Taboo | How To slay A Kishin IC (PROLOG MODE)

[Tewi_Inaba]

Sorry for the delay

Balefire Academy | Forest

Asura cought up to the girls quickly enough. The boy couldn't help but get distracted by one of the proctors who were spectating the exam. A woman with long blond hair, and someone he knew. But before he had a chance to say anything to her, he was quickly escorted to another end of the forest by one of the teachers who was moving at inhuman speeds.

Asura still seemed distracted when he reached the others, but he quickly snapped out of his daze when Azur asked if their weapons were ready. "Hm..? OH! right." he said as he snapped back to reality. Asura stretched his arms forward and allowed the metal alloy gauntlets extend out from his sleeves and cover his soft-looking hands. Once they were equiped he balled a fist and made a few practice punches at thin air. He had impressively fast punches for someone with no formal combat training, but his form was a bit sloppy. either way, if he hit something it was gonna hurt. "All good here."

[Alayosho]

Balefire Academy | Forest

Ashlewi was lead to her destination, taking note of her surroundings and how to get back to the starting point. She was then left alone on the outskirts of the forest....

Others had formed small groups and cliques, but Ashlewi had no such luxury. On the air ship she spent too much time studying the academy to socialize, and what little socializing she did do likely earned her more rivals than allies. It didn't matter, though. She would show them that she was worth their attention. She set his briefcase down and removed her boots, swapping them from her weaponized counter-parts. She then activated her computer, letting it scan her immediate area and slowly radiate outward, increasing its range. She then put on the knife's belt and attached the knife to it, ready to draw it quickly. It was going to be a fight for life and death, just like she had seen before. Only this time it wouldn't be mere observation on her part. She would need to actively participate in the ensuing combat. That was what it meant to be a huntress.

"ASHLEWI, ARE YOU PREPARED?" The computer asked through her ear piece.

"I am. Remain in surveying mode until otherwise directed. Keep a medium-ranged scan active, regardless of our refresh rate. I need accurate readings, not long ones." Ashlewi gave the computer instructions. Of course, she was giving it even more through the wrist-mounted interface. While she learned to use the Gun Boots out of a contract, the Operator's terminal was by far her favorite possession. It was useful and functional in all senses you'd ever need a high-end personal computer to be, with military-grade hardware and software to support its combat-analysis programming.

"AFFIRMATIVE, SETTING MAXIMUM DISTANCE TO TWENTY-FIVE METERS. ADJUSTING SENSITIVITY FOR; INDIGENOUS GENUS OF HAZARDOUS SIZE, TERRAN BIOMASS, KISHIN BIOMASS." The computer echoed in her ear piece. She set the computer to warn her if anything of the specified group entered the scanning range. Anything the size of a Fox or larger would come up.

[SUSTIC]

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

When Setsuna began to... tease him by removing her shirt's shoulder strap, he began to blush and lose a bit of his cool as he took a step back.

"M-Miss Itou this is not proper conduct for lady of your status. Please... refrain from going any further than you are!" Azama spoke as he continue to back up... clearly the strip-tease Setsuna is putting on is messing with him. Turns out a shinobi like him has a possible weakness. Either way he turned around so that he wasn't facing her before letting out a fake cough.

"A-Anyways... Whether we are enemies or allies, I will not hesitate to fight. So be warned as well. I... do not scare easily..."

[Kristia]

Balefire Academy | Forest


She was impressed by the professor´s speed, Diana was now looking at the forest and her senses were going almost in overdrive "They are there, kishin and other predators alike." she spoke without knowing if someone was around her or not. "Other people are close too, got to let the wilderness guide us". The viking held her battle ax and took a deep breath, closing her eyes, letting some minutes pass as she mentally prepared for the course of action.

The blonde girl opened her eyes and gone was her cheerful and optimistic look, now there was someone who had been near the wild and the violence for her whole life.

[Lunasa Prismriver]

Balefire Academy | Forest Edge

As Azur and Asura caught up to them, Raiko and Miu were finishing up their gear checks, save for their weapons.

In response to Azur's question, Rosa answered, "I'm confident enough that our weapon doesn't need checks." Miu nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, same here. I keep my Misaka well maintained and ready for battle." Raiko patted the complex block of metal on her back.

She cringed when she saw Asura break every rule of the CQC training that she went through for half a year in the military. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead cut herself short before she insulted his untrained fighting.

Meanwhile, Miu had been scanning through the crowd, searching for any potentially dangerous individuals. Those with the expensive weapons, those with the muscles that showed years of harsh training, those with eyes that burned with a fire, be it fueled by murderous intent or otherwise. She had already spotted many as well as a sniper and a few drones flying around. The latter two, she guessed were the Balefire staff's, she was unsure due to them being so far away. She could activate her Aura to be absolutely sure, but didn't to conserve her energy. She made a note to herself to continue observing both.

Raiko also kept a close watch on the students in the crowd, she locked eyes with a few, some of which looked away quickly and others who returned her steely gaze with their own.

