And So the Hunt Begins! (Mei/Kateri)

"Where the hell'd Johnny go!?" a disembodied voice called out from around the terribly lit passage. "I dunno, dumb ass went and stormed off on his own again." another voice said. "Well, go fuckin' get em!" a third called. Kateri could tell from the voices, one was a moron, the other was spineless, and the last one was some sort of overseer for them. The first two didn't acknowledge him with some sort of honorific like 'sir' or something along those lines, so it was fair to say the third voice wasn't the big bad asshole her group was looking for. 'Three of em... which one should be first...' Kateri thought to herself. 'It'd be a problem if the other two interrupted a possible fight with the last one.' she thought, beginning a plan to take them out by means of using stealth over fire power. 'But if the third one were to find me while I was taking one of the others out, he could possible call for more...' she added to her initial thought, re-tracking her mind to make a plan for the third. Kateri formed a bit of ice in her hand, condensing it to be as shiny and smooth as possible and used to as a mirror to check the corner. She saw two guys, not particularly scary looking, and one who was a bit... bigger. 'Kill the tiny ones first, save the big one last.' Kateri said to herself, finalizing her plan. "Hey, you seen that?" one of them called, pointing at Kateri's make shift mirror. She quickly dropped it as a crystal spike flew out of the wall, impaling where Kateri was. The larger of the three men walked around the corner, checking if her nailed her. The pillar moved back into the wall, revealing an empty black cloak attached to it. The man smelled it and said "Got a chick on the loose. You two split up, first one to find her calls the others." with an authoritative voice and began walking away. One of the smaller guys who used nothing but knives and tiny guns walked in the other direction while one remained still, trying to decide which way to go. Overhead, Kateri was watching the other two for once thankful that her hair got tangled on her ankles just as she'd jumped to the ceiling and grabbed one of the roots protruding from it. 'Common you bastards... get out of range.' she thought while hoping the other two would get out of earshot, and the man below her would stay as still as possible.

Kateri saw as the two had finally got away, and her initial target was still unsuspectingly standing in place. She let got of the roots that kept her up, he feet staying placed in the roots holding onto them causing the stealthy young woman to swing downwards. She quickly wrapped her arm around the man's neck and began pulling up, his own weight providing the force to keep his throat closed shut. As a result, he was unable to squeal for help. Once he stopped moving, Kateri slipped her feet from the roots, falling to the ground and landing on her rear end. 'That wouldda been so much cooler if I'd landed that...' she thought while rubbing her throbbing backside. 'At least the others were here to see it...' she added, providing herself a small bit of relief. She turned in the direction that the weaker of the two headed, brandishing her boot knife in one hand, and her revolver in the other. The general idea was to only use her gun if she absolutely had to. 'Shadow, what's going on up there?' she asked while moving forwards at a slowed pace. 'I am unsure master, your gun is quite heavy.' Kateri's wyvern responded. 'Why not just... grow...' she said. 'Oh... sorry master I forgot.' he responded, sounding embarrassed for some reason. It was at that moment Shadow used his growth ability. By controlling the power he put into it, Shadow shifted from being 1 foot, 7 inches to being a 20 foot long creature that was 1.5 feet thick. He grabbed the rifle in his mouth and began using the claws on his wings to pull himself along the hallway's floor.

Meanwhile, Kateri had caught up to her target. She literally caught him with his pants down, facing a wall as the color of the wall was darkened from the liquid pouring onto it. Kateri slowly crept up behind him, making sure non of her gear clanked as she got withing striking range. The man was unsuspecting as the blade swiftly reach the front of his neck, and then was pulled across. His body slumped over, the urine continued falling to the floor causing Kateri to take a few steps back so it wouldn't get on her boots. After taking care of the other pain in the ass, she would move on to taking care of their stronger friend.

