Hunting Cypher

[17:09] {NARRATION} Through several days, the group kept tracking down Cypher; now that they were aware of his identity, method and curse, it wasn't overly difficult to follow the traces of his Rift Magic, the corpses of butchered children and rusted metal. The trail ends at the ruins of a castle, near Sigil, but very well hidden through a swamp, making travelling in and out an annoyance.

The castle is in extreme disrepair, but the doors look newly made-- made of oak, strong and durable. Despite how recently it's been made, as they approach, they notice that the door's hinges are almost entirely rusted, yet another sign that Cypher went through here; the door's handles are made of arcanium, unaffected by the rust and covered in runes, which glow with magic. Perhaps arcanium, due to its specific properties, resists the kitsune's curse, whatever its source.

It's night time, with the full moon at the sky; despite the poor lighting, it's distinctive the lack of blight or decay through the swamps and the nearby vegetation, pointing that Alhanna didn't cross this place-- the Vidharatti remain split after the destruction of Nishibori, and though the castle's doors are sealed shut, they're not locked.

Cypher is probably inside.. somewhere.
[17:14] Eagleheart moves closer to the door, before a hand hovers over the handle. Being covered in runes, but unlocked, there was something weird about it. "Mei, can you check if these runes are safe?", he questions, the arcane briefly moving around to see if he could at least decipher a part of the nature which these runes hailed.

"We can always just... Push the door down." He said, one hand carefully moving to have its palm wide open towards the rust. The Arcane seemed to try to pry the door open from what he considered to be a safe distance, about a few feet.
(Eagleheart)
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[17:21] She grunts, then nods, approaching the door but keeping a moderately self distance. Shw squints at the runes, trying to see what exactly they entailed, if they were traps or reinforcements of the like.

"Lemme see... I'm not quite sure, just a moment."
(Mei Xiang)
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[17:26] {NARRATION} The runes glow softly, powered with magic; Eagleheart's arcane can detect its chaotic nature, how the mana runs through them wild and violently, ready to burst, though they're kept stable by the runic inscriptions.

Mei can decipher them with more precision, having a runescribe's knowledge. The design of these runes is much more intricate and complex than those used in Nishibori; Cypher wasn't in a hurry here, and didn't make them on the spot. It takes a while, deciphering through 'fire', 'expansion', 'movement'-- word by word and their numerous connections.

It seems that the runes detect movement, and when they do, they trigger an explosion. It's possible to dispel them, given enough time-- probably a few minutes worth of work.
[17:26] Mei Xiang says, "..."
[17:29] The young woman immediately contorts her expression into a scowl once she deciphers the most basic meanings to what the runes represented. "Don't push the door, these runes'll... probably explode when they detect anything movin' pass the door. It's probably better to get in quietly too, so I'm gonna see if I can..."

She brings a glowing, blue finger to the surface of the runes, attempting to scribble her own symbols onto the things to hopefully render them inert with time. She had to focus on doing this, though; didn't want to blow up.
(Mei Xiang)
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[17:32] Eagleheart nods, slowly moving his hand downwards. It seemed that for now, he was allowing for her to make the call, since this really wasn't his subject of expertise.

"Of course, Mei. We need to be careful. I fear this one is the one which will focus mostly on traps than the others..." He trails off, allowing for Mei to continue to do whatever it was.
(Eagleheart)
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[17:41] {NARRATION} It takes about fifteen minutes for Mei to carefully decipher each of the runes and their connections, scribbling her own runes to counter-act the mana running through Cypher's enchantment. Such precision was necessary due to the way these runes were designed-- so that if they were cut off abruptly, the explosion would trigger immediately.

Their patience pays off eventually-- after the last rune was inscribed onto the handle, the runes' glow steadily diminished until it faded entirely, the rune-trap now dispelled. Almost mockingly, the doors open at the same time, revealing the castle's hall.

In disrepair as the rest of the castle, the halls must've been beautiful once. With marble floor changing between black and white, similar to a chessboard, it extends through thirty feet before leading to an opening; the hall itself, however, was drawing more attention than the next room.

Paintings are hung over the walls; they depict the same person, over and over again, a kitsune with dark grey hair which must be roughly eleven years old. Her eyes are of a light shade of silver, and she looks happy in each of them; some of them also depict a younger Cypher, his eyes not yet turned into blots of darkness, but rather possessing a golden hue. The paint has nearly faded in some of these, indicating they're likely old.

Near the walls, the group can see people, about seven of them, scattered over the wall. They're standing, wearing dirty rags and with fixated stares at random points, their gaze empty; some of them shake with no apparent reason, while others have their hands raised to their heads. All of them look deeply disturbed, perhaps in shock; many wield simple kitchen knives, its blade rusted away, though they don't do anything with it. They don't even move, don't acknowledge the group, nor do they acknowledge each other. They're just... there. Barely.
[17:48] As soon as the doors are open, Eagleheart moves around the runescribe and carefully pokes his head inside. The color scheme of the whole place seems to go over his head, after all, the very concept of these go over his head.

"This seems... Odd." He speaks, moving through the chess-like ambient, the soft chime of Order washing through the room like a breeze, scanning every part of it and seeking to find any weird happenings that he could figure.

However, upon noticing the presence of other living people, the same sensation strikes to him. Something akin to what happened when they had met Qinglong, Eagleheart allows for the soft chime to run over the next room, after all, if he felt them... They'd already noticed something was there.

"Be careful, Mei. We do not know how they'll react. If anything... We'll have them treated in Huangzhou." He speaks, still seemingly staring forwards. He didn't approach them yet, but slowly moved closer. "Keep close to me. If we need to, we... Might be able to take them."
(Eagleheart)
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[17:56] * You have been awarded 0.75 Roleplay Points! *
[17:56] Unlike Eagleheart, the expanse of the entire place is taken in with a sense of wonder. Sure, they were in a rundown castle, but to just imagine what this place could have been like... whatever amount of years ago interested her. The paintings and such are all glanced over; Mei Xiang even comments on some while walking with her comrade.

"The state of this place... this guy had a bunch of painting's 'n stuff. Didn't look like that bad of a kid, either, but... I guess somethin' must of changed 'em for the worse-" But then she feels it before she sees them.

Life.

But who could it be? Not Cypher, but... just people that seemed to be barely there. While a hand rests on her blade hilt, she didn't seem all that tense.

"...if we can even get to 'em, Eagleheart. They look dead just... standin' there; I wonder what happened."
(Mei Xiang)
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[18:07] {NARRATION} Though they walk through the halls, the people within seem to absolutely refuse to acknowledge them at all. They stared at random points across the walls, sometimes moving their widened eyes; it didn't seem like they bathed in months, maybe years. Their expressions vary from shock, horror or, sometimes, a simple blank face, unaware of anything happening around them. They don't even flinch at the chime of Order washing through the room.

"No", one of them mutters; a woman, jianghese by the looks of it, around her thirties. Her long, black hair couldn't possibly be more tangled, and the occasional blood clot can be seen over it or through the knots; the muttering didn't seem directed at the group, however. Such as the others, she didn't acknowledge any events around her, merely staring wide-eyed at the floor, with an expression of horror.

