animus_network | [Voice]

Entry tags:

[ou] aleph

[Voice]

Your rooms are still the safest place to stay during the night. I would suggest getting the door shut as soon as night hits and not opening it until day.

As far as boogeymen go - yes, I saw the writing on the wall - I'll be limiting my patrols to the dormitory levels and patrolling them throughout the entire night. Don't be afraid to scream for help or to start running.

Please be cautious. Thank you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He suspected as much, but he needed to confirm this for himself. Trust and belief were still issues, even if Tear's pointed comment about his rationale had him reassessing the situation and his place in it.]

Don't be so sure. We've learned to be open minded about human variation within the last several decades. It's only been a little over thirty years since people with NEXT powers started appearing.

I haven't even been alive half that long... It probably seems like longer than it is.

Yeah, it probably does. It can be harder to see how the world fits together if you don't have the right scale. Unfortunately, that can be something that only experience can give you.

That, I'm pretty sure I can say I have.

[That's right. God-slayer. It was so easy to forget that someone that much younger than him had accomplished such a feat.]

Good. I'll be relying on that experience tonight.

[Back him up, roomie. Come power outage or any disaster, Barnaby is intent on gathering any information that he can.]

I won't let you down.

[Night soon falls. Monsters don't usually enter rooms but they sometimes do wander the hall - and soon Aleph and Barnaby run into a group of Orcs. Five of them, each with deformed limbs and violent snarls on their faces.

Aleph has his sword up to block before an Orc can connect his swing.] One for you, one of me, three for my demons, does that sound fair?

Very.

[Barnaby leapt away the when an Orc moved to strike him, his body limning in a brilliant blue in the same second as he activated his Hundred Power. Nimbly touching ground just a few feet away, he locked his gaze on the Orc and and shoved his protests aside.

He had to rely on his instincts here. Monsters were completely out of his range of knowledge.]

We have five minutes to finish this before I'm out. [He huffed irritably at a sudden realization.] damn. I should have brought a stopwatch.

Shouldn't take nearly that long- [Aleph pressed some buttons on his COMP quickly, and three demons appeared - Beelzebub, Shiva, and Anubis. They engaged three separate orcs, leaving the one that had attacked Aleph first to be cut into by a mighty swing of his blade.] - and my COMP has a clock.

Oh? [The demons only received a cursory look from Barnaby before he shot a sharp, swift roundhouse at the orc that stood before him.] Good. That's a handy device to have around.

[Curiosity aside, he narrowed his focus and delivered another kick. There would be time for questions later.]

It is. [Aleph dodges another of the orc's attacks and drives his sword through an opening in the creature's armor and into his flesh.]

[Barnaby leapt up out of the orc's reach when it lashed out at him again, dodging it's reach just enough to use the wall as a springboard to strike at its head with another kick. All he had was his agility and his melee techniques-- and his preference for kicks always won out over direct punches. So far, it didn't seem to be a hinderance.]

[The other orcs aren't standing up very well to the demons - they're trying, certainly, but the demons' strong magical attacks or overwhelming force is beating them out. Aleph too seems stronger than most humans (it's that artificial human thing) and has managed to pierce his orc completely through the stomach.]

[...the lack of a weapon would prove to be a hinderance at this rate. Hands and feet could only do so much damage, and Barnaby had never actually killed anyone or anything no matter what his intentions were. He lashed out with another kick, denting the armor, but he was quickly realizing that he needed to reassess his choices and decisions in this Tower.]

Want any help?

[Aleph doesn't mean to belittle him, but he doesn't mean to get him hurt either.]

[Barnaby was stubborn, not stupid. There had to be a trick...

Or he really did need to take on a weapon.]

I've never fought a monster before.

[The H-01 didn't count. That was different.]

They're going to be more resilient than humans. I don't think these have weak spots, just brute force - and you're on a timer.

...Honestly.

[Conscious of his time limit, Barnaby launched another kick at the orc's head. Heads were always nasty places to hit, no matter what was involved.]

[The orc stumbled backwards, dazed but not defeated by the attack.]

[This was a problem.

He didn't have time or the resources to solve it.]

Aleph. If you don't mind?

Alright.

[Calmly, Aleph stabs Barnaby's orc in the neck. It promptly stops moving.]

[Barnaby stopped and stared. For the few years that he was a practicing Hero, he never once killed anything.

That was going to need to change. Quickly.

He didn't pull his gaze away. There was no point in trying to hide from it.]

Well. That was simple.

[Unless it was hiding behind snark. :| ]

There are three options when you meet a monster. Run, kill it, or die. I only like the first two of them, and that's my best advice.

That's reasonable.

[But he was on a timelimit, and without a watch. Barnaby knew that he didn't have long left.]

Let's go, Aleph. There's still more places to go, right?

Right.

[It's further down the hallway that Aleph feels the air start to get colder... is he imagining it or is there really a chill? No, he should ~~hide~~ hide now deal with Barnaby's safety.]

[~~That's what his Handsome Escape is for.~~

Barnaby glanced around the hallway, on higher alert for any potential threat as the temperature dropped. He wondered if he was imagining it himself, but it was too unsettling for him to ignore.

Especially since it seemed that Aleph was also on alert.]

This isn't normal, is it?

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