Chapter 27: Run Before You Walk (Part 14)

"[Offensive Drive.]"

Giving Kairi and Mai a pointed look as he prepped himself for his own unique brand of idiocy he advised, "You hit harder now. Try to avoid getting hit in kind, it'll fuck you up bad," before turning to the target that was his self-assigned homework.

A pair of stupidly deadly people that could turn him inside out without so much as breaking a sweat and he was going to draw attention to himself in the worst way possible.

"The things I do to not die. Hah hah."

Grumbling to himself as he sprinted on a diverging course from the pair the Surveyor spared a glance to the side to see how the battle was progressing, smirking as Asmodeus earned a paper cat jumping onto his face before detonating in blast of ethereal ninja fire, Kairi rolling a literal heart grenade beneath the Devil's feet before it detonated in a cloud of red mist, spastic coughing emanating from the cloud as the rest of the group pressed the attack on the belageured Devil.

But then he was past them and had to focus on the task at hand, watching the devastating battle taking place between his three.

Honestly it looked to have reached a kind of stalemate. The waltzing titan of ice that was Absolute Demise ensured Shiranui couldn't get close while simultaneously fending off some of the Incubus King's assaults, the magician controlling the Longinus firing off all manner of spells that either shielded or enhanced the Sacred Gear's movements with a deft hand.

The only wildcard was that Lavinia could very well run out of steam or fall prey to some kind of wack ass ero magic from the eldritch creature and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

As if in response to that very thought the King suddenly charged forward, forgoing defense as Absolute Demise fired off a sharpened icicle the size of a car that bit deep into the tough flesh of the monster, instead lashing out with the snapping tendrils on its back that covered Shiranui suddenly leaping forward in an impressive burst of speed - Lavinia's defensive spells blunted by the King's body - as she landed a powerful kick to the blonde's diaphragm that had her tumbling heavily in a gasping heap near the Incubus King's feet.

Kuroi didn't let the opportunity go to waste, allowing the Longinus to rake his body with seeming impunity as the collection of tentacles sprouting from various portions of his form streaked towards Lavinia, one of them quickly winding around her leg and disappearing upwards into her robes while several more slithered towards her face, chest and arms.

"You put up quite an impressive fight, I'll be sure to make your orientation to our cause as gentle as possible."

Wondering why the hell the blonde wasn't ripping the restraining appendages clean off of her body Cayman got to within shouting distance-

-and immediately understood with perfect clarity why a supposed favorite of the fight was struggling. Something about the King's aura was just…yikes. Kinda felt like being dumped into a pool of warm, scented water as a thousand lubed up snakes caressed your body inside and out. Fucking creepy as hell but also alluring in a way he decided he didn't want to think too deeply about.

And that was the sensations he was getting as a dude, he couldn't imagine what it felt like as a woman. Although judging by Lavinia's flushed skin, sweaty brow and heaving chest - that probably didn't have all that much to do with the kick to the gut if he was being honest - it was pretty damn hard to focus through.

"Well, time to play the hero. And hopefully not die for it."

Briefly smirking at the thought of him of all people being the knight in shining armor he leapt into the air, aiming for the tentacle that was in the process of a fairly non consensual journey up Lavinia's leg-

"[Amp Charge!]"

"GUH?!"

-and could have breathed a sigh of relief as despite his amateur hour equipment and strength [Amp Charge] gave his spear enough force to stab through the King's tentacle and cleanly sever it, a vibration running up his arm as the length of metal pierced into the floor.

And promptly got stuck, a sharp tug on the spear not freeing it from its embedded position in the slightest.

"Uhh, shit. That's not-"

"You DARE to harm my master?!"

Whirling around Cayman was treated to the highly worrying sight of an enraged Shiranui Mizuki charging at him with murder on the itinerary, weapon poised to run him through in maybe a second, give or take.

"Fingers crossed this works!"

Letting go of his metal spear he instead brought his hand up, manifesting a simple piece of durable rebar that barely managed to hold up against the Taimanin's assault and caused a shower of sparks to tickle his skin as the second-hand metal found itself pressed up against the brainwashed Taimanin's throat, their faces a scant centimeter apart as he caught her off guard with the odd choice of weaponry and last minute save.

