Coughing as she surfaced, Aki heaved in great breaths, desperate to refill her lungs. Then, a great trembling. The water of the Bay itself vibrated underneath her. It surged from below, before splitting wide to reveal the great hollow!
A serpentine mess, its sleek, draconian mask was disguised by the masses of tendrils which obscured the area about its head. Like a great, terrible mane, the appendages roiled and coursed as contaminated liquid dripped from them. Four stumpy legs supported it as it pulled itself onto the beach, limbs made of forgotten trash and bound together by the tainted energy of hollowkin.
Finally, as its full form was brought to bear, the beast's tail was revealed. Some heinous instrument scored with innumerable spikes of used syringes, pins, and other needles, it tapered into a mangled fin constructed of lost umbrellas, their handles cobbled together into a rusted spike at its tip. Jormungandr breathed deep of the fresh air, and gurgled with disgust.
Then, looking down upon its meals, it roared. The sound shook the very beach, great gouts of sand spraying up and outwards.
"Fan-fuckin-tastic." Chen muttered. The beast may have been all but invisible to him, but the familiar pressure of that malicious energy was enough for him to go on.
Ewan gave a low, "Tch!" before surging forward. That silvery gleam spread up his arms, almost invisible in the dim, hellish night that had visited Tokyo. His leap brought him a fair distance above the beast, and he aimed to end the threat in a single blow.
With surprising agility, the numerous tendrils lashed forwards, wrapping about the human.
Gagging slightly at the horrid stench of the entire beast, Ewan ground out a low remark, "Shit..! Chen!"
"The fuck you want me to do?" The blind man answered back, but was nonetheless moving. His mind was locked on the last location he'd heard the Lieutenant's voice. Grunting, his own leap was significantly less impressive, but powerful nonetheless.
Aki, heaving herself onto the beach, quickly turned to witness the act before cursing. Dashing forwards, the water itself seemed unperturbed by her, and she skimmed atop it like a skipping stone! Chen's leap was roughly as productive as Ewan's, and quickly he was entangled in the mane of appendages as well.
"Nice job Lieutenant. No, really." He remarked, trying not to choke on the mire that pervaded his nose.
Ewan growled back, struggling to free himself. "Oh shut up would you?"
"Feh, if we're gonna do this, may as well do it right."
"What..?" Ewan regarded the man with some manner of bafflement. "We need to get free, first!"
A slow grin spread across the blind man's face, and he managed to break a single arm free. The appendages appeared to be bringing them closer to the mask, not that Chen could see, but he knew enough movies to know how tentacles usually worked. Usually, and he preferred to not think of the alternatives.
Meanwhile, Richard had surfaced as well, gaping at the monstrosity currently being fought ashore. Immediately, he began swimming for the beach. A low, booming sound echoed in his ears once, and he looked to see the beast shaking its head, staggering backwards.
Laughing raucously, Chen swore at the beast in several flavors of Cantonese as it reeled back. "Go on Lieutenant, take your shot!"
Shaking his head and steeling himself, Ewan felt his arms slip into their liquid state ever-so-briefly. Then, they coalesced, razor-sharp blades where his hands once were. In a flurry he didn't know he was capable of, he'd sliced his way free. On instinct, he kicked out, his foot striking against the air and sending him forward!
His own strength swelled, arms reforming once more into some contemporary of a sledgehammer. Then, he drove his arms forward. Crashing against the rotten mass that swelled on the edges of the mask, holding it in place. A thin, razor-crack appeared at the edges of the draconian thing, and Jormungandr bellowed with the pain. Flailing, dying, shrieking, it threw the pair of Orpheus agents loose and reared upwards.
With surprising balance, the pointed maw of the beast split into three, opening like a flower in bloom. Globules of power began to coalesce, and Ewan swore. "We need to move..!"