Though there was no reaction from any of the humans, they could see something else of interest-- under one of the paintings - depicting the same kitsune girl of roughly 10 years old - was a handwritten note attached. Its calligraphy was impeccable, beautiful even,

"Meiko Tatsuhara
4'6 ft
72 pounds
Chest 27
Waist 23
Hip 30
Foot 8"
[18:16] Eagleheart moved slowly within the room, almost carefully so that he wouldn't risk startling any of the almost dead-like people in the room. It seemed to pain him, but only slightly so, but he had to move forward still. He couldn't simply stop there.

"There's a note there. Mind reading it?" He speaks, stopping right by the handwritten note. He is, obviously, unable to see whatever was written on it, or even the multiple paintings.

"They probably were corrupted. Not only... Cypher, but the other ones." A long sigh comes from Angelo, before the washing sensation of order starts to look for something on the other room, the soft breeze still moving as to try to scout it as they approach the end of the long hallway.

"Perhaps what they said. Losing memory, just going... They just don't accept their fates, or something that happened. Perhaps they'll die in a while, out of inactivity." He spoke, but there was no time to look for them.

"As soon as we're back, we can send a few people here, to take them and ensure we at least try to... Help them. But not now. We can't risk being overrun." He says. It pained him to do so, but he felt it was the correct thing to do -- He feared that an attack from them could be far deadlier than it would look like.
(Eagleheart)
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[18:22] Mei Xiang stayed close to her mentor through their walk. She couldn't bear the thought of just leaving these people here, likely trapped in their own minds; she was half tempted to try and touch one of them, but keeps herself from doing so. When they come across the note and painting, Mei nods and reads.

"Meiko Tatsuhara, 4'6, 72 pounds, chest... 27, waist 23, hips 30, foot... 8."

Odd, she thought. "I dunno why someone would write this, but this is the kitsune girl that's been poppin' up in the paintings alongside what looked like our guy." She glances around again, spotting those broken people.

"That'd probably be the best. I hope they can be... fixed."
(Mei Xiang)
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[18:27] "Probably... Lovers, or family. He's..." A brief sigh, before he reckons one of the details that there were on the last time they traveled together. It was... Certainly awful and weird, but nevertheless, he kept on.

"Probably an objective. Meiko Tatsuhara. Keep that name in mind, if anything, we might need to... Use it." He said, continuing to move forward, but nevertheless close to Mei. After all, he was there with her, and any damage that could come to the girl would be entirely on him.

And he would never forgive himself for any damage that could come to her.
(Eagleheart)
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[18:41] {NARRATION} Going through the hallway, none of those broken people react or acknowledge them in any way still. The next room was bigger, square shaped; directly to their right, there was a statue, sculped in real size and with accurate proportions of that very same kitsune girl-- Meiko Tatsuhara. Indeed, over a small block of stone used to keep the statue slightly lifted, it was carved,

''Meiko Tatsuhara
Year of Death: 1452 AC
Age: 12

Always remember.''

Next to it, another handwritten note with the same calligraphy as before,

'' Was she happy? Intelligent?
I can't seem to remember any of it. ''

Lying forward, there was a door sealed shut-- this one was locked, its hinges and handles alike made of arcanium. A lot stronger than the previous one. To their left, there was a stairwall leading upstairs; to their right, there was another room, with the door left open. Blood covered the entirety of this room, an enormous pool; though Mei could only see the glimpse of a hospital bed, Eagleheart's chime of Order washing through the room detected two lifeforms within, lying over two hospital beds.

And yet.. no sound was coming from the room. The castle ruins as a whole were eerily silent.
[18:54] As they walked, the statue of that same kitsune girl was noticed (besides the army of mindless people, of course). She immediately read what was below it, a little saddened now that she knew the fate of the girl.

"Meiko Tatsuhara, year of death: 1452 AC, age 12... always remember." But shortly after reading this, she spots the next note.

"Was she happy? Intelligent? I can't seem to remember any of it- these aren't my words, I'm just readin' what's on this statue. Do ya think our guy did this? From the looks of it, he seems troubled about the death; I wonder how close they were-"

But then they come across a sealed door that didn't look like it was going to budge with some mere physical force. Not only this, but there seemed to be another room with an enormous pool of blood. It didn't take the woman long to feel that there were indeed living things in there; all the time spent attuning to the Lifestream itself fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately made her sensitive to the presence of lifeforms... even if she didn't know where they were.

Looking to Eagleheart, she spoke. "Strong lookin' door, or... bloody room?"
(Mei Xiang)
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[18:58] Eagleheart continues, but nevertheless waits for Mei to say something about any notes that were within the room. However, as soon as he feels the room to the right, he moves a hand towards Mei's chest, palm wide open against it. "There's something to our right. Two people..."

Soon enough, it got to its secondary use. The breeze that ran through the lifeforms was going slightly stronger, the chime continuing to echo, but if there was anything corrupted, it would echo in a different tone. After all, it was how he detected those corrupted and depraved.

"Probably experiments." He finished off. If they were corrupted, he'd likely move closer to the room, seeking to understand what they actually were in the end. However, he pointed towards the Arcanium door. "There's also the stairwell. He's probably beyond the heavy door... Check for runes and traps."

"And probably... This only reinforces my theory. They were close, and he probably... Tries to do something. Perhaps it is the same reason that he fell down to madness. Perhaps it is related to that why they are like this to this day." A sigh came forth.
(Eagleheart)
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[19:04] "Got it."

She wasn't alarmed to the presence of two people in the other room. If they were indeed experiments, they would be harmless, right? Or maybe too dumb to function. Either way, she carefully approached the fortified door, inspecting its surface for any obvious runes or other clues; she just wanted to see if it could be broken down... somehow.
(Mei Xiang)
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[19:09] {NARRATION} Order washing through the bloody room, Eagleheart would find that the lifeforms are not corrupted. They're indeed alive-- children, from the looks of it, though one of them had no feet. They've been cut off. Both children seemed to be strapped to the hospital beds within the room.

In the meantime, Mei had been checking the fortified door for runes; there were none to be seen, though she can detect the faint pulse of magic from within. The door was, indeed, enchanted, but it didn't seem like a trap-- reinforcing the door, perhaps, or keeping it sealed? It's hard to tell with any precision as she was unable to inspect them - and as such, unable to properly dispel them - but it definitely wasn't a trap.
[19:13] A slight scowl forms on her features as she inspects the door. It wasn't trapped, no, but it was heavily fortified. Not only that, but the rune wasn't visible for her to dispel either, so she turns around to look at her mentor.

"Don't think we're crackin' this thing open, unless ya wanna try 'n hit it with that hammer? I think there's a really sturdy rune on the other side of that door, so basically, we need to find another way."
(Mei Xiang)
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[19:22] The blind man seemed to, almost instantly, be afflicted by something different. "Fuck. There's children inside tere." Eagleheart said, obviously... And then, he moved the door to the side, quickly stepping inside the blood-filled room.

"I'll... I'll be back for you two. I promise. Be strong." He said, trying to use the faint attunement he had with the lifestream to detect one single thing.

To see, with it, how hurt they were. To feel their emotions, their desperation, to assess if he should release them now and have them go back to Huangzhou... Or if he should simply allow them to be there until he could ensure they'd be safe.

If, at the very least, they'd need his first aid.
(Eagleheart)
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[19:35] {NARRATION} As Mei was turning around to speak to Eagleheart, he was walking through the bloodied room-- once he stepped in, a circle of runes was lit, its glow showing through. Coils of the blood rose upwards, infiltrating through the Order Magi's body; he could feel the ripples of Chaos within that trap, running through his bloodstream, eating away at his mana and withering his circuits.

