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Thread: <Nocturnal Harmonia>

  1. #1361
    Igris took the uppercut without retreating. Miko's Black Flash slammed into the cracked plating over his abdomen with a thunderous crack, dark energy exploding outward in a burst that shattered the remaining crimson runes and sent fissures spiderwebbing across the armor. The force drove him back two full steps, boots carving grooves in the stone floor. A low, resonant groan escaped the helm as the breastplate buckled inward, dark ichor seeping from the new fractures and dripping in thick rivulets down his legs. The crimson mane whipped as he straightened. His left gauntlet released Yugi's arm in a sudden motion, the grip loosening just enough to allow withdrawal. The right hand remained on the hilt of the greatsword, still pinned by the mana webs, but Igris did not struggle against them. Instead, he released the weapon entirely—letting it remain embedded in the floor—while his now-free right hand snapped upward. The gauntlet closed around the chokuto still lodged in his right eye slit. With a wet, grinding sound, he yanked the blade free in one brutal pull. Dark ichor sprayed from the ruined socket, staining the crimson mane and dripping from the helm. He held the chokuto aloft for a heartbeat—examining it with his single remaining eye—then hurled it back toward Yugi in a spinning arc, point aimed at the Player's chest. Igris stepped forward again, armor groaning with each movement. The cracked breastplate heaved as he drew in a slow breath. He raised his now-empty hands in a guard, gauntlets clenched, stance wide and unyielding. The crimson glow of his remaining eye burned brighter, fixed on both Players without wavering. He did not speak. He did not fall. The Blood-Red Commander waited, silent and unbroken, for their next move.

    What of Yugi? He'd seen Miko's Black Flash connect, and for a moment... he saw victory. That should have been the end of it. Alas, Igris's silence was of the foreboding sort. Something was amiss. Having his arm freed as Igris was driven back should have been a moment to relax, but instead... Yugi's chokuto was jerked from the commander's eye and javelined toward Yugi's torso. The next thing Yugi knew, the entire room was moving... or was it? No. No, it wasn't. The room wasn't moving. Yugi was moving. Red eyes widened as he felt his back connect with a wall several meters away from Igris and Miko. It all happened so fast, he felt the impact before he even felt the sword lodged hilt-deep in his chest, keeping him pinned to the wall as it lodged in stone. "Hrr─" Yugi tried to scream, to make any sort of noise. All he could do, however, was convulse blood with a sudden: 'GUAH!" as his body went limp against the wall.

    〔SYSTEM NOTICE — CRITICAL CONDITION ALERT〕

    Critical Warning: Partner Status Critical

    Yugi has sustained severe penetrating damage to the chest.
    Foreign object lodged in vital area.
    Internal bleeding detected.
    Vital signs dropping rapidly.

    Survival Probability: 18% (decreasing)

    Immediate Action Recommended:
    • Apply healing immediately
    • Remove or stabilize foreign object if possible
    • Evacuate combat zone (if feasible)


    System Remark:
    The bond link is straining.
    If the Player falls, Resonance collapses.
    Act swiftly, Miko.

  2. #1362
    Miko went in... her first utterance of a sentence she felt in her soul made an attack work, resulted in actual damaged to the Blood-Red Commander Igris. He'd been taking damage to that same spot, and Miko's final blow seemed to actually shatter and crack his armor pieces properly. All that layering damage had finally resulted in some visible changes to the steadfast man who guarded an empty throne. Still... it wasn't quite the victory it appeared to be. Miko could feel it after hitting him, that something wasn't quite right. And immediately backed away as she heard a rather sickening sound immediately above her head. The sound of a sword being pulled out of an active eye socket wasn't something Miko wanted to hear. It had a bad rhythm, there was no flow that would make it right. Nor the quick movement that she couldn't have followed with her eyes if she wanted to...

    Still, a rather clear picture was painted, as Yugi's body went flying and then a thud was heard and a sickening pin. Before she turned around to see it... she could hear it. The sound of her partner impaled against a pillar with his own sword sticking out of his chest. The System Alert read as urgent but Miko was already on the move. "LUMEN VEIL!" A shimmering light immediately wrapped around Yugi, and a single pulse of healing activated while she turned. She could tank a hit she knew that, but she couldn't lose her partner here today. No, she wouldn't, she covered her own back while sending her catalyst back to Inventory, if only to have them soon enough planted near Yugi to enhance those pulses properly. "STAY WITH ME!" Miko shouted at Yugi as Megiddo fired lances down in her wake aiming to allow her the time necessary to close the distance and remove that sword from Yugi's chest. If she could stablize him and keep him awake she could heal him. It had to work! "LUMEN VIEL!" she demanded again for a pulse that would echo through those two catalyst. She couldn't commit to full pulse healing until the sword was out of his chest. But she didn't want him losing any more of his HP in a moment like this. She couldn't lose anything else, she still didn't know the situation surrounding her parents. Life as she knew it was scattered... her partner was the person she could rely on the most, she refused to lose him.

