Skaia

As Fen got out of the ring, she thought about the options that Kelsey had laid out to her, before hearing her last comment. Looking at herself, the girl gave a brief sniff before not finding anything too out of the ordinary. She was a bit blind to her own smell, working with a wide variety of seafood as well as being an adventurer for a primary profession but if Kelsey had thought things were fine they probably were. In addition, despite the fact that she did have fun with the match she could hardly say that she had worked up a real sweat from it. As such, the girl smiled and said, "oh, I wouldn't mind going for another match. Oh and uh, if you wouldn't mind I think I'd like to, um, "box" you." It seemed that Kelsey didn't expect that. "Oh, me?" She pondered that. "Well, I dunno, It feels kinda weird to get in the ring with you after we talked. Specially since..." She shook her head and smiled. "Ah don't mind me, if that's what you wanna do then sure why not?" The girl smiled and let out a small laugh, "I'm uh, not used to picking fights with my friends either." Feeling the need to clarify she added, "oh, I'm not used to picking fights with people in general, too. But you looked great against Adonis and well, I figured if I was going to do this again I'd uh, well, like to see it up close. So, thank you." "Aw shucks, flattery will get you everywhere you know...alright then let's do this." The two of them waited for a ring to be free before putting on their gloves and getting to either end of it. Tapping her gloves together, Fen took a deep breath before psyching herself up for their friendly bout. And once it began she took her stance and moved in. Fen tried a quick jab as she had done so with Adonis, though Kelsey was pretty quick to react in blocking. As the girl threw a punch back Fen had managed to side step the attack before moving to go for yet another swing only for it to be blocked once more. The two continued this back and forth in the same way for awhile, Fen paying attention to Kelsey's stance and foot work as she tried to adopt it to her own. However, with each punch that was thrown she started to realize something was off. Kelsey's offense wasn't as relentless as she would've expected and, from first hand experience, she knew that the punches that Kelsey was throwing weren't nearly as hard as they could've been. After yet one more exchange Fen backed off a little before asking, "hey, um, Kelsey...would you happen to be well, going easy on me?" "Oof...busted." Kelsey said. "Maaaybe a little bit." She admitted, seemingly embarrassed to have been caught. Her expression souring as she formed a pout, her suspicions being confirmed. She had wanted to see Kelsey at her best and experience it first hand so she could learn more about this new sport, as well as take anything practical she could from it elsewhere. Fen was well aware of how inexperienced in hand to hand combat, and more than that she was painfully aware of how frail and gentle she must've appeared on the outside. But she was a hunter and an experienced fighter in general, having even fought Kelsey herself already, and certainly didn't want to be seen as either helpless or like someone needed to walk on eggshells around her with something like this. "You know, what I said to Adonis is true here too. Just because I'm a beginner doesn't mean I want you to hold back." "No it's not...it's not that. Obviously not, if that was the case I'd be more likely to hold back against Adonis than you." She frowned and looked uncomfortable. "It's just...something else." Fen narrowed her eyes for a moment, pout still on her face, asking, "is that so?" The girl continued to analyze Kelsey, staring at her face as she was noticing that the girl was becoming uncomfortable as she pressed the issue. The two of them were supposed to be having fun now and Fen didn't really want to pry any further into the girl's discomfort, so she decided to retreat from the conversation for now. After all, Kelsey wasn't actually looking down on her, though she still couldn't help but feel upset by the whole thing. "Alright," the girl said before taking a deep breath. Forcing a smile on her face the girl said, "shall we continue the uh, bout then?" After a few more exchanges, neither side really putting their all into it, the two exited the ring. While Fen still felt a bit awkward she said, "well, um, I think I'm a bit boxed out or uh, yeah. So I suppose now would be a good time to uh, shower and well, yeah." Feeling like their activities were winding down for the day Fen said, "thanks for showing me around the city today though, I uh, I had fun..." trailing off, still feeling like it would be a bit awkward to just leave it like that, an idea popped into her head as she said, "oh, as uh, thanks would you like to come over. For dinner, that is?"

