it over her back.

She turned to Eli and smiled. "Well, at least it's done for now. How's your foot doing?" She walked over to him and held out her arm, offering to help support him for their walk back out of the forest. The trail was fairly clear now that the mist was gone. "Here, I'll help you out, but you owe me a drink, and none of that hard stiff, just a nice, cold beer." She said with a chuckle.

Magic Power: 55%
Cooldowns: Bullheaded, 2 posts; Lineage down for thread

Eli was starting to calm down a bit. The fog had lifted, the creature seemed to have ran off. There wasn't much he had to fear now. Hopefully. Taking Emilia's arm, he rested himself against her, taking a moment to catch his breath. "It's not bad, but it'll take a while. Probably a sprain at best. Still hurts like a mother to walk though." There still were several questions he had left, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Who was Samuel Martin, what happened to those rune knights, and how did it all involve him? They had learned next to nothing so far. Still, there was the pages, maybe that could explain something. He reached over and took them Emilia. Of course she didn't attempt to read them; he wondered sometimes if she even could read.

Scanning through the pages, it was hard to make much else. The creature clearly hadn't treated them well, and it was almost illegible. However, he managed to make out they were more parts of the diary that came to him originally. Taking up where it left off before, it seems the man had followed the rune knights into the forest, desperate to save his wife. However, they seemed to have encountered the beast. He managed to survive, while the knights.... Constantly distracted by the other creatures in the forest, they were picked off one by one, right in front of the mans eyes. The creature didn't touch him however, always going after whoever was with him. Eating them right before him, in a manner 'so grotesque I can't even explain it.' Eventually the last one left, he attempted to finish his diary in case anyone managed to find it. He seemed to have lost his mind by the end, the creature constantly stalking him but making no moves against him. Left with no other choice, he decided to confront it and try to make it out alive.

There was nothing more after that, and Eli could already take a guess at how that went for him. The question remained now; how did this all relate to him? Why was this sent to him in the first place? The diary almost seemed to leave more questions than answers. If the beast had taken out the entirety of the party, what was left to send it to him. He had no idea, but at this point, he realized he wasn't going to learn anything more here. "Come on, let's just get out of here and get that drink now. I'm tired of dealing with this mess. I hate being unprepared." Leaning against Emilia, the pair slowly worked their way home.

Magic Power: 15%

Circle Count:
Cards:

• Ignis - 10
  
• Terra - 15
  
• Ventus - 7
  
• Motus - 8
  

Items:

• Coins - 5 Ignis
  
• Rocks - 3 Motus
  
• Cloth - 3 Motus, 2 Ignis