  3. #1363
    Igris stood motionless as the chokuto remained embedded in the wall behind Yugi, ichor still dripping from the ruined right eye slit of his helm. The crimson mane hung limp, the single remaining eye burning with unyielding focus as Miko rushed forward, her incantations ringing out and light lances raining down around him. The beams struck the stone and his armor, searing black marks across the crimson plating and cracking the already fractured breastplate further. He did not raise an arm to shield himself this time. He simply endured the barrage, boots planted firm, body absorbing each impact with the patience of stone. As Miko reached Yugi and began her healing pulses, Igris lowered his empty hands. The greatsword remained pinned to the floor by the mana webs, untouched. He took one slow step forward, then another—boots thudding heavily against the stone, cape settling behind him. He stopped three paces from the two Players, stance wide, gauntlets clenched at his sides. His eye fixed on Miko's hands as they worked to stabilize Yugi, then shifted to the impaled form pinned against the pillar. He tilted his helmeted head slightly, as though assessing the wound, the healing light, the determination in her voice. Igris raised his right gauntlet slowly. No telekinesis surged from it. Instead, he extended the hand palm-up toward them—open, empty, not striking. The gesture was not surrender, not mercy; it was acknowledgment. The knight stood there, silent, armored form radiating quiet menace, waiting for their next move as the lances continued to fall and the chamber trembled under the weight of their combined assault.

    He did not attack.
    He waited.

    Meanwhile, blood dripped from Yugi's agape mouth almost as freely as it dripped from his chest. Miko's efforts to veil and heal him were not in vain ─ not entirely. He was kept alive by a thread, willpower and the restoration of lost blood keeping just enough in his veins to promote continuation, albeit anemic. 'FUUUUCK it hurts!' was all he could think for several moments. The pain dulled, the pain returned, the pain dulled again. A version of Yugi capable of rational thought at the time would have understood the periodic return of pain was the extension of his life, even if it was repeatedly followed by that life's shortening. That emergency notification in the System lowered from 18% to 10%, rose to 24%, lowered, rose, lowered, and so on. Difficult as it was to stay alive while hanging from a blade through the chest, it was being managed. 'God... damnit this fucking sucks massive dicks,' he thought further. A weak right hand rose, planting itself on the hilt of Yugi's chokuto. Ah... it was his own weapon, wasn't it? His eyes scanned the room slowly, vision blurring and correcting repeatedly. He saw Igris standing there, waiting. He saw Miko darting in, making every desperate attempt to keep him going. He saw... victory? Maybe he was delirious, or maybe he was onto something. Whatever the case, Yugi couldn't let his partner down either ─ nor could he do anything but trust her in a situation like this. As such, he banished that chokuto to Inventory once again, effectively removing it from a now-open hole from his chest through his back. He'd be falling immediately, but that was better than a hanging impalement.

  4. #1364
    Igris was still following. Miko could hear those heavy footsteps and that sound like oozing. But she had no time for it. Whatever was going on with him at her back, she'd put to the side bar any immediate danger for the sake of her partner. She knew the Veils weren't going to hold, that they would only pulse him up a bit, but that didn't mean she'd let him die or fizzle too far out of range. She held her arms out to reach him by the time she saw Igris with that hand extended, she couldn't figure out what he was doing. All she knew that there was a volley of light lances falling between them and he was still tanking things, menacingly. "I GOT YOU!" Miko claimed. By the time Yugi fell from his perch, Miko was beneath him to cushion his fall. Only now could she truly begin healing him.

    " Kyo♪~ dake♫~ wa♪~ (Just for today)
    Ikaru♫~ na♪~ (Do not anger)
    Shinpai♫~ suna♫~ (Do not worry)
    Kansha♫~ shite♫~ (Be grateful)
    Gyo♪~ o♪~ hage♫~ me♪~ (Work with diligence)
    Hito♪~ ni♪~ shinsetsu♫~ ni♪~ (Be kind to others). "


    She laid him down her hands on his chest using herself as a medium she planted her two catalyst around him. She triangulated the healing and began the work. Listening to the echos, slowing the blood flow, replenishing his stores. She had to help. Tears fell from her eyes and onto the boy's face as she tried to keep herself together while she sang to him gently. Just the same another face was peeking through the ether. A pink haired young woman with bright purple eyes was looking up at a lad so close to death she was almost surprised to see him. Light colored hair and eyes full of magic peeked at him from somewhere so close and yet so far away. "I don't think it's your time yet," that mysterious voice seemed to say, before casually flicking her eyes in a different direction. In pure panic Miko continued to cast Veil intermittenly. She'd do everything possible to keep him grounded while that wound in his chest closed and she patched the area in his chest cavity.