Carmen was unsure of what to make of the entire discussion on relationship values, though she looked visibly panicked at the words "confession event," and moved further against the wall. She didn't really want to think about how that would go, but seemed to be pulled out of the horrid suggestion when Brian reaffirmed his goals to their employer. Carmen hadn't really thought about his situation, though she couldn't really help but feel like the two's situations were similar. After all, she knew what it was like to go through something like both of their recent incidents without the ability or know how to fight against it. Carmen always felt helpless and like every shadow around her was creeping in for the kill. But if nothing else she found it easier to deal with walking directly at it that just sitting at home worrying all day that some ghost was going to try and kill her. Of course she also figured her employer wouldn't want her to do that anyway and Carmen couldn't help but be terrified of the person who seemed to know the ins and outs of everything they were experiencing, while also being something of a mystery themselves. Come to think of it she was still terrified at home, even despite this resolution of hers to face them head on...maybe it was just better sitting back and waiting for it to happen? Well, she just had to fool herself into thinking nothing bad could ever happen there and maybe things would work out for the best. The girl didn't say much more, only letting out a simple, "geh," as she was wont to do when Shiki had mentioned a day off unless there was a world ending calamity. While she was obviously happy that she had a day where she didn't have to peer into some building in the middle of the night to fight a demon that eat her within seconds, the fact that a world ending calamity could happen at all was cause for concern. After Brian had gotten off, Carmen's stop was next. And once they reached her house the girl looked to the food still in the van and grabbed a few more burgers on her way out. As she got to the door she stopped for a moment, and looked down at the food in her hands. She had always been terrified of Shiki, but they did save her life. They even got her McDonalds, which she couldn't help but be in the mood for after her encounter with Ghost Brian. She still couldn't make heads or tails of this person, truthfully, but they had helped them and had given her a job that paid well enough that she didn't have to worry about being murdered at a convenience store anymore. So, after a few more awkward seconds passed the girl looked back and stammered out a, "uh, um...thanks..." Before scurrying out of the car and making her way back home. "Carmen, I have something to tell you." "Hm, what is it Mickey?" The girl asked the man with her. He had asked to meet her at the back of the school, with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face as he furrowed his golden arched eyebrows. "Listen, the two of us have been meeting every so often. And I know you've come to understand me and all that I am. And I you as well. So, well..." As the man trailed off the girl couldn't help but let out an, "eh? W-wait, I- um..." "Would you make me the only place that you buy burgers from?" Stunned for a moment, the girl couldn't help but feel her gut instinct to run away from the situation. To simply retreat and then act like it never happened, pretend that all was normal. That would be the easiest thing of course, but she knew that wouldn't be fair to Mickey, who had poured his heart and soul out before her. Yet still, unable to immediately return and answer she could only stammer out an, "uh...ummm..." "Ahahaha! Of course such a paltry tactic would never work on a maiden like herself!" The boisterous laughter of the crowned man had pierced into the scene. "King!?" "Of course you would be here," Mickey grumbled. "Of course my destitute farmer! Now Carmen, do not be swayed by this charlatan's words and follow the truth of your heart. It is I who you will choose in the end, correct?" "Uhhhhhhhh..." "How cute," a third voice entered, belonging to the scarlet haired queen of the school, the derision in her words all too evident. "As if you squares ever had a chance." "Who's she calling a square?" "Obviously, in the end Carmen will pick me, right? Now come on, we've got shopping to do." The girl walked over and grabbed Carmen by the wrist, beginning to forcefully take her out of the scene before the other two grabbed onto her other arm. "I...uh...." Carmen was powerless to do anything as the trio continued to argue over her, until finally she was saved by the ring of the school bell. With wide open eyes, Carmen stared at her ceiling as she had woken up from her night's rest. She had no idea what she had just dreamed of, barely able to remember any details, but part of it made her wonder if she actually had been haunted once more. As slowly moved herself out of bed, lunch time already upon her, the girl went over to her refrigerator and saw the leftover burgers from last night still in there. Staring at them for a moment, Carmen said, "m-maybe I'll get tacos tonight." And closed the door.