The pain was, to say the least, extreme.

Unlike the blood traps Cypher has used in Nishibori, however, these rapidly ran out of mana, the coils dropping-- though the effects from the ripples of chaos could still be felt within the Magi's body.

The bloody room looked like a medical wing of sorts. Several hospital beds were scattered through, though only two were occupied; the first, by a human child, a little girl whose feet were cut off. There was no bleeding from the wounds-- it seems to have clotted, though that was likely through magic. Cypher's, maybe.

Although the second child, a kitsune, didn't have any limbs removed, her face was completely skinned, like one would skin an animal. The facial muscles and bones were entirely exposed, her eyes damaged to the point of blindness as there were no eyelids which to blink with.

Both of the children were terrified beyond their minds, shocked and traumatized, as well as in pain. And yet, they didn't emit any sounds of it, nor did they weep; a closer inspection would reveal an open wound on both of their throats-- clotted, as before. Their vocal chords had been removed.

Further away from from the hospital beds, there was a small forge; a small wooden box stood there, with a few pounds of arcanium. Cypher likely forged his tools here; he couldn't, after all, use scalpels, scissors or needles unless they were made of arcanium.
[19:37] ** DMPlook has inflicted an injury upon Eagleheart. ("Withered", "Ripples of Chaos Magic affect Eagleheart from within; the energy seems to eat away at him, his blood, organs and mana circuits alike. Beyond the pain itself, it makes him feel eerily tainted-- polluted with Chaos.", "Temporary", "Duration: Medium (4 days)") **
[19:50] A loud scream of pain came from the crusader as soon as the coils moved around him, penetrating his own mana circuits and veins. It was sudden, forcing him to fall to his knees as soon as they vanished, having the lower part of his legs completely involved in blood.

"Agh... They..." He said, shaking. It was difficult to see -- The man who was always so immovable and stalwart, now simply put like that. However, he managed to analyze them, but his own veins turned to a slightly blacker color, exposed briefly on the pieces of armor that were pierced.

"They're... Destroyed." However, there was the wooden box, filled with Arcanium. "I'll help them on the way out." He said, letting out a groan of pain as he moved his hand -- It was hard to put his own Order to work while his circuits were getting corrupted by Chaos, but nevertheless...

He pulled the wooden box close to himself, and stored the Arcanium. "This will serve our purpose, at least." He said, almost as if looking for anything that he could use to serve as consolation for the suffering.
(Eagleheart)
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[19:55] {Item} You picked up Arcanium x3. Dropped by DMPlook.
[19:56] Her attention is ripped away from the door when Eagleheart steps into the room.

Now, one part of her didn't expect it to be dangerous at all, but it was a room literally filled with blood; what didn't scream danger about that? She ran over to Eagleheart's position, but hesitated before fully stepping inside in fear of triggering another trap. She finds the courage to push through the fear, as well as the pungent scent of iron that the sheer amount of blood would have likely produced.

"Eagleheart?! Eagleheart, are ya okay? Here, lemme..."

She got down to try and support his form, to help him get out of the bloody room.

"We can- we can save them after we come back from this, but... I should take a look at your injuries."
(Mei Xiang)
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Eagleheart continued to stumble outside of the room. He fell to his knees, but still managed to keep himself up. "We... We might have time." He said, staring at the stairwell that went up.

"Doors are warded... We need to watch out." He said, before moving the prosthetic hand to remove the gauntlets of his left arm. He felt the corrupted force climbing up his arm, and even then, it was mostly held back by his own mastery of Order, cosmic essence brimming inside his blackened veins.

"It's... It's nothing much." He said, letting out a groan of pain. "It's... Corruption. What he's doing is aiming to corrupt us." However, what was inside that room was still plaguing him.

The children, with their throats clogged, vocal chords cut out. He tried to push the corruption out, flexing his right arm with a mix of cosmic and holy energy.
(Eagleheart)

Mei Xiang would support Eagleheart nonetheless.

While one arm remained around his form to help him stay upright, her other hand went close to the largest of his wounds and immediately started glowing. While holy magic itself would have been only useful to stop the pain, the young woman was utilizing more than that. Why, she was channeling the bit of the energy of the Lifestream that flowed into her, allowing it to cascade onto his wound and soothe the pain while also promoting some accelerated healing.

It wouldn't do anything immediately, however.

"...we need to be careful then, right- I guess the only option is the stairway, right?"
(Mei Xiang)

He puts back the gauntlet, as soon as the reparation by Mei is done in the slightest, he lets out a sigh of relief. Standing back on his feet, the man manages to continue walking. "Thank you, Mei." He speaks, before holding tight to himself.

The right hand still shines with the mix of cosmic and holy energies, but nevertheless, he moves towards the stairwell. "I'll try to keep scanning for any runes... Do the same, I reckon. Might be our best chance."

He lets out a sigh, and then moves on, towards the stairwell, hopefully followed by Mei.
(Eagleheart)

Proceeding towards the stairwall, they find no runetraps along the way. Once they were upstairs, they'd find another hallway in disrepair; this one doesn't actually lead to another room, however. Instead, they find that it leads towards a strange statue, dark in colour, standing; in front of the statue, on the ground, there are three runic circles. Through a scribbled note, they are labeled, respectively, as 'Chaos', 'Order' and 'The Lifestream'.

These runes are too obvious to be traps. Upon closer inspection, Mei would notice that they were linked: channeling mana into one circle would make it 'function', somehow. Its reading was difficult, but it seems that each of the rune circles will activate another one of the three. Or two at once, even.

Beyond that, when all three circles were activated, another trigger would occur-- from the looks of it, if they could manage to activate all the circles somehow, the door downstairs would have its seal dispelled, thus opening it. The problem is that the reading of which circle activates which is extremely confusing, almost deliberately so.

Upon the stone pedestal which the dark statue finds itself upon, words were carved, in a calligraphy similar to the handwritten notes,

'' Chaos can be understood through the scientific process.
Order, however, is only as good as its related perception.
The Lifestream is the key that links the two and bears witness to their ebb and flow. ''

Mei Xiang walked with Eagleheart, making sure to watch if he was having any difficulty continuing. When she confirms that he wasn't have much trouble, she looks on to the end of the hallway, to their next 'problem.' Squinting her eyes, she walks a bit closer and looks at the rune and the note, reading it aloud.

"There's three runes here on the ground, one's for Chaos, one's for Order, 'n one's for The Lifestream. They don't look like traps, but they're... all linked, so I'm sure sendin' mana through one would activate the others- I think, I dunno. I'm sure not sure if I should... touch one of 'em without your go ahead?"

She looks at the statue itself, reading the inscription.

"Chaos can be understood through the scientific process. Order, however, is only as good as its related perception. The Lifestream is the key that links the two and bears witness to their ebb 'n flow."
(Mei Xiang)

Tiff crawled out of Mei's pack, somehow. She had apparently been asleep in there the whole time! The fairy, still groggy and sort of confused, wiped at her eye and blinked as she looked around at the change in scenery. Once she came to terms with some things and the strangeness she looked to her friends.

"Fancy meeting you two here.. ehehe.. Right so what's... going on?"
(Tiff)

Eagleheart seemed to be slightly affected, but it was nothing too much. A few corruption within his veins would be soon wiped away. He notices the three runes, although reading was somewhat easy.