"I know it's too late, but you shouldn't have brought your weapons out so early. We want to deny our enemies as much information as possible to reduce our tactical disadvantage. That being said, shall we move to a less noisy area?" Despite warning them of enemies collecting infomation, she herself looked at their armaments, examining them with the eye of both a militant and an engineer.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Balefire Academy | Forest Edge

Asura actually chuckled when one of the girls mentioned that he shouldn't show his weapons yet. While it was true anyone in the immediate area could see his gauntlets, no one would see his prosthetic legs or the powerful weapons inside of them. If anything what he did would lure someone into a false sense of security if they thought all he could do was punch them. "Well I keep my real weapon right up here." he said as he tapped his own head a few times. He didn't tell them about his hidden weapons, when the time came he would show them just what he was capable of. In the mean time, he followed the others to a more quite location.

Lucy ended up in a relatively quite area with her brother and a few other people. She was all set and ready to go when her train of thought was interrupted by the headmaster's voice that was once again addressing all the new students. "Welcome students. congratulations on making it this far. But this is where the pleasantries end and the real battle begins. Once you hear the alarm you may begin your exam. There are no walls our boundaries preventing you from leaving the forest. If you decide it's too much to handle, you can leave at any time. However anyone who exists the forest without first obtaining one of each colored tags will get a failing grade on their exam. If you have anything you need to take care of before entering, i suggest you do it now. We start in fifteen minutes." Hartman's face then left the screen to be replaced with a clock that was slowly counting down the time for when the exam would start.

[Zekai]

Balefire Academy | Forest Edge

While everyone was heading to the forest, Yuuki stood back from everyone until no one was behind her. She placed her suitcase down and opened it, revealing a large triangular shaped object completely wrapped up. Yuuki takes what looks like an eyewear thats next to the object and attaches it onto her left ear as it wraps around to hold in place. She then looks up to the top part of the suitcase and there was an elbow long glove that Yuuki grabbed and slid onto her left arm. Yuuki then grabbed the triangle object and places it on her back. The object was about as wide as her back and about just as long too. She closed up the suitcase and placed it where the other students left theirs and headed towards the exam.

Lu was looking around, figuring out who could be the trouble ones. Due to her short size though, she couldn't get a good view of everyone. Lu was as short as a 13 year old so she was on average 2 feet shorter than the other students which gave her a disadvantage on physical power but gave her an advantage on speed and agility. Lu was thinking about checking her gear but given her aura, it wasn't needed.

"The wind is blowing nicely." Lu says softly as a small breeze blows by.

[Alexander Zenneth]

Balefire Academy | Airship Docks

"Right.... must have slept through that part... Well no point in worrying about the Kishin... The humans on the other hand..."

It was at he said, sure the Kishin were a violent entity of death that wanted to kill us all. However humanity itself was more unpredictable and dangerous, willing to kill its own kind to get what it want. Was it better to bring allies to watch his back or to go alone? Either way this exam was going to be as much strategic and tactical than it implied. This made Alexander pause as he walked for just briefest of seconds and gave the smallest of smirks again. However humans are easier to hunt than Kishin... No he couldn't do that.... However it did show one thing...

"The exam is more than fighting Kishin... It's social, tactical and psychological exam as well... Smart, it weeds out the insane, the weak and the anti-social... However the exam has one major flaw... It is luck based as well... You are probably lucky and found somebody to watch your back."

He was referring to himself, but asked the question to try and get more information about this quiet girl.

[Koishi]

Balefire Academy

---

Upon hearing the announcement, Koishi grinned, getting herself off the ground and doing a little hip-shake to get off any dirt.

"Alright, gotta be ready n' stuff!" Koishi said, before going into a set of exercises and remembering what she was supposed to do. "Six tags, red only's got forty. Why red?" she stopped her exercising, making a thinking face. "Weird. Coulda' just put forty tags and make it a free for all... wait, it already is..." Koishi then proceeded to go into a long string of incoherent thoughts, ending with a strange desire for a velvet rug decorated with symbols made of string cheese.

Such were the strange machinations of her mind.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Balefire Academy | Forest Edge

As the students spoke to one another and got ready, the clock was slowly ticking down. When it finally hot the zero mark, a loud buzzer went off. While alerting the students that it was time to start, the sound would also alert the kishin and thus make them more hostel to any unknown presence within their forest. This of cores was done intentionally to make sure no one had an easy time steeling the colored tags

The sound left Lucy's ears ringing, but not enough to have a dramatic effect on her performance. Both her and Asura would jump right in without giving it another thought. It was time to pass their test. Students who looked around the first layer of the forest would find a few weaker kishin, most of which would have white tags. If they wanted to find more they would have to move deeper. But now the important question was, where were the red tags located?

[Zekai]

Balefire Academy - Forest Edge

A load buzzer went off, signaling the start of the test. Yuuki and Lu jumped into the forest. Yuuki was using her aura to make her clothes as light as possible to run faster and it wasnt long until she ran into a white tag kishin.