As Sibyl approached the hulking mass that was Project Rubicon the girl let out an impressed whistle. As Clotho handed her the devices from the warehouse she had raided the girl looked them up and down and said, "oh, neat." As they then left her with the current plan, if one could call it that, Sibyl really only had one thing she was expecting to throw at the big Rubicon monster. With a laugh she waved to the Fates saying, "I doubt you'll need me to tell you if what I throw at it works. Later Clo." The girl looked to the side as Cassie had rejoined her, smiling as the woman gave her an offer. "Oh yeah, you fly! I've never really done that before so sure, get me where you can so I can sock this guy." Cassie gestured to her shoulders and stomach, to which Sibyl took as a sign of what to put her own hands on. As soon as the demon girl placed her hands on them, she suddenly felt like her every step was lighter and floatier. "Whoa." Then, as she held on tighter suddenly she felt herself move. She didn't know if it what she was doing was considered flying or not, since it felt more like she was just falling but in an upward direction. All the same she couldn't help but let out another, "whoa-ha-ho!" And as they had finally "fallen" to be eye level with the monstrous Rubicon the girl shouted out, "this is awesome!" A wide grin formed on her face as she was already feeling the excitement of the situation pump through her. The weightlessness of her body, the sensation of falling through the sky, being face to face with the glowing eyes of a titan rampaging through the city. She hadn't even thrown a punch yet and she could already call this one of the best days she'd had in a long time. "Alright, I'm getting fired up!" Shadows formed and coated the girl's arms as she looked back towards Cassie. "Toss me at it's face!" Cassipoeia pointed "down" toward the ground and then gestured to the other fliers also around Project Rubicon. She grabbed Sibyl's wrists -- shadowy or otherwise -- and fell in closer before tucking her legs in and spinning around like a discus thrower, letting go after the third revolution and launching Sibyl right on target. "Wahoooooo!" The girl shouted out as she went flying throw the air like a cannon ball, eventually reorienting herself and seeing her target clear as day. Reeling back her arm, as soon as she got into range, the girl slammed her shadowy fist between the space between its eyes. Project Rubicon recoiled from the hit, prompting Sibyl to shout, "haha, didn't like that did you!" As she began to fall, the girl grabbed onto the creature's nose, feeling something weird about it. Sure, it gave enough for her hand to find purchase and grip but there was something not really skin like? She had been in her fair share of brawls so even through her shadows she knew what it was like to punch flesh. She also knew what it was like to punch robots and metal. This was neither of those. Or maybe it was somewhere between? She wasn't really sure and she wasn't Thinker enough to particularly care about what it meant. The girl couldn't help but notice how physically hot the thing's skin was, though. And she realized it was only get hotter as the beast let out a loud hissing noise, steam starting to pour out of both its nose and eyes. With enough survival instincts still to know that a steam like that would give her some serious burns if she stayed in it, she planted both of her feet on the creature's nose before boosting off of it. She didn't really have a plan beyond simply jump, but as Cassie had told her there was any number of flier capes around. So all she needed to do was fall. As her free fall brought her to about neck level of Project Rubicon she was caught by a familiar, to her, face. A man with a large sail-like fin that jut out of his back, a cape by the name of Windsurfer, managed to keep her from splatting against the ground. As he stabilized, his own power being more akin to a glide than a fly, he called back to her. "Just want you to know, we did all see that." Grinning at the comment the girl called back, "want to bring me up higher and see it again?" "Hell yeah, let's do it." Righting herself by climbing more onto his back, holding onto the fin to stabilize herself, Sibyl waited for her chance until the two had managed to climb high enough into the sky for repeat performance. "Thanks for the lift!" She called out before jumping off of him. "And let's get ready for round two big guy!" She shouted out to Project Rubicon, her shadowy fist becoming thicker than before as she smashed it once more against it's forehead. Shadows forming against her legs, and stretching into a clawed shape around her feet, the girl dug her feet and hands into the creature's skin again to keep herself from immediately falling down.

As Lana had managed push her axe through the acid weakened chest of the zombie, the girl just as quickly pulled the blade out and got ready for the creature's counterattack. However, though it tried to stumble towards her to try and keep its attack up it eventually fell back to the ground and stopped moving. Seeing the skeleton in front of her now, covered in webs and unable to move forward, Lana smirked. The girl brought up her axe and, being unable to properly move, the skeleton soon had the blade crash straight through its skull and splitting down the neck and part of the spine before it finally stopped. Pulling her weapon back again, the skeleton soon clattered to the ground in its second death. As it did, though, Lana looked further north to where she was, seeing yet another one of those weirdly wrapped zombies come out of it. "Oh come on, another one?" Letting out an annoyed sigh, wondering why the enemies she saw at the start of the floor couldn't just be everything she had to kill, the girl looked around to her right. Chris was engaged with two skeletons with a third coming to flank him. She wasn't exactly worried about his ability to handle himself but knew that he did a lot of hopping back and forth from place to place and if that thread thing was in an area that was already surrounded that wouldn't be good for him. Besides, she was starting to feel like all of these coffin boxes were holding more of these zombies, so getting rid of the skeletons before they all sprung out and overwhelmed them would be for the best. Gripping her axe Lana nodded in the direction of the zombie, calling out to Ziun, "watch out for that guy," before rushing to the skeleton on the eastern side of the room. Seeing her come it raised its weapon, aiming to strike her, and so in turn Lana raised hers. In the past she might've tested her luck and seen if she could simply kill it before it managed to properly hit her. But Estelle wasn't with them and Joan's chiding of her carelessness had come back to her. In her last attempt in the dungeon she felt like she tried to apply what she learned from the brawl but ultimately still relied on being healed up at the end. So this time, she would aim to not be hit in the first place. With confidence in her strength and the weight of her weapon, the girl brought down her blade clashing with the skeleton's. True to her expectation she managed to win the clash of weapons, pushing the skeleton back, only for it to swing its weapon by the hooked end and pull on the blade of her weapon to try and seize it from her. The girl instinctively grabbed her weapon with both hands, pulling on it in a clash of strength. As the girl tugged, unsure of the outcome as she did, she looked down to her hands and realized something. Releasing one of her hands from her axe, Lana let herself be pulled closer by the skeleton as she shouted, "let go!" Clenching her gauntleted fist, the girl punched the skull of the skeleton forcing it back and alleviating some of the pressure on her. A sense of exhilaration as she had never quite punched a monster like this before went through her as she decided to go for another one. Reeling her hand back, she crashed her metal fist into the creature's skull again, this time cracking it. However, she could feel her hand start to lose the tug of war of weapons which pushed enough sense into her to not go for a third. After all, "I just got this axe!" The girl grabbed it with both hands again, pulling back against the skeleton's sword.