  5. #1365
    Igris halted his advance three paces from the fallen Yugi and the kneeling Miko. The crimson mane hung limp beneath his helm, ichor still dripping in slow, thick rivulets from the ruined right eye slit. The cracked breastplate rose and fell with labored breaths, the runes along the armor flickering weakly, their glow dimming with each passing second.
    He lowered his empty hands to his sides, gauntlets unclenched. The greatsword remained embedded in the floor where he had left it, webs still clinging to the blade, but he made no move to retrieve it. His single remaining eye fixed on the two Players—unblinking, assessing—as Miko's incantation filled the chamber and her healing pulses washed over Yugi's broken form.

    The knight did not press forward.
    He did not raise a hand.
    He simply stood, armored form swaying ever so slightly, the weight of centuries pressing down on shoulders that had carried far heavier burdens. The crimson glow in his eye dimmed further, the light fading to a dull ember.
    For the first time since the doors had opened, Igris did not move.
    He waited, silent, the chamber's silence broken only by Miko's song and the faint drip of ichor on stone.
    The Blood-Red Commander was close to the end of his rope.

    Also during the healing process, Yugi was... not mentally in this world ─ at least not entirely. Delirium had taken him. He was certain Miko and Igris were no longer around, replaced by some impossibly gorgeous pink-haired woman with the most inviting aura. It wasn't his time yet, she thought aloud. That woman turned her gaze away, but Yugi reached out ─ or thought he did. "Uhh, no? It can be my time if you want! I've got all the time in the world for whatever you wanna do ─ especially if it's me!" he pleaded, smitten with the mysterious figure instantly. Yugi could feel his own heart thumping furiously in his chest... or was that actually the beginning of his heartbeat's return to normal functionality?

  6. #1366
    Igris had stopped his forward progress. Miko could hear the dripping of the fluids of his body from his form. She couldn't call that blood, but she also didn't have time to think about him that hard. No, most of her concentration was on making sure that Yugi didn't die from a stab wouldn't kill him. Whether it was Chivalry that caused his hesitation or it was something else, it didn't matter... Miko was busy singing a song that should lead to better outcomes. While she healed the lad whose head rested in her lap he, was busy flirting with some unknown entity. That smiling pink haired face pointed the corner of her gaze back towards that lingering consciousness. He was quite persistent wasn't he? "Everyone meets me eventually, there's no rush," that pink haired woman said. "If you still feel that way when it's your time. I'll let you stay a while..." she offered tentatively. Well, she couldn't say too much but these kinds of moments usually stuck with people. She had no doubts he'd remember if he was talking to her, but whether he'd really like her so much after truly figuring out what she was, that was an entirely different situation.

    At the same time a crying Miko had finished her song and was on the verge of a mental break. Those healing pulses escaping her fingers had closed up his wounds and her ears trained on his breathing were fairly certain that he shouldn't still be in serious danger of death. She spoke softly at first just barely managing a confession. "Look I know I said I was reliable, but I need to tell you that I am exceedingly emotionally unstable. I'm not trying to make that your problem, but if you die on me, I'm going full super villain," Miko said, whether or not she was joking about it, she didn't know but she was still upset. She didn't come here for this sort of stress. And they still had to make sure Blood-Red Commander Igris, didn't want to keep fighting. She could still feel his presence, and his lingering life... a strange sense of foreboding still settled over her shoulder, but she wouldn't abandon Yugi until she was certian he'd be alright.


  7. #1367
    As Yugi mentally fawned over a woman whose existence he couldn't even be entirely sure of, the woman herself claimed everyone met her eventually. There was no rush, she insisted. He'd heard that kind of thing before, in multiple places even. It seemed this woman didn't assume he'd feel the same when it was his time. If he did, however, he'd be permitted a stay? What a strange claim that was. Giving it some consideration, Yugi figured this meeting had to be real. "Huh. Near-death experience? So you're... Death? Izanami? Hel? Morrigan? Ereshkigal? Nephthys? Tell me it's anything but Mictecacihuatl; I'd hate that," he rambled. Application of random mythological trivia aside, this being a near-death experience meant he'd have to return to life ─ lest there be no point to the woman saying it wasn't his time. He looked around and saw... nothing. Miko and the knight who killed him should have been somewhere around. Yugi didn't exactly have experience with things like this. "Right, I actually do have to do a thing... which has a very real chance of sending me right the fuck back here. Whatever; still gonna skull-fuck that big bitch. Where's the exit?"

    All the while, Miko was completing the healing progress and sharing some choice words with Yugi's unconscious body. There were no words of response, but vital signs were aligning at last. His heartbeat stabilized ─ as did his breathing. Yugi's consciousness even began hearing her words from another realm. "Oh shit, I can hear. Still can't see though. What's with this underworld? The channels kinda suck if this is any indicator of what the full experience is like," he said to the apparent death goddess.