HP: 200

MP: 100

Post Count: 26/40

Upon ending the life of the pissy man, Kateri felt a chill down her spine as well as her body instinctively forcing itself aside, her expression full of shock as she'd noticed a massive crystal pillar had slammed into the spot she was previously standing. She smirked while saying "Pretty smart of you to set a trap using your underlings as bait..." with a plain voice, not really feeling bad for the men but not liking the idea of shit canning your friends for no reason, or at least no good reason. "Oh-ho, now that's just saddenin' was hopin' yah'd be dead on 'at hit." a voice called from around the corner. It sounded a bit rough, raspy, and had it not been for those two it would sound like some normal guy... you know like an office worker or someone who isn't threatening. "Yeah... sorry bud, I don't die that fast, or easily." she replied. The figure decided to go ahead and show itself, walking into the hall way. It was a pretty big guy, about six-six, with broad shoulders and wearing a very thick, black trench coat. His arms weren't in the sleeves, it was just draped over him. His had was an oldschool fedora, and Kateri could see the barrel of what she figured was a Tommy with a homemade long barrel. She could also see it wasn't that close to his leg, meaning it had a drum barrel, the only thing that would keep the gun from laying flat against his thigh as it should have. "I see you fancy the Tommy." she said smiling, very rarely finding other gun users. "Yeh, looks pretty and kills 'em quick." he replied giving a wide grin and using his teeth to keep his cigar in place. Kateri could feel the malice in him, but needed to confirm it for herself. "What's your plans for the loot, if you don't mind the question." she said with a slightly tense voice, the air was getting thick from the two gunslinger/mage's standoff. "Was gonna keep em, kill off 'at asswag'n Goldenshine n' take the loot. Use it to wipe out a few o' dem guilds, includin' yours." he said with a cocky smile. Kateri pulled the string on her cloak, allowing the black item to fall to the ground. A cold wind blasted throughout the entire labyrinth they were in, conveying she wasn't gonna hold back. "Ya shouldn't have said that bud..." she said as the demonic scar on her right cheek glowed bright cyan, looking like the surface of an ice sculpture. Her glacial blue eyes turned pure white, along with her hair which normally only changed color when exposed to natural light. She felt her magic power getting more restless, signaling that it was night time already, reminding her of how she'd lost track of time in this maze of a hellhole. Her allies would be unable to find Kateri by following the near-frigid air to her as it was filling the entirety of the ancient ruins, and would lead them to every nook and cranny between them and the ice mage, but it would be a way for them to know she was still very much alive.

HP: 200

MP: 100

Effects:

Pure Child: +50% damage

Love of Night: +30% Magic Damage

Kazimir's Blessing: +2% HP Regen

The large man began backing up while shielding his eyes, trying to prevent them from freezing over. The walls were beginning to become ice, the floor was a skating rink, and the ceiling was practically a mirror in seconds. The man motioned his free hand towards the Lamia Scale mage, but Kateri was a sniper. She was accustomed to picking out the smallest of details, so when the bits of snow mixed in with her winds began to shift around something, Kateri knew that she needed to move. She quickly jumped to the side, rolling and then getting back on her feet. She placed her hand out, causing a massive storm of ice shards to mix with the snow in the room, buffering the man but dealing little damage as his coat was very thick. However, it did serve a purpose to coating him in large amounts of ice as the attack continued. He began moving slower, and slower, but not slow enough to where he was unable to use his magic. A set of crystal pillars flew out from under Kateri, catching her off guard and slashing her leg as she tried to avoid it. The ice in the air cause the wound to freeze over immediately, preventing blood loss, and numbing out the pain. Another blast of icy winds went off as Kateri placed the other hand out, sweeping it across and creating a cross-wind that impacted the crystal user. He began to freeze over faster, trying his hardest to shake off the ice, or break it with brute force. While this was simple with only one of Kateri's arctic attacks, it was mostly futile when multiples were stacked like this. The man began backing up, hoping if he got far enough away the wind wouldn't be so intense; but the room was small and before he knew it his back was against a wall. Kateri walked up to him, maintaining her state of anger and pressed her hand against the wall a few feet away from the man. A pillar of ice shot out, impaling him in the heart, and extending halfway across the room. The blood oozed out, coating the ice in a shiny crimson, but froze over immediately. The man's corpse turned to ice, and was looted for a small map that was almost at its breaking point. Kateri ceased her cold winds, and turned in the direction the vault was. "So they're back there... I'll scout ahead." she said under her breath, memorizing the map by heart before dropping it. The map shattered upon hitting the frozen, snow covered ground.