Ryia had picked herself up, catching her breath as the others had moved in to attack Lucas next, gripping her sword tight. Looking over to Cym as the girl asked what she was made of, definitively Ryia answered. "Stone." Looking over to see that Pan was now nearest Lucas, the Earth Chosen didn't bother to chat any more and instead ran towards the werewolf, making her presence known to grab the Lycan's attention. However, Lucas seemed much more interested in what was perhaps the much easier prey that was right before him, instead lunging towards Pan. Quickly, Ryia stomped on the ground during her charge to create her wall to block Lucas's path, the werewolf outstretching a hand to stop himself short from crashing full into the wall. With his charge stomped and his attention now fully shifted to Ryia, he brought out his other hand as if to beat away her oncoming attack. Ryia knew that fully charging into him would spell her end, and that simply stopping short wouldn't be enough to feint him. As such, as she dug her feet into the ground to slow her charge the spirit of Earth appeared behind her, firing off a volley of rocks to distract the wolf man. The rocks themselves did to confer actual damage to him, but during the volley Ryia swung her blade into his hand, catching him off guard and making a large gash in it. Snarling, Lucas clenched his hand into a fist before going for a punch against Ryia. The Earth Chosen knew that there was no way to dodge in time and similarly that taking a direct hit from him would be out of the question. Even if she had to put more pressure and burden on her shield arm, it didn't much matter to her anymore. This was a fight where she was to give everything she had to win. No matter what pain she had to endure or how broken her body might've become, so long as she could take one more hit for everyone else that was all that mattered. Stepping to the side Ryia brought up her shield to defend against the punch, gritting her teeth and grunting in pain as every part of her arm screamed out once more. As Ryia stumbled back, the force of the punch knocking her off balance, she heard Cym call out for Pan. Looking over she saw the elven girl jump, being assisted by a gust of wind, before driving her blade between the Lycan's shoulder blades as part of her descent. Snarling as the attack went through the man thrashed about before Cym finally let go of her sword and was knocked off of him, the blade still sticking out of his back.

Jacklyn didn't really pay much mind to Anneliese's comment but looked over to Anima and smiled as they got prepared to take a picture. With the deed done the girl walked over and said, "thanks a lot Anima!" It was a shame to her that Anima didn't want to get into the picture as well. After all they were an adventuring team and it wouldn't do well to not have all of their teammates in a photo of cool stuff, but she couldn't do anything about Confi being camera shy and since Confi was as much as part of their group as Anima was so she would've liked for them to both be in it. She also wasn't feeling one hundred percent right now and felt like if she was going to force the issue it would not be at this statue as she wanted to just get a move on from it as fast as possible. However, she would not let this problem just pass by, and as she started to walk down the road she thought about what to do at the next landmark. "Maybe an ambush..." the girl muttered to herself. "Alright gang!" The girl shouted, as they made some distance, "Anima was right! The day is still young and our legs are still raring to go! So let's get going!" As the girl wandered further down the road she opened her map up saying, "we've got one more place to hit up on this island before our adventure gets started! Well it already started," the girl thought out loud before correcting herself saying, "but like, for real this time! Well, realer than the real it was already. Something like that at least. So, let's leave this route in the dust before the day's end gang!"

Lana grit her teeth as she tried to push back against the strange wrapped zombie, only to find herself pushed back away from it and overpowered. Pulling her axe back, the girl saw the creature bring its arm up, about to swing at her only for Chris to appear and bring his blade down on the arm, forcing it to go off course. Before she could even react he was gone again, a visual that she had seen many times but still wasn't sure she could entirely get used to, before calling back to his now much further away voice. "Got it!" Thankfully, there was a now injured joint ripe for the hitting. Bringing up her axe, the girl took a swing to bury the blade into the monster's shoulder, nearly lopping the whole thing off as a result. Nearly. "Tsk, why are you all so tough, you're already dead aren't you?" The creature then brought down the hand it had blocked her with earlier down to strike her. Pulling her axe back, the girl stepped away for the swing to miss and the zombie to start walking her way. The room was pretty cramped as it was and there was more than just this monster to deal with here so she wanted to make sure it was dealt with quick. Stepping to the side of the injured arm, the girl took yet another swing, this time aimed as the monster's neck. With the blade managing to get a clean hit the zombie, Lana let out another frustrated grunt saying, "oh come on." She had proved that nothing short of total decapitation would stop it, as her axe failed to do just that. For that matter why was this thing's neck so tough anyway? As it brought its arm to swing at her again, the girl once again back stepped to avoid getting hit in the gut. She could've been reckless to try and kill it once and for all, but she was pretty sure that getting hit in the gut by this would be worse than anything the skeletons could do. However, she was running out of time as the skeleton to the north was now just one coffin away from them. "Alright..." Winding her axe back for yet another swing she shouted, "Ziun! Do that magic thing again!" If it was able to soften it up like it had the skeleton than that would be all she needed to kill it. And so when Ziun would fire his magic Lana would follow up with another swing.