"[Volt Thrust!]"

That second of surprise was worth its weight in gold, electricity arcing around the metal and coursing through Shiranui's body as the woman stiffened, a stuttery cry escaping her lips as the gamer dropped a pocketknife he'd pilfered into his free hand, flicking it open and preparing to ram the blade into his opponent's throat.

"Sorry about this, Yukikaze. But your mom is a whole lot scarier than I am right now and I can't afford to screw around."

Contorting his body he thrust the knife forwards…and blinked as his wrist was caught in an iron grip, the Taimanin glaring at him with something resembling volcanic hatred.

"Out of tricks, little boy?"

Before he could decide if the words were more sensual or predatory the woman yanked his arm downwards, knee rising to meet it-

SNAP!

-and Cayman had never been more thankful for the pact that his sense of pain was moderately muted because he was fairly sure having a ragged chunk of bone burst through his flesh was meant to hurt something fierce. And it did, but he could still think and plan even past the agonized wheeze that slipped past his throat, Shiranui sneering malevolently as she threw a blisteringly fast punch at his chest, no doubt intended to cave in his ribs and shred his heart since she'd proven rather convincingly she could shatter his bones.

"[Defensive Drive!]"

Rather than snap him like a twig he was merely launched backwards with one hell of bruise to show for it, dislodging his spear from where it rested by way of smashing against it as his free and working hand grasped the handle, certainty flooding his body as he flipped the weapon around and got ready to fight for his life.

Events became a blur, the male desperately fending off the enraged Taimanin's onslaught as a combination of his instinctive skill, [Defensive Drive] and [Esoteric Parry] somehow kept him in the fight, [Esoteric Parry] quickly proving its worth as it basically nullified her Taimanin arts in their entirety and allowed him to focus solely on martial matters…which he would have been an underdog in even if one of his arms wasn't loosely flopping about.

"How in god's name does a woman with funbags that size move so quickly and gracefully?!"

Seriously, a chest like Shiranui's would normally be an inescapable handicap but she acted as if they weren't even there, Cayman distanty noting that bestial roars from the Incubus King and shriek of frozen air courtesy of Lavinia meant she was at least back in the fight but that didn't necessarily help him. He was still in the process of getting his ass kicked, after all.

An ass kicking that took a turn for the worse as the Taimanin stepped inside his frantic parries, using her prodigious chest to push him off balance in an act that would have been hilarious if it wasn't immediately followed by her lance stabbing into his stomach and nailing him to the floor, Cayman idly reflecting that if having his arm snapped in two had been painful this was a whole new level of discomfort, being able to feel the insides of his muscle catch on sharp metal while bare nerve endings shivered at the taste of cold steel.

He had no shame in admitting that a scream left his lips, Shiranui smiling in pure bliss as she reached down to throttle him, his instinctive grabbing of her hand only slowing her approach, not stopping it-

CRACK!

-and the gamer breathed a ragged sigh of relief as a fist of ice smashed into the woman with enough force that Rambo would have been proud, Absolute Demise coming to a protective halt over him as the Longinus physically bristled with anger, Lavinia stalking forward like some VERY pissed off goddess of war, raw energy forming within her hand as the Incubus King caught Shiranui before she flung too far, the woman lacerted by shining lances of frost as Creusery skidded next to his allies, panting for breath and features locked in a snarl.

"This isn't over, not in your wildest dreams!"

The Devil withdrew some kind of shimmering crystal from within his robes, raised his hands and slammed them onto the ground as a blinding light engulfed them before exploding outwards, this particular brand of teleportation nowhere near as clean or quiet as the other variety he'd seen as they were buffeted by hot air and things stank pretty heavily of ozone.

Or maybe that was just his blood filling his throat and making things seem metallic. Either way their foes were gone, the battle was over and wow did his everything hurt.

