The Horror at the Silver Wing [Open]

The people of Jadai were blessed with a beautiful day. The sound of animals and insects alike becamse a soothing song, and fauna danced in the gentle breeze that washed over the earth. The sun's warm rays illuminated the people of the settlement as they continued their hard day to day work. The sounds of hammer smashing against metal and wood was but one of many sounds filling the silence. Men and women alike lifted beams and boxes together, strong and united as one hive of workers ensuring their own peace. To keep the dark from coming to their children and loved ones.

But not everyone shared their enthusiasm. The rumors of the Dreamborn and other abominable creatures of the night lurking within their walls plagued most of them even during the brightest of days. Those who didn't dismiss it as propaganda or delusions spent their days in the infamous tavern, the Silver Wing, hiding not only their crippling anxiety but also themselves behind layer upon layer of empty beer glasses. Among them was a man with hair devoid of color, serving as cover for his crimson red eyes. His black tuxedo stood out as a sore thumb in the sea of torn cloth and dirt. To him though, it didn't matter. He wasn't here to drink his sorrows away or to fit in. His goal was far more malicious than selfish loathing.


His arms spread out wide as he stood in the middle of the tavern, quickly catching attention of everyone present. "THEY have graced Her wretched earth, and your worthless souls will be but a stepping stone towards the ascension of humanity's sinful existence!" His voice resonated within the wooden walls of the building, his tone shaking with excitment. Needless to say, many men took the insults to their heart and stood up from their tables as if to threaten the man and keep him from continuing his speech. Yet, he was unmoved. His gloved hands engulfed in a physical manifestation of karma, dyed the same shade as his insane eyes. The wild energy shaped itself into five claws upon each one of his fingers, slashing away the air and tearing the veil of reality, revealing a seemingly infinte void of pitch black darkness riddled with otherworldly shapes and crimson red eyes staring into the very fiber of any who dared gaze upon. This travesty upon nature sent out a shriek within the Karma, inflicting madness upon those inside the tavern, fading into a ripple resonating through the rest of the world. A ripple that only the Godwoken could understand, as if a part of them screamed out in anguish, guiding them towards the source.

A wayward swordswoman stepped along through the streets of Jadai alone, stoic eyes slowly scanning her surroundings. It was clear the city was in poor condition; The people appeared lacking in wealth, with clothes covered in dirt and disrepair, and even recently-constructed buildings seemed to barely hold themselves together. It was a far cry from the methodical and carefully-crafted architecture she was used to in the capital city. But, despite the rustic, mundane look of the place, the girl would tell that things were improving all the time. At the least, the people around her gave the distinct impression they were pleased with their lot in life.

At least, until a cacophony of screams and shrieks shattered the illusion of peace. Her attention was pulled immediately to the front of her, where a pair of older-looking men were scrambling away from a particularly run-down looking building, causing heads to swing about to see what might be causing the sudden distress. Without wasting a moment, the white-haired girl scurried off towards the building, while a number of other prior patrons ran past her in the opposite direction. Swiftly passing through the building's front door, she was met with the obvious source of the disturbance.

A hole in the very fabric of space had been opened in the middle of what seemed to be a bar, with a clearly suspicious man standing beside it, a set of large, blood-red claws adorning his hands. The tear pulsed with a fierce energy that sent a shiver down the girl's spine, but more than that, it emanated a presence that carried with it a sense of sheer terror, even as it dwindled in size. Instinctively, the girl's hands leapt to her side, drawing the twin katanas that hung from her belt, their black blades slicing through the air as they were readied in fluid motions. Her legs stretched apart, her knees bent, and she held one blade close to her, pointing the other towards the stranger, speaking not a word, but staring daggers into him with cold eyes.

What appeared to be a young boy with cyan hair was performing on the streets of Jadai, performing minor tricks you'd usually see from a street magician. They were simple things really, doubly so for the being that had chosen the name Alpha. Producing flowers from nowhere, switching the place of objects, card tricks, and more, all simple matters with the right skills, but when you actually can manipulate reality a bit? Now that makes for a show.

Alpha was staying in the city of Jadai for his own safety, it was far enough from the Triumvirate that he was unlikely to have any unfortunate run-ins here and was free to do what he wanted: see what humans were really like. That combined with his dislike of violence made him learn the skills of an entertainer, something he found himself quite enjoying. It was nice putting smiles on people's faces and getting a chance to see people in more natural environments than the lab. At least, until his performance was interrupted.