HP: 154/200

MP: 90/100

Following the map she'd memorized, Kateri found a rope that lead upwards. It was pretty fresh, and very high-grade stuff, so she assumed that mean the rope belonged to the treasure hunters. That and the ceiling it went through was a massive hole, with very jagged edges that let her know some fat-ass probably fell straight through... or they used dynamite to blow it open. Kateri grabbed the rope with both hands and began shimmying up it. Upon reaching the top of the rope; according to the map it was just under the main vault, she heard the sounds of fighting. Kateri made her magic presence almost non-existent as she ran past, following the map to a flight of stairs that lead upwards. 'Can't use my magic while those two are around...' she thought while ascending the steps. She stopped at the top and checked around the corner, watching as a rather large man created a morning star from what looked like crystals. 'Shadow, where are you?' she called for her pet. She felt warm breath at her back, along with a slight poke from a large bony head. 'Good timing.' she thought. 'I had to use my teleport ability, I'm sorry.' he replied telepathically. 'It's fine, that was great thinking. What's the group status?' She said, asking her question as she took the sniper from Shadow's mouth and began laying down. 'There was a cave-in that separated your comrades, leaving the male to fight alone.' Shadow responded. 'Kay...' Kateri said while aiming down her scope. The battle between the two seemed to have resumed, making it hard her to aim properly. She took aim as the mans arms were moving, figuring she can prevent him from using anything too ungodly huge if she hit em. Her pupils narrowed in on the center of her scope as she moved the barrel to predict Harper's movements. A click from the trigger being over-shadowed by the sound of the 14.5mm round barraging through the air, leaving a while trail behind it. Almost instantly, Harper's left hand was graved by the shot, and a second later his entire left arm exploded from the force behind the moving round. The round impacted the wall causing it to explode, leaving a large hole in its wake. "Surprise bitch." Kateri said with a smirk before pulling the bolt on her rifle and standing up. She turned and began running off to find a new spot to fire from.

Blind to what was happening between Harper Goldenshine and Dmitry, Kateri followed the paths marked by the map she committed to memory a little bit ago. Using these, she ran down a corridor to a hole in the ceiling that the group blew up. The rope or ladder they used to get down was gone, so she jumped up, pressing her boots to the wall and quickly forced herself up with a single push. Grabbing the edge of the hole, Kateri pulled herself up and got to the second floor. According to the map, the tunnel she took would lead her to a window over looking the room where Harper and Dmitry were fighting. She arrived at the window just in time to watch as a cloud of smoke ejecting Dmitry out of it. Kateri quickly set up her sniper, placing the bipod legs on the edge of the stone opening and angling downwards. Unable to get a proper angle, she had shadow enlarge himself and let her stand on his tail. She got on a knee so she'd be able to keep stable, and commanded Shadow to raise and lower his tail so she could get a proper angle on Harper as he stepped out of the cloud. Kateri let out a humph as she saw the arm she'd just destroyed replaced with a crystal looking one. Through the lens of her scope she saw one of his legs had a type of prop on it, keeping the leg from collapsing. Harper moved a bit slower on it, and hobbled which made shooting him easier and harder at the same time. Easier because he was slow, harder because he was hobbling about. Kateri aimed for his chest, figuring a single shot would be all it took to kill the man. She gently tapped the trigger letting off a massive bang, but when Kateri removed her eye from the scope she saw a pillar of crystal jutting out from the ground. The pillar was mostly shattered, but in the middle of what was left of it was a large chunk of metal still smoking. Kateri picked her sniper up and began running while Shadow moved to their next position. The same moment the two had moved, a set of crystal spikes impaled where they once were.

