2018-06-15: A Meribian Ambush
- A Meribian Ambush
- Cast: Pearl, Jean, Hiro
- Where: Meribia
- Date: 15/06/2018
- Summary: Jean and Hiro are heading home after a night of drinking, but are suddenly and violently interrupted.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Even by night, the city of Meribia is relatively active. Due to the presence of Blue Master Lunn and his students, Althena's Guard has relatively light presence. Even without alcohol publicly on offer, the bars are packed with the sailors and merchants that frequent the port city.
Despite this nocturnal, activity, the streets seem eerily quiet. Even the token force of Althena's Guard that is deployed in the city is nowhere to be seen. Their absence is almost conspicuous. Still, it means those who might want to avoid the guards attention have the ability to roam the city fairly freely, to do whatever it is they need or want to do.
Just pay no attention to the shadow clinging to the rooftops.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
There's something nice about being able to spend some time in a city, a place with real beds and booze you don't have to bring yourself and food somebody else cooked. Jean, wanderer that she is, appreciates this while she can--and with Lunn not giving them trouble despite the rumors, she'll do it, even if she's avoiding wearing out her welcome too much.
For examle: right now she walks with Hiro, side by side, down a street where she ended up after leaving a bar. Her yellow dress stands out some in the growing gloom, but she seems in good cheer. "So," she says, "Now that you've had your milk, do you think you're going to grow up into a big boy?"
Jean did not have milk at the bar. ...In fact, she looks pretty high-spirited at the moment.
"I think the inn was..."
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Hiro momentarily flushes red as Jean says that, "Maybe!" He answers - all flustered. "What's wrong with that?"
Whereas Ruby who is flying alongside them mentions, "Hiro just isn't the kind of guy for the hard stuff Jean! But wow - I've never seen anyone throw back as many as you did tonight without passing out." She says in admiration.
BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K8ZPxsA_gg
"Ah - down that way I think." He gestures with a hand at the crosswalk. "Think it was right near where we put on those costumes - remember that?"
If there are ominous shadows on the rooftop - Hiro doesn't sense them. Instead the light of the Blue Star drenches the city in wonder - lifting his chin up, he mentions idly. "The Blue Star sure is pretty tonight."
But there's a note of worry too. What's going on while they're away?
They had problems enough here - but he just can't stop thinking about how they're getting along back on Filgaia.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The street leads into an empty alley, just out of sight of anyone who might be peeking around. The only other person they encounter is a rather drunken sailor that people will be wondering what to do with come the morning. He grunts an acknowledgement, before turning to the wall after Jean and Hiro walk past. Nothing worth fussing about.
Then there is a sickening crack, and a telltale thud.
The sailor lies crumpled on the ground, a figure clad in black from head to toe standing above him. The collapse of the bystander was the only warning the wanderers will get, as the figure suddenly hurls a hand forward, a blast of shadow magic hurtling towards Hiro, with force enough to knock him back behind it. The attacker then dashes forward in a blur, becoming even more difficult to see in the darkness, as they make for Jean, launching a sudden flying roundhouse at her head. Regardless of the effectiveness of their blows, the figure flips backward to put a small amount of distance between themselves and their victims, ideally to deny them the opportunity to get in close. The attacker drops into a stance, weight over their back leg, arms raised and palms open.
A stance with some familiarity, perhaps.
GS: Pearl has attacked Hiro with Darkness Bolt! GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Shadow Assault! GS: Pearl has completed her action. GS: Hiro guards a hit from Pearl's Darkness Bolt for 57 hit points! GS: Jean critically Guards a hit from Pearl's Shadow Assault for 19 hit points! GS: Your next attack with the Sneak flag will display with the name Shadow Barrage.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Jean laughs good-naturedly. "Nothing, nothing. It's just fun watching you turn red!" She nudges him in the shoulder, still laughing a little, and then takes a dramatic half-bow to Ruby. "The secret is lots and lots of practice," the dancer answers proudly.
"...Huh. Guess it is. I don't miss those. It's weird to think that's where we made it back..." She pauses, looking up again. The Blue Star. ...So much more is there than she ever realized. But as they turn the corner into the alley--
Jean hears the crack as they pass the sailor, and freezes immediately, starting to turn for the sound of it. The difference in her demeanor is striking; one instant she's pleasantly drunk, and the next that blur whirls into motion against her. Jean darts into actual immediately; both arms come up with block with bone-crunching defense and Jean spins with the motion, letting it whirl her into a ready stance--
Where her eyes widen.