As he was handing a flower created by his power down to a small girl, a shock went through his body. He froze up for a moment and the flower in his hand withered and disappeared, fear visible on his face. Something very, very bad had just happened but Alpha had no idea what but he certainly could feel where. His eyes turned towards the direction that whatever that sensation was had come from, his face going from fear to a pout of annoyance. Of course it wasn't just be a straight shot from here. Why would it be convenient like that? Alpha's attention was drawn back to the girl when he heard her crying.

"Uhhh, sorry about that..." he said, scratching the back of his head. "I guess your magician's right out of magic for today. If you find me tomorrow, I'll get you another, but uh..." Without finishing his sentence, he did a backflip high into the air, landing on a window sill, before leaping up higher onto the rooftops. Alpha broke into a sprint, jumping from roof to roof when he had to. When he was right next to the source of the disturbance, he leaped off the buildings.

"Dark Knight!" Alpha barked, his eyes changing from yellow to red. As they did, a winged figure appeared, putting its arm around Alpha and slowing their fall to a safe speed. "Thanks, partner," Alpha said as he dusted himself off from the landing, giving the figure a pat on the shoulder before it faded away.

Reluctantly, Alpha stepped forward into the building. He hadn't even seen what was causing this yet, but just being this close to it was filling him with dread. It was almost painful. As he opened the door to the Silver Wing, the sight was about as bad as he'd been expecting. Whatever this unnatural tear in reality was, being near it was now actually starting to hurt. But, hiding his pain, Alpha saw a girl was already standing to face this void and the very obvious opener of said void and moved in, summoning the blade of Dark Knight and striking a stance of his own. His feet took an L shape, and his chest and arm made one continuous line as he pointed the blade at the clawed figure.

He had no idea what was going on, if his reaction was appropriate, if physical weapons were even going to be of use here, or if he should say anything but he at least thought he probably looked cool. Except that the confusion and hesitation had been visible on his face until he finished striking his pose.

"My name is Alpha Ignatius, and I'd really appreciate it if one of you told me what the heck is happening here and what I'm looking at!" That probably could've been cooler... But he'd already said it, too late to take it back now.

Kulaan had been leading a sizable group of Mandate men and women on his mission to escort a shipment of supplies to the struggling town of Jadai. The journey had been long and he often shifted his wings about but to little avail. There was to be no flying on them and even if it were possible it wouldn't hasten the supplies on their way. At the least the young man-dragon had many a friend among those he led with which to talk and keep the journey from being entirely dull. And at nights around campfires were perfect times to finish Kushinada's recommendation to him.

Eventually Jadai came into view and from this point the group had to proceed carefully. Kulaan's chosen second in command, a woman by the name Nifa, approached the people to explain what they had and organize distribution. He himself needed to stay to the rear and out of sight if possible. Tensions about dreamborn would run high without the common folk seeing a dragon. He very much doubted any explanation he gave them about himself would work. That said, Nifa also bore a message signed at Mon's hand himself which Kulaan had also given to her and which he usually took on most any of his missions. In it was put forth a pretend purpose of the dragon's presence. He was one of theirs, completely tamed by powerful hunters and completely trustworthy around people. This would do some to ease the people's worries upon seeing him though only if they read the letter or had it explained to them. Regardless, it gave Kulaan enough room to move about town, though always with at least one of his men with him.

"Everything is progressing smoothly sir." Nifa said after some time had passed and her role had subsided in favor of the raw manual labor of distribution. She had sought out Kulaan to report.

"Thank you Nifa. I only wish I could do it myself." the dragon huffed in reply. The woman laughed, they'd had this conversation plenty of times before.

"Nonsense sir. Whichever of us is actively speaking with the people it's always reassuring to have you with us. We know you'll guide us correctly." she returned with a warm smile. The two would converse some more about the proceedings before Kulaan recalled his other instruction.

"There's the other matter I discussed with you. We should look about town while the others finish unloading." he said quietly to not draw attention to the matter. Nifa affirmatively nodded in response and the two began moving about the town together. It was no time at all before Kulaan began drawing concerned looks from the people they passed but the fact he followed the woman at his side so well and the word of him being a tamed dreamborn spreading helped keep things peaceful for now. But as they moved about a feeling came over Kulaan that had him near reeling over. A spark of feral fury ignited then quickly extinguished as he gained his senses and composure.