And then, as soon as the objective was cleared, he nodded. "Touch the first one, about... Chaos. It's probably what he wanted first... Or perhaps... Lifestream activates the other two, but it has to be the second one."

And then, he lets out a sigh, his own arm still flexing on the mix of cosmic and holy energies.
(Eagleheart)

She looks between Eagleheart and Tiff.

"I dunno, guys, I wanted to press the one related to the Lifestream, buuut.. I guess Chaos would be what he wants, but this place has a buncha traps 'n stuff, so obviously he knows we're here, right? I think we should choose the one we'd naturally choose, the Lifestream."

She nods.
(Mei Xiang)

Tiff squinted and thought, listening to what her companions had to say. The longer she stared at the runes the more quiet she became.

"I don't know... Chaos can be understood through the scientific process. Like... observation? Observing it, interacting, experimenting...

Order is only as good as its related perception... which means there has to be something to perceiver first? So Order doesn't come first. The Lifestream is... the key. That links them."

She looked back at the others. "I don't know, Mei. I think Angelo might be on to something. The way its worded, it sounds like the Lifestream comes second and Chaos comes first.

In the order of this thing, that is."
(Tiff)

"Time is of the essence. Let's go." He said, before... Putting one finger on top of the rune that would mean Chaos. His leylines glimmered with cosmic energy, sending it off onto the rune, as well as some of his own now corrupted mana.

It hurt slightly, causing him to clench his teeth, but nevertheless... It was the first thing to do.
(Eagleheart)


Mei Xiang says, "..."
As Eagleheart presses his hand onto the circle of Chaos, channeling his mana through it, the rune seem to feed from it, running it through its inscriptions. After a few seconds, the circle of The Lifestream lights up.

Nothing else happens.

From seeing the circle of the Lifestream light up, Mei Xiang lets out a little laugh, as she felt it merely proved her point.

"See? Told ya we should have picked the Lifestream first, mhm, mhm." The young woman would then place her hand upon the lit up rune, flowing her mana into it, assuming it did anything.
(Mei Xiang)

Mei's hand was pressed onto the circle of The Lifestream. This circle also feeds from the mana channeled through its inscriptions-- and after a few seconds, the circle of Chaos lights up.

Now the circles of Chaos and The Lifestream are both lit up. Nothing else happens.

Tiff watched the circles and looks back at her friends. "So the... Order one? Next?"
(Tiff)


Mei Xiang exclaims, "Nothing's exploded, so yeah!"

Tiff says, ".."
Tiff pushed her little body into the Order rune, praying to any god or gods that it wasn't about to explode and send her into a ton of teeny-tiny fae pieces.
(Tiff)

As Tiff presses their hand onto the circle of Order, channeling the mana through, the circle feeds from it, powering its inscriptions as it had happened with the others. After a few seconds, both the circles of Chaos and The Lifestream lose their light, keeping only their usual gleam as they were before.

None of the circles are lit up.


Tiff says, "Guess not..."
Mei groans.
(Mei Xiang)


Eagleheart says, "Chaos, Lifestream, Chaos."

Eagleheart says, "Go."

Mei Xiang asks, "All at once?"

Tiff says, "In the order."

Mei Xiang says, "Okay."
Eagleheart pushes in that order, apparently.
(Eagleheart)

As the mana channeled through the circle of Chaos first, it runs through the enchantments-- a few seconds pass by and the circle of Order lights up.

Going from there, channeling mana through the circle of The Lifestream makes the circle of Order lose its light.

Once mana was channeled through the circle of Chaos one more time, the circle of The Lifestream lights up.

Now only The Lifestream was lit up.


Tiff asks, "...Push.... that on?"

Mei Xiang asks, "...do ya wanna try blowin' the door down with uh... the arcane-thingy?"

Eagleheart says, "Won't work."

Mei Xiang exclaims, "UGH!"

Mei Xiang says, "Okay, how about..."

Mei Xiang says, "Lifestream, chaos, order."

Tiff says, ". . ."

Eagleheart says, "... Probably."
Mei would proceed to flow mana into each in that exact order.
(Mei Xiang)

Once Mei channels the mana into the circle of The Lifestream, the circle of Chaos lights up.

Once she channels into the circle of Chaos, however, the circle of The Lifestream loses its light.

At last, once she channels mana onto the circle of Order, the circle of Chaos loses its light at the same time as the circle of The Lifestream lights up.

Once more, only the circle of The Lifestream was lit up.


Tiff says, "So..."

Eagleheart says, "WAIT."
Eagleheart presses lifestream twice.
(Eagleheart)

The first time mana is channeled into the Lifestream, Order lights up.

Once he channels into it a second time, Chaos lights up-- with that, all of the circles are lit up. Something seems to shift inside of the walls, a weird sound of stone scraping against stone; with that, all of the runes dispel entirely.

Once they do, the statue in front of them has its chest open-- within, they can see a red gem, glowing with mana and protected by an arcanium core.

The door downstairs is unlocked.


Tiff says, "...good job, Angelo."

Mei Xiang says, "Thanks, Eagleheart."

Eagleheart says, "... Guy's smart."

Eagleheart says, "I hate it."
DMPlook drops Gargoyle Core x1.

DMPlook drops Arcanium x3.

You pick up Arcanium x3.

You pick up Gargoyle Core.

Eaglehearts lets out a long sigh. And then, he looks at the statue in front of them, a hand moving to grasp at the red gem. Instead of doing anything else, he looks around for something to... Seemingly leave at the place. However, he decides to leave it alone.

Instead, he picks up a single poppylus from inside his inventory, and puts it on Mei's head, tucking it in her hair. "There we go."

And then, he starts to move towards the stairs, now downwards. "It actually makes a whole lot of sense. Order activates both, Lifestream activates... In sequence. It's just... Hell. I don't know how to describe it. Didn't think it'd work that way."

(Eagleheart)

Mei Xiang picks up Poppylus.

Eagleheart actually leaves an anti-magic remote on the statue's chest.
(Eagleheart)

"A-"

Suddenly she has poppylus in here hair, not that she minded. "Good job, though, let's go downstairs now." She follows her comrades.
(Mei Xiang)

Tiff nods and sits upon Mei's shoulder.
(Tiff)

Going downstairs again, they'd find that the door leads into a hallway that is divided into three parts. To the left, they can see some bookshelves, so it leads into a library of sorts; going forward, they can see a room with what looks like a crib and some baby's toys scattered over the floor without much care. To the right, there are two different routes-- one leads into a stairwell that leads downstairs, or following through the path, which leads to a closed door.

Tiff eyes the baby's toys and the crib with a wary expression. Needless to say it wasn't a good sight to see in a place like this. The fairy's tiny hands cling to Mei's shoulders as they progress further, and her bright orange eye scans the other pathways as she waits for her comrades to decide where to go next.
(Tiff)

"...the last time we went into a suspicious room, ya got hurt, Eagleheart. I say either the library lookin' thing or the staircase over there."

She gestures to each.
(Mei Xiang)

Eagleheart moves around, scanning the rooms apparently. The chime of Order seems to follow him around, but even more so, it moves in front of him, brushing every single wall and turn that it could, but he aimed forward. "Let's see if there's anything we can use here. We don't want to risk everything."