"Eh? I- I see..." Carmen trailed off, now certain that she never wanted to meet a demon if she could help it. Of course, the thought of what the building was didn't really sit well with her either. A ghost haunting a building was simple enough to understand, it came from a dead person so all she had to do was avoid places where people died or try not to do specific things to anger it. A cursed object? Sure she didn't know where those things came from but if she saw some grotesque looking severed monkey hand lying around she just had to be sure to never speak any of her desires around it and leave it be. A demon? Simple, avoid Hell. But buildings could just become possessed for no particular reason. The girl shuddered at the thought that at any moment her very living space could turn into an infinite corridor of which she'd never be able to reach the bathroom and then kill her with some apparition of her disapproving mother. The girl was snapped out of the thought spiral as Shiki asked their question. Relationship value? Event? "Eh..." The girl was certain that every dialogue choice that she had picked with Brian so far only served to lower his opinion of her. And what they were doing was more akin to a main story, after all it wasn't like they went out shopping together or bumped into each other on the side of the road while it was raining and desperately needed to share an umbrella or anything like that. Unless this was just the common route. Did Shiki plan on bringing more men to go aid the two of them? The mere thought nearly sent Carmen into shock, she was already terrible at dealing with strangers and men more especially and having all three of them pay any amount of attention to her and force a spotlight on her made her feel as if she would just wither and die immediately. She already had a hard enough time dealing with Brian but she wasn't sure if she could deal with someone aggressively nice either. In fact she was sure they'd be just as forceful but try to spin it as "for her own good" while also making her go down roller coasters that could derail and fly off into the ground at any time or give her food that she didn't ask for - well Shiki just did and she liked that so perhaps that wouldn't be too bad - but the sheer radiance of a person like that would only serve to drive her further into her home base. And then some kind of smug rich know it all would only remind her of her poor status and general inability to accomplish anything, making her wonder if perhaps entering society at all had ever been a mistake. Or maybe Shiki was planning the opposite? Two other girls would certainly be more welcome. After all that would get the attention from Brian off her and they would be able to do more in her place. Besides she was always better at talking with other girls after all. Though if one of them were the sporty athletic type she knew she'd only be reminded of her past in school and see the social divide between the two of them even more. And those kinds of girls were always looking down on others that weren't her type so Carmen knew that if such a woman were around she'd have to tip toe around every line of dialogue she tossed out lest she be socially murdered for all to see. But if it were a cute and innocent type of girl perhaps it'd be easier to get along with them. Though she was a gloomy and utterly creepy creature so she was certain that she'd call the police on herself just for being in that kind of girl's presence. Actually, was she even better at talking to females? “I don’t know,” Brian said. “I don’t hate her, I guess. Somehow, despite watching whatever that was in that building dance around in her body.” Brian speaking up, using a rather disturbing turn of phrase, had once more pulled out of her spiral as she thought on his words. The girl didn't realize she had gotten to the point of not being hated, unless his loathing of her somehow transcended the word hate and he just couldn't figure out how to put it to words. As for her opinion of him. "Eh?" A mortified look crossed her face at the thought, shaking her head violently to reject the idea. "Taking a nap here?! No no no no, I don't want to close my eyes in a haunted building that'd be the worst! And," the girl gave Brian a side eye, nervously taking a step back and shaking her head. "...I definitely can't sleep here..." Her last mission made her well aware of what kind of man she was dealing with. As the man reached down and grabbed for her hand, the girl's terror that the monster was coming for her again was soon abated as she realized he was just dragging her through the building. With the man's forceful nature pushing the both of them forward the girl let out a sigh of relief, knowing that if he were a fake he would've asked anything about her well being or need to take a break first. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Diiiiiiiiiiiiiie!" Sweat on her brow, wide eyed yet not looking directly at either of them she said, "I um...I think...we're um, maybe near our next rank...ehehe"

Though there was one enemy down two still remained. The Dregnr that had stabbed Sabrina pulled out its sword, and seemed to be ready to go for yet another against its opponent. Pulling back the sword, the two Exalted would be able to see lightning crackle across the Drengr's blade as it winded up its next swing. The large bestial coyote meanwhile had recovered from the attack that Abby had delivered earlier. Rather than immediately pounce, however, it began to go from a low snarl to something much louder, before letting out a roar. In a large conical burst coming from its mouth, a blast of sound struck all three combatants. Both Sabrina and the Drengr would find themselves staggered, if only for a moment, by the attack. Abby meanwhile, though the attack still hurt a little, was able to Endure through it entirely.