"What's wrong?!" Nifa asked in alarm as she placed a hand on the dragon's back and another on his chest to support him.

"I don't know. Something bad. Really bad. That way." he motioned through ragged breathing in the direction of the tavern. Kulaan took a moment to get his bearings again and soon the two were off toward the source of the disturbance of karma. The duo raced to the front door and were met with a sight they couldn't entirely comprehend. Others had come to the scene and braced themselves for battle. But what might fighting actually accomplish here. The dragon stared into the hole in the air, trying to understand what he was seeing. But his attention was soon drawn to the people who had been in the tavern, all consumed by madness.

"Stand back!" he called to Nifa, who was much less combat capable. The dragon opened his wings and readied himself for whatever was to come. He knew nothing of the others ready for battle but in a situation like this he believed Mon would agree it was best to assist any who tried to stand against this evil.

Many cried in fear, anger, and confusion. Some stood their ground while others completely shut down and froze in place, tears rolling down their face from their wide open eyes. However, the man in the middle of everything stood calmly, his arms spread out as if he was moments before embracing something warmly. The tear of reality danced wildly as it grew in size. "May blessed be the chosen ones, as today marks another trial in Their name." His eyes remained closed while a sincere smile formed on his lips.

Moving as if by command, tendrils of otherworldly darkness blasted from the crimson-eyed filled wound in the world, as if the maddening reality itself was spreading it's influence in the shape of many arms formed from the hands of legions reaching out towards the light of the world. They warmly wrapped themselves around the terrified, picking out only those afflicted by madness the most and slowly wrangled their flesh. Many tried to help them, but it was to no avail. Monster, magic, man-made weapon or even just their body itself, everything passed through the tendrils as if they never existed in the first place. It was hopeless, and those who realized that simply ran away in fear. But they too, were snatched by the boundary, their flesh twisted and molded as if children played with it.

The appentages pulled in whatever goops of flesh remained of the people closer, bringing them all together into a blob of massive size. The shrieks of terrors and cries of help barely slipping out of the now shapeless body as it violently took the shape of a gigantic monster of flesh and bone, vastly beating the tallest of buildings in size and leaving the bar in ruin, shattering whatever was left of it's form with a bellow of what could only be described as an amalgam of outcries for help from the ones that gave birth to it's form.

The cause of all this however, left as suddenly as they appeared. Their last words echoing through the victinity - "Eternal damnation for the unfit in the True World."

Among the many gathered at Jadai was no one other than Yuzuki herself. The legendary swordswoman along with a band of her men were hired to protect the townsfolk from the rumored Dreamborn roaming the area and gather further information for the investigation group at the Police Bureau. To dismay of some, these seemed like mostly rumors with the only "incidents" being a result of foolhearty folk wandering further into the island than they needed to. They complained and drunk their boredom away moments before one of fate's cruel jokes took place, putting them at the epicenter of the very phenomeon they were meant to investigate.

Yuzuki along with her men instantly sprung up from their seats and readied themselves. Her beautifully white unstained katana reflecting the sunrays from the windows and gaps in the wooden walls as she pulled it out of it's sheath. "Explain yourself at once, interloper! Even jokes will lead to punishment of equal cruelty, you should know how poor of a taste this is!" she yelled out in pure anger and irritation. But much like the queries of others it remained unanswered while her men froze in fear or even ran away, only to be snatched away and turned into the tremendous monstrosity while she watched in terror.

The Sword Saint however, didn't tremble or waver even for a moment. It was common knowledge how dear to her every member of her Trimuvirate Branch was, and this was great proof of it - her expression fired up into great anger with flames of hatred. Flames that soon became real, erupting from under her and engulfing her entire blade in an intimidating dance.

"You.. will pay for this transgression!" Filled with nothing but determination, anger, and passion, the scream rose up through all the cries of terror and even the monster's ear-shattering bellow, as if she yelled out for Judecca herself to hear the heaven-piercing declaration.

The silver-haired swordswoman regarded the others that had joined her at the front lines- A boy, a beastkin, and a fellow woman of the blade. That one she recognized, she had seen before, though never in person. Were they in a better situation, she might have stopped and spoken with the woman. But now was not the time for that.

