Xerves: Attack on Humans

Nymeria wasn't sure what kept her legs where they were, or what kept fear out of her body. "I'm not afraid." Her answer was honest. There would be no more derisive comments on her part, at least no until Tara set the mood of this interaction. She simply pulled her staff from the ground, and straightened up, waiting for an answer or a movement, anything to go off of. She didn't want to fight, but not for the usual reasons. "Why don't you let me follow you around? I want to see you string someone up, and then maybe, in a few years, you can do the same to me." A tone comprised of cold, calculation passed through her lips and filled the air.

(Nymeria Perrafin)

A thrush of breath now. Someone that wanted to follow her, like she was some kind of leader. It made her want to laugh. No, she was nothing more than some kind of... Shaking her head. A fuck up, a mind rotted victim. Something to be frowned at. And here this girl was stating that she wanted to follow her and observe her wicked, devilish ways. It almost made her want to scream out loud, but there were certain holds barred against that. So rather than anything that trudged through her mind, her lips just curled into a slow smile.

"Follow me, then. I'll show you just why you shouldn't be following a person like me." She would state coldly, soon holding out her palms to show eerie slash marks against her palms, wrists. "But if you bind yourself to me, that's you damning yourself. I won't take the fuckin' blame." She would state, her eyes narrowing now.
(Tara Alcarin)

The earth trembled in the wake of a new arrival, still thrashed from his last confrontation with a territorial Azeris;
A thick graymatter wall of flesh defied the strict stability of trees and foliage throughout the swamplands, spawning clouds of dust and inducing a sprinkle of splinters unto the path ahead.

The confetti of nature was rollicked within by a small flowing river of stampeding beastial underlings- Their caws and screeches mocked the squeal of agitated swine and herding crows. A muddied exodus of sapphires, vermillion and tanned alabaster reduced the rotting grasses to paved road, and swayed the hanging fogs that rendered soils concealed from common perception.

The hunt was one once more, lead by the now-Beta of an expanding Yokai coalition: Xerves, hulking at an impressive fifteen feet tall boasted his physicality when swatting his arms at brush that attempted to bind him from his intented destination.
In time, he came to a halt, catching sight of a blur to the west-side! He pivoted his gaze to settle the reflection of a duo within the gleam of sanguine pupils;
"HUMANS!"
He exclaimed through a broadcasted telepathic channel, likely to beamed through the minds of his fellow kindred, Tara and Nymeria respectively.

Judging by the hostility that riddled through the tone of his mentalized message, it was less than likely he was intending to indulge in rhetoric.
(Xerves)

 "I sealed my fate with an action long ago, nothing I do now will ever compare." Nymeria said, her tone a tad stern this time, but still with soft undertones. "And you won't be getting any blame, I assure you." Nymeria would have most likely continued, but turned her attention to the yokai--he was familiar, the one that Azeris had beat down. She looked upon his monstrous figure with curious eyes. "Miss Tara, what do you make of that thing?" Nymeria framed the question to her acquaintance, wanting her opinion.

She moved her staff around, tossing it from hand to hand. Nymeria wasn't fearful of this creature, but was weary of its ability. If there was going to be a fight, she wasn't going to cower, but instead give this beast everything she had.

(Nymeria Perrafin)

At this point, she couldn't help but chuckle now in response. So eager, and so willing. These men and women of Valmasia truly were gluttons for whatever punishment she may have wanted to dole out to them. It tickled her deeply, but she wouldn't make it out to be that she was insulting the young woman-- no, that would not help. After all, she wanted what the girl would eventually offer-- so to play the game now, that would be the most astute method to go about things. Her amusement would fall short, however, as the two females were approached by a Yokai. In abundance nowadays, right?

"Yokai," she would state rather bluntly, cracking her jaw as she felt the pain of the voice bounding around inside of her head. A little bit too loud, or that was what she thought. Reaching up, she would brush her hair over her shoulder and narrow her eyes a bit. "Can we help you with something? Alteros is just to the East if you are lost." She would comment in a deadpan tone of voice.

"Don't fret, dear." She would raise her hand a bit now, "Don't start a fight until you're certain it's a fight." Yet always be prepared.
(Tara Alcarin)

Though Azeris had him marked, and bested in battle- Azeris was not here, meaning he was not obligated to fall under any sort of orders for his livelihood. He could act as he pleased until Azeris came about and forced him to entail to whatever demeanor such was forced into ploy.
"I am not something to be casted aside. These lands are my territory, human! And for your collective crimes as a race, I'll see to it that you see punishment as I intend to grant unto -all- of your putrid kind!"

It was quite clear by now, that this was nothing shy of irrational thinking: Blatant Xenophobia enacted to its most extreme state;
"The centuries of Yokai damnation ends with me, I'll see to it, that every one of you endure the fate many were forced to by your ilk's hands."
A foot stomped into the earth, toiling slabs of wet earth into the air, scattering for a short-ranged rain unto his fellow underlings.

It was then, that the telepathic means to communication ended, maws shifted in a strenious attempt to speak through more advanced means. Vocalization from the very gullet, evolved a growling undertone from his form into a bass riddled voice.

"Brothers, sisters and children- Feast."
It was an unprovoked attack from seemingly nowhere! Though, this Yokai was not mindless as many would assume him to be, but constantly taking reference to history, the past- Evidently peeved at the sight of the duo, and ignorant of their potential capabilities.

From the pores upon the titan's flesh, mana oozing to the surface ignited to conjure a mockery of pyromancy, burning cold and chilling the grasses and soils into a aubrun hue- Trees wilted and grasses shriveled, but the pyre only ascended for the heavens for a full array of lavender, towering over his victims akin to a beacon of the Occult.Though, his mastery did not guarantee potency, as likely to have been assumed by now.