"You--"
Perhaps strangest is the fact that Jean instinctively stepped into the very same stance. "...Hiro," she says. "Be careful." She sounds deathly serious, looks as if she's just seen a ghost.
She has, of course. Her own.
"Hah--" Jean darts forward, pulling her fans and opening them as she goes, throwing one then the other straight for the figure, razor-sharp and aimed for her shoulder joint and hip.
GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Feather Step! GS: Jean has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby laughs as Jean takes her bow - "Hey it's fitting that he turn red all the time! It's the color of his future consort after all." Hiro grimaces. "You girls make embarrassing me into a professional sport..."
As the three chat though... he looks less pensive and more in good cheer again. "Yeah... tell me about it. That homecoming was pretty wild wasn't it?" As they pass by the Sailor - Hiro offers him this affable wave. But as they pass by - he hears a thud. And glances over his shoulder. Just in time to see a blast of shadow magic hurtling his way. Right now without his shield strapped on, he doesn't have much to defend himself with.
"HIRO!" Or so it appears at least. Whipping up his arm in a forearm block, he says a word. And a gust of wind impacts the bolt. It detonates solidly into a mass of shadows just before it would strike him - scouring his arm with energy black as pitch.
"Gah - you!" The youth waves his arm like he's trying to put out flames on the sleeve, fumbling one handed with his other to grasp at his shield. Fumbling as he buckles it on.
Since Jean tells him to be careful, he doesn't immediately charge back in. Instead getting a better look at them - but all he sees is a shadowy shape in a martial arts stance. "Is this... the cult?"
As Jean darts in for her assault, Ruby swings in from behind. The person might hear this deep inhalation before. "EAT FLAMES YOU JERK!" And that's Ruby breathing this small gout of flame in an attempt to blindside their assailant - perhaps hoping to set their clothes on fire.
Meanwhile Hiro draws his sword - which is silver with butterly motifs on the hilt, and uses that distraction to cautiously step back into the fringes of the battle - casting a glance to see if the sailor is still breathing. If Jean's worried then he can't afford to be reckless... but the cultist might realize he's trying to stay at his ideal range - where he can bring to bear his sword against them most effectively.
GS: Hiro has attacked Pearl with Rubyvention! GS: Hiro has entered a Reflect stance! GS: Hiro has completed his action.
DC: MISS! Pearl completely evades Feather Step from Jean! DC: MISS! Pearl completely evades Rubyvention from Hiro!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The attacker is ready for the coming assault, blurring as they step to the left and the fan sails past, through the momentary after image. That sidestep gives them ample time to see Ruby coming, and they roll forward and to the side out of the way, leaving the cobblestones scorched.
Hiro can see the sailor is still breathing, but raggedly, and blood oozes from his mouth. It's difficult to tell, but he's definitely getting worse. The ambusher has attempted to inflict a slow, painful death rather than a quick, clean one.
The attacker continues their roll, and launches upward with a closed fist at Jean, a feint, as they suddenly swing towards Hiro, once again closing distance with a blur, rushing a knee towards Hiro's stomach, then following with an elbow to the side of the head.
With that done, she suddenly turns back towards Jean, bringing an axe kick down towards her. Her leg is surrounded by a black-purple aura, ki flowing through it. The aim of this kick is not to do damage, however, but rather a guard crusher, allowing the corrosive ki of the Shadow Dragon Fist to erode the defenses of the enemy.
At this close distance, Jean can see the eyes of her attacker briefly. A steely grey, with hatred behind them. A female voice comes out quietly. "...You should be dead."
GS: Pearl has attacked Hiro with Umbral Blitz! GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Inverse Crush! GS: Pearl has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Hiro guards a hit from Pearl's Umbral Blitz for 71 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Hiro! GS: Hyper and Riposte! Statuses applied to Pearl! GS: Jean takes a solid hit from Pearl's Inverse Crush for 59 hit points! GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Jean!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
"You keep at it, Ruby," Jean says with a laugh. ...But there's not much laughing now that they've started the fight.