Fingers curling around the handles of her twin katanas, Ryunishi diverted her attention back to the beast before her, and the one who had spawned it. A monster, a nightmarish horror made real. That could be a problem for her alone, making it fortunate she had been blessed with timely allies. The man behind the metaphorical curtain, however, was an unknown. A factor she did not have the time to consider with any amount of precaution. Crazed monsters, mindless beasts, those could be accounted for at face value. They were predictable. But the mind of another person was a much more dangerous thing, much more unknown. As such, this man would have to be pushed from her mind for the time being. Time did not allow for hesitation here.

...But it would allow her a brief moment to turn her head to her allies, saying "I thank you for joining me. Let us defeat this atrocity swiftly." in her quiet, soft tone, with barely an ounce of emotion behind her words. And with those words offered, she refocused on the abomination before them. She brought her katanas to her sides, slid her foot back, and lunged directly at the beast, blades raised to cut right through it.

Not having a stomach was, for once, a blessing. The sight before Al was grotesque and disturbing, he'd surely be retching by now if he could. Nevertheless, the hand not holding the blade he summoned went over his mouth in imitation of humans he'd seen in the past. He barely even noticed the dragon's arrival.

"That... that wasn't much of an explanation," Alpha stammered out to try and cover up how much these sights were getting to him. Shame the person he was talking to had vanished before he even finished the sentence. Taking a quick moment to get his bearings, he glanced around to see who was around him. Besides the silver-haired girl he noticed when he first arrived, there was now a dragon prepped to fight and... Yuzuki Himura, a leader of the Triumvirate. Alpha bit his lip, cursing his luck he'd run into her here of all places. Still, there was quite literally a much bigger problem in front of them and he didn't actually know if he'd be recognized by anyone outside of House Sato.

Alpha nodded at the first girl's words, leaping back and up the ruins of the bar to get to the rooftops of the city, a slightly more advantageous position with his agility than the ruined floor and streets below.

Kulaan was somewhat relieved to see others in the room still in their right mind and gearing for battle. The creature that had appeared was one he doubted he could handle alone. No one had yet reacted much to his own presence which he hoped was due to their assuming he was a dreamborn tamed by Nifa who stood behind him. It was an idea that was going to be soon dispelled if they did think it. Now wasn't much the time for in depth thinking of course.

The dragon took note of the impromptu allies. A woman with long black hair, another what he first took for a woman but couldn't be sure without further investigation, and another woman with long silver hair who spoke to the group. She thanked them for aiding her which was hardly the mandate member's intention but was what was functionally happening. He stepped forward from the entry way toward the others who were already further in, hesitant to get much closer to the otherworldly monster. But still he remained ready, his head lowered and eyes focused so he could lash out as needed.

He let out something of a snarl rather than responding verbally. It was now or never. As the others moved he too ran at it, hoping to draw its attention away from the others. That's what Mon would want him to have done, he was sure of it.

The behemoth's shriek ripped the very earth it was standing on apart, and as it thrashed about it's still forming flesh rained down onto the serpentine wounds of the surface, giving birth to smaller horrors that poured from within. Those of fragile hearts who fled ended up being food to those "children" and only strenghtened their form.

Those brave enough to face it however, successfully kept it at bay. It's powerful bellows ripped the fabric of reality and revealed what seemed like a whole different world altogether beneath the veil. It protected itself all it could, but no matter how many offsprings took form from it's travesty of flesh, all of them were quickly disperesed from the combined effort. With each one, the pain took a very visible strain on the behemoth and it's form began to lose shape revealing a core undearneath. A blurry image of a fetus-like shape could be seen on the crystaline surface of the core, and as it became exposed to sunlight, it let out a cry of anger and fear, shattering the shell it found itself in with an eruption of flesh.

What stood before them wasn't a colossal titan cappable of ruining earth with but a single step, it wasn't an amalgam of flesh that'd disgust even the most emotionally detached. It was something that stood on the barrier between man and monster, even moreso than the human-dreamborn hybrids. It's skin hard enough to resemble stone, protecting all but it's fleshy limbs of interwoven veins and organs with everchanging colors. It's single eye located in it's chest looked around in panic before letting out the very same cry of help and anger from the enormous mouth that formed where one could expect it's head to go before it's fly-trap like collar closed in on it along with the fissure from beneath which it's eye peered through. Protecting itself from harm before running off as if a confused child towards it's mother, with an unknown destination.