However, he seems to look for something, but as Mei pointed out, he keeps his distance! Mostly, the faint chime of Order seems to scan the room at a distance of a few feet. "This must be his own room, or perhaps the one from... That girl. Meiko." He says, letting out a sigh. "We'll look at the library. If that door is anything like the others, it probably has a safety mechanism."
(Eagleheart)

Through the sealed door, Eagleheart couldn't feel anything-- like his Order Magic was being eaten away, blocked by some heavy interference. To the library, he would find books and dusty tomes; some neatly organized, while others were scattered. Downstairs was more difficult to sense, but it looked like a dungeon.

Going forward, they would see several baby toys scattered, along with that crib. There didn't seem to be any rune-traps around here; approaching the crib, they would find a baby boy, human. But there was a problem with him.

The baby was an undead. With the right half of his face nearly rotten away entirely and his left leg having nothing but undeveloped baby bones to be shown, the little undead mostly looks at them, unamused. No smile or cooing, just an unamused, silent stare. A handwritten note was attached to the crib, with the same calligraphy as the rest of them,

"Year 6: Subject shows no signs of physical or mental development.
If the situation persists for another year, will terminate experiment and find a kitsune subject of similar build."

Eagleheart approaches the baby, however, but he doesn't do much at first... There is... Something stopping him. "Undead." He says, clearly pointing out the obvious in this place.

"We have to kill it. It... It'll give it a chance to live an actual life." He says, before moving a single hand over the crib.

And like that, his hand slowly becomes covered in a mix of holy and cosmic energies. He seems to hesitate, however, unsure if he should continue with what he's about to do. "Kraus, give me strength..."

A deep breath.
(Eagleheart)

The sight of the baby is enough to make Tiff freeze. Her grip becomes tighter and her eye is wide. Once more they are facing the ugliness this world has to offer, the horrors that Agartha has been carrying upon Her. She already knows what must be done, even before Angelo speaks. Tiff doesn't have anything to say. She can't save it, she can't try to stop him. She understands all too well what the Order of the universe calls for.

Tiff turns to look away, trembling at what's to come. She doesn't want to see it or hear it or feel it. She just wants it to end.

And she's thankful her mentor is willing to be the one to do it.
(Tiff)

It seemed they indeed enter the crib. She couldn't feel a lack of life, but she could certainly feel sources of chaos wherever they were. Unfortunately, the source happened to be... a child? An undead baby; she thought she had seen it all in the village, but no, it seemed Cypher and his deeds could only get worse and worse. She clenches her fists and gulps; they did have to kill it.

But she couldn't bring herself to do so, but luckily, Eagleheart was.

She had trouble deciding if she actually wanted to watch or not; her eyes were flicking between the floor, Eagleheart's hand, and the infant.
(Mei Xiang)

"Look away. You don't have to see this." He says, before the holy energies upon his hand seemed to strengthen. He emitted a few other prayers, and waited until he had given what he thought to be an adequate amount of time for the other two to turn around...

... And his hand came crashing down, the fist's energies aiming to kill the baby, and hopefully, to simply make it vanish out of existence. He hoped that there would be no blood, no gore, no... Reminder of what he had just done.

But there was going to. And even if he knew, deep down, that he was killing nothing more than an undead... He couldn't stop himself from thinking of the awful similarity it shared.

He aimed to make it quick, to make it painless, and more specifically, to make it silent. No more words to spare.
(Eagleheart)

Unfortunately, there was a lot of blood and gore as the undead baby's head was smashed-- smearing the tissue and little pillow it had been using. Even in the face of death, even as Eagleheart's hand was being brought down, the small baby either didn't understand or didn't have any self-preservation instincts whatsoever - to his final second, the undead baby simply stared, unamused, at the hand that ended his life.

There was nothing else in this room. They could choose to go to the library, to the dungeons downstairs, or to the closed door.

Eagleheart doesn't take more time than he's welcome. Closed fist stained and covered in blood, he moves away from the crib. "Let's... Let's go." He says, voice slightly shaky. It wasn't easy -- He knew it was his duty, but still, it wasn't easy.

Not with the reminder that now smeared his clothes. Not with the amount of gore that he had to do. Perhaps there were other ways, but nevertheless, this was the easiest. And by far, he thought himself to be the least affected one...

After all, blood and gore were a common sight for him. He seemed to hum a tone slowly, as if trying to calm himself, before interrupting it to move towards the library. "Let's go. I don't want to stay in this room a moment longer."
(Eagleheart)

The young woman had been watching the whole time; something in her mind had forced her to watch, some sort of morbid curiousity. The fist closed in and suddenly there was blood and gore everywhere.

It all seemed to go in slow motion; it would surely be a sight that she would never forget, just like at the village.

Now, she wasn't prepared for how messy it would be, so her form would unfortunately be covered in what used to be the undead. She was unblinking during it as well, but she didn't linger. With emotionless eyes, she turned to follow her mentor out of the room.

Her stare was pretty blank.
(Mei Xiang)

Tiff refuses to remove her hands from the side of her head where she's trying to smother any and all senses that might make her aware of what happened. Unfortunately her empathy extends to the uncaring infant, and once its life force is gone, she's all too acutely aware of the exact moment its life is extinguished. If it weren't for the blood and gore caused by the incident, perhaps she would have resumed looking around. But once her uncovered eye opens a fraction and sees it all, she immediately shuts it again.

Wherever they were going she didn't care.

She just wanted to be anywhere but here.
(Tiff)

As they walk within the library, they would find several rows of bookshelves, with neatly organized books; those all seem to be anatomic studies, and they're all separated by race first, then gender and finally age. Though that may look like valuable knowledge, the book titles - and some notes attached - seem to hint that it was acquired through vivisection and blood magic.

In fact, most of these books seem to have been written by Cypher himself-- who knows how many years he's spent doing this. Ranging from attaching somebody else's limb into a body into trying to stich heads and organs together, the titles overall seem to be leaning towards a specific thing.

Building a person.

A small table was set aside, with dusty, unorganized tomes; many of these have already withered with time, and perhaps Cypher considered them to be unimportant, as they were scattered around on top of the table, some on the ground, like trash. Some were actual gibberish, others were written without any spaces; there was the journal of a lunatic, and an overly detailed description, including drawings, of how necromancy rots a woman's womb.

A single tome stands out, however. Its title reads as 'Tome of the Arcane', written by a fae named Valyria-- it seems to detail links between the Arcane and the Lifestream from their perspective.

They entered the library finally. The many, many books within started to distract her from what she had just saw moments before; the amount of books reminded her of Huangzhou, her home, and the Illuminated Shrine. It was almost comforting for some reason; perhaps her mind was just trying to find some way to get to itself to stop repeating Eagleheart's deed over and over and over and over and over-

But then she reads the book's titles.
The image continues to replay.

"Guy's been- been experimentin' on people, takin' 'em apart, puttin' 'em together. He has tons of books on this stuff, probably written by himself, t-too. I think I saw a journal or somethin'. I really wanna find 'n kill this bastard already."

But then a certain book catches her eye. Tome of the Arcane? She immediately picked it up.
(Mei Xiang)

DMPlook drops Tome of the Arcane x1.

Tiff moves toward this book, for obvious reasons. If it wasn't only for the fact that one of her kind wrote it, it was also the way in which it connected the Arcane to that very fact. The fairy ignores most of the other books, especially as Mei details what they are. And once the Shogun is holding the Tome of the Arcane in her hands, Tiff's orange eye scans over the pages, taking in as much information as it sees.
(Tiff)

Mei Xiang picks up Tome of the Arcane.