At least Hiro listens--Jean remains deadly serious about this, looking to make sure Hiro and Ruby are still all right for a moment, but she can't look to the sailor. ...Truthfully she doesn't know whether he'd be dead yet or not. His question, though--
"I'd know those stances anywhere," she answers the figure as much as she answers Hiro. Her closed fist comes in quickly, and Jean handily evades the feint, sidestepping quickly just in time for the attack not to be at her at all. "Hiro--" But that kick is fast. Too fast, when paired with that aura. "That--"
She knows the essence, all right. It freezes her just long enough that the figure's heel impacts shoulderbone hard, the sickly, corrosive ki flooding through her for an instant. She sees those eyes, and her own, brown and still wide with surprise, stare right back. ...Until they narrow. "Yeah?" she asks, and grits her teeth.
"No such luck for you or the others," Jean answers, and darts back suddenly, stepping into a whirling motion of shadowy magic that brings forth a gray mist--and a spectral vision of a sheep that almost conceals a spinning kick, seeks to sap and tire.
"Hah--"
GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Sleep Step! GS: Jean has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
"Holy-" "Ruby-" Hiro cants his head in that same direction. He has to fumble for a moment to grab an apple gel, but he tosses it through the air towards Ruby - who grasps it in mid-air. "-on it!"
That costs him though. Because the same moment he throws - his assailant rushes it.
Catching the knee in his stomach - he's instantly winded, doubling over - but he just somehow manages to get his shield up in time to catch the elbow to his head. It smashes into the shield - which rebounds to solidly hit his head and ring against his skull.
Ruby flies over to the downed sailor and starts trying to apply the gel to the worst of it. Kneading her pawsies to squeeze it out of its vessel and apply it. She's taken aback by the state he's in though. "Ew. Sheesh - we must be dealing with a real sicko here..."
Hiro wheezes - winded and a little punch drunk. Before - "Fuh-Ferocious Winds!" A seaside breeze with a tang of salt - becomes a vortex of circling winds. Battering with intense friction. But more importantly - containing. The vacuum press meant to hamper their movement.
"You have... have... no idea how... wrong you are." When it comes to the fact that Jean should be dead. Pained, his voice rasps - whisper thin. "Noone's dying here today though."
GS: Hiro has attacked Pearl with Vortex! GS: Hiro has completed his action. GS: CRITICAL! Pearl takes a solid hit from Jean's Sleep Step for 53 hit points! GS: Cripple and Slow! Statuses applied to Pearl! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Jean!
DC: MISS! Pearl completely evades Vortex from Hiro!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
As Jean whirls into the mist, the attacker prepares herself for... something entirely different, by the looks of things. She suddenly finds her movements sluggish, and she is caught in the mist. She is also caught unaware by Jean's hidden kick, knocking her back and stumbling slightly. This elicits a low, almost wolf like, growl from the assassin. But even with her movement sluggish, she sees Hiro start casting and starts backstepping quickly, out of the path of the wind which tears cobblestones from the ground and slams them into walls. She's just fast enough to evade.
"You act as though you have some say in the matter." The attacker responds to Hiro, as she gets ready to close once again. Ruby's application of the apple gel helps, but the sailor is unable to swallow any. At the very least, though, it'll buy him enough time to get him to medical help. If they can get him out of here.
This time, the attacker moves forward with a series of fast steps, and three more assassins seem to burst from the shadows behind her. They look blurry, indistinct and fast as they leap forward to surround Jean. Then, assaulting from four directions at once, the attacker and her 'compatriots' launch a flying kick at Jean, aiming to leave her with nowhere to run.
But as soon as they've passed, the shadows dissolve into nothingness, as the real attacker lands in front of Hiro. That sickly purple ki glows around her arm this time, and she lashes out with an open hand claw strike at Hiro's chest. The ki this time feels sharp, and brutal, serving no other purpose but to enhance the damage of the attack and rend at the opponent. To make them feel pain and bleed.
What sort of monster could use such a cruel attack so openly?
GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Needle Kick! GS: Pearl has attacked Hiro with Inverse Claw! GS: Pearl has completed her action.
DC: MISS! Jean completely evades Needle Kick from Pearl!
GS: Hiro guards a hit from Pearl's Inverse Claw for 84 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
This isn't going very well. Jean can tell that much for sure.
She has no time, with the mysterious assailant's quick movements, to get to the man there--she has none to even get to Hiro as he wheezes. "It's what they do," Jean says quickly to Ruby without looking at her. "...What we did."