Yuzuki stood firm alongside the others as they intercepted the monster's path. With a spectre-like visage of Zanki Magma by her side, her trusty tachi set itself ablaze with flames of anger. Much like the others, she leapt into battle and kept the behemoth's fleshkin at bay. She however, took field to the sidelines, taking care of the ones that chased after the fleeing civilians and tried to escape further into the town while the others took care of the big boss itself. As much anger as she harbored towards it, the Sword Saint couldn't help but to focus on helping others over her desire for revenge, instead turning that anger into the crimson red flames engulfing the form of her weapon. She swung at each one of her foes with tremendous force, only made stronger by the emotions she vented through every single one of her strikes. Her dance of fire and flames incinerated the monsters leaving not even ash in the wake of her rampage.

Despite having been the first to leap into the action, Ryunishi found their battle with the fleshy behemoth short-lived- a pleasant surprise, but a surprise regardless. Strange and bizarre creatures had erupted from the very ground beneath their feet, and had pulled much of her attention away from the abomination itself. Necessary at the time, but irritating, and it left Ryunishi stuck on the defensive for the brief duration of the fight. Though, as that turned out, that proved to be a great boon to her allies, allowing them frequent opportunities to strike at the beasts and behemoth alike. The child's flashy display of strength had certainly caught her eye, almost distracting her from the fight, and she noted that the beastkin was able to inflict ample damage upon the monster before it began its' escape. They, too, might have been good to approach during a more peaceful moment.

When the last and largest of the subterranean creatures flung itself towards Ryunishi, guarded by the spectre of the God of War, she let her blade shine a radiant light. In an instant, she sliced through it- and though it did not fall, Ryunishi had secured a path forward... Until the behemoth shed its skin with a shrill cry, blasting her back towards the rest of the group, and banishing the War God's phantom. Her landing was hard, impacting the ground first on her back before managing to turn herself around enough to plant onto her feet, and when she pulled herself back upright, her legs were shaking a bit.

She dropped one of her blades and stuck the other in the ground in front of her to lean on, her body trembling. For all the composure she'd held even moments earlier, Ryunishi looked ready to collapse.

Well, Triumvirate around or not, there wasn't much choice but for Alpha to go all out. Bringing forth Dark Knight and Fire Phoenix in a fabulous show to try and draw the attention of the beasts away from the surrounding area, and it... sort of worked? The beasts certainly didn't like sharing the skies with the Phoenix, going out of their way to strike it down. All the while, Alpha dodged through falling debris with a notebook in hand, writing down observations about the fighting styles of the dragon and swordswoman fighting along side him, the curse marks of the dragon especially intriguing him.

After the fall of Fire Phoenix, Alpha waited for his next opening granted by his allies to call forth the ace up his sleeve. Debuting it here was less than ideal to him but desperate times call for desperate measures. Water Leviathan descended, its raging torrents blasting through the beasts and giving Dark Knight an opening to land a direct strike on the source of the chaos, or at least it would have had a beast Alpha thought had been dealt with reappeared to block the blow. Still, he'd done more than enough to allow the dragon to land what should've been the finishing blow.

However, before the source of the chaos was able to be eliminated it let out a deafening shriek that sent Alpha off the rooftops, tumbling painfully down to the ground in a narrow alley, bouncing between the outer walls of the buildings. He just laid there for a moment, wondering why he failed to be cool for most of what had just happened before uttering one simple sound...

"Ow."

Reality itself seemed to be falling apart as Kulaan had moved into action with the others present. The tower of twisted flesh before them was terrifying to look at, but worse it seemed to be spawning further abominations around it. The small group of fighters proved capable of fending off these spawns which the central beast seemed to feel the pain of. But as Kulaan had been ordered to oversee the assistance of Jadai for this supply mission by Mon himself, he couldn't well let more damage come to the town or its people. He would pull from his secret rights the heraldry arts, suffering pain in kind with the monster so long as he could put it down. What's more, his most trusted dreamborn ally was able to take on the appearance of one of the spawn. This was precious information he would attempt to unravel the secrets of later. But just as they seemed to be closing in on defeating the monster, it unleashed a powerful scream that pushed everyone back as mounds of flesh seemed to melt away revealing a smaller abomination that fled before anyone could well do anything about it.