"Cayman?! Oh no, are you-"

Quickly raising his undamaged hand as Till panicked at the sight of him the Surveyor groaned out, "I'm fine…a little banged up but ultimately fine."

"You are most certainly not fine! Hold still, we'll fix you in just a moment."

Lavinia crouched at his side, lips pursed as she took stock of his injuries as the gamer glanced to the side, thankful that everyone else was all right if a bit exhausted, watching their surroundings and ensuring that no further surprises were on the way.

"So did you let the Incubus King get away in order to have your Longinus keep an eye on me?"

Lavinia pouted at his question, both she and Till running some kind of emerald light over his abdomen, chest and arm as the pain slowly receded as she firmly stated, "You make it sound as if I could let the man who came to my aid die for a potential chance at halting the escape of a foe. And whatever means they ultimately used is a strange one, teleportation like that isn't a trifling art to call upon."

Grimacing as something in his guts shifted back into place with a queasy motion the man replied, "How noble of you. Not that I'm complaining, bear in mind."

"Yeah, don't listen to him. He always makes it sound like he's the bad guy but ends up doing nice things anyways."

Raising an eyebrow at Till's distracted words as she continued to fix his damaged bits the gamer was about to deny that statement before stopping to think about it. His previous profession hadn't exactly come with many opportunities to play hero and he'd always gotten a rush from killing, he'd just assumed he wasn't much of a stand up guy and left it at that.

"Wonderful. As if my inclinations weren't already enough of a headache to balance."

"Umm, Cayman?"

Snapping out his thoughts in order to meet Till's hesitant words he was left with no shortage of shock as his Fairy seemed almost regretful with the current state of affairs, continuing with, "You ended up like this because I decided to go help everyone else before my Contractor. If I hadn't-"

"Woah, easy does it, Till. You made the right call in helping Vali and Rossweisse, don't you go around feeling like you made the wrong decision when you didn't. Besides, everything worked out fine in the end, no need to regret something that doesn't need regretting."

+10 AFC with Till, [25/100]

A rather enticing flush adorned the Fairy's features at his words as she swiftly resumed work without so much as another peep, Lavinia giggling at her response as Vali strolled over, a bit singed and sporting a cut on his right cheek but otherwise perfectly fine.

"You said you were going to get stronger and be a good sparring partner. Why are you all beat up and helpless?"

While Cayman was more amused than he was offended by the remark - the youth sure as hell wasn't wrong - Lavinia none too gently chopped him on the back of the head, drawing a yelp from the teen as she admonished, "Be nice, Va-kun. He got beat up because he was trying to help me, don't be grumpy."

"That's not what I was criticizing…"

Smirking at the interplay the Surveyor rolled to his feet as the last few injuries were accounted for, ruffling the hybrid's hair with a free hand as he said, "You did good in keeping Creusery busy, kid. Nice work, it allowed us to find a moment we could bust in and ambush them without getting turned to dust."

"Oh, umm…well naturally it's a dragon's responsibility to look after those weaker than it!"

The words didn't match the shifty and embarrassed body language, nor the popup that followed a second later.

+10 REP with Vali Lucifer, [25/100]

"Poor kid is just that easy."

"Not to ruin the moment but if you're not in danger of dying or anything we need to get a move on, this place isn't looking all that great after that battle."

Kairi's perfectly sensible words coincided with a deep, gradual groan as a load bearing wall dangerously buckled, Cayman finally able to look around and appreciate the destruction they had caused. What looked like several floors above them had been destroyed in their entirety, scorch marks and deep gouges cut in the bedrock they'd landed on while smoldering embers and glacial pillars were strewn about with little rhyme or reason.

It was honestly a miracle that the entire structure hadn't come crashing down on their heads.

"Agreed. Rossweisse, Mai, both of you okay?"

The Valkyrie offered a happy smile at his concern, replying, "A little winded but otherwise fine," as Mai settled for a nod, her only visible injury being the initial stages of a forming bruise on the side of her head.

"Right, then let's go."

Moving out as the more magically inclined members of their troupe began casting a variety of spells designed to find any possible survivors amidst the creaking building their search turned up quite the number of corpses but no sign of Natsume, the Surveyor wondering if she had been spirited away before they could get to her in time.