She thinks she recognizes the move now, from a quick glance to the sailor. Hiro's wind gives her an instant's breath--
But that's not much. "I've picked up a few tricks since I left," she says instead, at the fighter's growl, at her surprise. "...And I don't aim to let him be wrong."
She should've died. ...She needs to draw them out. She can see...
Jean starts to move immediately as she sees the fast steps that draw forth three more assassins; Jean looks to each of them, each of them are they are too fast, surrounding, cutting off any hope of escape. ...So she doesn't escape. They launch their kick, and rather than dodging away into any one of them, she drops immediately, a controlled fall straight down that leaves her beneath where the kicks move and dissolve, just in time for--
That move, too, she knows. The way that battle is going opens up before her; a set of techniques she's seen used before. Slowly, the assassin will whittle them down, weaken them until she can go in for the kill. And that...
Jean knows the sort of monster that could do it, and she kips up, adopting another ready stance, this one with weight back, hands up, foot practically lifted already--
"..." She remains still for a few moments longer than she should, before drawing in a breath, and--
When she moves, her outline blurs this time, blurs with shadowy, purple energy. "I won't let you. If this is what I have to do to stop you, then..." The tension drains out of her.
Immediately Jean rushes, and rears back a hand, fingers curled into a claw and palm open. The shadowy energy gathers there, making it hard to look at her hand, setting a glow about her and a chill feeling in the alley.
Ducking down at the last second, Jean lands on one knee and launches forth her attack, seeking to slam straight into the assassin's stomach with a technique they both know well, the Shadow Dragon Palm that seeks to rend her foe's life force outright.
GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Shadow Dragon Palm! GS: Jean has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Ruby meanwhile tries to pry his lips apart but - "Dangit! Mister come conscious long enough to swallow - Hiro! Jean! I'm not making much headway here!"
"Oh I've got a say alright." He rasps almost dourly - perhaps hoping to distract them just a little longer. This time when they're on him - he twists his mid-section to make himself a smaller target. Interposing his shield instead. However the purple ki around it batters against it as if it were a a blade of energy smashing into it.
The strike smashes away the edge of the shield - putting a dent in it. And sending him stumbling backwards - stomping down a foot just before he'd probably start falling flat on his back.
"That's not your life anymore Jean!" He protests to her addition of 'we'. Even in past tense. However then the winds start swirling towards the youth as he gives the cultist a grim look. "You wanna see just how well she's been living without you maniacs in her life? Well-"
He can follow Jean's feelings right now. He remembers the last time he felt this swell of negative emotion. And yet it brings him into a little bit of a panic. Like he's going to lose part of what makes Jean Jean each time she does it.
"-watch closely."
Moving forward in a sudden flurry of footwork - he slices his blade down once - twice - thrice. Each feint whirrs like a rush of wind as it passes before he finally pivots a full circle turn and commits to one brutal slash. Upon facing the cultist again it releases a churning mass of air that explodes outwards in an intense pressurized blast.
In the aftermath he says one other thing in defiance. Not just defiance of the cultist - but in defiance of the idea of the idea of Jean still being a killer, "Because I'm her student - and not a single lesson has been about dealing death!"
GS: Hiro has attacked Pearl with Sybillium Sword! GS: Hiro has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Pearl guards a hit from Jean's Shadow Dragon Palm for 123 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Pearl! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Jean! GS: Pearl enters CONDITION GREEN!! GS: CRITICAL! Pearl guards a hit from Hiro's Sybillium Sword for 97 hit points! GS: Your next attack with the Sneak flag will display with the name Striking Shadow.
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The combined power of Hiro and Jean is something to be feared. The Shadow Dragon Palm impacts hard, even as the attacker brings her arms up to guard, sparing her the worst of the attack. Still, she slides back across the ground, hitting a wall. This gives her no room to move as Hiro is upon her with his sword. The slashes cut through the light fabric on her arms as she blocks, revealing callouses and scar tissue amongst the blood that flows out. Pressed against the wall, she can do nothing to stop that final brutal slash going across her chest. She is clearly much worse for wear after that, and yet somehow, still standing...
That same shadowy aura that surrounded Jean now surrounds the attacker. Fury burns behind her eyes, and her next words are a shout. "How did you get so WEAK!?" The anger in those words is incredible, and incomprehensible. "How could you fail like that?! If this is all you have, then die again here!"