"What the hell..." Kulaan mumbled as he found himself pressed up against a wall nearly upside down. With a bit of a scramble he took to his feet to survey the area. Before long he spotted Nifa approaching who seemed to be safe for the moment. The two embraced for a moment to ensure the other's condition before the dragon gave her orders to round up the rest of the men and begin an earnest search for survivors and straggling monsters in the ruins left by the battle. The woman nodded in affirmation before taking off to organize the effort while Kulaan regained his bearings. With a flap or two of his wings he began walking back towards his impromptu allies. The one who had used the interesting link monsters wasn't immediately visible. But the sword using woman he saw, using a blade to support herself. Her body looked ready to give out, and after what had happened the young man hardly blamed her. With some hesitance he approached and outstretched one of his wings in front of her for the woman to grab on to, the long since burnt and healed holes in the membrane of it on full display.

"Here, let me help. We'll get you somewhere you can rest." he said to Ryuinishi in what he assumed was a calm and reassuring voice. He could never be sure, especially given his appearance, how it would be taken. Meanwhile he scanned the area for Alpha, hoping to offer assistance there as well when he found them.

With the monsters dispatched, the Sword Saint raised her burning sword high into the air as if raising a torch in quiet celebration of victory before gracefully extinquishing it and sliding it back into it's sheath in one smooth motion. She was left with nothing but leftover anger and confusion about the events that took place, but in her heart of hearts she knew that right now, the most important thing is to take care of the survivors.

Following suit after Kulaan, she ran over to other people in the area to make sure they were okay and escorted them to a safe place before aiding him in the search of Alpha. The woman didn't want to waste any time with idle chit-chat right now, but she did give Kulaan a simple nod. "Thank you for the help." Were the only words she'd allow herself to speak out right now while trying to clear out the debris.

Allowing herself to lean on Kulaan's shoulder, Ryunishi managed to give a slow and shaky "Thank you" before reaching out in an attempt to retrieve her two swords. In her current situation, grabbing them herself was obviously out of the question. Instead, the golden crane that had assisted her in the battle before materialized, swooping down to pluck both blades from the ground, carrying them in its' talons as it hovered next to Ryunishi and Kulaan, the silver-haired girl giving it a tiny nod of gratitude. "The monster ran... You drove it off..." Her words came slowly, and with lengthy pauses between them, but the extra support did seem to ease her wobbling legs some. "R... Ryunishi. You have my gratitude, beastkin."

Alpha pulled himself off the ground into a sitting position, putting a hand to his chin. He really needed to come up with something clever here. If he just up and vanished, it'd mean there'd be more people looking for him even if it wasn't for malicious reasons, but just walking out there with the Triumvirate around was a big risk. Then, it hit him. A truly ingenious plan, fitting for an A.I. of his caliber. He smugly chuckled to himself as he took off his jacket and pulled out three cards.

"Descend: Pikari, Hiyari, Bururu!" On command, the three monsters rose up out of their cards and appeared before Alpha. "Alright. Here's the plan: Hiyari, you're on leg duty. Sort of. I need you to be a decoy of me. Pikari, you'll be in the middle and handle the colours. Bururu, you're on voice duty. I'll be telling you guys what to do and say while I stay in this alley here." Once the three @Ignisters were in their positions, Alpha put his jacket over his decoy's shoulders. As long as nobody paid too much attention to the hair physics or how the mouth moved and didn't touch anything that wasn't the jacket, this would be an impeccable decoy. At least, that's what Alpha thought to himself. He'd never actually tried this before so there was absolutely no basis for his confidence.

Taking a few deep breaths, the real Alpha leaned against the alley wall. Keeping up the decoy believably was going to take a lot of concentration, the most his real body would be capable of is walking blindly. If it came to it, he figured he'd probably be able to manage it but ideally it wouldn't come to that. The decoy stepped out from the alleyway, waving to Kulaan and Ryunishi. Through his monster's eyes, Alpha saw that Yuzuki was there too. That made him more than a bit nervous but that's what the decoy was for. It walked forwards, the mimic voice speaking out, "Yo, glad to see you all made it out alive."