Not that it stopped him from stealing the wallets and whatnot of the bodies, all of them caught in the crossfire of their battle earlier as stray blasts of energy or collapsing masonry caught them unawares and unprepared. He simply shrugged at the questioning looks of his companions, no doubt wondering what he was up to.

"Tracking down credit cards or whatnot might be how we figure out more about these guys."

That had been good enough for the group, leaving him to it as Cayman was inwardly grateful that they hadn't expressed more curiosity since he didn't have a damn clue how to go about actually doing any of that. He just wanted their cash and other valuables to bolster his flagging finances.

"Geez, we're going to need a lot of DNA and other types of tests done on these people. Humans, Demons, Devils…quite the mixed bag."

"You're telling me."

Coming to a door that was half melted and falling off of its frame Kairi cautiously peaked around it-

-and promptly grimaced, glancing over his shoulder to meet Cayman's questioning gaze as he quietly said, "You sure you want to see this? It ain't pretty."

Feeling his stomach drop the Surveyor let out a defeated sigh, morbidly responding, "Don't tell me, let me guess. She's in there, dead and probably not even in one piece?"

The Enforcer darkly snorted, asking, "You see this kind of shit as a Surveyor a lot?"

"Believe it or not it was my profession before that where I saw the more fucked up stuff. Till, you don't need to-"

Before he could tell his hovering partner to not go poking her head into the predator's cave the Fairy darted past him, her face going green with startling swiftness as the gamer inwardly braced himself, peeling back the ruined entryway before heaving out a tired sigh.

"Aw hell…"

[Rescue the Informant!]

[Details: Rescue Natsume Amadare and discover the individuals involved in the meeting!]

[Rewards: 9000 EXP, 500 Reign.]

[Status: Failed.]

"Not even partial fucking credit, huh?"

The morbid thought certainly matched the scene, what with natsume's naked corpse still bound to a metal table, covered in flayed patches of skin while shiny needles punctured her corpse with cruel precision, her head completely gone with only a ragged, cauterized stump to show it had once existed.

"Is she in there? I-"

Mai pushed past him and immediately went still, gazing with wide eyes at the body before having to swiftly turn the corner, hand flying to her mouth as he saw her throat bulge.

"...Kinda feel bad for calling her a rookie."

"Hindsight is 20-20, as they say."

Leaving the sight behind as he gently hugged a clearly disturbed Till to his chest he heard Mai heavily and wetly breathing around a corner, Rossweisse and Lavinia looking tired and exhausted as they inferred the situation just fine.

"What's going on? I want to see-"

"Trust me on this one, kid. You don't. At least not right now."

While Vali looked ready to protest Jesie whispered something in his ear that seemed to calm him down, the hybrid heaving a quiet breath as he just nodded in sullen agreement.

Rossweisse thickly swallowed, carefully asking, "Do…do you need help with the body?"

Kairi shook his head, stating, "No, I've got this. Keep searching and see if you can find anything else, I'll clean up in here."

Nodding in understanding Cayman stuck around only long enough to see the Enforcer undo the shackles and cause the scent of blood and death to enter his nostrils before leaving the room and not looking back, instead motioning for everyone else to continue their sweep as he and Till checked up on Mai, the Taimanin breathing heavily with her eyes half-closed as she leant up against a wall, bright pink eyes briefly flicking open to look at him-

-and it was only unfortunate experience with similar situations that allowed the male to gently grab a fistful of her long and silken hair, pulling it to the side as the young woman heaved out a stream of bile, grimacing as a shaking hand wiped at her mouth.

"Here, clean yourself up a bit."

Casting both [Flame Wheel] and [Frost Lance] at the same time - albeit with reduced intensity - he created a ball of warm water that floated in front of the pale-haired Taimanin, the girl not thinking twice before splashing the water across her face and washing out the aftertaste of her retching fit.

"If…if I'd done my job better, if I'd just made sure to watch-"

"Hey, Mai."