"One flag for me." She says as she reaches behind and grabs her rifle. She aims while in the air and fires a single short laser into the kishin's head. Yuuki lands on top and takes the tag.

Lu was using the trees to her advantage. Being small also made her light so it waa easier for her to use branches to travel. "Now where are you at you red tag?" She asks as she looks around on a branch with her left hand on the trunk. It took her a minute to find a kishin with a white tag. "Not red but ok." She says and pulls out her 2 pistols and takes aim at the kishin.

[Amaterasu no Akane]

Balefire Academy ~ Forest Edge

Right as the buzzer rang and the clock hit zero, Azur immediately reacted, running fast into the forest with his weapon in hand. He analyzed what he was going up against. "Hmm, couple of quadrupeds, a few large bipeds," Azur muttered as he held his rifle above his arm, "This wasn't as hard as I thought!" With a switch, Azur transformed his weapon into a blade, and then threw it up on a tree, hooking onto it, right before grappling onto it, switching back to his ranged rifle.

"Bah, bunch of white tags. Who am I to judge?" Azur muttered to himself. He promptly emptied his magazine on them, making as much noise as he could to attract Kishin around him. "Might as well, bait them out... Easy money."

[Kristia]

Balefire Academy ~ Forest Edge

The sound of the beginning of the test was a faint noise for Diana as her body was now moving deeper into the forest. She was using the foliage to hide from groups of students that easily killed white tagged Kishin, yet the blonde kept moving.

It wasn't until she heard the screech of a quadruped beast coming towards her that the viking turned, fist already prepared, connecting with the Kishin's snout. The force of the punch made a cracking sound as probanñbly a tooth or canine was broken, but at least her action was done with the creature ending up unconscious.

("One down, more to find.") was Diana's thought while taking the Kishin's body and placing it under some flora, taking the white tag.

She could feel it, stronger beings, some going for quick kills others actually fighting, yet she was aiming for a bigger target. Diana's arm brace shone for a moment, but she willed her mind to calm down ("Not yet, focus and stay calm.")

Then a scent passed through her nostrils, making the battle ax user smirk ("Found dome new contenders.) and she started moving, still on the ground, open for battle, which she was doing unconsciously.

[Lunasa Prismriver]

Balefire Academy | Forest Edge

Upon hearing the buzzer go off, both Raiko and Miu underwent an immediate and sudden personality change. Raiko's casual grin had been replaced with a flat emotionless one, the lightning in her eyes danced more strongly than before, and the air around her became charged with a weak electricity emanating from her body. Miu's expression stayed as empty as usual, but her eyes were completely focused as she scanned quickly.

The two girls ran after Asura and Azur, making sure to keep a fair distance to avoid all being caught in a trap but not so far as to not get to them if they were to be ambushed. Raiko zipped her flight jacket up to her chin and kept her fists in front of her, ready for a fight at any time. Miu activated her aura, cutting off her scent and taste senses as well as controlling her breathing and pulse to be as efficient as possible, she routed all the newly freed energy to her sight and hearing, giving her a large radius bubble in which she could hear anything coming at her and a very keen and distant sight, able to see the kishins far ahead with the next set of tag color.

"Miu, battlespace report." Raiko knew of Miu's aura yet still kept her own watch on her surroundings, they had fought together many times in the past, as such, their ability to work together was nearly perfect.

"The other edge of the forest seems to only hold white tags, we would need to proceed farther inward to find different colors. There are many others nearby, most are stopping to collect white tags, I suggest we get to the red tags and only collect other colors on the way." Miu normally didn't talk much, but she would definitely communicate to her squad members.

"Acknowledged. Tell me if there are any white tags nearby." Raiko tightened her fists in preparation to beat down any kishin that was along their path. She also made a note to herself to see if Miu's fighting style changed at all.

"There's one nearby, 46 meters Northwest 21.6 degrees. Miu'll get that one." Rosa functioned as Miu's second brain, focusing more on precise direction and navigation while Miu focused more on observing everything her senses took in.

Raiko continued on her straight path, using her feren sight and hearing to form her own bubble. Miu branched off, heading toward the kishin but more toward a tree close to it. Her brain began processing thoughts so fast that everything looked almost as if they were moving slow, herself included. She used the tree as a ramp, flipping herself into the air and using Rosa's scythe, cleanly cleaved the kishin's head from its body and at the same time letting Rosa absorb some blood and snagging the white tag. She landed without loss of momentum and met back up with Raiko, the scythe already reabsorbed.

Slightly tired, Miu let her aura drop just a bit, weakening her sense of hearing and sight as she caught her breath, though those senses were still stronger than an average human's.

[S121]

Balefire Academy | Forest Edge

Within the fifteen minutes they had, Aeron had downloaded a topographical map of the area and had already come up with a plan. His weapons were at the ready and he was ready for combat. Right before the buzzer went off, Aeron looked over to Lucy and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Follow my lead until you see a flag. Once you see it, sprint for it and I'll give you coverfire. We're going to make a sprint for the treeline.", Aeron said to his adoptive sister.

Once the bell went off, Aeron dashed forth.