Kulaan met the Sword Saint's gaze and words of thanks with a nod of his own. He was just glad worse hadn't happened or that no one seemed ready to attack him. His focus returned to Ryunishi as she introduced herself who was taking advantage of his shoulder to stand and steady herself. Though he wasn't sure what all to make of what she called him. Was it worth getting into his typical story of being a cursed human? No, whatever he might want to say it didn't seem worth contradicting the woman in the moment.

"Kulaan, of the Mandate. I was merely doing my duty to see to Jadai's aid. If only I'd managed to kill it..." the dragon trailed off while thinking of the monster that had escaped. Wherever it went it would no doubt cause similar disturbances. Much as he wanted to pursue it immediately, it seemed a bit foolish. Nevermind that Jadai needed the aid he and his men had brought now more than ever. He would need to inform Mon as soon as possible to mobilize more men. But those were thoughts for later. For now he had people to directly tend to.

"In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you Ryunishi, though I could have done for better circumstances for it." Kulaan said as he began slowly stepping forward to see if her legs would cooperate while she leaned on him. He had scarcely taken two steps when a rather odd sight appeared before the duo. A voice from something that sounded like the person who had been using the interesting @Ignister monsters, wearing the same coat as well. But the appearance was definitely off.

"Do I... know you..." the dragon puzzled aloud for a moment while giving the figure a really good look. If he didn't know any better he'd say this one person was actually three people in a trench coat. But that was ridiculous. Nothing more than a joke scenario he'd had described to him. To be fair, he never had gotten a great look at Alpha what with how quickly they'd ascended to the rooftops and been sent flying at the end of the battle. Maybe this was just how they always were.

"Uh, right. Thanks for the help. Are you alright though? You took the nastiest fall of the lot of us." he ultimately spoke, deciding that even if this was a bit off, he didn't want to try and understand what all was going on.

"You're safe. That's.. good.." a sigh of relief snuck itself under Yuzuki's breath. With Alpha being found everything seemed to be stable for now, ignoring the complete mess the tavern was in, anyways. Something felt off however, the woman tilted her head while staring at Alpha. Since she took the sidelines, she could only spare everyone a short glimpse but.. from what she remembered, at least one of her three temporary companions had long blue hair and.. definetly wasn't green. She shook her head thinking to herself "Must be seeing things." and walked off to the side, still remaining in hearing distance of the three.

"Once more, I must thank you for the aid. The situation at hand would be quite dire if not for your combined effort." she exclaimed loud enough for the others to hear her while she gathered a bunch of rocks of various sizes and stacked them on top of one another in three different piles, then stabbed her scabbard into the ground and sat down on her knees and closed her eyes. Accepting the cruel reality of the situation in silence. Even if they dispatched the monster swiftly and prevented further damage to the entire town, the truth remained that she lost her three companions, as well as many other people. There was no glorious death she or the deceased's family members could be proud of, but a horrific one that'd bring anyone to their knees had they experienced it first hand.

Taking small steps alongside her current pillar of physical support, Ryunishi looked out towards the city's edge, in the direction of where the monster had disappeared. "If only..." She echoed Kulaan's words, pushing herself up off the dragon's shoulder. She looked down at her legs, feeling much stabler than before, able to stand on her own two feet again. It seemed her instability had just been shock from the impact after all. "Thank you, Kulaan of the Mandate." she began, turning again to her temporary ally as she took her blades from the airborne Habakiri and returned them to their sheathes. "Under more favorable circumstances, I would request a duel with you... But it does not seem I will be allowed that luxury. Unfortunate." the girl muttered out in her monotone voice, stopping only when a truly bizarre sight drew attention of the entire group- including the Sword Saint she still hadn't had the opportunity to speak with.

A collection of creatures she recognized from the previous battle were stacked upon one another, dressed in the garb of the strange boy who had wielded them. They wore his clothes, and even spoke with his voice... but was such a disguise meant to fool her discerning eye? And they had just witnessed another monster consume the lives of so many others...

Consideration of all these facts brought Ryunishi to a mortifying conclusion.

Drawing one of her blades and sliding to the front of the group, she stared down the "imposter" and dropped into a battle stance, primed to lunge at the stack of creatures. "Please stay back!" She called to her companions, holding her other arm out. "This thing... This thing has eaten the performer boy." Ryunishi made her declaration with a shocking amount of conviction, unfitting for her entirely static tone of voice.