Feeling infinitely more comfortable with shellshock caused by violence than the kind of emotional turmoil Yumi had experienced he firmly grabbed Mai's face with his hands, authoritatively but gently tilting her head so that the young lady had no choice but to meet his gaze.

"We're still on a mission, can you focus? For the rest of the team?"

That seemed to snap her out of her downward spiral of self-blame, the girl shakily nodding as he gave her shoulders a brief squeeze of comfort.

+10 REP with Mai Nanase [40/100]

"We'll talk after we're out of here. C'mon, let's finish clearing this place out."

"Well that's quite the morbid haul."

Gazing towards the collection of corpses and other crap they'd gathered during their scan of the place Cayman sat his ass down on a nearby bit of twisted I-beam, grumbling, "What a nightmare. Guess I owe all of you who attended some serious thanks. This shit would have gone sideways real fast if you weren't along for the ride."

Rossweisse blushed at the gamer's words before hurriedly waving a hand in protest, stating, "W-well if we hadn't been here you might not have made it inside to begin with and been perfectly fine…"

Kairi shrugged as he set Natsume's robe covered body off to the side, its concealing clothes pilfered from the collapsing building's previous occupants as he idly stated, "Then we would have been mission failed or mission postponed. Trust me, in this line of work that's never a good look."

Clearing her throat somewhat awkwardly the Valkyrie replied, "Nonetheless, it was my pleasure to help. As a teacher in this city it's my duty to protect my students and a coalition between groups such as this almost certainly bears ill will towards its denizens."

"Kind of a broad blanket of security you're offering there, eh?"

"Ah let her off the hook, Kairi. She's just a nice gal and - as weird as that may be to guys like us - genuinely believes what she said."

The Enforcer gave him a sidelong glance that perfectly encapsulated his thoughts on the matter while Rossweisse flushed red, the scruffier male eventually letting the matter drop as Lavinia contemplatively hummed, "It is for the better that I was able to accompany all of you, knowledge of a potential union between both the Old Satan Faction and the Incubus King is of critical importance to future decisions that will have to be made in regards to dealing with them."

Vali merely scowled, an action Cayman didn't find all that odd. The kid had a serious axe to grind against the OSF since most of his childhood had been ruined by their machinations and plotting.

The conversation was halted as the entire structure once again groaned, Lavinia stating, "The wards and other means of concealment won't hold much longer, we had best depart while we can."

The group didn't argue, Mai forming a couple origami dogs and improvised sleds that the bodies were hauled out on as Rossweisse led them to an exit that dropped them into an alley between the hotel and building across from it after a bit of magic work on her part.

"Anyone got a safehouse or anything we can meet up at in eight or so hours? Me and the newbie over here have to drop these bodies off at a collection station, she'll be my ticket in with the official Taimanin ID or whatever."

Said Taimanin didn't protest, just nodding in tired agreement as Lavinia said, "The Black Dog BAR in downtown Tokyo will do nicely, it's a base of sorts for a Grigori special operations unit and will be free of any danger."

No one had any complaints, quickly going their respective ways as Cayman ran a hand through his hair-

-and raised an eyebrow as Lavinia stuck nearby, gazing at him with an oddly genuine smile as she stated, "I never had the chance to properly thank you for coming to my aid during the earlier battle. Had the Incubus King been given enough time to begin employing his craft I doubt I would be in the sound state of mind I now am."

A mild huff of annoyance escaped the Longinus wielder, cheek puffing out in an endearing display as she complained, "His aura is quite difficult to deal with if you aren't prepared for it. I shudder to think what my reaction would have been if you hadn't distracted him."

"You think you could have taken him if you weren't distracted by his mental degradation stuff?"

"Hmm…well nothing is certain but I quite like my chances if that were the case."

She offered a cheerful little wink.

"I didn't earn all of my overdramatic titles because I'm a precious little glass slipper."

Snorting at that last bit Cayman dryly replied, "Trust me, I wasn't under that impression. And don't worry about it, I consider us plenty even after you saved me from being killed by the MILF fatale."