She glares at Hiro, but says nothing in response initially. Not a single lesson has been in dealing death? What sort of foolishness is this. As the aura flares around her, another of those shadow forms bursts forth from her, flying at Hiro with intent to kill.
Simultaneously, she rushes at Jean. The movements are identical. The killing intent behind the blow the same. As the attacker drops to her knee with the palm thrusting out, intending to inflict upon Jean the same sort of damage she just released, with no mercy or humanity behind the blow.
GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Shadow Dragon Palm! GS: Pearl has attacked Hiro with Striking Shadow! GS: Pearl has completed her action. GS: CRITICAL! Jean guards a hit from Pearl's Shadow Dragon Palm for 127 hit points! GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Jean! GS: Hyper! Statuses applied to Pearl! GS: Sneak! The true nature of Pearl's attack becomes clear! GS: Hiro takes a solid hit from Pearl's Umbral Ambush for 164 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
Something is wrong about this whole scene.
As the attacker's own Shadow Dragon Palm impacts with Jean's guard, she blurs, the same as those shadows before. And again, the shadow clone dissolves. At the same time the clone headed for Hiro disappears.
And then the attacker is behind Hiro, arm glowing with terrible purple ki, and with both hands open, she drives that sharp ki once again into Hiro, this time going directly for his kidneys and spine. This attack too contains intent to kill, painful and lingering.
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
A move meant to be deadly, strong enough to kill opponents outright. ...But it doesn't. Jean can see, of course. She can see the attacker move back, see the scar tissue that would obviously be there on a practitioner, see it even as Jean manages to hide her own most of the time. But still... She stands. She stands, and has that same aura.
Jean hesitates, as she sees it, the flaring shadow winking out around her. ...She seems oddly deflated. "Hiro...." Just how well she's been doing, Hiro said--but she couldn't finish this foe. She couldn't protect Hiro.
There's nothing she can say at first about the uncomprehending question, about just how far she's fallen in her practice of this martial art.
"...I won't--"
Jean shifts to take the blow, relaxing her muscles and slamming down her arm to divert the attack. ...Indeed, the palm doesn't strike her midsection--but the deathly ki infects her own nevertheless, travelling up her arm like poison. A strangled noise escapes her throat as she freezes--and then is knocked messily backward and to the side, impacting the wall hard enough to send brick dust tumbling down on her. "That's--"
She looks up. She looks up just in time to see Hiro attacked. "No--"
...Draw them out. But what good does drawing them out do, if she can't defeat them? Her heart sinks, and instead of listening to it...
She shakes her head, rising to one knee. "Hiro. ...Run. Now. I'll be right behind you." With difficulty, she rises, forcing herself up and putting out her hands--before starting to turn and move, her arms gaining afterimages as the shadow curls around her and a strange buzzing sound fills the air.
"I haven't died yet."
She finishes the dance, and from nothing images of dozens of stinging bees erupt forward to slow the assassin with their weakening venom.
GS: Jean has activated a Force Action! GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Bee Dance! GS: Jean has completed her action.
<Pose Tracker> Hiro has posed.
Weak!? Hiro almost sputters at the idea of Jean as weak. And yet as the assailant rushes Jean with her own technique as he starts to run her way - "Jean!"
The clone dissolves though and suddenly he stops fast. "... What?" The feint with the clone is perfect. And he's caught flat-footed as the ambush drives solidly against his flanks and spine. The blue tunic severs - and the only thing preventing him from instant death is the mail beneath.
However it's less that he topples like a felled tree. And more that he's driven to the pavement where he then slides - his back sizzling.
It's readily apparent he's not dead though - mostly because he wretches from the pain. The smell of emesis drenching the stonework.
"J-Jean..." His face is a whole grimace of pain... but he knows that they're outmatched. Wiping a wrist across his mouth, "... that's a promise Jean. I'm holding you to that."
Working his way up to a standing position - he's still partially doubled over as he limps his way over to Ruby and the downed sailor. "Ruby... watch my six." Which she does by sitting facing backwards on his shoulder as he starts picking the man up into a fireman's carry. "Jean you better not be thinking of breaking that either!"
It's obvious that when he straightens up though with him on his shoulder - he's suffering. As he starts carrying the man away - nearly buckling under every step. "...dangit..."
It's not that Jean's too weak... he thinks. It's that its him that wasn't able to be any help at all here.