No time, the Cero unleashed as quickly as it formed. With a low rumble followed by a keening screech, the beam lurched forwards. Murky black and viscous red swirled together in the malice of Jormungandr's power, and it struck the beach beneath Ewan and Chen's feet.
In a blinding flash, Ewan's vision disappeared. Chen's balance was torn from him, the world heaving upwards from underneath him as searing heat radiated along his left side. When they finally regained their senses, an entire portion of the beach was already beginning to refill, and the hollow roared with fresh pain and fury.
Glass lined the massive crater where the Cero had struck, massive portions of sand erased entirely. Coughing, the silver-haired man rose quickly. Atop Jormungandr's back, Aki clung to it like a rider to a frenzied bull. The hollow bucked, as the young woman slowly made her way to the edge of its mane.
Seizing the opportunity, Richard hauled himself ashore and made for a similar approach. His energy gathered and rose, a palpable outline of power emanating from his form. He threw a hand forward, and a viscous liquid lanced towards the hollow, a process he repeated thrice more.
The liquid hissed and sizzled where it struck, remaining stubbornly stuck to the rotten mass that made up the beast's hide. Another bellow accompanied the attack, and with a great heave, Jormungandr's form lurched sideways. Its great, serpentine tail struck against Richard solidly, eliciting a gasp of pain.
Rolling to a stop before pulling himself up, he took several steadying breaths. A number of needles stuck from the point of impact, and he did his best to begin removing them as he gave the hollow a wider berth.
Breathing heavily, Aki could feel her teeth begin to chatter from the cold of the Bay. She seized a pair of the tendrils, effortlessly dragging them back along Jormungandr's form. Then, when she'd brought them a fair enough distance back, her own power flared. Stitches raced along her face and arms, swirling down to her fingertips before spilling onto the tendrils. A moment later, both were rooted firmly to the surface of the hollow's hide.
Wiping water from her eyes, she felt the hollow lurch, preparing to roll! Cursing, she crouched low, stitches glowing a radiant white as she adhered to the beast's back. Jormungandr flailed and lashed about, slowly ruining the remainder of the beach. Another howling roar, the low whine of Cero being unleashed.
The beam went awry, lurching skywards and clipping a building but a short distance from the beach. Cursing, Aki heedlessly went back to her work. Pulling back the hollow's 'mane' to clear a path for the others.
Richard, spurred and now needle-free, continued to pepper the dying beast with the corrosive substance of his Potentiation.
Ewan waited, Chen didn't. Grunting, the Chinese man leapt forward time and again. Each time, the tendrils found purchase on him, and each time they were rebuffed by something. His power was indiscernable, strangely miniscule yet enough to batter back the Adjuchas' defenses.
Finally, enough of a window had been made. Aki called down to the trio. "Hit it now! This is our only shot!"
Lurching forward, she was caught unawares by the sudden shift of the beast. Thrown from its back, she landed a short distance away. Regaining her bearings in time to glance up and witness Ewan, Chen, and Richard each moving for the definitive blow. The single hair-line crack in Jormungandr's mask had spider-webbed, a sign of the hollow's failing vitality.
The remaining tendrils made to capture its prey, and Chen laughed at them. With a crashing boom he slammed his fist into one, the congruent mass blasted backwards. The hollow's mask split wide, ready to unleash hellfire a third time. Richard's aim was truer than that, a glob of acidic ooze slamming into the open maw.
Shrieking, the beast could not, would not, protect itself from the Lieutenant. Arm reformed into some amalgamation of a piston, Ewan slammed his fist into the already-damaged mask. A low hiss emanated as the piston opened... and then the hollow's cries were cut short, the piston slamming shut.
The mask shattered instantly, buckling under The Iron Hand's power. Tumbling back to the sands below, the team watched the beast fall, rotten mass falling apart with no presence to hold it together. The parasite that was Jormungandr was no more, and the breach had been contained.
Now they just had to pick up the pieces.
Final [ 1465 / 2742 ]