His words earned a giggle from the magician before her smile turned warm, stating, "Can you continue to be a good friend to Vali? While he has a couple positive role models to look up to I think he needs a 'cool older uncle' type such as yourself to make up for-"

"The lack of a proper family life. Yeah, I know his history. Although I imagine Slash Dog is good for him, if their current roster is up to date."

He gave the blonde woman an arched eyebrow, bemusedly clarifying, "Cool older uncle, though? Really?"

Till giggled from where she sat on his head, chirping, "I think it fits!"

"Indeed it does. And on that note…"

The gamer blinked in surprise as Lavinia leaned in, planting a soft kiss on his cheek as a maidenly tinge of pink adorned her own.

+50 REP with Lavinia [60/100]

"Consider that my own personal way of saying thank you~."

"Holy shit. Maybe I should try getting involved with more life or death battles where I save damsels in distress against gigantic sex demons."

He paused to consider that thought.

"On second thought, bad idea. Said damsel had to save my ass ten seconds later when the big boss's sloppy seconds almost beat me to death. Jesus, no idea what I'm going to tell Yukikaze if I ever see her again."

"Well on that incredibly positive note I'll see you in a few hours, Lavinia. Looking forward to it."

A flirty wave was the woman's only response as she strode away, Till giggling once the blonde was out of sight as she sang, "Guess who's popular with the ladies~?"

"The alive ones, at least."

Surprising even himself with his own downer attitude the Fairy fluttered her wings so that she could hover in front of his face, gently saying, "Hey, you did what you could. Certainly more than what anyone would have expected. And, well…okay, we both know it's a lie to say it's not entirely your fault but if you'd tried to move any faster all sorts of people probably would have died."

Giving the tiny woman a perplexed look as she tried to put on a brave face for him Cayman abruptly burst out laughing, amusedly remarking, "Since when are you the one to be the voice of cool and dispassionate logic about the cruel realities of life?"

"Hey, I learned from a pretty good teacher."

Shaking his head the man gathered the Fairy to his cheek, gently hugging her while wryly saying, "I am getting to be way too reliant on you, Till."

+10 AFC with Till, [35/100]

"Aww, you're being so nice~!"

A feathery brush of soft and miniscule lips on his cheek opposite the one Lavinia smooched coincided with the Fairy more sternly stating, "Now what are you going to do about Rossweisse? You need to do something nice after blowing her off for so long only to have her come running and help you out with almost no questions asked."

The Surveyor arched an eyebrow, commenting, "I haven't even had a chance to take a nice girl like you out on a proper date yet and you're already trying to get me involved with other gals?"

It was with the utmost confidence that Till crossed her arms, lifting her head high and proudly announcing, "The difference is I know you already love me~!"

Wincing at the big L word - and even more disturbingly finding it oddly fitting - Cayman heaved out a sigh of defeat, replying, "Alright, alright. You win, Till."

Giggling as she once again sat on his head the gamer reflected that this little episode had been one of quite a number of ups and downs.

Natsume's death was an obvious low point, for a number of reasons. For one thing it confirmed that a named character from the core three series didn't have some kind of natural immunity to danger, they could die just fine if events played out poorly. It also sucked because while he hadn't had time to really interact with the woman he certainly respected her work and the danger that came with it, never mind the usefulness a partnership with her could have borne in the future.

On the upside he'd made a bunch of handy new contacts and while the failed quest sucked he'd still earned a nice chunk of EXP from being involved with the fight that had resulted in lots of collateral damage.

Cayman Lute, LVL 28

HP: 1450

MP: 5600 + (560)

STA:2800

STR: 155

DEF: 165

AGI: 320

MAG: 485 + (48.5)

MAG DEF: 620 + (62)

REIGN: 330

EXP: 1900/2800

"And while no one else commented or noticed I DID manage to snag a bit of the Incubus King's tentacle that got sliced off during the fight…"

He smirked, wondering just what kind of crazy being he'd be able to manifest with a catalyst like that.

"Come on, Till. Let's get cleaned up and then get ourselves a nice dinner party."

"I'm in~!"