Eagleheart doesn't seem to do much. Given that this was a library, he quickly scouts for anything that could be seen by him, and the few books which have their covers carved enough for him to read through the sensing of the surfaces give him a slight chill.

Nevertheless, he stands near the entrance to the room, hearing Mei's report on what was stored inside. "We're torching this, first thing before we leave. Not now. I think he doesn't know we're here." Eagleheart says, before starting to move away.

"Let's continue. If he's truly doing this... Then he must be experimenting on something, or someone, right now. We need to stop it." There seems to be some determination in his speech, although it is still seemingly way more serious than it used to be -- The usual calmness and serenity which he conducts himself nowhere to be found.
(Eagleheart)

The tome seems to be a collection of stories and memories from Valyria related to what they've seen of the Arcane, its effects on the Lifestream, and its connections to Agartha; a personal note from the them states that they hope to offer an unique point of view as it's been written by a fae. A tiny note also expresses their distaste of using paper.

They had only two pathes left to follow on the castle's ruins now. The dungeons downstairs and the closed door.


Eagleheart asks, "I believe he's on the other side of that door. Do you want to go downstairs first?"

Eagleheart says, "Maybe... He's keeping prisoners."

Mei Xiang says, "...sure."

Tiff says, "...I'm going where you guys go. But i want to see this book when we get back."
"We'll go down. If there's any prisoner down there that's still alive, we're getting them out, so they can save the kids at the entrance. Otherwise... They'll have to wait for us to leave." He said, almost weirdly neutral. It seemed that at this point, he was almost tired of having empathy -- But he couldn't stop himself. No, he couldn't, unfortunately.

He wanted to simply get this done with. To have one less miserable person walking through these lands, and to finally, put him and every single minion that he had out of his misery. But for now, it was time to see if there were any victims in the present.

And as such, with the two on his tow, Eagleheart follows downstairs.
(Eagleheart)

Going downstairs, they'd find a single room with two purposes-- dungeon cells, though they were fortunately empthy, and the storage. A single chest, though a big one, was kept on the far side of the room-- it seems like Cypher doesn't know the group is there, as there's nothing guarding this storage room of his. The chest's keys are just beside it, on a small table.

Even though there seems to be nothing guarding the storage room, he moves closer to the chest, and then the same order chime washes over the room. He lets out a sigh. "Mei, could you please see if there's any runes or anything that makes the chest rigged? I don't want to set out another trap."
(Eagleheart)

Tiff scans the room as well, reaching out with her own arcane capabilities as well as her empathetic ones in search of any sign of life or corruption that might be hiding nearby.
(Tiff)

Mei Xiang nods and cautiously steps forward.

The nearby keys rattled on their perch on the table until they suddenly flew right into Mei's grasp.

She, however, doesn't use them to open the chest. Instead she closely inspects its surface, looking for any obvious runes.
(Mei Xiang)

Order chimes through the room, as well as the fae scanning-- there were no other lifeforms within, fortunately. The dungeon/storage room was pretty small, and it seems to have that specific purpose only

Regarding the runes, Mei had to analyze with great attention to finally detect the runes carved upon the chest; these were inconspicuous, and she could detect that the runes were linked between themselves; it seems that this specific set of runes were more intricate than the previous ones, with a lot more care and attention put into them. The runes were able to detect motion-- from there, they'd activate a chain reaction of siphoning mana, which powered the rest of their effects, that being setting a person's blood on fire.

With some time, she'd be able to dispell the mana siphoning part, which would render the rest of the runes useless.

Mei sighs.
(Mei Xiang)


Mei Xiang says, "If one of us would have opened it, ya probably would have died."

Mei Xiang says, "These runes, I..."

Mei Xiang says, "...I think they siphon your mana on contact."

Eagleheart says, "Ah. I've... I've felt that. Painful."

Mei Xiang says, "I'll dispel 'em, or try to. My original plan was to just make the key float on into the hole 'n unlock it."

Eagleheart says, "It could probably work, actually."

Mei Xiang says, "Mmn."
Mei Xiang takes in a deep breath.

For these runes she had to be extremely careful when dealing with this one. Her finger delicately inches closer to the surface of one of the first mana siphoning runes; if she could disable it, she would move onto the others. She begins to burn her own runes and shapes onto the surface of the already existing rune, a process that would likely take a long time if nobody interrupted her.
(Mei Xiang)

As these runes were hard to actually read, since they weren't glowing with obvious magic, it would take some time to properly isolate the connections of the mana siphoning; however, roughly twenty minutes later, the rune-trap had been successfully dispelled. It wouldn't siphon nearby mana and, as such, the 'blood on fire' effect won't have any mana which to operate-- so it won't trigger, no matter what.

Opening the chest, they'd see several different valuables within; that seems to be Cypher's personal storage. A few pounds of arcanium as well as soulsteel, a branch of a strange, darkened wood, and a small satchel containing a powder with strong, concentrated cosmic energy-- it seems to be stardust.

The chest was now empty. There was only one door left in the castle's ruins..

Eagleheart quickly gets the strong, concentrated cosmic energy. Stardust, apparently, but nevertheless, he only takes that one for himself. He still leaves the Ironbark and every other material out there -- After all, they were much more useful for the blacksmith of the group than anything else.

"One door left. He's there, certainly... I can only wonder doing what." He says, adjusting the hammer at his back, as well as the mask. "Put on the mask. It helps with not seeing too much. If the rest of the castle is like that, I can only have nightmares with how his laboratory is."

And then, the crusader proceed towards the last room that remained in the castle to be explored.
(Eagleheart)

You pick up Ironbark.

After successfully breaking the runes, she reaches in to take whatever was in; it was another shiny rock that she didn't know the name of, but it would likely be useful in the future. Walking with her comrades until they reach the door, Mei Xiang says nothing in response to Eagleheart and simply draws her hood and fixes the mask to her face.

A hand went to rest on her blade handle.
(Mei Xiang)

Tiff continues staying put upon Mei's shoulder. While the infant had shaken some of her resolve, facing the man who had created the monstrous thing and putting an end to his work solidified it twice over. The fairy donned the little piece of cloth Eagleheart had gifted her when she became a Seeker in her own right, and with her pebble helm atop her head, she was ready.

"We won't let him escape this time... We have to stop him and then bring this whole place down so no one ever sees any of his work..."

Unlike the shenlong that Cypher had left for them to fight once before, Tiff was determined to ensure that no one would remember Cypher. She wanted him to be the one erased from history.
(Tiff)

The group went back upstairs, now going through the last door. As it opens, they would finally meet Cypher's laboratory.

It was a square shaped room in disrepair, such as the case with the rest of the castle ruins. The first obvious thing about it is that it was full of pinned scribbled notes over the walls; they seemed to be reminders to himself.

"Remember to thank Alhanna for the Guardian.
She asks very strange questions."

"A kitsune tail into a human doesn't work. Stop trying."

"The curse persists. Nothing seems to get rid of it.
Stormwind seems to know more. Sometimes I wonder."

"Meiko's birthday. I can't seem to remember what kind of gifts she liked.
I wonder if it's relevant to the due process."

A table of oak seems to have most of his instruments; as expected, they were all made of arcanium, as the kitsune could wield nothing else without it rusting immediately. Directly in front of them was Cypher himself.

He had his back on them, at the moment, though his ears perked up at the moment they walked in-- he noticed their presence, but his arms seem to be moving, working on something. As they fully walk into the lab, they can see what it is.