Under the command of their pack leader, lesser Yokai charged in, scattering to swarm from all angles given the chance. The intent was to strike in numbers and overwhelm, with the leader in tow... Conflict was imminent, though not yet did they engage. They seemed to hesitate, awaiting for the humans to make the first strike, if not their master.
(Xerves)

Nymeria lifted her staff now, her red lightning pouring forth. She turned to her temporary mentor, seeking confirmation in her eyes. "It's a fight now, right?" She asked, forcing herself to sound coy, though she was nervous--not for her sake, but Tara's. It would be a bad turn of luck if the person she had just invested so much time in were to suddenly be slaughtered in the forest by a yokai. "I know that this is the kind of thing that happens to you, but I'll help keep you safe, at least for a little while." Nymeria said, turning her eyes to the slew of demons that was slowly encompassing them.

She was prepared to fight and kill, if that's what is escalated too; however, she would also wait patiently for the word of her comrade before doing anything herself.

(Nymeria Perrafin)

My, oh my. It seemed that they had a little bit of... chaos on their hands, was it? Gaze shifting over to Nymeria, and then back to the Yokai, she would feel her head tilt over to the side. "You perceive wrong," she would state, her tone still the same bluntness that it had been earlier as she held up an arm to keep the Yokai away from Nymeria. There was no flinching, nothing of the sorts that would spill forth from Tara. Ever since she had been young, she had been surrounded by Yokai and their kind, so why would it bother her now? Oh, that's right, it didn't. "But I don't need to explain to you that I am a defender of the Yokai race." She would briefly shake her head from side to side as she looked at the underlings that had been sent in their direction. Surrounded, but even as she calculated in her head-- she knew that she had been surrounded by more.

"I do hope that we are not here to engage in combat, Yokai." Now she would straighten up her neck and cross her arms over her neck. Scanning her eyes over his chest, she would furrow her brow.

"Who is Azeris?" She would ask very suddenly, a strange air of curiousity dancing in her eyes.
(Tara Alcarin)

One claimed to be a defender of Yokai, but Xerves refused to accept it. The idea of a Yokai taking any sort of equal ground, any sort of plane where humans could be at par, or even supercede their stature by defending them. He didn't feel the need to ponder on the thought any further, especially when the following query came to his attention.
He had grown oblivious to the branding Azeris condoned to upon his chest, which, when attention was called to it, left him to turn his head to the best of his ability to see scathed matter.

He could read it well enough with a mere glimpse, having heard the name already. He knew all-too-well his consequence for failing to defeat such a beast, and now, it'd stick to him for the rest of this evolutionary stage. He snarled at the thought, leading his groan into an all-out cry for the heavens in hellish fury.

It was -that-, that was used for the fuel to proceed with the assault. He outright charged, ignoring the masses that'd follow, shoving away any of his underlings that came betwixt himself and a clear-shot upon Tara for mentioning the name. It was reminder of his failure, his inferiority to another-- To punish one that resparked such dreaded period of shame would be the ultimate joy as of the moment.

The numbers were strictly in his favor, but as for powers? He knew naught...
Only time and fate would tell the results of the encounter.
(Xerves)

 Oh! It seemed that she hit a chord! "My bad," she would state over towards Nymeria with a knit of her brow. She didn't intend for this to become a fight, but since it had to just be so... Shaking her head from side to side now, she would give a chuckle. "So be it," She would hold her hands out at her side and suddenly a burst of air would be expelled from her mana, swiftly darting around her in the form of her aura. When it came down to numbers, who cared? Tara knew better than to get overwhelmed by numbers, because when lone wolves roamed, they were going to be stronger than the pack because they had to fend for themselves.

The battle was a big, surreal blur. Wind whipping around in all sorts of direction, and her newfound fire that she was experimenting with. It was a wonder how this swamp even withstood such. She was not going to question it though! Through the middle of the fight, she would pick back up, hitting her second wind and finding easier to throw strikes in the direction of the behemoth who decided to take it upon himself to fight two little girls, hah.

And get beat by them, too. As the Yokai fell, Tara would immediately disperse her aura and step over to him. Crouching down, she would lay her elbows against her thighs and give a small sigh. "These are MY lands." She would growl very suddenly, very abruptly. "And you'll see fit to stand by that, or next time, I won't let you live." Suddenly, her staff would slam down into the soft marsh next to his head.

Lifting her hand up, she would see a collection of blood there and she would lick it free of her fingers. "Now go home." She would state plainly.
(Tara Alcarin)

Beaten yet again, he was forced to rest in a position he had learned to adopt, all too well. The way the woman spoke down to his defeated stature only irked him further, incapacitated for far too long to defend himself should her staff have been shifted several inches over to impale his head. It plunged into the earth, forcing the upheaval of swampy waters to ooze from the grasses-

The repugnant stench of corroding cadavers in the distance, fallen victim to the half-submerged Crellu that idled in the tainted pond-water. The only words that rung true to him, was but a single pair that delivered a solid message:"Go home"
To imagine that he was bested by two mere girls, and had his life threatened for that matter.
It was a hit to his pride, second to only Azeris' branding...
Though, it was something he would never -could never- forget. Today, he had learned a valuable lesson--

As the titan rose to his feet, shaky in his state, he glared unto the duo that vanquished him, leaving him with reason to fear for his life..
Shamefully, he turned away, making his pace for the distance--
To live, to fight another day... That was the intention, though, his venture was not guaranteed, as onlookers could bring themselves to intervene in his flee attempt.

(Xerves)