  8. #1368
    The lad known as Yugi was busy going through Mythology and oddly enough guessing this lass's name right, among his list. Still she wouldn't be confirming for him what her name was she would just be chuckling, "Hehe~ I've never heard most of those names," she said. "Definitely not that last one," she said with a casual attitude. She was soon leaning a hand against the side of her head as she spoke with someone who'd decided to linger quite a bit. Beyond that point apparently the lad did actually have something to do, a casual gaze towards where he'd come from said he did indeed have something he needed to get back to, and someone who cared for him enough to bring his body back into livable condition. "Have a little more faith in yourself than that... the exit is, this way," she said using that same hand she had tucked under her chin to point to the left.

    The left side is where his senses were tied to, and thus where his body was in truth. This let the woman know exactly which world he properly aligned to, as well as the scene he'd been knocked out of. Now, those eyes of the pink haired woman were locked into it, as if she wanted to watch something of interest. "Ah one of those, you can consider this more like a layover, what it actually looks like isn't for a living person to know," the young woman claimed. "Now, go on... I'll watch for a while. You seem interesting at least," the young woman said. No matter what else happened, she'd heard the words Miko had spoken to his unconscious body and wondered what qualified as super villainy.

  9. #1369
    Apparently the death goddess didn't know most of the names Yugi mentioned. Oh well. As long as she could confirm not being the last one on the list, he could have hope. "Not that one, assuming single and therefore fuckable. Sure could use a notice, Brainface!" he said, the second clause delivered into the open air of... wherever the hell he was. According to the goddess, he should have a bit more faith in himself. That wouldn't really do the trick anymore. As such, Yugi shook his head gently before turning to her left ─ his right. "I had faith in myself. Look where that dumb decision got me," he said playfully. This 'layover' as she put it was not like the full experience. That wasn't something for the living to know, she claimed. "Well... your layover sucks. You can't expect people to want in on the full ride if the sample has a shitty or nonexistent interface. Though you've got my interest just because WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING HOT?!" At the very end, Yugi couldn't resist the outburst. Even so, he wouldn't be around in that realm much longer.

    Moments later, Yugi's eyes were opening abruptly. "That was also fucking hot!" he said regarding Miko's latest threat. Maybe he was a bit late, but he hardly had a choice in the matter. "Also, fuck off. You didn't even think about going the Disney princess route! You know? Give the sucky sucky, wake the half-dead prince... or something," he joked about while sitting up. One arm slipped over Miko's shoulder, that hand cupping the back of her head to pull it in. Of course he was careful to avoid the bloodied portion of his chest, but he'd still be cradling her head against his torso. "I'm pretty sure sappy shit is supposed to happen right now, but listen. I saw the death lady. On my restored life, hottest bitch I've ever seen! No offense," he said. Following that, Yugi's eyes shifted suspiciously toward Igris.

  10. #1370
    The death goddess was having a casual conversation with a lad who could see her and thus was obviously interested in her being. "I have no idea what a Brainface is, single is a relative truth but not one that matters," the death goddess said. A light joke came from the lad, who claimed that having faith in himself had gotten him to this point. "Well, understanding is half the battle. I would suppose that should count as a revelation then~" she said lightly seeming to joke right along with him somewhat morbidly but such was simply her nature. A bit more of this lad's opinion was falling out of his face.. He claimed that the layover wasn't good because it didn't make people want to stay, "Thank you for confirming that it works the way its supposed to. Also for the record most people can't see me so that part isn't really a problem. All goddesses are hot~" she explained to the lad as he made his way into the life he'd left.

    Soon enough the lad was back where he'd started. And speaking to the girl who'd been crying over him. His first words to her, it was hot? Her weird threat... "You would think villainess Miko would be hot," she said pouting but infinitely relieved. A few more tears fell from her eyes in that second as she began working on getting her emotions back under control. Beyond that point a joke came about her blowing him back to life, instead. "I'm not blowing a corpse. Best your getting is you sleep and me taking snacks and it's not snack time!" she declared in absolute childishness. Still, there was something else, a bonding, a closeness a moment of emotional solidarity, as Yugi cupped the back of Miko's held and carefully held her closer. Her mind relaxed and she breathed the sigh of relief she'd been waiting for. In that same moment he claimed something sappy should be happening, but he'd seen death and she was apparently hot, beyond belief. "No offense taken. Hot is hot! And I didn't even think I counted until yesterday. The last couple of days have been fucky," Miko confirmed. "Still, if she's like super hot and we die, seducing the death goddess? Unless it's the married one, then I'll take the husband... Death gods are top tier in mythology!~"

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