As Ziun walked over the girl simply nodded and returned his greeting. However when he asked if she was ready she simply looked to the side saying, "I could do without any of the horrors from yesterday. But, if you must know," a look of pride crossed her face as she pointed to the axe on her back, "I'm all freshly armed and ready to take this whole set of floors on." With Chris coming next the girl's expression soured at his question. Her instinct to his question was to say, "no I was haunted," but that would've both been tattling out Farah and it also wasn't really true. Though, it did make her morning much less pleasant then it needed to be but that was less the ghosts fault. Lana couldn't help but wonder if Anna was actually the one doing the haunting between the two. All the same, the girl shrugged and said, "I just hope nothing tries to eat my ace again." A frown was across Lana's face as they went in without Estelle to the next floors. It was a bummer to her for sure, both losing a friend and capable mage to help them out, to no longer go down deeper into the dungeon with. She couldn't dwell on it for long though, and thankfully the fact that there were more skeletons on this floor already had her irritated attention. Hardly paying attention to their new choice in weaponry, the girl raised an eyebrow at the incredibly suspiciously basic, not foggy and almost empty looking room. After having something fall from the ceiling and try to eat her head, rats hiding out in tunnels and skeleton dogs running endlessly out of fog that this was so simple looking both made Lana feel greatly at ease and incredibly on edge all at once. Lana, however, decided to err on the side of it being a much easier floor then the last. As such, when Ziun went to use his magic, she had brandished her great axe and was ready to get into the fray as well. With Chris charging ahead to take down one of them, Lana decided to go after the skeleton that Ziun had just attacked. The man didn't have a great track record with undead being on top of him and Lana would much rather take of it immediately then have to run back and forth across the room. Charging with her axe overhead, the girl brought it down smashing against the skeleton, its already brittle and now melting bones giving way under the weight with no effort. With the skeleton having been defeated the girl turned her attention towards the center of the room, getting ready to aid Chris next when she noticed that the coffin next to her slid open. "Huh?" The girl looked on with trepidation as the lid came off the coffin fully, revealing a husk of rotting flesh covered head to toe in bandages. It wasn't her first zombie of course, but the girl grimaced at the sight saying, "oh gross." At least it had the decency to mostly cover up. Still, with a new enemy appearing right next to her the girl raised her great axe and went to smash in the head of the newly risen creature.