Kateri continued running along the circular area above the battleground, pausing at a window long enough to see a pool of blood on the floor. "Humph!" she huffed as her eyes and hair turned pure white, signaling that she was no longer in a state of mind where casually running about was an option. She rested the sniper against the wall, taking a few steps out and focusing her mind on controlling her own magic. "Alright... let's do this." she said softly, running at the opening and pressing a hand against the floor to lift herself up. On top of being used as leverage, a set of ice spikes erupted from the ground, impaling Goldenshine, locking him in place as Kateri used her Ice Burial. Several crystals slammed into the ice spikes, attempting to shatter them, but much to Harper's dismay the ice simply reformed around the breaks in the original pillars. He looked up as to see Kateri leaping down with two revolvers drawn and a flurry of ice shards above her. The spikes fired rapidly, impaling Harper's exposed chest as Kateri fired the guns, landing only five shots. Expecting the crystal spike to come from the ground, Kateri was able to time it properly and put her guns under her boots, using them to slide down the spike and land in a forward roll. She jumped as another spike came out, and using careful mental calculations, results from her father's training, she was able to time the next three spikes. She quickly holstered the two guns, and pulled out another pair of guns. Two ornate looking MP5 sub-machine guns, and began firing both while running around Harper. A pillar of crystals shot out from Harper's arm, him trying to punch Kateri with his prosthetic. Not having expected it, Kateri was hit square in the stomach and launched against the wall. She quickly rolled out the way as a series of small crystals impaled the wall she was just leaned against. Needing time to recover, Kateri ran into the hole created when she took Harper's real arm off earlier, using the hallways inside to stay hidden while she caught her breath.

Lexa heard the sound of chatter, accompanied soon after the sound of something big hitting the ground. She gave a smirk as she got up, stepping into the opening created by her sniper blasting a hole in the wall. On the floor laid Harper Goldenshine lifeless. Kateri gave a quick chuckle and said "Lemme guess, he pissed you off? You know you can't just kill everyone who makes you angry uncle kazy." she said sweetly, giving an energetic smile while walking over the rubble. She continued past Dmitry, standing directly under the window she'd jumped from with her hand out. "Shadow, pass!" she hollered moments before her sniper fell down, landing square in her outstretched hand. The small black creature flew out from the opening after that in his much smaller, cuter form and landed on Kateri's shoulder. She looked around the room; remembering the map said it was in the same room they were in. Kateri walked back towards Dmitry saying "So where is that stupid door..." with an inquisitive tone with her eyes darting about the room for something that was out of place. Standing in the middle of the room, the walls were highly ornate, so much so that any cracks seemed like either erosion or part of the decor. Her eyes slowly looked down for no reason at all, noting that the stone centerpiece she was standing on had many cracks in it, but some were too perfect to be normal. "Back up." she said to Dmitry as she got off the circle. Kateri pressed her hand to the piece of art, exerting some magic power on it utilizing a little trick she'd come up with. After a second, a cloud of dust flew up from the cracks in the circle and then the pieces began sinking one at a time until a spiral staircase was made leading down. "Found it..." she said amazed by the fact that the mechanism wasn't broken in the slightest. She pulled out her assault rifle and began moving in ahead of Dmitry to make sure nothing else was hiding inside.

HP: 100

MP: 50

Cooldown:
Unlock Door - 2 Posts

Kateri watched as Dmitry passed her, saying nothing could possibly be in here aside from some corpses. She wanted to tell him off, let the mage know that even the dead don't always sleep but she decided to hold her tongue. She kept her weapon pointed as she entered, knowing that anything could actually get in here if her little spell was all it took to open the door. Upon fully entering the area, Kateri looked around through the iron sight on her assault rifle, noting the lack of moving... anything. She let out a sigh and gently tucked away her rifle while turning to face a far off shelf. She listened as her partner, and good friend began freaking out over what he'd found but paid him no heed as she was looking for something else. There it was, on a dusty shelf sitting in the far back where very few could find it, hidden in the shadows of a barely lit orb. The object was tucked away into her pocket rather quickly, making sure Dmitry wasn't looking. Kateri passed the older mage as he was staring at a book, making sure not to disturb him as she did so. She'd made her way out of the ruins and stepped into the sunlight while shielding her eyes. 'Damn... lost track of time in there...' she thought to herself, remembering it to be night time when the group entered. She lost her cloak back there, so there was no way to keep her hair from turning white this time; which she hated it doing. Shadow turned to his other form, the large version that was able to carry massive loads. Kateri jumped on his back, wondering where that other girl went, and hoping Dmitry would make it out alright. "He'll be fine." she said softly to no one in particular. She gave Shadow a nudge and he opened his wings and began taking off heading towards Lamia Scale Guild Hall.