GS: Pearl takes a glancing hit from Jean's Bee Dance for 33 hit points! GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Pearl!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The sailor is heavy, and wheezing heavily, and no help to Hiro's retreat. The attacker watches him flee. She starts forming a blast of shadow magic in her hand to finish the fleeing opponent. And then the swarm is upon her. She's fast, but not fast enough to evade them all, several digging their stingers into her flesh. The assailant lets out another gutteral growl, and suddenly she is again surrounded with the black-purple aura of the Shadow Dragon Fist, bursting around her like flame to dissolve what's left of the attacking bees.
"Why? Are you holding back? Did you genuinely lose all your strength? How can you still be alive if THIS is all you are!?" The rage in the woman's voice is clear, as she starts moving forward towards Jean, shifting into a stance again. She starts focusing her ki on her right hand. "Can you even fight for real any more!?" The attacker continues to grow angrier. And then she charges forward, leaving an after image as she dashes. She thrusts out her palm again, but this time doesn't try to connect. She doesn't need to.
A huge burst of ki energy emits from her hand at Jean, a beam of hatred and killing intent. An attack meant to kill multiple opponents at once, all focused at the one enemy.
The Shadow Dragon Wave.
GS: Pearl has attacked Jean with Shadow Dragon Wave! GS: Pearl has completed her action. GS: Jean takes a solid hit from Pearl's Shadow Dragon Wave for 212 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Jean has posed.
Hiro's faith can do a lot of things for Jean--but it can't win this battle on its own. It can't make her strong enough.
"...I promise," Jean agrees, looking only briefly to Hiro, keeping herself ready to block, to move. "Now go!"
She thinks about it, of course. ...But what good would it do? The same techniques she knows, this woman knows, except she still has the raw brutality to wield them properly. ...Those years she didn't fight... Are they the reason?
Regardless, Jean's illusion only lasts so long, keven if it has lingering impacts. Her onetime fellow student makes demands of her, moving forward, enraged, and Jean drops back defensively, hands up. "...You wouldn't understand," she answers, though the fatigue--the pain--both of them are clear. ...But pain never did hold her back far. Nevertheless, the assassin rushes forward, and Jean's eyes widen as she recognizes the technique immediately. She starts to move, but the lingering Shadow essence slowing her limbs takes its toll, and the onetime greatest of the Shadow Dragon's students takes the beam full on. It hits her straight in the chest, knocking her backward hard enough to crack the wall she impacts and rolls along, hard enough that she hits the ground with a dull thud. ...For a moment, there is complete silence.
...Then, the sound of spitting, as a spray of blood hits the concrate and the dancer starts to push herself back up. "...You... don't understand," she says, reaching one arm. "The Shadow Dragon... it was never real strength. The only thing it teaches... is death." She's gone ashen, dull, but even if barely, she remains alive--though obviously favoring one arm. "...I'll never go back to what I was. And you can tell him the same."
She reaches back, as if preparing a strike with her good arm--
Instead she whirls in place and a blast of shadow erupts from around her, purple mist coalescing out of nothing and flowing towards the assassin, noxious and choking.
When the smoke clears, Jean is gone. ...A trail of blood leads some distance out of the alley.
GS: Jean has activated a Force Action! GS: Jean has attacked Pearl with Moth Dance! GS: Jean has completed her action. GS: Pearl critically Guards a hit from Jean's Moth Dance for 0 hit points! GS: Pearl has been weakened by Disease! They take 0 damage, and burn off their temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Pearl has posed.
The attacker looks almost incensed. "...Not real strength? It's the only strength! What purpose is there to this power than to kill!?" There is no bridging this gap. Not here, not now at least. "You were the strongest, how did you become... this!?" There is no understanding in her voice, only anger.
And then she sees Jean readying an attack, and the assassin places her guard up, seeing the shadow magic coming towards her. As she does, she flares her aura again to counteract the worst of the attack, deflecting it away. But still, she finds herself weakened by the gas, unable to prevent all of it. And when she looks up... Jean is gone.
"Damn you!" The assassin shouts, to the empty space. It seems no one will be dying here tonight. "You won't die, you won't fight, what good are you!?" She slams a fist into the wall, shattering several bricks, before grimacing. "...Fine. The Master will know you're alive. And you will face him. I'll make sure of it."
Shadows surround the assassin, obscuring her from any who would see her, and she vanishes into the night. Maybe no one will die this night. But there's always tomorrow.