With the next stop being a "boxing ring," Fen looked around to see that as far as things that she had seen thus far this one actually had a little of familiarity to her. Combat sports weren't exactly uncommon where she was from, though this specific one seemed to be entirely about punching one another only and having to face off in a rather small arena. While the girl was looking at each of the people currently fighting, trying to understand just a bit better any other rules of the sport, a large muscular individual had promptly entered her field of view. The girl looked him up and down as he explained who he was and examined his body as per his invitation to do so to see that he was in fairly good shape overall, figuring that he was both a regular here and perhaps a sporty individual in general. But raising her hand to wave off his earlier comment the girl said, "oh, um, well that's quite a kind offer, I think. But no, I'm here to um," Fen looked towards Kelsey saying, "box? Was it?" Adonis followed her gaze and when he saw Kelsey, "Gah!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I, uh, did not see you there!" Kelsey ignored him and responded directly to Fen, "Yup that's the plan. Maybe I should show you how it's done with that punching ba- that guy over there?" She said, indicating Adonis. Putting her hand to her chin the girl said, "oh well, I do learn well by watching first, so if you'd be so kind to." Fen looked over and innocently smiled to Adonis saying, "and then maybe we can box too after." Adonis coughed awkwardly. "Ah well that, you see. My, uh, my hip! My hip has been acting up and I wouldn't want to step into the ring without showing my best..." "Oh that won't be a problem this won't last long enough for that to matter." Kelsey said in a falsely sweet voice before grabbing Adonis and half-dragging him to the ring. Fen marveled at first at Kelsey's display of skill, her technique and sheer power behind her fists with each strike she made. She then started to wince a bit as the fight continued and a look of growing concern crossed her face as the fight continued. Yet all the same with the match finished between the two, Fen looked thoughtfully about what she had just saw and nodded to herself. "I see, so that's how it's done. I think I have a good grasp on the rules now. Oh and um, well I knew you were strong but I didn't realize how good, er well, skilled at punching you were." Looking at Adonis she asked, "is he um, alright for more though? I didn't realize a person's arm could bend in that way when taking a punch." "Oh him? Yeah I'm sure it's fine! He isn't good for much but he sure can take a beating." Kelsey answered for him as Adonis seemed to be dazed still. Her expression was still a bit concerned about the well being of her opponent yet decided to still trust Kelsey's words. "If you say so. Well, um, if you don't mind." Getting into the ring and putting on a pair of gloves herself the girl said, "well, um, whenever you're ready, Adonis." Once Kelsey left the ring life seemed to return to the man as Adonis refocused. Seeing it was not just Fen in the ring he cleared his throat and stood taller. "Ah, so it's you now! Well I'll have you know I was taking it easy to let you learn! But now that you have I suppose you won't mind if I take this seriously right?" "Oh, please, go ahead. I know I may be knew to this but the last thing I'd want is, well, for you to take it easy on me." Shifting her feet, posture and arms into a stance similar to what Kelsey had just had she said, "so um, uh, put 'em up?" "Forgive me if this hurts too much, feel free to cry if you must!" He then ran forward to take a heavy swing. Seeing the man take the initiative to attack, Fen realized how one sided the match against Kelsey and Adonis had been as she didn't actually know what was allowed for defense. Given his large musculature the girl didn't really want to attempt blocking the attack, and instead opted to duck under the swing, striking him in the gut with a swift jab. Backing off, not hearing anyone complain about what she had done she thus inferred that dodging was legal in this sport. Still, the girl remembered her friend's form and strikes and seemed dissatisfied with her own. She was never much of an unarmed fighter to begin with so all the technical aspects of it weren't ingrained in her body, and so she could do was keep improving. Each time Adonis went in for a swing Fen would dodge the punch, either by ducking, or stepping back or to the side, before going in for yet another punch of her own. And each time she did she would mumble something to herself, before trying to shift around her footing or the positioning of her arms. The fight didn't last very long and Fen had gotten through it without too much difficulty, her opponent being KO'd for the second time in a short time frame. Taking a deep breath, getting herself out of her combat focus, the girl gave a bow to Adonis. "Thank you for the match." Then looking over to Kelsey she smiled saying, "that was pretty fun."

It took Carmen a moment to realize that she hadn't just looped back into the previous room. Only when Brian mentioned the time did she look at her own phone again. She had used it as evidence to figure out that she was in some kind of fake room but she didn't even realize how long the whole thing had gone on for. It was at this moment that Brian started taking a step towards her and the girl's instinctive response was to back away, though on the floor she could only hope to shuffle her position without moving very far. As the man reached down and grabbed for her hand, the girl's terror that the monster was coming for her again was soon abated as she realized he was just dragging her through the building. With the man's forceful nature pushing the both of them forward the girl let out a sigh of relief, knowing that if he were a fake he would've asked anything about her well being or need to take a break first. Wordlessly following along, the girl's silence was only broken with a small, "geh," in surprise as she saw Shiki. As it turned out her night wasn't over yet, though that was clear enough from how the last mission she and Brian had been on ended. As Shiki introduced themselves, Carmen's eyes widened as she pointed to herself saying loudly, "I- I'm Carmen!" She looked back and forth between Shiki and Brian as if too say, "you have to believe me," before her attention turned to the burgers. The girl's face lit up with excitement at the sight of the fast food, only to then drop and blink several times. She was positive she had just mentioned McDonalds not a moment ago...the girl looked back towards the driver's seat, before looking back to the burgers. Oh well, it was free food. The girl's hunger was enough to at least keep her paranoia from getting in the way, as she grabbed a burger and began to eat. After a brief period of choking, having eaten her first burger at an alarming speed, the girl looked back to the driver's seat and said, "u-um...thanks...." After a moment longer the girl then asked, "do you uh, think it was a ghost or demon?" To the both of them.