A child kitsune, armless; Cypher was working with a needle on a hand and inscribing runes into the air, of blood magic, with the other. What he seems to be stitching into the girl is a tiger's paw, including its claws; the child's eyes and expression say it all-- she was terrified and in excruciating pain, but as it was the case with the other children, her throat had a visible wound upon it-- her vocal chords were ripped off. She couldn't scream, as much as she wanted to.

With a sigh, Cypher interrupted his work, turning around slowly to face the group; blots of darkness for eyes presumably staring at their general direction as his tail swayed lazily behind him.

"You killed Vohzd", the kitsune says, with about as much emotion as a chunk of rock. "Impressive."

The finally, they were staring at the man himself.

Or rather, a monster with a man's form. The minor details of his room are glossed over, saved for texts mentioning Meiko. Meiko, Meiko, Meiko; if it wasn't evident to the young woman now, all of his research and test subjects had clearly been the pursuit of one goal:

"Puttin' together a bunch of pieces of people won't bring 'em back. Hel, ya can't even call it a person, ya animal." Her blade is brandished in it's entirety. She adopts her stance and holds her blade close to her form. While the initial events shocked and even rendered her a bit inert for a bit of the journey, seeing Cypher before her revitalized her.

She felt hatred, genuinely.
But also a desire to protect; it always drove her.
They were here to deal justice, after all.

She barely managed to make out an armless kitsune. It was absolutely appalling, but from seeing all the gore, she wasn't shocked just from seeing the state of her. It was disgusting, yes, but it didn't want to make her look away.

"We're gonna make sure ya meet the same end."
(Mei Xiang)

Tiff's frustration over the last few weeks erupts. Shu's actions. The scene at the village of dead bodies. The stresses of Huangzhou and the world as a whole come to a head as she finally sees the man responsible for the horrors here. There's no pause or moment to speak, instead a vine erupts from the wall, aiming to move the armless kitsune girl out of harm's way.

The fairy may be unable to help her, hel maybe the girl would be better off dead.

But as the vine fires forward, two more fire out of the floor at Cyper himself.

"Bastard--" she gasps out. "BASTARD!!" she follows up with a much louder shout. The pink mana that flows from her form swirls about as if the Lifestream itself is attempting to pour out of the tiny fairy. The arcane force she wields causes the space around her to distort and a greatmelody of anger screams out across the laboratory.

"Babies-- children-- you're a monster, a stain. This is your end, this is where you get erased and forgotten."
(Tiff)

There was little for him to say about it. The notes go over his head -- As always, of course. He couldn't read, and not more than a few of them were done with an intent he didn't want to notice... But nevertheless, Eagleheart moves in front of the group.

After all, if there were any traps or the like, he'd be the one to activate them instead of his apprentices. The imagery of the tortured child brings Eagleheart's hammer towards his side, grasped mid-air.

"Cypher. This is the last day you walk upon Eternia.", the crusader continues, right hand still holding the blunt weapon he carried left and right, shining with the excess cosmic and holy mana that he so often discharged upon the man.

However, the sheer fact that he knew for sure now he needed to fight was enough to slowly put him into a meditative state, or something akin to that -- His focus remained completely on the man, a cosmic glimmer running over his persona, highlighting the very leylines of his.

"Spare whatever words you might have. We'll end you... Quickly." He spoke, the grasp on the hammer growing stronger. However, he murmured a few words for his apprentices.

"If we need, I want you two to protect that child with your lives." Finally, Eagleheart spoke one last time, continuing to move towards the man afterwards. "You will tell me what I need to know about the other Vidharatti, and I will be quick in your execution."

There was no time for trial. No time for thinking twice. Eagleheart was, surely, determined, as a small earthen aegis seems to form under the armor, glimmering with the occasional cosmic and holy magic that he released from his very mana circuits.
(Eagleheart)

Those blot of darkness seem to look at the armless kitsune being drawn out of his reach by Tiff's vines; he doesn't make any attempts at stopping this, and his expression doesn't change, just watching as the child was placed out of harm's way with an uninterested expression; his tail swayed lazily behind him a little longer as his gaze - if it could be called that - went back towards the other two.

"Wow", he makes with that same lack of much emotion. "You have.. strong words. Is this a contest? Stating the obvious?"

He doesn't seem to challenge the fact he was a monster, and everything else they're calling him-- he doesn't seem to be able to bring himself to care.

"You also seem to be under the impression that I hold loyalty to the Vidharatti. You three.. you had no idea what you were after, did you?"

The kitsune shakes his head, the tail lazily swaying behind him, now continuously, a slow and nigh deliberate motion.

"I do not think you hold loyalty to them. I know that you know them more than I do, and that you're affiliated to them. I don't care about loyalties, Cypher." He continues to speak, the grasp with the hammer growing only stronger as he walks closer to the Kitsune, the cosmic glimmer that came from him not stopping -- The room was slowly encompassed in a vivid yellow, humming the soft tone of his attunement to the Arcane.

"I know that you will die by our hand, today." He finished off, before finally moving the hammer to both hands, and running to the offensive. This fight was aimed to be quick -- And certainly, he wasn't making any efforts to not be painful this time around.
(Eagleheart)

"Refreshing", a smile spreads across Cypher's lips, though there was no joy to be felt there. It looked more like someone trying to imitate a smile purely through the moving of the facial muscles, without any idea of the meaning behind it.. it just looked weird. "You sure do look a lot like him."

The threads of reality around them rippled coming from the kitsune as he rose both of his hands, runes being inscribed through the air, a miasma of blood and a distinct feeling of asphyxiation spreading from him. Opposing Eagleheart's attunement to the Arcane was Cypher's own connection-- though rather than atunning, his magic ripped through it. Shattered reality's little connections, one by one, setting off chain reactions that were sickening, like the screaming of pained souls.

With each hand weaving through the air in two types of combat runecasting at the same time, Cypher moved to the offensive as well.

"Don't kill him!" Eagleheart says, upon noticing the man being flung in a nearly unconscious state by Mei. However, even if he's lacking any power to fight back, Eagleheart surely hopes he can still speak.

"You said I look like him. You will tell me what I want to know, Cypher... You will tell me about Stormwind." Eagleheart said, and near the end of his own sentence, grabbed the man by the collar. There was no Nyeshk near him -- He knew that more than a brief contact would turn it into rust, no matter how strong the metal was...

Except for Arcanium. But Eagleheart didn't care for the state of his prosthetics, now likely turning to rust as they grabbed the man. The mask moved closer, seemingly the black cloth that covered blind eyes staring back at the man's empty holes.

"You will tell me about them."
(Eagleheart)

Oh, she was enjoying this, surprisingly enough.

Despite the hellish reality they were in, despite what could happen if they lost this fight, and despite the constant fear of getting maimed in some horrible fashion, the young woman fought with all of her might. Holy earth ripped through the mansion in order to grasp at the kitsune at times while she let out a barrage of slashes. She dashed towards him as well, leaving flames in her wake.

It was glorious, really, or atleast Mei felt that way. This was for all the countless souls he had mutilated for his sick goal. This was about to be in the name of righteousness. With a fierce yell, the Seeker closed in on her target, weaving out of the way of his attacks and defenses with the aid of her friends. Her large blade went up.

Then down.

She was aiming for his neck; his head would be separated from his-

But then she hears Eagleheart call out to her; don't kill him? Him of all people? She knew they needed information, so despite what her heart told her, she instead feints her killing blow into a devastating wave of telekinetic energy, sending the poor fellow barreling into one of the walls of the room with an astounding amount of force.