This... this did not go as planned. Apparently Hiyari didn't get the message that they were supposed to cover up all of the @Ignisters with its water to imitate Alpha's shape, not just wave at people with water limbs. Pikari didn't even bother changing Bururu's colour. It was a complete disaster. The only one doing their job was Bururu. Bururu was a good blob. What happened to the other two didn't matter, but Bururu must be protected.

Alpha stopped his connection to his monsters and stepped out from the alley. Now was the time to be a lying cheat. Yuzuki hadn't recognized him or his monsters yet so that was one concern off his plate. He took a deep breath and walked towards the group. "Oh, so that's where you took my jacket! You're being so silly!" He sounded very forced and unnatural in his speech, very different from his performance in battle.

He walked up to the stack of monsters and slung his arm over their 'shoulder,' "Don't mind him, he's just... very. Very. Fond of tricks. Ha, ha, ha." There was a lot of angry emphasis on the 'very.' Alpha suddenly turned the stack around and made them 'lean' in. He gave a death glare to Hiyari and Pikari, "If you two ever mess up this bad again, I'm putting you in the hats." From behind, the three would see the trenchcoat suddenly start shaking as if two creatures with very tiny arms were suddenly waving them around wildly for a brief moment. Alpha awkwardly looked back towards the three behind him. "Don't mind us, we're fine, just gonna head on out! B-bye!" Slowly he started walking away hoping he wouldn't get any more questions or bring any more suspicion onto himself than he already had.

If Ryunishi had any facial expressions beyond just the one, she might have looked more than just a little surprised at the appearance of Alpha next to his poorly-made doppelganger. But, she dropped her guard when he did show, unsure what to make of the bizarre scene unfolding before her. Was this too a part of his performance...?

How troublesome that must be.

But when Alpha made for a hasty retreat, she couldn't help but call out "Wait!" slightly louder than her usual voice. Breaking into a sprint and jabbing her drawn blade into the ground, she used her momentum to vault over the boy, rolling through the air and landing right in Alpha's path, her arms spread out wide. "Please wait." she repeated, remaining still for a few moments before lowering her arms back down. She approached the boy and looked into his eyes, staring daggers into him for a handful of agonizingly long seconds... before lightly bowing her head to him.

"Ryunishi. You have my gratitude, jester. Please stay safe." were the words she finally spoke to him, once more sliding her sword back into its sheath. "Under more favorable circumstances, I would request a duel with you... Unfortunate."

Kulaan was curious as Ryunishi spoke to him. She would have wished to duel him? Definitely not a first topic he had with most people. But then most people were usually much less okay with seeing a dragon coming towards them, even if he wasn't enormous. What's more she seemed to think the thing now in front of them had eaten the person they'd fought alongside as she stood once more unaided. The dragon had to look on in confusion as the woman challenged what stood before them, only for Alpha to suddenly appear and claim it was all a trick of his jacket. He would have to tell Kushinada about all this when next he saw her. No doubt she would have some anime in mind with similarly absurd occurrences.

"I'm glad you're uninjured. That was quite the flight you had." Kulaan commented to Alpha once Ryunishi had stopped him from leaving in a hurry. "I need to return to my men. We should have rations enough and some means of a comfortable sleep for you all. Please come see me in the town center should you feel so inclined." He said to the group, looking to dismiss himself. He turned his back, which the large branded symbol of the Mandate dominated, to the group looking one more time over the destruction caused by the incident while attempting to take stock of his men moving about.

Even at the moment of mourning, Yuzuki's senses were sharpened enough to react nearly instantly to the commotion Ryunishi raised, the Swordswoman drew her blade out of the sheath and prepared to strike the proclaimed threat. Were it not for Alpha explaining everything at the time he did, the world would've been short of one surprisingly adorable and precious green blob of karmic energy, the real tragedy of this day.

The Himura Leader lifted up the scabbard of her sword and shoved the blade back in while approaching the group. An awkward smile slowly creeped onto her face as she observed the shenanigans between Alpha and Ryunishi. "Thank you for.. trying.. to lighten the situation. I am most thankful that none of you have suffered grave injuries." As much as she tried to sugarcoat Alpha's gig, she couldn't help but waver in an attempt to keep her words sincere. Even when looking straight at him. The real him. She seemed to have no suspicious reactions and her whole body remained relaxed.