Walking up the road, not paying any heed to the conversation the two of her teammates were having Jacklyn said, "oh there you guys are. You'll never believe this! There was some guy with a cool looking mask just now. I wonder if he's also an adventurer?" Before she could get her answer though Jacklyn's eyes immediately shifted to the statue in the center, "Whoa! What the heck is that?" The girl walked on the path, curiously eyeing the statue before walking into the marsh proper. The girl seemed to be bothered by her shoes sinking into the mud at first, disliking how much harder it made it to walk, but shrugged and persevered without much worry. Up close and looking at the statue, the girl couldn't help but feel this strange sensation in her head as she tried to figure out just what it was supposed to be. It certainly wasn't a person but if it was supposed to resemble a pokemon she didn't have the faintest idea of which one it would be. It didn't help that she was developing a growing headache, of all the luck, making it harder to figure out anything about it. Furrowing her brow in annoyance, closing her eyes as she put a hand to her chin the girl opened them back up as she thought of something. She then looked back at her map and raised an eyebrow. "Why is there even a statue here?" Jacklyn had grown up in a big city and as such she was very familiar with statues being every which way. She didn't know the purpose of most of them but she generally thought they served some kind of symbol beyond just decoration, or they were some rich person's very expensive decoration for the whole city to see. Not to mention, even the older ones, she still had some idea of what they were trying to depict. Perhaps this was what lead to this sudden insight, though the girl didn't really have anything else to offer. Looking back to the rest of the group with a smile on her face she said, "someone take a picture. After all, this is our first major landmark on our journey, so we gotta capture it in a photo right?" The girl winced as her head still hurt, growing a little impatient though her adventurer's spirit still burned brightly. "Oh, I'll take one for you guys if you want too!"

Though she on her last legs, unsure of how she was going to deal with the now transformed Lucas, she was glad to see that Lindow had at least managed to defeat his werewolf. As he regrouped with the Chosen, he began to heal her and handed her a healing potion to which she immediately used on herself. Her arm was feeling better now, though she still didn't think it could take too many direct attacks before giving out again, and her breath was steadying as her vision started to normalize as well. Though she was in much better shape then she was a moment ago, with Keres attending to both Madelyn and Reinaan at present it was down to her, Lindow, Cym and Pan. Ryia did not have any idea on how to approach this man, however. From the brief showing of strength she saw against Reinaan she had already expected him to be in a league of his own compared to the other werewolves and now he was transformed. Simply walking forward and getting into a straightforward altercation with the werewolves hadn't worked all too well for her up to this point and she didn't think she'd last a moment if she just stepped up and went for a frontal attack. However, Lindow had a different idea in mind. Taking the last of the greharms he had purchased, the man tossed it forward towards the Lycan. Before the Lycan could react to the projectile, the Thunder Chosen let out a discharge of lightning into the object, detonating it in the man's face. Lucas was certainly made surprised by the attack and though it most certainly didn't stop him, it still managed to damage him. Taking the moment to step up, Ryia still didn't exactly know how to proceed but got herself ready for his attack. The werewolf had moved forward, swinging one of his arms down in an overhead towards her. The girl raised her shield to parry the attack away as she side stepped, though grit her teeth immediately as the force of the arm, not budging from her shield parry, came down on it. Getting ready for an attack of her own, Ryia started a swing only to see that he had already begun swinging his other claw. Doing what she could to evade the next attack, the girl attempted to duck, using her already awkward balance to move under the swipe. Before she could think of what to do next the lycan's knee struck her in the face, forcing her backwards. The girl didn't get to recoil very far back though, as he grabbed onto her. Cym took the opportunity to stab Lucas in the back, though her offense was not without retaliation as he picked up Ryia and swung her at Cym. Hitting the elf with her steel coated body, Ryia could barely make sense of what was going on, having never been tossed around like so, before she finally hit the ground. Letting out a pained groan, the girl tried to get her bearings as she brought herself up. She had certainly fought opponents that she wouldn't have been able to properly block before, they were all far larger and with far more mass than herself that she would've expected it. And while his strength was surprising in of itself, the fact that he had a speed that she hadn't encountered before to back it up made it all the more dangerous. She didn't think that she would be able to land a good hit in against this man, but she didn't think she had to. As long as she could endure his attacks and create an opening for the others that would be enough for her. Looking to Cym she huffed out a, "s-sorry," feeling bad that she had just been used as a weapon against her teammate. Then, she stood up and got ready for the next go.

Sibyl looked up as Aeon called out to them from where she was. The girl shrugged saying, "the other two ran off. Wonder if they flew back to Caesar," despite how clear Arcturus had made it that they were annoyed by their boss, Sibyl had the feeling they'd go flying back to them eventually anyway. And she was most certainly ready to go meet the big boss himself and any goons that he surrounded himself with. "Sounds like a plan! Let's go have some fu-" The girl's statement was cut off as an earthquake followed by an explosion interrupted her. Seeing the line of fire plume up through the city, obscured though it was by the stadium they were in. "Holy shit! The hell was that?" Sibyl made her way out of the building immediately, her curiosity forcing her to find out the answer to her question. With the one guy, Selesky or something, calling out about something just popping out of the ground. It didn't take a lot of looking to see the giant plumes of steam and the creature that accompanied it. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! That's awesome!" A wide grin formed on her face the more she exclaimed. "Alright Caesar can definitely wait. Here I come big guy!" And with a look of glee that girl rushed off to meet with the creature.