She scoffs and sheathes her blade.
(Mei Xiang)

Tiff surges toward the kitsune but is immediately thrown back by his own telekinetic wave. She catches herself with a vine and swings around one of the columns. While the powers of the natural world and weather send a torrent of magical spells at the kitsune, Tiff notes she can be far more effective is she thinks strategy rather than pure rage.

A genius thought really.

The kitsune is a mistake to this world. He's beyond monstrous. His magic opposes everything she stands for and so while she allows for Mei and Eagleheart to take the front lines, arcs of holy lightning fire towards their backs not to stun or harm, but to dance along their forms to find any places that Cypher has harmed them. Coils of pink mana spring out when she gets closer to her allies, and illusions and sound magic assault Cypher from afar.

In her mind she sees everything she's fighting against in this one man. Evil, Chaos, Horror. He is the embodiment of it all, all of that pain shefeels when she meditates, all of that sorrow. She digs deep within herself to draw from that wellspring that connects her to the Lifestream. The fae claps her hands together and in a cacophony of music and telekinesis, she brings down some of the ceiling to crumble to the battlefield below.

All the while her vines are ensuring the girl is safe from harm.

As it's clear Cypher is getting bested, she moves in for a closer hit, only to be completely blasted back by yet another wave of his grotesque, reality rending telekinesis. Her small form spirals through the air before she is able to correct herself, and once she does, she sees her friends debating whether or not to end his life.

Right away, at least.
(Tiff)

Cypher's Chaos was like a sheer sense of cold. Not the temperature itself, but there was an irritating, sickening sense of unchanging static about it-- like the undead themselves, unable to move on or change, remaining stuck in their ways and only deteriorating. It was like a force of entropy who forced its decay through the threads of Eternia, fueled by the kitsune's sheer rationality with a lack of empathy or morals.

As unchanging as Cypher seems to be, even as he falls, as he coughs out blood and his ears drop, he still cannot seem to bring himself to care. There was no shock, no distaste, not even anger over the many wounds dealt by the three Magi-- fell upon the blood, bleeding from countless wounds, ravaged by Order Magic.. he stared back at them, weak, but with the same unamused expression. This did not change, even as Mei seems to be right about to kill him-

-though she didn't. His gaze shifts to the general direction of Eagleheart, staring at him with those blots of darkness for eyes.

"Don't know much about him.. he doesn't know much about me", Cypher mutters, without much strength to speak as loudly as he'd been before, but keeping the same emotionless tone. Ever unchanging. "But I know he used to be an Order Magi.. a leader and a mentor", he looks at both Tiff and Mei at the latter remark.



Eagleheart seemed to await for the words, but they come with very little for him to consider. What happens next, perhaps, is something that he didn't know how to do properly. "Order magi... Leader and mentor..." He says, deep breaths.

It seemed that Angelo, however that was, was struggling to keep his cool. However, one hand, clad in cosmic magic, moves to the kitsune's arm, and as soon as it envelops, he starts crushing the bones underneath. Not only from the start of it, but the entirety of the arm, and the cosmic mana seems to dig inside the man's skin, burning it from inside.

"I didn't want to kill you because I wanted you to experience the same you made all of them pass through. I wanted you to..." Eagleheart didn't want to admit that he was doing this out of pure spite. Out of having a man so wicked in front ofhim, he couldn't bring himself to end him swiftly.

A loud yell comes forth, as Eagleheart raises his left arm. Beams of cosmic energy shoot from his back, excess mana simply propelled out, but most importantly, a sizeable amount runs towards his closed fist.

And then, a powerful punch -- Charged with enormous holy magic, was sent towards the Kitsune's face. It didn't kill him -- It didn't mean to. It simply smashed the bones, audibly cracking a few of them, a visible mark of cosmic and holy energy left as a scar on the kitsune's face.

"You don't deserve any mercy. You know that." He speaks, before moving towards the man. However, he stops, clenched fist still running powerfully charged with concentrated holy energy, almost as if his skin was glowing.

"It's your kill, Mei." Eagleheart speaks, before moving away, still breathing heavily. The experiences of this day were, surely, something for him to consider. "Do it. I fear I'll never reach the point where I think he had enough if I keep going."
(Eagleheart)

You gave a "Crushed Arm" to Cypher!

You gave a "Cosmic-Holy Wound/Shattered Skull" to Cypher!

Tiff floats closer, listening to the back and forth and Cypher's comment that's pointed toward the students. It doesn't seem to affect her, even if he intended to put doubts in her mind, the fairy had none when it came to Eagleheart. As far as she was concerned, the pain her mentor was inflicting upon the monster was justified, and Mei's kill would be as well.

"Kill him, Mei. And we'll make sure no one ever hears his name again once we burn everything else here."

She turns, not wanting to give Cypher the satisfaction of knowing she wants to speak more. There's a lot more she could say, so much anger she could let out on him, but she turns her attention to something far more productive and good; the girl.

While Mei and Eageleheart deal with the wretch, Tiff descends upon the place the armless kitsune is covered by vines and releases their grip upon her.

For whatit's worth, Tiff sends out a calming sound; music meant to ease the girl's mind and calm her, even if she's in a lot of pain and fear. "We're here... just rest. You're in good hands..." the fairy whispers.

Holy magic and the fae's innate mana flow towards the girl to heal her wounds as best they can.
(Tiff)

A low hiss came from Cypher as his arm was crushed-- that was about as much reaction of pain as it came from the unchanging kitsune, being punched straight to the fast with empowered cosmic energy. Thrown away, Cypher rolled over the floor for several feet, a scarred burn over his face and the broken bones underneath-- though the blots of eyes he had for eyes seemed unaffected as he stared back at Eagleheart.

Unamused. Unchanging.

"Yeah", he mutters, coughing out blood, which trailed from his lips to the floor. "Three of us, three of you.. no wonder Stormwind fled. It's like looking to a twisted reflection before the curse."

What was said honestly was of no concern to the young woman at the moment. Sure, they had won, sure they had gotten information, and of course, they had saved many, many people from the terrors of this terrible being. Upon being given the 'okay' to proceed with the man's execution, she nods, then swiftly draws her odachi with an audible metallic sound.

It's held high in the air, above her head.

She had been taught there was redeemable and irredeemable evil, though...

...this man was beyond redemption, clearly; he would only find it in death. So with a scowl, the Seeker brought her heavy blade down upon Cypher's neck, undoubtedly disconnecting his head from his body to end his life swiftly.

It was her first kill, and it was a damn righteous one at that.
(Mei Xiang)

The kitsune child which Tiff tended to was with a look of shock. Incapable of speaking due to Cypher's torture-like methods, she could just stare at the fae with glistening eyes; parts of a tiger's paw were still half connected to her stump, with arcanium wirings attempting to connect the nervous system. That was something that'd take a while to treat by itself-- the psychological damage, however, couldn't possibly be measured.

"Refreshing", Cypher mutters as those blots of darkness stared upwards, towards Mei and her mask, once her blade was held that high. A cut aimed to kill-- though his expression remains the same, even as he stared at that. "I'm free."

The slightest of all smiles spreads across the kitsune's lips. It was almost genuine.

Almost.

"Good luck with Alhanna", were his last seconds as Mei's blade was brought down-- the blade running through his neck and separating head from body.

Cypher was dead.